Extensive Reading: A Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitative Research

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Abstract

Extensive reading is regarded as one of the most effective approaches of how students may improve their language knowledge. There are not many researchers who contribute extensive reading taking into consideration current technological progress, and this issue remains to be unclear and poorly investigated. In this paper, the works of Dale Brown and Juan Pino-Silva are evaluated.

The authors introduce different methods to improve extensive reading and use different researches to evaluate information: Brown’s attention to textbooks through the analysis as a part of qualitative research and Pino-Silva’s attention to the Internet by means of questionnaires in the chosen quantitative research.

Though the authors’ ideas have many differences, their results contribute the chosen sphere of extensive reading a lot. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the methods chosen by the authors and define their strong and weak sides.

Introduction

Extensive reading is one of the most effective approaches that may improve students’ knowledge considerably. In this paper, two articles about extensive reading are taken into consideration within the frames of which the authors make use of different research methods to investigate the same sphere. The work by Juan Pino-Silva is based on the current investigations of extensive reading and the effects on the Internet programs which may be implemented in educational processes.

He relies of the quantitative research in order to classify the issues, count positive and negative aspects of the topic, and introduce a model according to which extensive reading may be analyzed. The main purpose of this author is to identify whether it is worthwhile to use the Internet in order to promote extensive reading and how this type of reading may be organized. It is obligatory to count and integrate the information obtained by means of constant counting and comparison.

Another article is written by Dale Brown and devoted to the ideas of extensive reading through textbooks. As the idea of extensive reading through the textbooks is frequently ignored, the author finds it interesting to evaluate language proficiency by means of such perspective. Brown offers the qualitative research in order to introduce a complete and detailed description of the problem and to prove the urgency of the theme.

In fact, the ideas of Brown and Pino-Silva have a lot in common: they identify extensive reading as an important factor of student education and they prove that reading may be developed in a variety of ways; the chosen methods are different as Brown focuses on analysis and meta-analysis during the whole paper that is an extensive part of qualitative research, and Pino-Silva makes conclusions after a number of questionnaires are conducted which remain to be a part of quantitative research; still, the offered ideas to use textbooks and the Internet help to realize how rich and overwhelming extensive reading could be.

Extensive Reading: Objectives of the Two Authors

Definitions offered by both authors show that their intentions and the chosen methods are not similar, this is why the achievements are not easy to predict from the very beginning. Dale Brown (2008) admits that extensive reading is “the single most effective way to improve language proficiency… to lead to considerable learning gains in the areas of reading, writing, vocabulary learning” (p. 238).

And Juan Pino-Silva (2006) introduces extensive reading as “the reading of large amounts of material in the second language over time for personal pleasure or interest, and without the addition of productive tasks or follow up language work” (p. 82).

Structure of the Study in the First Paper

Pino-Silva gives clear grounds and ideas to inform the reader about the chosen approaches and makes a decision to use particular research methods which will help to identify the role of extensive reading and its impact on student life. Extensive reading may be considerably improved by means of the Internet and online services offered: reading online (RO) involves three different interactions of screen, text, and eyes as a result of which verbal and nonverbal information is understood.

The ideas to ask questions and analyse the answers of different people seems to be powerful: this methods touches upon theoretical and practical aspects of extensive reading through the Internet. The aim of the chosen quantitative research is to gather as much statistic information as possible through the questionnaires. During the whole study, the author tens to remain objectively detached from the subject matter but focus on clear numbers and ratings with the help of which the issue is disclosed.

Structure of the Study in the Second Paper

In his turn, Dale Brown focuses on textbooks and their impact on extensive reading. His ideas are based on the fact that the vast majority of books “make no reference whatsoever to extensive reading, meaning that it is up to individual teachers and institutions to convince others of its merits, integrate it into the curriculum, and deal with the practicalities involved” (Brown, 2008, p. 238).

In other words, the author tries to evaluate the already known information and define the shortages of the existed achievements. The chosen qualitative method is a kind of data gathering instrument where information has certain time limitations, observations, and interpretation of the events which have already taken place. In his meta-analysis, he relies on numerous hypotheses offered by different researchers.

For example, he examines the steps taken by Bell (2001) who concludes that the members of the extensive group demonstrate higher scores in reading in comparison to those demonstrated by the learners from the intensive group in order to prove that reading speed should be faster.

Methods Offered in the Articles

As it has been mentioned above, there are many methods of how extensive reading may be improved and evaluated. In this case, there are two authors who introduce two different methods of this kind of improvements: Pino-Silva suggests the Internet as a powerful approach to spread extensive reading among students and evaluates a number of literary sources and research achievements in the chosen sphere, and Brown offers to use textbooks in order to encourage extensive reading among students and pays much attention on direct and indirect approaches.

