judging books by their covers and more: components of interest in graded readers the first extensive...
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Judging Books by their Covers and More: Components of Interest in
Graded Readers
The First Extensive Reading World CongressSeptember 3-6, 2011Kyoto Sangyo University John Eidswick, Greg Rouault, and Max Praver [email protected]
What is Interest?
• A psychological state• A motivational variable• Has affective and cognitive components • Requires social support• Effortless concentration• Interest is characterized by an urge to engage
with, or a disposition to reengage with, a specific category of activity, event, thing or idea (“an object”)
What is Interest?
Interest has a positive relationship with…
• Attention, engagement & persistence
• Recall and comprehension
• Positive affect• Learning• Growth of Expertise• Academic Success
Categories of Interest
Individual Interesta stable and enduring inclination to engage with activities or
objects
Situational Interest an emotional state aroused by features of environmental or
textual stimuli
Topic Interest Interest evaluated in terms of a person’s individual and/or
situational interest in a certain topic
Four-phase Model of Interest Development
Hidi and Renninger (2006)
• Triggered situational interest
• Maintained situational interest
• Emerging individual interest
• Well-developed individual interest
Each phase marked by varying affect and required social support.
Situational
Interest
What makes texts
interesting?
What makes texts interesting?(compiled by Silvia, 2006)
• Surprise• Prior knowledge• Themes of death• Suspense • Sexual themes• Vividness• Author voice• Meaningfulness• Imagery • Personal relevance
•Importance•Character identification•Power themes•Familiarity•Unexpectedness•Coherence•Simple vocabulary•Emotiveness•Concreteness•Ease of understanding
Situational InterestTexts, or parts of texts, that are
ExcitingUnpredictable
MysteriousHeartwarming
RomanticHumorous
StrangeScary
Easy to understand
tend to trigger interest in readers.
Research Questions• What components of interest (or lack of interest)
do students associate with specific graded readers before reading them?
• What components of interest (or lack of interest) do students associate with specific graded readers after reading them?
• Do students’ overall ratings of interest differ before and after reading?
Book Selection Considerations Variety (Not just the popular titles!)
Student age, gender, and preferences
Books that would elicit a range of responses
Level appropriateness -- 95~98%
(Five level 2 readers and one level 3 reader)
Time (6 books over a 14 week semester)
Our ‘generous’ formula: 3 minutes per page
10 minutes per day
40 pages = 2 hours over 2 weeks
The 6 Titles
Survey Design
Pre-reading• Beginning of semester • 5~10 minutes with each book• Survey (3 sections)
A) 6-point Likert scale on anticipated interest
B) 9 components of interest
C) Open comments on anticipated lack of interest
Survey Design
Post-reading surveyAdministered every 2 weeksPre-reading survey with space to provide
examples of interest components
Post-reading circle surveyAdministered every 2 weeks5 questions on attitudes to Reading Circles6-point Likert scale
Research Question 1
What components of interest (or lack of interest) do students associate with specific graded readers before reading them?
Components of Interest (pre)
050
100150200250300
Excitin
g
Unpre
dict
able
Roman
tic
Heartw
arm
ing
Mys
terio
us
Strang
e
Humor
ous
Easy
to u
nder
stan
dSca
ry
Oth
er
Sharing
Anne
Children
Murders
Notting Hill
Pirates
Components of Interest (pre)
Pirates Notting Hill Murders
Children
Anne Sharing
Exciting 66 8 24 28 3 26Unpredictable 33 21 64 52 25 47Romantic 15 72 0 0 8 1Heartwarming 4 41 0 20 49 17Mysterious 14 3 57 13 9 24Strange 14 9 0 0 9 1Humorous 22 20 0 0 13 0Easy to understand 28 21 2 13 23 11Scary 3 0 40 17 1 11Other 13 6 4 5 7 4
Total = 1041 212 201 191 148 147 142
Anticipated Lack of Interest
Components of Pre-reading Lack of Interest
Components of Pre-reading Lack of Interest
Genre (16) “Don’t like…” historical, horror, love stories, animal stories “It seems like a girl story.”
Pictures, cover, synopsis, character (22) “No pictures” “I don’t like the pictures.”
General interest (22) “Doesn’t catch my interest.” “Boring development of content.” “Didn’t seem appealing.”
