MA IN EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON

Staying in thegame

An exploration of factors thatsupport acquisition of EALacademic reading proficiency

Catherine Dawn Johnson8/24/2012

Abstract:

Methods and strategies for teaching reading to children

are widely debated in educational literature as are the

social influences that affect reader success. However,

in this study I chose to explore the factors that

affect the academic reading skills of English as

additional language (EAL) speakers at the university

level. The rationale for this focus springs from the

little research available on L2 academic reading.

The aim of the research I am presenting here is to

better understand the influences that support the

acquisition of sufficient academic reading skills to

enable EAL learners to attend internationally

recognized English speaking universities with the goal

of adding to the construct of how better to support

international students in their tertiary studies.

This dissertation comprises of five chapters. The first

chapter introduces the study and includes the

1

background and the context of international education

today. The second chapter outlines the literature on

topics including the history of Second Language

Acquisition (SLA); current SLA theory and methods;

current theory, research and methods surrounding

academic reading; as well as the social factors that

have come into play in first language reading and

academic skills. Chapter three contains the methodology

I employed here including the use of Spradley’s

ethnographic interview to gain biographical insight

into the factors that support students in their

acquisition of academic reading skills in English as

well as proposing the rationale for retaining

respondent voice. Key findings and their analysis are

found in chapter four which highlights the importance

of extensive reading and the three main factors that

support it: educational experience, the family and home

environment and personal engagement. Finally the fifth

chapter links the findings and analysis back to the

critical research introduced in chapter two, suggesting

implications and areas for further study.

2

While the scope of the analysis presented here does not

produce answers which can be generalized to all EAL

students studying abroad, I hope that it provides

sufficient areas for further research which can

ultimately be applied to future policy and practice.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction, Background and Context

page 4

Chapter 2: Literature Review page

8

2.1 A brief history of Second Language Acquisition

page 8

2.2 Current SLA theory and methods

page 9

2.3 Academic reading – theory, research and methods

page 11

3

Motivation page

12

Extensive reading page

13

Extensive reading and skills development

page 14

2.4 Social factors page

16

Cultural capital page

18

Chapter 3: Methodology page

20

3.1 Qualitative research page

22

3.2 Ethnographic interview

page 23

3.3 Ethics page

25

4

3.4 Sampling and interviews

page 26

3.5 Grounded Theory, coding and analysis

page 28

3.6 Writing and voice

page 30

3.7 Conclusion page 30

Chapter 4: Findings

page 31

4.1 Amit, Beli, Constantin and Dejan

page 31

4.2 Educational experience

page 36

Motivation from inside the classroom

page 36

Motivation from outside the classroom

page 42

5

4.3 Family and home environment

page 46

Parental influence and beyond page

46

Sibling influence page

49

4.4 Personal engagement page

50

Print media page

50

Technology page

53

Motivation to learn and succeed

page 56

Chapter 5: Conclusions page

61

6

Chapter 1: Introduction, background and context

International orientation at the start of the King’s College

2011-2012 academic school year was eye opening. Students who

were familiar with London gathered for the section that I

attended - a shortened version of the main event which had

occurred earlier in the week. But the 500 student capacity

room was overflowing, so much so that organizers had to

rework the sessions to ensure that everyone’s needs were

met. The woman to my right was a Japanese robotics

engineering student with a quiet voice and an obvious case

of jetlag that forced her to doze despite our front row

seats. The woman to my left was a gregarious business

student from Malaysia whose vibrant headscarf matched her

personality. The presenter called out the names several

countries to get a sense of the audience. “Anyone from

France?” and there was a solid cheer. “Anyone from China?”

and a few responded. “Who is from South America? Where are

you from?” and students from various countries called out.

I knew that it took a certain level of skills to be able to

gain entrance to university in an English speaking country.

King’s requires a score of 100 on the TOEFL iBT, the

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equivalent of approximately 600 on the paper TOEFL. That

may seem high, with maximum scores on these tests of 120 or

677 respectively, but there is a relationship between a high

TOEFL score and an ease of adjustment to university

academics. In one study, undergraduates with TOEFL scores of

450-525 were less successful than classmates with higher

scores in classes with heavy reading and writing, though the

same lower level students faired adequately in classes that

did not require the same rigorous language component

(Johnson, 1988).

So I was impressed with the number of EAL students in that

first orientation, and even more impressed when I started

into my classes and found that approximately half of my

classmates at the Masters level were second language English

speakers. I was impressed because I had studied French for

years, and never reached anywhere near university level

reading and writing proficiency. Reading at the university

level requires a specific set of skills. Indeed, Cummins

(2000) tells us “[p]art of the confusion (surrounding how to

teach L2 reading) derives from failure to distinguish the

process of acquiring decoding skills from the process of

8

deepening and extending students’ abilities to comprehend

and use written language” (47). Cummins further

distinguishes the levels and functions of language

acquisition with his BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative

Skills) and CALP (Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency)

spectrum. The research I am presenting here focusses on the

latter, what Laija-Rodriguez (2006) and colleagues describe

as “having language necessary for cognitively demanding

tasks and is required for accelerated cognitive as well as

academic growth” (89). Indeed, there are at least six

purposes for academic reading including as a search process,

as a means of quick understanding, as a means of learning,

as a means of integrating information, as a means of

evaluating, critiquing and using information and finally as

a means of attaining general comprehension (Grabe, 2009). A

range of skills and strategies support these purposes.

And though some university professors lament the effects of

internationalization on the English language at the tertiary

level (Andrade, 2006), I saw students reading and writing at

or very near the same level as me, their abilities

supporting their academic adjustment. In fact, Andrade

9

suggests that reading skills and strategies are a means of

international students keeping on top of class content.

Strategies like reading texts multiple times and taking

notes help students in their abilities to comprehend and

participate with confidence (2006). And while there have

been theories stating that it takes time to attain the level

of reading necessary to be successful as a second language

English speaker at an English speaking university (Cummins,

2000; Grabe, 2009), there has been very little research on

the subject of acquisition of English language academic

reading skills.

Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the

factors that support some EAL speakers in their attainment

of tertiary level academic reading skills. I intend to do

this by using an ethnographic approach resulting in data

from all stages of the lives of my informants to this date.

My sample consists of EAL students attending King’s College

in London, England at the time of this study. This

population had successfully attained the language skills

that allowed them to study at an internationally recognized

institution. These were the students who had successfully

10

attained the skills to stay in the game and I wanted to

understand how and why.

Though I was surprised at the number of students in that

orientation room, I should not have been having worked with

international students in Canada for the previous 12 years.

Overseas education has become a trend with the rise in

transportation, communication and globalization. The

earliest statistics kept by the Organization for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD) date back to 1955 when

just 149, 590 students studied at foreign universities. By

2003, those numbers had expanded to 2.12 million, with a

jump of approximately half a million occurring in the

previous two years (Naidoo, 2007).

This was before the economic downturn of 2008, but

international education appears to be somewhat recession

proof as evident by the growth in the number of

international students attending Australian universities

between 1997 and 1998, a year that saw an economic downturn

in many Asian countries (Townsend and Poh, 2008). Indeed,

1999-2000 saw numbers in Australia grow from 162, 865 to

188, 277, eclipsed only by numbers in the UK which grew from

11

219 285 to 224 660 and the US which made a gain of more than

10% going from 490 933 students to 547, 867 (Binsardi and

Ekwulugo, 2003).

The economic potential of international education was

becoming evident by this time. By 2002, international

education accounted for 3% of OECD exports, or $30 billion

for countries including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia

and New Zealand (Naidoo, 2007). Indeed, by this time many

countries and their institutions had woken up to the

economic benefits to be gained through international

education, Australia reporting a $5.059 billion market in

2004 (Townsend and Poh). By 2005, having implemented

strategies to attract international students, the UK

supported 12% of overseas education at the tertiary level

(IIE, 2005), but it was fighting for its share as Australia

and Canada had also put similar plans in to place

(Schneider, 2000).

One study questioned students regarding their motivations

for choosing the UK as their country of choice for overseas

study. Reasons included international recognition of

programs (44 percent), ease of entry to both the country and

12

chosen programs (31 percent), ease of finding work after

graduation (16 percent) and finally cost of living including

the short program lengths offered (9 percent) (Binsardi and

Ekwulugo, 2003). But there are plenty of more reasons why

students are choosing to study overseas. Both life

experience and international experience are huge motivators

for studying abroad, especially with globalization creating

a need to understand change on the macro level (Townsend and

Poh, 2008). In addition to experiential motivators, academic

and career influences also play a role in student choices

(Wang, 2004), including the global increase in demand for

education, a demand that many developing countries are

increasingly unable to meet. Indeed, in past years China has

had twice the number of students pass the university

entrance exams as there are spaces in universities for these

students (Naidoo, 2007). Thus for some students studying

abroad is a more viable than gaining access to universities

in their home countries.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

13

As I mentioned in chapter one, the literature on EAL

academic reading is scarce. I have thus chosen to outline

some of the main research on related factors including

second language acquisition (SLA), academic reading and

social factors that support educational success. In this way

I hope to provide readers with the background needed for the

chapters later presented on data, analysis and conclusions.

2.1 A brief history of Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition has seen a progression of

theories that have swung reading as a skill in and out of

prominence. Griffiths (2008) outlines this progression

starting with the study of classic languages like Latin and

Greek giving rise to the Grammar Translation Method. Taught

in the student’s first language, this method focused on the

written word by teaching grammar, practicing translation in

and out of the target language and by using vocabulary lists

and sentence construction. However, this focus on the

written word came to an end with the rise of the Army Method

coming out of World War II, later called the Audio-Lingual

Method. The war saw a need for proficiency in conversation,

and this method proposed speaking and listening as the most

14

basic language skills, therefore encouraging their study

before reading and writing. The Audio-Lingual Method was

widespread by the 1960s, incorporating behaviorist stimulus

and response through repetition and drills, not allowing for

creativity or conscious contribution as they might reinforce

mistakes. Chomsky questioned behaviourist theory in the mid

into late sixties, calling for proof that reinforcement

worked in the classroom and questioning ‘habit-structure’.

He promoted innovation in sentence formation grounded in

principles of Universal Grammar (Rivers, 1964). Around this

time, Vygotsky’s socio-cultural work was gaining popularity

in more general education theory. His Zone of Proximal

Development (ZPD) included a degree of study slightly beyond

what a student could accomplish alone. This was coupled with

support from educators, allowing students to reach for a

higher level of knowledge or skill (Mitchell and Myles,

1998).

2.2 Current SLA Theory and Methods

The 1970s saw another shift, one that has had great

significance for SLA teaching in the western world today. In

1972, Second Language Acquisition focus shifted again when

15

Hymes suggested that “[c]ommunicative competence is the

ability to use language to convey and interpret meaning”

(Griffiths, 2008: 258). This, coupled with Krashen’s focus

on natural communication and movement away from conscious

learning, helped drive the Communicative Language Movement

which is still popular to this day. This methodology further

promotes a focus on language function over form or

structure. Though this pedagogy did not initially focus on

speaking and listening, over time reading and writing have

been side-lined in many ESL classrooms in North America

(Mitchell, 1994). However, that is not to say that the

communicative method should be discarded altogether. There

is certainly room to emphasize communicative pedagogy in

reading and writing instruction (Bosher and Rowekamp, 1998).

More recent trends in academic English SLA also have great

significance in the building of communicative reading

skills. A focus on teaching learning strategies means that

students are able to be more self-directed (Oxford, 1990).

Strategies might include using contextual clues for guessing

or social strategies like asking questions. This focus

supports the increasingly popular Content Based Learning

16

(CBL), a movement away from language as a subject, to

language as a tool used for studying subject based content.

CBL provides opportunity for students to experience

inclusive and thorough input, a significant usage of

academic language, and exposure to intellectually rigorous

language tasks (Schleppegrell, 2004). Research has

demonstrated that this content based study can lead to

stronger English test results, and stronger performance at

the university level (Kasper, 1997).

However, critics of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

assert that it is too much of a framework and not enough of

a guiding set of techniques which has led to its distortion.

Task Based Language Teaching arose in response to these

criticisms. Proponents suggest that TBLT triggers language

acquisition by first facilitating real language fluency

through engagement with a task like solving a puzzle or

playing a game, and then focus on accuracy by encouraging

students to notice new structures or lexicon, filling in the

gaps in their language knowledge (Klapper, 2003). Frequent

and systematic revisiting and recycling of forms is

suggested. Though this method may work well with upper level

17

language students, being a form of academic guided

discovery, I would argue that it can be very time consuming,

and therefore potentially frustrating for both students and

educators.

Finally, two other theoretical streams require discussion

here. The first is the relatively new use of the L1 in the

L2 classroom. Though mostly discussed in the literature

surrounding elementary ESL education, it can have lasting

results if introduced at the lower levels, all the way up to

academic preparation. Bilingual education values the skills

and tools that students bring into the L2 classroom,

particularly in terms of L1 literacy skills, but also in

terms of more social resources (Swain and Lapkin, 2005).

Indeed, a student’s reading skills in his or her first

language can often translate into skills in the second

(Swain and Lapkin, 2005). Conversely, a lack of support for

the L1 can lead to subtractive bilingualism, where the first

language is effectively lost, or even in semilingualism with

which cognitive and academic skills are never fully

developed in any language (Laija-Rodríguez et al., 2006).

This regard for first language and culture can prove to be

18

intrinsically motivating, motivation being another recently

acquired key to successful SLA. Positive answers to

questions like “Can I accomplish this?” and “What selves am

I capable of?” spring out of a respect for first language

and culture, as well as identifying oneself as a global

citizen belonging to a world-wide culture. Individuals are

not looking for integration, but rather for bicultural

identity; this identity can, in turn, prove to be very

motivating in terms of the time and energy needed for

acquiring academic language skills (Broady 2005). More

social factors that influence the acquisition of EAL

academic reading skills are discussed later in the chapter,

but first I want to turn to educational theory and methods.

2.3 Academic reading – theory, research and methods

In fact, as little research has been done on EAL academic

reading, a significant amount of the theory available is

rooted in L1 principles and practices. However, Grabe (2004)

believes that there is good reason to utilize first language

literacy research for L2 purposes including the many

advances in L1 reading, the research proven similarities

between reading in first and second languages, and the

19

differences between the two not being of enough significance

to prevent use of data or theories. However, Grabe later

cautions in the same work that L1 and L2 are “similar enough

in terms of cognitive processing skills that L2 researchers

and practitioners can draw on – but not accept wholesale –

L1 instructional research”(2004: 58). But in his own work,

Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice

published in 2009, William Grabe does little to separate L1

from L2 research. Thus I do the same. Additionally, my

teaching experience has led me to believe that other than

the degree of scaffolding, methods and strategies in

academic L1 and L2 English are similar. An example might be

the use of high interest texts in the classroom which

Carrell and Eisterhold propose should “relate well to the

background knowledge of the reader, since strong semantic

input can help compensate when syntactic control is weak”

(1987: 220). Additionally, activating background knowledge

as a means of introduction is a strategy that is used

regularly in both L1 and L2 classrooms, relating the text

content to the students’ lives creating motivation and

comprehension.

20

Motivation

Thus, motivation features significantly in academic reading

research as it does in SLA theory. Indeed, Wigfield (2000)

claims that purely cognitive reading models do not provide a

clear picture of skills acquisition as “[m]otivation deals

with…the choices individuals make about which activity to do

or not to do, their degree of persistence at the chosen

activities, and the amount of effort they put forth to do

the activity” (140-141). Thus motivation is a significant

factor in developing academic reading skills (Grabe, 2004).

Mori (2002) investigated L2 reading motivation integrating

aspects of Wigfeild and Guthrie’s 1997 on the same topic -

including intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and

reading efficacy - with Gardner and colleagues’ study of

integrative motivation of the same year. In her study of 447

Japanese university students studying in their home country,

she found four elements to be significant – reading and

intrinsic value, reading and extrinsic utility value,

reading importance and student reading efficacy. In a later

study on 219 high school level ESL students in Japan, she

found that intrinsic motivation to read in both the L1 and

21

the L2 helped to predict the extent that students engaged in

reading in the L2. However, she also suggests in this

research that motivation was not connected to comprehension

(2004). But other literature suggest differently. Grabe

(2009) states that “research shows that positive motivation

improves comprehension both directly and through greater

amounts of extended reading” (175). He also expresses the

reciprocal nature of this relationship, that reading

extensively promotes a positive attitude and motivation for

reading. Thus it is to the theory and research surrounding

extensive reading that I now turn.

