An investigation into the impact of extensive reading activities on the development of EFL learners’ speaking competencies : a quasi-experimental study of Saudi university students

Abstract

Saudi university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) often have inadequate grammar and vocabulary skills, which limits their ability to speak in English. Reading broadly and at high volume – extensive reading (ER) – may improve EFL learners’ ability to speak as it helps acquire grammatical accuracy and a larger vocabulary (e.g., Mart, 2012). This study evaluated the impact of ER on the development of EFL students at a Saudi university to speak accurately. An intervention combining ER with oral reporting (OR) activities was designed based on Krashen’s (1981, 1982) input hypothesis and Swain’s (1985) output hypothesis. Male students studying intermediate level English (equivalent to CEFR B1) from one Saudi university participated in this research (n = 93). They were assigned to one of the three groups: received an ER intervention (EPCD1); received another ER intervention plus OR (EPCD2); and a control group (CG) who did not receive an intervention. A mixed methods approach was used, involving pre- and post-International English Language Testing System (IELTS) tests and attitudinal surveys plus post-intervention interviews. The findings reveal that a combination of ER and OR activities was most effective for improving EFL students’ vocabulary and grammatical accuracy in speaking among the three learning contexts. For EPCD1 there was no significant increase in lexical resource or grammatical accuracy scores but both scores increased significantly for EPCD2 after the intervention. Similarly, comparisons between the three groups revealed no change in attitude towards speaking English for EPCD1 participants after the ER intervention, but EPCD2 participants showed significantly more positive attitudes after the combined ER plus OR intervention. Further, after the intervention, EPCD2 participants had significantly more positive general perceptions towards speaking English than both EPCD1 and CG. Interview data confirmed that students’ positive perceptions improved most when the intervention combined both ER and OR. The study therefore concluded that combining ER with OR is more advantageous than ER alone, both in improving speaking accuracy and improving learner self-confidence, as OR provides learners with more opportunities to practise speaking in class. Future research in similar contexts would further determine the impact of ER and OR activities on other EFL language skills.