國中學生對於線上英語廣泛閱讀之看法:以台東縣一所國中為例

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩. 士. 技. 術. 報. 告. Technical Report for the Degree of Master Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 國中學生對於線上英語廣泛閱讀之看法：以台東縣一所國中為例. Taiwanese EFL Junior High School Students’ Perceptions of Online English Extensive Reading: A Case Study of an English Classroom in Taitung. 指導教授：陳秋蘭博士 Advisor: Dr. Chiou-Lan Chern 研究生：陳怡君 I-Chun Chen. 中華民國一ｏ八年六月 June 2019.

(2) CHINESE ABSTRACT 本研究為一個案研究，旨在研究英語線上廣泛閱讀課程以及分級讀本對於偏遠地區國中學生之學習態度、英語閱讀理解能力之影響。研究對象為來自東台灣偏遠地區的二十五位七年級國中學生。本研究為期十二週，學生們每週在電腦教室閱讀三至四堂課，共大約一百二十分鐘的時間。此外，研究者鼓勵學生們可於課餘的額外時間繼續進行英語線上廣泛閱讀課程。在此十二週的課程中，學生們在前兩週的時間摸索電腦、線上閱讀介面功能，以及找尋適合自己閱讀的書籍。本研究所蒐集的資料包含線上閱讀紀錄、學生閱讀札記、學生閱讀回饋單、深入訪談以及教師觀察。學生們閱讀完喜愛的書籍後，在閱讀札記上寫下故事內容或自己的感想。研究結果顯示英語線上廣泛閱讀課程確實對於偏遠地區國中學生有著正面的影響。大部分的學生表示，他們對於在閱讀英語文章時，不再感到害怕、困惑。此外，有些學生表示，英語線上廣泛閱讀課程像是一本百科全書，一邊閱讀，一邊學習新知識。本研究中的二十五位學生身處地緣偏僻，學習資源、師資困乏的地方，很少有機會接觸到英語使用的環境。英語線上廣泛閱讀課程對於這二十五位學生來說，是個嶄新的學習經驗，有別於傳統文法的教學。本研究建議，偏遠地區教師可採用英語線上廣泛閱讀課程納於正式課程當中，提升學生學習英語的動機，並鼓勵學生多閱讀英語書籍。. 關鍵字：英語線上廣泛閱讀、分級讀本、偏遠地區、學習動機. i.

(3) ENGLISH ABSTRACT This present study aims to investigate the effects of online extensive reading (ER) program and graded readers on EFL junior high school learners in a remote area of Taiwan. This study was implemented for twelve weeks, from November, 2018 to March, 2019. Twenty-five seventh graders in a junior high school in Taitung county, the eastern part of Taiwan, participated in this study. The students used computers as reading tools for 3 to 4 periods, about 120 minutes, in class per week. Besides, the students were also encouraged by the researcher to read extensively out of class in their free time. The data was collected from online reading records, students’ reading reports, the open-ended questionnaire, interviews, and teacher’s observation. The results showed that online ER program had positive influences on students’ attitudes towards learning English and their own English proficiency. Most of the students in this study described that doing ER program enabled them not to be afraid of reading English. Moreover, some of the students said that ER was just like an encyclopedia for them to learn a lot of knowledge. These 25 students were in a remote area where resources and teachers are limited. However, doing ER program brought them a brand-new experience and motivated them to read English books. It is suggested that teachers in a remote area could employ ER program on EFL students to motivate their reading attitudes and encourage them to like English more.. Keywords: online extensive reading program, graded readers, remote area, motivation. ii.

(4) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Through past five-year teaching experiences and students’ feedbacks about my teaching methods, I was eager to come back to school to learn more and brand-new teaching methods to help my students, who were in remote areas. Thanks to NTNU, it gave me a chance to be a graduate student. During past three years studying in NTNU, I learned a lot from various professors, wonderful classmates, and interesting teaching methods. Completing this technical reports is also a big task for me. I really appreciate that there are many awesome people who encouraged me a lot. First, my deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Dr. Chiou-lan Chern, who encouraged me a lot and provided me many useful guidance and valuable suggestions on conducting my research. She was really a nice teacher who guided me with much patience and taught me how to conduct a research with efficient ways. During our discussion on my research and my technical report, I learned a lot from her every time. Without her help, I would not complete this technical report. Second, I would like to show my great gratitude to the committee members of my thesis, Dr. Mei-lan Lo and Dr. Hsiu-chuan Chen. Both of them gave me a lot of useful and effective advices before I conducted my research. With their advices, I could conduct my research successfully. Besides, they also gave me many suggestions to help me revise the draft version of this report. Next, I would like to show my gratitude to my dear colleagues and students at Taitung County. My colleagues always helped me and encouraged me when I faced troubles. Furthermore, they would provide some solutions to my research. Thanks to my students, they really read happily and changed their attitudes towards learning English after doing this online ER program. Last, I wanted to dedicated the completion of this study to my family: my parents. iii.

(5) and my brother. Without their consistent support, I would not have finished my technical report this year. I am very thankful that they have always backed my up when I felt frustrated. From this online ER program, I enjoyed this teaching method which was totally different from my past five-year teaching methods. With this kind of pleasurable teaching method, I would like to try more innovative teaching methods and keep challenging myself.. iv.

(6) Table of Contents CHINESE ABSTRACT…………………………………………………….………i ENGLISH ABSTRACT…………………………………………………….…...….ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………...…..…………..iii Table of Contents.…………………………………………………...…..…………...v List of Tables………………………………………………………………………viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 6 English Education in Remote Areas in Taiwan ................................................. 6 Input Hypothesis and Affective Filter Hypothesis ............................................ 8 An Overview of Extensive Reading Studies ..................................................... 10 ER and Reading Comprehension ............................................................. 14 ER and Reading Speed .............................................................................. 15 ER and Vocabulary Learning ................................................................... 17 ER and Reading Motivation ..................................................................... 19 ER and Reading Attitude .......................................................................... 21 ER and Learner Autonomy ....................................................................... 24 Graded Readers ................................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 29 Setting.................................................................................................................. 29 Participants ......................................................................................................... 30 ER Implementation Procedure ......................................................................... 31 Reading Materials .............................................................................................. 34 Instruments ......................................................................................................... 34 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................... 38. v.

