The Lexical Advantages of Narrow Reading for Second Language Learners

There is a consensus that the incidental vocabulary learning stemming from reading is an essential complement to the explicit teaching of vocabulary (e.g., Coady & Huckin, 1997; Schmitt & McCarthy, 1997). A major reason for this consensus is that the number of words necessary for effective lan-guage use is greater than that which can be taught easily (although see Meara, 1995, 1998, for a rebuttal to the limitations of vocabulary teaching). Estimates for the num-ber of words required vary from about 2,000 for everyday oral ability (Schonell, Meddleton, & Shaw, 1956) to 10,000 or more for reading academic texts (Hazenberg