Hauptman (2000) proposed a modern view about the easy/difficult nature of second language (L2) reading, proposing five factors: background knowledge, signaling, language, discourse, and length. Little research, however, has explored the hypotheses empirically. To fill this gap, this qualitative case study investigates: 1) What are the factors…

This study examined 39 Taiwanese adult EFL learners' responses to reading children's literature in a non-major freshman English class. Exposed to authentic illustrated storybooks along with a variety of literacy practices, the students' end-of-the-semester feedback has shown that they generally enjoyed the books and felt they had made progress in…

This study explores the relative contribution to EFL reading comprehension of the following individual-difference variables: prior knowledge, topic interest, linguistic proficiency, gender, reading motivation, and metacognitive awareness. It also investigates the relationship between the aforementioned individual differences and the role of text…