The impact of extensive reading on efl secondary school students’ vocabulary development

This research examines the use of extensive reading activities in teaching foreign language, particularly in developing vocabularies for students through a sample data of 45 students in

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

I would also like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to the staff members of the Post Graduate Department and the lecturers at Vinh University for their valuable lectures, which laid the foundation of this thesis and for their knowledge as well as their sympathy although they are not my supervisors

My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at Newstar English Centre for all their help, supports and encouragement when I encountered difficulties

I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to classes 7A1 and 7A at Newstar English Centre for their enthusiastic participation in the experiment

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my friends who were willing to help me during the course In particular, I find myself indebted to my family especially

my husband for their love, care and tolerance during the process of writing this thesis

ABSTRACT

Extensive reading is believed to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structures, and to encourage a liking for reading Current literature points to the importance and benefits of extensive reading and claims that extensive reading provides contextualized clues for better reading comprehension and substantial linguistic input needed for language development

This research examines the use of extensive reading activities in teaching foreign language, particularly in developing vocabularies for students through a sample data of

45 students in two different classes in grade 7 at Newstar English Centre (They are students in classes 7A and 7A1) Through this research, teachers are going to apply Extensive reading skill to improve the secondary students’English knowledge,

especially, the vocabulary development Based on the data generated by this study, the teaching approach is effective in enhancing students’ attention toward reading

activities, changing students ‘feeling with reading tasks, developing better vocabularies remembering ability, and getting higher marks in the post-test period Therefore,

extensive reading was affirmed to have correlations with EFL secondary school

students’ vocabulary developments Though, further studies should be conducted by other researchers to investigate the effectiveness utilizing the teaching approach to students in other grades and at other schools to verify the evidences

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Purpose of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Hypothesis 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Extensive reading in comparison with normal reading before 5

2.1.1.Reading 5

2.1.2.Extensive reading 7

2.1.3.The roles of extensive reading in language education 11

2.2.The correlations between extensive reading and EFL secondary school students’ vocabulary level 13

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Research context 17

3.2 Research questions 18

3.3 Research approach 18

3.3.1 Overview of action research 18

3.3.2 The rationale of the use of action research 19

3.4 Description of the research 19

3.4.1 Population 19

3.4.2 Materials 20

3.4.3 Data collection 21

3.4.4 The action procedures 22

3.4.5 Data and analysis procedures 25

3.5 Summary 27

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 28

4.1 The result of impact of reading on the 7A&7A1 students’ vocabulary development

without Extensive Reading 28

4.2 The extensive reading activities applied for the seven-graders in Newstar English Centre 37

4.3 The impacts of using Extensive Reading on vocabulary development of EFL students in Newstar English Center 39

4.4 The result of observation on the impact of Extensive Reading on vocabulary development of EFL students in Newstar English Center 50

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 56

5.1 Implications 57

5.2 Limitations 58

5.3 Suggestions for further research : 59

Reference 60

APPENDIX 65

Appendix 1: PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 65

Appendix 2: POST-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 67

VOCABULARY PRE- TEST 69

PART I Choose the correct vocabulary to fill in the blank 69

PART II Find one which is different from others 70

VOCABULARY POST-TEST 71

Part II Find one which is different from others: 71

THE READING MARTERIAL USING IN PRE-TEST 69

THE READING MARTERIAL USING IN POST-TEST 74

THE ZEBRA STORYTELLER 74

SUMMARY OF STUDENT PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST 75

THE READING MATERIALS LIST IN EXTENSIVE READING ACTIVITIES (8 WEEKS) 77

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

List of Abbreviation Full word

GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

LIST OF TABLES

Figure 3.1: The research processes 23

Table 3.1: The time frame of research process 25

Table 4.1: Question 1 and 2 in Pre-test questionnaire 28

Table 4.2: The frequency of conducting reading textbook in a week before (question 3) 29 Table 4.3: The number of students finish the reading task assigned before 30

(question 4) 30

Table 4.4: The number of students understands reading before (question 5) 31

Table 4.5: Remembering new vocabularies before (question 6) 32

Table 4.6: The number of avoid-difficulty-in reading behaviours (question 7) 32

Table 4.7: The rate of choosing each behaviour (question 7) 33

Figure 4.1: The rate of times of choosing each behaviour 34

Table 4.8: Descriptive Statistics of question 8 in pre-test questionnaire 35

Table 4.9: The percentage of students’ opinion towards reading effectiveness (quest 8) 35

Table 4.10: The answer of question of vocabulary improvement by reading (question 6 in pre- questionnaire) 36

Table 4.11: The reading materials list in Extensive Reading activities 37

Table 4.12: The frequency of using Extensive Reading method (post-question1) 40

Table 4.13: The opinion towards Extensive Reading method (post-question2) 40

Table 4.14: Understanding the meaning of Extensive reading task (post-question3) 42

Table 4.15: The percentage of student could explain the meaning of vocabulary in English (post –question4 ) 43

Table 4.16: The Descriptive Statistics of question 7 in post- Questionnaire 44

Table 4.17: The percentage of students could remember pronunciation when using Extensive Reading (post- question 5) 45

Table 4.18: The percentage of students feel that the stories in Extensive Reading books are attractive (post-question 6) 46

Table 4.19: The percentage of students not having many difficulties in facing too many new vocabularies as in the past (post-question 7) 47

Table 4 20A: The percentage of number of benefits per student (post- question 8) 48

Table 4 20B : The percentage of number of benefits students (post- question 8) 49 Table 4.21: The Descriptive Statistics of Time to complete reading task (Minutes) 51 Table 4.22: The comparison of time to complete reading materials in class (Unit: minutes) 52 Table 4.23: The comparison of the level of understanding reading materials (Unit: %) 53 Table 4.24: The comparison in vocabulary pre-test and post-test (Mean of marks) 54

