Smartphones, tablets, and today's touch screen laptops are powerfultools capable of serving hundreds of specialized, complex operationsand applications to anyone, seemingly anywhere in the world. Forsecond language learners and those who teach them, these toolssuddenly have the potential to recast the reading experience for 21stcentury students and invigorate Extensive Reading (ER) research.Exploration into digital ER exclusively through the medium of mobiledevices is only an emerging area of study in the English as a LinguaFranca (ELF) classroom. This study reports on the implementation of a15 week (one semester) pilot test of Xreading® (www.xreading.com),an online Graded Reader (GR) library and learning managementsystem (LMS) devoted specifically to the implementation and operationof extensive reading at a private university in Tokyo, Japan.Participants in this study have access to a vast virtual library of gradedreaders and are being instructed to read outside of class using a mobiledevice. This paper reports on student engagement with this platformexclusively for 15 weeks in regards to changes in reading speeds,volume of reading, and correlations between these numbers andTOEIC® IP test scores. The authors will reflect on student attitudesand perceptions of reading digitally and lastly, present someconsiderations for teachers and administrators who recognize thebenefits of ER and who, for various reasons, envisage implementingextensive reading into their classroom syllabus or program curriculum.

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Study abroad programs provide an opportunity for students to accelerate language learning and acquire cultural capital. Evaluations of returnees from study abroad programs however, have revealed that this is not always guaranteed. To promote a more positive academic and culturally-inclusive study abroad experience, one recommendation is for language teachers to focus on students' digital literacy. Given the reported levels of poor digital literacy among Japanese freshmen students, the researchers in this current study were attempting to determine if this wider trend applied to students at their private university in Tokyo. The authors surveyed firstyear College of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH) students and will report on their responses to two sections of a computer literacy questionnaire originally created by Son, Robb, and Charismiadji (2011). The first section focuses on self-assessment of digital skills, while the second section reports on the results of a 10-item digital literacy test.

Central to most e-learning strategies is the course management system (CMS). While a CMS has the potential to facilitate better course management, enhance learning, and encourage student autonomy, reports indicate that faculty are slow to adopt a CMS, and yet others claim most faculty are not using a CMS to its potential. This chapter considers teachers in a university English program who were surveyed about their perceptions of the Blackboard CMS using the technology acceptance model (TAM) and data from usage logs were analyzed to appraise actual CMS application. While the teachers had an overwhelmingly positive view of the CMS, their utilization of Blackboard was limited or unsophisticated. As e-learning coordinators in the English program, the authors are interested in increasing CMS adoption and developing a robust e-learning component in the curriculum.

Mobile devices have sweeping repercussions in education and suggest shifting content-engagement paradigms. Extensive reading (ER) is not unaffected by the many evolving aspects of mobile technology in second language classrooms. This paper reflects on Xreading®, an online graded reader (GR) and learning management system (LMS) designed for digital ER. Students at a private university in Tokyo had access to this online library using mobile devices. While overall reflections were positive, actual engagement with GR's and the software, was significantly lower for a surprising number of participants. Focusing on those reluctant readers (RRs) this study investigates the basis for disengagement, both with ER and perhaps with mobile technology. Using a post-pilot questionnaire and focus group discussion, the authors attempted to understand reasons behind the disconnect. Key findings for why students neglected this system included: insufficient software training, misconceptions about reading extensively and ineffective exploitation of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.