(7) CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ................................................................................. 39 Students’ Reading Journey................................................................................ 39 Students’ Reading Habits .................................................................................. 47 Students’ Reactions to Online ER Program and Graded Readers ................ 49 Students’ Reactions to Online ER Program .................................................... 49 Students’ Usage of Online ER Program out of Class ...................................... 51 Students’ Difficulties in Online ER Program .................................................. 52 Students’ Reactions to Traditional Grammar Course and Online ER Program .............................................................................................................. 54 Perceptions of Students’ English Reading Abilities After Online ER Program .............................................................................................................................. 56 Students’ Opinions to English After Online ER Program .............................. 58 Students’ Opinions Towards Adopting Online ER Program in the Future .. 60 Students’ Reactions to Graded Readers ........................................................... 61 The Comparison of Fictions and Nonfictions .................................................. 65 Benefits From Graded Readers ........................................................................ 67 The Researcher’s Reflections During Online ER Program ........................... 68 Summary ............................................................................................................. 69 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION ......................................... 70 Major Findings and Discussion ........................................................................ 70 Pedagogical Implications ................................................................................... 72 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research .......................................... 74 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 75 References ................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix A ................................................................................................................. 85 Appendix B ................................................................................................................. 86 vi.

(8) Appendix B ................................................................................................................. 90 Appendix C ................................................................................................................. 94 Appendix C ................................................................................................................. 95. vii.

(9) List of Tables Table 1 Number of Students’ Online Reading Records and Written Reading Reports ··············································································42 Table 2 Preferred Topic of Chinese Books ·············································48 Table 3 Preferred Topic of English Books··············································49 Table 4 Difficulties in Reading Online ER Program ·································52 Table 5 Students’ Perceptions of Their English Reading Competency ··········57 Table 6 Students’ Perceptions of Their Changes Towards English ···············59 Table 7 Students’ Reasons for Book Choice ···········································64 Table 8 Knowledge Learned From Graded Readers ································68. viii.

(10) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Nowadays, English has been recognized as the world’s global language (Crystal, 2003) because it is used as a communication tool by speakers of different language backgrounds. Due to globalization, English has become an important academic subject in Taiwan, especially for junior high and senior high school students. Although the curriculum guidelines put emphasis on integrating four skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing of English, students still have to focus on reading in order to pass the entrance exams. To help students perform well on the exams, teachers in junior high schools face arduous tasks. Traditional teaching methods are commonly adopted in classes in Taiwan. A large amount of class time is spent on vocabulary teaching, grammar explanation, and sentence translation. Students need to do lots of exercises and memorize everything from textbooks. Under this type of test-oriented teaching methods, most of the students lack motivations and have no interests in learning English. Gradually, they might feel passive and take learning English as a tiresome process. Chang (2006) points out that “bimodal distribution” (p.3) has existed for many years, and it has worsened recently. There are huge gaps between students’ family backgrounds, school resources, and thus students’ motivations also vary. Bimodal distribution becomes a common and severe problem, especially in Taitung, a city in the remote southeastern part of Taiwan. There is an obvious difference in English proficiency between students in rural and urban areas. Many students in Taitung are either aborigines or from poor families. Because of limited resources, they barely have chances to get outside cultural stimuli in learning English. Though students learn English from the third grade in elementary schools, there are. 1.

(11) tremendous gaps among them when they enter junior high schools. According to Lin (2014), students in remote areas must cope with inferior learning environments caused by a lack of facilities for language teaching, financial constraints, and the shortage of English teachers. Zhen (2007) figures that there are many factors causing learning disadvantages to students in remote areas. For teachers in remote districts, it is quite challenging to adopt appropriate teaching methods or materials for students, who have a great difference of English proficiency levels. As an English teacher in junior high school in Taitung, I know that there are English proficiency discrepancies among students. Chang, Wang, and Weng’s (2010) study on aboriginal district found that students were unwilling and had no motives to learn English due to the deficiency of learning resources. They cannot see the importance of learning English in their life. Some of the students even cannot identify twenty-six letters when they enter junior high schools. One or two of them out of a class might pass elementary level exams from GEPT (General English Proficiency Test). Owing to such great differences, teachers need to cope with the gap between high and low English proficiency learners. High proficiency learners have no interest in the instruction and activities in the classroom because they are not challenging. On the contrary, low proficiency learners might encounter problems of catching up with others because they are falling behind. It then gives teachers opportunities to design a suitable method to attend to every student’s learning needs. To meet the educational policy and help students get sense of achievement, teachers have no choice but to adopt traditional teaching methods to teach what’s in the textbooks. Students’ motivation in learning English cannot be promoted in this kind of learning atmosphere. During my past five-year teaching experiences in Taitung, I find that it is hard to encourage students to read English articles. When reading articles from the textbooks, 2.

(12) students usually give up immediately. According to my observation in class, students in Taitung can be divided into three kinds. First, elementary level students can only recognize a few words in isolation. They cannot understand those words in a sentence or a passage; therefore, they refuse to read any articles for fear of feeling frustrated. Then, intermediate level students can read the sentences one at a time. However, they cannot totally understand the whole meanings in the paragraph. Last, advanced level students might feel bored because of monotonous practice of sentences. I was eager to help students, so I looked for articles or materials that fit students’ needs and levels. Nonetheless, it didn’t work in the long run and I became depressed. I found that I chose the articles or books just from my own point of views, not according to students’. Helping students read and enhance their reading abilities is very important. Krashen (1988) stated, “The amount of free reading done consistently correlates with performance on reading comprehension tests, a result that confirms the hypothesis that we learn to read by reading” (p.291). Besides, Nuttall (1982) mentioned that “the best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it” (p.168). I think that developing students’ reading habits and building an English reading environment are crucial. With rich reading experiences, students’ reading motivations and level of autonomy will increase. Cambria and Guthrie (2010) stated that motivation correlates to learners’ enjoyments, needs, and their behaviors in reading. It determines whether learners will read widely and frequently. In order to cultivate students’ reading habits and raise their motivations in English, one of the effective solutions is to do extensive reading (ER) in English. Many researchers hold positive attitudes towards ER and assert that ER might improve students English proficiency levels in various aspects, including reading 3.

(13) proficiency (Chen, Chen, Chen, & Wey, 2013; Mermelstein, 2014; Yeh, 2016), vocabulary knowledge (Chen, et al., 2013), reading speed (Bell, 2001; McLean & Rouault, 2017) and attitudes and motivations (Chen, et al., 2013; Mermelstein, 2014; Yeh, 2016). English textbooks cannot be seen as the only materials for students in this era. Supplementary reading has been highly valued and included into regular curriculum. Palmer (1917) used this term “extensive reading” (ER) in order to distinguish it from “intensive reading.” He defines ER as “Reading may be intensive and extensive. In the former case, each sentence is subjected to a careful scrutiny, and the more interesting may be paraphrased, translated, or learnt by heart. In the latter case, book after book will be read through without giving more than a superficial and passing attention to the lexicological units of which it is composed” (p. 205). Conducting an ER program might lower students’ anxiety when reading articles. Students can choose what they want to read and what they are interested in. Learners can have the freedom to decide what kind of books that are appropriate for them. Most important of all, reading is not a nightmare for low achievers as they can read in a relaxing environment. For high English proficiency learners, they can take up the challenge to choose more challenging texts. To accomplish everyone’s goals, graded readers will be proper options for students of low or high English proficiencies. Robert (2006) claimed that graded readers are edited to simplify vocabulary, phrase, grammar, and sentence structure. The content is thoroughly examined and sometimes it is provided with some pictures to give the illustrations of unfamiliar words. He described that the purpose of graded readers is to develop reading fluency to encourage readers to read more and then move on to the next level of proficiency. With the above advantages mentioned by many researchers, some teachers implemented ER on regular English courses to help their students improve overall 4.

