William Grabe

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SECOND LANGUAGE READING RESEARCH

Both reading research and practice have undergone numerous changes in the 25 years since TESOL was first established. The last decade, in particular, has been a time of much first and second language research, resulting in many new insights for reading instruction. The purpose of this article is to bring together that research and its implications for the classroom. Current reading research follows from certain assumptions on the nature of the reading process; these assumptions are reviewed and general perspectives on the reading process are presented. Specific attention is then given to initeractive approaches to reading, examining research which argues that reading comprehension is a combination of identification and interpretation skills. Reading research in second language contexts, however, must also take into account the many differences between L1 and L2 reading. From the differences reviewed here, it is evident that much more second language reading research is needed. Five important areas of current research which should remain prominent for this decade are reported: schema theory, language skills and automaticity, vocabulary development, comprehension strategy training, and reading-writing relations. Implications from this research for curriculum development are briefly noted. Research on reading in a second language and efforts to improve second language reading instruction have grown remarkably in the past quarter century, particularly in the last 10 years. It has become difficult to synthesize the array of research and instructional literature in ESL/EFL academic reading, foreign language reading, and second language public school student reading, in addition to the relevant first language reading literature. The efforts to address the needs of many different learner groups has been one cause of this expansion. The recognition that reading is probably the most important skill for second language learners in academic contexts has also been a contributing cause (Carrell, 1989a; Lynch & Hudson,

Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: Reading and vocabulary development in a second language: A case study

Introduction Researchers in reading seldom have the opportunity to experience, as adults, an extended period of time learning to read. Although it is virtually impossible to have such an adult experience in ones first language, it is possible to find oneself in such a fortuitous situation in a second language (L2) context. This situation arose for the first author of this chapter when he spent 5 months in Brazil in 1990. Since he was not a speaker or reader of Portuguese, he took that opportunity to learn to read in Portuguese. This paper is a report of that case study, the outcomes after 5 months, and the records and reflections on the experience. As a case study, this report cannot make claims for statistical generalizations. There are, however, a number of important methodological advantages and research insights to this type of case study that cannot easily be explored experimentally (McCormick, 1993; Neuman & McCormick, 1995). As a research methodology, a small number of published case studies document the learning of a second or foreign language and second language (L2) teacher education (Bailey, 1980, 1983; Porter, Goldstein, Leatherman, & Conrad, 1990; Schmidt & Frota, 1986; Schumann, 1980; Schumann & Schumann, 1977; see Bailey, 1990, for a review of diary studies in teacher education). Few case studies, however, specifically address the development of L2 reading and vocabulary skills (see Parry, 1993). The research reported here represents an effort to explore L2 reading and vocabulary development through such a methodology.

Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading: Interactive models for second language reading: perspectives on instruction

The case for interactive models of reading Anyone concerned with ESL reading cannot help but be struck by the dramatic improvements in ESL reading theory and practice during the past ten years or so. These improvements may be traced to multiple sources, including, for example, the general movement toward more communicative kinds of language teaching and a new concern for needs analyses in relation to particular populations of learners. But clearly the major source of improvement has been the growing understanding and acceptance of psycholinguistic models of the reading process, especially as represented in the work of Kenneth Goodman and Frank Smith. Proceeding from the views of Goodman and Smith, such specialists as Eskey (1973), Clarke and Silberstein (1977), Coady (1979), Carrell and Eisterhold (1983; reprinted as Chapter 5 in this volume) and Carrell (1983) – and of course many others – have adapted this socalled top-down approach to second language reading, and have tried to relate it to the practical problems of curriculum design and teaching methods and materials. Terms like top-down or the contrasting bottom-up (or, for that matter, interactive) are, of course, merely metaphors for the complex mental process of reading, top here referring to such “higher” order mental concepts as the knowledge and expectations of the reader, and bottom to the physical text on the page. Proponents of each of these approaches have argued that the former or the latter is the true starting point and thus the controlling factor in the process.

A modern history of written discourse analysis

Abstract The term discourse analysis has been used interchangeably in two separate contexts — spoken discourse (i.e., multiple-source dialogic) and written discourse (i.e., single-source monologic). Such a distinction, however, oversimplifies the situation; while there are obvious overlaps between the two, to some extent each has evolved in its own direction. Written discourse analysis, the subject of our discussion, is obviously closely connected with work in literacy, but it implicates a great heterogeneity of topics and approaches, including at least some from psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Discourse analysis, in the sense in which we are using it, emerged in the early 1970s. A modern history of written discourse analysis is perhaps best covered within a 40–50-year time span. In the course of that time, a number of new and emerging disciplines and research fields have contributed to systematic analyses of the linguistic features and patterns occurring in written texts. At the same time, other continuing disciplines have provided contributions that have been important and are ongoing. It should be fairly evident that any attempt to cover such a broad spectrum of views and disciplines would not be appropriate in a single article. We therefore intend to limit the scope of this paper to analyses of written discourse that explore the actual structuring of the text via some consistent framework. Our goal is to highlight and describe historically the various efforts to find the structures and linguistic patterns in texts that contribute to how they are understood, interpreted, and used. It seems to us that, in order to comprehend what has happened in the context of L2 writing research, it is necessary to understand the extensive work that has been done in discourse analysis.

