The Self-Regulated Reading Process of Foreign Language Learners

This mixed-methods study, using a task-based reading strategy inventory, a background questionnaire, think-alouds and semi-structured interviews, began as an attempt to address the gaps in research by investigating 345 Taiwanese 8th grade students who were learning English in an EFL setting, and whose L1 (i.e., Chinese) differs greatly from their L2 (i.e., English) especially in their writing systems: one is non-alphabetic, and the other is alphabetic. The two languages also differ morphologically and syntactically. The purposes of this study were: (a) to examine how 8th grade Taiwanese readers monitored, regulated, and controlled their reading-related thoughts and actions (i.e., reading strategies) to comprehend expository texts in the L1 (Chinese) and the L2 (English); (b) to inspect the relationship between reading achievement and reading strategy use; (c) to investigate the transfer of strategies across languages; (d) to uncover students' views and attitudes toward L1 and L2 reading tasks and reading strategies; and (e) to study the relationships among six personal variables with strategy use.