便利。如果是一个理解美国法律系统的读者的英语习得者来阅读JohnGrisham的小说，那当然比那些不熟悉美国法院和法律程序的读者理解的好的多。有更多背景知识的读者也会从小说中更多的习得英语，因为背景知识使小说变得更容易理解了。窄的读者，当他们进行窄的额阅读的时候，就能获得更多情景词汇：一个人在某个领域阅读的越多，这个人就能获得更多的关于这个领域的知识，那么这个人就会发现接下来的阅读就变得更加容易了（这个人就会习得更多的语言）。阅读了一个JohnGrisham的小说，将使得后续的John Grisham的小说变得更加容易理解了。
有个可被定义为“头几页效应”的例子。中级外语学习的学生，阅读外语小说时候，经常报告说他们发现一个新作者的书的头几页特别难读。经过了这个刚开始的困难后，这本书的其余部分就非常简单了。这主要是因为这样的事实，就是关于背景和故事是新的，此外，读者还没有适应作者的风格。如果只提供短的和各种选择性的片段，那就永远不会让读者超越这个阶段。结果反倒是强迫读者从一个困惑移动到另一个困惑。（译者：攻克一个堡垒，就是攻克前几页，堡垒后面全是财宝，其实就是开头难，但是泛泛阅读，就等于到处攻击堡垒，而从不去掠夺后面的财宝。自找苦吃）
有争议认为，窄阅读只能产生在一个领域阅读的能力。其实这是不对的。在任何主题的深入阅读都会吸收巨量的，可用于其他主题的语法和词汇。任何技术领域，都有一些相关技术词汇，如功能，推论，孤立，关系等。同时，读者读者日后肯定不会就只读这一个作者或一个领域的书。他们逐渐扩充他们的阅读（例如，当高中学生阅读更多的时候，就会逐渐扩充他们的阅读兴趣）
最明显的窄阅读的优势在于，这种阅读是潜在的自主阅读。无论对于那一本文选，可以确定的是，其中的多数主题，并不能吸引多数读者的兴趣。这些困难如新单词，不熟悉的风格，缺乏背景，缺乏对主题的兴趣叠加到了一起，从而使得多数阅读行为还只是一个精心解码的练习。相反的是，窄阅读一个真正感兴趣的主题，就有机会导致读者在语言习得的早期阶段真正去为了获取信息而阅读，为了含义。
这有几个证据支持窄阅读的想法。Lamme(1976)发现以英语为第一语言的好的读者，倾向于阅读一个单独作者的更多的书，或者阅读一个系列的书。一个结果是，本文的许多读者能够认同NancyDrew, Hardy 男孩 和 Bobsey 双胞胎。 最近，Cho 和 Krashen报告提到了成人第二语言习得者在阅读《甜蜜山谷》系列过程中兴致高昂的发展了阅读和词汇。读者典型从《甜蜜山谷孩子们》（二年级水平）扩展到《甜蜜山谷双胞胎》（四年级水平），然后到《甜蜜山谷高》（五到六年级水平）。这项研究过程中，我们发现有几个读者以前从来没有为乐趣而阅读英语书，但他们这次却成了《甜蜜山谷》的粉丝。
对于那些想看看窄阅读是否对自己有效的读者，或对于那些对某语言有些能力，但还想提高并且想尝试窄阅读的读者，下面有几个建议：
降低你的标准。 只阅读真正有趣的第二语言材料并且最好这材料见到到你都不好意思用你的母语阅读它。这就是你的借口去阅读喜剧，杂志，侦探故事，浪漫等。读翻译的材料，也没什么不好意思。
这个时候的阅读，不是要让你成为更好的人，也不是为了让你增加对其他文化的见识，也不是要去改善你的历史和科学知识。但如果你做了足够的窄阅读，你就为阅读要求高的材料做了更好的准备。
别担心自然的快速推进到更难或不同的材料。这会自动发生，最好的扩展方式可能是逐渐的从一个领域往相关领域扩充。利用（两个领域的）背景和语言的交叉重叠。
如果书或杂志太难，或者你不是真正感兴趣，那赶快停止阅读并找点别的东西读。这个目标是要去找到特别感兴趣，特别容易的材料，以至于你都忘了它是其他语言写的了。你需要阅读那些无需你自律就能有阅读欲望的材料。
不管你在哪里，随时拿着书或者杂志。你可能觉得你没时间阅读，但是要是你随时拿着书，这个世界就会自然给你时间。当你排队，等公交或等服务的时候拿本书。（可能是我的想象，不过我有一个感觉，服务员，酒店伙计和其他服务人员会徒然意识到你的存在并且，如果他们看到你在阅读，会非常乐于帮助你的）
我自己是一直这么干的，过去的五年里，我一直在亚马逊订阅StarTrek的法文和德文版小说，以及英语的翻译版。（译者：可以先用母语看一遍，然后读英文，效果更好）这些书不那么精确，也没文化信息，对我的文化生也帮助不大。但是这些书都容易阅读（我在这个领域有大量的背景知识），也读的很有趣。窄阅读管用啊。
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附录一下Krashen的Narrow Listening， 我自己翻译的，
有兴趣的话直接去
www.sdkrashen.com看英文原著。
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/The_Case_for_Narrow_Listening.pdf再推荐Krashen另一个帖子：
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/narrow/index.html从输入的角度，听和读都是一个原理。
下面这篇，Narrow Listening ,是以前的粗略翻译，对付看吧。没有上面那个翻译的用心
这种缩窄听力范围，学习者可以选择一个感兴趣的专题，然后采访流利的母语者，让这个母语者去针对这个题目讨论，做一个简短的录音。学习者然后听这个录音，在闲暇时间，听多少遍随意。重复的听，并且最好对听的内容感兴趣，熟悉背景知识来加强对输入的理解度。这种专题逐渐的改变，这样学习者就能舒服的扩展自己的能力了。缩窄听力范围是一个低技术，低成本并且也是非常愉快的方式来获得可理解输入。也是一个认识其他语言的人的简单的方法。
