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Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 17 No.4 December 2015
Book Reviews
Douglas, N., & Bohlke, D. (2015). Reading Explorer 3 (2nd ed.). Boston: National Geographic
Learning/Cengage Learning, 208 pages.
Reviewed by Kenneth Boyte, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
The second edition of Reading Explorer 3 by Nancy Douglas and David Bohlke (2015)
includes new and updated topics and a new section focusing on strategic-reading and critical-thinking
skills. Based on authentic articles adapted from National Geographic magazine, the popular
intermediate-level textbook package is part of a six-level series of interactive reading texts for young
adults and adult ESL learners designed to help them develop reading comprehension skills and
vocabulary knowledge.
The sequencing of activities in Reading Explorer 3, as well as the types of activities included
in the textbook, is appropriate for the target population, familiar to students and teachers, and
consistent with conventional practices in the field of second language acquisition (Hedgcock &
Ferris, 2009). Units, which include two passages each and can be extended with an optional DVD
activity, begin with a full-color photograph. Warm-up questions also are included to introduce the
topics to be covered. Combinations of cloze-completion, discussion, labeling, predicting, scanning,
sequencing, skimming, and surveying sections additionally precede each illustrated reading passage.
Lines of text within each passage are numbered in intervals of 5, key words are highlighted in red,
and low-frequency words are glossed in footnotes. Each passage is followed by seven multiple-choice
items that assess the student’s ability to identify main ideas, details, vocabulary, inferences, cause
and effect, purpose, paraphrase, and correct sentence order in a paragraph.
Careful attention appears to have been given to contextualizing reading content by providing
students opportunities to make connections between the texts and their own experiences, activating
prior knowledge before reading. Such a top-down approach to teaching reading has been dominant
since the introduction of the psycholinguistic model in the late 1960s. Bottom-up skills also are
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targeted in Reading Explorer 3 with a focus on words and affixes. The full-color textbook additionally
provides activities promoting interactive language skills. For example, in addition to the warm-up
questions presented prior to each passage to lead class discussions and the optional DVD activity
afterwards, chapters include exercises that require students to produce short written responses. The
optional online workbook also offers more reading practice and extends chapter reviews into the
hypertext realm of the Internet.
Each of the 12 units in Reading Explorer 3 is thematic, content-based, and covers topics
ranging from sports and fitness, to islands and beaches, popular culture, natural disasters, endangered
species, engineering, cognitive science, and medical challenges. The selection of topics, presumed to
be of high-interest to readers, is important for engaging students in actively reading. Unit 9, for
example, focuses on the exploration of space. Beginning with a full-page view of Earth from the
International Space Station, unit 9A (“Far Out”) presents an account of a terrifying spacewalk
experienced by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. Continuing the theme of space exploration, unit 9B
(“The Ultimate Trip”) examines privately funded robotic and manned explorations of the solar
system, in what Mason Peck of NASA describes as “the beginnings of a new space age” (p. 149).
Following the passage, a two-page graph illustrates the 276 space missions that have been made
internationally since 1961. The optional DVD activity tells the story of astronaut Bruce McCandless,
who in 1984 “ventured further away from the safety of his ship than any previous astronaut” (p. 155).
A sample analysis of the passage in unit 9B indicates that the text has a Flesch-Kincaid
Readability Ease score of 64.8% on a scale of 0-100. According to this scale, texts with scores closer
to 0 are more difficult to read, and texts with scores closer to 100 are easier. Typically, native speakers
of English 13-15 years of age can easily read texts with scores over 60. An average grade-level rating
of 8.8, based on Flesch-Kincaid and other leading readability measurements provided by Readability-
Score.com also indicates that the text is appropriate for ELLs.
Although the seemingly self-contained nature of the lessons and the familiar formatting,
activities, and item types are strengths of Reading Explorer 3, the textbook does not escape a wave
of criticisms in the field of SLA amplified by the RAND Reading Study Group in 2002. At issue is
the extent to which reading comprehension can actually be assessed and the validity/reliability of the
inferences made based on conventional item types. However, to the credit of the authors of Reading
Explorer 3, both who have extensive experience developing EFL materials, the debate over best
practices for teaching and assessing reading comprehension has been ongoing since reading was first
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scientifically studied in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt in the world’s first laboratory of experimental
psychology (Venezsky, 1984).
The professionally presented textbook is supported by a teacher’s guide, audio CD, DVD,
assessment software, and an Internet-based workbook.
References
Hedgcock, J. & Ferris, D. (2009). Teaching readers of English: Students, texts, and contexts. New
York: Routledge.
RAND Reading Study Group (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in
reading comprehension. Washington, D.C.: RAND Education. Retrieved from:
http://www.prgs.edu/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/2005/MR1465.pdf
Venezsky, R. L. (1984). The history of reading research. In P. D. Pearson (Ed.), Handbook of
reading research (pp. 3-38).New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgment
This submission has not been previously published and is not being considered for publication
elsewhere.
About the Author
Kenneth Boyte is a graduate student in the MA TESOL program at the Middlebury Institute of
International Studies in Monterey, California (expected graduation date: May 2015). He has a
background in teaching ESL to adults in South Korea and the United States. He also has worked
extensively in educational publishing and journalism (MA Journalism, Southern Illinois University;
BA Journalism, Auburn University). His current research interests include issues related to reading
comprehension and the computer-mediated uses of English for political purposes via social media.
