Listening is the most frequently used language skill and requires rapid, on-the-spot processing, so “why has our field [ESL/EFL pedagogy] completely ignored the need for graded fluency listening input that is for pleasure, and aimed at building listening automaticity?” (Waring, 2010). A viable response to this dilemma is Extensive Listening (EL), a method that builds listening fluency implicitly by focusing on general meaning through self-access to commercially produced and Internet-based pleasurable listening “texts” (Brown, Waring & Donkawbua, 2008; Chang & Millett, 2014; Cutting, 2004; Field, 2000; Oxford, 1993; Renandya & Farrell, 2011; Waring, 2009). Although specific research evidence on the benefits of extensive listening is still quite limited, engaging in large amounts of self-selected, easy and enjoyable listening for general comprehension purposes is theoretically supported (Ellis, 1994; Ellis, N.C., 2005; Lightbown & Spada, 2006). This session provides a rubric for curating listening texts, a course outline for EL and other listening fluency development activities, and a deeper understanding of how EL can support ESL/EFL listening proficiency development.

In this study, the presenter used three research questions to investigate how learners incrementally increase their TOEIC test scores through extensive reading. The first question concerns the number of English words that must be read to reach the intermediate level. MReader and the TOEIC online test scores were used to estimate the words that is necessary to reach the CEFR B1. As a result, it was estimated that reading about 500,000 words was required. The second question is about identifying which factors most affect the final TOEIC scores. What had a greater effect on the TOEIC scores, the learner's initial academic ability or their reading volume? This looks like the classic chicken and egg problem, but multiple regression analysis of the data showed that the amount of reading affected their test scores more than their initial ability. The third question is about the students’ motivation. What psychological factors affect the amount of reading? The presenter used multiple regression analysis and found that the students’ positive attitudes toward reading were influencing the total amount of reading being done. The details of the classroom setting and analysis will be shared during the presentation.

Managing an ER program by myself for 105 students, without Graded Readers, I needed help developing my small book collection (100 titles), and therefore designed a few classroom activities to encourage reading, discussion and positive interdependence, while supporting the growth of the program at the same time. In this short presentation, I will introduce two interaction-rich group activities (“book recommendation” and “designing quizzes”) and one individual writing activity (“book review”), while presenting some examples and feedback from my students. By picking new books, designing quizzes and reviewing books for their schoolmates, many became more confident, as they saw themselves as members of a lively reading community.

I teach French as a foreign language in a Japanese university, to beginner to low-intermediate level students, but am confident that these activities will be useful in many contexts, and even with Graded Readers.

This presentation is on how one teacher taught a reading course online using Zoom during COVID-19 for nine second- and third- year EFL undergraduate students in Japan in three phases: (1) getting to know the students, (2) staying attuned to the students’ wants and needs, and (3) getting students to become autonomous learners. Challenges as a result of COVID-19 and a move from classroom teaching to online teaching included difficulties in having students borrow and purchase books and having students conduct extensive reading throughout the course. Implications for teachers teaching reading online and face-to-face in EFL contexts not limited to Japan are also provided.

This presentation will introduce a long-term research project on extensive reading jointly run by three different universities in Japan. We organized a reading circle in 2021, which is formed of 40 students from four departments in three different universities who volunteered to join. The project will last until 2023 and during the three years, the participants are recommended to read as many books as possible using Xreading and attend periodical meetings and group activities that are intended to raise or maintain their motivation to read. It is an educational practice as well as a research project. As an educational practice, we are interested in how we can manage the learning community to make extensive reading successful. As a research project, we are interested in what kind of psychological transformation will occur over the long term. The presentation will focus on the project scheme and the outcomes of the first year.

