OKADA Azusa    Department   Hiroshima shudo University  The Faculty of Economic Sciences    Position   Professor
Date	2023/03/11
Presentation Theme	An action research study into learner profiles of graded reading online
Conference	2022年度JACET中部支部第2回定例研究会
Promoters	JACET中部支部
Conference Type	Domestic Workshop/Symposium
Presentation Type	Speech (General)
Contribution Type	Collaborative
Venue	オンライン（JACET中部支部担当）
Publisher and common publisher	Azusa Okada, Gregory Rouault
Details	Many Japanese learners entering university have little experience of reading levelappropriate, graded materials. Many of these students with limited comprehension or enjoyment in reading have low levels of foreign language proficiency, low self-efficacy, and low motivation. As observed by Nuttall (1996, p.127), they read slowly, don’t read much, and don’t understand. This action research project aimed to capture the initial reading profiles of our first-year university students and their beliefs and attitudes after participating in an online graded reading project. Study participants were 96 first-year, Japanese university students who were classified into three levels (1:≦62, 2: 63-71, 3:≧72) according to their TOEIC Bridge test scores. Levels 1 and 2 were equivalent to CEFR Pre-A1 to A2. After the students read regularly both in class and outside the class for 15 weeks, they answered a questionnaire. Although 60% of the students never read in English and one quarter of the students never read for fun in Japanese online with a further third reading less than 30 minutes per week, 77.1% reported reading in English and 5.2% reported reading 2-4 hours online in English weekly. About 73% felt they had the ability to read graded material at their level, 62.5% had greater motivation to continue reading outside of class, and over 55% had a better understanding of their strong points in reading in English. Students with limited proficiency and almost no previous experience with graded readers learned how to find a book online at the right level, and a majority felt improvement in their reading skills and gained greater motivation to continue reading.