The effect of online extensive reading on student attitude towards reading at vus m a

ABSTRACT This paper investigated the effect of Online Extensive Reading Program on students‟ attitude towards reading English.. Half of the students were in the Control group, and the ot

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HO CHI MINH

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

THE EFFECT OF ONLINE EXTENSIVE READING

ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS READING

AT VUS

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in TESOL

By

NGO MAI LAN HUONG

Supervised by

Le Thi Thanh, Ph.D

I would also like to give my special thanks to Vietnam US Society English language center for offering a place and opportunity to conduct this research Thanks to their support and cooperation, I was able to conduct this research successfully

I owe many thanks to my students who have enthusiastically participated in research and readily shared their opinions and suggestions for my study Their contribution was truly priceless to my thesis

Last but not least, I am greatly thankful to my parents who have given me love, strength, and encouragement during my years of studying and completing this paper They were the force that propelled me forwards in my moments of weakness

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certified my authorship of the Master‟s thesis submitted entitled

THE EFFECT OF ONLINE EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’

ATTITUDE TOWARDS READING AT VUS

In terms of the Requirements for Theses in Master program issued by the Higher Degree Committee The thesis has not previously been submitted for any degree or diploma at any Universities or Institutions

Ho Chi Minh, March 8th, 2022

Ngô Mai Lan Hương

RETENTION AND USE OF THESIS

I hereby state that I, Ngo Mai Lan Huong, being a candidate for the M.A in TESOL Degree, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh, March 8th, 2022

Ngo Mai Lan Huong

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ii

RETENTION AND USE OF THESIS iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATION vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES x

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

Background to the study 1

1.1 Statement of the problem 3

1.2 Aims of the study 4

1.3 Research questions 5

1.4 Significance of the study 5

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Organization of thesis chapters 5

1.7 2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

Reading 7

2.1 Intensive reading 7

2.2 Extensive reading 9

2.3 Extensive reading principles 9

2.4 Online extensive reading 12

2.5 Attitude towards reading 13

2.6 Previous studies 14

2.7 Theoretical framework 19

2.8 Conceptual framework 20

2.9 3 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 23

Research design 23

3.1 Research site 23

3.2 Sample and sampling procedures 24 3.3

Research instruments 24

3.4 3.4.1 Questionnaires 24

3.4.2 Semi-structured interview 25

Research participants 25

3.5 Application of OERP 27

3.6 Data collection procedures 28

3.7 3.7.1 Questionnaires 29

3.7.2 Semi-structured interview 31

Data analysis procedures 32

3.8 Summary 32

3.9 4 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 34

Comparing control and experimental groups‟ attitude towards reading 4.1 English pre- OERP 34

4.1.1 Comfort level 34

4.1.2 Anxiety level 36

4.1.3 Practical value 37

4.1.4 Intellectual value 38

4.1.5 Linguistic value 40

4.1.6 Intention for action 41

Comparing control and experimental groups‟ attitude towards reading 4.2 English post- OERP 42

4.2.1 Comfort level 42

4.2.2 Anxiety level 44

4.2.3 Practical value 45

4.2.4 Intellectual value 46

4.2.5 Linguistic value 48

4.2.6 Intention for action 49

4.2.7 Students reading behavior post-OERP 54

Experimental group‟s Students‟ attitude towards OERP 55

4.3 4.3.1 Students opinion about OERP 56

Discussion of the findings 58

4.4 4.4.1 OERP effect on students attitude towards reading English 58

4.4.2 Students reading habits after OERP 59

4.4.3 Students reflection on OERP 60

5 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 63

Conclusion 63

5.1 Implications 64

5.2 5.2.1 English teachers 64

5.2.2 Education administrator 65

Limitations of the study 65

5.3 Recommendations for future studies 66

5.4 REFERENCES 67

6 APPENDICES 72

Appendix A1: Instruction for Online Extensive Reading (English version) 72

A e dix A H g d c ch c g i e 73

Appendix B1: ENTRY QUESTIONAIRE (English version) 74

Appendix B2: ENTRY QUESTIONAIRE (Vietnamese version) 77

Appendix C1: EXIT QUESTIONNAIRE (English version) 80

Appendix C2: EXIT QUESTIONNAIRE (Vietnamese version) 83

Appendix D1: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL (English version) 87

Appendix D2: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL (English version) 88

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

IRS Intensive Reading strategies

ERS Extensive reading strategies

OER Online Extensive Reading

OERP Online Extensive Reading Program

VUS Vietnam US Society English International JSC

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Comparison of participants of both groups 26

Table 3.2 The brief summary of pilot questionnaire items 30

Table 3.3 Reliability of the pilot questionnaire 30

Table 3.4 Reliability of the official questionnaire 31

Table 4.5 Statistical analysis of Linguistic value of Control and Experimental groups pre-OERP 40

Table 4.6 Statistical analysis of Intention for action of Control and Experimental groups pre-OERP 41

Table 4.7 Statistical analysis of Comfort level of the Control group‟s pre-and post-program 42

Table 4.8 Statistical analysis of Comfort level of the Experimental group pre-and post-program 43

