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This study examined vocabulary in a large corpus (about 900,000 tokens) composed of T’es branché series textbooks, workbooks, and reading resources, spanning four different linguistic levels from beginner to advanced, used to teach French as a foreign language in US secondary schools. The corpus analysis looked at coverage of the 25,000 most frequent French lemmas in the corpus and showed that vocabulary appearing in the series spread across all frequency bands examined, with the highest concentration predictably in the first five bands. In terms of frequency of occurrence in the materials, examination of words repeated at least 12 times across the four levels yielded concerning results; on average, only 52.73%, 37.93%, and 22.25% of the first thousand lemmas occur with fair repetition across, respectively, textbooks, workbooks, and additional resources. From the second thousand band onward, on average, under 20% of the lemmas in each level re-occurred 12+ times across textbooks and workbooks, and below 5% across reading resources. These results suggest that, beyond the first 1,000 most frequent French lemmas, these learning materials are unlikely to be conducive to incidental vocabulary learning via extensive reading, given the low percentage of words in subsequent bands repeated 12+ times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024, published by the United Nations, highlights quality education as a priority goal, emphasising its essential role in facilitating the achievement of other goals. Although there has been modest progress since 2019, several areas require further advancement, including the development of reading skills. Extensive reading plays an important role in foreign language acquisition, as it not only significantly enhances students' vocabulary, text comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing skills, but also fosters the development of sustainable learning and self-regulated learning skills. In order to substantially increase students' reading opportunities, the 'Reading Circle' (RC) project was initiated, allowing teachers and their students to read five to eight graded readers during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes throughout the school year. During the school year 2023/2024, 45 teachers and 1328 students of Grades 3–11 participated in the 9-month project. The aim of this study was to analyse teachers' perceptions on the efficacy of the 'Reading Circle' project and the most common teaching techniques. The data indicate that the most commonly used teaching techniques across all levels of language learning were the text discussions and the completion of ready-made exercises, while a significant difference across the levels emerged in the techniques of students reading aloud versus reading silently. The findings of this study reveal that teachers highly evaluated the benefits of the project and observed positive improvements in students' reading motivation, text comprehension, and advancements in their reading and speaking skills, and the outcomes imply that the 'Reading Circle' project is an effective method of enhancing sustainable learning and self-regulated learning skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive reading has been recognized as an alternative method to develop reading fluency. However, within the context of English language teaching in Vietnam, there has not been much research that examines the benefits of this method for university students. This study explores the effects of extensive reading on EFL university students’ reading comprehension and reading rate. The data were collected through an experiment conducted over 15 weeks. The participants were students following English programs at a university in Vietnam. Five intact classes were randomly assigned to be the control group, and four other intact classes were randomly assigned to be the treatment group. A pre-test and a post-test were used to measure the participants’ reading fluency improvement. During the experiment, the treatment group engaged in approximately 100 minutes of extensive reading weekly, using English stories suitable to their vocabulary levels, while the control group were given intensive reading activities. The results revealed significant reading comprehension and rate increases among the treatment group. The findings have highlighted the benefits of integrating extensive reading into English language teaching curricula and emphasized the importance for educators and students to recognize its role in enhancing English language learning.

This study examined the factors adapted from the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire. We considered eight dimensions (Self-Efficacy, Reading Challenge, Reading Curiosity, Reading Involvement, Importance of Reading, Recognition for Reading, Reading for Grades, and Social Reasons for Reading). In addition, we included some items based on the extensive reading, principles, and technology acceptance model. The study recruited 558 undergraduate students of English as a foreign language in Indonesia via Google Forms. The structure of the questionnaire was validated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. To determine the dependability of the instrument, internal consistency reliabilities of the instrument as a whole and per factor were calculated. We computed the average variance extracted and the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio of Correlation to determine convergent and discriminant validities. The results led to the omission of six items with loading values < 0.50. The omissions included one item for Reading Involvement (0.42) and five items for Social Reasons for Reading (0.47; 0.43; n/s.; n/s.; and n/s.). Lastly, the study presented the significance of the results and directions for future studies.

