The Effects of Extensive Reading on
Reading Comprehension, Reading
Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition
Namhee Suk
Pukyong National University,
Busan, South Korea
Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
pp. 73–89 | doi:10.1002/rrq.152
© 2016 International Literacy Association.
ABSTRACT
Several empirical studies and syntheses of extensive reading have con-cluded
that extensive reading has positive impacts on language learning in second- and
foreign-language settings. However, many of the studies con-tained
methodological or curricular limitations, raising questions about the asserted
positive effects of extensive reading. The present research adds to the limited
set of well-controlled studies by investigating the impact of an extensive reading
approach over a 15-week semester on the reading compre-hension, reading rate,
and vocabulary acquisition of Korean university stu-dents studying English as a
foreign language. A quasi- experimental research design was employed using
four intact classes: two control (n = 88) and two experimental (n = 83). The
control classes received 100-minute intensive reading instruction per week,
whereas the experimental classes received equivalent 70-minute intensive
reading instruction and 30-minute extensive reading instruction per week. A
repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the
experimental classes significantly outperformed the control classes on the
combination of the three dependent variables (i.e., reading comprehension,
reading rate, vocabulary acquisition). Subsequent analyses of variance confirmed
the positive impacts of extensive reading on all three areas. Instructional
implications for extensive reading in second-language curricula are discussed.
R eading ability is an important second-language (L2) skill in academic
settings, where L2 learners are required to read to learn and
complete related tasks (Anderson, 2015; Grabe, 2009;
Rosenfeld, Leung, & Oltman, 2001). Given the importance of
reading in academic contexts, a key issue is how L2 reading ability
can best be developed. Based on research to date, reading ability is
only likely to develop gradually when L2 learners are continually
exposed to abun-dant meaningful input, or extensive reading.
Extensive reading has been proposed as one of the most effective
methods for developing reading abilities because it can expose L2
learners to ample amounts of meaningful input, motivate L2 learners
to read, and lead to the de-velopment of skilled reading abilities (Day
& Bamford, 1998; Grabe, 2009; Krashen, 2004, 2011).
One context in which L2 reading is an important goal, but achieve-
ment is somewhat limited, is in the Korean context of English as a
foreign language (EFL). Students in Korean EFL reading classes are
usually taught to analyze short challenging texts and required to
memorize difficult vocabulary in the texts. This traditional intensive
reading instruction usually requires students to demonstrate their
thorough understanding of texts by translating them line by line.
73
Although intensive reading with explicit instruction is
necessary to develop reading skills (e.g., Anderson,
1999; Paran, 2003), intensive reading-only instruction
limits exposure to the target language and leads to slow
reading. In addition, it is likely that students build
nega-tive attitudes toward target-language reading
because of constant exposure to linguistically
challenging texts, which are not interesting to students.
To cope with the problems that intensive reading-only
instruction cre-ates in Korea and elsewhere, over the
last two decades, other L2 settings have turned to an
extensive reading approach.
Studies of extensive reading have identified
positive impacts of extensive reading on L2 reading
abilities and vocabulary (e.g., Al-Homoud & Schmitt,
2009; Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012; Horst, 2005; Mason
& Krashen, 1997; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006; Webb &
Chang, 2015). However, positive results from these
and other studies on extensive reading seem to be
mitigated due to meth-odological issues, which raise
some questions about the effectiveness of extensive
reading on L2 learning. Therefore, the present study
aims to further investigate the impact of extensive
reading on L2 learning through a carefully controlled
semester-long intervention study, incorporating an
extensive reading component into an already existing
Korean EFL university reading curriculum.
Implicit Learning in L2 Reading
The theoretical motivation behind L2 extensive reading
draws from implicit learning. Implicit learning, accord-
ing to Kintsch (1998, as cited in Grabe, 2009), involves
the incremental growth of habitual associative knowl-
edge, the tacit learning of co-occurrence patterns in the
input we receive. Implicit learning is “acquisition of
knowledge about the underlying structure of a complex
stimulus environment by a process which takes place
naturally, simply, and without conscious operations”
(Ellis, 2008, p. 121). As defined, implicit learning takes
place without awareness of what is learned from gradual
and continual multiple exposures to the input. Implicit
learning plays a central role in learning to read, contrib-
uting to the development of lower level processes in
reading and resulting in automatized processing and
fluency (Grabe, 2009). Nation (2009) has also argued that
L2 reading fluency develops by “making the best use of
what is already known” (p. 2); this argument in-vokes
implicit learning as a way to strengthen and stabi-lize
lexical entries and lexical networks. To have an impact on
reading development, implicit learning re-quires
considerable amounts of repeated input that de-velop
habitual processing of that input. These conditions
develop important L2 reading skills, such as recognizing
74 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
words automatically, parsing syntactic phrases and
clauses, and making meaningful propositions for read-
ing comprehension, which in turn help develop reading
fluency (Grabe, 2009).
With respect to the role of implicit learning in L2
reading fluency development, extensive reading pro-
vides L2 learners with the appropriate conditions
through consistent reading practice with extended
texts. L2 learners can obtain the ability to read longer
texts comfortably at a reasonable rate, a unique ability
that can be developed only through extensive reading.
Additionally, extensive reading provides an ideal set-
ting (i.e., consistent exposure to easy and multiple
read-ing materials for long periods of time) for L2
learners to be constantly exposed to implicit learning
processes. Through extensive reading, L2 learners can
incidentally and incrementally reencounter language
input over time and eventually become automatic and
fluent read-ers (Grabe, 2009; Nation, 2009).
Extensive Reading in L2
An understanding of the concept of extensive reading is
important because the way it is perceived can greatly
af-fect how it is practiced. Grabe and Stoller (2011)
defined extensive reading as an approach “in which
learners read large quantities of material that are within
their linguistic competence” (p. 286). According to
Bamford and Day (2004), “extensive reading is an
approach to language teaching in which learners read a
lot of easy material in the new language” (p. 1). These
two defini-tions share two important concepts: (a) In
extensive reading, learners read large amounts of text;
and (b) in order for learners to read large amounts of
text, reading materials should be within the learners’
reading- proficiency levels (a somewhat more
challenging issue for L2 readers than L1 readers).
Bamford and Day ex-panded the scope of their
definition by elaborating on additional features of
extensive reading, such as self- selection of reading
materials, independent reading, reading for general
meaning, and reading for informa-tion and enjoyment.
Three important issues arise from these discus-
sions, which contribute to a more fine-tuned definition
of extensive reading. One important feature of exten-
sive reading, specifically, reading materials that are
within learners’ linguistic ability, stresses that reading
materials should be easy enough to (a) facilitate effort-
less comprehension without imposing any significant
learning burden and (b) keep learners on the task inde-
pendently. Day and Bamford (1998) stressed that read-
ing within the reader’s linguistic competence can
contribute to developing a sight vocabulary and thus
lead to reading fluency. A second key element of
extensive reading emphasizes the large amount of
meaningful exposure provided in the target language,
which plays an important role in language learning. By
being exposed to large quantities of meaningful reading
materials for an extended period of time, reading flu-
ency and reading comprehension can develop incre-
mentally (Grabe, 2009; Nation, 2009). A third key
feature is that learners in an extensive reading program
usually read self-selected reading materials. This fea-
ture is unique compared with that of other L2 learning
approaches because by selecting their own reading ma-
