586236

research-article2015
REL0010.1177/0033688215586236RELC JournalKang

Article

RELC Journal

Promoting L2 Vocabulary
2015, Vol. 46(2) 165179
The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0033688215586236
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EunYoung Kang
Teachers College, Columbia University, USA

Abstract
Krashen (2004) has advocated that narrow reading, i.e., reading a series of texts addressing
one specific topic, is an effective method to grow vocabulary. While narrow reading has been
championed to have many advantages for L2 vocabulary learning, there remains a relative dearth
of empirical studies that test the impact of narrow reading on L2 learners lexical growth. The
present study examines whether narrow reading results in L2 vocabulary learning. A total of 61
high intermediate learners read a series of texts either thematically related (narrow) or unrelated
(wide) over one month. The findings showed that narrow reading considerably facilitated learners
understanding of meanings of target words and their ability to appropriately use them. The narrow
groups responses to an exit questionnaire revealed several factors that could have accounted
for this improvement in their vocabulary knowledge. Several implications for vocabulary teaching
are discussed.

Keywords
Narrow reading, vocabulary, vocabulary learning through reading, EFL, vocabulary learning

Introduction
It is commonly believed that reading is a powerful tool for vocabulary growth (Dupay and
Krashen, 1993). Despite general faith in this belief, L2 empirical research evidence has
strongly challenged this point of view. Studies have found that learners acquire only a
limited number of words at a very slow rate through reading (Nation, 2001; Peters et al.,
2009; Read, 2004). In addition, results of L2 vocabulary studies generally suggest that
explicit teaching of words is far more effective for L2 vocabulary learning than reading

Corresponding author:
EunYoung Kang, Teachers College, Columbia University, Box 66, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY
10027-6696, USA.
Email: kang2@tc.columbia.edu
166 RELC Journal 46(2)

textual input without instructional assistance (Laufer, 2005). Even though the research
shows that L2 vocabulary gains from reading only are meager and that learners benefit
more from explicit word-focused instruction, the role that reading plays in vocabulary
development cannot be ignored. One major reason that reading remains important is
related to the difficulty in promoting vocabulary growth solely by means of classroom
instruction. In a study on the relationship between vocabulary and comprehension, Nation
(2006) estimates L2 readers should know at least 8,000 to 9,000 word families to deal
with authentic written texts. This large amount of vocabulary cannot be well developed
when vocabulary learning is confined to 2-3 hours of classroom instruction per week. In
addition, as a command of vocabulary entails knowledge of spelling, syntax, meaning,
and usage, learners need to repeatedly encounter target words in a variety of contexts to
fully acquire new words.
Acknowledging the strengths of reading for vocabulary development, researchers
have suggested a number of ways to potentially make reading more efficient. Krashen
(2004) has advocated that narrow reading, i.e., reading a series of texts addressing one
specific topic, is an effective method to grow vocabulary because it guides learners in
coming across the topic-related words recurrently in diverse contexts. By persistently
reading on a certain topic, Krashen (2004) believes, learners can develop a wide array of
knowledge on the topic as well as the vocabulary involved. While a number of researchers
(Krashen, 2004; Schmitt and Carter, 2000) have championed narrow reading, there
remains a relative dearth of empirical studies that test the impact of narrow reading on
L2 learners lexical growth. There is, therefore, a need for more research investigating
whether narrow reading results in L2 vocabulary learning.The aim of this paper is to
examine the effects of narrow reading on L2 lexical development and explore its peda-
gogical applications in instructional L2 learning. A more complete understanding of the
relationship between narrow reading and vocabulary learning may provide guidance for
L2 vocabulary teaching.

Literature Review
Contributions of Narrow Reading to L2 Vocabulary Learning
Literature on L2 vocabulary learning suggests that continuous exposure to words is one
of the primary factors determining the success of vocabulary learning (Peters et al.,
2009). As suggested by Nation (1997: 15), If the learning of a word is not soon rein-
forced by another meeting, then that learning will be lost. When L2 learners read about
only one topic, the frequency of exposure to topic-relevant words is high, and therefore
vocabulary gains can be accrued. The positive effects of high word reiteration on inci-
dental vocabulary learning have also been validated by empirical studies where the
occurrence of words in textual input is manipulated by the researchers (Ekert and
Tavakili, 2012; Laufer and Rozovski-Roitblat, 2011). However, narrow reading can
achieve the benefit of having L2 learners obtain multiple exposures to a set of new words
without modification of the word frequency.
Researchers (Krashen, 2004; Schmitt and Carter, 2000; Kinsella, 2014) have proposed
several different instantiations of narrow reading that ensure word repetition. One manner
Kang 167

is to encourage students to read ongoing news stories on current issues, such as Japans
volcano eruption in 2014. The accounts of the eruption are likely to include words like
debris, victim, spew, or ash. Thus, while reading the stories, learners encounter
words that are closely related to the topic. Each story deals with the same issue but at dif-
ferent time points and from different points of view (Kinsella, 2014). To take the Japanese
volcanic eruption as an example, an initial news article would offer information about the
volcanic eruption, ranging from the time of its occurrence to the number of casualties.
Subsequent news reports would briefly summarize simple background information on the
eruption and then transition into new aspects of the incident, such as the search-and-res-
cue operations and the effectiveness of the warning systems for volcanoes. Therefore, the
group of words covered is naturally expanded from the volcano per se to a broader set of
topics such as the consequences of the explosion and peoples reactions to the phenome-
non. Widening coverage of a single topic increases the likelihood that learners will
encounter a wide range of topic-related vocabulary in a meaningful context.
As illustrated above, one of the major positive attributes of narrow reading is the
recurrent presentation of main ideas and related vocabulary. Informed by insights from
cognitive psychology, Han and DAngelo (2009) account for how the attributes of nar-
row reading contribute to vocabulary learning. Most cognitive theorists recognize that
human cognition has limited capacity. Due to limited individual attentional resources, L2
readers have difficulty in processing meaning and linguistic forms concurrently when
processing input (VanPatten, 2004). While reading, tackling unfamiliar topics may be a
negative factor in that it can exhaust learners processing resources, leaving relatively
little for incidental vocabulary acquisition. However, reading familiar content is likely to
decrease the burden on learners processing resources, thus freeing up processing capac-
ity for the task of word learning. In addition, second language acquisition (SLA) research-
ers hold that language learning does not take place if learners do not notice or recognize
linguistic features of input (Schmidt, 1990). Based on the notion of noticing in L2 learn-
ing, Han and DAngelo point out that the recurrence of certain words makes them more
salient, consequently promoting vocabulary acquisition.

Review of Previous Studies on Narrow Reading

While the theoretical support for narrow reading as a way to learn vocabulary is well
established in the literature, narrow reading has not been widely researched empirically.
The existing studies are mainly corpus-driven, and have investigated whether narrow
input more effectively recycles vocabulary. These studies compare vocabulary use of
related stories with that of unrelated ones. For instance, Hwang and Nation (1989) looked
into the recurrence of vocabulary in successive accounts of newspaper stories. Their
analysis revealed that in a corpus of a newspaper stories and their follow-ups, there were
more repetitions of words, specifically the ones beyond the range of the most frequent
2,000 words, than unrelated content. Based on this result, the researchers concluded that
vocabulary demand in running stories is relatively low compared to stories on discon-
nected topics, and therefore, running stories provide more optimal conditions for learn-
ing advanced vocabulary.
Sutarsyah, Nation, and Kennedy (1994) also discovered appreciable differences in the
distribution of vocabulary between texts in one academic discipline (in this
168 RELC Journal 46(2)

