—| B2-C1 (upper-intermediate to advanced) |—

Every year in the spirit of New Year’s, goodreads (a social and informational hub for readers and authors) hosts a reading challenge, which millions of users around the world participate in. This event takes place throughout the entire year and serves as a resolution that aims at keeping you accountable for consistency in your reading.

Reading is such an important tool in learning English. It introduces you to new vocabulary, reinforces grammatical structures, and exposes you to natural language, such as dialogue and description. It does all this while adding diversity, interest and fun to your learning experience. It acts as an input of information, which with time can get activated to become your own natural expression; this means that it can help you build a database of knowledge in English that you can draw from in order to produce speech and writing. As linguists, among other scientists, say: “there can be no output if there is no input.”

This is why keeping yourself accountable to reading in English is important in your language learning progress. And fortunately, there is an app for that: goodreads (it is also available on desktop if apps aren’t your thing).

Personally, I have been using the platform and been participating in its reading challenge since 2017. I have used it to encourage my reading in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish. It is so rewarding sticking to a goal and seeing progression in my reading. It is also fun to see what kinds of books are out there that I have never heard of before. Writing book reviews has also helped improve my writing ability in other languages, as it tests my understanding of what I read. Plus, it is super cool checking out your annual reading statistics at the end of each year; you can see how many pages you have read, what your highest and lowest rated books were, and so much more! If you’re curious, here is a report of my 2022 Reading Challenge. It consists of 25 English books, four French novels and two Spanish novels.

This year, I am pledging 20 books, with the hope that I read even more than that. I would also like to read more novels in French and Spanish, as well as more non-fiction and short story anthologies. Looks like I will be spending a lot of time on the Public library’s website! (I already have seven books placed on hold–ha! ha!).

What books have you read this past year? Are you wanting to read more in English? What about your native language? Let me know what your reading goals are in the comments below.