Action Research 2018 by Conrad Sutcliffe https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i Does reading improve a learner's use of English? en-us 2018-06-19 14:00:42 UTC 2018-06-19 16:32:47 UTC hello@padlet.com conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800662

I have a hunch – let’s see if I am right

Question: Does regular reading improve a student’s vocabulary and encourage more ambitious use of English in written work?

]]> 2018-06-19 14:03:49 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800662 What I have seen... conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800732 2018-06-19 14:04:14 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800732 My theory conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800803 2018-06-19 14:04:41 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800803 How does this work in the classroom? conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800840 A once-weekly reading session of no more than 10 minutes. These would start in the second half of the Christmas 2018 term and continue for a defined period, ideally, two half-terms. Students will have a notebook for the project, in which they can jot down words, phrases, definitions etc

]]> 2018-06-19 14:04:57 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267800840 Can you measure it? conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267801057 As control groups are not considered ethical, a way to measure progress is with assessment quizzes at the start of the project. Based on the planned reading, students will be asked to define 10 words at the start of each reading session. 
All will be words they will encounter, although not necessarily in that week’s session.The second measure of progress is short story writing. The brief will be 350-400 words and will include a selection of challenging words.


The summative assessment will start with a re-test at the end of the project, ideally of all the new words introduced. There are potential variations, such as testing in batches before the next lesson.A further test will be a random selection of words encountered that have not been pre-flagged for learning


Finally, rewrite their short story using a selection of the newly introduced words. This is something I have used before and seems to capture the learners’ attention]]> 2018-06-19 14:06:21 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267801057 Did it work? conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267802783 How will I know if the project has been a success?

  • Firstly, the before and after test results
  • Secondly, correctly defining new words
  • Thirdly, marking the short story for correct use of the selected new words

I feel that should provide useful quantitative data
]]> 2018-06-19 14:15:16 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267802783 What do I need conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267803238 A specific time frame. The extent of the research will depend on how many sessions I have for these lesson segments. Once I know the number of weeks, I can start working on passages of text, word lists etc. ]]> 2018-06-19 14:17:22 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267803238 Any questions conradcopy https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267803563 ????]]> 2018-06-19 14:19:04 UTC https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267803563 Told you so conradcopy1 https://padlet.com/conradcopy/ylx0mo35fo2i/wish/267824572 The department of English at the University of Madrid is on my side here
237 degree-level students were tracked in a study
In three groups they: 
  • Read academic texts
  • Watched additional English lectures
  • Did neither of the above
The reading subjects made greater vocabulary gains than the listening subjects, who made greater gains than those who did neither.
Similar trends emerged for retention. Reading also resulted in greater retention one month after the input, except for high proficiency students
Karina Vidal
May 2011
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