Innovation in Language Learning

Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) during the English for Specific Purposes course (ESP) is a suitable activity for the students in Psychology as it improves their reading skills, vocabulary and critical thinking. Moreover, setting up a digital space for our students provides easy access to resources, but also to other learners, creating a networked community in which the level of informality makes them feel comfortable. As such, organising analogue and digital projects as follow-up activities of SSR contributes to building a database of specialized terminology for the ESP under focus and to the formation of a learning community that lasts over time and may provide important resources for the language course. This study analyses the students’ performance and feedback at the end of one academic year, giving us insight into our students’ engagement in reading activities (stative activity) and follow-up activities (dynamic projects) in which they contribute with information extracted from the texts read during SSR.

Keywords: sustained silent reading, ESP course, specialised terms, database.

References:
[1] Garan, Elaine M., Glenn DeVoogd (2008). The Benefits of Sustained Silent Reading: Scientific Research and Common Sense Converge, The Reading Teacher, 62(4), pp. 336–344.
[2] Hiebert, Elfrieda H. and Reutzel, Ray D. (2014), Revisiting Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers, Santa Cruz, California: Reading Essentials Reprint Series, TextProject, Inc.
[3] Krashen, Stephen D. (1993). The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research, Englewood: Libraries Unlimited.