Recent scholarship in multiliteracies-oriented pedagogies has advocated for greater attention to fostering 'textual thinking', understood as forms of literacy that consider the complexities of semiotic choices made by authors, and their underlying meanings, rhetorical purposes, and cultural contexts. This kind of engagement with texts calls upon…

This doctoral dissertation explores diverse facets of online research and comprehension among college students with English as a second or foreign language (L2 students). The research involves three distinct investigations within this overarching theme. Firstly, the study delves into the online reading and writing practices employed by Korean L2…

Self-perception, which mediates between knowledge and behavior, increasingly plays an important role in the determination of the ability to comprehend and respond to information on the Internet. Teachers need to gain insights about how EFL readers feel about themselves as readers in the Internet-based learning environment. There is a critical need…

There is a lack of research which examines the effects of online pop-up dictionaries in the context of less commonly taught languages including Japanese as a second and foreign language (JSL and JFL), despite the growing popularity of such tools. This qualitatively-oriented study is an attempt to fill this void. The study investigates differences…

This study explores Iranian EFL learners' online reading metacognitive strategy use and its relation to their self-efficacy in reading comprehension. It further examines the effect of gender in this respect. To these ends, the Online Survey of Reading Strategies (OSORS) and reading selfefficacy questionnaire were adopted and administered to 63…

This investigation reports on a conceptual replication of Goldman et al. (2012) which sought to determine processing patterns of better and poorer learners as they attempted to comprehend and learn from seven textual sources on the Internet in their native language English. The aim of the current investigation was to explore how reading multiple…

With the growing prevalence of Web 2.0 technologies and use of online resources in their classrooms, language learners have increasing exposure to online texts. In this study we attempted to understand how university level second language (L2) readers construct meaning when reading online. We investigated L2 readers' information-seeking strategies…

Having the skills and strategies to comprehend and respond to information on the Internet plays a crucial role in students' success in a digital information age. Defined as the deliberate conscious control of one's own cognitive actions, metacognitive reading strategies can help readers overcome problems they encounter and ultimately achieve…

With the widespread availability of Internet and computer technology, on-line web-based learning has become prevalent in the field of teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language (CSL/CFL). This study examined the concepts of usability and types of design elements that help construct an effective web-based learning environment, as well as their…