Earticle

Teachers must be able to comprehend their textbooks in order to fully benefit from their preparation programs. However, it is yet unclear whether textbooks used to teach challenging content to preservice non-native speaking English teachers might be beyond their ability. To investigate this question, a textbook readability analysis was performed with the Coh-Metrix text analysis tool. Textbook understandability was also assessed by means of maze passages given to teacher candidates in a pre-service English teacher education program. Readability analyses results indicated that the majority of the texts are excessively challenging for L2 readers at the level of the participants. Understandability findings revealed that many texts were able to be read independently but that all texts could be understood with scaffolding. Contrary to prior understandability research findings that showed that these textbooks were too difficult, this study found them to be suitable for their audience. However, a correlation between text understandability and course grades indicates that ability to comprehend the text could relate to course performance. Implications are that EFL teacher educators must recognize the importance of readability for textbook selection criteria and provide learners with access to other supplementary materials to scaffold their learning.

The use of group reading helps learners become more actively engaged in meaning making through exchanging interpretations of texts. However, relatively little published research has focused specially on the process of how learners interact with each other to read and to interpret texts in the local context. The present study therefore aims to explore how Taiwanese junior college EFL learners constructed meaning from texts while participating in peer-led story discussions. Participants were grouped into 12 heterogeneous groups, each of which consisted of four second-year students with different levels of reading ability. They read eight simplified short stories of between 600-700 headwords over a period of eight weeks. Transcribed audiotapes of four representative discussions served as the major data source and were analyzed using Rosenblatt’s (1994) definition of efferent and aesthetic transactions. Interviews and students’ reading logs were collected to find out the focus group students’ reading behaviors during the two-month long study. The findings revealed that the participants consistently moved beyond facts to critically examine the ideas given and became aesthetically involved in the text to develop reflective thoughts. By gaining new thoughts that they could not obtain while reading alone, the EFL learners helped each other extend their thinking and venture more deeply into what they read.

Previous research on instructor feedback in second language (L2) writing has been limited to the area of grammar. However, it is also important to understand the role of feedback in developing content, considering that integrated reading-to-write tasks, which emphasize one’s ability to discuss select topics, are gaining popularity in L2 writing. Using the Learning-Oriented Language Assessment framework, this study examined the effectiveness of instructor feedback in the content domain in reading-to-write tasks. It also compared instructor feedback with students’ self-assessment of their own writings. Participants were 11 TESOL master’s students and their professor in South Korea. During one semester, learners produced eight writings (initial draft and revision on four reading-to-write tasks). For each task, students read an academic research paper of their choice and wrote a one-page review of it. Learners also completed a self-assessment and received instructor feedback in the content domain of their writings. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that learners generally improved in the content domain. This could be attributed to repeated self-assessment, combined with instructor feedback, which promoted learners’ metacognitive reflection of their writing process and product. The results provide pedagogical implications for using integrated reading-to-write tasks and sustained feedback in L2 academic writing.

The aim of the study is to investigate whether hypermedia glosses (i.e., text only, text plus audio, and text plus video clips) promote EFL learners’ reading comprehension and examine learners’ preferences for using hypermedia glossing modes when they are reading a hypermedia text. The participants were 77 intermediate-level EFL learners from a university in China. Data were collected through pre- and post- reading comprehension tests, a questionnaire, and interviews. The reading comprehension findings reveal that all three glossing modes significantly promote learners’ comprehension of the text, but no significant differences were found among these three types. In addition, the questionnaire and interviews data indicate that learners hold positive attitudes towards glosses and hypermedia reading. They preferred text coupled with video glossing mode more than text only and text plus audio glosses. The pedagogical implications were provided.

This study explores whether the presence of phrasal verbs in reading texts affects the reading recalls of EFL learners, and whether having a large vocabulary size assists learners’ reading recall of a text with frequent occurring of phrasal verbs. Forty-five university students from North Taiwan were invited to participate in the present study. Three major instruments were used: the Vocabulary Levels Test, two reading passages, and a reading recall measure. The study was conducted over two consecutive weeks, with these three instruments of data collection implemented separately. Results indicated that the occurrence of phrasal verbs significantly hindered readers’ recall of the proposition units containing phrasal verbs, while it did not impact the recall of those units not containing phrasal verbs. This study’s second line of inquiry revealed that having increased vocabulary size did not guarantee higher competence as regards coping with phrasal verbs in reading. These findings were further extended to provide some pedagogical recommendations regarding the teaching of phrasal verbs in EFL contexts.

Glossing, providing information for unfamiliar lexical items to promote reading comprehension, has long been investigated as a textual modification technique to promote second language (L2) reading comprehension. Thus far, however, inconclusive findings have been produced as to whether L2 readers’ working memory capacity plays as a moderator of the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension. To fill the gap, the present study explored the moderating impact of working memory capacity on the efficacy of glossing in L2 reading comprehension. Eighty-eight Korean university students read two English passages in either a glossed or an unglossed version, while answering multiple-choice reading comprehension items. Participants’ phonological short-term memory was assessed with a digit span task and a Korean nonword repetition task, while their complex working memory was measured with a backward digit span task and an automated operation span task. The results of mixed-effects modeling revealed that forward digit span scores moderated the effects of glossing on L2 reading comprehension scores.