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This is a study on the impacts of extensive reading on EFL students’ vocabulary development In the past , reading skill was considered very i mportant and even vital to confirm someone’s language knowledge so that among four skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading people put much attention to it and wanted

to master it Nowadays, with the trend of globalization, reading is not as popula r as speaking but the value of reading skill won’t be replaced

In order to foster the enormous value that reading offers, the researchers and educators have found out the new approaches relating to it and one of these is extensive reading Extensive reading is an alternative approach; another model for teaching reading exists It involves students reading long texts or large quantities for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the texts With this approach

of reading, students are allowed to choose the books they read depending on their interests, and there is not always a follow-up discussion or work in class In this way students are encouraged to read for pleasure and should become better readers The principal objective of undertaking an extensive reading is to get students reading in English and liking it An increase in reading fluency should be another objective Because of this, reading should be a pleasurable activity for the student s, promoted

as much as possible by the teachers Effective reading skills are especially vital in the EFL context because exposure to spoken English is not enough, and reading is very often the only source of comprehensible and meaningful linguistic input that helps unconscious acquisition of the language (Krashen 1981)

1.1 Rationale of the study

Reading is an activity that can be considered as a crucial aspect of one's language ability because this skill helps to develop other language skills and provides knowledge on the target language However, many students experience difficulties in comprehending the reading texts These difficulties appear because the students have low motivation and possess limited vocabularies, They often got the reading tasks with the unwilling and annoying feeling Gradually, they felt bored and even got worried about reading Therefor, their reading skill was worse and

worse This situation seems not to change much when they have become more passive and reluctant in regard to reading, doing no more than what is required Educators are concerned about students' disinterest and therefore, are endeavouring

to find ways and sources to encourage students to read Textbooks are widely adopted in classroom teaching but perhaps because textbook materials often break down language to discrete linguistic points, it may be too formulaic for students Additionally, textbooks are never enough, especially for those who are going to take the 2 in 1 GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams in which English is a compulsory subject Moreover, time for reading lesson at high school is limited There are three English lessons every week and in five or six lessons, there

is only one for reading which means there is not enough time for reading - the most important language skill That is the reason why teachers have to find ways to enhance students to read more That means students have to read extensively

Additionally, most of the course books used in language classrooms are perceived as traditional materials because they serve a pre-planned goal, so texts are simplified, and exercises are adapted, which sometimes seems impractical to learners When students apply the extensive reading, they will have a chance to use the authentic materials that can be very practical, interesting and attr active As Baddock (1981) stated, learners find genuine materials or realia more motivating and interesting since one-day they will use their surviving English in the foreign culture Morton (1999) also claimed that authentic materials make students famili ar with "real" English and they are also supposed to motivate students Nunan (199 1) argued that the outside world should be reflected through the materials and this authenticity ought to be related to the source of the materials, student activities and tasks In other words, these materials should include the language and its sociocultural context in which the language is used together With the outstanding characteristics of extensive reading, the author decided to do a research on the impact of extensive reading on EFL secondary students’ vocabulary development

1.2 Purpose of the study

When doing this study, the researcher expects to discover the impact of extensive reading on EFL secondary students ’vocabulary development, how

vocabulary It is hoped to improve students' extensive reading as well as their language proficiency Besides, this study will be carried out to find out students' attitude towards extensive reading and then apply it into their study process forever and gradually, change it into their good habit whenever they have spare time

1.3 Scope of the study

The study was conducted on 45 students from classes 7A and 7A1 at Newstar English Centre (but one is absent and not willing for the tests) during the first semester and restricted to the second semester of 2018-2019 The study concentrates

on whether extensive reading helps students widen their knowledge of vocabulary and remember words long as well as read texts more quickly and more effectively

As a result, the teachers at Newstar English Centre are persuaded to adopt this kind

of materials in their teaching reading skill at school

1.4 Hypothesis

A hypothesis in this study is that Extensive Reading has a close correlation with secondary school students ‘vocabulary developments and it takes effective influences on EFL secondary students’ vocabulary development

1.5 Significance of the study

Once completed, the study will provide an insight into the effects of using extensive reading materials on EFL secondary school students' extensive reading achievement as well as their attitude towards using this method What will be achieved in this research may help teachers consider the great influences of Extensive reading to improve students' reading comprehension with the plentiful amount of vocabularies Moreover, this study will be much beneficial to students who wonder how to develop their reading skills as well as their language proficiency

1.6 Organization of the thesis

The study consists of five main parts:

The introduction presents the rationale, purpose, scope, research questions, hypothesis and organization of the study

The literature review section reviews the literature which includes relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning extensive reading skill and the impacts of extensive reading on EFL secondary students ’vocabulary development

The methodology part, then, introduces the research method including the participants of the study, the instrumentation, the methods and procedures of data collection and data analysis

The findings and analysis chapter, afterward, covers the findings

accompanied by data analysis and discussion

Finally, the conclusion recapitulates the major findings of the study and represents further recommendations for the implementation of extensive reading in order to develop students’ vocabularies In this chapter, it is necessary to mention the Implications and the Limitations of the study as well as introduce some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a review of literature in theory of reading skill in general and the advantages of using extensive reading in teaching language in order to improve the secondary school students’ vocabulary development First, the definition and role of reading, especially extensive reading, in language teaching are introduced Second, I will mention about the correlations between extensive reading and EFL secondary school students’ vocabulary level are presented Next, how does extensive reading affect EFL secondary school students’ vocabulary development is discussed Following this, the studies related to the subject conducted are reviewed