On the one hand, the research method offered by Pino-Silva seems to be more effective and up-to-date as the use of the Internet is one of the most frequent activities chosen by students all over the world. On the other hand, computers may negatively influence human health, this is why it is still necessary to take care of students’ health and introduce ideas which may promote extensive reading with less negative aspects.

From this perspective, the thoughts of Dale Brown about textbooks have a number of positive aspects and may be also implemented into the educational process. Both approaches deserve certain attention and recognitions and have to be analyzed thoroughly in the papers as they are analyzed by means of different methods such as meta-analysis and questionnaires and web-based experiments.

Qualitative Research Offered by Brown

The chosen method of meta-analysis and literature analysis helps to identify the already done activities in the field. The author admits that some hypotheses offered by different authors like Prowse, Maley, and Laufer have a certain impact on extensive reading, still, they are not perfect as may be improved or substituted through time.

A thorough evaluation of literatures makes it clear that extensive reading may be improved, still, the author is not able to provide clear practical experiments with the help of which his theoretical aspects will be justified. The article by Dale Brown was written in 2008, this is why it is possible to believe that the offered ideas and approaches consider the current achievements in the technological field as well as in education and psychological fields.

Students’ demands and purposes have a tendency to be changed and improved with time, this is why it is crucially important to take into consideration various aspects and impacts, and Brown tries to admit the suggestions of professional writers as well as evaluate possible impacts of extensive reading through textbooks.

His ideas are based on students’ free will and the possibility to choose the material for reading in accordance with their interests and preferences. In spite of the fact that “textbook readings are usually slowly, with students laboriously poring over the text, dictionary at hand” (Brown, 2008, p. 244), it is beneficial to choose sources of different tones to promote faster reading and quicker understanding of the text.

Quantitative Research Used by Pino-Silva

In spite of the fact that extensive reading is not a new approach used by numerous linguists, the idea to implement the Internet into the chosen activity seems to be rather new.

Web-based scheme offered by Pino-Silva helps to identify another captivating approach to encourage extensive reading as well as to motivate students improve their writing and reading skills, vocabulary learning, and overall language proficiency. In this article, the author makes use of two research methods like questionnaires and web-based experiments which the help of which it is possible to clear up whether the Internet as the source for extensive reading is worth students’ attention.

In a result of personal investigations and literature search, the author admit that the vast majority of students “do learn vocabulary incidentally” (Pino-Silva, 2006, p. 95), it is evident that vocabulary knowledge is poor, and students may face a number of problems during the attempts to comprehend texts in English. One of the works chosen by Pino-Silva is written by Grabe and Stoller (2002) who offered a comprehensive discussion of extensive reading and alternative methods to improve student knowledge.

Measurements in Both Studies

Among a number of positive aspects which are observed in both articles, there are still several measurements or, to be more exact, shortages that may distract the reader or lead to unclear outcomes. For example, in the article by Dale Brown, no attention is paid to practical achievements which may prove the correctness of the chosen theoretical approaches.

The author makes a powerful theoretical analysis of the ideas to explain how effective extensive reading through textbooks can be and which benefits are available for different students.

Powerful evaluation of the literature, identification of concerns which prevent the implementation of the ideas, and arguments which prove the effectiveness of extensive reading are good enough, still, they are not supported by actions which are usually expected from studies.

In other words, this article is the example of a poor analysis of variance which may be used in the study (ANOVA). In another article, the author introduces the web-based extensive reading scheme as a new perspective that is rooted from graded books and printed texts (Pino-Silva, 2006).

The problematic area that may be observed in the chosen study lies in the effects of computers on student life and health. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is a weak point of the study because the author fails to admit the continuous variable of the research. So, the author does not make use of meta-analysis that could help to predict possible outcomes of the chosen improvement.

Conclusion

In general, the articles which are analyzed in this paper contain a number of interesting information and facts which may be implemented in the educational process. Dale Brown and Juan Pino-Silva are the two brilliant authors who choose the same education issue and present different methods to improve it.

Though both investigations have their own disadvantages, it is still interesting to learn how to extensive reading may be changed. Qualitative research chosen by Brown and quantitative research described by Pino-Silva help to investigate the issue of extensive reading and choose the most effective approaches to contribute the field.

Reference List

Bell, T. (2001). Extensive reading: speed and comprehension. The Reading Matrix, 1(1). Retrieved from <http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/bell/index.html>

Brown, D. (2008). Why and how textbooks should encourage extensive reading. ELT Journal, 63(3), 238-245.

Grabe, W. & Stoller, F. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. New York: Pearson Education.

Pino-Silva, J. (2006). Extensive reading through the Internet: is it worth the while? International Journal of English Studies, 9(2), 81-96.

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