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Article published In:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 31:1 (2018) ► pp.345–377

Exploring strong and weak EFL readers’ strategy use after a reading strategy and extensive reading instructional intervention

A think-aloud analysis

| National Taipei University of Business
| University of Macau

After 16 weeks of extensive reading and reading strategy instruction in an English as a Foreign Language class (n = 52) at a junior college in Taiwan, three weak and three strong second language readers were recruited to investigate reading strategy use. Strategies were inferred from verbal reports gained through a think aloud methodology as participants read a text equivalent to those encountered during regular classroom instruction. Results indicated strong readers used more global strategies than weak readers. Strong readers had a more diverse reading strategy repertoire while weak readers tended to lean towards the use of a single strategy. In addition, strong readers tended to combine strategies. These and other results are discussed in terms of the translation-based reading instruction currently dominating Taiwanese secondary school classrooms. Suggestions are also provided on how classroom English teachers should implement reading strategy training in the English language classroom.

Keywords: think-aloud, reading strategy instruction, extensive reading program, global strategy, local strategy, comprehension
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and literature review
    • 1.1Reading strategies
    • 1.2Reading strategy instruction
    • 1.3Extensive reading
    • 1.4Problem statement and research questions
  • 2.Methods and materials
    • 2.1The pilot study
    • 2.2Participants
    • 2.3Reading proficiency tests
    • 2.4Intervention
    • 2.5Think-aloud technique
    • 2.6Think-aloud text
    • 2.7Reading strategies coding sheet
    • 2.8Coding procedure
    • 2.9Data analysis
  • 3.Results and discussion
    • 3.1Descriptive statistics
    • 3.2L2 Reading strategy use by weak and strong readers
      • 3.2.1Top three strategies used by weak readers
      • 3.2.2Anna – a typical weak reader’s use of reading strategies
      • 3.2.3Top three strategies used by strong L2 readers
      • 3.2.4Ruth – a typical strong reader’s use of reading strategies
    • 3.3Summary of findings
  • 4.Implications and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.16032.shi
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