Commentary: Can free reading take you all the way? A response to Cobb (2007)

Cobb (2007) argues that free reading cannot provide L2 readers with sufficient opportunities for acquiring vocabulary in order to reach an adequate level of reading comprehension of English texts. In this paper, we argue that (1) Cobb severely underestimates the amount of reading even a very modest reading habit would afford L2 readers, and therefore underestimates the impact of free reading on L2 vocabulary development; and (2) Cobb’s data show that free reading is in fact a very powerful tool in vocabulary acquisition. COBB'S CLAIM: FREE READING IS NOT SUFFICIENT Krashen (1989, 2004) and others have argued that free reading is a major contributor to vocabulary development among both first and second language readers (see also McQuillan, 1998). Free and extensive reading advocates have claimed that such reading can and does provide acquirers with sufficient resources to reach a high level of literacy development. Cobb (2007) claims, however, that free reading cannot possibly provide sufficient opportunities for L2 readers to reach high level of vocabulary acquisition, of going "all the way " to the state of a fluent adult L2 reader. Cobb cites evidence showing that vocabulary acquisition requires a minimum of six to ten exposures to a word family, and that the minimal number of word families required for comprehension of