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(1)ASuccess. Story:ImplementingExtensiveReading. Within. aFour-skillsBasedCourse. GeorgeM.Truscott. Introduction ``. Goodthingshappentostudentswhoreadagreatdealinthenewlanguage.Researchstudies. showtheybecomebetterandmoreconfidentreaders,theywritebetter,theirlisteningand speakingabilitiesimprove,andtheirvocabulariesgetricher."(Bamford&Day,2004). Extensivereading(hereinreferredtoas"ER")isoftenseenasanoptionalcomponenttoalanguageprogram.Waring(atpress)emphaticallystatesthatlearnersneed massiveamountsoflanguagetodeepentheirownknowledgeofwords,theircollocations,enhancetheirownsecondlanguage(L2)knowledgeandconsolidatethediscreet andabstractlanguagethathasbeenlearnedpreviously.InanormalJapaneseuniversitssetting,studentstypicallyenrollinclassesthathaveoneortwoclassmeetingsa week,withatypicalcourselastinganywherefrom12to15weeks.Withsuchlimited contacttimewithstudents,whatwouldbethebestdeliverymechanismforthismassive amountoflanguage?Perhaps,thebestandeasiestanswertothisquestionisER. ThispaperwillexamineanERresearchprojectatamajorJapaneseuniversityand shedlightontheprocessofimplementinganERcomponentintoafour-skillsEnglish languagebaseduniversitycurriculum.FromthepilotERcomponenttotheERcomponentinyeartwo,changesweremadetoovercomeinitialstart-upproblems.The changeshavegreatlyimprovedtheERcomponentinyeartwosothatmoreclasses couldbeinvolvedinER.Initially,ERwaspilotedforoneclassonly.Yetinyeartwo, theERcomponentwasbroadenedtoincludesevenclasses.AnERattitudinalsurvey wasgiventostudentsattheendofthecourseinyeartwoinordertoreceivestudent. 99.

(2) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). feedbackabouttheERcomponent.Theresultsofthissurveywillbediscussedaswell asthefinalreadingdataforallsevenclasses.. RationaleforER. Asstatedpreviously,WaringarguesthatlearnersofEnglishneedmassiveamounts. oflanguageinordertosignificantlyimprovetheirEnglishability.Yetwhatdoeshe. meanby脚. ∬Zソe?. Waring(atpress)showstheamountofreading(i.e.,language)thatisneededfor. learnerstomeetwords.Thiswasdonebyanalyzingthe50millionwordsub-corpus. (bothwrittenandspoken)oftheBritishNationalCorpus(BNC)ofEnglishusingRange. (Nation&Wheatley,2000).ApartialreconstructionofWaring'schartcanbeseenin. Table1(forthefullchart,refertoAppendixA).AtanERConferenceheldatKinki. Universityin2009,Waringcalledthishis"MathematicalArgumentforER".Briefly,. thechartdemonstrateshowoftenvariouswordsappearinatext.Itthenextrapolates. thisdatatoprovidethevolumeoftextalearnerwouldneedtoreadinordertomeet. theword5times,10times,20times,and50times.Takeforexample,the2000thmost. frequentwordfromtheBNCsub-corpusofEnglish,stumble.Thiswordismetonaver-. ageevery23,103wordsoftext.(Ofcourse,theprevious1,999wordsarealsometwithin. thesesame23,103words.)Inordertomeetthewordstumble5times,10times,20times,. and50times,alearnerwouldhavetoread115,625,231,250,462,500,and1,156,250words. respectively.Inordertohave10to20meetingswithawordinareadingtexttosup-. posedlylearntheword,astudentwouldhavetoreadbetween231,250and462,500. words.Thisis,ofcourse,themassiveamountofreadingthatWaringisreferringto.. Table1.Volumeoftextneededtomeetwords. Wordrank. 1000th(blood) 2000th(stumble) 3000th(sergeant) 5000th(satellite). Volumeoftextyouneedtoreadtomeetthe Numberofrunningwordsneededto. wordsattheserecurrencerates. bemettomeetallthesewordsonce 5times. 10times. 20times. 50times. 8,533. 42,665. 85,329. 170,658. 426,645. 23,103. 115,625. 231,250. 462,500. 1,156,250. 47,343. 236,713. 473,425. 946,850. 2,367,126. 132,143. 660,714. 1,321,429. 2,642,857. 6,607,143. 一100一.

(3) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse StudiesalsoshowthatnativeEnglishspeakersknowabout20,000words;thistranslatestoroughly1,000wordslearnedeachyearuntil20yearsofage(Goulden,Nation &Read,1990;Zechmeister,Chronis,Cull,D'Anna&Healy,1995).Ofcourse,onlya smallpercentageofthese20,000wordsareknownbyJapaneseuniversitystudents. UsingNation'svocabularylevelstest,thisauthorfeelsthatfirst-yearstudentsatKinki UniversityinJapanhavereceptiveknowledgeofroughly1,800words.Again,thisis notsosurprisingsincethetypicalfirstyearJapaneseuniversitystudenthashadonly sixyearsofEnglishstudy,threeyearsinbothjuniorandseniorhighschool. IfindeedKinkiUniversitystudentsactuallypossessareceptivevocabularyof1,800 words,whatexactlycantheydoinEnglish?Nation(2001)hasprovidedananswerto thisquestionwithsomeinterestingdataregardingwordcoverageinvolvingfourdifferentkindsoftext(Table2).AssumingthatanL21earnerhasreceptiveknowledgeof thefirst2,000highfrequencywords(i.e.,theGeneralServiceListfromWest,1953), thislearnercancoverapproximately90percentofconversations,87percentofallfiction,80percentofnewspaperarticles,and78percentofacademictext.Ifthelearner alsoknowsthe570wordsthatcomprisetheacademicwordlist(Coxhead,2000),the percentofcoveragejumpsabittoabout92percentofconversation,89percentoffiction,84percentofnewspaperarticlesandalmost87percentforacademictexts.This appearstobeveryimpressive.Yetthisisnotthecaseasourlearnersarestillquite shortofthevocabularyneededtofullycomprehendauthentictexts. Table2.Percentoftextcoverage(Nation,2001) WordLevel. lst1000 2nd1000 Academic(570Words) Other. Conversation. 84.3. Fiction. Newspapers. AcademicText. 82.3%. 75.6%. 73.5%. 6%. 5.1%. 4.7%. 4.6%. 1.9%. 1.7%. 3.9%. 8.5. 10.9%. 15.7%. 13.3%. 7.8. Hirsch&Nation(1992)foundthatavocabularysizeofabout5,000wordsisneeded toreadpleasurably.Waring(atpress)statesthattoreadauthentictextsinEnglish, L21earnersneedtopossessaworkingvocabularyofabout8,000to9,000words.Using. 一101一.

