Enhancing ESL reading.pdf

7/25/2019 Enhancing ESL reading.pdf

1/8

Enhancing

ESL

reading

through

reader sbategy training

Abstract

Reader Strategy Training

for ESL

students in practice

and theory

is in its

infancy.

Recent

research

aIthough in the

most part

successful, has not

reported the major gains expected from

this method.

Many researchers

have

put

t is

down

to

contextual

factors.

In this investigation

seven

E L

high-school studentsunderwent

a short course of reading

strategy train-

ing. Important

factors

in

the

training

were

pre-assessment of

learners

needs,

a

focus on

the

whf and when of the strategies

as

well

as

the

what , and carefully

selected reading texts

ix

out of

the

seven students

showed improvement in reading comprehension in at

least

one

of

the two

measures

used.

Resultssuppoxt the notion

that reading

strategy

training

can

be

effective

in enhancing

second-languagereading.

Introduction

Reading

in

one s mother

tongue

is

a

complex

skill

involving the coordination

of

attention,

memory

perception

and

comprehension processes

such

as test-

U,

ing

hypotheses, separating main ideas from details, searching for cohesive

u

elements

and

contextual

guessing Kern 1989;

RusciolelIi

1995 . he native

reader uses three

main cueingsystems to gain meaning

from the written text:

graphophonic, syntactic

and

semantic.

A

reader

expedencinga

deficit

in

one

cueing system

relies

more

heavily

on

the

others as

well

as

employing com-

pensatory

strategies

(Robinson

1993 .

r

For the

second

language

reader

the

process is

further complicated

by

differences in the reading

structures of

L and

the

target language, in par-

ticular,

differences

in

the

graphophonic,

syntactic

and

semantic systems, as

well

s

diverse

clhcourse,

cultural

elf

merits

and e x ~ l a i l o n i .

Moreover,

if

il

a

is minority

Language, s in the careof

ESI students,

there

are many affective

0

elements that

will

be

influencing th e

LZ reading process for nstance;

emo-

tions

due

to

culture

shock,

motivation

to Iearn the target language and the

status

of

L in the community . So not only is

it possible tha t

the L2

eader

has problems with all

three cueing

systems but they may not be able

to

acti-

vate effective compensatory processes (Robinson

1993).

Second language reading research has revealed that many

L2 readers are

Iinguistically bound

to text

using all their resources o n word recognition,

relying solely on a

word

for

word translation strategy and

performing

few

higher order interpretation

processes

Kern

1989;

Rusciolelli 1995). While


2/8

16 Pm~pe c t ol

12

No 3 December 1997

ENH NCING SL READING THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

7

for many students this

may

be a temporary state, some students, even after

many years of exposure to LZ, find it difficult to progress beyond this point

(Grabe

1995).

Factors found

to be significant in the development

of L2

reading include

the importance of vocabulary in language learning, the need for

language

awareness and attending to language and genre form, the need for extensive

reading and the importanceof metacognitive awareness and strategy training

(Grabe 1995 .The latter two factors are the

focus

of this study.

L2 re ding

strategy

tr ining

research

Learning strategy has been defined

as

t h e

long-rangeart

of learning more easily

and

effectivelyby

using major

clusters

of behavioursfor forming concepts

and

hypotheses, testing hy-

potheses, personalising linkages, embedding

material

in

long-term

mem-

ory,

understanding

one s

affective state,

managing

the

learning

process

and producing language while lacking adequate linguistic knowledge

Oxford

and

Cohen

2992: 4).

Learner strategy training, a

teaching methodology

which aims to im-

prove learner s

efficiency

and to direct ownership

and

control into the pupil s

hand, is

new

to the second language field. Catalysed

by

descriptiveresearch

on the characteristicsand learning behaviours of good language learners

eg

Rubin 1975 , the fundamental assumption underlying strategy training i s

that identified strategies used by successful learners can be taught to all

learners (Rees-Miller 1993).

The main f m s of research in this area over the iast decade has

been

the

identification

of a

conceptuai framework for

learner

strategies incorporating

descriptions of successful language learning strategies

and

construction of

typologies and taxonomies (Wenden and Rubin

1987).

