Unlocking Potential: Exploring the Impact of Free Voluntary Reading on Moroccan High School Students

Hassan El Garras, Abdallah Ghaicha, Mohamed Yacoub

Abstract


This study examines the impact of Free Voluntary Reading (FVR), or reading for pleasure, on 15 high school students in a rural area in Morocco. The paper explores how FVR impacts Moroccan high school students’ attitudes, motivation, perceptions, and habits toward their English language development and language literacy. After a six-month involvement in reading a series of short stories, the 15 participants were interviewed following a semi-structured protocol. The Interview questions were divided into three categories: learners’ attitudes and motivation, learners’ perceptions of their language development, and reading habits and literacy development. The participants’ responses were transcribed, coded, and the findings were presented into seven themes, revealing the positive impact of FVR on students. These themes are Motivation and Engagement, Confidence and Self-esteem, Choice and Learner Autonomy, Reading Habits and New Experiences, English Language Development, Interest in Reading, and Reading Culture. The paper concludes with pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research.


Keywords


Free voluntary reading; Literacy; Reading habits; Language development; Attitudes

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdullah, S., Rahim, P. R. M. A., Setia, R., Mohamad, R., Ghazali, N., Sabapathy, E., ... & Hassan, N. S. I. C. (2012). Reading for pleasure as a means of improving reading comprehension skills. Asian Social Science, 8(13), 233.

Ahmad Irshad Ahmadi, A. (2020). Self-confidence in Language Classes. International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, 6(7), 55-57.

Allred, & Cena, M. E. (2020). Reading motivation in high school: instructional shifts in student choice and class time. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 64(1), 27–35.

Atilgan, A. (2013). Effects of extensive reading on writing in terms of vocabulary. ITJ, 10(1), 53–63. Retrieved from https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/intesol/article/view/15549/15610

Baaqeel, N. A. (2020). Improving Student Motivation and Attitudes in Learning English as a Second Language; Literature as Pleasurable Reading: Applying Garner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Krashen’s Filter Hypothesis. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 4(1), 137-151. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol4no1.4

Bajrami, L. (2015). Teacher’s New Role in Language Learning and in Promoting Learner Autonomy☆. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 423-427.

Barcroft, J. (2004). Second language vocabulary acquisition: A lexical input processing approach. Foreign Language Annals, 37(2), 200-208.

Bautista, D. C., & Marulanda, M. A. (2018). Free Voluntary Reading: Promoting Vocabulary Learning and Self-Directedness. English Language Teaching, 11, 51-64.

Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy (2nd ed.). Routledge. London.

Bonney, C.R.; Cortina, K.S.; Smith-Darden, J.P. & Fiori, K. L. (2008). Understanding strategies in foreign language learning: Are integrative and intrinsic motives distinct predictors? Learning and Individual Differences, 18(1), 1-10.

Boudribila, W. (2019). The Productive Knowledge Of Adjective-Noun Collocations By Moroccan EFL Students From Seven Universities. Journal of Research & Method in Education, 8(5), 13-17.

Chang, H. J. (2011). The effect of free voluntary reading on college English reading class in Korea. In Proceedings of the 16th Conference of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics (pp. 32-37).

Chang, S. M. & Huang, S. H. (1999). Taiwanese English learners’ learning motivation and language learning strategies. Proceedings of the sixteenth Conference on English Teaching and Learning in the Republic of China (pp. 111-128).

Chen, Y., & Baker, P. (2010). Lexical bundles in L1 and L2 academic writing. Language Learning and Technology, 14(2), 30-49.

Cho, K. S., & Krashen, S. (2015). Establishing a Long-Term Reading Habit in English as a Foreign Language: A Case Study. TESOL International Journal, 10(2), 138-141.

Christenson, S. L., Reschly, A. L., & Wylie, C. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of research on student engagement. Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7

Clark, & Picton. (2020). Children and young people’s reading in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. National Literacy Trust Research Report. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED607776.pdf

Clark, C. (2011). Setting the Baseline: The National Literacy Trust’s first annual survey into reading - 2010. London: National Literacy Trust. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541400.pdf.

Clark, C., & Douglas, J. (2011). Young People’s Reading and Writing: An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behavior, attitudes, and attainment. National Literacy Trust. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521656.pdf

Clark, C., & Phythian-Sence, C. (2008). Interesting Choice: The (relative) importance of choice and interest in reader engagement. London: The National Literacy Trust. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=ca814e11c438c91e9f8f9d36488660315d549b6d.