This narrative inquiry investigates an English as a Foreign Language teacher's storied experience of 30‐year extensive reading (ER) implementation, with the aim of exploring the formation of language teacher identity (LTI) of this individual teacher. Two narrative interviews were conducted, respectively focusing on the holistic story and detailed accounts of some critical incidents and significant others. Two researchers played different roles: one insider, conducting, transcribing, translating, and analysing interviews; one outsider, analysing the data with a relatively neutral perspective. Data analysis adopted an ecological approach and a three‐level framework (societal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels). Findings highlight the complex links between discursive features, personal experience, teacher emotions, and power differentials in shaping the dynamic and multi‐faceted nature of LTIs. Meanwhile, the considerable evolution of the teacher's ER implementation validates the importance of teacher training, especially opportunities for teachers to gain experiential knowledge which further contributes to teacher identity development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education, critical thinking skills are essential for students to develop their ability to explore problems, questions, or situations, find a solution, and justify their positions. Such skills can be cultivated through sustained, authentic dialogue with peers or in groups. To provide a supportive environment for dialogue and interaction among students, a book club was utilized as an alternative and extension activity of Extensive Reading course within the English Education Study Program at a private university in Indonesia. The book club enables students to connect with others, expressing and exchanging ideas and thoughts, thereby sharpening their critical thinking skills. This mixed-method study investigated the students' reading and critical thinking skills after participating in the book club, the effectiveness of book club in developing these skills, and the ways in which the book club fostered critical thinking skills. Twenty-three freshmen from one class participated in the study. The instruments used were a reading test, a survey of critical thinking skills, and students' work. The reading test and critical thinking survey were administered sequentially after the treatment, while students' work was qualitatively analyzed. The findings reveal that book club is effective in developing student's critical thinking skills, particularly in terms of creating alternative t endings to a given story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to measure the effectiveness of “Let’s Read”application in fostering students’ Extensive Reading comprehension. Two classess of grade 8 students of SMP Muhammadiyah 03 Tangerang participated as the sample of this study, divided into experimental class and control class each of which was occupied by 34 students. These two classes were chosen by using cluster random sampling out of totally 4 classes of grade 8. This quantitative research used quasi-experimental with two-groups post-test only design. The data were gathered by using Reading Comprehension post-test and a questionnaire. All collected data of the post-test were analyzed statistically by using independent t-test. The analysis of the findings revealed that experimental group students’ post-test achievement exceeded 12.5 points the achievement of control gorup students’. Meanwile, in the statistical analysis, in the significance level of 5% ( = 5% degree of freedom), t-obtained of 5.677 was higher than t-table of 1.996 (from df = 66). Besides, the table also showed that the sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000 < 0.05. Therefore, Ha was accepted and H0 was rejected. Experimental group students’ responses to the questionnaire showed that the majority of them expressed that Let’s Read application benefitted them in the activities of extensive reading practices in which foe example their reading interest increased after learning reading through this app. Based on these findings, this study concluded that Let’s Read application was an effective learning medium in fostering students’ extensive reading comprehension.

This study focuses on the problem that the process of building learning habits has not been clearly described. Therefore, we aim to extract the stages of learning habits from log data. We propose a data model to extract stages of learning habits based on the transtheoretical model and apply the model to the learning logs of self-directed extensive reading to demonstrate the process of building learning habits. We uncover the various stages (i.e., the precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance stage) that learners underwent, and different proportions of the maximum stage that they achieved during an 11-month, self-directed, extensive reading program—implemented in a Japanese junior high school. This study contributes to realizing a method to evaluate the learning process, by tracing the stages of learning habits in long-term, and continuous learning activities. Further, this study can help guide the development of evidence-based educational interventions to support the building of lifelong learning habits and self-directed learning, using data-driven methods.

This paper focuses on one of the most widely used resources by reading teachers during early‐emergent literacy, the high‐frequency wordlists commonly called 'sight words. Existing sight word resources available to teachers are extremely outdated and/or methodologically unsound. In this Teaching and Learning in Action article, a new research‐based list of high‐frequency words is released for teachers, the Children's Picture Book Sight Words (cpb sight words). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the factors adapted from the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire. We considered eight dimensions (Self-Efficacy, Reading Challenge, Reading Curiosity, Reading Involvement, Importance of Reading, Recognition for Reading, Reading for Grades, and Social Reasons for Reading). In addition, we included some items based on the extensive reading, principles, and technology acceptance model. The study recruited 558 undergraduate students of English as a foreign language in Indonesia via Google Forms. The structure of the questionnaire was validated using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. To determine the dependability of the instrument, internal consistency reliabilities of the instrument as a whole and per factor were calculated. We computed the average variance extracted and the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio of Correlation to determine convergent and discriminant validities. The results led to the omission of six items with loading values < 0.50. The omissions included one item for Reading Involvement (0.42) and five items for Social Reasons for Reading (0.47; 0.43; n/s.; n/s.; and n/s.). Lastly, the study presented the significance of the results and directions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading is a core element in language education. Despite extensive research in second/foreign language (L2/FL) reading, relatively little is known about the differences between two common practices: Compulsory reading (i.e. reading assigned by teachers) and voluntary reading (i.e. self‐initiated reading). This article reports two related quantitative studies (n = 124; n = 498) investigating learners' out‐of‐class compulsory and voluntary English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language (EFL) story reading frequencies in Hong Kong. Learners' perceptions, EFL proficiency and school banding were analysed in relation to reading frequencies. It was found that the frequencies of engaging in both kinds of reading were very low. Reading frequencies and favourability towards story reading were found to be mildly to moderately correlated with proficiency. Among these variables, however, only voluntary reading significantly predicted proficiency. Students who were academically more competent showed greater favourability while those in the middle school banding reported a higher frequency of reading. The findings are discussed and implications are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of investigating effective approaches to extensive reading (ER) implementation, this study examines a reading programme carried out in an EFL classroom in China. Data were collected from two interviews with the teacher participant, teacher's reflective journal, student survey (n = 59), student focus group interview (n = 5) and various documents related to the reading programme. Findings of the study indicate that teacher scaffolding, embodied in the roles of motivator, strategy guide and monitor, is essential for students' sustained pleasure reading. In light of this, scaffolded extensive reading (SER) is put forward to denote a student-centred and teacher-facilitated reading approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early foreign language learning in Slovakia is still inadequate, especially at the lower secondary level. Therefore, it is essential to gather data that can help improve the educational process. This study aims to determine the impact of systematic extensive reading and production-based training on the language production of young learners in two primary schools in Prešov, Slovakia. The language performance of the groups under investigation was evaluated through written and oral assessments. This was done to determine the effect of reading classes on the language production of young learners, as well as to explore the effects of enhanced text comprehension on the productive language skills of young EFL learners. Computer programs were used for experiment evaluation and statistical analysis to verify the impact of reading programs and teaching modules on pupils' performance. Additionally, the individual productive skills of the learners were analyzed. The study results revealed that the experimental group, which was involved in an extensive reading program, performed significantly better in both written and oral production than the control group. This indicates that the application of reading programs and teaching modules in the selected schools had a considerable impact on the learners' performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive reading (ER) should be implemented properly based on ER principles. The most known ER principles is ten ER principles proposed by Bamford and Day that are widely referred by ER practitioners around the globe. Unfortunately, these principles are not always implemented in ER classes, even in ELT study program in university. Related to it, ER classes in a university in Indonesia were reported to not conducted ER enthusiastically. It was suspected that it occurred because of lecturers’ confusion on what to do in their ER classes due to their insufficient comprehension of ER and its principles which eventually reduce pleasure which supposed to be existing in ER classes. Based on that suspicion, this study focused on investigating the lecturers’ familiarity on ER principles and the implementation of ER principles regarding the expectation to conduct pleasurable ER classes. The data were collected through in-dept interviews to lecturers and questionnaire to students. This study found that not all of the lecturers have adequate knowledge on ER principles which eventually hindered them to teach ER properly and pleasurably. It was also revealed that pressure was felt by both students and lecturers. The pressure increased when the ER involved rigid assignment and assessment.

Investigation of effective approaches for supporting students’ linguistic and intercultural competence in the process of learning English as an international lingua franca has generally been an issue of great concern for teachers and researchers in language education. The study considered how fiction reading and non-fiction reading supported students’ reading comprehension and fostered their self-perception of intercultural competence. The scaffolds were tested in a pretest-posttest design on 58 participants, and in a classroom-based setting. Two measurement instruments included a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire on students’ self-perception of their intercultural competence. Both groups made significant progress in reading comprehension. Fiction reading condition was also found to contribute to the higher self-perception of intercultural competence. Discussion of the pros and cons of the experimental design and suggestions for further research into extensive reading and speech act appropriateness are in the last part of the paper. The paper finally puts forward the suggestion that short literary texts of cultures around the world might be considered as one of the meaningful inputs in B1 EFL classrooms.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024, published by the United Nations, highlights quality education as a priority goal, emphasising its essential role in facilitating the achievement of other goals. Although there has been modest progress since 2019, several areas require further advancement, including the development of reading skills. Extensive reading plays an important role in foreign language acquisition, as it not only significantly enhances students’ vocabulary, text comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing skills, but also fosters the development of sustainable learning and self-regulated learning skills. In order to substantially increase students’ reading opportunities, the ‘Reading Circle’ (RC) project was initiated, allowing teachers and their students to read five to eight graded readers during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes throughout the school year. During the school year 2023/2024, 45 teachers and 1328 students of Grades 3–11 participated in the 9-month project. The aim of this study was to analyse teachers’ perceptions on the efficacy of the ‘Reading Circle’ project and the most common teaching techniques. The data indicate that the most commonly used teaching techniques across all levels of language learning were the text discussions and the completion of ready-made exercises, while a significant difference across the levels emerged in the techniques of students reading aloud versus reading silently. The findings of this study reveal that teachers highly evaluated the benefits of the project and observed positive improvements in students’ reading motivation, text comprehension, and advancements in their reading and speaking skills, and the outcomes imply that the ‘Reading Circle’ project is an effective method of enhancing sustainable learning and self-regulated learning skills.

