(Skkn 2023) using extensive reading to improve teaching reading skill for the 11th graders at a high school

In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, reading is regarded as the most significant skill for students to gain the knowledge; Alan contends that “Reading i

CLT : Communicative language teaching EFL : English as Foreign Language

ER : Extensive Reading ESP : English For Specific Purpose GER : Guided Extensive Reading

has been considered as an effective means of access to scientific and technological development To meet these requirements, English has been widely taught almost everywhere in Vietnam, not only at all colleges and universities, but also at almost every senior high schools, and English is seen a compulsory subject

In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, reading is regarded as the most significant skill for students to gain the knowledge; Alan contends that “Reading is the most important skill a child can develop, learning

to read is an important skill every child must develop to be successful in school” (2011:37) In order to develop reading skill, students have to learn strategies to enhance their vocabulary, their speed of reading, improve their motivation, attitude and proficiency

However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning reading in particular does not come up to the study aims Although teachers always make great effort to provide students with many opportunities to learn and develop their communicative skills, how to teach and learn reading effectively is still a big challenge to both teachers and students at many high schools

As the teachers of foreign language of a high school, we realize that students‟ reading skill is limited which affects the acquisition of their four language skills It is not easy for teachers to motivate students to take part in the activities of reading skill comfortably in reading lessons Most of them often feel hesitant and anxious when presenting before class They do not pay more to their attention to their reading skill They usually keep silent in reading lessons or they often use mother tongue instead speaking English Moreover, it is also not enough time for students to complete all tasks in reading activities and the teacher may almost have not enough time for the lectures while students are passive through activities

The authors, therefore, carried out an extensive reading to improve the students‟ reading learning This study aims to investigate the effects of extensive reading and their attitudes towards the extensive reading

Our teaching experience is titled: “Using Extensive Reading to improve teaching reading skill for the 11th graders at a high school ”

1.2 The aims of the study:

The study was conducted in order to improve students’ reading through Extensive Reading at a high school and to make them interesting, exciting and active

in learning and practicing their English, especially reading skill by using Extensive

The results of this study are expected for 2 groups:

- The teachers: the teachers based of this study, the writers expected Extensive Reading can be one of the effective method that it will be implemented by the teachers in term of teaching English reading skill and to solve problems of students’ difficulties in learning reading skill then it will make the learning process in and outside more interesting and active for students especially for the 11th graders at a high school

- The students: For students, this study expected to give the students the useful and wonderful English lessons By using extensive reading will make students feel excited and interested when they take part in learning English in classroom or at home Then it can solve their problems in understanding the meaning of words in the sentences easily, improve their motivation, attitude, proficiency and enhance speed

of reading As a result, students are always eager to open their hearts , their mind to welcome to the new meaningful and cheerful English lessons

1.4 Methods of the study: Quasi- experimental design

The earliest definition of reading can be tracked back to Huey (1908) Huey viewed reading as gathering or choosing from what was written, suggesting that constant feeling of values which goes on in all effective reading Huey was concerned with the process used to gained information from printed page and focused particularly on the ideas represented in printed form and the means by which the mind takes note of them Thorndike (1917: 323 - 332) characterized reading as reasoning and assumed that it was an active process related to problem solving Huey and Thorndike both reflect the belief that reading requires both visual and non-visual information, which supports recent findings that prior knowledge about experience involving language - the syntactic, semantic, and orthographic elements used to create text - is stored in the reader's mind, enabling them to predict meaning

Reading can be seen as "a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written" (Williams, E., 1986:2) It is noted that reading 8 aloud without understanding does not count reading However, it does not mean that a reader needs to understand everything in a text as well as to look at all written symbols that appear on the page Simply, reading means "reading and understanding" (Ur, P 1996: 138) Harmer J (1991: 190) seems to be interested in the notion of reading He says "reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of these message" Moreover, Rubin, J and Thompson, I (1982:91) offer another definition of reading as follow: "Reading is an active information-seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know" From this point of view, the reader's knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world is of important to their reading success

In the book "Becoming an effective reading teacher" (1941) Robinson and Good write "Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding of the printed page based on the individual's unique background of experience Reading

language teachers' opinions is "a developmental process" Students learn to read and achieve the accomplishment not in one effort but gradually through continuous and sequential learning and practice

2.1.1.2 The importance of reading skill:

Reading is one of the four main language skills that a learner must acquire in the process of mastering a foreign language "Reading is a complex act that must

be learnt It is also a means by which further learning takes place" ("Teaching Reading in Today's Elementary Schools," 1984) Burns-RoeRoss point out the role

of reading in learning a foreign language Foreign language learners would read to get information and learn rather than for pleasure For this purpose, reading comprehension becomes a means of learning

First of all, reading comprehension helps learners get necessary information and widen their knowledge through reading; through which, new words and ideas are learnt, concepts are enlarged and clarified, and information is digested and combined with what known before To make it clearer, Bright and Gregor (1970, p.52) write, "Books provide most pupils with the situation in which learning takes place Where there is little reading there will be little language learning

Next, reading offers language learners ground to improve other language skills and language elements in learning a foreign language Reading enriches learner's vocabulary and grammar as well Reading well will help students learn writing, speaking and listening much better

Last but not least, reading activity occurs not only at school but also in students’ daily life They are curious about everything and they always wish to discover things by themselves Hence they tend to read more to meet their everyday needs

In conclusion, reading really plays a significant role in learning a foreign language It helps students widen their knowledge, improve other languages skills and succeed in their future life Having an effective way of reading, students will learn English much better

2.1.1.3 Model of the reading process

a) Bottom-up vs Top-down:

Researchers have confined the interaction between reader and text to bottom-up and top-down models In bottom-up model, the reader constructs meaning from the smallest 9 units (from letter to words to phrases to sentence, ect)

as text-driven process in which the reader plays a relatively passive role in performing two tasks of reading process; namely decoding and comprehending From this point of view, the process of constructing the text from small units becomes so automatic that the reader is not aware of how it operates

In contrast, top-down theory argues that reader is at the heart of the reading process, and that he or she brings knowledge, past experience, language intuitions, expectation, assumptions and questions to the text in order to confirm their predictions The top-down school of reading also argues that reader fit the text into knowledge he or she already possess then checks back when new or unexpected information appears b) The interactive model Stannovich, K (1980, in Nunan, D., 1991)

b) The interactive model Stannovich, K (1980, in Nunan, D., 1991) shows the major deficiency of the bottom-up model that it assumes the initiation of higher-level processes, such as use of background knowledge, must wait lower level decoding processes On the other hand, the top-down model does not allow lower level processes to direct higher-level ones He claims that the interactive model is the best description of reading process because it deals with the shortcomings inherent in bottom-up and top-down model

The interactive theorists argue that both top-down and bottom-up processes are occurring either alternatively or at the same time It is a process that moves both bottom-up and top-down depending on the type of text as well as on the reader's background knowledge, language proficiency level, motivation, strategy use and culturally shaped belief about the reading

c) Reasons for reading

It is clear that people generally read when they have a reason for reading, i.e they have need of some kind that can be satisfied through reading Wallace, 10 C (1992) mentions three personal reason for reading, namely reading for survival, reading to learn and reading for pleasure