(14) English proficiencies. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of extensive reading on adolescents, especially for senior (Chang, 2010; Lin, 2004) and junior high school students (Chen, 2005; Hung, 2017; Lu, 2017; Yeh, 2016) in Taiwan. These studies looked into students’ reading comprehension (Chang, 2010; Lin, 2014; Lu, 2017; Yeh, 2016), reading attitude (Chen, 2005; Lin, 2014; Lu, 2017), writing skill (Lin, 2014), learner autonomy (Hung, 2017), listening comprehension (Chang, 2010), and vocabulary size (Chang, 2010) and have found positive results. Junior high school students are still in the exploration of learning, and some students might not know what they really want to learn and why they need to read. Therefore, during junior high school phase, teachers accompany students and lead them to follow the steps in extensive reading to lift the motivations and interests in learning English. However, the above studies barely mentioned whether students in remote districts with less resource and privilege, like Taitung, can also benefit from ER. This study aims to answer the following research questions: 1. How do EFL junior high school students in Taitung respond to online extensive reading program? 2. How do EFL junior high school students in Taitung respond to graded readers?. 5.

(15) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews various researches on the topic of extensive reading. It could be divided into four major sections. Following the theoretical framework proposed for this study, this chapter begins with an exploration of English education in remote areas in Taiwan depending on English teaching deficiency faced by in-service teachers. The next section describes extensive reading based on Input Hypothesis and Affective Filter Hypothesis. Then, the third section provides an overview of extensive reading studies, including the background, the concept, characteristics, and the benefits. The last one presents graded readers adopted in extensive reading for learners to acquire second language.. English Education in Remote Areas in Taiwan In remote areas, students might encounter the deficiency of educational institutions to choose from and appropriateness of learning materials and textbooks (Bing, 2008, pp.89-90). Nikolov and Djigunović’s study (2011) described that students from rural or low socioeconomic status have rare opportunities to learn a foreign language (p.98). They mentioned that children in socio-economically advantaged environment are more capable of learning English or other languages at the early age (p.105). Thus, issues of equality and diversity have been discussed recently. In rural areas, it is a challenge to motivate students to learn a foreign language. Many EFL learners may not see the relevance of learning English when they barely have contact with English speakers (Copland, Garton, & Burns, 2014, p.741). In Taiwan, several problems exist in English education and they all need to be. 6.

(16) taken seriously. There is a great discrepancy of the English proficiency among students between the rural areas and urban areas (Lin, 2018). Teachers in remote areas might face the following situations. First, there is a huge gap between students’ English proficiency in one class. Second, the lack of qualified teachers is also a big problem. Because of insufficient budget, an English teacher often teaches different schools, at least two or three schools in a week. This gives English teachers much pressure and prevents them from paying attention to students who are really in need of help. Third, there might be shortage of teaching equipment in some remote schools. Teachers need to rely on the deficient and old resources to prepare their lessons (Lee, 2003; Lin, 2018; Sun, 2012). Therefore, building up a better English-learning environment in remote areas is an urgent issue. In Lee’s (2013) report, Child Welfare League Foundation conducted a survey on remote areas in Taiwan. This survey was conducted in 2012. The foundation collected the data from the fifth and sixth graders among urban and rural areas. They also collected the opinions from the teachers who work in rural areas. About 72 percent of the children in remote areas have insufficient educational resources. Obviously, the gap between rural and urban cities has become a vital concern in Taiwan (Lee, 2013, Taipei Times). In this survey, it also reported that 94.9 percent of the children in remote areas have less access to English-language reading materials. Then, 25.2 percent of them could not even name the English alphabet. From the above data, the shortage of resources in rural areas has large impacts on students’ learning. The most important of all, it might also result in a vicious cycle of poverty. For teachers in a remote district in Taiwan, how to boost students’ English learning motivations is an urgent problem to be solved. Because of limited resources and equipment in Taitung, a remote city in eastern part of Taiwan, students are less likely to have chances to get outside stimuli or obtain global vision. Students there 7.

(17) still cannot understand the importance of learning English and the use of English in their daily lives. These students in Taitung need teachers’ guidances to learn English. As a result, adopting an extensive reading program might be a turning point for the students there. Extensive reading provides readers sufficient input. If readers choose appropriate materials, they can comprehend the texts easily and enjoyably. The features of extensive reading can find support in Input Hypothesis and Affective Filter Hypothesis.. Input Hypothesis and Affective Filter Hypothesis This section includes two theoretical aspects: the Input Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis. Grabe (2009) states that reading has become a crucial language skill not only in learners’ first language but also in second language (L2). Krashen (1993) argues that learners who read more in L2 perform better on comprehension tests than those who read less. Krashen, in his Input Hypothesis, mentions that reading is the most direct method to help learners acquire L2. He names this method “Natural Approach.” Teachers need to ensure that learners are equipped with enough input which is meaningful and comprehensible to them (Krashen, 1982, 1985). Based on his Input Hypothesis, Krashen (1989) assumed that we learn language by understanding messages. More specifically, Krashen thought that comprehensible input plays an essential role in learning and it is an indispensable internal language acquisition device in learning L2 (Krashen, 1989, p.440). The core concept of Input Hypothesis is that the only way learners learn language is to receive “comprehensible input.” Here, receiving “comprehensible input” means learners understand and focus on the meaning, not the form of the message. He used the formula “i+1” to elaborate his Input Hypothesis. He said that learners make a 8.