This mixed-method single case study aims to unveil the plausible effects of extensive reading (ER) on an EFL learner’s writing competence and to elucidate the viable factors stimulating his willingness to write (WTW) after reading. The writing competence indicated by complexity, accuracy, and fluency was measured by eight measures under the CAF triad (Skehan, 1989). Narrative inquiry was then employed to probe students’ perception of how ER propelled his writing growth and leveraged his WTW based on two semi-structured interviews, excerpts from frequent contact via Facebook Messenger, and 51 reading logs composed during the 9-week course. Results showed observable progress in his writing accuracy and fluency, which was reaffirmed by the interview data. Meanwhile, his WTW was found to be attributable to five palpable determinants, namely (1) habit of L1 reading, (2) intrinsic motivation, (3) perceived writing growth, (4) reading materials, and (5) subconscious writer identity.

Some books make you happy while others make you sad. This study investigated how different emotional traits of graded readers are related with different degrees of student engagement of extensive reading (ER), and what mediating role learner emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) could have. Sixteen different types of basic and epistemic emotions were selected for categorization: happy, sad, fearful, disgusted, angry, surprised, curious, confused, anxious, excited, frustrated, bored, enjoying, relaxing, moved, and nonemotional. First, students were familiarized with emotional tagging of ER materials, resulting in identifying books with their emotional profiles rated by students. Second, an online self-reported questionnaire was conducted. It was shown that different emotions in ER materials result in significantly diverse degrees of student engagement. Moreover, EQs turned out to correlate positively with engagement of ER materials with positive emotions while negatively with several negative emotions and nonemotionality. The rationale and pedagogical implications are discussed and exemplified.

This presentation describes how to assess students’ performances in Japanese extensive reading. The presenter has been conducting standalone Japanese ER courses in a U.S. university since 2014. Unlike traditional-style language classes, the main activities in ER are individual readings; therefore, assessment has been challenging for the instructor.

Takase (2010) listed various ways to assess students’ performances in English ER, such as reading quantity, comprehension tests, and presentations. The presenter uses self-evaluations, where students reflect on their own reading and set their next goals. Students have other assignments such as reading journals, book reviews, and semester-final projects. The instructor does not evaluate students’ language skills in this course, and assessment is conducted only based on their attendance/participation and their submission of assignments on time. Because of these assessment criteria, students work hard, regardless of their typical grades. The presenter will discuss how ER is effective for cultivating autonomous learning.

This research project was conducted with two cohorts of 2nd year students enrolled in an elective Business English program at a university in Japan, one in 2020 and another in 2022, who also had had experience with Extensive Reading in their first-year classes, typically with paper-based graded readers and the Mreader tracking system. The research aimed to explore the following questions: 1. What do these Business English students like and dislike about doing online extensive reading via Xreading? 2. How do these Business English students feel that online extensive reading via Xreading compares to other methods of extensive reading experienced in their first-year classes? 3. Are there any correlations between amounts of reading done, types of reading done, and learners' self-reported perceptions of online reading? Participants were surveyed using a combination of Likert-scale and open-ended items, and responses correlated with actual reading data from the Xreading LMS.

The emphasis in EFL Reading classes is often put on the production of comprehension rather than the processing skills. It makes the reading activities unpleasant and most of the times have to deal with the low reading comprehension. The present study attempts to maximize the students’ participation by actively involved in extensive reading activities, to find out the strategies they use in the reading process, and to see the students’ perceptions on Extensive Reading in order to enhance their reading comprehension. The participants of the study are 20 students of the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Educational Sciences, Pakuan University, who were chosen purposively. This study applied qualitative approach with case study method. The data of this study were taken from documentation in the form of the students’ book report and book talk writing and presentation, questionnaire which were distributed to 20 participants, and interview which were conducted to 20 participants. The findings show the factors that maximize the students’ active participation in Extensive Reading activities are reading habit, motivation, and environment. The students use cognitive and metacognitive strategies in the reading process, and they have positive perceptions on Extensive Reading.

