2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The Short-and Long-Term Effects of Extensive Reading in English for Japanese University Students

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21520586
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Foreign language education
Research Institution	Osaka Prefecture University
Principal Investigator	INAGAKI Shuchun 大阪府立大学, 高等教育推進機構, 准教授 (50405354)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	INAGAKI Shunji 名古屋大学, 国際言語文化研究科, 准教授 (00316019)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	教授法 / 多読 / カリキュラム
Research Abstract	We investigated the effects of extensive reading in English for Japanese university students. Results showed the following :(a) a semester-long extensive reading program had a positive effect on the learners' general English language proficiency,(b) there was some improvement not only in the students' reading, but also in their listening and grammar,(c) an additional semester of extensive reading allowed them to maintain the level that they had achieved in the previous semester,(d) a group of students who took an extensive reading class for a semester outperformed a control group who took a regular English class for the same period of time on an English proficiency test, and(e) students showed some improvement in reading fluency over the semester during which they took an extensive reading class. These findings together show the effectiveness of extensive reading for Japanese university students.