Japanese Learners’ Reading Strategies and Oral Interlanguages

Abstract

This study described and analyzed the reading strategies and interlanguage of EFL learners. Four Japanese subjects were tasked to read aloud, think aloud, and make comments to two short expository articles. Recorded oral reading activities, informal interviews, observations, and teachers’ progress reports were used as instruments. Results revealed that monitoring strategies predominated among the reading strategies employed. Furthermore, first language phonological transfer evident in the phonological processes such as substitution, deletion, and addition of sounds were observed in the utterances. Consequently, Nihongo as the first language of the subjects affected their ability to accomplish their oral reading tasks with ease. These strategies and evidences of interlanguage reflected EFL learners’ ways in understanding and articulating reading materials in English as a foreign language by using electronic dictionaries and asking the teachers for verification.