Well Begun is Half Done- Study on an English Extensive Reading Project in a Chinese University

Fuqin PAN

Abstract


Starting from the characteristics and the benefits of extensive reading, this paper gave a detailed description of an English extensive reading practice carried out in a Chinese university. It pointed out problems found in the process, and analyzed the results of a questionnaire survey at the end of the practice. The case study discovered that most university students have difficulty in judging their own English reading ability and cannot match their language proficiency with their reading levels efficiently. Teachers’ participation in the project emphasized on teachers’ helping students objectively measure their reading levels, recommending appropriate books, organizing diverse activities to enhance reading interest and persistence. Guidance focused on the establishment and maintenance of a dynamic reading list based on students’ English reading levels including Graded Readers. In addition, teachers should carefully consider the evaluation means of reading practice, avoiding adding tremendous pressure to readers, for the ultimate goal is to develop students’ extensive reading autonomy on a regular basis.


Keywords


Extensive reading; Reading levels; Graded readers; Teachers’ roles

Full Text:

PDF

References


Albay, M. (2017). The benefits of graded reading. International Journal of Social Science & Educational Studies. 3(4), 177-180.

Beglar, D., & Hunt, A. (2005). Six principles for teaching foreign language vocabulary: A commentary on Laufer, Meara, and Nation’s “Ten Best Ideas”, The Language Teacher, 29 (7), 7-10.

Boakey, N. A. (2017). Extensive reading in a tertiary reading programme: Students’ accounts of affective and cognitive benefits. Reading & Writing, 8(1), a153. https://doi. org/10.4102/rw.v8i1.153

Cai, J. G. (2018, October 4). What can China do to catch up with Japan in winning Nobel Prizes?- Reforms should start from teaching and learning English in universities. Wenhui newspaper.

Casson, T. (2015). Lesson share: Class reading. Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Chen, J., & Sun, H. J. (2014). 大学生英语阅读障碍及其对策 [College students’ reading barriers and counter measures]. Education Exploration, (6), pp.64-65.

Davoudi, M., Zolfagharkhani, M., & Rezaei, M. (2016). The relationship between EFL learners’ extensive reading and English language proficiency. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 6(3), 549-559. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0603.13

Day, R. R. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2), pp.113-119.

Hu, Y. T. (2016). EFL college students’ perceptions of extensive reading of English (Master’s thesis). Original Identifier:104STUT0741002.

Hunt, J. R. (2014). Extensive reading in English in Hitotsubashi University pace classes: Justification, establishment and objectives. Hitotsubashi Journal of Commerce and Management, (48), 43-53.

Krashen, S. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from the research. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Krishnan, G., Rahim, R. A., Marimuthu, R., Abdullah, R. B., Mohamad, F., & Jusoff, K. (2009). The language learning benefits of extensive reading: Teachers should be good role models. English Language Teaching, 2(4), 107-116.

Maley, A. (2008). Extensive reading: Maid in waiting, In B. Tomlinson (Ed.). English language learning materials: A critical review (133-156). London/New York: Continuum.

Maley, A. (2009). Extensive reading: why it is good for our students… and for us. Retrieved from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/extensive-reading-why-it-good-our-students%E2%80%A6-us on June 25th, 2016.

Nation, P. (1997). The language teaching benefits of extensive reading. The Language Teacher, 21(5).

Prowse, P. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading: A response. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2).

Rao, S., & Babu, S. (2016). Importance of extensive reading in language learning. Language in India, 16(2), 251-261.

Tennant, A. (2016, June 25). Reading matters: Extensive reading. Retrieved from: http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/reading/reading-matters/reading-matters-extensive-reading/554233.article

Waring, R. (2006). Why extensive reading should be an indispensable part of all language programmes. The Language Teacher, 30(7), 44-47




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/10675

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2018 Fuqin PAN

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share us to:   

 

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard

Please send your manuscripts to sll@cscanada.net，or  sll@cscanada.org  for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.


We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail: office@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture