Extensive reading (ER) has been well-documented as a robust tool for developing EFL students’ L2 skills. For a large portion of its existence, ER research and approaches have relied heavily on paper-based materials. However, appropriate paper-based graded readers for students are often limited at Japanese universities. Thus, this research project aimed at supplying 50 Japanese EFL students with access to a digital library, allowing them to use any device for reading eBooks that aligned with their reading interests and abilities. Through a mixed-methods approach, the participants of this study were surveyed about their attitudes toward graded readers via an online extensive reading digital library utilizing a modified version of Yamashita’s (2007) Reading Attitudes Survey and an open-ended questionnaire in order to get a better understanding of how cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors play a role in extensive reading mediated by technology.

Learning reading is sometimes a scourge for students from Gen-Z, especially in the post-covid-19 situation where the learning process is still limited. This presentation examines students' preferences and reflections on reading courses. A survey-questionnaire and interviews were conducted using a sequential explanatory design. 99 respondents Indonesian students participated in this study. This study revealed five findings regarding students' preferences toward their reading activities which cover reading book genres and resources that they prefer. Moreover, reflections covering students' reading awareness and their expectations of reading courses are elaborated in this presentation. This study's findings offer recommendations for teachers in organizing reading courses, demonstrating that learning to read entails not only theoretically learning several reading strategies, but also practicing them to improve their ability to fully understand the context of reading pleasantly and realizing that learning reading is more than just reading and answering reading questions.

Extensive Reading (ER) has gained increasing attention as a valuable language learning activity in Vietnam. However, the implementation of ER programs in the classroom may face various challenges, such as a lack of understanding among teachers about the difference between Intensive Reading and Extensive Reading, and the difficulties in setting up and funding an ER program. This poster session will report on a replication study of Waring and Chu's (2017) research on attitudes and beliefs towards ER in Vietnam, focusing specifically on the views of teachers from a range of educational backgrounds. The study aims to investigate the current attitudes and beliefs of teachers towards ER, the challenges they face in implementing ER programs, and highlight any changes in these factors over the previous five years. The presentation will discuss the research design and the results, and the implications for promoting ER in Vietnamese language education.

Situated in a post-secondary EFL classroom, this qualitative study explores two first-year non-English department students’ reading motivation sources. The students did extensive reading that was embedded in an English class and used the Xreading platform to provide reading materials and record the students’ reading. Data was collected from students’ reading record in Xreading and interviews with the students. From the data analysis, it was evident that students developed a book selection strategy that potentially improved their internal reading motivation. The students also benefited from the reading target set by the teacher and the self-monitoring of their reading progress in Xreading. The reading target was able to motivate the students externally. This study concluded that freedom of book selection and reading target served as a source in motivating students to read. More pedagogical implications will also be discussed.

This presentation will talk about a new global project called, ‘Reading Across the Sky’. What began as a meeting between students and teachers from two countries rapidly spread to other parts of the globe. This is why we begin each meeting by looking at a map of the world so that the students realize that they are talking to their peers across the sky. At the time of writing, the last meeting involved students from ten countries. During the first meeting students listened to a pre-prepared story while in the most recent event it was the students themselves who proposed their own stories. Until now we have relied on simple word of mouth to expand the group, and this has been very effective. However, now we are thinking that participating in conferences would prove to be an excellent way of connecting with other like-minded teachers. The aim would be not only to expand our Across the Sky group, but also to create a template that other teachers can follow if they wish to create their own global read aloud project.

This study explores how foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), and L2 grit influence reading achievement in extensive reading (ER) programs. Underpinned by theories of Positive Psychology, the study investigates how these affective and personality factors impact reading amount, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. The study involved 49 university EFL learners who completed a questionnaire and participated in a six-week ER program on Xreading.com. The findings suggest that FLCA predicted reading amount, while FLE predicted reading fluency. However, FLE, FLCA, and grit did not significantly affect reading comprehension. The study provides valuable insights into the relationship between affective factors and reading achievement and offers theoretical and practical implications for ER teaching and research.

In this presentation, the researchers will describe the results of a study aimed at investigating whether and how foreign language (FL) reading anxiety could be mitigated through extensive reading (ER) among Japanese college EFL students. FL reading anxiety decreased significantly according to the results of FLRAS (Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale), which were conducted before and after the ER activities were introduced. In the researchers’ previous study, in which questionnaires were conducted with students in pre-intermediate course, significant differences were observed only in the items related to negative affective factors such as “fear” or “worries”. However, in this study with students in upper-intermediate course, significant differences were also observed in the items related to the positive affective factors such as “pleasure” or “enjoyment”. This could suggest that the aspects of reading anxiety ER could mitigate may differ depending on the factors such as students’ learning experiences or proficiency levels.

The present study explored students’ attitudes towards the Extensive Reading activities in General English courses among non - English majors in Vinh Long province, Vietnam. The method employed was conducted quantitatively by questionnaire. The results revealed that the students had a positive attitude toward reading graded readers and gained more self-confidence in their English communication. These students also showed good performances in the final examination. Moreover, students could be aware of how to choose appropriate books to read and how to use information, vocabulary, and model sentences. They also kept doing the reading process after finishing the English courses. However, some students found difficulties with graded readers without a teacher’s supervision and follow-up activities. The study ended with discussions, pedagogical implication, and research limitations.