- Reading for survival: reading in response to the living environment is called reading for survival Survival reading is to serve immediate needs or wishes, for example, reading forms, bills, official notices, directions, bus and train tables, etc

- Reading to learn: It is nearly almost everyone has to learn to read because learners "read to learn" The point of teaching reading curriculum is partly to develop the ability to learn from books Although there are many other reasons for reading but reading to learn closely relates to the reader's general intellectual growth that is a crucially important skill to acquire

- Reading for pleasure: When readers read for pleasure, they read frequently with a habit of reading and they often follow their own reading interests The foreign language teachers should recognize that language is not for classroom purposes only but for other necessary living activities Nuttall, C (2000:3) believes that "the motivation of needing to read is powerful" Clearly, the learners have a variety of purposes for reading as they have when dealing their mother tongue The teacher can, thus motivate the students by making their foreign language reading lesson interesting in itself by giving more purposeful reading activities and making class livelier

2.1.1.4 Types of reading

People usually read different reading materials in different ways Williams (1986, p.10) says: “There are different styles of reading, and that these are determined not only by the text, but by the readers’ reason for reading” The reasons and purpose of reading determines the styles of reading and relevant reading strategies the readers may use According to him, there are four main different styles of reading, namely skimming, scanning, intensive and extensive reading

- Skimming: Skimming is an important skill for reader to an overview, by

12 skimming we mean the eyes going through the reading materials quickly in order to discover what the main ideas and the gist are about According to Williams in “Reading in the language classroom” (1996, p.96), “skimming differs from general rapid reading in that the reader goes through the text extremely quickly, merely dipping into it or sampling it at various points The purpose of skimming is simply to see what a text is about”

- Scanning: According to Nutall, C (1989), scanning means the reader goes

through the text quickly in order to find particular point of information or to get an initial impress of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose Scanning is the reading skill we use when we want to find the answer to a specific question

- Extensive reading: Extensive reading is considered as a type of reading

outside the classroom because of the lack of time and the great amount of reading, which is needed to achieve in classroom Levis, M and Hill, J (1985: 100) defines

"extensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word" Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding It is considered to be useful for students' self-learning Their reading habit and passion for reading are also formed through

ER The students can choose the topics they like and read for their own purpose for pleasure or entertainment However, it is more effective if students" extensive reading is followed an instructional program with the help of the reading teacher

Intensive reading

"Intensive reading means reading short text to extract specific information Intensive reading is also called study reading so it is very significant for foreign language learning in EFL classroom While extensive reading aims at maintaining interest and does not require the help of the teacher, this "study reading" involves the close study of a text under the close guidance 13 of the teacher The students are expected to "arrive at a profound detailed understanding of the text, not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning is produced" (Nutall, 1989, p.23) In short, types of reading are not mutually For instance, the readers often skim through the passages to see what they are about before deciding whether it is worth scanning a particular paragraph for the information they are looking for Similarly, intensive and extensive reading are not contrastive but complementary in terms of

an important and necessary means for students not only to gain knowledge but also

to develop other language skills

2.1.2 Extensive reading 2.1.2.1 Definitions of extensive reading

Extensive reading (ER) has been defined in various ways by educators, researchers, and reading specialists The first person to apply the term “extensive reading" in foreign language (FL) or second language (L2) pedagogy (Louis 1969 cited in Day and Barmford 1998: 5) was Harold Palmer (1949) one of the most prominent applied linguists in British twentieth-century language teaching, who defines the extensive reading as rapidly reading book after book where the reader's attention should be on the meaning, not the language of the text He chose the term

"extensive reading" to distinguish it from intensive reading (IE) which often refers

to the careful reading (or translation) of shorter, more difficult foreign language texts with the goal of complete and detailed understanding and skills practice such

as distinguishing the main idea of the text from the detail, finding pronoun referents, or guessing the meaning of unknown words (Bamford and Day, 1997)

The relevant definition of extensive reading on basis of theory and practice which was developed from the earliest definition stated above is an approach to learning to read a second language, ER may be done in and out of the classroom Outside the classroom, extensive reading is encouraged by 14 allowing students to borrow books to take home and read In the classroom, it requires a period of time,

at least 15 minutes or so to be set aside for sustained silent reading, which is for students - and perhaps the teacher as well - to read individually anything they wish

to

(Day and Bamford 1997:7) Aebersold, J A., & Field, M L (1997) also assert that extensive reading is reading large amounts of material to get an overall understanding while focusing on the meaning of the text than the meaning of individual words or sentences As an approach to teaching reading, it may be thought of in terms of purpose or outcome Additionally, an ER approach introduces students to the dynamics of reading as it is done in real life by including

such key elements of real-life reading as choice and purpose.' That is, reading is an individual activity and thus students can read at their own level and pace in their own time including when and where they choose, this increase their motivation for learning and fosters them to engage in sustained silent reading

Different researchers define extensive reading differently Parrot (1993) says that extensive reading is usually for one's own pleasure For Lewis and Hill (1985),

ER means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word They also pointed that ER means reading in quantity to gain a general understanding of what is read and develop good reading habit or encourage a liking for reading

Therefore, in the early part of this century, ER took on a special meaning in the context of teaching modern languages (Bamford and Day 1997) It is defined as

an approach to foreign language teaching and learning in general, and as a method

or procedure in the teaching and learning of a foreign language reading in particular The theory and practice of ER has been worked out by pioneers such as Harold Palmer in Britain and Michael West in India, the parents of second language ER in modem times (Day and Bamford 2004) And 15 whatever name is used, the characteristics of extensive reading generally include (a) fast reading of large quantities of material or long texts; (b) global or general understanding; (e) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Further, because (d) reading

is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read; (e) the books are not discussed in class" (Robb and Susser (1989, p3)

ER often ensures three aspects as follow: large quantities, general comprehension and pleasure reading Large quantities are essential for this procedure to be "extensive", but there is no agreement on how much "extensive" is Each author or researcher has different views on it Some measure it in page or word, as the following examples: thirty pages an hour (Hill and Thomas, 1988, p.50) ; three pages an hour (Susser and Robb, 1990); one page per day and three pages per day during summer vacation (for Japanese high school students) (Matsumura, 1987,cited in Susser and Robb, 1990, at a rate of at least 200 words thirty pages an hour (Hill and Thomas, 1988); other authors think of reading measure in hour or minutes: an hour per evening (Krashen, 1981, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990 ); five hours by a specified date (Bowen, Madsen and Hilferty,

1985, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990 ) an hour of extensive for every hour of intensive; thirty minutes per day for five stories, poems, or essays per week (Dalle,

1988, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990): many researchers believe that reasonable quantity should be measured by chapter or reader: a chapter per week, one reader per week (Stoller, F.L 1994), at least two books a week (Carroll, 1972, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990 ); a minimum of 36 simplified readers per year (Hill, 1983, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990); 60 books a year (Bright & McGregor, 1970 , edited in Susser and Robb, 1950.This variety suggests that quantity of reading is

not absolute number of hours, pages or words, it depends on teacher and student perceptions The amount of extensive reading will y according to type of 16 program, level and other variables

