The effects of extensive reading on students’ english vocabulary learning the case of xuan hung high school, dong nai province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------------------

LÊ HỒNG HẢI

THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON
STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY
LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG
HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE
Major: English Language
Course code: 1741900012

HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
---------------------------

THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON
STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY
LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG
HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE
Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the
Master’s degree in English Language

Course code: 1741900012
By
LE HONG HAI

Supervised by

LE THI THUY NHUNG, PhD

HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019


i

CERTIFICATION OF THESIS DEFENSE
The thesis entitled: THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON
STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN
HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE was successfully defended
and approved on May 28th, 2020 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
(HUTECH).
Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D
The Board of Examiners for the Master’s Thesis Defense
No.

NAME

FUNCTION

1

Nguyen Tien Hung, Ph.D

Chair

2

Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D

Reader 1

3

Truong Cong Bang, Ph.D

Reader 2

4

Cao Thi Phuong Dung, Ph.D

Member

5

Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, Ph.D

Secretary Member

On behalf of the Examination Committee
Chair

Nguyen Tien Hung, Ph.D


ii

HCM UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE
HCMC, June 2020

MASTER’S THESIS REPORT
Student name: LE HONG HAI

Sex: Male

Date of birth: April 21th, 1994

Place of birth: Dong Nai

Major: English Language

Student code: 1741900012

I- Thesis title:
THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH
VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG
NAI PROVINCE
II- Objectives and contents:
Vocabulary is considered very important in language learning. Using extensive
reading, the objective of this study is to examine if students’ vocabulary knowledge
has developed with extensive reading activities outside the class in Xuan Hung high
school. Through an experiment, the study also examined students’ attitudes towards
extensive reading.
III- Starting date: October 28th, 2018
IV- Completing date: November 30th, 2019

V-

Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D

ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR

Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D

FACULTY DEAN

Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D


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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:
The Effects of Extensive Reading on students’ English Vocabulary Learning:
the case of Xuan Hung high school, Dong Nai province.

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued
by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology.

Ho Chi Minh City, November 2019

LE HONG HAI


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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, LE HONG HAI, being a candidate for the degree of
Master of Arts (English Language) accepts the requirements 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 origin of my Master’s Thesis
deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care,
loan, and reproduction for theses.

Ho Chi Minh City November 2019

Signature:

LE HONG HAI


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this study could not have been possible without the help
and support of so many people whose names may not all be listed. I sincerely
appreciated and gratefully acknowledged their contributions, especially HUTECH
University and the teaching staff who enthusiastically help me during my progress
of learning as well as completing this study. Moreover, I would like to express my
deep appreciation and indebtedness, particularly to Dr. Le Thi Thuy Nhung for her
endless assistance, guidance, motivation, kindness, and understanding spirit since
the beginning of this uneasy and challenging journey. Without her support and
guidance, this thesis would never have been completed.

While working on this thesis, I sincerely express my gratitude to my dear
students and parents for their encouragement and willingness to trust in me. Without
them, none of this would have been possible.


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ABSTRACT
Vocabulary plays an important role in learning English. However, in rural
areas, students have difficulties in acquiring new words because of the lack of
learning English outside the class.
To improve students’ language learning, especially their vocabulary
knowledge, this study examined how extensive reading could promote students’
vocabulary knowledge and their attitudes towards extensive reading. An experiment
was carried out among students in Xuan Hung high school, Dong Nai province,
Vietnam. Participants were 50 students in grade 11 divided into two groups, a control
group, and an experimental group. Besides conventional learning, the experimental
group received 2 months of extensive reading. Pre-test and post-test were used to
measure the gaining scores of the students in both groups. Questionnaires were used
to find out students’ attitudes about extensive reading.
The findings of this study reflect the improvement of students towards
extensive reading. Using the SPSS 19 to analyze data and T-test to examine the
difference between two groups of students, the findings show that the students in the
experimental group showed a significant improvement in their vocabulary knowledge
after the experiment. From the results of questionnaires, students had positive
attitudes about the extensive reading course. (197 words)

