Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Japan by Rachael Ruegg & Clay Williams

Author:Rachael Ruegg & Clay Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore

4 Limitations and Suggestions

One of the limitations of the present study lies in the fact that it was small-scale research. The study involved 44 students (14 in the Xreading group and 30 in the paper-based group), with 10 of the respondents agreeing to sit for follow-up interviews. In addition, the fact that there was an imbalance between the numbers of participants in the groups involved is another limitation for this study. As a result, statistical analysis was not feasible for identifying statistical differences. The researchers, therefore, used percentages for comparisons. Due to these limitations, the results cannot be generalized.

In terms of the research design, the variable control led to another limitation. Since it was impossible to control for an equal distribution of participants based on their TOEFL ITP scores or to assign the same instructor for both groups, it would be very difficult to judge if the use of paper-based or the online mode of ER was the most significant factor to influence the findings. It is recommended that future research studies, or replications of the current study, consider controlling as many variables as possible. It also would be desirable if pre- and post-questionnaires about the subjects’ general attitudes toward reading itself were administered. With this separate set of data, the researchers could fathom the reasons for the significantly differing responses from the two groups.

Additionally, another limitation might have resulted from the use of Xreading website itself. Some participants in the Xreading group reported technical problems and glitches, which may have influenced them to view Xreading negatively. Some students faced situations where they had just completed a comprehension quiz but found the score was not recorded properly, and others were faced with situations where they could not continue to read their book or their reading records were not functioning so that they ended up having to reread the same pages again. In addition, it may be possible that functions of Xreading were not understood well by users, which generally corroborates with the findings of Cote and Milliner (2015). Xreading functions, such as utilizing accompanied audio and narrowing book searches, were repeatedly explained in class; however, it does not necessarily mean that those functions were clearly understood by the students. Some interviewees who reported during the interview that they could not find books they wanted to read may have been simply unfamiliar with the book search function. Interestingly, although the paperback books available at the LDIC for the paper-based group and the online graded readers the Xreading group had available significantly overlapped, interviewees from the paper-based group did not express any issues regarding searching for books and finding ones that they wanted to read. The researchers are speculating that one possible advantage to having sets of physical books is that students are able to scan over volumes and perhaps select books that they would not have known enough about to find through a digital search function. This search and discovery aspect of a traditional bookcase housing physical books might offer a benefit for traditional ER programs and might also indicate a detriment in an online platform.

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