The Perceptions of Indonesian University Students on the Use of

Extensive Reading in English Grammar Class

Maryani

English Department, Maranatha Christian University, Surya Sumantri 65, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Extensive Reading, Grammar, Students’ Perceptions.

Abstract: It is undeniable that by reading texts in the target language, learners can achieve both the vocabularies and

the grammar of the target language. Therefore, reading in the target language is necessary as students can

observe various grammatical patterns in the texts. As one of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to

offer the opportunities for lifelong learning, it is important for teachers to encourage students to read English

texts extensively so they practice self-learning in their lives. The purpose of this study is to show the

perceptions of Indonesian university students of the use of extensive reading (ER) activities in English

Grammar class. The data were gained from 34 private-university students in Grammar class in Indonesia who

submitted a weekly learning log that reflected their reading progress. To collect the data, an online

questionnaire through Google Form was distributed at the end of the semester. The questionnaires result was

analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results indicated the positive and negative

opinion regarding the students’ perceptions on the use of ER in Grammar class. By implementing ER activities

in English Grammar class, the students’ grammar competence is hoped to develop naturally as they have been

exposed to ER.

1 INTRODUCTION

Language learning either first language or second

even foreign language is always related with learning

its grammatical structures. Understanding grammar is

important in learning a language, especially in second

or foreign language learning, because it is the base of

the language structure for learners to convey their

ideas as Crystal (2004) defined grammar as “the

structural foundation of our ability to express

ourselves. The more we are aware of how it works,

the more we can monitor the meaning and

effectiveness of the way we and others use language.

It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and

exploit the richness of expression available in

English” (as cited in Tuan & Thi Minh Doan, 2010).

Therefore, it is necessary for learners to learn and

understand the rules of grammar, also to apply those

rules accurately. Learners also need to observe how

those rules are applied in written texts, such as books

or e-books.

Learning grammar in Indonesia is commonly

done through explicit grammar instruction in class.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5863-475X

Teachers usually introduce grammar rules and ask

their students to do grammar exercises. As Al-

Mekhlafi & Nagaratnam (2011) pointed out that this

kind of teaching approach is still traditional, as a

result, learners’ grammatical knowledge is

increasing, but they lack the ability of applying the

grammar rules in the authentic language (as cited in

Lee et al., 2015). Therefore, there is a new perspective

of learning grammar by exposing learners to reading

in the target language. Lee et al. (2015) stated that this

new perspective is aligned with the approaches to

grammar instruction that “reject discrete sentence-

level grammar teaching and emphasize using

numerous examples of a target structure in context to

develop knowledge of form-meaning connections”.

Moreover, Christine Nuttall (1982) argued that “the

best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign

language is to go and live among its speakers, the next

best way is to read extensively in it” (Renandya,

2007, p. 136).

Comprehending the grammar of a target language

and being able to use it in daily life situation is a proof

of a learner’s success of mastering a language;

584

Maryani, .

The Perceptions of Indonesian University Students on the Use of Extensive Reading in English Grammar Class.

DOI: 10.5220/0010755600003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 584-589

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

however, there are other things which support one’s

language mastery. Renandya (2007) argued that there

are many factors that contribute to lack of success in

learning a second or foreign language, such as

learners’ lack of motivation, language classrooms that

are too crowded, inappropriate learning strategies,

less language practice; however, he believed that

learners’ lack of suitable input is the biggest factors

that supports the learning success. Renandya (2007)

further stated that as the first language (L1) input is

available plentifully, but the second language (L2)

input is limited. He mentioned that teachers cannot

create learning environment that is similar to L1;

however, teachers can “immerse our students in the

language they are learning by making available a

large supply of books and other print or non-print

materials in the classroom” (p. 134). His statement

supports reading as important activity in language

learning. Renandya (2007) also claimed that after

learners are immersed with L2 rich language

environment for a period of time, students’ language

proficiency will improve dramatically.

To support one of Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs), which is to offer the opportunities for

students’ lifelong learning, it is important for teachers

to encourage students to read English texts

extensively so they can do self-learning in their lives.

Reading extensively or extensive reading (ER)

becomes more popular among second language

researchers and teachers (Mikami, 2020). Richards

and Schmidt (2002) defined extensive reading (ER)

as ‘‘reading in quantity and in order to gain a general

understanding of what is read. It is intended to

develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge

of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking

for reading” (Yamashita, 2008, pp. 661-662).

Several benefits of ER have been argued by

several researchers. First, according to Day and

Bamford (1998), extensive reading (ER) gives

learners the opportunity of reading different genres of

English books, delighting in the process also

simultaneously developing their reading skill (as

cited in Ng et al., 2019). Second, ER is possible to

assist L2 learners to study autonomously, particularly

in EFL environments where there is limited exposure

to the target language (Mermelstein, 2014). Third,

Yamashita (2015) also argued that both researchers

and language teachers put their interest in ER because

by reading extensively, readers’ feelings are engaged

(as cited in Mikami, 2020). Fourth, the amount of

reading contributes to learners’ competence of second

or foreign language as Renandya (2007) stated that

“the amount of free reading that ESL students

reported doing was a significant predictor of their

TOEFL test scores and their ability to judge the

grammaticality of complex English structures (Lee,

Krashen, Gibbons 1996, cited in Krashen 2003)”.

Kiyomi et al., (2018) were also in line with Renandya

(2007) as they pointed out that “ER provides EFL

learners with not only linguistic input, but also

opportunities to engage with reading processes

repeatedly by themselves”. However, Ng et al. (2019)

stated that in order to take ER seriously, learners

should be monitored and the result should be graded.

There are various popular terms for extensive

reading programmes, namely: “Uninterrupted

Sustained Silent Reading (USSR), Drop Everything

and Read (DEAR), and Silent Uninterrupted Reading

for Fun (SURF), and the Book Flood programme”

(Renandya, 2007, p. 135), he concluded that ER has

the same purpose, which is language learners read

various kinds of reading materials that results in their

lifelong habit of reading (Renandya, 2007). Based on

his experience of reading numerous English books,

Renandya (2007) admitted that it has given

significant contribution to his language development;

on top of that; he obtained better grades in grammar

tests compared to his friends who have spent hours of

test preparation.

Moreover, there are several latest researches

dealing with the use of extensive reading in language

learning. First, Yamashita (2008) conducted a

research on the effect of ER on L2 proficiency on 38

Japanese university students who were enrolled in

EFL Reading class. The participants were tested

twice: pre-test and post-test using placement tests and

ER tests. They also filled in a post-class questionnaire

about their English exposure in the whole semester.

He found that the effect of ER was more on the

students’ general reading skills than their linguistic

ability.

Second, Mermelstein (2014) did a one-year

research on the use of ER for improving EFL

learners’ writing. The participants were 211

Taiwanese undergraduate EFL learners which were

divided into control group and treatment group. The

students in the treatment group were introduced to

Oxford Bookworms and Penguin Readers grader

reader series. They did a sustained silent reading

activity for 15-20 minutes in class and they also read

minimum three pages per day from the books

provided in their own free time. They were also asked

to complete a reading record. Whereas the students in

the control group were asked to do a one-hour weekly

homework that is related with intensive reading

activities. The researcher used pre-test and post-test

in the form of paragraph writing assignments to

measure his participants’ writing. The result showed

The Perceptions of Indonesian University Students on the Use of Extensive Reading in English Grammar Class

585

that the students in the treatment group gained better

writing performance in terms of organization of ideas,

content, vocabularies, and language use.

Third, Lee et al. (2015) investigated the effects of

extensive reading and translation on 124 EFL

learners’ knowledge of general grammar also articles

and prepositions. Moreover, they observed the

attitudes of these learners in South Korea for two

semesters. The instruments used were the attitude

survey and the linguistic tests. They found that

learners’ L2 proficiency affected their attitudes and

grammar knowledge. Low proficiency learners

showed more negative attitudes, whereas high

proficiency learners showed more positive attitudes

and grammar knowledge.

Fourth, Yen (2018) examined the benefits of

extensive reading on Vietnamese university students’

reading fluency. There were two groups of students

participated in the ER program: treatment and

control. The treatment group did ER for two months,

whereas the control group did the homework based

on the reading materials in class. The treatment group

was given English general test, pre-test, post-test,

reading inventory template, and online stories. They

were also interviewed after completing the ER

program. The results showed that the students in the

treatment group has better reading speed than those in

the control group. Besides, the students who disliked

reading at first became liked reading and willing to

continue reading even after the program has ended.

Fifth, Kiyomi et al. (2018) conducted a research

on 431 Japanese EFL students on how extensive

reading could help improve their grammatical

knowledge and reading fluency. These students were

grouped into experimental and control groups. They

were divided into three classes based on a latent

profile analysis. These two groups used different

textbooks and were taken three grammar tests and

fluency check. The findings showed that the

participants’ grammatical ability and their reading

fluency has developed due to ER; however, the factor

that is crucial to the participants’ improvement is their

individual amount of reading extensively.