Table 4.9 Statistical analysis of Anxiety level of the Control group pre- and post- program 44

Table 4.10 Statistical analysis of Anxiety level of the Experimental group pre- and post-program 44

Table 4.11 Statistical analysis of Practical value of the Control group pre- and post-program 45

Table 4.12 Statistical analysis of Practical value of the Experimental group pre- and post-program 46

Table 4.13 Statistical analysis of Intellectual value of the Control group pre- and post-program 46

Table 4.14 Statistical analysis of Intellectual value of the Experimental group pre- and post-program 47 Table 4.15 Statistical analysis of Linguistic value of the Control group pre- and

Table 4.16 Statistical analysis of Linguistic value of the Experimental group pre- and post-program 48 Table 4.17 Statistical analysis of Intention for action of the Control group pre- and post-program 49 Table 4.18 Statistical analysis of Intention for action of the Experimental group pre- and post-program 50 Table 4.19 Students‟ opinion about OERP 56 Table 4.20 Students‟ suggestions for OERP 57

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Extensive reading principles 11

Figure 2 Theoretical framework 19

Figure 3 Conceptual framework 22

Figure 4 Students‟ Comfort level pre-OERP 35

Figure 5 Students‟ Anxiety level pre-OERP 37

Figure 6 Students‟ awareness of Practical value of Reading English pre-OERP 38

Figure 7 Students‟ awareness of Intellectual value of Reading English pre-OERP 39

Figure 8 Students‟ awareness of Linguistic value of Reading English pre-OERP 40

Figure 9 Students‟ Intention for action pre-OERP 41

Figure 10 Students‟ Comfort level pre- and post-OERP 51

Figure 11 Students‟ Anxiety level pre- and post-OERP 51

Figure 12 Students‟ Practical value pre- and post-OERP 52

Figure 13 Students‟ Intellectual value pre- and post-OERP 52

Figure 14 Students‟ Linguistic value pre- and post-OERP 53

Figure 15 Students‟ Intention for action pre- and post-OERP 54

ABSTRACT

This paper investigated the effect of Online Extensive Reading Program on students‟ attitude towards reading English Positive attitude towards reading English can help students foster reading autonomy outside of the classroom environment and from there get more exposure to English texts and develop their proficiency Nevertheless, students were mostly introduced to only one form of reading That is intensive reading which offers students no enjoyment in the activity of reading and gives no purpose and motivation for them to continue the activity in their daily life Most of the students were unaware of the other approach to reading– extensive reading or had no idea how to apply it For that reason, this research was carried out attempting to present and guide students to utilize the extensive reading approach and nurture their interest in reading English The research was conducted with the participation of 30 intermediate-leveled students A quasi-experimental design with a convenient sampling process was applied to this research There were two groups of participants Half

of the students were in the Control group, and the other half were in the Experimental group, who would participate in the Online Extensive Reading Program After the program, questionnaires and an open-ended interview were deployed to collect data about students‟ attitude towards reading English and their reading habits after OERP The collected data was then analyzed using independent samples two-tailed t-test to compare the mean scores of the two groups of students

The findings disclosed that after the program, the Experimental Group‟s attitude towards reading improved drastically, stating that they felt more comfortable with English texts and had more confidence in the values that regular reading activity could bring to them Most significantly, students in this group promptly initiated reading sessions outside of the classroom environment after the program, even without encouragement and monitoring from the teacher In contrast,

the findings, implications for teachers and education administrators were suggested to implement Online Extensive Reading Program in the learning environment to help boost students‟ favorable opinion of reading English

Keyword: online extensive reading, students‟ attitude

1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter will elucidate the context from which the research problem emerged, and then explain the main purpose of the study, and state the research questions Consequently, the scope and the significance of this paper will be specified In the last part of this chapter, the organization of this thesis will be introduced

Background to the study

1.1.

Being one of the receptive skills, reading serves as a channel for language input However, teaching reading skills has always been a difficult task for teachers, especially with students at the intermediate and above levels, where the reading tasks become daunting and taxing

In Vietnam – an increasingly competitive and expanding job market, English has become a common standard in job requirements Candidates today are not only expected to deal with basic communicative English, more demanding jobs will also require them to deal with more advanced documents to develop their expertise On that account, in preparation for student‟s future career, the aim of English programs curriculum is to equip students with the competency necessary for employment (Doan & Hamid, 2019) In accordance with this, reading in recent years has integrated more complex materials Particularly, reading passages for undergraduate students have incorporated information about cultures of some English-speaking countries, and knowledge of other subjects, allowing students to use English as a tool for further education (To, 2010) This development gave students more exposure to a broader range of texts and knowledge Simultaneously, it presented new challenges to students Reading passages were longer and required more background knowledge to comprehend The accompanying instruction was usually in intensive reading (IR) style which

is a ubiquitous approach in many language classrooms (Renandya, 2007) This approach to reading required great effort and energy from readers Students in constant contact with this type of reading would feel exhausted, and eventually,

lose their interest in reading This tendency was predicted in several papers conducted by Tom (2000) and Mu and Green (2012) Students‟ aversion to reading English texts may have a deeper impact on the development of their English skills It created a psychological barrier between students and voluntary reading

Students‟ reluctance to read may have a link with their insecurity and unease generated from their past experience with Intensive Reading In the reading process, students, regardless of their English competency, often feel frustrated when encountering too many unfamiliar words, complex grammatical structures,

or incomprehensible topics (Brown et al., 2017) High frequency of those in a reading text may dampen readers‟ enthusiasm for reading On this account, it is important to construct a program to help students get used to reading in large quantities without feeling overwhelmed or bored by using undemanding reading materials This will help ameliorate the strained relationship between students and English reading activities

On that note, Extensive reading (ER) can be described as a complementary approach to IR It holds a student-centered perspective with every critical component built around students In extensive reading programs, students are given more control of the reading activity Most of the quintessential decisions are made by students: selection of materials, level of difficulty, reading quantity, the purpose of reading This freedom could lift the tension students feel when facing English texts and stimulate students to read English more on their own accord

However, it should be noted that extensive reading was relatively unpopular in EFL classrooms This absence was due to the enormous investment that the extensive programs required, physically and financially To apply ER in the classroom, teachers have to overcome multiple challenges including the pressure

to improve students‟ academic performance, limited class time, the shift of teacher‟s role, and, the most pronounced one – the cost of finding sufficient

reading materials to support ER programs The reason behind this requirement was because one of the most important principles of extensive reading is a huge quantity of reading materials, enough for students, with different preferences, to choose from The cost and time to prepare materials of that multitude would be outrageous without the help of big organizations

With vast and free resources, online materials might be the solution for this matter In addition to that, the students of this generation are familiar with technology Since the internet is already a part of their daily life, students are less likely to reject this form of reading, and teachers will not have to train them from the very beginning

In short, applying ER to the classroom environment is a potential route to ameliorate students‟ negative mindset about reading English Furthermore, integrating digital sources into ER programs will both alleviate the financial burden that the usual ER programs often cause and reduce students‟ reluctance

to partake in the activity

Statement of the problem

1.2.

On a smaller scale, reading texts for lower levels such as Beginner, intermediate, lower-intermediate in Vietnam USA Society (VUS) language center are usually short conversations or passages with occasional new vocabulary items In most cases, students can deal with them easily with or without support from the teachers However, students in intermediate and above levels usually have to deal with longer and more challenging texts which require

Pre-a grePre-at dePre-al of bPre-ackground knowledge Pre-and vocPre-abulPre-ary to comprehend

Specifically, those students in my intermediate classes in VUS were struggling with reading instead of enjoying them Their assigned textbook was Macmillan‟s

American English Hub 3 which included a variety of intensive reading activities

that aimed to teach students skills and strategies to analyze and evaluate newly acquired information from reading The reading passages of the book focused on expanding students‟ knowledge about the world and on more complicated topics

such as science, education, politics, environment, etc The reading parts could be

considered suitable for students at those levels, but most of my students frankly

admitted to having problems processing information from some of the less

familiar topics On top of that, the conundrum also came from their lack of prior

experience dealing with these types of long reading texts which were loaded

with complicated grammatical structures, difficult vocabulary items since their

previous reading tasks were mostly shorter texts and emails Most students

found their background knowledge insufficient to comprehend the required

reading passages

Excessive exposure to reading English in those complex forms, and constant

pressure from time-sensitive tasks made students weary and detest L2 reading

even more Based on the students‟ test results, most of their performance in

reading is around average, some of the students even deliberately neglect

reading parts to save time for other parts of the test, designating students‟

tendency to avoid reading English Although their rejection is sometimes

concealed due to the submissive nature of Vietnamese students to authority

figures, when given the chance, they confessed their reluctance to take part in

any reading activity that takes too much time and effort In dire need to solve

this dilemma, this study proposed to employ online extensive reading as a mean

to help improve my students‟ attitude towards reading English in general, and

from there, encourage students to read of their own volition

Aims of the study

1.3.

This study intends to explore students‟ attitude towards reading in general and

attempt to utilize online extensive reading in teaching L2 reading in order to

reach the following objectives:

 To examine students‟ attitude towards reading English before and after the online extensive reading program (OERP)

 To find out the effect of online extensive reading (OER) on students‟ motivation to read outside of classroom context

Research questions

1.4.

The study will attempt to answer the following questions:

1 How does Online Extensive Reading Program OERP influence students‟ attitude towards reading English in general?

2 How does Online Extensive Reading Program (OERP) affect students‟ motivation to read outside of class?

Significance of the study

1.5.

The results of this study will contribute to the body of knowledge on using Online Extensive Reading in the classroom environment This research will address students‟ attitude towards reading English in general, and then strive to improve it via the use of OERP From there, the research will also attempt to motivate students to read of their own accord without teachers‟ encouragement

or monitoring, in other words, forming the habit of reading English texts outside

Organization of thesis chapters

1.7.

