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

2.  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

3.  ‘…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?

4. Reading

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

6.  Secondary school pupils age 11-16 (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%

7. 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’ 1 2 3 4 5 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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

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

12. 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?

13. Girls Boys

14. 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

17. 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

19.  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)

20.  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?

21. Thank you! Q&A