Extensive reading (ER) helps readers develop robust language knowledge (Hu & Nation, 2000) and build key connections with disciplines such as the sciences, goals that numerous international students hope to achieve in intensive English programs (IEPs). However, despite these benefits and instructors’ good intentions, IEP instructors often disagree on the specific approaches to integrating ER into reading and writing (RW) courses (Bentahar & Cranker, 2021). While many language instructors consider ER an underused technique (Watkins, 2018), some quiz students on their reading; other instructors “impose” one book on their students, while still others assign weekly reports, approaches which seem to contradict the essence of ER. The integrated-skill approach (ISA), where language skills and sub-skills are interwoven during instruction (Oxford, 2001), can solve this quandary. The presenter will share three effective ISA-based ER activities and demonstrate their benefits for learning, using student feedback. Implications for RW instructors will be discussed.

Extensive reading plays a critical role in creating an environment where teachers can nurture students’ motivation to love reading and in creating a safe haven for those who love reading. A closer look of two universities in East Java, Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) and Universitas Negeri Malang (UM) shows that they resemble in several ways. Both universities used to be teacher training institutes, have ER course in the curriculum, targeted freshmen, and subscribed to Xreading to support ER. This talk discusses the implementation of ER as a co-curricular program in UNESA and a curricular one in UM as well as the benefits and drawbacks of the different policies. This talk also discusses the implications of the ER programs in the two universities. Finally, the talk will be summarised with the suggestions for future studies.

Flow is a mental state in which an individual becomes immersed in an activity as a result of an optimum balance of interest, control, and challenge. Such a flow state overlaps with descriptions of ideal extensive reading experiences eg. becoming engrossed in a story and losing track of time. At the same time, teachers often assign reading targets using a variety of methods including book counts, word counts, and reading time in order to encourage students to read more. These different measurements of reading quantity may influence students' choice of reading materials as well as their reading experiences. This presentation compares student book choice behavior and experiences of flow while reading under the differing conditions of reading assignments given in terms of weekly word count goals with those of weekly reading time goals. Student reading records from the online reading library Xreading are used to compare differences in book choice behavior, such as book length and difficulty level, while experiences of flow are compared using mean flow scores from weekly questionnaires and independent measures t-test between the word count and reading time groups.

This study will report how an extensive reading (ER) website (https://lchineseer.sites.pomona.edu) was designed and constructed for learners of Chinese as a foreign language. A complete review of existing ER websites was first conducted to draw insights on website features and functions. A needs-analysis was conducted among a group of L2 Chinese learners to examine their reading needs. Based on the reading needs, over 300 reading passages on different aspects of Chinese culture were adapted or adopted. The reading passages were categorized based on number of words, readability levels, and topics. How to use the website to improve intercultural communication abilities will also be discussed.

Research into the effects of extensive reading (ER) has surged over the past few decades. However, many of these studies are limited by their lack of control over how the ER treatment is conducted. Furthermore, experimental and quantitative studies that investigate the possible effects of ER on the reading skills of learners of Japanese have yet to be fully explored. The goal of this study was to investigate the possible effects of ER on the reading rate development and comprehension abilities of learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). Using a quantitative single-case study method, eight intermediate learners of Japanese were monitored while they engaged in ER and strictly adhered to ER principles over 2.5 to 4 months. Results showed that participants’ reading rates increased significantly following the monitored ER treatment and that comprehension abilities were not hampered by an increase in reading rate. Pedagogical implications will be discussed.

Previous Extensive Reading (ER) studies almost exclusively focus on English language learners and tend to be limited by their lack of control over how the ER treatment is conducted and assessed. Furthermore, studies that investigate the possible effects of different styles of ER, including Extensive Listening (EL) and Audio-assisted Extensive Reading (AER), are few. The goal of this study was to investigate the possible effects of monitored ER, EL, and AER on the general proficiency development of learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). Using an experimental design, data collection for the first year of this three-year project (currently including data from 92 elementary and intermediate JFL learners) has been completed. First-year results indicate that all treatment groups outperformed the control group, and the AER and ER groups had higher gain scores than the EL group. Pedagogical implications, future directions, and the current impact will be discussed.

