A Study of Extensive Reading: The Effects on Japanese Students Learning English
205M047 H. T.
This MA thesis investigates Extensive Reading and shows that ER has favorable effects on reading comprehension and that it proves to be an efficient way to learn English. Therefore this study tells that now is an ideal time for schools to start introducing ER programs as a new teaching method. ER is an old but newly effective approach to improving English language education in Japan.
Firstly, I will discuss the background of research into ER, surveying its characteristics, the theory behind it and the evidence for its benefits. I will go on to compare ER with IR, or the traditional grammar translation methodology still widespread in Japanese high schools.
Secondly, I will describe how the investigation into ER was conducted and I will analyze the data obtained from the experiment and report the results. For the investigation, I formulated the following research question: Does ER have favorable effects on reading comprehension?.
In order to explore this research question, the investigation was conducted twice for eight successive weeks, including summer vacation. The experiment involved one second-year English reading class at my high school.
Lastly, I will analyze the data obtained from the experiment and will report the results and findings. I will discuss some rather inconsistent results of the investigation.