Abstract

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the communicative competence and reading strategies employed by Korean university learners majoring in French in actual reading activities, with the overarching goal of enhancing communicative competence through reading education.
 Methods To achieve this, the study focused on reading activities related to genre identification in French online newspaper articles. Ten Korean university students majoring in French and six native speakers participated in the reading experiment. The study utilized an eye-tracker and specifically analyzed fixation times (gaze duration, re-reading, and total reading time) required when reading words of the section and words indicating publication dates, based on information obtained from interviews.
 Results Participants, driven by the reading goal of genre identification, selectively identified and integrated spatially dispersed words and phrases in the text, understanding the genre through their different interactions. Fixation times required to read words of the section and words indicating publication dates revealed differences between native speakers and Korean participants. In the case of native readers, who were considered experienced readers, fixation times were longer for words of the section, regardless of syllabic length, referential competence, or reading path. On the other hand, for Korean participants who were considered inexperienced readers in French reading, fixation times were influenced by syllabic length, comprehension, and reading path.
 Conclusions The study highlighted that participants utilized communicative competence and selection strategies in reading activities aimed at genre identification. However, differences in reading aspects between the two groups indicated a particular deficiency in discourse competence among Korean participants in terms of communicative competence. In response, a pedagogical strategy that combines the teaching method ‘global approach to written texts' and Findlay and Walker's theory, an eye movement control model, was proposed. The research confirmed that understanding reading activity aspects is a meaningful approach to examining the (foreign language) communicative competence used by learners. It also emphasized the need for active reading that goes beyond relying solely on text, considering the characteristics of (non)linguistic elements provided by the text.

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