2.1 Extensive reading in comparison with normal reading before

2.1.1 Reading

To become proficiency in a langue people need to be perfect in all 4 skills: reading, speaking, writing and listening To access these skills, it’s really hard A few people think reading skill is the most difficult It’s true that reading skill got a lot of interests from the researchers, educators and the English learners

Reading, through which we can access worlds of ideas and feelings, as well as the knowledge of the ages and visions of the future, it’s at once the most extensively researched and the most enigmatic of the so-called language skills Reading has been investigated from numerous perspectives-by linguists, psychologist’s educators and second language researchers and a huge volume of researcher is now available

There are more and more documents written in English nowadays to help people develop their skills in every field so that the importance of reading them higher and higher In the past, reading is really important and it’s also true at present Now, I am going to mention some information about reading skill in general according to my knowledge and based on the researchers’ affirmations

According to Alderson et al (1987), "The majority of scholars in the field now agree on the nature of reading: Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts It is a complex skill requiring coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information"

Alderson (2000) defines reading as " an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally absorbed" Reading means different things to different people, for some it is recognizing written words, while for others it is an opportunity to teach pronunciation and practice speaking However, reading always has a purpose It is something that we do every day, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do The reason for reading depends very much on the purpose for reading Reading can have three main purposes: for survival, for learning or for pleasure Reading for survival

is considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information and can include street signs, advertising and timetables It depends much on the day-to-day needs of the readers and often involves an immediate response to a situation In contrast, reading for learning is considered to be the type of reading done in the classroom and is goal oriented While reading for pleasure is something that does not have to be done

Therefore, different scholars of different approaches provide different definitions of reading However, "In spite of the constant shift in focus throughout the history of reading research, it has been generally recognized that reading is a very complicated process involving a variety of factors that interact with one another" (Kim, 2002) Due to this complex nature of reading and the fact that it is one of the most important language skills, most scholars in language methodology agree that there is a need for incorporating multimedia into reading instruction s Learners should be provided with sufficient suggestions and instructions to be able

to achieve more effective reading comprehension

So far, the discussion has been of knowledge that the readers have, however, readers not only have the knowledge, they have abilities, the abilities not only to learn new knowledge but also abilities to process information The leaners need to have capabilities to get vocabularies, structures, background knowledge and culture Numerous studies of eye movements have shown the importance of rapid and automatic processing of words on the page: the estimate is that fluent readers process some 80% of content words and 40% of functions (in English, Grabe,1991)

Reading can be seen as a basement for development of other language skills When the students know how to read effectively, they can get a lot of benefits form this activity

2.1.2 Extensive reading

There are many ways and many methods to get reading skill in which intensive reading and extensive reading were considered to be rather popular Some people thought Intensive reading were good , in contrast, others thought it was not good It is common for both approaches for reading to be used in the same class For example, where extensive reading is encouraged, the teacher may have all the students read the same text so they can discuss the topic together or learn a specific skill such as writing an outline In a class where intensive reading is mostly used, students may be asked to read texts of their own choosing to report back on, in either an oral or written format

Both extensive reading and intensive reading have the advantages and disadvantages However, to the majority, between extensive reading and intensive reading, intensive reading seems more popular for ages However, there are so many difficulties and high requirements of intensive reading on the readers so that intensive reading disinterests people This is an activity that requires great mental effort and focus Because of this, the learner who engages in intensive reading must

be careful to follow specific guidelines, or else risk boredom and burnout In contrast, extensive reading is more and more popular To read extensively is to simply read as much as possible, without concerning oneself with the difficulties of meaning and the occasional unknown words This is done by reading for large amount of time and looking up words only when you deem it absolutely necessary to your understanding of the text

The term "extensive reading" was originally coined by Palmer (1917) to distinguish it from "intensive reading" Extensive reading has been defined in many ways in literature It has been called “pleasure reading,” “sustained silent reading,”

or “uninterrupted sustained silent reading” (Susser & Rob, 1990, para 7; see research cited in Krashen, 1985, p 91; Krashen, 1988; Vaughan, 1982, p 69)

The characteristics of extensive reading include the relatively fast reading of a large amount of longer, easy-to-understand material, with the reading done mostly outside the classroom and at each student's own pace and level There are few, if any, follow-up exercises, because the aim is for overall understanding rather than word-by-word decoding or grammar analysis And instead of an inflexible curriculum, with extensive reading, the material is generally chosen by the students themselves, who can enjoy some small measure of responsibility for decisions affecting their learning a basic way of communicative teaching

Therefore, what does extensive reading entail? Successful extensive reading requires the following (adapted from Maley's list, 2009):

1 Reading often and in a large quantity

2 Reading in a wide variety of topics and genres

3 Reading content that is interesting and compelling

4 Reading books students themselves select

5 Reading for pleasure and information

6 Reading is its own reward

7 Reading at levels appropriate for the readers

8 Reading speed is fast, not slow

(Berardo, 2006) From all the above characteristics of extensive reading, a conclusion can be drawn that: "Extensive reading is reading of a large quantity of material or long texts, for global or general understanding; with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Further, because reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, the books are not discussed in class" (Bamford, 1984)

Look at some outstanding characteristics of extensive reading:

Reading material: Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books that are available for students to choose from Here, teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or which have been adapted from authentic texts)

Setting up a class library is a good way to provide material for students, and because the books are kept in the actual classroom, there is a greater chance that they will be borrowed, and teachers also have more opportunities to refer to them during class

Student choice: Students choose what they want to read based on their interests If a student finds a book too difficult or they don't enjoy it, they can change it for another one Here the students’ choice is free

