MCM College: English Enhancement Series – Audiobook Night
MCM College places high emphasis on helping students to become more proficient in English. With the majority of students residing off-campus, Rishi Ling (Princeton-in-Asia Fellow) organized a bi-weekly series of online reading activities: Audiobook Night (for five consecutive weeks). For students to be successful in their academic studies, they need to read at levels that are likely to assure them academic success. While most students began the academic year with an enthusiasm for learning, many unfortunately became progressively less motivated to read vast quantities of academic texts. Inevitably, many struggled meeting academic requirements, some found it extremely difficult to take meaningful notes in class, while others may become frustrated when trying to complete assignments in the classroom, and undermining their capabilities to communicate effectively at grade-level in spoken or written English.
By introducing Audio books (via Zoom) Rishi and college academic staff offer a way to ‘recapture’ enthusiasm for reading. Associate Master, Dr. Manuel Noronha and Resident Fellow, Dr. Peggy Lau, observed how audiobooks can provide holistic reading methods, such as allowing students (with lower levels of proficiency) to actively listen to stories recorded at a ‘slower pace’, while reducing much of the stress involved in reading. The activity assists students in increasing fluency and comprehension, as well as being able to simultaneously hear sounds and visualise the corresponding graphic representation in their minds. By developing effective listening skills students will also be able to improve vocabulary, reduce working-memory deficit, lower ‘text-decoding anxiety’, and most important of all, increase overall comprehension.
According to Rishi, the COVID-19 outbreak has made it really challenging for the students, many of whom have had to stay in their homes for a month or longer. He added that:
“We hope that this series of workshop can help students make progress towards their English speaking and reading goals while the university residential colleges are still closed. Each student will have a chance to practice reading and recording themselves speaking, and Dr. Manuel Noronha, Dr. Peggy Lau and I will offer them feedback and support throughout the workshop. The students are so resilient, and I hope that they can take pride in their creative work and English language abilities!"
“Better readers can build language and literary competence rapidly by becoming “series” readers”. (Krashen, 2003, p. 18). |