Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING

Helping Learners Develop Autonomous Reading Strategies
Logan McCarville
MEd TESOL Program, University of Glasgow
Email: <mccarvltt@gmail.com>

I am originally from America and began developing interest in autonomy through my teaching experiences inVietnam and Taiwan. In Vietnam, I worked at a language center as well as a public school and primarily taught
young learners general English. While in Taiwan, I furthered my professional development by teachingbusiness English and General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) preparation courses. Much of the organization inboth teaching periods was strictly regimented and I began to wonder if the course designers’ perceptions ofwhat the students needed matched the actual needs of the learners. Continuing my studies in Scotland at the
University of Glasgow in a one-year MEd TESOL program, I began exploring theoretical and practical
approaches to developing learner autonomy and became interested in applying some of the principles
through designing a lesson plan for teaching reading strategies. In this reflective account I share with you
some of the main decisions that I made in designing the lesson, and reflect on the feedback that my peers
and teachers gave me in the microteaching which has helped me develop my understanding of nurturing
learner autonomy.

Microteaching Overview
The micro-teaching task was part of an assignment on lesson design, and each student was required topresent 10 minutes of their 60-minute lesson to the course tutors and students. Following the microteaching,verbal and written feedback focusing on areas of improvement was given. The lesson that I designed was for
B2 level Chinese university students studying at the University of Glasgow. They usually attend English classthree times a week for two hours each lesson. Such students are pursuing a variety of disciplines, so thelearning outcomes of the course focus on applying reading strategies appropriately in order to manage thehigh demand of out-of-class reading and to enhance reading comprehension for engagement in seminar
discussions. From my experience, Chinese learners are often overwhelmed by the university’s reading
demands and struggle to critically engage in their weekly seminars. The main cause is not only their weakreading comprehension, but also their lack of experience in reading strategically and reflectively the texts thatthey are assigned. The discussions are an integral part of the course as they allow for learning opportunities
on the theoretical material. For these seminars to be successful, learners must be able to critically engage
with texts by comprehending and critiquing the author’s stance as well as developing their own opinions. In
order to complete these tasks, learners need to apply various reading strategies autonomously. My aim wasto design a reading lesson that would help the students learn how to choose and apply certain reading
strategies in a self-directed way to overcome these obstacles and become more successful learners in theirundergraduate programs.

