Tan, "On improving college English students' reading proficiency at Fujian Normal University," 1998

Dongxing Tan, Ph.D.

Abstract (Summary)
The major purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of extensive reading to improving College English students' reading, listening and writing proficiencies and linguistic knowledge (grammar and vocabulary) at Fujian Normal University in the People's Republic of China.

This study used the Randomized Control-Group Posttest Only Design. The first instrument was the College English Band 3 Test, which was used to stratify students with almost equal linguistic proficiency to participate in the experiment. Forty students stratified on the basis of linguistic proficiency, gender and major-department were randomly assigned to two classes, one the Control Class and the other the Experimental Class. The Intensive Reading Approach was used in the Control Class and the Extensive Reading Approach in the Experimental Class. The second instrument was the College English Band 4 Test, which was used to evaluate the significance of extensive reading to College English teaching and learning. The third instrument was a questionnaire investigating whether the two different teaching approaches produced different English learning and reading behaviors and different attitudes towards English learning and reading between the two classes. A MANOVA was used to test the statistical mean differences on the posttest between the Control Class and the Experimental Class. The Chi-Square analysis was used to test the statistical significance of the students' responses to the questionnaire.

Analysis of the data revealed the following major results: (1) Extensive reading can effectively improve College English students' reading proficiency and linguistic knowledge (grammar and vocabulary, especially receptive vocabulary). (2) Grammar exercises cannot as effectively improve students' grammar as extensive reading. (3) Language-point-type vocabulary teaching cannot as effectively improve students' vocabulary as extensive reading. (4) Extensive reading is not very effective in improving students' listening and writing proficiencies. (5) If the extensive reading materials are interesting enough, students' intrinsic motivation can be aroused and kept in their learning process--learning or reading for pleasure. (6) Extensive reading has a positive influence on students' listening and reading habits.

Advisor: Eskey, David