A study of the effectiveness of contemporary children literature intensive reading program as compared to the extensive reading program in enhancing reading skills among the elementary ESL learners in SK Bobak, Bau / Taka Poren

Contemporary Children Literature is an intensive reading program which was introduced recently to the ESL learners at the elementary level in all Malaysian schools. It is intended to supplement the existing extensive reading programs but this time its application in the language classroom is given more emphasis. The incorporation of the language component into the English Language syllabus was adopted as one of the strategy to arrest the declining standard of English proficiency among the students. The use of literary texts as a language learning strategy especially in the enhancement of reading skills is deemed more desirable and appropriate as such texts are able to provide reading materials that are both aesthetic and authentic in nature. This study attempts to determine the effectiveness of this program as compared to the commonly adopted extensive reading program by conducting an experiment on a group of elementary pupils who are currently immersed in the program. The data derived from the study can be used later to shed some insights on the prevailing issues that surround the teaching and learning of literature at the elementary level