Implementing a Large-scale Reading While Listening Program for University EFL Students
Abstract: This presentation describes an on-going Reading While Listening (RWL) program being run for university first–year English students at a private university in Japan. A total of 230 ESL learners are participating in the program. The program was developed to help L2 readers shift attention from individual words to the syntax and semantics of the written text, and thereby to develop reliance on the use of contextual cues, as well as give them practice in listening to spoken English at length – a practice that the majority of Japanese students lack. To make the program accessible to low-level learners, graded readers with accompanying CD narration were used. Similar to extensive reading or outside reading programs, the RWL is designed to be completed outside of regular class hours.