terials, L2 learners can satisfy their individual reading
needs, such as reading to obtain information or for en-
joyment. Furthermore, individual learners’ linguistic
needs can be satisfied because learners can choose
level- appropriate reading materials. Satisfying the
needs of individual readers can also facilitate L2
learners’ moti-vation to read. These features of
extensive reading re-quire teachers to engage students
in reading large amounts of interesting materials within
their linguistic competence for long periods of time and
consistently motivate students to read (Day & Bamford,
1998; Grabe, 2009; Grabe & Stoller, 2011).
Studies on extensive reading in L2 settings have
shown evidence that it leads to gains in reading
abilities (e.g., Beglar et al., 2012; Elley & Mangubhai,
1983; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Robb & Susser, 1989;
Tanaka & Stapleton, 2007) and vocabulary (e.g., Elley
& Mangubhai, 1983; Horst, 2005; Webb & Chang,
2015). Scholars have argued that extensive reading
should be integrated into a language learning program
because it can yield various kinds of language learning
outcomes (Day & Bamford, 1998; Grabe, 2009;
Macalister, 2010; Nation, 2009).
Despite the growing interest and belief among L2
researchers and teachers in the effectiveness of extensive
reading, it seems that extensive reading has not been widely
implemented in various L2 settings, especially in EFL
settings (Grabe, 2009). L2 teachers seem to be re-luctant to
implement extensive reading in their classes (Macalister,
2010). L2 scholars (e.g., Grabe, 2009; Nation, 2009) have
suggested a number of reasons for why ex-tensive reading is
not widely accepted in L2 settings. One reason is that fluent
reading is often not viewed as an important reading goal in
an L2 reading curriculum. Although fluency is a crucial part
of advanced reading comprehension, fluency is often
overlooked in L2 read-ing courses. Another reason is that the
power of implicit learning opportunities is often not
appreciated. Teachers and students do not feel that students
are learning when they are reading quietly in a classroom
(Grabe 2009; Nation, 2009). A third reason is that having a
strong ex-tensive reading library of L2 graded readers can be
seen as an expensive investment in supplementary resources.
Acknowledging and responding to these challenges
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 75
can help promote extensive reading in L2 settings.
Furthermore, systematically and successfully imple-
mented extensive reading research with effective in-
structional techniques is needed to identify ways in
which extensive reading can be integrated with more
traditional L2 reading instruction.
Research on Extensive Reading
in L2 Settings
A recent meta-analysis of extensive reading research by
Nakanishi (2015) reported that extensive reading has a
large effect on reading rates (Cohen’s d = 0.98) and a
medium effect on reading comprehension (Cohen’s d =
0.63) for group contrasts using pre-and posttests. With
respect to vocabulary, the effect size for pre–post
contrasts is small (Cohen’s d = 0.18). However, this re-
sult needs to be interpreted with caution. First, the link
between vocabulary acquisition and extensive reading
is questionable because the confidence interval in the
results included zero. Second, vocabulary improvement
outcomes may be impacted by the type of vocabulary
gain measure used. In his meta-analysis, Nakanishi re-
ported that the most frequently used type of vocabulary
test was standardized L2 vocabulary tests (e.g., the
Vocabulary Levels Test). Because the Vocabulary
Levels Test, for example, only minimally samples
high- frequency vocabulary bands, the test may not
include vocabulary items from materials that students
have read during extensive reading, and no significant
dif-ference between groups would seem to be an
expected result. More densely sampled vocabulary
measures are needed, especially ones with many high--
frequency vo-cabulary items to generate a useful and
relevant mea-sure of gains made through reading input.
Third, among 34 studies measuring rate,
comprehension, and vocabulary gains that Nakanishi
included in his meta- analysis, 16 did not include
control groups. Without control groups, it is hard to
assert whether extensive reading treatment itself had
any effect.
Krashen (2007) also carried out a meta-analysis on the
effectiveness of extensive reading among adolescents and
young adults in EFL settings, focusing on cloze and
reading comprehension tests. The results of the meta-
analysis for the two outcomes (Cohen’s d = 0.74 and 0.88,
respectively) suggested that extensive reading has a strong
impact on reading comprehension. However, Krashen’s
meta-analysis did not provide information on whether the
effects were based on controlled studies, so it is hard to
determine whether the effects reported were solely
because of extensive reading.
For future extensive reading research, Nakanishi (2015)
provided several recommendations, which are generally
accepted practices in many other meta-analyses:
Extensive reading studies should include detailed de-
scriptive statistics, control groups, longer treatment dura-
tion, younger participants, and larger sample sizes. One
important and more specific point that is not included in
his recommendations is that studies need to include the
amount of reading done by students. Reports on how
much students actually read during treatment can pro-vide
strong evidence for whether students actually en-gaged in
extensive reading during a longer treatment period. Apart
from meta-analyses of extensive reading research
outcomes, a number of key individual L2 studies asserting
the effectiveness of extensive reading need to be given
careful consideration.
One major assertion from extensive reading is the
improvement of reading abilities, that is, reading rate
and/or reading comprehension (Al-Homoud & Schmitt,
2009; Beglar et al., 2012; Bell, 2001; Chang & Millett,
2015; Elley & Mangubhai, 1983; Huffman, 2014;
Iwahori, 2008; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Robb & Susser,
1989). In an early study in an EFL setting, Robb and
Susser carried out a study to examine the effects of ex-
tensive reading on 125 Japanese EFL university stu-dents’
reading ability over a semester. The students in the
experimental group read SRA cards in class and an
average of 641 pages in books written for U.S. teenagers
outside the class. The control group, in contrast, used a
textbook focused on reading skills. The findings showed
that the experimental group made significantly higher
gains on two reading comprehension measures (i.e.,
“understanding the important facts,” “guessing vocabu-
lary from context”; p. 244). The results of reading rate
tests showed that the experimental group read signifi-
cantly faster (a mean of 336.39 seconds for the total pas-
sages) than the control group (a mean of 411.90 seconds
for the total passages). However, there are some major
methodological issues to be considered. As the authors
indicated, the pre- and posttests were not equivalent;
therefore, the students’ improvements in reading com-
prehension and reading rate could involve a testing ef-fect
in addition to the extensive reading treatment. In addition,
as the authors mentioned, the extensive read-ing students
spent more time reading than did the con-trol group,
which might have contributed to significantly different
results. Finally, it is unclear how well the Japanese EFL
students were able to understand the un-simplified texts,
written for U.S. teenagers, for homework.
Bell (2001) conducted a two-semester study with
26 young adult government employees in the Yemen
Arab Republic. The study measured both reading rate
and comprehension in two groups: an intensive reading
group (n = 12) and an extensive reading group (n =
14). The participants in the intensive reading group
read short passages and completed activities focused
on grammar, vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns in the
76 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
passages. The extensive reading group read graded
readers and engaged in several extensive reading activi-
ties. The results revealed that the extensive reading group
showed significant improvements in reading
comprehension and reading rate. Despite the positive
impact of extensive reading on reading comprehension
and reading rate, the study has clear limitations. First, the
amount of reading done by the participants is not
reported. In addition, it is not clear whether the partici-
pants actually comprehended the texts while reading at
their normal speed, because the reading rate tests did not
include reading comprehension questions.
In another EFL study, Al-Homoud and Schmitt
(2009) investigated the effectiveness of extensive read-
ing on L2 reading abilities with 70 male EFL university
students in Saudi Arabia over a 10-week course. The
students in the intensive reading group (n = 23) were
given quizzes and taught new words and reading strate-
gies, whereas the students in the extensive reading
group (n = 47) were given time for silent reading of a
self-selected graded reader and were taught reading