Based on recent researches above, it can be seen

that extensive reading are proven effective in

language learning, especially in reading, writing, and

grammar. Furthermore, to date, none of the above

studies address the language learners’ perceptions on

the use of ER in Grammar class for Indonesian

university students. Thus, this study tries to fill in the

research gap, which is to discover the Indonesian

university students’ perception on the use of

extensive reading in Grammar class by answering

these two research questions: first, what are the

benefits that the university students obtain regarding

the use of extensive reading in learning Grammar;

second, what are the students’ opinion on applying

extensive reading activities in Grammar class. By

investigating the learners’ perception on the use of

ER in learning Grammar, it is hoped that the result of

this study will provide insights and strategies for

English teachers or lecturers in implementing ER in

their Grammar classes.

2 METHODS (AND MATERIALS)

To answer the research questions, a qualitative

research was used. Open-ended online questionnaire

is used to collect various students’ perceptions

regarding the use of ER in Grammar class. In order to

analyze the questionnaire data taken, descriptive

statistics and thematic analysis were used. Braun &

Clarke (2006, p. 8) defined thematic analysis as “a

method for identifying, analysing, and reporting

patterns (themes) within data. It minimally organises

and describes your data set in (rich) detail”.

Regarding the participants of this research, 34

Indonesian private-university students in Grammar:

Verb Patterns class were involved. They joined the

class for one semester from August until December

2019, in which each class lasts for about 90-100

minutes. In Grammar class, these students learnt

various sentence patterns, such as transitive and

intransitive sentences, active and passive voice, the

use of inchoative verbs, etc. Besides answering the

grammar exercises in the students’ handout, they

were asked to submit one learning log each week to

Google Classroom. Each student was asked to read or

listen to at least one e-book from er-central.com every

week. This website offers hundreds of graded reader

e-books in various topics. It turns out that each

student in the class read one e-book per meeting as it

was instructed. None of the students missed the task,

this is due to the points collected after submitting each

learning log.

After reading the e-book(s) that the students like

which suits their level, then they were asked to post

their response (50-100 words) to the question

provided in each learning log in Google Classroom.

Samples of the questions provided are (1) What do

you like/dislike from the story that you have read? (2)

What will you change from the story? (3) How will

you change the ending of the story? (4) Which

character of the story that you like/dislike and why?

etc.

In collecting the data, online questionnaire

through Google Form was distributed at the end of the

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

586

semester to each student. To make each student feel

at ease to express their opinion, the questionnaire

remains anonymous. The questionnaire covers eight

questions related to the ER activities, such as the

following:

1. How many e-books have you read in ER

website this semester?

2. Why do you read e-books from ER website?

3. What level of e-books that you have read?

4. Does your level of e-books increase gradually

from the beginning of the semester until the end of

the semester? Why or why not?

5. What benefits do you get from reading e-books

from ER website regarding your vocabulary

knowledge?

6. What benefits do you get from reading e-books

from ER website regarding your grammar

knowledge?

7. What do you think of applying ER activity in

Grammar class? Agree/disagree? Why?

8. Will you keep on your reading habit like what

you have done in this class? (either from ER website

or not) Yes/no, why?

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section presents the analysis of the first research

question about the benefits that the university

students obtain regarding the use of extensive reading

in learning Grammar. The questionnaire results show

that 34 responses, 27 (79.4%) students showed their

positive responses and admitted that they are

benefited from reading extensively, as can be seen in

the following answers:

S2: “I can improve my grammar by reading the

e-books.”

S3: “I can determine about what the tenses that the

author using.”

S7: “I believe that I could apply what I learned in

class into the reflections I made, so I could remember

& review the material.”

S11: “It helps remind me of the grammar that

have been used in the e-books.”

S16: “I learn new patterns from ER website.”

S17: “I know from the stories that this should be

with this, or something like that because they use

simple pattern and easy to understand.”

S20: “It helps me to improve my grammar, even

though I still have some grammar mistakes.”

S24: “My grammar knowledge increased from

reading e-books from ER website because I found it

easier to read in short texts and the more I read

English texts, the easier for me to understand

grammar.”

S27: “I know the right pattern for particular

tenses”

S32: “Some of ER stories are still grammatically

incorrect. However, thanks to that, I could analyze

which part is wrong.”

