Implementing a Culture of Thinking in Lao EFL Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Case of Reading

<p>This study has two phases. Phase 1 aimed at: (1) investigating pre-service teachers’ prior experiences of reading and learning to read in English, (2a) exploring the current state of reading instruction, and (2b) finding out the extent to which a culture of thinking (CoT) was practiced when teaching reading in the Lao EFL pre-service teacher education context. A CoT is defined as “a place where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members” (Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison, 2011, p. 219). In other words, a CoT is a place where a group of teachers, students, or people come together to conduct learning that benefits all group members and every member of the group is encouraged to interact, share ideas, and think about what is learned. To achieve Phase 1’s aims, an exploratory study was employed and a qualitative method was utilized to collect and analyze the data. Phase 1’s findings revealed that the Lao EFL pre-service teachers’ prior experiences of reading and learning to read were mostly a matter of learning discrete language features as opposed to meaning construction. The results also found that teachers paid considerable attention to discrete language items in the course of reading instruction rather than language proficiency and critical reading development. The findings also revealed that the CoT practice was not in place for teaching reading in Lao EFL pre-service education although it was acknowledged and recognized in the education and curriculum policy. The results of Phase 1 were used as baseline data for Phase 2, a classroom-based intervention. Phase 2 aimed at determining the extent to which the CoT implementation improved reading comprehension development, fostered learning engagement, and shaped perceptions of learning reading in Lao EFL pre-service teacher education. In order to accomplish the objectives of this phase, a quasi-experimental design was adopted, meaning that two intact classes of intermediate EFL pre-service teachers were recruited to participate in this phase. One of the classes was assigned to an experimental group while the other class was a comparison group. In terms of the intervention, thinking routines (e.g., Chalk Talk, Claim-Support-Question, and Connect-Extend-Challenge) were integrated into the three stages of reading instruction (pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading). The data were collected through a pre-test, immediate post-test, delayed-test, direct classroom observations, a pre-post perception survey, and focus group interviews. They were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. An effect size analysis was also performed to supplement the t tests used in this phase. The findings revealed that the CoT implementation had a strong effect (d = 1.01) on reading comprehension development and there was a statistical significance between the two groups, t(59) = 3.894, p = .00 < .05. It also fostered interactive and meaningful learning engagement, and changed students’ perceptions towards learning reading. Drawing from the findings, it has been suggested that a CoT can be an option for EFL teachers to consider integrating into their classroom practices in order to foster deep and meaningful learning and shape students and teachers’ experiences of and attitudes toward learning and teaching English.</p>

Implementing a Culture of Thinking in Lao EFL Pre-Service Teacher Education: A Case of Reading

<p>This study has two phases. Phase 1 aimed at: (1) investigating pre-service teachers’ prior experiences of reading and learning to read in English, (2a) exploring the current state of reading instruction, and (2b) finding out the extent to which a culture of thinking (CoT) was practiced when teaching reading in the Lao EFL pre-service teacher education context. A CoT is defined as “a place where a group’s collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members” (Ritchhart, Church, & Morrison, 2011, p. 219). In other words, a CoT is a place where a group of teachers, students, or people come together to conduct learning that benefits all group members and every member of the group is encouraged to interact, share ideas, and think about what is learned. To achieve Phase 1’s aims, an exploratory study was employed and a qualitative method was utilized to collect and analyze the data. Phase 1’s findings revealed that the Lao EFL pre-service teachers’ prior experiences of reading and learning to read were mostly a matter of learning discrete language features as opposed to meaning construction. The results also found that teachers paid considerable attention to discrete language items in the course of reading instruction rather than language proficiency and critical reading development. The findings also revealed that the CoT practice was not in place for teaching reading in Lao EFL pre-service education although it was acknowledged and recognized in the education and curriculum policy. The results of Phase 1 were used as baseline data for Phase 2, a classroom-based intervention. Phase 2 aimed at determining the extent to which the CoT implementation improved reading comprehension development, fostered learning engagement, and shaped perceptions of learning reading in Lao EFL pre-service teacher education. In order to accomplish the objectives of this phase, a quasi-experimental design was adopted, meaning that two intact classes of intermediate EFL pre-service teachers were recruited to participate in this phase. One of the classes was assigned to an experimental group while the other class was a comparison group. In terms of the intervention, thinking routines (e.g., Chalk Talk, Claim-Support-Question, and Connect-Extend-Challenge) were integrated into the three stages of reading instruction (pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading). The data were collected through a pre-test, immediate post-test, delayed-test, direct classroom observations, a pre-post perception survey, and focus group interviews. They were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. An effect size analysis was also performed to supplement the t tests used in this phase. The findings revealed that the CoT implementation had a strong effect (d = 1.01) on reading comprehension development and there was a statistical significance between the two groups, t(59) = 3.894, p = .00 < .05. It also fostered interactive and meaningful learning engagement, and changed students’ perceptions towards learning reading. Drawing from the findings, it has been suggested that a CoT can be an option for EFL teachers to consider integrating into their classroom practices in order to foster deep and meaningful learning and shape students and teachers’ experiences of and attitudes toward learning and teaching English.</p>

An Exploration of the Heterogeneous Nature of Reading Comprehension Development in First Grade: The Impact of Word and Meaning Skills

This exploratory study builds upon extant reading development studies by identifying discrete groups based on reading comprehension trajectories across first grade. The main goal of this study was to enhance the field’s understanding of early reading comprehension development and its underlying subcomponent skills, with the intent of better understanding the development of comprehension in students who display risk for reading difficulties and disabilities. A sample of first-grade readers ( N = 314) were assessed at three timepoints across the first-grade year. These data were utilized to derive empirical latent classes based on reading comprehension performance across the first-grade year. Reading subcomponent skill assessments (phonological awareness, word reading, decoding, linguistic comprehension, and reading fluency), measured in the fall of first grade, were compared across latent classes to examine how they related to growth across the first-grade year. Results suggest that there were four distinct latent classes with differential reading comprehension development, each of which could also be distinguished by the subskill assessments. These findings are presented within the context of the broader reading research base and implications for practice are discussed.

IMPACT OF EXTENSIVE READING ON SOPHOMORE ENGLISH MAJORS’ READING COMPREHENSION DEVELOPMENT AT DALAT UNIVERSITY

This paper reports on an extensive reading program utilizing graded readers and the Moodle Reader for sophomore English majors at Dalat University. The main purpose of the study was to determine the impact of such a program on student reading abilities and to explore their attitudes toward the program. Data were collected from pretests, posttests, and questionnaires. Findings indicated that the extensive reading program was largely responsible for the higher mean gain on the posttest made by the experimental group, and that the majority of students expressed positive opinions toward the program. The paper concludes by putting forward some pedagogical implications on the implementation of such a program with English language students and lecturers in their courses of reading.

Cognitive vs. metacognitive scaffolding strategies and EFL learners’ listening comprehension development

Studies have documented the significance of scaffolding as a sociocultural theory driven type of assistance for the development of English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ language skills in general; however, the comparative efficacy of various cognitive and/or metacognitive scaffolding procedures for EFL learners’ listening comprehension development and progress has received scant attention. As a partial attempt in this regard, this study investigated the comparative efficacy of cognitive and metacognitive scaffolding strategies for EFL learners’ listening comprehension development. For this purpose, 90 intermediate level EFL learners aged 15 to 20 were selected to participate in this study. The participants’ actual proficiency level was assessed using a sample TOEFL Junior Standard test and relatively homogeneous classes of nearly 15 learners were formed and randomly assigned to two experimental conditions and a control one. The listening section of TOEFL Junior standard test was used as the pre- and posttest. While the learners in both experimental conditions worked in groups of three or four learners on some listening comprehension tasks, the participants of the first experimental condition received cognitive scaffolding strategies, and the second experimental group members were treated using metacognitive scaffolding strategies, the control group members received teacher-fronted non-scaffolding instruction. In addition to a listening comprehension posttest, a semi-structured interview was given to a number of participants of each experimental condition to explore their attitudes towards given scaffolding strategies. The analyses verified that metacognitive scaffolding strategies had a significant superior effect on EFL learners’ listening development compared to cognitive scaffolding strategies and non-scaffolding instruction. Furthermore, the analyses revealed that the EFL learners were generally more pleased with the metacognitive scaffolding procedures and viewed them as instructive, innovative, and effective for finding problems, better comprehension and increased readiness.