This thesis includes 5 chapters

Chapter 1 clarifies the background to the study, statements of the problem, the aims, then states the research questions, the scope of the study and presents the definitions of keywords

Chapter 2 reviews studies pertaining to Online Extensive reading and its effects

on students‟ attitude towards reading as well as provides the conceptual framework for this study

Chapter 3 demonstrates the research methodology including research designs, sites of the study, research instruments, participants, the sampling procedures, and then describes the application of OERP

Chapter 4 is dedicated to the analysis of the data collected from questionnaires and a semi-structured interview and discussion of the findings/

Chapter 5 provides the conclusions to the research and mentions implications of the research as well as reviews the limitations of this research

2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

There was a considerable number of research conducted throughout the years on extensive reading and its effects on various aspects of teaching and learning English, including students‟ attitude towards reading English This section will first offer an overview of reading and two approaches to reading: intensive and extensive reading Then, previous studies relating to extensive reading and online extensive reading will be reviewed and discussed

Reading

2.1.

Since this study focused on investigating students‟ attitude towards reading English in general, it is important to understand the concept of reading Reading has been identified as one of the four macro skills in English, including reading, listening, speaking and writing The reading process includes more than just being able to recognize words and decode them It also requires readers to make

a connection between written texts and their personal experience and knowledge (Cekiso, 2017)

To achieve the aforementioned requirements, Miller (2013) categorized reading methods into two common approaches: intensive reading (IR) and extensive reading (ER) The OERP was built on Extensive Reading approach with the aim

to support the existing Intensive Reading approach in classrooms The first vital step was to distinguish these two approaches

Intensive reading

2.2.

Intensive reading was defined as a teacher-focused approach, meaning the teacher dictates most of the variables in the reading process including choice of materials, time of reading, aims of the activities (Miller, 2013) Focusing on word recognition and comprehension, intensive reading activities require high concentration from readers to understand and answer the questions in the shortest time Park (2017) also emphasized that the main aim of IR was for students to construct detailed meaning from the text Therefore, the reading process involves abundant use of dictionaries, close analysis and translation

Moreover, students must follow strict and specific guidelines to improve their linguistic ability The activity was mentally demanding, which might exhaust the readers considerably quickly Day & Bamford (1998), Tomlinson (2000), Mu and Green (2012) pointed out that most students admitted to feeling reluctant to read difficult texts which were popular IR programs This feeling would eventually turn into a negative impression of reading English, preventing students from enjoying and obtaining information from the reading activity in their daily life Sandom (2017) also mentioned that intensive reading instruction, which had been and was being favored by most teachers would shape students‟ reading habits based on the belief that they need to understand every word in the reading text in order to understand it This belief might hinder students from developing their reading fluency and deprive them of any joy in reading

Due to their intense nature, intensive reading (IR) causes fatigue and boredom for readers if the reading session is moderately long As Shih, Chern and Reynolds (2018) inferred, IR gave students few opportunities to think for themselves as an individual In the IR process, there was no time for students to ponder their purpose of reading or choose their favorite reading materials Students are expected to search for specific information in order to answer the questions in reading tasks quickly For that reason, the IR activities bear no resemblance with pastime reading and generate no interest or motivation for students to continue the activity

In other words, intensive reading, however effective, triggers negative feelings

in students It forges the impression that reading English is not an enjoyable activity that involves no satisfaction, curiosity, or pleasure Due to their frequent practice of intensive reading, students often group reading with negative feelings such as frustration, reluctance, despondency, etc The less skilled the students are at reading, the more intense these negative feelings are That is not to say that IR should be completely excluded from the education programs It still plays a crucial role in boosting students‟ reading skills Notwithstanding, IR

needs another form of reading to complement it Bernhardt (2011) supported the view that students should make use of all available resources to become proficient in reading, including intensive reading strategies, but IR alone might compromise students‟ exposure to reading texts Extensive reading is an appropriate tool to nullify these negative feelings and, at the same time, help retain the proficiency that IR has established

Extensive reading

2.3.

Contrary to IR, Day and Bamford (2002) clarified that extensive reading (ER), whose main focus was reading fluency and motivation encouraged students to read an abundant amount of reading materials of their interests The main goal

of ER is to satisfy curiosity and gain satisfaction Therefore, maintaining students‟ interest in reading the documents was the priority in extensive reading programs Students were supposed to read extensively but not laboriously The most prominent contrast between intensive reading and extensive reading was the complexity of the texts Extensive reading promoted fluency rather than vocabulary learning, hence, easy and comprehensible reading materials were the primary choice (Beglar, Hunt & Kite, 2012; Day & Bamford, 2014)

Miller (2013) explained further that ER gave students more freedom to take the initiative and control their reading session Students could determine the topics, the quantity and the pace of their reading session This setup would allow students to develop autonomy as well as ease the pressure that students felt when facing English texts

Extensive reading principles

2.4.

There was a plethora of arguments surrounding the definitions of extensive reading, however, the prevailing characteristics often involved (1) a substantial amount of reading, (2) reading satisfaction and information focus, (3) fast pace Day and Bamford (1998), (2002) developed ten principles of ER which were mentioned and used as a guideline in various research papers pertaining to extensive reading such as Arnold (2009), Day (2015) Holster, Lake and Pellowe

(2017) The ten principles, which would also serve as the guideline that this study followed when implementing ER in the classroom, were:

1 Reading materials are easy for students‟ levels

2 Reading materials are on a wide range of topics

3 Students have the choice of materials

4 Students should read as extensively as possible

5 The main purposes of reading are pleasure, information, and general understanding

6 Reading is its own reward

7 Reading speed is usually fast rather than slow

8 The reading process is individual and silent

9 The teacher instructs and guides students in the reading process

10 The teacher plays a role model of a reader for students (Day & Bamford, 2002)

Day and Bamford‟s (1998) and (2002) ten principles for teaching ER were received among the research community However, it is worth mentioning some opposing opinions advocating the need of reviewing and discussing the viability

well-of these principles Robb (2010) presented an argument against the practicality

of these principles, especially on principle 3 “students choose what they want to read” in which he insisted that in the context of the Eastern Education system, students rarely took charge of their own learning process, unlike in Western Countries Hence, giving students too much leeway might result in them losing themselves in other distractions and giving up entirely on extensive reading Nonetheless, it is important to give students enough freedom to read the materials of their own choice so that they can actually enjoy the reading process and see reading as a means of obtaining information and entertainment To negate potential distractions, teachers can organize periodic half-monitored-half-support extensive reading activities in class By doing this, teachers can make

sure their students will not get distracted as well as receive timely support and meet principle (3) simultaneously Once students‟ good reading habits have been established, students can continue reading activities at home without any supervision or support from the teacher

Moreover, Krashen in his book The Power of Reading (2004) also suggested

teachers and parents should encourage “free voluntary reading” He claimed that

“when second language acquirers read for pleasure, they can continue to improve in their second language without classes, without teachers, without study, and even without people to converse with” (p 147) Therefore, imposing and interfering too much in the students‟ reading process might cause negative effects on students‟ perception of reading sessions and reading in general In summary, extensive reading must include the following principles:

Figure 1 Extensive reading principles

Online extensive reading

2.5.

Extensive reading programs often require a large library to offer students a variety of choices Day and Bamford (2002) put stress on the importance of students getting to choose their own reading materials to ensure that students enjoy the reading process and, eventually, change their attitude towards reading and form reading habits In order to meet that requirement, collecting a huge number of reading materials is compulsory, which might cost a considerable amount of money Not to mention, the prepared materials might not be sufficient

to satisfy every student‟s curiosity A possible solution to this problem was recommended by Day and Bamford (1998), teachers and students could write stories to be used in the ER program However, this added extra weight to the already enormous amount of work that teachers and students were enduring Not

to mention, non-specialist written works from peer students might not be a reliable source of reading materials The advent of the internet and smartphones offer another solution to this matter

Online Extensive Reading Program (OERP) was designed to address the abovementioned issue It was an extensive reading approach integrated with digital resources in EFL classrooms, ensuring that the students could benefit both from the OERP and the limitless access to their preferred reading texts without putting a strain on the teacher Arnold (2009) pointed out that online texts did not only solve the financial problems of regular Extensive reading programs but also provided more familiar and up-to-date sources of information The reading materials were e-books, online news, journals, blogs, encyclopedias, etc., the types with which students interacted daily

Despite its many advantages, both Arnold (2009) and Chen, Chen, Chen and Wei (2013) commented on the limited number of research dedicated to OERP and how the program should be executed Chen et al also claimed that students‟ motivation can be improved via the application of e-book extensive reading

Hence, after participating in the program, students gained autonomy and benefited from reading far longer after the program ended

On top of that, the e-materials were readily accessible Any device with an internet connection would suffice for students to accomplish their reading sessions at any place and any time convenient for them With the increasing popularity of the internet and smartphones, today‟s students are more at ease with using the internet than any other generation Ruiz-Palmero, Sánchez-Rivas, Gómez-García, Elena Sánchez (2019) reported that students used their devices for both entertainment and academic purposes with high frequency Therefore, promoting the use of digital resources in the Online Extensive Reading Program would both increase the probability and regularity of the reading activity

Attitude towards reading

2.6.

Attitude is a psychological construct Attitude was defined by McKenna (1994)

as “the belief that an individual harbors in relation to the object, the behavioral intentions that concern the object and the feeling the individual experiences because of the object” McKenna, Kear and Ellsworth (1995) further explained

that attitudes include three constituents: affect (feeling), cognition (thought and belief), and conation (intention for action) These factors must be taken into

consideration in order to help students develop a positive attitude towards reading and form reading habits on their own

Mathewson (2004), agreeing with McKenna‟s definition in his model of reading, also classified reading attitudes into three main constituents, which were

„prevailing feelings about reading, action readiness for reading and evaluative beliefs about reading‟, and further stressed that a positive attitude towards

reading alone was not enough to motivate students to read A student could have

a positive attitude towards reading but had no intention to read Therefore, he suggested that the intention to read or continue reading can be added as a primary predictor of one‟s reading behavior Without this indicator, extensive reading activities cannot be maintained successfully