Reading for pleasure and information: Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments In an extensive reading programme, the students are reading principally for the content of the texts Teachers can ask students about the books they are reading informally and encourage occasional mini-presentations

of the books or book reviews, but these should not seem like obligations to the students Students are free to do their likes

Extensive reading out of class: The environment for extensive reading is everywhere Teachers can do a lot to help students pursue extensive reading outside

of the classroom Having a classroom library and regularly encouraging students to borrow books to take home are good things which can help If books are shelved in the classroom, students can also be given class time to browse and select books

Silent reading in class: Reading can be in silent way or can be read out loud Extensive reading should not be incompatible with classroom practice and

methodology There are teachers who set aside a regular fifteen-minute period of silent reading in class This silent reading has been said to help structural awareness develop, build vocabulary, and to promote confidence in the language

Language level: To learn something suitable, it is effective and great The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a difficulty The objective of an extensive reading programme is to encourage reading fluency,

so students should not be stopping frequently because they do not understand a passage However, the books should not be too easy as this may well demotivate students, who feel they are getting nothing out of the books

Use of dictionaries: Reading becomes a chore if students think they must stop and look up every word they do not understand in a dictionary For this reason,

dictionaries should be avoided Instead of interrupting their flow, students should be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary notebook, and they can look them up after they have finished reading

Record keeping: If the teacher takes an interest in and keeps record of what students are reading, then this can in itself encourage students If a note is also made

of which books the students like, then the teacher can also recommend other books

to the students The teacher should also be careful to explain the reasons behind the programme, and to highlight the benefits of extensive reading to them so that they know why they are doing it

The teacher as role model: If the teacher is also seen to be a reader by the students, then they will be encouraged to read The teacher can talk in class about books that she or he has been reading, and if they are knowledgeable about the books in the class library, having read them, then they can make genuine recommendations to students about what to read The teacher can also read aloud to students, as a way of introducing students to different genres or individual books

Motivation: One of the key factors to the success (or not) of an extensive reading programme is motivation Capturing student interest is the key If the materials available are interesting to the students, then they will be far more likely to want to read them These books should also be at a level appropriate to their reading ability As mentioned earlier, the texts should not be too difficult, so students experience the frustration of not being able to understand the books

Getting the extensive reading programme off to a good start is also vital The aim is for an initial successful experience so that students discover they can read in English and that they enjoy it.This positive experience should stimulate them to read more, increasing motivation, enjoyment and foster a desire to read

The teacher's role: The teacher encourages and assists the students with their reading, which the students undertake during class and after class or after class Occasional summaries (oral or written) can help with this as they show both that the students are reading and also that they understand what their books are about The activities can also help students improve their writing or speaking ability Another activity teachers can become involved in is individual counselling - this gives the

teacher an opportunity to ask students about their reading experiences and can be done by the teacher while the rest of the class are silent reading Above all, however, extensive reading should be a student-centred and a student-managed activity

2.1.3 The roles of extensive reading in language education

People often understand extensive reading as free time reading, it means that doing an extensive reading activity, and people are enjoying their time It’s very vital in the process of learning When they learn something without the feeling of the tests, they will be very relaxed and it’s easy for them to understand what they are learning They can learn it everywhere, every time and every field effectively

Saying that I want to confirm that extensive reading has a big role in language

education

Various studies have already existed in support of extensive reading Bell (1998) stated that extensive reading provides substantial linguistic input which is needed for language acquisition and thus helps develop learners ‘linguistic

competence Many researchers point out the importance of extensive reading, the positive effects of extensive reading in students' reading comprehension They suggest that one of the best ways to help students increase their language proficiency

is to encourage them to read extensively Through experiencing language in context, extensive reading is a very effective way of reinforcing, confirming and deepening knowledge of vocabularies, structures, and of developing an implicit understanding

of when and how words are used (Nation, 1997 cited in Mutoh, Bamford and

Helgesen, 1998) And motivation is stimulated by combining the pleasure of "a good reading" with the satisfaction of accomplishing a meaningful task in the target

language It is also a widely held belief among supporters of extensive reading that,

by eliminating follow-up testing and encouraging students to aim for general

understanding rather than detailed comprehension, they gradually learn to read

without word-by-word decoding at the sentence level Carrell (1998) stated that the goal is to turn "learning to read into reading to learn" The best way to learn

something is that people don’t know they are studying The first time they met the difficult words, they don’t understand, they don’t care but after many times of

repetitions like that, the difficult words are not their own difficult ones more As a

result, they learn something new although they don’t aim to learn it It’s really

exciting for the learners

Bell (2011) has clearly identified the role of extensive reading in language education as follows:

It can provide "comprehensible input"

• It can enhance learners' general language competence

• It increases the students' exposure to the language

• It can increase knowledge of vocabulary

• It can lead to improvement in writing

• It can motivate learners to read

• It can consolidate previously learned language

• It helps to build confidence with extended text

• It encourages the exploitation of textual redundancy

• It facilitates the promotion of prediction skills

The benefits of extensive reading, therefore, extend beyond the acquisition of reading fluency Krashen (2004) claimed that "Reading is good for you Reading is the only way we become good readers, develop a good writing style, an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar, and the only way we become good spellers."

According to Krashen, "What makes extensive reading far more compelling is that extensive reading not only develops reading skill but also benefits a whole range of other language skills, boosts confidence and motivation and improve overall attitude Reading in this sense has to be seen holistically as a crucial part of students' total development, not as some separate skills."

