Developing an Online Graded Reader Database to Support ER

Abstract

This presentation reports progress on the development of an online system to support Extensive Reading by keeping records of books learners have read, and allowing evaluations of books to be shared. The data required by the system can be broadly divided into two categories, the first being data that is useful for the practice of graded reading, such as word counts and levels of difficulty. Such data is currently held in the Extensive Reading Foundation’s graded reader database. Second is data such as page counts, blurbs and cover photos, supplied by publishers and available for example on Amazon.com. This information must be collected and organised, and also regularly updated, for example, when new books are published, or when more comprehensive impressions of the level or suitability of a book become available. There are significant costs involved in maintaining this data, both in terms of time and money, and some of this work is currently being duplicated unnecessarily by different  ER programmes. Our aim is to develop a web service to maintain and make available such ER data either through an API (Application Programing Interface) that can be added to existing online ER systems, or through a dedicated website. This service will regularly collect and save data on graded readers from online sources, converting data into a standard format where necessary. The presenters will introduce data formats and propose methods for collecting data.