Reading in L1 and L2

Reading has an active and constant role in our everyday lives. We encounter written texts everywhere, we read constantly: we read some texts consciously and some without a specific aim in mind (Grabe, 2009). Although reading is such an everyday activity, it is challenging to define what it means. The issue seems to be even more complicated when reading in L2.

We can define reading easily “as the ability to derive understanding from written text” (Grabe, 2010, p. 90). Nevertheless, this short definition does not cover all the aspects of the reading process. Reading can be regarded “as a complex combination of processes” (Grabe, 2009, p. 14) which could be described from at least five different angles (Grabe, 2009, 2010). First of all, reading is a rapid and automatic process. Secondly, reading is an interacting process as there is a constant interaction between “textual information and background knowledge” (Grabe, 2010, p. 91). Reading is also flexible and strategic “in that readers assess whether or not they are achieving their purposes for reading” (Grabe, 2010, p. 91). The fourth feature is that reading is purposeful as readers have to have an aim in mind while reading (Grabe, 2009, 2010). Finally, reading is a linguistic process since readers “derive understanding and new meaning (…) by means of linguistic processing” (Grabe, 2010, p. 91).

Another important factor is that reading is a sociocultural practice as well (Eskey, 2002). One reads for different aims and some of these goals are determined by one's culture or the culture one would like to join (Eskey, 2002), so reading can be regarded as a “culturally learned behaviour” (Eskey, 2002, p. 7). Although our reading habits are affected by our cultures, it is important to note that reading is also an individual behaviour since each individual has different reading habits (Eskey, 2002).

When focusing on reading in L1 and L2, it must be noted that “L2 readers are almost always at some disadvantage (in comparison with L1 readers)” (Grabe, 2010, p. 96) since they have limited exposure to L2 texts. Apart from this obvious difference, three other differences must be highlighted: linguistic and processing, developmental and educational, sociocultural and institutional differences (Grabe, 2009). Linguistic differences (i.e., more limited language knowledge in L2 as compared to L1) may be related to the fact that students start reading in L2 later than in L1, in addition, they already speak their mother tongue when they learn to read in their L1 (Grabe, 2009, 2010). Hence, students lack the appropriate linguistic background and support in L2 that they have in L1 (Grabe, 2009). Developmental and educational differences refer to contextual factors like prior L1 reading experience, reading motivation and reading skills (Grabe, 2009). The wider context, i.e., “[t]he wider societal and cultural contexts in which a learner is socialized” (Grabe, 2009, p. 137) also plays a significant role in L2 reading. For example, readers may have different expectations about texts written in L1 and in L2 which can have an impact on their reading as well (Grabe, 2009). The third difference involves sociocultural and institutional differences. For instance, the way how a certain text is read is affected by the sociocultural context, which also determines reading patterns (Grabe, 2009). It must be added that sociocultural and institutional differences seem to have a significant impact on Hungarian students' achievements in reading comprehension, languages (English and German) and mathematics (Hegedus & Sebestyen, 2019). As their study shows, “if the family background index is higher in an area, then the pupils' achievement is higher as well” (Hegedus & Sebestyen, 2019, p. 125). The authors also note that secondary grammar school students obtain better results in languages at the school-leaving exam.

L1 reading has a substantial impact on L2 reading even if no linguistic similarities can be identified between the two languages (Koda, 1994). The reader has some prior reading experience when learning to read in L2, moreover, L2 reading is cross-linguistic (Koda, 1994), the “cognitive interplay between the two languages” (Koda, 1994, p. 5) has an impact on L2 reading. Additionally, reading skills and strategies developed in L1 affect the use of reading skills and strategies in L2 (Watkins, 2017). As pointed out by Watkins (2017), L2 readers might rely on their L1 reading skills and strategies when they read in L2 on the condition that they have some proficiency in L2.

Probably it is not an exaggeration to state that being a good reader is essential in modern societies (Grabe, 2009). Despite this fact, many teachers focus solely on the product of reading excluding the process of reading (Eskey, 2002). These reading-related tasks (e.g., reading comprehension questions) focus on the final result of the reading process which does not necessarily benefit students' reading development as “[t]hese activities test reading but do not teach it, and this contributes little to improving any student's reading performance” (Eskey, 2002, p. 8). Therefore, it is important to understand how one learns to read in L2, what differences can be identified between L1 and L2, what factors have an impact on the reading process, thus facilitating students' reading development.