Extensive reading

Extensive reading is not a new concept. In the 1920s it was

supported in the writings of Harold Palmer. “Hooked on

books” was a program that boasted great popularity in the

1960s. Book floods, which encouraged libraries and

classrooms to provide a range books on various topics in

attractive packaging to encourage independent reading,

initially gained respect in the 1950s, but continue to this

day. Research on extensive reading increased in the 60s and

70s with the onset of programs like Sustained Silent Reading

22

(SSR). And the 90s saw another rise in research surrounding

extensive reading (Grabe, 2009). For example, in Gradman and

Hanania’s (1991) study on performance of 101 pre-university

ESL students at Indiana University, they found that the

biggest factor on TOEFL performance was extra-curricular

reading. In another study that included thirty two

educational systems around the world, Postlethwaite and Ross

(1992) found that the second most significant factor in a

school’s reading success was the amount of time students

reported reading voluntarily. The first was the “school’s

perception of parent cooperation” (Cummins, 2000: 51-52),

research on social influence being a topic I will discuss

later in this review.

However, the debate surrounding the amount of reading that a

student engages in and the benefits that result really

heated up in 2000 with a comprehensive study by the National

Reading Panel (NRP) out of Washington D.C. that claimed “no

appreciable benefit from [extensive] reading” (3-26). After

evaluating over 1000 studies for experimental design and

sample size, they could only find 14 papers that fit their

23

criteria. Upon reviewing these studies, the NRP reached

their conclusion: extensive reading had no proven effect.

This created somewhat of a backlash from the educational

community who argued that the perspective provided by the

NRP was limited. In their study on fluency, Kuhn and Stahl

(2003) pointed out that a number of correlational studies

conducted linking extensive reading to reading comprehension

suggested problems with “the nonendorsement of extensive

reading practice” (Grabe, 2009: 315). In fact, several

studies came to this conclusion, and questioned how an

empirical reading study could be conducted over the extended

period of time such research on acquiring reading skills

would necessitate (Grabe, 2009; Krashen, 2004; Horst, 2005;

Pigada and Schmitt, 2006).

Extensive reading and skills development

Extensive reading is thought to develop various skills in a

reciprocal fashion; vocabulary knowledge is one such skill.

Cummins (2000) states “extensive reading for the development

of vocabulary and other aspects of academic knowledge is

overwhelmingly supported by the research. The only place

24

students find the low frequency vocabulary required for

academic progress is in texts” (53). In the classroom, these

“culturally loaded key concepts” and “vocabulary and

structures that the teacher predicts will cause difficulty”

can be pre-taught thus avoiding students reading the

material “cold” (Carrell and Eisterhold, 1987: 228-229). And

in multiple studies, Stanovich and colleagues have

demonstrated the importance of print exposure to knowledge

of vocabulary and reading comprehension skills (Grabe,

2004).

Similarly, grammar skills also have a co-dependent

relationship with extensive reading. In his 2004 work, Grabe

discusses the “range of research that argues for a strong

relation between grammar knowledge and reading….research…

also suggests significant relations between syntactic

parsing abilities and comprehension abilities” (50).

Further, Enright, et al. (2002) demonstrated a very strong

correlation between the TOEFL grammar and reading

subsections (r=.91).

Grammar and syntax are significant, but current reading

instruction in the UK emphasizes genre. Genre connects text

25

form with function and social purpose; expository examples

might include compare and contrast or cause and effect (Cope

and Kalantzis, 1993). Chu, Swaffar and Charney (2002)

demonstrated the importance of this knowledge with their

study of recall and text structure. Testing 120 Taiwanese

students, they found that they were better able to remember

information based on Chinese rhetorical patterns that those

commonly found in English text. Certainly, a schema might

not exist for a student if it is not part of that

individual’s cultural background (Carrell and Eisterhold,

1987). And this can be particularly hindering for students

working at the tertiary level. Indeed, understanding genre

can help support textual analysis, discourse analysis and

ultimately critical evaluation of text (Simmons, 2005).

Labelling discourse patters to be able to analyse them is

considered a reading strategy, and encouraging strategic

learning is a major theme in the current EAL reading

literature. Ideally, learners are taught a variety of

strategies from which they can choose to process text.

Besides structural awareness, other strategies include the

use of graphic organizers, pneumonic devices, answering and

26

asking questions, and summary writing. Though often used in

elementary classrooms, methods such as Transactional

Strategies Instruction (TSI), Concept-Oriented Reading

Instruction (CORI) (Grabe, 2004), and Cognitive Academic

Language Learning Approach (CALLA) (Leung, 2007) include an

emphasis on strategic reading that can help scaffold

students at higher levels.

And while strategies are useful as support with a difficult

text, in order to engage in extensive reading, a student

needs to demonstrate some degree of fluency. This includes

the amalgam of a number of skills and abilities including

accuracy and automaticity of word recognition, extended

reading efficiency or processing speed and knowledge of

structure (Grabe , 2004). Repetition of vocabulary and

structures scaffold a student’s fluency. Grabe recommends

“[a]lmost any kind of independent or assisted repeated

reading program, done carefully and appropriately” for it

“will have a direct positive effect on reading fluency and

an indirect positive effect on comprehension improvement”

( 55). An example of this is Krashen’s (1981) narrow reading

which promotes limiting texts to a single topic or author,

27

allowing the student to gain familiarity of style,

vocabulary and structure. This repetition takes time and

thus I propose the literature points to significant

motivation necessary to develop comprehension and fluency,

effectively supporting extensive print reading. Motivation

comes from a number of sources, one of them being the

family.

2.4 Social factors

I think it useful to reiterate that research on L2 academic

reading is sparse, and this is particularly true of related

social factors including the impact of SES and family

attitudes on second language literacy outcomes (Koda, 2008).

However, there is also “very little consistent evidence that

these children respond in different ways from L1 children

with respect to the influence of social factors” (Grabe,

2009: 169), which I believe will have lasting effect on

motivation and skills later in a student’s academic career.

Thus, at the risk of being repetitious, I reiterate that

some of the theory and research discussed here will have

been generated with an L1 focus. And though there is a large

number of social elements that could be discussed, I am

28

going to limit my discussion to three factors: the school,

classroom and teachers; the family and social class; and the

socio-cultural group.

Teachers have many hats in the classroom, and motivator is

one of them. This is particularly true in terms of

supporting students in the goal of becoming an L2 academic

reader. Teachers and students know this is a difficult task,

one that requires time and great effort and the large

toolbox of classroom strategies that we glimpsed earlier in

this review. But what also motivates is the relationship the

student has to his or her teachers, their class and their

school. Cummins (2000) proposes “[w]hat motivates us to

continue reading, writing and learning are these histories,

insights, desires, hopes, humour and concerns – and if the

interactions between teachers and students do not affirm the

validity of this process the these interactions are not

supporting learning” (61). School provides a literate

environment which is particularly important for students

that don’t have such a context in the home, but it also

provides meaningful instruction to open students’ eyes to

the complexities of language allowing for significant

29

analysis and self-expression (Cummins, 2000). Indeed,

students and their educational contexts may engage in a kind

of “identity negotiation” at multiple levels including

policy, curriculum, assessment, language, the school and the

classroom to name a few (Cummins, 2000: 55).

Families, socio-economic status and quality of the home

environment appear equally significant in the literature.

Familial influence continues throughout the student’s

academic career as Holmes (2004) found. This New Zealand

study reported that though Chinese ESL students struggled

with literacy at the university level, their “diligence,

study skills and family expectations helped them succeed”

(Andrade, 2006: 139). Neuman (2006) notes that knowledge and

its social stratification begin early with broad differences

in the quality of the familial environment and in financial

resources including children’s interactions with parents,

their skills, beliefs and habits determining what children

are taught from a very young age. Indeed, “[t]he knowledge

and skills that children take with them into kindergarten

strongly predict where they end up as readers in the 10th

grade” (Snow et al., 2007:24). One study found that with a

30

focus on phonics and literacy in the home, reading skills

rose along with interest in books, motivation and behavior

(Tizard, Schofield and Hewison, 1982). Another found that

families that promoted reading as a form of recreation

produced children with stronger interests in literacy (Baker

et al., 1998), and still another found that middle-class

homes tended to encourage reading as entertainment (Stipek

et al, 1995). Print exposure was also a factor, as in their

year-long study, Neuman and Celano (2001) found that middle-

class American children had more opportunity to own, use and

access books (approximately 13 per child), than their lower

income counter-parts (estimated at 1 per 300 children).

Finally, and most poignantly, low socio-economic status

correlates with children’s poor academic achievement

including reading skills (r=.68) (White, 1982).

Cultural Capital

This discussion would be incomplete without a discussion of

Bourdieu’s cultural capital. Bourdieu (1977) proposes that

cultural capital comprises “instruments for the

appropriation of symbolic wealth socially designated as

worthy of being sought and possessed” (73). Bourdieu

31

describes his own theories using the analogy of a card game:

the cultural capital is represented by the cards dealt to

the players; the field of interaction is the game that is

being played; and habitus is the way a player plays his or

her cards. Thus some of us are dealt better social cards

than other: some of us are more intelligent, some better

looking or more stylish, and some come from more supportive

homes. The field of interaction might be academic attainment

or success with a career or marriage (Lareau and Horvat,

1999). Finally, the habitus, “a matrix of perceptions,

appreciations and actions” (Bourdieu, 1977b: 82-83)

springing from the individual, determines the play or what

is done with the cards in any given field.

As I described above, not everyone is dealt the same hand.

Self-efficacy, interest, indeed success and failure are

affected by a broad range of social factors including

family, peers, classes, teachers and socio-cultural norms

and expectations. The right cards can support “[m]otivated

individuals [who] are optimistic, willing to work on

different tasks, and aware of their capabilities; they want

choice in controlling their environment and their learning,

32

expect success, build connections with others, experience

pleasure from their work, and take pride in their

achievements” (Grabe, 2009; 176). Thus what this suggests is

a causal connection between cultural capital and motivation.

But according to Bourdieu, success or failure can be

compounded because what is not dealt at home may or may not

affect what is dealt at school based on “the importance of

class and class cultures in facilitating or impeding

children’s (or parents’) negotiation of the process of

schooling” (Lareau and Horvat, 1999). Students from

marginalized groups can be taught some of the structures and

skills, indeed they may need explicit instruction to support

them in their “ride into the genres and cultures of power”

(Cope and Kalantzis, 1993: 8), but whether or not this is

being done effectively in the classroom remains to be seen.

Academic reading is one such skill.

Though there is little research on EAL academic reading, a

substantial body of second language acquisition, reading and

social theory informs this study of how and why some

students gain Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency level

33

reading skills; it is to the methodology I employed in my

research that I now turn.

Chapter 3: Methodology

As an educator who works with English as an Additional

Language (EAL) students I am always interested in new

strategies to use in the classroom and what the literature

currently sees as best practice at any given time. But I

have met enough students from all different cultural

backgrounds to know that Canadian, and indeed western

methods, are not the only approaches and that there are

nearly as many different pedagogies and associated

methodologies as there are cultures. Thus when I started my

research I was interested to hear how it was that students

learned to read English in their own countries.

Additionally, as an instructor, I have seen international

students struggling with reading, particularly at the

university level. I and many of my colleagues seem to be

able to support the skills and content surrounding writing,

34

but the means to scaffolding students’ acquisition of

academic reading skills is less clear. Finally, I have seen

a focus on writing, speaking and listening in the EAL

classroom, but I feel that reading is currently being

neglected, especially with the rise in popularity of oral

and aural focussed communicative methods.

Thus initially, my research question read as follows: What

are the strategies that learners find useful when learning

to read academically in English? Is an eclectic approach the

most helpful? Or is there one method that is best? Thus I

wanted classroom strategies for teaching the reading of

English.

But that is not what I found.

Perhaps the shift in my focus started with the participants

that I chose to work with - EAL speaking King’s students –

the people around me who had reached such a level with their

language studies that they were able to engage in university

level academics. I saw early on in my Masters studies at

King’s that a significant number of my classmates were

second language English speakers, or indeed could speak

35

several languages. These students were successful in their

academic reading or they would not be at King’s in London. I

reasoned that if they had participated in the classroom

strategies that I was familiar with and had reached such

language levels, then I and nearly all other Canadian

students should be able to read and write in both French and

English, the two national languages, because these were the

methods we were taught with. But with only 17.7% of

Canadians self-identifying as bilingual in 2001 (OCOL, 2005)

the majority of us are not, so the students at King’s must

have experienced something other than grammar translation or

communicative pedagogy.

Or the shift may well have come out of the coursework that I

engaged in over my year of studies at King’s. The socio-

politics of education seemed a likely factor in English as a

Second Language education as the significance of identity

and power in current theory became more and more striking as

the year wore on. My interest was piqued as I could see many

applications for minority groups in Canada and thus a study

that demonstrated the usefulness that these theories might

possess would have held great significance for me.

36

So the more significant question became why? What are some

people able to acquire EAL academic reading skills strong

enough to study at the university level? Why are my

classmates skills so strong that they are able to comprehend

material, that I, a first language speaker, found

challenging? Thus my study became less “what are the

strategies?” and more “why are EAL English speaking students

at King’s College in London able to read at a tertiary

level? What have they experienced that has supported them to

this level of knowledge and skill?” These questions helped

me to shape my research, an in depth study based on the

interviews of four EAL students who attended King’s College

London university.

3.1 Qualitative research

This shift in focus also helped to clarify the methods I

would use for my research. My study was a small scale

qualitative exploration. Having a background in

anthropology, my research methods have always been more

qualitative in nature and “[g]ood anthropological inquiry

37

has always been experiential and reflexive, and not merely

technical” (Foley, 1977: 314). I believe that

anthropological, qualitative methods, better suit

educational research, and specifically international

educational research, for many reasons but particularly

because

“[i]f we, as comparative researchers, are to speak with

any authority about education at all, we must speak

about its practice, for what is education other than

its practice? To speak of its practice means that we

must have studied, described and interpreted the

everyday life of education” (Heyman, 1979: 248).

My aim was to examine my respondents descriptions of their

educational experiences, in hopes of furthering

understanding regarding the how or why of their success, and

thus qualitative methodology was most appropriate.

However, I also saw qualitative methodology as being the

more appropriate course with international students for two

reasons. The first is “the problem of the interpretation of

the meaning of each question” (Heyman, 1979:246) and the

38

subsequent interpretation the researcher must give the

answer. I argue that with qualitative interviews, the

respondent and the researcher are both able to clarify many

miscommunications over the course of the encounter which may

be caused by language or cultural barriers. Additionally,

Masemann (1990) acknowledges the movement towards different

“ways of knowing” supported by qualitative methods,

particularly in comparative and international research

(Crossley and Watson, 2003: 64). I believe this recognition

of different world views and cultural beliefs is

particularly important when studying education, a field that

both shapes and promotes cultural hegemony. Consequently, I

chose semi-structured interviews as I wanted to allow all

of us to clarify questions and answers and to give the

respondents the space to answer the questions in their own

words, springing from their own knowledge, incite and

experience. Thus I also wanted to allow for flexibility in

the interview process should I want to expand on any point

of interest that I had not previously anticipated. Because I

wanted biographical data, information regarding all stages

of education that respondents had experienced, I

39

specifically chose to incorporate aspects of Spradley’s

ethnographic interview.

3.2 Ethnographic interview

Spradley shares an understanding of ethnography that

includes learning from people, not studying them, realizing

“[the respondent’s] vision of his world” (Malinowski, 1922:

25). This philosophy fits well with my own, described

briefly above. The ethnographic interview also ensures that

experiences from all stages of life are described and thus

analysed.

First I started with questions to get a background on the

student in terms of place, culture, language, education and

general SLA experiences. This ensured that significant

influences found outside educational settings were included,

something that would gain significance as the study

proceeded. Additionally, these opening questions would also

allow me to develop a sense of rapport with my respondents,

giving each of us a chance to read each other’s body

language, eye contact and expressions of verbal interest

(Spradley, 1979). I then turned to more descriptive queries,

40

including grand tour questions to get a sense of the big

picture in terms of broad educational experiences. For

example, I asked

Why do you think you are so proficient in English? Who do you think had

the greatest influence on your English and why? What classes and activities

stand out most in your mind?

These questions allowed me to determine what the respondents

saw as particularly significant, highlighting them for

expansion later in the interview.

We then moved on to mini-tour questions which, in this

research, helped explore smaller periods of time in which

experiences took place. I asked for descriptions of

experiences based on the age ranges of 5-11, 12-16, 17 and

18, and university years. Here I further included example

questions which might lead to narrative like Can you give me an

example of a typical reading lesson? Experience questions were also

asked, designed to allow for open ended responses; examples

include Tell me about an experience you had in your English language class.

However, being a teacher, I felt compelled to include a

checklist of classroom strategies common to western

41

pedagogy. I did this for two reasons. One, as an educator, I

was still very much interested in what works in the

classroom, that is what strategies would ensure that

students become academic readers, in hopes of finding

methods to use in my own class to support my learners and to

share with other educators. Additionally, I wanted to spur

student’s memories of specific methods used in the

classroom. I knew that at least some of my respondents would

potentially not have been in a language class for months if

not years (in the case of Masters students), and I wanted to

jog their memories of what they had experienced while also

clarifying what I meant by the term “method”. However, I

later struggled with the usefulness of this section of my

aide-memoire as it took up valuable interview time, time

which might have been better used during the ethnographic

interview. See appendix A for my aide-memoire.

3.3 Ethics

Ethics is an important aspect of any study, but I would

argue they are particularly important in educational

research. Because of the human participants in my study,

before I started the interviews, I needed to ensure that my

42

work was ethical with the intent of reducing harm. Benefit,

not harm was the goal which I described in the information

form as :

[i]t is hoped that the study will help to inform

policies and practices designed to support speakers of

English as a second language to attain a reading level

that enables them to study in a university setting (see

appendix B for my full information sheet and consent

form).

My ethics application also included evidence of informed

consent. The information form described steps taken to

ensure confidentiality, including my use of an audio device

for recording interviews, subsequent transcription of the

data and then destruction of audio files and the use of a

password protected computer for data storage; I also shared

how identities were coded for further protection (though

aliases were used in the final write-up). Finally,

participants also agreed to the use of their contact

information or their interviews for other future studies and

understood that they had the right to withdraw by the March

31st, 2012.

43

Once I successfully obtained ethical approval for my study

from the Education and Management Research Ethics Panel at

Kings College London, having chosen the British Education

Research Association as my regulatory code, I was ready to

start my interviews.

3.4 Sampling and interviews

I found my respondents for this study through non-

probability sampling, specifically through a combination of

convenience and snowball sampling. In non-probability

sampling, “the researcher has deliberately – purposely –

selected a particular section of the wider population to

include in or exclude from the sample” (Cohen et al., 2000:

99). They are also far less problematic to set up than

probability samples, require less in terms of financial

resources and are satisfactory in a study where

generalizability is not the goal (Cohen, et. al., 2000). I

chose to study EAL speaking King’s students because I knew

that the level of English that they had to demonstrate for

44

admission demonstrated CALP level ability. They were also

convenient to interview as I had direct access to a large

group almost daily over the course of my studies in Masters

level education. I initially chose two classmates -

companions who I knew would be comfortable with me and who

had had the experiences about which I wanted information.

But then I thought it might be useful to speak with

respondents who were outside my immediate circle, so I

employed snowball sampling to get a greater variety of

participants, asking each initial interviewee to connect me

with another King’s EAL student that they thought would be

beneficial to talk to; this resulted in two more interviews.

My intent was to continue the snowball, however with the

combination of excellent data that I received with my first

contacts, and the time constraints within which I was

working, I completed my data collection with four

interviews.

Meetings took place in the Franklin-Wilkins Library on the

King’s College Waterloo Campus and in the cafeteria of the

Strand Campus. They lasted between an hour and an hour and a

half and were recorded for transcription.

45

I feel that my position as an international student at the

school made for good rapport with respondents. I did get the

sense that if not treated delicately, my ‘status’ as a first

language speaker might suggest some kind of student

hierarchy and I wanted to avoid this. I tried to convey my

respect for the level of English as a second language that

they had acquired, impressing upon them that challenged as I

was by my studies, I couldn’t imagine doing them in a second

language. Interviews varied somewhat from respondent to

respondent with my reflections after each meeting. For

example, the classroom methods checklist was included in the

first interview, but not the second as I felt it took up too

much time. But then feeling that this second interview

lacked a discussion of classroom methods, I then included my

checklist in the last two interviews.

I transcribed the data in full to allow for my data

analysis, but also to maintain the voice of each participant

as I discuss in the writing section of this chapter. With

hours of data resulting in nearly 100,000 words, I had a

great deal to work with. However, after one or two attempts

at memo writing, it became apparent that I was allowing my

46

bias to get in the way of what the data was telling me. I

thus took a step back and had a good look at Grounded

Theory.

3.5 Grounded Theory, coding and analysis

Grounded theory was the qualitative answer to positivistic

research design including issues of systematicity, logic,

replication and verification (Charmaz, 2006). Glaser and

Strauss provided answers to these problems in the form of

their book, The Discovery of Grounded Theory,in which they

proposed:

Simultaneous involvement in data collection and

analysis

Constructing analytic codes and categories from data,

not from preconceived logically deduced hypotheses

Using the constant comparative method, which involves

making comparisons during each stage of the analysis

Advancing theory development during each step of data

collection and analysis

47

Memo-writing to elaborate categories, specify their

properties, define relationships between categories,

and identify gaps

Sampling aimed toward theory construction, not for

population representativeness

Conducting the literature review after developing an

independent analysis (Charmaz, 2006: 5-6)

Thus my goal here was not to provide any kind of general

theory, but rather to construct some degree of understanding

of the individuals with which I spoke and the experiences

that they had, through the lens of my own interpretations

(Charmaz, 2006). But I needed to do this by really focussing

on what my data was saying, not what I had in my head as

preconceived notions. My research notebook was full of

quotations from literature on identity and linguistic

imperialism. My research required getting these out of my

head and out of my analysis.

I needed to get an initial feel for the data and did so

through blocking or open coding, that is “breaking data

apart and delineating concepts to stand for blocks of raw

data” (Corbin and Strauss, 2008). I did this by focussing

48

the data that answered the questions What is it that makes these

students so good? and What makes them different? An example of this

initial coding (and initial memos) can be seen in appendix

C. I then took these codes and organized them in two

different ways, one by theme (see appendix D) and the other

by time, chronologically charting their reading experiences

and the influences they had to their ultimate reading

proficiency (see appendix E). Each of these allowed for very

general comparisons between transcripts, one of the five

means of utilizing “comparative questions” described by

Strauss and Corbin (1998).

Thus, I chose to look at a combination of the two graphic

organizers to come up with the patterns and themes that

stood out in significance. These are what I chose to focus

on in this study. This combination gave me the topics that I

highlighted in my memos and ultimately in my writing.

3.6 Writing and voice

The reader will notice that I chose to use a longer

quotations in the final presentation of my findings, longer

than what is usually found, even in a qualitative study.

49

Some might see this as a lack of polish on my part, or even

an attempt at taking up word count in this research

presentation, but I would argue that it is neither. I

preserved those quotations, some still in dialogue form, in

an attempt at keeping the voices of the respondents intact.

Crossley and Watson (2003) point out:

“While many challenges have, in turn, been raised

against, for example, the relativism of post-modernism,

the epistemological issues it deals with and its

critique of positivist science are increasingly

influential. Recognition of the ‘authenticity of other

voices’, for example, resonates well with innovative

work carried out by international development workers

who acknowledge the importance of understanding

different world views and cultural differences at both

macro and micro level” (63).

Thus the retention of direct quotation allows for these

voices and their corresponding world views. And as I have

stated elsewhere here, I find world view particularly

important in an educational study. Language is also of great

significance in this research based on interviews with EAL

50

speakers; indeed, Heyman (1979) states that “[t]o study the

social world and its institutions (political, economic,

educational…) means to study the processes by which the

people of the world act and interact by making meaning,

through spoken and written language” (243). Therefore I

wanted to preserve these actions and interactions in my

work. I have therefore chosen to include as much of

participant voice as possible within the constraints of the

20,000 words allocated for this study, the challenge far

outweighed by the reward of hearing what the students had to

say and the insights revealed there. It is also why I chose

to include the more thematic discussion in the main findings

of my study at the cost of having to place the biographies

in the appendices – this was an attempt to emphasize

respondents’ words more than my own summaries.

Upon completing the writing of my data analysis, I completed

my lit review, and it was at this stage that I recognized

the wide range of theory and practice that I would have to

include here to inform analysis on factors that arose in the

data. Some of that pedagogy was the cutting edge material

shared in the classes that I attended at King’s, and some

51

was provided by mentors like Sharon Gewirtz who suggested I

read Bourdieu. I am glad that I resisted letting my

previous explorations of the literature colour my findings,

because in the end the research presented here is much

closer to the information provided by my four respondents,

and therefore ultimately contains less of my bias – the goal

of any serious research.

3.7 Conclusion

However, throughout this process I was fortunate enough to

have Sharon Gewirtz provide me with useful if sometimes

extremely challenging feedback on my work. She saw my

research through every step of this process and guided me to

a product that stuck to the principles of grounded theory.

Examples of this include codes and categories springing from

the data, the comparative nature of each step of the

process, the meta-theory development occurring over the

course of the research, samples not aiming for

representation and the focus literature review after the

data analysis, allowing for truly grounded theory

construction (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978;

Strauss, 1987). Indeed it was not until I had completed all

52

of my data collection, analysis and most of my literature

review did I really take Sharon up on her suggestion that I

look at Bourdieu’s cultural capital. My initial reaction to

this theory was that it did no fit at all, but after a

closer reading of some of Bourdieu’s work, I saw how closely

cultural capital fit to the sources of student scaffolding

that I had identified.

Thus, much like Gewirtz (1997) describes in her article on

grounded research, the process for me “did not feel in the

least bit smooth or ordered”; thus though I have seemingly

provided a chronologically ordered methodology, in reality

there were many instances when two or more aspects were

occurring at the same time. Additionally, in more than one

instance I thought I was finished with a stage of my work to

then discover that I had only just begun. This was a

difficult lesson to learn, but one worth learning.

Chapter 4: Findings

The findings I present here are based on the experiences of

four students whose insights and experiences I could not

have done without. Though the language of research dictates

53

that I label the information presented here as findings, or

data, and the people I spoke with as respondents or

informants, it is worth noting that these were busy students

like me, and people who were kind enough to share their

valuable time, understandings and educational experiences

with me.

4.1 Amit, Beli, Constantin and Dejan

Amit describes herself as a geek, a language geek to be more

accurate, one who has developed an interest in translation

of text.

From Karmiel, Israel, she watched her home grow from a small

town to a small city with waves of immigrants from Russia

and Ethiopia, the population growing so rapidly that “half

the people in the city were not speaking Hebrew anymore”.

Hebrew was her mother tongue and the language in which

lessons were conducted throughout her educational career

until she came to King’s to do her Master’s.

Amit has extensive experience with English literacy outside

the classroom, perhaps due to the fact that her mother was a

drama teacher and her sister, six years her senior, enjoyed

54

teaching her to read and to speak the English language. In

the classroom she was lucky enough to experience teachers

who further supported her interest in language and reading

science fiction (see appendix F for more about Amit).

Initially, Beli’s experiences seemed very different from

Amit’s. At first, Beli wasn’t sure that she belonged in my

study. She didn’t see herself as an English as an additional

language speaker. Her hesitancy gave me pause to think, but

when I finally asked her if English was her mother tongue,

she stated that it wasn’t and therefore agreed to meet with

me.

Hailing from Kathmandu, Nepal, Beli remarked that English

was her favorite discipline at school because of her

strength in the subject, the good grades she received, and

her interest in languages in general. Like Amit, Beli was

encouraged to read through her experiences at school, but

Beli was drawn to classic literature through her studies,

and popular magazines in her free time (see appendix G for

more about Beli).

55

Constantin was more task-focussed than either Amit or Beli.

He hails from the capital of Romania, Bucharest, with a

population of approximately 2 million people. His native

tongue is Romanian and the language that was spoken by his

parents in the home.

Constantin shared his fellow respondents` support for the

study of the English language at home. Indeed, he stated

that his father spoke four languages – Romanian, English,

French and Spanish –mainly due to his profession as a

sailor. His parents encouraged him in other ways as well,

including seeing that he had one-on-one English tutoring as

a pre-school, aged 6 or 7 year old child.

Constantin attributes his English skills to being in a

constant state of being able to practice his English,

primarily through debate. Like his fellow participants, he

started studying English in elementary school and continued

through to university (see appendix H for more about

Constantin).

Finally, the youngest of the respondents was Dejan. Dejan is

from Belgrade, Serbia, a city of approximately 2 million

56

people. His mother tongue is Serbian; it was the language

that he spoke at home and the language that he studied in

until he reached the high school level where English became

the language of instruction. Dejan was the only participant

in this study who was currently at the undergraduate level;

all others were working at the Master’s level at the time

that this study occurred. Though he didn’t see active

parental encouragement for his English, I feel that his

extensive (and often expensive) experiences with the

language meant that he was supported by his parents.

Systems were what Dejan claimed to be the cause for his

success in English. The Cambridge ESOL system and the

International Baccalaureate program were what he said were

what most supported his abilities (see appendix I for more

about Dejan).

Thus all four of the respondents in this study had a variety

of experiences with English, and each spoke of a particular

motivation behind their success. However, a few patterns

arose from my analysis of the data they provided. The themes

I present in the rest of this chapter were chosen for the

significance that they played in the acquisition of EAL

57

academic reading skills according to the interviews. Some

were themes that came up repeatedly across interviews, thus

suggesting a pattern in the data collected. Others were

incorporated here because of the emphasis that the informant

placed on their significance. I was surprised by the

relative lack of classroom strategies discussed which could

be a result of the time that most respondents had since

spent out of the language classroom, or could represent the

importance of more general life experiences, sometimes

exemplified with the snapshot of a person, or maybe an

example of a text that motivated interest. However, one

factor that all the participants shared and emphasized was

the importance of extensive reading which is where I now

turn my attention.

Extensive reading

When asked what the participant would recommend to someone

who wants to be able to gain the EAL reading proficiency to

be a strong enough to go to a university like King`s, all

four respondents highlighted the importance of volume – that

is reading a great deal of text. Further, extensive reading

was one thing that all four of them seemed to share in their

58

experiences of English. This is highly significant in terms

of the effects on their reading abilities as is suggested in

chapter two. Analysis of this significance will be provided

in chapter five. Here I will focus on the causes of this

volume of reading. Though surprisingly not as influential as

other factors, I will first look at the motivations for

extensive reading that come from the school context. I will

then move on to consider the motivations that came from

other parts of the participants’ lives.

4.2 Educational experience

Teachers, schools and other educational settings are more

motivating than they may think. All four respondents

described experiences they had with educators and in

educational settings. However, these experiences tended to

be less methodological and more sociological or

psychological – people or subjects motivating these students

to read.

Motivation from inside the classroom

Here Beli talks about the experiences she had with

literature from about the ages of 10 to 17:

59

Dawn: What kinds of things would you have been reading through that

time?

Beli: (inaudible)Classics, my sixth, I don`t know if you count Tom Sawyer as

a classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is American, very, that`s not

British, so you know, Like Meg was saying in the last lecture, “The Social

Context of Schooling”, that children do study Huckleberry Finn and Tom

Sawyer as well. Which is not British, so, but its English, you know, just not

British. Kind of strange, but you know, we have to study British literature.

