1. Exploring the Complexities of Second-language Reading Elizabeth B. Bernhardt Stanford University October 2011

2. Overview A Bit of History What does the research say? The 20-30-50 rule The concept of Compensation An instructional strategy

3. A bit of history Late 1800s The 1920s The Coleman Report The 1970s

4. What does the research say? Compatible orthographies yield speed Phonology is critical A threshold Monitoring & inferencing the same L2 reading slower than L1 Extensive reading can help Description easier than persuasion

5. Some cautions “Nothing unique” “It’s all about characters” “Get out of our silos”

6. The 20-30-50 rule 20% - L1 literacy knowledge ◦ Features and purposes of print ◦ Knowledge of language operations 30% - grammatical knowledge ◦ Principally vocabulary 50% - ‘other’ ◦ Using knowledge sources ◦ Cultural compatibility

7. Compensation

8. Current instructional strategy Support for domain knowledge Topic-based curricula Special purposes classes

9. Research-based strategy Acknowledge grammatical accuracy Use of L1 literacy Generating a knowledge domain

10. A procedure Read a topic in English Anticipate words/characters in Chinese Talk about a topic Read in Chinese on the topic Do the anticipated words/characters appear? Compare and contrast topic and culture

11. Conclusion Use grammatical strength Use literacy knowledge Develop topic knowledge