The effects of the guided extensive reading on efl learners vocabulary learning an action reasearch at military political academy

The results o f this study support the conclusion that an extensive reading program has positive eíĩect on leam ers’ vocabulary acquisition given the speciíĩc context o f teaching at MPA

ĩ-MINISTRY 0 F E DU C A T I O N A N D TRAINING

HANOI UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI LAM ANH

THE EFFECTS OF GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING

ON EFL LEARNERS’ VOCABƯLARY LEARNING:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

AT MILITARY POLITICAL ACADEMY

SUBMITED IN PARTIAL FƯLFILLMENT OF THE REQƯIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

SUPERVISOR: NGƯYEN D ư c HOAT, Ph.D

Hanoi October - 2008

I also would like to send my special thanks to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha (MA) from the Department o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi University for her interesting and informative lecturers prior the formation o f the idea for this study as well as her later valuable guidance, encouragement and advice during the implementation o f the study.

My sincere thanks go to Dr.Vu Van Dai - the Dean o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi ưniversity, all the enthusiastic lecturers and whole the staff at Hanoi University for all their efforts within their authority to help me during my M.A course

Purthermore, ĩ am very thankfi.ll to the leamers o f class GV7 at MPA for thcir willingncss

to participate in the study Without their help, this prọịect could not have been so successful

I am also in debt to my ítíends, my classmates as well as colleagues for their useíìil comments and criticism

Last, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, my husband and sons, who have constantly inspired and encouraged me to complete this study

Vocabulary has becn regarded as a íundamental element o f leaming English However for most o f Vietnamese students in general and the leamers at MPA in particular, vocabulary seems to be the most difficult problem in language leaming They complain about their lack o f good vocabulary knowledge which greatly may hinder their language skills Therefore, the researcher decided to carry out an action plan with 30 leamers o f class GV7

at MPA aiming at íĩnding out the solution to the problem above Before the experiment, a questionnaire and test were used to collect information to identiíy the problem and the causes o f the problem The collected data were analyzed to coníirm the assumptions that the lack o f vocabulary really existed, and the cause o f this problem may be that leamers leam vocabulary ineffectively due to the lack o f exposure to the language

Based on the initial results and motivated by the continued growth o f research on extensive reading as well as the positive results from variety o f studies, the researcher created a plan

o f action in vvhich extensive reading was used The action plan was implemented for six weeks Then data were collected from multiple sources, including questionnaires, reading joum als and tests and analyzed The íìndings from the study revealed that leamers gained some progress in vocabulary leaming Furthermore, the evaluation o f action research also indicated thai learners' positỉve attitude tovvarđs reading in English was signiíĩcantly improved when the action plan was in use The results o f this study support the conclusion that an extensive reading program has positive eíĩect on leam ers’ vocabulary acquisition given the speciíĩc context o f teaching at MPA Based on the íindings o f the study, some discussion and limitations were made along with recommended suggestions for further study

Despite the limitations it is hoped that the study will be able to serve as a reference as well

as provide useíul information for other teachers o f English at Military Political Academy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S I

A B S T R A C T II TABLE OF C O N T E N T S III

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 S t a t e m e n t of t h e p r o b l e m 1

1.2 T h e a im s of t h is s t u d y 3

1.3 SlGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.4 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 VOCABULARY LEARNING 5

2.1.1 The importance o f vocabulary learnỉng 5

2.1.2 Vocabulary pedagogy 6

2.2 E x t e n s iv e READING 7

2.2.1 The defmition o f extensive reading 7

2.2.2 Characteristics o/extensive reading 9

2.2.3 The benefits o f extensive reading in /oreign language learning 10

2.2.4 Materials usedfor extern ive reading 14

2.2.5 Instruments used to monitor students ’ reading in an extensive reading program 15

2.4.6 Ten top principles for an externive reading program 16

2.2.7 Modifìcation o f Externive Reading at MPA - Guided Externive Reading Program 19

2.3 PREVIOUS s t u d ie s o n e x t e n s iv e r e a d ín g in E F L 21

2.4 SUMMARY 23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 R e s e a r c h q u e s t i o n s 24

3.2 DlíSCRIPTIONS OF t h e PARTIC1PANTS 24

3 3 SKTTING 24

3.4 R e s e a r c h d e s i g n 25

3.4.1 Definiíion o f action research 25

3.4.2 Process ofaction re se arch 26

3.4.3 Data collection Instruments 29

3.5 SUMMARY 33

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 34

4.1 INITIAL DATA 34

4.1.1 Results J'rom learners’ pre- questionnaừe 34

4.1.2 Analysis o f resulls o f the pre-test 39

4.1.3 Findings from the initiaỉ đata 40

4.2 ACT10N PLAN 40

4.2.1 The aim o f the action p la n 40

4.2.2 The acíion plan procedures 40

4.2.3 Data collected in action stage 42

4.3 POST DATA 45

4.3.1 The comparisons in the pre-test andpost-test results 45

4.3.2 Data collectedfrom the attitude questionnaires 47

4.4 E v a l u a t io n of th e a c t io n p l a n 50

4.4.1 Positive effects o f extensive reading on learners ’ vocabulary acquisìíion 50

4.4.2 Learners ’ attitude towards extensive reading activities 50

4.4.3 Discussion on the reasons fo r the achievements in the study 51

4 5 SUMMARY 52

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 53

5.1 KliCOMMiiNDAllUNS 53

5.2 CONCLUSION 55

REFERENCES 57

APPENDICES 61

\PPENDIX 1: READING JOURNAL 61

A p p en d ix 2.1: Q u e s t i o n n a i r e ( E n g l i s h ver sio n ) 62

Appendix 2.2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TR A 64

\PPENDIX 3: THE a t t it u d e q u e s t i o n n a i r e 66

\PPBNDIX 4: A SAMPLE OF EXTENSIVE READING 67

A p p e n d ix 5: THE pr e a n d p o s t - t e s t 72

\p p i:n d ix 6: P r e - a n d post test r e s u l t s 78

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 4.1: Leamers’ length ofleam ing English before entering MPA

Table 4.2: The leam ers’ self-assessment o f their vocabulary knoxvledge

Table 4.3: Learners* attitudes towards different aspects of language leaming

Table 4.4: The leam ers’ vocabulary leaming methods

Table 4.5: The cause o f the leam ers’ lack o f reading habits

Table 4.6: Reading topics chosen by the students

Table 4.7: The leam ers’ assessing reading materials in English

Table 4.8: Results o f the pre test o f 30 subjects

Table 4.9: Action plan procedures

Table 4.10: The leam ers’ opinions on reading materials

Table 4.11: Pre-and post test results

Table 4.12: Comparison o f the mean scores for the pre and post tests

Table 4.13: An overview o f descriptive statistics obtained from the questionnaire responses

Figure 1: Action Research Cycle

Figure 2: The leam ers’ self assessment to level o f diffículty o f the reading materials

Figure 3: The leam ers’ attitude toward extensive reading materials

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

GER: Guided Extensive Reading

EFL: English as Foreign Language

ELT: English Language Teaching

ERP: Extensive Reading Program

ESP: English for Special Purpose

MPA: Military Political Academy

SLA: Second Language Acquisition

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chaptcr dcscribes the statement o f the problem, states the aims o f the study, its signiíìcance and scope, and presents the outline o f the thesis

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In leaming a íoreign language, vocabularv plays an important role Words o f a language are just like bricks o f a high building Despite quite small pieces, they are vital to a great structure Vocabulary is one element that links the four skills o f speaking, listening, reading and writing all together Vocabulary knowledge is generally considered an important factor in the comprehension of language and the number o f words acquired is strongly related to competence language use In other words, in order to enhance overall English proficiency, ESL students need to attain a certain level o f vocabulary knowledge

Thombury (2002), in the introduction to his book, How to teach and learn vocabuỉary, said

“All languages have words Language emerges íirst as words, both historically, and in terms o f the way each o f us leamed our first and any subsequent languages The coining o f new words never stops Neither does the acquisition o f words Even in our fưst language we are continually leaming new words, and learning new meanings o f old

words”.