In my seventh I studied Jane Eyre, eighth I studied David Copperfield,

ninth and tenth, I don`t know. Eleventh I studied The Great Gatsby, which

in the end is American. And on my own I read Little Women when I was in

school. This was before, before my eighth maybe, during the vacation, I

read. Don`t remember the story of Great Expectations, but I remember

reading that, and A Tale of Two Cities. See I feel that was after my Eight,

because I read David Copperfield and I really grew fond of Charles

Dickens. Must have been after my eighth. And one to five we read more

stories and chapters. Chapters from, let`s say, Black Beauty. I remember

reading the first chapter of Black Beauty in, for my English, compulsory

English in fourth grade.

60

Beli often discussed classic literature in the course of

the interview, and here she focusses on the volume of

texts that she read over time in the classroom. Certainly

her teachers and her program of study encouraged a degree

of volume. In this quotation, she lists texts she read

from grades 4 – 11. She also mentions a text that she

chose to read outside the classroom, a classic piece of

literature like the others that she read in class. Like

the American and British texts that she was required to

read, Little Women fits within the bounds of the canon.

She further recalls that she read Charles Dickens outside

of the classroom. This may indicate that she was motivated

to read classics due to the volume of similar texts that

she had to read for school, the introduction to literature

and volume in school leading to exploration and volume at

home. However, this is simply speculation as I did not ask

Beli if this was the case.

But literature is not all that Beli’s teachers encouraged

her to read:

They would ask us to read books, whatever books we want. They said

anything and everything you have. Anything you can lay your hands on. I did

61

that. I mostly read magazines and newspapers; I did not read many books,

so. (I tell my students and my kids the same thing. Read anything you are

interested in) But I did not read many books, which I do regret. I still can`t

read many books. (But in all fairness, in university you are not asked to read

many books, not unless you are studying English literature right? I think

maybe reading factual information, non-fiction kind of thing that you were

reading before has probably been more helpful for you going into university)

I`ve read classics, but I can like name them. People who read a lot lose count

of how many classics they read. I can like count them on my fingers

(inaudible).

Here we see Beli’s teachers directly encouraging extensive

reading. They seem to understand that promoting classical

literature is not going to get their students to read and

thus choose to cater to their interests in terms of content

and mode of delivery. Beli was successful in attaining

reading volume, but she sees the value of the reading that

she did as diminished. Despite the fact that Beli has the

ability to read at post graduate level, she sees her

background in reading as deficient because of her focus on

magazines and newspapers, not books. Further, her experience

was not primarily focussed on British classical literature.

62

And while previously she had listed quite a number of

literary pieces, for her the list does not represent the

sort of volume that she believes is the sign of a well-read

individual. Instead, she does not see herself as well read

because reading multiple English classics is her gold

standard.

The extensive reading that Beli engaged in was supported

significantly by her experiences in the classroom. Other

respondents were motivated to read based on aspects of their

educational life, but none shared with me the same volume of

reading prompted in class. However, Amit did share some

significant stories and experiences by one teacher that

seemingly stoked her interest in reading, particularly in

science fiction and fantasy, areas that are still of

interest for her today:

Amit: And the other part of the curriculum was stories and I don`t know if

this was her specific choice or if it was something that was handed down to

her. I think that teachers got a pool of stories they could choose from. And

the specific stories she chose just stuck with me afterwards. And I remember

many of them. There is “All Summer in a Day” which I just love.

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Dawn: Ray Bradbury, I have taught that story.

Amit: Ray Bradbury, classic science fiction. Ray Bradbury is one of the

forefathers of science fiction. It`s a wonderful story, with all its implications

and there is a story called “My Secret War of Idioms”.

Dawn: That one I am not familiar with.

Amit: Idioms is one of those concepts that are hard for young children and

new immigrants who learn them cause it does not mean what it literally

means and how children often translate it and understand idioms literally

and it was very funny. It was about this child and his internal war about how

what he thinks when his father called his mother and said `oh I am really

sorry I am going to be late I am tied up to the chair` and the little child sees

Indians are dancing around his father, his father is tied to the chair in the

office. And we heard about a man who left town under a cloud and wherever

he went the cloud went after him and stuff and his grandmother was very

angry with the way he treated his cousin because she cried her heart out and

he is spending the entire afternoon looking underneath the sofas for her

heart and she cried it out. So that’s `The Secret War of Idioms`.

Dawn: So was she translating these stories for you?

Amit: No, in English.

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Dawn: I mean "All Summer in a Day" is not terribly long, but it`s

complicated.

Amit: I think at age 14 or 15. I think 14 and it was hard. After we learned it

there was a TV production of it, I don`t know if it was produced in Israel or

somewhere else, but there was a short production of it so after reading the

story we watched that and complimented each other so a few movies like

that.

Amit appears to have been spurred to read via the very

stories that the teacher chose for her class. I would argue

that science fiction is a high interest genre, complete with

many meaningful themes to explore. Ray Bradbury is a

particularly good example of this as his work is also quite

well written. Amit’s teacher must have chosen her stories

for these criteria in hopes that not only she would be able

to encourage her students to read, but also in an attempt to

turn them on to the genre and therefore encourage them to

read beyond the classroom. Additionally, the use of film

may have generated student interest in class and in

narrative, and certainly scaffolded reading comprehension.

Finally, both the choice of text and the media allow for

analysis, including a discussion of themes, metaphors and

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similarities and differences between the two media forms.

The second story that Amit remembers is one that is replete

with language play. I would argue that this fun with words

is what causes Amit to remember the story – and I dare say

the literary device of the idiom – after such a long period

of time. This language play and use of figurative language

would again allow for analysis, and also be a great example

of how the English language often requires a knowledge of

phrase or lexicon in order to be able to create meaning.

But instead of making this a defeating proposition, Amit’s

teacher chooses a story that makes it more of a game,

providing students with the motivation to keep reading. And

Amit did:

That was the point. So yes, I remember enjoying that and other type of

things we had to do book reports. And I remember writing a book report for

MOMO by Michael Enter. It`s the same author who wrote `The Never-ending

Story`. But it is a different book, a wonderful, fantastic book which I

recommend from the bottom of my heart. Really great and wonderful book.

And I did a book report on that in English.

Here again Amit describes a connection with the printed word

with her recommendation of a book that she was required to

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read for class. What she does not say is whether she has the

choice of what book to read. Often in North American

classrooms, students are able to choose the books they can

report on, sometimes choosing books from a set reading list.

This choice motivates children by allowing them to select

texts based on subjects with which they are familiar or

particularly interested in. It also allows them to choose

books that fit with their own content schema or based on

knowledge that they already have, ensuring the content is

accessible for them. Here Amit discusses a fantasy novel a

genre which specifically interests her.

Amit’s passion for language is evident in many quotations.

She demonstrates her connection with the written word, and

how her interest in novel themes, plots and language

motivate her to read. This kind of interest is something

that was not discussed by the other respondents, due perhaps

to Amit’s personal interests, or due to the teachers that

Amit had and their focus on motivation and interest. Indeed,

her one teacher’s inclusion of multimedia to support class

reading only serves to make the reading more interesting for

students. And in Amit’s case, the incorporation of genres

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such as science fiction and fantasy in the class helped to

cement a lifelong interest in this type of narrative,

encouraging the volume that this research suggests makes for

a strong academic reader.

Media introduced in class was also motivating for Dejan,

though he was more engaged by non-fiction:

In IB we were using a lot of films, we were watching plenty of films,

newspaper articles were and internet articles were earlier in the elementary

school, not the elementary schools, in the language schools, the Cambridge

systems, they would imply of using multimedia plenty.

In this quotation, Dejan discusses the use of multimedia

within the systems through which he learned English. It

seems that his teachers and curriculum developers were

intrinsically aware of how motivating multimedia can be.

Students are often drawn to film and computers, even

perceiving time spent with technology as relaxation though

they might be taking in complex structures and content.

Students are often drawn to current print media as well –

represented here by the use of newspaper articles.

Newspapers and news websites are a great source of reading

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material as depending on the publication, they write for an

English audience between grades 6 and 10 and can include

visuals, often on topics that students may have heard about

through other forms of media.

Additionally, by viewing films and reading articles, the

learners are taking in what is presumably authentic

language, building their knowledge of vocabulary and

structure. Thus systems like International Baccalaureate and

Cambridge can hit outcomes in their lessons and still remain

motivational and current. Thus these systems motivated Dejan

to read in part by the media chosen to frame lessons with.

On a different note, I would argue that evidence of the

importance of EAL academic reading in schools was provided

by the sharing of three common experiences across the four

respondents; all interviewees had started their formal

English studies by age 11, all four read and analysed texts

at the high school level, and all participated in some form

of standardized testing in high school that included

assessment of academic English skills. These suggest that

schools supported these students in their SLA by giving them

the time and practice needed to acquire the print exposure

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for academic reading skills, presumably building to a CALP

level. This suggests that while respondents were not able to

provide many specific strategies that supported the

acquisition of their EAL academic reading skills, that

teachers and administrators were interested in supporting

students in this acquisition.

Thus classroom methods are not the only thing that motivates

students at school.

Motivation from outside the classroom

Beli, Amit and Dejan were not the only students who were

motivated to get a volume of reading via media introduced

through academic experiences. Constantin was also encouraged

this way, but during school-based extracurricular

activities. When asked what was the cause of his reading

success he reported:

I think the fact that I was almost constantly in the environment where I had

to practice it. Especially spoken English. Starting from high school, for

example in high school I did um, I joined the debate club and sometimes we

would go to international competitions which are obviously in English, so

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besides all we were doing in class which was not, was ok, but not that much,

a lot of people in class, teacher - good but not great, so on and so forth, um

so, once I had to prepare for the competition so[I would} rather read

Economist, Newsweek, so on and so forth. English magazines pretty

frequently in English and I had to speak at competitions. Again pretty

frequently. And then after that I was into university.

In this quotation, Constantin’s text seems to delineate a

chain of cause and effect. Volume of spoken English

occurring through debate encouraged him to engage in a

volume of reading to support debate, thus leading to

academic success. His motivation comes from the spoken

English that was required for participating in the debating

club, but in order to be successful, he is motivated to

engage in a volume of quite challenging reading as texts

like The Economist and Newsweek are written at a year 10 –

12 level. Therefore, Constantin’s interest in competition,

in debate and critical thought are motivations spurred by

his participation on the school debating team, which thus

motivated him to read. It can also be said that unlike

really any of the others, Constantin is motivated by tasks.

He is using the text to support his oral argument and

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therefore he is interested in facts and statistics found in

publications like the Economist and Newsweek. To compete at

international competitions in a second language would be

very challenging, and potentially engaging for a person like

Constantin, a person with the right skills and interests,

that is interests that were sparked at school.

Note that extensive reading was seemingly not encouraged in

class, though his access to the debating club is was via an

educational setting; Constantin clearly delineates the club

from the classroom. Most of the comments that students made

regarding their reading experiences pointed to a significant

engagement with written text beyond what was provided in the

classroom. However, t is certainly true that volume at this

level and in the non-fiction genre may well have proven

useful for Constantin as he moved into his academic studies.

A variety of different experiences with English was

certainly a theme that came up in interviews, though it

seemed to support oral aptitude more than reading. Here

Constantin seems to support that, but shows that these

experiences outside the classroom motivated him to read a

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substantial volume of text written at a significantly

sophisticated level.

But Constantin’s experiences with reading started well

before high school. Though English started in about year 4,

he started to study with a tutor form a young age. When

asked what their lessons were like, Constantin stated:

I think maybe she would read first and I would then follow reading after her.

She would name various pictures and tell me and then ask me I think I don`t

remember if everything was in English, but I don`t think so. I think she may

have asked me things in Romanian. How do you say? Do you remember from

last time, how do you say dog? Would ask me that in Romanian and I would

try to work with that.

In this interview, Constantin shared that his earliest print

exposure in English was with a tutor. Though lessons were

simple, he was exposed to English text, scaffolded in his

reading , and asked questions to ensure comprehension.

Additionally, Constantin’s native language, Romanian, is

also employed to further support understanding and recall.

But Constantin was not the only participant to receive

lessons outside of school. Dejan attended an after school

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institute that used the Cambridge system of academic English

learning. Dejan really valued the sequential and systematic

organization of this program. He was also one of the few

respondents who put any kind of significance on classroom

methodology. When asked if he had had to write paragraphs

and essays in class and what topics he wrote on, he said:

...it was variety, really a variety....like, for example in the Cambridge

systems, I can recall they have plenty of like because there would be an

article that we read and then we write a response to it or our conclusion

from it or opinion on it or there would be some story that we would say,

write an ending to this story or something like that.

Elsewhere in his interview, Dejan spoke of grammar and

vocabulary lessons, significant in their support of

acquiring academic English skills, as I described in chapter

two. Here he describes some of the activities that were

incorporated into lessons to ensure comprehension of English

texts, thus scaffolding his acquisition of reading skills.

He also suggests that he had had ‘plenty’ of such

opportunities to actively engage with print, thus

encouraging extensive reading.

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The use of a tutors as support for Constantin’s and Dejan’s

education suggests two things – that their parents thought

that reading in English was important, and that they had the

economic means to provide extra tuition. This opens up a

whole other aspect of student support and so it is to family

as foundation and motivation that I now turn.

4.3 Family and home environment

In one way or another, all participants in this study

demonstrated that their families either actively or

passively supported their English reading development. As I

will discuss, examples include providing direct strategies

and scaffolding for their learning, or choosing certain

schools and programs with which to get involved. Not only

would these have provided direct language practice, but the

motivation of parents and other family members may also have

encouraged motivation of the students as well. In this

section I will start with a discussion of parental

influences, which were experienced by all four respondents,

and then move to Amit and her sister’s influence.

Parental influence and beyond

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Parents played a key role in supporting the acquisition of

reading skills for all participants including Amit who

said:

I think I advanced a lot [in my English skills] since I came [to London]. But

I think I came with a very good basis. It was something that was

extremely important for my parents. …because they found out very early

that I am into reading my mother's idea was tell me what it was that you

really liked lately and I'll give you the same book in English. Because most

of the books that we read in Israel are translated. The main percentage of

them. I remember the first one was the Black Tulip by Alexander Dumont

which is originally in French but was very easy to find in the local library in

English. And so I read it in Hebrew, liked it and told my mom that and she

gave me that. And it was nice and it was hard but because I knew the plot

I could fill in the gaps.

Amit’s mother was a teacher which would be support enough,

but she also provided Amit with the scaffolding she needed

for her English reading. Having started to read in Hebrew

at an early age, Amit would have been advanced in her

skills by the age of around 11 or 12 when her mother

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introduced her to this form of scaffolding, translation.

Reading the book first in Hebrew and then in English would

have meant that Amit would have understood the content and

thus be better able to piece together the meaning of the

vocabulary and the grammar. Thus Amit was being

scaffolded, but this initial success has led her to

greater independent success today.

But Amit’s parents were still not her only family

influence:

I think my mother often used the term, which she learned from my

grandfather which is citizen of the world. You need to be a citizen of the

world. Be open-minded.

This aspect of Amit`s familial support for her English

abilities demonstrates the generations of encouragement she

had, and the variety of motivations. Here Amit`s mother is

echoing her grandfather`s words. I believe she is suggesting

that English is the language of world citizens, though I did

not clarify this with Amit. In fact, later in the interview,

Amit again brings up translation, and the texts studied in

English at university. I discuss this later in this chapter,

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but here it is enough to note the suggestion that thought

from all cultures is available through the medium of

English. Thus her grandfather is one of multiple generations

in Amit`s family to support her English education,

particularly in terms of reading as a skill, and to

encourage her to be open to other cultures.

But Amit was certainly not the only respondent to have

support for English from the family. Constantin and Dejan

also had that support, though seemingly stemming from

different motivations.

Dawn: So are languages something that your parents encouraged? Or your

school encouraged, or just something you`ve been interested in yourself?

Constantin: I think a bit are from my parents cause my dad being a sailor, he

speaks also approximately four, that is he speaks, besides Romanian, he

speaks English, French and Spanish so from his side it may have been

encouraged...

