RELC Journal 2015, Vol. 46(3) 255–273 © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0033688215609216 rel.sagepub.com Extensive Reading Coursebooks in China Willy A. Renandya National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Guangwei Hu National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Yu Xiang College of Foreign Studies, Yangzhou University, China Abstract This article reports on a principle-based evaluation of eight dedicated extensive reading coursebooks published in mainland China and used in many universities across the country. The aim is to determine the extent to which these coursebooks reflect a core set of nine second language acquisition and extensive reading principles. Our analysis shows that while some of the coursebooks contain features that comply with these principles to an extent, the rest exhibit features of traditional intensive reading coursebooks. Most of these coursebooks contain reading materials that are linguistically too demanding and tasks that are cognitively and affectively unappealing. As a result, they are unlikely to achieve their designated purposes. Keywords Extensive reading, Coursebook evaluation, SLA principles, Intensive reading, L2 proficiency Introduction Since the publication of Richard Day and Julian Bamford’s book Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom (1998), numerous empirical studies have been conducted to examine the language learning benefits of extensive reading (ER). Most of these studies have now been documented in a specialized ER bibliography on the Extensive Reading Corresponding author: Willy A. Renandya, English Language and Literature Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Block 3-3-172, 637616, Singapore. Email: willy.renandya@nie.edu.sg 609216REL 0 0 10.1177/0033688215609216RELC JournalRenandya et al. research-article 2015 Article at National Institute of Education on December 11, 2015 rel.sagepub.com Downloaded from