Scaffolding in L2 Reading: How Repitition and an Auditory Model Help Readers

Reading fluency research and practice have recently undergone some changes. While past studies and interventions focused on reading speed as their main goal, now more emphasis is being placed on exploring the role prosody plays in reading, and how listening to an audio model of a text while reading may act as a form of scaffolding, or aid, to reading comprehension. This article explores how two elements unique to repeated reading (RR) practices likely provide scaffolding for L2 learners’ reading comprehension: repetitions in reading a text, and having learners read along with an audio model of the text. Scaffolding is an oft-used term in L2 education, but specific examples of it are seldom given. This article addresses scaffolding and suggests future research that can impact reading fluency intervention practices

Assisted repeated reading with an advanced-level Japanese EFL reader: A longitudinal diary study

Reading fluency has attracted the attention of reading researchers and educators since the early 1970s and has become a priority issue in English as a first language (L1) settings. It has also become a critical issue in English as a second or foreign language (L2) settings because the lack of fluency is considered a major obstacle to developing independent readers with good comprehension skills. Repeated Reading (RR) was originally devised by Samuels (1979) in order to translate Automaticity Theory (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974) into a pedagogical approach for developing English L1 readers’ fluency. Extensive research has been conducted to show the positive effects of RR in English L1 settings. A growing number of L2 reading researchers have demonstrated that RR may be a promising approach for building fluency and comprehension in L2 settings. However, while L1 research has demonstrated a robust correlation between improved reading fluency and enhanced comprehension, L2 fluency research has not yet shown such a strong correlation. In addition, most studies on reading fluency in L2 settings have used quantitative approaches and only a few of them have explored the “inside of L2 readers' brain,” that is, what is actually happening while they engage in RR. The present study attempts to reveal the inner process of L2 reading fluency development through RR for an advanced-level L2 reader who is articulate in describing her metacognitive processes. Using a diary study approach comprising more than 70 RR sessions over the course of 14 weeks, the current study investigated an L2 reader with good comprehension skills engaging in RR. This study was designed to investigate specifically how her reading fluency developed and how her comprehension changed during the course of the treatment. Based on the study findings, some issues are discussed for better RR program implementation

Articles Yakudoku EFL Instruction in Two Japanese High School Classrooms: An Exploratory Study

Despite so much being made of oral English instruction, some researchers suggest that English language instruction in japanese high schools is still dominated by yakudoku, a non-oral approach to foreign language instruction. Little detailed, descriptive research on yakudoku instruction in classrooms is to be found, and the beliefs of teachers who use yakudoku seem not to be researched at all. This exploratory study seeks to remedy this. Two high school EFL classes were observed, and the teachers interviewed. Specific classroom behaviors of the teachers were analyzed and coded, and teachers' beliefs, as revealed through interviews, matched with their behaviors. It was found that in focusing on linguistic forms, teachers demanded conformity in students' work. It was also found that the students focused the bulk of their attention on the japanese translations of the English text, rather than the English text itself. The study, while exploratory in nature, and thus flawed, creates a basis for further research into this linle studied aspect of EFL instruction in japanese high schools

A near peer review task for Japanese language learning / Hiroaki Umehara and Greta Gorsuch

Although much research exists on peer correction practices in ESL/EFL settings (e.g., De Guerrero &Villamil, 2000; Ikeda, 2002; Mendoca & Johnson 1994), little research focuses on this practice in Japanese language classes (Ikeda, 2002). Mendoca and Johnson (1994) expressed the need to explore what actually occurs during peer correction, particularly as second language learning tasks. In order to fill this gap in the literature, this study investigated a near peer review task, an extension of peer correction tasks. Here, intermediate learners of Japanese were recorded as they graded the written homework of their near-peers (high beginning learners) enrolled in a different class in a large university in the U.S. As they corrected grammar-focused homework of their near peers, the two participants used their L1s and L2s (Japanese) creatively to discuss linguistic issues raised by the beginning level learners’ responses on the homework, and also to manage their affective interaction. While negotiating meaning, often in Japanese, they focused on specific linguistic forms, which is thought to be a condition in which second languages are acquired. Consistent with previous findings on the benefits of peer correction tasks, this study suggests the usefulness of near peer correction tasks, which integrate focus on form and meaning