This theory was reflected and utilized in many subsequent studies to analyze students‟ attitude towards reading English Arnold (2009) classified attitude towards reading into four sub-categories: linguistic benefits, reading satisfaction, confidence, and motivation which coincided with Kenna‟s cognition, affect, and intention for action Later, Chen et al (2013) and Le (2013) investigated attitude towards reading via four components: utility, development, enjoyment, and escape Utility and development indicated students‟ beliefs in the value of reading while enjoyment and escape represented their feelings Alternately, five factors used to evaluate attitude in Yamashita‟s study in 2013, including comfort, anxiety, intellectual value, linguistic value and practical value also stemmed from McKenna‟s theory with comfort and anxiety represented students‟ feelings, and the three values reflected students‟ beliefs and thoughts towards reading

To sum up, McKenna(1994) and Mathewson‟s (2004) model had set the groundwork for various studies on attitudes towards reading and is still relevant and felicitous for present-day research Therefore, this research was also built based on his theory Data of three basic components of attitude towards reading

(1) feeling, (2) thought and belief, (3) intention for action was collected and

analyzed Then conclusions were drawn based on these data

Previous studies

2.7.

There were many studies that involved ER and the effect of ER on various English aspects including studies from The following part will inspect what the previous studies have accomplished and present the research gap that this paper

is aiming to contribute to the body of knowledge

Since extensive reading programs often provided large quantity of exposure to the target language, ER has been recognized as a very efficient tool in EFL teaching Various papers had focused on investigating the relationship between

ER and reading comprehension, reading rate and vocabulary From the early day, Krashen (1985) with his Input Hypothesis established the foundation for the corresponding relationship between extensive reading and vocabulary learning

Krashen proposed that if students were exposed regularly enough to

“comprehensible input”, they would acquire the knowledge subconsciously Later, in 2003, he declared one more time that extensive reading, which he called “free voluntary reading”, might be “the most powerful tool” in language teaching Specifically, he postulated that extensive reading had a positive impact

on students‟ reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing In his book, Krashen (1982) claimed the amount of students‟ free reading was a significant predictor of their translation ability, grammaticality judgment and their examination scores He also noted that the amount of formal study was not

an effective predictor of students‟ translation ability but was still an independent predictor of their examination scores Based on Krashen‟s report, it is safe to assume that extensive reading has a positive effect on students‟ linguistic ability and can be added to the teaching program to improve student performance

In concurrence with Krashen‟s theory, Arnold (2009) designed an online extensive reading program for advanced students to read authentic German texts The program was conducted with 8 students in the school‟s computer lab and involved no graded reading In other words, students were given complete control of text selection with no interference from teachers‟ choices However, students were still trained to look for level-appropriate texts His study collected data through reading reports and questionnaires The findings revealed that the training helped students locate their desired reading texts and several students deliberately challenge themselves with more demanding texts The result also confirmed that students also improved their vocabulary and writing skills through reading In addition to that, they felt more confident and motivated to read in L2 after the program Nevertheless, Arnold‟s study did not investigate whether OER had any effect on students‟ attitude towards reading or their reading habits after the program, which will be the focus of the present study

In 2011, Ponniah agreed that a large amount of reading or ER can increase students‟ vocabulary He analyzed students‟ ability to use learned vocabulary in

sentences Ponniah gathered data from 49 undergraduate students Students in the Experimental group learned vocabulary through reading stories, and the other group learned vocabulary items separately The results showed that the students who learned vocabulary through reading could remember more vocabulary and use the acquired words in sentences while those who learned vocabulary in isolation could not His study helped confirm that exposure to reading boosts students‟ vocabulary knowledge subconsciously, and employing extensive reading in teaching language even improves their ability to use acquired words correctly

Regarding reading fluency or reading rate, there was also a considerable number

of research proving ER can improve students‟ reading rate effectively Beglar, Hunt & Kite (2012) investigated the effect of extensive reading, which they referred to as pleasure reading, on Japanese students‟ reading rate He reported the most successful students read over 200,000 words and claimed that simplified texts were more effective in boosting reading rate than un-simplified texts The results once again confirmed Krashen‟s theory that extensive reading improved language proficiency

Subsequently, Chen et al (2013), in their research, also claimed that an e-book extensive reading program improved tertiary level EFL students‟ reading comprehension and vocabulary and reading attitude Their study used a slightly different approach to integrate extensive reading into education programs They provided students with an e-book library instead of a traditional printed book library The collection of reading materials had been extracted and graded before being put in the e-library for participants to choose from Chen et al reported the experimental group showed better reading attitude, reading comprehension and vocabulary learning than the control group However, despite the authenticity of the materials, the e-book collection was still selected and categorized by the researchers based on their level of difficulty Students‟ choice of books was still

limited, raising the question if given more choice, whether the students would choose differently and whether the result would change