and vocabulary learning strategies. The researchers
found that the extensive reading group showed
significantly larger improvements in their reading rate
(a mean gain of 33.49 words per minute [WPM]) than
the intensive reading group students did (a mean gain
of 26.13 WPM). Both groups showed improvements in
reading comprehension; however, there was no
significant dif-ference between the groups. Although
the findings sup-port the claim that reading fluency can
be developed with extensive reading, comprehension
questions should have followed the reading rate
measures to vali-date whether the students actually
read the passages at their normal speed with good
comprehension. In addi-tion, the authors did not report
data on the amount of reading done by the students in
the extensive reading group, although they tried to
estimate the reading amount.
In a particularly well-controlled study, Beglar et al.
(2012) investigated how pleasure reading affected the
reading rates of 97 Japanese university students over
two semesters (i.e., 28 weeks). Students were divided
into four groups: one intensive reading group and three
pleasure reading groups. The students in the intensive
reading group (n = 17) read a collection of fairy tales in
and outside of class. Pleasure reading group 1 (n = 23)
was also engaged in intensive reading of fairy tales in
class, but they read self-selected graded readers or un-
simplified books outside of class. Pleasure reading
groups 2 (n = 22) and 3 (n = 35) read six graded readers
selected by the teacher and self-selected graded readers
or unsimplified books in class; they also read self-
selected graded readers or unsimplified books outside
of class. The researchers used standard words, defined
as six character spaces each, to calculate the amount of
reading done by the students. The students in the inten-
sive reading group read about 40,000 standard words,
whereas the students in the three pleasure reading
groups read 136,029, 158,993, and 200,170 standard
words, respectively. Results showed that the pleasure
reading groups made greater gains in reading rates than
did the intensive reading group. Furthermore, even
among the pleasure reading groups, the two groups that
read more made greater gains in reading rates than did
the group that read the least. The pleasure reading
groups were also able to maintain their reading com-
prehension as their reading rates increased. One fairly
obvious limitation with this study, however, is that the
treatment groups were given the opportunity for much
more reading input and were expected to read exten-
sively outside of class.
With respect to vocabulary development, it has
been argued that extensive reading promotes L2 learn-
ers’ vocabulary acquisition. Because extensive reading
exposes learners to abundant input, vocabulary acquisi-
tion can occur incidentally and incrementally with re-
peated exposures over time. Studies have identified
positive effects of extensive reading on vocabulary ac-
quisition (e.g., Cho & Krashen, 1994; Horst, 2005;
Pigada & Schmitt, 2006; Webb & Chang, 2015).
However, the findings from the limited number of stud-
ies do not seem to fully support the effectiveness of ex-
tensive reading on vocabulary acquisition because of
methodological issues.
In an English as a second language (ESL) setting,
Horst (2005) investigated 21 adult immigrant ESL stu-
dents’ vocabulary growth in a six-week extensive read-
ing program, using an innovative method to assess
students’ vocabulary growth. To examine the students’
vocabulary growth attributable to the graded readers
that the students read, the researcher used three proce-
dures: electronic scanning of a part of the graded read-
ers, the use of lexical frequency profiling, and the
creation of a 100-item vocabulary checklist test.
Results of pre-and posttests showed that the
participants made a significant mean gain of 17 words
from the measure of the 1,001–2,000 frequency band
words and off-list words. Although the findings seem
to confirm gains in vocabulary through extensive
reading, the participants’ vocabulary growth cannot be
entirely attributed to the effects of extensive reading
because the pre- and post-tests were not identical. In
addition, the absence of a control group also weakens
the findings of the study. This study, like many others,
also does not report the amount of reading done by
participants. Finally, check-list ratings for a vocabulary
test have been criticized for lacking validity.
Pigada and Schmitt’s (2006) case study of a learner
of French also looked at the effectiveness of extensive
reading on lexical knowledge. The participant read four
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 77
graded readers (approximately 30,000 words) over a
month. The study assessed 133 French words (70
nouns and 63 verbs) from the graded readers that the
partici-pant read, using the same pre- and posttests.
The re-searchers investigated the acquisition of three
types of vocabulary knowledge (i.e., word meaning,
spelling, grammatical knowledge) in terms of the
number of word occurrences in the texts. Findings
indicated that the participant gained vocabulary
knowledge of 65% of the target words as a result of
extensive reading, with spelling benefiting the most for
both nouns and verbs. As the researchers mentioned,
this study may be limited because it is a case study
with a highly motivated stu-dent. Another possible
limitation of the study is the short interval between the
pre- and posttests (i.e., one month); the short interval
might have had an impact on test results.
Despite the generally positive reports of extensive
reading on L2 learning, much of the research on exten-
sive reading has had methodological constraints, sug-
gesting that additional well-controlled studies are needed.
Many studies failed to report the amount of reading done
by participants. In addition, several stud-ies had
methodological design limitations (e.g., lack of a control
group, lack of comprehension questions in read-ing rate
tests, different pre- and posttests, short exten-sive reading
periods, a small sample size). Several studies also did not
report the actual instructional
procedures used during the treatment phase. These -
issues limit the asserted positive effects of extensive
reading on reading rates, comprehension, and vocabu-
lary acquisition.
The Present Study
Taking into consideration the methodological issues in-
volved in past research on L2 extensive reading, the
purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of ex-
tensive reading as an integrated curricular component
in an L2 reading development course on different areas
of L2 learning (vocabulary, reading rate, and reading
comprehension improvement in the L2) over a 15--
week semester in a Korean EFL university context. To
date, few studies have investigated the effect of
extensive reading on multiple areas of L2 learning by
including extensive reading as an integrated component
within an existing curriculum. Most studies
investigated the effect of extensive reading by focusing
on one or two areas of L2 learning and used the entire
class time for extensive reading treatments. In contrast,
this study measures the effects of extensive reading
while still maintaining a commonly used L2 learning
curriculum, thus adding a measure of ecological
validity to the study.
 One research question was investigated for the cur-
rent study: Is there a difference in Korean EFL univer-
sity students’ vocabulary, reading rate, and reading
comprehension improvement in English between inte-
grated extensive reading classes and solely intensive
reading classes after a 15-week semester?
Methods
Participants
Participants of the study were 171 Korean EFL univer-
sity students enrolled in four 2-credit elective English
reading classes at a national university in southern
Korea. There were 88 students in two control classes
and 83 students in two experimental classes. The par-
ticipants’ ages ranged from 18 to 26 years old, with a
mean age of 20 years old (standard deviation [SD] =
1.64 years) in the control classes and a mean age of
21.25 years old (SD = 2.06 years) in the experimental
classes. The participants were 87 males and 84 females
(42 males and 46 females in the control classes and 45
males and 38 females in the experimental classes)
across all four year levels of the university, majoring in
various subjects, such as business administration,
chemistry, engineering, English literature and
linguistics, interna-tional commerce, law, marine
biology, nursing, and physics.
Approximately 40% of the participants in the four
classes were taking other English classes at the time of the
study. More specifically, 38 students (43%) in the control
classes and 30 students (36%) in the experimen-tal classes
were taking a total of 168 course hours (mean [M] = 4.42
course hours, SD = 2.77 course hours) and 135 course
hours (M = 4.50 course hours, SD = 2.74 course hours) of
other English classes per week, respec-tively, during the
semester, showing relatively equal ac-cess to other English
classes during the treatment (although the total number of
additional course hours favored the control classes).
According to the results of the pretests measuring reading
comprehension, reading rate, and vocabulary, the
participants’ English reading- proficiency levels seemed to
range from high-beginning to advanced, but the majority
seemed to be at high- beginning to intermediate levels. I
was the instructor of the four reading classes.
Study Design
I employed a quasi-experimental research design using
four intact English reading classes: two control and two
experimental. The two control classes were designated as
intensive reading classes; the two experimental classes
were designated as extensive reading classes. The
participants in the two control classes received
78 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
intensive English reading instruction, centered on an ESL
course book, Real Reading 3: Creating an Authentic
Reading Experience (Bonesteel, 2011), which contains 12
units with high-interest topics, including supersti-tions,
neuroscience, sports, magic, and technology. Each unit
contains two chapters; each chapter has one reading
passage with various activities centered around
previewing the topic, introducing target words, check-ing
reading comprehension, consolidating target-word
knowledge, and practicing strategies for learning vo-
cabulary and reading. The first 30 minutes of each class
that were different from the experimental classes con-
sisted of reviewing vocabulary covered in the previous
class, taking a vocabulary quiz, and analyzing and
translating challenging sentence structures that ap-peared
in the text covered. The remaining 70 minutes of the class
were composed of several activities, including prereading,
during-reading, and postreading activities focused on
reading strategies (e.g., making predictions, previewing
texts, finding main ideas and details, mak-ing inferences)
that were introduced in each chapter. Other activities
centered around teaching new words identified in the
textbook chapter, translating passages into Korean,
analyzing grammatical structures, and an-swering
comprehension and vocabulary questions.
As out-of-class assignments, the participants were
encouraged to study for vocabulary quizzes on the new
vocabulary for the next class and were required to re-read
the reading passages covered in class and answer
questions that I provided. The reading assignment
questions included a few critical reading questions and/ or
a summary writing activity based on the passages
covered. I collected students’ homework assignments at
each class session and returned the graded homework in
the next class. The participants received 25% of their
course grade from the vocabulary quizzes and the read-
ing assignments. Homework assigned in the course was
expected to require two to three hours of time outside of
class each week, matching the amount of homework time
per week expected from the experimental classes.
The participants in the two experimental classes had
the same amount of in-class time (i.e., 100 minutes a
week) as the control classes had, using the same ESL
course book. The participants received 70 minutes of
intensive reading instruction that was similar to that re-
ceived by the control classes to satisfy existing univer-sity
curricular expectations. The remaining 30 minutes of
class time that distinguished the experimental classes
from the control classes were dedicated to extensive
reading activities at the beginning of each class session.
That is, the participants in the experimental classes did
not engage in a few activities that the students in the
control classes completed. Five extensive reading activi-
ties were chosen and implemented to facilitate the par-
ticipants’ reading in and out of class: scaffolded silent
reading, writing a paper in three minutes, examining
book blurbs, listening to a story and writing a response,
and MReader (mreader.org; see Robb, 2015), which is
a database of online quizzes for graded readers. See
Appendix A (available as supporting information for
the online version of this article) for details on these
five types of activities.
To provide L2 students with easy and enjoyable ex-
tensive reading experiences, approximately 350 graded
readers, with a total of 155 titles, were available for the
two extensive reading classes. Various genres among the
graded readers were available, including thrillers,
romances, murder mysteries, human interest stories, and
informational books. The levels of the readers ranged
from 800 to 3,500 most frequent headwords (based on
publishers’ word frequency lists). The partici-pants read
self-selected graded readers for 15 minutes during the
scaffolded silent reading at the beginning of each class. I
monitored the participants’ reading and provided
assistance if they encountered difficulties in
understanding the books. The remaining 10–15 min-utes
after the scaffolded silent reading was used for other
extensive reading activities (i.e., writing a paper in three
minutes, examining book blurbs, listening to a story and
writing response) to check the participants’ reading
comprehension and engagement in class and/or to
increase motivation to read by introducing interest-ing
books. In order for the participants to be account-able for
their out-of-class extensive reading assignment, they were
required to take a quiz on the book that they finished
reading on MReader. The participants were encouraged to
reach the goal of reading 200,000 words by the end of the
semester to receive 25% of their course grade from the
extensive reading assignment. No other out-of-class
assignments apart from the extensive read-ing assignment
(reading 200,000 words) were given to the participants
throughout the semester. It was ex-pected that students in
both groups thus spent equal amounts of time (about two
to three hours per week) for their out-of-class
assignments, which was verified through personal
communications with several stu-dents from each group.
It is important to note that the time spent for the
assignments may have varied de-pending on individual
students’ reading-proficiency
TABLE 1
In-and Out-of-Class Reading Instruction and Requirements
Classes In-class
Intensive reading • Intensive reading instruction using a textbook
(100 minutes)
Extensive reading • Intensive reading instruction using a textbook
(70 minutes)
• Extensive reading instruction using graded readers
(30 minutes)
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 79
levels. Table 1 shows in- and out-of-class reading in-
struction and reading requirements for the control and
experimental classes.
In this study, I taught all four classes to add treat-ment
control and minimize inaccurate delivery of treat-ment.
To maintain validity of the extensive and intensive
reading treatments and ensure that they were implemented
in the four classes objectively and fairly as planned over
time, several fidelity checks were imple-mented. As one
treatment fidelity check, I tried to ad-here to treatment
protocols as much as possible by following carefully
written lesson plans. I also made a checklist of activities
that were supposed to be done in each class, and used the
checklist to verify that a treat-ment was implemented as
intended. In addition, I kept a notebook of my
observations of each class after each class session,
reflecting on adherence to the lesson plans and absence of
specific teaching techniques because of unexpected
situations. I used these fidelity checks to deliver equal and
fair instructional treatments to the groups over time to
minimize researcher bias.
Data Collection
Instruments
I developed two tests to investigate the effect of exten-sive
reading on participants’ reading comprehension, reading
rate, and vocabulary improvement after the 15- week
semester. To measure participants’ reading com-
prehension and rate, I used the same passages for the
reading comprehension test and the reading rate test. I
chose four reading passages from two different ESL
reading textbooks (Mikulecky & Jeffries, 2003, 2005) by
considering topic familiarity, text type, and text diffi-culty.
First, I considered participants’ familiarity with the topics
of the texts because overly unfamiliar topics might affect
participants’ reading comprehension and/ or reading rate.
Second, I considered text type carefully. Because most of
the graded readers that the participants would be reading
were either stories or informational texts, I selected two
narrative and two expository pas-sages. Last, I considered
text difficulty as an important factor for text selection.
Difficulty of texts was deter-mined by considering the
levels of the graded readers
Out-of-class
• Intensive reading of a textbook and vocabulary
review (two to three hours)
• Extensive reading of graded readers (two to three
hours)
that the participants would be reading during the 15-week
semester. I assumed that most participants in the
experimental classes would be reading graded read-ers
with a Lexile measure of 600L–700L by the middle of the
semester. Therefore, I selected two reading pas-sages with
Lexile measures of 680L and 710L, respec-tively, for the
reading comprehension and reading rate tests. For the
remaining two reading passages, I selected two texts with
