La Reading in English for academic purposes by non-conventional readers

Abstract

At a global level, the need to obtain information in English not available in the native language has made reading in different languages such a common practice that, for some areas of study, it is part of the university work. The area of study that concentrates research on reading in English as an additional language is Applied Linguistics, with Reading in English for Specific Purposes and, in particular, reading in English for Academic Purposes (REAP) one of the most developed lines of research. By reviewing how REAP is conceptualized, this activity is positioned as a subfield of the conventional language learning process. In other words, under the REAP parameters, readers are predominantly language learners who receive gradual and cumulative instruction in reading strategies in English and in correspondence with the proficiency of the rest of the communication skills (listening comprehension and oral and written production). The aim of this article is to distinguish the conventional conceptualization of readers in which REAP is established with the characteristics of a sample of 436 readers from a university in Mexico City that use English due to an unavoidable need for information. To support the above, we present the results of a survey that investigates about the readers' need to use information in English and the essential characteristics of their practice.