3. Method(eunnyeong Seong)

Ⅲ . Methodology

1. Participants

For this research, the researcher selected 40 ESL learners at the before college level. All of them are studying English in ESL classes at Troy University in Troy, Alabama, in the United State. The participants are international students who came from countries such as Nepal, China, India, Korea. Some students who come from India, Nepal learned English as first language in their countries. They had their own language, but they used English in the schools or public places. Other students who come from Korea, China learned English as second language in their countries, so they learn English as one of subjects in school and privete institutions. Their ESL class levels are diverse, ranging from American English Group(AEG) 4 to AEG 6. They are intimidated or advanced levels. The purpose of studying in ESL classes is to qualify to apply to academic courses in undergraduate or graduate school in Troy University. The classes are face to face lectures and include listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammar. The students attend 4 or 5 classes a day from Monday to Friday. The instructors teach the courses with textbooks and other supplementary materials.

2. Measures The participants are asked to answer the questionnaire designed by the researcher. There are four pages in the questionnaire which just wrote in English. The first page is the consent form which asks to permit from the students to participate in the survey: the purpose of the search, what they do in the research, who has an authority, and the participants’ right. In second page, the participants write personal information: their ages, nationalities, and ESL

course levels. In third and fourth pages, there are questions that ask about the effective reading activities to improve writing skills. The participants answered the questions based on their learning experiences and opinions of reading and writing skills of both studying English in their countries and the ESL class in USA. The questions are divided into two dimensions: relation between reading and writing, and reading activities for improving writing skills. Part of reading activities for writing is divided further into three dimensions: reading levels, post-reading activities and reading genre. The questions consist of multiple choice and 4 level Likert scales.

3.

Data Collection For data collecting, the researcher visited the 3 ESL classes. At first, the research explained the purpose of the research and what the students do for survey. The research delivered the questionnaire to the students. All students read the consent form first and decided if they participated in the survey or not. The students who agree to participate in the survey actually answered the questions in the questionnaire. During the survey, the researcher was in the classroom and helped and guided them to part in the survey. It took about 20 minutes to fill in the questionnaires. Sometimes, the students asked some questions when they don’t understand while they were answering. After data collection, the researcher put all of the data in the Microsoft Excel Program and presented descriptive statistics describing the results. For analyzing in the relation between reading and writing, the researcher used how many percent did the participants chose