Lexile measures of 920L and 930L, re-spectively, because
of the anticipated mixed-level par-ticipants in the control
and experimental classes. I also checked the lexical
coverage of the selected passages by using
VocabProfile/BNC-20 on the Compleat Lexical Tutor
website (www.lextutor.ca) to confirm that the dif-ficulty
of the vocabulary did not exceed the level of the graded
readers that the target students might read.
Table 2 provides the results of the readability statis-
tics and lexical coverage of the four texts. The resulting
measure was a 32-item reading comprehension and rate
test (eight multiple-choice questions per passage; see
Appendix B, which is available as supporting informa-
tion for the online version of this article). The test was
piloted at three different times: with two native speak-
ers of English, with 12 intermediate ESL students, and
with 10 advanced Korean EFL university students. I
made minor revisions based on the results of the pilot
tests.
To test words that were likely to appear in the read-
ing materials that each participant read, I adapted the
vocabulary test for the present study from the approach
used by Horst (2005). The vocabulary test covered
words from all 155 graded readers available for the
par-ticipants. The development of the vocabulary test
was carried out in three steps: scanning the 155 graded
readers and building a graded reader text corpus, creat-
ing word lists for each graded reader through lexical
frequency profiling, and developing a vocabulary test
based on the combined word lists of the 155 graded
readers.
TABLE 2
Readability Statistics and Lexical Coverage of the Reading Texts From Which the Passages Were Selected
Passage length:
Text Text type Number of words
“Becoming a Successful Narrative 403
Writer”
“Animals and Language” Expository 400
“Going Her Own Way” Narrative 508
“The Iceman” Expository 514
Note. The first and second texts are from Reading Power: Reading for Pleasure, Comprehension Skills, Thinking Skills, Reading Faster (3rd ed.), by
B.S. Mikulecky and L. Jeffries (2005), White Plains, NY: Pearson. The third and fourth texts are from More Reading Power: Reading for Pleasure,
Comprehension Skills, Thinking Skills, Reading Faster (2nd ed.), by B.S. Mikulecky and L. Jeffries (2003), White Plains, NY: Pearson.
80 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
First, I scanned, proofread, and edited each graded
reader for wrong characters that the optical character
recognition software could not recognize while scan-ning.
In total, I built a corpus comprising the texts of the 155
graded readers (with a total of 2,673,449 words). After
building the entire graded reader text corpus, I entered the
text file for each graded reader into the Compleat Lexical
Tutor website to identify words in different frequency
ranges in the text. Then, I exam-ined each output file per
graded reader to select word candidates for a word list to
be used when creating the vocabulary test. Selection
criteria for the words to be placed on the lists are as
follows. Fifteen words were selected from the 2,000-word
band (word frequency from 1,001 to 2,000) per graded
reader as candidates for a word list to be used; both the
frequency (i.e., the number of occurrences) and the part of
speech of a word were considered for word selection. In
terms of frequency, a word (including a member of the
family) with more than five occurrences in the 1,001–
2,000 words (2,000-word lexical coverage) was included
in the word lists. For example, if a word (e.g., repeat) oc-
curred more than five times in a text in different forms,
such as repeat (one instance), repeated (three instances),
and repeats (two instances), I included the word in the
word lists. The parts of speech that qualified for inclu-
sion on the word lists were limited to nouns, verbs, ad-
jectives, and adverbs because they are the most frequently
distributed lexical word classes across regis-ters (Biber,
Johansson, Leech, Conrad, & Finegan, 1999). I repeated
the same procedure to select word candidates for the
frequency ranges of 2,001–3,000 words (3,000-word
lexical coverage) and 3,001–20,000 words (4,000+-word
lexical coverage). Words that ap-peared more than three
times, with some exceptions, in the 3,000-and 4,000+--
word ranges qualified for in-clusion. Fifteen word
candidates were selected from the 2,000-and 3,000-word
lexical coverage results and 10 words from the 4,000+--
word lexical coverage results.
Readability: Lexile Lexical coverage
measure (Flesch–
Kincaid grade level) 2,000 words 3,000 words 4,000+ words
680L (5.7) 93.93 94.54 95.86
710L (5.9) 95.54 97.27 99.51
920L (8.7) 92.89 95.46 97.05
930L (7.3) 94.01 97.10 98.64
In total, I selected 40 word candidates per graded
reader for the word lists.
To develop a 120-item vocabulary test, first, I en-
tered the entire set of words from the word lists—that is,
(40 word candidates per graded reader) × (155 graded
reader titles) = 6,200 words—into the Compleat Lexical
Tutor website. Then, I selected a total of 120 words (i.e.,
40 word items per range) with high frequency in the three
ranges (i.e., 2,000, 3,000, 4,000+) from the output file for
the vocabulary test. Finally, the vocabulary test required
participants to write definitions for the 120 se-lected
words in their native language (see Appendix C, which is
available as supporting information for the on-line version
of this article).
Procedures
The reading comprehension and rate test and the vo-
cabulary test were administered as pre-and posttests.
Prior to administering the reading comprehension and
rate test, I instructed the participants on the test proce-
dures. Afterward, the participants did a practice test
with a short text (about 100 words) as an example to
ensure that they understood the test procedures.
Following the practice test, the participants took the
actual test. To begin, I distributed the first passage to
the participants. I directed them to open their packets to
the passage and start reading at the same time.
Simultaneously, I turned on the online stopwatch pro-
jected on the whiteboard. After reading the first pas-
sage, the participants each recorded their finishing time
indicated by the online stopwatch on the test. Then,
they turned the page over, answered the compre-
hension questions, and recorded their finishing time for
the comprehension questions. After the partici-pants
were done with the first passage, I told them to place
their packets with the cover page facing up on their
desks. Then, I distributed the next passage. The same
testing procedures were repeated three more times,
once per passage.
TABLE 3
Description of Variables in the Study
Type of variables Variable Operationalization
Dependent Reading rate Time spent on reading four passages
Reading Scores on the reading comprehension and
comprehension rate test
Vocabulary Scores on the vocabulary test
Independent Group Experimental and control
Time Pre-and posttreatment
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 81
The reliability estimate was .65 for the reading com-
prehension test (k = 32). In terms of the vocabulary test,
before the administration of the pre- and posttests, I read
the directions aloud to the participants to ensure their
understanding of the directions. The reliability es-timate
was .96 for the vocabulary test (k = 120). To en-sure that I
scored the vocabulary test (i.e., writing definitions)
consistently and fairly, I rescored it two more times at
approximately two-month intervals; little difference in the
results from the three scoring times was found. The lower
reliability coefficient of the read-ing comprehension test,
when compared with the reli-ability of the vocabulary
test, was due to both the lower number of data points and
the more complex array of factors influencing
comprehension than discrete vocab-ulary items. A
vocabulary test with 120 discrete items is almost always
going to be highly reliable, assuming that the vocabulary
assessed is within an appropriate range of student
knowledge. Table 3 describes the variables included in the
study.
Data Analysis
To test the effects of extensive reading on various areas
of L2 learning after the 15-week semester, I ran a
repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance
(MANOVA) with group (i.e., extensive reading, inten-
sive reading) and time (i.e., pretest, posttest) as the in-
dependent variables and the three test scores as
dependent variables (i.e., reading comprehension, read-
ing rate, vocabulary). I conducted further analyses on
the three dependent variables using analyses of vari-
ance (ANOVAs). I checked assumptions of the
MANOVA and found them satisfactory.
Preliminary Data Analysis
It was essential to investigate how much the partici-pants
in the two extensive reading classes read over the 15--
week semester to validate the effects of the extensive
Scale of
Range of scores measurement
Number of words read Continuous
per minute
0–32 Continuous
0–120 Continuous
1/2 Categorical
1/2 Categorical
TABLE 4
Descriptive Statistics for Average Amount Read by the Two Extensive Reading Classes
Extensive reading class 1 (n = 45) Extensive reading class 2 (n = 38) Total (n = 83)
Number of words read

