STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD READING AFTER TAKING
EXTENSIVE READING CLASS IN SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN
UNIVERSITY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Natanael Ade Kurniawan
112010017
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD READING AFTER TAKING
EXTENSIVE READING CLASS IN SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN
UNIVERSITY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Natanael Ade Kurniawan
112010017
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
PERPUSTAKAAN UNIvERSITAS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
Jl. Diponegorc 52 - 60 Salatig 50?11
JawaTengah, Indrcia Telp. 0298 - 321212' Fd. 0298 321433 Email: librry@adm.ukw.edu ; htp;//[brary.uksw,edu
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This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@2014. Natanael Ade Kurniawan and Anita Kurniawati, M.Hum.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright qwners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana University, Salatiga.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research would not have been completed without the help and support from
many people. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude to the following people who
have assisted me in completing this research. First of all, I would like to thank the God
Almighty because of his bless that made this research possible. I would also like to thank my
supervisor, Mrs. Anita Kuriawati, M. Hum, for her dedication in helping me so I could write
this research very well. Besides, I want to thank the examiner of my thesis, Ms. Athriyana
Pattiwael, M. Hum, for her advice so I could fix some errors that I made. I would also like to
extend my appreciation to all of the participants who were willing to be interviewed by me,
the supervisor, and the examiner who helped me very much in the process of this research.
Finally, I am particularly grateful to all my friends and my family members for their support
STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD READING AFTER TAKING EXTENSIVE READING CLASS IN SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research was to find out about the students’ attitudes toward reading after they took extensive reading class. This research was conducted in English Language Department in Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia. In that university, the extensive reading classes followed the 10 principles of extensive reading by Day and Bamford (2002). The participants of this research were 10 students from one of the four extensive reading classes in that university. The findings
of this research showed that the participants’ attitude towards reading tended to be
positive, in which they had positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward reading. The findings of this research suggested that extensive reading can make the students’ attitudes toward reading to be positive. The implication of this research can be used as one way to enhance the students’ attitudes towards reading.
STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD READING AFTER TAKING EXTENSIVE READING CLASS IN SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
In this era, it is very clear that reading is a very important activity, especially
for the students. Through reading activities, the students can get many benefits. Ünal
(2010) and N’Nambi (2005) in BAŞ (2012) believe that “reading makes individuals
truly free and protects them from ignorance and false beliefs. Besides, skills in
reading enable individuals to benefit from educational activities, and to participate
fully in the social and economic activities in which they take part” (p.47).
On the other hand, the students will face some problems if they lack reading
practice in their life. According to Sheu (2004), if the students lack reading practice, it
will hamper secondary students’ learning development and students will not develop
an ability to read fluently outside the classroom.
It is very important for the students to have a positive attitude towards reading.
By having a positive attitude toward reading, the students will be able to enjoy those
benefits of reading. According to Walberg and Tsai (1985) in Annamalai and
Muniandy (2013), the positive attitude toward reading, like believing that reading is
important and enjoying reading is one of the strongest correlates of reading
achievement.
However, many students in their real life do not have positive attitudes toward
reading. The findings of both the study which is done by Sarawit (2009) about the
students’ attitudes toward reading at the Naresuan University International College
toward reading show that there are a lot of students who have negative attitudes
towards reading. For the study which is done by Sarawit (2009), the cause of the
negative attitudes toward reading was because of the role of reading in Thai society.
A survey in 2007 by the National Statistical Office revealed that Thais read only two
books a year (The Nation, 2007). For the study which is done by Claridge (2012), the
cause of negative attitudes toward reading was because of the book they read and their
level. It was shown that the learners who appear to be reading above their level do not
seem to derive pleasure from the process of reading.
Extensive reading has been known world-wide as one of the reading methods
which are able to improve the students’ attitudes towards reading. Juan and Cheng
(2008) assert that extensive reading has great potential to improve the students’
attitude. Nowadays, there are many studies about extensive reading which can
improve students’ attitudes towards reading. The studies which is done by Sheu
(2004) about extensive reading and the change of the learners attitudes toward reading
and the study which is done by Pazakh and Soltani (2010) which tells about the effect
of extensive reading on EFL learners’ attitudes toward reading in Dehdasht Language
institute are few of the examples of them.
It is clear that there are many studies about extensive reading which can
improve students’ attitude towards reading. However, it was still unclear for me
whether the findings of those studies would be applicable in Satya Wacana Christian
University or not. Because of that, I conducted the research with the same topic in
order to find out whether the findings of those studies are applicable in Satya Wacana
for the students and believe that the students’ attitude towards reading can give an
influence to the result of their reading activity, I was interested to find out about the
students’ attitudes toward reading after they took extensive reading course in their
class. By doing this research, I wanted to give contribution about the research in this
topic (extensive reading) through this research so the best way to enhance the students’
attitudes toward reading can be found. Considering the great benefits of reading, I
conducted this research in order to answer one question, “What is the students’
attitude towards reading after taking extensive reading class?”
Attitudes
Attitude is a process which happens in our mind as a response to what happens
to us. If people do, see, or listen to something, they will think about it and classify it
as something good which they like or something bad which they dislike. This process
is called “attitude.” According to Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) in Yamashita (2013),
attitude is “a learned predisposition to respond in consistently favorable or
unfavorable manner with respect to given object” (p.249). As a result, the response
which we will give depends on our attitude.
Every people has attitude which is related to the people’s thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors. Smith (1968) in BAŞ (2012) believes that “an attitude is attributed to
an individual and it is a tendency that arranges in an orderly manner that individual’s
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in relation with a psychological object” (p.48).
Attitude can be classified as positive and negative attitude. Basically, the
people shape their own attitude towards something. However, there are some factors
Another thing is that attitude is not a “rigid” thing. It means that it is very possible for
someone to change his/ her attitude from positive to negative or vice versa. According
to Wood, Wood, and Boyd (2007) and Yuker (1988) in Mihandoost (2011):
attitudes are composed of positive and negative reactions toward an object, accompanied by beliefs that impel individuals to behave in a particular way. Besides, some attitudes are acquired through firsthand experiences with people, objects, situations, and issues. Others are acquired when children hear parents, family, friends, and teachers express positive or negative attitudes toward certain issues or people. The mass media, including advertising, influence
people’s attitudes and reap billions of dollars annually for their efforts. However, the attitudes
that people acquire from through their own direct experience are stronger than those they acquire vicariously and are also more resistant to change. (p.910-911)
Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is a kind of reading in which the students have to do a lot of
reading. According to Richards and Schmidt (2002) in Yamashita (2004), “extensive
reading means reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding of
what is read” (p.3). The students can read many texts as long as they can do a lot of
reading. Moreover, the students are allowed to choose whatever they will read as long
as they can enjoy the reading activity. Day and Bamford (2002) in Soliman (2012)
argue that there are ten principles for implementing Extensive reading. Those ten
principles are:
1. The reading material is easy.
2. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available.
3. Learners choose what they want to read.
4. Learners read as much as possible.
5. The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general
6. Reading is its own read.
7. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower.
8. Reading is individual and silent.
9. Teachers orient and guide their students.
10.The teacher is a role model of a reader.
In addition, the students do not need to use their dictionary too often because
in extensive reading they can guess the meaning of the difficult words based on the
context of that those words in the sentence or paragraph that they read. According to
Nwabudike et al. (2013), “extensive reading is reading a lot and for pleasure. It is
reading done at a comfortable “easy” level. Besides, the main goal is to read without
having to reach for a dictionary after every sentence or every paragraph” (p.34).
Some Studies about the Students Attitudes Toward Reading After Taking Extensive Reading Class
Extensive reading program can enhance the students’ attitude towards reading.
Besides, extensive reading can be done by using different media like books or e-books.
However, in order to get the great benefit of extensive reading for the students’
attitude towards reading, there are several factors of the extensive reading that must
exist.
Pazakh and Soltani (2010) conducted a research about the effect of Extensive
Reading on both of EFL learners’ reading attitude in Dehdast Language Institute. In
their research, the subjects were 80 EFL learners at six language institutes in Dehdast,
Kohgilooyeh, and Booyerahmad Province, Iran. All of the learners were male learners,
between ages 17-27. Those learners were divided into experimental group and
reading practice than the controlled group was. In order to collect and analyze the data
for the attitude, they used semi- structured interview in the end of the extensive
reading program. The data of that interview were compared to the learners’ profile
before that program. In the end, the finding showed that extensive reading could
change the learners’ attitude toward reading in a positive way.
From the findings and the result of the interview, Pazakh and Soltani
concluded that extensive reading can change the students’ attitude towards learning
based on some conditions. First, Pazakh and Soltani concluded that the reading
materials have to be appropriate for the students’ level of language proficiency and
the materials should not contain too many new words. Second, through extensive
reading, the students have to increase their vocabulary and feel that extensive reading
program can help them to understand better about what they read. If they can feel that
extensive reading can help them read easier, they will find out that reading is not as
difficult as they thought and they will have positive attitude toward reading.
Chen, Chen, Chen, and Wey (2013) also conducted a research about extensive
reading. Their research was about the effects of extensive reading via e-books on
tertiary level EFL students’ reading attitude. In their research, there were 89 (58 male
and 43 female) technological university freshmen aged from 18 to 19 from two
classes. Those freshmen were divided into experimental group and controlled group in
which the experimental group received the supplementary extensive reading program
via e-books in addition to regular English classes. In order to measure the students’
reading attitude, they used Stockman’s Reading Attitude Scale (1999) in their
questionnaires.Those questionnaires contained twenty-four items using 5-point Likert
participants’ reading attitude reflected on four dimensions. Those dimensions
consisted of utility (6 items), development (6 items), enjoyment (6 items) and escape
(6 items) respectively. Those questionnaires were given to the students in their pretest
and posttest. As a result, there was positive significance of the posttest on learners’
overall attitude rating. In other words, the findings of that research showed that
extensive reading via e-bookscould enhance EFL learners’ reading attitudes.
Those previous studies about extensive reading program which could enhance
the students’ attitude towards reading showed the same result even though they used
different participants, methods, and instrument. From those studies, it is clear that
both of the extensive reading programs which use book and e-book as the media of
reading can enhance the students’ attitude. Not only that, Extensive reading program
will work if the reading materials are appropriate for the students’ level of language
proficiency and the students can feel that the extensive reading program can help
them to read easier by themselves.
However, not only having positive attitude towards reading, it is also possible
that the student may not develop positive attitude toward reading after taking
extensive reading class. Sheu (2004) conducted a research about Taiwanese junior
high students’ attitude after taking extensive reading program. The participants of this
research were all native speakers of Chinese aged 13-14 years old from 3 classes of
2nd-year students at I-Jea High School in Kaohsiung Country, Taiwan. All of them had a year of learning English as foreign language in their secondary education and
their English proficiency was at beginning level.
The 3 classes were divided into two experimental classes with two different
children (BNESC)) and one control class. The participants in the two experimental
classes were free to choose any book they would like to read and change it for the
new one if they wished. They also could look at their dictionary. In the controlled
group, the participants were asked to do the exercises in the textbook or in the
self-study reference and practice books. One 45-minute lesson per week was specifically
allocated for the three classes over 4 months.
In order to trace the development of the students’ attitude towards reading, all
three groups were given the questionnaires before and after the extensive reading
program. The result showed that the scores of the three classes decreased after the
program. In other words, the program did not have a positive effect on students’
attitudes towards reading.
According to Sheu, there were some possible causes about this result. The first
reason was because the students had not developed sufficient proficiency to allow
them to read for meaning and pleasure, the students’ report on reading difficulties (e.g.
vocabulary and grammar rules) indicated that they applied the bottom-up decoding
approach which they learned in normal English lessons to extensive reading.
The second reason might be because there were no collaborative activities
used in this study. In that extensive reading program, the participants were asked to
write a reading record, keep their reading process and their reflections individually.
Because of that, the participants’ attitudes towards reading were not improved
although the books were interesting and they were happy to be involved in that
extensive reading program. However, it is still unknown whether the collaborative
activities would have positive influence on the participants’ attitudes towards reading
THE STUDY
Context of the Study
In this research, I decided to conduct the research in English Language
Education Department in Satya Wacana Christian University where I learn. This
university is located in Salatiga, Indonesia. The students of English Language
Department in this university actively use English in their teaching- learning activity.
Besides, the students and the teachers come from different places. Some of the
teachers even come from outside Indonesia and they are the native speakers of
English. The reason why I conducted this research in this university was because there
are some extensive reading classes in this university which teach the students
specifically about extensive reading.
