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This study investigated Arabic teachers' perceptions of the practice of extensive reading (ER) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study was conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project at one of the largest higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country. The project aimed to develop and launch an Arabic online reading tracking tool to mirror its successful English forerunner, the M-Reader. The present study aimed to use teachers' perceptions to proactively address any challenges regarding the support needed from HEIs before launching the tool. A total of 34 teachers of Arabic courses in an HEI responded to an online questionnaire, which explored the reasons for, methods and approaches used, and motivation techniques and difficulties associated with implementing ER. The results showed that the teachers were aware of the benefits associated with ER practice and its positive impact on language competency. They reported encountering difficulties, which included students' lack of interest and time for reading and their inability to read independently. Teachers also reported challenges in motivating students to read and in assessing ER practices, particularly when ER is a standalone course rather than a part of the curriculum. Based on the results, we offer practical suggestions that can benefit ER practitioners in HEIs. We conclude by offering a set of implications for the successful implementation of ER programs.

This study explores Thai EFL university students’ attitudes toward reading in English, extensive reading (ER), and reading graded readers online through the Xreading platform. The participants included eight English major students at a Thai university who volunteered to participate in a small-scale ER club in semester one of 2024 as an out-of-class activity. A mixed-methods research design was employed. A reading attitude questionnaire adopted from Puripunyavanich’s (2021) study was used to collect quantitative data. Qualitative data were gathered from semi-structured interviews. Findings from the questionnaire and interviews reveal that students held a positive attitude toward reading in English. They recognized its importance for language learning and showed a strong interest in improving their reading skills. Additionally, students had positive attitudes toward online ER on Xreading because reading simple graded readers increased their reading motivation, expanded vocabulary knowledge, and increased enjoyment in reading short texts. Students enjoyed Xreading’s convenience of use, accessibility, and wide range of books. However, the problem of eyestrain while reading on a screen was reported. Students were satisfied with the ER club activities, mentioning the benefits of both ER and Xreading in enhancing their English skills and reading motivation. Students also recommended continuing the club activity and inviting other interested students to participate. The study offers implications for implementing ER in reading programs.

This study examined the English extensive reading (ER) programs across the Arabian Gulf region. It investigated the ER models and approaches adopted by different higher education institutions (HEIs) in the region, their ER practices and activities, and the challenges they encountered in implementing their ER programs. Utilizing qualitative research design with seventeen (17) cases from prominent colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait, the study found that most English ER programs in the region adopted the Graded Readers approach with the Supervised-Modified ER model and course-component integration scheme. The study further discovered that the ER programs varied in terms of duration, number of hours and sessions, target number of words, required number of books read, engagement and enrichment activities, and assessment system. Lastly, the study also found that HEIs in the region experienced challenges in sustaining meaningful, varied, and sufficient resources, changing the negative attitudes of the stakeholders toward extensive reading, providing more sufficient space for ER in English language curriculum, and building a strong culture of reading in the community as a whole. The study concludes with recommendations on how to improve English ER implementation in the Arabian Gulf region.

This study focuses on the problem that the process of building learning habits has not been clearly described. Therefore, we aim to extract the stages of learning habits from log data. We propose a data model to extract stages of learning habits based on the transtheoretical model and apply the model to the learning logs of self-directed extensive reading to demonstrate the process of building learning habits. We uncover the various stages (i.e., the precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance stage) that learners underwent, and different proportions of the maximum stage that they achieved during an 11-month, self-directed, extensive reading program-implemented in a Japanese junior high school. This study contributes to realizing a method to evaluate the learning process, by tracing the stages of learning habits in long-term, and continuous learning activities. Further, this study can help guide the development of evidence-based educational interventions to support the building of lifelong learning habits and self-directed learning, using data-driven methods.

One of the challenges for the successful implementation of extensive reading (ER) programmes, especially in Asian contexts, stems from curricular factors where class time is often prioritised for tasks requiring the presence of a teacher. This paper investigates the role of extensive reading online (ERO), an alternative approach to traditional ER, in enhancing first-year university students’ reading fluency and their attitudes to reading in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Seventeen English learners from a university in Vietnam participated in the 10-week study. The findings revealed that the ERO programme had a generally positive impact on the development of learners’ reading fluency with conservative analysis methods showing increases of around 20% in reading speed. Evidence from qualitative data gathered through questionnaires and interviews showed that there were positive changes in participants’ attitudes toward ER and provided insights into implementing ERO.

Reading is an essential skill for students to perform effectively and successfully in any academic setting. This skill is vital for foreign language learners as it provides chances for students to be exposed to English in input-poor settings. English as a foreign language students’ reading skills in diverse contexts remain substandard due to the lack of necessary input and efficient instructional methodologies. Thus, we review the literature on three common reading instructional approaches: the intensive reading (IR) approach, the extensive reading (ER) approach, and the blended IR and ER approach. This review summarizes the existing literature on IR, ER, and blended IR and ER and provides the critical appraisal of existing scholarly literature from several aspects, including reading approach, research design, research context, data analysis method, and the results of various studies of reading approaches. Finally, we present several future research directions in the field of reading research.

Reading-while-listening may be especially well suited for young language learners because of the multimodality provided in many graded readers aimed at this age group (ie., the presence of oral and written text and illustrations). This study compares a group of students who were exposed to 18 sessions of reading-while-listening with a group exposed to the same number of sessions through reading-only, and a control group. Linguistic outcomes show that students in the two intervention groups obtained higher vocabulary gains than those in the control group but did not present superior scores in reading or listening comprehension or reading fluency. Non-linguistic outcomes showed a clear preference on the part of the students for the reading-while-listening mode of input. The study concludes that the lack of differences in comprehension and fluency gains may be due to the fact that graded readers for children are too short; the input they offer is too limited to make a difference in areas other than attitudes and vocabulary learning.

This study examined the relationship between lexical coverage (i.e., the percentage of known word tokens in a text) and second language (L2) reading comprehension. Several studies have suggested that adequate comprehension occurs between 95% and 98% coverage, but no study has investigated beginning‐level learners reading under the conditions of extensive reading. Therefore, the present study recruited 50 native English‐speaking learners enrolled in a second‐semester Spanish course. Learners chose between 1 of 2 interesting, graded texts and read for general understanding. A yes–no vocabulary test was used to measure knowledge of all the words in the texts, and comprehension of the 10 main events was assessed with cued written recall and multiple‐choice tests. Additionally, to begin to understand how coverage relates to different types of comprehension, a literal and an inferential question was asked of each main event. The results indicated that (a) the relationship between lexical coverage and comprehension was moderate to strong, (b) lexical coverage was more associated with literal comprehension, and (c) 98% coverage would predict the productive recall of 8 of the 10 main events. The findings support the importance of having texts written at the lexical level of beginning L2 learners when engaging in extensive reading.

In recent years, the \"flipped classroom\" teaching model has gradually become popular in college teaching. Through multimedia \"Japanese Extensive Reading\" teaching, we also tried to introduce \"flipped classroom\" into teaching, but found that the premise of introducing this teaching mode is to have high-quality micro-course resources. How to construct the micro-course resource library of the course and apply it well to teaching, combined with the new teaching mode, is the focus of this article.