On Reading 'Harry Potter' in French

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  • Author(s): Macalister, John
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Reading in a Foreign Language. Oct 2019 31(2):311-314.
  • Publication Date:
    2019
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Descriptive
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Reading in a Foreign Language. National Foreign Language Resource Center, 1859 East-West Road #106, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822. e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      4
    • Subject Terms:
      Case Studies; Novels; Second Language Learning; Vocabulary Development; Second Language Instruction; Reading Processes; Generalization; Grammar; Learning Strategies; Computer Software; Recreational Reading; Phrase Structure; Teaching Methods; Word Frequency; Adolescent Literature; Literature; Teacher Attitudes
    • ISSN:
      1539-0578
    • Abstract:
      Jeff McQuillan offers case studies of intermediate level language learners who read young adult and adult fiction successfully as an argument against explicit vocabulary instruction. Case studies provide useful insights into whatever is being investigated but may not always be generalizable. However, McQuillan's reference to case studies has made author John Macalister reflect on his own experience of reading in a foreign language. Macalister offers these reflections as a way of adding to the case study literature, and as a further response to some of the points McQuillan raises. In this article, he describes his experience engaging with language learning apps to maintain and practice his French and as part of this experience reading "Harry Potter" books "for pleasure" in French. He goes on to describe the challenges he faced from unknown vocabulary, challenging words, repeated words, and multiword units as well as the insights he learned from these challenges. He concludes that his own awareness through reading "Harry Potter" in French is that explicit instruction--not just of vocabulary but also of learning strategies and grammar features--would enhance the reading experience. He has also gained a better understanding of what language learners go through when their teachers ask them to read "for pleasure," and the support that teachers can usefully provide. Part of that support remains the explicit instruction of appropriate high frequency vocabulary.
    • Abstract:
      ERIC
    • Publication Date:
      2019
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1232503