What Foreign Language Learners Do in Their Academic Reading?
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| Title: | What Foreign Language Learners Do in Their Academic Reading? |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Cheng, Liying |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 24 |
| Publication Date: | 1995 |
| Intended Audience: | Practitioners |
| Document Type: | Speeches/Meeting Papers Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Foreign Countries, Foreign Language Books, Functional Reading, Higher Education, Questionnaires, Reading Interests, Reading Material Selection, Reading Skills, Second Language Instruction, Second Language Learning, Vocabulary Skills, Word Recognition |
| Geographic Terms: | Hong Kong |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes research findings on academic reading obtained from a questionnaire, two reading tests, and a textbook analysis and discusses essential reading skills required of foreign language (FL) learners in carrying out their academic studies as well as the skills with which they have problems. Results revealed that the essential reading skills required and the skills with which students have the most problems are: skimming; understanding unknown words; and reading a text or parts of a text more slowly and carefully to extract relevant information for a written assignment, such as an essay, dissertation, or examination. Correlations between reading tests testing global skills and discrete skills indicate that these learners tend to do better on global skills; poor and highly competent learners seem to use their skills eclectically or holistically whereas testing of global and discrete skills would produce quite different results for learners of average competence. Findings also suggest that too much emphasis in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading has been given to careful and detailed reading at the cost of faster reading skills, required of learners and with which they have the most problems. It is concluded that separate, divisible, and identifiable reading skills exist from the point of teaching, learning, and materials writing. (Contains 47 references.) (Author/NAV) |
| Entry Date: | 1996 |
| Accession Number: | ED386041 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This paper summarizes research findings on academic reading obtained from a questionnaire, two reading tests, and a textbook analysis and discusses essential reading skills required of foreign language (FL) learners in carrying out their academic studies as well as the skills with which they have problems. Results revealed that the essential reading skills required and the skills with which students have the most problems are: skimming; understanding unknown words; and reading a text or parts of a text more slowly and carefully to extract relevant information for a written assignment, such as an essay, dissertation, or examination. Correlations between reading tests testing global skills and discrete skills indicate that these learners tend to do better on global skills; poor and highly competent learners seem to use their skills eclectically or holistically whereas testing of global and discrete skills would produce quite different results for learners of average competence. Findings also suggest that too much emphasis in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) reading has been given to careful and detailed reading at the cost of faster reading skills, required of learners and with which they have the most problems. It is concluded that separate, divisible, and identifiable reading skills exist from the point of teaching, learning, and materials writing. (Contains 47 references.) (Author/NAV) |
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