Hypermedia reading strategies employed by advanced learners of English

Understanding online reading through the eyes of first and second language readers: An exploratory study

“…Topic knowledge or prior knowledge affects reading strategies as well. Akyel and Ercetin's (2009) study revealed that readers with more prior knowledge used more cognitive and metacognitive strategies than those with less topic knowledge. Readers with more prior knowledge tend to be flexible with the use of different reading strategies and are not constrained by the prescribed reading structure.…”

“…Park and Kim's study (2011) added a socio-cultural lens to our understanding of online reading by arguing that dialogue is an important reading strategy because interacting with the object and the context is a human nature and that their research participants dialogued with themselves, with others, and with online resources throughout their whole reading processes. Some new reading strategies unique to online reading were identified as well, including hypermedia reading, the use of computer accessories, the use of annotations and navigation (Akyel & Ercetin, 2009;Huang, 2012;Huang et al, 2009;Park & Kim, 2011;Sakar & Ercetin, 2005). It is also indicated that online readers tend to transfer the reading strategies they already have from one medium to another (Akyel & Ercetin, 2009;Elshair, 2002;Foltz, 1993;Huang, 2012).…”

“…Some new reading strategies unique to online reading were identified as well, including hypermedia reading, the use of computer accessories, the use of annotations and navigation (Akyel & Ercetin, 2009;Huang, 2012;Huang et al, 2009;Park & Kim, 2011;Sakar & Ercetin, 2005). It is also indicated that online readers tend to transfer the reading strategies they already have from one medium to another (Akyel & Ercetin, 2009;Elshair, 2002;Foltz, 1993;Huang, 2012).…”

“…Reading comprehension comprises of three major operations including the decoding of lexical information, extraction of ideas, and construction of new meaning (Koda, 2005(Koda, , 2010. While Koda thinks that the decoding process is especially critical and challenging to L2 readers because of their limited linguistic knowledge (2005), other researchers have found the other two processes are equally important to L2 readers' reading comprehension (Akyel & Ercetin, 2009;Dommes, Chevalier & Lia, 2011;Hill et al, 2011;Huang et al, 2009;Maarof & Yaacob, 2011;Mayer, 1997;Park & Kim, 2011;Yang, 2010). Koda (2010) attributes these various perspectives to L2 reading comprehension to "three implicit assumptions" that underlie most research studies and conventional foreign language learning practices.…”

“…They also noticed that those who had little prior knowledge or who had high spatial ability benefited the most from the non-linear feature of online reading. Akyel and Ercetin (2009) attributed this to those readers' abilities to use annotations or navigation functions available through online reading to compensate for their lack of prior knowledge. Park and Kim's study of L2 readers' online reading pattern (2011) indicated that L2 learners dialogued with themselves, others, multiple resources and texts simultaneously.…”