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This study examined the effects of using "captions", "subtitles" and "keyword captions" on the comprehension of audiovisual materials by English as a foreign language (EFL) learners, who were divided into two different groups, proficient and less proficient learners. It also investigated the participants' awareness of the distinction between different types of input they were exposed to and their benefits with the help of the interviews conducted. After the participants watched the videos, they answered comprehension questions. The results of the study indicated that in the less proficient group, those who watched the videos with Turkish subtitles outperformed those who didn't. However, in the proficient group, the videos with keyword-captions led to better results. The data gathered via the interviews revealed that the participants could identify the differences between different types of input and, while the proficient group displayed positive attitudes towards keyword-captions, the less proficient group preferred the videos with captions. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the related research with the help of the results of each experimental condition for different levels of learners.

Extensive reading (ER) has been shown to be an effective approach in helping second language (L2) students learn to read the target language. Of particular interest is how L2 learners in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses that included ER would react to ER since ER involves L2 learners reading easy, interesting books that they select themselves. We examined the reactions of 57 EAP university students to ER. The study was conducted longitudinally for two semesters in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, where two groups of learners read online books for ten and twelve weeks respectively. We used the Xreading Library, an online subscription-based graded-reader library that allows students unlimited access to more than 1000 books on their computers, tablets or mobile devices. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to determine the extent to which online ER affected the learners' attitudes toward reading in English, their academic reading, and English proficiency in general and their instructor' reactions to Xreading. The study revealed that L2 learners' reading attitudes were significantly improved after reading graded readers online. The results also suggested that, in general, the learners felt that their reading rates, vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, writing and speaking were all improved through online ER. Though learners perceived the effects of online ER on their academic reading differently, the instructors held positive attitudes toward online ER. [The page range on the .pdf (p103-125) is incorrect. The correct page range is p103-126.]

Extensive reading (ER) has been widely practiced in teaching English as a foreign or second language contexts. However, reports on how ER was practiced in Chinese as a foreign or second language (L2) contexts are not commonly seen. This study reports how an ER program was established in a liberal arts college in the U.S.A, and how ER affected L2 Chinese readers' reading attitudes. The study also examined L2 Chinese learners' perceptions of language abilities improved through ER, and their enjoyment of ER activities. Data were collected over thirteen weeks through pre- and post-reading attitude surveys, weekly ER activities, and the end of the semester reflections. The findings suggest ER significantly improved L2 Chinese readers' confidence in reading Chinese and devotion to learning Chinese. Some students also perceived that ER improved their reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, character recognition, writing, speaking, and listening skills.

The study investigated the effect of marginal glossing and frequency of occurrence on the incidental learning of six aspects of vocabulary knowledge through reading in the second language (L2) Chinese. Participants were 30 intermediate L2 Chinese learners in an American public university. The MACOVA tests indicated that the treatment group who read with marginal glossing significantly outperformed (F=6.686, p<0.01) the control group who did not read with marginal glossing on six aspects of vocabulary knowledge after reading two stories. Significant differences were found on receptive word form, productive word form, receptive word meaning, and productive word grammatical function. The two-way ANOVA test suggested that the treatment group performed consistently better on learning words repeated three times and one time, and there was no interaction between the groups and the frequency of occurrence the words. The findings indicated that reading interesting and comprehensible Chinese stories can be beneficial for the learning of Chinese words.

A meta-analysis was performed to investigate the impact of extensive reading (ER) on reading proficiency. This study gathered 71 unique samples from 49 primary studies published from 1980 to 2014 involving a total of 5,919 participants. Effect sizes were generated separately according to two different study designs: experimental-versus-control contrasts and pre-to-post-test contrasts. Small to medium effect was found in both study designs. Moderator analysis showed growing interest in ER in the field over the last 30 years. Also, a higher effect was found in the adults than in the children and adolescents group. English as a foreign language (EFL) settings showed a higher effect than English as a second language (ESL) settings; and web-based stories had a higher effect than paper books. Finally, ER as a part of curriculum showed the highest mean effect among ER types. Suggestions are made on how to implement ER in ESL and EFL settings effectively.

The April 2015 issue of "Reading in a Foreign Language" featured a discussion forum on extensive reading (ER). Most of the authors, recognized authorities on ER, discussed their views of the principles of ER, particularly in establishing and conducting ER programs. The purpose of this discussion is to review developments in the practice of and the research concerning ER since 1998 and to offer possible directions for the practice of ER. I begin with a discussion of the nature of extensive reading. This is followed by a presentation and discussion of a survey of the practice of ER and the research findings from 1998 to the present. Based on the results of the survey of the practice ER, an extensive reading continuum is proposed. The discussion closes with a look ahead at what the practice of ER might look like.

This discussion piece continues the discussion forum on extensive reading (ER) from the April 2015 issue of "Reading in a Foreign Language." In that forum, a number of the discussions were concerned with the principles of ER (Day & Bamford, 2002) in implementing ER. Our discussion also concerns the principles; we examine ER programs that used what we believe are five core principles and their impact on second language (L2) reading proficiency. The aim is to show how much effect we can expect from ER programs on L2 reading proficiency through the tool of meta-analysis. We discuss the results of a meta-analysis that was done to determine the effect of ER programs on L2 reading proficiency in two settings, English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL). These ER programs all used the five core principles. For details on the meta-analysis and the study, see Jeon and Day (in progress).

This article presents a detailed picture of six types of comprehension and five forms of questions that can be used to help students become interactive readers. The taxonomies of the types of comprehension and the forms of questions may also be used as a checklist for language teachers as well as materials developers. Teachers can use the taxonomies to make their own comprehension questions for texts that their students read to help them understand better what they read. In addition, they can be used to analyze instructional materials and to develop materials to ensure that the various forms of questions are used to help students respond to a variety of types of comprehension.

This article discusses how we incorporated an extensive reading (ER) program into a second semester Japanese course at the University of Hawai'i using Japanese children's literature. After summarizing the ten principles of ER, we describe how we addressed six critical issues faced while introducing ER into the course. We also discuss the outcomes of this ten-week program, which showed that the students improved their scores according to a traditional measure of reading comprehension. We also found positive results in an affective questionnaire that measured attitudes toward and motivation for learning Japanese.

Extensive reading (ER) has been widely practiced in teaching English as a foreign or second language contexts. However, reports on how ER was practiced in Chinese as a foreign or second language (L2) contexts are not commonly seen. This study reports how an ER program was established in a liberal arts college in the U.S.A, and how ER affected L2 Chinese readers' reading attitudes. The study also examined L2 Chinese learners' perceptions of language abilities improved through ER, and their enjoyment of ER activities. Data were collected over thirteen weeks through pre- and post-reading attitude surveys, weekly ER activities, and the end of the semester reflections. The findings suggest ER significantly improved L2 Chinese readers' confidence in reading Chinese and devotion to learning Chinese. Some students also perceived that ER improved their reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, character recognition, writing, speaking, and listening skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study is reported that examined whether Japanese students of English could learn vocabulary incidentally while reading silently for entertainment in the classroom. The findings demonstrated that such incidental vocabulary learning did occur for both high school and university students. (Author/LB)

Discusses the importance of validating research data from questionnaires, exploring the difficulties presented in an attempt to validate questionnaire data regarding students' attitudes toward learning English in Japan. (Author/CB)

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Extensive reading (ER) has been shown to be an effective approach in helping second language (L2) students learn to read the target language. Of particular interest is how L2 learners in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses that included ER would react to ER since ER involves L2 learners reading easy, interesting books that they select themselves. We examined the reactions of 57 EAP university students to ER. The study was conducted longitudinally for two semesters in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018, where two groups of learners read online books for ten and twelve weeks respectively. We used the Xreading Library, an online subscription-based gradedreader library that allows students unlimited access to more than 1000 books on their computers, tablets or mobile devices. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to determine the extent to which online ER affected the learners' attitudes toward reading in English, their academic reading, and English proficiency in general and their instructor' reactions to Xreading. The study revealed that L2 learners' reading attitudes were significantly improved after reading graded readers online. The results also suggested that, in general, the learners felt that their reading rates, vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, writing and speaking were all improved through online ER. Though learners perceived the effects of online ER on their academic reading differently, the instructors held positive attitudes toward online ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces extensive reading as a way of improving students' attitudes and motivation toward English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading as well as improving their proficiency in reading and their English language ability. (Author/VWL)

The study investigated the effect of marginal glossing and frequency of occurrence on the incidental learning of six aspects of vocabulary knowledge through reading in the second language (L2) Chinese. Participants were 30 intermediate L2 Chinese learners in an American public university. The MACOVA tests indicated that the treatment group who read with marginal glossing significantly outperformed (F = 6.686, p < 0.01) the control group who did not read with marginal glossing on six aspects of vocabulary knowledge after reading two stories. Significant differences were found on receptive word form, productive word form, receptive word meaning, and productive word grammatical function. The two-way ANOVA test suggested that the treatment group performed consistently better on learning words repeated three times and one time, and there was no interaction between the groups and the frequency of occurrence the words. The findings indicated that reading interesting and comprehensible Chinese stories can be beneficial for the learning of Chinese words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the relationship between student participation in the English as a second language classroom and proficiency in English, use of the target language outside the classroom, and field sensitivity. Results of cloze tests and in some cases, oral interviews, indicate no significant relationship. These findings are discussed with respect to the work of others who have conducted similar research. (SL)

Ninety-eight children whose first language is Hawaii Creole English (HCE) acquired English without a formal language program while maintaining their first language. Learning the dominant variety of the language in a bicultural/bidialectal environment did not adversely affect performance in HCE. (PMJ)

The article describes a four-day workshop on recent technological developments in the field of blindness hosted by Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind in Little Rock. The main objective of the program was to increase rehabilitation counselors' awareness of how technological aids could be used to enhance their clients' vocational opportunities. (Author/PHR)

In a 16-hour testing and training period, five blind students learned to use the IBM Audio Typing Unit, a device which works by monitoring a host typewriter and producing electronic speech, enabling blind typists to revise and review final copy without assistance. (Author/MC)