STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EXTENSIVE READING

Abstract

: For more than three decades, there have been plenty studies suggested the benefits of Extensive Reading (ER). However, the inclusion of ER in classes in Indonesia is not widely implemented. Moreover, most of the research on ER scrutinized the impact of ER in improving students’ vocabulary, language proficiency, motivation and so forth. There are few studies that explored the students’ voices regarding the implementation of ER. Therefore, this study investigated students’ personal reflection towards the ER in a 4 months reading class. Through a questionnaire and and the follow-up interview, this study examined 52 undergraduate students’ perspectives on (1) the influential factors in ER program, and (2) the students’ preferences regarding the classroom activities for ER. The result of the data analysis revealed that materials selection, text difficulty and teachers’ role are the most influential factors in the success of ER program. This study also found that teacher-student conference, questions-answers and personal reflection are students’ favorite activities during ER. The difficulties the students found during the ER are also discussed in this paper. Thus, the findings of this study would give pedagogical implications on the implementation of ER program in the future.