Simultaneously, in Vietnam, a similar study was carried out by Le (2013) to investigate the positive effect of extensive reading on English-majored students‟ reading comprehension and attitude towards reading in general However, unlike Chen et al.‟s study, his research used graded printed materials with various topics and levels which had been prepared prior to the ER program Furthermore, participants in Le‟s research were encouraged to include books from other sources in the research, allowing more freedom for students to explore and make their own choice of reading materials Nevertheless, the quantity of provided reading materials of just over 70 books might not catch up with the changeable needs or interests of the participants

In the same year – 2013, Yamashita investigated the effects of ER on reading attitudes with the participation of 61 undergraduate learning EFL students at a Japanese university Yamashita‟s research focused on the first two aspects of reading attitude that McKenna (1994) had proposed affective (feeling) and cognition (thought and belief) The students were provided with a library of 500 graded books and were required to complete book reports for credits His research collected data from one group of students before and after the experiment using Likert scale questionnaires The results reflected students‟ positive changes concerning their level of feeling and belief Generally, his study proved ER had positive effects on students‟ attitude towards reading

This limitation of lacking options for reading materials in Chen et al (2013), Le (2013) and Le (2013) could be solved with OERP in which students could choose their reading materials from a vast source of reading texts on the internet This was also the reason why this research replaced printed texts with online materials

In 2014, Huffman provided more evidence to prove that ER could enhance students‟ reading rates His study was conducted on Japanese college freshmen

with an experimental design The ER group significantly outperformed the IR group in reading rates Furthermore, Chang and Millett‟s study (2017) shared the same opinion that there was a positive relationship between narrow reading, which is a brand of extensive reading, and students‟ reading comprehension Similarly, when Park (2017) conducted experimental research on Korean secondary students to compare the effect of extensive reading (ER) and intensive reading (IR) on reading rate and reading comprehension, he found out that the

ER group significantly outperformed the IR group in reading rates, regardless of the student‟s language proficiency The finding also suggested that advanced and intermediate level students benefited more from ER, while IR was more beneficial for lower-level students, which is also one of the reasons for this study to choose upper-intermediate level students as participants

Besides reading and vocabulary, Mermelstein (2015) proved that ER even had positive effects on another English skill – writing His study was conducted on Taiwanese university students with mixed abilities using an experimental design The program lasted an entire academic year and was conducted once a week After the experiment, the treatment group outmatched the control group in all of the sub-scales including content, organization, vocabulary, language use mechanics, and fluency

A factor that might have been overlooked by teachers and researchers when applying extensive reading was reminded by Shih, Chern and Reynolds‟s study (2018) that extensive reading strategy instruction should be explained to students to ensure the effectiveness of the program Their study compared the effect of instruction on two groups of vocational business students Both groups are exposed to extensive reading programs for 16 weeks, however, one group was given integrated reading strategy instruction while the other group received traditional intensive reading instruction After the program, the reading proficiency of the students in the group which received integrated reading

strategy instruction outperformed the ones with traditional intensive instruction significantly

From previous studies, it can be agreed that including ER or OER in EFL teaching facilitates reading comprehension, reading rate, and vocabulary growth However, in contrast with numerous studies having investigated the effect of ER

on language skills and ability, there was only a limited number of research on

ER or OER effects on attitude towards reading English in general OER might not only improve English skills, but it may also encourage students to develop a positive attitude towards reading and established reading habits in students

Figure 2 Theoretical framework

Beglar, Hunt

& Kite, (2012);

Huffman, (2014)

vocabulary

Krashen (1985), Ponniah (2011)

attitude towards reading

Yamashita (2013), Le (2013) online extensive reading

Arnold (2009)

Conceptual framework

2.8.

McKenna (1994) presented a model of reading attitude acquisition, in which he divided the contributing factors of attitude towards reading into three components: affect (feeling), cognition (thought and belief), and conation (intention for action) This theory had set the groundwork for various research

on attitude towards reading

Yamashita‟s research (2013) was one of those which provided a more detailed look into the factors that have an impact on English reading attitude Yamashita tried to measure students‟ attitudes towards reading, based on five criteria: comfort, anxiety, intellectual value, practical value and linguistic value, which correspond with the first two elements of McKenna‟s theory (1994): affect and cognition Yamashita‟s study revealed that ER had a positive effect on students‟ reading motivation (feeling) and belief

Howbeit, as Mathewson (2004) had pointed out, students having a positive attitude towards reading did not mean that they were willing to perform the action, or ready to foster their reading habits The third component – intention for action which was a reliable predicting factor of students‟ behavior, should be included in the evaluation

Attitude (McKenna, Kear &

intellectual value

pratical value

linguistic value

conation (intention for action)

intention for action

Yamashita (2013)

Mathewson (2004)

Figure 3 Conceptual framework

intention for action

Intention for action

Attitude towards reading English

3 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Online Extensive Reading Programs

on students‟ attitude towards reading English as a foreign language and intends

to nurture students reading habits through the practice of extensive reading The following chapter will introduce the research design to achieve those aims and present the research site and the sampling process Then research instruments participants‟ background information will be analyzed in 3.4 and 3.5 Finally, the data collection and data analysis procedure will be explained

Research design

3.1.