Despite the importance o f vocabulary, much literature has pointed out that vocabulary teaching and leaming seems to be neglected in language leaming process Even if vocabulary is taught in L2 classes, it is often taught poorly or unsystematically, for example, by giving word lists for memorization Many English language teachers in Vietnam only supply students with the Vietnamese translation o f unfamiliar words vvhich students come across in the textbooks and some just leave vocabulary leaming to students

on their own As a result, many students lack vocabulary leaming strategies and they resort

to rote-leaming o f the literal Vietnamese translation o f English vocabulary Military Political Academy (MPA), in which this study was set, is not an exception

At MPA íbreign language is One o f the compulsory subjects During the university course, thc leamers have to leam 300 periods, o f which 240 hours is for General English (GE) and

60 hours is for English for Speciíic Purpose (ESP) New Headway series (Soars & Soars,

2004) have been chosen as the course books for GE and Command English - for ESP Afìer the course leamers might have to read different materials written in English such as

academic texts from their specialist subjects, nevvspapcrs, etc., ữom a number o f different sources In order to read in English better, they need to possess a certain level o f vocabulary.

However, vocabulary leaming seems to be the most difficult problem for leamers at MPA They oíten find vocabulary very difficult to acquire and remember or they do not know how to use it to communicate They also complain that their language skills are not very good due to their lack o f vocabulary From my observation and discussion with other colleagues as vvell as leamers, most o f the leamers at MPA usually have a habit o f acquiring new vocabulary from short passages in textbooks or when given by teachers during classroom lessons However, these resources provide leamers only a small amount

o f vocabulary, which is not enough for them to read well in English Moreover, learaers only think o f vocabulary leaming as knovving the primary meaning o f new words and they ignore all other íunctions o f the vvords Therefore, a large number o f students at MPA only rote-leam the Vietnamese translation o f unfamiliar English lexical items in isolation by vvriting words on paper, trying to leam by heart They do not have a habit o f leaming vocabulary in contexts which help them to know how to use vocabulary appropriately

The real situation leads to the assumption that the leam ers’ vocabulary knowledge is weak because they may leam vocabulary ineíĩectively This seems to lead to their poor vocabulary knovvledge which greatly hinders their comprehension ability in reading and using English to communicate as well Teachers have an important role to play in helping them leam vocabulary more effectively The question raised here is “How to help leamers

to leam vocabulary more successíully?”

Accidentally came to the teacher researcher the notion “extensive reading” from the article

by Pigada & Schmitt (2006) which really intrigued me at the first moment A quick search

o f the literature would easily end up numerous studies that have been published on this issue The authors o f those studies (Thombury, 2002; Coady, 1997; Nation & Coady,1988) have agreed upon the beneíìts o f extensive reading programs in improving leam ers’ language skills as well as increasing their vocabulary in English because extensive reading provides the leamers extensive and multiple exposures to words for theme to be fully acquired

Nutall (1982) suggests that “an extensive reading program is the single most effective way

o f improving both vocabulary and reading skill in general" The idea that leamers can

devclop their language knowlcdge through extensive reading is attractive lbr several rcasons First, it is considered a “pedagogically efficient” approach, as two activities - vocabulary acquisition and reading - occur at the same time This approach facilitates lcamcr autonomy, can be very pleasant and motivating, provides leamers with the opportunity to meet words in their context o f use and could theoretically result in substantial vocabulary leaming, which seems difficult to achieve with explicit teaching during relatively a short period o f time that L2 leamers spend in the language classroom.

Extensive reading has been proved to be effective in language leaming and teaching, and has become a part o f the ESL/EFL curricula in many countries, but has attracted comparatively little attention in Vietnam Therefore, this study attempts to try out the much acclaimed method o f vocabulary teaching - extensive reading - by way o f action research Through this small scale research, the researcher hopes to improve vocabulary teaching and leaming at her academy Thus the question the researcher began to examine is "Do extensive reading help students leam vocabulary effectively?"

1.2 THE AIMS OF THIS STUDY

The aims o f the current study are to:

• invcstigatc thc cíTccts o f cxtcnsivc ìcuđing on stuđcnts’ vocabulaiy lcmniỉig al

MPA;

• discover students’ attitude tovvards extensive reading activity

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

A considerable deal o f research on extensive reading has been done and most o f this has proved that extensive reading used as a teaching procedure is useful and effective for the leam er not only in an ESL but also in an EFL context For this reason, the researcher expects that an extensive reading procedure can be applied in teaching and leaming English at MPA

By investigating the eíYects o f extensive reading on leam ers’ vocabulary leaming, this study gives teachers o f English at MPA a chance to get access to a new teaching procedure

- the extensive reading procedure If extensive reading procedure is used, it can develop leam ers' knovvledge o f vocabulary More importantly, it can create a reading habit in English which is necessary for leamers in this integrated world as it may enable them

to selí-study to kcep pace with the changing vvorld not only during thc time they are at university but 1'or their liíetime Thereiore, it is believcd that extensive reading will not only enhance lcam ers’ vocabulary leaming, but also provide them with a vehicle to more independent Ieaming The researcher would like to ĩinish discussing the signiíĩcance oí'

this study with what one wise and ancient teacher - Coníucius advised: “Give (1 man a fish

yo u feed him for one day; teach a man to fìsh you feed him fo r a life

Hovvever, due to the limit o f time and conditions, the study was carried out only in one class, thus, the results o f the study might be able to be applicable to the research class only Dcspite the limitations, the results o f the study would help the researcher solve the problem

in her context

1.4 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS

The thesis is organized into five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 — Introduction- presents the statement o f the problem, states the aims o f the

study, the signiíicance and the scope o f the study, and the outline o f the thesis

Chapter 2 is the Literature Revievv in vvhich some general theories related to the

importance o f vocabulary and extensive reading are presented and some previous research

on this is also revievved

Chapter 3 - The Methodology - describes the research method, the rationale for the

method and data collection instruments Detailed information about the participants o f the study and research procedures is also provided

C h a p te r 4 - The Data analysis and Discussion - discusses and interprets the main results o f the study

Chapter 5 - Conclusions and Recommendations- draws conclusions and gives some

recommendations from the study It also states the limitations o f the study and makes suggestions for future research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents some gcncral theories rclated to vocabulary learning, extensive reading and summaries previous studies on extcnsive rcading in EFL

2.1 VOCABULARY LEARNING

2.1.1 T he im p o rta n ce o f vocab u lary learn in g

Vocabulary has been regarded as a fundamental element o f leaming English Vocabulary is one elem ent that links the four skills o f speaking, listening, reading and \vriting all together Therefore, there are now theories o f L2 vocabulary acquisition, a wide (and growing) range o f teaching techniques available and a greatly increased awareness on the part o f most teachers and leamers o f the importance o f vocabulary development The current literature on lexical pedagogy shows that vocabulary teaching and leaming is Central to the theory and practice o f English language teaching Some theorists State that the lexical level is the most important as it makes basic communication possible The acquisition o f vocabulary has assumed a more Central role in leaming a second language They also argue that errors o f grammar can still lead to understanding but lack of vocabulary vvill interfere with communication Zimmerman (1997) also notes that words are o f critical importance to the typical language leamer According to Richards and Rem andya (2002, p255),

“Vocabulary is a core component o f language proíiciency and provides much o f the basis for how well leamers speak, listen, read and write Without an extensive vocabulary and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, leamers often achieve less than their potential and may be discouraged from making use o f language leaming opportunities around them such as listening to the radio, listening to native speakers, using the language in different contexts, reading, or watching television.”

The importance o f vocabulary acquisition to L2 acquisition has been further emphasized

by Carter (2001), who concludes that words have a Central place in culture, and leaming vvords is scen by many as the main task (and obstacle) in leaming another language Pailing to acquire survival level vocabulary, the leamers are unable to understand the target language To any language leamers, vocabulary leaming is an essential element in their language leaming Cook (1996) states thai virtually all second language leamers and their tcachers are vvell aware o f the fact that leaming a second language involves the leaming of

large numbcrs o f words Second language tcachcrs iìnd that the major obstaclc in teaching English is noí learning the grammar but in helping learners master sufficient vocabulary so that they can engage in meaningíul conversations and read materials other than the textbook In view o f this, the initial stage o f language leaming should be devoted almost cntirely to vocabulary work.

