School Teachers trainees' opinions about ER more

Tue, Aug 8, 10:00-10:35 Asia/Tokyo

The participants in this study were fourth-year undergraduate students enrolled in the Teacher Education Program at a private university in Japan. For their seminar work, the students read articles describing the benefits of extensive reading (ER), the process of implementing an ER program and relevant research studies. After six weeks of lessons, the teacher trainees participated in an ER lesson as students. Data was collected through the use of a questionnaire containing open-ended questions. Each question represented a research question for this study. The questions elicited the teacher trainees’ opinions about: ER’s viability within the Japanese context and for low-level learners; perceived weaknesses and strengths of ER; possible approaches for incorporating ER into English classes; ER and student motivation; and whether they plan to use ER in the future. The results indicated the trainees had a positive view of ER, but they were mostly concerned with ER’s viability for low level learners.