The Role of Input and Interaction in English Reading of Grade One EFL Learners in an Open College

【Abstract】This paper analyzes the role of reading textbook （input） as well as interaction between grade one students and teachers in Guangwais Open College， aiming to seek for a tentative teaching method to improve reading comprehension of grade one EFL learners in the college. First， the features of input and interaction in the specific context were explored under the light of literature. Second， an experiment was carried on by comparing the comprehension results of three different groups of students under various conditions—a）simplified condition（SC）， with modified lexical items and sentence structure； b）negotiated condition（NC）， with no linguistic simplification but opportunity for students to interact with their teacher on the meaning of unfamiliar words and syntactic difficulties； c）unmodified condition （UC）， with neither simplified input nor opportunity to negotiate with their teacher. The experiment reveals that some reading materials in the textbook is not suitable for “self-taught” students automatic development of language knowledge and， interactional negotiation is a more efficient method than input simplification of original input.

【Key words】input； interaction； negotiation； English reading

I. Literature Reveiw

As regards simplification， Krashens theory of comprehensible input is the most influential hypothesis that supports the use of simplified texts in L2 learning. Many scholars such as Day， Bamford， Hill， Shook and Tweissi also agree that “the mechanisms in simplified texts mimic the language found in caretaker talk and teacher talk and help the language learner acquire a language in a relatively structured way.” （Mohammad Reza Anani Sarah， Mohammad Karimi）

Nevertheless， a great many of studies provide evidence to argue that simplified input deprive L2 learners of their opportunity for learning the second language in a real context. As Long （1987） criticized， “the logical problem of simplifying input： if structures and lexical items with which the readers are unfamiliar are removed， how can they learn language from it？”

Till now， the debate on whether to use simplified input or authentic texts for L2 learners has not yet reached an agreement.

II. Experiment

i. Background

In order to explore the effect of simplified input and interactional negotiation in Open College， this section is intended to answer the following questions：

1.Too what extent does the input in reading textbook exceed the original stage of students competence in English？

2.Which method facilitates students reading comprehension in a more effective way， the simplified input or interactional negotiations between teacher and students over the authentic text？

ii. Method

A simple experiment was carried on by comparing the comprehension results of three different groups of students under three various conditions—a） simplified condition （SC）， with modified lexical items and sentence structure； b） negotiated condition （NC）， with no linguistic simplification but opportunity for students to interact with the teacher on the meaning of unfamiliar words and syntactic difficulties； c） unmodified condition （UC）， without simplified input and opportunity to negotiate with the teacher.

iii. Participants

The participants in this experiment were 151 freshmen of three distinct classes in Guangwais Open College. Accordingly， students are divided into three natural groups and required to finish a reading exercise based on an article under three different conditions respectively： simplified condition， negotiated condition and unmodified condition which are described in the following section.

iv. Materials

The authentic reading article used in the experiment was of medium difficulty for the first year English students in Open College—“Communities for Future Generations in the US” with a length around 1200 words with four multiple-choice and four True-or-False questions. The premodified version of the article had been simplified by the author through applying more high-frequently used vocabulary and reducing complexity of grammatical structure in long sentences.

v. Procedures

The SC group read the premodified version which the language complexity had been reduced beforehand. The time for reading and answering the comprehension questions was 40 minutes due to the length of the provided written input.

The NC group read the original unmodified version provided in the textbook. The time for reading the article was 20 minutes. However， at the end of the 20 minutes before they started to deal with the comprehension questions， they were invited to ask questions about their uncertainties in understanding the meaning and grammatical structures in the provided article as well as the comprehension questions. This interaction period lasted for no more than 15 minutes. This step functioned as the most important part of the experiment， for this was exactly the time interactional negotiation took place. Finally， the students were left to finish the eight comprehension questions all by themselves within 10 minutes. The whole procedure for negotiation group was 45 minutes.

The students in unmodified condition group （43 females and 7 males）， who served as the controlled group of the experiment， read the original version of the article and were required to finish the same comprehension questions without any linguistic support from the teacher. The time for them to complete the comprehension tasks was 45 minutes.

The result shows that 1） the unmodified input selected in textbook exceeded the degree of “slightly ahead” of grade one students current lexical and grammatical knowledge， for five questions accuracy rates in UC group were below 50% （see table 2； question 3， 4， 6， 7， 8 of UC group）； 2） students in SC and NC group remarkably outperformed those in UC group in reading comprehension； 3） students in NC group achieved even higher scores than those in SC group in a general scale， except their performance of question 1， with which the NC groups accuracy was 5% lower than that of the SC group.

III. Discussion and conclusion

The tedium monologue-like explanation of language points should be discarded in reading class. English educators should try to link reading with purposeful communication which can enable learners not only to comprehend the texts better， but also to gain the enabling skills of reading more quickly. In order to meet the challenge and facilitate students to achieve better results， teachers in Open College should 1） not underestimate students autonomy in second language acquisition； 2） create an encouraging atmosphere in reading class so as to give students proper freedom to express their puzzles and ideas towards the textbook； 3） be able to provide sufficient guidance to enlighten their comprehension.

References：

[1]Ellis，（2003），Task-based Language Learning and Teaching，Oxford：Oxford University Press.

[2]Gass and Selinker，（2008），Second Language Acquisition：An Introductory Course 3rd edition，Lawrence Erlbaum Associates，Inc.New Jersey，P353.

[3]Krashen，（1985）The Input Hypothesis：Issues and Implications，New York：Longman.

[4]Long，M，（1996）The Role of the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition，In W.Ritchie and T.Bhatia（Ed.），Handbook of Research on Second Language Acquisition，New York：Academic，P413-468.

[5]Mohammad Reza Anani Sarah，Mohammad Karimi，（2008）The Impact of Simplified and Internationally Modified Input on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners，Human Sciences：No.56.

[6]Pica，（1994）Research on Negotiation：What Does it Reveal about Second Language Learning Conditions，Processes and Out comes？ Language Learning，44，P493-527.

[7]Sasan Baleghizadeh，（2010）The Impact of Student-initiated Interaction on EFL Reading Comprehension，Studies in Literature and Language，Vol.1，No.4.

作者简介：华一君（1985-），女，汉，广东韶关市，硕士，专职教师，助教，研究方向：英语教育/口笔译研究。