Keywords: Extensive reading; vocabulary acquisition; vocabulary learning,
vocabulary, word knowledge, students’ attitude.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Certification of thesis defense ............................................................................ i
Master thesis’s report ......................................................................................... ii
Certificate of originality ..................................................................................... iii
Retention and use of the thesis ........................................................................... iv
Acknowledgments… .......................................................................................... v
Abstract .............................................................................................................. vi
Table of contents ................................................................................................ vii
List of tables… ................................................................................................... xi
List of figures ..................................................................................................... xii
List of abbreviations and symbols ..................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study............................................................................... 1
1.2 Statements of the problem ............................................................................ 3
1.3 Aims of the study ......................................................................................... 4
1.4 Research questions ....................................................................................... 5
1.5 Scope of the study ........................................................................................ 5
1.6 Significance of the study .............................................................................. 6
1.7 Definitions of key terms ............................................................................... 6
1.8 Organization of the thesis............................................................................. 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Extensive reading ......................................................................................... 8
2.2.1 The role of reading in TEFL ................................................................. 8

2.2.2 Historical background of extensive reading ......................................... 8
2.2.3 Extensive reading and its characteristics .............................................. 9


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2.2.4 Differences between extensive reading and intensive reading ............. 13
2.2.5 Benefits of extensive reading ................................................................ 15
2.2.6 The materials for reading in the extensive reading program course..... 16
2.2.7 Graded readers ...................................................................................... 19
2.3 Vocabulary learning ..................................................................................... 19
2.3.1 The importance of vocabulary .............................................................. 19
2.3.2 The relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary ...... 20
2.3.3 Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning in extensive reading ... 21
2.4 Extensive reading and vocabulary acquisition ............................................. 23
2.4.1 Extensive reading and the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge......... 23
2.4.2 Input hypothesis .................................................................................... 25
2.4.3 Disadvantages of extensive reading towards vocabulary acquisition .. 26
2.5 Extensive Reading towards students’ reading attitudes ............................... 27
2.6 Review of previous studies .......................................................................... 28
2.7 Conceptual framework ................................................................................. 29
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 31
3.2 Research design ............................................................................................ 31
3.3 Research site Sample and sampling procedure ............................................ 34
3.4 Sample and sampling procedure .................................................................. 34
3.5 Research instruments and materials ............................................................. 37
3.6 Data collection procedure ............................................................................ 43
3.7 Validity and reliability of the research ......................................................... 44
3.8 Data analysis procedures .............................................................................. 44

3.9 Summary ...................................................................................................... 45
3.10 Ethical consideration .................................................................................. 45
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS


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4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 46
4.2 Results .......................................................................................................... 46
4.2.1 A comparison between the score of pre-test and post-test ................... 46
4.2.2 A comparison between the gains of pre-test and post-test ................... 48
4.2.3 Students’ attitude about the extensive reading course ......................... 49
4.3 Discussion .................................................................................................... 51
4.3.1 Vocabulary development after the extensive reading course .............. 51
4.3.2 Positive effects towards the extensive reading .................................... 52
4.4 Summary ...................................................................................................... 53
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary of the main findings of the study ................................................. 54
5.2 Pedagogical implications ............................................................................. 55
5.3 Limitations ................................................................................................... 56
5.4 Recommendation for further research .......................................................... 57
5.5 Conclusion.................................................................................................... 57
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 58
APPENDICES
Appendix A: The pre-test and post-test ............................................................. 67
Appendix B: Phiếu điều tra khảo sát về thái độ của học sinh thông qua phương
pháp Extensive Reading ..................................................................................... 76
Appendix C: A questionnaire about students’ attitudes and learning strategies
through Extensive reading.................................................................................. 77
Appendix D: Results of the scores of the control group after the Extensive

reading course. ................................................................................................... 78
Appendix E: Results of the scores of the experimental group after the
Extensive reading course.................................................................................... 80