Reading skills, reading strategies and motivation for reading

In many cases, the difference between skills and strategies is not easy to determine (Grabe, 2009). Numerous definitions highlight that skills are activated unconsciously while strategies are applied to a text consciously (Grabe, 2009; Paris, Wasik, & Turner, 1991). Skills are “informational processing techniques that are automatic”, they “are applied to a text unconsciously for many reasons including expertise, repeated practice, compliance with directions, luck and naive use” (Paris et al., 1991, p. 611). Strategies can be defined as “cognitive steps that learners can take to assist in acquiring, storing, and retrieving new information” (Anderson, 1991, p. 460). However, strategies are not always applied consciously or intentionally, therefore it may be added that strategies could develop into skills later on (Grabe, 2009).

Reading in L2 regardless of its context requires three basic groups of reading skills: decoding skills, higher level cognitive skills and interactional skills (Hudson, 1998). However, reading for various purposes results in different types of reading which require various reading skills, particularly in academic contexts. Focusing on the academic context, six major reading purposes can be distinguished (Grabe, 2009) which necessitate different reading skills. Reading in order to find information is a common purpose in any L1 or L2 classroom (Grabe, 2009). The required skills include skimming and scanning which enable one to search for the necessary information on the surface or in depth. Another reading goal is to read for quick understanding which activates skimming (Grabe, 2009). The third purpose is to read in order to learn (Grabe, 2009). Reading to learn in an academic context involves various complex processes such as organizing and recalling information, or connecting text content with prior knowledge (Grabe, 2009). Reading to integrate information is another reading purpose (Grabe, 2009). This purpose is more challenging for students as the information they read has to be synthesized and learnt so that it can be integrated (Grabe, 2009). Particularly in academic settings, students also read to evaluate, critique and use information (Grabe, 2009). This complex reading purpose necessitates numerous skills from the readers like connecting new information to prior knowledge and readings, making decisions while reading, reflecting on text information or reinterpreting the text for the reader's purposes (Grabe, 2009). Lastly, probably the most common reading purpose starting from very low levels is reading for general comprehension (Grabe, 2009). This kind of reading takes places both in the L2 classroom and outside the classroom when one reads a text for pleasure. Although reading for general comprehension is part of our daily activities, it is important to note that “it is both fundamental to reading and most often misunderstood as easy reading – but it is not easy” (Grabe, 2009, p. 10). It requires several complex reading processes from the reader which become automatic, thus “become seemingly effortless” (Grabe, 2009, p. 10) and form a solid basis for the remaining reading purposes and reading types.

Apart from reading skills, reading strategies such as paraphrasing, or predicting are also vital to assist text comprehension. These cognitive strategies are essential for fluent readers not only to remove reading obstacles but also to facilitate deep comprehension instead of being content with the “shallow levels of analysis” (Graesser, 2007, p. 4). Therefore, these strategies enable not only beginner but skilled readers as well when they encounter unfamiliar or challenging texts. These strategies focus on several areas that support text comprehension: grammatical knowledge, processing skills and background knowledge (Grabe, 2004). Another categorization distinguishes between strategies used before reading (e.g., examining the title), during reading (e.g., connecting chains of events) and after reading (e.g., summarising) (Paris et al., 1991). However, it must be noted that these strategies can be applied at different times as reading is a recursive process (Paris et al., 1991).

Apart from various reading skills and strategies, another component is necessary when the focus is on reading in academic contexts: motivation. There have been innumerable attempts to define motivation without reaching a consensus (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011); however, the following broad definition, which is applicable regardless of situation, can be proposed: motivation determines the “direction and magnitude of human behaviour” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 4). In terms of reading, all the factors that motivate one to start reading and to continue it can be regarded as motivation for reading (Józsa & Józsa, 2014). Since reading has such a vital role in humanities, motivation for reading is indispensable for those students who continue their studies in these study fields – such as English majors.