Mean 136,667.16 171,718.16 152,714.60

Standard deviation 74,354.17 81,003.25 78,967.72

Median 147,962.00 201,552.50 190,014.00

Minimum 8,691.00 9,614.00 8,691.00

Maximum 238,997.00 304,651.00 304,651.00

Skewness −0.40 −0.54 −.38

Kurtosis −1.44 −0.86 −1.12

Number of books read

Mean 9.22 11.03 10.05

Standard deviation 4.40 4.62 4.56

Median 10.00 12.00 11.00

Minimum 1.00 1.00 1.00

Maximum 16.00 18.00 18.00

Skewness −0.45 −0.56 −0.44

Kurtosis −1.01 −0.83 −0.93

reading treatment implemented in this study. The num-
ber of words (books) read is reported based on the re-
ports from MReader and individual participants’
reading record charts kept during the semester. As
shown in Table 4, the participants in the two extensive
reading classes read a mean of 152,714 words (SD =
78,967 words) during the semester. Regarding the
number of books read, these two classes read a mean of
10 books (SD = 4.56 books) during the semester. In
terms of the number of different levels of graded
readers read by these two classes, in general, most of
the partici-pants (90%) read graded readers with 800–
2,000 head-word levels and read fairly similar levels of
graded readers without much variation.
Results
The research question asked whether there is a differ-ence
in reading comprehension, reading rate, and vo-cabulary
improvement between the extensive reading classes and
the intensive reading classes after a 15-week semester.
Table 5 presents descriptive statistics for the pre- and
posttest scores for reading comprehension, reading rate,
and vocabulary acquisition between the two groups. In the
pretests, for reading comprehension, there was very little
difference in scores between the
intensive reading (M = 25.91, SD = 3.43) and extensive
reading (M = 25.87, SD = 2.85) groups. However, in the
prereading rate test, there was a larger difference be-
tween the two groups. The students in the extensive
reading classes read a mean of 133.29 WPM (SD = 29.83
WPM), whereas those in the intensive reading classes
read a mean of 147.76 WPM (SD = 28.47 WPM), indi-
cating that the students in the intensive reading classes
read 14.47 more WPM. In the vocabulary test, the mean
score of the extensive reading classes (M = 51.63, SD =
18.90) was also lower than that of the intensive reading
classes (M = 54.22, SD = 18.79).
In the posttests, however, the extensive reading
classes produced higher mean scores for all three tests
than the intensive reading classes did. In the reading
comprehension test, the difference in the mean score
between the two groups was relatively small, with a mean
of 27.14 (SD = 2.54) for the extensive reading classes and
25.83 (SD = 3.24) for the intensive reading classes. In
terms of reading rate, the participants in both groups
improved their reading rates. However, the participants in
the extensive reading classes read more WPM (M =
168.42 WPM, SD = 38.72 WPM) than those in the
intensive reading classes read (M = 163.29 WPM, SD =
33.87 WPM), showing that the participants in the
extensive reading classes (a mean gain of 35.13 WPM)
improved more than those in the intensive reading

82 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

TABLE 5
Descriptive Statistics for Pre-and Posttest Scores by the Extensive Reading (n = 83) and Intensive Reading
(n = 88) Classes (N = 171)
Reading comprehension (k = 32) Reading ratea Vocabulary (k = 120)
Extensive Intensive Extensive Intensive Extensive Intensive
reading reading reading reading reading reading

Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest

Mean 25.87 27.14 25.91 25.83 133.29 168.42 147.76 163.29 51.63 64.70 54.22 57.63

Standard 0.31 0.28 0.37 0.35 3.28 4.25 3.04 3.61 2.07 2.02 2.03 2.06
error

Standard 2.85 2.54 3.43 3.24 29.83 38.72 28.47 33.87 18.90 18.41 18.79 19.30
deviation

Median 26.00 27.00 26.00 26.00 127.77 164.17 147.18 161.50 52.00 67.00 55.00 58.00

Minimum 17.00 20.00 15.00 17.00 65.00 74.00 94.00 98.00 12.00 22.00 8.00 6.00

Maximum 31.00 31.00 32.00 32.00 225.00 268.00 238.00 253.00 98.00 105.00 105.00 108.00

Skewness −0.61 −0.44 −0.72 −0.66 0.75 0.50 0.49 0.45 0.09 −0.35 −0.08 −0.06

Kurtosis 0.37 −0.29 0.71 −0.02 1.14 0.19 0.38 0.01 −0.58 −0.50 0.70 0.40
aFour reading passages were used to assess words read per minute.

classes (a mean gain of 15.53 WPM). For the vocabulary
test, the extensive reading classes also gained more words
(M = 64.70 words, SD = 18.41 words, a mean gain of
13.07 words) than the intensive reading classes gained (M
= 57.63 words, SD = 19.30 words, a mean gain of 3.41
words). Additionally, when I analyzed the data to find the
effect of taking other English classes during the study,
results showed that those who did not take other English
classes outperformed those did, indicating that taking
other English classes did not have any influence on the
outcome of the study.
To determine the impact of extensive reading on
reading comprehension, reading rates, and vocabulary,
I used a repeated-measures MANOVA. As shown in
Table 6, the analysis confirmed a significant multivari-
ate interaction effect between group and time, Wilks’s
Ʌ = .61, F(3, 167) = 35.76, p = .000, partial ƞ2 = .39,
Cohen’s d = 0.80. There was also a significant
multivari-ate effect for time, pre-and posttests, Wilks’s
Ʌ = .31, F(3, 167) = 123.85, p = .000, partial ƞ2 = .69,
Cohen’s d = 1.49.
As follow-up tests to the repeated-measures
MANOVA, I conducted ANOVA tests on the three
dependent variables. Prior to performing follow-up
ANOVA tests, I tested the homogeneity of variance
assumption for all three dependent variables at pre- and
posttests. The results showed that all of the Levene’s
tests were not statistically significant (p > .05);
therefore, the homogeneity of variance as-sumption was
satisfied. Table 7 presents univariate ANOVA results for
within-groups contrasts. There was a significant
interaction between group and time for reading
comprehension, F(1, 169) = 15.32, p = .000, partial ƞ2 =
.08; the effect size is relatively small (Cohen’s d =
0.30). There was also a significant inter-action between
group and time for reading rate, F(1,
169) = 26.27, p = .000, partial ƞ2 = 0.14; the effect size
is small to medium (Cohen’s d = 0.39). The last sig-
nificant interaction effect was found in the vocabu-lary
test, F(1, 169) = 82.29, p = .000, partial ƞ2 = .33,
showing a large effect on vocabulary acquisition
(Cohen’s d = 0.70).
As shown in Figure 1, the results indicate that for
reading comprehension, the two groups did not per-
form differently at the outset. However, the extensive
reading classes showed a significant improvement in
reading comprehension at the posttest, whereas results
do not show any real improvement for the intensive

TABLE 6
Multivariate Analysis of Variance Results of Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary (N = 171)
Source Wilks’s Λ F Hypothetical df Error df p η2
Within time .31 123.85 3 167 .000 .69

Interaction (Group × Time) .61 35.76 3 167 .000 .39

The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 83
TABLE 7
Univariate Analysis of Variance Results (Within-Groups Contrasts)

Source Variable Sum of squares df Mean square F p η2

Interaction Reading 39.31 1 39.31 15.32 .000 .08
(Group × Time) comprehension

Reading rate 8,201.24 1 8,201.24 26.27 .000 .14

Vocabulary 1,991.90 1 1,991.90 82.29 .000 .33

Error (time) Reading 433.54 169 2.57

comprehension

Reading rate 52,757.05 169 312.17

Vocabulary 4,090.84 169 24.21

FIGURE 1 FIGURE 3
Reading Comprehension Mean Scores Across Group Vocabulary Mean Scores Across Group and Time
and Time

more dramatic improvement than shown by the inten-

FIGURE 2 sive reading classes.
Reading Rate Mean Scores Across Group and Time

reading classes. Regarding reading rate and vocabulary, as
indicated in Figures 2 and 3, although the mean scores of
the extensive reading classes were lower than those of the
intensive reading classes at the outset, the extensive
reading classes significantly outperformed the intensive
reading classes at the posttests, showing
Discussion
Results from the repeated-measures MANOVA con-
firmed the effectiveness of extensive reading as an inte-
grated part of the existing reading curriculum on various
areas of language learning (reading comprehen-sion,
reading rate, and vocabulary acquisition). Unlike the
results of Nakanishi’s (2015) meta-analysis of exten-sive
reading, which showed no significant difference in
vocabulary improvement, the most noticeable gain from
extensive reading was in vocabulary acquisition. Two
possible reasons for the experimental groups’ im-
provement in vocabulary acquisition can be suggested.
Consistent exposure to graded readers over time seemed
to play a crucial role in facilitating students’ incidental
vocabulary acquisition (Horst, 2005; Nation, 2013; Webb
& Chang, 2015). In the process of reading multi-ple
graded readers, the participants were exposed to many of
the same/similar high-frequency English

84 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

words repeatedly; therefore, these multiple exposures
may have contributed to incidental acquisition of new
English vocabulary and reinforcement of partially
known vocabulary knowledge.
A second possible reason for the large effect of ex-
tensive reading on vocabulary may be the fairly robust
and reliable vocabulary measure drawing on 155 graded
readers and the broad sampling of high- frequency
vocabulary. The measure developed for this study
assessed more directly the words that the par-ticipants
might have encountered from reading graded readers.
Few studies have investigated vocabulary learning
through extensive reading by focusing on words that
participants most likely encountered while reading
self-selected graded readers. Studies that have
investigated the effects of extensive reading on vocab-
ulary acquisition used vocabulary tests, such as the
Vocabulary Levels Test, to assess the effects of exten-
sive reading on vocabulary growth (e.g., Al-Homoud
& Schmitt, 2009; Lee, 2007; Yamamoto, 2011).
However, these types of vocabulary tests are not sensi-
tive measures of vocabulary growth from extensive
reading and may fail to represent the words learned
from extensive reading. Those tests probably were not
able to measure the effect of extensive reading accu-
rately because they only sparsely sample word knowl-
edge at different frequency bands and include
numerous words that participants who read exten-
sively might not have encountered through extensive
reading. As a result, the researchers’ findings did not
show the effect of extensive reading on vocabulary ac-
quisition. The vocabulary test designed for this study,
which incorporated words that appeared consistently in
multiple vocabulary bands across 155 graded read-ers,
seems to be a more effective way to assess students’
incidental vocabulary learning through extensive
reading.
One possible criticism of these results is that stu-dents
in the extensive reading group gained more in vo-cabulary
knowledge than the control groups did because the words
assessed were the same as those to which the extensive
reading students were exposed. This is true to a certain
extent. However, any individual student read, on average,
only 10 of the 155 books used to generate the higher
frequency words used for assessment. Perhaps more
importantly, the large majority of words used for
assessment purposes were very frequent words in the
English language (being among the 3,000 most frequent
lexical words in English). A goal for any academic L2
reading curriculum should be to expose students to as
many of these words as possible and have students learn
as many of them as possible. It is likely that the control
groups were also exposed to many of these very high-
frequency words but not as often. The extensive reading
groups demonstrated that an added extensive reading
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 85
component to the reading course can provide high-
frequency vocabulary input more effectively.
With respect to reading rate, constant exposure to
large amounts of level-appropriate reading input, which
are within the participants’ reading-proficiency level,
throughout the semester also likely enabled rate im-
provement among extensive reading participants, con-
firming Beglar et al.’s (2012) findings. Grabe (2009)
pointed out that “the ability to read extended texts for
long periods of time is a hallmark of fluent reading” (p.
311); the participants in the extensive reading classes in
the present study seemed to have developed their
ability to read long texts by reading easy reading
materials ex-tensively over time, which could lead to
improved read-ing rates.
In this study, the use of graded readers as reading
materials likely contributed to the significant gain dif-
ference in reading rate between the extensive and inten-
sive reading classes. Graded readers, specifically
written for English learners, can play a crucial role in
improve-ment in L2 learners’ reading rates (see also
Beglar & Hunt, 2014; Beglar et al., 2012). Reading
level- appropriate graded readers consistently over a
semester made it possible for the participants to read
without stopping and provided the participants with
regular reading fluency practice over time. As a result
of con-stant reading fluency practice with level--
appropriate graded readers, the participants seemed to
have built English reading confidence, resulting in
improved reading rates.
With respect to reading comprehension results, there
was a significant difference in reading compre-hension
between the two groups. Although the impact of extensive
reading on reading comprehension turned out to be
relatively small (Cohen’s d = 0.30), it is essen-tial to note
that the extensive reading participants, with 30% less
direct intensive reading comprehension instruction,
significantly outperformed the intensive reading
participants. Previous studies that used the
entire class time for extensive reading (e.g., Beglar et
al., 2012; Huffman, 2014) failed to show a significant
difference between experimental and control groups in
reading comprehension. The present study, which
incorporated less than one third of the class time in -
existing classes for extensive reading, demonstrated a
significant difference in the participants’ reading com-
prehension. A possible reason for why this study
showed a significant gain compared with previous
studies may be the overall amount of reading done by
participants in a given period of time. The extensive
reading participants in the current study read a mean of
152,714 words in a 15-week semester, whereas the
three pleasure reading group participants in Beglar et
al.’s study read a mean of 165,064 standard words in a
28-week academic year. It seems that more reading in
a shorter period of time may have contributed to the
significant effect in the present study.
One other possible reason for the significant effect
on reading comprehension is the nature of longitudinal
reading comprehension development itself. Reading
comprehension abilities comprise “(a) syntactic knowl-
edge and processing skills; (b) reading strategies that
support comprehension; (c) the integration of reading
strategies and higher-level processing to develop the
strategic reader; (d) the role of discourse knowledge;
and (e) the centrality of vocabulary knowledge”
(Grabe, 2009, p. 195). Grabe pointed out that a
combination of these components influences reading
comprehension abilities and the development of
strategic readers. The present 15-week extensive
reading study may have been long enough in duration
and reading intensity to pro-duce a significant effect.
In sum, the results from this repeated-measures
MANOVA study help address a real gap in the litera-
ture, which is that impacts of extensive reading on
various areas of language learning have not generally
been sufficiently demonstrated in ecologically valid
contexts. The findings reported here demonstrate that a
15-week, semester-long extensive reading routine had a
positive impact on a combination of vocabulary
acquisition, reading rate, and reading comprehension.
This study provides persuasive empirical evidence that
a systematically designed extensive reading ap-proach,
as part of a regular reading course, played a crucial role
in improving Korean EFL university stu-dents’
vocabulary acquisition, reading rate, and read-ing
comprehension.
Implications
Although extensive reading has gained in popularity in
several ESL/EFL settings, it has not been widely prac-
ticed in L2 contexts, especially in EFL settings, for sev-
eral reasons: a limited emphasis on fluent reading, the
cost of providing many reading materials, and the lack of
teacher and administrator awareness about the im-
portance of extensive reading (Grabe, 2009). In this study,
most extensive reading was done outside of class
TABLE 8
Suggestions for Reading Goals, Based on One Graded Reader per Week for a 15-Week Extensive Reading Program
Book level (number of headwords) a Approximate number of words in a graded reader
Elementary (401–800)
Intermediate (801–1,500)
Upper intermediate (1,501–2,400)
Advanced (2,401–3,600)
aBook levels (headwords) are based on The Extensive Reading Foundation Graded Readers Scale (Extensive Reading Foundation, 2009 b). bExtensive Reading
Foundation. (2009). The Extensive Reading Foundation Graded Readers Scale. Retrieved from http://www.erfoundation.org/scale/ERF_Scale.pdf.
86 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
as a course requirement. The small addition of an ex-
tensive reading component to the existing reading cur-
riculum argues for the effectiveness of extensive reading
in L2 settings. Five important instructional implica-tions
for the successful implementation of extensive reading in
L2 reading classes can be suggested from this study for
teachers to help students read consistently.
Setting a Clear Reading Goal
When implementing an extensive reading component
in L2 reading classes, a specific reading goal needs to
be given to students to facilitate more reading in and
out-side of class. In this study, a 200,000-word reading
goal was set, assuming that students would read one
graded reader per week, as the literature suggests (Day
& Bamford, 1998; Nation & Wang, 1999), and that
they would read longer (and more advanced) graded
readers as the semester progressed.
Setting a specific reading goal for a class requires
deciding what an appropriate amount of reading for a
semester is. Oftentimes, L2 teachers are not sure about
how much students should read in order for extensive
reading to be effective. In addition, L2 teachers typi-cally
do not think about how many words must be cov-ered.
Although one graded reader per week is a good
recommendation, it may not be concrete enough when the
number of words in a graded reader can vary depending
on the level of graded readers and the pub-lishers;
reluctant L2 readers might want to read very short books.
Setting a reading goal based on the num-ber of words read
can provide a more accurate way to determine the level of
effort needed to engage in exten-sive reading. Table 8
suggests possible reading goals based on the number of
