閱讀《最終一曲》能有效地增進閱讀速度、理解度、及整體英文閱讀能力嗎？：一個檢驗用暢銷原著英文小說來作廣泛閱讀材料的實驗研究

Is Reading The Last Song Effective for Improving Reading Speed, Reading Comprehension, and General English Reading Proficiency? : An Investigation into the Power of Extensive Reading Using a Bestselling Original Novel

本論文的主要目的在檢驗使用暢銷原文小說《最終一曲》來作為樂趣閱讀教材是否能增進英文學習者的閱讀速度、理解度、及整體英文閱讀能力。參與研究者為十五位當時在一美語機構ALI 修習小說閱讀課的成人學員，參與者的英文程度約為中級至中高級，他們接受美籍教師Bruce 為期十週的小說閱讀課。參與者在使用廣泛閱讀方法閱讀『最終一曲』的課程開始前及結束後均接受閱讀速度及理解度測驗，和ALI 所設計的英文閱讀能力測驗〈含單字、文法、與閱讀三部分〉。在資料分析方面，SPSS 統計分析軟體的成對樣本t 檢定來檢測前測與後測的平均數是否有統計上顯著的不同。此外參與者也在後測後接受訪談有關對Bruce 課程的看法。結果顯示出：在經過十週使用廣泛閱讀方法閱讀暢銷小說的課程後，十五位參與者不只在閱讀的速度和理解度有顯著的增加，也在整體英文閱讀能力上有顯著的進步。另外，十五位課程參與者在訪談時也都表達了他們對Bruce 老師使用暢銷原文小說作樂趣閱讀教材的正面態度與看法。因此，本論文的結果指出：使用暢銷原文小說作樂趣閱讀教材，並搭配使用廣泛閱讀方法來閱讀是既有趣又有效的自然英語習得方法，而且更能激勵英語學習者變成獨立主動的語言習得者。最後，本論文也探討研究結果可帶來的教學啟示，和研究本身的限制。

This study investigated the power of extensive reading for pleasure by using a popular original novel, The Last Song, as the material to improve learners' reading speed, reading comprehension, and general English reading proficiency. With intermediate or high-intermediate level of English proficiency, 15 adult participants at Acme Language Institute (ALI), a private language school, received the extensive reading treatment for 10 weeks. The 15 participants were taking a course entitled Novel Reading taught by Bruce, an American teacher who adopted the extensive reading approach. The participants took the pre-test (before the beginning of the class) and post-test (after the end of the class) on reading speed, reading comprehension, and general English reading proficiency developed and administered by ALI. Paired-samples t-test was conducted to check if there was significant progress in the participants' scores between the pre-test and post-test. Furthermore, each participant was interviewed once after the post-test to check the reliability of the quantitative data. The results showed that due to the characteristics of extensive reading (such as the purposes of reading usually being related to pleasure, information, and general understanding, etc.), the 15 participants significantly enhanced their reading speed and reading comprehension after the treatment. In addition, the results also indicated that by increasing a considerable amount of reading input from the 463-page novel for 10 weeks, the 15 participants significantly improved their overall English reading proficiency including vocabulary usage, grammar knowledge and reading ability. Moreover, data from interviews also showed that all 15 participants expressed positive attitudes toward reading the original novel in the extensive reading approach. As a result, the findings suggested that reading a bestselling original novel extensively is an interesting, effective, and natural way to motivate ESL/EFL learners to become autonomous language acquirers. The pedagogical implications and the limitations of this study were discussed in the end.