Based on a longitudinal study of 10 young Japanese learners who continued reading books for 6 to 14 years, eventually progressing to reading paperbacks for L1 teenagers, this study conducted a lexical and non-lexical analysis focusing on the books they used during their elementary school years to find out why they found certain books difficult. The data used in the analysis were taken from Reading AtoZ (levels aa to H) and Oxford Reading Tree (stages 1+ to 7), which they used until they moved on to graded readers for adult beginners. Reading AtoZ level aa books were mostly covered by known vocabulary and vocabulary they could associate with the illustrations. As the levels progressed, the number of words that were difficult to associate with the illustrations increased. It has been found that the books often reported difficult are due to lexical factors, irregular syntactic structures and unknown contextual backgrounds.

In Japan, some public libraries offer English books suitable for extensive reading to support lifelong learning among local residents. Over the past 20 years, the number of such public libraries has been on the rise. However, the actual situation nationwide was unknown except in certain regions, so the first national survey regarding extensive reading was conducted in 2024. In this survey, we asked about the number of representative readers for extensive reading in their English collections, as well as the librarians’ views on extensive reading. In consideration of the increasing need to support the study of Japanese by non-Japanese residents, we also asked about the collection and use of Japanese language materials suitable for extensive reading of Japanese. The questionnaire was sent to 1,023 central libraries, and 571 libraries responded. In this presentation, we report the results of the survey and analysis thereof.

JALT (Japan Association for Language Teaching) ER Special Interest Group (SIG) hosts a monthly online presentation about all aspects of extensive reading. PresentERs takes place on Zoom on the last Sunday of the month. You do not have to be a JALT member to participate or present. Everyone interested in ER is welcome. Past presentations are uploaded on the JALT ER SIG Youtube channel, but by attending live, participants can engage in lively discussions, Q&A sessions, and exchange information with other instructors. The purpose of this presentation is to raise awareness of PresentERs to the wider ER community.

東京世田谷にある中高一貫校では、2004年から英語の授業に多読プログラムが導入され、授業内多読や本の貸し出しを６年間の学校生活で継続して行っている。2025年2月、卒業生を対象にgoogle formを使ってアンケートが実施され、大学生、大学院生、社会人を含む156名から回答があった。読了語数は30万語未満から300万語以上にわたり、自由回答をコーディングすると3つのコンセプトに集約できた。生徒たちは、多読のプログラムが現在の自分の英語学習や生き方にも影響を与えたと答えた。実施された多読の活動を振り返り、効果的なアプローチ、多読環境の整え方、指導法についても考察する。