words to be read across differ-ent levels of graded readers
for a 15-week extensive reading program. The specified
reading goal will vary depending on students’ reading
proficiency levels. For example, for students at an
elementary reading level who start to read a graded reader
with 4,000 running words, setting a goal of reading at
least 60,000 words over a 15-week semester would be
plausible. Students at more advanced English levels need
higher course goals. In general, it might be necessary for
teachers to set a
Suggested reading goals
4,000–8,000 60,000–120,000
8,000–20,000 120,000–300,000
15,000–25,000 225,000–375,000
20,000–35,000 300,000–525,000
reading goal reasonably high, considering their stu-
dents’ reading levels, to encourage more reading.
Including Extensive Reading Activities
Specific extensive reading activities should be incorpo-
rated into an extensive reading program to sustain and
increase students’ motivation to read (e.g., Bamford &
Day, 2004; Jacobs & Farrell, 2012; Suk, 2016). This
study included five extensive reading activities, and
partici-pants, based on interview information,
perceived the activities as helpful in terms of
motivating them to read more graded readers. Teachers
can incorporate exten-sive reading activities that
introduce interesting reading materials to students,
provide students with time to read in class, and hold
students accountable for their reading to facilitate their
reading engagement in and outside of class.
Reading and Becoming Familiar
With the Books in the Class
Library
Extensive reading allows students to self-select books;
choosing books based on individual students’ reading
levels and interests can greatly increase their motiva-
tion to read (Day & Bamford, 1998). However,
teachers might often observe that students struggle in
choosing books, especially in settings where extensive
reading is a new experience, because they do not know
how to find books that might complement their
interests. To recommend books that appropriately
match individual students’ interests, it is necessary for
teachers to be fa-miliar with and have knowledge about
the books in the class library. Teachers can gain
knowledge about the books available to students by
reading them, collecting information about books that
are popular among their students, and chatting with
students about the books that they have read.
Monitoring Students’
Reading Progress
Because extensive reading can be done both in and out-
side of class, it is important for teachers to consistently
monitor individual students’ reading progress. Such
monitoring can include the use of MReader, student
reading logs, student book recommendations, and brief
discussions with students. The use of MReader to mon-
itor student progress turned out to be very successful in
this study (see also Robb, 2015).
Providing Ongoing Assistance
To motivate students to read consistently, it is impor-
tant for teachers to know what individual students are
reading and what they think about the books that they
are reading in terms of difficulty and interest. As
The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition | 87
reading scholars have suggested, teachers should pro-
vide ongoing class guidance throughout the program
and engage in formal or informal teacher–student con-
ferences on extensive reading practices (Day &
Bamford, 1998; Grabe, 2009). Through teacher–
student interac-tions, teachers can learn about students’
extensive read-ing practices and use individual
students’ input to guide other students.
Aside from instructional activities relevant for ex-
tensive reading success, a final implication of this study
involves the importance of an integrated extensive/
intensive L2 reading curriculum. In the opening section of
this paper, I briefly noted that a key goal of this study was
not only to contrast intensive reading and extensive
reading curricula but also to integrate the two instruc-
tional options in a single course format to determine
whether the addition of extensive reading would lead to
better reading development outcomes. The study has
provided evidence that such an integrated curriculum can
make a difference in EFL university settings. One could
say, as a result, that an integrated curriculum is better than
only an intensive reading curriculum. This study says
nothing about whether an integrated approach would be
better than only an extensive read-ing curriculum.
However, in most academic L2 con-texts, intensive
reading is the only curricular option allowed, so proposing
that extensive reading should be
the dominant instructional approach may not be widely
accepted. This study provides a strong argument that a
combined approach, with both extensive and intensive
reading as part of every week’s instruction, can lead to
better learning outcomes than only an intensive reading
curriculum can provide.
Limitations and Conclusions
Despite employing a careful methodology, a few limita-
tions are worth pointing out. One limitation of this study is
the quasi-experimental design. The lack of ran-dom
sampling limits the study’s generalizability. Future
research including random sampling would provide more
concrete evidence for the effects of extensive read-ing.
Another limitation can involve some vocabulary items
selected for the vocabulary test based on 155 graded
readers available for the experimental groups. It was
assumed that students in both groups might have
encountered most of the high-frequency words in the
2,000-and 3,000-word levels. It was also assumed that the
majority of students in the experimental groups might
have encountered only a very small set of non- high--
frequency words in their actual reading because they only
read 10 of the 155 graded readers on average. Thus,
students in both groups were expected to be in a
reasonably similar position with respect to the overall
range of vocabulary exposure (if not the same level of
intensity and engagement). Nevertheless, one may
won-der why the vocabulary development of the
control groups was measured through the test on some
words from the graded readers that were less frequent
and to which they may not have been exposed. Further
studies in the future, testing only the vocabulary that is
equally available for both control and experimental
groups, would provide stronger evidence for the effect
of exten-sive reading on vocabulary development. A
third possi-ble limitation is the absence of a delayed
posttest to assess vocabulary gains; the positive
findings of the vo-cabulary test in this study cannot
confirm that gains through extensive reading would
have longer retention. It was not feasible to administer
a delayed posttest in the specific research setting
because the participants were from different
departments and had a winter break. Future studies
examining vocabulary gains should incorporate a
delayed posttest into the research design three to four
weeks after the end of the experiment.
Overall, this study strengthened evidence for the ef-
fectiveness of extensive reading on various areas of L2
learning. The results showed that the extensive reading
students developed L2 reading abilities and especially
increased L2 vocabulary acquisition, even though only
30% of the existing class time was used for extensive
reading instruction. The findings suggest that extensive
reading can be readily incorporated into existing L2
curricula without major changes to the curricula.
Although the participants in the current study were
Korean EFL university students at a mostly intermedi-
ate level, both beginning-and more-advanced-level L2
learners would also benefit from extensive reading.
Related research findings lend support for the benefits
of extensive reading for both beginning and advanced-
level learners (e.g., Kweon & Kim, 2008; Pigada &
Schmitt, 2006; Webb & Chang, 2015). Because
extensive reading can contribute to developing lower
level pro-cessing, beginning and intermediate L2
learners can build word recognition and syntactic
parsing skills and thus develop reading fluency through
extensive reading.
This study sheds further light on the implementa-
tion of an extensive reading program in EFL settings,
with implications for university ESL settings.
Instructional techniques used in the study can also be
fairly easily incorporated into other ESL/EFL reading
curricula. In an ESL university setting, as a pilot study
of the current study, Suk (2016) explored the effective-
ness of extensive reading activities through student and
teacher perceptions. The results showed that the
activities were perceived as effective in terms of moti-
vating students to read more. The study suggests that
effective instructional practices can motivate students
88 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
to engage in reading, and lead to successful implemen-
tation of extensive reading. The extensive reading ac-
tivities implemented in this study might work with
many L2 student groups in EFL settings, although
separate research would be needed in U.S. English
learner K−12 settings, as they are quite different in na-
ture from most EFL settings. Regardless of setting,
more research is needed to demonstrate the effective-
ness of specific sets of extensive reading instructional
activities.
NOTES
This article is derived from my PhD dissertation. I would like to
thank my dissertation committee members: William Grabe,
Fredricka Stoller, Joan Jamieson, and Yuly Asencion Delaney at
Northern Arizona University.
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Submitted December 4, 2015 Final
revision received April 28, 2016
Accepted May 3, 2016
NAMHEE SUK is an instructor in the Department of English
Language and Literature at Pukyong National University, Busan,
South Korea; e-mail ns76@nau.edu. Her research interests
include second-language literacy development, literacy
instruction, and motivation.
Supporting Information
Additional supporting information may be found in the
online version of this article:
• Appendix A: The Five Extensive Reading
Activities Implemented in the Study
• Appendix B: Reading Comprehension and Rate
Test
• Appendix C: Vocabulary Knowledge Test
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