This paper reports on a longitudinal evaluation of four academic years of the Extensive Reading (ER) component of an Academic Skills (AS) course for first year undergraduates at a Japanese university from 2018 to 2021. In April 2020, ER transitioned from a face-to-face environment with physical books to an online one with digital resources due to COVID-19. This inevitably had consequences. This paper begins by outlining the teaching context and term specific course structure. It then details the changes made as a result of the pandemic before exploring the effectiveness of each term by continuing the preliminary analysis begun by Klassen and Allan (2018). Data collection comprises word counts, vocabulary level testing, timed-reading speeds, and student feedback. Analysis suggests that students generally met the course aims in both the face-to-face and online environments by accomplishing word count reading targets, and improving their reading speeds and knowledge of high frequency lexis. Student feedback was generally positive, but key areas are highlighted as needing improvement. Suggestions for how ER might be administered more effectively based on these insights are offered.
Jamie Lesley (Fri,) studied this question.