THE ROLE OF EXTENSIVE READING IN VOCABULARY ACQUISITION
Keywords:
Extensive Reading, Vocabulary Development, Language Learning, Intensive Reading, Reading Fluency, Word Recognition, Learner Autonomy, Language ProficiencyAbstract
A good way of learning languages is to read meaningful books consistently, which helps students to increase their vocabulary knowledge. Extensive reading involves reading large amounts of meaningful and interesting texts for pleasure and general understanding. This approach enables learners to encounter vocabulary repeatedly in different contexts, leading to natural vocabulary acquisition and long-term retention. This technique stimulates word recognition, spelling, pronunciation and understanding of meaning. Extensive reading also fosters learner autonomy, motivation and confidence in using the language. In fact, a lot of studies have shown that pupils who do a lot of reading can have a greater vocabulary growth than pupils who rely mostly on conventional vocabulary activities. Moreover, reading different types of texts such as novels, short stories, magazines, and web articles exposes learners to real language and different styles of writing. That is why extensive reading develops vocabulary and also increases reading fluency, grammatical awareness and general language ability. Therefore, educators are encouraged to incorporate extensive reading programs in language courses to enrich learning environments and to improve long-term vocabulary development of English language learners.
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