Rationale for the current study

Regarding the Hungarian context, although students' reading habits and reading comprehension skills have been researched before, there is a dearth of educational research focusing on university students. The few examples include the study conducted by Szűcs (2017) who explored first-year English major BA students' reading strategy awareness. The findings show that first-year English majors face difficulties with using reading strategies and their reading comprehension skills have to be improved. Focusing on reading in Hungarian, Hódi and Tóth (2019) researched Hungarian first-year university students' reading comprehension skills. The results imply that there is a correlation between good reading comprehension skills and positive attitude towards reading. The researchers also found that the majority of students seem to have the necessary comprehension skills – at least when reading texts in Hungarian – which are expected at universities.

In spite of the fact that reading skills have been investigated in Hungary before, not much attention has been given to EFL students in tertiary education. Another research gap should be noted: the use of literature in the EFL classroom is a subject which still needs to be explored in Hungary. Hence, the aim of this paper is to fill in the void and lead to further investigations focusing on the reading habits and skills of EFL students in Hungarian tertiary education. English majors – as they are in an EFL context – take part in courses where the language of instruction is English. For instance, they are expected to read literary and academic texts, and discuss these texts in English in their literature courses. Preparing students to read literature is not the focus of these courses, thus those students who do not have the necessary knowledge and skills struggle with reading. University EFL and literature courses could complement each other, however, EFL courses focus on language skills development and not on preparing students to read literature in English. Learning about EFL and English literature tutors' views and experience may bring the two fields closer to each other and prepare their cooperation. Although the main focus of this research is to explore EFL and English literature tutors' views on English majors' reading habits, reading skills and strategies, a small section is dedicated to the use of literature in the EFL classroom as a possibility and solution to the reading problems perceived by the tutors.

Research questions

Based on the literature, the following research questions are addressed in the present study:

1. According to university EFL and English literature tutors, what reading skills and strategies are necessary for English majors to complete literature courses?

2. What are university EFL and English literature tutors' perceptions of first-year English majors' reading habits, reading skills and reading strategies?

3. What possibilities and solutions to reading problems do EFL and English literature tutors find viable?

Participants and setting

The participants of the study were selected using purposive sampling strategies. As the focus of the study was on first-year English majors, the interviewees were selected from an English studies BA and teacher training programme at a prestigious university in Budapest, Hungary. It must be noted that first-year English majors indicate students who major in English and those who take part in the EFL teacher training programme as they attend the same English classes in the first couple of years during their studies. Regarding the tutors teaching in both the English and American Studies programme and in the EFL teacher training programme, the majority of them are also EFL speakers but they have near native proficiency in English.

Maximum variation sampling was used to ensure that a variety of participants is included in the study. As Tables 1 and 2 show, eight participants, four English literature and four EFL tutors from two different departments participated in the research. The reason why these two particular groups were selected lies in the place reading takes in these courses. Although reading has an essential role both in literature and EFL courses, students usually read different texts for different purposes in a literature and in an EFL lesson. For instance, while the text is used for literary analysis (e.g., interpretation, critical evaluation) in literature lessons, it is mostly used for language learning (e.g., vocabulary building, skimming and scanning the text to answer reading comprehension questions) in EFL lessons. Since reading is present but in a very different way in literature and in EFL courses, the participants were selected from these two departments to explore first-year English majors' reading habits, reading skills and strategies, reading problems and solutions to them from two perspectives.

As it can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, seven participants were Hungarian speakers and one tutor was of American origin. The tutors had only two features in common: they all had had some teaching experience with first-year students and they all had rather positive attitudes towards reading. Regarding the differences, they had different lengths of teaching experience and they taught various courses in English. Apart from being tutors, two participants, Rebeka (EFL) and Zsombor (LIT) were also PhD students pursuing their studies in language pedagogy and in English literature. Regarding their reading habits, all EFL tutors had a positive attitude to reading, they all regularly read for pleasure both in their mother tongue and in foreign language(s). English literature tutors also expressed their love for reading, however, they tend to read more for work-related purposes than for pleasure.

Data collection and data analysis

The research took place between autumn 2019 and summer 2021 including piloting. In order to inquire into the tutors' expectations and perceptions of first-year students' reading habits, reading skills and strategies, semi-structured interviews were conducted. First, the interview was prepared in Hungarian as the native language of the interviewees was Hungarian with the exception of one tutor who was of American origin, therefore the questions were translated into English. The instrument was checked by the author's supervisor and her colleagues in the PhD programme she attends. Then, the instrument was piloted with two EFL and two literature tutors.