When I saw the syllabus which was used in each of extensive reading class in
this university, I found out that the extensive reading courses in this university
followed ten principles of extensive reading by Day and Bamford (2002). In that
university, extensive reading was done by providing several topics, assessment, and
homework. There were many topics provided in the class, for example about radio
serial, gifts, book review, etc. There were also many kinds of assessment, such as
continuous assessment (include in-class individual or group assignments), individual
presentations, group project, and portfolio. At home, the students would do their
homework by choosing some articles or books, reading them, and doing the
homework based on particular instructions by their teachers. At the end of the class,
the students should submit their portfolio, which contains the compilation of their
Participants
The participants in this research consisted of 10 students from one of the four
extensive reading classes in English Language Education Department in Satya
Wacana Christian University. The reason why I decided 10 students from the same
class is because the students from the same class would learn about the same material
with the same method which was delivered by the same lecturer. For this research, I
chose the class randomly so each class could get the same chance to be used in this
research. Since there were 26 students in an extensive reading class, I chose 10 of
them based on their portfolio which they created in the end of extensive reading
course. The 10 participants were the 10 students who make the 10 most interesting
portfolios in my opinion.
The criteria for choosing ten most interesting portfolios were based on:
1. The clear explanation about their attitude towards reading before and after
taking extensive reading course.
2. The examples of their attitude changes (if there are any).
3. The explanation of how extensive reading course could change their attitude
towards reading.
Instrument of Data Collection
In this research, I used semi structured interview, in which I made some
questions to be answered by the participants. The answers of those questions would
consist of some information related to their attitude towards reading before and after
taking extensive reading course. Since Smith (1968) in BAŞ (2012) argue that attitude
psychological object, the questions of the interview tried to answer about the
participants’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards reading before and after taking
extensive reading course.
The questions were:
1. Before taking extensive reading class, how would you define about
reading?
2. After taking extensive reading class, how do you define about reading?
3. Before taking extensive reading class, what did you feel about reading?
4. After taking extensive reading class, what do you feel about reading?
5. Before taking extensive reading class, did you have any favorite book or
writer?
6. After taking extensive reading class, did you have any favorite book or
writer?
7. Before taking extensive reading class, did you provide time to read a
book?
8. After taking extensive reading class, did you provide time to read a book?
9. Do you feel any advantages of joining extensive reading class? Could you
explain about it?
The reason why I wanted to use semi structure interview to collect the data
was because when I and the participants did the interview, I might be able to create
the new emerging questions depending on the participants’ answers and get some
Data Collection Procedures
The instrument for data collection was semi-structured interview. The
interview was conducted using Bahasa Indonesia in order to make the participants feel
more comfortable to share their opinion. Before I met the participants, I made some
general questions, for example about their identity, from which “angkatan” they were
belong, how long they have learned English, and how many times they took extensive
reading course. After asking those questions, I will ask them some particular things
related to extensive reading course and their attitude towards reading.
From the answers those questions, there might be some questions emerging
about further information which I might need. The interviews took about 15-20
minutes on average and was recorded and transcribed.
Data Analysis
After the interviews were conducted, the records of those interviews were
transcribed. From the transcription of the interviews, I tried to do the coding process,
in which I tried to classify the participants’ answers into some groups and decided
which answers were relevant to the aim of my research. After that, I tried to determine
some emerging themes from the participant’s answers. Finally, I tried to determine
about the participants’ attitude towards reading under those emerging themes based
on their answers and make the conclusion.
FINDINGS
The main question of this research was “What is the students’ attitude towards
reading after taking extensive reading class?” In order to answer that question, a total
of 10 participants who took part in this research were interviewed. To find out about
the participants’ attitude towards reading, the results of the interview were analyzed
from three aspects, they are: the participants thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards
reading. Here are the findings of this research:
The participants Tend to Have Positive Thoughts towards Reading after Taking Extensive Reading Class
These are some participants’ statements related to their thoughts towards
reading after they took extensive reading class:
Participant 1 : “For now, reading is an enjoyable activity and we can do it in our free
time. Reading is also important for us now and in our future.”
(“Sekarang reading itu kegiatan yang menyenangkan yang bisa kita
lakukan di waktu santai dan sadar maupun tidak sadar reading itu
bermanfaat bagi kita sekarang maupun di masa mendatang. ”)
“In extensive reading class, I was taught to read many books. Because
of that, I understood many things and gained much information. For
example, when I read a book titled “London” with some information about London in it, I knew many new things about London. As a result,
I realized that an idiom “a book is a window of the world” is true. That’s the reason why I think of reading like that now.”