Davis (1994) also suggested that any classroom would be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading programme and would be "unable to promote its students' language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a programme were present"

To sum up, many studies have shown that extensive reading has positive effects not only on students' reading comprehension skill but also on a variety of language skills and language development in which it develops students’

vocabularies very much It has been claimed that free voluntary reading or sustained independent reading results in better reading comprehension, writing style,

vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development

2.2 The correlations between extensive reading and EFL secondary

school students’ vocabulary level

In terms of vocabulary development, both intensive and extensive reading play important roles as they both “build learners’ vocabulary, introducing them to words and language chunks that may not be included in short texts, and giving them

a sense of common word partnerships” The term "extensive reading" was originally coined by Palmer (1917) to distinguish it from "intensive reading" The characteristics of extensive reading include the relatively fast reading of a large amount of longer, easy-to-understand material, with the reading done mostly outside the classroom and at each student's own pace and level There are few, if any, follow-up exercises, because the aim is for overall understanding rather than word-by-word decoding or grammar analysis And instead of an inflexible curriculum, with extensive reading, the material is generally chose by the students themselves, who can thereby enjoy some small measure of responsibility for decisions affecting their learning a basic tenet of communicative teaching (Thompson, 1996)

(Blair, nd) The role of extensive reading in building vocabulary continues to receive considerable attention in first and second language research and pedagogy It

is a common belief that learning a language can only occur in a classroom

environment since such a process needs instruction However, learning continues outside the classroom if the students are oriented correctly The EFL teachers are usually reluctant to do extensive reading activities in class because they need to cover their syllabus They usually disregard activities that can be held outside the classroom for the elementary students such as, reading books or papers It may be because it is difficult to assess or may be because they do not want to fall behind the curriculum

However, recently many researchers have found out that learning process should not be limited only to the classroom activities or main course books; on the contrary, students should be encouraged to read English texts or books outside the classroom And Extensive Reading is one of the most effective methods that teachers should guide their students follow Choosing to read based on your taste, which is called free voluntary reading, is a way to achieve second language proficiency Moreover, the book the reader is interested in facilitates readers’ concentration on the book and enables them to take advantage of background information that facilitates comprehension (Cho and Krashen, 1994) Krashen (2003) believes in the power of reading for the development of first, second or foreign language competence He displays some case studies to support his claim of the power of recreational reading for progress

Extensive reading leads learners to acquire the language if they are sufficiently exposed to the language and if they have the materials that are interesting for them

Krashen (2004) brings in the term “narrow reading” for the extensive reading the learners do on the areas of their own interest Reading can broaden learners’ language competence by providing automaticity of recognizing and decoding words and written symbols of a printed message (Grabe, 1991)

Moreover, it can increase the learners’ exposure to the language However, the quality of exposure to language is very important to their motivation to acquire new forms from the input This exposure to language is more likely to reduce the gap between the first language and second language Extensive reading can cause an increase in the range of vocabulary the learner possesses Unlike direct vocabulary instruction, children between three and twelve grades can learn up to 3000 words a year (Nagy, Anderson, and Herman, 1987) if they do extensive reading

According to Cho & Krashen (1994), in an extensive reading program, the readers choose the materials by themselves from a series of graded readers with the aim of achieving them in a specific target time and period Graded readers are in the form of short stories which are classified according to the grammar and vocabulary and are controlled for a specific age of students (Day and Bamford, 1998 ) It is hard

to deny the benefits of extensive reading Many studies have been conducted for nearly 20 years to show the usefulness of extensive reading approach in various aspects of language learning and of course the impacts of it on students’ vocabulary development are undeniable

A survey was conducted by Yamazaki (1996) with high school students of Africa The students engaged in this extensive reading program for 8 weeks In the end, the results showed that their vocabulary knowledge increased

Pigada and Schmitt (2006), who conducted a two-month case study in the U.S., reported an increase in vocabulary knowledge of 29-year-old African learners

of French In addition to vocabulary, they improved in spelling, meaning

understanding and comprehending the grammatical points Pigada and Schmitt

(2006) also reported an increase in vocabulary knowledge among Japanese

university students in the United States after taking part in an extensive reading program for one month They found that students can acquire vocabulary by being exposed to extensive reading texts

Elley and Mangubhai (1983) conducted a study on two hundred elementary students The students participated in the extensive reading program for a year The results showed that their receptive skills (reading and words recognition) improved significantly

Day & Bamford (2002) conducted an experiment with Japanese high school student They gave them extensive reading at their level and the students read them silently in their free time for entertainment The result was positive, and the students acquired a good knowledge of vocabulary incidentally

In another study, Nagy, Anderson, and Herman (1987) also found positive outcomes for extensive reading The study measured how many unfamiliar words students acquired while reading authentic text The subjects were 57 eighth-grade students with average or above reading ability who read either an expository or narrative text of 1000 words After reading, the participants completed two

vocabulary assignment tests, a multiple-choice test, and an individual interview in order to see if students could remember the meaning of the 15 target words in the reading The findings indicated that incidental reading contributed positively toward

vocabulary growth as students tended to remember words that were repeated in a longer text

One important way to develop vocabulary knowledge is through extensive reading Students by reading extensively will be exposed to different new scope of vocabulary which is necessary in reading comprehension (Pazhakh, 2010)

Krashen (1990) claimed that reading is a neglected source of comprehensible input for second or foreign language learners If the students are emboldened

through pleasure reading, they may greatly enrich their vocabularies with retention, and they remember more and better since they work out the meanings by

themselves

There is also evidence showing that extensive reading helps students who lag behind in language learning at school A six week program of self-selected reading successfully helped a group of 6th and 7th graders with low reading proficiency in the US The readers outperformed the non-reading (traditionally taught) group with traditional approaches on the Altos test of reading comprehension and vocabulary as well as the Nelson-Denny test of reading and vocabulary (Shin, 2001) Lao (2003),

in a study of how reluctant readers develop a reading habit concluded that the

presence of a print-rich environment and the opportunity to select one’s own reading materials are crucial in creating a reader Lee (2005a, b, 2006) also reached the same conclusion In her three consecutive studies with Taiwanese university non-English majors, Lee found that book access, self-selection, and a sufficient duration (at least one full year) were preliminary conditions for an extensive reading program to be effective A number of experimental studies done in Taiwan examined the effect of extensive reading on EFL learners Studies compared extensive reading with

comparison classes using methods currently popular among contemporary scholars and teachers Results have been consistently in

