French 611, German 631, Spanish 643 Conclusions

1. French 611, German 631, Spanish 643Conclusions Brian Gill April 2005 http://fis.ucalgary.ca/Brian

2. What we set out to cover • L2 or L1 Reading • Logographic, syllabic and alphabetic scripts • Top-down and bottom-up • Strategies • Memory • Eye movement • Types of reading • Text Types • Vocabulary Acquisition • Technology

3. What we discovered • L2 Reading comprehension is a complex process. • Studies are: • Very numerous • Often inconclusive or contradictory because of small sample sizes • Bewilderingly difficult to compare because of the variety of parameters (age, setting, level, L1, L1 reading ability, text characteristics…)

4. Many Previous Findings Are Confirmed in Recent Studies • Background knowledge (content schemata) plays an essential role in reading comprehension. • Rhetorical organization (formal schemata) plays a role. • The short-circuit hypothesis remains robust • Teaching reading strategies improves comprehension. • Fluent reading requires a large vocabulary. • The physical reading process (saccades & fixations) and the role of working memory are fairly clear.

5. A Major Change in Emphasis • Emphasis has shifted in the last ten years from a belief that we should primarily teach top-down techniques to a belief we should concentrate more on bottom-up techniques (Birch, 2002). However, this raises many questions. • What does bottom-up really mean? • Automatic word recognition? Automatic parsing? Having vocabulary? Low-level processing? • What readers will benefit most? • What techniques can be taught? • What evidence is there that such teaching is successful?

6. And the jury is still out on: • What reading strategies we should teach first or most, and how to teach them effectively. • If we should teach specific strategies for reading to learn. • How useful glosses are. • How to improve vocabulary acquisition. • How to get students to read more.

7. Incidental vocabulary learning is inefficient. Extensive reading creates fluent Readers And what about a little Paradox?

8. Research • We have looked at various research studies and seen how they are conducted and reported on. • We have looked at how to design a research proposal (for quantitative research). • We have essentially ignored qualitative research (which is a pity). • We will now look briefly at action research as a way to consolidate what we have learned.

9. Action Research Based loosely on Grabe 2002: 155-244

10. What is it? “Action research involves the collection and analysis of data related to some aspect of our professional practice. This is done so that we can reflect on what we have discovered and apply it to our professional action. This is where it differs from other more traditional kinds of research, which is much more concerned with what is universally true, or at least generalisable to other contexts.” (Wallace 1998: 16-17)

11. Some Purposes for Reading-Related Action Research • Through action research, teachers can: • Determine the effectiveness of various instructional techniques (explicit vocabulary instruction, strategy training, teacher-student questioning, etc.) in improving reading comprehension. • Find out why some instructional practices seem to work well and others not, and for what reasons, with a view to modifying and remedying. • Evaluate alternative means of achieving instructional goals, experiment with them and evaluate their effectiveness. • Examine the appropriateness of assigned reading passages in terms of imagery, assumed background knowledge, grammatical complexity, length, density, vocabulary, etc. (Grabe, 2002)

12. A Sequence for Action Research (1) • Establish a purpose and a specific question. • To improve vocabulary learning. • How do I presently teach vocabulary directly? • Anticipate outcome(s). • I’ll find that my range of techniques is quite narrow, and find new techniques to incorporate into my repertoire. • Specify type of data to collect and ways to collect it. • Inventory of techniques through self-observation and reporting • Consider time implications. • I’ll need to research vocabulary-building techniques, and create a checklist (see handout)

13. A Sequence for Action Research (2) • Collect data systematically. • I’ll fill out the checklist each MWF for a month, immediately after class. • Examine, Analyze & Reflect. • I’ll check the chart, think about the patterns, notice the things I don’t do. • Generate practical solutions and experiment. • I’ll try three techniques I’ve never used and incorporate them into my lesson plans. • Share insights with colleagues. • I’ll ask colleagues about their techniques, interview them and take notes, show them my checklist, analyze the results. Maybe I’ll present at a Teachers’ Convention or Conference. • Start again at 1. with a new question. • For example: Do my students learn more vocabulary now? Are they happier?

14. And finally • After so much thinking, a celebration is in order.