Reading Comprehension in Polish and English – Evidence from an Introspective Study

This book is about reading. Throughout the book, the author explains the complexity of the dual-language involvement of FL/L2 reading by showing how L1 and FL/L2 factors interplay in FL/L2 reading. The main aim of the book is to explore reading in English in the foreign/second language context as a cross-linguistic phenomenon and to present the results of a think-aloud study which investigated reading in Polish as the L1 and English as the FL of Polish learners of English. The project consisted of six stages, each focussing on a different aspect of reading. Thus, the following was explored: reading strategies, problems and solutions, the way the subjects constructed their representations of the texts, the students' individual patterns of developing comprehension and effectiveness in identifying the main ideas. The findings revealed both differences and similarities between the subjects' reading in Polish and their reading in English. The book offers implications for further research and elucidates the usefulness of think-aloud protocols in foreign language instruction.