Reading Online as the Journal Content of Extensive Reading through the internet :Is it worth the while?

III. READING ONLINE (RO)

      Title of the article: Extensive Reading through the internet :Is it worth the while?

      Author                  : Juan Pino Silva from Universidad Simón Bolívar

      Types of Journal  : International Journal of English studies vol. 9 (2), 2009, pp. 81-96

In this section, there are five sub points that the authors explain to get evidence about reading online that he has observerd. Therefore, I will give a little description of each sub point.

1.      General considerations

This point contains several considerations that make the author make observations about reading online in USB. In this sub-point, Pino explained that what is meant by RO is reading that involves the interaction of the eyes, the screen, the texts presented in hypertext and comprehension of  verbal and nonverbal information. The term RO is usually reserved for the act of reading when connected to the internet, but given that hypertext can be browsed when the connection is lost, restrictions may not be needed.

2.      Rationale for RO in the context of the program

This point explains about the reasons why RO needs to be implemented in the context of the program. In this case, Pino refers to what Bates states that "the education and training of the workforce must continue throughout a person 's lifetime because of the continuing pressure to remain competitive" (2000: 11). He contends that one way to do this is through approaches that emphasize self-directed learning and autonomy. In addition, the second way to comply with the requirements outlined by Bates (2000) is using the web online that makes us directly connected to the Internet network in which there is a wide variety of information. In brief, the author argues that it is very possible to teach L2 skills and skills acquired in their college studies.

3.      The paper-based ancestor

In this section, Pino started an extensive reading program at Universidad Simón Bolivar. Caracas, Venezuela. He incorporated the “reading a lot” premise as a central part of his approach to ER. A key innovation in this framework was that texts were accompanied by a non- obtrusive production task to check comprehension and other aspects relevant to the reading process. In brief, the p-ERP asked students to read for the gist, hence, students were encouraged to ignore most details and focus on the time it took them to finish a text so that they could push themselves to read faster.

4.      The web-based program

       This point is devided into three part , including:

             a.      Phase 1: Extensive reading at home

Students read the amount of reading done at home autonomously, added to the work done in class, and bringing to the fore the idea that the presence of the teacher,  was not all that necessary in order to learn to read L2 texts.

b.      Phase 2: Extensive Reading through the Internet

The author turned to the Internet to give complete freedom to students to access texts of their choices and submit their work to a web site. Two procedures were designed, one involving the author’s own web page and one involving a Yahoo Group.

c.       Procedural details of the web based program

The author demonstrated how to become a member of the group and post messages to all members and upload files to each student’s electronic portfolio.

5.      Reported benefits of the web-based program: Some preliminary data

               In this section, Pino is working on a project to evaluate web-based programs. Most of them confirm that extensive reading through the internet helps students to learn vocabulary, learn to read for main ideas, gain speed and / or fluency in reading texts, develop skills that remain over time, etc. Briefly, the preliminary data on Web-ER benefits seem encouraging because it shows the perceived benefits of the approach.