case, economics) and a set of unrelated academic texts. Analyzing a corpus of a single
university textbook of approximately 300,000 words, they found that the vocabulary
load in a single related topic is much smaller than a corpus of similar length consisting
of random academic texts. That is, a larger number of word types and word families were
found in the unrelated academic texts than in the economic texts, which poses a potential
challenge for learners to understand them. The findings led the researchers to conclude
that it would be useful to narrow the theme of reading materials by using texts on related
topics rather than making use of a group of unrelated texts. They maintained that this
narrow reading approach might greatly reduce the vocabulary knowledge needed to
cope with the material and allow learners to give their attention to skill development
(1994: 49).
While the prior corpus-based studies suggest the vocabulary-recycling benefits of nar-
row reading, they do not provide evidence about whether L2 readers can actually build
vocabulary knowledge via reading. To my knowledge, the only study that explores learn-
ers vocabulary gains through narrow reading was done by Cho, Ahn, and Krashen (2005).
In the study, Cho et al. asked 37 learners enrolled in an elementary school in Korea to read
the Clifford book series (short fiction stories written for English-speaking children), in a
class that lasted 40 minutes per week over a period of three months. The participants were
tested on L2 vocabulary items selected from both the book series and their English text-
book at the first and last week of the study. A questionnaire inquiring about their interest
in reading was also distributed before and after the treatment. It was found that their level
of interest and confidence in reading improved drastically at the end of the study. The
study also revealed that students made significant vocabulary gains after narrow reading.
These results are promising but not definitive due to several methodological limitations.
First, the study did not include a comparison group. As noted by the researchers, without
the presence of a comparison group, it is difficult to determine whether there are indeed
significant effects of narrow reading on vocabulary learning. In addition, participants
engaged in a variety of activities along with narrow reading, including shared reading,
book making, jigsaw reading, listening to the supplementary CD, and completing a read-
ing log after each book. This makes it difficult to find individual contributions of narrow
reading to vocabulary gains. Finally, the study measured only receptive vocabulary gains
by asking students to provide Korean equivalents of target words. However, including
productive vocabulary measures could have provided further insights on the potential
benefit of narrow reading for L2 learners vocabulary use.
Although Cho et al.s (2005) study is pioneering and informative, the methodological
shortcomings mentioned above suggest that there is a need for more methodologically
sound research on narrow reading. As a first step toward this goal, the present study pre-
sents an empirical study on learners vocabulary learning through narrow reading.
Specifically, it investigates how intermediate EFL learners engage in narrow reading and
acquire vocabulary over a period of one month. Importantly, it examines multiple aspects
of vocabulary knowledge by including both receptive and productive vocabulary meas-
ures, which the previous study (Cho et al., 2005) was not able to explore. Accordingly,
this study is guided by two research questions: (1) Does narrow reading contribute to L2
learners receptive vocabulary learning? (2) Does narrow reading contribute to L2 learn-
ers productive vocabulary learning?
Kang 169

Methods
Participants and Setting
The participants were 61 high intermediate-level students in grade 11 enrolled in a senior
high school in Korea (ages 1718 years-old). All of the participants started the study of
English as a required subject in grade 3. A background questionnaire revealed that they
had never lived in any English-speaking country before. They received 50 minutes of
English instruction four times a week. The main focus of the instruction was on reading
and listening skills. The Korean national English curriculum suggests that by the end of
grade 10, students are expected to know approximately 1,800 to 2,000 word families.
The participants were from two classes, and each class was assigned to one of the two
reading conditions: a narrow reading group, consisting of 30 students, who read texts
about one topic; and a regular reading group, consisting of 31 students, who read random
texts whose topics were not related. To ensure the correspondence between each groups
reading proficiency before treatments, their mid-term scores were compared. The mid-
term test consisted of 35 reading comprehension questions that needed to be done within
50 minutes. The test scores confirmed that no pre-treatment differences existed between
these groups reading proficiency (t = 0.723, df = 59, p > 0.5).

Reading Materials
Initially, all the participants in the study read a brief excerpt from a book on secondhand
smoking. All target words occurred in the text, and were glossed in English in the mar-
gins. Other words, such as medical jargon and low frequency words, which were likely
to hinder learners comprehension, were glossed as well. After reading the main text, the
narrow reading group continued to read slightly adapted versions of three online news-
paper articles addressing the issue of secondhand smoke. The three texts were similar in
terms of length, difficulty, and content (Table 1). The comparison group read three pas-
sages on three different topics a tsunami, Babe Ruth, and Boxing Day. The topics were
chosen from an online newspaper because similar topics were previously covered in the
learners textbook, and so the learners were not unfamiliar with the topics. No marginal
glossary was provided in the additional three reading texts assigned to each group. On
average, there were approximately 450 words in each text. The vocabulary appearing in
each text was analyzed with Cobbs (2014) online lexical profiling software, which dis-
sected the text into Laufer and Nations (1995) word frequency categories. Table 1 shows
approximately 80% of the words used in the texts were from the 02,000 vocabulary
frequency level.

