Students’ Attitudes Towards Reading in Polish and English – the Case of ESL (English as a Second Language) Primary School Students. A Pilot Probe
Abstract
The aim of this article was to investigate students’ attitudes towards reading in Polish and English. Two self-constructed questionnaires were administered to 48 ESL (English as a second language) pupils (26 boys, 22 girls) of primary school. The first questionnaire consisted of 15 questions about various attitudes, problems and opinions on reading books. The content of the survey’s questions also raised issues related to reading in Polish and English, and emotions connected to reading. The second questionnaire consisted of 5 follow-up questions. The results indicate that pupils simply like reading for pleasure and reading makes them feel good. However, they do not fancy long and difficult words. They enjoy adventure books and stories about animals. Pupils like adults reading books to them. However, there is a significant diffrence between boys and girls – boys like when adults read to them, girls – do not. They prefer reading by themselves. Reading to children evokes in a classroom a nice and friendly atmosphere, combined with an effect of surprise. The children react positively to a teacher, listen to them with interest and get involved in a lesson by repeating the text that has been read to them. When it comes to reading in English students confirmed that they read books in that language. The pupils enjoyed the lessons where the teacher read English books to them.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Literature
Alexander J.E., Filler R.C. (1976). Attitudes and Reading. Newark: International Reading Association.
Anderson N.J. (2009). ACTIVE Reading: The Research Base for a Pedagogical Approach in the Reading Classroom. In: Z. Han, N.J. Anderson (eds.), Second Language Reading Research and Instruction: Crossing the Boundaries (pp. 117–143). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Bland J. (2013). Children’s Literature and Learner Empowerment. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Block C., Israel S. (2005). Reading First and Beyond: The Complete Guide for Teachers and Literacy Coaches. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
Cameron l. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coles M., Hall C. (2002). Gendered Readings: learning from Children’s Reading Choices. Journal of Research in Reading, 25(1), pp. 96–108.
Davies C. (1995). Extensive Reading: An Expensive Extravagance? ELT Journal, 49(4), pp. 329–336. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/49.4.329
Day R.R., Bamford J. (1998). Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunn O. (2012). Introducing English to Young Children: Spoken Language. London: Collins.
Ghosn I. (2002). Four Good Reasons to Use Literature in Primary school ELT. English Language Teaching Journal, 56(2), pp. 172–179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/56.2.172
Ghosn I. (2013). Storybridge to Second Language Literacy. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.
Grabe W. (2009). Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Thory to Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hall C., Coles M. (1999). Children’s Reading Choices. London: Routledge.
Kane S. (2007). Literacy & Learning in the Content Areas. Scottsdale: Holcomb Hathaway.
Logan S., Johnston R. (2009). Gender Diffrences in Reading Ability and Attitudes: Examining Where These Diffrences Lie. Journal of Research in Reading, 32, pp. 199–214.
Martinez M., Harmon J.M. (2012). Picture/Text Relationships: An Investigation of Literary Elements in Picture Books. Literacy Research & Instruction, 51(4), pp. 323–343.
McKenna M.C., Kear D.J., Ellsworth R.A. (1995). Children’s Attitudes Toward Reading: A National Survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 30(4), pp. 934–956.
Mullis I.V.S., Martin M.O., Gonzalez E.J., Kennedy A.M. (2003). PIRLS 2001 International Report: IEA’s Study of Reading Literacy Achievement in Primary Schools in 35 Countries. Chestnut Hill: Boston College.
Mullis I.V.S., Martin M.O., Kennedy A.M., Foy P. (2007). PIRLS 2006 International Report: IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in Primary Schools in 40 Countries. Chestnut Hill: Boston College.
Nation I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. New York: Routledge.
Nuttall C. (2005). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
Read C. (2007). 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Oxford: Macmillan Publishers.
Sainsbury M., Schagen I. (2004). Attitudes to Reading at Ages Nine and Eleven. Journal of Research in Reading, 27(4), pp. 373–386.
Salisbury M., Styles M. (2012). Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling. London: Laurence King Publishing.
Schmitt N. (2008). Instructed Second Language Vocabulary. Language Teaching Research, 12, pp. 329–363. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921
Smith M.C. (1990). A Longitudinal Investigation of Reading Attitude Development from Childhood to Adulthood. The Journal of Educational Research, 83, pp. 215–219.
Szpotowicz M., Szulc-Kurpaska M. (2009). Teaching English to Young Learners. Warszawa: Wyd. Nauk. PWN.
Twist l., Gnaldi M., Schagen I., Morrison J. (2004). Good Readers But at a Cost? Attitudes to Reading in England. Journal of Research in Reading, 27(4), pp. 387–400.
Netography
Duke N.K., Pearson P.D. (2002). Effctive Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension. In: S.J. Samuels, A.E. Farstrup (eds.), What Research Has to Say about Reading Instruction (pp. 205–236). International Reading Association. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254282574_Effctive_Practices_for_Developing_Reading_Comprehension
(access: 15.03.2021).
Ellis G., Brewster J. (2014). Tell It Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers. British Council, pp. 6–8, 39–41, 56–63, 85–93. Retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/fies/pub_D467_storytelling_handbook_Final_web.pdf (access: 12.02.2021).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/pe.2021.5.133-148
Date of publication: 2021-11-15 21:31:50
Date of submission: 2021-04-30 14:47:05
Statistics
Indicators
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2021
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.