From Solitary to Shared Experience: Lessons From Running a University-wide Reading Programme

Abstract

Reading in the second or foreign language is not an easy task for students, but it is undoubtedly an effective way to enhance students’ reading proficiency. Voluntary reading programmes are commonly used to foster ESL/EFL learners’ leisure reading habit to enhance their language proficiency, but the challenge lies in encouraging students to participate in such programmes.
The READ@PolyU common reading programme is the only one of its kind in the public higher education sector in Hong Kong. A partnership between the university’s English Language Centre and the Library, this campus-wide reading programme rallies the student population to read a common English language book each year, and hosts a series of events to engage student readers. While it takes its cues from similar reading programmes in the west (namely US and Canada), it has, over the past seven years, evolved into a unique offering in the city of Hong Kong.
This session aims to offer insights on the challenges and logistics of running a common book reading programme from both a language and a library perspective. Learn from the language teacher’s experience on book selection and reading group development, and from the librarian’s experience with administering publicity, outreach, and logistics of the reading programme. Programme evaluation and outcomes on students’ reading and university experience will also be presented to show how reading can both be transformed from an independent activity to an interdependent learning experience in such a programme.



Author Information
Sannie Tang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Christine Ho, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Paper Information
Conference: ACLL2019
Stream: Motivation

This paper is part of the ACLL2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon