Cover not available
Article published In:
Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 53:2 (2018) ► pp.131–162

A qualitative case study of CSL learners’ reading strategies

| Kennesaw State University

Reading is a challenging task for Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners. Research has shown that effective use of strategies helps to enhance reading comprehension. However, studies about the reading strategies of CSL learners are extremely limited, and even fewer studies focus on how CSL readers use reading strategies to facilitate comprehension when reading a Chinese text. This case study addressed this gap by conducting an in-depth analysis of how three CSL readers used strategies to enhance their comprehension. Through think-aloud and recall protocols, close observations, and interviews, this study identified 26 comprehension strategies used by these readers during the reading process. It also reported the strategies commonly used by these readers to enhance reading comprehension effectively, such as using context to decode words, monitoring, identifying important information, and skipping unimportant parts. This article presents the study’s findings and their implications.

Keywords: reading Chinese as a second language, reading strategies, adult CSL learners, think-aloud protocol, recall protocol
Article outline
  • 1.Literature review
    • 1.1Studies on L2 reading strategies
    • 1.2Reading strategies used by CSL readers
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Setting and participant selection
    • 2.2Reading materials used for the study
    • 2.3Instruments and procedure
    • 2.4Data analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Reading strategies used by the individual CSL readers
    • 3.2How each reader used reading strategies to enhance comprehension in the process of reading
      • 3.2.1The case of Sophie
      • 3.2.2The case of Maggie
      • 3.2.3The case of Jack
    • 3.3Common strategies readers used effectively to enhance comprehension
      • 3.3.1Using context to decode unfamiliar characters and words
      • 3.3.2Constant monitoring, and integrating different parts of the text
      • 3.3.3Identifying important information: Skipping with purpose
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 21 January 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.17024.hua
References (42)
Abbott, M. L.
(2006) ESL reading strategies: Differences in Arabic and Mandarin speaker test performance. Language Learning, 56 (4), 633–670. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
ACTFL
(2012) ACTFL proficiency guidelines (Electronic version). Retrieved Retrieved August 14, 2016, from [URL]
Anderson, N. J.
(1991) Individual differences in strategy use in second language reading and testing. The Modern Language Journal, 75 (4), 460–472. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, E. B.
(1983) Testing foreign language reading comprehension: The immediate recall protocol. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 16 (1), 27–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, E. B.
(1991) Reading development in a second language: Theoretical, empirical, and classroom perspectives. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, E. B.
(2012) What do we know about L2 reading? ADFL Bulletin, 42 (1), 31–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Block, E.
(1986) The comprehension strategies of second language readers. TESOL Quarterly, 20 (3), 463–494. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1992) See how they read: Comprehension monitoring of L1 and L2 readers. TESOL Quarterly, 26 (2), 319–343. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K.
(1997) Qualitative research education: An introduction to theories and methods. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.Google Scholar
Carrell, P. L.
(1989) Metacognitive awareness and second language reading. The Modern Language Journal, 73 (2), 121–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chang, C.
(2010) See how they read: An investigation into the cognitive and metacognitive strategies of nonnative readers of Chinese. In M. E. Everson & H. H. Shen (Eds.), Research among learners of Chinese as a foreign language ( Chinese Language Teachers Association Monograph Series, vol. 4 ) (pp. 93): National Foreign Language Resource Center.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. D., & Upton, T. A.
(2007) I want to go back to the text: Response strategies on the reading subtest of the new TOEFL. Language Testing, 24 (2), 209–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ericsson, K., & Simon, H.
(1993) Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Everson, M. E.
(2009) Literacy development in Chinese as a foreign language. In M. E. Everson & Y. Xiao (Eds.), Teaching Chinese as a foreign language: Theories and applications (pp. 97). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui Company.Google Scholar
Everson, M. E., & Ke, C.
(1997) An Inquiry into the reading strategies of intermediate and advanced learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 32 (1), 1–10.Google Scholar
Everson, M. E., & Kuriya, Y.
(1998) An exploratory study into the reading strategies of learners of Japanese as a foreign language. Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, 32 (1), 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gillet, J. W., Temple, C. A., Crawford, A. N., & Temple, C.