From these above facts, I am sure to affirm that there are the correlations between extensive reading and EFL secondary school students’ vocabulary developments

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides background information about action research, the current situation of teaching and learning reading at Newstar English School and a description of the methodology employed to collect data for the study

3.1 Research context

It is clear that English language education in Vietnamese schools has recently changed and got much better results thanks to the adjustment of textbooks and teaching methods Particularly, the textbook series - Tiếng Anh 6, Tiếng Anh 7 , Tiếng Anh 12 (English 6, English7 , and English 12) – introduced into schools since 2005 has attracted both teachers and students by introducing theme-based and task-based approaches However, while teaching, the author found that many students at many schools as well as at Newstar English Centre got rather low scores

in reading questions When interviewed, the students claimed that although they have some extra reading topics outside the textbook but reading seemed to be a difficult skill for them The main reason, as investigated, is that students depend totally on reading texts in textbooks which are their major source of reading at their school And sometimes the topics in the course seem so difficult, so hard and so strange to the students so that they always feel stressed nervous with the reading parts in the final tests Besides, they do not often do extensive reading to improve their reading skills In addition, teachers, in almost cases, never used any reading materials rather than those in the textbooks due to time limitation as they stated These reasons constitute the motivation for this study

The study was conducted at Newstar English Centre in Vinh city, where most

of the students have learned English for about 9 years or 12 years and all have two English classes per week at their school The textbook is not the main course here; the items in the lessons are the mixture of lessons in the text books at school and items adapted from other English books such as solutions, New English file, Ket, Pet The physical condition of the school can provide a supportive environment for language teaching and learning with favourable facilities such as rooms equipped with overhead projector, screen, loud speakers, CD and CD player In fact, students

here mainly focus on the skills that help them to get better marks in the examination and they don’t spend enough time for Extensive Reading activities The learners and the teachers used to think that the subjects at school are too much for them to comprehend and it’s too difficult for them to learn something outside the textbook Because of this consciousness, the teachers as well as the leaners haven’t paid much attention to other activities such as Extensive reading Extensive reading activities seem so strange for both the teachers and the learners

3.3.1 Overview of action research

The term “action research” refers to two dimensions of activity: the word

“research” in “action research” refers to a systematic approach to carrying out

investigations and collecting information that is designed to illuminate an issue or problem and to improve classroom practice, meanwhile the word “action” refers to taking practical action to resolve classroom problems (Richards, 2005) Therefore, action research achieves both action (change or improve) and research

According to Cohen and Manion (2007), action research is “small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention.” Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are: “carried out by practitioners”,

“collaborative” and “aimed at changing things”.Tsui (1993) suggested 5 steps in conducting action research: Identifying problems; Finding causes of the problem; Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research; Trying out the strategies (action) and keeping a diary of what happened in the class; and Evaluating the try-out

3.3.2 The rationale of the use of action research

In teaching, action research allows teacher to become a participant of research It is different from other type of research methodology that teacher is the third party and study has been conducted “on them” or “to them”- (McDonough & McDonough, 1997)

Conclusion, action research is possible to define simply as a combination of research and action In other words, it is reflective thinking about what researchers are doing, which is based on data (mainly by observation), collected in daily work, and then It turns into actions to improve personal self-work The nature of action research is "participatory." Without participation, it is not action research In other words, no action research is done in the laboratory by a group of strangers and independent of the daily work of those who are part of the reality to be studied

In this situation, the object of thesis is teaching and learning English

vocabulary of EFL student of Newstar English Centre to improve it, then in the view

of action research, it must be done by the teachers (teaching English for EFL student

of Newstar English Centre) themselves to study their daily tasks, exchange with people involved, come to general conclusion and place action After this research, although the result would be unsatisfactory (for example, English vocabulary

statement of EFL students of Newstar English Centre is poor and extremely below average), teaching and studying English vocabulary EFL students of Newstar

English Centre will, for sure, keep going on with some improved recommendations This is suitable with Kurt Lewis’s theory and be scientifically in this thesis

3.4 Description of the research

3.4.1 Population

The researcher

In action research, researcher must be the one who joins and plays a role in research Therefore, researcher must take part in this survey in the role of teacher Researcher will be the direct or indirect teacher of class 7A &7A1 of Newstar English centre, trying to join this research and conduct some tasks such as: checking the ability of students in Extensive reading and vocabulary competence before using

Extensive reading, teaching and guiding students to using Extensive reading method and checking the second time the effectiveness of this method towards vocabulary improvement and vocabulary development of secondary students of Newstar English Centre to complete the report With the desire of teaching English and hope of enhancing English vocabularies in students with less pressure and higher effectiveness Therefore, researcher will be the most transparent and clear in the result of survey

The participants

The total number of students of two different classes (7A&7A1) in grade 7 at Newstar English centre joining in this research are 45 students However, with one answer sheet is violate the answer guide, the total invalid participants are 44 The participants of this survey do not choose the distinguished features such as gender, English ability…

3.4.2 Materials

The instruments study includes two tests: a pre- test for vocabulary and

reading and the post-test for vocabulary and reading These tests are a general test designed for English language learners in Newstar English Center for the seventh- graders The pre - test aimed at measuring the participants’ English knowledge to make sure that they were at similar levels The post-test was designed in such a way that they contained similar numbers of sentences and the reading texts were familiar with the participants The tests were used to evaluate students’ reading

comprehension and reading speed as well as the vocabulary knowledge During the treatment, ten reading texts taken from the Key English Test were used (from book

3 to book 7) Each of texts contained at least 194 words and was accompanied by

one question to check comprehension assignment to assess students reading

comprehension and to attract them into the reading process

Besides the pre-test and post- test, the author prepared the questionnaire for checking the opinion, the way and the feelings of students about reading activities before and when using the Extensive reading with the hop that the students will enjoy the Extensive reading to develop their language ability in the future

The author also prepared ten reading texts designed using extensive reading

to deliver to students in classes at school The time for the teachers and the students

at Newstar English Center complete these texts was 8 weeks Students only read them and then chat, discuss or read out loud… about the information around the reading passage If students cannot do it at first, it was not a problem They can do it with the next one Students are free to do things

3.4.3 Data collection

In this researcher, the use of secondary data is rare Instead, researcher has taken advantage of primary data which were collected within survey by questionnaires and multiple choices reading test However, their usage in this survey and direction of data will be different for different purpose and analysis

Questionnaires

In this thesis, author would like to make use of for complex results of study

As other questionnaires, this one is designed with system of related questions, and open-ended questions and logical answers These two questionnaires are adapted from Peacock (1997)

Questionnaires in this survey are divided into two questionnaires with a small modification of questions, pre-questionnaire and post questionnaire Each one consists of 8 questions According to each phase of survey, researcher will use Pre-questionnaire or Post-questionnaire due to the purpose of this phase All questionnaires are designed with multiple choice question in Vietnamese that students could understand questions commonly

The questionnaires are designed to collect seventh graders of Newstar English centre’s opinion before and after using Extensive Reading method and its effectiveness towards student’s vocabulary abilities With questionnaires, researcher want to identify whether students like or do not like this method and this method encourage them to remember more, faster and longer than the current learning style without this method or not The interest and desire in a method could make them love to do some activities more than and of course, the result is more positive

Multiple choice reading test

The multiple choice reading tests are used to access students in classes 7A

&7A1 at Newstar English centre’s performance when using Extensive Reading method It is positive if these students like to perform the method However, researcher also care of the effectiveness of this method and it must be illustrated by realistic result by tests, pre-test and post -test

Therefore, in Pre-test and Post-test, researcher will use Multiple choice

reading test to assess the performance of students With this content, researcher will use short stories to check for student’s reading competence (In appendix) The

length of short stories is commonly under 400 words with funny or interesting

themes which are suitable with the age of students in grade 7 In these short stories, there are even some new vocabularies that have not appeared in teaching lessons and students with frequent using Extensive Reading could guess the meaning of new vocabularies according to context of stories This is the effectiveness that this

research aims at

3.4.4 The action procedures

The action procedures are obeyed Nunan (1991) who defined the framework

of a research as consisting of seven steps as follows the below figure Then, researcher has designed the research process as follow:

Figure 3.1: The research processes

Step 1: Initiation This is step that researcher will identify the problem according

to the significance of research and practical situation that researcher has witnessed This process happened within 7 days from January 07th 2018 to January 15th 2018

Step 2: Preliminary investigation is the step that researcher focused in collecting data through a variety of means which has been mentioned above Because of the difficult tasks, this step must last longer for a month from January 15th 2018 to February17th 2018

Step 3: Hypothesis- Research developed research questions of this research for 2 days on February 16th and 17th 2018 according to the practical study

Step 4: Intervention- research will implement the innovation and strategies in teaching and guiding students to use English extensive reading and the link between this practicing with vocabulary improvement In fact, this step will be lasted more than due to the practical situation Besides teaching task, researcher has conducted the first draft of thesis and first-handle to teacher This step was from February 17th 2018 to Mar

15th 2018

Step 5: Evaluation- Researcher continued to collect data and analyze it to work out the findings After receiving draft from instructor, researcher conducted adjustment

of thesis This step lasted from March 15th 2018 to April 30th 2018

Step 6: Dissemination- Researcher reported the result by running workshops or issuing a paper This step is from April 30th 2018 to May 20th 2018 and finish the thesis

Step 7: Follow-up- Researcher will find alternative methods to solve the same problem and continued to accomplish the final thesis This step will be conducted in June 2018

Table 3.1: The time frame of research process

3.4.5 Data and analysis procedures

Pre-questionnaire

The pre-questionnaire is used in the first phase of this survey which means in the period of time that students have not contacted with the Extensive Reading method to improve their vocabulary by this method The highest purpose of Pre-questionnaire is find out the current learning vocabulary studying of the seventh-graders in grade 7A and 7A1 at Newstar English Centre as well as Extensive Reading using habit of

students Also, researcher wants to scale how discouraging student’s learning interest if hard working while low scoring

The point of time to conduct Pre-questionnaire is the January 15th to February

17th, 2018 (in step 2 of action procedures) The structure of Pre-questionnaire is designed with 8 questions and they are all multiple-choice questions There are three main types of answer which Yes/ No questions are, multiple answer questions and frequency questions (in which students will choose the frequency corresponding with their learning habits)

Post-questionnaire

The post-questionnaire is used with the same purpose with Pre-questionnaire that

is for investigating in a phase of research The point of time to conduct

Post-questionnaire is after teacher has taught and guided the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre using Extensive Reading within 8 weeks The post-questionnaire will be conducted within the late of Step 5 (March 15th 2018 to April 30th 2018)

The main purpose of post-questionnaire is assessing and investigating the seventh-graders’ attitude towards this learning method and their changes in English vocabulary after having tried on the new learning strategy- Extensive Reading Like the structure of pre-questionnaire, the post-questionnaire is built with totally 8 multiple choice questions and two main types of answer which multiple answer question and frequency question are

Pre-test and Post-test

The Pre-test and Post-test are designed with the same activities to be better comparison of the effective improvement of English vocabulary with Extensive Reading method Each pre-test and post-test is divided into two parts which are Reading part and Vocabulary part There is a little different in the form of reading part

In the pre- test reading part was designed as normal before and in the post test, reading part designed in the way of extensive reading The extensive reading will be conducted

in direct meeting of students and researcher measured three scales which are time to complete reading task of students (measuring by minutes by researcher), the level of understanding reading material (measuring by percentage by researcher) and the number of vocabulary could explain in English (measuring by words by researcher) With second part is vocabulary test, teacher will print the examinations and the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre joining this survey will choose the most correct answer (with 20 multiple questions for each test) These results from pre-test and post-test will be compared to underline the difference (could be positive, negative or do not create any change with new learning method)

As we both know, learning English in general and learning vocabulary in particular is hard for EFL secondary students and most of students are afraid of them and their tests Moreover, hardworking while low scoring could discourage student’s interest in English Therefore, this survey is conducted to find out the current learning vocabulary studying of Newstar English students as well as Extensive Reading using habit of students

Thus, it is our pleasure to have your help filling in this questionnaire Your participations will help me in collecting trustful information for my research on “the

impact of extensive reading on EFL secondary school students’ vocabulary” Your demographic information is not required to maintain the objectivity of the research Thus, you don’t need to hesitate your choices and just to be the most honest in each answer The purpose of data collecting is for individual research and not for any others

It has been the time that EFL secondary students have tried on the new learning strategy- Extensive Reading to increase vocabularies Researcher hopes this method effective and raise students’ interest in English learning Therefore, the post-questionnaire is conducted to investigate students’ attitude towards this learning method and their changes in English vocabulary

After completing the study, English vocabulary improvement by Extensive Reading will continue with more advanced and effective teaching methods for the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre in the future

Survey will be conducted in about 6 months excluding teaching time, data entry, and data processing and reporting There are two main data collection methods which are using questionnaires (pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire) and tests (pre-test and post-test) The participants will be 45 seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre and researcher (or teacher) would be writer

This chapter has presented in some detail the methodological framework of the study including the justification for the use of action research design in this study, the research questions, the pre-test and post-test and questionnaires used as tools of collecting data, the participants of the study, the process of data collection and data analysis applied to seek the answers for the two research questions

In the next chapter, the result of survey will be analysed according to the orientation and methodology in this chapter

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 The result of impact of reading on 7A&7A1 students’ vocabulary

development without Extensive Reading

The number of students joins in this research is forty-four, but the number of students have been aware of this reading method is only the minority Namely, when answering the question “Do you know what Extensive Reading is and its difference to normal reading class in textbook is”, there are only 14 out of forty-four respondents saying “yes”, taking account for 30.8% of total respondents The rest of them do not have any concepts of this term as well as the difference between Extensive Reading and normal reading task

Table 4.1: Question 1 and 2 in Pre-test questionnaire

Pre-Quest 1 Pre- Quest 2

Most of students in Newstar English Centre answered they have not known the extensive reading before and how different between the extensive reading and the normal reading is not clear There are 30 students with 67 %, respectively do not know what is extensive reading and they did not use to this term The rest of students joining

in this questionnaire were 14, it accounts for 30.8 % knew extensive reading and the knowledge of them about this is very limited Through the students’ answers, the author sees that the majority of students in Newstar English Centre feel strange to extensive reading

After having explanation of the definition of “Extensive Reading” and distinguishing it from “Intensive Reading”, the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre has exclaimed that English teacher do not conduct Extensive Reading activities for class The number of students has agreed with the statement that teacher conduct Extensive Reading for class only accounts for 42.2 %, approximately 19 students The rest of them has rejected the existence of Extensive Reading and assumed that reading skill is conducted in traditional way which forces students to “learn to read” not “read

to learn”.it means that with the reading tasks, they had to find the correct answers and if they could not, they could not complete their learning

Table 4.2: The frequency of conducting reading textbook in a week before

The number of conducting reading textbook as a task in the lessons of the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre is not much The range of mark is from 1 to

5 The result of research has shown that the number of students who always conduct English textbook reading activities is only 6, accounting for only 13% There are also some students has confessed that they never or rarely reading English textbook for their lessons The number of them is quite popular with 22 persons and accounts for over 48% of total study-joined respondents The majority of them exclaimed that they sometimes conduct reading task with the number of times is from 2 to 4 times per week This group of students plays 55% in total participants

Table 2.3: The numbers of students finish the reading task assigned before

The fact that the seventh-graders at Newstar English Centre always avoid

reading English textbooks Because of the frequencies of practicing is not enough in the training condition, the result of doing task is not up to expectation The question “How often do you finish the reading task assigned by the English teacher” want to explore the performance of students The range of mark is from 1 to 5 There are 24 students could not complete the reading task assigned by English teacher in class which accounts for 50% of respondents The percentage of English-task-finishing students is only 8

people while 26.7% (about 12 students) think that sometimes they finish this task Some reasons have been revealed First of all, for mention must be the sense of personal learning or hobby of students Many students speak that they do not like language, especially English However, some of them feel tired of reading tasks which are too long to read; too many new words or the topic is not familiar that they could not guess the meaning of textbook without dictionary

Table 4.4: The number of students understands reading before (Question 5)