Only recently have

studies emerged Iooking at the effectiveness of strategy training, and in par-

ticular, reading strategy training.

While

ost

recent

research

shows

that

LZ

reading

strategy

training

has

had some

success,the

expecteddramaticgains

of

strategy training

as proposed

by O MaIley an d Chamot

1990

and Oxford 1990)have

not been

recorded.

Hosenfield

(1985,

cited

by

RuscioleIli

1995)

aught word guessing tech-

niques to

t2

students

a n d

found an improvement in reading texts after

training. A comparison

of

traditional and strategic approaches to teaching

reading by HarnpLyons (1985)

gave

favourable results to the latter. Bialystok

1987) trained high school students in inferencing techniques and found

them to be expedient in L2 eading comprehension; additionally students

were able

to

generalise the technique (cited by Wenden and Rubin 1987).

Similarly, Kern

(1989)

found tha t direct teaching

of

reading strategies had

a strong positive effect o n

L2

readers comprehension. Carrell, Pharis and

Liberto

(1989)

found metacognitive strategy training i n semantic mapping

an d experience-text-relationship

to be

effective in enhancing second

Ian-

guage reading.

Other studies

have

reported

negligible or

mixed

results

where ESL

stu-

dents

have

shown

only slight

gains

in

a subset

of

the strategies taught

Barnett

1988; Cotterall 1993). Oxford and

Cohen

(1992) suggest these esults

may

bedue to

improper

methodoIogies eg

too short

a

period for txaining,

too

easy

or

difficult a

task,

inadequate pretraining assessment of learners needs,

lack of integrationof strategy training in to regular

class

activit ies. Rees-Miller

(1993)

cautions that strategies themselves may not be sufficient to

lead

to

success in learning tasks. Instead teachers need to communicate

the

useful-

ness

of the

strategy

to

the students.

Many researchers and teachers have stressed the importance of consid-

ering contextual

variabIes such

as

learning styles, life experiences, students

and

teachers beliefs about

language

learning and demographic features eg

gender,

age,

ethn ic differences) (McMahon 1992; Oxford

2993:

Rees-Miller

1993;

Sharkey 1995 .

These contextual variables

mean

that not all strategies

will prove equally helpful to a11 learners.

Metacognition

Cotterall (1993) reports that the most successful strategy-training

programs

have been those

which

have exploited learners metacognitive awareness.

Metacognition in the context of reading

has

two dimensions (Carrel1 t nl

1989; Cotterall

1993 :

1 Understanding one s knowledge

of

strategiesfor comprehension

2.

Controlling this knowIedge (or effectively using the strategies while read-

ing for different purposes)

A crucial

concept

underlying strategy training is th e notion that the dis-

cussion of the

mental processes involved in learning will lead to

an

increase

in the learner s awareness

of these processes

(Cotterall 1993).

Such

an in-

formed reader,

it

is postulated,

will be

able to

access

and

apply these

pmesses

in

future similar situations (Carrel1

et a

1989).

The

ultimate goal

s to turn

students

into strategic readers rather than just to teach them reading strat-

egies (Grabe 1995 .

Cotterall (1993:

76)

identifies s x conditions that must co-occur

with

metacognitive behaviour:

1.

sufficient exposure to problems in texts

2.

repeated application of problem-solving strategies

3.

efficient strategy

use

4

instruction concerning the

usefulness

and appIication

of

strategies

5.

prompts

to adopt

particular strategies

6.

an ability to shift

attention

from particular instances

of

difficulty o higher

levels of strategy performance.


3/8

8 Prospect Vcl. 1 2

No.

3 December 997

Further, research suggests

h a t

transfer of strategy training to new tasks

can

be

maximised

by

pairing compatible metacognitive

and

cognitive strate-

gies (O Malley and Chamot 1990).

This investigation

In the light

of

the above research, the study described elow

looked

at read-

ing strategy training under the following conditions:

A needs assessment of students prior to training and dete rmining train-

ing content

+

Instruction

concerning the usefuIness

of

the

strategy

zt Allowing sufficient time and appropriate activities

for

students to become

familiar with, practise, and experiment with strategies

+ Careful selection of texts used in order to motivate students

O Pairing of metacognitive and cognitive strategies

The

study addressed the following research questions:

O Does

explicit

reading

strategy training enhance comprehension of texts?

Q Are gains

made

in

a

measurable sense ie score on a reading compre-

hension test?

Do the students perceive that th e training has been beneficial?

Method

articipants

The

participants

of

this research were initially selected by mainstream teachers

a t a

secondary boys

school.

Selection criteria were

as

follows:

I.

the

student is currently

in

year

10

2. the student has

a

non-English

speaking

background

3. the

student s

reading skills are interfering with his learning

identified students were then tested in reading, writing

and

listening by

the

ESL

teacher. A subset of these stude~lts

as

then invited to participate in

the course. Students not included were those who had

a

specific difficulty

contributing to the ianguage problems (eg mild intellectual impairment).

The

reason for excluding these students

was

two-foId. Firstly the type of

instruction and materials

used

in the training were not suitable for this group

(for nstance the reading texts used were at a year 10 level and many of the

students excluded wouldbenefit from using simpler materials) and secondly

the aim of

the

study was to evaluate

the

effectivenessof

a

methodology advo-

cated

for students whose difficulties arise from learning a second language.

ENHANCING

SL

READtNG

THROUGHREADER

STRATEGY

TRAINING

9

There was, however,

one

student

K

with an intellectual and social difficulty

who was accepted

into the course

for

political reasons.

A11

12 of the year

10students invited to participate were included in the

course, however

only

seven completed

a

phasesof the

research.

The demo-

graphics

of

the research group are summarised in Table I.

Table

:

Partidpants

.pa

roatian

Lebanese

Cantonese

Arabic

Cantonese

Italian

Arabic

Years in

Australia

Language Read Write '

Learningstyle*

~ o t i v a t i o i

spoken

n L1 in

L1

at home

Little

tittle

Both Little

L1

Littie

Little

Both

No

Little

Communicative

Yes

Analytical

ittle Concrete

Little

Authority oriented

Little Communicative

Little Comihunicative

Fair

Fair

High

Fair

High

Low

Fair

L1 = First

language

= Approximate

leamlng styles group

assigned by

using

a quick questionnaire

Wlling

989 Appendix

B

Students motivation ranged

from low

to very high.

The

group as

a

whole had

a

low morale and many had little

language

esteem . All students

felt that

good

gradeswere linked t fu ture prospects.

Several sources

of

information were

examined in order

to identify the

particular reading needs

of

the group. These

sourcesincluded

student work

such as trial moderator papers, assessment tasks and classwork student ESL

profiles and the reading assessment task initially given a 2- ite m graded

multiple-choice task

on

a 750 word reading passage

at

an approximate read-

ing level

of

14

years).

Perhaps

the most illumjnating

data

resulted from an

informaloral reading comprehension task. Students read a current chapter of

their class

novel and

retold

key

events. This task was completed on an indi-

vidual basis and ook the fo rm of a n interview with the ESL teacher. While

there were no set questions each studen t

was

asked relevailt factual, inter-

pretive and evaluative questions

about

the

text

as

the opportunity

arose.

Additionally, students were asked to explain how they had

they

had Iocat

ed information.

Two main areas of difficulty were isolated: inferencing (particularly

noted i n the multiple choice

task

a n d novel discussion)

and

dealing with

unfamiliar vocabulary (for instance, in the

novel

discussion one

student

dis

missed half a page because he did not understand three words in the opening

sentence. He did not realise that t he meaning of

the

passage was attainable

without knowledge

of

those three particular

words).


4/8

Prospect Vol. 12 No.

3

December 1997

ENHANCING

SL READING THROUGH READER VR TEGY TRAINING

2

Trairting materials

and

methods

Eight strategy training lessons of 50 minutes durat ion were held over a

two-

week period.

Four strategies were selected as a focus in accordance with the

above

needs assessment. These were the metacognitive strategiesof overviewing and

self-evaluation,and the cognitive strategiesof inferencing and deducing the

meaning of unknown words. X was hoped that

a

by-product of conscious

strategy use would be increased learner autonomy.

