The merits of extensive reading to the english majors at the university of finance marketing in ho chi minh city m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE


THE MERITS OF EXTENSIVE READING TO THE ENGLISH
MAJORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE - MARKETING
IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment
of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
LE VU HOANG VY

Supervised by
Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN THANH TUNG

HOCHIMINH CITY, MAY – 2013


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled

THE MERITS OF EXTENSIVE READING TO THE ENGLISH MAJORS AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE - MARKETING IN HO CHI MINH CITY

in term of the Requirements for Theses in Master’s Program issued by the Higher
Degree Committee. The thesis has not previously been submitted for any degree or
diploma at Universities and Institutions.

Ho Chi Minh, May 5th, 2013

Le Vu Hoang Vy

i


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby claim that I, Le Vu Hoang Vy, being the candidate for the M.A in
TESOL Degree, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and
use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in
the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 5th, 2013

Le Vu Hoang Vy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people who have
made a great contribution to the completion of my M.A thesis.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my

respected supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, for his enthusiastic
guidance, insightful advice and critical feedback on my thesis, without all of which
this thesis would never have been accomplished.
I would also like to sincerely thank the Dean, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Que and all
my colleagues at the Department of Foreign Languages in the University of FinanceMarketing for their encouragement, suggestions and support during my time of
conducting the research.
I owe many thanks to all the students of classes 11DTA1 and 11DTA2 who
wholeheartedly participated in this study and shared with me all the ups and downs
throughout the study. I really appreciate their valuable cooperation which has made
great contribution to the success of my study.
I am greatly indebted to some of my best friends who are willing to talk to me
and share with me their ideas on my study.
Last but not least, my special thanks must go to my parents, sisters and brother
who are always beside me and give me strong support and encouragement during my
years of being a postgraduate student.

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ABSTRACT
Extensive reading has been reported to be beneficial to most of the readers in
various ways in much research around the world. As pointed out by Day and Bamford
(1998) the benefits of extensive reading include “not only the obvious improvements
in students’ reading skills and reading speed but changes in their general language
proficiency and in their attitudes toward reading and language learning.” To examine
whether students’ reading comprehension and their attitude toward reading in English
would positively change in the Vietnamese context, an empirical study was conducted
at the University of Finance-Marketing in Ho Chi Minh. One hundred English major
freshmen were assigned into two groups. The control group followed the traditional
teaching method; meanwhile the experimental one was guided with an extensive

reading program besides the traditional one. The data, both qualitative and
quantitative, were collected through the pre- and post-test, the pre- and postquestionnaire, and the weekly journals. The findings showed that there was a
significant improvement in the experimental students’ reading comprehension,
especially their Reorganization and Inference skills. Likewise, their reading attitude
toward reading English books, especially their enjoyment, positively changed. In the
light of findings, some recommendations for a better program were given.

.

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TABLES OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality ……………………………………………………………….i
Retention and use of the thesis ………………………………………………………..ii
Acknowledgements …………………………………………….…………………….iii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….iv
Table of contents …………………………………………………………….………..v
List of tables …………………………………………………………………...……..xi
List of charts …………………………………………………………………...……xiii
List of abbreviations ……………………………………………………………..….xiv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
1.1 Background of the study ....................................................................................... 1
1.2 Aim of the study ................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Research hypotheses and questions ...................................................................... 3
1.5 Significance of the study ...................................................................................... 4
1.6 Organizations of the study .................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 6
2.1 The nature of reading comprehension .................................................................. 6
2.2 Definitions of ER ................................................................................................ 9

2.3 An ERP in practice ............................................................................................ 11
2.3.1 Ways of implementing an ERP .................................................................... 11
2.3.2 Materials used in an ERP ............................................................................. 15
2.3.3 Teacher’s roles ............................................................................................. 17
2.4 The role of ER in developing reading comprehension ....................................... 19

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2.4.1 The effects of ER on reading comprehension from a theoretical perspective 19
2.4.1.1 Automatizing word recognition ............................................................. 19
2.4.1.2 Raising lexical access ............................................................................ 19
2.4.1.3 Supplying background knowledge ......................................................... 20
2.4.2 The effects of ER on reading comprehension in empirical research .............. 20
2.5 The influence of ER on the attitude toward English book reading ..................... 23
2.5.1 From a theoretical perspective .................................................................. 23
2.5.2 The effects of ER on reading attitude in empirical research ...................... 24
2.6 Summary........................................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 28
3.1 Study setting....................................................................................................... 28
3.2 Participants ......................................................................................................... 29
3.3 Empirical application of the ERP ........................................................................ 31
3.3.1 The practice of the ERP ............................................................................... 31
3.3.1.1 Preparation stage ................................................................................... 31
3.3.1.1.1 Book selection and preparation ....................................................... 31
3.3.1.1.2 In-class post-reading activities ........................................................ 33
3.3.1.2 The ERP in practice ............................................................................... 36
3.3.2 Evaluative instruments ................................................................................. 37
3.3.2.1 Pre-test and post-test.............................................................................. 37
3.3.2.2 Pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire............................................... 40

3.3.2.3 Weekly journal ...................................................................................... 41
3.4 Analytical framework ......................................................................................... 41
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3.4.1 Quantitative analysis of the pre- and post-tests ............................................. 42
3.4.2 Quantitative analysis of the pre- and post-questionnaires ............................. 42
3.4.3 Qualitative analysis of weekly journals ........................................................ 43
3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................ 43
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ....................................... 44
4. 1 Results of students’ reading comprehension through the pre- and post-test ........ 44
4.1.1 Comparison between two groups in the pre-test ........................................... 44
4.1.2 Comparison between two groups in the post-test .......................................... 46
4.1.3 Comparison of the mean differences of two groups between the pre- and posttest .... ………………………………………………………………………...48
4.1.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 50
4. 2 Results from the pre- and post-questionnaire ..................................................... 51
4.2.1 The overall attitudinal changes of the control and experimental group through
the pre- and post-questionnaire ..................................................................... 51
4.2.1.1 The control group’s attitudinal changes through the pre- and postquestionnaire ........................................................................................ 51
4.2.1.2 The experimental group’s attitudinal changes through pre- and postquestionnaire ........................................................................................ 52
4.2.1.3 Comparison of the attitudinal changes between the pre- and postquestionnaire of the control and experimental group ............................ 52
4.2.2 A detailed analysis of the result of the pre- and post-questionnaire of the
experimental group ...................................................................................... 53
4.2.2.1 Changes of four aspects of reading attitude in the pre- and postquestionnaire of the experimental group ............................................... 53

