Suggestions for setting up an EFL extensive reading program

1. Setting up an ER Program?
Here’s what you don’t do
9th ER Seminar
October 1, 2016
Nanzan University
Marcel Van Amelsvoort
Juntendo University
Faculty of International Liberal Arts

2. At a small liberal arts department in a private university in Tokyo…
April, 2015: Department opens, ER program is launched
April, 2016: Department welcomes its 2nd cohort, ER program 2.0 is launched
(See Van Amelsvoort, 2016 for a full description)

3. Number of
books
Number of
students
Percentage of
students
0 books 36 29.3%
1-3 books 49 39.8%
4-6 books 22 17.9%
7-9 books 9 7.3%
10-12 books 1 0.8%
More than 12
books
7 5.7%
(n=123)
2015: After 14 weeks…

4. 2016: After 15 weeks…
Number of
books
Number of
students
Percentage of
students
0 books 0 0%
1-3 books 5 4.2%
4-6 books 14 11.7%
7-9 books 21 17.6%
10-12 books 35 29.4%
More than 12
books
46 38.6%
(n=119)
100,000 target
word count
clear:
90/119
students

5. Number of books Percentage of students
0 books 29.3% → 0%
1-3 books 39.8% → 4.2%
4-6 books 17.9% → 11.7%
7-9 books 7.3% → 17.6%
10-12 books 0.8% → 29.4%
More than 12 books 5.7% → 38.6%
Changes between 2015 and 2016

6. Biases and Mindsets

7. Both!
Vitamin or painkiller?
Eyal, 2014

8. Don’t assume they (will) like
reading (in English)
Few students long texts read regularly
Processing stress of L2 reading
Lack of consistent graded reader quality

9. Don’t assume they (will) know
how to do ER
Previous experience = 0 (Mikami, 2016)
“Reading should be difficult” mindset

10. Don’t assume they (will) do
it, even if they want to
Time / priority management
Lack of consistent graded reader quality

11. Don’t assume they (will) benefit
from it (tangibly)
 Reading speed improvements after 200,000 words
(Beglar and Hunt, 2014)
 TOEIC improvements after 300,000 words
(Nishizawa, Yoshioka, & Fukada, 2010;
Nishizawa & Yoshioka (2016). )

12. appear non-
institutionalized
 Get (or pretend you have) institutional
authority behind your program (Pigott, 2011)

13. make it optional
 Give grades
 Track it—as publically as possible (Burke et al. 2011)

14. separate it from the
syllabus / curriculum
 Position it as an important part of the
program
 Use readings for in-class activities—Additive
ER Plus

15. have fuzzy goals
 Have clear targets for word counts, book
counts, or page counts
 Use points to encourage sufficient reading
 Provide rubrics for scoring

16. let ER “run itself”
 Use the power of the involved coach (Yashima, 2014)
 Use your knowledge of books to create
activities, recommend titles, etc.

17. make it hard to
access
 Place your books close by
 Use XReading if possible

18. trust (all) your
students
 Require quizzes or short book reports (on
Xreading, etc.)

19. Sufficient
engagement
 Requires regular (habitual) behaviors
 Is extremely difficult to achieve given the
cultures of most universities and the culture of
technology now prevalant.

20. University Student Time and Study Allotment in Japan 2007
Weekly out-of-class study hours:
Japanese and American students
Japanese student daily time allotment
4.6 hours per day for classes and studying
Part-time job
Club
Reading, etc.
Thesis
Classes
Class-related studying
Total studying
time
4.6 hours/day
4.5 hours per
day

21. • Beglar, D., & Hunt, A. (2014). Pleasure reading and reading rate gains. Reading in a Foreign Language, 26, 29-49.
• Burke, L., Wang, J., and Sevick, M. (2011) Self-monitoring in weight loss: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of the
academcy of nutrition and dietetics. 11(1), (pp 92–102). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2010.10.008
• Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. New York: Portfolio Penguin.
• Carney, N. (2016). Gauging extensive reading's relationship with TOEIC reading score growth. Journal of Extensive Reading 4(4).
Retrieved Sept. 1, 2016 from http://jalt-publications.org/jer/
• Little, D. (1991). Learner autonomy 1: Definitions, Issues, and Problems. Dublin: Authentik.
• McGonigal, K. (2012). The willpower instinct: How self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. New
York: Avery Penguin.
• Mikami, A. (2016), Students' Attitudes Toward Extensive Reading in the Japanese EFL Context. TESOL J. doi:10.1002/tesj.283
• Nishizawa, H., Yoshioka, T., & Fukada, M. (2010). The impact of a 4-year extensive reading program. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.),
JALT2009 conference proceedings (pp. 632-40). Tokyo: JALT.
• Nishizawa, H. & Yoshioka, T. (2016). Longitudinal case study of a 7-year long ER program. In M. Gobert (Ed.), Proceedings of the
3rd world congress on extensive reading (pp. 28–40). Leanpub. Retrieved Sept. 1, 2016 from
https://leanpub.com/proceedingserwc3
• Pigott, J. D. (2011). Self and motivation in compulsory English classes in Japan. In A. Stewart (Ed.), JALT2010 conference
proceedings (pp. 540-50). Tokyo: JALT.
• Thaler, R., and Sunstein, C. (2009). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New York: Penguin
• Van Amelsvoort, M. (2016). Extensive reading onboarding: Challenges and responses in an optional program. Juntendo Journal
of Global Studies, 1, (pp. 95-106).
• Yashima, T. (2014). Self-regulation and autonomous dependency. In Garold Murray (ed.). Social dimensions of autonomy in
language learning (pp. 60-77).
References

22. Thank you very much
amelsvoort@juntendo.ac.jp
@Marcelva

23. Illustration: Bill Butcher,
https://www.1843magazine.com/f
eatures/the-scientists-who-make-
apps-addictive