The Effectiveness of the Extensive Reading Approach for Facilitating Vocabulary Acquisition Through an Enhancement of Reading Motivation

Abstract: This study investigates the possible benefits of using the extensive reading approach as means of enhancing reading motivation, and through that improve and develop EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ vocabular repertoire. According to the Swedish Media Council, almost 49% of the Swedish youth do not read books in their free time, and the numbers keep decreasing (Statens Medieråd, 2019). At a time where reading is no longer as common, several researchers have claimed that implementing the extensive reading approach in EFL classrooms gives space for incidental vocabulary acquisition to take place. It has been further argued that extensive reading is an appreciated approach by students, since it gives them the freedom to learn at their own pace. However, there is still some disagreement among researchers as to whether extensive reading does increase reading motivation or not. For this study, data and material were gathered through electronic searches from numerous educational databases to investigate this matter and provide an overview of the findings. The overall results indicate that extensive reading does have a beneficial impact on vocabulary acquisition, and that students are generally positive and receptive to extensive reading, especially when combined with reading-tasks and activities. However, further research is necessary to be able to understand whether vocabular gains from extensive reading actually are affected by reading motivation or not.