(4) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). Waring'sfigure,thismeansthatthe"Other"wordlevelatthebottomofTablelcom-. prisesthebalance5,500to6,500wordsneededtoreadauthenticEnglishtexts.Whether. oneusesHirsch&Nation'sfigureorthatofWaring,itisapparentthatKinkiUni-. versitystudentsarefarshortoftherequiredvocabularyneededforreadingcomfortably. inEnglish.Hu&Nation(1999),Laufer(1989)andNation(2001)havealsoshownthat. studentsneedtoreadatacoveragerateofabout95-99percenttounderstandthetext.. Atthiscoveragerate,studentscanhaveareasonablechanceatguessingunknown. wordsfromcontextualclueswithinthetext.Insimplerterms,whenonlylin470r. lin50wordsinatextareunknown,thereaderhasarealisticchancetolearntheseun-. knownwords.Therehasalsobeenaconsiderableamountofresearch(e.g.Nation,. 2001;Waring&Takaki,2003)suggestingthatL21earnersneedanywherefrom10-30. meetingsofawordinorderforthatwordtobereceptivelyknown(i.e.,spellingor. soundtobeconnectedtomeaning).. ItishighlyunlikelythatintwoyearsofuniversityEnglish,ourstudentscanac-. quireaworkingvocabularyof8,000to9,000words.However,itisnotanunreasonable. goalforstudentstohaveaworkingknowledgeofthefirst2,000mostcommonwords. ofEnglishaswellasthe570academicwords(i.e.,theGSLandtheAWL).. ItappearsthatER,wherestudentsself-selecteasygradedreaders(GRs)atthe95‐. 99percentcomprehensionthreshold,isexactlywhatourlearnersneedtodo.Andthey. needtodoalotofit.WhatfollowsisadiscussionoftheERcomponentthatwasini-. tiallypilotedinthe2008-2009academicyearanditsevolutiontodate.. ThepilotERprogram Aspartofasix-personKinkiUniversityresearchgrantteaminthe2008-2009academicyear,eachteammemberwasaskedtoexperimentwithaclassroomERcomponent.Thisauthor'sphilosophybehindtheERcomponentwastostartsmall,thinkbig andbesuccessful.Thepilotprogramdesignthatwasimplementedisasfollows: ・Eachstudentwouldreadatleastsix,anduptoten,gradedreadersduringthe semester.GRswouldbeself-selectedbyeachstudentwiththeemphasisplaced. 一102一.

(5) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse. oninterestaswellaseaseofreadability.Successfulcompletionofeachgraded. readerwouldcounttowardsfourpercentofthefinalgrade.Thus,readingten. gradedreaderswouldaccountforfullpoints,or40percentofthefinalgrade. ・FollowingthecompletionofeachGR,thestudentwouldsubmitashort50-plus. wordsummaryalongwitha25-pluswordreactiontothereader(hereinre-. ferredtoas"bookreport")todemonstratetheGRwasactuallyread.Upon. successfulcompletion,fourpercentofthefinalgradewasawardedtothestu-. dent.. ・Tentofifteenminutesofeachclassmeetingwouldbedevotedtosustainedsi-. lentreading(SSR).Thiswouldallowmanystudentstheopportunitytocom-. pletemuchoftheERcomponentinclass.. IndesigningthepilotERcomponent,therewereseveralnaggingquestions.(1)How muchshouldeachstudentberequiredtoread?WhatisalotofERinasemester coursespanning14classmeetings?IstenGRsalotoristhataneasyhurdletoclear? (2)HowshouldstudentsberewardedforcompletingtheERcomponent?Inother words,whatpercentageoftheirfinalgradeshouldtheERcomponentcomprise?(3) Whatdesignfeatures)canencouragestudentstoreadmorethantheminimum?And finally(4),whatisthebestmethodtoensurethatstudentsareactuallydoingthereading? PriortotheimplementationoftheERcomponent,itwasbelievedthatthedesign featuresofthepilotERcomponentwouldanswermanyofthesequestions.Readingat leastsixGRswouldgiveeachstudenttheminimalgradeintheERcomponent,averagingoneGReverytwo-classmeetings;tenGRswouldshowareadingpaceofalmostone GRperclassmeeting.Studentswouldbehighlyrewardedforthesuccessfulcompletion oftheERcomponent.Infact,theycouldearnupwardsof40percentoftheirfinal gradesimplybyreadingtengradedreaders.Thisreward(i.e.,40percentoftheirfinal grade)wasdesignedtodemonstratetothestudentstheimportanceplacedonER;it wouldalsorewardthemforthetimeandeffortspentcompletingtheERcomponent. 一103一.

