The University Library’s Role in Recreational Reading

Karen BordonaroJames A. Gibson Library

Brock University

TESL Ontario October 30, 2010

Research Questions

• Do international students who are non-native speakers of English use university library material for recreational reading?

• Do they think that it improves their English language skills?

Recreational Reading

• Extensive reading

• Pleasure reading

• Reading for one’s own enjoyment

• Not assigned reading for a course

Recreational reading in L2

• Supplements intensive reading taught in classrooms

• Often serves as the basis for book reports

• Generally not graded

• DEAR programs (“drop everything and read”)

• Sometimes from classroom libraries

• Chosen by students

Recreational reading in libraries

• Usually in public libraries

• Often fiction

• Often in paperback format

• Not always fully catalogued like other library material

• Meant for browsing

• Usually defined as popular material only, not academic material

Setting of this survey: Brock University Library

Brock University

• St. Catharines, Ontario

• 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students

• 954 international students at time of study:– 70% from Asia– 10% from Europe– 5% from Africa– 5% from North America– 7% from Central and South America– 2% from Oceania– 1% not listed

Small popular reading collection

But 7 floors of library material

This study

• Considered recreational reading material to be any university library material, not just the small popular browsing collection

• Targeted international students in degree programs but not in the pre-academic intensive language program

Participants

• 26 male, 33 female

• Native languages: Chinese, English (international students from the U.S., U.K.), Bengali, German, Arabic, French, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Punjabi, Turkish, Swedish, Vietnamese

• Years of English study (if non-native speaker): 2-16 years

Participants

• Programs of Study – Business, Education, Biology, Computer Science, Political Science, Geography, Applied Linguistics, Psychology, Health Sciences, Chemistry

• Degrees working on – B.A., B.S., M.A., M.S., M.B.A., Ph.D.

• Length of time at university – 3 months to 7 years

Survey questions

• Do you read for pleasure?– If no, why not?

• no time• no interest• lack of material• other

– If yes, why?• to relax• to learn new information• to fill up free time• other

Survey questions

• In what languages do you read for pleasure?– English– my native language– neither– other

Survey questions

• What types of materials do you read for pleasure?– books– magazines or journal articles– newspapers– web pages, blogs, other online information– other

Survey questions

• How often do you read for pleasure?– daily– weekly– monthly– other

Survey questions

• Do you think that pleasure reading improves your language skills?– yes– no– not sure

Survey questions

• Where do you find your pleasure reading material?– I borrow material from other people.– I use library material.– I buy material.– I do my pleasure reading online.– other

Survey questions

• If you use the university library to find reading material, how would you rate this material?– poor, inadequate– fair, sufficient– good, more than sufficient– I don’t use library material

Findings

• 80% of the respondents said they do engage in recreational reading

• For those who did not, lack of time was cited as the major reason.

• Most respondents engaged in recreational reading to relax (64%), followed by 25% who did so to learn new information.

• About half of the participants said they read daily for pleasure.

Language findings

• A majority of the participants read for pleasure in English (54%), followed by those who read for pleasure in their native languages (27%).

• A vast majority of participants thought that reading for pleasure in English improved their language skills (91%), followed by 9% who were not sure.

Library findings

• A majority of participants (54%) read books for pleasure, followed by online sites (41%), and magazines or newspapers (5%).

• The places where participants found their reading material were online (55%), from a bookstore (20%) and from a university library (20%).

• Library material for recreational reading was rated fair (35%), good (17%) and poor (11%).

Comments

• “I use these materials to access a variety of information that we cannot learn from our major, and because life is not only to be satisfied with a job.”

• “I read for pleasure to increase my knowledge base and to improve my skills.”

• “Pleasure reading helps me with learning English.”

What does it mean?

• International students, busy with degree work, do seem to engage in recreational reading.

• They think recreational reading improves their language skills.

• They do use university library materials for recreational reading (not just designated popular collections).

• The university library can support and foster out-of-classroom language learning.

Implications

• University library material bought to support the curriculum needs of particular programs also helps support second language learning needs.

• Librarians and ESL instructors should be made more aware of this use of library materials.

• ESL instructors should encourage students to engage in recreational reading through general library materials beyond easy readers or popular browsing collections.

University libraries and L2 learning

• University libraries are settings for authentic language learning to take place.

• Out-of-classroom learning can take place in university libraries.

• Opportunities for more collaboration between librarians and ESL instructors should be encouraged.

Your experiences

• Have your students used university libraries for recreational reading?

• Do you see it as a pedagogical activity in terms of language learning?

Thank you