(“Di kelas extensive reading, Saya diajarkan untuk baca banyak buku. Karena itu Saya mengerti banyak hal dan memperoleh banyak informasi. Misalnya saja ketika Saya baca buku yang berjudul
“London” dengan informasi tentang London di dalam buku itu, Saya
jadi tahu hal-hal baru tentang London, sehingga akhirnya Saya
mengetahui bahwa ungkapan “buku adalah jendela dunia” itu benar
adanya. Itu sebabnya Saya berpikir seperti itu tentang reading
Participant 8 : “Reading is a need for me. Moreover, the students need to read a lot.” (“Kalau sekarang membaca itu suatu kebutuhan, ya required lah,
terutama untuk mahasiswa. ”)
“Before taking extensive reading class, for me reading is just the
ordinary activity in which I read the book. In extensive reading class, I was taught to read many books. For me, extensive reading can help me choose the interesting book. As the time went by, I used to read many books and do the assignments in extensive reading class. Because of that my mindset about reading was changed and I realized that reading
is my need.”
“Sebelum ambil extensive reading class, buat Saya reading itu ya cuma sesuatu yang biasa aja, membaca buku begitu aja. Di extensive reading class, Saya diajarkan banyak baca buku, dan extensive reading buat Saya membantu juga untuk memilih bahan bacaan yang menarik. Lama-kelamaan karena Saya terbiasa membaca banyak buku dan ada banyak tugas di extensive reading class, mindset Saya jadi berubah sendiri dan Saya seperti sadar sendiri bahwa membaca itu ya kebutuhan. ”
From those statements, the participants gave some positive explanation about
their thoughts towards reading. Related to the thoughts toward reading, the participant
could give positive description about reading to express what they think about reading
after they took extensive reading class using several words. Not only that, they were
also able to think of reading as something beneficial, for example as a mean to get
information and understanding or to help them in academic setting. Some of the
participants’ statements also indicate that the participants experienced the positive
change of their thoughts towards reading, in which after they took extensive reading
class, they think of reading more positively.
Participant 1 described reading as something “enjoyable” and “important.” In
the portfolio, this participant even said that he/she finally found the other side of
participant has positive thoughts towards reading because he/she described reading in
positive way. The reason why extensive reading can make participant 1 think of
reading positively can be seen from the second statement. According to the
participant’s second statement, he/she was taught to read many books. Besides, he/she
also said that because of reading many books, he/she could obtain much new
information and he/she also realized that a book is a window of the world.
The statements from participant 1 are consistent with two of the ten extensive
reading principles by Day and Bamford (2002), in which the learners read as much as
possible and the purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and
general understanding. Because this participant was accustomed to read many books
and he/she also gained some new information and understanding, he/she could give
the positive statement, such as reading is enjoyable and a book is a window of the
world.
Participant 8 also has positive thought about reading. This participant even
described reading as the “need”. According to this participant’s statement, before
taking extensive reading class, he/she saw reading only as an ordinary activity, in
which he/she just read a book. In other words, this participant did not see reading as
something special. However, this participant said that in extensive reading class,
he/she had to read many books and by joining extensive reading class, it could help
him/her choose the interesting book (the book that this participant wanted to read).
This statement might have relation with two of the ten extensive reading principles by
Day and Bamford (2002), in which the learners read as much as possible and the
As the result of joining extensive reading class, participant 8 thought of
reading differently. This participant said that because he/she used to do the
assignments and read many books during extensive reading class, he/she turned
reading as a need, not something ordinary anymore. In the portfolio, this participant
even said, “After taking extensive reading course, I realized that reading books
frequently is really needed not only to reach your target or impress your lecturer, but
also to improve yourself and enrich your knowledge.” In other words, reading became
something special for this participant.
From the statements of those participants, it can be concluded that the
participants tend to have positive thoughts towards reading.
The participants Tend to Have Positive Feelings towards Reading after Taking Extensive Reading Class
These are some participants’ statements related to their feelings towards
reading after they took extensive reading class:
Participant 4 : “Before taking extensive reading class, for me, reading was something boring that made me sleepy. Even when I saw a book, I felt
bored and sleepy.”
(“Sebelum ambil extensive reading, membaca itu sesuatu yang ngebosenin dan bikin ngantuk. Kalau liat buku ya bawaannya ngantuk,
bosen.”
(“Waktu extensive reading, pertamanya malas, tapi waktu itu Saya coba baca dan ternyata ada buku yang menarik seperti buku tentang Martin Luther King dan saya jadi lebih menikmati membaca buku. Kalau membaca juga Saya dapat informasi baru dibanding kalau Saya nggak baca buku. Kalau sekarang setelah extensive reading, ada progress sih, seperti kalau membaca sudah ga ngantuk lagi, terus
membaca juga suatu hal yang menyenangkan yang baru gitu.”)
Participant 6 : “Before, I read just to gain information I needed. At first, reading was not something enjoyable for me. It’s just to gain the information” (“Kalau dulu kan reading itu cuma kalau pas butuh informasi saja Saya baca. Pertamanya juga reading itu bukan sesuatu yang menyenangkan bagi Saya, cuma sekedar baca dan dapat informasi
saja.”)
“During extensive reading class, I didn’t just read the book all the time.
There were many things to do like presentations. However, I read the book everyday at that time. Because of that I felt that reading was not just to gain information all the time. Reading could be the source of fun, just like when I read novel. After extensive reading class, now I like reading more than before. For example, when I find an interesting article, I will read it.”
(“Sewaktu extensive reading Saya nggak cuma baca buku sih. Ada
banyak tugas kayak presentasi gitu. Tapi waktu extensive reading Saya baca buku tiap hari. Dari situ Saya jadi merasa kalau reading itu nggak cuma melulu cari-cari informasi. Reading juga bisa sebagai kegiatan yang menyenangkan seperti membaca novel. Setelah extensive reading, sekarang Saya lebih suka Saya baca gitu. Kalau
sekarang misalnya ada artikel, Saya baca kalau suka”)
From those statements, the participants gave some positive explanation about
their feelings towards reading. To express their feeling toward reading after taking
extensive reading class, the participants tried to explain about the changes of their
feeling towards reading. They were able to tell clearly about the comparison of their
showed that they could develop positive feelings toward reading. Besides, they also
explained about how extensive reading could change their feelings toward reading.
For participant 4, there was a change in his/her feeling towards reading. From
his/her statement, I can conclude that before taking extensive reading class, reading
was an activity which could make him/her sleepy, probably because the participant
felt that reading was boring and not too enjoyable. In other words, he/she had negative
feeling towards reading. However, when this participant took extensive reading class,
his/her feeling toward reading was changed. According to this participant, he/she
found some interesting books like the book about Martin Luther King during
extensive reading class. Because of that, this participant said that he/she could enjoy
reading more than before.
After taking extensive reading class, this participant said that there was a
progress, in which he/she would not be sleepy anymore when he/she read and reading
was like something new and more enjoyable than before for him/her. This is the result
of taking extensive reading class, in which this participant found some interesting
books during that class. In the portfolio, this participant also said, “Extensive reading
class gave me a bright side of reading a book. Now, reading a book is a good thing to
do.” In other words, this participants’ feeling towards reading was changed from
negative to positive.
Participant 6’s feeling towards reading was also changed after taking extensive
reading class. Before taking extensive reading class, this participant felt that reading
Besides, this participant also said that reading was not an enjoyable activity at that
time.
When this participant took extensive reading class, his/her feeling towards
reading began to change to be more positive. During extensive reading class period,
this participant read books every day, and during that time, he/she began to enjoy
reading. This participant said that reading could be a source of fun, like reading novel.
In the portfolio, this participant even said, “Before taking extensive reading class, I
never interested in reading, but now there are many books I want to read.” In other
words, during extensive reading class period, this participant read the books and felt
the enjoyment of reading. This is related to one of the ten extensive reading principles
by Day and Bamford (2002), in which reading is related to pleasure. Besides, Day and
Bamford (1998) and Grabe (2009) in Yamashita (2013) also believe that “extensive
reading has positive impacts on the affective domains of reading” (p.249). Because of
that, after taking extensive reading class, this participant likes reading more than
before.
In conclusion, the participants’ feelings towards reading tend to be positive.
