Extensive Reading Program Research Articles

Critical Analysis on the Contribution Made by Qualitative Research to English Language Teaching

The primary objective of this paper is to assert the contribution of qualitative research in ELT. This paper has presented qualitative theories and features advantages and limitations, the criteria of good qualitative research, and analysis of two articles based on Tracy‟s model. The analysis result showed that both articles have some limitations such as the uncovering of potential resources and perspectives on how effective extensive reading programs should be implemented in tertiary education in Indonesia. However, most of the criteria that Tracy established were found in these articles, such as relevance of the area of study, timeliness and significance; sufficient, abundant, appropriate and complex use of theoretical constructs, as well as data collection and analysis processes.

Extensive reading among Agroecotechnology students: What and why they read?

Reading is a pivotal skill for non-English department students as a vehicle to update their knowledge. One of reading activity which is beneficial is extensive reading. Several studies have proved the advantage of extensive reading, but study regarding what reading material is read by students is under explored. To fill this gap, this research aimed to uncover what non-English department students read during extensive reading program and why they chose that theme. The participants were Agroecotechnology students (n=52). The data was collected from the reading log sheet and participant interview. The reading log sheet was analyzed by the researcher to find the theme of the text that students read. The interview was conducted in Indonesian to make students at ease. After the interview, the transcript was written and translated into English. The result shows that there are 32 types of themes with various frequency distributions. Theme that students read is mainly caused by their hobby, favorite idol, and a senior student who influence them to read certain theme.

Increasing English Reading Comprehension Through Literary Text Extensive Reading Program

The research objective is to improve reading comprehension skills through an extensive program of reading literary texts. It used a mixed method. Research participants are 5th-semester students who receive extensive reading (2) courses in the 2020-2021 academic year at Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika Jakarta as many as 70 students. There are two data used in this study, namely 1) qualitative data taken using a questionnaire. Qualitative data were analyzed using transcribed and encoded, organized, categorized, and taking concluding. 2) Quantitative data were taken from the pre-test and post-test. The test data were analyzed using a t-test. The results of the study show that overall an extensive reading program with literary texts has an impact on improving English reading comprehension. Students also have a positive perception of the extensive reading program because they can build interest in reading and reading habits

Adopting Literature Circle to Guide Work Undergraduate Students in Extensive Reading Program: Lessons Learned from Initial Teacher Education

Albeit many works provide insight into EFL's extensive reading programs, relatively few studies investigate adopting literature circles in the extensive program. To fill this void, this phenomenological case study reports on the adoption of literature circle as the instructional procedure in an extensive program in Indonesian teacher education. Thirty-one undergraduate students in the cohort, four students, were recruited as participants voluntarily. Data are derived from classroom observation, focus group discussion, and interviews. Findings revealed that the literature circle enables students to engage in online discussion actively. Pedagogically, this study implied that the literature circle could be adopted as instructional scaffolding in an extensive reading program situated in an EFL classroom. This study implies the teacher educator to provide fruitful feedback to motivate students after discussing it. Practically, undergraduate students are encouraged to practice navigating skills in exploring a wide range of texts for extensive practice in EFL text.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTENSIVE READING PRINCIPLES IN AN EXTENSIVE READING CLASS: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

For running a successful extensive reading (ER) program, Day and Bamford’s ten ER priciples becomes “key ingredients” (Ng, Renandya, and Chong, 2019. P. 172). This study is aimed at revealing EFL students’ perceptions toward the use of the ER principles in their ER class. To achieve the aim, a questionnaire was distributed to 39 students from English Language Education Program, Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. Besides, an interview to 10 student-respondents was also conducted. The collected data was then analyzed by classifying them under several themes, creating descriptive statistics, and extracting transcripts of the interviews. The results revealed that EFL student-participants agree that the ER course has applied all ten ER principles. How the ER principles were employed in the course and how they could enhance both students’ linguistic and nonlinguistic competences are also discussed in this paper.

ACADEMIC EMOTION ON EFL EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM ACROSS GENRES

This present study monitors the EFL students’ emotions on extensive reading program across three genres, to be precise factual text and literary text. The data are collected from questionnaire, students’ diaries, and interviews to University students in Indonesia. The close-ended questionnaire are analysed through Path analysis. Moreover, the students’ diaries and interview are analysed by content analysis. Piloting from Pekrun’s emotions, the study directs into achievement emotion, epistemic emotion, topic emotion, and social emotion. This mix method study gains the students in arranging their emotion on extensive reading program as long as three months. This study seeks to contribute to unearth the students’ feeling maps across two genres, thus shedding lights on determining teaching methodologies appropriate to comply with typical emotions in certain genres for more active students’ engagement.

The Attitudes of EFL Students towards Extensive Reading Program in Digital Library in Private Primary School (A Case of Erbil)

The Attitudes of EFL Students towards Extensive Reading Program in Digital Library in Private Primary School (A Case of Erbil)

Challenges in implementing extensive reading (ER) programs: Voices from English teachers at Indonesian secondary schools

Challenges in implementing extensive reading (ER) programs: Voices from English teachers at Indonesian secondary schools

THE RELATION BETWEEN EXTENSIVE READING AND WORKING MEMORY, PROCESSING SPEED, LEARNING MOTIVATION AND LITERACY SKILLS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

This article reports on a research project carried out between 2018 and 2019 with eight grade students from two private schools of Medellín, Colombia. The objective of the study was to analyze the relation among an Extensive Reading (ER) program (as proposed by Day and Bamford, 1998) with working memory, processing speed, motivation towards learning and the development of reading and writing skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This project had a pre experimental method with variable control on the age, school level and neuro-cognitive diagnosis of the students who participated in it. Results show an influencing relation between ER and working memory, processing speed and motivation which can explain the cognitive effectiveness of this program. Finally, conclusions regarding the program’s strengths given the impact it had on students’ cognitive performance and learning motivation, limitations on its implementation and future research possibilities are discussed.

Revealing University Students’ Attitudes toward Online Extensive Reading in Thailand

This study explores undergraduates’ attitudes toward extensive reading (ER) and reading graded readers online via Xreading.com in a large-scale ER program (ERP) involving over 5,000 students. Data were obtained from 356 students via an online questionnaire and 13 students in three focus groups. The quantitative findings showed that the students had positive attitudes toward ER. The top three reasons included (1) reading graded readers made them enjoy reading in English more than before, (2) they were more motivated to read graded readers because the stories were simple, and (3) they preferred to read shorter texts because they were simpler. Additionally, the qualitative findings revealed that all 13 students enjoyed freedom of choice in which they could choose their own graded readers that matched their interests and proficiency. Also, students had positive attitudes toward online ER through Xreading due to a variety of graded readers, an opportunity for students to practice their English and reading skills, enjoyment from reading, convenience and ease of use, and self-monitoring features. However, two difficulties were reported, including not knowing which graded readers to choose and eyestrain when reading online. Finally, pedagogical implications are discussed to guide ERP coordinators and teachers.

IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE READING ON SOPHOMORE ENGLISH MAJORS’ READING COMPREHENSION DEVELOPMENT AT DALAT UNIVERSITY

This paper reports on an extensive reading program utilizing graded readers and the Moodle Reader for sophomore English majors at Dalat University. The main purpose of the study was to determine the impact of such a program on student reading abilities and to explore their attitudes toward the program. Data were collected from pretests, posttests, and questionnaires. Findings indicated that the extensive reading program was largely responsible for the higher mean gain on the posttest made by the experimental group, and that the majority of students expressed positive opinions toward the program. The paper concludes by putting forward some pedagogical implications on the implementation of such a program with English language students and lecturers in their courses of reading.

