EXTENSIVE READING IN JAPANESE Claire Hitosugi Department of East Asian Languages and Literature Richard R. Day Department of Second Language Studies University of Hawaii

 Setting up an ER library  Target Number of Books  Grading  Classroom Activities  Results ORGANIZATION OF PRESENTATION

The Library  Plan Ahead  Start Early  Get Financial Support  Buy, Beg, Borrow and Steal As Many Books As Possible

The Library  Set up a cataloging system  Figure out a storage or delivery system  Keep getting a wide variety of books (and video tapes)

The Library  Purchased books from local Japanese book stores  Purchased a book cart, color labels, index cards, etc.  Obtained funding from UH  Categorized books into six levels and labeled them

 Created library cards, envelope slips, reaction reports  Made a master list of books  Created student folders (chart for timed repeated readings, weekly reading log, book summary)

READING TARGET & GRADING  Set a target number of books to be read.  Determine how much of the grade the extensive reading component will be.  Set up a procedure for tracking students’ reading.

 Set a target number of books for the ten week period: 40  Assigned 10% to ER  40 books = 10%  30 to 39 books = 7.5%  20 to 29 books = 5%  Fewer than 19 books = 2.5%  Extra credit up to 5%;1% for additional four books

Classroom Activities We used a small portion of class time, approximately 30 minutes once a week, to create a positive classroom environment that supported and encouraged the students’ outside reading and promoted their learning of Japanese.

Classroom Activities  Timed Repeated Reading  Once Upon a Time  Role Plays

RESULTS Number of books read Number of students (N=14)

RESULTS Total number of books read Average number per student (N=14)

Means of Reading Test Pre-ER ABCTotal Post-ER ABCTotal (Highest possible score for each section: A=5, B=5, C=10) (Highest possible score for each section: A=5, B=5, C=10)

Mean Average Gains on the Test of Reading Ability A BC Total

Results of the 22-Item Affective Questionnaire Pre-ERPost-ER Overall Gain (Note: The lower the number, the higher the positive affect.)

Students’ Reactions  Overall students enjoyed ER, but ER appealed more to some. A student perceived by instructor as marginal blossomed after introduction of ER. A mature student with business background did not like ER much. It could be due to the nature of books we used rather than ER itself.  In an unexpected developed, a student reported that she read books with her grandmother, and developed a better relationship.

Teacher’s Reflection  ER definitely enriched students’ language learning experience and reinforced learning.  Using videos with books worked well.  Management of library and books is challenging; tracking missing books is another task itself.  We need more books to implement ER more broadly.  Administrative support, funding, and collaboration are desired for future ER projects.

Extensive Reading In Japanese Thank you for coming to our session!