L۲ Learners' Construction of Models of L۲ Literacy in an EFL Context: A Socio-cultural Perspective

As the issue of L۲ literacy in an EFL context is being emphasized upon, the concern of how this discipline is developed merges to how it can go on side by side in the L۱ educational context. Yet the question of “models and assumptions” that is very effective in L۲ literacy are of great concern: whether these models or assumptions exist in FL context, and if so, how they are built and shaped by FL learners. Researchers have advocated that there is a strong relationship between the internalized models of the ESL readers and the types of information they focus on while reading. Searching for the reasons of such modeling made some researchers respond to this question. They speculated that it may be due to the context of the L۱ literacy. The present research is an attempt to go after such model-building of foreign language literacy among ۳۵ medical students. The data were collected using strategy questionnaires namely SBSI, which were in two versions: one in English and the other in Farsi. These questionnaires were given at the interval of ۱۵-۲۰ days to avoid any kind of intervention. Finally, a written interview called “Burke Reading Interview” was given. The aim was to deduce the unarticulated and unconscious theory of reading held by the subjects. The results obtained from these instruments and a pilot study conducted prior to this research show that subjects have models and assumptions about reading in English; moreover, these models have been shaped and built up in the L۱ context. The results are useful for L۲ literacy educators detecting their learners' hidden assumptions about the reading process and especially for those who are in charge of designing L۱ literacy curriculum to develop a more compatible and professional literacy syllabus.