Self-directed learning (SDL) requires students to take initiative to learn and control their own learning process. Literature highlights the importance of SDL for lifelong learning. Yet, little understanding is known regarding how to support SDL at the school level, specifically for out-of-class learning context. To fill up this gap, this research developed a learning dashboard and integrated SDL process management in GOAL system. It was implemented to provide support for out-of-class online self-directed extensive reading (SDER) at a high school level. A two-group study conducted during a three-week spring vacation found the experimental group (N = 35, with SDL support) achieved significantly more reading outcomes than the control group (N = 12, without SDL support). Detailed GOAL interaction behavior analysis of the experimental group showed that viewing learning dashboard was significantly correlated with reading outcomes as well as interactions related to SDL process management. These findings highlights positive effect of SDL support in GOAL on students' out-of-class SDER outcomes as well as their SDL behaviors. The study provided implications for research related to extensive reading and SDL support for out-of-class learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a means for students to comprehend and communicate knowledge in our technologically advanced and culturally diverse globalized societies, more integrative ELT approaches are required. Multiliteracies is a literacy concept that addresses meaning-making variability in various cultural, social, or domain-specific contexts. Extensive reading activities are an essential component of the curriculum for Indonesian EFL students, especially those who major in English in higher education. Previous research has demonstrated that reading literary texts can enhance cultural comprehension. Reading is fundamental to getting new information and fostering students' empathy for world conditions. This qualitative case study aims to discover the implementation of multiliteracies practices and the student's responses to the multicultural book Amazing Grace in the multiliteracies framework in the Extensive Reading class. The researcher used a purposive sampling of one lecturer and twenty students in the Extensive Reading classroom. Data are compiled through observation and interviews. The data are then analyzed through Saldaña's (2016) coding. The findings showed that the lecturer had implemented all stages of multiliteracies. The students showed various responses to multicultural literature in every multiliteracies stage. Their responses demonstrated that the practice could recollect their knowledge of diversity in Indonesia. They also can investigate the cultural identity and aspects within the text. They evaluated the text's meaning based on their experience regarding cultural issues. Last, they constructed multiculturalism-themed posters as a reflective practice of critical learning. The students' responses emphasized raising multicultural awareness and upholding tolerance. This research provides new insight into how multiliteracies pedagogy can encourage students' responses to multicultural literature. The inclusion of multicultural awareness is crucial for Indonesia as a multicultural country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Drama fever’ has been riding high with increasing consumer usage of OTT streaming services and prevalence of Internet-connected mobile devices, leading to the phenomenon of binge-watching on college campuses in Taiwan. This study targeted English subtitles as a source of input, since they offer EFL leaners a channel for exposure to English. The researcher compiled four corpora with each having approximately 2.5 million English-subtitled words from Korean, Japanese, American and Chinese TV series across a couple of genres with high viewership ratings on OTT services for comparison. The operational measures involved vocabulary levels along the word-frequency scale of the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Results showed that English-subtitled Korean, Japanese and Chinese dramas reached the 2nd—3rd 1000 word-family levels at 95% text coverage and the 4th—5th 1000 levels at 98% coverage, while American series extended to the 7th—8th 1000 levels at 98% coverage from the 3rd—4th 1000 levels at 95% coverage. The data may serve as a reference concerning the vocabulary goal within the first 5000 word families for EFL learners if they continually binge-watch drama series at their leisure time.

Motivation to read, the driving force to achieve one’s reading goals, plays a significant role in language learning as it relates to reading engagement and achievement. Its presence is prominently necessary for a longer learning period. This article explores the features of nine pre-service students’ motivational currents and how their motivation changes throughout the task performance in Extensive Reading Programs (henceforth ERPs). Data were collected from diaries, and a retrodictive qualitative model was applied to recount the experiences of the student participants’ motivational currents following Dörnyei’s Directed Motivational Currents (DMC). Themes of diaries and interviews were generated following the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings show that the features of DMC are salient and functioning throughout the student’s learning experiences and facilitate the construction of their future identity as readers. Four patterns of motivational currents during the students’ learning were a steady wave, slight wave, moderate wave, and great wave patterns. The variability and stability of task performance motivation indicate that students’ motivational trajectories are unique, conditional, and context-bound. Identifications of the sources of motivators and demotivators provide hints for designing more engaging classroom activities, enriching the task features, and sustaining students’ motivation. This study concludes with possible directions for future motivation research.

This study, adopting a quasi-experimental research design, investigated the relative effectiveness of a 15-week extensive reading plus different modes of journal writing on EFL university students’ writing fluency and accuracy. One hundred and eleven participants, with similar initial TOEIC English proficiency levels, were assigned to three experimental groups and one control group. One experimental group participated in an extensive reading plus Chinese journal writing program. The second group was involved in an extensive reading plus English journal writing program. The third group did extensive reading plus English journal writing and teacher corrective feedback while the control group received regular English class instruction. The instruments included a TOEIC English proficiency test, a writing pretest, and a posttest. Students’ writing fluency and accuracy were evaluated by two native speakers of English. Data were analyzed by ANOVA with repeated measures to assess the participants’ writing fluency and accuracy before and after the intervention. Results showed that extensive reading plus English journal writing with or without corrective feedback significantly enhanced posttest writing fluency from the pretest. Both programs yielded a significantly better effect on posttest writing fluency than the regular class and extensive reading plus Chinese journal writing. For writing accuracy, while all three interventional programs significantly improved posttest writing accuracy from the pretest, extensive reading plus English journal writing with corrective feedback was more effective than the regular class and extensive reading plus English or Chinese journal writing. The results offered empirical support for the application of relevant theoretical frameworks, including input, output, and skill acquisition theories. The research held valuable implications for future extensive reading curriculum design incorporating diverse journal writing modes and teacher feedback to enhance students’ writing performance.