(6) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). outsideofclass.Thebookreportwouldactasanaccountabilityfeature,demonstrating thatthestudentactuallyreadtheGR.The50-pluswordsummaryandthe25-wordreactionwouldtakeastudentperhaps15to20minutestocomplete.Thisbookreport wouldbesimpleenoughtocompleteandnotparticularlytimeconsuming.Thusthe studentcouldquicklygetbacktothetaskathand,readingextensively.. GoalsfortheERcomponent ManyofthegoalsfortheERcomponentwerelikethosefromDay&Bamford (1998).Yetafewdifferedbecausethegoalsreflectednotonlystudentperformancebut alsothesuccessfulmanagementoftheERcomponentbytheinstructor.Onesuchgoal thatdifferedfromthoseofDay&Bamford,involvedrewardingstudentsforthe amountofERsuccessfullycompleted(goal#4).Inaddition,thereadingtargetswere establishedtobewithineasyreachofallstudentsanddesignedsothattheycouldall successfullycompletetheminimumrequirementsfortheERcomponent(goal#5).The ERcomponentwasdesignedtobeeasyandsuccessoriented.Ifthecomponentwas thoughttobedifficultandatthefrustrationallevel,studentswouldreceivelittleifany benefitfromER.Finally,itcreatedanenvironmentinwhichsomestudentscouldget "h ooked"onreading,farexceedingeventhemaximumreadingtargetinthesemester (i.e.,30,000words).Thesestudentswouldstandoutfromthepack,continuingtoread eventhoughtheERcomponentwassuccessfullycompleted(goal#6).Intheend,it wascraftedsothatallstudentsmightreadalot,becomesuccessfulreaders,enjoythe GRs,andberewardedfortheirhardworkandcommitmenttoER.Finally,itpresentedthepossibilitythatsomeofthestudentsmightgreatlyexceedtheprogramtargetsbyreadingmassiveamountsofEnglish. WhatfollowsarethegoalsoftheERcomponent.(Notethatthegoalsremainedthe sameforboththepilotERcomponentandyeartwo.) L.Studentsreadasmuchaspossibleandtheyreadcontinuouslythroughoutthedurationofthe course.Fromthefirstclassmeetingonward,studentsarereadingextensively. 2.Booksareself-selectedbasedoneaseofreadingandinterest.Studentschoosebooks. 一104一.

(7) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse. thatareeasytoread.Studentsareadvisednottousedictionarieswhileread-. ing.. 3.Readingshouldbeenjoyable,interesting,andnonfrustrational.Sincestudentsare. choosingtheirownreadingmaterial,end'の7〃centandinterestarekeypointswhen. choosingareader.Ifabookisnotinterestingoristoodifficult,thestudent. shouldstopreadingitandchooseanotherbookthatiseasyand/orattheappro-. priatelevel.. 4.Studentsarehighlyrewardedfortheirreading.Inotherwords,eachstudentreceives. ahighergradeforreadingmore.Itisunderstoodthatstudentswillspendalot. oftimeoutsidetheclassroomengagedinER.Students,therefore,mustbere-. wardedfortheirtimeandeffort.. 5.Allstudentsaresuccessfulreaders.Allstudents,regardlessofEnglishproficiency,. caneasilycleartheminimumtarget.. 6.Afewstudentswillget"hooked"onER.Thesestudentswillreadfarmorethanthe. ERcomponententails,perhapsbuyingintothenotionthatERisonewayto. climbtheEnglishlanguagelearningcurve.. 7.Theassessmenttocheckstudentreadingshouldbequickandeasytocomplete.Each. bookreportiseasytowriteandclearlydemonstratesthatthebookwasread.. Thebookreportshouldnotbeanimpedimenttoreading.Instead,itshouldbe. asimpletaskthatiseasytocompleteinarelativelyshortperiodoftime.. 8.Theinstructoractsasamotivator,coach,advisorandrolemodelforER.Theinstructor. initiallyexplainstheERcomponentanditsimportanceinthefirstclassmeeting.. Ineachclassmeeting,theinstructorremindsstudentsoftheimportanceofER,. constantlyencouragingstudentstoreadmore.TheinstructorreadseasyGRsin. classalongwithstudents,promotinganddiscussinginterestingbooks.. 9.Theworkloadforboththestudentandtheteacherismanageable.ERforthestudent. isneitheroverwhelmingnoroverlytimeconsuming.Thesameistrueforthe. instructor.OverseeingtheERcomponentismanageable,includingthereading,. marking,andgradingofstudentbookreports.. 一105一.

(8) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). 10.StudentshavealargevarietyofGRstochoosefrom.Thereisnoshortageofbooks. Onthecontrary,therearemanybooksatmanydifferentlevelstochoosefrom.. ObservedproblemsinthepilotERcomponent Universitystudentsinanycountry,andperhapsJapaninparticular,typically choosethepathofleastresistance.Nowherewasthismoreevidentthaninthepilot ERcomponent.Sincetotalnumberofbookswasthecriterionforwhichthestudents wouldbegraded,almostallofthestudentsself-selectedthesimplestandshortestGRs available.Thesebookswereoverlysimplistic,averaging200to300wordsperbook. Throughcasualobservation,moststudentsparticipatinginthepilotERcomponent couldfinishoneoftheseGRswithinthetenminutesofin-classreadingtime.This,in andofitself,wasdefeatingthemajorgoalofERinthatstudentsneededtoreadalot. AnothermajorproblemwastheworkloadfortheinstructorinthepilotERcomponent.Withanaveragefirstyearclassof30studentsandeachstudentreadingaminimumofsixGRs,theinstructorwouldhavetoread,markandcommentonaminimum of180summariesandreactionsthroughoutthesemester.Inreality,thenumberof summariesandreactionscametoalittleover220forasingleclass.Theamountofpaperworkforthisoneclasswascertainlyahugeburdenontheinstructor.Somehow, thispaperworkloadhadtobereducedinordertoexpandERtomoreclassesinthefuture. Afinalproblemconcernedtheaccessibilityofbooks.Mostlow-levelGRswere quicklycheckedoutfromthelibrary,leavinganabundanceofhigherlevelGRsthat wereabovethelinguisticcompetencylevelofthestudentsinthepilotERcomponent. Withoutalargesupplyoflow-levelreadersandmultiplecopiesofpopulartitles,studentsweren'tgiventhechoicenecessarytomaketheERcomponentasuccess.. YeartwoofER Attheendofthe2008-2009academicyear,thesix-personKinkiUniversityresearch grantteamconvenedtodiscussthevariouspilotprogramsundertaken.Atthistime,. 一106一.

