Reading in a Foreign Language

Volume 16, No. 2, October 2004

ISSN 1539-0578

Developing reading fluency in EFL: How assisted repeated reading

and extensive reading affect fluency development
Etsuo Taguchi
Daito Bunka University

Miyoko Takayasu-Maass
Seigakuin University

Greta J. Gorsuch
Texas Tech University

Abstract

Extensive research on reading in a first language has shown the critical role
fluency plays in successful reading. Fluency alone, however, does not guarantee
successful reading. Cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies and schemata
that readers utilize also play important roles in constructing meaning from text.
Most research, however, indicates that good reading ability is virtually impossible
in the absence of fast and accurate word recognition skills and reading fluency.
Therefore, efficient ways of improving fluency must be developed. In answer to
this need, extensive reading programs have been implemented as an effective
approach in EFL settings. Another method, repeated reading, seems equally
promising. The main objective of the current study is to focus on whether and
how assisted repeated reading with an auditory reading model enhances EFL
readers' fluency. Some comparisons of Japanese university students'
performances in repeated reading and extensive reading programs are also made
in an attempt to see gains in reading fluency and comprehension, and to explore
some characteristics which are unique to assisted repeated reading. Quantitative
and qualitative analyses of participants' reading behaviors suggest that assisted
repeated reading is equally as effective as extensive reading in increasing EFL
readers' silent reading rate, and favorably affects learners' perceptions of reading
activities. Furthermore, the results indicate the specific role the repetition and
listening components of assisted repeated reading play to facilitate reading
comprehension. Assisted repeated reading can potentially develop weak
ESL/EFL readers' fluency and help them become independent readers by
providing a distinct form of scaffolding.
Keywords: repeated reading, assisted repeated reading, extensive reading, reading
fluency, reading comprehension

http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl