Results of the semi-structured interview

The semi-structured interview aimed at a deeper investigation on some particular participants after the eight-week program to gather more thorough information of those who read more than 60 e-books, less than 15 e-books, as well as those who provided a detailed reflection on their reading logs no matter how many e-books they read, in an effort to shed some light on their different reading behaviors shown in the reading program. 11 interviewees were chosen. The interview was conducted in Chinese, and then the original conversation emerging in the interview would be translated into English in this section. Also, it was a focus group interview, which was intended to lower the interviewees’ anxiety. The number of the interviewees was more than 10, so they were divided into two groups for interview.

The 11 interviewees were chosen based on their behaviors shown in the reading program. Five of them were those who read over 60 e-books and coded as M1 (average), M2 (high), M3 (low), M4 (high) and M5 (high). In addition, four of them working hard on their weekly reading logs were coded as R1 (high), R2 (high), R3

(average), and R4 (low). Lastly, the two interviewees who read less than 15 books in the program were coded L1 (high) and L2 (low). Six of them were English high-achievers, two of them were with average English proficiency, and the others belonged to English low-achievers. Interestingly, from the background information of the interviewees, it is noted that the amount of reading may not totally correspond to their English proficiency.

What motivated the students to keep reading e-books? In terms of the attitude towards the online reading program and the reading platform Raz-Kids, all of the interviewees gave a positive answer to this question. When they were asked to give more detailed information on it, they offered the different reasons. Most of them indicated that they were fascinated by the e-books of Raz-Kids, supplying them with the appealing content, animation and narration. In general, the interviewees’ responses echoed the results of the post-reading questionnaire. Like the interview R1 (high) commented on the e-books on Raz-Kids:

I like to read e-books because they are more interesting than English textbooks. To me, the books that introduce words, phrases and sentence patterns are dull. Instead, the e-books provide animation, videos and narration for them. Besides, when I click on a word, the e-book will pronounce it for me.

The interviewee M5 (high), sharing a similar view with R1 (high), said:

The e-books are totally different from the conventional printed books. The words are spoken out while reading an e-book, and I can know how to pronounce the words and imitate the intonation. Also, the animation and sound effects appear along with the narration. They’re really fresh and interesting.

Furthermore, four of the interviewees, M2 (high), M3 (low), L1 (high) and L2

(low), expressed they were extremely motivated by the reward system; that is to say, they read e-books because they are eager to receive more stars. What was interesting is that those who read the most or the least e-books were both motivated by earning stars in reward, and the number of their stars was the top 5 of all the participants. The four interviewees stated their reasons respectively:

M2 (high): I read a great number of e-books because I want to learn new words and receive more and more stars. Earning stars is really interesting to me.

M3 (low): I like stars a lot, so I read lots of e-books. For me, stars are everything.

L1 (high) and L2 (low): I want to receive more stars, so I read e-books.

It was reasonable for M1 (high) and M2 (low) to read more e-books to receive more stars. However, it was very unusual that L1 (high), who was an English high-achiever, but read even fewer than ten e-books. L2 (low), who was an English low-achiever, read 13 e-books in total during the eight weeks, but both of them were able to receive a great number of stars. Their responses to this question were that they took advantage of a bug that the reading comprehension quiz of a certain e-book could be answered again and again to earn stars every time. In order to receive more and more stars in a short period, they kept reading that very e-book and answering the reading comprehension questions repeatedly. As they spent a great deal of time repeating answering the same quiz, they had less time to read other e-books. They even reported that they were fascinated by the stars. No other features of the online reading platform could attract them more. In terms of the four interviewees’ responses, it was surprising that the reward system could be a double-edged sword for the participants, which would either motivate some of the users to read a large number of e-books or fascinate some of the users, preventing them from doing more meaningful

reading.

What features played a key role when the students chose which e-books to read?

Excluding M3 (low), who were extremely obsessed with stars, stating that he read only for stars, the other interviewees made similar responses to this question. When it comes to the essential features which played an indispensable role in the process of selecting which e-books to read, the other eight interviewees would be most concerned about the title or cover of e-books, attractive content and difficulty level of e-books as well. Their answers to this question bore a close resemblance to the results shown on the post-reading questionnaire.

M2 (high): I read e-books from easy ones to more difficult ones, and I read each e-book on the same level. After finishing reading all of them, I would move to a higher level and keep reading.

M5 (high): I would set a specific level of e-books for myself to read this week and choose the e-books whose title or cover are interesting to me

R4 (low): I choose those e-books about animals to read because I like animals very much.

L1 (high): I select the e-books which are appealing to me and suitable for my English level.

It is noted that M1 (average), M2 (high), M3 (low), L1 (high) and L2 (low) reported that they read e-books from Level A, and it might account for why M1, M2 and M3 were able to read more e-books than the others for the lengths of the easy ones were shorter and took less time to read.

What the students learned during the process of reading? Except for R2 (high), who indicated that the program only promoted his motivation in learning English, the other interviewees reported that they had gains in terms of lexicon, listening, reading

abilities, culture, knowledge and compensation strategies. Basically, the interviewees’

responses were similar to the collected data from the post-reading questionnaire. As the interviewee M2 (high) reported:

I learn how to guess the meaning from the contexts when encountering unfamiliar words; also, I learned the skills of answering reading comprehension questions. Besides, I find out I read more and more e-books gradually. I can even recognize more words than before even though I can’t spell out all of them.