Amit`s family was perhaps the most extensive example of

family support for English in general, and reading

specifically. However, though Constantin did not seem to

feel that the encouragement he received from his family was

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explicit, he did seem to see the influence. It seems that he

is emulating his father rather than being actively

supported, but I would argue it is still a significant form

of impetus. Learning and knowing language appeared to be

assumed in this family; there did not seem to be a question

of whether to acquire other languages or not. Additionally,

Constantin might also be further motivated by the economic

link he sees between knowing other languages and economic

success through his father’s use of language in his work.

Constantin might be driven by this motivation for his future

as well – seeing languages opening career opportunities for

his father – but this is only speculation on my part as it

is not something we discussed.

Though he didn’t see an active influence either, I believe

that Dejan was similarly influenced by his parents:

Dejan: Only influence they had is that they wanted me to learn English

because Serbia was a Communist country when they were kids and so the

languages there were Esperanto and Russian mainly. Foreign languages. The

first one was Russian and that age there was still idea for Esperanto as

international language but it it failed.

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Later Serbian but there was no use of that but they learn Russian mainly and

none of them speak English but they wanted me to learn English as the

language that has become through the years the international language.

Dawn: Do you think that's true of your country in general? Is there a strive

towards learnin…

Dejan: Now in current in current schooling system, the English is the main

language. The main second language. There are also third and fourth

languages teached in schools. But English as a second language is taught.

In this quote, Dejan downplays his parents influence,

suggesting that maybe because they did not actually speak

English in the home or specifically tell him to study, that

they had little influence on his language acquisition.

However, it is apparent that like Amit, Dejan`s parents are

greatly affected by the people around them. This quotation

tells us that Dejan`s parents grew up at a time when it was

important for Serbian`s to speak Russian, in their

association with the Communist Party there, but also to

speak Esperanto, the language that was once designed for

global communication. Esperanto never took off as a world

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language, and has since been replaced with English, but the

idea of global communication lives on in Serbian society.

Additionally, throughout Dejan`s interview he discusses the

language school and private international school he

attended, as well as the travelling that he did. Though it

is possible that Dejan instigated these experiences, his

parents must have at least approved these choices and funded

them. Therefore, I would suggest that Dejan had more support

for his English than he may have realized.

Sibling influence

Amit had familial reinforcement for her English studies from

multiple generations, including the support of her sister.

Indeed Amit was quite descriptive in the experiences she had

with her sister who have initiated a lifelong passion:

Dawn: So you were a reader?

Amit: A very early reader. A very early reader, a strong reader even before

changing languages. And it is much to do with the fact that my sister is an

early teacher. She`s six years older than me and she was into teaching me so

when I was 3 she was 9 and when I reached the next year nursery and they

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had little hooks to put our coats on with our names on top and I could tell all

the children whose hook was who before the teacher came and showed us,

that was when they believed me that I can read.

Amit was greatly influenced in her language acquisition by

her sister. Though the reading she is discussing is in

Hebrew, reading in the L1 has been shown to support reading

in a second language, here English. Starting to read at age

3, Amit would have had a strong basis in literacy before her

English education even started, which surely would have

encouraged her reading success. Additionally, her sister`s

interest in language, and the attention that Amit received,

motivated her to read in Hebrew, thus further supporting her

success at reading Hebrew and her later success at reading

English.

Amit was the only respondent who talked about the

significance of her siblings on her language development,

but the emphasis that she placed on this factor lead me to

include it here.

However, familial influence played a role for all other

respondents and this combined with their educational

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experiences proved motivating. But there was something else

that tied these respondents together, and that was a keen

drive to engage. The final theme I am presenting here may

have more to do with the character of the participants of

this study as much as the experiences they had.

4.4 Personal engagement

When asked what he or she would suggest to someone who wants

to gain the proficiency in English to go to a university

like King’s, all four participants pointed to volume of

reading. However, each was motivated to engage in that

volume based on their own personal interests, all very

distinct from the others. Focusses included various genres

of print media, technology and the motivation to learn and

succeed.

Print media

Beli starts the discussion with her interest in magazines.

She was very entertainment based in her motivation to read:

I read magazines like Sports Star. Have you heard of it? So Sports Star is a

publication of this very big and very revered newspaper called The Hindu.

It`s a right wing newspaper I think and they also publish Sports Star,

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about all sports that are going on all over the world. It would be mostly

about cricket because India is obsessed with Cricket, so Sports Star is an

Indian magazine. And they would have articles on football and other stuff.

And later tennis and so on. So I use to read them a lot. And famous

channel reporters and commentators they would write in the magazine, so

I grew up reading a lot of writing by these kinds of writers. And even

Nepalese entertainment magazines. There was one called Wave which was

about personal stories and music, things like that.

Here Beli gives a clear example of reading as

entertainment. Sports Star is such a popular publication

in Nepal, Beli asks me if I know it. Thus she was drawn to

reading in English about popular culture, particularly

that which originated in Nepal and in India. Beli was not

Indian, but Indian culture played a big role in the media

she read, including the subject matter and the writers.

And because the English language, and indeed the English

culture, has had such an influence on India, and India has

such significant influence in Nepal, English has

consequently had a very real effect on Nepal. The

language of the magazines, and the preoccupation with

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cricket and football as a subject matter are clear

examples. Thus Beli is very much drawn to the articles

presented in these publications.

She also mentions Wave, a Nepalese publication, but says

that she reads “even Nepalese entertainment magazines”

which suggests either that reading such magazines is rare,

or that Nepalese magazines in English are rare. Either way

she is engaged in the subject matter presented here, again

as entertainment.

Reading as entertainment suggests a very different

motivation from any of the other respondents I have

discussed this far. Elsewhere Beli has discussed being

motivated by reading classic literature through her

schoolwork. Indeed, elsewhere in the interview Beli,

suggests a desire to have read more literature. However,

this motivation has not encouraged her to read outside of

class (though she does to a lesser extent for school), and

therefore has not provided the motivation to gain the

volume of reading she needs to be successful. But she does

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gain this motivation through her attraction to more

entertainment, restful, popular culture style reading and

thus does engage in extensive reading. She seems to be

less interested in learning or studying as much as she is

interested in relaxing and becoming familiar with what is

her local popular culture.

However, reading volume is supported via completely

different interests for Dejan:

Technology

Here Dejan shares the volume of reading he accomplished

through his interests in technology:

…to be honest I never did really do any serious reading in English. I wasn’t

interested in reading English books. I had done plenty of English through

internet, reading blogs, reading websites all that stuff was reading English

all the time. So I wasn't really particular interested in reading, English

books. When I went to IB I had no choice, I had to use I had to use English

books as my literature in Literature but I found it fun, I found it with no

problem. I could study economics, computer science ...all the subjects in the

English language, with no problem at all and since I came here also I have

been using English books every day, now I am even starting reading

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additionally in English, English books. That's not related to college or

anything. I didn't do that before but I don't find it really problematic at all.

And I think the most, because I did a lot of readings through the internet, it

has enhanced my reading capabilities.

Computers can create interest for someone who was previously

a reluctant reader and this may have been the case with

Dejan. However, he doesn’t consider reading online

“serious”, and neither would many teachers or parents; it

was deficient because he was not reading books. Here, books

are Dejan’s gold-standard, but computers led Dejan to read.

And this reading practice appears to have helped him develop

his skills to the level that he was able to succeed in IB,

an advanced educational program in English, his second

language. This also appears to have encouraged him to read

outside the classroom, further creating volume and therefore

strengthening his skills. Thus the volume in which he

engaged in this alternative source gave him the strength of

skill to move from reluctant reader to highly successful and

engaged academic. This reading practice initially started

outside the classroom , with the student’s own interests,

moved into the classroom where he “had no choice”, and then

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moved outside the classroom again where he can now engage

with texts that interest him on a personal level. I would

further point out that his motivation was not found with

classic, ‘serious’ texts.

Dejan continues with his discussion of motivation and volume

elsewhere when he recommends that students:

Dejan: Start reading like start reading on the internet, all the stuff that

you're interested in. I read about, for example, if I was interested in music

and instruments I would read tons and tons and tons of forums and reviews

about the instruments and articles and tons. I had plenty of reading all my

life so I would suggest them, I would suggest them to start reading books.

Definately, I didn't do it. I think that would be smart for if I did it. So would

suggest them to start…

Dawn: Were you a reader in Serbian?

Dejan: Ya. Not too much but I as I said I read most of the stuff on the

internet and that but I liked reading from time to time and when I grab a

book I don't let it go until I read it. It's just that I don't grab books too often.

If I came across a book that I liked, it will go away in two days with no

problem. So ya, definitely recommend for anyone who is serious about

coming here, do as much reading as you can, any source.

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Any kind of source is good, newspapers, anything good. Just to get English.

Dejan was the youngest of the students who participated in

this study. Having just completed the first semester of his

undergraduate degree, he was at least four years younger

than any other participants. This is significant here in

that he was the student who most commented on reading as an

online activity. As a mother and teacher of students at this

level, I would argue that this form of media will play a

bigger role in reading volume as, just as Dejan suggests,

the internet is a provider of written information (amongst

other forms) on all kinds of topics. And as Dejan further

suggests, the amount of information available is virtually

endless. The material that Dejan says he was reading, forums

and reviews, are often not filtered through any kind of

editor. This writing is in more of a peer-to-peer form that

many academics and teachers may not deem stylistically or

structurally appropriate for students, especially second

language students. However, it provides information in more

of an opinion based form. This kind of reading could be

considered entertainment, but the subject matter that Dejan

gives as an example suggests more of an information-based

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kind of reading. He appears to be reading for a “how-to” or

a “what’s best” type purpose.

Dejan again suggests that English books are the gold

standard when it comes to reading. He states here, and

elsewhere, that students should read books specifically.

Indeed he goes on to discuss the Harry Potter and Lord of

the Rings series as examples of writing that would appeal to

most readers. But he admits that this is not the kind of

reading that he engaged in. It is as though he does not see

the same value in what he reads online.

However, Dejan’s interest in computers and in nonfiction

topics of various kinds helped to motivate him to read the

volume of English that he may not otherwise have. Indeed, I

would suggest that the level of reading ability that he

attained was based on volume, not volume of published or

even edited text in particular. Dejan suggests that volume

is beneficial regardless of the content. My data would seem

to suggest that Dejan is right about this, at least for this

group of students - that is that reading a substantial

amount of any English language material in any form has been

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beneficial for their abilities, and Dejan is a case in

point.

However, not everything Dejan experiences is positive:

Because everything I had in my childhood, all the most of the things that I

can in contact with were in English. Starting from video games, to films,

music, everything was mainly in English. That extreme influence of Western

Culture was all in English, so therefore we were almost forced - I mean if you

wanted to use the computer properly, you had to learn English. I mean no

one was switching the whole computer to Russian in order to do anything

because all the new software would come in English and everything and

therefore we were practically, everybody were aware that they need to learn

English at one point. There is still people who use the computer like by

remembering the icons and doing stuff like my father. He wouldn't be able to

- if you change the place of one icon on his computer he goes completely

mad - he doesn't know what to do.

While in the previous quotations, Dejan spoke as though he

was drawn to reading in English on computers, here the

motivation sounds more insidious. Dejan states that if an

individual wants to use computers, as a great deal of the

world population does, that they must do so in English. Thus

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he feels that to work or play on computers is to work or

play in English. Further, Dejan discusses the limitations

that not having English places on individuals like his

father. Thus Dejan’s father can possess a computer, but

without English he is unable to fully consume the knowledge

available to him there. While Dejan’s father possesses the

economic capital to access this form of media, he does not

possess the cultural capital to engage with it. Dejan

demonstrates that he has both forms of capital but he

suggests that he had no choice but to accept them into his

hand.

However, Dejan and his interest in expanding his knowledge

on various subject matters was still a positive motivator

for him, and the theme of learning, growing and succeeding

academically was a pattern that connected many of this

study’s respondents. And like Dejan, the English language

seemed to play a central role.

Motivation to learn and succeed

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Besides what was introduced to her in class, Amit also found

a connection between personal engagement with literature and

reading volume, but this interest seemed to support her in

other areas of English skills and knowledge:

They take the book they liked as a child as children and read it in English. I

think it worked really well for me. And you don`t feel it at the beginning. You

start and it feels really really hard and you don`t feel that you are improving

but the more, but I really believe that reading a lot improves your abilities.

Your vocabulary and your grammar. It will not improve your conversational

skills, but that’s something completely different. A different set of skills. And

I think reading is a first step to being able to write in English.

Such was Amit’s answer when asked how best to gain the

skills to get into a school like King’s. She starts by

discussing the importance of being motivated by something

you like. She then goes on to suggest that interest and

motivation need to be combined with some effort, which in

turn leads to volume. She seems to invert the skills needed

for reading – the study of grammar and vocabulary do not

source stronger reading skills, but rather volume of reading

encourages vocabulary, grammar and writing ability. She also

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seems to see a clear correlation between that which is

encouraged at home and success at school.

When asked how long her use of translation lasted, Amit

said:

Till today. These days I am a big enthusiast of translation. So very often I will

read the same book in Hebrew and in English just to enjoy the translation. I

read all the Harry Potters in Hebrew and in English because the translation

is fascinating. (That`s interesting. (Ya, it would be). I`ll tell you my,

something I very often state that aside from poetry translating fantasy and

science fiction is the most hard and the most interesting translation because

very often science fiction fantasy authors invent new words to describe

things that don`t exist. And when you translate you need to invent a word in

your own language that will mean or sound or do the same thing as that.

There`s so many examples. In Harry Potter you`ve got the nonmagical

community which are the muggles. And how would you say muggle in

Hebrew. And the specific translator of Harry Potter did magic. Wonderful

things. You`ve got the piensive which is the container you can put your

thoughts into and the word in Hebrew is just fantastic. It means so many

things on so many levels. It`s wonderful….I read the entire series in English

and in Hebrew.

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While Harry Potter is maybe not yet seen as a classic

literature, I would argue that it is certainly well written

and it time may be seen as a ‘serious’ text. Fantasy and

science fiction have also generally been classified outside

the guise of literature. Regardless, Amit certainly finds

motivation in translations and the language play that

translators must participate in in order to closely

approximate language meanings. This goes beyond reading

comprehension, into textual analysis.

Amit demonstrates her passion for language elsewhere in

the interview with the reading goals that she set for

herself:

And I decided I liked the idea and I set myself a goal to read The Lord of the

Rings which was my favorite book. I think the two books that I wanted to

read were The Lord of the Rings and The Never Ending Story. At that time I

didn't know that the Never Ending Story was actually in German, Mikelente.

So it took me a few more years until I reached that stage but that was the

goal so I kept reading in English and I think reading English improves your

vocabulary tremendously and your grammar.

While Amit’s interest in text and translation are discussed

elsewhere in this study, here she discusses setting goals 95

surrounding specific texts and thus being motivated by the

texts themselves and the level of content and language that

they represent. Reaching these goals saw her through the

volume of reading she needed, as well as helping her to

acquire the level of vocabulary and structure she needs to

be successful. Though elsewhere Amit speaks about her mother

motivating her to read novels in English, here we see Amit

motivating herself with the goals that she set, choosing a

high level text in a specific genre that appeals to her.

Indeed, research tells us that the more she reads in a

specific genre, or by an author, or about a topic, the more

accessible that material becomes, and I would argue, the

more the individual wants to read.

A final theme that was repeated throughout the interviews

presented here was the need to be able to read English text

at the university level. Participants all suggested that

they read English texts as part of their university

curriculum. What is more, texts from other languages were

often translated into English. Therefore to access key

texts, regardless of their backgrounds, students had to know

how to read in English. This meant that in order to get a

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post-secondary degree, that English was crucial as

translation into their native tongues was rare.

Constantin read many texts in English that had never been

translated into Romanian:

…the core materials for something like this, you would have them anyways

in English, you wouldn`t have in Romanian for example. I don`t know, one of

the basic readings for political science was Kissinger’s Diplomacy. Which is

this much of a book and it is not Trans, it is not in Romanian. Anyways,

largely would read for this degree you would have read from British and

American sources anyways, even if you had done the courses in Romanian so.

And I think it`s true also for a lot of countries and for a lot of degrees, some

stuff, if you really want to get into it is just you can find it in English and

that`s it.

And Amit found texts weren’t translated into Hebrew:

Amit: There are the simple things like the fact that you can't do an academic

degree if you can't read the material and the material is written in English.

So unless you pay someone to translate each and every article in the world,

then you need to be able to read the source material. So reading primary

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sources, kind of thing (inaudible).In the field that I studied, I think I had two

classes that were about Israeli politics or Israeli thought, political thought,

but most of it was universal and global and you need to be able to read

Hobbes and Hagel and Rousseau and you name it in English. Well you should

have been able to read Rousseau in French I guess but it was available in

English. You can get everything almost you need in English.

Dawn: That's everything. So do you think things tend to get translated into

English?

Amit: Things that are not written in English are much more likely to be

translated to English than to Hebrew. If I need it to write then I am 100

times more likely to find it in English than Hebrew. Unless it is something

very specific that someone bothered translating. Or writing specifically

(inaudible)

Ya, but let's say I wanted to read John Adams and the chances that someone

bothered translating anything specific to Hebrew is very very limited and I

am very likely to find it in English but anyway think that's a big thing.

Because academic education is so highly valued in Israel and you cannot

have one without a good enough level of English it's perceived as a must.

For Constantin and Amit, not reading English might have

meant not having access to many texts that were not

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translated into Romanian or Hebrew respectively. Indeed, in

Amit’s experience, major texts from other languages were

translated into English, and thus having academic English

reading skills meant having access to major theory and

research from across cultures. I discuss the significance of

this in the next chapter, but here it is enough to end with

one final quote in which Amit suggests the significance

English held for her and her parents:

I think it is generally perceived in Israel that you cannot advance in your life

without good English, possibly because you can't go to university without

good English. You can't do a degree in Israel without good English. I am not

sure if that was the reason but I know it was very important for my parents.

Amit`s parents were keenly interested in her abilities in

English as they wanted her to go to university – something

you can`t do in Israel without English. Additionally, the

Amit states that Israeli society deems ‘you cannot advance

in your life’ without education and therefore the English

to get that education. That alone would be a huge

motivation for Amit to improve her English education:

Society`s motivation magnifies her parent`s motivation,

triggering Amit`s own motivation. And though Amit and

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Constantin were the only respondents to discuss this

impetus for acquiring academic EAL reading skills, I am

confident that the setting in which I found all four study

participants indicates the significance of academic

success for each of the individuals I spoke to.

Chapter 5: Conclusions

I have to admit that the relative insignificance of

classroom strategies and methods for these four respondents

surprised me; there was not a great deal of discussion about

what happened in class. In the early stages of my research I

had been hoping to find something specific to take back into

the classroom with me. However, with my ethnographic,

reading biography approach, what I found was a much bigger

picture than that. Indeed, the findings I presented in

chapter four had far more to do with cultural capital than

with classroom methodology. Thus I propose that these four

participants acquired their academic reading skills

primarily through extensive reading which was, in turn,

motivated by a number of primarily social factors. Thus I

am going to frame my final analysis here in terms of

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Bourdieu’s theories, starting with the cultural capital my

respondents experienced at school and in the home, following

with the habitus each exhibited in their motivations to read

extensively, and then moving on to the field or the use of

English in university studies. I will then conclude with

some suggestions on how I could have improved this

dissertation, moving to proposals regarding future research

and comments on the significance of cultural capital for

international study.

There is no doubt that all four interviewees in this study

were influenced by the schools in which they studied. They

all experienced the motivation to read extensively based on

some aspects of their formal education. Beli experienced

expectations from her teachers that included the extensive

reading of classic English literature. The texts that she

read in class, like Black Beauty and The Great Gatsby

motivated her to read a number of texts on her own time,

like Little Women and various novels by Charles Dickens.

Amit was also motivated by the texts presented to her in

class, including a number of science fiction narratives. The

texts that she recalls best are ones her teachers seem to

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have chosen specifically to be high interest. The literature

suggests that a focus on one genre may also increase fluency

as students become more familiar with vocabulary, style and

structures that may be repeated across texts. Amit also

valued the choice that teachers sometimes offered her,

allowing an exploration of authors, texts and genres that

she found interesting. Dejan was motivated to read through

the variety of materials that his teachers presented;

multimedia presentation peeked Dejan’s interests, motivating

him to read and study. He also engaged with the

systematicity and methods that he found at an after school

institute. Constantin read more to support his out of class,

school based activities. He was motivated to read

publications like Newsweek and The Economist to glean facts

and complete the task of constructing an effective debate.

He also had early reading support through print exposure and

methods to support comprehension such as question asking and

incorporating his L1. Finally I must highlight the support

for extensive reading in English that all four of these

students got through their academic experiences, possibly

over the course of their school careers, as all respondents

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started their English studies before the age of 11,

continuing through to high school. All of these experiences

indicate that cultural capital was thus gained through their

school experiences, seemingly over the course of significant

period of time in respondents’ lives.

All four students also experienced benefits from their

families, their middle class socio-economic status and their

positive home environments. Constantin was supported by the

emphasis on learning and knowledge that was assumed in his

family including the importance of language demonstrated by

the early tutoring that he had as well as by his father who

could speak four languages. Dejan experienced a similar

language push, possibly influenced by Serbian society which

in turn instigated a similar focus in Dejan’s family. Dejan

was also supported by his parents as they had the economic

means to send him to after school lessons in English and a

private International Baccalaureate school. Beli also

attended private schools, though this is very common in her

home country of Nepal. She also had access to the magazines

and literature that would support her in her motivation to

read extensively. Finally, Amit had strong family support

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from her parents, her grandparents and her sister. Her

family espoused the belief in acquiring a “world citizen”

identity that included English as a language of study.

Expectations for success and education were high in Amit’s

family and she was always expected to attend university. Her

mother supported her in her interests in reading as

recreation, and provided Amit with the strategy of reading a

challenging text in her native Hebrew and then again in

English. To conclude, all four students experienced

extensive support for their English reading at home, thus

obtaining significant cultural capital.

I argue that this extensive reading that was encouraged at

school and at home was magnified by personal engagement for

each of the respondents, though it is difficult to determine

which came first – the cultural capital found at school and

at home, or the habitus respondents displayed in choosing to

engage in reading. Either way, interest and thus print

exposure and repetition may well have supported their

development of fluency. Beli’s motivation to read classical

literature by Dickens is an example of this, as is the non-

fiction structures that Constantin found in The Economist

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and other news magazines. Amit continues to read science

fiction to this day and appreciates the subtleties of

multiple translations of texts like The Lord of the Rings.

And the reading efficacy that Dejan reached with computers

has lead him to reading printed texts on subject matter that

interests him. Thus engagement combined with cultural

capital may well have supported the development of the

skills these students needed to be successful on the

academic field.

And while not all of them talked about the motivation of

working towards success at the university level, all of them

experienced reading and analysing of text in high school, as

well as standardized testing that included CALP level

English. They all had the academic English levels to get

into King’s College in London. I propose that they were all

motivated towards successful academic reading at university

by their schools and by their families, and by their own

personal engagement with text. Amit and Constantin talked

about reading English texts in university, and reading texts

translated into English. They suggested that only with their

EAL academic skills, have they had access to these texts.

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Thus with these reading skills they may have had access to

certain knowledge, and all that suggests. On an individual

level, it could mean having access to certain classes,

certain subjects or certain career choices, though I did not

ask either Amit or Constantin if this was true. On a larger

level, the access that these students have to texts seems

highly significant in the consumption and creation of

knowledge; it suggests that they have access to power and

the means to success based on their level of English

reading. These students were successful, but their success

suggests others who are not.

Another goal of research is to continually improve, and

there are a number of ways that I feel this study could have

been stronger, most of them based on methodology shared by

Spradley (1979). I believe a wider variety of questions

would have yielded even more rich data to this research.

Spradley suggests structural questions to help identify “the

basic units in an informant’s cultural knowledge” (60). I

feel questions based on how levels of education are

organized in the respondent’s home system, or how a school

day or week was scheduled may have proved insightful in

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terms of the degree of importance placed on English or

reading. Similarly, more native language questions may have

been useful (89). Though he is a little critical in his

tone, Heyman (1979) makes a good point when he states that:

“[s]ocial reality is, in a sense, created and

maintained by language. Traditional work in sociology

has largely ignored the argument that language is the

central feature of the social world and that it is

mainly through language that we learn about, know about

and act upon the world” (243).

I think that some emphasis on the educational terms that

students use in their native languages may have been useful.

Finally, I wonder if interviewing different informants may

have yielded different information – that is would

interviewing London based high school level EAL students

have yielded more information on classroom methods and other

school influences? Spradley (1979) suggests that informants

with current involvement in the cultural scene yield better

information, especially in terms of language used and in

terms of perspective. Thus students currently engaged in the

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ESL classroom may have yielded data with more of a classroom

focus.

Finally, I feel that another stage that would have been

valuable to this study, one in which I was able to clarify

any questions I had regarding information provided during

interviews, or one in which I could have expanded on

information that I later found particularly interesting or

useful. It also might have included participant reading of

initial memos or drafts for feedback. Unfortunately this was

not possible due to time constraints, but it may be a step

that I try and incorporate in my own future research.

Indeed, studies focussing on the acquisition of academic

skills of EAL students are sorely lacking. Data and theories

in this area are deficient, especially those focussing on

academic reading, a skill that takes time to develop, and

the social aspects of language acquisition with students at

this level. I have had to rely a great deal on literature

and findings based on L1 research. Additional studies with

an L2 focus could also further answer the question why? Why

are some students able to read at a university level and

others not? The data I obtained from the participants in

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this study suggested a link with Bourdieu, but also

highlighted the deficiency of research in this area. I would

suggest that more extensive case studies on acquisition of

reading skills may well be in order for their potential to

provide ethnographic data needed to get a true sense of the

lifetime it takes to build a reader. Thus the roles of L2

parents might prove a useful focus for future study. But

perhaps more importantly in the education literature, how

can teachers level the playing field so that all students

are able to gain the skills and knowledge for success in

English at the university level? I thus believe that

continued research on schools as providers of cultural

capital for L2 students could prove extremely useful.

Because what about the students who don’t have the cultural

capital to be successful in academic reading? Bourdieu

(1986) suggests that “the structure of the distribution of

the different types and subtypes of capital at a given

moment in time represents the immanent structure of the

social world” (280). If this is true, then it is not only

our job as educators to study the phenomena of academic

ability, but also to help support it. Patterns in this study

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suggest that schools and teachers can have effect in terms

of motivating students by simply providing repeated and

varied experiences with print in hopes that something will

inspire each student to read. In this way educators may be

able to successfully create a more level playing field for

all students, giving them the resources to access theory and

research, and also encouraging their contributions.

Because it’s not just about staying in the game; it’s

ultimately about writing the rules.

(19, 492 words)

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APPENDIX A

Strategies for Reading Aide Memoire

Where are you from?

What is your first language? (are your first languages?)

What languages did you study or study in?

What sort of education did you have? What kind of school did you go to? How do you feel about school?

What policies, curriculum or strategies are most used in your culture? What is important in education in your country – how is it similar and different from Britain?

What do you study here at King’s? Why did you choose this subject?

How do you feel about English and English education? How does yourfamily feel about English and English education? How about your community or country?

Who generally studies English in your country?

At what age did you start studying English?

Why did you study English? Why did you continue?

What were your goals for your English studies? When did or do you think your English studies are done?

In what country did you primarily study English?

How many hours per week did you study the language? How many in class? How many on your own? Can you estimate the total number of hours you spent studying the language?

Who were your teachers?

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What version(s) of English did your teachers focus on – what country or countries did the language come from? Did you get both American and British versions?

You were obviously successful in your studies – What about your English studies helped you the most? What did your teachers do that helped you the most?

How often do you read in English? What do you read?

Please describe how often your English teachers used the followingstrategies in the classroom to:

always/sometimes/rarely/never

- group work

- technology – Please describe.

- your first language in the classroom

- comparing and contrasting your first language and your second

- content based learning – What other subjects were taught?

- multi-media – What media? Music? Film? Other? Who wrote or featured in it? What culture was featured/the origin?

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- authentic text

- textbook based – What text? Describe the exercises.

- teaching study skills – notetaking, finding the main idea in a reading, dictionary skills, finding the meaning ofa word in the context

- teaching strategies like aska friend/look in two books/askthe teacher

- cultural studies

- bottom up approach – sentence structure phonics, grammar, spelling, vocabulary,word parts

- top down approach – background knowledge, skimming, predictions, etc.

- drama

- student presentations

- teacher lectures

- English only

- contact assignments with native speakers

- physical response

- visual organizers like KWL or mind maps

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- games and activities, stations

- journals – What topics were you asked to write about?

- reading logs and journals

- poetry

- writing paragraphs and essays – what topics were you asked to write about?

- reading novels and short stories – What themes? Authors? Country of origin?

- making personal connections to readings

- reading non-fiction articles– What topics? Authors? Country of origin?

- analysing readings

- lexical approach – teaching which words fit with which words, whole phrases, ‘meaningful mouthfuls’

- combining skills – reading leading to writing or presentations

- student choice of content ormeans of presenting learning

- student centred approach

- teacher centred approach

- mastery system

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- grades based system

- formative assessment

- significant homework – please describe

- copying

- oral reading

- drawing (and telling or writing)

- penmanship

- memorization

- teaching functional languageor language used in certain situations

- use of translation

- other?

Which of the particular strategies on the questionnaire do you think were most helpful and why?

How do you feel about the language instruction you received?

How often do you use your first language today? What do you use itfor?

How often do you read in your L1? What do you read?

Did you receive any formal language instruction in this language? How often was your first language used in other lessons and in theschool? How do you feel about the first language instruction you

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received? How did or does it affect you? How do you think it affects your English?

What other languages did you study or study in? Describe your experiences.

Are there any other things you think we should be looking at in terms of English education?

What would you suggest to someone who wants to gain the proficiency in English to go to a university like King’s?

As you know, we are talking to King’s College ESL students. Who doyou recommend we speak to next?

APPENDIX B

INFORMATION SHEET FOR PARTICIPANTS

REC Reference Number: KCL/11-12_241

YOU WILL BE GIVEN A COPY OF THIS INFORMATION SHEET

Teaching reading to ESL students

We would like to invite you to participate in this postgraduateresearch project. You should only participate if you want to; choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in any way.Before you decide whether you want to take part, it is

116

important for you to understand why the research is being done and what your participation will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Ask me if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information.

I am recruiting university students from King’s whose first language is not English as participants for this study on the mosteffective strategies for teaching reading to ESL students. It is hoped that the study will help to inform policies and practices designed to support speakers of English as a second language to attain a reading level that enables them to study in a university setting.

If you agree to participate you will be interviewed once for an hour to an hour and a half at a time that is convenient for you. The interviews will take place in the library of the King’s College Waterloo Campus.

There are no known risks.

Participants will have a copy of the final report upon request.

Interviews will be recorded and then transcribed by the researcher. Tapes will then be destroyed and transcripts will be stored in a password and fingerprint protected computer. Identities will be coded for confidentiality.

Researcher Catherine Dawn Johnson can be reached at Catherine.Johnson@kcl.ac.uk

It is up to you to decide whether to take part or not. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time andwithout giving a reason.

If this study has harmed you in any way you can contact King's College London using the details below for further advice and

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information: Researcher: Catherine Dawn Johnson catherine.johnson@kcl.ac.uk

Supervisor: Sharon Gewirtz sharon.gewirtz@kcl.ac.uk

In addition to withdrawing yourself from the study, you may also withdraw any data/information you have already provided upuntil March 31st, 2012.

A decision to withdraw at any time, or a decision not to take part, will not affect the standard of care you receive.

If you agree to take part you will be asked whether you are happy to be contacted about participation in future studies. Your participation in this study will not be affected should you choose not to be re-contacted.

Interviews will be recorded, subject to your permission. Recordings of interviews will be deleted upon transcription.

If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and be asked to sign a consent form.

CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPANTS IN RESEARCH STUDIES

Please complete this form after you have read the Information Sheet and/or listened to an explanation about the research.Title of Study: Teaching reading to ESL students

King’s College Research Ethics Committee Ref: KCL/11-12_241

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Thank you for considering taking part in this research. The person organising the research must explain the project to you before you agree to take part. If you have any questions arising from the Information Sheet or explanation already givento you, please ask the researcher before you decide whether to join in. You will be given a copy of this Consent Form to keep and refer to at any time.

I understand that if I decide at any time during the research that I no longer wish to participate in this project, I can notify the researchers involved and withdraw from it immediately without giving any reason. Furthermore, I understand that I will be able to withdraw my data up to March 31st 2012.

I consent to the processing of my personal information forthe purposes explained to me. I understand that such information will be handled in accordance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Participant’s Statement:

I -_____________________________________________________________________

agree that the research project named above has been explained to me to my satisfaction and I agree to take part in the study.I have read both the notes written above and the Information Sheet about the project, and understand what the research studyinvolves.

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Please tick or

Signed Date

Investigator’s Statement:I __________________________________________Confirm that I have carefully explained the nature, demands and any foreseeable risks (where applicable) of the proposed research to the participant.

Signed Date

The information you have submitted will be published as a report and you will be sent a copy if you request one. Please note that confidentiality and anonymity will be maintained and it will not be possible to identify you fromany publications.

I agree to be contacted in the future by King’s College London researchers who would like to invite me to participate in follow up studies to this project, or in future studies of a similar nature.

I agree that the research team may use my data for future research and understand that any such use of identifiable data would be reviewed and approved by a research ethics committee. (In such cases, as with this project, data would not be identifiable in any report).

I consent to my interview being recorded.

APPENDIX C - Sample of initial coding and memos

Ya, ya, I know they have a publishing house but I don't know if they have their own system. (ya) but there there systems like already formed systems of teaching children and young people

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English but in whereas in high school, and elementary school, national schools of Serbia, English is taught ... the same ways. One class up to thirty people and one teacher doing stuff from thebook, from the workbook and that's basically it.

Comparing systemsAttending private educationThough it doesn't include any national , for example in national schooling system there is not too much interaction with students. Since they are all again, a group of 30 is a lot of people, and since professors need to mark the students and they don't have time to go deeply into a single students and their

Promoting knowledge over assessment.knowldge, they just try to get the mark and that's it. Where as the language schools are responsible for a single students, every single student esecially if it is a child and the parent doesn't see the any progress, since usually children are usually encouraged to take cambridge exams in english like FC and CA thereare many of those language exams which are levels from babies to people who are needing English for work, official certificates, Cambridge has those programs like and those exams. So through those exams,

Yet promoting programs and examsMeeting English standardsparents can see how well their children are learning English and therefore being language schools are very responsible for a singlestudent. So it's much better, much better teaching in those schools. Now not all the students and their parents have funds to,to afford their children to go to such a school, so usually children who are left only learning English in their national school they don't have knowledge as good as people who went to some private or usually those are private English schools. (004)

There is a lot of comparison between their school and other school – public/private – national/languge. This quote shows the student’s perception of better programs and better teaching in private schools. I am somewhat reluctant to believe such statements as people tend to believe anything they pay for is superior to somethingthey can get for free. The design of this program is systematic, which I feel is strong, but it also incorporates testing in such a way that “demonstrates” progression, which to me is as much of a marketing tool as it is an educational one.

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Additionally, the differences the student describes between the two systems includes this testing, smaller class sizes – which I admit I see as a benefit – and the workbooks vs the Cambridge system. Both seem to be heavily textbook based, one having the “Cambridge” name, the other not. Again marketing? Smaller class size, however, does promote more teacher, student interaction, allowing teachers to give students more and more effective feedback on their skills.

APPENDIX D – Sample of thematic organization. Numbers represent pages where quotations could be found.

Translation

Translation 48

Translation 41

Translations 41

Reading translations of other texts into English. 8

Texts translated into English 38

Translation 38

Translation 39

Multilingualism

Using multiple languages in life 3

Multilingual 24

Multilingual 24

Personal Interest

Connecting with written word 15

Connecting with written word 16

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Connecting with written word 17

Personal interest – enjoyment/engagement 48

Personal interest 47

APPENDIX E – sample of chronological organization

Steps in the L2 reading process

Amit Beli Constantin Dejan

Outside theClassroomStarted reading early

X

Read in L1 X XLived in anEnglish speaking country fora period oftime (before getting into King’s)

X

Participated in standardized testing

X nationalized

X Cambridge exams

Studied at language schools or something similar

X to study for nationalized tests in English andother subjects

X Cambridge EnglishIncluding

vocabulary grammar

(in context)

listening writing sequential

instruction

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“Strictly English”

Study skills

TPR Essay

writing Write a

response ,or an opinion, or an ending

Lexical approach

mastery system

started grade 6Read books (or texts) translated into English

X

Read English books or texts

X X X

Read English magazines and newspapers

X – Nepalese or Indian written inEnglish

X

APPENDIX F

Amit

Amit describes herself as a geek, a language geek to be more accurate, one who has developed an interest in translation of text.

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From Camil, Israel, she watched her home grow from a small town toa small city with waves of immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia, the population growing so rapidly, “so half the people in the citywere not speaking Hebrew anymore”. Hebrew was her mother tongue and the language in which lessons were conducted throughout her educational career until she came to King’s to do her Master’s.

She has extensive experience with English literacy outside the classroom, perhaps due to the fact that her mother was a drama teacher and her sister, six years her senior, enjoyed teaching herto read and to speak the English language. Amit stated,

“I knew specific words which I learned from my sister. I could say I love you I could count to ten. My sister was into teaching me. I remember that there a few songs that I really really loved in English and convicted my sister to write the words for me in Hebrew but the first one we used to laugh about they was "We are the World". I used to love "We are the World". And so she wrote that in Hebrew letters and I could sing the entire song, all the lyrics, without understanding one word of it and because she wrote it in Hebrew the pronunciation was very funny for me. The way I pronounced it "Der comes a times when he a certain" the way pronounce is because I didn't know the English words so everyone laughed at me when I sang...and I just loved it.”

OO1 started reading at the age of three, and read extensively in Hebrew. Starting at the age of 10 or 11, Amit’s mother asked her what book she liked, and gave her the English translation: “ I remember the first one was the Black Tulip by Alexander Dumont which is originally in French but was very easy to find in the local library in English. And so I read it in Hebrew, liked it andtold my mom that and she gave me that. And it was nice and it was hard but because I knew the plot I could fill in the gaps.” Amit then set herself the goal of reading Lord of the Rings, and other texts followed, though sometimes Amit had to put a text down and return to it years later when she had acquired the reading level.

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Music and books were not the only media that interested Amit. Certainly her vocabulary and understanding of lexicon and structure must have expanded with her love of American television.Israeli TV had subtitles, not the dubbing typically used in international television, and thus Amit undoubtedly picked up a great deal of language from the various shows she watched :

“So I think television made a very big difference. Thinking what was it I watched as a young child - Little House on thePrairie. There was that, there was A-Team, and Love boat...

We were probably watching the same things!

And then I got into British humour - Black Adder and Yes Prime Minister. Are You Being Served, and British humour? Subtitled children's shows. ALF.

ALF was really popular in the eighties...

I am an eighties girl.

Small Wonder.. (sings) she's a small wonder...about a robot girl.

That sounds familiar to me but I'd have to go on you tube...

The father's an inventor and he invents a robot that looks just like a girl.

The song actually is what....

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Smurfs, actually I watched...

Smurfs were French originally, weren't they....

I think that was actually one that was dubbed. I think....

Transformers, I watched a lot of Transformers.... so there you go.”

Certainly, Amit’s parents were a big influence on her as they feltthat she needed English in order to go on to complete her education as well as to become a “Citizen of the World”. Educationwas important for both the family and the society in which Amit grew up in. English was thought to be important for education. Butwhat’s more, Amit states” I think my mother often used the term, which she learned from my grandfather which is citizen of the world. You need to be a citizen of the world. Be open minded.” Indeed, Amit’s parents spoke Hebrew in the home, and German when they didn’t want the kids to understand them, this bilingualism also undoubtedly supporting Amit’s aptitude for languages.

Other experiences outside the classroom helped shaped Amit’s ability in English. This included time spent studying for the national psychometric test at a private institute. This, used to place students at university, was not just English, but rather the language was a component along with Hebrew and other subjects.Additionally, as many Israeli students do, Amit took a job as a flight attendant for four years while she was studying. This time allowed her to increase her conversation skills by communicating with other English speakers, and thus, I would argue her vocabulary and structure. Amit also suggests that she has experience communicating online through video games. And finally, before attending King’s, Amit lived in London for six years building her language skills and her confidence. During this time she also worked in an English language setting, a great challenge for her:

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“I think the next stage was to be able to work in an Englishspeaking environment. Which doesn't sound like much but it'sa huge step forward. I think I could communicate very well if I was speaking to someone specific but, I remember sitting in the office, we were in an open space. I had my entire team around me and everyone at their own desk, but there was constant conversation around me and I remember trying to figure out how can I concentrate on what it is that I am doing while at the same time trying to hear what people are saying around me and figuring out if they are saying something that is relevant for me. That I should be hearing. And it's something that you just naturally do in your own language and you never think about it and I remember physically trying to constrain, I could not do boththings at the same time...and I remember coming back home, sitting on the sofa and then staying at that position til the next morning. I was so completely incapable of being...Iwas so physically exhausted.

I find being in another culture, whether I know the languageor not. Even if I don't know the language at all, exhausting...

Physically exhausting. The need to sit and concentrate for many hours. I think it was about 3 months before I was able to not do the sofa ritual as my husband used to call it. I just could not move, I was just so exhausted.”

Amit started her formal English education at the age of ten, several years after her formal Hebrew education started. Her elementary experience found her in a streamed English program, during which she was at the most challenging level. Amit’s teachers taught English as a subject, not all subjects in English, as other subjects were taught in Hebrew. During her elementary years, Amit’s teachers used a variety of practices in

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the English classroom including studying the alphabet, focusing onoral and aural skills, and English grammar as well as working withtextbook exercises. Teachers also incorporated music and English songs into their lessons.

Amit was streamed into the highest level of English from middle school. At this level, Amit’s lessons in English became more engaging. Teachers used strategies such as book reports, studying rhetorical patterns, using music and film, and examining English text. Yet Amit had at least one teacher whose choices in materialsand subject matter were particularly engaging:

“Amit: I remember her classes specifically because she did two things which I enjoyed. One is taking modern songs and letting us learn them. It was great. Either songs which are originally English, not many of them (59:57) but sometimes song which are popular in Hebrew and she translated them forus. Possibly not the best translation in the world but it was very engaging. I remember the song that won, the song that represented Israel in the your vision song contest herewhich was a nice song for the time. Folk song so she translated into English and we were all singing it in English so I remember that clearly. And the other part of the curriculum was stories and I don`t know if this was her specific choice or if it was something that was handed down to her. I think that teachers got a pool of stories they could choose from. And the specific stories she chose just stuck with me afterwards. And I remember many of them. Thereis “All Summer in a Day’ which I just love.

Dawn: Ray Bradbury, I have taught that story.

Amit: Ray Bradbury, classic science fiction. Ray Bradbury isone of the forefathers of science fiction. It`s a wonderful story, with all its implications and there is a story called`My Secret War of Idioms”

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Dawn: That one I am not familiar with.

Amit: Idioms is one of those concepts that are hard for young children and new immigrants who learn them cause it does not mean what it literally means and how children oftentranslate it and understand idioms literally and it was veryfunny. It was about this child and his internal war about how what he thinks when his father called his mother and said `oh I am really sorry I am going to be late I am tied up to the chair` and the little child sees Indians are dancing around his father, his father is tied to the chair in the office. And we heard about a man who left town under a cloud and wherever he went the cloud went after him and stuff. And his grandmother was very angry with the way he treated his cousin because she cried her heart out and he isspending the entire afternoon looking underneath the sofas for her heart and she cried it out. So that’s `The Secret War of Idioms`.”

Amit’s passion for narrative, theme and language play are evident here.

Amit’s experience in high school can be described by the strategies used in class – having oral tests, reading and analyzing English texts, as well as engaging in standardized matriculation exams. However, the texts she was asked to work withincluded All My Sons by George Bernard Shaw, a text that Amit describes as “very heavy”, then going on to qualify with, “[i]t`s not itself extremely heavy but the meanings there’s a tree that`s been struck down which symbolizes the death of the son and there`slots of symbolism.” I dare say that this text is as difficult if not more than the texts that many mother tongue students are askedto analyse at this level both in England and in Canada.

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Amit was exempted from English study at the university level due to her abilities. She was required to read English texts, but her classes continued to be taught primarily in Hebrew.

Finally, classroom strategies that Amit discussed but did not pinpoint a level at which she experienced them included teachers encouraging a volume of reading, and having studied multiple languages at school including Arabic and Spanish.

When asked what she would recommend to someone who wants to gain the reading proficiency, the academic proficiency in English to goto a university like King`s, Amit’s response was clear.:

” They take the book they liked as a child as children and read it in English. I think it worked really well for me. And you don`t feel it at the beginning. You start and it feels really really hard and you don`t feel that you are improving but the more, but I really believe that reading a lot improves your abilities. Your vocabulary and your grammar. It will not improve your conversational skills, butthat’s something completely different. A different set of skills. And I think reading is a first step to being able towrite in English.”

APPENDIX G

Beli

At first, Beli wasn’t sure that she belonged in my study. She didn’t see herself as an English as a second language speaker. Herhesitancy gave me pause to think, but when I finally asked her if English was her mother tongue, she stated that it wasn’t and therefore agreed to meet with me.

Hailing from Kathmandu, Nepal, Beli remarked that English was her favorite subject because of her strength in the subject, the good grades she received, and her interest in languages in general.

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Outside the classroom, Beli had many English language learning experiences just as Amit had, but they may not have been quite as extensive nor quite as deep. But that is not to say that they wereany less significant. Like Amit, Beli heard multiple languages in the home including Nepali, the national language and Newari, Beli’s mother tongue. Beli shared the fact that her parents encouraged her in Nepali as a child, speaking to her in the language, while speaking Newari with each other. Thus Beli picked up both languages.

Nepalese society promotes English as a means to economic success. Indeed, when asked why she thought there was a focus on English, Beli stated:

“It`s important in the subcontinent regions. The Indian subcontinent regions to know English. To get into the professional world. I wouldn`t say its being the keys for every successful person from the subcontinent or people evenhave these issues. But if you want to work in offices, in companies, it`s important to know English. Mostly because it`s the language of business. You have to communicate outside the subcontinent or even within the subcontinent, and you would communicate with them in English. Maybe you work with them, you email them, it would have to be in. English.

So the goal was international business, and the language wasEnglish for that.

I think it is also because the region is not economically prosperous so to become more rich, or have more wealth it was important to know English. To mostly trade with the US and ....speaking English...Australia.”

Just as Amit had been drawn to English media, so had Beli. She admitted to having read small amounts of poetry, including Emily Dickenson, and having watched English movies and television, but

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she was more captivated by magazines. Interestingly, the publications she read were not American or British sources, but Nepalese and Indian, written in English:

“I read magazines like Sports Star. Have you heard of it?So Sports Star is a publication of this very big and very revered newspaper called The Hindu. It`s a right wing newspaper I think and they also publish Sports Star, about all sports that are going on all over the world. It would bemostly about cricket because India is obsessed with Cricket,so Sports Star is an Indian magazine. And they would have articles on football and other stuff. And later tennis and so on. So I use to read them a lot. And famous channel reporters and commentators they would write in the magazine,so I grew up reading a lot of writing by these kinds of writers. And even Nepalese entertainment magazines. There was one called Wave which was about personal stories and music, things like that. “

Beli’s range of English experiences at school were as extensive asAmit’s, if not more so as her primary language of instruction was English, for all her subjects, and this trend continued through touniversity.

Beli began studying English in a formal, private educational setting at the age of 4, indeed she had to think whether she started studying English or Nepali first. Beli’s primary language of instruction was English, for all her subjects, and this trend continued through to university. From preschool she was studying the alphabet and basic English vocabulary. Teachers taught in English but would occasionally return to Nepali. Students worked from textbooks, and as they got older students read English and wrote personal connections to these texts. Further they wrote paragraphs, studied word parts and structures in addition to watching films in class.