Rationale for the Lesson Design
I wanted the learners to be introduced to new reading strategies and to evaluate their current reading
strategies to see how appropriately and effectively they are applying them. During classroom reading
comprehension tasks, I have found difficulty in evaluating the approaches learners are taking to comprehenda text. Part of the reason is that many learners are unable to effectively articulate the reading processes theyNewsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <http://ld-sig.org>
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
have undertaken as Nassaji (2007) explains: “Any attempt to explain the processes whereby the text isunderstood entails a profound understanding of the cognitive processes in which knowledge is represented,
processed, and used in comprehension” (pp. 79-80). To help learners better understand their current reading
processes, I have them evaluate themselves and develop meta-cognitive knowledge to develop their abilities
in deciding which reading strategies are best for them to successfully complete various reading tasks. Not
only is this beneficial for the learner, but it also provides me with insight into the learner’s belief about thereading process and a greater understanding of the motivation behind the student’s behavior which allows
for more tailored guidance for improvement (Morrison & Navarro, 2014) and cyclical awareness raising. As
Victori and Lockhart (1995) propose: “self-directed programme[s]… should involve cyclic diagnosis of learners’
beliefs about language learning, preferred styles, learning needs and objectives in order to endow thelearners with criteria for choosing optimum strategies, resources and activities for their individualized
programmes” (p. 223). From my experiences at the University of Glasgow, many of the Chinese learners were
not familiar with choosing from different reading strategies and did not know how to appropriately
implement the ones they knew. In our seminars many of the learners raised questions regarding thecomprehension of the texts and the author’s stance rather than the ideas behind it. In addition, much of thecourse required learners to work autonomously by finding articles and evidence that supported their
theories. This proved troublesome as learners struggled to form their opinions of the text through lack ofcomprehension which made it more difficult to find readings that supported incomplete ideas. Due to theseissues, I decided it was important for learners to begin to develop more reading strategies that they can applyautonomously in their reading outside of the classroom.
To assist learners in becoming more successful, I designed a lesson that introduces students tocomprehension reading strategies that can be applied autonomously. The lesson begins with the introductionof the task (see the Plan/Introduce stage of Appendix A) and a series of questions for students to consider inorder to help direct them towards the purpose of their reading. Direction is used throughout the lesson to
help clarify expectations of tasks as I believe complete freedom may be overwhelming for some students(Morrison & Navarro, 2014). The overall purpose of the first task is for students to implement and monitor
their current reading strategies to help develop an understanding of the learning processes for text
comprehension. This was done so the learners can engage in meta-cognitive knowledge to help improve theirtask and strategy knowledge. Wenden (1998) supports this and states “In learning transfer, meta-cognitive
knowledge facilitates the appropriate choice of previously learned strategies to achieve learning goals and/or
to deal with problems encountered during learning” (p. 526). In Appendix A, other areas of direction areprovided in the stages of Group Discussion, Introduce Additional Reading Strategies, Implementation andMonitoring of New Strategy, and Goal-setting.
After the reading is finished, students are asked to reflect on their reading experience and evaluate theeffectiveness of the learning strategies they used through small group discussion (see the Reflect and
Evaluate stages of Appendix A). Thoughtful reflection is supported by Kohonen (1992) who states “Onlyexperience that is reflected upon seriously will yield its full measure of learning, and reflection must in turnbe followed by testing new hypotheses in order to obtain further experience” (p. 17). In this statement, thereflection stage is recognized as a key element in the learning process as it provides opportunities for learners
to gain metacognitive knowledge about the reading process through reflecting on experiences with thereading strategies that they try to use. Following reflection, Kohonen suggests learners test their new theories
or reading strategies to further their understanding of the reading process through practical experience. To
obtain further experience, the learners repeat the process with a different text to reflect and evaluate the
new learning strategy used (see the Implementation and Monitoring of New Strategy and Evaluate andDiscuss New Reading Strategy sections of Appendix A). By doing this, learners have the opportunity to explore
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
other tactics for comprehending a text which could be useful in their autonomous learning as part ofcontrolling one’s own learning is making connections between outcomes and reading strategies (Candy, 1991,
p. 389). Once finished, the students reflect further on their experiences in a reflective journal and set learning
goals for the week as well as plan for how they will achieve them in order to better focus their learning (seethe Goal-setting stage of Appendix A) (Benson, 2011, p. 106).
The idea of reflection stems from my own teaching experience. I believe learners need to take more
responsibility for their learning as too many students rely heavily on the teacher. Through reflection, learners
can evaluate not only the amount of effort they are putting forth but also how effective their learning
strategies are. Reflective discussions after reading comprehension tasks were something I originally began toimplement with Taiwanese GEPT preparation students as it provided opportunities for learners to be
introduced to other methods of tackling difficult tasks. As reading comprehension performance was
evaluated through multiple choice questions, learners had a better sense of the effectiveness of their reading
strategies which resulted in more thoughtful discussions. Through these discussions learners likely added totheir repertoire of strategies and further developed their meta-cognitive knowledge. I also found it important
for learners to keep a reflective journal of new items learned. This served as a source of learning strategies
and also a device to encourage autonomous learning by setting learning goals. By setting goals, learners may
be more motivated to engage in autonomous learning to achieve their desired objectives.
To encourage more autonomy within the lesson, students were not provided a text unless the student
had failed to bring their own. This was done to help encourage students to take ownership of their learningwhich may result in further pursuit of learning (Morrison & Navarro, 2014). In addition, I did not explicitly
teach any learning strategies; students explained these through interaction with each other. By taking thisapproach, students were less reliant on the teacher and it encouraged them to be more resourceful.

