Extensive Reading with Adult Learners of English as a Second LanguageWord格式文档下载.docx
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liveamongitsspeakers.Thenextbestwayistoreadextensivelyinit.
Nuttall(1982:
168,citedinYu,1993)
Thispaperreportsonastudyoftheimpactofextensivereading(ER)onthelanguageproficiencyofagroupofVietnamesegovernmentofficialsstudyingEnglish.Twoquestionswereofinterest.First,wewantedtoexamineifERcouldbesuccessfullyimplementedwithadultsecondlanguagelearnersbeyondtraditionalstudentage.Secondly,wewereinterestedintherelationshipbetweenlearninggainandasetofERvariables,suchasamountofERmaterialsread,theextenttowhichthismaterialwasperceivedtobeausefulandenjoyableactivity.TheresultsindicatedthatolderadultsecondlanguagelearnerscouldindeedbenefitfromacarefullyplannedandsystematicallyimplementedERprogram.Further,aregressionanalysisshowedthatamountofERwastheonlysignificantpredictorofparticipants'
gainscores.
INTRODUCTION
The1990ssawrenewedinterestinERandtheroleitplaysinsecondlanguagelearning.TheMay1997issueofTheLanguageTeacher(ajournalpublishedbytheJapanAssociationforLanguageTeaching),forexample,wasdevotedtopapersonER.TheauthorsofthesepapersarguethatERshouldbegivenalargershareinourlanguagecurriculumandpresentideasonhowtoachievethis.ThepresentarticlebeginsbypresentinganoverviewofwhyandhowtoimplementER.ThisisfollowedbyareportonastudyoftheimpactofERonthelanguageproficiencyofagroupofVietnamesegovernmentofficialsstudyingEnglish.
TheprincipaltheoreticalmotivationbehindtheuseofERinsecondlanguagelearningcomesfromtheideathatlearnersneedlargeamountsofcomprehensibleinputintheirnewlanguageinordertomakeprogresstowardoverallcommandofthatlanguage(Krashen,1982).Inthisway,ERbenefitsnotonlyreadingproficiencybutoveralllanguageproficiencyaswell.NumerousresearchstudiesinbothL1(e.g.,Herman,Anderson,Pearson,&
Nagy,1987;
Nagy,Herman,&
Anderson,1985;
foranextensivereview,seeKrashen,1993)andL2(Elley,1991;
Elley&
Mangubhai,1983;
HafizandTudor,1990;
Krashen,1997;
Mason&
Nation,1997;
Lituañ
as,JacobsandRenandya,toappear;
Sims,1995)haveconsistentlyshownthebenefitsofERforlearners’languagedevelopment.
TheexperimentreportedbyLituañ
as,Jacobs,andRenandya,forinstance,demonstratedhowremedialstudentsatasecondaryschoolinthePhilippinesconsiderablyimprovedtheirreadingskillsduringasix-monthERprogram.Inthisexperiment,twogroupsofstudentsreceivedthesameamountofdailyinstruction(40minutes)duringtheirremedialreadingclass.However,unlikethecontrolgroupwhoweretaughttheconventionalway,theexperimentalgroupweregivenclasstimetoreadbooks,magazines,andnewspapers,andwereencouragedtocontinuethisERoutsideclasshours.Aftersixmonths,theERtreatmentwasassociatedwithlearninggainsthatweregreatertoastatisticallysignificantdegreethanthoseregisteredbyremedialstudentstaughtviathetraditionalmodeofreadinginstruction.
Inadditiontobeingassociatedwithlearninggainsinexperimentalstudies,ERhasalsobeenareliablepredictorofsecondlanguageproficiencyinexpostfactoresearch.InastudyofESLstudentsintheUS,Constantino,S.Y.Lee,Cho,andKrashen(1997)reportthat,alongwithamountofpreviousEnglishstudyintheirhomecountriesandlengthofresidenceintheUS,theamountofreadingwasasignificantpredictorofstudents’TOEFLscores.Incontrast,othervariables(i.e.,amountofTVviewinginEnglish,frequencyandamountofL1reading,andamountofEnglishstudyintheUS)includedinthestudywerenotsignificantlycorrelatedwithTOEFLscores.
InanotherstudyinvolvingESLstudentsintheUnitedStates,Y.O.Lee,Krashen,andGibbons(1996,citedinKrashen,1997)reportthatamountofL2readingwasalsoareliablepredictorofstudents’abilitytotranslateandtoperformagrammaticalityjudgementtask.Itisinterestingtonotethatinthisstudy,unliketheTOEFLstudyabove,amountofformalstudyinEnglishandlengthofresidenceintheUSwerenotsignificantpredictors.ProvidingevidencefortheviewthatERbenefitsallaspectsoflanguageproficiency,Jonopoulos(1986)foundasignificantcorrelationbetweentheamountL2readingandL2writingproficiency,asmeasuredbyholisticevaluationofstudentwriting.
Whiledefinitionsvary,expertsagreethatERinvolvestheindependentreadingofalargequantityofmaterialforinformationorpleasure.TheprimefocusofERisonthemeaningofwhatisbeingreadratherthanonthelanguage.Ontheotherhand,inintensivereadingstudentsworkwithshorttextsundertheguidanceoftheteacher.Theaimofintensivereadingistohelpstudentsconstructdetailedmeaningfromthetext,todevelopreadingskills,suchasidentifyingmainideasandrecognisingtextsignals,andtoenhancevocabularyandgrammarknowledge.Thesetwoapproachestoteachingreading-intensiveandextensivereading-arenotseenasbeinginopposition,asbothservedifferentbutcomplementarypurposes(Carrell&
Carson,1997;
Nuttall,1982).
WhatarethecharacteristicsofsuccessfulERprogrammes?
Thefollowingcharacteristicsaregenerallythoughttobeamongthemostimportant(Campbell,1989;
Davis,1995;
DayandBamford,1997;
Fielding&
Roller,1992;
Gambrell,1979;
Hill,1997;
Hsui,1994;
Jacobs,DavisandRenandya,1997;
Kim&
Nash&
Yun-Pi;
Park&
Turn,1987;
Raja,1995;
Waring,1997;
Yu,1993):
1.
Studentsreadlargeamountsofprintedmaterial;
2.
Studentschoosewhattheywanttoread;
3.
Studentsreadavarietyofmaterialsintermsoftopicandgenre;
4.
Thematerialstudentsreadiswithintheirlevelofcomprehension;
5.
Studentstakepartinpost-readingactivities;
6.
Teachersreadwiththeirstudents,thusservingasrolemodelsofgoodreaders;
7.
Teachersandstudentskeeptrackofstudentprogress;
8.
Teachersprovidehelpandguidancewhereneeded.
FindingthematerialstosupportPoints1,3,and4abovecanbedifficult,especiallywherefundingisinsufficient.Lituañ
as(1997)describeshowshecollectedmaterialsfromawidervarietyofsources,includingfellowteachers,paststudents,andcommunitygroups.TohandRaja(1997)explainwaysthatteachersthemselvescanwriteERmaterialssuitedtotheirstudents’culturalcontextsandproficiencylevels.WaysthatstudentscanbeinvolvedincreatingreadingmaterialsforthemselvesandpeersareexploredinDavidson,Ogle,Ross,Tuhaka,andNg(1997)andDupuyandMcQuillan(1997),whileDerewianka(1997)givesideasforfindingERmaterialsontheinternet.
ItisworthnotingthatnotallwritersonERagreewithPoint5above,i.e.,includingpost-readingtasksintheERprogram.Themainobjectionisthatpost-readingtasksmayspoilstudents’readingenjoyment,andthatinER,readingshouldbeseenasitsownreward.However,wefeelthatpost-readingtasks,ifcarefullydesigned,canserveusefulpurposes(seeYu,1993;
MasonandKrashen,1997forasimilarview).Post-readingactivitiescanbeusedto(i)reinforcewhatstudentshavelearnedfromtheirreading;
(ii)givestudentsasenseofprogress;
and(iii)helpstudentsshareinformationaboutmaterialstoreadoravoid.Theoutputhypothesis(Swain,1985,1993,inpress)providesadditionalsupportfortheuseofpost-readingtasks.Thishypothesisstatesthatwhilecomprehensibleinputsuppliesanessentialbasisforsecondlanguageacquisition,itmustbesupplementedbytheproductionofcomprehensibleoutputiflearnersaretoreachahighlevelofproficiencyinthetargetlanguage.Swainarguesthatproductiontasksforcelearnerstonoticefeaturesofthetargetlanguageandtoformandtesthypothesesaboutthelanguage.Anumberofpost-readingactivitiesusedinthepresentstudyaredescribedinthenextsection.
SomeeducatorsusestudentgroupstosupportER.Groupactivitiessupportreadinginterestandproficiencyandcantakeplacebefore,during,andafterER.Forinstance,Cockburn,Isbister,andSim-Goh(1997),Rhodes(1993),Rodgers(1997),andSamway,Whang,andPippitt(1995)depictprogrammesinwhichmoreproficient,oftenolderreaders,supportlessproficient,oftenyoungerstudents,invariousliteracyactivities.Daniels(1994),HillandVanHorn(1997),andMcQuillanandTse(1997)describegroupactivitiesthatprovidereaderswithopportunitiestodiscusswhattheyhavebeenreading.
Thepresentstudywasdesignedtoaddressthefollowingquestions.First,sincepreviousstudieshavedealtwiththeeffectofERonchildrenoryoungadults,wewantedtoexamineifERcouldbesuccessfullyimplementedwitholderadultsecondlanguagelearners.Secondly,wewereinterestedintherelationshipbetweenlearninggainandasetofERvariables.ThesevariablesincludetheamountofERmaterialread,theextenttowhichthismaterialisperceivedasinteresting,easy/difficult,andcomprehensible,andwhetherornotERisperceivedtobeausefulandenjoyableactivity.Inthenextsection,wedescribethecontextinwhichourstudywasimplemented.
THESTUDY
Participants
Participantsinthestudywere49VietnamesegovernmentofficialswhowereinSingaporeforatwo
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