By focusing ont general comprehension, this procedure reduces both teacher demands on the student and student demands on the text to attain the objectives of fluency and speed as well as comprehension Broughton et al.'s comment that extensive reading must imply a "relatively low degree of understanding" (1978, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990 ) must be taken in context: we want students to achieve a degree of understanding sufficient for pleasure reading If the student finds the book too difficult to enjoy, the extensive reading procedure requires that the book be changed, and not that the student be made to study it more closely The level of global understanding required varies with the student's language proficiency, the nature of the text, and other factors

Pleasure may seem dubious, because, after all, the reading is an assignment, and most of us do not take pleasure in assignments However, pleasure, like quantity, is relative The procedure assumes that students will enjoy reading books that they have chosen on topics of interest to them more than they will enjoy assigned readings from a reader If they have chosen correctly, the book should be easy to read for general understanding Any EFL reading teacher can supply anecdotal counter-evidence Further, even learners who are far from fluent derive pleasure from the very experience of reading a book in a foreign language Students in extensive reading courses regularly comment on their joy at having finished whole books in the target language

Having some ideas and aspects of extensive reading, the following section will present some its benefits in EFL context

2.1.2.2 The benefits of extensive reading in foreign language learning

A large amount of research has been conducted over the last 20 years in order to reveal its benefits in different aspects of language learning in EFL/ ESL context According to Nutall, "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 17 read extensively in it" (Nutall, 1982) Therefore, reading extensively is the best way for EFL students to improve their English

ER has been proved a large number of benefits to different aspects of learning Grabe & Stoller (2002) reviewed eight benefits of ER on learners’ reading: ER helps readers develop automatic word recognition, a large recognition vocabulary, general background knowledge, and reading proficiency It also has positive effects on readers' motivation to read, their learning and using of strategies, their ability to "read to learn", and their continuous learning on their own when instruction is absent

According to Nation (1997), regarding language learning in general, ER allows the readers to learn at their own level of proficiency, follow their own interest, and learn even outside classroom Regarding the learner's language proficiency in particular, not only the learners' knowledge of the target language (vocabulary and grammar) but also their communicative skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) benefit from ER

A large number of studies with different samples, different methods and in different regions have provided consistent results, proving such positive effect of

ER on language learning First, ER can improve students' reading speed and reading comprehension Robb & Susser (1989) or Susser (1990) experiments prove that ER can help students read faster Reading is one of the skills that needs to practice a lot to improve reading ability But when do students read a lot? And how

do we make students interested in reading? Students read a lot only when they like

or are interested in what they want to know When they read extensively text at their same level, it also helps their reading ability develop

Using Extensive reading as a procedure in teaching can encourage students read what they really like, really want to know about Students are free to choose which topics they enjoy reading This is quite different from reading in classroom

18 because in our daily life, we read mainly to get information or to entertain, to enjoy themselves, and the language used in these texts is natural and close to real life But in classroom, students have to read with different purpose as each text used in classroom is for certain aim of language teaching and learning (reading skills, giving the uses of certain grammar ) So the language is not as natural as the texts outside classroom and may not all the topics of the reading texts can interest students, they will feel boring, lazy to read and learn ineffectively Therefore, when students read extensively outside classroom with the topics that interest them, they will like reading more and don't feel to be forced As a result, their reading speed and reading comprehension will be better

Secondly, gains in vocabulary are one of the concerning benefits of ER According to its definition, extensive reading exposes learners to "large quantities

of material within their linguistic competence" (Grabe and Stollers, 2002: 259) [13], which is, at the same time, pleasurable There are several reasons why it is so attractive to develop language knowledge (and more specifically vocabulary) through ER It is considered a “pedagogically efficient" approach, as two activities

- vocabulary acquisition and reading - occur at the same time This approach facilitates learner autonomy, can be very pleasant and motivating, provide learners with the opportunity to meet words in their context of use, increase sight vocabulary When students read widely and extensively, they will get ideas on what they have read and remember vocabulary on that topic Because when we read a lot, the repetition of seeing the same vocabulary will happen, so it will help students remember more vocabulary The more students read, the better readers

they become An integral part of this is learning new vocabulary On of the primary ways in which vocabulary is learnt is through reading Students encounter the same words over and over again in context, which results in vocabulary learning

Moreover, ER can help students remember not only vocabulary but also grammar structures they have just learned In the book "Working with words", Garirns & Redman (1990) pointed out two basic theories about remembering words One theory suggests that information which is not activated regularly disappears in time from memory This means that unless new words are practiced and revised they will soon be forgotten Reading is on of the effective ways because through reading students can practice and revise new words in order not to forget them

ER has a positive effect on listening, writing, and speaking Learning vocabulary is one of the keys to learn a new language Without knowledge of the L2's vocabulary, no progress can be made So it is believed that ER impacts writing, listening and speaking because students know more vocabulary, so ER provides input for those skills When reading extensively, students automatically receive the necessary reinforcement and recycling of language required to ensure that new input is retained and make available for spoken and written production

Finally, the gains in motivation and attitude are equally impressive if reading

is a “pleasure" like playing music or watching TV and students read extensively that they are interested in, gradually students make it a habit that is very important for students who are expected to mainly self-study in their university course It is reported that the students developed "very positive attitudes toward books as they raised their literacy levels in English." 8 Elley, W.B., & Mangubhai, F 1983 and Mason & Krashen (1997) also report that reading extensively increase motivation

to read and the development of a positive attitude toward reading

In conclusion, extensive reading brings a lot of benefits The researcher can draw a framework of the benefits of ER as follow

- For readers' language skills (especially reading and writing)

- For readers’ knowledge of language components (mostly vocabulary and grammar)

- For readers' background knowledge For readers' motivation and attitudes

in reading and learning

Therefore, the effects of extensive reading are both cognitive and affective

It not only leads to improvement in reading, writing, and vocabulary acquisition but also leads to a positive attitude towards reading, which would help to increase students' language proficiency in the long term All the gains from extensive reading indicate that ER not only develops reading skills but that it also benefits a

whole range of other language skills, boosts confidence and improve overall attitude

2.1.2.3 Instruments used to monitor students' reading in an extensive reading activity

Extensive reading mainly takes place outside class without the presence of the teacher The students read individual and silent at their own space, at anytime, anywhere so it is difficult for the teacher to monitor or make sure that their students actually do their reading at home According to Mason & Krashen, 1997,

to run an extensive reading program successfully, effective monitoring is required

to trace students reading habits and interests That's why in all studies on extensive reading, the researchers used different tools to monitor their students' reading as weekly report or book review, journal (Pham's, 2003) In this research, the researcher asks her students write weekly reading journals She wants to know whether her students read during the week and find out their attitude toward to this activity