(18) progress along the natural order and understand input containing the structure that is “a little beyond” their current level. In his formula, “i” stands for learners’ existing competence and “1” means the language materials slightly higher than learners’ current level (Krashen, 1982, 1985). Krashen (1982) proposed that an optimal input should be: (1) comprehensible, (2) interesting or relevant, (3) not grammatically sequenced; and (4) with sufficient quantity. Besides, he claims that in order to understand the meaningful input, learners should use linguistic clues, context, knowledge of the world and extra-linguistic information to assist them. In Krashen’s viewpoint, teachers play a vital role because they have to provide adequate comprehensible input to learners. Teachers will prepare proper materials to suit everyone’s needs, catch learners’ attention, and boost their motivations in reading. All of the above mentioned is to arouse students’ interests in learning English. Krashen (1985) describes that “Comprehensible input is necessary for acquisition, but it is not sufficient. The acquirer needs to be open to the input” (p.3). Then, he put forward the “Affective Filter Hypothesis,” which is a description of how the affective factors correlate to second language acquisition (SLA). For teachers, it brings them to have a better understanding of why some people learn and others do not. According to Krashen (1985), the “affective filter” will cause a mental block which prevents learners from absorbing and receiving comprehensible input in second language acquisition. To achieve effective learning, the affective filter must be low. Learners with low affective filter will have positive attitude towards learning and allow more “input” to reach language acquisition device (LAD) and interact with confidence. LAD, according to Chomsky (1965), is an innate ability of people which allow them to acquire and develop language. On the contrary, when the filter is high, no matter what learners hear or read, it impedes input to reach the LAD. This situation 9.

(19) occurs when learners are unmotivated, lack of self-confidence, and filled with frustration (Du, 2009). Krashen (1985) has indicated that there are three main factors influencing learners to acquire second language. The first is motivation, the desire and impetus for SLA learners. The most prominent research is Gardner and Lambert (1972), who introduced two motivations: integrative and instrumental. They mentioned that integrative motivation occurs when language learners have positive attitudes and have interests in people, cultures, and people of the target language. Moreover, Gardner and Lambert emphasized the importance of integrative motivation for successful second language acquisition. Second, self-confidence is a key factor to push the fulfillment of a person’s worth. Those learners possessing self-confidence and a good self-image have better chances to succeed and braveness to overcome the challenges. Last, anxiety for language learning is caused by frustration of one’s self-esteem. It happens when an individual cannot accomplish his or her goals and has difficulties and uncertainty in employing the target language. It is obvious that teachers in the classroom need to cultivate students’ interests, boost their motivation, build up confidence for them, and lower their anxiety towards SLA.. An Overview of Extensive Reading Studies Reading is the most important language skill for EFL or ESL learners. Over the past few years, how to develop learners’ L2 reading ability has caught more attention. Reading ability could develop gradually when L2 learners are consistently exposed to richly meaningful input, namely extensive reading (ER). ER has been viewed as an effective approach to help learners improve their reading ability, motivate their willingness and interests and result in the development of skilled reading strategies (Day & Bamford, 1998; Grabe, 2009; Krashen, 2004, 2011; Suk, 2016). As Huffman 10.

(20) (2014) suggested, “reading comprehension, fluency development, enjoyment and confidence in reading go hand in hand and must be built up together through practice over time” (p.17). In the EFL teaching environment, teachers play the role of facilitators and are role models (Lien, 2010). Maley (1999) drew a depiction that “We need to realize how much influence we have on our students. Students do not just (or even) learn the subject matter we teach them; they learn from their teachers. Teacher attitude, more than technical expertise, is what they will recall when they leave us” (p.7). When the classroom becomes a place where teachers and students share reading, it might help boost students’ motivations towards reading and learning a foreign language. Reading is an effective way to promote learners’ language proficiency, specifically in input-poor environment. In support of ER, Krashen (1982) argued that “extensive reading will lead to language acquisition, provided that certain preconditions are met” (as cited in Shaffer, 2012, p.4). ER enables learners to read as much as possible, for the purpose of pleasure, information, and general knowledge rather than a particular learning feature (Day & Bamford, 2002). Richards and Schmidt (2002) defines ER as “reading in quantity and reading in order to gain a general understanding of what is read. It is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading” (pp.193-194). To meet learners’ various levels, ER offers readers repeated encounters with language items they have already learned. It facilitates readers to consolidate what they have already learned and then extends to other language dimensions. To learn a language, the only reliable way for learners is through massive and repeated exposure to context, this is the most appealing feature of ER (Maley, 2008). The term “extensive reading” (ER) was first posited by Palmer (1917) (as cited 11.

(21) in Day & Bamford, 1998, p.187) to make a distinction from intensive reading (IR) (Palmer, 1917). IR mainly concentrates on closely reading shorter texts, doing follow-up comprehension exercises, and learning the text. Traditional teaching methods use IR as foremost ways to teach and teachers ask learners to decode the vocabulary and structure. It depends on bottom-up model focusing on linguistic skills which requires learners to devote time and energy on the text itself. However, struggling learners have passive attitude towards reading. Gradually, those weak achievers tend to read unwillingly and have no motivation at all. Nuttall (1996) named this situation as “the vicious circle of reading,” (p.127) which leads struggling learners to read as little as possible and decrease their interests in language learning. ER provides a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere for learners; besides, readers can do self-selections of books or materials within their linguistic competence. This gives learners lots of flexibility and inspires their autonomy in reading independently. ER can result in “the reading of large quantities of material for global or general understanding with the intention of getting pleasure from reading” (Lin, 2004, p.20). Some researchers have also argued that ER is certainly necessary in promoting learners’ reading fluency. Because of large amount of time spent on reading extensively, learners’ vocabulary growth expands and then their reading speed increases automatically (Blevins, 2005; Iwahori, 2008; Samuels, 2006). The aim of ER is to simply immerse oneself in one’s target language with no anxiety. It emphasizes that learners do not need to get familiar with every single word and grammar structure, and it gives them opportunities to practice reading strategies such as word guessing based on previous context or look for global meaning in the context (Day & Bamford, 2002). The core features of ER are “reading in quantity,” “reading rapidly,” “reading for enjoyment,” “choosing materials from learners’ self-selection,” and “authentic 12.

(22) experiences” (Day, 2015, p.294). In Day and Bamford’s study (Day & Bamford, 2002), they utilized these original characteristics as ER principles. The followings are the ten principles provided by Day and Bamford (2002) with regard to the principles of ER in SLA: “(1) The reading material is easy, (2) A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics is available, (3) Learners choose what they want to read, (4) Learners read as much as possible, (5) The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding, (6) Reading is its own reward, (7) Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower, (8) Reading is individual and silent, (9) Teachers orient and guide their students; and (10) The teacher is a role model of a reader” (pp.136, 137-141). Day and Bamford (2002) believe these ten principles are the basic elements of extensive reading. Among these principles, teachers could examine their beliefs in teaching reading, incorporate these ten principles into their teaching experiences, and think about how to put them into practice and help students. There have been numerous researchers investigating the benefits of ER in different aspects on SLA and arguing that ER is recognized as an effective way to promote learners’ reading ability and second language proficiency. ER helps learners develop positive attitude (Al-Homoud & Schmitt, 2009; Asraf & Ahmad, 2003; Elley, 1991; Mason & Krashen, 1997 ), build up self-confidence towards reading (Lituanas, Jacobs, & Renandya, 2001; Mason & Krashen, 1997), arouse their motivations and interests, and increase their language proficiency in vocabulary recognition (Al-Homoud & Schmitt, 2009; Cho & Krashen, 1994), reading fluency (Al-Homoud & Schmitt, 2009; Yamashita, 2008), writing skills (Tudor & Hafiz, 1989), spelling (Elley & Mangubhai, 1983), grammatical structure (Tudor & Hafiz, 1989) and so on. ER has been commonly used to facilitate overall language learning skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and many studies point out ER can have 13.

