In this article, Charlie Taylor offers a commentary on Yang et al.'s 2021 "Reading in a Foreign Language" article, "Text Difficulty in Extensive Reading: Reading Comprehension and Reading Motivation." In their study, Yang et al. analyzed the effects of text difficulty on the reading comprehension and motivation of high school…

Aka (2019) conducted an year-long large-scale study demonstrating that Japanese high school students who undertook extensive reading performed better than a control group who undertook grammatical instruction. Those showing the greatest gains were those of lower and intermediate proficiency. The students' achievement was measured in terms of…

Describes an extensive reading program conducted in three rural secondary or middle schools in Malaysia aimed at motivating the students to read extensively in English and helping them overcome their problems in understanding English texts as a means towards increasing their proficiency in the language. (Author/VWL)

Aims to give foreign language reading teachers a way of coping with a common phenomenon in the reading class: students appear to have the linguistic proficiency to deal with a text, but are unable to do so because they are approaching it in an appropriate way. Argues that this problem relates to styles and attitudes in reading and that these may…

Proposes ten principles for an extensive reading approach to teaching reading. The principles deal with the nature of extensive reading and the conditions and methodology necessary for its success. Encourages teachers to use the principles as a tool for examining their beliefs about reading in general and extensive reading in particular, as well…

Responds to an article that proposes 10 principles for teaching extensive second language reading and proposes its own principles. (Author/VWL)

In response to an article that proposes principles for teaching extensive reading, this article suggests that those principles rely heavily on learners being responsible for their own learning, a concept that is put forth in U.S. educational contexts. Discusses why these principles would need to be altered for use in an Asian context. (Author/VWL)

Explores steps that teachers can take to integrate strategic-reading instruction into their second-language (L2) classrooms. The steps can help teachers systematically address their students' reading-strategy needs in classes that are devoted either to reading skills alone or to integrated skills, content-based instruction. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the claim that reading without thinking is not possible. Presents critical discourse analysis, which is considered a pedagogically useful instrument enabling the practice of thinking skills necessary for reading efficiently. Considers the teachability of reading and thinking skills, and describes a critical reading course. (Author/VWL)

Summarizes challenges in teaching English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) reading in Morocco. Argues that teachers are needed who can change and reconstruct their own identities through sound pedagogical practice and effective leadership. Provides an example of such leadership by describing how and why classroom libraries were created and a regional…

Makes a case for introducing specialized texts in the English for specific purposes classroom earlier in the reading process. Addresses the question of whether an engineering word list might be a short cut to reading fluency for engineering students, and if so, which words might appropriately be listed. (Author/VWL)