Teachers' practices, challenges and recommendations

1. Online
Extensive
Reading
Teachers’ practices,
challenges and
recommendations
DR. YULY ASENCIÓN
DELANEY
DR. JUAN PINO-SILVA
AATSP - 2015

2. Objective : To share
the results of a study
on teacher’s thoughts
on an ER program at
NAU (L2=Spanish,
Format=Online); to
identify practices,
perceptions and
challenges.
Outline
Definition of extensive
reading and Program
description
Results: Practices,
Perceptions, Challenges,
Recommendations for
Improvement
Conclusions

3. Extensive Reading
For pleasure, general
understanding /
individually, silently
A lot, variety of materials, at
their level, select own materials
Oriented by teacher
Day & Bamford (1998)

4. Extensive Reading –Why?
Bell (1998)

5. Courses: Lower
division classes
(SPA101, 102, 201)
Task: To read two
articles/short stories per
week and report what
they read to their teacher
or class.
Materials: Online
graded and non-
graded materials
Online Spanish Extensive Reading
Program (OSERP)

6. OSERP TASK - Example

7. OSERP: The Study
Participants: 17 Spanish instructors and graduate
teaching assistants; 1-4 semesters of experience
with ER; Spring 2015 .
Questionnaire:
I. Practices (4 questions) –Multiple selection
II. Perceptions (44 statements)– Likert Scale
III. Suggestions and recommendations (3 questions)
Multiple selection and 2 open questions.

8. OSERP: Practices
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Main idea Summary List of words Say if they like
it
8
11
9
12
TASK

9. OSERP: Other tasks
Oral comment
Class Presentation

10. OSERP: Practices
Students turn ER task in:
6
6
13

11. OSERP: Practices
0
5
10
15
11
10
6
5
4
Grading ER

12. OSERP: Teachers’ perceptions
Mean @ 4 = Agree
Vocabulary enrichment
Possitive attitude
Interesting texts
Fosters reading & culture
OSERP=Sound decision
1
2
3
4
5
4.65
4.41
4.41
4.38
4.33

13. OSERP: Teachers’ perceptions
Mean @ 4 = Agree
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Promotes
student
agency
Use mobile
devices
Use reading
strategies
Read real
texts Online texts
appeal
students
Do real
reading
tasks
4.24 4.24
4.18
4.12
4.06
4

14. OSERP: Challenges
Students:
*Give little value to ER (M=
3.47)
*Do not take responsibility
(M = 3.41)
*Few of them benefit from
ER (M = 3.24)
* Can cheat (M = 3.06)
Mean @ 3 – Partially agree

15. OSERP: Recommendations
15
14
14
13
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Extend ER to class
Provide teachers with training
Explain ER benefits to students
Use readings for writing
To improve OSERP

16. Conclusions
Perceptions:
Teachers perceive the OSERP in a positive
manner. They believe ER:
* is beneficial for students’ language
development
* provides access to real texts, tasks
* promotes students’ agency

17. Conclusions
Practices:
ER practices vary across the program.
Teachers request different ER tasks, collect
them by using different tools, and provide
feedback paying attention to different
aspects.
*It would be interesting to examine how
different practices affect students’
motivation towards ER.

18. Conclusions
Challenges:
Teachers’ main concerns are related to
students’ approach to and perception of ER.
Future research should investigate students’
real challenges when completing ER tasks.

19. Conclusions
Suggestions:
Teachers think that the OSERP should be
complemented with an in-class activity.
This may pose a challenge to designers,
teachers and students. The OSERP must in
subsequent phases study the consequences
of an online/in-class combination.

20. • Bell, T. (1998). Extensive reading: Why and how?
The Internet TESL Journal, 4(12).
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Articles/Bell-
Reading.html
• Day, R.R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading
in the second language classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
• http://extensivereading.net
• Pino-Silva, J. (2006) Extensive reading through
the internet: Is it worth the while? The Reading
Matrix, 6(1), 85-96.
References

21. Online Reading Resources
Graded Texts - Online
Practica Español (News)
Veinte mundos Magazine (Cultural articles)
Lecturas paso a paso - Instituto Cervantes (Stories)
Non-graded Texts – Online
CNN en español - BBC Mundo
Euronews - EFE – News
Cuentos Clásicos – Ciudad Seva (Stories)
International Children’s Digital Library