2.1.2 V oca b u la ry p ed agogy

Central to research into vocabulary teaching and leaming are key questions conceming how words can best be leamed In the literature, two opposing views on this matter have emerged On the one hand, there is an explicit vocabulary teaching approach where leamers are given the meaning o f target words right away, usually by the teacher On the other hand, there is an implicit vocabulary leaming method where leamers leam words implicitly such as leaming word meanings incidentally through reading extensively

Regarding vocabulary pedagogy, Carter (2001) points out that teachers can help leamers with vocabulary directly or ‘explicitly’ by means o f words lists, paired translation equivalents, and they can also help leamers by more indirect or ‘implicit’ means, such as exposure to words in the context o f reading real texts so that leamers can infer words from context and thus leam words incidentally through reading

There has been much discussion in the literature on whether vocabulary is best leamed through direct study or incidentally through reading Nation (2001) believes that direct vocabulary instruction has a place in SLA and should be directed tovvards the high írequency words o f the language He puts forward several points supporting the notion First, he notes that non-native speakers beginning their study o f English generally know very few English words Because the high írequency words o f the language are so important for language use and consist o f a relatively small number o f words (about 2,000), it is practical and feasible to directly teach a substantial number of them Second, direct vocabulary leam ing is a way o f trying to bridge the gap between second language leamers' present proĩiciency level and the proíìciency level needed to leam from unsimpliíĩed input Third, direct vocabulary study is a way to speed up the second lariiỉuage leaming process (p 157)

Hovvever, there are still limitations with explicit vocabulary leaming Nagy (1985) believes thai teaching vocabulary directly is time wasting His major argument is that there are a

largc number o f words in English and thereiore a large amount oí' time is nccdcd to dcliberately and explicitly tcach vocabulary He concludes that direct tcaching can only account for a very small proportion o f vocabulary Direct teaching oi’ vocabulary cannot provide sufficient sourcc o f vocabulary for leamers, since even the most ambitious vocabulary teaching programs typically do not cover more than a few hundred words per year Moreover, there are many aspects to leam in order to master vocabulary Some Hnguistists State that knovving an L2 word involves not only the ability to recognize its translation, audio and visual forms but also the knowledge to use the word communicatively in the context o f meaning interaction They explain that lexical knovvledge include knovvledge o f fonn (pronunciation, spelling word deviations, position

in grammatical constructions, collocations (co-occurring words), íunctions (frequency and appropriateness, and association (Nation, 1990) It seems that it is impossible for leamers

to leam all these aspects o f words by explicit leaming alone Nagy (1985) wams that direct instruction can deal effectively with only some aspects o f word knowledge and not effectively with others For example, when teachers explicitly teach students to analyze word parts, students may be able to remember the spelling and also the pronunciation o f the words (productive knowledge) more easily but regarding collocational and grammatical behaviour o f words, it may be better for leamers to read in context Hence, Nation and Coady (1988) take the position that L2 leamers have to leam vocabulary implicitly This can be done in the form o f extensive reading According to Schmitt (2000) reading extensively should be structured in the vocabulary program It is important for at least two reasons: meeting a word in diíĩerent contexts expands what is known about it and the additional exposures help consolidate it in memory

There is evidence that both the explicit and implicit approaches are both necessary in leaming vocabulary There needs to be the proper mix o f the explicit teaching and activities from which incidental leaming can occur because both methods be used together

to supplement each other The researcher hopes that explicit vocabulary instruction in the class plus extensive reading is much more effective for vocabulary acquisition

2.2 EXTENSIVE READING

2.2.1 T he definition o f extensive reading

The term "extensive reading" was originally coined by Palmer (1917, quoted by Day and

Bamlord 1998) to distinguish it ữom "intensive reading" - the careful reading o f

short, complex tcxts for detailed understanding and skills practice Ít has since acquircd many other names: Mikulccky (1990, cited in Day and Bamíbrd, 1998) calls it "pleasure reading"; Grabe (1991) and others use the term "sustaineđ silent reading", while Mason and Krashen (1997) call it simply "ữee reading".

In everyday life, to read extensively means to read widely and in quantity According to Day and Bamíbrd (1998), extensive reading took on a special meaning in the context o f teaching m odem languages And in teaching and leaming a language, different researchers

deíĩne extensive reading differently These authors deíìneđ extensive reading in a second

language (L2) as “an approach to the teaching and leaming o f second language reading in which leamers read large quantities o f books and other materials that are well within their linguistic com petence” (p viii) Parrot (1993) says that extensive reading is usually for one’s own pleasure This is a íluency activity, mainly involving the iníormation content For Lewis and Hill (1985), extensive reading means students have a general understanding

o f the text w ithout necessarily understanding every word As pointed out by Richards et al (1992), extensive reading means reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding o f what is read It is intended to develop good reading habit, to build up knowledge o f vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading Robb and

Susser (1989, p.3) define “extensive reading” as a language teaching/leaming procedure

hecause it is reading (a) o f large quantities o f material or large texts; (b) for global or

general understanding; (c) with the intention o f 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” Bamford and Day (1998) regard extensive

reading as “an approach to foreign language teaching in general, and to the teaching of

íoreign language reading in particular”

Whatever name is used, the characteristics generally include the relatively fast reading o f a large amount o f longer, easy-to-understand material, with the reading done mostly outside

o f 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 The characteristics o f extensive reading will be described in greater details in the next section

2.2.2 C haracteristics o f extensive reading

2.2.2.1 Large quantity

Large quantities are essential for this procedure to be "extensive," but there is no agreement on how much "extensive" is Different authors have different views on it Rrstly, the amount o f extensive reading can be measured in page, as the following examples: thirty pages an hour (Hill and Thomas, 1988, p.50); three pages an hour (Matsumura, 1987, cited in 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) Secondly, other authors think o f reading measure in hour For example: an hour per evening (Krashen, 1981, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990); fĩve hours

by a speciíied date (Bowen, Madsen and Hilferty, 1985, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990);

60 hours over 3 months (Hafíz and Tudor, 1989); an hour o f extensive for every hour o f intensive (Williams, 1986); thirty minutes per day for fĩve stories, poems, or essays per week (Dalle, 1988, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990 ) In short, the time amount ranges from

30 minutes per day to 20 hours per month Thirdly, many researchers believe that reasonable quantity should be measured by reader: one reader per week (Stoller, 1986, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990); at least two books a week (Carroll, 1972, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990); a minimum o f 36 simpliíied readers per year (Hill, 1983, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990); 60 books a year (Bright & McGregor, 1970, cited in Susser and Robb, 1990) This variety suggests that quantity o f reading is not an absolute number o f hours or pages but depends on teacher and student perceptions o f how extensive reading differs from other reading classes; this will vary according to type o f program, level, and other variables

2.2.2.2 General comprehension

When students read extensively, it is not necessary to read for 100 percent comprehension

On the contrary, they should simply read for general, overall understanding This means that they should be able to follow the general storyline and grasp the main ideas o f the text

In extensive reading the aim is to read a great many books, so it is in the leam ers’ best interest not to struggle over every detail and worry about the exact meaning o f every word

or phrase By aiming at general comprehension, this procedure reduces both teacher demands on the student and student demands on the text to attain the objectives o f íluency and speeđ as well as comprehension Broughton et al.'s comment that extensive

rcading must imply a "relatively low degree o f understanđing" (1978, cited in Susscr and Robb, 1990) must be taken in context: we want students to achieve a degree o f understanding sufficient for pleasure rcading If the student íinds the book too difficult to enjoy, the cxtensive reading procedure requires that the book be changed, and not that the studcnt be made to study it more closely The level o f global understanding required varies with thc student's language proíĩciency, the nature o f the text, and other factors.

