IMPROVING READING STRATEGY KNOWLEDGE IN YOUNG CHILDREN: WHAT SELF-REPORT QUESTIONNAIRES CAN REVEAL

Abstract

In the last 25 years, the topic of learning strategies has attracted a great deal of interest, quite often to analyse the use first (L1) and second language (L2) learners make of these strategies and how they can be helped to improve strategy knowledge. Although it is true that there has been considerable research on strategies, a smaller number of studies have attempted to explore the strategies that learners use in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) contexts, and even fewer when learning a third language (L3). This article seeks to fill that gap by reporting the findings of an intervention study into reading comprehension among young learners of English as an L3 in a multilingual (Spanish-Basque-English) context in the Basque Country. The study involves a pre-test post-test design, using two intactgroups of participants who were in their 5th year of primary education (10-11 years old). One group (n=50) served as the experimental group and theother one as the control group. The experimental group (n=50) received strategic training in reading skills for a period of seven weeks, while the control group did not. Both groups were asked to complete a survey for reading strategies and this was elicited pre- and post-intervention. Findings indicated that those students who were trained strategically in reading reported using an increased number of strategies after the training programme, although those gains were not maintained over time.