Sustained Second-Language Reading and Multimodal Literary Engagement Through Reflective Autoethnography
Authors
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Nukhbah Sany
Politeknik Industri Furnitur dan Pengolahan Kayu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36312/jolls.v6i3.4837Keywords:
Autoethnography, Extensive reading, Literary engagement, Reader-response theory, Second-language readingAbstract
Sustained reading in a second language offers more than linguistic exposure; it can become a reflective practice through which readers negotiate meaning, develop interpretive awareness, and extend textual experience into other modes of expression. This study examines how long-term engagement with English-language texts shapes literary engagement and creative meaning-making in a second-language context. Using reflective autoethnography, the study analyzes self-generated data from reading logs, reflective notes, sketchbooks, artworks, visual documentation, and journals documenting engagement with approximately 50–100 English-language books annually across fiction, nonfiction, biography, memoir, and history. The data were examined through reflexive thematic analysis, supported by reader-response theory, transactional theory, extensive reading, second-language reading, and multimodality. The findings reveal four interconnected patterns. First, sustained reading functions as interpretive immersion, allowing meaning-making to develop cumulatively over time. Second, cross-genre reading encourages flexible interpretation by requiring shifts across imaginative, experiential, analytical, and reflective reading modes. Third, reading in English as a second language intensifies meaning-making by slowing the reading process and increasing attention to vocabulary, syntax, inference, and textual structure. Fourth, art-making operates as multimodal translation, transforming textual experience into visual expression. The study contributes to literary studies, second-language reading research, and multimodal literacy by showing how sustained L2 reading can become a self-directed intellectual and creative practice.
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