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4.2.2.2 Changes of each individual item in the reading attitude through the preand post-questionnaire of the experimental group................................. 55
4.2.2.2.1 Utility ............................................................................................. 55
4.2.2.2.2 Development ................................................................................... 57
4.2.2.2.3 Enjoyment....................................................................................... 58
4.2.2.2.4 Escape............................................................................................. 59
4.2.2.2.5 Summary ........................................................................................ 60
4.2.3 Summary of students’ weekly journals on the benefits of reading English
books............................................................................................................ 61
4.2.3.1 Utility .................................................................................................... 61
4.2.3.2 Development ......................................................................................... 63
4.2.3.3 Enjoyment ............................................................................................. 66
4.2.3.4 Escape ................................................................................................... 69
4.2.3.5 Summary ............................................................................................... 70
4.2.4 Students’ record of the time spent reading English books through weekly
journals ........................................................................................................ 70
4.2.5 The students’ preference for post-reading activities...................................... 72
4.2.6 The students’ evaluation of the overall ERP ................................................. 73
4.2.7 The execution of the ERP in the next semester ............................................. 74
4.2.8 The suggestions for future program .............................................................. 74
4.3 Discussion of the findings .................................................................................. 76
4.3.1 Students’ performance on reading comprehension ....................................... 76
4.3.2 Students’ attitude toward reading English books and their reflection on the
ERP... ………………………………………………………………………...78
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4.3.2.1 Positive findings on the general reading attitude .................................... 78
4.3.2.2 Findings on four specific aspects of reading attitude .............................. 80
4.3.2.2.1 Questionnaires ................................................................................ 80
4.3.2.2.2 Weekly journals .............................................................................. 81
4.3.2.2.3 Students’ suggestions for a better ERP ............................................ 82
4.3 Summary ........................................................................................................... 84
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................... 85
5.1 Answers to the research questions ...................................................................... 85
5.2 Limitations of the study ...................................................................................... 86
5.3 Recommendations for the practice of an ERP in the coming terms ..................... 87
5.3.1 The practitioners of ERP and the teachers of English ................................... 87
5.3.2 Educational administrators ........................................................................... 89
5.4 Suggestions for further study .............................................................................. 90
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 91
APPENDICES. ....................................................................................................... 96
Appendix 1: Reading Comprehension Test............................................................... 96
Appendix 1.1: Pre-test .......................................................................................... 96
Appendix 1.2: Post-test ....................................................................................... 101
Appendix 2: Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 106
Appendix 2.1: Pre-questionnaire in English version ............................................ 106
Appendix 2.2: Pre-questionnaire in Vietnamese verson ...................................... 109
Appendix 2.3: Post-questionnaire in English version .......................................... 112
Appendix 2.4: Post-questionnaire in Vietnamese version .................................... 115
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Appendix 3: Form of weekly journals .................................................................... 118
Appendix 4: Handout “Oral Questions”.................................................................. 119
Appendix 5: Handout “Act it out” .......................................................................... 119
Appendix 6: List of Graded Readers used in the ERP ............................................. 120

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.3.2: EPER levels for language learner literature in English ………………...17
Table 3.2: The background information of the control and experimental group ........ 30
Table 3.3.1.1.2: Description of in-class post-reading activities ................................. 36
Table 3.3.2.1: A detailed description of 3 tasks in the pre- and post-test....................39
Table 4.1.1: Statistical analysis of the pre-test scores of both groups ........................ 44
Table 4.1.2: Statistical analysis of the post-test scores of both groups ...................... 46
Table 4.1.3: Descriptive statistics of the mean difference between the post- and pretest scores of both group ..................................................................... 48
Table 4.2.1.1: Statistical analysis of the control group’s pre- and post-questionnaire
......................................................................................................... ..51
Table 4.2.1.2: Statistical analysis of the experimental group’s pre- and postquestionnaire ...................................................................................... 52
Table 4.2.2.1: Statistical analysis of experimental group’s four attitudinal aspects in
the pre- and post- questionnaire .......................................................... 55
Table 4.2.2.2.1: Statistical analysis of each item of utility in the pre- and postquestionnaire of the experimental group ............................................. 56
Table 4.2.2.2.2: Statistical analysis of each item of development in the pre- and postquestionnaire of the experimental group ............................................. 57
Table 4.2.2.2.3: Statistical analysis of each item of enjoyment in the pre- and postquestionnaire of the experimental group ............................................. 58
Table 4.2.2.2.4: Statistical analysis of each item of escape in the pre- and postquestionnaire of the experimental group ............................................. 59
Table 4.2.3.1: Summary of students’ weekly journal data on Utility aspect .............. 61

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Table 4.2.3.2: Summary of students’ weekly journal data on Development aspect ... 64
Table 4.2.3.3: Summary of students’ weekly journal data on Enjoyment aspect ....... 67
Table 4.2.3.4: Summary of students’ weekly journal data on Escape aspect ............. 69
Table 4.2.5: Students’ preference for post-reading activities ..................................... 72

