Extensive reading and development of different aspects of L2 proficiency

Presenter : Chia- Li Sabina Chen

Instructor : Dr. Pi-Ying Teresa Hsu Date : January 12, 2011

Citation

Yamashita, J. (2008). Extensive reading and

development of different aspects of L2

proficiency. System 36, 661- 672.

Contents

3

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Discussions

Reflections

Contents

4

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Discussions

Reflections

5

Introduction

Extensive reading

reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding of what is read

Introduction

6

beneficial effects of extensive reading on various aspects of L2 ability

reading comprehension & reading speed

vocabulary grammar reading & writing

a collection of disparate

abilities/skills

general L2 proficiency

Purpose of the study

-To explore different effects of extensive reading on

different aspects of L2 ability

7

Research question

8

In which aspect of L2 ability does the effect of

extensive reading appear more quickly, reading ability

or linguistic ability?

Contents

9

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Discussions

Conclusions

Reflections

Methodology

participants

materials

research design

procedure

10

Post-class questionnaire of an open-ended format

Methodology

11

38 freshmen EFL reading class

agricultural studies

23 students

• did not have any opportunity to use English

15 students

• 11 →listening to English songs• 1 → speaking with an overseas student• 2 → reading English newspapers • 3 → reading a biology textbook in English• 2 → teaching English to secondary school students

Samples are 31

Methodology

Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading (EPER)

Placement/progress tests (PPT)

Version A ： 141 items Cronbach’s alpha 0.78

Version B： 147 itemsCornbach’s alpha 0.79

12

Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading (EPER)

1. It is a non-profit making research and development project

set up in 1981 by ELTC in the University of Edinburgh.

2. A systematic use of graded readers within an extensive reading programme that forms an integral part of the ELT syllabus.

3. It is classified 8 levels of difficulty (G, F, E,

D, C, B, A and X), of which G is elementary

and X is advanced.

placement/progress tests (PPT)

1. cloze tests that measure general

proficiency and are correlated with EPER

reading levels.

2. can be used at the start of a programme to identify students’ starting levels and during the programme to measure progress.

3. Parallel Versions A, B or E

Methodology

Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading (EPER)

Extensive reading tests (ERT)

Versions 1

Cronbach’s alpha

40 questions

0.84 (weighted) 0.89 (unweighted)

Versions 2

Cronbach’s alpha

41 questions

0.86 (weighted) 0.89 (unweighed)

15

Extensive reading tests (ERT)

1. Written specifically to test performance in

extensive reading at each of the 8 EPER levels.

2. Parallel Version 1 or 2

“weighted and unweighted”?

1. The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean and plays a role in descriptive statistics and also occurs in a more general form in several other areas of mathematics.

2. 加權平均數 (weighted mean) ：適用於因各個數值之重要程度不同，須用不同權數表示不同比重時。

3. 算術平均數 (arithmitic mean) ，簡稱平均數 亦稱非加權平均數 (unweighted mean) 。

Research Design

Group 1

• pretest – version A & 1• posttest – version B & 2

Group 2

• pretest – version B & 2• posttest – version A & 1

18

Based on the author’s experience of using this test to similar populations of Japanese students in the past years.

Procedure

19

1st week pretest

2nd week PPT

3rd week ERT

？13th week Posttest (PPT)

14th week ERT

15th week Summary of the programme & post-class

questionnaire

The author did not mention it.

Contents

20

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Discussions

Conclusions

Reflections

Not significant

Min Max Mean SD

PPTPretest 17 44 34.58 5.92

Posttest 23 51 36.61 7.12

ERTPretest 16 58 37.73 10.25

Posttest 22 58 43.05 10.24

Results

21

Descriptive statistics of PPT and ERT

Total score: PPT = 100, ERT = 60. p ＜ 0.001

The difference was significant.

Contents

22

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Discussions

Reflections

reading ability

Conclusions

23

In which aspect of L2 ability does the effect of extensive

reading appear more quickly, reading ability or linguistic

ability?

L2 linguistic ability

Contents

24

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Discussions

Reflections

25

The benefit of extensive reading is more likely to be manifest in general reading ability.

The progress in micro-level linguistic ability such as vocabulary, spelling and morphosyntax may follow later.

Discussions

Discussions

26

The study attribute gains on test scores to extensive reading more reliably.

The participants have already developed skilled reading strategies in their L1 reading, but not L2 reading.

Contents

27

Introduction

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Discussions

Reflections

28

Make further efforts to specify and measure different components of L2 ability.

Adopt more rigid research design, and incorporate not only larger numbers of learners but also different types of learners in different contexts.

Reflections

Reflections

29

Using reading strategies to enhance students’

reading comprehension.

Only t-tests were employed so that it was hard to showed clearly the comparison between group 1 and group 2.

Thanks for your listening!With love

30