Another interviewee R3 (average) also mentioned that she made some progress in improving reading abilities and using compensation strategies:

I can read English e-books faster now. I find out even though the level of e-books I read becomes harder and has more pages, I can read more e-books than before. When I meet unknown words, I try to make a guess from the animation instead of looking up in the dictionary directly.

Then, the interviewee R1 (high) expressed that he learned many kinds of skills from the online reading program:

I learn how to choose which e-books to read and become more autonomous. In addition, I improve my listening and speaking abilities by repeating after the e-books. The e-books also make me know more knowledge about different cultures and fables. When I encounter unknown words, I try to guess the meaning from the animation first rather than consult the online dictionary at once.

However, for L1 (high) and L2 (low), they only reported that they learned some new words from reading e-books.

How the students solved their difficulties during the process of reading? Based on the analysis of their reply to this question, it is noted that the solution to their

reading problems depended upon their English proficiency, rather than the amount of reading. For those whose English level was high, they capitalized on compensation strategies more, making intelligent guesses from the clues and skipping unknown words when encountering unfamiliar words or phrases:

L1 (high): I guess the meaning of the words from the contexts. I didn’t look the words up in the dictionary.

M4 (high): I make a guess on the meaning of words from the contexts. If I still can’t understand it, I take a look at the animation or picture to know what they refer to. If the two ways can’t work, I will consult the online dictionary.

R2 (high): When I see unfamiliar words, I usually guess the meaning from the contexts and animation, repeat reading the same passage several times. Sometimes I just skip the words and keep reading.

However, for those whose English proficiency was average or low, they sometimes tried to guess the meaning of words from the animation or picture, but they tend to look up the words in the online dictionary right away.

M3 (low): I look up the words in Google Translation to know the meaning.

R3 (average): Sometimes I take a look at the picture, but I usually consult the online dictionary directly.

L2 (low): I translate the words into Chinese by using Google Translation.

How often did the students read e-books in their leisure time? The interviewees M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 and R4 reported that they usually read e-books at home, and the others replied that they sometimes or seldom did e-book reading in their free time. When asked for more detailed information, the interviewees provided different answers. M1 (average) read e-books as a pastime after school, and M4 (high) read

e-books for the interesting content and the attainment of her weekly goal as well. M3 (low) mentioned that he read to receive more stars. Surprisingly, M2 (high), M5 (high) and R4 (low) responded that they read e-books in their leisure time just because they wanted to achieve their weekly goal.

M5 (high): I don’t want to write down that I didn’t attain my reading goal this week on the reading log; therefore, I would keep reading until achieving my weekly goal.

M2 (high): I want to read as many e-books as possible, so I read e-books on weekends to achieve my goal.

Based on the responses above, it’s obvious that two-thirds (four of six) of those interviewees usually reading e-books in their leisure time reported that they did it to attain their reading goal. Therefore, it is supposed that the interviewees’ metacognitive abilities may also play a role in the amount of reading, and this kind of abilities may also trigger them to keep reading to reach their objectives.

Did the students reinforce their autonomy in English learning after the reading program? Four of the interviewees (36.37%), M2 (high), R1 (high), R3 (average) and L1 (high) took a positive attitude towards this question, reporting that they fostered the abilities of goal-setting, goal-attaining, self-selection and self-evaluation from the online reading program:

M2 (high): I learn to set the goal for myself to achieve every week, and I read all of the e-books from the easy level to the advanced one, from A, B, C,……to K.

R1 (high): I know how to choose which books to read based on how appealing the topic looks to me from a variety of e-books now. Choosing the e-books that I am really interested in motivates me to keep reading forward.

R3 (average): I learn how to choose which e-books to read in terms of my English level and interest.

L1 (high): I recognize my English level from the process of reading e-books, and I know how to set my reading goal in accordance with my English proficiency.

While the others (63.63%) thought they didn’t perceive the development of their autonomy in learning English after the implementation of this reading program. Even M4 (high) and M5 (high), the two English high-achievers, indicated that they were skilled in arranging, planning, and evaluating their own learning before the implementation of this reading program. It is noted that half of English high-achievers and average-achievers (four of eight) perceived their enhancement of autonomy in English learning while neither English low-achiever of the interviewees identified their progress in the autonomous learning after the eight-week program. As the responses of the interviewees showed, it suggested that the online extensive reading program may be inclined to benefit those learners with high or average English proficiency on their autonomy development more than those with relatively low English proficiency.

In a word, the results of the semi-structured interview revealed some similarities and disparities among the interviewees. While the results yield from the interviewees’

responses were comparable with those revealed from the post-reading questionnaire, the interviewee’s responses were able to provide more clues about their different reading behaviors shown in the program. Basically, the interesting content, animation, narration may attract most of them to keep reading; however, it was also found that the reward system of the online reading platform could be a double-edged sword since some may be triggered to continue reading more and more e-books while some may be obsessed with receiving more and more stars and preventing them from doing

more meaningful reading. Furthermore, most of them shared the essential features when they were selecting which e-books to read, including the title or cover of e-books, attractive content and the difficulty level of e-books. Finally, when it comes to their solution to the difficulties during the process of reading and the promotion of their autonomy in English learning, the responses of the interviewees implied that English proficiency may play a critical role in both of them.