The present study aims to investigate students’ learning strategies and barriers encountered in extensive reading activities. This research was designed with a qualitative case study method. The study recruited six Indonesian university EFL students majoring in English language education to participate and a lecturer in the study program. Data were garnered through semi-structured interviews as a data collection method. The data were analyzed thematically to find emerging themes. The research findings demonstrate that the EFL students employed three extensive reading comprehension strategies. The three strategies included predicting by inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words by making guesses based on the context, guessing from context by utilizing previous knowledge about the topics in the text, and paraphrasing by creating sentences from the obtained information. Another finding also uncovers the university students’ barriers in extensive reading, including the students’ language background and lack of interest in reading. This study concludes with practical implications for how EFL students engage in extensive reading with various learning strategies and how university teachers boost their students’ interests in more diverse extensive reading activities.

Multicultural education is expected to improve the frameworks of educational institutions so that students from various ethnic, racial, cultural, and linguistic groups have equal academic accomplishment possibilities. It is essential for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and teachers in Indonesia since English has its own culture. This research aims to comprehend the practices of multiliteracies in incorporating multicultural education in extensive reading classes. This investigation used a qualitative case study using observation and in-depth interviews to collect data from the lecturer. The results showed that the lecturer incorporated all aspects of multicultural education in multiliteracies practices using a novel. While generating cultural value from students' life experiences, the researchers discovered content integration, knowledge scaffolding, equity pedagogy, bias degradation, and empowerment of school culture. Multiliteracies practices can serve as an innovative teaching technique to promote multicultural education. Additionally, EFL lecturers need multicultural learning materials to support this and to encourage students to think critically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of Extensive Reading (ER) has highlighted the crucial role that the act of reading plays in the learning of a second language. The widespread implementation of ER programs in foreign language classrooms in Japan over the last decades has led to the development of specialized platforms for digital books. Although the convenience of such books is undeniable, little attention has been paid to potential drawbacks to the learning process. Through a case study of the experiences of two students, this article aims to shed light on the disadvantages and risks associated with reading digital books, particularly on mobile phones, in extensive reading programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foundation Phase teachers need a wide, updated knowledge of children's literature and other texts to ignite learners' love for reading. Research shows that not much is being done to expand teachers' knowledge and expose them to a variety of children's literature. Thus, guided by a social semiotic theory, four popular fairy tales were selected for analysis. The qualitative content analysis focused on how mothers are portrayed in fairy tales, as mothers are considered the child's primary caregivers in many contexts. The findings of the study show that there is a dichotomous representation of mothers, where on the one hand, they can be seen as nurturing and loving and on the other hand, they can be seen as wicked and cruel. The implications of the findings suggest that it is important for teachers to be aware of what learners are reading so that they can advise and recommend relevant books. It is recommended that parents and teachers make thoughtful decisions about the kinds of texts they offer to young children. Children's literature authors need to be mindful of the messages they convey through texts and visuals as research suggests that repetitive stereotypical messages nurture lasting impressions on children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated 29 first-year Japanese university students' usage of an online vocabulary notebook that automatically searched eight different word and phrase lists to provide students with reference information about their self-selected vocabulary. Over the course of a 14-week period, participants read English books and articles and added self-selected vocabulary that they wanted to learn to individual online vocabulary notebooks. The notebooks immediately and automatically showed whether the vocabulary appeared on any of eight different reference vocabulary lists. The distribution of participant vocabulary across lists was examined and participant surveys and interviews were conducted to understand usage of the system. Analysis of participant vocabulary, learner surveys, and interviews indicated that participants selected relatively high percentages of standardized-test related vocabulary (i.e. TOEIC and TOEFL), chose individual vocabulary items over multi-word expressions, and studied vocabulary items even when they did not appear on any reference lists. Learner surveys and interview results suggested that use of the system directly or indirectly influenced half of the participants' decisions about which vocabulary to include in their notebooks, though participants reported that it did not affect their choice of reading material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive reading entails language learners' independent reading of abundant materials suitable for their proficiency levels. Previous studies have revealed extensive reading as effective for improving various aspects of second language (L2) proficiency. However, many Macau secondary schools have cancelled or reduced their extensive reading programmes (ERPs), prompting the need for a qualitative study to comprehend these modifications. In this case study, five L2 English teachers from different Macau secondary schools shared their beliefs and practices during semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts revealed all teachers supported incorporating extensive reading in their respective English curriculums; they believed students' engagement in ERPs enhanced reading fluency and comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, and L2 learning motivation and confidence. However, the teachers also believed restricted time and unengaged students hindered the ERPs. The schools' possible misinterpretations of extensive reading and their potentially unrealistic expectations regarding short-term returns against limited investment in extensive reading may have contributed to the abandonment or reduction of ERPs. To engage students in ERPs, schools should allow students to choose their own reading materials, reduce the emphasis on extensive reading tests, incorporate more intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and consider combining extensive reading with reading strategy instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading in a foreign language (English) has been a problem for primary school kids in remote places in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a significant difference in the effect of extensive reading (ER) between individual and group teaching. Students were divided into two categories, one class read individually, and the other class read in groups. This is a quantitative study. The pre-test and post-test research design was employed in this study. A comprehension test was given to the participants before and after the reading activities. The results of this study demonstrate that participants in both groups have improved their reading comprehension scores. Additionally, there is a noticeable difference between students who received ER instruction individually and those who received ER instruction in a group; both groups improved in their reading scores, as can be clearly seen from the post-test score as well as from the computed gain score of the ER group, which attained a higher score. The post test of the ER-individual is 51.39, and the normalized gain is 0.31, while the post test of the ER-group is 70.30, and its normalized gain is 0.38. Therefore, there was a significant difference between individual and group teaching. This study also revealed that the approach used to enhance pupils' reading comprehension received favorable feedback. Therefore, it is recommended to use ER groups for reading comprehension, especially for primary pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive reading (ER), which refers to reading a lot of often self-selected material for information, overall meaning, pleasure, and enjoyment, has been growing in popularity in Asia as an effective way for English as a foreign language (EFL) students to improve reading skills and has provided opportunities for comprehensible input (Nation & Waring, 2013). The focus of this action research (AR) project is on young EFL learners in a private language school setting without a grading system. Therefore, it is important that students be intrinsically motivated to read for the school's ER program to be successful, specifically, the motivation to check out and read books from a school library. Furthermore, this AR project sought to find whether certain methods can increase students' intrinsic motivation to read. The research methods include questionnaires, student voice recordings, and empirical data on book-borrowing behaviors. The findings show that indirect, rather than direct, teacher recommendation of books seems to be the most effective method to increase intrinsic motivation to do ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Drama fever' has been riding high with increasing consumer usage of OTT streaming services and prevalence of Internet-connected mobile devices, leading to the phenomenon of binge-watching on college campuses in Taiwan. In lieu of graded readers, which top out at the first 3000-4000 word-family levels, this study targeted English subtitles as an alternative source of input, since they also offer EFL leaners a channel for exposure to English. To examine this alternative, this study first measured the vocabulary levels of English subtitles for the potential thereof as extensive reading material. The researcher compiled four corpora with each having approximately 2.5 million English-subtitled words from Korean, Japanese, American and Chinese TV series across a couple of genres with high viewership ratings on OTT services for comparison. The operational measures involved the ranked twenty-five 1000-word-family lists along the word-frequency scale of the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Results showed that Englishsubtitled Korean, Japanese and Chinese dramas reached the 2nd-3rd 1000 word-family levels at 95% text coverage and the 4th-5th 1000 levels at 98% coverage, while American series extended to the 7th- 8th 1000 levels at 98% coverage from the 3rd-4th 1000 levels at 95% coverage. Moreover, ten participants expressed their views on watching English-subtitled dramas to a certain level of agreement. The data may serve as a reference concerning the vocabulary goal within the first 5000 word families for EFL learners if they continually bingewatch drama series in their leisure time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study looked into the perceptions of EFL instructors working at schools of foreign languages at various universities throughout Turkey in order to better understand the effects of Online Extensive Reading (OER) on language learning and the difficulties regarding its implementation. A mixed-type descriptive study design was used to achieve the aim of the study, and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 181 EFL instructors, and 10 of them took part in the interviews. The quantitative data analysis was performed via SPSS.23 and frequencies and percentages were calculated. The qualitative data analysis which resulted in the formation of various themes and codes was carried out via MAXQDA. The results revealed that while the instructors held favourable perceptions towards the effects of OER on language learning including its benefits on reading, writing, and vocabulary, they were worried about certain difficulties including hectic schedules, student motivation, school curriculums, exams, and their technical expertise. Overall, it was concluded that despite the instructors' favourable perceptions of OER, it is not a practice that is frequently used in higher education in Turkey due to the instructors' lack of knowledge of OER and the difficulties they mentioned.

AbstractThis study investigated Arabic teachers’ perceptions of the practice of extensive reading (ER) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study was conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project at one of the largest higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country. The project aimed to develop and launch an Arabic online reading tracking tool to mirror its successful English forerunner, the M-Reader. The present study aimed to use teachers’ perceptions to proactively address any challenges regarding the support needed from HEIs before launching the tool. A total of 34 teachers of Arabic courses in an HEI responded to an online questionnaire, which explored the reasons for, methods and approaches used, and motivation techniques and difficulties associated with implementing ER. The results showed that the teachers were aware of the benefits associated with ER practice and its positive impact on language competency. They reported encountering difficulties, which included students’ lack of interest and time for reading and their inability to read independently. Teachers also reported challenges in motivating students to read and in assessing ER practices, particularly when ER is a standalone course rather than a part of the curriculum. Based on the results, we offer practical suggestions that can benefit ER practitioners in HEIs. We conclude by offering a set of implications for the successful implementation of ER programs.