Components of Pre-reading Lack of Interest
Mood (22)Scary, dark, sad, pitiful
Difficulty (16)“Difficult to understand”“I don’t think I’ll understand.”
Predictability (12 +7)Expectation = predictablePrevious experience = saw the movie, read
Research Question 2
What components of interest (or lack of interest) do students associate with specific graded readers after reading them?
Components of Interest (post)
0
50
100
150
200
250
Excitin
g
Unpre
dict
able
Roman
tic
Heartw
arm
ing
Mys
terio
us
Strang
e
Humor
ous
Easy
to u
nder
stan
dSca
ry
Oth
er
Sharing
Anne
Children
Murders
Notting Hill
Pirates
Components of Interest (pre and post)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Exci
ting
pre
Exci
ting
post
Unp
redi
ctab
leU
npre
dict
able
Rom
antic
pre
Rom
antic
Hea
rtw
arm
ing
Hea
rtw
arm
ing
Mys
terio
usM
yste
rious
Stra
nge
pre
stra
nge
post
Hum
orou
s pre
Hum
orou
sEa
sy to
Easy
toSc
ary
pre
Scar
y po
stO
ther
pre
Sharing
Anne
ChildrenMurders
Notting Hill
Pirates
Grader Reader titles
Pirates Notting Hill Murders
Components of interest
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Exciting 66 66 8 13 24 21
Unpredictable 33 30 21 20 64 69
Romantic 15 16 72 74 0 0
Heartwarming 4 11 41 45 0 0
Mysterious 14 8 3 2 57 ↓44
Strange 14 10 9 6 0 2
Humorous 22 24 20 23 0 1
Easy to understand
28 32 21 19 2 10
Scary 3 8 0 1 40 ↑84
Other 13 ↓2 6 1 4 0
Totala 212 207 201 204 191 231
Grader Reader titles
Children Anne Sharing
Components of interest
Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Exciting 28 ↓17 3 1 26 21
Unpredictable 52 ↓25 25 ↓9 47 43
Romantic 0 ↑15 8 13 1 2
Heartwarming 20 ↑50 49 ↑70 17 ↑32
Mysterious 13 ↓ 2 9 2 24 28
Strange 0 1 9 8 1 3
Humorous 0 1 13 16 0 2
Easy to understand
13 ↑22 23 ↑44 11 14
Scary 17 ↓6 1 2 11 18
Other 5 8 7 1 4 6
Totala 148 147 147 166 142 169
Post-reading Lack of Interest
711
18 2015
252419
40
29
20
41
Pirates NottingHill
Murders Children Anne Sharing
Components of Pre- and Post-reading Lack of Interest
1815
6 7 6
13
18
12
1720
40
Comments on Post-reading Lack of Interest
• “I watched that movie once before, so, I could predict the line of the story.”
• “Easy to expect what happens next.”• “I couldn’t understand this story well. All of this
was not interesting.” • “The book is too easy. And detail is not written
down. So I feel the book is little bit boring.”• “This story was monotonous and there aren’t
ups and downs.”• Not realistic/believable, ordinary, dull, plain, slow
not detailed, no changes, no surprises, ‘ending’
Research Question 3
Do students’ overall ratings of interest differ before and after reading?
Overall Interest Ratings
• Kolmogrov-Smirnov testdata not normally distributed
• Wilcoxon signed-rank test (2-tailed) pre- and post-reading interest ratings
• Significance found for two books: The Year of Sharing (r = .30) The Children of the New Forest (r = .43)
Implications and Future Directions• For Teachers: Support of class-specific/student-specific
interests related to graded readers likely will support recall and learning. Attention should be paid for gender-related balance of reading materials.
• For Teachers: Student interests might be checked through needs analyses or surveys, and connected directly to lesson plans. More work, but with substantial rewards.
• For Researchers: More research needed to investigate the relationship between interest, learning, and graded readers (and other learning materials).
