Ivana Lukica, University of Zagreb, Croatia Dr. Agnieszka Kaldonek-Crnjakovic, George Mitchell School, London, UK

 All-through school in East London, UK  Approx. 80% are pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL pupils)  Different stages of language proficiency in English and home language, more than 30 languages, very multicultural … different needs  Thank you to one Y11 pupil for helping out with data

 ‘…reading skills have improved in the UK, there is some indication that fewer pupils nowadays read for enjoyment’ (National Literacy Fund)  ‘Mean reading performance has remained unchanged since 2006 and 2009.’ (OECD, Pisa, 2012)  Changes to the curriculum – more focus on literacy skills  Reading classes – what and how to teach?

Reading

 Singhal, 2001 “…processes used by the learner to enhance reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failures.”

 Secondary school pupils age (year 7-11)  Total – 408  Girls -218 Boys – 190  Languages - 33; groups of languages - 16  Literate in the home language – 67%  Proficiency in English L1 and L2 (A2/B1) – 6% Int – L3/4 (B1/B2) – 22% Adv – L4/5 (B2/C1) – 72%

Questionnaire – adapted MARSI (Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002) 1. Gave out the original version to 52 pupils (different language proficiently: 29% adv; 42% int; 29% L1- L2)  ‘ Question’ I don’t understand  Underline the words you don’t understand adv/int/L1-L2 pupils circled ‘I don’t understand’ 29 out 30 needed to be changed

 Simplified the questions (Oxford Advanced dictionary) - by giving a synonym, an explanation in brackets or changing a word order - the word was changed when more than 3 pupils circled it  Gave the new version to 10 native speakers 1. The question from the original questionnaire 2. The question from our version Different or the same?  Made further changes in accordance with their recommendations

 Gave the new version of the questionnaire to 60 pupils (adv-29%; int-38%; L1/L2-33%)  16 questions still circled ‘I don’t understand’ but only by 2 L1 pupils  Did factor analysis and obtained different categories

 MARSI – 3 categories (global, problem-solving and support)  Our questionnaire – 2 categories: Cognitive (internal/higher) Support (external/lower) Focusing Visualising Using prior knowledge Purposeful reading Anticipating Selecting information /key words Adjusting pace Underlining Talking partner Using tables/ pictures Using a dictionary Text features Taking notes Guessing

 Questionnaire on reading habits and motivation 7Qs: How often? What ? Is it important? Do you like it?

1. Are there any differences between boys and girls regarding reading habits, attitutes towards reading and strategies use? 2. Does age make any difference? 3. Is there a significant difference between advanced and intermediate students regarding strategies use? 4. Does L1 make a difference?

Girls Boys

GenderNMean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Cognitive strategies - mean F 2173,5069,68951,04681 M 1903,3046,68343,04958 Support strategies - mean F 2172,7880,73133,04965 M 1902,6846,72349,05249 Group Statistics

EAL stagesNMean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Total strategy use Adv 2943,1107,66492,03878 Int 883,2021,60244,06422 Cognitive strategies - mean Adv 2943,4163,70198,04094 Int 883,3939,68269,07278 Support strategies - mean Adv 2942,6617,73206,04269 Int 882,9196,65041,06933

 Should we teach cognitive strategies explicitly to less competent readers (intermediate and lower EAL stage pupils) ? Will there be any effect on reading competence and English proficiency?  Boys should be taught cognitive strategies (boys are underachievers at the school)

 The same research in another school; will it replicate our findings? ◦ Adding – the effect of non-verbal intelligence  Adaptation of the MARSI questionnaire on a larger group  Teacher training  Reading strategies instruction ◦ within the class work or as a separate course? ◦ For how long? Is it age-dependent? Effectiveness?

Thank you! Q&A