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Using
Reading Logs for Business English
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Reading logs or reading
response journals have been used widely in ESL courses to teach reading. The approach
requiring students to record their reactions and questions following the reading of an
authentic text is one way of integrating reading with writing.
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Research in both L1 and L2
shows the effectiveness of using an interactive approach to reading instruction. (Carrell
and Eisterhold 1983; Petrosky 1982; Swaffar et al. 1991; Zamel 1992). There is general
agreement that the reader's active participation in organizing and evaluating information
while reading a text is essential to reading comprehension.
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Most ESL teachers use
reading logs with novels or stories since the approach works well with literary texts. But
the approach is also useful in ESP courses such as business English. In this article, I
will discuss my experience with reading logs in an ESP course and the reactions of my
students.
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The course and the students
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I incorporated reading
logs in a course of English for economics and finance which focused on communication
skills in an international business environment. One of the objectives of the course was
to familiarize students with the terminology and the writing styles in written business
communication. The strategy was to use authentic business magazines and journals instead
of novels and short stories for a reading log activity to fulfill the content objectives
of the course and give students the opportunity to develop reading, writing, and speaking
skills in the register of English appropriate for business and commerce.
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The approach was
introduced to 67 first year, tertiary-level students, aged (19 through 22), majoring in
Finance at the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong. They were divided into three groups, with
approximately 22 students in each class. All of them spoke Cantonese as their first
language and were at the intermediate level of proficiency in English. The students were
required to attend the course two hours a week during a 15-week semester.
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The students were first
required to read an article of their own choice from a list of business magazines and
journals published in English and available in the library. These provided the stimulus
for the students' reading logs.
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English Language Journals on Business and Finance
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- Asia Money and Finance
- Asian Business
- Asian Wall Street Journal
- Asian week
- Banking and Finance (by Standard Chartered Bank )
- Business Week
- China Market
- China Trade
- China Trade and Development
- The Economist
- Far East Asia Review
- Far East Economics Journal
- Finance and Technology
- Financial Times
- Fortune
- Futures
- Hong Kong Standard (Newspaper)
- Marketing Week
- Newsweek (Business Section)
- Observer
- Securities Journal
- South China Morning Post (Business Post)
- Time (Business Section)
- Window
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Students were required to
record a log of their reactions, questions and opinions about the article they read each
week before class. During the class period, their reading logs were used for pair or
whole-class discussion. For pair discussion, each student would read the other's entry and
exchange views about their comments. For whole-class work, the teacher would raise one or
two issues for fifteen minutes of open discussion.
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The goals of the reading
log were to help students keep up with current issues in their field, prepare for class
discussions and take notes for research papers. The reading log included three sections: a
summary of the article, their response, and a vocabulary and structure section. In the
summary section, the students were asked to summarize the article in less than 50 words.
They were then to record their reactions and questions in the response section. In the
last section, the students put down those vocabulary items and structures that were new to
them. Each entry of the three sections was limited to one page.
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The activity emphasized
language fluency and critical thinking, with the students focusing on ideas instead of
grammar. The teacher could check the students' work when they had class discussion each
week, and the students got feedback from the teacher and their peers.
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Students' reactions to the activity
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At the end of the
semester, I asked the students to fill out a questionnaire about the reading log activity.
The questionnaire inquired whether the approach was helpful, in what ways it was helpful,
and whether they had liked the activity. An analysis of their comments shows that they had
a positive attitude towards the approach.
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Over two-thirds of the
students agreed that reading logs helped familiarize them with terms, issues, and writing
styles in the field of business. The students' comments showed that the reading aspect of
the activity was useful in improving their knowledge and business language. One student
said, "Now I know more about the business field in the world," commenting
further that the logs were meaningful and broadened his knowledge. Some students mentioned
that this activity helped them to keep up with current issues in business. About 50% of
them believed the activity helped their writing skills. One student said it helped train
them to express their opinions in written form.
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The students said they
spent more time reading an article when they were required to write about it. Many of them
(76%) felt that their understanding was enhanced after writing in their logs.
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- "The Reading Log pushes me to think
deeply about the articles I read."
- "When I write about an article, I
will think twice about what it said."
- "I want to have a thorough understanding
of an article if I am going to write comments."
- "Writing clarifies about the meaning of an article."
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63% of the students
indicated that they enjoyed the reading aspect of the activity, because they could
personally select texts that interested them. Some 31% of the students liked the writing
aspect because they could write about a topic that they liked. Some even said they had a
chance to challenge the writer of the articles.
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Many students noted that
they enjoyed sharing their reading logs with a partner but only 37% said that they enjoyed
discussing their logs in a whole-class discussion.
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The students who enjoyed
sharing their logs with a partner said that they liked it because they were exposed to a
variety of topics in the field. The activity gave them a chance to practice their spoken
English and share their ideas with the class.
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The finance students were
positive about the reading activity and the pair discussion, but were less positive
towards writing and whole-class discussion. They reported being worried about grammar
errors and the clarity of their ideas as they showed their log entries to their partners.
They were also concerned about speaking English in front of the whole class.
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- "I'm afraid my point of view may be wrong or even
crazy."
- "(My writing) may become a joke."
- "My classmates are not interested in my reading log."
- "I don't enjoy writing in the log
because I may be wrong in my opinion."
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Most Hong Kong students
started learning English when they were in kindergarten, but in spite of this long period
of instruction, most have attained only an intermediate level of proficiency in English by
the time they complete high school. English is rarely used outside the classroom, and
students are reluctant to use it even there.
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The driving force behind
the reading log is that students have a choice in selecting reading materials. This free
selection helps change their attitudes towards English.
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Among the four skills,
reading is the strongest for our students. They are more resistant to the productive
skills of speaking and writing. But in using the reading log approach, they have a chance
to read and write about topics that they are interested in before they have to talk about
them in class. Linking their strongest skill, reading, with their weaker skills, writing
and speaking, we are able to help them build confidence to use the language productively.
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Reading logs were
extremely effective for teaching vocabulary and specialized terms in context. In class
discussions, students could get familiar with a range of lexis and concepts in the
business field. On one occasion a student had read an article about the property market in
Hong Kong, and during the class discussion some students indicated that they did not
understand what "lease," "lessors" and "lessees" meant. This
provided the opportunity for the student who read the article to explain these terms to
the class.
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On the negative side,
class discussions were sometimes difficult because students did not all read the same
article. Some students became frustrated when they shared favorite topics
enthusiastically, but found the other students did not enjoy the discussion. It was also
difficult to get a natural flow in discussion when unpopular topics were brought up, and
topic-switching could embarrass the student who originally initiated the discussion.
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Another problem was the
difficulty in controlling the level of the materials. Some topics were interesting, but
the language used might be too difficult for the students.
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The purpose of this
article is to illustrate how the reading log approach can be applied in a business English
course. From the reactions of my students, I have found it a useful supplementary
activity. The approach can be applied to other ESP courses since it helps prepare students
for the language in their profession.
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Vicki Yung is a lecturer in the Department of English, City
Polytechnic of Hong Kong. She is interested in reading, writing, and literacy acquisition.
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REFERENCES
- Carrell, P. L. and J. C. Eisterhold.
1983. Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly,
17, pp. 553-73.
- Petrosky, A. 1982. From story to essay:
Reading and writing. College Composition and Communication,
33, pp. 19-36.
- Swaffar, J. K., K. M. Arens, and H.
Byrnes. 1991. Reading for meaning: An integrated approach
to language learning. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice
Hall.
- Zamel, V. 1992. Writing one's way
into reading. TESOL Quarterly, 26, pp. 463-85.
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