Perceptions of EFL students on e-book based extensive reading at a tertiary level

Abstract

Printed reading texts have been transformed drastically which allows readers to read books in an electronic format flexibly. Reading e-books extensively has received much attention globally thanks to their advantages such as portability, convenience and affordability. Likewise, the popularity of extensive reading programs has increased dramatically. Correspondingly, the number of publications related to e-books and extensive reading has risen tremendously which has urged the researcher to combine both in a single study. In this respect, the current study was conducted to pinpoint the perceptions of students who joined an e-book based extensive reading program at TISHK International University within 2022-2023 Academic Year in Erbil, Iraq. 50 freshman students were chosen by adopting convenience sampling method, and the data were collected via an extensive questionnaire, a survey and interview. The data collection process which included the instruments of a mixed methods design within 11 weeks through SPSS 23 and NVivo revealed that e-book based extensive reading improved students’ performance, increased their motivation, facilitated overcoming language learning anxiety and changed overall attitudes towards learning English with reading e-books extensively. The findings of this study can have some implications for researchers who are planning to conduct an e-book-based ER instruction at their institutions.