Book Club Discussion: An Extensive Reading Program in Writing Class

Extensive reading was an approach when the readers read extensively. They read a lot of materials then get enjoyment in the process of reading. The purpose of this research was to describe the process of implementing extensive reading program by using book club discussion in writing class. This research was done on first semester of academic writing students. It was about 20 students. The result showed that the implementation of book club discussion did not only give positive trend to students’ reading ability but also their writing ability. Extensive reading program build students’ vocabulary and grammar. Furthermore, during the implementation of this program they learnt a lot about process of writing particularly in making a summary. Finally, extensive reading program made gain for students’ vocabulary, grammar, and writing.
 Keywords: Exstensive Rading Program, Book Club Discussion, Writing Class

Using Extensive Reading to Develop Non-major Students’ Reading Skill at Hochiminh City University of Food Industry in Vietnam

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the benefits extensive reading can bring to non-major students and lectures at Hochiminh City University of Food Industry (HUFI). The study addressed a main research question and two sub-research questions related to extensive reading: How does extensive reading develop students’ reading comprehension and improve vocabulary at Hochiminh City University of Food Industry? Two sub-research questions: To what extent could extensive reading help to enhance students’ reading skill? The participants of this study were non-major students at HUFI in Vietnam. The research instruments used in this study to collect data were three main instruments, namely Reading Tests (including Pre-Reading Test and Post-Reading Test), Questionnaire, and Interview. The result of data analysis revealed a significant difference. The findings suggested that innovating lectures’ teaching methods by extensive reading could help students improve their reading ability, particularly their reading comprehension and vocabulary, by engaging them in a systematic extensive reading program.

The Important Role of Extensive Reading Strategy in Indonesian EFL Learning Contexts

Abstract
 
 Academic literacy is one of the paramount global competencies that should be mastered by worldwide university academicians including Indonesian EFL learners. To fully fulfill this holistic educational objectivity, extensive reading plays a key role in fostering overarching Indonesian EFL learners’ target language proficiency due to the inducement of pleasurable, continual, and stress-free L2 reading learning dynamics proffered by this student-centered learning approach. Furthermore, the researcher attempted to delve more profoundly regarding the important role of extensive reading strategy in Indonesian EFL learning contexts. This present qualitative study harnessed a document analysis approach to yield renewable insights for Indonesian EFL experts, practitioners, researchers, and educators concerning the influential impacts potentially promoted by extensive reading strategy implementations. The research results indicated that the inducement of contextual and continual extensive reading activities had successfully improved EFL learners’ L2 reading interest and competencies. Future researchers are advocated to conduct a more exhaustive document analysis on the contrary beliefs and perilous effects generated by extensive reading approach to better impart more appropriate extensive reading programs applicable for Indonesian EFL learners’ reading needs, interests, and levels. 
 
 Keywords: document analysis, extensive reading strategy, Indonesian EFL learning contexts

Extensive reading in an EFL classroom: Impact and learners’ perceptions

A number of studies have suggested that extensive reading can lead to gains in different language skills. Few studies on extensive reading have been conducted outside the East Asia classroom setting. This study investigated the impact of an extensive reading programme conducted over 12 weeks with 90-minutes group sessions 3 times a week involving 10 Jordanian Arabic first language English foreign language learners with low-intermediate proficiency. The participants were situated in a print-rich environment, and given access to a library of graded readers, and did various extensive reading activities in and out of class. The participants were assessed for reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge before during and after the programme. In addition, the participants’ perceptions of extensive reading were explored. A mixed-methods action research design was employed over an extensive reading programme. Data were collected from multiple sources (e.g., tests, interviews and diaries), and the results were both statistically and thematically analysed. The findings of the study indicate that the impact of the extensive reading approach was positive on the learners’ reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. The results also revealed a positive correlation between the amount of reading and reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. The learners’ perceptions of the extensive reading approach and its implications are also discussed.