While reading circles have been utilized to promote extensive reading in many educational settings, studies on higher levels of reading engagement in under-researched, English-as-aforeign-language contexts are still in their infancy. Therefore, the current study examines the factors that increase learners' levels of engagement in extensive reading tasks. I used learner diaries to collect data from 60 undergraduate students (ages 19-23) learning English as a foreign language in Mali. The findings suggested that cohesive groups with positive norms, behavioral changes during the task (e.g., investing an exceptional effort to achieve a significant learning goal, such as reading an entire story or a novel), and enjoyment after completing a reading task corresponded with these learners' high engagement levels in extensive reading. Although the findings of this study are specific to one group of language learners, they can still be applied to plan classroom interventions in other EFL contexts to promote learners' reading engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-directed learning (SDL) ability, its usefulness in higher education and life-long learning have been highlighted in previous literature. However, there has been much less understanding of the effects of SDL ability in the school settings, specifically the effects on learners' SDL behaviors and processes. To address this limitation, this study investigated the relations between SDL ability, SDL behaviors, and reading outcomes and further explored the process of planning behaviors in SDL. This study examined the context of SDL for extensive reading using a goal-oriented active learning system, GOAL. The results showed that the high SDL ability students demonstrated significantly more reading outcomes in terms of books completed and the number of days read than those with low SDL ability. The high SDL ability students engaged significantly more in planning behaviors, that were found to be significantly correlated with reading outcomes, than the low SDL ability students. Cluster analysis and transition analysis also differentiate groups of learners with different planning behaviors. These findings suggested that the learning behaviors and outcomes facilitated by the environment were affected to varying degrees by the levels of students' SDL ability, and personalized feedback can be created using the SDL behavioral variables and patterns in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that online extensive reading (ER) has a beneficial effect on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners' reading attitudes, as well as language proficiency, including improvement in reading rates, vocabulary acquisition, and grammatical knowledge, in light of findings by Zhou and Day (2021) and others. Nonetheless, there are challenges associated with online ER in fostering the development of reading habits among EAP learners. The current article represents a thought experiment that turns over these challenges and considers answers. These challenges may be attributed to the nature of reading habits, the online ER environment, and hindrances posed by assessment practices of teacher educators' comprehension of ER. The article proposes that administrators aiming to implement successful ER programs should take into account several key considerations. These include adopting a top-down approach, seeking recognition and support from various stakeholders, incorporating diverse reading materials, shifting away from an exam-oriented atmosphere, providing opportunities for professional development, ensuring access to professional resources, and fostering a cultural shift that values online ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The effects of extensive, timed, and repeated oral reading on 101 lower-intermediate Japanese university L2 English learners' reading rates and comprehension were investigated over one academic year. The participants were divided into four quasiexperimental groups: (a) Group 1 did extensive, timed, and repeated oral reading with prosody and chunking training; (b) Group 2 practiced extensive and timed reading; (c) Group 3 did extensive reading only; and (d) Group 4 did not receive any reading fluency treatments. Three different texts of varying length and difficulty were used to measure reading rate at three times during the year. The results indicated that all three reading fluency treatment groups made statistically significant reading rate gains on the three measures while maintaining comprehension. Notably, Group 1, the group that received the most wide-ranging treatment, outperformed the other groups. Therefore, this study underscores the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to developing reading fluency in L2 contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods case study examines how an online extensive reading project impacted the 11 participants' motivation, habits, and linguistic abilities regarding L2 English reading. The participants engaged in extensive reading for one year on Xreading (an online extensive reading website). They were all female Japanese nationals aged between 30 and 65 whose L1 was Japanese. Previous studies have reported the benefits of extensive reading for elementary/intermediate learners, but have not fully looked at outcomes for learners at higher levels. This study's findings suggest that extensive reading is equally beneficial for those above the intermediate level. Throughout this project, the participants accessed graded readers on Xreading, and quickly established reading habits in English, transforming from reluctant to engaged, avid L2 readers. The qualitative data obtained from interviews, journals, and records on Xreading revealed the sources of the participants' positive changes to be: how engaging and easy to comprehend the graded readers were, a sense of commitment to the project, consistent support from the researcher, and the Xreading's useful functions. Additionally, the participants' vocabulary sizes and reading rates, increased significantly (vocabulary size gains, p < .0005 and reading rate gains, p < .05) in parallel to the substantial amount of reading they were doing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to examine the impacts of the intensive and extensive reading approaches on the reading attitudes of pre-university English as a foreign language learner (EFL) of Pakistan. This is a quantitative study using a pre-and post-test group design. The participants were 220 students of the foundation-level English course at Sukkur IBA University, Pakistan. A pre-test and post-test questionnaire was employed by the researchers to gather the data. The data were analyzed using a paired sample t-test. The results revealed that students' reading attitudes significantly changed after participating in the reading classes using the current reading approaches. The findings also showed that learners' linguistic competence significantly changed after the program. They also perceived themselves as skilled and strategic readers after the program. In addition, they reduced their reading anxiety and felt comfortable while reading in English. However, the intellectual value and the practical value of the learners remained the same before and after the program. The findings also revealed that teachers' use of Intensive reading (IR) and Extensive reading (ER) approaches in the reading classes could make learners skilled and autonomous readers. Ultimately, it could enhance their attitudes toward reading in English. The researchers recommend that IR and ER approaches should be integrated into the classes to maximize the reading proficiency and reading attitudes of the EFL Learners for a better outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the language-proficiency levels required in traditional upper-division university courses in Latin. It introduces a research framework to Classics called "domain analysis" and analyzes upper-division Latin at one university to determine the target functional outcomes for students in lower-division courses. The article finds that traditional upper-division Latin requires philological skills that are not described under widely used descriptions of language proficiency, but that these courses also require a reading proficiency corresponding to "advanced high" in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines , as well as a limited degree of listening and pronunciation ability. A lower-division curriculum that integrates active Latin techniques with those drawn from multiliteracies and grammar-translation pedagogies may be best suited to achieving these proficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading is an essential part of learning a language. During my postgraduate (PGCE) teacher-training placement in the UK, I observed extensive reading being used in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and English classrooms but saw no evidence for it in the Latin classroom. However, the practice is gaining popularity in the United States as part of Comprehensible Input-based teaching. I was interested to see if extensive reading could be introduced in my classroom without any accompanying spoken Latin and if students would be interested in it. So, I decided to try an extensive reading program for my PGCE research project. The program was positively received by the majority of students, who felt that their Latin ability had improved even after only a handful of sessions, and who appreciated the relatively stressless activity that warmed up their ‘Latin brains’. Many commented that they wanted to read for longer. This very short trial of an extensive reading program gives me much hope for a longer trial or even a permanent program in the future. I also hope that this will encourage others to try bringing extensive reading and its benefits into their classrooms.

