The CATESOL Journal

Extensive reading (ER) is a research and theory–supported approach for language and reading development in an additional language, yet its implementation is limited, particularly in English-dominant contexts. This article addresses many of the uncertainties and perceived obstacles to adding ER to a language curriculum. After reviewing relevant aspects of L2 learning in general, L2 reading more specifically, and the compelling results of recent research on ER itself, the author provides suggestions regarding the implementation of ER. These include addressing issues of the teacher’s role, ER materials, and assessment.

This pilot study examined multilingual university students’ willingness to engage in voluntary extensive reading (ER) of books after they received training. The research questions were whether training appeared to promote self-efficacy, motivation for the task, use of metacognitive strategies, and independent reading. University freshmen in an ESL reading and writing course participated in the project. The ER training included: (a) framing the ER task through stories of struggle and emotional appeal, and (b) introducing independent reading strategies. Surveys were used to collect data. Findings showed that students had beliefs of self-efficacy related to English book reading after the training, and they made considerable progress in their voluntary reading by the end of the course. The strategies that students found most helpful were selecting books for themselves, keeping records of their progress, and staying focused. Participants anticipated that ER would help them with academic literacy.

This study examined the extent to which graded readers vis-à-vis scaffolded silent reading (ScSR) resulted in increased vocabulary, reading comprehension, and a positive attitude toward reading. A mixed-methods study was administered to two upper-intermediate adult ESL classes at a community college in southwestern Arizona. Both groups took The Vocabulary Size Test and TABE Complete Language Assessment System–English. The treatment group selected and read graded readers, met individually with the instructor, and kept a journal; in addition, several students from the treatment group were interviewed at the beginning and end of the study. Descriptive statistics were used on the pre- and posttests. The findings were promising and showed some growth in vocabulary and reading comprehension for both the treatment and control groups. Furthermore, participants of the treatment group expressed a positive attitude toward reading graded readers through scaffolded silent reading. As a result, this study demonstrated that graded readers used with scaffolded silent reading show promise with this student population.

Motivation is thought to contribute to better text comprehension (Grabe, 2009), but L2 reading motivation of adult ESL students in the US is an underexplored area of research. The current study adopted self-determination theory—the concepts of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and controlled motivation, in particular—to examine IEP students’ motivation to read in English. The study also explored the relationship between the students’ L2 reading motivation and classroom instruction. The survey results of the study indicate that these students’ motivation to read was characterized more strongly by two relatively autonomous forms of motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation and identified regulation). The content of the reading and engaging in peer discussions stood out as the classroom experiences that affected the students’ motivation to read in English. Pedagogical implications based on the study outcomes include providing the students with opportunities to compare their L1 and L2 reading experiences.

Listening comprehension is an essential and challenging skill for language learners, and listening instruction can also be a challenge for language instructors, since they have little access to the listening process inside students’ minds. Greater knowledge about what learners perceive when they listen could help language teachers better tailor their instruction to student needs. In this mixed-methods study, students at 2 proficiency levels participated in a listening test based on Field’s paused transcription method (2008a, 2008c, 2011). Results were analyzed quantitatively on the basis of student and text level, word class, and articulation rate. Transcription errors were analyzed qualitatively to identify patterns of mishearing. Paused transcription is recommended as a classroom activity to identify and raise awareness of student listening challenges.

This study analyzed the grammatical control of verbs exercised by 145 monolingual English and Generation 1.5 bilingual developmental writers in narrative essays using quantitative and qualitative methods. Generation 1.5 students made more errors than their monolingual peers in each category investigated, albeit in only 2 categories was the difference statistically significant. Yet the overall effect was cumulative: The total number of verb errors in the essays of bilinguals was statistically larger than that in the essays of monolinguals. Both monolingual and bilingual writers inappropriately transferred the features of spoken English into the written medium, and both displayed difficulties in the appropriate use of the perfect aspect. However, Generation 1.5 learners also exhibited ESL-like traits in their writing, demonstrating a weak control of verbal inflection. The findings suggest that explicit grammar instruction may be warranted in all Developmental Writing classes, especially those with large proportions of Generation 1.5 learners.

Translanguaging is a rapidly developing concept in bilingual education. Working from the theoretical background of dynamic bilingualism, a translanguaging lens posits that bilingual learners draw on a holistic linguistic repertoire to make sense of the world and to communicate effectively with texts. What is relatively underdeveloped is the pedagogical aspects of translanguaging. This classroom-based study conducted in the southeastern US asks 2 questions: (a) How might teachers create a translanguaging space for students, and (b) what would this space look like? The authors, 1 classroom teacher and 1 researcher, engaged emergent bilingual students in small group reading of a culturally relevant text and observed students’ active participation through strategic and fluid translanguaging practices. The authors argue that the linguistic norms of schooling should reflect the discursive norms of emergent bilingual students, and that teachers create translanguaging spaces as a path to educational equity

In California adult schools, standardized language assessments are typically administered to adult English as a second language (ESL) students upon enrollment; students then take these same state-approved tests throughout the academic year to demonstrate progress. As these tests assess only listening and reading skills, schools may use their own internally developed assessments to more accurately place students and subsequently to determine level promotion. Engaged in participatory action research, the researcher interviewed adult school staff to document their varying assessment policies and procedures of adult ESL learners, highlighting the agency-created assessments that provide critical information of students’ language proficiencies and achievements. This study underscores the discrepancies between the state’s policies and actual pedagogical needs, and it proposes ways to reconstruct how ESL assessment is conducted, such as making available a wider, more comprehensive base of assessments for schools to use, and proposing an updated, common set of standards for use statewide.

While a practicum is usually regarded as a place to practice teaching, or as a place to turn what one has learned in the classroom into real practice, an observational practicum can also substantially further one’s professional growth. Indeed, an observational practicum can be an ideal site for novice ESOL practitioners to develop the groundwork of praxis, which requires reflection and action in teaching to provide students with meaningful L2 learning. Drawing from scholastic literature in TESOL and her own observational practicum experience, the author advocates conducting an observational practicum as a means to practice seeing teaching before intensively doing teaching.