Inner and outer voices: L2 readers’ experiences of silent reading, reading aloud and reading-while-listening

Thesis

This qualitative study, which adopts an exploratory, case-study approach, aims to explore L2 learners’ reading comprehension and their experiences in three reading conditions – reading silently (RS), reading aloud (RA), and reading-while-listening (RWL). It also aims to investigate the role of phonology in L2 reading through these different conditions. Five international students studying in a UK university participated in reading sessions and follow-up interviews. Their comprehension results in all three reading conditions, oral reading in RA, and perceived affordances and challenges for each of these conditions were analysed. Results indicate very different individual patterns among participants in both their comprehension and perceptions. While some performed best in RWL and liked it most, others found it the most difficult condition to read. There are also similarities. They all reported hearing an inner voice in RS. Their comprehension generally suffered in RA, and they experienced difficulties in phonological decoding to a different extent in this condition. Implications for these similarities and differences were discussed. These suggest that individual differences in L2 decoding skills and reading pace are likely the causes for their different experiences, and reveal a significant role of phonology in all three reading conditions.

Authors: Mok, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j5b1voggd
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: ALSLA2023; reading in a second language; reading-while-listening; ALSLA; qualitative; inner voice; case study; reading aloud
• Subjects: Oral reading; Reading; Qualitative research; Case studies; Applied linguistics; Silent reading