Secrets of Mastering of Sustained Silent Reading - Literature review Example

Questionnaires based on Pilgreen’s eight factors will be distributed to students and teachers involved in an SSR programme in Taiwan. Hence, the results will indicate the importance of these eight factors as perceived by students and teachers. Further, the questionnaires will allow investigators to collect data on other factors which may also be relevant to an SSR programme in an EFL context. The outcome of this study will be a revised list of the important issues and considerations necessary for successful implementation of an SSR programme in an EFL context.

In recent times Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) programmes have been propelled into the limelight of valuable reading strategies mainly because of the relentless interest of a large number of researchers and the endless benefits to the improvement of a child’s reading level.  (Krashen 2004, Pilgreen 2000 and Trelease 2001)  In spite of its apparent usefulness should teachers in Taiwan implement and manage SSR programmes based on successful models that have worked in English speaking countries?

Pilgreen (2000) asserts that SSR is not simply giving students time to read; ‘…it takes a great deal of time, effort, and know-how to put a successful SSR programme into operation’ (p. xvii). In her research, Pilgreen (2000) identified eight factors that were consistently found in successful SSR programmes. However, questions arise in relation to the effectiveness of such a programme in English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Are these eight factors relevant in a context where students are learning English as a foreign language (EFL)?