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INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AMONG L2 READERS (MOTIVATION (intrinsic vs…
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AMONG L2 READERS
MOTIVATION
intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation
and
integrative vs instrumental motivation
different reasons or orientations for pursuing L2 knowledge
most scholars agree that intrinsic motivation (which can express itself either integratively or instrumentally, is more powerful than extrinsic factors
the source of motivation from within oneself, in contrast to being imposed by others
Teachers can help students address the confidence gap and develop effective reading strategies for various genres and texts if they become aware of the differences affect how people read and how successful and enjoyable those experiences based on the text, context and individual reader itself.
Important for teachers to promote and facilitate the development of intrinsic motivation (to persuade and demonstrate to students that, through their own effort, they can achieve excellence and autonomy in pursuit of their self-selected goals.
Awareness of wide range of interests that people possess, but also the seemingly infinite sources of information and entertainment, can help teachers choose topics and texts for assigned classroom reading and to build a classroom library or reading list for student-selected extensive reading.
Students may discover an interest in a new topic introduced to them through carefully-selected texts and well executed classroom activities to support texts reading. Besides that, they may also find new interests through extensive reading activities (e.g. self-selected or classmates sharing) or research projects on self-selected topics.
Teachers should not be insensitive to the interests and knowledge base of a particular student audience, nor should they assume that what interests them personally will also appeal equally to the students.
Although individual students interests should be considered during course design and text selection processes, teachers should not feel completely constrained by them.
LEARNING STYLES
Global and Analytical Learning Styles
Teachers should facilitate balanced, nuanced forms of reading experiences that meet the needs of individual learners regardless of cognitive style by using knowledge on these two learning styles and their effects
Global learners - who process information in a more holistic (top-down) way, often getting the gist of the input without paying much attention to the details
Develop an overall sense of a passage but may need access to the actual text to identify specific details
Understanding of the differences of these two learning styles should convince teachers of the importance of explaining to students that different reading tasks involve different purposes and thus call for diverse styles of reading.
Analytical learners - focus carefully on details and who move precisely and systematically through the learning process
Drawn more to bottom-up approaches to reading, only able to answer specific questions and may fail to grasp the overall meaning or message of a text
Ways to identify and evaluate students' needs, strengths and weaknesses regarding these two learning styles
Evaluate students using informal or formal assessment tools. (e.g. ask students to read a short passage at certain difficulty level and take it away from them after 10 minutes, followed by Q&A like main ideas or specific details on the passage, then we should know which styles they fall based on their response)
Ask students questions orally during class discussions. (e.g. once teachers have identified those areas, discuss them with students by the means of written assessment, one-to-one conference or class discussion of styles and strategies; then feedback followed up)
Administer questionnaires or interview students. (e.g. students who say they read a great deal in L1 and L2 may be more global learners, while those say they read slowly and frequently look up words in dictionary may be analytical)
Visual and Auditory Learners
Visual learners - those who process information best through what they see
visual-nonverbal: benefit from other types of visual information such as maps, graphs, charts and pictures
visual-verbal: process input better when words are the primary vehicle of communication
Auditory learners - whose primary mode of processing is through their ears
Several quick everyday questions can help students to identify their primary mode of input-processing.
e.g. ask how many students prefer to receive the news or other information through reading it on the newspaper or online versus hearing it on TV or radio.
e.g. ask whether they would prefer to receive classroom instructions about an assignment or activity in written form or explained orally by the teacher.
e.g. ask them how they prefer to receive directions to a place; would they prefer to find the location on a map or step-by-step verbal directions?
A reading course, which focuses on the printed words, obviously appeal most to visual learners. Whereas the auditory types assist can be approached in several practical ways:
Reading aloud to students, whether for pleasure or as they follow along with a printed short text.
Using audio-books and video to supplement the reading of literature and other works.
Encouraging students to discuss what they have read through class discussions, reading groups, oral reports and others.
Ways to help visual-nonverbal learners to cope with mostly verbal texts
Selecting texts that contain pictures, graphics or subheadings (still verbal but removed from the mass of verbiage in the main body text).
Using graphics organizers to help them to pull out important information from visual-verbal texts and process it in non-verbal/less verbal form that may assist overall comprehension.
Teachers must not only consider their own presentation and instructional styles but also help students to recognize their own preferences and strengths, also make adjustments in less-than-optimal learning contexts for their individual styles.
LEARNER STRATEGIES
Understanding and teaching effective reading strategies is extremely important to assist students in developing and improving reading skills that will help them throughout their lives and facilitating overall SLA.
Anderson (2009): "A skill is a strategy that has become automatic. As learners consciously learn and practice specific reading strategies, they move from conscious to unconscious, from strategy to skill."
Reading strategies pertains to focus on L2 readers with three observations:
Second, the range of background experiences, especially in different groups or audiences of L2 students, may have resulted in the inculcation of certain reading strategies and the discouragement of others.
Final implication: classroom strategy instruction/development of strategic readers - should at its core be an individualized process.
First, in the same way that successful writers may use different approaches, individual readers use a variety of strategies.
Grabe and Stoller (2011), several suggestions for L2 literacy teachers providing strategy instruction:
raise learner awareness of diverse strategies
guide students through processes of reflection on strategy uses
model strategies overtly
recommend specific strategies to help students understand difficult texts
introduce strategy use explicitly
offer opportunities for students to read a lot
integrate strategy use and discussions about strategies into every lesson
feature instructional tasks that require strategic reading
A generalized list of reading strategies to cover in a course syllabus will only be useful insofar as it is:
(a) responsive to the teacher's understanding of the needs of the class as a whole
(b) considers individual students' backgrounds, learning styles and prior strategy use
whether both successful or ineffective