2.1.2.4 Ten top principles for an extensive reading activity

There are ten characteristics or principles of extensive reading as an approach or a language teaching/learning procedure, which have been identified 21

as key factors in successful extensive programs (Bamford and Day, 1997)

a Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely out of the classroom

Day and Bamford (2002: 3) emphasize that the amount of time students actually spend on reading is the most critical element in learning to read Hence, to achieve the benefits of ER and to establish a reading habit, the minimum amount of reading is a book a week, which is 'a realistic target for learners of all proficiency levels, as books written for beginners and lowintermediate learner are very short'

b A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available Having variety allow students to find material they want to read Different kinds of reading material also encourage a flexible approach to reading Students learn to read for different reasons (entertainment, information, passing time ) and in different ways (skimming, scanning more careful reading)

c Students select what they want to read and have the freedom to stop reading material that fails to interest them

Self-selection of reading material is the key to extensive reading Students can select texts as they do in their own language, that is, they can choose texts they expect to understand, to enjoy, or to learn from They are free to stop reading material that is boring, too easy, or too difficult

d The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information, and

and the interests of the student In an extensive reading approach, learners are encouraged to read for the same kinds of reasons and in the same ways as the general population of the first-language readers This sets extensive reading apart from usual classroom practice, and reading for academic purposes 100% comprehension or any particular objective level comprehension is not a goal In terms of 22 reading outcome, the focus shifts away from comprehension achieved

or knowledge gained and towards the reader's personal experience (Day and Bamford 2002)

e Reading is its own reward Because the goal is for students to experience reading They are not required to demonstrate their understanding by answering comprehension questions However, teachers may need to ask students so engage

in follow-up activities after reading for a number of reasons: 1) to discover what the students understood and experienced from reading: 2) to keep track of what students read; 3) to monitor the student's attitude toward reading: 4) to link reading with other aspects of the curriculum

f Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar Dictionaries are rarely used while reading because the constant stopping to look up words make fluent reading difficult

Day and Bamford (2002) recommend that texts must be well within the learners reading competence in the foreign language For beginning readers, more than one or two unknown words per page might make the text too difficult for overall understanding For intermediate learners, there should be no more than five difficult words per page Nation suggest that learners must know at least 98% of the words in a fiction text for assisted understanding One way to get them read a lot is to make sure that they read material that contains vocabulary and grammar within their linguistic competence In addition, reading easy material helps the effective dimension of learning to read The students discover that they can read

FL material, and as they read more and more material, they see themselves as readers in the target language

g Reading is individual and silent Students read at their own pace Most ER

is done outside class, as homework, in the students' own time, when and where the student chooses

h Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower Students can read faster because the materials are easy and understandable They move from word-by-word decoding to fluent reading They are advised against using dictionaries as it interrupts the reading process, making fluent reading impossible If they encounter unknown words, they should ignore them or guess their meanings (Hitosugi and Day 2004; Day and Bamford 2002) Nutall (1982) notes that "speed, enjoyment and comprehension are closely linked with one another" (p128) She described

"The vicious circle of the weak reader: Read slowly; doesn’t enjoy reading; doesn’t

read much; Read slowly " (p.127) and so on Extensive reading can help readers

"enter instead the cycle of growth The virtuous circle of the good reader: Reads faster, Reads more, understands better, Enjoys reading, Reads faster…”

i Teachers orients students the goals of extensive reading, explain the methodology Keep ask of what students read, and guide students in getting the most out of the program

Given that students may not accustomed to the freedom of making choices at school, they are to be introduced to the practice of extensive reading The teacher could begin by explaining the benefits of extensive reading - that is it helps them gain in vocabulary knowledge, reading, writing and oral fluency The choice of materials, self-selection and reading for overall understanding should be discussed Teachers may point out that there are no tests or comprehension questions

Nevertheless, in order to guide students during the course to ensure they get the most out of extensive reading experience, Teachers need to keep track of what and how much their students read, and the students' reaction of what was read Teachers also encourage them to read the books they previously found too difficult

to read (Day and Bamford 2002)

j The teacher is a role model of reader for students The teacher's role is an active member of the classroom reading community, demonstrating what it means

to be a reader and the rewards of being a reader If the teacher read the same material that the students read, and talk to them about it, this gives the students a model of what it is to be a reader and also makes it possible for the teacher to recommend reading material to individual students In this way, the teacher and students form an informal reading community, experiencing together the value and pleasure that may be derived from the written word

2 1.2.5 Choice of Extensive reading activities

- Guided Extensive Reading Activity Based on the ten top principles for extensive reading of Bamford and Day (2002) and the teaching context, the researcher wanted to design an extensive reading program for her students According to Robb (1989), with a ten-year experience in ER programs in Japan, argues that some principles are not applicable in Japan due to the teaching and learning English situation here Students cannot read extensively in class because they must spend time finishing their tight English syllabus In Asian countries, most students focus on learning English for exams or course requirement, they don't think much about the language use for themselves and it is not except for Vietnamese students Therefore, in many countries especially in Asia, some of the principles might undermine the primary intent of extensive reading The researchers in this study also agreed with that idea when using the extensive reading program for the learners at a upper secondary school Some principles are

modify inappropriate principles and tried not to change the nature of extensive reading so much

Firstly, as principle 1 "Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely out of the classroom", so large quantities are essential for extensive reading There are different opinions about exactly how much reading has to be done to be called “extensive" Each author or researcher has different views on it Some measure it in page, in hour or by reader as the following examples: thirty pages an hour (Hill and Thomas, 1988, p.50); thirty minutes per day for five stories, poems, or essays per week (Eskey, D (1995, p 25) 1971, p 16 ), one reader per week (Stoller, 1986, p 65; Brumfit, 1979, cited in Bamford, 19844, p

260 )

The main goal of extensive reading is to get students to read as much as possible and hopefully to enjoy doing so But most students in this study began the course with low level of fluency in English and have never read any English books extensively before, so the researcher want to provide more extensive reading materials on a gradually increasing the quantity of ER to the ability of the students Beside, learners in this study only read extensively outside class because they have

to finish the syllabus as planned and extensive reading was not included in the curriculum

Secondly, according to principle 2 "A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available" and principle 3 "Students select what they want to read", it means that students have a lot of reading materials to choose what to read But how

to choose the available and suitable reading materials for the learners at a high school is not easy Due to the lack of reading materials, at the beginning of the experiment, the researcher will help to prepare the proper reading materials on the basis of the topics provided by learners Students themselves choose materials to read from these resources provided by the teacher Gradually the learners themselves could be motivated, guided to choose appropriate reading materials in term of students' reading proficiency, preferred topics and students' interest

Thirdly, in principle 6 "Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar", that means the reading material is easy but because of the learners' low level of proficiency in English, it is sometimes difficult to choose appropriate reading materials with few new words for the learners to read So, the reading materials chosen in this study may be at a higher language level According to 1.Aebersold, J A., & Field, M L (1997) , there is an interaction between background knowledge, linguistics knowledge and ability to comprehend a text Reading in a L2 or FL is a dynamic and interactive process, during which learners make sure of a variety of skills and strategies, combined with background knowledge, L1-related knowledge and real-world knowledge to arrive at an understanding of written materials (Aebersold and Field, 1997) Therefore, learners can pick a text that they interest and read it with

pleasure success even if the linguistic aspects of the text are quite advanced to the learners' ability Most important of all is the fact that high motivation will typically enable the reader to success in comprehending a difficult text to a surprising degrees

