Extensive reading has a small, significant positive effect on second and foreign language skills (d = 0.41 across 86 experimental comparisons; d = 0.38 for the 82 immediate-posttest comparisons)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2025 · checked against its sources 2026-10-22 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Across 86 experimental comparisons (82 immediate, 4 follow-up), extensive reading produced a small, significant positive effect on second/foreign language learning (Cohen's d = 0.41); restricted to the 82 immediate comparisons, d = 0.38. → Sangers 2025

Evidence¶

Sangers 2025¶

Sangers, N. L., van der Sande, L., Welie, C., Dobber, M., & van Steensel, R. (2025). Learning a Language Through Reading: A Meta-analysis of Studies on the Effects of Extensive Reading on Second and Foreign Language Learning. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10068-6

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r3

Random-effects meta-analysis of 86 experimental comparisons from 73 studies of extensive reading interventions in second/foreign language contexts. The article reports "a small, significant positive effect (Cohen’s d = 0.41; SE = 0.07)" across all 86 comparisons, four of them follow-up measurements. Because follow-ups were so few, the analyses use only immediate effects (k = 82; d = 0.38, SE = 0.07), so the finding is about short-term effects; no long-term effect could be established for lack of follow-up measurements. A sensitivity analysis excluding the four L2 studies left effects essentially unchanged (d = 0.40).

"We first analyzed the overall intervention effects based on 86 experimental comparisons. This revealed a small, significant positive effect (Cohen’s d = 0.41; SE = 0.07)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Oral Language — outcome: instruction changes it
• Reading and Language — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• L2 learners pick up vocabulary incidentally from meaning-focused input, with reading the most-studied mode and listening yielding similar proportions of words learned — related
• Extensive reading produced no measurable change in the perceived Practical Value of foreign-language reading (r = .09) — related
• Extensive reading increased the Intellectual Value Japanese EFL learners attached to foreign-language reading (r = .26) — related
• L2 proficiency positively predicts L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading — related
• Extensive reading shows small-to-medium significant positive effects on every measured language domain, including vocabulary, reading comprehension, and general proficiency — a broader claim this one bears on
• Extensive reading effects are larger when sample members have different first languages — related
• Extensive reading reduced Japanese EFL learners' anxiety about foreign-language reading (r = .34) — related