The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ER on the reading levels of 4th
year Taiwanese university students in order to find an appropriate alternative to the current
teaching methodologies used in Taiwan. Therefore, the main purpose of the research was to
answer the following question: Can the addition of a 12 week extensive reading program produce
significantly better results on 4th year Taiwanese university students’ reading levels as a similar
program that does not include extensive reading? There were two hypotheses being tested. The first was that a 12 week ER program will produce significantly improved results on the participants’ reading levels, and the second was that the students in the ER group should demonstrate significantly better reading level improvement, as measured by reading level tests, than the group without the ER treatment.