Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of an extensive reading (ER) program targeting on improving reading comprehension and writing performance of secondary school students in Ethiopia. The experimental design involving seventy-eight students (thirty-nine in experimental group and thirty-nine in the control group) was employed both inside and outside class contexts. The experimental group was given ER instruction for sixteen weeks by engaging students in a variety of ER materials and completing some writing activities after reading. Reading and writing tests were given before and after the intervention. The result showed a statistically significant mean difference between the experimental group and the controlled group, signifying the experimental group achieved a higher performance both in the reading comprehension and holistic scores in their post-writing test than the control group. Besides, the analytic rating showed that the experimental class achieved more than the control class in the three areas of content, organization, and vocabulary except in grammar and mechanics. The study implies that using ER in English as a foreign language teaching contexts could foster the development of reading comprehension and writing performances of secondary school students.