Multiple-text reading (MTR) is an important skill nowadays; thus, an increasing number of language tests include items that require test takers to integrate information across texts. To clarify the effects of readers’ strategy use on the performance of intertextual questions while reading multiple texts in a second language, we conducted a small-scale think-aloud protocol study and a correlational study of Japanese learners of English. We created original texts, a combination of website announcement and an email, accompanied by intratextual and intertextual comprehension questions. The think-aloud protocol study revealed some differences in learners’ strategy use: (a) less proficient readers tended to have difficulty in word-level processing, while more proficient readers did not show such challenges; (b) less proficient readers tended to fix answers from local information without solving uncertainty. The major difference between proficient and less proficient readers was found in intratextual level, not intertextual level. However, the correlational study indicated that the strategy inventory, which was developed for MTR, did not show a significant correlation with reading performance. In sum, whether strategy use explains differences in learners’ processing depends on how strategy use is measured.

複数文章（テキスト）読解の重要性は近年ますます認識されており、言語テストでも2つ以上のテキ ストの情報を統合させる項目の出題が増えている。そこで本研究では、読み手がテキストを統合す る問題を解く際の方略使用を明らかにするため、日本人英語学習者を対象に、小規模な発話プロト コル調査と相関分析に基づく量的研究を行った。ウェブサイトの案内文とEメールを組み合わせた 独自のテキストを作成し、単一テキストで解答可能な「テキスト内問題」と、複数テキストを参照する 「テキスト間問題」を作成した。発話プロトコル調査により(a) 熟達していない読み手は語レベルの処 理に困難を感じる一方で、熟達した読み手にはそのような困難が見られないこと、(b) 熟達していな い読み手は不確定要素があってもそれを解決することなく、局所的な情報から解答を確定しがちで あること、が明らかになった。熟達度の高い読み手と低い読み手の差はテキスト間問題ではなくテ キスト内問題において見られた。しかし量的研究では、アンケートで測定された複数テキスト読解用の方略使用と読解得点に有意な相関関係は見られなかった。したがって、方略使用が学習者の処 理の違いを説明するか否かに関して、方略使用の測定方法に影響される可能性が示唆された。

This paper investigates the influence of different text presentation on the size of Chinese reading unit with word segmentataion task by Chinese as a second language learners. The participants were 30 Korean and 27 Thai, who were learning Chinese in Beijing Language and Culture University. They were divided into two language proficiency levels (intermediate and advanced) according to their Chinese words size and were required to add spaces in four Chinese passages. The results showed that: (1) the Chinese reading unit was smaller for Korean intermediate learners than it was for Thai learners. However, it was the same for advanced learners of both language backgrounds; (2) for Korean learners, the reading unit increased with the improvement of Chinese proficiency, while it would not change for Thai learners.

While much research posits that reading development in a second language (L2) is similar to that of a first language (L1), some scholars have argued that L2 reading development is more complicated by a variety of factors, one being L1-L2 orthographic distance (Akamatsu, 1999; Geva, Wade-Whooley, & Shany, 1997). Because of the orthographic distance between Korean and English, this study aimed to examine how Korean elementary students acquire reading skills in English, in particular, how their decoding skills vary depending on their grade level and how their decoding skills affect reading comprehension. For this purpose, 48 students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade?16 students of each?first read aloud three different texts that each exhibited varying degrees of decoding difficulty. Then, they answered comprehension questions about each text. The results revealed that decoding difficulty seems to affect reading comprehension irrespective of grade level. However, each grade level exhibited a unique pattern of decoding difficulty, which indicates that each grade represents a different stage of word reading development. The study findings suggest that Korean elementary students should be instructed to practice English decoding skills.

The study was conducted from a programmatic need to investigate the effects of the instruction of comprehension strategy coupled with cooperative learning (cooperative strategic reading) as compared to the conventional type of explicit teaching of reading comprehension on the development of second language (L2) reading comprehension by low proficiency learners. Two intact remedial classes were randomly assigned to either cooperative strategic reading or explicit teaching of reading comprehension conditions. Results showed that the two types of instruction had different effects on the development of L2 reading comprehension. Cooperative strategic reading comprehension led to a statistically significant improvement at the levels of global understanding of text, but not at the sentence-level understanding. In contrast, explicit teaching of reading comprehension failed to make any significant improvement in L2 reading comprehension at both the local and global understanding of text. This result can be interpreted as evidence that cooperative strategic reading comprehension helped students to engage in deeper processing of the text.

