University ESL reading: A content analysis

Abstract

The three standard questions of content analysis (What? How? With what effect?) form the basis of this investigation into the reading actually done by an ESL student at a U.S. university. The texts he encountered were analyzed for their content, their use of sources of authority, and the values that underpinned them. Text type and difficulty analysis were also performed. Lastly, a piece of the student's writing was examined to ascertain to what extent, and through what processes, learning from the readings had taken place. The findings show readings more varied in content and text type than is generally imagined for such courses, together with extensive use of sources of authority. A strong Western-intellectual-progressive value system was revealed. The learning achieved by the student is best described in terms of tuning the incoming ideas to fit existing structures, rather than the wholesale adoption of new concepts. These findings support the idea that extensive reading is central to any EAP reading course.