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of OERP on students‟ attitude towards reading English On this account, the study chose a mixed method using both quantitative approach and qualitative approach Specifically, questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data which helped to determine whether the effect of the program on students‟ attitude was statistically significant In addition, a semi-structured interview was included to gather qualitative data about students reading behaviors after the OERP An experimental design was employed with the participation of an Experimental group and a Control group to negate the effect of any outer variables interfering with the research result Despite preferring a perfect condition for the study, the researcher could not carry out the random sampling process, as each class, and the students who participated in this class were appointed to the researcher by VUS staff with no interference from the teacher in charge Therefore, a quasi-experimental design with intact groups would be the most plausible option for this study

VUS was established in 1997 and has consistently remained one of the biggest English Language Training providers in Vietnam, currently employs over 2000 English Teaching professionals and 1200 administration and support staff VUS

is the biggest in the South of Vietnam with the majority of its campus located in

Ho Chi Minh city but is expanding towards other areas of Vietnam such as Hanoi, Vung Tau, Bien Hoa and Binh Duong

Students level from beginner to advanced learners To foster a good learning environment, each class limited its attendees to no larger than 25 students whose English proficiency is relatively evenly matched

Sample and sampling procedures

3.3.

The students taking part in this study were studying at VUS intermediate-level classes Since the students in one class of VUS were assembled and categorized based on their English proficiency, and the teacher in charge of the class had no influence on the selection process, intact group, convenient sampling was adopted The chosen students were from intermediate classes which were assigned to the teacher Before being put in each class, every student had completed a placement test, ensuring all of the members in the class are relatively at the same level in English This was an advantage conducting the survey on these almost homogeneous groups of students, certifying their attitudes towards reading were not affected by their difference in their English proficiency

The total number of participants was 30 from two classes, including one class that played the role of a control group and the other class as an experimental group

comfort, anxiety, linguistic value, practical value and intellectual value However, as pointed out before, students‟ attitude alone is not enough to nurture reading habits reading in students This research included another factor to the assessment: intention for action

There are two questionnaires: entry and exit questionnaires (see Appendix B1 and C1) to collect data on students‟ attitude towards English reading, including close-ended questions base on Likert scale format with 1 as „strongly disagree‟ and 5 as „strongly agree‟ Both the pre-program questionnaire and post-program questionnaire shared a section, including 22 items, which was designed to gather information about students‟ attitudes towards reading and reading habits Nevertheless, the other section of the pre and post questionnaire was distinct from each other With the entry questionnaire, the first part (part A) was to get participants‟ personal information and experience with reading English The exit questionnaire, in contrast to the first questionnaire, had no personal experience section, instead, another section following the main questionnaire was added to look into students' thoughts of the OER program

3.4.2 Semi-structured interview

An interview was carried out with a group of volunteered students after OER sessions to gather data about students‟ reading behaviors, particularly reading frequency, reading quantity, selection The interview was constructed to collect information on students‟ online extensive reading frequency and record the amount of reading students accomplished after the program

Research participants

3.5.

The program was conducted in one course in a class of 15 students in Vietnam United Society language school and another class of 15 students participated as a control group Students are at intermediate level and above All of the students had taken the placement test before studying in their classes; therefore, it is safe to assume they were relatively at the same level in English proficiency These two classes were chosen to partake in OERP for two reasons: First, most of the students

were university students or young working adults who were well-acquainted with interaction with e-documents The second rationale behind this choice was the proficiency of these groups of students Extensive reading requires a certain level of reading capability and fluency from readers to understand and determine their preferred materials before the actual reading practice As Park (2017) stated, students at intermediate levels and above could benefit more from extensive reading programs than lower ones

The control group partook in intensive reading activities assigned in the syllabus,

using IR strategies as taught in the coursebook American English Hub

Concurrently, the experiment group, in addition to the compulsory reading activities similar to the control group, had extra 30-minute OERP sessions The two groups‟ detailed information is presented in the table below:

Table 3.1

Comparison of participants of both groups

Control group Experimental group Raw

value statistically insignificant Intellectual

value statistically insignificant Linguistic

value statistically insignificant Intention

for action statistically insignificant

The table above indicated there were strong similitudes pertaining to the number

of participants, age and gender between the Control group and the Experimental group Despite the disparity in years of learning English, students were sorted into classes by their level of English proficiency To guarantee the homogeneity

of the study, the research had intentionally selected two classes of the same level

Application of OERP

3.6.

Students in the Experimental group were informed of the purpose and the aims

of the program before volunteering to participate The class chosen as Experimental group started in March, 2021, and the OERP was launched at the first week of the course

The first OER session was dedicated to introducing the program to the students and giving guidelines to help them look for appropriate materials All of the students were familiar with IR, therefore, their tendency to skim over the texts was the hardest to break As soon as the researcher noticed the signs of IR habits, friendly reminders were given to students to help establish a new reading routine

In the first two sessions, students experienced some confusion and difficulties finding the appropriate materials Their chosen texts were often more advanced than the levels where students could achieve reading fluency, which led the