https://www.danschmidtke.com/tag/international-students/international studentsSource Themes Academic (https://sourcethemes.com/academic/)en-usWed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://www.danschmidtke.com/img/avatarhttps://www.danschmidtke.com/tag/international-students/https://www.danschmidtke.com/currentprojects/readinghabits/Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000https://www.danschmidtke.com/currentprojects/readinghabits/<h3 id="the-big-idea">The big idea</h3> <p>Practice matters—but not all practice is equal. We tracked students’ real-world reading habits during a bridging program to test whether <strong>reading more English texts</strong> gives learners an extra boost in <strong>reading speed development</strong>, beyond the effect of instruction alone.</p> <h3 id="what-we-did">What we did</h3> <ul> <li>Followed <strong>142</strong> Mandarin/Cantonese-speaking English learners in an <strong>8-month university bridging program</strong>.</li> <li>Collected <strong>week-by-week reading logs</strong> over <strong>26 weeks of classroom instruction</strong>, where students recorded what they read, how long they read, and how many pages they covered.</li> <li>Modeled change in reading speed over time, then tested whether <strong>total pages read</strong> predicted <strong>who improved the most</strong>.</li> </ul> <h3 id="what-we-found">What we found</h3> <ul> <li>Students became faster readers over time: minutes-per-page <strong>decreased steadily across the program</strong> (a clear linear improvement).</li> <li>The key finding: <strong>reading experience mattered</strong>. Students who read <strong>more pages</strong> during the program tended to show <strong>larger net gains</strong> in reading speed.</li> </ul> <h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3> <p>This gives a simple, practical lever for programs: instruction helps, but encouraging (and supporting) students to <strong>read more in English</strong>—especially beyond required coursework—can meaningfully accelerate reading fluency growth.</p> <p><br><br></p>