The association of reading with fun and meaning-making is often not the case in EFL
(English as a Foreign Language) contexts, such as Taiwan. Rather, many students, particularly
adult learners, have a limited knowledge of English vocabulary words (Chen, 1998), read slowly
(Shen, 2008), and mostly about obscure textbooks or test-preparation materials (Huang, 2006).
They think of reading in English as being tedious and painful, and something they are obligated
to do in order to pass an exam. Lacking a genuine motivation to read, which serves as the basis
for all aspects of language development, it is not surprising that Taiwanese students have scored
in the bottom half on TOEFL iBT exams, as opposed to test-takers from other Asian countries
(2010 TOEFL Test and Score Data Summaries). Thus, this begs the following questions: If native
speakers of a language learn to read through rich immersion in authentic literature, should local
EFL educators not also use the same literature-based reading approach? Are teachers who fail to
encourage voluntary reading of a wide range of materials that students personally enjoy denying
those same students a fair chance to learn?