Reading Topics for Adult Immigrant ESL Learners: How to get them hooked
A Presentation Summary from Enriching Our Environment – ATESL Conference 2007
Maroro Zinyemba
Growing up, I was always surrounded by books that took me on various journeys throughout my childhood and adolescent years. One book that accompanied me on a journey that I will never forget was Zenzele – A letter for my daughter by Nozipo Maraire (1996). My father gave me this book to read at a crucial time in my life - I was leaving home for the first time at the age of 18 to pursue my education abroad. Zenzele, the heroine in the story, was doing the same. The excitement and emotions that I experienced while reading that book on the plane rang true to C.S. Lewis’s words “we read to know we are not alone”. Indeed, since leaving home, I have not experienced nor overcome identity crises, settlement issues and academic challenges alone. I have always managed to find, as Gold (2001) puts it, the right book that acts as a mirror and reflects the veiled parts of myself and my life. Seeing my reflection in the stories that I have read has allowed me to perceive things differently and alter my way of thinking for the better.
The possibilities of seeing one’s own reflection in a story, of seeing alternate perspectives to a problem, and of undergoing healthy change are I believe, important for ESL students to experience while reading in their second language and living in a host country. As an ESL instructor, I am always encouraging my students to engage in pleasure reading not only for the linguistic gains but also for the psychological benefits that accompany reading the “right book”. Research shows that reading materials must be at the appropriate linguistic level and interesting to the reader (Krashen, 1993). There are various formal and informal reading level tests such as Flesch-Kincaid Readability Scale, Fry Readability Graph and simple word recognition tests that teachers can use to help them choose texts that are at a suitable linguistic reading level for their students (Allison, 1996; Fowler, 2001). However, there is very little research on which topics ESL students are interested in reading. The objective of my study was to establish which topics adult immigrant learners of ESL in my sample find most interesting and why they are interested in certain topics.
Adult immigrant ESL learners (N=99) were recruited as participants from the ESL program at a community college in Edmonton. A Reading Topic Interest Questionnaire was designed and administered during class time over a one-week period. The questionnaire contained 20 short story summaries suggested by researchers, ESL instructors and librarians. The topics were culture/ cultural practices, identity, settlement issues, social justice, literacy and learning, family matters, animals, nature, horror, technology, religion, romance, freedom, science fictional themes, sport, politics, surviving life threatening situations, crime, and war.. The story summaries were selected from lists of graded readers, children’s and juvenile literature. The results show that these participants were most interested in reading about freedom, business, nature, war, crime, and surviving difficult situations. Learner variables such as gender and time spent in Canada were related to reading topic choices. The major factors affecting topic choices were pleasure, desire to gain specific knowledge, feelings aroused from text, personal identification with the story, and reading for/because of children.
Participants demonstrated an interest in topics that can be used for “therapeutic” reading. Teachers, librarians, writers and publishers need to recognize such interests when selecting reading material.
Another important point that publishers, librarians and teachers must take into consideration is that of content. Many ESL learners are keen to have more reading material with Canadian content. As they correctly noted, a large amount of reading material that they have access to is of American and British content. While one can find Canadian content in a number of juvenile books and in children’s literature, one must keep in mind that not all adult immigrant language learners are interested in reading juvenile and children’s literature. Providing ESL learners with access to literature that contains topics they find interesting in libraries and in classrooms would allow them to experience the full benefits of extensive reading.
Extensive reading is not merely for linguistic development (i.e., improving general language proficiency, building reading fluency, and vocabulary development) and pleasure but also for personal growth. It is important that reading teachers, librarians and publishers understand and appreciate the reading topic interests of adult immigrant ESL learners. Responding to these interests is one way to provide learners with the language tools necessary for coping with emotional problems or changes in their lives in a host country and to get them “hooked” on reading.
References
Allison, S., Assink, J., Gordon, A., Johnson, M., & Payne, S. (1996). Using the “cloze” procedure to assess reading material for alternative/ adult students. MI: Michigan Adult Education Practitioner Inquiry Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED403422)
Fowler, W. S. (2001). Penguin readers teacher’s guide: Placement tests. London: Pearson Education.
Gold, J. (2001). Read for your life: Literature as a life support system. Ontario: Fitzhenry and Whiteside.
Krashen, S. D. (1993). The power of reading. Englewood : Libraries Unlimited.
Maraire, J. N. (1996). Zenzele: A letter for my daughter. New York: Crown Publishers.