Target Words
Fifteen English words that were unlikely to have been known to the participants were
selected for the study. At the beginning of the study, all participants were asked to supply
L1 meanings of the target words along with 15 distracters. Seven participants who
reported that they knew the words were excluded from the current dataset. The target
 170

Table 1. Readability and Lexical Coverage of Texts Used for Each Group.

Topic Main Texta Narrow Reading Group Control Group

Secondhand A Warning A Strong Dangers of Tsunami A Short Boxing Day

Smoke on Hazards of Warning about Secondhand Causes Deaths Biography of in United
Secondhand Danger of Smoke on Solomon Babe Ruth Kingdom
Smoke Secondhand Islands
Smoke
Word count 473 446 417 449 447 466 448
Flesh-Kineaid Grade Levelb 9.5 10 9.2 9.8 10 8.9 9.9
1K +2K Word Level Coverage 81.04% 80.26% 81.39% 80.69% 80.24% 82.40% 83.73%
AWLc 8.54% 9.68% 8.28% 9.64% 3. 79% 2.45% 3.30%
Offlistd (Proper nouns) 10.42% 10.05% 10.33% 9.67% 15.96% 11.66% 12.97%
(1.17%) (0.87 %) (1.05 %) (0.84%) (11.19%) (8.04%) (3.2%)

Note. aAll participants read the main text.

bA number indicates a grade level. For instance, a score of 9 would mean that a US student in 9th grade can read and comprehend the text.
cAWL: Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000).
dOff-list: words that do not belong to the 1K + 2K frequency level as well as the AWL list. Proper nouns were also included in the list.
RELC Journal 46(2)
Kang 171

Table 2. Description of Vocabulary Measures.

Test order Task type Vocabulary knowledge assessed

1 L1-L2 word translation productive knowledge in isolation
2 Sentence production productive knowledge in context
3 L2-L1 word translation receptive knowledge in isolation
4 Multiple-choice gap-fill task receptive knowledge in context

words appeared in the first text that all participants were required to read. They also
occurred in the three additional narrow reading texts. A vocabulary frequency profiler
(Cobb, 2014) indicated that all target words were beyond the level of 2,000 most com-
monly used English words. The participants responses to the background questionnaire
revealed that they were not exposed to any of the target words outside the treatments.
Participants textbooks did not cover any of the words either.

Assessment Measures
Since the study only included target words that the participants had no prior knowledge
of, vocabulary learning was analyzed by means of immediate and delayed post-tests. To
scrutinize both receptive and productive vocabulary gains, the study adapted vocabulary
measures from previous studies (Peters, 2007; Peters et al., 2009). These measures made
it possible to assess four levels of vocabulary knowledge: (i) receptive knowledge in
context, (ii) receptive knowledge in isolation, (iii) productive knowledge in context, and
(iv) productive knowledge in isolation. That is, in this study, vocabulary gains were
examined in terms of two dimensions (a) recognition vs. production and (b) context vs.
isolation. As for isolated tests, a participants knowledge was assessed at the word level,
whereas context tests assessed the participants knowledge in context. With regard to
receptive tests, participants recognition of target words meanings was tested, whereas
productive tests focused on participants use of target words. Specific tasks for each
measure are shown in Table 3. Production tasks were administered earlier than receptive
tasks so that receptive tests did not serve as cues to complete productive tests.
As for the L1-L2 translation task, meanings of target words were given in L1, and
learners were asked to write the L2 equivalents. On the other hand, the L2L1 translation
task required learners to supply L1 meanings in response to the given L2 words. Sentence
production involved the construction of an original sentence with each given target word.
With regard to a multiple choice gap-fill task, a passage was presented with target words
deleted, and learners were asked to find target words suitable for each blank from a list
of 5 distracters and 15 target words.

Procedure
The study involved three stagespre-test, treatment, and post-test. In the pre-test, 15
target words along with 15 distracters were provided in English, and the participants
were asked to supply L1 equivalents of the words. Students who knew the target words
172 RELC Journal 46(2)

Week Narrow reading Comparison

1 Pre-test of target vocabulary

2 Reading a text A main text (secondhand smoke) Tsunami causes deaths on
Solomon Islands

3 A warning on Hazard of A short biography of Babe Ruth
secondhand smoke

4 A strong warning about danger of Boxing day in United Kingdom
secondhand smoke

5 Dangers of secondhand smoke A main text (secondhand smoke)

5 Post-test of target vocabulary
Background questionnaire
Exit questionnaire

Figure 1. The Procedure of the Study.

were eliminated to ensure that prior knowledge of target words would not affect the
results of the study. One week after the pre-test, each of the classes was randomly
assigned to one of two conditions: narrow reading and regular reading. Both groups read
a text on the harmful effects of secondhand smoking.1 Participants were provided with a
glossary including L1 and L2 meanings of target words along with other medical jargon.
Participants read the story, and the teacher checked their understanding by asking ques-
tions. Then, participants individually completed ten comprehension questions in a true/
false format. While the narrow reading group continued to read about the topic through-
out the next three sessions of the treatment, the regular reading group read about a num-
ber of unrelated topics in each session. True/False comprehension items were also
provided along with each reading text. No glossary was provided when reading the addi-
tional three texts either on secondhand smoking or on random topics. The researcher was
present in all of the treatment sessions to check participants active participation.
Participants were told to focus on comprehending the content of the texts.
A post-test was administered in the same week in which the participants had com-
pleted the last session of the treatment. Each learners vocabulary gains were measured
via both receptive and productive measures. The procedure is shown in Figure 1.

Scoring and Data Analysis

To examine vocabulary gains from narrow reading, two receptive (isolation and context)
and two productive vocabulary tests (isolation and context) were administered. An
isolated receptive vocabulary test required learners to supply word meanings of target
words in L1. The items comprising the test were scored as correct with 1 point, partly
correct with 0.5 points, or incorrect with 0 points. A partial point was assigned to answers
that were semantically acceptable but grammatically incorrect such as using an inaccu-
rate part of speech. For instance, the verb expose was understood as the noun exposure.
Kang 173

Table 3. Receptive Vocabulary Test Scores (Recognition of Meaning of Target Words).

Group N Mean SD Gaina

Narrow reading group
Context 30 10.2 4.18 2.07*
Isolation 30 13.93 1.68 1.41*
Comparison group
Context 31 8.12 3.67
Isolation 31 12.51 1.87

Notes. Maximum score = 15.

aNarrow comparison gain comparisons for both Context and Isolation (Independent-sample t-test,

*p < .05, **p < .001).

As for a receptive test that measured vocabulary knowledge in context, no partial credit
was allowed because it followed a multiple-choice format. Thus, it was scored dichoto-
mously, with 1 awarded to a correct answer and 0 to an incorrect answer On the other
hand, a partial point was granted for responses to a productive test in context where
participants produce a sentence using a target word. For instance, if a sentence included
usage of a target word with a minor error such as an omission or addition of articles or
plural(s) (e.g. There is a scientific evidence), 0.5 points were given. However, a sen-
tence containing a target word with other types of errors did not receive any points (e.g.
Many children exposed to secondhand smoke; Mr. Kim is a chemical teacher). Since the
focus of the study was on the vocabulary learning of target words, incorrect usage of
non-target words in the answers did not affect scores. As for isolated productive vocabu-
lary tests in which learners were asked to write L2 target words based on given L1
equivalents, the same scoring scheme was employed. Answers that had minor spelling
errors with one or two letter mistakes were awarded 0.5 points.