2.1.2.6 Internet Sources and Materials for Extensive Reading

There are a great variety of Internet sources for students to extend their reading skills inside and outside of the classroom Waring (2010) suggested some appropriate sites for extensive reading, including those listed in Table 2.1

Table 2.1: Extensive Reading Sources Online

1 BBC Learning English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

This site has hundreds of reading activities and texts from the BBC’s extensive archives It is about news and stories that learners can read and listen to Some words are marked so that they can be studied as vocabulary It is appropriate for all levels

2 Connect with English http://www.learner.org/resources/series71.html

The website has video stories about people and their lives spoken in slow English It includes 50 fifteen-minute video programs and coordinated books It is suggested for college and high school classrooms and adult learners

3 Euronews http://www.euronews.net

The website has Euro news TV, radio, and video about news, European affairs, business, special reports, sports, and culture It is suggested for advanced level

4 L.E.A.R.N

http://learnintl.com

The website is recommended for intermediate and advanced learners It is about stories in fairly hard English, but read slowly Learners can also read the scripts on-line

5 NPR

http://www.npr.org/

The website is recommended for advanced language learners who are interested in listening to and read stories These short

stories are deep and touching

6.Spotlight http://www.spotlightradio.net

This site is about podcasts, stories, and news The English is at almost normal level Language learners can listen to and

modifierd form of English to make listening to the radio easier It is suggested for beginning and intermediate levels

7 Successful English www.successfulenglish.com

This website is a good place to find clear explanations and practical suggestions for better English Especially it supplies intermediate and advanced English learners with online listening and video resources about subjects related to life in the United States: daily life, business, entertainment, health/medicine, relationship, shopping, etc

8 Takako's Great Adventure http://international.ouc.bc.ca/takako/index.html

This is a full novel told in parts that learners can listen to They can also download PDF files of it to read The site is good for advanced learners

2.2 PRACTICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Setting of the study

The study was carried out at a high school which is situated in a district of Nghe An province Establised in 1965, the school has about 1200 students Although English is a compulsory subject at school, their English level is low and

of mixed- ability Students in this school mainly come from poor rural families living in villages in a district of Nghe An province, so they have little chance expose to the environment of learning and communicating to native speakers from English speaking countries

This school has 30 classes (each has more than 40 students) and 77 teachers who are who are quite young The number of teachers of English includes 6 females and 1 male One of them has qualification as Master of Education The teachers seem to try their best to apply effective method in teaching to improve the quality of English learning at their school Most students are, to some extent, good

at grammar, but bad at vocabulary, listening,reading, speaking and the target language Actually, class time allocated to listening skill in 45 minutes is not always sufficient and effective Obviously, it is a big challenge to teachers and students to cover the aims of the lessons in such a limited class time Thus, this required teachers to be flexible and creative in designing the activities for students

to practice

The teaching material is currently used for learners in this study is the English textbook 11 published by Ministry of Education The 16-unit textbook is programmed to be taught in 2 semesters and in 105 periods for each The English

textbook for grade 11 is written basing on themes, such as Friendship, Personal experience, Party, Volunteerwork, Illiteracy , Competitions, World Population, The Post office, Nature in Danger, Sources of Energy, The Asian Games, Hobbies, Recreation, Space Conquest, The wonders of the world Each unit includes 5 parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Language Focus (with two smaller parts: Pronunciation and Grammar), each of which is introduced within 1 period The content of each part closely relates to the topic of the lesson

In learning reading skill, students have to work in group, work in pair and work individually to improve their communicative skill This part is often combined with each skill in order to help students to develop the basic skills thoroughly However, they need to be adapted in order to motivate students in learning

Also, there are many problems and difficulties from the teachers and students and some unappropriate things from the textbook “Tieng Anh 11” that need to be taken into consideration

2.2.1.2 Difficulties from the teachers

Through my survey, although all teachers at my High School have basic knowledge of Communicative language teaching (CLT), some teachers misunderstand the CLT that leads to their teaching difficulties Four of seven teachers say that CLT doesn’t mean learners are the centre of the class Half of them state that CLT doesn’t create good language atmosphere to interest students

to learn in classroom Thus, we can realize that the teachers do not often create chances for students to practice English actively Half of them often use the traditional method in vocabulary teaching They do not often advanced methods in

a foreign language lesson Normally, simple aids are applied Also, their instructions, explanations are not clear and motivating enough In most English lessons, the use of teaching visual aids is remarked to be limited Therefore, the teachers should use teaching strategies that attract the students' attention and curiosity in learning as well as stimulated them in teaching reading It can be agreed that teachers affect the effectiveness of the students' vocabulary learning by their suitable teaching methods and performances Consequently, teaching styles should be varied and modified or adapted to suit the students' different learning styles and interests

2 2.1.3 Difficulties from the students:

The students’ difficulties are categorized into low English proficiency; mixed- able- level; lack of motivation

2.2.1.4 Low English proficiency

According to the survey carried out, the major factor that prevented students from using English in reading lessons, listening lessons, speaking lessons is

School have already learnt for 7 years, they said that their low level of English in terms of limited vocabulary, background knowledge and inability of expressing their ideas As a result, their English proficiency is low They don’t have enough words, phrases and background knowledge to express or feeling their own ideas in English Some of them even thought, are unable to understand the requirement of the tasks In other words, many students are very worried about presenting their group tasks, or pair tasks in English in front of class in reading lessons because they were afraid of losing face when making mistakes or anxious about being called suddenly without carefully prepared activity This may lead to students to take part in activities unwillingly Gradually, they will feel lose interest in learning English generally, in learning reading skill particularly

2.2.1.5 Mixed- ability level

It is obvious that the success of using interesting activities in English reading lessons relates both teachers’ organization and students’ practice Thus, mixed- ability level (in a group) creates a big barrier that prevents them from participating

in group work activities The better students often work actively They always feel confident in expressing their own ideas, meanwhile, the weaker ones find difficult

to give their opinions This will prevent students from gaining success in mastering and learning vocabulary As a result, teachers should understand students’ problems and find out better to help the students to overcome the limitation

2.2.1.6 Lack of motivation

Motivation plays a significant role in reading English Learning is only effective and meaningful if students love activities and study hard Moreover, motivation is very necessary in students’ success or failure in learning English In addition, resulting from their low English proficiency, they do not feel confident enough to enjoy in these activities Many students did not pay much attention to the lessons although they understood the importance of learning vocabulary They were too bored with hearing the long and difficult passage They neglected the reading lessons and showed their negative attitude to this language skill The weaker students are not often in participating in the games or activities The students become silent, and shy and refuse to take part in any group activities Therefore, if their teachers do not give a suitable teaching method to motivate them

to speak, they will barely have chances to express their ideas in English in front of the class

2.2.2.Methods of the study

2 2 2.1 Quasi- experimental design:

Quasi-experimental designs identify a comparison group that is as similar as possible to the treatment group in terms of baseline (pre-invention) characteristics The comparison group captures what would have been the outcomes if the

treatment had not been implemented Hence, the intervention can be said to have caused any difference in outcomes between the treatment and comparison groups Quasi-experimental designs identify a comparison group that is as similar as possible to the treatment group in terms of baseline characteristics In this study the comparison will be the propensity score matching Also, when writing up results based on a quasi-experimental evaluation, it is important to provide details the specific methodology, including data collection Since the success of these methods depends greatly on the quality of data collected, some sort of assurance of quality should be provided It is also important to provide information about the tenability of the assumptions on which these methods are based

