Abstract
ABSTRACT Extensive reading has long been recognized as a powerful tool for improving learners’ attitude toward reading and increasing their language proficiency, in both their first and their second language. In Taiwan, reading has long been emphasized in the secondary English education in preparation for the English-language test of the scholastic ability examination and authentic reading demands in the university. Although students are provided with additional materials other than textbooks, these materials are usually ineffective due to the inappropriate level of difficulty or the insufficient quantity. In fact, being trained to read does not ensure that students will do English free reading voluntarily. In order to stimulate students’ motivation for reading and to provide them with as much comprehensible input as possible, an extensive reading program could be a good choice for pedagogical implementation in Taiwanese senior high school contexts. This study, thus, aimed to examine whether an embedded extensive reading program has any significant impact on the students’ reading proficiency gains, reading speed, motivation and attitude towards reading; whether there is any correlation between extensive reading quantity and reading proficiency gains; the correlation between reading quantity and reading speed; and if it is feasible to implement an extensive reading program in the Taiwanese senior high school English curriculum. In the current study, a supplemental extensive reading program was implemented in a normal English curriculum of a class of a prestigious girls’ senior high school in Taipei. The subjects of the experimental group were a humanities class of second-year female students (n = 41) who had one more class unit (50 min) each week than the control group, a science class. Taught by the same English teacher and intern, both classes received the same amount of normal English instruction except for the extensive reading program. The extensive reading program was carried out during the extra class unit every other week on average and lasted from the end of October, 2002, to the end of May, 2003, including approximately seven months. Reading materials consisted of two series of graded readers, Oxford Bookworm Library and Heinemann Graded Readers, which are both highly recommended by Hill (1997), Day and Bamford (1998), other books including graded readers from students’ temporary ‘donation’, and some of the researcher’s collection of children’s and young adult literature. Apart from reading, students were required to write a short summary of the book they read, either in Chinese or English, for the researcher to monitor their reading progress and for more teacher and student interaction. During this period of seven months, the participants read 12 books on average. Measures including JCEE reading comprehension tests and cloze-tests year 1999 and 2000, and SRA placement tests showed that both the experimental and control groups’ reading proficiency improved significantly, but there was no significant difference between two groups’ gain scores. However, the results of JCEE reading comprehension tests indicated that the difference between the groups’ gain scores favoring the experimental group. Although this study was not able to further demonstrate the correlation between the extensive reading quantity (number of pages) and students’ gain scores and the correlation between extensive reading amounts and reading speed, the experimental group showed significantly better performance of reading rate than the control group. In addition, the results of the surveys showed that the experience of extensive reading has shown its impact on students’ attitude and motivation. This program succeeded in boosting students’ degree of comfort, their fondness for English reading, and their confidence. The experimental group’s good learning autonomy can also be observed. Furthermore, the effect of the program also showed in the experimental group’s lesser use of dictionary and in their comparatively better ability of choosing reading materials that suit their reading proficiency. Although the current study’s amount of extensive reading as only a supplemental role in a normal curriculum which contained already large amounts of reading instruction and reading demands was seemingly insufficient. The results of the current study still suggest that using extensive reading as a supplement in a senior high school English curriculum is feasible and effectual in boosting students’ reading motivation and attitude. Moreover, this study has provided a model for those teachers who are interested in integrating extensive reading into the normal curriculum. For future research, the feasibility of an extensive reading program as a more important part of the main English instruction should be further investigated, as well as the feasibility of such program for secondary learners with lower proficiency levels. In addition, the effect of intensive and extensive reading instruction on the difference in learners’ writing styles deserves a further investigation, too.