Effects of Graded Texts on EFL College Students' Incidental ...

Table 4.3 Learners’ extensive reading experience
Item 13~15 Learners’ Extensive Reading
Experiences
13. In the past English classes, my
teachers have encouraged me to
form extensive reading habits.
Yes 78.9% (30/38)
No 21.1% (8/38)
14. I have extensive reading habit. Yes 13.2% (5/38)
No 86.8% (33/38)
15. The reasons why I do not have
extensive reading habits.
4.2.2 The results <strong>of</strong> the pretest
59
No time to read 28% (14/50)
No time to find suitable material
24% (12/50)
Most materials are too difficult to
comprehend 20% (10/50)
Cannot find interesting materials
16% (8/50)
Have no interest in learning English
12% (6/50)
The pretest was designed to tap into learners’ initial word knowledge with an aim
to locate learners’ unknown words for use <strong>of</strong> measuring the amount <strong>of</strong> word exposure
leading to vocabulary acquisition. In the pretest, learners were to put a check by the
word that they have seen before and try to provide a Chinese translation for it. Two
sets <strong>of</strong> words were included in the pretest, familiar words which included ten words
randomly selected from the familiar word lists, GSL and HSF, and unfamiliar words
which were fifty randomly chosen target words grouped according to their amount <strong>of</strong>
exposure in the sixteen readings. The 60 words were graded and transformed
respectively to 100% with each correct familiar word scoring 10 points and each
correct unfamiliar word scoring 2 points. An independent t-test was run to
determine whether learners’ performances on these two sets <strong>of</strong> words differ. With
mean scores <strong>of</strong> 84.73 and 39 respectively, significant differences between familiar and
unfamiliar words were revealed (t(2/38)=12.737, p