The purposes of the interview were to explore some reading-related issues in depth, to elaborate on them and to gain some ideas and practices from the tutors. Hence, the interview had three main sections: some general information about the participants, their expectations of reading skills and strategies needed in English literature classes, their perceptions of first-year students' reading habits, reading skills and strategies. In addition, the EFL tutors were asked about their opinions on the use of literature in the EFL classroom. The English literature tutors were asked to describe a general literature class with first-year students. The interview guide can be seen in the Appendices. The interviews took from 35 to 60 min. Four of them were recorded in the interviewees' offices and four of them were conducted on two video conferencing platforms due to the pandemic. The interviews were audio- and video-recorded, transcribed and sent back to the interviewees so that they could check and comment on the transcripts.

The transcripts were coded by identifying and labelling patterns manually. The emerging patterns and themes were grouped into categories. The credibility of the study was established by member checking: the transcripts were read by the participants and some minor modifications (such as names, book titles) were made. The same questions were used during the interviews to ensure the dependability of the study. Lastly, a co-coder's help was sought in order to ensure the neutrality of the study; and the codes of the co-coder and those of the author were compared.

Reading skills and strategies: expectations

The aim of the first research question – According to university EFL and English literature tutors, what reading skills and strategies are necessary for English majors to complete the literature courses? – was to inquire into the participants' expectations towards first-year university students. Although the question addressed solely skills and strategies, all the participants mentioned knowledge, attitudes, skills and strategies. Therefore, four categories were formed based on their responses as presented in Table 3.

There are some areas that were mentioned by both the literature and EFL tutors: background knowledge, appropriate language skills, critical thinking skills, text analysis, dictionary skills. Some notable differences could also be observed. Perhaps not surprisingly, the EFL teachers listed more reading strategies on their own, they were more confident about and familiar with these strategies than the literature tutors. However, a surprising difference regarding the reading strategies should be highlighted. Three EFL teachers mentioned that it is important that students understand the gist of a text whereas the literature tutors complained about students not understanding the text word for word but focusing only on the gist. Mária (EFL tutor) highlighted that students seem to be accustomed to focusing only on the gist, which may be related to the fact that they are trained to do so in secondary EFL classes; nevertheless, this may cause some severe difficulties for them in university classes where they need thorough and deep understanding of the texts in their content subjects.

Reading skills and strategies in the classroom

To the second research question – What are university EFL and English literature tutors' perceptions of first-year English majors' reading habits, reading skills and reading strategies? – the responses were quite varied. Two EFL tutors with the most experience, Mária and Zsigmond said that nowadays students do not read. Rebeka and Allison (EFL) noted that students like reading when they can choose their readings. When asked about favourite books in EFL classes, students often mention compulsory readings from the previous studies or highly popular and well-known books such as The Little Prince. Interestingly, students rarely mention English writers, which may suggest that they are not familiar with English literature.

When participants were asked about the students' reading skills and strategies, all the interviewees started to list problems and issues that they encounter in class (Table 4). Interestingly, similar problems were listed by the tutors which implies that the same difficulties are present both in EFL and in literature classes.

Another common problem is that students read quite superficially: they do not notice the key words, they understand the gist but not the meaning of a text. This may be related to the changes in the reading process caused by online reading. Nowadays, readers have to cope with constant distractions and new stimuli “which affects how much we read, how we read, the characteristics of what we read, and finally, what is written” (Wolf, 2017, p. 11). For instance, the presence of multimodal texts makes readers process texts simultaneously and not linearly (Manderino, 2015); skimming becomes more and more significant in the reading process (Wolf, 2017).

Another issue is related to dictionary skills. Students are not accustomed to using dictionaries, it seems that either they do not know how to use one appropriately, or they do not have the necessary patience. Mária (EFL) tries to make them look up new words, however, she had experienced severe issues related to basic dictionary use such as choosing the first dictionary entry unthinkingly. In a study conducted at a British university international students' dictionary skills were investigated by analysing 89 assignments (Nesi & Haill, 2002); and some of its findings coincide with the problem mentioned by Mária. Choosing the wrong dictionary entry or sub-entry was the most common problem partly due to the fact that the participants selected the first meaning of the word without taking a look at the context (Nesi & Haill, 2002). As using a dictionary appropriately and effectively is an expectation both in EFL and literature classes at university, it is highly important that students learn how to use one properly. Therefore, it is essential to focus on teaching and improving dictionary skills in university courses, too.

Possibilities and solutions

In order to answer the third research question – What possibilities and solutions to reading problems do EFL and English literature tutors find viable? –, at the end of the interview, the tutors were asked to mention some possibilities for students to improve their reading skills and strategies, and some solutions to the most common reading-related problems. Concerning the solutions, the participants agreed that tutors have a responsibility in enabling students to make the most of their studies. The EFL tutors mentioned that study skills should be taught in courses as they can help students read and write in English, which seems to be another problematic skill. Selecting relevant and appropriate texts could be another solution to some of the reading-related problems. Literature tutors agreed that text selection is indeed important and the criteria for text selection include the first-year students' age and interest for three tutors as they try to find interesting, relevant and enjoyable texts for their introductory course. Despite this, only two tutors tend to ask their students about their reading preferences, two of them have no information on their students' favourite readings.

University students experience difficulties related to reading in both EFL and literature classes (e.g., text comprehension, deep reading, vocabulary-related issues), however, “once within the tertiary institution, they [students] frequently receive neither instruction in language nor activities designed to improve their reading skills” (Short & Candlin, 1986, p. 92). Additional help and guidance are very much needed both in EFL and in literature classes to teach students how to read texts, therefore as a solution, guided reading should be introduced both in EFL and in literature classes as proposed by the interviewees. Explicit instruction can have a significant positive impact on reading skills and strategies applied by the students, as suggested by Yapp, de Graaf, and van den Bergh (2021). Their study focused on L2 students at a Dutch college, 801 first-year polytechnic students were taught seven reading strategies. The results imply that explicit instruction is effective as students developed their “average scores in L2 reading comprehension after following the intervention” (Yapp et al., 2021, p. 17), especially weaker readers who seemed to improve more than proficient readers (Yapp et al., 2021).

Another solution to these difficulties could be the use of literature in EFL classes. Using literary texts has countless benefits related to language proficiency, skills development and culture (Ghosn, 2002; Hall, 2005; McKay, 1982; Parkinson & Thomas, 2000; Paran & Robinson, 2016). However, what makes literary texts remarkable is that these texts encourage students to interact with the text, in other words, they have to “employ interpretative procedures in a way which isn't required (…) in the normal reading process” (Widdowson, 1983, p. 31). Literary texts enable students to improve their reading skills by reading more; EFL tutors can teach reading strategies that are required both by EFL and literature tutors, and to encourage students to form an opinion on a literary text in a safe environment. Therefore, EFL tutors were also asked about the use of literature in the EFL classroom: whether they had had any previous experience and how they would incorporate such texts into their language classes.

All the four EFL tutors had had some previous experience with using literary texts for language development purposes. Mária and Zsigmond rarely use literary texts in their classes, but if they do, they choose really short texts such as poems. Mária added that she regularly uses articles and rarely poems in her classes. Rebeka had not had much experience with literature, she had used mainly abridged literary texts from coursebooks. Allison also rarely uses literature in her classes: once or twice each semester. Interestingly, the two participants with less teaching experience, Rebeka and Allison were more positive about the use of literature than Zsigmond and Mária, who were rather cautious. They noted that although a good literary text can be really interesting and enjoyable, not every student is interested in literature and in reading, moreover, they already have a lot of texts to read for other courses – which is truly worrisome as reading is a fundamental requirement and a vital need in the fields of humanities.

The participants were asked about obstacles and problems that may prevent EFL teachers from incorporating literature in their classes. All the participants highlighted problems related to text selection since it is strenuous to find appropriate and relevant texts which are also short. However, Mária also added that finding an appropriate reading with good tasks even in a coursebook is time-consuming and challenging. Other factors included lack of time to prepare worksheets and lack of resources. As Rebeka put it: she would be eager to use literature in her classes but she would need access to ready-made worksheets to do so.