“It's Not the English Thing”: Bringing Reading Research Into the ESL Classroom

Recent L2 reading research suggests that readers' metacognitive awareness of their reading processes and strategies enhances proficiency. This article presents a retrospective account of an undergraduate ESL reading course that takes the implications of this research one step further by bringing the research process directly into the ESL classroom: In this course, students were trained to investigate their own reading as part of the pedagogical process and invited to apply what they discovered to their reading. The article presents an overview of the course design and pedagogical processes, the ways students were involved in inquiry, and their findings. Students' voices are integrated throughout the article as they reflect on changes in their strategies, conceptions, awareness, and feelings about reading in English. Their findings are corroborated by evidence from pre‐ and postcourse interviews, think‐aloud protocols, and comprehension tests. Taken together, these findings suggest that transferring L2 research tools into the hands of learners and inviting them to reflect critically on their own reading can not only increase their metacognitive awareness and control in L2 reading but also significantly increase their enjoyment of English reading.