The study examines EFL learners’ strategy use and beliefs in reading comprehension at the university level in Korea. Ninety undergraduate students taking a reading course were asked to take a TOEFL reading test and to complete a questionnaire on the first day of instruction. Five composite variables were extracted through factor analyses; (1) Self-efficacy in Reading; (2) Metacognitive Reading Strategies; (3) Bottom-up Cognitive Reading Strategies; (4) Reading as Translation; and (5) Silent Reading. Multivariate analyses of variance followed by Tukey’s post-hoc procedures revealed that Self-efficacy beliefs, Reading as Translation and Silent Reading were significant factors determining students’ levels of reading proficiency. Multiple regression analyses further indicated that the variable of Self-efficacy in Reading may be considered the best predictor for students’ reading proficiency, with the moderate account by the second composite variable of students’ use of Silent Reading technique. In conclusion, the present study added a portion of evidence to the interactive relationship between reading strategies, self-efficacy and L2 reading proficiency suggested in the previous research. Based on the findings, the implications and suggestions were provided.

establishment of connections between the textual content and the reader's pre-existing knowledge of the world and other texts. The results of this investigation also reveal some novel insights which include the strategy of learners using self-explanations and various types of translation to make sense of their reading. The emergence of these strategies underscores the need for further exploration and recognition of their role in enhancing learning outcomes, potentially leading to the integration of self-explanation and translation techniques into educational methodologies for more effective knowledge acquisition and retention. This research can provide nuanced understandings of learners' cognitions and processing of modified input that can lead to ongoing research and the development of successful second language reading instructional techniques

This paper aimed to identify factors that inhibit effective second language (L2) reading and to suggest technology-enhanced reading designed for providing L2 readers with bootstrapping resources. To this end, this paper also addresses the importance of syntactic and prosodic awareness in L2 reading, drawing on L2 reading theories and a number of empirical studies from a body of research related to L2 development. Syntactic and prosodic awareness contribute to L2 reading development as they are highly associated with fluent and accurate reading abilities. However, it is challenging for L2 learners to acquire syntactic and prosodic knowledge due to limited cognitive capacities related to L2 learning, limited prior linguistic knowledge that is usually gained from oral communication, and linguistic differences between native languages and a target language. Addressing these challenges, this paper reviews a potentially useful technological tool of text presentation technology that may help increase syntactic awareness. Although empirical studies that tested the usefulness of technologyenhanced reading tools produced mixed results, their findings imply a viable alternative way of reading and call for future research to validate it.

The present study examines L2 reading proficiency effects on the relative contribution of vocabulary knowledge and grammar knowledge to L2 reading comprehension for Korean high school EFL learners. To this end, 200 high school students were asked to take a vocabulary knowledge test, a grammar test, and a reading comprehension test. The participants were divided into three sub-groups by L2 reading ability in order to examine L2 proficiency effects. Multiple regression analyses for the sub-groups indicated the relationships among the three variables as distinctive. The results showed that syntactic knowledge had a predictive power for reading performance in the high reading group, but vocabulary had the same quality in the intermediate reading group. For the low reading group, neither vocabulary nor grammar could significantly account for the L2 reading variance. Theoretical implications and directions for further studies are discussed.

Some research indicates that extensive reading (ER) supports second language grammar and writing development. However, there is as yet limited research with adult English learners. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the relationship between ER and the development of grammar knowledge and writing ability in post-secondary level EFL learners. The study addressed some limitations in previous research by providing access to a wider variety of books, including limited accountability and more teacher modeling. Korean postsecondary EFL learners engaged in ER over one semester. Their Grammar knowledge development was measured by gain scores from standardized pre- and post-tests of structure and written expressions. Essays were assessed using a rubric developed for EFL writers that included criteria for rhetorical organization, knowledge of lexis and idiomatic expressions, grammatical competence, mechanics, and register knowledge. Results were somewhat mixed. Pre and post grammar test comparisons revealed a significant difference in grammar knowledge. However, contrary to most prior research, all correlational results showed no significant relationship between the amount of time spent reading or number of words read and grammar knowledge gains or end-of-course essay grades. These findings suggest that using ER in a semester-long course for undergraduate EFL learners may not be enough to enhance their grammar knowledge development or writing ability.

This study examined the role of semantic flexibility measured using a wide range of vocabulary skills and oral language proficiency in L2 reading acquisition. Eighty four children participated in the study from two international sites. The contrast provided insights into the respective contributions of Korean and English oral and reading skills to L2 reading performance. A set of regression techniques was performed. The role of vocabulary skills in auditory sentence comprehension was differentiated according to the modality of vocabulary (receptive vocabulary vs. expressive vocabulary), language to be learned (L1 vs. L2), and learning context (Korea vs. America). As partial support for the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis, the results of this study demonstrated that L1 oral language proficiency was a dominant predictor of L2 reading for both lower- and higher-level Korean-speaking readers. On the other hand, the English-speaking counterparts showed that English (L1) reading skills and Korean (L2) oral linguistic proficiency were predictive of Korean (L2) reading only for the higher-achieving group.