2.2.2.3 Pleasure reading

The third aspect, pleasure, may seem dubious, because, after all, the reading is an assignment, and most o f us do not take pleasure in assignments However, pleasure, like quantity, is relative The procedure assumes that students will erỹoy reading books that they have chosen on topics o f 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 Further, even leamers who are far írom íluent derive pleasure from the very experience o f reading a book in a íbreign language Students in extensive reading courses regularly comment on their joy at having íinished whole books in the target language

Having determined the major characteristics o f extensive reading, the following section vvill present some its benefíts in EFL contexts

2.2.3 T he b en eílts o f extensive read ỉng in ĩo reig n langu age learn ing

According to Nutall, “The best way to improve your knovvledge o f a íòreign language is to

go and live among its speakers The next best way is to read extensively in it” (Nutall,1982) Thus, for students in an EFL context, the best way to improve their English is to read extensively

Krasen (1989) argues that students can acquire language on their own provided a) they receive enough exposure to comprehensible language and b) it is done in a relaxed, stress- free atmosphere Extensive reading satisíĩed both these conditions because it involves reading large amounts o f relatively easy material, at home and with little or no follow-up work or test Purthermore, Krashen (1989) held that the unconscious process o f language acquisition when reading for pleasure is more successful and longer lasting than conscious leaming

Many othcr researchers have supported this view (Day and Bamtbrd, 1998; llafiz and

Tudor, 1990) From their point of view, extcnsivc reading can help studcnts improve rcading skills, writing, speaking, and vocabulary, as Brovvn & Gakuin (2000) remark:

Student readers benefit a grcat deal ữom exíensive reading As

there are components íor developing fluent reading and true comprehension such as a Iarge sight vocabulary (those words that a child can recognize at sight in reading), a large general vocabulary (common vocabulary), knowledge o f how the target language is used, knowledge o f various text-types, and increased knovvledge o f the world

in which we live (p.3)

Research on extensive reading has shown a wide range o f leaming benefits for L2 leamers First and foremost, extensive reading can improve students’ reading speed and reading comprehension Robb & Susser’s (1989) experiments prove that extensive reading can help students read faster Reading is a skill Like many other skills, it needs a lot o f practice to

be períect One way to improve reading ability is by reading a lot (Day and Bamford, 1998) Students only read a lot when they feel interested And when do students feel interested in reading? The ansvver is that when the reading text is about something they really want to read or are really interested in Moreover, vvhen leamers read extensively texts that are o f the same level, or are slightly below, their reading abilities will enhance íluency, recover lost conĩidence and begin to provide enjoyment in reading Also the experience o f extensive reading will show many students that they need to drop the habit oí' literal translatỉon - reading, a bad routine iormed in traditional high school classes This habit limits the speed at which students read and reduce the effíciency with which they are able to comprehend

It is true that reading in the classroom sometimes do not interest students There are differences between the sort o f texts read inside and outside the classroom In real life, people read mainly to get iníòrmation they need (from advertisements; newspapers; tim etables ) or to entertain, to enjoy themselves (novels, short stories ) The language used in these texts is natural and close to real life In the classroom, students read for different purposes They may read to improve reading skills (skimming, scanning ) Some reading texts are designed to give students input for a discussion Some are designed

to present the uses o f certain grammar structures Each texts used in the classroom is for a certain purpose o f language teaching and leaming Thereíbre, the language used in these texts is not as natural as those read outside the classroom And nol all the topics o f the reading texts in the classroom can interest students Once the reading text is not attractive enough ior students, they will be lazy to read and leam less effectively The case is

quitc different for extensive rcading When the tcachcrs use the extensivc rcading procedure in thc class, thai means they encourage their students to read what thcy really want to read, or know about Students are free to choose what they can read, they do not have the feeling o f being iorced This will help increasc their motivation to leam As a result, the more they read, the better their reading ability will be.

Secondly, gains in vocabulary are among the most commonly cited beneíĩts o f extensive reading Nutall (1982) maintains that “an extensive reading program is the single most effective way o f improving both vocabulary and reading skill in general” Extensive reading has been shown to be a highly successful vvay o f reiníòrcing, coníĩrming and deepening knovvledge o f vocabulary and expressions hitherto only imperíectly known, and

o f developing an implicit understanding o f when and how words are used, by experiencing language in context (Coady, 1997) When students read vvidely, they will get ideas on what they have read and remember vocabulary on that topic Reading widely may be one o f the best ways to increase the repetition o f seeing the same vocabulary The more they read the more vocabulary they remember and the more ideas they have on what they have read Nation (1990) also has the same point o f view when saying:

Vocabulary leaming is not an all-or-nothing type o f leaming; rather it

is a gradual process o f one encounter with a word adding to and strengthening the small amounts o f information gained from previons encounters If the small amount o f leaming o f a word is not soon after reinforced by another encounter, then that leaming will be lost

Thereíbre, the encounters o f the same vocabulary will serve as a reinforcement met for vocabulary leaming and as all the iníormation about printed word Its semantic, syntactic, phonological properties are Consolidated into highly cohesive whole “Familiarity leads to automaticity and automaticity leads to speed and íluency.” (Nation, 1990)

Moreover, extensive reading can help students remember vocabulary and grammar structures they have just leamed In the book “Working with words”, Gainns & Redman (1985) pointed out two basic theories about remembering words One theory suggests that iníbrmation which is not activated regularly disappears in time from memory This means that unless new words are practiced and revised they will soon be íbrgotten Leamers can practice and revise new words in order not to íòrget them in different ways and reading is onc o f the most effective ways When reading they see words that they have just leamed The more they see the word the better they can remember it Bell (1998) shares the same

idca w hen saying that extensive reading hclps consolidate previously le a m e d languagc.

Thirdly, many rcsearchers have found extensive reading to have a positive effect on Hstening, writing and other areas o f language competence Extensive reading provides input for speaking and writing skills Once students have a large vocabulary and ideas on some topic, it will be much easier for them to write or speak about that topic as one o f the main reasons preventing students from speaking and writing is that they do not have ideas Moreover, extensive reading o f high-interest material offers the potential for reinforcing and recombining language leamed in the classroom When reading extensively, students automatically receive the necessary reinforcement and recycling o f language required to ensure that new input is retained and made available for spoken and written production

Pinally, extensive reading helps to increase motivation and create a good habit o f reading Constantino (1994), Mason & Krashen (1997), and Hayashi (1999) report that reading extensively increase motivation to read and the development o f a positive attitude toward reading If reading is a “pleasure” like playing music or vvatching television, it still takes time to be interested in By having students read extensively what they are interested in, teachers can help them to spend more time reading and make it a habit Having a good reading habit is very important for students, who are expected to mainly self-study in their university course Moreover, by eliminating follow-up checks and exercises and encouraging students to go for understanding the general meaning rather than detailed comprehension, students are gradually weaned o ff word-by-word decoding at the sentence level, something Japanese students fmd very diffícult, as shall be seen Then the goal is to turn "leaming to read into reading to leam."

In brief, extensive reading provides student readers a lot o f beneíits According A sraf and Ahmad (2003) the effects o f extensive reading are thus both cognitive as well as affective Not only does it lead to improvement in reading, writing, and vocabulary acquisition but it also leads to a positive attitude tovvards reading, vvhich would help to increase students' languagc proíĩciency in the long term Grabe (1997) stated that students need to read extensively If both the teachers and the leamers know this, they will make full use o f it

2.2.4 M aterials used for extensive reading

From Day and Bamrord’s vievv, getting EFL students to read extensively depends critically

on what they read Many, pcrhaps most, o f the TESOL specialists who recommend cxtcnsive reading do so on the assumption that the students will be reading graded readcrs Some say graded readers can serve the purpose o f extensive reading as reading for pleasure In many o f extensive reading programs ever carried out, authentic materials or simpliíied texts written for non-native speakers are used to proviđe favorable condiíions for language leaming

However, what kinds o f reading materials are suitable for an extensive reading program mainly depends on the students taking part in the extensive program them selves as the goal

o f extensive reading is that leamers would be able to read anything that interest or need suggests irrespective o f whether it is authentic or simplifíed

