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����Ideally when learners are reading extensively they are paying willing and full attention to what the text is saying to them and they are absorbed by it both affectively ��i.e. through their emotions�� and cognitively ��i.e.through their thoughts��. Only then will the learners gain the full benefits of extensive reading and gradually acquire more language and develop the ability to use it effectively for communication.����Engagement is not easily achieved and is only attainable if what the learner is reading is comprehensible ��i.e. they can understand enough to gain enjoyment or information���� is interesting�� is connected to their experience or aspirations and grabs and maintains their attention. I have found that texts which are both familiar and novel often have a potential for engagement. This is especially true ifthe topic�� location or theme is one the learner is familiar with but the writer is adding a different perspective or a different example to their treatment ofit. For example�� I was once surprised to find that students in Nigeria were engaged by a text about building igloos in the Arctic. It seems that the use oflocal�� freely available resources in the Arctic ��i.e. snow�� to build and frequently replace 'houses' was very similar to the use of trees to build and replace huts in Nigerian villages.I have also found that narrative texts are potentially more engaging than expository or descriptive texts�� especially ifthey are funny�� exciting�� moving or bizarre�� and that writers who are personal�� informal or provocative are more likely to engage than those who are impersonal�� formal and neutral.Bizarre texts in particular ��i.e. texts which are interestingly strange�� often have great potential for engagement�� especially if they are partially familiar and partially bizarre ��as�� for example�� in a text about a human being living on the moon or an alien from Mars living in Beijing��.����The potential of a text to engage is different for each learner as they have each had a different experience of the world. They might share a culture�� a first language and an environment but ultimately each learner is different and will be engaged by different texts. This means that it is very important that a wide variety of texts are available for learners to select from and that each learner reads what they want to read. It is also important that each reader is not made to fmish reading a text which they thought would be appealing but which turns out not to be as engaging as was expected. In such a case the learner should be allowed to replace the text with another one oftheir choice which looks as though it has greater potential for engagement. My advice to learners is�� 'Ifyou aren't enjoying your reading�� don't give up. Keep reading a little longer as your text might become much more interesting. However�� if you carry on reading and you're still not enjoying it�� don't feel you have to finish. You can change your text for another one which seems more interesting.'����The importance oflearner engagement means that a class oflearners in which each learner is reading a different extensive text is more likely to profit the Jearners than one in which they are all reading the same text��especially if the learners have no say in the selection of that text. If the learners are all reading the same text it is less likely that all the learners will be engaged and more likely that the teacher will be tempted to control the pace at which the learners read and to test them on what they have read. It also means that there might not be enough money left in the budget to build a library of extensive readers and the learners might never experience true extensive reading. Sometimes�� though�� I have found myselfin institutions where all the students in a class reading the same extensivereader was the norm. ��������