Málfríður - 15.10.2008, Blaðsíða 23

MÁLFRÍÐUR 23
•   encouraging students to connect their reading 
to  their  own  experience  and  stressing  a  per-
sonal reaction to literature rather than a simple 
grasp of the plot.
•   helping students  to build up their vocabulary 
basis. Text difficulty can be measured by using 
the  Flesch-Kincaid  Grade  Level  in  Microsoft 
Office  Word  or  the  Dale-Chall  Readability 
Grade Score system.
•   developing students’ metacognitive skills and 
comprehension-monitoring. 
•   encouraging  students  to  realize  the  level  of 
linguistic sophistication  that English-speaking 
teenagers use (e.g. “Never had there been such 
a  combination  of  physical  prowess  and  insa-
tiable  skill  in  the  Pond  Hockey  League.  We 
tied  up  our  skates  and  hit  the  ice”  (Teen  Ink, 
2008)).
•   encouraging  students  to  contemplate  their 
goals for each term. 
•   centring  schoolwork  on  progress  and  process 
rather than on performance and the end prod-
uct of a grade. 
•   using  peer-  and  self-assessment,  in  collabora-
tion with the teacher, to shift the focus of learn-
ing to students themselves. 
Conclusion
I  believe  that  my  study  brought  to  light  aspects 
of  Icelandic  students’  reading  comprehension  in 
English  that  were  not  apparent  before,  namely 
that  reading  in  English  appears  to  centre  on  read-
ing  competence  in  the  first  language  rather  than 
on  knowledge  of  English.  The  breadth  of  compe-
tence  in  reading  in  English  is  greater  than  might 
be  expected,  and  reading  proficiency  in  Icelandic 
is  not  necessarily  an  indication  of  proficiency  in 
English. Although I expected to see weaker readers 
in Icelandic perform at a significantly lower level in 
English than stronger readers in Icelandic, the results 
of my study show that upper-secondary school stu-
dents  in  Iceland  with  poor  reading  competence  in 
Icelandic comprehend written material on average 
equally  well  in  English  and  in  Icelandic.  Students 
with good reading competence in Icelandic, on the 
other  hand,  performed  noticeably  worse  on  the 
reading test in English than they did when reading 
the same material in Icelandic.
It  is  my  belief  that  reading  is  one  of  the  most 
important life skills that school students learn, and 
that reading in English is an essential factor of life in 
Iceland today in terms of study, work and personal 
fulfillment.  Students  and  teachers  need  to  bear  in 
mind that English is far more than a school subject 
in  Iceland,  a  subject  to  be  studied,  examined  in 
and forgotten. Helping all students to achieve their 
potential in reading in English should be one of the 
priorities of English teachers in Iceland.
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