| Resum: |
Reading academic texts is a skill which is as difficult as necessary for university students. It has been seen (Dhieb-Henia 2003, Hellekjær 2009, Nergis 2013) that even when students have an acceptable level of English, they still encounter difficulties when dealing with academic texts. According to the First European Survey on Language Competences (2011: 42), the percentage of secondary students having achieved at least a B1 CEFR in general English reading is quite low in a number of European countries (France 13%, Spain 24%, Poland 24%). In 2016, a group of researchers from these three countries were awarded a KA2 grant (Erasmus+) for their joint project Gamifying Academic English Skills in Higher Education: Reading Academic English App (StratApp). The project started in December 2016 and will be completed in September 2019. The universities involved in the project are Universitat Rovira i Virgili (leader), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (France) and Wyzsza Szola Lingwistyczna (Poland), together with a app-developing company in Poland and the Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya. The aim of this project is to improve the English academic reading skills of university students, in various disciplines (to go from an A2 to a B2 CEFR level), through a game-based app that can be accessed through mobile technology or web. In order to make the app more attractive, it will combine the obvious educational purpose (improvement of academic skills) with game-design elements and game principles. The project is divided into five phases (intellectual outputs): 1) identification of reading skills and strategies; 2) pedagogical design of the app; 3) elaboration of the teacher's manual and online guide book; 4) development of the app for Android; 5) creation of the app Content Management System (CSM) and exploitation database. Different partners are responsible for the various phases. In this presentation we will explain the outcome of the first intellectual output, that is, a list of reading skills and strategies improvable by means of an app, which includes skimming, scanning, word recognition, recognising discourse structure and genre, and fluency. The importance of vocabulary for reading is undeniable: the former is needed for the latter, and the latter helps increase the former (Grabe 2009). Hence, this is the first aspect that will be addressed in the app. Next will be two very useful skills for university students: scanning (looking for specific information) and skimming (reading a text quickly to see whether or not it is worth reading more carefully). The third will be the genre characteristics of academic texts, often unknown to L2 speakers, the knowledge of which is of great help when reading a text with the purpose of learning about a specific topic. Finally, the app will focus on the development of reading fluency, to help users become quicker and more effective readers. |
visitant ::
identificació
(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
