• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2011

This research primarily aimed to investigate proficient and less proficient EFL readers' awareness and experiences about learning to read and reading in English. The secondary purpose was to explore the participants' reading strategies, and to discover how the genres of English texts influence their reading processing behaviors. The participants consisted of four college students in engineering aged 21-25 years. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The findings revealed that: (1) the proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be good readers, while the less proficient EFL readers judged themselves to be fair readers; (2) unknown vocabulary was perceived to be the major impediment to reading comprehension; the think-aloud data, however, demonstrated that unknown vocabulary did not significantly interfere with their reading comprehension; (3) regardless of the genre of the text, the participants employed similar reading strategies; (4) the participants were more likely to tolerate ambiguity and predict the content when reading the narrative text than the expository text; (5) there was no set of strategies that distinguished proficient EFL readers from less proficient EFL readers; and (6) when identifying problems, the proficient EFL readers used fix-up strategies more effectively and were better able to provide satisfactory solutions than their counterparts. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are discussed.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2006

This study investigated how EFL readers critically read texts which are written in English. Although critical reading has been discussed in advanced EFL and ESL contexts there has not been much research on the critical reading of beginning EFL learners. Many educators are recommending that a critical perspective be adopted so that L2 learners can become empowered rather than indoctrinated. In this study, the researcher has examined the critical reading practices of five beginning level EFL readers in Korea and five first language readers of English in the United States as they read a news editorial article. The significant findings were discussed related to critical reading practice of L2 readers. The findings of the study can help the educators in English education in improving the curriculum, the teaching methodology and the learning theory for EFL reading for critical reading.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2019

In the age of information, newly produced knowledge is mostly written in English. Therefore, there has been a strong demand for English language learning in the EFL context. However, most EFL learners possess a lack of interest and motivation in the text-based reading class. In this educational context, film is one of the most widely used materials in English reading classes considering that modern learners are predominantly familiar with various audiovisual materials. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Korean EFL learners experienced in the film-based reading class. Specifically, this study aims to analyze the EFL students' perceptions about the class and learning strategies that they used during the class. In order to comprehensively interpret the EFL learners' experiences in the classroom, a coding system consisting of five categories was developed: report, emotion, reflection, evaluation, future plans. The results of data analysis showed that the use of movies in English reading classes had positive effects on reading comprehension and inference of word meaning. The most frequently used learning strategies were affective strategies which helped them control their emotion, attitude, motivations and values, whereas memorization strategies were rarely used. In this respect, this study suggests that the use of movies in the EFL reading classroom encourage students' attention and help them obtain and activate schema which is useful in gaining a better understanding of text-based reading materials.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2009

This case study aimed to explore proficient EFL readers' perceptions and experiences about reading tasks and how those perceptions and experiences influence their reading processing behaviors, and to examine how the cultural background of a text affects their reading strategies and comprehension. Three college students who were non-English majors participated in this study. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The results showed that: (1) the participants emphasized comprehension as the goal of reading and considered themselves good EFL readers; (2) their reading purposes were closely associated with personal pursuits; (3) they preferred to read materials that deal with areas of interest but did not try to take a risk in terms of level of difficulty and/or length; (4) they implemented a multistrategic approach to reading in that the majority of their strategy use was in conjunction with their concern about meaning construction; (5) they were able to develop useful understandings of unknown vocabulary; and (6) their clear awareness of the cultural background presupposed in the text helped them invoke prior knowledge and reduce unknown vocabulary hindrances which contributed to comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are provided.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.161-175
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• 2011

This paper examines Korean EFL high school students' reader responses on an expository text and a narrative text with the same topic. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether they have different reading models depending on the two genres and whether there are any differences depending on the learners' proficiency levels. The analysis focuses on textual, critical, and aesthetic reading models in the reader responses written in English by science-gifted high school students (N=30). The results show that the participants have different reading models in reading an expository text and a narrative text. They tend to read the expository text in a more critical way while reading the narrative text in a more personal and emotional way. Moreover, regardless of the proficiency levels, they wrote longer responses on the narrative text than the expository text. However, the proficiency level of English does not support any significant differences in the types of reading models. The findings provide Korean EFL high school students' characteristics in L2 reading and suggest the pedagogical implication to pursue linguistic development as well as reading for pleasure.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.27-49
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• 2009