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Appendix F: Data collection endorsement form at Xuan Hung high School. ... 82
Appendix G: Materials for conducting research ................................................ 83
Appendix H: Reading activities ......................................................................... 91
Appendix I: Keys for post reading activities ..................................................... 98
Appendix J: Summary of four stories ................................................................ 108
Appendix K: Representative pre-tests and post-tests of the control group. ....... 111
Appendix L: Representative pre-tests and post-tests of the experimental group.
............................................................................................................................ 115
Appendix M: VIPER plagiarism checking report .............................................. 119


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LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page

2.1 Differences between intensive reading and extensive reading .................... 14
3.1 A comparison between the experimental group and the control group . 33
3.2 Background information on the research participants ............................. 36
3.3 The time for conducting research. ................................................................. 41
4.1 Results of the scores of the experimental group and the control group

before and after the experiment................................................................... 47
4.2 Comparison of students’ vocabulary knowledge gain of the two groups
after the experiment. .......................................................................................... 49
4.3 Results of the questionnaire survey. .......................................................... 50


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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure

Page

2.1 A conceptual framework of related study……….. ……………………….30
4.1 Vocabulary mean scores between the control group and the
experimental group before and after the experiment ……………………….48


xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

ER:

Extensive reading

EFL: English as a foreign language
IR:

Intensive reading

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the background information of the study, statement of
the problem, the rationale, and its main aims. The chapter also highlights the
hypotheses and research questions that this study aims to discover. At the end of this
chapter, some terms were also highlighted before describing the context in the next
chapter.
1.1 Background to the study
For a long time, English has been considered as a useful medium for
communicating internationally. Its contribution has been made considerably in a lot
of fields such as education, tourism, economy, culture, etc. Indeed, it is the demand
to develop and integrate with the English speaking world. The importance of learning
and teaching English is also emphasized, from the primary level to the university
level. Both the government and the educators have made great efforts to improve
English education level in Vietnam. Although reading is combined with the exercise,
students could not do the task well because of the lack of vocabulary and reading
strategies. Vocabulary is very important in mastering a foreign language. But students
at high school are still limited about their word knowledge although they have learned
English for a long time. As a result, limited vocabulary leads to poor performances
of the English language and Maximo (2000) suggests that it is the problem of every
learner. So they must consider the necessity of vocabulary and learners needs other
support like a dictionary, not grammar books.
Reading skill is considered as an important skill in language learning by
many researchers, (Day and Bamford, 1998 & Krashen, 1995). Studies have shown
that, by applying the reading skill, learners could have the most beneficial effect on
their progress of learning a second language. These benefits include the development

of a good reading habit, gaining knowledge of culture and society and, most

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important, it is the increase in the vocabulary of the target language (Richard &
Schmidt, 2002).
Researchers have pointed out two kinds of important reading, intensive
reading, and extensive reading. Intensive reading requires learners to read a few
numbers of materials under the supervision of their teacher and focuses on the limited
vocabulary. Extensive reading, however, requires learners to read a large number of
materials for their linguistic competence (Grabe & Stoller, 2002). Pigada and Schmitt
(2006), in their research, confirmed the importance of extensive reading in English
as foreign language contexts because the number of available textbooks which
learners use for their intensive reading in schools cannot help them use the second
language reading fluency. Despite this fact, it is unlikely that extensive reading has
not been applied regularly as a pedagogical method. The reasons for this may relate
to the implementation of extensive reading into classrooms and the pre-planned
curriculum. Moreover, according to Sato (2012), a reason why extensive reading has
not become popular in teaching methodologies relates to the fact that extensive
reading requires much time and effort which teachers can not apply in English as a
foreign language (EFL) classes due to time constraints.
The importance of extensive reading towards the development of vocabulary
was discussed in the literature. This study focused on the effects of extensive reading
on students in Xuan Hung High school. English is considered as a core subject. And
since the goal is the proficiency of learners is using the language, in the teaching and
learning process, reading must be prior to other skills because in the teaching and
learning context in Vietnam, students have to do the test and there is a fact that the
Entrance examination after grade 12 requires students to do reading tasks including
two reading comprehension test and one gap-filling test. Because Green (2005) states