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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 4.1.1: The mean score of the three parts in the pre-test of both groups ............ 45
Chart 4.1.2: The mean score of the three parts in the post-test of both groups ........... 47
Chart 4.1.3a: Comparison of the changes in students’ reading scores in the pre- and
post-test between the control and experimental group ......................... 49
Chart 4.1.3b: The mean difference of the three parts in pre- and post-test between the
experimental and control group ........................................................... 50
Chart 4.2.1.3: Comparison of the changes in students’ overall attitude in the pre- and
post-questionnaire between the control and experimental group .......... 53
Chart 4.2.2.1: Comparison of the experimental group’s four attitudinal aspects

between the pre- and post-questionnaire ............................................. 54
Chart 4.2.2.2.5: Summary of all items having significant mean gains ....................... 60
Chart 4.2.4: Changes of students’ reading time during four phases ........................... 71
Chart 4.2.6: Students’ evaluation of the ERP ............................................................ 73
Chart 4.2.7: Students’ opinions on the execution of the program in the next semester
........................................................................................................... 74
Chart 4.2.8: Students’ suggestions for a better ERP .................................................. 75

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CFE

First Certificate in English

EFL

English as foreign language

ER

Extensive reading

ERP

Extensive reading program

SSR

Sustained Silent Reading

PET

Preliminary English Test

UFM

University of Finance and Marketing

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Chapter 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Since Vietnam’s integration into the World Trade Organization in 2007, there
has been a great change in our country in all fields, especially economic areas. The
co-operation and competition is not only taking place inside its boundary but also
expanding to many other countries around the world. More foreign-invested

companies have been established, which requires a larger amount of a professional
workforce working in an international environment. To guarantee a professional
workforce in the future, Vietnamese government is speeding up the quality of
teaching and learning English at school. Specifically, more international schools are
opening to meet human demand for better English learning environment. The teaching
and learning of English is now taking place not only at high schools but also at
primary schools. Especially, on February 14th, 2012, the decision from the Minister of
Education and Training to add Block A1 containing 3 subjects Maths, Physics and
English to the national entrance exam stabilized the importance of English. This block
has been welcomed by most universities of economics with the hope to train the
future economists to be fluent in English. Thus, it can be concluded that English
becomes more crucial and is of great concern for the government and society.
With the current integration, English books and newspapers are appearing
plentifully in Vietnam. This is a great chance as well as a challenge for its people.
These sources provide us a great amount of information in all fields, such as culture,
economy, education, entertainment, and politics. However, to exploit them, readers
need to equip themselves with certain knowledge and necessary reading skills to
collect essential information. However, it seems that we have not taken advantages of
these sources (Ha, 2007, p. 9). The reason lies in the limit of their language
knowledge and their poor reading ability. Especially, there is no habit of searching

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Chapter 1: Introduction
information in English. These constrains originate from the following facts of

