Karen Bordonaro
James A. Gibson Library
Brock University
TESL Ontario
October 30, 2010
Research Questions
• Do international students who are non-native
speakers of English use university library
material for recreational reading?
• Do they think that it improves their English
language skills?
Recreational Reading
• Extensive reading
• Pleasure reading
• Reading for one’s own enjoyment
• Not assigned reading for a course
Recreational reading in L2
• Supplements intensive reading taught in classrooms
• Often serves as the basis for book reports
• Generally not graded
• DEAR programs (“drop everything and read”)
• Sometimes from classroom libraries
• Chosen by students
Recreational reading in libraries
• Usually in public libraries
• Often fiction
• Often in paperback format
• Not always fully catalogued like other library material
• Meant for browsing
• Usually defined as popular material only, not academic
material
Setting of this survey:
Brock University Library
Brock University
• St. Catharines, Ontario
• 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students
• 954 international students at time of study:
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–
–
–
–
–
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70% from Asia
10% from Europe
5% from Africa
5% from North America
7% from Central and South America
2% from Oceania
1% not listed
Small popular reading collection
But 7 floors of library material
This study
• Considered recreational reading material to be
any university library material, not just the
small popular browsing collection
• Targeted international students in degree
programs but not in the pre-academic
intensive language program
Participants
• 26 male, 33 female
• Native languages: Chinese, English (international students
from the U.S., U.K.), Bengali, German, Arabic, French, Russian,
Danish, Dutch, Punjabi, Turkish, Swedish, Vietnamese
• Years of English study (if non-native speaker): 2-16 years
Participants
• Programs of Study – Business, Education, Biology, Computer
Science, Political Science, Geography, Applied Linguistics,
Psychology, Health Sciences, Chemistry
• Degrees working on – B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., M.B.A., Ph.D.
• Length of time at university – 3 months to 7 years
Survey questions
• Do you read for pleasure?
– If no, why not?
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•
•
•
no time
no interest
lack of material
other
– If yes, why?
•
•
•
•
to relax
to learn new information
to fill up free time
other
Survey questions
• In what languages do you read for pleasure?
– English
– my native language
– neither
– other
Survey questions
• What types of materials do you read for
pleasure?
– books
– magazines or journal articles
– newspapers
– web pages, blogs, other online information
– other
Survey questions
• How often do you read for pleasure?
– daily
– weekly
– monthly
– other
Survey questions
• Do you think that pleasure reading improves
your language skills?
– yes
– no
– not sure
Survey questions
• Where do you find your pleasure reading
material?
– I borrow material from other people.
– I use library material.
– I buy material.
– I do my pleasure reading online.
– other
Survey questions
• If you use the university library to find reading
material, how would you rate this material?
– poor, inadequate
– fair, sufficient
– good, more than sufficient
– I don’t use library material
Findings
• 80% of the respondents said they do engage in recreational
reading
• For those who did not, lack of time was cited as the major
reason.
• Most respondents engaged in recreational reading to relax
(64%), followed by 25% who did so to learn new information.
• About half of the participants said they read daily for
pleasure.
Language findings
• A majority of the participants read for pleasure in English
(54%), followed by those who read for pleasure in their native
languages (27%).
• A vast majority of participants thought that reading for
pleasure in English improved their language skills (91%),
followed by 9% who were not sure.
Library findings
• A majority of participants (54%) read books for pleasure,
followed by online sites (41%), and magazines or newspapers
(5%).
• The places where participants found their reading material
were online (55%), from a bookstore (20%) and from a
university library (20%).
• Library material for recreational reading was rated fair (35%),
good (17%) and poor (11%).
Comments
• “I use these materials to access a variety of information that
we cannot learn from our major, and because life is not only
to be satisfied with a job.”
• “I read for pleasure to increase my knowledge base and to
improve my skills.”
• “Pleasure reading helps me with learning English.”
What does it mean?
• International students, busy with degree work, do seem to
engage in recreational reading.
• They think recreational reading improves their language skills.
• They do use university library materials for recreational
reading (not just designated popular collections).
• The university library can support and foster out-of-classroom
language learning.
Implications
• University library material bought to support the curriculum
needs of particular programs also helps support second
language learning needs.
• Librarians and ESL instructors should be made more aware of
this use of library materials.
• ESL instructors should encourage students to engage in
recreational reading through general library materials beyond
easy readers or popular browsing collections.
University libraries and L2 learning
• University libraries are settings for authentic language
learning to take place.
• Out-of-classroom learning can take place in university
libraries.
• Opportunities for more collaboration between librarians and
ESL instructors should be encouraged.
Your experiences
• Have your students used university libraries
for recreational reading?
• Do you see it as a pedagogical activity in terms
of language learning?
Thank you