Outside reading and length of time in the united

outside reading and length of time in the United
States. Both groups were taught the same skills using the
reading skills approach although some teaching techniques
had to be modified slightly because of the different reading
materials used. The literature selections consisted of
poems, plays and short stories by predominantly twentieth
century authors. The nonfiction selections came from a wide
variety of magazines and textbooks. Due to the lower
reading skill of the nonfiction group, their reading
quantity during the study was smaller.
In order to determine the effectiveness of the
different reading materials in regard to overall language
proficiency and reading comprehension, three pre- and
post-tests were given, two cloze and the Reading
Comprehension Test. Also, a teacher's observations of
students' behaviors in class helped determine the students'

attitudes toward the reading material. And finally, a
questionnaire which solicited students' attitudes towards
various aspects of the reading material and study was
administered the last week of the study.
Subjects
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The study took place at two different colleges both
located in Portland, Oregon. The number of undergraduate
students involved in the study totalled thirty one. Sixteen
were taught with fiction and fifteen were taught with
nonfictionwith the researcher teaching both groups. The
fiction group consisted of eight females and eight males who
had resided in the United States for an average of five
years. Most had attended American high schools. The
nonfiction group was made up of nine females and six males
who had been in the United States for an average of seven
months. The fiction group displayed a wide range of
nationalities: Iranian, Korean, Filipino, Cambodian,
Laotian, Vietnamese, Eastern European, Ethiopian and Thai.
On the other hand, the nonfiction group was fairly
homogeneous with all Japanese students except two, one from
Kuwait and the other from Cameroon. Although the length of
time in the United States and nationalities differed from
one group to the other, students in both groups were in
their late teens and early twenties.
Academically, the groups also displayed differences.
The students taught with fiction had a higher skill level

28
than those taught with nonfiction since their acceptance
level was 65-75 on the Michigan Test of English Proficiency
while the acceptance level for the nonfiction group was
50-65 on the same test. Yet although their acceptance
levels demonstrated different skill levels, the class
material that each of their academic programs required
displayed the same difficulty level. Because the fiction
group had lived in the United States for several years,
their listening comprehension was better than those in the
nonfiction group who had been here several months. The
structure of the two academic programs that the students
were enrolled in was quite different. The fiction group
attended ESL class while, at the same time, attending
regular academic classes such as psychology, biology etc.