Reading bilinguals reading: First language use and comprehension monitoring in the reading of different textual genres

This paper reports on the code-switching, strategy use and comprehension monitoring evidenced in the reading recalls and responses of a group of undergraduate students at the University of Otago who have Korean as their first language. The bilingual participants in this project were intentionally given no instructions on how to read five texts written in English, no information about textual genres and no specific tasks to complete while reading the texts, in order that their reading comprehension, recalls and responses would be as undirected as possible. The participants showed a preference for using their first language in the recalls and responses. They were able to distinguish between textual genres, monitor their own comprehension and engage in the kinds of higher-level comprehension processing which some researchers have claimed are not always within the range of second language readers' skills. They were aware of textual structure and had specific expectations for different genres. The findings that indicate that they made use of their first language, alongside the second language, to comprehend and interpret texts, suggest that second-language teachers might reconsider restrictions on first language use in the second language classroom, especially when requiring learners to respond to and recall written texts.