Implementing and Managing Online Exensive Reading: Student Performance and Perceptions

Abstract

Smartphones, tablets, and today's touch screen laptops are powerfultools capable of serving hundreds of specialized, complex operationsand applications to anyone, seemingly anywhere in the world. Forsecond language learners and those who teach them, these toolssuddenly have the potential to recast the reading experience for 21stcentury students and invigorate Extensive Reading (ER) research.Exploration into digital ER exclusively through the medium of mobiledevices is only an emerging area of study in the English as a LinguaFranca (ELF) classroom. This study reports on the implementation of a15 week (one semester) pilot test of Xreading® (www.xreading.com),an online Graded Reader (GR) library and learning managementsystem (LMS) devoted specifically to the implementation and operationof extensive reading at a private university in Tokyo, Japan.Participants in this study have access to a vast virtual library of gradedreaders and are being instructed to read outside of class using a mobiledevice. This paper reports on student engagement with this platformexclusively for 15 weeks in regards to changes in reading speeds,volume of reading, and correlations between these numbers andTOEIC® IP test scores. The authors will reflect on student attitudesand perceptions of reading digitally and lastly, present someconsiderations for teachers and administrators who recognize thebenefits of ER and who, for various reasons, envisage implementingextensive reading into their classroom syllabus or program curriculum.