that for a fluent learner, he or she should have a great chance to improve a great deal
of vocabulary and skills on the linguistic structures of the target language. Moreover,
the place of reading in the teaching and learning context is very important in the

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curriculum in High schools. Reading is considered very important in testing students’
knowledge. That is the reason why extensive reading was used in this study to find
out the students’ vocabulary learning in terms of words meaning.
1.2 Statement of the problem
English in Vietnam is a foreign language that needs to be taught. There is a
fact that EFL learners usually receive knowledge through the input of the classroom.
And the content of learning is limited by the syllabus that the department offers. The
purpose of teaching reading, vocabulary, and structural patterns is to pass the future
exams which the knowledge in the textbook plays an important part. And “Problems
Of Teaching English” 2016 contents that because of the fact that teachers mostly
focused on testing not teaching. As a result, learners rarely seem to be able to find
extra materials to improve their language skills.
In the reading process of the English language, vocabulary knowledge is
extremely important. It is not only a foundation of language acquirement but also a
major step in learning a language. Without vocabulary learning, learners would have
struggles in communicating the language and expressing their ideas. Although in the
teaching context, teachers usually apply many methods of learning new words,
learners do not have a strategy to acquire vocabulary suitably (Shoari & Farrokhi,
2014). This case happened in Xuan Hung High school, most students learn
vocabulary passively because of some factors. First, they depended on their teacher
so much that additional reading at home is not paid attention, a new vocabulary was
acquired through the context in their textbooks or given by teachers during classroom
lessons. The reasons were that they considered English as an obligatory subject, many

students were not willing to learn by themselves, furthermore, a usual process that
happens in the classroom when teaching reading is that the teacher reads the passage
aloud and the whole class listens or students are asked to read the passage in turns.
Another factor is that most of the students seemed to learn English to gain their scores
but not for the purpose of acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, Xuan Hung students

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do not have opportunities to use the vocabulary outside the classroom, they tend to
learn new words and easily forget them. In spite of the fact that some activities in the
classroom are recently designed to teach grammar and develop vocabulary
knowledge, Xuan Hung students still find it hard to remember the words they have
learned even the frequent appeared words.
Vocabulary plays the most important part in developing proficiency in a
foreign language. According to Pazhakh and Soltani (2010), sufficient vocabulary
contributes to learners’ ability to communicate successfully in a foreign language.
Students tend to know how important the vocabulary is; however, they regard
learning vocabulary as boring. Furthermore, most students do not learn vocabulary
that is contextualized. To illustrate, most learners tend to check dictionaries for
meaning when they come across new words. Also, students may not be able to use
vocabulary in writing, speaking, and listening and they may pronounce the words
incorrectly. Some students may not enjoy reading materials. Another factor that
limited learners’ vocabulary is that they tend to focus on meaning but not on the
functions of the words. They may have difficulty understanding word meanings in
some specific contexts. Some students in Xuan Hung high school are not used to
using the vocabulary they learned in practicing other English skills or do not know
how to use vocabulary properly both in and outside class.
In conclusion, the challenges that students in Xuan Hung High school are
facing need to be addressed. This study was carried out to improve students’

vocabulary learning through extensive reading.
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
This study aimed to examine if students’ vocabulary knowledge has
developed through extensive reading activities outside the class at Xuan Hung high
school through an experiment. The study also examined students’ attitudes towards
extensive reading.