Results
Does Narrow Reading Contribute to L2 Learners Receptive Vocabulary
Learning?
To measure receptive vocabulary learning, two different measures were used: a vocabu-
lary test in isolation and a vocabulary test in context. Descriptive statistics for the partici-
pants scores on the two receptive vocabulary tests are presented in Table 3. Differences
in the means between the groups suggest that the narrow reading group performed better
on both isolation and context tests than the comparison group. An independent-samples
t-test confirmed the statistically significant differences in the scores of an isolation test (t
= 3.10; df = 59, p < .05) as well as those of a context test (t = 2.05; df = 59, p < .05)
between the two groups. Thus, the results suggest narrow reading leads to better gains in
learners receptive vocabulary knowledge than random reading.
In addition, in general and across groups, a mean score of the isolation test tended to
be higher than that of the context test. That is, participants generally performed better
174 RELC Journal 46(2)

Table 4. Productive Vocabulary Test Scores (Production of Target Words).

Group N Mean SD Gaina

Narrow reading group
Context 30 10.13 3.77 3.04**
Isolation 30 12.90 2.48 5.41**
Comparison group
Context 31 7.08 2.47
Isolation 31 7.48 2.82

Notes. Maximum score = 15.

aNarrow comparison gain comparisons for both Context and Isolation (Independent-sample t-test,

*p < .05, **p < .001).

when target words were tested in isolation rather in context. As for the narrow reading
group, the average score of an isolation test was 13.93 (SD = 1.68), whereas the mean
score of a context test was 10.2 (SD = 4.18). Similarly, the comparison group exhibited
a higher mean score on the isolated test (M =12.5, SD =1.87) than on the context test (M
= 8.12, SD = 3.67). It is clear that the narrow reading group performed better than the
comparison group, and the higher scores were seen on isolated measures regardless of
the group membership.

Does Narrow Reading Contribute to Learners Productive Vocabulary

Learning?
Similar to receptive tests, the two productive tests were administered to measure partici-
pants productive vocabulary knowledge. The data was dealt with in the same manner as
described for the receptive vocabulary measures. Table 4 summarizes the results of pro-
ductive vocabulary tests. As suggested in Table 4, the narrow reading group exhibited
higher scores than the comparison group. Gain scores for the narrow reading group were
calculated, and an independent samples t-test was conducted to determine whether the
gains were statistically significant. It was found that the productive vocabulary gains
from narrow reading were statistically reliable on both the isolated (t = 7.94; df = 59,
p< .001) and the context measures (t = 3.04; df = 59, p< .001).
When test types were compared, similar to the receptive tests, both groups performed
better on isolation measures.

Discussion
The first research question posed was whether narrow reading promotes receptive vocab-
ulary knowledge. In order to answer the first research question, receptive vocabulary
gains from narrow and comparison groups were compared via isolated and in-context
measures. The results showed that participants engaging in narrow reading performed
substantively better on two receptive vocabulary measures: (i) a L2L1 word translation
task and (ii) a multiple-choice gap filling task. The results suggest that L2 learners
Kang 175

benefit more from reading texts arranged around a common theme than reading random
texts in terms of accurate recognition of word meanings. This finding is consistent with
Cho et al.s (2005) study that found positive effects of narrow reading on vocabulary
acquisition.
The narrow reading groups responses to an exit questionnaire revealed several fac-
tors that could have accounted for the improvement in their receptive vocabulary knowl-
edge. One of the reported factors was increased background knowledge of the given
topic, secondhand smoking, thanks to the repeated encounters with the theme. A few
participants in the narrow reading group pointed out that while they continued to read
about the topic, they could easily understand what secondhand smoking is, why it is
harmful, and how its risks can be prevented. For this reason, they emphasized that they
could easily remember target words, all of which, in a way, were related to secondhand
smoking. The benefits of narrow reading on retention of target vocabulary meanings are
illustrated below with a quotation by a student:

Because many words are related to each other in terms of meaning and belong to the theme of
secondhand smoking, it helped me learn the words. In the texts, words asthma and respiratory
diseases constantly occurred together in the texts. As asthma is one example of respiratory
diseases, one word naturally reminded me of the other when I was asked the meaning of them
on the tests.

