The application of Bakhtinian theories on Second Language reading comprehension: a qualitative case study

[...] Reading comprehension has been recognized as one of the most important areas in second and foreign language research. Due to the dominance of behaviorism, applied linguistics, and cognitive psychology since 1960s, many research studies focused on the accuracy and speed required for successful comprehension. The epistemological assumptions behind these studies regarded reading as merely a skill-getting process. Readers have to be equipped with the skills and strategies required for successful comprehension, which is mainly based on their performance on multiple-choice tests. Applied linguist Koda (2005) believes that reading depends mainly on the decoding of textual cues: “Successful comprehension is heavily dependent on knowledge of individual word meanings. The widely recognized relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension attests to the crucial role word knowledge plays in text understanding among both L1 and L2 readers” [...].

This viewpoint is also supported by Hauptman (2000), who mentioned that grammar, vocabulary, and the length of the text determine the level of difficulty of the reading task. According to Mackey‘s (1997) definitions of “good enough reading”, good readers have to strike “a balance between the need for accountability to the text and the need for momentum”. It seems that all it takes to be a good reader is to read accurately with a reasonably fast speed and to have a large vocabulary size.

I do not object the importance of speed, accuracy, and vocabulary knowledge in second language reading. However, I argue that there are individual differences which are deterministic toward the comprehension of a text. The meanings that readers created from texts and the depth of the meaning actively constructed by them are also critical in the reading comprehension processes. Second language reading comprehension used to acquire a deficit model, which asked questions like “What do learners need to do in order to decode the sentence?” and “What is required to correctly understand the passage?” Alderson‘s famous question on second language reading was raised in 1984, “Is reading in a foreign language a reading problem or a language problem?” But my question is, “Are there any other factors influencing the second language reading process, other than the language barrier and the reading strategies?”.

On an ideological level, the reason for the emphases on accuracy, speed, and vocabulary size is based on the belief in “abstract objectivism” that

i) Language is a stable, immutable system of normatively identical linguistic forms…; ii) The laws of language are the specifically linguistic laws of connection between linguistic signs within a given, closed linguistic system…; iii) Specifically linguistic connections have nothing in common with ideological values…; and iv) Individual acts of speaking are, from the viewpoint of language, merely fortuitous refractions and variations or plain and simple distortions of normatively identical forms (Voloshinov, 1986, p. 57).

Researchers in traditional reading studies believe that there is (1) a correct or incorrect interpretation of meaning and (2) a generalized speed that a non-native speaker of English should achieve, and that (3) word meanings are fixed meanings which are traceable in dictionaries. They conclude that, when reading a text in another language, the plight of the reader is to master speed, accuracy, and vocabulary knowledge. All research methods or pedagogies are rooted in certain philosophies. I take on an alternative perspective by referring to the Bakhtin Circle that there can be no correct or incorrect interpretations of a text, and that the dialogic process involved in reading comprehension is crucial toward the active construction of meaning by the reader. By “Bakhtinian theories”, I refer here to the ideas and thoughts proposed by “the principal members of the Bakhtin Circle during the 1920s — Valentin Voloshinov, Pavel Medvedev, and Mikhail Bakhtin”.

It is true that for beginning second language readers, language barriers can be an obstacle in constructing meaning. However, this case study was conducted with a native speaker and an advanced learner of English with near native proficiency, and thus the language issue is not the most prominent concern; rather, the research focused on the depth of meaning constructed by the two readers, and the dialogic interactions between the readers and the author of the text [...].

Available in: https://www.readingmatrix.com/. Acess on: Jan. 27, 2026.

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