Given the importance of learning L2 vocabulary in context (Webb, 2008), the use of academic texts would seem to be one of the most useful ways to support the learning of academic vocabulary. However, authentic academic materials rarely have sufficient academic vocabulary range and frequency to provide for the learning of the academic vocabulary. In addition, authentic materials tend to be too difficult for all but advanced level students. Against this background, the presenter wrote a fictional graded reader series (‘The AWL Readers’) in an attempt to make the learning of English academic vocabulary in context more effective, more comprehensible, and more stimulating for the students.

The AWL Readers follow the adventures (and misadventures) of a fictional university student and her unusual friend. They include all 570 AWL words, most recycled multiple times. This presentation will discuss: (1) how and why the AWL Readers were created; (2) how they will be used at the presenter’s institution; and (3) their possible usefulness in other teaching and learning contexts.

Second language Literature Circles (L2-LCs) are useful as a way to help students onboard to ER. However, in the post-pandemic era, traditional face-to-face classrooms are but one setting for managing second language (L2) extensive reading (ER). Due to the variety of new contexts, an agenda-based system is suggested as an alternative to role-based LCs. Agenda-based meetings are authentic, intuitive for inexperienced teachers, and logistically simple. Agenda-based worksheets simultaneously scaffold learners’ responses to a reading during the reading phase and provide a plan for sharing learners’ inner experience with ER for students and teachers alike. This presentation aims to elucidate relevant pedagogical stylistic features of L2-LCs and show how teachers can quickly and easily develop worksheets in the agenda-based format. The addition of a separate pre-discussion stage for learners to focus on language and facilitation skills makes L2-LCs more effective for supporting simultaneous orientation to ER and building self-efficacy for discussion.

The aim of the study was to investigate a group of Thai university students’ perceptions of reading and English language learning. Twenty-eight students participated in two sessions of online discussions. The first was their responses to the question on the best way to learn English and the second was on their favorite language skill. The data collection was done in January 2022 and it was the online learning context. It was found that reading was not found to be the best way to learn English. As for their favorite skill, reading was the favorite skill of eight students (29%). About one-third of the students said their favorite skill was reading, but the majority of them did not see reading as the best way to learn English. The findings suggest the need to promote and cultivate reading habits among adult learners, especially university students to embrace both intensive and extensive reading.

The ability to guess meaning from context is a valuable skill for developing vocabulary knowledge. Although during extensive reading, dictionaries are typically not used, the new integrated dictionary in Xreading allows learners to immediately access definitions as they read. This research is investigating the effect that this online integrated dictionary usage has on the learner's ability to guess from context.

When teachers read extensively in a second language, we can gain insight and an appreciation of the task we ask our students to perform. After briefly describing his own reading program, the presenter provides an overview and recommendations of graded readers published in German language. To broaden the discussion, the audience is welcome to share its experience of reading in a second language. Through sharing our experience, we can consider how it can inform our pedagogy.

Remote lessons prompted the shift of extensive reading (ER) assignments from paper books to digital libraries making audio readings of books easily available. Any student with an Xreading account now has access to reading-while-listening (RWL). Providing second-language learners with access to vast amounts of reading and listening is undeniably beneficial; however, will learners choose RWL over reading only? 158 students with prior experience using Xreading were tasked with using RWL for their reading assignments. Questionnaires about the RWL experience indicate a broad belief (78%) that RWL is a beneficial way to learn English. 8 students agreed to follow-up interviews, and the majority of interviewees found audio enhanced the reading experience; improving their concentration and enjoyment. Yet some found it distracting and exhausting. Although a majority of students understood the benefits of RWL, it can be said that it may not suit the learner profiles of all students.