Clark, C., & Rumbold, K. (2006). Reading for Pleasure: A research overview. The National Literacy Trust.

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications. Los Angeles.

Damayanti, O. (2021). The Effect of Free Voluntary Reading Strategy for Boosting Students’ Reading Comprehension. Thesis, English Education Department, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, State Institute for Islamic Studies of Ponorogo. https://etheses.iainponorogo.ac.id/17817/1/210917106_OTAVIA%20DAMAYANTI_TBI.pdf

Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 14(2), 136-141.

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2018). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research. Sage publications. London.

Dimitroff, A. R., Dimitroff, A. J., & Alhashimi, R. (2018). Student Motivation: A Comparison and Investigation of ESL and EFL Environments. International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, 10(2), 1–13.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667343

Durán Bautista, D. C., & Rendón Marulanda, M. A. (2018). Free voluntary reading: Promoting vocabulary learning and self-directedness. English Language Teaching, 11(8), 51-64.

Efendi, A., & Deyani, C. (2022). Free Voluntary Reading to Promote Learners Autonomy in Vocabulary Acquisition: The Case of Universitas Internasional Batam. Alsuna: Journal of Arabic and English Language, 5(1), 19-44. https://doi.org/10.31538/alsuna.v5i1.2228

Elley, W. B., & Mangubhai, F. (1983). The impact of reading on second language learning. Reading Research Quarterly, 19(1), 53-67.

Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fan, H. C. (2016). Employing Inspiring and Appealing Materials as Supplemental Reading to Improve EFL Learners’ English Language Competence. Asian EFL Journal, (96), 100-117.

Guthrie, J. T., & Wigfield, A. (2000). Engagement and motivation in reading. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 3 (pp. 403-422).

Guthrie, J. T., Wigfield, A., & You, W. (2012). Instructional contexts for engagement and achievement in reading. In S. L. Christenson, A. L. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 601-634). Springer. New York.

Habrat, A. (2018). The Role of Self-Esteem in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. Springer.

Haugsnes, E. (2021). Student Attitudes Towards Extensive Reading. Örebro University. Degree Paper. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1685890/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., Vitta, J. P., & Wu, J. (2021). Engagement in language learning: A systematic review of 20 years of research methods and definitions. Language Teaching Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13621688211001289

Joshi, K. R. (2012). Learner Perceptions and Teacher Beliefs about Learner Autonomy in Language Learning. Journal of Nelta, 16, 12-29.

Khansir, A. A., & Deghani, N. (2015). The Impact of extensive reading on grammatical mastery of Iranian EFL learners. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(7), 1501–1507. doi: 10.17507/tpls.0507.25

Krashen S. (2022, August 8). Secrets of Second Language Acquisition. [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA37gV2V-Zs&t=420s.

Krashen, S. (2003). Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use: The Taipei Lectures. Heinle & Heinle. Portsmouth.

Krashen, S. (2002). The Comprehension Hypothesis and its Rivals. Selected Papers from the Eleventh International Symposium on English Teaching, 1-8.

Krashen, S. (2004). The power of reading: Insights from the research. Libraries Unlimited. London.

Krashen, S. D. (1993). The case for free voluntary reading. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 2(1), 1-14.

Krashen, S. (2005). Free voluntary reading: New research, applications, and controversies. In M. H. Long & C. J. Doughty (Eds.), Handbook of Language Teaching, 2nd ed. (pp. 263-274). Wiley-Blackwell.

Krashen, S. (2016). The purpose of education, free voluntary reading, and dealing with the Impact of Poverty. School Libraries Worldwide, 22(1), 1.

Krashen, S. (2013). The case for non-targeted, comprehensible input. Journal of Bilingual Education Research & Instruction, 15(1), 102-110.

Krashen, S. (2011). Free voluntary reading. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Krashen, S., Lee, S. Y., & Lao, C. (2017). Comprehensible and compelling: The causes and effects of free voluntary reading. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Lee, S., & Hsu, Y. (2009). Determining the crucial characteristics of extensive reading programs: The impact of extensive reading on EFL writing. The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 5(1), 12–20.

Lee, S. Y. (2019). A fulfilling journey of language acquisition via story listening and reading: A case of an adult scholar. Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 1-9.

Machet, M., & Olen, S. (1996). Determining the effect of free voluntary reading on English second language readers in South Africa: Report on research conducted in primary schools. Paper presented at 25th IASL Conference.

