We report on a large-scale implementation of extensive reading (ER) in a university setting in Japan where all students were required to read outside class time as part of their course requirement. A pre/posttest comparison between the 2009 cohort of students who read outside of class and the 2008 cohort who did no outside reading shows that the…

Argues that one way to reduce academic stress on children is to assign leisure reading as homework. Describes teacher-parent and teacher-student procedures for oral reading at home, with confirmation by parents, and homework assignments which are cooperatively set by teachers and students. (RS)