EFL teacher

I teach teenagers at specialized secondary school #14

I also run "Readers club" at my school as an extra-curricular activity

Andijan region

Uzbekistan

•Students have difficulties understanding and interpreting words they are not familiar with in their reading

•Students do not have enough exposure to a variety of texts, which blocks the development of reading comprehension skills

1.Why do I think that extensive reading sessions improve my students' reading comprehension and vocabulary? 

2. What are the possible challenges to implementing extensive reading in the classroom

Others' perceptions:

1.What do my students say whether extensive reading impacts their engagement in reading, vocabulary and reading comprehension?

2.What do my students like about extensive reading in my classes?

Behavior:

1.What do I do to motivate my students' participation on extensive reading sessions?

2.How well extensive reading contributes to my students' reading comprehension and vocabulary skills based on their assignments and tests?

Observation notes of my critical friend

Survey with my students

• Lack of /not so many appropriate reading materials for students

• Curriculum - limitations, not enough time for reading

• Lack of students’ motivation in reading and different reading abilities

My students' perceptions:

• Approximately 50% students know the benefits of reading, recognizing its advantages in expanding vocabulary

• Around 35% of students do not find reading pleasurable outside of the classroom, indicating a lower level of motivation or interest in recreational reading.

• 65% of students, enjoy reading specific genres such as adventure, detective, and fantasy books during their free time

Recommendations of my critical friend:

• Encouraging students to share their thoughts on the chapters to create a collaborative learning environment

• Incorporating vocabulary assessments every two weeks after completing one chapter to enhance students' vocabulary skills.

The benefits and challenges of extensive reading according to findings of my reflective notes and the research article:

• Both the reflective notes and Suk's research shows the positive impact of extensive reading on language skills, specifically improvements in reading comprehension, reading speed, and vocabulary

• Suk's research mentions difficulties in vocabulary tests due to words from graded books that the control group may not have encountered

• Both the research and reflective notes show the challenges of integrating extensive reading into the curriculum, including time limitations and the need for careful planning to achieve a balance

  
  

1. What do my students say now about extensive reading classes and their impact on their vocabulary and reading comprehension?

2. Have my students improved their reading comprehension and vocabulary?

Steps of Action level:

• Prepare the list of the books/stories and present it to my students so that they can select the ones they would like to read most

• Provide the book (adventure) to read and create the vocabulary activity

• Students read, and have some collaborative discussions during the lesson

• Blog – share experience of students reading – interesting questions and vocabulary activity

• Collect data on students’ progress and interest in reading through blog

• Test results based on graded vocabulary

Over this period, I understood that extensive reading contributed to enhanced reading comprehension skills among the students. I realized that students now feel more confident in using graded vocabulary when they have collaborative discussions

Students' perceptions:

Blog and survey results

14 students posted their thoughts and reflections on Readersblog. They are using the vocabulary that they encountered in the book.

According to survey results, 72% of students enjoyed extensive reading and knew the benefits in reading comprehension and the usage of vocabulary

Students' works and vocabulary test results:

After each chapter we had one vocabulary test.

Test 1 results:

12 out of 14 students received A score in their tests

Test 2 results:

9 students passed, 2 students failed and 3 students received B score