2 2.2.2 Instruments of the Research

In order to gain the valid data, some instruments were used They are explained as follow

2 2.2.2.1 Pre-test and Post-test

To compare students’ performance before and after the study, both chosen groups implemented pre-test and post-test before and after the treatment respectively The tests were adapted basing on English level B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) At this level students have to be able

to follow and understand a range of spoken materials including announcements and discussions about everyday life Therefore, the contents of the tests were selected from samples of Cambridge English First Certificate (FCE) composed and provided by Cambridge English Language Assessment which is used to examine and reinforce school-aged students’ English proficiency Both tests have a similar pattern which includes 5 parts with 32 questions The tests lasted in 60 minutes with 32 multiple choice questions.Text sources covers popular contents Students are asked to choose and marked their options on the answer sheets provided which facilitates checking and scoring the answers

2.2.2.2.2 Questionnaire and survey

A questionnaire involving emotion, behavior, and cognition was conducted

to investigate the learners’ attitude towards the use of vocabulary in their learning process and how to improve it In order to get the appropriate responses from the participants, a Vietnamese version was delivered to them The questionnaire was designed to investigate what and how the participants listen and watch in English language in their free time, or outside the class, which was essential to answer the research questions

A survey involving the practical state and evaluating the necessity and feelability of the proposed measurements in the study

2.2.2.2.3 Learning Journal and books

Learning journal and books was used during the time of treatment Teachers put students in 14 weeks of doing extensive reading according to their passion Some steps must be supplied before students participate the activities Teachers should provide learners reading materials to read and view weekly For example, the students who choose the material relating to books or journals will choose two books to read to a week They are required to share their favorite reading material with their classmates by sending a weekly report in the forum of the class Each report should mention the title of the material, the link, the summary and the useful words or structures they have learned through their extensive listening (Appendix 4)

2.2.2.3 1 Analysis of the Pre Test and Post- test (Appendix 1)

The pre-test was undetaken as the preliminary study or done before the treatment to identify the students’ real competence in vocabulary In pre-test, the students assigned to answer some question related to their competence in mastering English vocabulary.There were 32 questions in multiple choice The Pre-Test (table 3.1a.) was conducted on October 2022

Table 3.a Results of pre- test

=

X n x



Table 3.1.b Results of pre- test

The highest score for Pre-Test is 16 and the lowest score is 8 There were just 4 students who reach from 14 to 16, so almost all of students had low results based on the minimal mastery level criterion which determined by the writer To get the result of pre-test, the writer calculated the mean score by using the following formula:

_

=

X n x



= 427:40 = 10.67 Based on the table above - table 3.1.b, the highest score for post-test is and the lowest score is 11 There were 23 students who got 14 score 19 and above The increase in students’ score in post-test result after the w riter taught them to understand and master vocabulary by using Extensive Reading To get the result of post-test, the writer calculated the mean score with formula:

_

=

X n x

Note: No = number of participants

M = Mean (average score)

SD = Standard deviation MD = Mean difference

Based on the result of post-test, the data showed that the mean score of pre-test is 10.67 It showed if after implementing the treatment their scores are increased As can be seen, the result of students score was better improvement

of students’ average score from students’ vocabulary achievement The mean score of pre-test was 10.67 and the mean score of post-test was 13.5 the percentage of their improvement score are 28.3%

2.2.2.3.2.The Analysis of Questionnaire and survey

Questionnaire were used to collect the data about students’ perception after learning English subject using extensive reading as an effective method of learning The numbers of questions in questionnaire are 18 The writers provided a closed-ended questionnaire The data can be seen in table 4.1a , 4.1b, 4.1c , 4.1 d and description

Questionnaire was design in order to investigate the learners’ attitude towards extensive reading activities as well as the reality of using extensive reading The students were asked to tick to the options in the questionnaire In some questions, they may choose more than one option The responses to the ten questions are presented as follow

Question 1: What type of extensive reading would you like best to read in this

study?

Figure 4.1: Students’ Favorite Links

As shown in figure 4.1, movies were searched by all of students (100%) Songs (97.5%) and short stories (87.5%) were also in their favor with high choices The next options belonged to conversations (75%) and news reports (65%) It seems that

Question 2: What topics are you interested in reading most?

Table 4.1: The Percentage of the Topics searched

Question 3: Do you think extensive reading activities are fun?

Results of questionaires on students’ thoughts of extensive reading activities are interesting

Figure 4.2: Students’ Feedback about Extensive Reading

Question number 3 was set in order to discover the attraction of extensive reading activities to students Optimistically, 95% of participants appreciated the activity Only 5% of them still hesitated in their answers

Question 4: What does extensive reading benefit you? Tick the things that is true

to you in learning circumstance

Table 4.2: Benefits of Extensive Reading

Extensive reading activities help me realize that

Extensive reading is a good activity to develop my

I can increase my English vocabulary through

Extensive reading makes me more confident when I

communicate with other people in English 37 82,5%

Table 4.2 presents the vote of the students to the advantages extensive listening activities bring them The prominent feature from the data is the high support from the participants to the benefits of extensive reading The highest agreement percentage (92.5%) goes to the reason of increase my English vocabulary through extensive reading activities Of course, they agree that they can develop reading fluency (85%) Moreover, it builds their confidence in communication (82.5%) They also advocate the idea that extensive reading is a meaningful activity Last but not least one student (2.5%) confirms that extensive reading helps him to improve his pronunciation a lot

Question 5: Extensive reading motivates and encourages me to keep reading even

if nobody asks me to do it in the future

The last question aims to discover whether students can arise intrinsic motivation after the time of practicing with extensive reading activities

embarks on a task at all In reading, learning process needs motivation that can support and improve their skills

Figure 4.3: Students’ Motivation

Figure 4.8 helps us to see if listening learning resources are preferred by the participants and how they are motivated to continue this habit in the future Interestingly, may students (82.5%) claimed that they would maintain this habit even without any request However, 17.5% still found it hard to do this after the time of treatment

.Finding from survey (Appendix 3)

Number scores Num

ber

scores Number scores Num

ber scores

1

Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students

in English

2

Encouraging students to use

Extensive Reading regularly effectively

3

Using Extensive Reading to help students

to remember vocabulary more easily

or broaden sources of vocabulary

4

- Using Extensive Reading to improve students’

reading speed

5 - Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’

positive motivation, attitude in learning English

measurements Although 24 teachers surveyed have different evaluation methods, according to the law of large numbers, it can be thought that the majority of opinions agree that all 5 proposed measures are urgent Measurement 1 which is called “Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’ positive motivation, attitude in learning English” is evaluated with the highest score (97 points)

ranks first It is clear that 100% of the teachers investigated consider the urgency

of using extentive Reading in enhacing students’ positive motivation, attitude in learning English Measurement 1 “Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students in English” is evaluated with 92 points, ranks second All teachers think that the levels of urgency of the rest ones are equal It means that measurements 2, 3, 4 rank third It can be seen that the level of need for the proposed measures is relative, the distance between the mean scores is not too far apart

