Experience the Differences: Traditionally Taught Reading Classes Versus Dialogically and Collaboratively Taught Reading Classes in Foreign Language Learning

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Diverse Teaching Processes and Contexts: Looking Closely and Listening Carefully

Abstract

This phenomenological study examined the impact of Bakhtin’s notion of dialogism through collaborative learning (CL) on reading comprehension of college students in intensive English reading courses in China. To capture the essence of the participants’ lived experiences in CL settings, data were collected for eight weeks from 10 volunteer sophomore students through tape-recorded phenomenological interviews, weekly asynchronous online reflections, and the researchers’ reflective field notes. Findings indicated that the participants experienced profound perceptional changes regarding what reading comprehension entails; they had previously thought that reading was about only grammar and vocabulary, but in CL, they engaged in in-depth discussions about the authors’ intentions. The participants raised concerns that reading that deemphasized grammar would hurt their scores in achievement tests.

Authors

• Rong Li, Dalian University of Technology

• Clara Lee Brown, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville