An Examination of the Interactive Model of Esl Reading From the Perspective of Approaches To Studying

Abstract

This study uses techniques derived from the fields of cognitive psychology and student learning to investigate the approaches to studying of a sample of Hong Kong students and to relate these approaches to the interactive model of second-language reading. The English language ability of the subjects, who were studying in a second language, was compared to measures from the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) and data from student interviews. English language ability was found to be correlated with deep and surface approach scores of the ASI, which determine whether a student sets out to find the global meaning of a piece of reading or tries to memorise items. There was evidence of the subjects adopting a narrow focus in their learning approaches, which is interpreted as evidence for over-reliance on bottom-up processing. The results are seen as offering some support to the short-cut hypothesis of second-language processing.