(9) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse acommonyeartwoERcomponentwasdeveloped,incorporatingthesuccessfulelements ofthevariouspilotprograms.Threemajordesignchangeswereimplementedinthe yeartwoERcomponent,resolvingmanyoftheshortcomingsofthisauthor'spilotER component. 1.ThecriterionforcompletingtheERcomponentchangedfrombookstowords. InsteadofsixGRsastheminimumtarget,10,000wordswasestablishedasthe minimumreadingtargetforeachstudent.Studentswouldalsogetmorepoints awardedtowardstheirfinalgradebyreadingmorewords(seeAppendixBfor gradingchart).ChangingfrombookstowordswouldeliminatetheoverlysimplisticGRsthatwereread.Readingextremelyshortandsimplebookswouldbe counterproductivetothestudentsintermsofreachingtheminimumwordtarget. 2.TheMoodleReadermodule(2008)wasintroducedasawaytocheckwhether studentswereactuallycompletingthebooks.ThisMoodleReadermodule,createdbyThomasRobbofKyotoSangyoUniversity,allowedstudentstotakea timed10-minutequizbasedontheGR.Ifthestudentscouldanswersixoften multiple-choicequestionscorrectly,thestudentwouldgetcredit(i.e.,thewords) forthatGR.TherewereseveralreasonsforadoptingtheMoodleReadermoduleinyeartwo.First,itwashopedthatautomatingtheassessmentforstudent readingwouldreducetheburdenplacedontheinstructortoread,grade,and commentonstudentbookreports.Moreimportantly,theMoodleReadermodulewouldallowtheinstructortoadoptERinmoreclasses.Hopefully,ifother issueswereresolved,theMoodleReadermodulewouldfullyautomateER,allowingittobecomeastapleofthecurriculum. 3.StudentreadingwascontrolledintermsofwhatGRswereacceptable.Students wereallowedtoself-selectbooksfromfiveGRpublishers(Cambridge,Cengage, Macmillan,OxfordandPenguin).Thesepublisherswerechosenfortworeasons. First,theGRsfromthesepublishershadavailablequizzesintheMoodleReader module.Second,theGRsfromthesepublishersweredeemedappropriatein. 一107一.

(10) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). termsofbothcontentandlengthforJapaneseuniversitystudents.. ERperformanceinyeartwo TheERperformance(Table3)forthesevenclassesinyeartwocanbeconsidered asuccess.Allstudentswhoattendedclassregularly,withoutexception,completedthe minimumERrequirement.Exceptforthefirstyearjuniorcollege(JC)class,theaveragewordsperstudentwasdoubletheminimumof10,000words.(Studentsonaverage intheJCclassreadalittlemorethan1.85timestheminimumwordtarget.)Onaverage,studentswerealsoreadingGRsinlengthofabout4,000wordsperbookinallbut twoclasses.ItwasanticipatedthattheJCclasswouldreadsimplerandshorterGRs, astheirEnglishlevelwasperceivedtobelowerthanthatoffour-yearuniversitystudents.Thustheirwordperbookaveragewasnotparticularlysurprising.Concerning firstyearstudents,300f85studentsor35percentcompletedtheERcomponentinits entirety(i.e.,30,0000rmorewordsread).Secondyearstudentswerenotasambitious asonly21percentfullycompletedtheERcomponent.. Table3.ReadingPerformancebyclassatKinkiUniversity(7ClassesinTotal) Year. Students. Words. Booksper. Avg.Wordsper. Student. StudentsFully. Book. CompletingER. lstYear(J.C.*). 11. 13,152. 5.7. 2,307. 2. 15tYearClassA. 33. 21,167. 4.2. 4,891. 7. lStYearClassB. 9. 23,432. 8.4. 2,790. 3. lstYearClassC. 25. 27,989. 6.1. 15tYearClassD. 18. 51,806. 5.0. 10,361. 2ndYearClaSSE. 21. 22,072. 5.3. 4,165. 2ndYearClassF. 7. 21,339. 4.7. 4,540. ::. ofexceptionalstudents.Inthisclass,eightstudentsreadmorethan40,000words. Threestudentswereexceptionalreaders,reading90,000,101,500,and243,000respectively.Thetopreadercompletedover18GRsatvariouslevelsrangingfromlevel3to. 一108一. -. Inonefirstyearclass(classD),averageswereparticularlyhighduetoahandful. 只﹂. *J .C.JuniorCollege.Minimumwordsperstudentforthisclasswasloweredto7,000words.. 9 11.

(11) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse level6.Thesethreewereobviously"hooked"onreading,sayingthattheyweregoing tocontinuetoreadGRsduringthesummervacation.Inasemestercourse,thesethree studentscertainlycompletedmassiveamountsofreading.. Survey Attheendofeachcourseinyeartwo,studentsweregivenaquestionnaireinorder togetfeedbackconcerningtherecentlycompletedERcomponent(seeAppendixCto viewtheactualquestionnaire).SixofthesevenclassesthatparticipatedinERtook thesurvey.ThesurveyitemswerewritteninsimplifiedEnglishandwereexplained verballytoaidincomprehension.TheLikert-scaletyperesponseswereinJapaneseso thatthestudentscouldchoosetheanswerclearlyandwithoutmisunderstanding.There werefourmainthemestothequestionnaire. 1.Thefirstthemeofthequestionnaire(items1&2)concernedtheassessmentand gradingfortheERcomponent.WasitappropriatefortheERcomponenttobe 40percentofthefinalgrade?Whatdidthestudentsthinkwasanappropriate percentageofthefinalgradefortheERcomponent?Andfinally,wastheminimalwordtargeteasytoclear? 2.Thesecondthemeofthequestionnaire(items3through6)concernedstudent perceptionsoftheirownlanguageabilityaftercompletingtheERcomponent. DidstudentsfeelthattheirEnglishabilityimprovedbyreadinggradedreaders? Whatabouttheirreadingabilityandtheiroverallgraininarability?Andfinally, didtheylearnmanynewwordsbyreadinggradedreaders? 3.Thethirdthemeconcernedeachstudent'sattitudetowardsER(items7through 9).Werethebooksthatwerechoseneasytoread?Wasthereadingfun?And werethebooksinteresting? 4.Finally,whatwaseachstudent'spreferenceforassessingthebooksthatwere read(item10)?DidtheyprefertakingtheMoodlequiz,writingabookreport orwerethetwoformsofassessmentthesame. 一109一.