Reflection on Microteaching
In developing the lesson, I completed a microteaching task in which I taught 10 minutes of the lesson to theother students on the MEd TESOL program. After the teaching deomonstration, the tutors and other learners
on the program provided feedback for areas of improvement as well as positive aspects of the lesson. Manyof the comments from my peers focused on my selection of the text for the students as this contradicted
student control of the content of their learning, a significant principle of learner autonomy. My tutors wereconcerned with the lack of development of meta-cognitive knowledge of the reading process and notproviding enough explicit attention to reading strategies. By reflecting on these comments, I realized that mylesson plan was not as autonomous as it could be. Based on Candy’s (1991) spectrum of autonomy, where
one side represents student’s control and the other teacher’s control (p. 9), my original plan favored theteacher end of the spectrum. To shift the control, I further applied Benson’s (2011) three dimensions ofautonomy which are control over content, control over learning management, and control over cognitive
processes. I started with control over content and decided to have students choose their own reading basedon their discipline of study. This not only allowed for students to find a reading of interesting content, but also
provided further personalization of their learning needs as they were able to use a lab report, business plan,
academic journal article and so on. In addition, the revised lesson now focused on the development ofunderstanding the reading process along with the introduction of new reading strategies instead of a primary
focus on text comprehension. To further promote these developments and to shift the control over cognitive
processing, several reflection tasks were added. Without including these stages, opportunities for learnerplanning and further development of effective self-directed learning would have been lost.
The process of designing this lesson plan has helped me refine my own definition of learner autonomy
and has broadened my understanding of how autonomy can be supported to develop higher achieving
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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
learners. The feedback received from my classmates and professors has inspired me to continue my pursuit ofshifting the control of learning to students to develop more self-directed and more autonomous learners.

References
Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy (2nd ed). Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Candy, P. C. (1991). Self-direction for lifelong learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kohonen, V. (1992). Experiential language learning: Second language learning as cooperative learnereducation. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Collaborative language learning and teaching (pp. 14-39). Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Morrison, B., & Navarro, D. (2014). The autonomy approach: Language learning in the classroom and beyond.
Peaslake, England: Delta Publishing.
Nassaji, H. (2007). Schema theory and knowledge-based processes in second language reading
comprehension: A need for alternative perspectives. Language Learning, 57(1), 79–113.
Victori, M., & Lockhart, W. (1995). Enhancing metacognition in self-directed language learning. System, 23(2),223-34.
Wenden, A. L. (1998). Metacognitive knowledge and language learning. Applied Linguistics, 19(4), 515–37.

Type of lesson: Reading

Appendix A. Revised Lesson Plan

Level: B2 Age group: Chinese University Students No. of students: 12
Teaching context: University of Glasgow
Lesson aims for the students: By the end of the lesson the students will be better able to/have had theopportunity to…
! introduce and raise awareness of various learning strategies for reading! evaluate the overall effectiveness of selected reading strategies
Specific skills! General reading skills – skills may vary depending on what the learner chooses to practice (possible
skills: comprehension, skimming, scanning, etc.)! Speaking accuracy on the topic of reading strategies
Anticipated problems & solutions
Ss may have forgotten to bring a text, so T will bring various texts to the class.
Assumed knowledge! General understanding of reading strategies
Materials (include references)
The lesson plan was copied and distributed to tutors and peers for the micro-teaching. They could make notesin the Comments /Questions column. The format is adapted from Morrison & Navarro, 2014.
Revised lesson plan procedure (practice and micro-teaching)Type of lesson: Reading

Level: B2

Date & Length: 60 minutes

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
Stage, Timing,
Interaction

Aims (Why)To raise awarenessof the purpose of
the task and theactions to take toachieve it

Procedure (what)

1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

Comments/
Questions

T explains that Ss will read the text they have chosen and thatduring the reading, the Ss should focus on what they are doing
throughout the reading process in order to comprehend thereading. The Ss will give a brief summary about their reading insmall groups once finished.
T writes prompts on the board before reading to help them tothink about the strategies they are using in the reading process.
Possible prompts are:
! How do you feel before reading the text? Why?
! What are the first things you do when this reading tasks
starts?
! Which parts of the text are the easiest to understand?
Why?
! Which parts of the text are the most difficult tounderstand? Why?
T explains that the Ss should be as specific as possible whenidentifying the difficult part of the task (i.e. organisation, grammar,
main ideas, etc.)
T explains that students can use anything available to them tocomprehend the text
T asks Ss to take out their text, gives the learners Handout 1 1, andsets a time limit for task completion

Implement andmonitor readingtask
10 minutes
Ss work
individually

To raise awarenessof the strategies
the learners use
during the reading
process and help
develop metacognitive
knowledge

1. Ss read the text they have chosen and think about difficulties withthe task
2. T should monitor Ss and try to see what strategies Ss are using if
possible. T should not assist learners in comprehension of the text
in order for Ss to further develop self-directed learning.