Students have speed reading skills are very important if they want to progress and develop and not be left behind with the current situation. With this skill, students will not be left behind in responding to the rapid flow of information and ideas that daily flood print and electronic media. How to improve extensive reading skills in order to improve thinking skills by using several methods including preview, read, review with jump reading techniques, The purpose of conducting this study is to analyze extensive reading skills, and analyze changes in high-level thinking patterns using several methods including preview, read, review with jump reading techniques in order to improve the thinking skills of grade V students at SD Muhammadiyah 1 GKB Gresik. The study uses the action research method which includes two cycles. Each cycle consists of four of them that are planned, actioned, observed, and reflected. To conduct data analysis carried out quantitatively and qualitatively, Extensive reading can be used several methods of preview, read, review with jump reading techniques to improve the ability of thinking grade V students at SD Muhammadiyah 1 GKB Gresik has run optimally. The research data carried out by the analysis, about increasing extensive reading skills using 3 preview, read, review methods with jump reading techniques is 15%. The result of the average value of the first cycle is 68.68 and the average value of the second cycle is 81.10. Conclusion of the average value of extensive reading skills to improve thinking skills using 3 methods preview, read, review with jumping reading techniques increased well. There is a change in the level of thinking skills and behavior that students show, namely students are increasingly excited, active, serious, and interested in extensive reading learning using 3 methods of preview, read, review with jump reading techniques

Previous studies have shown that extensive reading (ER) encourages both L1 and L2 vocabulary learning. The current study further investigates the potential of ER in the case of primary school learners. Twenty-three Spanish EFL learners from an intact grade 4 classroom (9-10 years old) participated in ten ER sessions with audio support. The learners performed a vocabulary test including 25 target words before, immediately after and three months after the ER programme. L2 vocabulary gains were analysed according to word frequency (number of exposures to the target words) and distribution (the number of books in which the target words appeared). Results show that ER led to significant vocabulary gains. Additionally, significant effects of frequency and distribution were found on immediate vocabulary gains and of frequency on long-term gains.

Over the years, ample studies on diverse school literacy movements have been discussed. However, multimodal digital extensive reading (MDER) has not been fully incorporated into literacy programs in Islamic private school (madrasah) and Islamic boarding school (pesantren). This study attempts to investigate how digital literacy and reading literacy in the form of MDER program in madrasah and pesantren can be deployed to build strong reading habits. This study employed a qualitative case study design. It involved nine novice teacher participants from ten madrasahs and pesantrens, and one supervisor. The data were garnered from the participants' reflective journals, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), documentation, and interview with the supervisor. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study showed three fundamental tenets of the MDER program in madrasah and pesantren: teachers’ efforts, the sustainable collaboration between teachers and students, and a long-term partnership among school members and stakeholders. The result sheds light on how to build a reading habit and digital literacy in madrasah and pesantren. It also implicates the role of leaders’ policy in achieving successful program implementation.