The Effects of Integrating Extensive Reading into the Lessons on High School Students’ Reading Performance

Extensive reading has always received much attention from researchers because of its positive impacts on learners’ language performance and their attitude. However, it is considered difficult to implement in high schools. Therefore, it is worth conducting a study to have a better look at its effect on high school students’ reading performance and attitude. The current study was conducted to achieve two research aims. First, it aims to find out the effects of integrating extensive reading into the lessons on high school students’ reading performance, especially the two main reading skills namely skimming and scanning skills. The second aim is to investigate the participants’ attitude towards the integration of extensive reading into the reading lessons and the course they experienced. The participants were 62 grade-10 students studying in a high school in the Mekong delta. The three main instruments used to collect the data included reading tests, a questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview, respectively. The results of the data analysis indicated a relatively significant effect of extensive reading on students’ reading performance. In more detail, the participants’ performance in skimming skills was statistically higher than that of the scanning skills. In addition, it confirmed that the participants had a positive affective and cognitive attitude towards the integration of extensive reading into the lessons and the program they experienced. The present study showed the main implication that the incorporation of extensive reading into the lessons should get more attention in language teaching programs at secondary education.