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Many of these tasks were repeated in middle school including the texts and their connections, as well as studying word parts and structures. When asked whether literary analysis was engaged in inclass, Beli felt that was not exactly what they were doing:

“It was comprehension, starting sixth. We had this subject called Essay and Comprehension I think. The book was Indian but I think it was influenced by some British writer or something like that. So we had to comprehend the essay and answer questions a little differently. Look at some part of a paragraph, comprehend what a noun was, starting from sixthgrade...sixth onwards was a little different. I wouldn`t exactly say analysis, comprehension, what it means, you know, our own kind of understanding. It wasn`t maybe analysis.”

Similarly, in high school, they focused texts, textbooks and writing personal connections to the written word. Standardized state exams became a focus. When asked for a description of the strategies used in class, Beli recalled the methods of one particular teacher:

“He would mostly read out texts himself. Sometimes he would ask us to read, every student to read. We were just 15 in our class. He would ask us to read, but mostly he would readthe text himself, and he would ask us to underline things and give us meanings and then he would explain what the paragraph means and the connection with the earlier paragraph, things like that.”

Her lessons in university included similar tasks to what she must have been now familiar with, including reading English texts, sometimes orally in class, but analysis as well as writing about those texts. Beli’s experience of primarily English language delivery continued into university:

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“Ya, I took media studies, English literature and psychology. But everything was taught in English. I had compulsory English also, and I had something called additional English. Because I had studied in Nepal and I didmy undergrad in India. In Nepal I only studied Nepali, I never studied Hindi. Although it is written in the same script and I can read Hindi, I might even be able to write it but because I had never taken a class in Hindi I had to take additional English, apart from English literature and compulsory English I had additional English. Which again hadthe same things like stories and essays and things like that. “

Other strategies that Beli experienced at some time during her educational career included rote learning, and having her comprehension checked, a method that she felt her teachers were quite strong at. She also mentioned that her teachers liked to useoral reading, and encouraged their students to read slowly, possibly to promote pronunciation. Finally, Beli felt that her teachers had encouraged reading a large volume of English texts, but that she had not truly taken this recommendation to heart.

Finally, when asked what she would recommend to someone who wants to be able to gain the reading proficiency needed to be a strong enough reader in English to go to a university like King’s, Beli stated:

“I think I got here without reading much. But my schooling in terms of languages was pretty good. Only in terms of English and Nepali, I must say. But to go to a good university like King`s I would say you have to read a lot ifyou are planning to take English literature, for example. Even things like education, I think it`s important to read alot to know your grammar and know your vocabulary. And to beable to analyse things well, you know. To have wit, which I

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am not saying is the best thing but I think it`s good. The more you can talk well, the more it shows that you have reada lot, I feel.

And when you say read a lot.

I mean everything, books, all kinds of books, I just don`t mean classics, I mean everything. Good books, things you getat Oxfam, maybe.”

APPENDIX H

Constantin

Constantin attributes his English skills to being in a constant state of being able to practice his English. Like his fellow participants, he started studying English in elementary school andcontinued through to university.

Constantin hails from the capital of Romania, Bucharest, with a population of approximately 2 million people. His native tongue isRomanian and the language that was spoken by his parents in the home.

Constantin shared his fellow respondents` support for the study ofthe English language at home. Indeed, Constantin stated that his father spoke four languages – Romanian, English, French and Spanish –mainly due to his profession as a sailor. His parents encouraged him in other ways as well, including seeing that he hadone-on-one English tutoring as a pre-school, aged 6 or 7 year old child.

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In high school he joined the debate team and this experience went a long way to shaping his English skills, particularly his speaking and his reading:

``I joined the debate club and sometimes we would go to international competitions which are obviously in English, so besides ll we were doing in class which was not, was ok, but not that much, a lot of people in class, teacher - good but not great, so on and so forth, um so, once I had to prepare for the competition so it was rather read Economist,Newsweek, so on and so forth. English magazines pretty frequently in English and I had to speak at competitions. Again pretty frequently. ``

I think it is important to highlight that the texts that Constantin was reading at this point are written at a grade 10 to 12 level and thus he was reading at the same level as a native English language speaker of the same grade level.

But Constantin`s use of authentic English did not stop there. Constantin also worked in English, during his first degree, havingto communicate with native speakers when he helped organized the first ever university fair in Romania.

And finally I feel it is significant to note that Constantin and Icounted him able to communicate in up to six different languages, and spent six months in Italy learning Italian to the level of being able to take his exams in the language.

Constantin`s formal education in English began when he was in the 4th grade when he started to study English as a foreign language. He remembered experiencing games and activities in elementary.

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Constantin compared his middle school English classes favourably to his other courses, saying that he felt it was his language teachers (including French teachers) who brought more interactive methods into the classroom. He still studied English as a foreign language, and strategies were a mix of textbook study, the occasional film about an English culture, paired with discussion. I noticed a distinct lack of focus on text which contrasted with participants Amit and Beli.

But his English instruction really took wing in high school where he continued to study the English as a Foreign Language. Like respondents Amit and Beli, Constantin read a great deal in high school, though he intimates that it had more to do with debate than with what he was learning in class. And like Amit, Constantinfocussed a great deal of time and energy on analysis of texts. He is still a big enthusiast of critical thinking . Also like his fellow respondents, he notes a focus on standardized testing, in his case using the Cambridge ESOL system:

``In high school I think we were doing like the complete thing, cause we were also preparing for we had our Cambridgeexam in 10th or 11th grade or something. So therefore some, I don`t know if I can say most of our English lessons were also focused on that so we would have speaking, listening, reading comprehension , all the types of work that were included. The tests so we can be better prepared for that. So that was how lessons would look like that assignments like had to write argumentative essays, so on and so forth. More complete from this point of view. ``

Other strategies that Constantin`s teachers used at the high school level included modeling structure, promoting group work, teaching study skills, and using translation. Constantin`s class also had native language speakers on occasion with whom they were able to practice their conversation skills. Indeed, Constantin`s language classes at this level were largely English only. Something that wasn`t mentioned by other participants, American

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and British culture were taught as separate classes from English for Constantin at this level.

His university experience was different from either Amit or Beli. At this level, Constantin was expected to read in English, like both of his fellow respondents. However, when it came to lectures and discussions, teachers and students had some flexibility:

Constantin: And in university I did all the subjects in English in Romanian. I was in a English track of political science. And we would do our assignments and the courses thelarge majority of them in English, in university.

Dawn: So that must have been a big switch from high school to university. Did you feel comfortable?

Constantin: Cause the teachers were speaking really poor English. They were trying their best (ya, but they were struggling with the English themselves) Ya. But it was helpful a little bit cause we had to read in English more than we did in high school, so that was helpful.

Dawn: And could you go to Romanian if you needed to talk about something. Or was it very strict?

Constantin: No, no, we could always switch to Romanian. Not very strict. And we had some teachers that either they were teaching both Romanian and English classes so they were doing it in Romanian sometimes, like maybe 25% of the classes we did in Romanian even though we were the English track.

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Strategies that Constantin`s teachers used at some point over his English language career included more teacher centered methods than what Constantin had experienced in the past, a focus on grammar and vocabulary including lexicon, student presentations, teacher lectures, reading a variety of texts, including poetry on occasion, reading orally, rote memorisation on occasion, and , formative feedback from teachers. Constantin also studied multiplelanguages as a student which I feel is neurologically and sociallysignificant.

Finally, when asked what he would suggest to someone who wants to gain the academic proficiency in English to go to a university like Kings, Constantin`s answer was complex but focussed on debate:

I especially Western Europe and more precisely Anglo-Saxon the Anglo-Saxon ...in university is very keen on critical thinking skills. So and they have that in the admission theyhave that strongly, in the admission application so besides knowing enough English this is the main thing that somebody needs to learn to get into King’s or whatever other top British or American university that is this part of criticalthinking, reasoning, argumentative, doing argument, argumentation in English. And you can gain that in various ways, not necessarily, debating is of course a good idea. But besides that, reading reading journals, and by journals I mean for example the ones that I mentioned even if you don’t do debating. Stuff like the Economist, like foreign policies, so on and so forth, they’re often balanced. They have editorials arguing for one side or the other, heated economic or political debates, so on and so forth. So that is a good way to understand and to see what it is all about and how is it phrased it’s also you can see there, it’s not exactly, it’s really close to academic writing. And I think ya sometimes there is actually academic writing in the articles. That sort of journalism is pretty close to what isrequired would be required for a students. I think that would be the most important thing in terms of English

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coupled with that. That is would be the number one thing youneed to learn. So if for example, if I was saying training somebody in English and something else with the view of going to university. I would employ rather methods of teaching that would develop for him or her this part of independent thinking, creative thinking. Critical thinking and arguing. I would employ more of that. More much, more group work, more essay writing, argumentative, getting feedback from that, Discussions, debates given in class, notnecessarily formalized but discussions , why is that, why isnot, so on and so forth, ...developing critical thinking. Embedded in the English that you teach in order to get to universities, universities such as King’s .

APPENDIX I

Dejan

Systems were what Dejan claimed to be the cause for his success inEnglish. The Cambridge ESOL system and the International Baccalaureate program were what seemed to be the two that most supported his abilities, the former more than the latter which he actually claimed worsened his English grammar skills. While Dejan claimed that he was able to focus on his writing at this level, I would argue that IB boosted his reading comprehension skills.

Dejan is from Belgrade, Serbia, a city of approximately 2 million people. His mother tongue is Serbian; it was the language that he spoke at home and the language that he studied in until he reachedthe high school level. Dejan was the only participant in this study who was currently at the undergraduate level. All others were working at the Master’s level at the time that this study occurred. Though he didn’t see active parental support for his

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English, I would argue that he was encouraged by his parents to study English:

Only influence they had is that they wanted me to learn English because Serbia was a Communist country when they were kids and so the languages there were Esperanto and Russian mainly. Foreign languages. The first one was Russianand that age there was still idea for Esperanto as international language but it it failed. Later Serbian but there was no use of that but they learn Russian mainly and none of them speak English but they wanted me to learn English as the language that has become through the years the international language.

The social support that he alludes to becomes more critical when he talks about the changes that he sees in the streets of his country and in the younger generations:

For every day use. For media, for everyday use. For let's say business, but not that much. It's mostly because of theeveryday occurrence with English. Because nowadays you - most of the shops have names in English which is ridiculous in my opinion. Restaurants, shops - many places like to be modern and everything and they get English names and all that kind of stuff. So basically if a young person in Serbiadoesn't know English they can find themselves very embarrassed in society from time to time. Especially in capital where most of the things is now popular and being westernized.

Ya so it's a westernization , a modernization is the word you were using.

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Ya you can say but again modern you could relate modern to French culture, to Paris or something fashion, but it's morewesternized from America. And England.

Dejan had extensive and intensive experiences outside the English classroom. Like Constantin, he received one-on-one tutoring from a young age, and like Amit he listened to English music and like Amit and Beli he spent time watching English television . Dejan also spent two summers travelling to Ireland to practice his English communication skills with native speakers and non-native speakers alike.

Significantly, Dejan spent years studying at a language school that utilized the Cambridge ESOL program. Over the course of that program he experienced several teaching methods and strategies that benefitted his reading either directly or indirectly including a focus on vocabulary and grammar in context, sometimes using the lexical approach, a focus on listening and writing, including essays, reader’s response, opinion writing and writing the endings to stories. Study skills were taught. Teachers employed methods that included using sequential instruction, totalphysical response and “strictly English” in the classroom, though the latter was not aggressively enforced:

Ya and because professor wouldn't reply to you if you talk to her in Serbian as kids we would always try to speak in Serbian but she wouldn't reply and allow us to use Serbian.

Finally, grades were not the assessment focus in the Cambridge. Mastery of language was more the goal. However, the Cambridge system did have an extensive system of exams that Dejan participated in but did not seem to place much emphasis on.

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Constantin also experienced this system, but within the formal education curriculum, unlike Dejan who took Cambridge learning in addition to his pre-high school state schooling.

One last experience that Dejan had that was significant and generally varied from his fellow participants was the amount of motivation he found for communicating online. Dejan stated that heperformed a lot of his reading practice via computer:

Well to be honest I never did really do any serious reading in English. I wasn't interested in reading English books. I had done plenty of English through internet, reading blogs, reading websites all that stuff was reading English all the time. So I wasn't really particular interested in reading , English books…. And I think the most, because I did a lot ofreadings through the internet, it has enhanced my reading capabilities.

Dejan’s formal English education started in elementary school around the age of seven. He recalls similar methods to some of hisfellow participants including the memorization that Constantin discussed and focussing on grammar. Further, Dejan experienced a teacher centered approach songs and textbooks in the classroom; other texts were generated from online sources.

Middle school saw a similar focus on grammar; at this point in hisEnglish repertoire Dejan seemed to place far more value on his language school experiences than on those offered in his national school:

At grade 6 I started going to that one of the language schools it was held by one of the professors who worked in yelementary school, but she opened up her own school and theywere pretty great because she had great experience, she learned in England for some time. (35:39) Her sister lives in the highlands so she spends lots of time outside also.

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She was very very educated woman and very good English speaker and she introduced all those Cambridge systems to us, exams and blah, blah, blah. And books and everything andby the system we were required to do everything, to do grammar, to do reading, writing and that period my grammar got even better and my writing skills improved by far. During that period, where as in still in national system it was ridiculous English, completely useless classes and therewas about the after school…. Ya like that, it would be like,from the book it would be a lesson regarding either some grammar or some reading, but usually they would be connecting, as you said, present perfect or something, and then there would be a text regarding to that. There would besome tasks to do, like to correct some sentences and everything. Fill in the gaps, then write a short essay, so it's...using, it would force us to use everything that we learned during that lesson. (ok) so we did learning and practicing at the same time in one, in one lecture.

Dejan’s first year of high school saw him in a language stream during which time he was expected to study multiple languages – English, French, German and Russian. This only lasted for one year, however for though the policy was two years in this nationalprogram and then on, Dejan was permitted to complete just one yearof the program and then go on to his studies in International Baccalaureate. The IB program was meant to be in English, using English language to analyze and discuss English media generated texts like newspapers and magazines as well as textbooks, though often teachers and students were reliant on Serbian to communicatein class. Other forms of media and technology in the classroom included the use of computers for writing and listening, as well as the viewing of English films. But the student centered focus onwriting, including allowing students to choose their own subjects,group work and study skills may well have supported his reading skills. Students presented and engaged in games and activities. Teachers lectured and graded the work that students gave them, andhelped students to perfect their writing skills in details such aspenmanship and spelling.

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At the time of this interview, Dejan was into his second semester at King’s, studying computer sciences. He stated that the little reading that he had to do in his coursework was at a level and volume at which he had no problem being successful.

However, there were a few strategies that Dejan had encountered atsome point during his academic career, but did not specify at whatpoint in time he had done so. Two that he shared with Constantin included oral reading, and the use of poetry in the classroom. Other applications that he encountered over time included the use of graphic organizers, combining language skills – reading with writing, for example – and the use of dictionary skills.

Finally, when asked regarding the one thing he would tell a student wanting to go to King's, the one strategy you would suggest in order to use to bring up their reading to university level, Dejan didn’t think there was one due to the years of work that he engaged in to bring his language skills up to university level. But when asked what he thought made the difference for him he stated:

All the systems I went through. All the systems. Because I can't say I ever, have ever took an English book and read for myself. Because I rarely read Serbian books also. Not that much. Only if I like some, my days were spent study allthe systems that I went through. Things from the internet. And ya, basically it. (ok) I think it would be very hard forsomeone to improve so quickly to be able to use reading extensively here. They would have a lot of problems. The only thing I could recommend them is to do some reading.

And when asked what could be done if you started at age 8 or 9, Dejan did have some recommendations:

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Start reading like start reading on the internet, all the stuff that you're interested in. I read about, for example, if I was interested in music and instruments I would read tons and tons and tons of forums and reviews about the instruments and articles and tons. I had plenty of reading all my life so I would suggest them, I would suggest them tostart reading books. Definitely, I didn't do it. I think that would be smart for if I did it. So would suggest them to start.

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