The participants Tend to Change Their Behaviors towards Reading to be More Positive after Taking Extensive Reading Class
These are some participants’ statements related to their behaviors towards
reading after they took extensive reading class:
However that’s not every day, maybe about twice a week. Well, that’s because I was a little bit lazy that time.”
(“Sebelum mengambil extensive reading, kalau buku favorit sih rasanya nggak ada. Waktu itu sih Saya kalau buat membaca, sehari 1 buku tapi nggak tebal, itu 1 jam-an. Tapi itu nggak tiap hari, paling seminggu 2 kali-an, soalnya masih rada malas sih waktu itu.”
During extensive reading class, the lecturer asked us to read whichever book we wanted to read with certain time. After that, I could exchange my books with my friend. For me, the books were good. Because of that, I like reading more than before and I can get use to read the book.
After taking extensive reading class, I still don’t have any favorite
books. However, I can read the book every day for about 30 minutes. In other words, now I am more diligent to read than before.”
(Pada waktu kelas extensive reading, dosen mempersilakan membaca buku apa saja yang kami mau dengan waktu yang ditentukan, setelah itu Saya bisa bertukar buku dengan teman-teman Saya. Ya waktu itu bukunya bagus-bagus sih, makanya Saya jadi lebih suka membaca dari sebelumnya dan Saya bisa membiasakan diri untuk membaca. Setelah ambil extensive reading, Saya sih masih belum ada buku favorit, tapi Saya bisa baca tiap hari paling nggak 30 menit-an, ya intinya jadi lebih rajin baca dari sebelumya lah.)
Participant 8 : “Before taking extensive reading class, I like novel and I regularly read news. At that time, I didn’t have specific time to read. Actually, I read according to my mood.”
(“Sebelum mengambil extensive reading class, buku yang Saya suka waktu itu novel. Kalau bacaan ringan, I regularly juga baca koran. Waktu itu sih nggak ada sepsifikasi waktu membaca. Cuma sebenarnya Saya membaca ikut mood saja.”)
(“Waktu ikut extensive reading class, Saya harus kerjakan banyak tugas dan baca banyak buku dan itu juga harus selesai on time. Dulu nilai Saya pernah dikurangi gara-gara tidak mengumpulkan tugas on time. Ya lama lama jadi berubah lah mau ngga mau pasti jadi kebiasaan buat membaca, dan bukan lagi jadi kewajiban, tapi kebutuhan. Setelah extensive reading class, buku favorit sih bertambah. Kalau cerita seperti buku Shakespeare. Kalau selain novel paling bacaan kayak journal and recent issues gitu sih. Yah banyak lagi lah. , paling nggak Saya coba menyisihkan sejam dua jam untuk membaca
lah per hari, itu juga kalau ada waktu luang.”)
From those statements, the participants gave some positive explanation about
their reading behaviors after taking extensive reading class. In here the participants
experienced some changes about their behaviors toward reading. This can be seen
from the comparison of the participants’ behaviors toward reading before and after
they took extensive reading class. The participants’ behaviors can be seen from some
aspects, for example the time they spent to read a book (whether they provided some
time to read a book), their favorite book (whether they had favorite book), and their
reading habit (whether they made reading as their habit). The results were that the
participants experienced the positive changes about their behaviors toward reading
after taking extensive reading class. Not only that, they were also capable of
explaining the reason behind the positive changes that they experienced in terms of
their behaviors toward reading.
For participant 7, it can be seen from the statement that he/she had a rather
negative aspect in the reading behavior, in which he/she did not have any favorite
book. Although this participant provided time to read, that was only about 2 hours per
After taking extensive reading class, there were some improvements in
participant 7’s reading behavior. According to this participant, in extensive reading
class, all the students were asked to read whichever book they wanted to read. This is
in tune with one of the ten extensive reading principles by Day and Bamford (2002),
in which the learners choose what they want to read. According to Jenks and Brinham
(2012), “extensive reading students will benefit more from self-directed reading if
they choose books to suit their own personal ability, interests, and preferences”
(p.196). Besides, this participant said that after taking extensive reading class, he/she
likes reading more than before. This indicates that this participant is motivated to read
more. Guthrie and Wigfield (2000) in Seitz (2010) argue that “motivation is what
activates behavior” (p.30). As a result, there is an improvement in the time this
participant provides to read, in which this participant can read for about 30 minutes
every day.
