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Neil Conway, Hosei University, JapanAbstract
Research has shown that the extent to which students can demonstrate reading and writing skills will impact not only their EAP academic performance, but also their disciplinary-wide training. Biancarosa and Snow (2004), among others, show that students are positively impacted by training in active reading; this particularly benefits such areas as: the interpretation of complex texts, and knowledge construction in both during- and after-reading reflection, and the construction of a meaningful representation of, and reaction to, ideas within a text. The relationship between fiction reading (and writing responses to such texts) and increased ability in reading comprehension of both fiction and non-fiction texts has been known for some time, yet much of the research literature continues to focus on non-fiction reading texts and EAP lesson-plans; research has also noted that teachers express concerns with lesson-planning to incorporate fiction texts and developing appropriate lesson activities. One useful alternative approach within the typical Reading for Writing (RFW) model of university EAP programs is based on Olson’s (2003) cognitive strategies model. This paper, one early outcome of a departmental project concerned with the overhaul and improvement of its English-language delivery strategy, describes a one-semester quasi-experimental research project involving 50 first-year university students reading short fiction texts. Despite initial reluctance toward regular home reading assignments, student feedback was found to support the choice of materials, and reading comprehension and writing (composition) testing showed encouraging results for all students except those who self-reported a low level of participation in the post-term questionnaire.
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