Data were collected from multiple sources, including a learner diary, audio- recordings from several private tutorial sessions, and vocabulary tests. The results of this study show that extensive reading can enhance vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension, and promote a positive attitude toward reading. Free Foreign Language Courses Online. Learn a foreign language with these free online courses. Online Foreign Language Degree Program Options. Learn a Foreign Language Online for Free. Foreign Language Assistance Program (SEAs) Purpose: Funding Status. Laws, Regs, & Guidance. RhinoSpike is a language learning tool that connects you with native speakers to exchange foreign language audio files. Get any foreign language text read aloud for you by a native. Learn the language through real.
The challenges that the learner encountered during the extensive reading process and how they were dealt with are also addressed.
Extensive Reading Over the past decade or so, there have been numerous studies reporting that extensive reading not only benefits learners of different ages, but also in different contexts. In addition to the gains in reading proficiency, positive affect, and reading habits (Camiciottoli, 2. Nash & Yuan, 1. Renandya, et al., 1. Tse, 1. 99. 6), other benefits of extensive reading also include gains in listening proficiency (Elley & Mangubhai, 1. Mason & Krashen, 1. Tsang, 1. 99. 6), reading speed (Bell, 2. Walker, 1. 99. 7), and even spelling (Day & Swan, 1. Krashen, 1. 98. 9). These studies provide valuable insights and pedagogic implications for educators who want to implement extensive reading in their classrooms. In addition, researchers who have conducted studies on extensive reading are mostly researchers or language teachers who lack the time or the opportunity to experience what it is like to engage in extensive reading from the learner's perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore both the benefits and challenges that one may encounter when engaging in extensive reading as revealed through a learner's diary study. In fact, diary studies have been an important introspective tool in language research because they can provide an emic perspective of learners' learning experiences and processes which may be . While some diarists are commissioned to keep a journal recording their language learning experience as a participant in someone else's study, others diarists are the investigators themselves (e. Bailey & Ochsner, 1. Cohen, 1. 99. 7; Jones, 1. Schmidt & Frota, 1. Although diary studies, like any other case studies, cannot make claims for generalizations, they have provided valuable insights regarding various aspects of language learning which include learners' anxiety, learning strategies, impact of classroom interaction, conversational interaction, proficiency thresholds, self- study, vocabulary development, and pragmatics, to name a few. Jones (1. 99. 4) observed that when a researcher is the observer as well as the subject under study, it creates a . However, Jones also argued that if the goal of a study is to find out what is involved in the learning process, then that subjectivity - - . The goals of this study were to discover the effectiveness of extensive reading and to better understand the extensive reading process from the perspective of a foreign language learner. The research questions in this study are. Wendy lived in Hong Kong for 2. Chinese as her first language and English as a second language. She has resided and studied English in the US and Canada since 1. At the time of the study, she was attending the University of Hawai`i for her master's degree in ESL. In those few lessons, she learned how to write and pronounce Japanese orthographies, hiragana and katakana, and learned some phrases for self- introduction, greetings, and so on. Although she still remembered some of the expressions when she began this study, the limited training did not help her with her reading. She had to relearn hiragana as a beginning learner of Japanese at the time she began this study. During the first stage of the study, Wendy was taking a graduate course about teaching ESL reading. It was then she gained a better understanding about what extensive reading was and how it could benefit language learners. Since Wendy could not find any Japanese courses featuring extensive reading for beginning learners, an ideal way to carry out her study was to set her own course. To prepare for the study, Wendy talked to her professor in the Teaching ESL Reading class and two students who had learned Japanese as a foreign language. Some of their suggestions included: a) start reading something simple and interesting; b) learn some basic vocabulary; c) try to read hiragana out loud to get a feel for the language; d) learn the conjunctions because they delineate word/vocabulary endings; and e) study with a Japanese student. She also borrowed books from her friends and the library to learn to read and write the hiragana. Occasionally, she asked her Japanese friends to clarify some of the grammar points and explain the Japanese sentence structures to her. She also got help from a book called Japanese for Busy People (AJLT, 1. It contains basic grammar and dialogs focusing on learning Japanese for communication. In an effort to learn Japanese through extensive reading, Wendy tried to apply the characteristics of the extensive reading approach established by various studies (Bell, 1. Day & Bamford, 1. Renandya, et al., 1. Walker, 1. 99. 7). The rest of the pages were from simple children storybooks with an average of about 1. However, she was able to read a variety of children's stories of interest to her which included some traditional Japanese stories such as Issunboshi and Momotarou as well as translated stories such as The Sleeping Beauty.
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