(23) positive influence on learners’ attitude toward reading in L2 (Takase, 2007). Takase (2007) made an investigation of factors which might motivate Japanese high school students to read English extensively. She implemented an experiment on 219 female students for 1 academic year and used graded readers as materials. The result shows that the two most influential factors were students’ intrinsic motivations for L1 and L2 reading.. ER and Reading Comprehension A large number of studies have documented that reading comprehension would increase through ER program (Bell, 2001; Chen, et al., 2013; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Mermelstein, 2014; Sims, 1996). To examine the effects of ER on Asian EFL students’ reading levels, Mermelstein (2014) adopted a 12-week ER program on Taiwanese fourth year, non-English major, EFL university students and applied communicative language teaching (CLT) and student-centered teaching approaches. The participants were 87 students, who were randomly divided into two groups－the control group and the experimental group－by the researcher. The reading materials provided in this program were two graded reader serials, Oxford Bookwarms and the Penguin Classics. There were about 500-600 word-level books available for students to choose. The outcome indicated that the treatment group had better performance than the control group on reading comprehension. Likewise, Chen et al. (2013) did a research on 89 Taiwanese technological university freshmen and a 10-week e-book ER program was conducted for the experimental group by encouraging students to read books from selected websites. To allow students to choose books conveniently, the researcher categorized these e-books into three library collections––Green Hill, Blue Ocean, and Brown Volcano in terms of their authenticity and difficulty. The finding showed that ER via e-books facilitated 14.

(24) tertiary level EFL students’ L2 learning on reading comprehension and vocabulary growth. Reading strategies used by the experimental group in extensive reading such as “finding out key words,” “guessing word meaning,” “connecting the context to previous or real-word experiences,” and “writing skills” are beneficial to learners when reading a passage without any assistance of dictionary (p.308). Chen, et al. (2013) think that aforementioned reading strategies used in the extensive reading might help students in reading and also developing readers’ reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. Another research was conducted by Sims (1996), who carried out a study on comparison of two groups of Taiwanese university freshmen based on two approaches, either by a skill-based approach or extensive reading for pleasure. Four classes of students, a total of 120 students, were involved in this study, with two classes instructed using a skill-based approach and the other two classes introduced an extensive reading program for pleasure. ER was done one hour per week in class and over 600 books and other materials were free for students to choose. Achievements in reading comprehension were measured through written recall protocols and multiple-choice tests. At the end of the course, both the multiple-choice and written recall protocol demonstrated that subjects in pleasure reading classes significantly scored higher than the control group taught by skill-based approach. Besides, participants in ER groups also reported that they spent more time reading English materials outside of class.. ER and Reading Speed In contrast to the various studies connecting ER to reading comprehension, only a few studies were found to be related to learners’ reading speed through the ER program (Bell, 2001; Lao & Krashen, 2000; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Robb & Susser, 15.

(25) 1989). However, the research conducted on the examination of the relationship between ER and learners’ reading fluency gradually become more common. According to Bell’s argument (2001), reading speed was defined as “speeds measured in words per minute on selected texts at a level appropriate to the learners’ levels.” Bell researched both reading speed and comprehension in two groups of learners exposed to “intensive” and “extensive” reading programs. The total participants were 26 in a beginning English proficiency level class of government employees (aged from 17 to 42) in Sanaa, Yemen. The experimental group, approximately 14, had an access to class readers, a class library of books for students to borrow, and pay a regular visit to the library providing a large amount of graded readers. The study lasted over a period of two semesters and the ER program extended over one quarter of the total class time (36 out of 144 hours). The finding shows that ER group with graded readers has much more substantial gains in basic reading speed than IR group by studying short texts followed by comprehension questions in terms of traditional cloze reading skills. Based on the results, Bell (2001) implied that reading speed will develop naturally if learners are motivated to read interesting simplified materials like graded readers that are accessible linguistically. He (2014) assessed the development of reading speeds between two different ER groups—the free reading group and the integration reading group. There were 66 senior high school students in Shanghai and the researcher implemented ER for one academic year. The free reading group (N=33) was encouraged to read as much as possible and feel free to decide which title and how much to read. While the integration group (N=33) was asked to read a certain amount every day and ER program became their daily assignment. Both of these groups were required to read out of class; however, the integration group was asked to read a certain amount of reading every day. On measuring learners’ individual levels, both groups read the last 16.

(26) book faster than the first book at the same level. Moreover, the study also indicated that the integration group participants made more progress than the free reading group. As a result, He (2014) recommend that “by improving reading speed, the students will be exposed to much more language than if they read at a slower, more laborious speed” (He, 2014, p.16). From this study, we may infer that ER was effective in promoting learners’ reading speed. To investigate the reading speed gains, Huffman (2014) conducted a study on 66 female first-year students at a private nursing college in Japan. The study was put into practice during the students’ first semester of college, lasting 90 minutes per week for 15 weeks. The ER group was encouraged to consider choosing easier level, below their current reading level, and this might not impede students’ interests in reading L2 materials. At the end of the treatment, the ER group improved their reading speed from 110.59 wpm to 131.33 wpm. The ER’s reading rate increased 20.74 wpm and it could attribute to students’ huge involvement in timed reading activities during class time throughout the whole semester.. ER and Vocabulary Learning Extensive reading program encourages learners to be immersed in large quantities of materials within their linguistic competence. Huckin and Coady (1999) defined ER as a “pedagogically efficient” approach which “enables two activities—vocabulary acquisition and reading—to occur at the same time” (p.182). Due to ER’s pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere, ER provides learners the chances to see target words repeatedly within the context, increases sight vocabulary and leads to substantial vocabulary learning (Pigada & Schimitt, 2006). Besides, Krashen (1989) argues that sustained silent program (SSR), namely ER, demonstrates that “more comprehensible input results in more vocabulary acquisition” (p.441). 17.

(27) In order to see whether ER helps improve learners’ vocabulary knowledge, Soltani (2011) did a study with 80 EFL learners in Iran. The participants were all male learners, aged 17-27, and enrolled in 10 weeks of ER from February to April, in 2011. Before the procedure, 80 students took a Michigan test of English proficiency (2001) to divide them into upper and lower intermediate learners, each level having 40 participants. Then, learners were randomly divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG), and each of which consisted of 20 learners. The EG read a story every two weeks and was required to hand in the summary, write a paragraph, and contextualize a sentence with newly learned words. On the other hand, the CG only received conventional reading lessons and didn’t read supplementary stories. In the end, the study showed that the students of each level in EG could recognize the meaning of vocabulary even better than the CG’s. He concluded that EG had more reading practices and the repetition of words helps readers develop a deeper and correct understanding of word meanings and it fostered vocabulary learning. To find the effect of ER on EFL students’ vocabulary learning, Suk (2016) designed an experiment on 171 Korean EFL university students, aged from 18 to 26, in southern Korea. The study was conducted over 15 weeks and compared two different groups—the control group and the experimental group. In the research, the two control classes (n=88) received 100-minute intensive reading instruction without any additional activities per week, while the two experimental classes (n=83) received 70-minute intensive reading instruction and 30-minute extensive reading instruction per week. To give students a pleasurable reading experience, approximately 350 graded readers were available to students. At the beginning of the class, the two EGs chose graded readers on their own and read silently for 15-20 minutes. Then, the participants were asked to do some ER activities in the remaining 10-15 minutes. Finally, the study indicated that the most obvious gain was in vocabulary compared 18.

(28) with reading comprehension and rate. Suk (2016) concluded that two possible reasons for EG’s improvement on vocabulary acquisition are as follows. First, it seemed that consistent and immense exposure to graded readers accelerated students’ incidental vocabulary acquisition. Second, the vocabulary drawn from graded readers and the broad sampling of high frequency vocabulary helped students improve their vocabulary size. Tiryaki and Tütüniş (2012) revealed whether ER has any role on vocabulary development of elementary level EFL students in Turkey and this research was carried out at a private university, with 100 unmotivated and reluctant participants enrolled in the study and they were divided into the CG and the EG groups, with 50 in each group. For the CG, they were not exposed to any ER sessions and only read English in the classroom during 12 weeks. During this period, the EG was encouraged to read extensively by using graded readers. Eventually, this research showed that ER had an effect on EFL learner’s vocabulary development and ensured more delightful word learning.. ER and Reading Motivation With the increasing discussions of impacts of ER, motivation is proposed to be connected to foreign language (FL) learners’ attitudes (Rahmany, Zarei & Gilak, 2013). To investigate the motivation on EFL learners’ reading, Ro (2013) examined an adult reader’s motivation and anxiety change towards L2, using a single case study design, a 28-year-old Korean female in 24 extensive reading sessions over 8 weeks. Data were gathered through three self-reported questionnaires, three interviews, and observations. Besides, a total of 174 minutes of interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed through content analysis. The results show that pleasure reading reduces participants’ uneasiness and enhances learners’ confidence and 19.

(29) satisfaction. de Burgh-Hirabe & Feryok (2013) investigated how learners learn Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) and changed their perceptions and motivation towards ER. The participants were nine voluntary JFL learners in two New Zealand high schools and were instructed to choose easy graded readers or children’s books after school. The researchers utilized interviews and journal entries to analyze what factors influence participants’ motivations. The finding indicated that the nine participants’ motivation changed differently. In the study, 4 students’ motivation increased and the motivation of 3 students decreased. The remaining 2 students’ motivation maintained stably. de Burgh-Hirabe and Feryok explored the reason behind these 9 students’ motivation. The four students whose motivation increased quickly found incentive and intrinsic values in ER. This could be connected to perceived progress and a feeling of success. The three students whose motivation decreased experienced less pleasurable reading experiences and it caused negative evaluations. Finally, two students changed little because of their limited participation in ER. Due to the shortage of intrinsic values and self-regulation, these 2 students lacked the persistent reasons in doing ER; thus, their motivation did not change much. Although their motivation didn’t change consistently, all of these 9 participants positively evaluated the ER program. The study finally concluded 10 factors influencing the JFL learners’ motivation for ER: (1) goal to improve their Japanese, (2) instrumental benefits, (3) perceived progress and feeling of success, (4) intrinsic values, (5) ER books, (6) beliefs about L2 learning, (7) autonomy, (8) external demands, (9) distractions, and (10) self-regulation. In this study, de Burgh-Hirabe and Feryok described that motivation for ER in JFL was dynamic and complex; it has multiple and different influences on the participants such as their attitudes about Japanese language and culture, their beliefs about L2 reading, and their perceived progress and success in 20.

(30) ER. An (2010) conducted an experiment on 42 second-year non- English major students at People’s Police University (PPU) in Vietnam. He delved into the effectiveness of ER to see whether it could enhance learners’ motivation as well as attitudes. During the eight weeks of ER program, learners feel pleasurable to read. The result showed that ER helps learners boost their motivation. To understand whether ER has positive impacts on learners’ reading motivation and proficiency, Jang, Kang, and Kim (2015) evaluate an ER program, focusing on 36 high school students in two separate classrooms from Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. They point out that ER activities led the participants to have higher intrinsic levels of reading motivation and proficiency. For the experimental group (N=20), 20 minutes were specifically designed to do sustained silent reading. The participants in the experimental group were required to read “class readers,” the young adults books Frindle (1996) and Room One (2006) by Andrew Clements (p.93). Furthermore, the study adopted several ways in ER—no dictionaries, i minus 1, fun materials and maximization of sight vocabulary. To measure students’ reading motivation, the questionnaire utilized in this study involved 8 questions by using the Likert Scale 1-5. This study showed that the values of Cronbach’s Alpha are above .8 showing good reliability. Jang, et al. (2015) concluded that ER activities have a positive influence on students’ reading proficiency and their intrinsic motivation.. ER and Reading Attitude The development of reading attitude is another crucial dimension in language learning. Attitude towards reading is defined as an individual’s feelings and willingness which lead the learners to adopt or avoid a reading situation (Alexander & Filler, 1976). Besides, Smith (1990) presents reading attitude as “a state of mind, 21.