teaching and learning English reading at schools.
Firstly, the traditional way of teaching reading English as a foreign language
(EFL) focusing on intensive reading is widely used in most reading classes. Teachers
use the texts as a way to help students extract some specific information or to teach
some single aspects of texts like vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure. As Le
(2006, p. 8) from Hung Vuong High School stated in her thesis, “teaching EFL
reading skill usually focuses on teaching words and structure.” Students tend to read
word by word and translate sentence by sentence to understand the texts. Also, as said
by Quach (2007, p. 1), “the English language teaching and learning in Vietnam
mostly involves the exploitation and study of short passages that are available in
textbooks…, which is actually not reading at all.” Such a method of teaching EFL
reading has shifted students’ focus to the linguistic aspects rather than reading
comprehension as its nature.
Another problem is raised from the overuse of reading strategies to
successfully complete the reading tasks or exercises rather than to fully comprehend
or enjoy the content of the reading texts. From our observation, the teaching and
learning process in class just aims to train students’ reading strategies to answer the
various kinds of questions, to get them prepared for the exams such as midterm tests,
final tests, and some other international tests like TOEIC, TOEFL or IELTS. They do
the reading under time pressure to ‘defeat’ the questions, not in order to discover
something new or to satisfy their curiosity. Once they cannot recognize or understand
the value of their reading, they will easily get bored with what they read.
Consequently, the reading to them is a burden rather than a joy or a hobby.
Finally, the materials used to teach and learn EFL reading in classes are so
limited. It seems to be very non-persuasive or illogical to say there are not enough
materials for students to read in such an informative time, when information is
everywhere and under every form. Nevertheless, both teachers and students have not
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Chapter 1: Introduction
taken advantages of these huge sources of information. By observing an EFL reading
class, we easily recognize that only one fixed textbook is used. Students are required
to read and do all kinds of exercises in it and then the teacher will help them correct
those. He or she seems too busy to gather other extra reading materials that are
suitable for his or her students, encourage and guide them to search for some other
sources of reading. Therefore, they do not have any ideas of extra reading. If they do,
they will be confused or get lost in the massive world of information, and
consequently get nothing for themselves after spending time searching and reading.
That way of teaching and learning gives an explanation for the fact that most students
now do not have the habit of reading anything outside classrooms or out of textbooks.
There is, thus, one suggested solution for the problem raised above. That is the
implementation of an extensive reading program (ERP). With this program, students
will be encouraged to read a lot for their interests and pleasures, and focus on the
meanings of the reading texts rather than on the linguistic aspects. As written by
Bamford and Day (1998, p. 2), “ER is a prime means of developing a taste for foreign
language reading.” Nevertheless, this program has not been widely applied in
Vietnam. Therefore, the researcher hopes that this useful program will, to some
extent, contribute to the improvement of students’ reading comprehension and raise
their interest in reading English books.
1.2 Aim of the study
The study aims to explore the educational merits of ER in improving students’
reading comprehension and raising their positive attitude toward the reading of
English books.
1.3 Research hypotheses and questions
The following hypotheses should be tested to support the educational value of

an ERP as established in the previous section.

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1. The students who join in an ERP can perform better in EFL reading
comprehension than those who follow the conventional teaching method.
2. The students who are encouraged to read extensively will have a more
positive attitude toward reading English books.
Given the aim and the two hypotheses above, the study tries to find out the
information to answer the following main question together with its two subquestions.
What are the educational values of implementing an ERP?
(1) To what extent can an ERP improve students’ reading comprehension?
(2) What is students’ attitude toward EFL reading with the implementation of an
ERP?
1.5 Significance of the study
The findings of the study can make some significant contributions to the
following aspects.
Although many studies on ER conducted in many nations all over the world
have proved its considerable benefits to learners of English in many ways, the study
of ER done in Vietnam is so limited. Therefore, this study will provide empirical
evidence for the effects of ER in teaching and learning English in the Vietnamese
context.
Besides, this study, when successfully implemented, will hopefully raise both
teachers’ and students’ awareness of the values of ER. They both will find it a

supplementary approach to teach and learn EFL reading effectively in the Vietnamese
context.
Additionally, this study gives the recommendations on available sources of
English graded readers collected by the researcher for those who are of the same level
and have the same interests with the students in this study.