Levels of evaluation

Levels Very urgent urgent Less urgent Not urgent

Number scores Num

ber

scores Number scores Num

ber scores

1

Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students

in English

2

Encouraging students to use

Extensive Reading regularly effectively

3

Using Extensive Reading to help students

to remember vocabulary more easily

or broaden sources of vocabulary

4

- Using Extensive Reading to improve

students’

reading speed

5 - Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’

positive motivation, attitude in learning English

Table 4.5 shows the students’assessments of the urgency of the proposed

measurements Although 175 students have different evaluation methods, according to the law of large numbers, it can be thought that the majority of opinions agree that all 5 proposed measures are urgency As we can see , there are

175 students(100%) strongly think that “Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students in English” is urgent This measure is really necessary and important to them Measurement 1 ranks first with 649 points Measurement 5“Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’ positive motivation, attitude in learning English” ranks second, with 643 points This evaluation of students proves that using Extensive reading enhances students’ motivation and attitude is very important in learning English Therefore, using Extensive reading has positive effect on students’ motivation and attitude in learning process Measurement 4“Using Extensive Reading to improve students reading speed” ranks third, with 642 points Measurement 3“Using Extensive Reading to help students to remember vocabulary more easily or broaden sources of vocabulary” ranks fourth, with 640 points Measurement 2“Encouraging students to use Extensive Reading regularly effectively” ranks fifth, with 629 points

measurements:

- Assessment the feasibility of the proposed measurements:

Order Measures

Levels of evaluation

Levels

Number scores Number scores Number scores Number scores

1

Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students

in English

2

Encouraging students to use Extensive Reading regularly effectively

3

- Using Extensive Reading to help students

to remember vocabulary more easily

or broaden sources of vocabulary

4

- Using Extensive Reading to improve students’

reading speed

5 - using

Extensive Reading to enhance students’ s positive motivation, attitude in learning English

The results of the feasibility survey in Table 4.6 proves that the subjects participating in the survey evaluated the feasibility of measures to improve reading skill for the 11th graders at a high schools through using Extensive Reading is relatively similar even This proves that, although the survey subjects are different in terms of their working schools, the general opinions are relatively consistent However, going into each specific measure and each specific group of assessors, there are also some differences That difference is taking place according

to the law of forward, the same increase, the same decrease Measurement 1 and measure 5 named “Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students

in English” and “Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’ s positive motivation, attitude in learning English” are the measures with the highest possible level with 93 points Measure 4: “Using Extensive Reading to improve students’ reading speed” is the measure with the lowest score with 91 points, ranked 5/5 The remaining measures are feasible with total score of 92 points

- Assessment the feasibility of the proposed measurements:

Levels of evaluation

Levels Very

Not feasible

Number scores Number scores Number scores Number scores

1

Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students

in English

2

Encouraging students to use

Extensive Reading regularly effectively

3

- Using Extensive Reading to help students

to remember vocabulary

or broaden sources of vocabulary

4

- Using Extensive Reading to improve students’

reading speed

5 - using

Extensive Reading to enhance students’

positive motivation, attitude in learning English

The results of the feasibility survey in Table 4.1d shows that the subjects participating in the survey evaluated the feasibility of measures to improve reading skill for the 11th graders at a high schools through using Extensive Reading is relatively similar even This proves that, although the survey subjects are different in terms of their classes, the general opinions are relatively consistent However, going into each specific measure and each specific group of assessors, there are also some differences That difference is taking place according to the law of forward, the same increase, the same decrease Measurement 1 and measure

5 named “Using Extensive Reading to improve reading skill for students in English” and “Using Extensive Reading to enhance students’ s positive motivation, attitude in learning English” are the measures with the highest possible level with 646 points Measure 4: “Using Extensive Reading to improve students’ reading speed” is the measure with the lowest score with 628 points, ranked 5/5 The remaining measures are feasible with total score of 644 points for measurement 2(ranks third) and 641 points for the measurement 3

* Findings from Learning Journal (Appendix 4)

In the time of treatment which occurred in 16 weeks with 40 students, teachers suggests some useful websites to support their students’ searches

The links are categorized into topics

Websites for extensive reading:

Websites for stories:

1 Spotlight http://www.spotlightradio.net

2 StoryCorps http://storycorps.org

3 NPR http://www.npr.org/

Websites for film clips/drama:

1 Learning English through movies http://australianetwork.com/livingenglish/

2 Movie trailers http://www.movies.com/movie-trailers/

3 YouTube http://www.youtube.com/

After providing the best reading material categorized according to songs, stories, film clips, reports and conversation with a brief description of the content

of each listening material students were asked to choose at least two of these links

or the links they found themselve to read every week They are required to share their best reading materials with their classmates by posting a weekly report in the Forum of the class set by the teachers Each report should include the titles of the materials, the links, the summary (feedback or comment of the material), three useful words and one structure they have learned through extensive reading (See Appendix 3 – Report on Extensive Reading Other students are required to visit forum and leave comments The teacher gives her comments and feedback on each report in forum

2.2.2.3.3 Discussion:

In the study, the authors applied the implementation of Extensive Reading in improving teaching reading skill for the students of 11th graders at a high school.The data analysis gathered from survey questionaires, pre- tests and post- tests, learning journal and books The findings gave a clear conclusion that there was not much significant difference in mean score of both groups Students from experimental group started the stage of 14 weeks doing extensive reading activities As far as we know, the traditional reading instructions called intensive reading may not be given students so many choices to select their topics With the help of technology and teacher’s instruction, students are allowed to choose extensive reading materials and sources that are understandable and enjoyable input such as on television, video, etc… They can choose what they want to lread for pleasure, recreation such as BBC learning English, and You tube In case students may find it hard the appropriate source for themselves, teacher provided them a given list of reading marerial and sources they like either for pleasure or for language improvement Of course, students were encouraged to select the reading materials themselves beside the given ones The aim of this stage is to help students to exposure into the target language naturally In order to improve the learners’ listening competence, a report was given during the time of treatment It requires some metacognitive strategies that learners may decide for themselves Therefore, students were asked to make their learning journal in 14 weeks to improve the effectiveness of reading process Each student selected at least two reading materials to read to and view weekly They were also asked to do the report at the same time Therefore, in this stage learners not only have opportunities to read to what they desire at their language level but also can share with their classmates about what they have learnt and support each other through peer or group work Of course, there is the teacher’s guide during the process to enhance their reading skills Online interactive reports and comments not only allow students to learn from each other but also enable teacher to monitor students’ progress In fact, keeping individual notes or diary of reading activities have been reported to be one of common activity for students’ studying This tool can be seen

as useful tool to help students reflect their reading

Additionally, through a reading journal, students can read more and apply several approaches to help them focus on the selected aspects of reading A reading journal is a book in a form in which allow students to report their reading activity outside of class Through filling in the form, students can reflect their activity in read and think about the fields of reading that they think they needs improvement Moreover, through the journal, students can reflect and evaluate their reading activity Students are required to read to certain sources provided by the teacher or chosen material to read outside the classroom Through the activity, students are expected to practice reading to the text for several times, compare and contrast their pronunciation, seek for new vocabulary or structures, and then reflect their

reading process Every week student independently chose at least two topics for the extensive reading such as reading to news report, documentary or conversation or simply a favorite song or an interesting fairy tale or movie on You tube The materials come in the form of video, online books or website Students practice the activities in the selected topic, and they are also allowed to read the text or subtitles provided After reading them, students submit the reading journal which includes the name of the website, the title of the journal or book, the summary or feedback of the text, the vocabularies and the structure they pick up on the forum

of the class provided by teacher There is one important thing that teachers should take into consideration in teaching process They need to help student be aware of self-assessment Students have to reflect on their difficulties related to the speed, pronunciation, vocabulary Students also need to assess the skills which need improvement

