A case study of buddy reading among three year 4 ESL students in a national primary school
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Date
2014-08
Authors
Joyce Low, Soong Ping
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Abstract
Reading is one of the main literacy skills for second language learners to obtain knowledge. However, the prominence of reading books is alarming. In addition, students tend to practice passive reading in schools due to over emphasizing on using English textbooks or workbooks which are rigid and less authentic. Most of them also prefer reading in their own mother tongue language. Acknowledging the challenges, a study was conducted by incorporating tutors’ self-produced English reading materials, cross-age tutoring and cooperative learning in Buddy Reading to be demonstrated as a viable method to sustain students’ interest towards English reading and to develop their English reading habits. Three Year 4 students of different English language proficiency were involved in this study. Their English reading experience and English reading habits were two main criteria that would be looked into. Observation, participants’ progress reports and a structured interview were used for collecting data. In overall, the results indicated that tutors’ self-produced English reading materials had been a great stimulus to encourage English reading among them. Besides, cross-age tutoring had been a powerful method to provide motivating reading experience, provided good interaction between the tutors and the Year 4 students. By providing supportive environment and meaningful interaction, cooperative learning had been encouraged them to be confident in English reading. Most importantly, their English reading habits were successfully developed although each one of them performed differently.
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Buddy Reading , National Primary School