Volume 34, No. 2
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ItemResponse to Taylor’s reforming assessment is key to successful ER implementation: Expanding on Robb (2022)(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)I completely agree with Taylor (2022) that a proportion of the students’ grades based on participation or effort would surely facilitate the implementation of ER or any other of the four skills. Improvement in actual ability can only occur through meaning-based input and output activities (see Nation, 2007) which are by and large denied students due to the focus on intensive language study.
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ItemReforming assessment is key to successful ER implementation: Expanding on Robb (2022)(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)This article suggests that exams which test mastery of materials rather than proficiency create an inhospitable environment for extensive reading (ER). When students are tested on specific vocabulary words or grammatical points, there is great incentive for students and teachers to prioritize explicit instruction over methods that promote implicit learning, like ER. It is proposed that administrations seeking to implement successful ER programs should consider minimizing the share of grades that are awarded for rote memorization and explicit knowledge, and instead award grades for participating in ER.
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ItemReadings on L2 reading: Publications in other venues 2021-2022(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)This feature offers an archive of articles published in other venues during the past year and serves as a valuable tool to readers of Reading in a Foreign Language (RFL). It treats any topic within the scope of RFL and second language reading. The articles are listed in alphabetical order, each with a complete reference as well as a brief summary. The editors of this feature attempt to include all related articles that appear in other venues. However, undoubtedly, this list is not exhaustive.
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ItemStructure of research topics of reading in a foreign language's publications in the past two decades (2002-2020): a bibliometric analysis(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)This bibliometric study analyzed the research topic structure of the Reading in a Foreign Language (RFL) journal in the past two decades. Using two well recognized bibliometric approaches, namely, the keyword co-occurrence analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, the study examined author keywords and their co-occurrence of 184 research articles from 2002 to 2020. Results revealed that (1) the journal covered a wide range of reading research topics, and its most frequently researched topics were extensive reading, reading fluency, vocabulary learning, reading of foreign languages other than English, etc; (2) frequently researched topics were clustered into eight groups, including development of reading fluency, learner factors, vocabulary, etc.; and (3) the network of research topics centered around six large nodes (i.e., standardized keywords), namely extensive reading, reading fluency, vocabulary learning, reader characteristics, reading instructions, and reading comprehension. The findings might help readers and potential contributors familiarize with the research topic structure of the RFL journal. This study has important pedagogical implications.
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ItemIEP reading instruction during the COVID-19 emergency remote teaching(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)Using a mixed method explanatory sequential design, this study investigates intensive English program (IEP) instructors’ perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 emergency remote teaching on reading instruction. Forty-four IEP instructors completed an online survey, and seven of them participated in follow-up interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative results confirmed the impact on the teaching of reading. Some instructors reported having to leave out supplemental learning outcomes and focus on core learning objectives only. Most participants also experienced a decrease in student engagement and student-student interaction during reading and vocabulary instruction. However, student-teacher interaction did not seem impacted. This research supports the view that the teaching of reading is contingent upon multiple factors, particularly the instructional environment.
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ItemLinguistic abilities related to word reading in Persian and Swedish(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)Previous studies have found that phonological processing and vocabulary predict word reading. However, their predictive powers may vary according to reading experience and across scripts with different levels of transparency. In this study, the relationship between phonological processing, decoding, vocabulary and word reading was explored in two different alphabetic languages: Persian (a non-Latin script) and Swedish (a Latin script). Standardised tests in both languages were used. Participants comprised 26 Persian-Swedish bilingual (biscriptal) children in school grades 4–9. Rapid automatic naming (RAN), phonological and semantic fluency, non-word reading and vocabulary were all significantly associated with word reading in Persian, whereas phonemic awareness, RAN, phonological fluency and non-word reading were significantly associated with word reading in Swedish. The findings have been compared with previous research and the educational implications are discussed.
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ItemIncidental acquisition of Italian words from comic books(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)Despite empirical evidence from research showing that the use of text-picture combination is beneficial for second language (L2) learning, little is known about the effectiveness of reading comic books for incidental vocabulary acquisition. This study sets out to investigate the effects of engaging with comic books on incidental learning of L2 Italian vocabulary. Using a pretest-posttest design, we collected data from 35 Iranian learners of Italian as a foreign language, 25 of whom read and then read while listening to four comic books in a four-week period. Additionally, after reading each book, students completed two follow-up meaning-focused activities focusing on learners’ unprompted use of vocabulary. The results revealed that engaging with comic books was beneficial for incidental vocabulary acquisition. The findings suggest that comics are a valuable and effective source of language learning, and their inclusion in L2 teaching and learning can be particularly advantageous to L2 learners, including novice learners.
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ItemComparing reading strategy measures and L2 readers’ performance on different comprehension tasks(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)In second language (L2) reading strategy research, two concerns need addressing: (1) the discrepancy in assessing strategy use between written surveys and verbal reports, and (2) the effect of using strategies on readers’ comprehension outcomes when different types of comprehension tasks are utilized. The present study addressed these concerns by asking five more-proficient and five less-proficient Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) university learners to read two domain-specific texts while assessing their strategy use. The results from both quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed a “gap” between the survey and verbal reports for assessing L2 reading strategy use. Additionally, the contribution of strategies to the readers’ comprehension was found to vary by comprehension task type. Similarly, the variety of strategy use had a strong association with the readers’ performance on only one of three types of comprehension tasks, free recall. The findings hold important implications on L2 reading strategy instruction.
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ItemReading comprehension component skills of Chinese-speaking ESL and EFL learners(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)This research compared the contributions of lexical inferencing, decoding, and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language (ESL) enrolled in university bridging programs in the U.S. and Chinese-speaking university learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in mainland China. The findings suggested that the contributions of these three reading component skills differed in ESL and EFL contexts: In the ESL context, both second language (L2) lexical inferencing and L2 decoding were significant predictors of L2 reading comprehension, but L2 listening comprehension did not correlate with L2 reading comprehension. In the EFL context, L2 lexical inferencing was the only significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension. Thus, it appears that the Simple View Reading (decoding + listening comprehension = reading comprehension) is not applicable to Chinese-speaking adult learners of L2 English because learners in both ESL and EFL contexts rely on word-level reading subskills.
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ItemExtensive reading for a 9,000-word vocabulary: Evidence from corpus modeling(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2022-10-15)This paper contributes to a research program within extensive reading (ER) and Reading in a Foreign Language using corpora to simulate ER input to develop vocabulary through incidental learning to 9,000 words. This helps researchers/teachers evaluate ER. If corpora indicate no ‘pathway’ from smaller to larger vocabulary sizes through authentic ER input, with vocabulary recurrence rates sufficient for incidental learning, then graded readers or other pedagogy appear essential. Studies offer different conclusions due to modeling issues. This study replicates previous research on a larger corpus of general fiction, with improved modeling. For every vocabulary size, a substantial amount of comprehensible fiction is found, with enough repetition of vocabulary from subsequent levels that pathways from smaller to larger vocabulary sizes are possible without graded readers. Prior estimates of approximately 3 years to acquire 9,000 words at 1 hour a day are underestimates, with modeling indicating 2 hours a day would be required.