(12) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). Surveyresults Almost80percentoftherespondentswereinagreementwiththeweightingofER towardstheirfinalcoursegrade(Table4A).Slightlyover60percentwereinsolid agreement.Only21percentthoughttheERcomponentweightedat40percentofthe finalcoursegradewasunacceptable.Ifweturntothenextquestioninthesurvey (Table4B),wefindthattwo-thirdsoftherespondentsfelttheERcomponentshould comprise40percentormoreofthefinalgrade.Surprisingly,23percentthoughtthat ERshouldbe50percentormoreofthefinalgrade.Thirtyfourpercentfeltthatthe allocationofERtothefinalgradeshouldbelessthan40percent.Yetonlyalittle morethantenpercentofthestudentswantedtheERcomponenttocount25percentor lesstowardsthefinalgrade.ItappearsthatweightingtheERcomponentat40percent ofthefinalcoursegradeisnottoofaroffthemark.. Table4A.(SurveyQ1.A)Readingbookswas40%ofmyfinalgrade.Isthisokay? Strongly disagree. Disagree. n=108. 2. 7. 14. 18. 53. 14. %. 2%. 6%. 13%. 17%. 49%. 13%. Respondents. Somewhat disagree. Somewhat .:一. Strongly. .:.. 一. .:一. 一. Table4B.(SurveyQl.B)Ibelievethatreadingbooksshouldbe...%ofthefinalgrade. RespondentsO-10% 90. %. %. 00. n91. 20%. 25%. 30%. 35%. 8. 1. 17. 9%. 1%. 19%. 40. 45. 50%. 60. 2. 37. 2. 13. 8. 2%. 41%. 2%. 14%. 9%. Withsurveyquestiontwo(Table5),over70percentoftherespondentsagreedthat itwaseasytocleartheminimumreadingtargetof10,000words(7,000wordsforthe JC).Alittleover25percentfeltthattheminimumreadingtargetwasdifficultto clear.Itappearsthattheminimumreadingtargetwasnotoverlyburdensomeforthe students.Infact,thefinalresultsoftheERcomponentsupportthisinthatsixof sevenclassesaveragedmorethandoublethereadingminimum;oneclassaveragedmore thanfivetimestheminimum(refertoTable3forfinalreadingperformance).. 一110一.

(13) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse Table5.(SurveyQ2)Reading10,000*wordswaseasyforme.(*7,000fortheJC) Respondents. %. disagree. % 3 9 0. n=95. Strongly. Disagree. Somewhat disagree. Somewhat. .:... I=. Strongly ,:一. 13. 10. 24. 35. 14%. 10.5%. 25%. 37%. 一. 10 10.5%. Closeto90percentofthestudentsintheERcomponentoverwhelminglybelieved thatreadingbooksinEnglishhelpedtoimprovetheirEnglishability(Table6). Slightlyovertenpercentwereindisagreementhere.Itappearsthatstudentsaccepted thenotionthatERisavaluabletoolforimprovingtheiroverallEnglishability.. Table6.(SurveyQ3)IbelievethatreadingEnglishbookshelpedtoimprovemyEnglishability. Respondents. 10%. disagree. % 0 0. n=1. Strongly. Disagree. Somewhat. 2 2%. Somewhat. .:... Strongly. disagree. .:一. 10. 28. 56. 14. 25%. 51%. 13%. 9%. 一. .:一. Surveyquestionsfourthroughsix(Table7,8&9respectively)concernstudentperceptionsoftheirownEnglishlanguageskillsfollowingER.Nearly80percentofall studentsagreedthattheirreadingabilityinEnglishimprovedbyreadingGRs.Twenty onepercentfeltthatthiswasnotthecase.Thisiscertainlynotsurprisingasyou wouldexpectmoststudentstobelievethattheirreadingabilitywouldimprovebyreadingmoreinEnglish.ConcerningtheirEnglishgrammarskill,morethan65percentof thestudentsfelttheirgrammarskillimproved,while35percentfeltthecontrary.This isquiteinterestingasstudentsina2:1ratiotrulybelievedthatERimprovedgrammaticalcompetency.Finally,three-quartersofallstudentsthoughttheylearnedmanynew wordsthroughER.Asstatedpreviously,oneofthereasonsforincludingERinany courseistoprovidestudentswiththeopportunitytomeetwords,eitherneworthose thathavebeenpreviouslyencountered.Itisthroughthesenumerousencounterswith wordsthatenrichastudent'svocabularyknowledge.. 一111一. 一.

(14) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). Table7.(SurveyQ4)MyreadingabilityinEnglishimprovedbyreadinggradedreaders.. Respondents. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Somewhat. Somewhat. disagree. I=. .:... Strongly ,:一. n=109. 0. 6. 16. 34. 43. 10. %. 0%. 6%. 15%. 31%. 39%. 9%. 一. Table8.(SurveyQ5)MygrammarskillinEnglishimprovedbyreadinggradedreaders. Respondents. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Somewhat. Somewhat. disagree. ,_... ._... Strongly ,_... 判眺 n -. 2. 14. 22. 46. 22. 4. 2%. 13%. 20%. 42%. 20%. 4%. Table9.(SurveyQ6)Ilearnedmanynewwordsbyreadinggradedreaders. Respondents. 10%. disagree. % 0 0. n=1. Strongly. Disagree. Somewhat. Somewhat. .:... Strongly. disagree. .:一. 8. 19. 41. 34. 8. 7.5%. 17%. 37%. 31%. 7.5%. 一. .:一. 一. InregardstochoosingeasyGRs,thedataherewasabitstartling.Sincestudents self-selectedbooksthatweresupposedtobeeasy,onewouldexpectthedatatobein strongagreement.However,30percentofthestudentsdisagreedwiththepremisethat theGRswereeasy(Table10).Perhaps,studentswerechoosingmoredifficultbooks withhigherwordcountsinordertomaximizethenumberofwordsread.Thisis merelyspeculationatthispoint,needingamoreinvolvedquestionnairetoconfirmor refutethis.Regardless,thisisofinterestandstudentsneedtobeencouragedtoread easybooksthatarewithintheircompetencylevel.. Table10.(SurveyQ7)ThebooksIchosewereeasyforme. Respondents. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Somewhat disagree. Somewhat I=. .:... Strongly ,:一. n=109. 2. 4. 26. 41. 31. 5. %. 2%. 4%. 24%. 37%. 28%. 5%. 一112一. 一.