For participant 8, he/she also have positive reading behavior after taking
extensive reading class. Before taking extensive reading class, this participant had
slightly positive reading behavior, in which he/she liked to read novel and he/she also
read news regularly, even though he/she did not provide specific time to read. During
extensive reading class, this participant did many assignments, read many books, and
learned to submit the assignment on time. According to this participant, there are
some improvements of his/her reading behavior because of taking extensive reading
class. As a result of taking extensive reading class, now this participant likes to read
more things, such as novels, journals, and recent issues. Not only that, this participant
In conclusion, the participants tend to change their behaviors toward reading
to be more positive after they took extensive reading class.
DISCUSSION
This research was conducted to answer one question, “What is the students’
attitude towards reading after taking extensive reading class?” This research was
conducted in Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia. The result of this
research can be summarized as follows:
The result of the research shows that the participants tend to have positive
thoughts towards reading. From the interview, the participants gave some positive
statements to describe about their thoughts toward reading after taking extensive
reading class, for example they described reading as an enjoyable and important
activity. It was possible because in their extensive reading class, the participants read
as much as possible and chose what they wanted to read. Besides, the purpose of
reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding.
Because of that, the participants’ thoughts toward reading tend to be positive.
The result of the research shows that the participants tend to have positive
feelings towards reading. From the interview, the participants gave some positive
statements related to their feelings toward reading after they took extensive reading
class. Some participants gave positive statements to describe about their feelings
toward reading, for example they said that they enjoyed reading and they were not
many interesting books as possible. Because of that, they could develop positive
feelings towards reading.
The result of the research shows that the participants tend to have positive
behaviors towards reading. From the interview, the participants gave some positive
statements related to their feelings toward reading after they took extensive reading
class. Some of these statements also indicated the positive changes of the participants’
behaviors toward reading. This can happen because during extensive reading class,
the participants were required to read a lot. Because of that, as the time went by,
reading became a habit for the participants and the participant still carry this habit
even after extensive reading class period. In other words, because reading becomes a
habit for the participants, the participants reading behaviors become positive as well.
From those results, it is obvious that the participants tend to have positive
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards reading. Since thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are the component of attitude, just like what Allport (1967) in BAŞ (2012)
said, it means that the participants have the positive attitude towards reading after
taking extensive reading class.
The results of this research are also similar to the results of the research
conducted by Pazakh and Soltani (2010), and Chen, Chen, Chen, and Wey (2013), in
which they also did the research about extensive reading and the students’ attitude.
From their research, it could be concluded that extensive reading program would
enhance the students’ attitudes toward reading if the reading materials were
appropriate for the students’ level of language proficiency and the students could feel
In this research, the extensive reading class followed the ten principles of
extensive reading by Day and Bamford (2002), and the result of this research
suggested that extensive reading which followed these ten principles could also
enhance the students’ attitude toward reading. In other words, these ten principles
could also serve as the criteria of extensive reading which can enhance the students’
attitude toward reading.
CONCLUSION
This research was conducted in English Department in Satya Wacana
Christian University to find out about the students’ attitudes toward reading after they
took extensive reading class. The result of this research showed that the students
tended to have positive attitudes toward reading after taking extensive reading class.
Besides, it was also clear that the ten principles of extensive reading by Day and
Bamford (2002) could serve as one of the characteristics of extensive reading which
can enhance the students’ attitudes toward reading. From the result, it can be
concluded that extensive reading which follow the ten principles of extensive reading
by Day and Bamford (2002) can be used as one effective way to enhance the students’
attitudes toward reading.
There are some pedagogical implications related to this research. Because the
result of this research revealed the positive result of extensive reading toward the
students’ attitudes toward reading, it is possible for every university in Indonesia to
add extensive reading class for the students. Besides, it is also possible to make
which the students can share their opinion about the book they read to each other. By
doing further research in the future, it might even be possible to apply extensive
reading for the young learners to enhance their attitudes toward reading.
However, it has to be noted that this research also has limitation, for example
this research was conducted in one university, the participants of this research were
ten participants from one extensive reading class, and this research used semi
structure interview as the instrument to collect the data. Therefore, the result of this
research cannot be generalized and further study has to be conducted in order to get
better result related to extensive reading and the students’ attitudes towards reading.
I hope that the result of this research will be able to support the other research
in this issue as a way to enhance the students’ attitudes towards reading and make the
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