Reading a Book in English the First Time : Student Attitudes to Literary Discussions and Extensive Reading

Reading a Book in English the First Time : Student Attitudes to Literary Discussions and Extensive Reading

Creators Rebstock Jim

A class of first-year Japanese university students at a prefectural university read one graded reader every week for one semester and supplemented that with stories from a book of simplified short stories. They participated in literary discussions in small groups. At the end of the semester students were asked to write their honest comments about the extensive reading and literary discussions and turn the comments in anonymously. Twelve students out of a class of twenty-five responded. The hypothesis was that a combination of extensive reading of simplified, longer texts (graded readers) and literary discussions of short stories would help improve the students’ reading rates and comprehension and by extension their English language skills. This article only discusses the students’ attitudes to the reading and their own learning.

[ISSN]2189-4825