Volume 36, No. 1
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Item Reading Autobiographical Comics: A Framework for Educational Settings by Markus Oppolzer(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-09-09) Alanazi, ZahaItem Media-related out-of-school contact with English in Germany and Switzerland frequency, forms and the effect on language learning by Maleika Krüger(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-09-09) Zhong, Kai; Wong, Ling YannItem Can beginner JFL learners do ER? Text comprehension, reading rate, materials, and reading targets for beginner JFL reading(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-08-19) Mohar, BrettL2 extensive reading (ER) research primarily studies intermediate and upper-intermediate learners, but few studies investigate beginners. This study addresses this gap by reporting on beginner Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) learners’ attempts to do ER according to Waring and McLean’s (2015) ER principles. In this study, 13 second-semester undergraduate JFL learners were tasked with doing ER as homework for 18 weeks, self-reporting their comprehension and reading time for a total of 190 texts. Their data indicated a preference for graded readers (k = 187) over children’s literature (k = 3) and that a 45-text reading target over 18 weeks was unattainable with these materials. On average, learners reported understanding about 78% of what they read and spending seven minutes to complete a reading, with variations influenced by material, text genre, and student. The results demonstrate how materials, text genre, student reading speed, and reading habits impact the effectiveness of beginner ER and the attainability of reading targets.Item Word segmentation and reading comprehension among advanced learners of Chinese(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-08-12) Shen, Helen H.; Dai, DexinThis study investigated college Chinese a second language learners’ word segmentation error patterns in reading instructional-level Chinese sentences, the relationship between word segmentation errors and reading comprehension, and learners’ perspectives on the role of word segmentation in reading comprehension. The results showed that the learners made five types of word segmentation errors. Four of these types moderately correlated with reading comprehension. The survey data showed that most learners considered word segmentation skills important in reading comprehension. This perception became stronger as the learning level advanced. The learners suggested that three factors hindered them from performing accurate word segmentations.Item Conducting rigorous research in Reading in a Foreign Language: A discussion(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-08-06) Yang, ShuyiThis discussion piece explores issues and components that makes original research manuscripts submitted to Reading in a Foreign Language truly rigorous in terms of methodology. This paper will lay out issues of and provide suggestions on how to approach research questions (RQs), sampling, research design, reporting of results, discussion, and implications, in a way that can contribute meaningfully to research practices in the field. Finally, responses are invited.Item How practical extensive reading experiences changed the perceptions of L2 Japanese teachers(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-06-20) Tabata-Sandom, Mitsue; Ikeda, YokoThis study examines how the perceptions that twelve teachers of Japanese as a second language (L2) had of extensive reading (ER) changed following 10 months of online English ER. Interviews provided much of the study data, supported by pre-project and post-project questionnaires. The participants’ pre-project and post-project vocabulary sizes and reading rates were measured to examine whether changes in their perceptions coincided with their linguistic change. The participants’ usage of ER led to their discovering the power of ER in overcoming psychological barriers toward L2 reading, the difficulty of routinizing reading, the importance of facilitators’ support, and the benefits of occasional dictionary use. While their reading rate gains corresponded with their unchanged high rating of ER’s benefits for reading skills, their vocabulary growth did not correspond with their decreased rating of ER’s benefits on vocabulary development. Furthermore, the participants agreed that teachers are learners’ role models more after the project.Item The interplay among silent reading rate, comprehension, and an audio reading model(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-05-29) Taguchi, Etsuo; Gorsuch, Greta; Lems, Kristin; Toda, Hiroto; Kawaguchi, Toshiko; Snipp, Kirsten M.This paper examines learners’ fluency development in L2 silent reading rate and comprehension. In both L1 and L2 readings, a positive relationship between readers’ silent reading rate and comprehension has not been as firmly established as theories might propose. Based on Wallot et al. (2014), the paper indicates the need to look at readers’ silent reading rates as a process rather than a result of the reading act. Variability L2 readers face while reading reflects their successful and unsuccessful attempts to comprehend the text they are reading. Through a new examination of unpublished data from Taguchi et al. (2012), the paper proposes to look at readers’ silent reading fluency development across a longer period. In addition, it indicates the need to consider different purposes readers set for their reading to understand how their rates vary. This proposal has practical implications for not only researchers but also classroom practitioners.Item Inside the digital hagwons: High-stakes reading test preparation in Korea(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-05-29) Kim, JieunHigh-stakes reading tests significantly influence one’s future success, leading many second language learners to engage in intensive test preparation. This study examines nine TOEFL reading preparation lectures from two popular cram schools, or 학원hagwons, in Korea, with a total duration of five hours and thirty-nine minutes. Test preparation activities were analyzed using Messick’s (1982) types of test preparation and Cohen’s (2022) types of test-taking strategies. The findings indicate that, unlike previous studies on writing test preparation, construct-relevant content such as reading component abilities and reading strategies were predominantly taught. However, vocabulary knowledge was often instructed in isolation from context, with a focus on breadth rather than depth. Test-taking strategies, including reading strategies, test-management strategies, and test-deviousness strategies, were taught both implicitly and explicitly. The potential effects and limitations of instructions within the narrow scope of TOEFL on learners’ long-term development are discussed.Item Facilitating L2 reading comprehension through L1 and L2 group discussions(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-05-10) Almalki, Abdulrahman; Alzahrani, MohammedThe current study was set to explore the influence of the first (L1) and second (L2) language group discussions on L2 reading comprehension. It also explored two sub-elements that were considered vital to L2 reading comprehension: (a) text genre recognition and (b) character and author’s intention and perspective. Participants were 21 college students who were assigned to three groups: (a) no-discussion group, (b) L1 (Arabic) discussion group, and (c) L2 (English) discussion group. Students were introduced to five different texts, and mixed data methods were utilized to examine comprehension through participants’ free-written recalls and group discussion transcriptions. The findings showed that when the L1 was used in group discussions, greater reading comprehension of the L2 texts was achieved; students were able to use more reading strategies and higher-order cognitive and linguistic processing than students in the two other groups. The study challenges language learning conventions that prioritize target language-only methods.Item Incidental Grammar Acquisition Through Meaning-focused Reading: Structure Frequency and Reading Comprehension(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2024-04-22) Nguyen, Chi DucResearch shows that meaning-focused reading offers opportunities for incidental grammar acquisition. However, the number of such studies remains limited and none have examined the role of both in-text encounters with grammar structures and reading comprehension in this learning. The present study filled these gaps. Employing a between-group, pretest-posttest-delayed-posttest experiment, this study examined to what extent four groups of English-as-a-Foreign-Language adult learners (n = 132) in Vietnam learnt two specific grammar structures through meaning-focused reading in which they encountered these structures four, six, eight, or ten times. A control group (n = 30) was also added to this experiment to gauge test-taking effects. Grammar gain was measured by a self-report grammar-knowledge scale, while content comprehension by a topic-matching task. All treatment groups were found to make sizeable grammar gains, especially after six encounters with the structures. Reading comprehension could also predict the learning gains. These findings offer various useful pedagogical implications.