The reading material must be both easy and interesting “Easy” means materials with vocabulary and grammar well within the students’ linguistic competence Researchers suggest that leamers need to be íamiliar with at least 95% o f the running words in a text if they want to comprehend and thus leam from the text However, a lot o f EFL teachers are often reluctant to embrace the use o f easy materials because they think there is little for their students to leam íìom easy texts They preler diíílcult materials as they appear to be

under the spell o f what might be called the macho maxim o f reading instruction: no

reading pain, no reading gain (Day & Bamíòrd, 1998) This is uníòrtunate because, also

according to Day and Bamíòrd, struggling with diffícult, dull material is not the way to become a willing EFL reader nor is it the most effective way o f becoming an able reader

In short, in order for extensive reading to do its work - build automaticity o f word recognition, build vocabulary knowledge and develop positive attitudes toward reading - the reading material must be well within the students’ linguistic ability (Day & Bamford, 1998)

In this research, the subjects are leamers with pre- intermediate level o f English and they want to improve their vocabulary in order to read documents in English The reading materials used were anything o f students’ interest taken from nexvspapers, books, maga/.ines or the Internet Purther details about the reading materials used in this rescarch will bc discussed in Chapter 3

2.2.5 In stru m en ts used to m on itor stu d en ts’ read in g in an exten sive read ing program

Unlike in-class reading which is fairly easy for the teacher to monitor, extensive reading mainly takes place outside class vvithout the presencc o f the teacher The reading is individual and silent, the students read at their own space, at any time, anywhere they choose Therefore, the question here is “Hovv can the teacher make sure that their students aetually do their reading at home?” According to Bell (1998), in order to run an extensive reading program successfully, effective monitoring is required, both to administer the resources efficiently, and to trace students’ developing reading habits and interests That’s why in all studies on extensive reading, the instructors used such different tools to monitor their students’ reading as weekly report or book revievv, joum al, summary, study diary, and card file system, etc

What tools are used to monitor students’ reading in an extensive reading program depends

on the purpose o f the program and the program instructor These tools are very important

in such a program as they can help the instructor know whether the reading is actually taking place or not Hovvever, what is more important is that the teacher can help their students to be aware o f the need to read extensively and eager to read in English at any time, any where possible

Most o f the extensive reading programs carried out so far had their students write weekly reports or book reviews (Bell, 1998; Hafíz & Tudor, 1989; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Thu, 2003) Book reports can give some idea o f whether or not the contents were understood (Waring, 1997)

In some studies, the students are asked to write summaries o f what they have read In an extensive reading program, the students’ main task is reading, but writing summaries is valuable not only to provide a means for teacher to check comprehension, but because the writing o f summaries improves comprehension (Smith, 1988)

Students in extensive reading programs are also often asked to keep joum als o f what they have read (Hafiz and Tudor's, 1989; Thu’s, 2003) According to Brock, Yu and Wong (1992), joum als arc an excellent tool for reílection because they provide an effective means oí' identiíying variables that are important to individual teachers and leamers and thcy serve as a means o f generating questions and hypotheses about teaching and leaming

process .loumals also cnhance avvareness about the way a teacher teachcs and a leamer learns as vvell as they provide an on-going record o f classroom events and teachcr and leamer rellections.

In Bell’s extensive reading program (1998), he used a card íìle system to rccord titles and thc dates the books were boưowed and retumed Thu (2003) in her experiment used a check-out system for the same purpose

For ERP in this research, the instructor would have the students write vveekly reading joum als to check whether the leamers read during the week as well as to find out their attitude toward to this activity

The next section will be devoted to the principles for successíul extensive reading programs

2.4.6 T en top p rin cip les for an extensỉve read in g p rogram

Day and Bamford (1998: 7-8) provide the following ten top principles o f an extensive reading program:

1 The reading material is easy The beneíìts o f ER come from students reading a great

Heal So we have to get onr students reading One way to get them read a lot is to make

sure that they read material that contains vocabulary and grammar vvithin their linguistic competence In addition, reading easy material helps the affective dimension o f leaming 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

2 There musí be a wide variety o f maíerials on a wide range o f íopics Having variety

allow students to find material they want to read Different kinds o f reading material also encourage a ílexible approach to reading Students leam to read for different reasons (e.g., entertainment, iníbrmation, passing time) and in different ways (skimming, scanning, more careful reading)

3 Students select what they M’aní to read The principle o f ữeedom of choice means

that learners can select texts as they read, that is, they can choose texts they expect to understand, lo enjoy or to leam ữom

4 Learners read as much as possible, in cỉass and out tìf the class This is the

"extensive" o f extcnsivc rcading, made possiblc by thc previous principlcs The most critical elcment in learning to rcad is the amount oí' timc spcnt actually reading While most reading teachers agrce with this, it may be the case that their students are not being given the opportunity or incentive to read, read, and read some more There is no upper limit to the amount o f reading that can be done.

5 The purposes o f reading are usually relaíed to pleasure, information, and general understanding and are determined by the nature o f the material and the interest o f the

students Students are encouraged to read for a variety o f real-world reading purposes from entertainment to íìnding specific iníbrmation Also in common with real-world reading, 100% comprehension is not usually the goal Only sufficient understanding to achieve one’s purpose is required

6 Reading is its own rewards Because the goal is for students to experience reading, they are not required to demonstrate their understanding by ansvvering comprehension questions Hovvever, teachers may need to ask students to engage in follow-up activities after reading for a number o f reasons: 1) to discover what the students understood and experienced from reading; 2) to keep track o f what students read; 3) to monitor the student’s attitude toward reading; and 4) to link reading with other aspects o f the curriculum

7 Reading is individual and silent Silent, individual extensive reading contrasts with

the way classroom texts are used as vehicles for teaching language or reading strategies or (in traditional approaches) translated or read aloud It allovvs students to discover that reading is a personal interaction with the text, and an experience that they have responsibility for Thus, together vvith íreedom to choose reading material, individual silent reading can be instrumental in students discovering hovv íòreign language reading fits into their lives Extensive reading means leamers reading at their own pace It can be done both

in the students’ own time when and where the student chooses, or inside the classroom when part or all o f a classroom period is set aside for silent, self-selected reading

8 Reading speed is usualỉy faster rather than slower When leamers are reading

material that is well within their linguistic ability, for personal interest, and for general rather ihan academic purposes, it is an incentive to reading íluency Nuttall (1982) notes that "speed, erỹoyment and comprehension are closely linked vvith one another" (p 128) She describes "The vicious circle o f the weak rcader: Reads slowly; Doesn't cnjoy

reađing; Doesn't read much; Docsn't understand; Reads slowly (p 127) and so on.Extensive rcading can help readcrs "enter instead the cycle o f growth The virtuous circlc o f the good readcr: Reads faster; Reads more; Understands better; Erỹoys reading; Rcads faster " (p 127).

In the Service o f prom oting reading íluency, it is as well to discourage students from using

dictionaries when they come across words they don't understand Extensive reading is a chancc to kecp rcading, and thus to practice such strategies as guessing at or ignoring unknown vvords or passages, going for the general meaning, and being comíbrtable with a certain level o f ambiguity

9 Teachers orient and guide íheir students Students may not be a cc u sto m ed to the freedom o f making choices in school, so they need to be introduced to the practice o f ER The teacher could begin by explaining the beneíit o f ER - it leads to gain in vocabulary knovvledge as well as reading, vvriting, and oral íluency The choice o f easy materials, self- selection and reading for overall understanding could be discussed Teachers may also wish to point out that there are no tests or comprehension questions

10 The teacher is a role model o f a reader for students - an active member o f the

classroom reading community who demonstrates what it means to be a reader and the rewards oí being a reader Example is the most povveríìil instruction If the teacher read the sarae material that the students read, and talks to them about it, this gives the students a model o f 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 iníbrmal reading community, experiencing together the value and pleasure that may be derived from the written word

Day and Bamford (2002) stated that these ten principles will give teachers food for thought and reílection as they consider their belief about how best to help their students become proficient foreign-language readers These principles should be applied ílexibly in different teaehing context Thereíbre, based on her teaching situation and conditions, the researcher

of ĩhis study decided to modify some o f the principles above o f ER More details will be prcsented in the section 2.2.6

In ihe following section the rcsearcher is going to describe the Guided Extensive Reading

Program that is applicd in the researcher’s contcxt.

