Research tools in the investigation and teaching of the cultural dimension of foreign language reading

MELINA PORTO

St. Louis

Congreso; Convención Anual 2015 de la Asociación Internacional de Lectura, St. Louis; 2015

International Reading Association

In this session I propose that the reading response task is a form of textual intervention that is suitable for the investigation of, and instruction on, the cultural dimension of foreign language reading. A reading response task is a format adapted from Ollman (1996) which allows for the emergence of idiosyncratic responses to a text. It involves recalling and summarizing, but it goes beyond that by encouraging imaginative and personal responses as well. The session has two sections. In the first one, research-oriented, I briefly describe the investigation in which I have used the reading response task to research cultural understanding in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) college setting in Argentina. The aim of this section is to explain why the reading response task is a useful research instrument for those involved in the investigation of the intercultural dimension of foreign language reading. In the second section, practice-oriented, I exemplify the reading response task with some student samples, complemented with interview data. I also show the ways in which this instrument can be useful for instruction. I argue that its pedagogic value lays in the fact that it can be used as an instructional tool to foster critical cultural awareness in the foreign language classroom.