(15) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse WasreadingbooksinEnglishfunforthestudents?Beforerespondingtothissurveyquestion,studentsweregivenadefinitionofthewordfun.Forallclassesthattook thesurvey,funwasdefinedasanenjoyableacademicactivity.Tohelpwiththeambiguityoffun,studentswereaskedtocomparereadingGRsinEnglishtoallotherhomeworkorin-classEnglishactivitiesthattheyhadeverexperienced.Withthisdefinition inmind,alittleover70percentofthesurveyrespondentswereinagreementthatreadinginEnglishwasfun(Table11).About30percentwereindisagreement.Fromthe data,itisevidentthatasignificantmajorityofstudentsfoundthereadingofGRsenjoyableasanacademicendeavor.. Table11.(SurveyQ8)ReadingbooksinEnglishwasfunforme. Respondents. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Somewhat. Somewhat. disagree. .:一. .:.. 一. Strongly .:一. n=110. 1. 12. 19. 28. 38. 12. %. 1%. 11%. 17%. 25%. 35%. 11%. 一. EightyfourpercentofthestudentsalsofeltverystronglythattheGRswereinteresting,withjustalittleover15percentindisagreement(Table12).Theresponseto thisquestionwasasexpected.Studentswereinstructedfromthefirstclassmeetingto choosebooksthatwereofinterestanditappearstheydidjustthat.. Table12.(SurveyQ9)ThebooksIreadwereinteresting. Respondents. Strongly disagree. Disagree. Somewhat disagree. 8. 9. 1%. 7%. 8%. % ρ0 り0. 1. %. AftercompletingaGR,studentshadtwooptionsforassessment.IfaMoodlequiz wasavailablefortheGR,theyhadtotaketheMoodlequiz.IftherewasnoMoodle quiz,studentshadtowriteashortsummaryandreaction(i.e.,bookreport).Which didtheyprefer?Thedatafromthesurvey(Table13)isalittledifficulttoanalyze.. 一113一. ._... ,_.. 0ひ 00. n=110. Somewhat. Strongly ,_... 41. 12. 37%. 11%.

(16) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). MorestudentspreferredtheMoodlequiztothebookreport(17percentto10per-. cent).Moreover,morestudentsonlytookMoodlequizzesasopposedtoonlydoing. bookreports(34percentto24percent).Theverdictisnotinonthisquestion;yetthe. dataappearstoshowthatstudentspreferredtakingMoodlequizzestowritingbookre-. ports.Thisisdesirableonmanyfronts.Certainly,theMoodlequizisamorediscreet. formofassessment.AstudenteitherpassestheMoodlequizbygettingsixoftenan-. saverscorrectordoesnot.Moreover,theMoodlequizpushesthestudenttochoosea. GRwithintheirlinguisticcompetencylevel.Choosingtoodifficultabookmightresult. inlimitedcomprehensionoftheGRandthereforepoorperformanceonthequiz.. Finally,theMoodlequizispreferredfromtheteacher'sperspectiveasitrequireslittle. ifanyteachertime.. Table13.(SurveyQ10)Which(readingassessment)didyoulikebetter? Respondents. Moodle Quiz. C・・. Botharethe. OnlydidMoodle. Report. same. Quiz. Onlydidbook report. n=110. 19. 11. 16. 37. 27. %. 17%. 10%. 15%. 34%. 24%. Discussion YeartwosawasignificantimprovementintheERcomponentoverthatfromthe pilotprojectayearearlier.WithsevenclassesinvolvedinER,all124studentswho wereenrolledandattendedclassregularlywereabletosuccessfullycompletetheminimumERcomponent.Thirtyfivepercentofallfirstyearstudentsfullycompletedthe ERcomponent.TheadditionoftheMoodleReadermodulegreatlyreducedtheteacher's workloadaswell.InthepilotERprogram,theinstructorread224bookreportsto checkthereadingforoneclass.Yetinyeartwo(Table14),withanexpansionofseven classesinvolvedinER,thetotalnumberofbookreportscheckedbytheinstructorwas 294.TheimplementationoftheMoodlereaderresultedinanincreaseofonly70more bookreports,aboutllmorebookreportsperadditionalclassdoingER.IftheMoodle Readermodulehadnotbeenadopted,theinstructorwouldhavehadtoread,comment,. 一114一.

(17) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse andgradealittleover650bookreportsforthesevenclasses.Certainly,ERwouldnot befeasiblewithsuchaworkload.TheMoodleReadermodulereducedtheinstructor workloadbyover56percent,automatingthetaskofcheckingwhetherstudentswereactuallydoingthereading.ItappearsthattheMoodleReadermoduleistheonefactor thatwillmakeitpossibletoexpandERtoevenmoreclassesinthefuture.. Table14.Assessmentdata:Moodlequizzesvs.bookreports. ERStudents. n=124 %. MoodleQuiz. BooksRead. 667. BookReport. 373. 100%. 294. 56%. 44. ChangingfromnumberbooksreadinthepilotERcomponenttonumberofwords readinyeartwocanalsobedeemedasuccess.Studentsactuallyreadmoreinyear two.TheGRswerealsomoreappropriateintermsofcontent,levelandlengthfor Japaneseuniversitystudents.Overlysimplisticbooksthatwerereadinthepilotcomponentwereeliminated.Finally,allowingstudentstochoosefromonlyfiveGRpublishersforcedthestudentstousetheMoodleReadermoduleforassessment,thus reducingteacherworkload.ItisalsoworthnotingthattheMoodleReadermodulewas moreefficientintermsofstudenttimeaswell.TheMoodlequiztookamaximumof tenminutesforthestudentstocompletewhilethebookreportcertainlytookmore.It appearstheMoodleReadermodulehasatimesavingelementforboththeinstructor andthestudent. ConcerningstudentfeedbackoftheyeartwoERcomponent,thedataisquitesupportive.Studentswere,ingeneral,inagreementwithweightingERas40percentof theirfinalgrade.Over70percentoftherespondentsagreedthatclearingtheminimum readingtargetof10,000words(7,000wordsfortheJC)waseasy.Thefinalreading figuresbearthisoutaswellsinceallbutoneclassaveragedmorethandoubletheminimumreadingrequirement.StudentsalsofeltstronglythatERimprovedtheiroverall Englishability.Amajorityofstudentsthoughttheirreadingandgrammarabilities. 一115一.