2.2.7 M íodification o f E xtensive R ead in g at M PA - G uided E xtensive R ead in g Program

Day and Bamíbrd (2002) give out ten top principles for extensive reading with an implication that these assertions should be valid for all settings where extensive reading is practiced Hovvever, according to Robb (2002), in many countries especially in Asia, adherence to some o f these “principles” might undermine the primary intent o f extensive reading, which is to have our students read more in order ío increase their exposure to syntax, lexis and perhaps culture o f the target language He, with a ten-year experience in

ER programs in Japan, argues that some principles are not applicable in Japan due to the teaching and leaming English situation here Students cannot read extensively in class because they must spend time íĩnishing their tight English syllabus When using an extensive reading program, the instructor also cannot expect their students to “read for themselves” because o f different cultures Unlike in the United States or in Westem countries where students are responsible for their own leaming and often self-motivated, in Asian countries, students often leam for exams or course requirement Thus, students in his program are not “reading for themselves” but rather reading to satisíy a course requirement

The researcher o f this study shared the same idea with Robb when using the extensive reading program for the leamers at MPA As principles 1, principle 2, principle 3 and principle 4 are not completely appropriate in the her teaching context, the researcher decided to modify inappropriate principles to minimize the difficulties, at the same time tried not to change the nature o f extensive reading so much

Pirstly, the teacher could not have the students read extensively in class as they had to íìnish the syllabus as planned and extensive reading was not included in the ciưriculum The participants in this study are asked to read extensive reading materials only outside class Moreover, most EFL classes at MPA attempt to teach all "4-skills" The fact that

"extensive reading" can be done outside the classroom is a signiĩicant advantage since precious class time can be spent on aspects where the presence o f a teacher is required

Secondly, the most challenge for the leamers at MPA is the availability and suitability o f reading materials Due to the lack o f reađing materials, at the beginning o f the experiment,

the researcher thus will help to prepare the propcr rcading materials on thc basis o f thc topics provided by thc learners Studcnts themselves choose matcrials to read from these resources providcd by the researcher Gradually the leamers themselves could be motivated, guided to select reading materials they are interested in by the researcher.

Thirdly, because o f the learners’ low level o f proficiency in English, it is sometimes diíĩicult to choose very appropriate reading materials with few new words for the leamers

to read Thereíbre, the reading materials chosen in this study are sometimes at a slightly higher language level Hovvever, the researcher agrees with Coady (1997) that there is an interaction betvveen background knovvledge, linguistics knovvledge and ability to comprehend a text (cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997, p.232) Reading in a L2 or FL is a dynamic and Interactive process, during which leamers make use o f a variety o f skills and strategies, combined with background knovvledge, Ll-related knowledge and real-world knowledge to arrive at an understanding o f \vritten material (Aebersold and Field, 1997) Therefore a student can pick a text that is very high in interest and read it with pleasure and success even if the linguistic aspects o f the text are quite advanced relative to the student’s ability Most important o f all is the fact that high motivation will typically enable the reader to success in comprehending a difficult text to a surprising degree The leamers at MPA might have good background knovvledge in LI about the topics they chose The basic

vocahulary o f the topics is probably well known in LI and it might be easier to rccognizc

the cognates in L2 because o f the above fact Therefore, the researcher hopes that the good background knowledge, LI - related knovvledge and real-world knowledge can help the leamers overcome the diííiculties in reading process

Finally, according to some theorists, large quantities are essential for extensive reading There are different opinions about exactly how much reading has to be done beíbre it can

be called "extensive" Susser and Robb (1990) quote suggestions ranging from an hour per evening to at least two books a week Given the huge discrepancies, ílexibility seems to be the key, as what constitutes "a lot" depends largely on the teacher's and students' perceptions o f "extensive" in relation to the students' overall workload Given that Japanese high school students are notoriously overburdened with tests, cram school, club aclivities, Saturday classes and so on, Matsumura's suggestion (1987, quoted in Susser and Robb 1990) o f one page per day and three pages per day during summer vacation may scrve as a useful guideline for ĩapan W hatever target number is set, the basic goal of extensivc reading is to get students to read as much as can bc reasonably expected and

hopefully, to enjoy doing so The researcher sharcs the same idca with Matsumura about how much cxtcnsive reading material is This partially depends on the contcxt in which thc authors do the rescarch Considering that most students begin the course vvith a rclatively low lcvcl o f íluency in English and have never previously read any English books, rcading 5-7 pages a week can bc considered extensive reading in this study.

The researcher also shares the same opinion with Coady Coady (1997) states that in the literature on extensive reading íhere are some recurring parameters that appear to be effective methods for accomplishing the goal It is important to note that under this approach there will be less emphasis on length o f the text, sentence length, or vocabulary/new word density and more emphasis on reader interest, theme o f text, match between reader’s background knovvledge and the text

The researcher decided to set up an extensive reading program with some modifícations

above for leam ers at MPA, which was named Guided Extensive Reading (GER) To some

extent, this extensive reading program is not absolutely the same as Day & Bamford’s program in which students are completely ữeely to choose whatever they want to read from a class library Hovvever, the features o f the GER program seem to coưespond with many o f Day and Bamford’s (2002) “Top Ten Principles for Teaching Extensive Reading” The following are the key features o f the GER Program:

• Leamers read as m u ch as p o s s ib le out o f th e class

• The leam ers are allovved to choose the topics they want to read

• The teacher helps, guides and orients the leamers to choose reading materials related to the topics they want to read And the students also are encouraged to select materials to read themselves

• Purpose o f reading is for information and general understanding

• Reading is individual and silent

• Reading is its own revvard Because the goal is for students to experience reading,they are not required to demonstrate their understanding by answering o f comprehension qucstions or other follow-up tasks as part o f the activity

2.3 PREVIOƯS STUDIES ON EXTENS1VE READING IN EFL

Over the past decade or so, there have been numerous studies reporting that extensive rcading beneíìts language leamers Much research has been conducted to investigatc

the effects o f extensivc rcading on students' vocabulary acquisilion However, most o f it done to investigate LI vocabulary acquisition Unlortunately, little data-based research has bccn done on extensive reading as an L2 pedagogic procedure.

Nagy, lỉennan and Andcrson (1985) State in their research into leaming words írom context that vast majority o f vocabulary words are leamed građually through repeated exposures in various discourse contexts They claim that leamers typically need about ten

to twelve exposures to a word over time to leam it well They observe that native speakers can leam as many as íiíteen words per days from the ages o f two to seven and school-age children acquire several thousand words per year They argue that direct teaching o f vocabulary cannot be the source o f these gains, since even the most ambitious vocabulary teaching programs typically do not cover more than a few hundred words per year It is though that a great amount o f vocabulary is acquired though reading They found evidence showing that children could leam vocabulary indirectly vvhile reading Consequently, Nargy and Herman (1997) argue that teachers should promote extensive reading because it can lead to greater vocabulary growth than any program o f explicit instruction alone ever could (cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997, p 225)

The premise under this line is the belief that the vast majority o f vvords in LI comes from extensive and multiple exposure use rather than direct/ explicit instruction, and thereíore, vocabulary leaming in L2 should follow the same route

In terms o f second language vocabulary acquisition, there has been some research focusing

on extensive reading Krasen (1989), a leading proponent o f extensive reading, in his study

on vocabulary acquisition and reading to support his Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, found that vocabulary and spelling are best acquired through reading He maintains that the major source o f vocabulary and spelling competence is through comprehension input Krashen argues that with more comprchensible input, in the form o f reading, greater competence in vocabulary and spelling is associated

Nation (2001) through his experimental studies o f extensive reading prove that through extensive reading leamers incidentally gain vocabulary knovvledge from each meaning focused reading o f an appropriate texts According to Nation (2001), the idea that leamers can đevelop their language knovvledge through extensive reading is attractive for several reasons Firstly, reading is essentially an individual activity and thereíore leamers o f diíYerent proíìciency lcvel could bc leaming at their own level without being locked into an

inílcxible class program Sccondly, it allows learners to follow thcir interests in choosing vvhat to read and thus increase thcir motivation íor learning Thirdly, it providcs the opportunity for lcarning to occur outside classroom (Nation, 2001, p 150).

