Description
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The current study aims to investigate the effect of extensive reading as an approach in the EFL classroom to reinforce the natural acquisition of vocabulary (Krashen & Terrell, 1983). The study involved 41 university-level freshmen and sophomores selected from the Schools of Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Commerce and Business Administration. The study also implied using quantitative instruments to measure the learners' incidental growth of vocabulary through testing the passive and active word knowledge through pre- and post- tests. The paired-sample T-test involved testing the incidental learning of 42 target words (nouns, verbs, and gerunds) from a selected story. The research statistical findings indicated a significant increase of the target words' knowledge through descriptive statistics. Furthermore, most of the newly identified words after reading were productively used in proper sentences. The attitudinal questionnaire also revealed future recommendations of extensive reading. In general, the results indicated that extensive reading had a notable influence on EFL elementary-learners in learning new vocabulary spontaneously and using it in productive context.
