Integrating extensive reading in the task-based curriculum

Extensive reading has for many years been seen as an important and motivating means of improving general language proficiency in a second language. This article argues that while extensive reading per se is an important medium for long-term second language acquisition, extensive reading schemes may not be the most effective means of promoting acquisition. This argument springs from the disappointing results of the implementation of the Hong Kong Extensive Reading Scheme in English, which are described in the article. The article presents the view that extensive reading is too important an activity to be confined within the hermetic bounds of a scheme. Instead, it is argued, extensive reading should be incorporated fully in the language curriculum as a vital component of a task-based approach to second language learning.