Nation (2001) also states that incidental leaming o f vocabulary through meeting words in reading has numerous beneílts It requires less teacher effort and classroom time, which can be used in other strands o f language leaming He also argues that although research shows only small amounts o f incidental vocabulary leaming occur from reading but these small amounts become big if leamers read large quantities o f comprehensive text (p.149)

Pidaga and Schmitt (2006) in their case study o f a leamer o f Erench on vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading shovved that knovvledge o f the target words was cnhanced The study also explores how vocabulary acquisition varies according to how often words are encountered in the texts

Though much research has proved the beneíĩts o f extensive reading on L2 leam ers’ language acquisition and extensive reading is part o f the ESL/ FL curricula in many countries, it has attracted little attention in Vietnam Especially, so far, in Vietnam very little research has been done on extensive reading in teaching and leaming English in general as well as in teaching and leaming vocabulary in particular More importantly, as far as the researcher knows, almost o f the research on extensive reading has been used an experiment or a case study as a research methodology The author o f this sttidy wouId like

to explore the eíĩects o f extensive reading on vocabulary leaming by the way o f an action research Thereíore, it is hoped that the present study could fill the loophole o f the íĩeld

2.4 SUMMARY

From the theoretical background to extensive reading as vvell as the review o f the previous studies on extensive reading, it can be seen that extensive reading can bring about many beneĩits to the leamers It can grow students’ vocabulary, writing, speaking Most o f the researchers who have done research on extensive reading strongly recommend that extensive reading should be used as a second language teaching procedure, and in many countries, extensive reading has become part o f the ESL curricula Given the range o f beneíits o f extensive reading, it is surprising that so far it has attracted relatively little intcrest in Vietnam Particularly, there has been no research about extensive reading related

to learners at MPA so far Given this gap, the researcher would like to do this research on extensive reading with a view to finding out the effects o f extensive reading on EFL studcnts’ vocabulary acquisition The method o f the research will be presented in details in Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This study was designed in an attempt to invcstigate the effects o f guided extensive reading

on EFL students’ acquisition at MPA In this chapter, the purpose o f thc study, research

questions, setting, subjects, research mcthod and data collection Instruments will be

prcscntcd in detail

3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research was caưied out to answer the following questions:

• Research Question 1: Does extensive reading have an effect on learners’

in general and language leaming in particular

3.2 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PARTICIPANTS

The participants o f this study are 30 leamers from class GV7 at MPA Their age ranges from 20 to 30 and they come from different parts o f the country They are all male They are in their second year Beíòre entering the MPA, the majority o f leamers who come from big cities had leamed English at school, vvhile there are still leamers who have never leamed English or any other íbreign language beíbre Before the research these leamers had finished 180 periods o f General English with the course books New Headways (Elementary - Pre Intermediate) by Soars & Soars (2004) With some language leaming experience, the basic knovvledge o f general English and good background knovvledge in

L I, the participants can take part in this extensive reading program in this study

3.3 SETTING

The study was carried out at MPA where thc writcr is tcaching English At MPA, all the subịects, excluding English, are conducted in Vietnamese, theretbre, students leams and usc the language only during their English lessons Teachers o f English tend to adopt a

teacher-centered approach as thc major pedagogy to teach English In terms o f English vocabulary teaching, the students mainly lcarn vocabuiary items prcscnted in thc texts in their English textbooks by heart and are always asked to check the Vietnamcse meaning o f any uníầmiliar vocabulary from the dictionary.

3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN

There are some research methods offered to be used in the field o f applied linguistics such

as experimental method, case study Hovvever, because o f its outstanding advantages discussed below, Action Research (AR) was selected as the research method for this study

In the following section, the deíinition o f AR, the rationale for choosing AR as a research method for this study and the AR procedure vvill be explained in details

3 4 ỉ D eíìn itio n o f action research

As the name suggests, action research is a methodology, which has the dual aims o f action and research Action research is knovvn by many different names, such as participatory research, collaborative inquiry, action leaming, and contextual action research There are some deíĩnitions o f action research that have been proposed over last forty years

‘An action research’ as deíined by Wallace (1998) is done by systematically collecting data on teachers’ every day practice and analyzing them in order to come to some decision about what teacher future practice should be According to Wallace (1998), action research can be helpful for two reasons: (1) it can have a speciíic and immediate outcome which can

be directly related to practice in the teacher’s own context; and (2) the ‘íindings’ o f such research might be primarily speciíic, that means it is not claimed that they are necessarily

o f general application and thereíbre the methods might be more free-ranging than those o f conventional research

It vvas stated by Nunan (1992) that action research is “problem íòcused”, mainly concemed with a single case in a speciíìc situation, and tries to find solutions to the problem in focus

It not only cncourages teachers to compare methods and ideas with critical eye and to adopt these ideas into their teaching environment but also engages them in their teaching in

a deeper way

“An action research is teacher-initiated classroom research which seeks to increase the teachers’ understanding o f classroom teaching and leaming, and therefore, bring

about improvement in classroom practices” (Kcmmis and Mc Taggart, 1988)

No inattcr how many dcfinitions therc are to describe thc AR, its aim is to identify

“problematic” situation or issucs that participants consider worlh invcstigating and to undertake practical interventions in order to bring about iníbrmed changes in practice It should be done by all teachers at any times it is necessary

Action research was selected as the main method for this study, because it can help to identify the problem, solve the problem and evaluate the solutions

3.4.2 P rocess o f action research

There have been some different models o f AR given by the researchers who have studied

or used in their studies It is said that AR should be seen as Aexible and that researchers may have different processes in different situations An AR has a number o f steps or phrases, which progress as a spiraling and evolving process A typical action research consists o f the cycle o f activities demonstrated in Figure 1 adapted from Somekh in Mc Bride & Sckotak (1989) as belovv:

Figure 1: Acíion Research Cycle (Somekh in Mc Bridc & Sckostak, 1989)

In the lbllovving scction, the stages in this rcscarch will be described in m ore details.

a ỉdentiỊỳing a problem and (he causes ()f the prohlem (during week 1)

Researcher’ teaching expcrience, her discussion vvith the leamers and thc colleagues

hclped her find that one o f learners’ biggest problems is lack o f vocabulary knowledge

(More details about it vvere discussed in the statement o f the problem) Therefore, this

aspect was selected to be the research íòcus in this study

b Collecting data (week 2): A questionnaire for leamers was used to find out the

actual problems, the causes o f the problem, and what needs or must be done to improve

leam ers’ vocabulary knowledge (More details about it will be described in “Data

collection instruments”)

c Analyzing data (week 3- 4): The researcher analyzed the investigated information

collected, generated hypothesis, and reviewed the literature relevant to the topics

Consequently, the researcher decided to study “W hether extensive reading have good

effects on improving students’ vocabulary leaming”

d Planning action (week 5-6): An action plan, a new procedure was developed

based on the initial data analysis collected from the fírst questionnaire, on the basis o f

literature review relating to the topic to bring about improvements in specitìc areas o f the

research context In this study the researcher decided to use extensive reading to help

leamers to improve their vocabulary More details will be presented in 4.2.2

e Implementing the actỉon plan (week 7 to week 12): The action plan

implementation lasts about 6 weeks, with the participation o f the researcher and 30 leamers

at MPA

As mentioned in the section 2.2.6, at MPA it seems impossible to follow all the principles

o f an extensive reading program For example, materials are not available for students to

choose what they want to read Thereíore, the author o f this study decided to modify some

o f the principles o f teaching extensive reading so that it is appropriate to her teaching

context as follows:

• Choosing the topics: In order to stimulate the conditions o f extensive reading as much as possible, beíbre the experiment, a list o f topics were given to the

learners so that thcy could choose w hat topics they vvere intcrested in.

