An Extensive Reading Activity For Middle School Students’ Extracurricular Class

Abstract

In spite of resistance to its implementation in the EFL classroom, Extensive Reading (ER) is believed to have considerable benefits to language learners. Two of the benefits might be enjoying reading and changing of attitudes toward reading. Improvements in the competencies of reading, speaking, listening and writing should also not be neglected. For the majority of Korean middle school students, reading English books extensively may be seen as a challenging and burdensome task like other subjects in the mandatory school curriculum. Under the circumstances where most English curricula focus on developing language skills to pass tests, the rationale of ER could be seen as something even alien. This portfolio aims to give them valuable opportunities to read books in English leisurely without the burden of being graded or tested. They just enjoy being absorbed in reading books which could become one of their lifelong habits. The target students are 7th or 8th graders of a public coed middle school in Kyunggi Province, Korea. This textbook is for an extracurricular class of 12 students which students join voluntarily. The class is held in a designated classroom for 5 months (from March to August – it continues during August as part of a school vacation program, twice a week, two hours per day after the regular school day is finished. Students’ language proficiencies vary from intermediate low to intermediate mid according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines (ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012) . There is no additional fee for this program and textbook but the students should bring their own books to read. The teacher will prepare hand-outs or other supplementary teaching materials.