by Paul Underwood　
December 2012
The Journal of International Education Research, 8(1), 27-40
Underwood,P.R. Myskow, G. Hattori, T.
This study investigated the effects of a six-month course in speed reading on three areas of reading proficiency... more
This study investigated the effects of a six-month course in speed reading on three areas of reading proficiency development: (1) general reading comprehension; (2) knowledge of high-frequency vocabulary; and (3) reading-rate and accuracy. The participants (N = 105) were Japanese students studying English as a foreign language in Grade 10 of a Japanese private senior high school, randomly assigned to an experimental group (n =51), which received the speed reading treatment, and a control group (n =54), which received supplementary activities focused on high-frequency vocabulary development. The findings indicated that both the experimental and control groups made significant improvements in general reading comprehension. However, there was no significant difference between the experimental group (M = 14.27, SD = 4.01) and control group M = 14.31, SD = 4.07; t (103) = -.051, p= .959. Both the experimental group (M = 1.29, SD = 2.52) and control group (M = 1.35, SD = 2.49) increased their knowledge of high-frequency vocabulary. However, again there was no significant difference between the experimental group (M = 25.78, SD = 2.96) and control group M = 25.61, SD = 2.24; t (103) = -.337, p= .737. In terms of reading-rate development, the findings indicated a significant increase (M = 47, SD = 41.99) t (50) = 8.01, p < .0005. Finally, while higher levels of general reading comprehension and high reading speeds were correlated, the relationship was a small, r=.19, n = 51. The range of findings emerging from this current study adds weight to the existing research and goes beyond those conducted in the Japanese context to date. One of the important questions these findings raise relates to the greater influence that other variables, such as lexico-grammatical knowledge, might have on the development of reading comprehension at this level of language proficiency.
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