Digital Solutions in the Inclusive Education of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The article describes assistive technologies — mobile applications «I Read Without Mom» and «My Album», developed to educate children with autism spectrum disorders. Presented applications are designed on the basis of the traditions of national scientific knowledge and aimed to help in solving the problem of including children with autism spectrum disorders in the educational environment. Discussed applications can help to organize work with children, can become a functional prosthesis in the absence of speech at the initial stage of working with the child (one of the applications can be used as a communicator). Applications goals include: pointing out and development of the child’s «I-action», development of a «concept area comprehension», development of oral speech, in non-speaking preschool children this is implemented by restructuring the way the impaired function is realized. Mobile applications which are focused on a generalized method of pedagogical action developed as a template that allows to use it variably, personifying the educational trajectory not only in working with ASD children. The applications are supplemented with methodological recommendations for professionals and parents.

The Effect of Intensive Authentic Reading Tasks on Reading Performance of Academic IELTS Test Takers

This study aimed at investigating the effect of employing intensive reading (IR) authentic tasks as supplementary materials on reading comprehension development of Academic IELTS test takers within the framework of schema theory and three instructional models of reading strategies suggested by Pearson and Duke (2009). Participants of this study consist of 81 individuals comprising 41 male and 40 female language learners at pre-advanced level of English proficiency with the age range of 25 to 37 among which 42 were categorized as the experimental group which received IR treatment and the rest of 39 ,who are considered as control group, that did not receive IR treatment. The experimental group was further divided into two subgroups which each received the same IR authentic tasks with different instructional methods to teaching reading strategies. The results of an ANCOVA analysis illustrated a significant positive influence of authentic IR treatments on the development of participants' reading comprehension skills. However, an independent one-way t-test revealed that Pearson's and Duke's (2009) various instructional methods were not significantly influential on participants' final reading proficiency development.

Newspaper Reading Comprehension Development through Vocabulary or Structure Instruction

The purpose of this study is investigating the effect of specific vocabularies and structures instruction on the upper intermediate EFL learners’ newspaper reading comprehension development. For this purpose, fifty four female upper intermediate EFL learners were selected and randomly assigned in three groups each consisting of eighteen learners, two experimental and one control. At the first session,a researcher-made newspaper reading comprehension test was applied as the pretest. The learners of one experimental group received instruction of newspaper structures and the other one received related vocabularies instruction and the control one received just translation of newspaper content by the teacher. In the last session, another researcher-made comprehension test was administered for three groups as the post test. The findings indicate thatstructure instruction is significantly the most beneficial one and the mere translation of newspaper content is the least beneficial in developing learner's newspaper reading comprehension.The results of interviews confirmed the study findings as well.

The effect of intensive authentic reading tasks on reading performance of academic ielts test takers

This study aimed at investigating the effect of employing intensive reading (IR) authentic tasks as supplementary materials on reading comprehension development of Academic IELTS test takers within the framework of schema theory and three instructional models of reading strategies suggested by Pearson and Duke (2009). Participants of this study consist of 81 individuals comprising 41 male and 40 female language learners at pre-advanced level of English proficiency with the age range of 25 to 37 among which 42 were categorized as the experimental group which received IR treatment and the rest of 39 ,who are considered as control group, that did not receive IR treatment. The experimental group was further divided into two subgroups which each received the same IR authentic tasks with different instructional methods to teaching reading strategies. The results of an ANCOVA analysis illustrated a significant positive influence of authentic IR treatments on the development of participants' reading comprehension skills. However, an independent one-way t-test revealed that Pearson's and Duke's (2009) various instructional methods were not significantly influential on participants' final reading proficiency development.