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To be more specific, the objectives of the study are:
-To find out the extent to which students’ vocabulary knowledge improves through
extensive reading activities
-To examine students’ attitudes towards extensive reading in terms of vocabulary
learning, materials and their reading progress
1.4 Research questions
The research questions below were given and should be answered
satisfactorily:
1. To what extent do students improve their vocabulary knowledge in terms of
understanding meanings?
2. What are students’ attitudes toward extensive reading in terms of vocabulary
learning, materials, and their reading progress?
1.5 Scope of the study
This study focused mainly on the improvement of the English vocabulary of
students in Xuan Hung High school with the help of extensive reading activity. It is
hoped that the effects of extensive reading programs could be reflected in the subjects
of the experiment.
The study was carried out at Xuan Hung High school in Dong Nai province.
Students of grade 11 were selected as research participants. Students of grade 10 were
new to the school and the students of grade 12 had to prepare for the university

entrance examination so that they could not take part in the study.
This study focused on developing students’ vocabulary knowledge with the
help of an Extensive reading course and let teachers and students measure their
vocabulary knowledge in terms of understanding the meanings of new words.
Moreover, the result of the study could just reflect the effects of Extensive reading on
students at high school. Other aspects such as language use, and other language skills

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are not under consideration.
1.6 Significance of the study
As stated earlier, reading in the target language in Vietnam is restricted to
course requirements. Hence, the combination of extensive reading with the school
curriculum may contribute to the improvement of some situations of foreign language
teaching and learning methods in Vietnam. Several studies examined the effects of
extensive reading outside the real teaching context of Vietnam. This study, however,
lasted for two months. The findings of the research also shed light on the hypothesis
that it is likely to find out positive results of reading extensively in Vietnam teaching
context.
There are a lot of factors contributing to the significance of this study.
However, the main significance is that the researcher aims to discover the vocabulary
improvement through extensive reading. In spite of a growing interest in the
importance of extensive reading, there are little studies finding out the effects of
extensive reading on high school students in Vietnam. Thus, the current study will
fill a significant gap in extensive reading, by applying for the Extensive reading
course in the teaching and learning context in Xuan Hung high school and measuring
its effect on the vocabulary improvement. It is hoped that findings from the study
would be generated to other contexts to improve the teaching practices of teachers of
English not only in Vietnam but also in other countries where English is a second or

foreign language.
1.7 Definitions of key terms
Vocabulary: all the words that a person knows or uses including single words,
two or three-word items expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms(Oxford
Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, 2000).
Extensive reading: the process of reading longer passages for enjoyment in
simple forms of language with the purpose of being able to understand meanings,

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grammar, and structures (Palmer, 1917). Day and Bamford (2002) confirms that the
main goal of extensive reading is to develop learners’ reading fluency, and
vocabulary is considered an important additional benefit.
1.8 Organization of the thesis
There are five chapters presented in the study, which includes:
Chapter one presented an overview of the study. In this chapter, the rationale,
the background of the study, the statements of the problems, aims, research questions,
scopes, and significance of the study were introduced.
Next, in the second chapter, the literature review presented some useful
information that is considered important for the study especially the extensive reading
and vocabulary acquisition.
Then, chapter three dealt with the methodology for the study depending on
the information, the context of the study, the sample and sample size, the
experimental method the instruments, and the procedure of analyzing data.
In chapter four, a detailed description was presented with the data of the
finding, the results of the pre-test and post-test, and students’ attitude towards the
extensive reading program, and some discussion were also pointed out.
Finally, chapter five gave a conclusion which was focused on the main
findings of the study, the limitation and the pedagogical implication were also

introduced.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This literature review investigated deeply extensive reading and other
important aspects. There were three main points in this section, Extensive reading,
vocabulary learning, Extensive reading, and Vocabulary Acquisition. It is hoped that
useful information in this section could contribute to the success of the study in the
future.
2.2 Extensive reading
2.2.1 The Role of Reading in second and foreign language learning
Anderson (1999), states his opinion that when teaching reading, second
language teachers have to deal with many challenges. Reading is not simply a matter
of providing reading activities and asking students to answer the questions of the
reading passage. He proposed that in the reading process, their reading achievement
can be gained effectively by the students’ knowledge background including word
knowledge and reading skills. This finding suggested that while conducting the
extensive reading course the teacher should consider strategies for students to have
the most effective results. However, he also emphasized the importance of cultural
aspects of the country where students live towards the development of reading. There
is little research on the effects of culture. It was the enthusiasm of the teacher that
encourage students to read and raise their awareness of the importance of reading in
their educational settings and their lives. In conclusion, although reading is just one
of the four skills, previous research implied a fact that reading plays an important role
in TEFL, not only about the word knowledge it has but also other effects such as
culture, reading strategies, the students’ awareness.

2.2.2 Historical background of extensive reading

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The history of extensive reading dated back to the 1950s when Michael West
prepared an additional reading text and discovered that the reading task not only
improved vocabulary knowledge but also enhanced reading skills and interests in
reading among readers (West, 1955). Later, extensive reading was defined as without
any pressure of the examination, students are encouraged to read, they are also given
the time to read as many books at their own level as possible (Davis, 1995). However,
the term “extensive reading” originated from Palmer in 1917 so as to compare it with
intensive reading. It can be defined as the process of reading longer passages for
enjoyment in simple forms of language with the purpose of being able to understand
meanings, grammar and structures are not paid much attention. Bamford and Day
(1998) conducted research on extensive reading itself based on early of Palmer and
West, they discovered that, while intensive reading is mainly about reading and
answering the comprehension questions, the suggested extensive approach is
necessary for students who seek for their language improvement.
Despite the fact that extensive reading has been known for a long time, its
spread is quite slow, Day and Bamford (1998), realized that the reasons are
difficulties in establishing an extensive reading program; speaking is much more
focused than reading and the popularity of applying intensive reading in schools.
To sum up, extensive reading has a long history and received a lot of attention
over the decades. Researchers realized that only intensive reading is not enough to
develop students’ knowledge. However, due to several constraints, extensive reading
remains unpopular in schools.
2.2.3 Characteristics of extensive reading
According to Day and Bamford (2002), extensive reading has the following
features.

Students must read a lot of printed materials regularly
Most of the teachers agree students have to follow this essential aspect. However, a

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problem is that students are not really given many opportunities and encouragement
to read as a habit. Although the time for the extensive reading is not limited,
researchers advised that students should finish a reading material for a week,
depending on the length and difficulty. It is the minimum speed that extensive reading
can help them achieve the benefits and gain a reading habit. Especially for the level
of beginner, this step is rather realistic because the books for reading at this level are
often not long enough.
Types of the text and topic must be various for students to select
One of the key aspects that leads to successful extensive reading is the motivation
and the attraction that teacher transfer to students. This also depends on a variety of
texts. Materials should be as varied as possible for the purpose of reading, especially,
entertainment is focused besides learning. It is suggested that books, magazines,
newspapers, fiction, and nonfiction are quite suitable for students. At the beginning
of the extensive program, it is necessary that teachers should find out what students
like reading in their mother tongue, then carefully choose the various topic to avoid
students’ getting bored and attract students' attention. When students are interested in
the reading, reading will become easier and less frustrated as well as allow the readers
to apply more strategies for reading comprehension. However, one point which has
to be considered is that reading material should meet the needs of the students, it is
also not too difficult but it should be demanding to facilitate an extensive reading
program.
Students can read what they want
The meaning of this characteristic is that learners have freedom for their
responsibility for reading. They can choose the text they like as they usually do in

their own language. Moreover, students can choose the texts that they feel that they
are able to understand best. They even can give up their reading progress when they
realize how difficult or frustrating the texts are. Henry (1995) states his opinion that
in the process of reading, students read to better themselves, not for the teacher. This

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