Many learners (and teachers) object to extensive reading (ER) for this reason. They want to focus on speaking skills. Others may doubt the effectiveness of ER to help learners improve all language skills, though research strongly supports this claim.
Even the most earnest proponents of extensive reading know that learners need to spend time directly developing all their language skills. For example, Paul Nation developed the concept of the ?four strands.? Three of the four strands focus on the c...