Self-concept in second or foreign language reading in a higher education context

In the field of education, the self-concept has been associated with study success and with motivation, and has also recently become of significant interest in second or foreign language (L2) learning. In this talk, I will report on a mixed-methods, longitudinal study of the L2 reading self-concepts of international students taking a nine-month business pre-masters pathway programme. I will present a framework for the description of L2 reading self-concept development which shows how academic self-perceptions can be linked to personal histories, motivational processes and the situational context. Using this framework, I will describe the ways in which students’ reading self-concepts changed, were distinguished qualitatively by differing competence perceptions, and were associated with study success. I hope that the findings will provide insights into how students in international education situations experience learning to read and reading to learn simultaneously. A better understanding of these processes should enable educators to support students more effectively. Dr Carolyn Walker is Academic Director at INTO, University of Exeter. Carolyn completed the EdD in TESOL at the Graduate School of Education in 2013.