The Impact of Extensive Reading on the Development of EFL Speaking

Factors such as interaction, attitude, self-confidence and enjoyment play important roles in SLA, and are variables that depend on the type and form of input and output activities used as teaching and learning approaches in the EFL classroom. In theorizing why the ER + OR intervention was the most effective, it is arguable that, in combination, the facets of ER that were enjoyable (reading as its own reward; reading interesting and relevant material), and the interactive elements associated with the OR activities were part of the reason students' speaking accuracies improved. This points to the need to utilize what the proposed combined model offers, and implement activities into EFL classrooms that are successful because they recognize the interconnectedness of input and output, the value of reading for pleasure and the usefulness of interactive speaking tasks. This would help overcome the sorts of issues seen in EFL classrooms at Saudi universities, replacing more traditional one-way, textbook-based learning methods with those better tailored to the students' learning needs.

Autorentext

Abduh Almashy received his PhD degree in applied linguistics from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Currently, he is an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics and the Head of the English Department at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia.