This extension study investigates the relationship between self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English reading test performance among 190 primary six students in mainland China, building upon the findings by Tse et al. (2022). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the acceptable…

Jeff McQuillan offers case studies of intermediate level language learners who read young adult and adult fiction successfully as an argument against explicit vocabulary instruction. Case studies provide useful insights into whatever is being investigated but may not always be generalizable. However, McQuillan's reference to case studies has made…

This study compares the language learner and test-taking strategies used by Chinese-speaking graduate students when confronted with familiar versus unfamiliar topics in an English multiple-choice format reading comprehension test. Thirty-six participants at a large mid-western university performed three tasks: A content knowledge vocabulary…

Two groups of 13 to14-year-old alphasyllabary language users (mainly Hindi and Urdu), in integrated or designated school settings (respectively 40 and 48 students), were compared with 59 Chinese students in comprehending 4 elementary Chinese texts, each with three inferential questions requiring short open-ended written answers. Three constructs…

In this paper, we validate Macaro's (2006) model of strategy use among language learners by assessing the amount of neural activity around the prefrontal cortex, the supposed locus of working memory (WM). We also examine whether WM activation during first language (L1) strategy deployment is lower than WM activation during second language (L2)…

Effective second language vocabulary acquisition is particularly important for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners who frequently acquire impoverished lexicons despite years of formal study. This paper comprehensively reviews and critiques second language (L2) reading vocabulary research and proposes that EFL teachers and administrators…

Investigates proficient and less-proficient readers comprehension monitoring. Findings show that proficient readers displayed more competency in monitoring their ongoing thinking processes, because they tended to monitor their reading processes at all times in order to compensate for words that had not been previously decoded. (Author/VWL)

This study investigates how 17 affective factors are related to Japanese second language (L2) reading comprehension and "kanji" knowledge test scores of 43 university students in advanced Japanese courses. Major findings are that: a) reading comprehension ability and "kanji" knowledge have direct associations with…

Investigates the effects of repeated readings of a passage in a foreign language (English) on the ability of slow beginning readers at a Japanese university to increase their oral and silent reading rates. Results indicate that, for practice passages, silent reading rates increased significantly. This transfer of practice effects to a new passage…

Presents a model reading lab design for advanced English for Academic Purposes students and describes the four major instructional components of the lab as well as the logistics of running a lab. (44 references) (Author/CK)

Considers a three-phase approach to reading in the second-language classroom, with particular attention given to the prereading phase, where students' existing content schemata can be activated in an attempt to enhance motivation to read. (Author/CB)

Suggests a way to overcome the difficulty of teaching effective reading skills to students with diverse interests. The approach is based on four specifications: (1) each student studies a text on a topic in his own specialty; (2) reading practice images students' academic contexts; (3) classes are learner centered; and (4) students are evaluated…

Investigates the performance on different types of inference questions of 2 groups of Zambian secondary school students at grade 10 and grade 8. The texts used were "familiar" (Zambian-focused) or "unfamiliar" (British-focused). Results showed that grade 10 students performed significantly better than grade 8 students. (38…

Compared "read schema activation," in which one group of Japanese women college students of English as a Second Language read a whole text related to the target text; and "written schema activation," in which a second group wrote about the topic of the target text. A control group read the target text twice. There were no…

Describes a self-instruction procedure designed to provide students of science and technology at the tertiary level with a basic vocabulary in a foreign language of around 1,000 items. The technique represents an efficient method for bridging the gap between the vocabulary that beginning L2 students possess and that required to read L2 scientific…