The Effectiveness of Extensive Reading (ER) on the Development of EFL Learners’ Sight Vocabulary Size and Reading Fluency.

Few studies have examined the effects of extensive reading (ER) on foreign language learners' acquisition of sight vocabulary, especially for partially known high-frequency words and reading fluency development. This study compared groups of non-English-major Japanese university-level students engaged in ER with intensive reading (IR) for two semesters. There were two ER Groups -- one that read over 50,000 words (n = 21) and one that read below 50,000 words (n = 26) -- and one IR Group (n = 25). The participants spent almost the same time on their task and were exposed mainly to 1k-and 2k-level vocabulary. The results of the vocabulary level tests revealed that ER was more effective and efficient for developing sight vocabulary of partially known high-frequency words. Only the ER Groups significantly improved their reading rates, indicating that ER facilitated reading fluency better than IR; moreover, the more words they read, the greater their improvement. The pedagogical implication is that the adoption of ER in an EFL curriculum is a feasible option to facilitate vocabulary acquisition and reading fluency for communication purposes in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]