As mentioned above, repeated encounters with the thematic concept appeared to help
learners develop semantic networks around the words. These findings are supported by
the extant literature on the thematic relevance among target words and vocabulary acqui-
sition. Tinkham (1997) found that presenting new L2 words in thematically related sets
(e.g. frog, pond, green, slimy) facilitates the learning of those words, as compared to
presenting new words in unrelated sets (e.g. cloud, office, risks, ease). Thus, the narrow
reading condition might have enhanced learners ability to thematically integrate the
content-related target words, thereby contributing to accessibility to the words easily.
In addition, participants in the narrow reading group reported that frequent encounters
of target words in recurring contexts helped their learning. Generally speaking, L2
vocabulary research suggests that multiple encounters are necessary conditions for reten-
tion of words (Zahar et al., 2001). Because narrow reading provides abundant repetition
of words that are closely related to a topic, such ample vocabulary recurrence might have
reinforced the form and meaning mapping of words. Table 5 displays the comparison of
recurrence of target words between the narrow reading and general reading texts.
Although there is no single index for the number of exposures required for vocabulary
learning, 5 to 15 encounters are generally considered as a requirement for vocabulary
acquisition (Nation, 2001). As shown in Table 5, in the narrow texts, several target words
appeared within this 5-15 range, with one word, expose, occurring a total of 32 times.
In contrast, texts with no relation to the topic of secondhand smoking did not include any
of the target words. Since narrow texts recycle target words more efficiently than do
unrelated materials, narrow reading might have provided learners with more exposure to
the words, increasing their possibility for acquisition. The result of the study is also in
line with findings of previous corpus-based studies that illustrated vocabulary-recycling
176 RELC Journal 46(2)

Table 5. Word Frequency in Both Narrow and Random Texts.

Target word families1 Total occurrence

Main text Three narrow texts Three random texts

Expose 5 32 0
Evidence 2 4 0
Chemical 1 9 0
Eliminate 1 7 0
Restriction 1 3 0
Reveal 1 3 0
Ban 1 7 0
Hazard 1 6 0
Venerable 1 3 0
Adverse 2 5 0
Asthma 1 4 0
Inhale 3 3 0
Ventilation 1 3 0
Respiratory 2 4 0
Toxic 1 3 0

Note. 1. Word families indicate groups of words which originate from the same root and meaningfully
related, e.g. exposure, expose, exposing, etc.
2. All participants read a main text (See Figure 1).

benefits of narrow reading (Hwang and Nation, 1989; Schmitt and Carter, 2000). This
study, by extension, suggests that such lexical merits of narrow texts are likely to boost
learners recognition of word meanings, as illustrated by the results from two receptive
vocabulary tests.
The benefits of narrow reading were not limited to receptive vocabulary learning. The
second research question in the present study asked whether narrow reading contributes
to productive vocabulary knowledge. Similar to the results of the two receptive tests, the
narrow reading group performed significantly better than the comparison group on the
productive tests whether target words were assessed in both isolation and context. This
indicates that even though narrow reading does not entail the use of productive vocabu-
lary knowledge, it can contribute to development of productive vocabulary knowledge.
According to Schmitt and Carter (2000), repeated exposures to target words through
narrow reading can facilitate the productive dimension of vocabulary knowledge. They
argue that in order to use a word competently, learners must know more than the basic
meaning of a word, and abundant exposures to words through narrow input can create
the conditions for outgrowth of knowledge about a words usage, including a words
grammatical behavior and part of speech. In the study, participants in the narrow reading
group were consistently exposed to target words in similar but various contexts, which
might have enhanced their mastery over different aspects of vocabulary knowledge. For
instance, the word exposure appeared not only in the form of a noun, but also as a verb
(e.g. expose +somebody +to) and an adjective (e.g. be exposed to). It is likely that
Kang 177