The

strategies were introduced to the students one

at a

time, every

second lesson. The introductory sessionscommenced with a reading aaivity

forwhich the focus strategy would

be

particularly useful. Studentswere then

invited t o discuss

how

they went about the

task

and the new strategy- would

be introduced.

A

short explanatory

paragraph

about the strategy

was

con-

structed by various

means

(suchas dictogIoss, text reconstruction, cloze) and

then the strategy was modelled using the initial reading activity. A discussion

about the usefulness of the strategy continued throughout the lesson

as

students

completed

practice activities. ,

The lessons

between

the

introductory

sessions consisted of specific prac-

tice activities for particular strategiesand combinations of strategies,

as

well

as

a

variety of genera1 reading activities where t he student had the oppor-

tunity t o use

the

strategiesof

their choice. These sessions

concluded with

a

class

debriefing regarding the most appropriate contexts to use particular

strategies.

Most activitieswere tailor-made forth e students with reading

texts

from

magazines, popular fiction and newspapers.Activities were also

drawn

and

adapted

from

the following texts: Cooper 2991), Garbutt and O Sullivan

(1991) and Grellet 1981).

Tasks similar to the assessment tests were avoided

during

training to

prevent corruption

of

results.

ssessment procedures ~ n daterials

Diagnostic assessment of students occurred three

weeks

prior to training.

Students were given a pre-test one week prior to the onset of training and

given

the same

test

as a

post-test. Informal

measures to gain

information

a b u t students beliefs, learning styles, and perceptions occurred throughout

the course.

These

included a questionnaire, learning style inventory, diary

entries

and

post-course interview with the student.

The pre-test/post-test

Section

A. Three-lwelguide

TLG)

Text: An

autobiographical recount of approximately

1200words.

Task: A truetfalse response task using three levels of statements: factual,

interpretive and evaluative.

Section

B

Response

to

litmature RL]

Text: A narrative of approximately

5

words.

Task: A

written

response

to

the following

question:

This passage introducesa man

called Thomas.

What do you learn about

Thomas in the passage {eghis personality, his life,

his

feelings, what

others

think

of him)?

The

formal components

of

the pre-

and

post-test were identical.

This

was to

allow direct

comparison by

students

and

mainstream teachers.

Scoring

An

independent judge scored each test.

ach

section within the

TLG

(factua1,

interpretive and evaluative)was given a percentage score in order to allow

direct comparison between sections, for individual students and the group.

Then each student s TLG

was

given a total scoreout

of

100 This matched the

current system

of

assessment in the school and facilitated communication in

reporting to the teachers and students.

The RL section was given a count score for

each

statement made by the

student. Tally categories were correct statement , incorrect statement and

neutral statement . Correct statements

were

subcategorised into factual ,

interpretive and evaluative statements.

Statistical anaZyses

Paired

t-tests

were applied t o assess the significance of differencesbetween

pre- and post-test scores(tw~ ta il ed ). ignificance was established at an alpha

level of 05 Non-significant scores are reported as

ns .

Results

he

results

of individual

students

can

be seen in

Table 2 (TLG)

and

Table

3

RL).

Five

of

the seven

tudents revealed gains in all forms of assessment

I,

Kj

K

nd L .

Student showed

a

decrease

in

Task

A b u t

a

gain

in

Task

B.

Student howed

a

dramatic decrease in Task

A

a n d no gain in Task B.

Tabk : Individualscores on a three levelguide TLG)

tudent T Pre-testY

~ost test~/o?Difference

I

KJ

R

N

K

D

L

Average


5/8

I

1

Prospect Vol. 12 No ecember 1997

ENHANCING

ESL

READING THROUGH

RE DER

STRATEGYTRAINING 3

The

results

of the two-tailed t-test fox paired samples forTask A and

Task

B can be

found in

Table

4

and

Table

5

The

overall gain

in

th TLG

for

the

group

was not significant. It

js

worth noting that the

results

become

significant

(p

05 ) if

student

N's scores are

not

included

in

the

analysis.

Decomposition of the

TLG

reveals that

only

one componentof the task, the

interpretive level, evidences

a

significant group gain (p

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Enhancing ESL reading.pdf