In the first week, the percentage of this aspect was high However, in the last week of treatment there was a significant decrease in the number It seems that the practice has been useful for students Self-reflection has led students to evaluate their learning They can think of the material which is helpful to improve their reading skills and the parts that need improvement

About topics chosen by students, the most favorite one is teenager issues (90%) Not surprisingly, this is the topic that students care most as at the age of 17, they are exposed to some overwhelming external and internal struggles Therefore, some concerns of issues that they might choose to read are stress, bullying, depression, self-esteem and body image, underage sex, etc However, other topics was also chosen by students at a bit lower percentage There is evidence that extensive reading can improve students’ word recognition skills, vocabulary, reading comprehension, fluency and language proficiency What is amazing is that students can obtain these benefits by simply reading something pleasurable They just read anything that they find enjoyable

The only condition is that they should choose reading materials that they can understand on their own and that they listen frequently these materials

There is a prominence of this study that the time participants spents doing extensive reading would positively affect their post-test score This implies that the more extensive reading, the higher results on a proficiency examination Students were requested to search the links at least twice a week to do extensive reading

It is obvious that fun has a postive effect on motivation levels, determine what we learn and how much we retain Learning is not one-off event It requires repetition and dedication If the experience is fun, learners will stay focus and keep coming back for more Positively 95% of students claim that extensive reading activities are fun Obviously, learning needs fun If learning is not fun, it won’t be effective

This study was carried out with the main aim to investigate the benefits to extensive reading to learners

The last question in the questionnaire stays a focus on the developing of learners’ intrinsic motivation after the time of treatment As we know intrinsic motivation is the act of doing something without any obvious external rewards You do it because it is enjoyable and interesting, rather than because of an outside incentive or pressure to do it Here is the intrinsic motivation of reading to a material because you enjoy listening and have an interest in the story or subject, rather than reading because you have to write a report on it to your teacher and classmates

Not only learners, teachers and educators need to understand how intrinsic works and why it can be beneficial These factors include curiosity, challenge, control, recognition, cooperation, competition, and fantasy

Immediately after completing the questionnaire, all participants took the post-test

at week 16 The post-test was administered in the same way as the pre-test The independent test results indicate that the difference is statistically significant between the pre-test and post-test with the mean difference is The result suggested that the extensive reading had great impact on the progress in student reading skills, and the extensive reading group outperformed the control group

as attending classroom exercises and spending their time to study the foreign language Although the number of these students are small, it should be taken in consideration by teachers in teaching process It was found that hours of extensive reading had a significant positive impact on the improvement of the participants from the pre-test to post-test The analysis of learning journal, survey, questionnaire and post-test indicated that there was a statistically positive relationship between hours of reading and post-test scores In other words, hours

of extensive reading could predict post-test score successfully It means that the more time the participants spent on extensive reading, the higher results they had

on a proficiency examination

The fundamental issues relating to the aims of this study have been analyzed and presented in detail basing on the instruments of general test, pre-test, learning journal,survey questionnaire, post-test Fom which some conclusions will be drawn out in the next part

PART III: CONCLUSION 3.1 Summary of the study:

The study has attempted to show the effectiveness and benefits of extensive reading in improving teaching reading skill The results showed that extensive reading not only helped students to enrich their vocabulary but also motivates them

to learn English in general and reading in particular.The study involves 80 students

of the high school who have used extensive listening from the internet materials.The evidence comes from the findings and discussion that extensive reading helped of reading Extensive reading activities also helped them to improve their reading fluency, especially in the area of improvement in vocabulary and pronunciation Moreover, the frequent use of online materials has inspired students in learning

The literature often reminds teachers and learners that there is no one best teaching and learning approach, method, or technique that suits every learner throughout the course of their language learning experience This can be explained that language learning is a creative, active and dynamic learning process Language learning needs exposure to a vast amount of target language It also need repetition

It requires hard work and motivation Therefore, language teachers and learners should highlight the potential use of extensive reading in addressing these issues

Although there is a much effort in this research, there is some unavoidable limit First of all, the outcomes of this study are not to be generalized due to the limited number of subjects involved in the study Employing a larger sample of subjects would definitely yield more reliable data In addition, other research method may be employed such as observation, interview

3.2 Limitation of the study:

Although there is a much effort in this research, there is some unavoidable limit First of all, the outcomes of this study are not to be generalized due to the limited number of subjects involved in the study Employing a larger sample of subjects would definitely yield more reliable data

The success of the extensive reading project depends mainly on learners Hence, students should be responsible for their learning, they need to read English materials regularly without the teacher‟s presence However, some students did not realize the benefits from taking part in the useful project They think that they are forced to read instead of reading voluntarily for pleasure with the freedom of choosing the reading materials they like Therefore, it is important and necessary for students to understand trermendous benefits of reading on their foreign language learning

In addition , students should ignore unknown words or difficult words during the reading process But instead, they are suggested to guess the meaning of

new words based on the context as looking up the dictionary while reading wastes

a lot of time and makes learner embarrassed when depend on too much on dictionary

The success of the extensive reading mehod depends mainly on learners Hence, students should be responsible for their learning, they need to read English materials regularly without the teacher‟s presence However, some students did not realize the benefits from taking part in the useful project They think that they are forced to read instead of reading voluntarily for pleasure with the freedom of choosing the reading materials they like Therefore, it is necessary for students to understand huge benefits of reading on their foreign language learning

In addition, students should ignore unknown words or difficult words during the reading process But instead, they are suggested to guess the meaning of new words based on the context as looking up the dictionary while reading wastes a lot

of time and makes learner embarrassed when depend on too much on dictionary

Furthermore, other research method may be employed such as observation, interview

3.3 Suggestion for further study:

For teaching

Providing fun and enjoyable reading experience by allowing learners to read

to topics of their interests

Improving motivation and confidence in reading in the target language by making the reading experience fun

For learning

Choosing a topic that will keep your interest and that you are familiar with Trying to find sources that offer basic information If it is too in-depth, you may get frustrated when dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary

The other researchers can use the extensive reading strategies in their research in reading But before using the strategies, they should first know the condition or the students’ environment which support their learning process The future research also can use the result of this study as reference Besides, the next study may investigate the effect of extensive reading to more detail aspect of learning process such as vocabulary mastery, speed of reading or motivation of learners