Krashen曾经建议过，缩窄阅读范围对外语学习非常有效果。缩窄阅读范围意味着集中在一个单独的作者或者是大量阅读学习者感兴趣的单一专题，而不是企图广泛阅读。这个建议和我们当前的教育实践背道而驰，在我们的教育实践中，我们让学生去读各种选择的短文。缩窄阅读更好，它能确保输入的可理解性。读者有以前读过的内容作为基础来帮助自己理解当前阅读的内容。
经验表明，缩窄阅读假说是基于一种发现：即好的阅读者倾向于阅读一个作者写的多本书，或者一系列的书。下面举了个例子，成人持续阅读某本感兴趣的书，词汇增加了多少云云。。（以下省去若干字）
本文的目的是把缩窄阅读想法扩展到缩窄听力。缩窄听力我觉得对多数外语学习者最具有价值，因为随意泛听太难以理解了。这个层次的学习者可以从外语课堂获得很多帮助，但是这种课堂太快的就从一个专题转到另一个专题，这就无法使学习者利用已经学习到的相关知识来加强理解。此外，学生也不是说对每个课堂上讲的主题都会感兴趣。
我是在墨西哥发现了缩窄听的价值，我的西班牙语水平上面准确的讲过了，是有点能力，但还不足以理解自由的交谈。我曾经阅读过墨西哥的历史，并且对Cortez（科尔特斯）的故事特别着迷，这就成了我的一个会话主题，我问了很多人相同的问题，Cortez是个好人还是个坏人？我发现几乎每个墨西哥人都有自己的观点，这可非常有趣，我对这个主题非常感兴趣，那些墨西哥人也一样。此外，他们说的很多我也都能理解，因为我已经英语阅读过很多关于Cortez的故事了。（备注:Krashen的母语当然是英语）
我最近扩展到了利用磁带这个技术了，我告诉那些谈话者，我想学习他们的语言，大概占用他们两三分钟时间，开始我通常让他们谈谈他们的童年和家庭。之后空闲时间我就放磁带，通常在我开车的时候。一旦这个专题理解后，我就转到别的专题之上；。。。
我发现我比较喜欢多次听同样的片段，这是因为内容有趣并且每次我都能多理解一点，就像史密斯1985年指出的那样，小孩典型的就喜欢听同样的故事一遍又一遍的听（译者：确实啊，我儿子就这样），这肯定有个原因，人们总是要避免困惑和单调。小孩反复听的时候，不感觉到单调，那么小孩每次听得时候必然有新的收获。我能断言：缩窄听力内容，具有相同的效果。（译者：大师也没有孩子的学习能力强啊，他们也在时刻关注儿童如何学习语言的，儿童是语言学习的特殊人群，能力数倍于大人）
听力材料的制作比较困难，也可能犯一些错误，毫无疑问，有些人我能听的更明白，有些不能，有些人对我更感兴趣，有些不能。我的实践是尽可能多的利用这些人，去向这些人获得不同主题的输入。当然有的主题比另外的主题有趣，我感兴趣的主题别人也不见得感兴趣。
缩窄范围听，对我来说，就像“din in the head”,帮我缓解驾驶的疲劳，相比那些压抑的新闻和白痴的脱口秀节目，这是一种令人鼓舞的变通方式。
一些建议和准则：
对我来说比较管用的，能起到启发作用的一些准则如下
--学习者就母语者和自己共同感兴趣的话题，做2-3分钟录音，主题应确保在确实是感兴趣的以便集中精力在信息上。不然很快就会变得无聊，如果你是集中在语言上而不是内容上的话。
--学习者应该有些背景知识，可以用学习者的母语来了解这个国家的历史和文化，这就使输入变得更好理解了，这实际是成功双语学习的潜规则：用母语去阅读相关背景知识，以便似的外语输入更加变得可理解。
--学习者可以就同一主题问几个母语的人，这一来加强重复，其次也提供了背景知识。这二者都可以加强理解。
--如果可能就录音，一直听，直到兴趣开始衰减。
--主题逐渐迁移到相关的主题上去，这能确保充分的理解输入，并且允许学习者逐渐的扩展自身的能力，举个例子，比如你从当前的事件迁移到历史上去。
--这类范围的缩窄输入几乎都是有趣的，因为这都是经过精心筛选的。下面是一些我感兴趣的主题，当然，别人不见得感兴趣。
------------------这些主题不再列举，无意义，
不过krashen感兴趣UFO,作为家长，收集自己孩子的感兴趣的材料即可，这方面我猜测我可能做得非常好，我甚至拿来很多东西让孩子自己选择。这可不是件容易的工作：）
课堂上其实也可以缩窄听，比如就同一主题，让20个孩子都自己准备材料，大家互相分享，互相听彼此材料。
---以下内容关系不大，不再翻译。
附录：英文原文 The Case for Narrow Reading
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/narrow/index.htmlStephen Krashen
Language Magazine 3(5):17-19, (2004)
Most foreign and second language classes provide students withexposure to a variety of topics. Beginning level texts typicallyjump from topic to topic (e.g. 'shopping,' 'ordering food,''families'), 'readers' usually include several different kinds ofshort articles (e.g. 'nonverbal communication,' 'mind, body andhealth,') and short stories, and introductory courses in literatureusually give the student only one short example of each author'swork. Only later, in advanced courses, does a second languagestudent 'specialize,' e.g. by taking classes in '20th centuryfiction,' and only the most advanced students focus on the work ofa single author. The assumption behind this is that exposure todifferent topics, genres, and styles is beneficial.
