Language learning experiences of simplified fiction among adult second language learners of Finnish
Keywords:
Finnish as a second language, integration training, language learning experience, reading circle, simplified fictionAbstract
This article discusses learning experiences of simplified fiction in integration training reading circles. The data consist of interviews of 24 participants of these circles. As the interviews were conducted in the participants’ second language or English as a lingua franca, they are approached as stories of experience, through phenomenological thinking. Individual experiences varied, and words, language structures and language use became the most important meaning entities. The individuality of these experiences will be discussed from the perspective of socio-cultural theory: fiction offers its readers a wealth of linguistic affordances, and each reader grasps them in accordance with their own needs and premises. Books were a central language learning environment in the learner’s experience. The reading circle supported reading, especially getting started with it. Readers understood complex content in easy language which makes simplified fiction suitable for adults in integration training and its related reading circles.