This study aimed to explore EFL learners' beliefs and preferences about reading tasks and to examine the reading processes that they use for making sense of text. The subjects were comprised of 107 college students who were non-English majors and aged 19-28 years. Based on scores achieved on a reading comprehension test, they were divided into two groups (more-skilled and less-skilled readers) and asked to respond to a survey in class. The results of the survey revealed that: (1) a majority rate themselves as fair readers, which might be indicative of the insecurity they feel toward L2 reading; (2) authentic texts (especially magazines) and popular media appear to be their favorite reading materials; (3) unknown vocabulary is a major impediment to their L2 reading comprehension; (4) the more-skilled readers manifest a meaning centered view of reading, whereas the less-skilled readers center on vocabulary; and (5) both groups employ a multistrategic approach to L2 reading; however, the less-skilled readers are less successful in determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary. Pedagogical implications for EFL classroom teachers are provided.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.19-34
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• 2010

This study investigates how EFL learners' chunking ability both in oral and silent reading affects reading comprehension, and how the chunking ability in silent reading relates to that of oral reading. The participants of this study consisted of 30 Korean university students taking a required 'English Reading' course. Chunking is a technique of grouping words into meaningful syntactic units for better understanding. Chunking was measured from pauses in oral reading. Results of this study suggest that the participants who can chunk properly both orally and silently display better comprehension of texts in general. However, chunking in silent reading was found to be a stronger indicator of improved reading comprehension. Also, the chunking skills in silent reading showed a statistically strong correlation with those observed in oral reading, suggesting that the chunking ability in silent reading may develop in parallel with that of oral reading. Oral as well as silent reading should be continuously practiced to improve reading comprehension of all levels of EFL learners, including low levels of learners. There is also a need to encourage students to read aloud with appropriate prosodic cues to help them read in meaningful units of words, therefore increasing EFL learners' comprehension not only in reading but also in listening.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.181-210
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• 2007

This study is to suggest systematic and effective reading comprehension techniques or strategies to be used in EFL reading classes. According to the definition of reading and reading process, six essential elements of reading comprehension are categorized: 1) reading speed; 2) skimming and scanning; 3) logical organization; 4) pleasure reading; 5) vocabulary; 6) cultural background and world knowledge. To present a more effective teaching and learning approach to EFL reading comprehension than ever, an experiment was performed. The hypothesis of the experimental study was that there would be a difference in students' reading speed as well as reading comprehension and vocabulary between an experimental group and a control group depending upon the teaching approaches (experimental vs. traditional). The result of the study indicates that the experimental teaching approach which intensifies speed reading and pleasure reading techniques as well as 4 other essential techniques of reading comprehension is more effective than the traditional one in teaching and learning reading comprehension.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.131-136
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• 2022

This study was initially conducted to explore Saudi students' use of reading strategies and their relationship to their reading comprehension level. The study employed quantitative methods to obtain information about Saudi students' perceived use of reading strategies and their comprehension levels. The results showed that EFL learners in Saudi Arabia use planning strategies more than attending strategies and evaluating strategies. Saudi students also perceived the environment as the most critical factor affecting their reading comprehension. There was no significant relationship between Saudi EFL learners' comprehension level and their use of reading strategies. Finally, gender differences favoring female learners were evident in almost all analyses conducted in the current study. Significant differences were found favoring female students in overall strategy use, comprehension level, and the use of evaluating strategies.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2012

It has long been shown that Korean EFL students have not practiced extensive reading in school curriculum. Their vocabulary knowledge is limited and a tool for measuring text readability for them has hardly been developed and used. The study aimed to check the current situations on the above issues and develop a reading framework appropriate for extensive reading within the national English curriculum, including the Readability Formula in Korean EFL contexts (KRF). The study consists of four steps. The study does a survey to check the current Korean EFL situations on the issues, suggests a new vocabulary learning size, develops a readability formula as a tool for measuring text difficulty based on the newly suggested vocabulary size, and finally validates the formula with various kinds of English books, including the primary and secondary school English textbooks. It is expected that this study will provide a model for the vocabulary size and the readability index for extensive reading in EFL contexts.