Maharsi, I., Ghali, M. I., & Maulani, S. (2019). High school students’ reading habit and perception on reading for pleasure. International Journal of Indonesian Education and Teaching, 3(1), 80-89.

Manning, C., Aliefendic, J., Chiarelli, M., Haas, L., & Williams, S. (2011). Inspirational impetuous: Lifelong learning. Journal of the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators, 21(1), 11-17.

Maslow, A. H., & Rogers, C. R. (1980). The Further Reaches of Human Nature. Viking Press.

Mason, B., & Krashen, S. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25(1), 91-102.

Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. Jossey Bass. Francisco.

Momtaz, E. & Garner, M. (2010). Does Collaborative Learning Improve EFL Students’ Reading Comprehension? Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching, 1 (2010) 1, 15-36.

Morabit, N.E. (2021). Graded Readers: An Empirical Study Measuring the Impact on Low-Proficiency EFL

Students’ Writing Fluency in Morocco. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 4 (6), 237-244.

Nguyen, N. T. (2014). Learner autonomy in language learning: Teachers’ beliefs. (Doctoral dissertation). Queensland University of Technology. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/20337331.pdf

Ogbonna, J., & Eze, J. U. (2015). Reviving the reading culture: School library programmes in promoting voluntary reading amongst students: The case of Imo State, Nigeria. Library philosophy and practice, 1241(1), 1-28.

Ovilia, R., & Asfina, R. (2022). The power of pleasure reading: A narrative inquiry of proficient non-English learners. Journal of English Educators Society, 7(2), 10.21070/jees.v7i2.1510

Oxford, R. L. (2017). Teaching and researching language learning strategies: Self-regulation in context (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Park, J. H., & Kim, H. K. (2019). The effects of free voluntary reading on Korean EFL middle school students’ reading fluency and comprehension. English Teaching, 74(4), 31-54.

Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Wynn, S. R. (2010). The effectiveness and relative importance of choice in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(4), 896-915. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019545

Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Sage publications, Thousand Oaks.

Philp, J., & Duchesne, S. (2016). Exploring engagement in tasks in the language classroom. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 36, 50-72. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190515000094

PISA 2018. (2023, October). The Program for International Student Assessment. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_MAR.pdf

PISA 2022. (2023, October) Student performance (PISA 2022). https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=MAR&treshold=5&topic=PI

Pradana, S. A. (2016). An analysis of the phenomena between free voluntary reading (FVR) and

students’ writing ability. English Education: Journal Tardis Bahasa Inggris, 9(1), 198–214.

Rideout, V., & Robb, M. B. (2019). The Common Sense census: Media use by tweens and teens, 2019. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.

Rubio, F. (2007). Self-esteem and foreign language learning: An introduction. In F. Rubio (Ed.), Self-esteem and foreign language learning (pp.2-12). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Sinclair, B. (2000). Learner autonomy: The next phase. In B. Sinclair, I. McGrath, & T. Lamb (Eds.), Learner autonomy, teacher autonomy: Future directions (pp. 4-14). Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Stokes, J., Krashen, S., & Kartchner, J. (1998). Factors in the acquisition of the present subjunctive in Spanish: The role of reading and study. ITL - Review of Applied Linguistics, 121(1), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.121-122.02sto

Sulis, G. (2022). Engagement in the foreign language classroom: Micro and macro perspectives. System, 110, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102902

Sullivan, A., & Brown, M. (2015). Reading for pleasure and progress in vocabulary and mathematics. British Educational Research Journal, 41(6), 971-991.

Tunçel, H. (2015). The relationship between self-confidence and learning Turkish as a foreign language. Educational Research Review, 10, 2575-2589.

Waring, R., & Takaki, M. (2003). At what rate do learners learn and retain new vocabulary from reading a graded reader? Reading in a Foreign Language, 15(2), 130-163.

Wilhelm, J. D. (2016). Recognizing the power of pleasure: What engaged adolescent readers get from their free-choice reading, and how teachers can leverage this for all. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 39(1), 30-41.

Whitten, C., Labby, S. A., & Sullivan, S. (2019). The impact of Pleasure Reading on Academic Success.

World Bank. (October, 2020). Morocco: A case for building a stronger education system in the post Covid-19 era. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/10/27/a-case-for-building-a-stronger-education-system-in-the-post-covid-19-era

Wu, L.-F. (2013). A Study of Factors Affecting College Students’ Use of ESL Vocabulary Learning Strategies. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3(19), 202- 208.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/13312

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Canadian Social Science

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:[email protected]; [email protected]

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture