An Investigation on English Reading Strategy Use in Major-related Materials among Native and Foreign Language Learners

Abstract

Researches on L2 learning strategy have always been focus in applied linguistics. Meanwhile, as one of the most vital ways to access knowledge, researches on L2 reading strategy attract more and more attention. However, cross-cultural comparison, especially between native learners and L2 learners, can be hardly seen in the circle of L2. This study adopts the questionnaire of the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) designed by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) to investigate the use of strategies of 149 college students (valid questionnaires) from Beihang University (BUAA) and University of Colorado Boulder (UCBoulder) majoring in Economics while reading major-related materials in English. Results of this study reveals that, firstly, the use of reading strategy for both Chinese and the US learners fall into medium to high level, and Chinese learners report a higher use of strategy in general than their American counterparts. Secondly, except meta-cognitive strategy, there are significant differences between Chinese and the US learners in cognitive and support strategy; but both the US and Chinese learners display a similar strategy preference, in other words, all learners prefer to use cognitive strategy, followed by meta-cognitive strategy and support strategy.