Testing an Extensive Reading and Blogging Model Using Structural Equation Modeling

Research has provided strong evidence on the impact of extensive reading on foreign/second language acquisition in nearly all aspects. But simply providing students books to read does not tell much about how it actually happens. Blogging after reading serves to present clues to the inquiries: how readers interact with texts, how students grow during the course of self-paced reading, how students make use of a social platform for learning reading, and what problems could be encountered and solved with prompt guidance and support. This study was aimed to investigate how blogging effects successful extensive reading in an EFL tertiary class and then test an extensive reading model with blogging the scaffold at three different developmental phases using structural equation modeling. Results show that learners did follow a three-phase model in an extensive reading program supported by a shared blog to develop a reading habit in English, manifesting a developmental trajectory along which the affective, cognitive and social processes were all exercised in readers.