Volume 31, No. 1
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ItemFrom the Editors(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)
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ItemTeacher Development in Technology-Enhanced Language Teaching by Jeong Bae Son(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)
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ItemWebsite XReading(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)
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ItemThe effects of reading bilingual books on vocabulary learning(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)This study investigated the effects of reading bilingual books on vocabulary learning. Eighty-two Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners read different versions of the same text: English-only text, English text with target words glossed, English text followed by the Chinese text, and Chinese text followed by the English text. A pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest were used to measure incidental vocabulary learning. The findings showed that (a) all four groups made significant gains in lexical knowledge, (b) those who read glossed text and bilingual text had significantly durable knowledge gain, (c) the participants who read glossed text or read the English version of the text before the Chinese version had significantly higher scores text in the immediate posttest than the participants who read the English-only text, and (d) the participants who read bilingual texts had significantly higher scores on the delayed posttest than those who read the English-only text.
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ItemEffects of multimodal tasks on students’ critical reading ability and perceptions(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)This study investigated the effects of multimodal tasks on critical reading ability and perceptions of Thai university students. To compare effects on critical reading ability, students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups and assessed with pre- and post-critical reading tests. Furthermore, reflective journals and semi-structured interviews were used to gain in-depth information about students’ perceptions towards the multimodal tasks. The findings revealed that the experimental group with the treatment of multimodal tasks outperformed the control group in critical reading test scores. Furthermore, evidence from the reflective journals and semi-structured interviews showed that students generally had a positive perception of the multimodal tasks. The multimodal tasks not only assisted them in proposing critical reading ideas and fostered analytical thinking skills, but also enhanced intrinsic motivation and learning autonomy.
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ItemCan L1 children's literature be used in the English language classroom? High frequency words in writing for children(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)A challenge in reading research, and particularly extensive reading research, is how to manage the transition from the top of graded reading schemes to authentic texts which may be separated from each other by up to 5,000 word families. While texts written for native-speaker children have been recommended at times, recent research has shown that the lexical load of these texts was of similar difficulty to that of texts written for adults. In this paper we investigate whether it is possible to identify a specialist high frequency list in writing for children, and the impact of any such list on readability for language learners with a 2,000-word family vocabulary size. We found a list of 245 word families provided almost 3.4% coverage for such learners, thus making the use of L1 children’s literature possible in the English language, and especially the English as a foreign language (EFL), classroom.
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ItemEFL test preparation in China: The multidimensionality of the reading-writing relationship(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)Recent research on the relationship between reading and writing in foreign language (FL) context is limited. However, an examination of the issue is critical for FL literacy curriculum design. The present study, contextualized in an English as a foreign language (EFL) test preparation program in China, explores the reading-writing relationship by examining two factors important for FL literacy acquisition: genre and level of language instruction. Findings revealed that level of instruction significantly moderated the relationship between reading and persuasive writing, but not descriptive writing. Regardless of level of language instruction, reading comprehension was a significant predictor of descriptive writing performance. A discussion of a curriculum that views reading and writing as complementary dimensions of language learning is offered.
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ItemReading comprehension: The mediating role of metacognitive strategies(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)This study investigated the reported use of metacognitive reading strategies and their interplay with the reading comprehension of 119 tenth grade learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) enrolled in five randomly-selected public schools in South Lebanon. In addition, the study examined the relative role of the global, problem-solving, and support strategies in predicting learners’ literal and higher-order reading comprehension. The study findings indicate that the participants reported high use of the problem-solving and a moderate use of the global and support strategies. In addition, problem-solving strategies positively correlated with and predicted literal as a well as higher-order comprehension. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.
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ItemReading performance of Japanese high school learners following a one-year extensive reading program(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2019-04)The present study investigates the effects of extensive reading on developing the language knowledge and reading abilities of high school learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) over the course of one school year. Participants were divided into control (n = 205) and experimental groups (n = 200), with the former receiving regular grammar instruction and the latter receiving extensive reading instruction. Pre- and posttests consisting of a grammar and vocabulary section and a reading section were conducted to test the effects of the extensive reading program. The study further divided the participants into three proficiency groups. The results showed that the scores of the middle- and lower-proficiency groups increased dramatically compared to the higher-proficiency group. These findings suggest that the participants activated the knowledge they had learned in junior high school through the one-year extensive reading course, resulting in the improvement of their language knowledge and reading abilities.