STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS TOWARD GRADED READERS 2

Students Perceptions toward the Use of Graded Readers in Extensive Reading

Classes
Hanung Siwiyanti
Abstract
Many Indonesian students seem to have problem of fluency in English reading skill. The
use of graded readers (GR) which are similar to novel and story books could be a suitable
way to overcome this matter. As Boukella (2010) notes that graded readers are stories in
the form of narration which is simplified to be easier to be read and differ from academic
texts. It is possible for teachers to use graded readers as teaching materials in Extensive
Reading and other classes such as writing. The present study investigated the students
perceptions toward the use of graded readers in Extensive Reading classes. The
participants consisted of 15 Indonesian students in the English Department of Satya
Wacana Christian University who have taken the Extensive Reading classes or those who
were taking the course. The data was collected from semi-structured interview, in which
all of the participants were individually interviewed about their perceptions towards the
use of graded readers in Extensive Reading classes. This study found that 11 students had
mentioned positive perception towards graded readers. Therefore, this finding suggested
that graded readers are good to be used as reading materials because the English
Department students reading speed and reading fluency were increasing. Moreover, the
participants got benefits such as enriching vocabulary bank, grammar accuracy, reading
interest, and writing fluency.

Key words: graded readers, extensive reading, reading, vocabulary, and writing fluency