Graded-reader extensive reading program with level-matched readers and repeated vocabulary testing

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description

An extensive reading program in which 60 EFL learners read 10 Level 1 and 10 Level 2 graded readers over 37 weeks during two terms. Two sets of 100 target words were chosen from each set of graded readers and tested on three occasions (pretest, immediate posttest, delayed posttest). Learners were divided into high-, intermediate-, and low-level groups based on "their scores on pretests of target vocabulary and Vocabulary Levels Test scores," allowing gains to be compared across prior-knowledge levels.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Graded readers at appropriate levels (Level 1 and Level 2) and target words drawn from those readers
• Pretests of target vocabulary and Vocabulary Levels Test scores to establish learners' prior knowledge levels

Constraints

• Studied with English as a foreign language learners reading Level 1 and Level 2 graded readers over 37 weeks during two terms

Target Learners

• English as a foreign language learners

Learning Goals

• Vocabulary learning through extensive reading

Claims

• Prior Vocabulary Knowledge Moderates Extensive Reading Gains [+M]
• Little Decay Three Month Delayed Posttest Extensive Reading [+M]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Stuart Webb and Anna C.-S. Chang. (2015). HOW DOES PRIOR WORD KNOWLEDGE AFFECT VOCABULARY LEARNING PROGRESS IN AN EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Volume 37, Issue 4, pp. 651-675. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263114000606

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	graded-reader-extensive-reading-program-webb-chang
title	Graded-reader extensive reading program with level-matched readers and repeated vocabulary testing
description	An extensive reading program in which 60 EFL learners read 10 Level 1 and 10 Level 2 graded readers over 37 weeks during two terms.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-15
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — stuart-webb-and-anna-c-s-chang-2015

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