Assessing the Benefits of Collaborative Reading to Mitigate Foreign Language Reading Anxiety in Advanced Spanish Courses

Annik Bilodeau

Grant Recipients

Annik Bilodeau, Spanish and Latin American Studies

Hannah Brubacher Kaethler (Research Assistant)

Description

Despite popular assumptions, reading—and not speaking—is the skill advanced foreign language learners struggle with the most. As they progress from beginner to advanced levels, and text complexity increases, students experience more reading anxiety (RA).

This project blends second language learning and collaborative reading to assess whether

  1. the RA experienced by language learners when reading texts geared towards native speakers can be mitigated by working synchronously with a peer of a similar reading skill level, and
  2. if this lowered anxiety fosters a deeper reading, and improves text comprehension and test scores.

I propose to implement a “reading buddy” system in a third-year Spanish course. I will

  1. compare anxiety levels and reading comprehension scores (student pre- and post-questionnaires), and
  2. analyze the efficacy of this strategy, and its ability to engage, motivate, and help learners reach the desired learning outcomes (open-ended questions and test scores).

References

Baier, K., Hendricks, C., Warren G. K., Hendricks, J. E., & Cochran L. (2011). College Students’ Textbook Reading, or Not!. American Reading Forum Annual Yearbook, 31(1).

Berry, T., Cook, L., Hill, N., & Stevens K. (2010). An Exploratory Analysis of Textbook Usage and Study Habits: Misperceptions and Barriers to Success. College Teaching, 59(1) 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2010.509376

Brantmeier, C. (2005). Anxiety about L2 reading or L2 reading tasks? A study with advanced language learners. The Reading Matrix, 5(2) 67–85.

Burchfield, C. M., & Sappington, J. (2000). Compliance with Required Reading Assignments. Teaching of Psychology, 27(1), 58–60.

Chaiklin, S. (2003). The Zone of Proximal Development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning and instruction. In Kozulin, A., Gindis, B., Ageyev, V. & Miller, S. (eds.), Vygotsky’s educational theory and practice in cultural context. 39–64. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Choudhary, S. (2016). A Literary Approach to Teaching English Language in a Multicultural Classroom. Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.18870/hlrc.v6i4.352

Clump, M. A., Bauer, H., & Bradley C. (2004). The Extent to Which Psychology Students Read Textbooks: A Multiple Class Analysis of Reading across the Psychology Cur­riculum, Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31(3) 227+.

Common European Framework for Languages (CERF). Global Scale - Table 1: Common Reference Levels. https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale

Higgs, T. V., & Krashen, S. D. (1983). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. The Modern Language Journal, 67(2), 168. https://doi.org/10.2307/328293

Hoeft, M. E. (2012). Why University Students Don’t Read: What Professors Can Do to Increase Compliance. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2012.060212

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Kane, J., & Mushtare R. (Hosts). (2020, June 10). Pedagogies of Care: Digital Reading, (No. 139). [Audio Podcast Episode]. Tea for Teaching. http://teaforteaching.com/139-pedagogies-of-care-digital-reading/

Lazar, G. (1993). Literature and Language Teaching. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511733048

MacIntyre, P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In Young, D. J. (Ed.), Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere (pp. 24–25). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Mikami, H. (2019). Reading anxiety scales: Do they measure the same construct? Reading in a Foreign Language, 31(2), 249–268.

Saito, Y., Garza, T. J., & Horwitz, E. K. (1999). Foreign language reading anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 83, 202–218. https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00016

Scharold, D. (2021, May 17). Havin' a Jam: Synchronous Social Annotations with Perusall. [Presentation]. Perusall Engage.

Sell, J. (2005). Why Teach Literature in a Foreign Language Classroom? Encuentro, 15, 86–93. www.encuentrojournal.org/textos/11Sell.pdf.

Sellers, V. D. (2000). Anxiety and reading comprehension in Spanish as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annals, 33, 512–520.

Shepin, L. G. (2019) Making Authentic Literary Texts Relevant, Meaningful, and Fun in Advanced Beginner and Intermediate Spanish-language Classrooms. Hispania, 102(3) 313–318. https://doi.org/10.1353/hpn.2019.0069

Wette, R. (2014). Teachers' practices in EAP writing instruction: Use of models and modeling. System, 42, 60–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2013.11.002

Young, C. E. (2021, May 17). No More Fake Reading: Benefits of Social Annotation. In a Hybrid High School English Class. [Presentation]. Perusall Engage.

Young, D. (2000). An Investigation into the Relationship between L2 Reading Anxiety and L2 Reading Comprehension, and Self-Reported Level of Comprehension Topic Familiarity Features of an L2 Text ad Reading Ability in the L1 and L2. Current Research on the Acquisition of Spanish. (Eds.) Ron Leow & Cristina Sanz. Summerville: Cascadilla Press. 15–33.