portada time to read 2

TIME TO READ - THE METAMORPHOSIS OF AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER
aloud, vocabulary usage and almost in every type of exercise
required in the L2 learning process.
The pride I felt in high school for being such a remarkable student
in my English class turned into feelings of disappointment
and frustration in my higher education stage. During my first,
second, and third semesters, the back row became my favorite
place in the classroom. I was always ready to sit where I could
not be easily spotted by teachers to avoid being questioned or
being involved in class activities. I experienced many episodes
of anxiety during those days. I became the “back-row boy”
who would frequently go quiet during classes.
It was not until my fourth semester, in the language program,
that the turning point in my student career came. I had only
two choices: continue being the low-profile student whose
language proficiency seemed not to have progressed due to
low levels of confidence, or become the student who would
do something about it. I chose the latter. I resorted to an almost
anti-pedagogical course of action. I made copies of a grammar
book entitled, “Practical English Usage” by Michael Swam, and
started to read it from front to back, over and over, every day
from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the afternoon. I do not know if I
chose this book because I was desperate and did not know
the best course of action to take, or because I was developing
a passion for English grammar. I guess both reasons lay behind
my decision.
The habitual reading of grammatical information did not enhance
my English fluency, pronunciation or listening skills. However,
I started to become more confident after my competence
in some areas improved and this showed me that my friends
in class were not perfect English speakers. More specifically,
my grammatical competence made me realize their grammar
mistakes and in this way, I gained more confidence.
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