References• Ainley, M. D., Hidi, S., & Berndorff, D. (2002). Interest, learning, and the psychological processes that mediate their relationship. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 94, 1–17.• Brantmeier, C. (2006). Toward a multicomponent model of interest and L2 reading: Sources of interest, perceived situational interest, and
comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language, 18, 89-115. Retrieved from http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/October2006/brantmeier/brantmeier.pdf• Carrell, P. L., & Wise, T. E. (1998). The relationship between prior knowledge and topic interest in second language reading. Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 20, 285-309.• Day, R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language. New York: CUP.• Eidswick, J. (2009). The influence of interest on reading comprehension in EFL students. Kwansei Gakuin University Annual Research Report of the
Language Center, 12, 25-38.• Eidswick, J., Praver, M., & Rouault, G. (2009). Anticipated interest and graded readers. Manuscript in preparation.• Eidswick, J., Rouault. G., & Praver, M. (2011). Judging books by the covers and more: Components of interest in graded readers. The Language
Teacher, 35(3), 11-19.• Elley, W. B. (1991). Acquiring literacy in a second language: The effect of book-based programs. Language Learning, 41, 375-411.• Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. New York: CUP.• Hidi, S. (1990). Interest and its contribution as a mental resource for learning. Review of Educational Research, 60, 549–571.• Hidi, S. (2000). An interest researcher’s perspective on the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on motivation. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz
(Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimum motivation and performance (pp. 309-339). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.• Hidi, S. (2001). Interest, reading, and learning: Theoretical and practical considerations. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 191-209.• Hidi, S., & Baird, W. (1986). Interestingness—A neglected variable in discourse processing. Cognitive Science, 10, 179–194.• Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). The four-phase model of interest development. Educational Psychologist, 41, 111-127.• Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. New York: CUP.• Praver, M., Rouault, G., & Eidswick, J. (2010). Attitudes and affect toward peer evaluation in EFL reading circles. Manuscript in preparation.• Renninger, K. A. (2000). Individual interest and its implications for understanding intrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz (Eds.),
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimum motivation and performance (pp. 373-404). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.• Rouault, G. (2009) Introduction of graded reading into an integrated skills course. Kwansei Gakuin University Language Center Annual Research
Report, 12, 53-89.• Schiefele, U. (1996). Topic interest, text representation, and quality of experience. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 3-18.• Schiefele, U. (1999). Interest and learning from text. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 257-279.• Schiefele, U., Krapp, A., & Winteler, A. (1992). Interest as a predictor of academic achievement: A meta-analysis of research. In K. A. Renninger, S.
Hidi, & A. Krapp (Eds.), The role of interest in learning and development (pp. 183-212). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Schraw, G., Dennison, R. S., & Svoboda, C. (1995). Sources of situational interest. Journal of Reading Behavior, 27, 1-17.
• Waring, R., & Takahashi, S. (2000). The ‘why’ and ‘how’ of using graded readers. Tokyo: OUP.
• Slides used to print grayscale Handouts follow…
Components of Interest (pre)Pirates
Notting Hill Murders Children
Anne
SharingExciting 66 8 24 28 3 26Unpredictable 33 21 64 52 25 47Romantic 15 72 0 0 8 1Heartwarming 4 41 0 20 49 17Mysterious 14 3 57 13 9 24Strange 14 9 0 0 9 1Humorous 22 20 0 0 13 0Easy to understand 28 21 2 13 23 11Scary 3 0 40 17 1 11Other 13 6 4 5 7 4
Total = 1041 212 201 191 148 147 142
Components of Pre-reading Lack of Interest
Components of Interest (pre and post)
Grader reader titles
Pirates Notting H Murders Children Anne Sharing Components of interest Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Exciting 66 66 8 13 24 21 28 ↓17 3 1 26 21
Unpredictable 33 30 21 20 64 69 52 ↓25 25 ↓ 9 47 43
Romantic 15 16 72 74 0 0 0 ↑15 8 13 1 2
Heartwarming 4 11 41 45 0 0 20 ↑50 49 ↑70 17 ↑32
Mysterious 14 8 3 2 57 ↓44 13 ↓ 2 9 2 24 28
Strange 14 10 9 6 0 2 0 1 9 8 1 3
Humorous 22 24 20 23 0 1 0 1 13 16 0 2
Easy to understand 28 32 21 19 2 10 13 ↑22 23 ↑44 11 14
Scary 3 8 0 1 40 ↑84 17 ↓ 6 1 2 11 18
Other 13 ↓ 2 6 1 4 0 5 8 7 1 4 6
Totala 212 207 201 204 191 231 148 147 147 166 142 169
a Pre-reading total = 1041, Post-reading total = 1124
Components of Post-reading Lack of Interest
15
6 7 6
1318
1217
20
40
Components of Pre- and Post-reading Lack of Interest
15
6 7 6
13
18
12
1720
40