Conclusion

Overall, extensive reading proved to be superior to traditional approaches on measures of reading comprehension, as well as on measures of writing and reading speed, and, according to teacher observations, was much more popular with students. Perhaps the most telling observation in support of the latter claim is the reaction of students in the third comparison group, the one that focused on cloze exercises. These students used the same classroom used by one of the extensive reading classes, and saw the books displayed ond other students checking out books. This led to frustration: they asked for books and felt cheated that their classwork did not include extensive reading.

We presented here the results of three studies, all using an intact class quasi-experimental design. Extensive reading resulted in significantly superior gains in six out of seven comparisons for cloze and reading comprehension tests and extensive readers did better on measures of writing and reading speed. Extensive reading allowed "reluctant" students of EFL to catch up to traditional students, and worked in a variety of EFL situations. When we add these results to those already published in second language acquisition, and to the massive support free reading has in first language development, the case for self-selected reading for pleasure is overwhelming.

References

Carver, R. and Lieber, R. (1995) The effect of reading library books at different levels of difficulty upon gain in reading ability. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 26-48.

Cho, K. S. and Krashen, S. (1994) Acquisition of vocabulary from the Sweet Valley Kids series: adult ESL acquisition. Journal of Reading. 37, 662-667.

Cho, K. S. and Krashen, S. (1995a) Becoming a dragon: progress in English as a second language through narrow free voluntary reading. California Reader, 29, 9-10.

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