Using Reading to Learn pedagogy to improve Chinese writing among ethnic minority students in Hong Kong: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Reading to Learn (R2L) is a widely used pedagogy in numerous countries. However, most studies on R2L pedagogy focused on teaching English as a second language. Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan language that adopts a nonalphabetical orthography, and only a few studies have discussed the application of R2L pedagogy in teaching Chinese as a second language. To fill this gap, a quasi-experimental study was adopted to explore the effectiveness of R2L pedagogy in improving the performance of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong in terms of Chinese composition. Four teachers and 103 students from two middle schools were invited to participate in the study, which lasted for three months. The hypothesized positive effects on increased student writing performance in the explanatory genre were demonstrated via empirical data. Moreover, R2L pedagogy improved the students’ awareness of the importance of incorporating various stages and details when writing essays. Student participation considerably increased with additional support from peers and teachers. However, teachers encounter three challenges in implementing R2L pedagogy. First, they must possess a basic understanding of systemic functional linguistic theory and R2L pedagogy before designing the curriculum. Second, full participation might conflict with the limited teaching time during the implementation of R2L pedagogy. Third, teachers must deal with students’ various learning needs due to the latter’s diverse language levels and backgrounds. The practical implications of this study have also been discussed.