Why is extensive reading important for language learning? How can students be motivated to read for pleasure? How can instructors enhance a student’s incidental language learning through extensive reading? Join us to learn answers to these questions.

This short presentation reports on action research into the baseline reading profiles of students and factors that may have impacted on learners’ past reading experiences. A reading project with graded reading, timed reading, and Reader’s Theatre was introduced to build skills and motivation for low proficiency university freshmen in Japan.

Beglar and Hunt (2014) suggested that completing the equivalent of 7,200 standard words of extensive reading per week will facilitate substantial reading rate gains. The goal of this study was to investigate the feasibility of such a goal for learners of Japanese. Results, pedagogical implications, and suggestions will be discussed.