Moreover, 5 (14.7%) students stated that they

only gained few benefits from the ER activities, as

can be seen in the following answers:

S1: “not that many”

S8: “Not much, since it doesn't really differ from

one level to another level grammar-wise.”

S12: “It helped quite a bit since it's easy to

understand.”

S15: “I think it help me a little bit, because the

stories usually written in a proper grammar.”

S31: “not really improve”

However, 2 (5.9%) students did not feel any

benefits after reading extensively, as can be seen in

the following answers:

S6: “I didn’t get benefits from e-books for

grammar knowledge because when I reading a book I

didn’t care about the grammar, I just enjoyed it.”

S18: “I don't feel any benefits in grammar to be

honest, but I don’t know, maybe I just don't realize

it.”

The above findings indicate that majority of the

students have benefited from reading extensively.

They could remember and review the grammatical

patterns learnt in class from ER and by writing their

responses in the learning logs. Their comprehension

of English tenses has improved. Besides, they could

learn new grammatical patterns from e-books

provided in ER website. They also admitted that the

more they read English texts, the easier for them to

understand grammar. Nevertheless, only few students

did not benefit from reading extensively as S6

admitted that he/she did not care about the grammar

when he/she were reading and S18 stated that he/she

did not realize about its benefit.

Regarding the second research question, this

section describes the students’ opinion on applying

extensive reading activities in Grammar class. The

questionnaire results show that 34 responses, 27

(79.4%) students showed their agreement towards the

use of ER in Grammar class, as can be seen in the

following answers:

S5: “Agree, because I think by reading ER I can

improve my grammar and vocabulary.”

S7: “I agree because it is quite fun to put your own

thoughts and opinions into the reflections. However,

I believe that to improve our grammar & vocabulary

The Perceptions of Indonesian University Students on the Use of Extensive Reading in English Grammar Class

587

further, perhaps we could read from other ER

websites.”

S8: “I agree, what's there to lose? It only takes like

mostly half an hour to finish the task so it's not that

hard of a task and it can add reading time to students

who aren't familiar to reading on a weekly basis.”

S11: “It can help the students to increase their

grammar skills and vocabularies.”

S13: “Agree, because in my opinion it makes class

to be more entertaining and fun”

S20: “Agree. It pushes me to read a lot and of

course helps me to improve my grammar”

S24: “I agree, because it helps me improving not only

my grammar skill, but also my reading, listening, and

writing skills.”

S28: “Agree. Because if we want to increase our

English skill we have to read more to add more

knowledge from other sources”

Moreover, there are a few students who opposed

to the use of ER in Grammar class. 2 (5.9%) students

had no opinion because they stated:

S10: “I don't know”

S31: “Don’t really know”

However, 5 (14.7%) students disagreed with the

use of ER in Grammar class, as can be seen in the

following answers:

S1: “disagree because the readings in the website

are very simple even the high level ones”

S14: “Disagree. Honestly, yes it does improve my

reading skill and maybe grammar skill, but it's not

really suitable I think. It's better to give an ER reading

to students in Reading/Writing Class.”

S18: “It would be better for reading class I guess.”

S23: “disagree. because in grammar 3 class, every

ER material below level 8 is irrelevant with what was

taught in the class”

S32: “Disagree. It would be better if ER activity

applied in reading class instead.”

The above findings show that more than half of

the students agreed on the use of extensive reading in

Grammar class as they stated that ER not only

improve their grammar, but also their vocabularies,

reading, listening, and writing skills. On top of that,

several students clearly stated that the ER activities

have made them feel entertaining and fun as S7 stated

“I agree because it is quite fun to put your own

thoughts and opinions into the reflections…”.

Although the majority agreed to the use of ER in

Grammar class, but 5 students disagreed. They

preferred to use ER not in Grammar class, but in

Reading or Writing class. One student mentioned that

he/she disagreed because “…the readings in the

website are very simple even the high-level ones”

(S1).

The findings of this study is in line with Richards

and Schmidt’s (2002) definition of ER: “is intended

to develop good reading habits, to build up

knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to

encourage a liking for reading” (Yamashita, 2008, pp.

661-662). It can be seen from the students’ opinion

that the use of ER activities in Grammar class has

helped them to improve their reading habits, grammar

and vocabularies, and also to push them to read a lot

as S20 shared: “…It(ER) pushes me to read a lot and

of course helps me to improve my grammar”.

