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theworksofTinto（1988）andotherresearchersintonew-studentsuccessandretentionatuniversity.Creatingpositiverelationshipsintheuniversitysettingiscriticalfornewstudents,anddeprivingourfirst-yearstudentsinparticularwithapotentialsuchsourceofhelpfulrelationshipsnotonlywiththeircohortbutalsowithupperclassmenispotentiallydetrimentaltotheirsuccessintheiruniversitystudies.6DiscussionandConclusions:TheFutureoftheERProgramTakentogether,thissituationpresentssomethingofadilemmaforthefacultydealingwithgradedreadersattheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulture.Ononehand,movingtoavirtualgradedreadersystemseemstohaveprogressedquitesmoothlyfromthestudents'pointofview,withnoappreciablenegativeeffectseitherinstudentengagementwithgradedreaders,orsuccessrateswithcompletionoftheirassignments.Studentsandfacultybothreportthattheonlinegradedreadersystemisatworstnomoredifficulttousethanthepaperbooksystem（thispointofviewbeingexpressedprimarilyfromthestudentside）andatbestconsiderablyeasier（fromthefacultyside）.Whilesomestudentsprofesstopreferthepaperbooksystem,anessentiallyequalnumberpreferthenewebooksystem.Intermsofadministrationoftheprogram,facultyareinagreementthatthenewonlinesystemisinmostwaysanimprovement.However,theimportanteffectoncommunity-buildingandcohesioncannotbeoverlooked.TheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCulturehasnoticedadeclineintheusageoftheMMRsincereturningtoface-to-faceclassesaftertheCOVID-19pandemic.Whilethiscannotbelaidentirelyatthefeetofthemovetoanonlinegradedreaderprogram-attheveryleast,thismightbeafruitfulareatoinvestigaterigorously,notonlytobackupfacultyandstudentanecdotalfeelingsofdecreasedusage,buttoattempttobetterexplainrealcauses-informaldiscussionsamongfacultyandwithstudentsdosuggestthatthenewsystemmayatleastbeafactor.Traditionally,theMultimediaRoomhasbeenanimportantsocialhubforthestudentsofthedepartment,andfacultyconsideritakeyaspectofdepartmentalcommunitybuilding.Forthisreason,thefacultyoftheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCultureareconsideringpilotingamovetoaso-called“hybrid”gradedreadersystem,allowingstudentstocontinuetodomuchoftheassignmentonline,butrequiringsomedegreeofusageoftraditionalbooks,checkedoutfromtheMultimediaRoom.Whilethiswouldnecessarilymakethesystemslightlymorecomplicated,asmanagementofthephysicallibraryofbookswasalwaysoneofthemorechallengingaspectsofthesystem,thedepartmentfeelsthatthesechallengesareoutweighedbypotentialbenefitsintermsofrelationship-andcommunity-buildingamongstthestudentsofthedepartment.Naturally,pilotingsuchaprogramwillrequirefollow-upresearchtogaugeefficacyandoutcomes,butthegenerallypositivelearningoutcomeswiththemovetoonlinegradedreadersystemgivesthefacultyoftheDepartmentofEnglishLanguageandCultureconfidencethatsuchaprogramisbothviableandpotentiallybeneficialforthestudentsofthedepartmentandnotonlytheirEnglish-languagelearninggoals,buttheirsuccessinthedepartmentandatChubuUniversity.ReferencesAka,N.（2019）.ReadingperformanceofJapanesehighschoollearnersfollowingaone-yearextensivereadingprogram.ReadinginaForeignLanguage,31（1）,1-18.Beglar,D.,Hunt,A.,&Kite,Y.（2012）.TheeffectofPleasurereadingonjapaneseuniversityefllearners'readingrates.LanguageLearning,62（3）,665-703.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00651.xCho,K.-S.,&Krashen,S.D.（1994）.AcquisitionofvocabularyfromtheSweetValleyKidsseries:AdultESLacquisition.JournalofReading,37（8）,662-667.ExtensiveReadingFoundation（n.d）.MReader.https://mreader.org/index.phpHafiz,F.M.,&Tudor,I.（1990）.GradedreadersasaninputmediuminL2learning.System,18（1）,31-42.https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251x（90）90026-2Iwata,A.（2022）.TheEffectivenessofExtensiveReading（ER）ontheDevelopmentofEFLBeyondCOVID-19:OnlineExtensiveReadingandFace-to-FaceClasses―19―