The Extensive Reading Foundation defines graded readers as texts that utilize “syntax and lexis that are controlled in order to make the content accessible to learners of the language” (Extensive Reading Foundation, 2022). It is true that many beginning and intermediate level students find the comprehensible input provided by graded readers useful for reading fluency and vocabulary development. However, advanced learners often find that they have difficulty employing effective reading strategies when transitioning from the controlled texts in graded readers to college level readings assigned in first year courses. Advanced students are faced with the reality that many of the texts used in English medium universities are not written taking the needs of L2 English learners into account. This presentation will explore transitional reading strategies that have been utilized in a college foundation program in Qatar. Strategies that will be explored include vocabulary development, reading fluency, and text comprehension strategies.

Bibliobattle refers to a social book review game where presenters introduce their favorite book to the audience in a group, and the participants decide the champion book by votes (Taniguchi, 2013). Mini-Bibliobattle is a variation of it with a shorter presentation and discussion period (see Oda, 2018, for the procedure). The study aims to examine the students’ perceptions toward Mini-Bibliobattle and analyze the changes of their scripts throughout the presentations. Approximately 40 university students participated in an 8-week online ER class holding two Mini-Bibliobattles in the L2. Consequently, similar to the previous study by the presenter, participants showed generally positive reactions toward Mini-Bibliobattles and shared interesting books with others. Also, improvements in the presentation were found regarding use of devices such as asking questions. Thus, Mini-Bibliobattle can facilitate learners to read more books and present a favorite book in an attracting manner to the audience.

The speakers tried to improve students’ English knowledge by using the ER approach. Therefore, they implemented an Extensive Reading Project involving 72 students of the Mongolian University of Science and Technology with the help of the XReading.com platform. This project lasted for two months from March to May. The presenters have raised the hypotheses whether the extensive reading approach has improved the students' English speaking skills and enriched their vocabulary or not. The participants have been asked to read the suggested books so that it was easy to maintain understanding during the discussion. The most essential part of this project was a club held once a week by the lecturers with the purpose of discussing and debating what the participants read. Pre- and post- tests were variables used to identify the effects of the ER method. Finally, the data taken from the tests was processed with SPSS program. Outcomes of the study will be indicated in details using authentic source materials.

Extensive reading (ER) has been widely practiced in teaching English as a foreign or second language contexts. However, reports on how ER has been practiced in Chinese as a foreign or second language contexts are not commonly seen. This study reports how an ER program was established in a liberal arts college in the U.S.A, and how ER affected the L2 Chinese readers’ reading attitudes. The study also examined L2 Chinese learners’ perceptions of language abilities improved through ER, and their enjoyment of ER activities. Data were collected over thirteen weeks through pre-and post- reading attitude surveys, weekly ER activities, and the end of the semester reflections. The findings suggested ER significantly improved L2 Chinese readers’ confidence in reading Chinese and devotion to learning Chinese. ER was perceived to improve reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, character recognition, character recognition, writing, speaking, and listening skills. The study also revealed that students enjoyed ER activities because they solidified their comprehension and provided opportunities to interact with co-participants.

Although the benefits of extensive reading in L2 English are well documented, many university students still elect to do little or even no reading. This may be the case even at institutions where English is emphasized or where ER comprises a substantial part of a course grade. Students at one large university program in Japan took part in a survey aiming to better understand the behaviors and attitudes of students toward ER. Out of 248 students, roughly 35% of students identified as reluctant (achieving only about half or less of ER word count assignments). Overall attitudes toward the ER program were surveyed, and the answers of reluctant and compliant readers were compared in areas such as time management, future-self image, cost-benefit attitudes, reading and system experience, etc. The results can help better address the concerns of reluctant readers and help future cohorts achieve better results.

This preliminary study seeks to understand why some readers were at first reluctant to do Extensive Reading (ER) on XReading but later became avid readers and what caused this shift. As part of a university writing class for English majors in Taiwan, ER was introduced as a class component to help improve student writing. In the fall semester, many students failed to do the assigned reading but became motivated in the spring semester; embracing ER and surpassing the semester goal of 60,000 words within 6 weeks. Using a questionnaire and group interviews to investigate this change, this researcher expects that externally motivated factors, such as test exemption, better grades, and a grand prize, may play a large role in their motivation. It is hoped that educators can use this study to better motivate current Reluctant Readers (RR) or reduce the future number of RRs in their classes.

For Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) teachers and researchers interested in Japanese ER, knowing what reading goals for learners are feasible, or whether learners do develop an awareness of and ability to evaluate whether a text is at their comprehension level can be difficult. Only a handful of studies address aspects of the first question, and none appear to explore the second. This presentation discusses the reading habits of nine JFL learners recruited for an exploratory project conducted in New Zealand. Nine readers read graded readers, children’s books, and websites written in easy Japanese for one to two semesters, recording what they read in weekly reading logs. Data collected contributes to clarifying whether learners display an awareness of appropriate difficulty levels and develop an ability to evaluate which reading materials are at their comprehension level, and also what volume of reading might count as “extensive” for Japanese learners.

It’s not surprising that student engagement in compulsory English eduction is often very low. This Exploratory Action Research study investigated student engagement with the XReading program over a full academic year in a compulsory general English class at a Japanese university. Early investigations found huge gaps in students’ basic skill levels and many students were not able to articulate how or why they could study English effectively. This research shows how addressing students' language awareness of several key concepts resulted in improved engagement levels with extensive reading tasks and the impact on their general English test scores.

This paper reports an on-going study of an introductory extensive reading program for 62 undergraduate students of Thai Language Teaching and Physical Education Teaching majors who rate their English language proficiency low. The participants were assigned to six weeks 30-minute and another six weeks 40-minute online weekly reading assignments. Weeks thirteenth to fifteenth were voluntary. Besides data collected weekly from both close and open-ended questions, the participants were asked to express their impression towards extensive reading after six weeks. After twelve weeks, they were asked to decide whether to continue reading. Motivating techniques trialed along the twelve-week extensive reading program, and the motives behind the choices to continue and discontinue reading after the twelve weeks will be presented and discussed. The findings are hoped to serve as a stepping-stone to develop an effective extensive reading program for other undergraduate students with low English proficiency in Thailand

The application of extensive reading as pedagogy in tertiary education can greatly enable learners to build confidence in reading long-form texts and better equip them for the realities of higher education and the prevalence of high level English texts. However, the development of reading skills seems neglected with students expected to sink or swim regarding handling the reading load in higher education contexts. This presentation will consider how extensive reading skills can be developed within a content-led setting to improve student extensive reading skills in a multi-proficiency setting, while also being able to fulfil course objectives in terms of content delivery. This will include classroom strategies that enable students to digest content through cooperative learning and critical reading skills, to allow accessibility to content for lower-proficiency students, and confidence building in higher proficiency ones.

“If you want to make the most positive change that you can to your language course, set up an extensive reading program” (Nation & Waring, 2020, p. 182). In 2018, the Foreign Language Division (FLD) was established at Wayo Women’s University in Japan and tasked with managing a multi-departmental English program for 700 first-year students. The above advice was heeded and the process of creating an ER program for the university began. After a small-scale trial in 2019, the ER program started in 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. This presentation will report on the development and implementation of the ER program through Xreading. It will detail how it is managed, the challenges posed by the pandemic, students' achievements, the perceptions of students and teachers in the program, and how it helped create cohesiveness between colleagues and foster a positive change in the FLD’s English program at the university.

The purpose of this study was to examine how EFL university students in Japan would be motivated in an e-book extensive reading (ER) program with an element of competition. By the frequent distribution of an anonymous progress chart of the class on the number of the words read, 74 participants were encouraged to engage in ER on a virtual library website approximately for 30 minutes in class and 30 minutes outside class per week for one semester. The attached comprehension quizzes on the website were not required. They also spent half of the class time working on the textbooks designed for developing four skills of English language. Standardized online proficiency tests were given at the beginning and the end of the program. The results showed that the average reading score improved by 27.96 with statistical significance, which was equivalent to the increase of 22.57 in the estimated TOEIC reading score.