The findings is also in line with the research of

Day and Bamford (1998), they claimed that ER

makes the readers feel delighted in reading and

improving their reading skill (as cited in Ng et al.,

2019) and Yamashita’s (2015) argument that that

readers’ feelings are engaged by reading extensively

(as cited in Mikami, 2020). Several students in the

study admitted that ER activities have contributed to

their being entertained, especially they could express

their ideas in the learning logs after they finished

reading or listening to e-books that they like.

Moreover, the findings is also in line with the

research of Mermelstein (2014) as he noted that ER is

one way of assisting L2 learners in EFL environment

to do an autonomously study. Several students

showed their agreement to the use of ER that supports

autonomous learning as he/she stated that

“…(through ER activities) the students can learn by

themselves alone in the home…” (S17).

Compared to the previous researches on the use of

ER, the findings of this study does not support

Yamashita's (2008) findings of the effect of ER,

which is more on the students’ general reading skills

than their linguistic ability. From the questionnaire

results, it can be seen that most students noted that

their grammar skill has improved due to ER activities,

despite of their reading and vocabularies. Besides, the

findings of this study also supports the result of

Mermelstein's (2014) research as both studies have

shown ER is correlated with the improvement of

students’ writing skill, though in this particular study,

grammar skill is more emphasized by the students.

Moreover, the findings of this study is also in line

with the findings of Yen's study (2018) as the students

who did not get used to reading before the ER

activities became liked reading and they were willing

to continue reading after finishing ER activities.

Furthermore, the findings of this study also supports

the findings of the research of Kiyomi et al. (2018) as

most participants’ grammatical ability has developed

ICE-HUMS 2021 - International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences

588

due to ER, but only several participants mentioned

about their reading skills have improved too.

4 CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, the finding of this study underlines two

main points: first, the students’ positive and negative

perceptions on the benefits of the use of ER in

Grammar class. Second, the students’ perception on

the use of ER activities in Grammar class. Majority

of students have benefited from ER activities in

improving their grammar skill on top of reading,

writing, listening, and vocabularies. Most students

also agree on the use of ER in Grammar class as they

are encouraged to read more which helps them to

develop their grammar skill.

Despite the findings, there are several limitations

of the study: first, the number of participants is

relatively small. Second, there is no treatment and

compared group in this study. Third, the use of

individual interview is not used. Therefore, future

studies should include larger numbers of students, use

more rigid research design, and use interview to gain

deeper insights of the students’ perceptions regarding

the topic.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author gratefully acknowledge Maranatha

Christian University for providing financial support

for this study.

REFERENCES

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in

psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2),

77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

Kiyomi, Y., Atsuko, T., & Kyoko, O. (2018). How does

extensive reading help Japanese EFL learners to

develop grammatical knowledge and reading fluency.

Journal of Extensive Reading, 4, 1–11. https://jalt-pub

lications.org/content/index.php/jer/article/view/117.

Lee, J., Schallert, D. L., & Kim, E. (2015). Effects of

extensive reading and translation activities on grammar

knowledge and attitudes for EFL adolescents. System,

52, 38–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2015.04.

016.

Mermelstein, A. D. (2014). Improving EFL learners’

reading levels through extensive reading. Reading

Matrix: An International Online Journal, 14(2), 227–

242.

Mikami, Y. (2020). Goal Setting and learners’ motivation

for extensive reading: forming a virtuous cycle.

Reading in a Foreign Language, 32(1), 28-48.

Ng, Q. R., Renandya, W. A., & Chong, M. Y. C. (2019).

Extensive reading: Theory, research and

implementation. Teflin Journal, 30(2), 171–186.

https://doi.org/10.15639/teflinjournal.v30i2/171-186.

Renandya, W. A. (2007). The power of extensive reading.

RELC Journal, 38(2), 133–149. https://doi.org/10.11

77/0033688207079578.

Tuan, L. T., & Thi Minh Doan, N. (2010). Studies in

literature and language teaching english grammar

through games. CS Canada. Studies in Literature and

Language, 1(7), 61–75. https://url2.cl/fEvBY.

Yamashita, J. (2008). Extensive reading and development

of different aspects of L2 proficiency. System, 36(4),

661–672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2008.04.003.

Yen, T. (2018). The benefits of extensive reading for

Vietnamese EFL learners. Proceedings of the Fourth

World Congress on Extensive Reading, 64–72.

The Perceptions of Indonesian University Students on the Use of Extensive Reading in English Grammar Class

589