recurrence of words in diverse forms in various contexts can assist learners in expanding
their knowledge about a word, resulting in learners deeper understanding of a words
usage. Not surprisingly, the narrow reading group was better able to produce a sentence
with the correct usage of a word on the productive vocabulary test when asked to use a
word in a sentence. For instance, regarding the use of exposure, most students in the nar-
row reading group were able to use it with the preposition to while most students in the
comparison group failed to use the preposition along with the word.
Another result worth mentioning is that both of the groups performed better on the
tests when target words were assessed in isolation than in context. As for productive
tests, participants superior performance on the isolated test in relation to the context test
was expected because contextual production of words at the sentence level is inherently
more demanding than the isolated production of words. Conversely, as for receptive
tests, which entail recognition of target words, previous studies (e.g. Peters, 2007; Peters
et al., 2009) showed that participants performances were better in context than in isola-
tion because they were able to guess meanings of target words based on contextual cues.
Thus, the opposite result of the current study may look puzzling, but this result might be
an artifact of the construction of the context tests. In the previous studies, receptive con-
textual tests generally involved recognizing the meaning of a target word embedded in a
discrete sentence. However, in this study, the receptive context test involved filling in
gaps at the discourse level with target words that were presented as a list. The list of
words included 15 target words and five distractors. Therefore, participants had to reduce
the number of possible word choices while reading a text. Also, because the context test
was constructed at the discourse level, it might have blurred the line between a vocabu-
lary test and a reading test. It is possible that the construction of the contextual recogni-
tion of words had inadvertently biased the outcomes in favor of the receptive isolation
test, which, in the study, involved recalling the meaning of target words.

Conclusion
The present study provided empirical evidence that reading a series of thematically
linked texts can help learners understand meanings of words and become aware of the
appropriate use of words. The findings of this study have several implications for vocab-
ulary learning and teaching in both ESL and EFL settings. Most L2 researchers and
educators have hitherto considered narrow reading as a form of recreational reading
through which learners can boost their general reading proficiency and increase their
motivation for learning the target language. However, the present findings suggest that
when learners read supplementary texts that are thematically linked, their productive as
well as receptive vocabulary knowledge is enhanced.2
Another implication lies in how to prepare materials for narrow reading. The advent
of technology in the classroom offers a wealth of opportunities for compiling themati-
cally related written material. The Internet is a tremendous source for locating and col-
lecting such material. In this study, narrow reading texts were generated by drawing from
online news accounts of a particular event by several different newspapers. However,
this is just one approach as there are multiple applications for online material. As sug-
gested by Schmitt and Carter, the Internet offers a plethora of authentic texts on almost
178 RELC Journal 46(2)

any topic imaginable (2000: 8). Using such an accessible and resourceful tool can help
L2 teachers easily incorporate narrow reading into their classrooms.
In addition, narrow reading can work well in tandem with content-based instruction
(CBI). In a content-based approach, classroom activities are specific to the subject matter
being taught. In this respect, narrow reading lends itself quite naturally to CBI. However,
as suggested by one anonymous reviewer, language learning will eventually be required
to proceed from specific to general to maximize language input.
It should be emphasized that this study is not without its limitations. First, the study
was not designed to evaluate the long-term effects of narrow reading. As a result, it is not
possible to determine whether the observed positive effects of narrow reading will be
maintained. In future research, it might be worth investigating the longer-term effects. In
addition, in the present study, students reading comprehension was not measured on the
post-test, and it was therefore difficult to examine whether increased reading comprehen-
sion translates to vocabulary growth. Thus, in further research on vocabulary learning
through narrow reading, information on the level of comprehension of narrow texts and
vocabulary learning would better help researchers understand the mechanism behind
vocabulary reading via narrow texts.

Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or
not-for-profit sectors.

Notes
1. The narrow reading group read the main text at the beginning of the month whereas the com-
parison group read it one week before a post-test (See Figure 1).
2. One reviewer commented that extensive reading can be more effective in the long run in the
sense that it introduces a broader sampling of words. Indeed, learners should be encouraged
to read extensively on their own to acquire new words. However, it is important to note that
vocabulary learning may not take place if learners fail to notice new words and do not allocate
sufficient attention to them (Pulido, 2007).

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