Mobile system to monitor extensive reading

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370643
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Fukuoka University (2015); Fukuoka Women's University (2013-2014)
• Principal Investigator: Holster Trevor 福岡大学, 言語教育研究センター, 講師 (40612403)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): PELLOW William Robert 近畿大学, 工学部, 講師 (30330327) ; LAKE J. 福岡女学院大学, 英語教育研究センター, 講師 (60610235)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TOKUNAGA Miki 福岡大学, 言語教育研究センター, 外国語講師 (30461479)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: Extensive reading / Reading difficulty / Book difficulty / Lexile level / Yomiyasusa level / Kyoto level / Rasch analysis

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed an internet based system to monitor extensive reading. The system collects student ratings of book difficulty and formats the data for Rasch analysis. This allows student ability and book difficulty be measured so that students can read appropriate level books.
We selected 300 books to research features related to book difficulty and compared the Yomiyasusa Levels, the Extensive Reading Foundation Levels, and the Lexile Framework. Book length strongly predicted difficulty, with sentence length a moderate predictor and vocabulary a very weak predictor. The Yomiyasusa Levels were a very strong predictor of book difficulty, with the Lexile Levels a moderate predictor. The Extensive Reading Foundation levels were a very weak predictor of book difficulty.
The monitoring system is freely available for any researcher to download and use and the methodology we used has been shared with the Extensive Reading Foundation and contributed to the revised monitoring system they produced.

Free Research Field

英語教育