A Longitudinal Study of Improving Learner’s Vocabulary & Satisfaction Through an Extensive Reading Program

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to introduce an on/off-line extensive reading program to help improve the learner’s practical English ability. For the research method, six Korean English teachers and one native English teacher developed a reading class model and utilized it in the classroom environment. The project lasted for three years from 2012 until the 2014 academic year, and the participants were middle school students. Before they started the reading program, the student participants took a level test and they went through on/off-line extensive reading program. The reading class was carried out in a regular curriculum once a week (45 minutes) and it was reflected in evaluation with a vocabulary test, and the survey for determining the learner’s satisfaction as they reflected regarding the program that they had just completed. In 2014, the 797 students participated in the study and the program was completed at that time. The result shows that overall, the learner’s vocabulary knowledge was improved and a level of satisfaction of an extensive reading program was shown to increase to a higher scale, as previous researches had shown (Elley, 1991; Shin, 2003). The meaningful aspect of the present study was to conduct reading program for over a considerable period of time, and it was noted that the size of participants was also rather large as compared to other studies. The discussion and implication of this study follow in the description of the study results below.