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54 Extensive Reading in the EFL Classroom: Benefits of a Face-to-Face Collaboration Activity Cheryl Kirchhoff Nagano Prefectural College ABSTRACT Extensive reading is an approach to language education that has shown great promise for foreign language learners to acquire language; however, implementation reveals difficulty in maintaining student motivation to read over long periods of time. This study investigates students’ experience of face-to-face talk about books in an extensive reading class. Qualitative analysis of survey results suggests that collaboration assists and stimulates extensive reading for Japanese university students. Talking about the books can change extensive reading from being a solitary act into one that meets students’ academic and social needs and may be the emergence of intrinsic motivation to read. These findings suggest that collaboration tasks may be a motivational strategy for extensive reading instructors and it also lends support to socio-dynamic views of motivation (D?rnyei Ushioda, 2011). INTRODUCTION Extensive reading (ER) is an approach to language education that has shown great promise for foreign language learners to acquire language (Elley Mangubhai, 1983; Day Bamford, 1998; Krashen, 2011). Acknowledging that learners need to process very large amounts of the target language, extensive reading uses reading material that learners can understand independently and read at their own pace. Reading large amounts has been shown to improve general reading ability, reading speed and reinforce understanding of vocabulary and grammar along with exposing the learner to new vocabulary and usage (Tanaka Stapleton, 2007; Waring, 2006; Yamashita, 2008). Other advantages of extensive reading include improving learners’ attitudes toward the target language, increasing confidence in using the target language, and reducing fear of reading text (Karlin Romanko, 2010; Yamashita, 2013). Despite many envi