By Cathy Shail, PhD, School of Education
As part of the literature review research for my doctoral study, a phenomenology into reading for pleasure at A-level in German, I conducted an expert interview with Katrin Kohl, Professor for German literature at the University of Oxford.
Her book Modern Languages – why it matters was of great interest and there were some ideas she raised that I felt were relevant to my study. I was also eager to glean the perspective of a modern linguist on the topic of reading for pleasure and second or third language acquisition.
The questions I designed were aimed at exploring her views on the reading for pleasure process, its impact and role in language acquisition as well as meaning-making. The A-level literary curriculum and examples of accessible reading in German for young linguists were other aspects upon which I was equally keen to seek her opinion. (more…)