本文旨在研究「窄式閱讀」（narrow reading）對學生閱讀流暢性的影響。由於作者發現目前只有一篇研究論及窄式閱讀對學生閱讀效率的影響，因而試圖填補現存文獻中的空白。本文探討以下議題：（1）窄式閱讀是否對大學英語學習者的閱讀效率造成顯著的影響？（2）研究對象對於窄式閱讀看法為何？本研究總計有39位大二學生參與為期四週的訓練過程。參與者皆為淡江非英文系學生。學生小組皆閱讀三份特定主題的連續性時事新聞。遴選材料時，作者已將學生閱讀能力納入考量，且都以詞彙特色作為分析對象。每個訓練過程皆進行個別分析。不論題材為何，三份數據結果一致顯示：這些學生的閱讀速度有顯著進步。此外，每當題材難度增加時，學生的閱讀速度也依舊維持既有速度。尤其是閱讀速度。窄式閱讀也可作為學生課堂彈性活動，只要題材對學生有吸引力。因此，作者總結：窄式閱讀可以成為一種增進學生閱讀流暢度的有效方法。

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of narrow reading (NR) on reading fluency. The author aims to fill a gap in existing literature in which there is very little on NR, and only a single inquiry about its effects on reading rate. Specifically, this study explores the following questions: Does a NR treatment have any significant effects on the reading rates of university EFL learners? What are participant perspectives toward NR? A total of 39 second-year university students participated in the treatments for four weeks. All of the participants were non-English majors enrolled in Tamkang University. The group read three sets of thematically related running news stories. The texts were controlled for reading level and analyzed for lexical features. Data from each treatment was analyzed separately. The results for all three data sets consistently showed significant gains in reading speed, regardless of topic. Additionally, gains appeared to be sustained even when reading difficulty slightly increased. Semi-structured interviews reflected a general learner perception that NR was beneficial, particularly for reading speed, and that it could be a select activity, but only if the topic is of interest. Thus, the author concludes that NR may be a highly effective means of enhancing reading fluency.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..i
Chinese Abstract…………………..………………………………………………………………ii
English Abstract…………….…………………………………………………………………….iii
Table of Contents…………………...……………………………………………………………..v
List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………..ix
List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………..x

Chapter 1 Introduction	1
1.1	Research Background and Issues	1
1.1.1 Fluency	1
1.1.2 Definition of narrow reading	3
1.2	Purpose of the Study	3
1.3	Research Questions	4
1.4	Significance of the study	4
Chapter 2 Literature Review	6
2.1 L1 Reading Fluency	6
2.1.1 Automaticity	6
2.1.2 Repeated reading	13
2.1.3 Timed reading	18
2.2 L2 Reading Fluency	20
2.2.1 Automaticity	20
2.2.2 Automaticity and reading rate	24
2.2.3 Repeated reading	31
2.2.4 Timed reading	34
2.2.5 Narrow reading: vocabulary acquisition	38
2.2.6 Narrow reading and corpus analysis	41
2.2.7 Narrow reading experimental studies	46
Chapter 3 Method	52
3.1 Basic Parameters	52
3.1.1 Participant characteristics	52
3.1.2 Participant proficiency level	52
3.1.3 Settings	53
3.2 Research Design	54
3.2.1 Materials	54
3.2.2 Procedures	63
3.2.3 Data analysis	65
3.2.4 Learner perspectives	66
Chapter 4 Results	67
4.1 General Descriptives of Reading Rates and Comprehension	67
4.1.1 Set 1	67
4.1.2 Set 2	68
4.1.3 Set 3	69
4.2 Tests for Significance	70
4.2.1 Set 1	70
4.2.2 Set 2	73
4.2.3 Set 3	75
4.3 Learner Perspectives toward NR	78
4.3.1 Reading difficulty	79
4.3.2 Word recognition	82
4.3.3 NR as a practice	84
Chapter 5 Discussion	87
5.1 Reading Materials	87
5.2 Vocabulary Load	88
5.3 Reading Difficulty	89
5.4 Measured Effects	90
5.4.1 Reading rate	90
5.4.2 Participant views	90
5.5 Conclusion	93
5.5.2 Pedagogical implications	94
5.5.3 Limitations of the study	96
5.5.4 Suggestions for future research	98
References	99
Appendix A: Lexical Profile of Set 1	113
Appendix B: Lexical Profile of Set 2	132
Appendix C: Lexical Profile of Set 3	154
Appendix D: Semi-structured interview questions	177
Appendix E: Semi-structured interview full transcript	178

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