Written Discourse Analysis

In the relatively recent past, a whole issue of ARAL (Kaplan, et al. 1983) was devoted to text analysis. In a way, an article of the sort offered here may be premature in the sense that it appears only two years after the more thorough review volume. There are two reasons why it seems appropriate to look at this area again so quickly. First, the area of text analysis is an extremely active one, and no major bibliographies have appeared since 1983. Second, the approach taken here is somewhat different from that in ARAL III; this review has no direct concern either with pedagogical applications or with contrastive forms of text. There is, of necessity, some overlap in bibliography between this article and the earlier volume, but the great majority of sources cited did not appear there. This particular area is in a state of very rapid growth, moving toward the evolution of a new paradigm which may radically modify the field of applied linguistics by providing a new set of questions and a new way of answering them. The rate and direction of change seem to justify another brief sortie into text analysis, and thereby to try to disambiguate some notions that have been available for greater or lesser periods of time.

Science, technology, language, and information: implications for language and language-in-education planning

In the last decade, China has emerged from its Isolation and has plunged itself into the world scientific and economic networks. China has, in the course of this development, awakened to the importance of using resources available in the larger world for its own interests. With its massive modernization program, China has sought to lift itself up to scientific and economic levels equal to those of the developed nations. As part of this effort, attention has been given both to the role of the Chinese language (and its modernization; Chinese Language Modernization Conference 1983), and to the role of the English language (Waiguoyu 1982; Ye 1982). Both languages have been recognized äs essential (necessary if not sufficient) factors in Chinas development. Both languages represent resources to be used for modernization purposes. With respect to both languages, however, the specific roles they should play in modernization efforts have not yet been clearly articulated. To the extent that the resources which these languages represent are not explicitly defined and effectively employed, China may face serious difficulties in achieving the goals it has set. This paper will be primarily concerned with two purposes: one is to define the relation between scientific Information and language (in particular, English); the second is to examine what the science/language relation implies for aspects of Human Resources Development Planning (HRDP), which is an integral part of any modernization effort (Galinski 1982: 64). These two issues together serve to define the roles of both English and Chinese in modernization efforts, and t o argue for the position that their use äs resources requires planning.

Reading-Writing Relationships in First and Second Language Academic Literacy Development.

Reading and writing relations, as this concept applies to academic learning contexts, whether as a major way to learn language or academic content, is a pervasive issue in English for academic purposes (EAP) contexts. In many cases, this major link between reading/writing and academic learning is true even though explicit discussions of this relationship are commonly identified in other ways. For example, research on summarizing skills is an aspect of abilities that come under reading-writing relations. Similarly, topics including synthesis writing, note-taking, plagiarism, content-driven essay exams, term papers, theses, and dissertations, among other topics, are all aspects of reading-writing relations. These core academic skills become even more complex aspects of reading and writing together, when we add electronic texts, web page resources, and other media sources.

Applied Linguistics in North America

Applied linguistics is an active field in North America and has, over the past 30 years, gained recognition as an academic discipline, expanding in the 1950s and 1960s and maturing in the 1970s and 1980s. Its larger scope is not debatable; it is an interdisciplinary field addressing real-world language problems. Seen from the perspective of language problems, no single academic discipline can serve all possible needs. Applied linguistics, in this broader context in North America, encompasses assessment, bi/multilingualism, language contact, L2 learning and teaching, policy/planning, professional and occupational language use/misuse, and translation; it also contributes to research in corpus linguistics, lexicography, literacy, sociolinguistics, and teacher training.

Theory and Practice of Writing: An Applied Linguistic Perspective

1. Issues in Writing Research and Instruction. 2. Textlinguistic Research. 3. Towards a Model of Text Construction. 4. Writing Process Approaches. 5. Writing Process Research and Recent Extensions. 6. Writing for Professional Purposes. 7. Writing Across Cultures: Contrastive Rhetoric. 8. Towards a Theory of Writing. 9. Form Theory to Practice. 10. Teaching Writing at Beginning Levels. 11. Teaching Writing at Intermediate Levels. 12. Teaching Writing at Advanced Levels. 13. Responding to Writing and Writing Assessment. 14. Conclusions: Writing in English. Appendix: Seventy-Five Themes for Writing Instruction. Bibliography. Subject Index. Author Index.

Science, technology, language and information: Implications for language and language-in-education planning

Abstract There is an important relationship between scientific information and language. Scientific information is cumulative, storable and retrievable. In the past 40 years, English has become the dominant language of science information because the USA was the only major industrialized nation to come out of World War II with its industrial and educational infrastructures intact, because a great deal of scientific research was undertaken in the English-speaking world, because undertaking research requires access to information, and because all of these phenomena coincide with the historical point at which computer use became established in information storage. It is observable that the greatest users of information are also the greatest contributors to the pool of information and that those who most frequently use the information pool come to control the information systems. International accords have established the concept that information in the global networks must be written in or abstracted in English, French, German or Russian; it is clear that the dominant language is English. Access to information is central to national development and modernization; consequently, the science information/language relationship has important implications for Human Resource Development Planning and modernization. The actions of the Japanese government in the period since the end of World War II are examined as a case study. The situation in the Peoples Republic of China is also examined in order to suggest what China must do to achieve modernization with respect to information development, information storage, and information management.