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Self-concept in L2 reading in an academic context

Self-concept in L2 reading in an academic context. Carolyn Walker University of Exeter. What is academic self-concept?. Traditionally - investigated with self-report instruments e.g : Self perception of competence Perceptions of difficulty Affect towards the activity

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Self-concept in L2 reading in an academic context

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  1. Self-concept in L2 reading in an academic context Carolyn Walker University of Exeter

  2. What is academic self-concept? • Traditionally - investigated with self-report instruments e.g: • Self perception of competence • Perceptions of difficulty • Affect towards the activity • Importance of the activity Alternatively: a category of discourse - self talk varies acc. context (Harré 1998)  very wide view; underpins mixed methods

  3. Purpose and methods of research • Questions: what elements make up students’ L2 reading self-concepts? How do these self-concepts change over a course of study? How might L2 reading self-concepts vary? • Students (104) on Grad Dip course in Management & Finance (2009/10) • Questionnaire x 2 on reading and learning • Interviews x 3 times (3 high language, 6 low language participants)

  4. Key findings from the quant data • Perception of competence increased significantly over the period • Perception of competence change: a way of grouping interview data: high-high; low-low; low-high • Assessment impacted on self concepts • reading associated with learning Perception of competence Perception of difficulty Affect towards reading • Value of reading

  5. The story of L2 reading Academic context Based on Pollard & Filer (1996) • Who? Self-identity • Cultural identity, material circumstances and significant others • Intellectual, physical, cultural and linguistic resources • General self-views • Future life plan • How? Learning stance • Motivation (value, affect) • Initial competence • Strategies • Persistence • What? Learning outcomes • Assessment: scores; impact on self-views • What was learnt (latercompetence) • How? Learning in the social setting • New cultural context • Learning support • What? Learning challenges • Texts read • Difficulties (process, language , study reading)

  6. Emily: low-high competence Self-identity: Vietnamese; low language; illiterate hard-working parents, highly successful siblings; clear life plan Learning stance: highly motivated, talked of making efforts; positive affect, read to gain knowledge & enjoyed finding new words; early low competence but believed reading was best skill; persisted in the face of difficulty: Motivation/affect: “…you go to the mountain, at the top of the mountain it’s very difficult but the size is very...extraordinary, you can see a lot of things…and the sky, the cloud, many animals like the bear the giraffe or anything which is very excited… that is the refund if you try your best in the most difficult words…(it’s) rewarding because the more difficult the more knowledge you can get from this…” [T2] “Step by step” strategy: “so I have the way that I told you before, just step by step …just take erm .. half an hour for one page that is very difficult and then let it out later tomorrow you can finish [um] it’s .. the most .. I think ..the most…. the most perfect plan that I do for difficult material” [T2] • Emily succeeded in her aim to progress to a masters course

  7. Zac: low-low competence Self-identity: Chinese single child, successful parents, in awe of father, pessimistic outlook Challenge: focussed on vocab & comprehension (not scale/nature of academic reading): “Still also difficult is vocabulary and also some structure some long sentence” [T2] Learning stance: negative affect; did not persist in reading: “when you find the difficult you will worry about it and not exciting you… sometimes is terrible sometimes is boring and you want to give it up” [T2] Outcomes: poor results impacted on whole sense of self: “now one course is failed… so I can’t stay here so I think I’m a loser (sighs) ah…for students the successful is you get the results what you want [yeah] yeah so I’m not good” [T3]

  8. Implications… • Although achievement in studying in a L2 context may be dependent on language and/or cognitive ability, students’ self-beliefs and perceptions also impact on their study success • Spot possible failing students early on →better support

  9. The end Thanks for listening! Harré, R. (1998). The singular self. London: Sage Mann, S. J. (2000). The student's experience of reading. Higher Education, 39(3), 297-317. Pollard, A. & Filer, A. (1996). The social world of children’s learning. London: Cassell. Walker, C.R. (2013). What students talk about when they talk about reading: a study of self-concept in reading in a second or foreign language. Ed. D. TESOL Dissertation, University of Exeter. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/13321

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