This practical action research examines the choice between using unabridged novels and graded readers in the context of an extensive reading project. The comparison mainly consists of data on word-count gains as recorded throughout two ten-week sessions with the same target group. For the comparison, thirty-five first year non-English-major Japanese university EFL students in a year-long communication class were assigned to read an unabridged novel through a ten-week period during the first semester of the school year. For another ten-week period during the second semester, the same group read graded readers in tandem with the M-Reader computer-assisted language learning program. The findings suggest that a change in pedagogy in favor of the method involving graded readers with the M-Reader program is the most beneficial choice for the course.
Keywords: CALL, EFL, ER, Extensive Reading, Japanese university, M-Reader