This may be all wrong. It may be that narrow input is much moreefficient for second language acquisition. It may be much better ifsecond language acquirers specialize early rather than late. Thismeans reading several books by one author or about a single topicof interest. (I focus here on reading, but the idea of narrow inputhas been applied to listening as well; see e.g. Krashen, 1996;Rodrigo and Krashen, 1996; Dupuy, 1999).
The case for narrow reading is based on the idea that theacquisition of both structure and vocabulary comes from manyexposures in a comprehensible context, that is, we acquire newstructures and words when we understand messages, many messages,that they encode. Narrow reading facilitates this process inseveral ways.
First, since each writer has favorite expressions and a distinctivestyle, and each topic has its own vocabulary and discourse, narrowreading provides built- in review.
Second, background knowledge is a tremendous facilitator ofcomprehension. An acquirer of English reading a John Grisham novelwho understands the legal system in the U.S. will understand thebook much better than someone unfamiliar with courts and legalprocedures in the U.S. The reader with better background will alsoacquire more English from the novel, because it is morecomprehensible. Narrow readers gain more contextual knowledge asthey read narrowly: The more one reads in one area, the more onelearns about the area, and the easier one finds subsequent readingin the area (and the more one acquires of the language). Readingone John Grisham novel will make subsequent John Grisham novelsmore comprehensible.
An example of this can be termed 'the first few pages' effect(pointed out to me by Mari Wesche; see also Yang, 2001).Intermediate foreign language students, reading a novel in theforeign language, often report that they find the first few pagesof a new author's work tough going. After this initial difficulty,the rest of the book goes much easier. This is due to the fact thatthe context, the story, was new, and, in addition, the reader hadnot adjusted to the author's style. Providing only short and variedselections never allows language acquirers to get beyond thisstage. Instead, it forces them to move from frustration tofrustration.
It may be argued that narrow reading produces only the ability toread in one area. This is not true. Deep reading in any topic willprovide exposure to a tremendous amount of syntax and vocabularythat is used in other topics. Any technical field, for example,will use 'subtechnical' vocabulary, words such as 'function,''inference,' 'isolate,' 'relation,' etc. (Cowan, 1974). Also,readers typically do not read only one author or in one area forthe rest of their lives; they gradually expand their reading (forevidence that high school students gradually expand their readinginterests as they read more, see LaBrant, 1958).
The clearest advantage of narrow reading, however, is that it ispotentially very motivating. In any anthology, it is certain thatmost topics are not of great interest to most readers. Thecombination of new vocabulary, unfamiliar style, lack of context,and lack of interest in the subject matter insures that muchreading remains an exercise in deliberate decoding. In contrast,narrow reading on a topic of real interest has a chance ofresulting in the reader really reading for the message, formeaning, in early stages of language acquisition.
There is some evidence supporting the narrow reading idea. Lamme(1976) found that good readers in English as a first languagetended to read more books by a single author and books from aseries, a result that many readers of this paper can identify with,former devotees of Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Bobsey Twins.More recently, Cho and Krashen (1994, 1995) reported considerableenthusiasm for reading and substantial vocabulary development amongadult second language acquirers who read books in the Sweet Valleyseries; readers rapidly moved from Sweet Valley Kids (second gradelevel) to Sweet Valley Twins (fourth grade level) to Sweet ValleyHigh (fifth and sixth grade level). Several readers in this studyhad never read a book in English for pleasure before, but becamefanatic Sweet Valley fans.
Here are some suggestions for those who want to see for themselvesif this works, who want to try narrow reading in a language theyhave some competence in, but want to improve in:
Lower your standards. Read only material in the second languagethat is genuinely fun and interesting, material that is so easythat you probably feel guilty reading it in your primary language.This is your excuse to read comics, magazines, detective stories,romances, etc. There is no shame in reading translations.
Reading at this stage does not have to make you a better person,does not have to give you insight into other cultures, and does nothave to improve your knowledge of history or science. But if you doenough narrow reading, you will be much better prepared to read'demanding' texts.
Don't worry about pushing ahead rapidly to harder and to differentmaterial. This will happen on its own. The best way to expand mightbe a gradual movement from one field to a closely related field,taking advantage of the overlap in context and language.
If the book or magazine is too hard, or not really interesting,stop reading and find something else. The goal is to find materialthat is so engaging, and so easy, that you will forget that it isin another language. You want reading material that requires noself-discipline to read.
Carry the book or magazine with you everywhere. You may feel thatyou don't have time to read, but if you carry your book with you,the world will conspire to give you time. Take your book out whenyou are standing in line, waiting for a bus, and when waiting forservice. (It may be my imagination, but I have the feeling thatwaiters, hotel clerks, and other service personnel suddenlyrecognize your existence and became very eager to help when theysee you reading.)
I have been doing this myself. For the last five years, I have beenordering and reading Star Trek novels in French and German fromAmazon, translations from English. They are inauthentic, have nocultural information, and make little contribution to myintellectual life. But they are easy to read (I have a great dealof background knowledge in this area), and very pleasurable. Narrowreading works.
References
Cho, K.S. and Krashen, S. 1994. Acquisition of vocabulary from theSweet Valley Kids series. Journal of Reading 37: 6620667.
Cho, K.S. and Krashen, S. 1995. From Sweet Valley Kids toHarlequins in one year. California English 1,1: 18-19.
Dupuy, B. 1999. Narrow listening: An alternative way to developlistening comprehension in the foreign language classroom. System24(1):97-100.
Krashen, S. 1996. The case for narrow listening. System 24(1):97-100.
LaBrant, L. 1958. An evaluation of free reading. In C. Hunnicuttand W. Iverson (Eds.), Research in the Three R's. New York: Harperand Brothers, pp. 154-161.
Lamme, L. 1976. Are reading habits and abilities related? ReadingTeacher 30: 21-27.
Rodrigo, V. and Krashen, S. 1996. La aplicación del argumento de laaudición enfocada en el Aula de Clase. Granada English TeachingAssocation, 4:2): 71-75.
Yang, A. 2001. reading and the non-academic learner: A mysterysolved. System 29(4):451-466.