(2011) Understanding reading problems: Assessment and instruction: Pearson Higher Ed.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D., Looney, D., & Lusin, N.
(2015) Enrollments in languages other than English in United States institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013. Retrieved from [URL]
Grabe, W.
(2009) Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hosenfeld, C.
(1977) A preliminary investigation of the reading strategies of successful and nonsuccessful second language learners. System, 5 (2), 110–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1984) Case studies of ninth grade readers. Reading in a Foreign Language, 231–249.Google Scholar
Huang, S.
(2014) CFL learners’ strategies used to interpret new compound words in sentence reading. In N. Jiang (Ed.), Advances in Chinese as a second language: Acquisition and processing (pp. 210–235). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Jiang, X., & Fang, Y. X.
(2012) Yujing he goucifa xiansuo dui waiguo xuesheng hanyu ciyi caicen de zuoyong 语境和构词法线索对外国学生汉语词义猜测的作用 [The effects of context and word morphology on interpreting unknown words by learners of Chinese as a second language]. The Journal of Psychology 心理学报, 44 (1), 76–86.Google Scholar
Lee-Thompson, L. -C.
(2008) An investigation of reading strategies applied by American learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annals, 41 (4), 702–721. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leow, R. P., & Morgan-Short, K.
(2004) To think aloud or not to think aloud: The issue of reactivity in SLA research methodology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26 (1), 35–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Merriam, S. B.
(2009) Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Pavlidis, M.
(1992) Reading strategies of second-language learners of Chinese. Melbourne papers in applied linguistics, 4 (1), 22.Google Scholar
Phakiti, A.
(2003a) A closer look at gender and strategy use in L2 reading. Language Learning, 53 (4), 649–702. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2003b) A closer look at the relationship of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use to EFL reading achievement test performance. Language Testing, 20 (1), 26–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) Construct validation of Bachman and Palmer’s (1996) strategic competence model over time in EFL reading tests. Language Testing, 251, 237–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Plakans, L.
(2009) The role of reading strategies in integrated L2 writing tasks. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 8 (4), 252–266. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pressley, M.
(2002a) Comprehension strategy instruction: A turn-of-the-century status report. In C. Block & M. Pressley (Eds.), Comprehension instruction: Research-based practices (pp. 305). New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
(2002b) Metacognition and self-regulated comprehension. In A. E. Farsrup & S. J. Samules (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3 ed., pp. 291–309). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006) Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Pressley, M., & Harris, K. R.
(2006) Cognitive strategies instruction: From basic research to classroom instruction. In P. A. ALexander & P. H. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 265–286). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Purpura, J. E.
(1998) Investigating the effects of strategy use and second language test performance with high-and low-ability test takers: A structural equation modelling approach. Language Testing, 15 (3), 333–379. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shen, H. H.
(2005) Linguistic complexity and beginning-level L2 Chinese reading. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association, 40 (3), 1.Google Scholar
(2008) An analysis of word decision strategies among learners of Chinese. Foreign Language Annals, 41 (3), 501–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sheorey, R., & Mokhtari, K.
(2001) Differences in the metacognitive awareness of reading strategies among native and non-native readers. System, 29 (4), 431–449. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snow, C., Griffin, P., & Burns, S.
(2005) Knowledge to support the teaching of reading. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.Google Scholar
Williams, P. J.
(2007) Literacy in the curriculum: Integrating text structure and content area instruction. In D. S. McNamara (Ed.), Reading comprehension strategies: Theories, interventions, and technologies (pp. 199–220). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
Young, D. J., & Oxford, R.
(1997) A gender-related analysis of strategies used to process written input in the native language and a foreign Language. Applied Language Learning, 8 (1), 17–29.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by 2 other publications

Lin, Jia, Gengsong Gao & Ting Huang
2024. Top-down Chinese as a second language reading strategies. Chinese as a Second Language Research 13:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Zhu, Junling
2023. Critical Literature Review on Teaching Chinese as a World Language in the Context of Globalization. Language and Sociocultural Theory 9:2 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.