Krashen’s research on how we acquire languages may not apply to everything we do in our actual classrooms. It may be spot on in the world of ideas, but is it spot on in real classrooms? I don’t think that ten minutes of FVR works in the way most people think.
In workshops we are told to get kids reading in silence as much as possible. And I certainly don’t doubt the power of reading, but I doubt how effective it is when done in short ten minute spurts.
When (let’s be honest) the teacher is not reading with the kids (they rarely do because they have too much to do, call roll, deal with tardies and make up work, etc.). Moreover, when a kid is sitting there doing FVR, they are more likely looking around the room, watching kids come in late, trying to get into side conversations or contact someone across the room, etc.
There are too many kids in the (urban) settings (of 35+ kids in the room) I have been working in, at least, to make me believe that FVR works in those settings. There is too much going on. In some classes, FVR is not FVR at all, but a waste of time. There are too many hormones and sugar filled bloodstreams in the room for it to work.
FVR should be done in settings where there aren’t distractions. It should be done by motivated kids – there’s an oxymoron! This point about FVR is another example of the difference between Krashen’s ideas and the real worlds we work in.