College and University More deadlines, more reading: ER requirements for Japanese undergraduates more

Tue, Aug 8, 10:15-11:35 Asia/Tokyo

In this study, data was collected from 445 students over nine years to assess how frequent deadlines on ER assignments affect undergraduates’ L2 reading motivation and the total number of words they read. Each student participated in a mandatory ER program in one of four conditions: (a) physical books with an end-of-semester deadline to reach a target word/book count or (b) biweekly deadlines, and XReading (an online ER platform) with (c) end-of-semester deadlines or (d) biweekly deadlines. Students also completed an L2 reading motivation questionnaire at the beginning and end of each academic year. Analysis revealed effect sizes for students using XReading reading were larger than students using physical books and students with more frequent deadlines reading more than students facing only end-of-semester deadlines to reach the same word count. Furthermore, reading more words correlated with a slight increase in L2 reading motivation.