The Development of L2 Reading Skills: A Case Study from an Eight-Week Intensive English Program Course

Abstract

The present study explores the development of L2 reading skills over the course of an immersive eight-week session in an intensive English program. Data was collected from an intermediate- level reading skills class (N=16) at multiple points throughout the course to measure growth in vocabulary knowledge, lexical inferencing abilities, reading speed, reading comprehension, and attitudes towards reading. Subjects also submitted a weekly log of minutes read at home. During the short two-month period, significant growth was observed in a number of reading skills. Moreover, total number of minutes read independently by each student was associated with growth across several reading skills, as tested by Pearson correlations. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for language teaching and language program curriculum.