Enhancing ESL reading competency by exploring "adaptable reading instruction" : an ethnographically oriented case study

Abstract

Students of different backgrounds, abilities, interests, learning styles, personalities, needs and experiences characterize the 21st-century classroom; thus, the traditional “one-class-fits-all” system appears unsustainable. Accordingly, decision-makers and educators worldwide have been trying to address student diversity through differentiated teaching and adapting curricula across subjects, and this includes reading in English as a second language (ESL). Although studies have revealed positive results when implementing differentiation and adaptation in classrooms, limited empirical research has been conducted within the framework of primary school reading programmes. The present one-year longitudinal case study aims to enhance students’ reading competency in ESL by exploring the original concept of “adaptable reading instruction” (ARI). ARI is defined as the process of teaching and learning reading considering students’ individual differences and teachers' and decision-makers’ views to offer a possible shift to reading instruction that caters to student diversity. The study is ethnographically oriented exploring the ARI as a culture-in-the- making in a Hong Kong primary school. It employs mixed methods to provide a well-rounded account through the following methods: semi-structured individual interviews, individual and focus groups, photo/video-stimulated recall interviews, tests, and observations (video recordings, diagrams, photographs and classroom artefacts). The research was carried out in three phases (exploration, implementation and reflection) over one academic year with 15 participant classes (479 students) including three focus groups of students (24 students of three different abilities), three local teachers (including the English Panel Chair), one Native English Teacher, i.e., me, and three decision-makers (the school principal, the Education Bureau Advisory Teacher, and the Hong Kong Education Bureau NET Scheme Manager). The Findings and the Discussion chapters develop theoretical insights about sociocultural theory’s constructs of mediated teaching and learning through interactions with more expert individuals, scaffolding, teaching informed by the zone of proximal development (ZPD), and the co-construction of knowledge to build an adaptable framework that nurtures independent readers. The study revealed that the original concept of the ARI had a positive effect on students’ reading competency, thus indicating its effectiveness, which adds to the few empirical studies on the positive effect of teaching reading by addressing students’ different abilities. The findings also can enhance educators’ understanding of how students, teachers and decision-makers' views contribute to the process of the ARI adding to the modest research on this topic. Furthermore, by showing how the ARI works in practice through classroom interactions, the findings identified pertinent features of this instruction, such as adaptability, sustainability, and data-led and theory-driven approaches that can offer guidance to other schools in planning and implementing their own frameworks. In the study, I propose three practical principles for adapting reading instruction: prioritizing personalized learning, orchestrating the learning activities, and integrating theory and practice. These principles entail a set of processes and practices that can be used as pedagogical tools to design adaptable reading frameworks that potentially enhance students’ reading competency. The findings of this study fill a research gap and add to the literature using an interactional ethnographic approach and photo/video-stimulated recall methodology to explore classroom literacy culture and the co-construction of reading knowledge. In conclusion, this study contributes to the development of adaptable reading frameworks in schools by offering teachers and students a tool for their ESL reading journey in contemporary classrooms.