(18) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). improved.Inaddition,studentsalsofeltthattheylearnedmanynewwordsthrough. ER.Exactly70percentofallstudentswereinagreementthattheGRswereeasyto. read.Surprisingly,30percentoftherespondentsthoughtthattheGRsweredifficult. eventhoughtheyweresupposedtoselecteasyGRs.Clearly,moreeffortisneededin. thefuturetoconvincestudentstoreadeasyGRs.Finally,70percentofallstudents. feltreadingbookswasfunandevenmorefeltthattheGRswereinteresting.. AsfarasthestatedgoalsoftheERcomponent,mostwerefulfilled.Thesurvey. dataclearlyshowsthatgoalslthrough4weresuccessfullyaccomplished.Allstudents. successfullycompletedtheERcomponentasseenbythefinalreadingstatistics(goal5). andasmallnumberofstudentsgot"hooked"onER(goal6).Theassessmenttocheck. studentreading(goal7)wasquickerandeasiertocompletethanthepilotcomponent.. ThiswasduetotheintroductionoftheMoodleReadermodule.Goal8wasfulfilled. andtheworkloadforbothstudentandteacherwasmanageable(goal9).Goal10was. problematicinthattherewasahugeshortageintermsoftheeasierlow-levelGRs.. Basically,thiscomesdowntoasupplyanddemandissue.Withmorestudentsinyear. twoparticipatinginER,abiggersupplyofeasierlow-levelGRswasneededtomeetthe. risingdemand.ThesupplyofGRsdidnotmeetthedemandandthisneedstoberec-. tifiedinthefuture.. Todate,ERhasbeenasuccessstoryandthefutureofERlooksevenbrighterat. KinkiUniversity.ForERtobeinstitutedcampus-wide,afewobstaclesstillneedtobe. overcome.Firstandforemost,moreGRs,especiallylow-levelones,areneededinorder. tomeettheincreasedstudentdemand.Thisisespeciallytrueasmoreclassesbecome. involvedinER.Themaincampuslibraryneedstostocknumeroustitlesandmultiple. copiesoflow-levelGRs.Ifthisisnotpossible,perhapsthevariousdepartmentswithin. theuniversitycansetuptheirownGRlibraries.Anothersolutionmightbetoprovide. classsetsofGRstoeveryinstructor.Thismighthelptoalleviatethebookshortage.. Secondly,itisadvisabletohaveacampus-wideserverdedicatedtoERandtheMoodle. Readermodule.ThiswouldallowtheadaptationoftheMoodleprogramtobettermeet. theneedsofthisparticularuniversityanditsstudents.. 一116一.

(19) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse Afuturegoal,ofcourse,wouldbetohaveafullyautomatedERprograminwhich allstudentsstudyingEnglishparticipateinER.TherewouldbenoneedforbookreportsbecauseallGRswouldhaveaMoodlequizavailable.Thiswouldbeaconsiderable amountofworkyettherewardsseemwellworththeeffort.Thisfuturegoalofa fullyautomatedERcomponentisnotbeyondourreachanditiscertainlyagoalwell worthstrivingfor.. FutureResearch ThisauthorplansaforthcomingresearchprojectinvestigatingwhetherERactually promotesgainsinvocabularyacquisitionand/orEnglishproficiency.TakingtwosimilarlevelScienceandEngineeringfirst-yearclassesinthe2010-11academicyear,the studywilltrytodetermineifatreatmentclassstudyingfirstyearEnglishusingER outperformsacontrolclassstudyingfirstyearEnglishwithoutusingER.Theresults ofthisstudyshouldbeavailableforreviewbytheendofthe2010-11academicyear.. References. Bamford,J.&Day,R.(2004).。. 砒tensivereadingoc〃v〃iesノ`orteachinglanguage.NewYork:. CambridgeUniversityPress. Coxhead,A.(1998).AnAcademicWordList,OccasionalPublishingNumber18,LALS,Victoria UniversityofWellington,NewZealand. Coxhead,A.(2000).AnewAcademic〃'ord五ist,7万30五g〃oア'θ. 吻,34,2,213-238.. Day,R.&Bamford,J.(1998).Extensivereadinginthesecondlanguageclassroom.NewYork: CambridgeUniversityPress. Goulden,R.,Nation,P.andRead,J.(1990).Howlargecanareceptivevocabularybe? ノ望塑. 〃θ61、Linguistics,11,341-363.. Hirsch,D.&Nation,P.(1992).Whatvocabularysizeisneededtoreadunsimplifiedtexts forpleasure?ReadinginaForeignLanguage8:689-696. Hu,M.&Nation,1.S.P.(2000)."Unknownvocabularydensityandreadingcomprehension", ReadinginaForeignLanguage13:403-430. Laufer,B.(1989).Whatpercentageoftext-lexisisessentialforcomprehension?In:C. LaurenandM.Nordmann(Eds.).Speciallanguage:fi°omhumansthinkingtothinkingmachines. Clevedon:MultilingualMatters.. 一117一.

