Abstract :
Thispaperisaimedtoinvestigatestudents’vocabularysizebeforeandaftertheextensivereadingprogramandtoexplorewhetherthereisaconnectionofextensivereadingprogramandwritingactivitiesusingCartoonStoryMaker.Therewere17studentsparticipatinginthisstudy.Datawerecollectedfrompre-test,post-test,observations,focusgroupdiscussions,andinterviews.Findingsshowthatstudents’vocabularylevelrisesbyaveragely1.135words.Students’perceptiononreadingactivitiesandtheirreadingpreferenceschange.Moreinterestingly,theextensivereadingprogramhasgiventhemjoyfulreadingexperiencesandencouragedthemtoreadmore.Readinglogbooksfunctionasscaffoldingforvocabularylearningandsentencestructureawareness.Inaddition,CartoonStoryMakerisperceivedasthetooltodevelopimaginationintostoriesbuiltupfromtheirpreviousreadingexperiences.Thisstudyindicatesthatthereisaconnectionbetweenreadingandwritingthroughseveralaspectsthatestablishreadingandwritingskills.Thecartoonstoriesareinspiredbythestoriestheyread,thevocabularytheylearned,theretoldplots,andthereisanartfulblendofimaginationandcreativity.
