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An Extensive Reading System Built on the Basis of Comprehensible Input Principles - A Key to Rescuing the Lower-Level EFL University Students’ Vocabulary Ability

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Innovative Technologies and Learning (ICITL 2018)

Abstract

Although scholars of extensive reading and vocabulary pedagogy confirm that the two research fields have a strong connection to improve one’s language competence, little seems to be implemented on students who are studying English as a foreign language (EFL) in the reading courses. This paper, first, used a case study in an EFL university context such as Taiwan to show that there is a need to examine the facts behind the deficient training of extensive reading. We then proposed a possible solution via some help of technology and created a mobile reading system. During the system implementation period, we observed one selected subject who might not be seen as an active or motivated EFL learner in reading classrooms and had a very low level of English proficiency, but our preliminary finding shows that his vocabulary ability can be enhanced because of the extensive reading opportunities guided by the system. Suggestions and future development of the system are finally indicated.

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Acknowledgments

1. This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of China under contract number MOST 105-2511-S-035-002-MY2.

2. We are very grateful for Mr. Chun-Po Huang’s assistance in drafting a software program to materialize our initial teaching ideas.

3. We thank for Howard’s agreement to allow us to show his handwriting and observe his learning process.

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Correspondence to Wei-Wei Shen .

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Shen, WW., Lin, JM., Hong, ZW. (2018). An Extensive Reading System Built on the Basis of Comprehensible Input Principles - A Key to Rescuing the Lower-Level EFL University Students’ Vocabulary Ability. In: Wu, TT., Huang, YM., Shadiev, R., Lin, L., Starčič, A. (eds) Innovative Technologies and Learning. ICITL 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11003. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99737-7_57

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99737-7_57

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