Beskrivelse
Reading Strategies in EMI:Teacher and Student Perspectives
Sophie Swerts Knudsen
Slobodanka Dimova
Because of internationalization and the implementation of EMI in tertiary education, students are required to read increasingly more in English both in graduate and undergraduate years. This situation leads to substantial problems voiced both by lecturers and students: it takes more time and effort to read and learn from texts in an L2 (Hellekjær, 2009; Pecorari et al., 2011b; Tatzl, 2011). In addition, students fail to complete their reading assignments in preparation for classes, resulting in inability to follow the lectures (Pecorari et al., 2012; Mez̃ek, 2013). For this reason, the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports (NEXS) at the University of Copenhagen decided to implement a series of EMI workshops, which were taught from 2011 until 2015. To investigate the effects of these workshops on teaching and learning, as well as students’ and lecturers’ perceptions on reading skills and strategies, IELTS test data from students and interviews with teachers and students were collected.
The test results indicated that the students’ level in reading skills fluctuated very little across the 5 years. However, approximately 25 % of the students who took the reading test performed at the low end of the IELTS scale, i.e. below 6.5. Based on the interviews, it became clear that content teachers were aware of the problem and implemented, both consciously and subconsciously, reading skills activities in their courses to support students in their struggle to read.
Results suggest that to understand academic literacy and to design appropriate support for our multilingual, multicultural students, closer collaboration between language and content teachers is essential. In particular, awareness should be raised among teachers and students about the transferability of L1 literacy skills in L2 reading, as well as the necessity for continuous support.
| Periode | 14 sep. 2018 → 16 sep. 2018 |
|---|---|
| Begivenhedstitel | PRISEAL 2018 |
| Begivenhedstype | Konference |
| Placering | Reykjavik, IslandVis på kort |