Use of Extensive Reading Activity to Promote English Reading Habit and English Reading Comprehension

Abstract

           The purposes of this experimental study were to compare the English reading habit and the English reading comprehension before and after using extensive reading activities, and to investigate the satisfaction of the students towards the use of extensive reading activities. The experimental group was 38 Pratomsuksa 5 students at Kitikhun School in the first semester of the 2009 academic year. The experimental instruments were 8 lesson plans on extensive reading activities. The instruments for data collection were an English reading comprehension test, a reading habit questionnaire, teacher’s observation notes and the record of borrowed books. The experiment and the data collection procedure took 20 hours. The obtained data were calculated for percentage, mean, standard deviation and paired-sample t-test. Results from the comparisons of the level of English reading ability and reading habit before and after the implementation of extensive reading activities showed that the reading ability and the reading habit increased significantly at the .01 level. Before being introduced to extensive activities, the students perceived the importance of reading and practiced reading behavior at the moderate level ( =3.28), but after the treatment, this rose to a high level ( =3.76). The ability of reading comprehension also increased by 4.56% which is significantly higher than the level before the treatment (P<0.01).  The results show that extensive reading activity can help the students develop their ability in reading and encourage their reading habit. Students were highly satisfied with the extensive reading activities as they showed the high enthusiasm in their participation. In addition, the record of books borrowed from the English corner showed the high and consistent rate throughout the treatment. All these findings suggest that administrators and teachers should acknowledge the needs for extensive reading and provide a sufficient number of interesting and appropriate books as well as consistently organize related activities to promote students’ reading habit and life-long learning.