(20) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). Nation,P.(2001).Learningvocabularyinanotherlanguage.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press. Nation,P.&Heatley,A.(2005).Range.Availableat http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/staff/paul-nation/range%20BNC.zip Robb,T.(2008,June).ThereaderquizmoduleforJALTCALL.Paperpresentedatthemeeting oftheJapanAssociationofLanguageTeachers(JALT)CALLconference.Retrieved September10,2009,from http://www.robwaring.org/er/what. _and_why/er_is_vital.htm. Waring,R.Theinescablecaseforextensivereading.(atpress)In:A.Cirocki(Ed.)Extensive ReadinginEnglishLanguage.RetrievedSeptember25,2009,from http://www.robwaring.org/er/what. _and_why/er_is_vital.htm. Waring,R.andTakaki,M.(2003).Atwhatratedolearnerslearnandretainnewvocabulacyfromreadinginagradedreader?ReadinginaForeignLanguage15,2:130-163. West,M.(1953x).AGeneralServiceListofEnglishWords,London:Longman,Green&Co. Zechmeister,E.B.,Chronis,A.M.,CullW.L.,D'Anna,C.A.andHealy,N.A.(1995). Growthofafunctionallyimportantlexicon,JournalofReadingBehavior,27,201-212.. 一118一.

(21) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse AppendixA.ChartreproducedfromWaring(atpress),Theinescapablecaseforextensive reading (Retrievedfromhttp://www.robwaring.org/er/what_and_why/er_is_vital.htm) A. B. C(-100/B). D(xtimesC). Numberof Wordrank. Percentageof. runningwords. Englishthis. neededmeetall. wordcovers. thesewordsonce. Volumeoftextneededtobereadtomeetthe wordsattheserecurrencerates 5times. 10times. 20times. lstmost frequent(the). 5.83898%. 2nd1110St frequent(be). 5.12332%. 25th(as). 0.44382%. 50th(like). 0.24109%. 415. 2,074. 4,148. 100th(hear). 0.10505%. 952. 4,759. 9,519. 500th (present). 0.02477%. 4,037. 20,183. 40,366. lOQOth (blood). 0.01172%. 8,533. 42,665. 1500th (intent). 0.00677%. 14,773. 0.00432%(2). 3000tH (sergeant). 0.00211. 5000t" (satellite) 10000th (relativity). 2000th (stumble). 17(1). 50times. 86. 171. 343. 856. 20. 98. 195. 390. 976. 225. 1,127. 2,253. 4,506. 11,266. '・. 19,038. 20,739 47,595. 80,732(4). 201,829. 85,329(3). 170,658. 426,645. 73,864. 147,727. 295,455. 738,636. 23,103. 115,625. 231,250. 462,500. 1,156,250. 47,343. 236,713. 473,425. 946,850. 2,367,126. 0.00076%. 132,143. 660,714. 1,321,429. 2,642,857(5). 0.00016%. 632,894. 3,164,475. 6,328,947. 12,657,895. 一119一. 6,607,143. 31,644,733.

(22) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). AppendixB.. ERgradingchart(40percentoffinalgradeallottedtoER). TotalWordsRead. PercentofERcomponent. FinalPointsAwarded. 10,000. 60. 24points. 12,500. 65%. 26points. 15,000. 70. 28points. 17,500. 75%. 30points. 20,000. 80%. 32points. 22,500. 85%. 34points. 25,000. 90. 36points. 27,500. 95%. 38points. 30,000 十???. 100 ExtraCredit. 40points ExtraCredit. Example:IfStudentAreadstheminimumof10,000words,shewillreceive24points towardsherfinalgradeof100points(60percentofthe40pointsallotted=24points).. 一120一.

(23) ASuccessStory:ImplementingExtensiveReadingWithinaFour-skillsBasedCourse. AppendixC. ReadingSurvey. Class:Department:Year:. L(A)Readingbookswas40%ofmyfinalgrade.Isthisokay? まったく. そう思わない. そう思わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思わない. そう思う. そう思う. 強くそう思う. そう思、う. 強くそう思、う. そう思う. 強くそう思う. そう思、う. 強くそう思、う. そう思う. 強くそう思う. そう思、う. 強くそう思、う. そう思う. 強くそう思う. そう思、う. 強くそう思、う. そう思、う. 強くそう思、う. (B)Ibelievethatreadingbooksshouldbe%ofthefinalgrade.. 2.Readingwordswaseasyforme. まったく. そう思、わない. そう思、わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思、わない. そう思、う. 3.IbelievethatreadingEnglishbookshelpedtoimprovemyEnglishability. まったく. そう思わない. そう思わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思、わない. そう思、う. 4.MyreadingabilityinEnglishimprovedbyreadinggradedreaders. まったく. そう思、わない. そう思、わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思、わない. そう思、う. 5.MygrammarskillinEnglishimprovedbyreadinggradedreaders. まったく. そう思わない. そう思わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思わない. そう思う. 6.IlearnedmanynewEnglishwordsbyreadinggradedreaders. まったく. そう思、わない. そう思、わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思、わない. そう思、う. 7.ThebooksIchosewereeasyforme. まったく. そう思わない. そう思わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思わない. そう思う. 8.ReadingbooksinEnglishwasfunforme. まったく. そう思、わない. そう思、わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思、わない. そう思、う. 9.ThebooksIreadwereinteresting. まったくそう思わない. そう思、わない. どちらかというと. どちらかというと. そう思わない. そう思う. 10.Whichdidyoulikebetter MoodleQuizBookReportBotharetheIonlydidIonlydidBook sameMoodleQuizReport. 一121一.

(24) 近畿大学語学教育部紀要9巻2号(2009・12). Acknowledgement Thispaperandtheresearchhereinwouldnotbepossiblewithouttheassistance fromtheothermembersoftheKinkiUniversityextensivereadingresearchgrantteam. IwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetoYoshihiroOmura(grantteamleader),Kaori Nitta,ThomasKoch,AlisonKitzmanandEtsukoShimo.TheyeartwoERcomponent wasacollaborativeeffortandsuccesswouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouttheir thoughtfulandconscientiousinput.. 一122一.

(25)