• Choosing the reading materials: The tea c h e r preparcd reading materials about the topics which wcre chosen by most o f the students The leamers have a chance to choose the reading materials they like from the materials collected or compiled by the teacher Besides the materials given by the teacher, the learners were encouraged to find reading materials for themselves about the topics they had chosen and shared with other members in the group Furthermore, besides the topics listed by the teacher, the leamcrs could include any other topics they erỹoyed or íìnd the reading materials themselves This helps minimize the diffìculties about materials and maximize the principles o f extensive reading as well

• Hanđing out the material: As mentioned above, the reading material was prepared in accordance with the topics the leamers chose before the experiment Each week the leamers were assigned to read about a certain topic They were required to read at least 5-7 pages at home a week The class was divided into groups o f five, with the stronger leamers íunctioning as monitor The groups were íòrmed right at the beginning o f the experiment and asked to work together throughout experiment The reason for having the students work in groups is to encourage better leamers to help the vveaker ones and create a competitive atmosphere among the groups The material was compiled by the teacher and vvas given to each group leader every week to make photocopies for the members

• Follow-up activities: In order to check whether the learaers actually read materials at home, the researcher asks them to write reading joum als (brief summaries or their opinions o f the materials) The leamers can also be encouraged to share the results o f their reading with each other in small groups or as whole class

f Collecting posí-data (week 13): A post- test and reading joum al were used to

collect data to íìnd out whether extensive reading activities have good effects on leam ers’ vocabulary leaming

g Analyzing post data (week 14 - 15): The collected data was analyzcd Bascd on

this iníòrmation the researcher evaluated thc results achieved and /or íĩndings Recommendations for further research were made accordingly

3.4.3 D ata co llectỉo n ỉnstrum en ts

To answer the research qucstions o f the study, the data was collected Ihrough questionnaires, weekly rcports, reading joum als and tests

3.4.3.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was chosen as a data collection instrument in this study This section discusses the rationale for choosing questionnaires and describes the questionnaires designed for this study

To begin with, it was believed that questionnaires could help to reveal much iníormation needed to the study As commented by Richards (1994, p.10),

“Surveys and questionnaires are useful ways o f gathering information about affective dimensions o f teaching and leaming, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and preferences, and enable a teacher to collect a large amount o f iníbrmation relatively quickly” Besides, questionnaires can help the researcher save time and easily get quick, íocused results from a lot o f people

Another important advantage o f this tool is that the collected data are relatively easy to be summarized and reported because all the iníòrmants answer the same questions Moreover,

with thc charactcristics o f giving lcss prcssurc for an immcdiatc rcsponsc, qucstioimaircs

could allow respondents to answer in their own time, at their own pace, thus motivate them

to work on it Finally, using questionnaires is quite inexpensive

To conclude, the researcher chooses to use written questionnaires because they are easy to do; they do not cost much money, time and effort; stilỉ considerable data and different ideas can be collected in a relatively short time Questionnaires used in this study were designed by the researcher based on information the researcher wanted to look for

a Questionnaire 1 (Appendix 2)

The pre questionnaire vvith eleven questions was designed to find out the problem, the causes o f the problem and the topics they want to read about This questionnairc was given

to the leamers at the beginning o f the research

In this questionnaire, questions 1 and 2 aimed to investigate the leam ers' language leaming background

Question 3 attempts to ílnd out thc learners’ attitude towards the diíTerent language aspects.

Questions 4 - 7 explore the lcarners’ vocabulary lcaming strategies

Question 8 aims to survey vvhether the leamers had a habit o f reading in English

Question 9 asks students about the topics they wanted to read while question 10 examines

if thcy could assess the materials in English and where they couid find the materials to read If they do not have any reading habits, question 11 wants to know the reason for this problem

A fíve-point Likert scale is used for question 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 with ỉ = always, 2 = often, 3

=someíimes, 4 = rarely, 5 = never.

This questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese in order to make sure that the participants understand all the questions

b Questionnaire 2 (Attitude Questionnaire -A ppendix 3)

The main aim o f this study is to investigate effects o f extensive reading on leam ers’ vocabulary acquisition Hovvever, through this study, the researcher would also like to discover the leam ers’ attitudes tovvards this activity Investigating the leam ers’ attitudes towards extensive reading is a way to verify the results found from the study and can help the researcher know whether the methods used are suitable or not In order to collect data

on their attitudes, an attitude questionnaire was administered to the leamers aíìter the treatment

The attitude questionnaire used in this research consists o f 10 closed questions They are

designed on a five-point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree, 3 = not sure, 2 =

disagree, 1 = strongly disagree).

Queslions 1 and 2 investigate the leam ers’ attitude towards the treatment used

Question 3 and 4 aim at getting iníbrmation about the learners' reading habits with an aim to discover whether the extensive reading helps change their reading habits or not

Ọuestion 5 asks the leamers to give their opinions about the follow-up activities, and questions 6 and 7 ask them what they think ahout the reading materials givcn

Qucstions 8, 9 and 10 are đesigned lo discover thc lcarncrs’ sense o f improvement in their reading alter the experimcnt

3.4.3.2 Reading ịou rn al

The second tool used in this study was reading journal (Appendix 1) Beíore going to the Knglish class, leam ers had to complete the reading joum al This form aimed at getting concrete iníbrm ation on their opinions about the content o f the material, their attitudes tovvards the extensive reading activity as vvell as the difficulties they meet during reading the materials It helped the researcher monitor leam ers’ reading so she could offer guidance, and prod lazy leamers and decide what needed to be modiíĩed in the next circles

o f the action Moreover, such documentation also provided ample material for the teacher

to assess leam ers’ achievement over period and enabled leamers not only to record their ideas and responses but also to see their own progress

3.4.4.3 Tests

The last tool used in this study was the test It was considered a good instrument to get iníbrmation, as “it can provide iníòrmation about general ability level o f the students about speciíĩc problems that the students may be having with the language, and about their achievement in previous programs” (Rrown, 1QQS, p 48) Tn this study, the data from the tests were used as a source to find out the leam ers’ progress after the action plan implementation

To investigate the eíĩects o f extensive reading on leam ers’ vocabulary leaming, tests (pre- test and post-test) vvere administered to collect test scores as quantitative data for the study

It is vvorth noting that the participants were not informed o f the tests and they were also not aware that the post test vvould be exactly the same as the pre-test lest they should use any memorization techniques to remember the words in the tests The use o f the same test beíbre and after the treatment was to measure the difference that may have been caused by thc treatment

a Pre-test

A pre-test (see Appcndix 5) vvas given to the leamers right at the beginning o f the experiment The test was done with the supervision o f the researcher The purpose of this test as mcntioned before was to measurc the English level o f the leamers' at the

hcginning o f the experiment The tcst consisted oí' íìve parts with 50 items and was designed in diffcrent types in order to measure vocabulary knowlcdge and rcading comprchension as follow:

• Filling in the blanks w ith ap p ropriate words;

• Matching the English deíinitions with the correct words form the reading passage;

• Matching the appropriate words with the contexts;

• Matching the words with opposite meanings;

• Filling in the blank vvith appropriate words

After the end o f the pre-test, the participants were assigned a distracting task (adapted from Pigada, M, & Schmitt, N (2006) More speciĩically, they had to read three short ílinny stories in English and, based on their understanding o f the texts, to answer some questions The stories were carefully selected so that they did not include any o f the target words The purpose o f this task was to distract them as much as possible from words in the test The distraction task also served to ílush the target words from their immediate memory, so that they could not give these words additional explicit attention, such as looking them up in a dictionary after the session, which might have contaminated the study They started reading extensively the íirst material a week later, allowing for a short time lapse betvveen the pre-test and the reading

b Post-test

One week after the experiment had íĩnished the participants took the post-test, under the same conditions and following the same procedure The leamers took the post-test with the researchers presence The purpose o f the post-test was to measure the vocabulary knovvledge afìer the experiment, from which the researcher could see vvhether there was any signiíicant progress The same test was used for both the pre- and post - tests as this could avoid the fact that the pre-test was more difficult than the post test and vice versa The reuse o f the test was scientiíically possible because (1) the post test was taken 16 weeks after the pre-test, vvhich was long enough for the leamers to íorget all about the pre- tesl and (2) all the pre-test papers were handed in and not retumed to the students which could assure that the content o f the test remained confidential

The time allowance for each administration was 40 minutes All the test papers are collected and marked by the teacher One point was givcn to each correct answer Each