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Last but not least, the results of this study, to a certain extent, make a
contribution to the building of “the Culture of Reading” in Vietnam, which seems to
be ignored by our students nowadays (as lamented by authority). Once they get
interested in reading English books, they will gradually form the habit of reading in
English.
1.6 Organizations of the study
This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the
topic, background, the aim, hypotheses, questions, and significance of the research.
Chapter 2 reviews the literature relevant to the practice of ER and its influence on
reading comprehension and reading attitude. Chapter 3 justifies the research
methodology in terms of study context, participants, the application of the ERP, the
evaluative instruments and the analytical framework. Chapter 4 first reports and
analyses the data from the pre and post-test; the pre and post-questionnaire; and the
weekly journals. It then discusses the findings drawn from the data analysis. Chapter
5 comes to the conclusions, reviews some limitations and presents some
recommendations, and suggestions for further study.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter the researcher examines the theories which set as a foundation
to carry out an empirical ERP at the University of Finance - Marketing (UFM). The
answers to the thesis questions cannot be obtained without solid theoretical
foundation. Firstly, this chapter examines the nature of reading English as a foreign
language. Secondly, it explores the concept of ER. Thirdly, it reviews the practice of
implementing the ERP in other previous experimental research. Finally, it reviews the
role of ER in developing reading comprehension and changing students’ attitude
toward reading English books from a theoretical perspective and empirical research.
2.1 The nature of reading comprehension
Reading English as a foreign language is becoming more popular and taking
place in different forms, such as reading articles on newspapers or magazines,
advertisements on the street, news on television, instructions of operating working
machines, labels on medicine bottles, and messages or mails in a mail box. Despite
readers’ various purposes when dealing with different kinds of reading texts, their
common and final goal is, according to Nuttall (1996, p. 3), to comprehend the
meaning of the texts or to get the messages implicated by the writers. This purpose is
also presented by Grabe (2009), who states that “comprehension is the ultimate goal
of reading process since the purpose of all types of reading is to obtain the meaning
from printed materials.” To be more specific in terms of comprehension, Swan (1990,

p. 6) clarifies that if a student is good at comprehension, he or she can “read
accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information from a text with the
minimum of misunderstanding.”
Considering how much is called “maximum”, Barrett (1968, as cited in
Alderson & Uquart, 1984) develops a taxonomy in which five categories of reading
comprehension are presented from the lowest to the highest. The lowest one, or the

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
easiest to achieve by students, is literal recognition or recall. This is the stage at which
they are required to locate or identify ideas or information explicitly stated in the
reading text. Next is the reorganization category. This stage requires students to
analyze, synthesize, and/or organize ideas or information explicitly stated in the
selection. At the third stage of inference, based on these ideas and information, they
then use their prior knowledge or personal experience to infer some other information
that is beyond the printed paper. As the fourth one, evaluation requires evaluative
judgment of readers. It can be done by comparing the ideas presented in the text with
external criteria provided by the teacher, other authorities, or other written sources, or
with internal criteria provided by the students’ experiences, knowledge, or values.
Finally, the hardest stage to achieve by students is appreciation which calls for their
emotional and aesthetical reactions to reading texts.
Thus, reading comprehension seems to be a very complicated process whose
nature needs to be explored to improve students’ reading ability. According to Day
and Bamford (1998, p. 13), the process of comprehension includes four component

processes described as follows: (1) Reading begins with the accurate, swift, and
automatic visual recognition of vocabulary, independent of the context in which it
occurs; (2) Automatic recognition of a word allows lexical access; (3) The
phonological representations of the words in a sentence hold the words in working
memory long enough for comprehension to occur; and (4) Comprehension draws on
the reader’s prior knowledge of the language, world, text type, and topic.
The first three component processes, in the view of Grabe (2009, p. 22), are
called the lower-level processes that have potential to become strongly automatized,
and this automatization is a requirement for fluent reading. He also states that word
recognition is considered by many researchers as “one of the most important
processes contributing to reading comprehension.” When we read, we actually focus
visually on almost all (about 80%) of the content words that we read and about 40%
of the small function words (Harrison, 1992, as cited in Day & Bamford, 1998, p. 13).

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
So it can be concluded that “fluent reading comprehension is not possible without
rapid and automatic word recognition of a large vocabulary” (Grabe, 2009, p. 23).
However, as Stanovich (1992, as cited in Day & Bamford, 1998, p. 13) states,
“Efficient word recognition seems to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for
good comprehension.”
Good comprehension also requires readers an efficient lexical access which is
known as “the automatic calling up from memory of the word’s meanings and its
phonological representation” (Day & Bamford, 1998, p. 13). However, it is true in

some certain contexts that the readers can “initiate word recognition but lead to no or
very little lexical access” (Grabe, 2009, p. 26). For example, children can sometimes
read words aloud but do not understand what they are reading. In these cases, they
may not be accessing the meaning component of these words, but they are accessing
the phonology and an entry. Such “inefficient lexical access, slow and effortful,
makes it more difficult for working memory to do its work” (Perfetti, 1985, p. 113).
The working memory is also important in constructing the meaning. If the
readers cannot hold the clause or sentence in working memory long enough to
construct the meaning, then comprehension will be severely disrupted.
The fourth component in the process involves the readers’ prior knowledge.
Day and Bamford (1998) state, “the construction of meaning involves the reader
connecting information from the written message with previous knowledge to arrive
at meaning – at an understanding.” Also, Grellet (1991, as cited in Day & Bamford,
1998, p. 14) emphasizes that meaning is not inherent in the text, but “each reader
brings his own meaning to what he reads based on what he expects from the text and
his previous knowledge.” In other words, Smith (1971, p. 4) asserts that “what the
brain tells the eye is more important than what the eye tells the brain.” Thus it can be
inferred that readers with considerably more background knowledge on a topic will
read a text differently and more efficiently.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
In a nutshell, reading for comprehension is not a simple process as it is viewed
on its surface. When we deeply explore its nature and its procedure to interpret the

full meaning, we find it a really complicated process. It covers not only the literal
recognition and reorganization which can be stated explicitly from the text, but also
the inference, evaluation and appreciation which require the student a large amount of
background knowledge to deal with. Therefore, four component processes of reading
comprehension need to be practiced more frequently to become automatized so that
the reading texts will be dealt with more fluently, smoothly and effectively. A
suggestion for automatizing this process is ER.
2.2 Definitions of ER
ER can be considered as an approach to teach and learn reading skill.
However, to apply this approach effectively in teaching and learning English, we need
to clarify its nature.
With its fundamental meaning, the word “extensive” is defined in the Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2010, p. 538) as “great in amount”. When this word
combines with the word “reading” in the phrase ER, it can be understood as “reading
a great amount of materials”.
This definition, to some extent, is in accordance with what Palmer, the first
person to apply this in foreign language pedagogy (Day & Bamford, 1998, p. 5),
means: “reading books after books”.
It seems not enough for Richards and Schmidt (2002, p. 193) with such a
definition of ER when they add one more characteristic, which is “reading in quantity
and in order to gain a general understanding of what is read." In this way, the purpose
of ER is determined.
Powell (2005) presents another purpose of ER when stating that “the basic goal
of ER is to get students to read as much as can be reasonably expected and hopefully

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
to enjoy doing so.” So besides gaining general understanding, students are expected to
enjoy their reading.
Also, Jacobs, Rajan and Renandya, (1999, p. 40), while having the same
opinion on the purposes of ER, suggest another characteristic which is “reading
independently.” They point out that ER involves “the independent reading of a large
quantity of material for information or pleasure.”
Susser and Robb (1990) also show their agreement with those researchers
above in defining ER. However, one added characteristic in their definition which is
that “books are not discussed in class” seems to cause argument.
… Reading (a) of a large quantity of materials or long texts; (b) for
global or general understanding; (c) with the intention of obtaining
pleasure from the text. Further, because (d) reading is individualized,
with students choosing the books they want to read, (e) the books are
not discussed in class.
The definitions above seem to cover many characteristics of ER. They mention
not only the amount of reading materials that learners should read, but also the
purposes (general understanding, and pleasure), and the manner (individualized) of
ER. All of these characteristics are then included in the definition by Day and
Bamford (1998), which can be seen to be the most detailed and sufficient to
understand the nature of ER.
 Students read as much as possible.
 A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available.
 They select what they want to read.
 The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general
understanding.
 Reading is its own reward.

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