Extensive reading practices in the Arabian Gulf region

This study examined the English extensive reading (ER) programs across the Arabian Gulf region. It investigated the ER models and approaches adopted by different higher education institutions (HEIs) in the region, their ER practices and activities, and the challenges they encountered in implementing their ER programs. Utilizing qualitative research design with seventeen (17) cases from prominent colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait, the study found that most English ER programs in the region adopted the Graded Readers approach with the Supervised-Modified ER model and course-component integration scheme. The study further discovered that the ER programs varied in terms of duration, number of hours and sessions, target number of words, required number of books read, engagement and enrichment activities, and assessment system. Lastly, the study also found that HEIs in the region experienced challenges in sustaining meaningful, varied, and sufficient resources, changing the negative attitudes of the stakeholders toward extensive reading, providing more sufficient space for ER in English language curriculum, and building a strong culture of reading in the community as a whole. The study concludes with recommendations on how to improve English ER implementation in the Arabian Gulf region.

The benefits of an extensive reading programme implemented in two Foundation Phase classrooms in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Background: This article reports on a responsive extensive reading programme (ERP), involving Grade 3 learners at two primary schools in the Eastern Cape over a duration of 20 weeks. Objectives: The sociocultural perspective of learning guided the implementation of the ERP which aimed at providing learners with opportunities to read books for pleasure in their preferred language. Method: Learners had a choice to talk about their reading in isiXhosa, their home language, or English, which is their first additional language. In supporting the long-term goal of being bilingual, learners were encouraged to see themselves as emergent bilinguals who have reasons to use both languages as young scholars and in future. Results: Data collected through a post-intervention questionnaire, learners’ reading logs and observations illuminated interesting findings which show that learners benefited from the ERP. Conclusion: The benefits of participating in the ERP were observed in the learners’ acquisition of new knowledge (cognitive benefits), transformation in their attitude towards reading (affective benefits), and they began to take agency of their reading (social benefits). Contribution: This study demonstrates the cognitive, affective, and social benefits of introducing learners to reading for pleasure as early as in the Foundation Phase.

Promoting Language Learning Through “Transdicto”: An Alternative Design for ER+ Program

This paper aims to answer two research questions: (1) What design of an Extensive Reading program can be developed in the EFL setting with time constraints and (2) How do students respond to the design implementation. To achieve these goals, the study used Design-Based Research and, in the practice, it was carried out in 3 major phases. The initial phase was the analysis of practical problems. The second phase was literature research to inform the planning and development of the prototype design and the last phase was the implementation and reflection of the implementation of the design. The study was carried out in one semester in an English Education Department of a university in Indonesia. The study results in an alternative design to an ER+ program that is called Transdicto . Transdicto is conducted in five major steps: (1) extensive reading/ listening, (2) note-taking, (3) exploring, (4) contextualizing, and (5) transforming. Observation and interview revealed that the students responded well to Transdicto; they found the steps of the activity were relatively easy to follow, useful, and engaging

Implementing a bilingual extensive reading programme in the Foundation Phase: Theory and practice

A bilingual extensive reading programme (ERP) was implemented in two primary schools in Grahamstown with all the learners who were in grade 3 in 2015. The ERP was a means of providing learners with access to appropriate reading resources and affording learners with opportunities to read books chosen by them in a social learning environment. This paper offers a detailed description of theories underpinning the design and implementation of the reading programme. It also offers a discussion of practically implementing, managing and sustaining the programme. I used cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) as my theoretical framework. I focused on the concepts of formative intervention and expansive learning in implementing the reading programme. Throughout the research process, data were collected through qualitative methods, which included videoing, observation, document analysis, questionnaire, learners’ and my own reflective journals and informal talks with the participants. The results of this study show that a carefully planned reading programme, tailored for each participant’s needs, can have positive benefits on the learners’ academic and social skills. Finally, I discuss lessons learnt from implementing the ERP and provide suggestions on how teachers and researchers can also implement successful reading programmes of this nature.

Editorial

In this number the authors cover three themes: (i) the practice of reading and the development of reading comprehension, (ii) assessment and (iii) the use of electronic devices in language teaching.We have not included a teaching note for a long time and in this number, we include research by Nkomo that provide very practical guidelines for teachers to implement an extensive reading programme for multilingual learners in the foundation phase.