The case studies

In the interests of the Richardson (2000, p. 934) ¶FU\VWDOOLVDWLRQ·DSSURDFKWRUHVHDUFK alluded to in section 3.3.2., I use the case study alongside the survey to provide another dimension to this enquiry. Merriam (1988, p. 3), writing about case studies,

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FODLPVWKDW¶UHVHDUFKIRFXVHGRQGLVFRYHU\LQVLJKWDQGXQGHUVWDQGLQJIURPWKH perspectives of those being studied offers the greatest promise of making significant FRQWULEXWLRQVWRWKHNQRZOHGJHEDVHDQGSUDFWLFHRIHGXFDWLRQ·ZKLFKLVDVWURQJ justification for the methodology. Stake (2000, p. 3) describes the case as an ¶LQWHJUDWHGV\VWHP·ZKLFKLV¶VLPLODUWRRWKer persons and programmes in many ZD\V·EXWDWWKHVDPHWLPHXQLTXHLQPDQ\ZD\V+HPDLQWDLQVWKDWWKHXQLTXH qualities which distinguish otherwise similar cases provide the researcher with ¶VSHFLDOLQVLJKWV·DQG,EHOLHYHWKDWLQP\VWXG\LWLVWKHXQique perceptions of the case studies in relation to the wider group that may give special insights into second ODQJXDJHOHDUQHUV·DWWLWXGHVWRUHDGLQJ

3.3.5.1 The organisation of the case studies: The Pilot (Appendix 5a) I set up an Extensive Reading Programme (ERP) in the class of the case study volunteers, but, as with the Survey, and in the same class, I did a pilot ERP in advance to check its feasibility. Once again following the precepts of Seliger and Shohamy (1989, p. 195), I organised to teach a series of four lessons designed to set up an ERP. It began with the introduction of a class reader, as advised by Hill (2008) and Dupuy, Tse and Cook (1996), with the idea of using it to instil some techniques and strategies for reading before the students attempted books on their own. The UHDGHU,FKRVHZDVDQDGDSWDWLRQRI0DU\6KHOOH\·V)UDQNHQVWHLQLQWKH*52[IRUG Bookworms edition, which is level 3 with 1000 headwords, recommended for lower intermediate learners. The class was an intermediate Foundation class, and their TOEIC scores were around the 500 level. The wide range of opinion as to how much accountability and teacher input there should be in an ERP has been described in &KDSWHU,QWKLVSLORWSRVVLEO\EHFDXVH,ZDV¶ERUURZLQJ·DFODVVDQGZDVDIUDLG that the students would feel cheated if not given a reasonable amount of work to do, ,SRVLWLRQHGP\VHOIDWWKHPD[LPXP¶WHDFKHULQSXW·HQGRIWKHLQSXWFontinuum. A plan of the first 4 classes, revised in consultation with the learners as a result of the pilot, can be found as Appendix 5b.

The pilot ERP was successful in generating interest in the story and encouraging learners to read on after the four classes had ended. Seven out of the eight learners in

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the pilot said they were going to finish the book to see what was going to happen, and the following summary represents their opinions on what they wanted from a reading review, and the qualities they preferred in a story.

1. What learners wanted to know from a reading review: $XWKRU·VDJH

Most important ideas in story

What was interesting in story, with drawings

An account of what happened after the story, with drawings 2. Qualities learners preferred in a story

It should be understandable, with easy vocabulary

,WVKRXOGLQFOXGHLPSRUWDQW¶XQLYHUVDO·WRSLFVOLNHOLIHGHDWKORYH responsibility, loneliness

It should evoke some sort of emotion;; pity, judgement

It should be interesting enough to make you care what happens It should be so interesting that you think of an alternative plot eg

Frankenstein buries the monster before it does any harm, Frankenstein and the monster cooperate to help mankind.

3.3.5.2 7KH¶UHDO·(53$SSHQGL[E

I imagined that having revised the plan for the ERP as a result of the pilot, I had produced an ideal programme. However, this was not the case. The class allocated to me for the case studies turned out to be at a lower level than expected. They were pre-­intermediate, rather than intermediate. Also they were largely inexperienced readers. The composition of the new class was:

4 Japanese females 6 Japanese males

1 New Caledonian male All aged 18-­19

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The Japanese had had no experience of studying English other than by the grammar translation method and they had not done any extensive reading in English before. There were two possibilities;; one, to change the class, and the second, to change the book. Changing the class was not really an option, and JD, the teacher, was very interested in my study and was prepared to be very cooperative, so I had to change the book. I switched from Frankenstein to a PenguiQOHYHOERRN'DQWH·V3HDN which had apparently been used with some success by JD with a previous class. If anything, I thought that this class would benefit more than the pilot class from the introduction of strategies and skills for reading. We began with prediction. The problem here was that this book was a book of the movie, not a classic, and no one had ever heard of it, or seen the film. Therefore there was no engagement on a recognition level. The scanning was also fraught with difficulty, partly due, I think to the layout of the book, which was more along the lines of film scenes than

chapters. The coherence which should exist in a story was missing in this text. In order to raise awareness of the background (a volcanic eruption) and familiarise them with specifically 'volcanic' vocabulary, we did some cloze and dictation work, which was meant to familiarise them with the topic-­based vocabulary associated with the particular book, but for the majority of the class there was too much

unknown vocabulary for the learners to read the narrative fluently, or even for them to be able to answer comprehension questions after intensive reading ;; certainly more than Nation's (2001) prescribed 98%. So the book was perceived to be difficult, and there was little engagement. After 4 classes, I was really concerned that reading would be perceived from the outset as a hugely negative experience, so I invoked 'D\DQG%DPIRUG·Vprinciple 6, reading for pleasure. The students were told that we were not going to continue with Dante's Peak, because they were not enjoying it, and they were instructed to choose a book themselves.

The futility of my attempt to use this book led me to abandon my initial, very structured, approach to an ERP and instead I allowed the learners to select their ERRNVIURPWKHEHJLQQLQJZLWKRXWILQLVKLQJWKHFODVVUHDGHU:LWKRXW'DQWH·V3HDN

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there was no class teaching of reading, and very little accountability expected from the learners, apart from interviews with me about their readings once a fortnight, preparing a presentation for the class on a book of their choice, and taking part in a ¶5HDGLQJ0DUDWKRQ·WKHJRDORIZKLFKZDVWRUHDGDVPDQ\ERRNVDVSRVVLEOHLQD term. Having initiated this semi-­structured ERP, I began to conduct interviews of the Case Studies.