(31) accompanied by feeling or emotions, that makes reading more or less probable” (p.215). According to McKenna, Kear, and Ellsworth (1995), there are three main factors influencing attitudinal changes, including “normative beliefs, beliefs about the outcomes of reading, and specific reading experiences” (p.939) and they commented that these three factors are complicated and are subject to change and affect each other a lot. This model postulates that an individual’s attitude toward reading will develop over time. Moreover, beliefs about the outcomes of reading and experiences, whether they are enjoyable or discouraging, correlate to leaners’ attitudes toward reading. McKenna, Kear, and Ellsworth (1995) illustrated that frequently frustrating experiences eventually connect to beliefs which the inevitable reading outcome is depression. Poor readers will posit negative reading attitudes gradually owing to depressing experiences. Therefore, creating instructional program that may bring more positive attitudes to learners is important. Since ER involves free self-selection of wide varieties of books and has the potential to provide opportunities for learners to make their own discoveries, integrating ER into language instruction may promote positive reading attitudes on L2 learners. From Day and Bamford’s argument (1998), “noncompetitive and nonjudgmental” (p.26) environment provided by the ER approach gives the readers freedom and autonomy to decide what to read. The positive correlation between extensive reading and learners’ reading attitudes have been confirmed by some researchers (Asraf & Ahmad, 2003; Leung, 2002; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Yamashita, 2013). When students get involved in ER delightfully, they will be willing to participate in reading activities and view it as an enjoyable experience. Asraf and Ahmad (2003) depicted that “the more one reads, the easier reading becomes” (p.84). Similarly, readers who read extensively seem to learn the language voluntarily; then, they will hold positive attitudes towards reading while indulged in the meaningful 22.

(32) context (Elley, 1991). Asraf and Ahmad (2003) conducted an ER program by utilizing a series of graded readers published by Fajar Bakti, from Oxford University Press. Three classes of 7th and one 9th grades were enrolled in this study in Malaysia. In an effort to investigate if students’ motivations could be improved, teachers in this program carried out the ER approach once a week within four months. The participants were required to read silently and individually and to retell the stories orally to the whole class. This way indeed motivated the students to read more books and created a sense of accomplishment in reading. Data was gathered to allow for triangulation, such as in-depth classroom observations from the researchers and teachers, teachers’ diaries recording their reflections or perceptions upon the ER program and open-ended interviews. The result suggested that students’ English proficiency cannot be observable. Despite the fact that students’ English proficiency cannot be observed, they argued that “given the improvement in the students’ attitudes towards reading in English and their motivation to read English books, it is very likely that their proficiency in English will increase in the long term if this reading is kept up” (Asraf & Ahmad, 2003, p.99). By examining the effect of ER on L2 reading attitude, Yamashita (2013) researched 61 undergraduates at a Japanese university. The participants met 90 minutes per week during the 15-week course and had access to about 500 graded readers. Students read freely and voluntarily both in and outside of class and needed to submit a book report on each book. The five attitudinal variables were measured by using a 22-item questionnaire of Likert Scale in Comfort, Anxiety, Intellectual Value, Practical Value, and Linguistic Value. Because of the ceiling effect, Linguistic Value was removed from the research. Among these four affective components, the effect size was large on Comfort and medium on Anxiety. Therefore, the result showed that 23.

(33) ER had a large influence on enhancing students’ feelings of comfort more than on reducing anxiety (Yamashita, 2013).. ER and Learner Autonomy How to help English learners gain more autonomy has become a hot issue and it is considered as an essential aspect in mastering a language (Sơn, 2017). Learner autonomy was first coined by Holec (1981), who considered it as an ability of an individual to have the responsibility and take control of his or her own study. Autonomy is not originally inborn but acquired by the formal learning experiences. Holec (1981) and Little (1991) explained that autonomous learners know their goals and are responsible for their learning, take a positive action in planning and applying learning activities and assess their learning regularly (Holec, 1981; Little, 1991). To foster learner autonomy through ER, Mede, İnceçay, and İnceçay (2013) conducted a study with five preparatory program students and two instructors at a private university in Turkey. The researchers presumed that learner autonomy could be improved in an environment where learning is constructed socially and learners interact with peers and teachers continuously during the learning process. These students were asked to do ER through graded readers chosen by themselves and to prepare an oral book report individually and share with their peers. Data came from reflection papers collected by five of these students and semi-structured interviews gathered by learners and teachers. The result demonstrated a positive impact of oral book reporting on cultivating learner autonomy and could be viewed as a means for teachers to find a solution to increase learners’ intrinsic motivation. To investigate learner autonomy, Channuan and Wasanasomsithi (2012) examined 37 undergraduate students who were categorized into high and low proficiency groups in terms of their pre-tests. This experiment was conducted for 10 24.

(34) weeks in Thailand. The study aimed to encourage students to read extensively at their own pace both in and out of the class and to motivate learners’ interest. Besides, learner autonomy training strategies were also incorporated into the ER program. This way could help readers learn how to control their learning, become more autonomous as well as boost their overall English reading proficiency. Graded readers from a wide range of topics were also provided to learners and encouraged them to read as much as possible. The instruments in this study were pre- and post-reading ability tests, questionnaire for leaner autonomy training strategies, and Bookworm’s Diary to explore students’ learning process and progress in ER. After the 10-week session, it was found that both groups of students had positive attitudes as shown in the learner autonomy survey and they took charge of their own learning voluntarily. The above findings suggest that learner autonomy has a huge connection to extensive reading. Sơn (2017) drew a depiction that “when students are free to choose what interests them to read, they feel comfortable and are more motivated to learn and discover the language. Therefore, their learner autonomy will be enhanced” (p.19).. Graded Readers Day and Bamford (1998) considered graded readers as one category of “language learner literature” (pp.63-64, p.97). Graded readers are mostly simplified and specifically written for L2 learners at different levels of backgrounds and language proficiency. Hill (2008) mentioned that graded readers are books using restricted lexis and syntax depending on the word frequency, availability and simpleness. Learners could read easier texts from graded readers with the use of “a reduced code” (Hill, 1997, p.58) and the simplicity when they begin learning L2. Besides, Hill mentioned that “Because the texts are graded in difficulty, they provide a ladder up which learners can climb to unsimplified texts” (p. 58). Graded readers 25.

(35) consist of classic works of literature adapted from the originals for L2 readers (Day & Bamford, 1998). The main goal of conducting ER program is that learners could read self-selected books with pleasure and for global meanings. Similarly, graded readers give learners a suitable means and purpose to step one level to the next level slowly. Therefore, graded readers are seen as proper materials in the ER program. Hill (2001) pointed out that graded readers could help learners in four ways. First, they motivate learners because of interesting and comprehensible context within learners’ proficiency. Second, they help develop the skill of reading fluency. Learners could understand most context in the books and then they will spend more time reading. Finally, their reading fluency will improve naturally. Third, they offer context which enhances and extends the learners’ vocabulary and language structure. Grammar and vocabulary are repeated regularly and this way provides learners chances to review what they have learned before. Last, they offer the most accessible source of exposure to the target language. Graded readers are often labelled into various genres according to learners’ proficiency and interests. Azmuddin, Ali, Ngah, Tamili, and Ruslim (2014) conducted a study on 125 undergraduate students, aged 19 to 23, in Malaysia. This session lasted for 14 weeks with 30 minutes per week. About 344 English graded readers were given to students. In the end, the study found that adopting graded readers improved student’s performance in both Placement/Progress tests and Extensive Reading Tests. These two tests designed by Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading have different functions. The Placement/Progress tests put students in the reading program and monitored their reading progress. Extensive Reading Tests examined whether students read fluently at the correct level and prepare to move onto the next level. Throughout both Placement/Progress tests and Extensive Reading Tests, ER improved students’ 26.

(36) reading performance. The finding described that ER improved students’ English proficiency. In addition, the result also suggested that it fostered positive reading habits among students who were provided by different contexts from graded readers. The researchers concluded that the improvement is reflected upon students’ progress to a higher level with the use of graded readers. Tudor and Hafiz (1989) did a study on a group of ESL learners (n=16), aged 10 to 11, in the UK and they were given a 3-month ER program with graded readers as materials. Subjects met after school for one hour five days per week and they were permitted to choose freely from a variety of graded readers. Dictionaries were available in this program; though, the readers tended to ask the instructors about unfamiliar words. Besides, they were asked to give an oral report about the book they read once a week. The flexibility of self-selection by students aimed to cultivate pleasure and interest and provide a non-restricted and tension-free environment. The NFER (National Foundation for Educational Research) tests were used as pre- and post-tests to assess learners’ reading and writing skills. The result indicated that students had improved in both skills, especially in writing. The reason for this was that the simplified graded readers offered participants an accessible linguistic model. As a result, Tudor and Hafiz (1989) concluded that “graded readers can have potential to enhance the language skills –– reading and writing at least –– of L2 learners” (p.171). Graded readers play a very significant role in language learning and they become appropriate substitutes for learners to be exposed to authentic reading materials. Another benefit for teachers to adopt graded readers is that they help learners adapt themselves to learn English reading step by step. The existing literature review in this chapter showed that ER is both effective and beneficial to improve students’ overall language skills (i.e. reading 27.

(37) comprehension, writing skills, vocabulary size). Although a large number of studies have been done to explore the effects of ER, few investigated junior high school students in remote districts in Taiwan. According to my five-year teaching observations, students in Taitung lose interests while reading English articles and then give up learning English. In order to solve this problem, I asked some ninth grade students who graduated last year why they were afraid of reading English articles. They told me that the articles were filled with too many words without any illustrations and pictures to guide them to read. Besides, those articles are given from the textbooks or teachers. They wanted to select and read favorable books by themselves. After receiving students’ feedbacks, I decide to utilize ER to my homeroom class students, seventh graders, to motivate them to read in English. As a result, the present study aims to address this gap to know whether extensive reading could benefit junior high school students in Taitung, especially improving students’ learning English motivations and attitudes.. 28.

(38) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY The present study aimed to examine the effects of Extensive Reading (ER) and whether the online ER program had an influence on English reading of seventh graders in a school in Taitung. Additionally, participants’ reactions to adopting graded readers were explored. To further investigate the effectiveness of ER, this study mainly focused on EFL learners’ reflections toward English reading. In this chapter, the methodology employed was described. First, the background, the setting of selected school, and the participants were described. Then, the ER implementation procedure and reading materials were discussed. Third, the data instrument adopted in this study as well as the data collection were presented. Finally, the data analysis was mentioned. The present study aimed to answer following questions: 1. How do EFL junior high school students in Taitung respond to online extensive reading program? 2. How do EFL junior high school students in Taitung respond to graded readers?. Setting In the present study, the selected school of this project is a junior high school situated in a remote area in eastern Taiwan. The school is located in Taitung County and there are seventeen classes in this school, including Art-gifted classes and PE-gifted classes. The aboriginal students are the majority and they rarely use English in their daily lives. The parents of the majority of the students in this school are farmers and workers. Due to students’ lack of exposure to English, they are inclined to lose interests and motivations to learn and read English. In this school, half of the 29.

(39) students would get grade “C” from CAP (Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students). On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the school usually holds English listening sessions for all students. Besides, some English competitions such as Reader’s Theater, Spelling Test, and Storytelling are held every year. Several English teachers try their own approaches to let students learn English in a happy environment. For most English teachers in this school, adopting extensive reading to help students raise their motivation in learning English is a brand-new idea. As a researcher of this project, I introduced the online ER program regarding its advantages and specialty with my colleagues. Besides, I also discussed with a foreign teacher in my school about adopting online ER in my class. During the discussion, I got a lot of suggestions from him and he also shared his experiences on the ER program he did before at elementary schools.. Participants The participants of the study were 25 seventh graders in a junior high school in Taitung County. The participants came from one intact class taught by the researcher, who was also the homeroom teacher of this class. The students have received English education since they were third graders in elementary school. However, students’ English proficiencies varied within every class. This class was chosen for three reasons. For one thing, these seventh graders were more adaptive to a new approach “extensive reading” than other graders. If students gained more interests in reading English in the beginning, they might be more willing to read an English article and develop positive reading attitude in the future. For another, these students were not under great pressure of taking CAP. They could have enough time to study academic subjects and took part in the online ER program at the same time. For the last reason, it would be more convenient and practical for the researcher to conduct the study in 30.

(40) the homeroom class because of extra time, including morning sessions, at her disposal.. ER Implementation Procedure The researcher conducted online extensive reading from November, 2018 to March, 2019, about 12 weeks in total. Two weeks were excluded because of winter vacation. There were five periods of English classes per week at seventh graders’ English curriculum. A period of an English class was 45 minutes. Because of the course arrangement and technological manipulation, about 30-40 minutes was spent on the online ER program. The researcher chose three to four periods per week and let the students read extensively at the computer classroom. Therefore, about 120 minutes per week was spent on ER activities in her class at the chosen school. The reason why the researcher wanted to implement ER activities three to four times per week was that students could read gradually and accumulate their English abilities step by step. As a result, the participants’ learning process could be observed and their reading motivation could be built up. With this supplementary reading, students might have completely different experiences from just reading the textbooks or workbooks at school. In order to know more about students’ motivation and learning process during the whole online ER program, students were required to write down their reading reports and then shared their reflections with the researcher or the student sitting next to him. During the whole week, students just did their own sustained silent reading or asked some help from their classmates or the researcher when they faced reading problems. Moreover, with the computer equipment, students could also search their reading questions online immediately. According to Day and Bamford (1998), giving students enough time to read patiently is the most important skill for students to cultivate reading interests. As a teacher, we need to let students have time and 31.