Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading

This study examines the difficulty level of texts in the reading sections of the Touchstone series of ELT course books. The information analyzed in the reading section included the total number of words and sentences in each reading passage, average number of sentences per paragraph, average number...

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Main Author: Peter Tze-Ming Chou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2011
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/1/1_AJTLHE_35-Peter-Taiwan.pdf
id ukm-2308
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-23082016-12-14T06:31:14Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/ Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading Peter Tze-Ming Chou, This study examines the difficulty level of texts in the reading sections of the Touchstone series of ELT course books. The information analyzed in the reading section included the total number of words and sentences in each reading passage, average number of sentences per paragraph, average number of words per sentence, and number of passive sentences in each text. In addition, the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade was used to show the Flesch Reading Ease Level and the Reading Grade Level of each reading passage. The results showed that the average number of sentences per paragraph, for each of the reading sections, was quite low. It meant that the students were not reading material with fully developed paragraphs but instead, were reading shorter pieces, such as advertisements, interviews, or short articles. In addition, students might be unmotivated or uninterested in the type of readings that the ELT course books offer. This paper proposes extensive readings to be added to English courses that use ELT course books. This is because studies have shown that extensive reading can be helpful in developing the student’s vocabulary, reading rate, and reading comprehension. It may also increase the student’s interest and motivation in learning English. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2011 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/1/1_AJTLHE_35-Peter-Taiwan.pdf Peter Tze-Ming Chou, (2011) Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading. AJTLHE: ASEAN Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 3 (2). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1985-5826 http://www.ukm.my/jtlhe/Current.aspx
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description This study examines the difficulty level of texts in the reading sections of the Touchstone series of ELT course books. The information analyzed in the reading section included the total number of words and sentences in each reading passage, average number of sentences per paragraph, average number of words per sentence, and number of passive sentences in each text. In addition, the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade was used to show the Flesch Reading Ease Level and the Reading Grade Level of each reading passage. The results showed that the average number of sentences per paragraph, for each of the reading sections, was quite low. It meant that the students were not reading material with fully developed paragraphs but instead, were reading shorter pieces, such as advertisements, interviews, or short articles. In addition, students might be unmotivated or uninterested in the type of readings that the ELT course books offer. This paper proposes extensive readings to be added to English courses that use ELT course books. This is because studies have shown that extensive reading can be helpful in developing the student’s vocabulary, reading rate, and reading comprehension. It may also increase the student’s interest and motivation in learning English.
format Article
author Peter Tze-Ming Chou,
spellingShingle Peter Tze-Ming Chou,
Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
author_facet Peter Tze-Ming Chou,
author_sort Peter Tze-Ming Chou,
title Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
title_short Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
title_full Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
title_fullStr Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
title_full_unstemmed Examining reading levels in ELT course books and the benefits of extensive reading
title_sort examining reading levels in elt course books and the benefits of extensive reading
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2011
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/2308/1/1_AJTLHE_35-Peter-Taiwan.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:35:46Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:35:46Z
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