Reflect
Individual readingreflection
5 minutes
T–S
S work individually

To reflect onreading andidentify difficulties
during the task inreadingcomprehension

1.

T asks Ss to reflect on their reading individually and to note down
any strategies they used. Ss should also note what was difficult.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
Evaluate
Group discussion
and reflection onreading task
10 minutes
Ss – Ss or S – S

Introduce
additional reading
strategies
8 minutes
T–S
S–T

For Ss to further
reflect on thereading strategies
used and toprovideopportunities for
Ss to beintroduced to newstrategies.
For Ss to evaluate
the current
reading strategies
they are using andto decide if theyneed to change
their reading
strategies and try
something new

1.

To raise Ss
awareness ofadditional reading
strategies

1.

2.

3.

2.

3.

Ss break up into pairs or small groups to discuss what they did
during the reading process and give a brief summary of theirreading.
T writes possible points of discussion on the board which could be:! What did you do when you were reading to help you
understand the ideas in the text?
! How effective were these strategies?
! What strategies did you use that were similar! What strategies did you use that were different?
! Were the strategies related to the type of text?
! Were they related to where the texts were found?
Ss should also consider if they need to change their strategies or if
a different strategy would have been more helpful

T shows Ss HO1 and asks them to compare their reading process to
the HOT asks Ss questions to help guide their use of the HO. Possible
questions could be:! Which ones did you use?
! Is there anything else you did that is not included?
T elicits strategies that were used by the Ss and writes them on theboard. Ss should write the new strategies on their HO

Implementationand monitoring of
new strategy
12 minutes
T–S
S individually

To provide Ss theopportunity to try
a new reading
strategy andevaluate its
effectiveness forpossible futureuse

1. T explains that Ss will choose a new strategy to use and a new text
to read to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. Ss will readand give a brief summary about the new reading and the newstrategy they used.
2. T writes questions on the board to help guide the learners:! What new strategy did you try to help you understand theideas in the text?
! How effective was the strategy! Is there anything you could do to make this strategy more
effective? If so, what?
3. T has Ss reads the texts

Evaluate anddiscuss new
reading strategy
8 minutes
Ss – Ss or S – S

Ss to evaluate the
new reading
strategy anddecide if it iseffective andsomething they
will utilize in the
future1. After the Ss have finished reading, they work in their small groups
again and discuss their experience.

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Learning Learning 『学習の学習』 26 (2): STORIES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
Goal-setting
4 minutes
S individually

Ss to plan theirlearning for the
week so they can
implement,
monitor, andevaluate theirreading and theircurrent use ofreading strategies

1. Ss take out a reflective journal to write down what they had learned
for the day and the new reading strategies they were introduced to.
2. Other possible points of reflection could be:! What did you learn about the reading strategies you use(and don’t use) for reading exercises?
! How can you find out about other reading strategies?
! Can you think of any similarities between reading strategies
and listening strategies?
3. Ss write a reading goal for the week and write what they will do tomeet the goal

Appendix B. Handout 1
1. Check the strategies you used.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

I read the whole article and tried to understand the general idea.
I took notes in English/my first language as I was reading.
I underlined the text as I was reading.
I took notes in English/my first language after I read.
As I was reading, I thought about the ideas and how true they are.
As I was reading, I thought about the ideas and how they relate to my experience.
I did something else: _________________________________.

2. If I didn’t understand a word:
•
•
•
•
•

I looked it up in my dictionary.
I asked someone.
I ignored it, and focused on the words I did know.
I guessed the meaning.
I did something else: __________________________________.

3. When I checked the meaning, using a dictionary or person:••••

I wrote the new word in my vocabulary notebook.
I wrote a translation on the text.
I just checked the meaning, and kept reading.
I did something else: ___________________________________.

4. If I didn’t understand a sentence:••••

I guessed the meaning.
I ignored it.
I read it again.
I did something else: ___________________________________.

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