An Introspective Study of Arabic and Mandarin-Speakers’ Reading Comprehension Strategies

Abstract

Little L2 reading strategy research has explored the effect of linguistic and cross-cultural differences on strategic reading habits. This study attempted to fill this void by examining the reading strategies that Arabic-and Mandarin-speaking StrategiesResearch into second-language reading comprehension strategies has proved to be a complex endeavor because the concept of strategy is difficult to define, observe, measure, describe, and classify. Despite the lack of consensus about what constitutes a strategy, numerous researchers use the term strategies to refer to the mental processes or behaviors that language-learners employ in second-language acquisition, second-language use, or second-language testing situations (Alderson, 1984;Carrell, 1989;Cohen, 1998;Hosenfeld, 1977;O'Malley & Chamot, 1990;Oxford, 1990;Purpura, 1997). MARILYN ABBOTTAccording to Cohen, language use and test-taking strategies are the "mental operations or processes that learners consciously select when accomplishing language tasks" (p. 92). By adapting this definition to the context of reading, reading comprehension strategies may be defined as the mental operations or comprehension processes that readers select and apply in order to make sense of what they read. Researchers such as Grabe (2009) suggest that strategies "are consciously controlled by readers to solve reading problems" (p. 221). Because strategies are generally considered to be conscious or at least potentially conscious, they are open to inspection (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986). Several second-language (L2) reading strategy investigations have produced a wide variety of reading strategy classification schemes (Anderson, 1991;Block, 1986;Carrell, 1989;Phakiti, 2003;Purpura, 1997;Schueller, 2004;Young & Oxford, 1997). One common characteristic shared by many of the L2 reading strategy inventories is that the strategies are divided into binary categories, which reflect local or bottom-up and global or top-down processing. Bottom-up reading comprehension strategies are data-driven (i.e., they focus on linguistic parts and forms to interpret text on an element by element basis), whereas top-down strategies are conceptually or hypothesis-driven (i.e., they use existing schematic knowledge of real-life situations and discourse organization to make meaning, Carrell, 1983). Despite conflicting results regarding which of these two categories contributes most to reading comprehension, the common conclusion from studies of the relationship between strategy use and reading ability is that reading comprehension is more likely to occur when people use strategies both actively and flexibly during reading given the nature of the context (Anderson; Barnett, 1988;Block, 1986Block, , 1992Phakiti;Purpura;Sarig, 1987;Schueller;Young & Oxford). Nonetheless, a clearer understanding of reading strategy use is necessary to help language-learners discover when, where, and how to use strategies effectively.Although some reading strategy training studies (Barnett, 1988;Schueller, 2004) suggest that stra...

When Arabic speakers read English words

“…As we have seen, many of the participants' attempts to use a particular strategy were unsuccessful, or at best only partially successful. This is in line with the findings of several other investigations which have reported a tendency for Arabic-speakers to make ineffective use of strategies (Abbott, 2010;Endley, 2016;Shmais, 2002). Instances of such ineffective use were especially noticeable when a participant relied on knowledge of word morphology as her main strategy.…”

“…This was especially the case with the lower-proficiency readers. As we have seen, this finding is consistent with those reported by Shmais (2002) and Abbott (2010).…”

“…A similar conclusion is reached by Abbott (2010), who reports a study in which a thinkaloud procedure was employed to investigate the strategies used by two groups of participants while taking a reading test. The two groups were made up of L1 Arabic and L1 Mandarin speakers.…”

“…Alsheikh & Mokhtari, 2011;Al-Sobhani, 2013;Elhoweris, Alsheikh & Haq, 2011;Endley, 2015;Malcolm, 2009;Mokhtari & Reichard, 2004). At the same time, some researchers have found that often the strategies that Arabic-speakers choose to use are employed in a markedly ineffective manner (e.g., Abbott, 2010;Endley, 2016;Shmais, 2002).…”

Can Cognitive Strategies be Incorporated in a Critical Reading Course?

“…Various definitions of reading strategies share the idea that these strategies are deliberate actions initiated and controlled by the reader to solve reading problems and aid comprehension (Abbott, 2010;Chamot et al, 1999;Grabe, 2009;Koda, 2005). Moreover, scholars like Anderson (1991), Chamot and O'Malley (1994), Oxford (1990) and Paris et al (1991) have offered various schemes to classify strategies.…”