Abstract
<p class="3">Scores of studies have established that when learning online, students must be equipped with different sets of strategies and skills than in a physical classroom setting (Anderson, 2003; Broadbent &amp; Poon, 2015; Coiro, 2007; Leu et al., 2007; Michinov, Brunot, Le Bohec, Juhel, &amp; Delaval, 2011; Salmon, 2013). The present study, by virtue of exploring foreign language learners’ online reading experience, aimed to identify the reading strategies that learners would use when engaged in online reading activities in the target foreign languages. Thirty-two foreign language learners whose native language was English participated in the study. The Online Survey of Reading Strategies (OSORS) designed by Anderson (2003) was administered to investigate the following four research questions: (1) What are the strategies that language learners would or would not use when reading online in foreign languages? (2) Would foreign language learners use some of the online reading strategies more frequently than other strategies? (3) Would different levels of foreign language proficiencies influence language learners’ use of the strategies? (4) What could foreign language teachers do in their instruction to help students acquire and broaden their repertoire of online reading strategies? Data analysis demonstrated the most and least frequently used strategies of the foreign language learners and uncovered a significant difference in the frequency of use among the strategies. However, there was no significant difference found between the use of online reading strategies and learners’ foreign language proficiencies. Implications and suggestions for future research and practice were proposed accordingly. </p>
Highlights
Students nowadays spend a great deal of time reading, searching, and communicating on the Internet either for academic purposes or personal pleasure
Text-based online live chats can definitely be seen as an online reading task and it does demand the execution of a great deal of reading strategies on the part of the foreign language learners to enhance effective communication
In terms of the second possible reason of why live chats were rarely used by foreign language learners as an online reading strategy, it is speculated that the participants of the study might not recognize the benefits that could be entailed in a socially constructed reading activity embodied in the form of online chats
Summary
Students nowadays spend a great deal of time reading, searching, and communicating on the Internet either for academic purposes or personal pleasure. With proper instruction, students learning foreign languages can increase their exposure to authentic materials as well as sharpen their linguistic abilities anytime, anywhere they want. Previous research (Anderson, 2003; Broadbent & Poon, 2015; Coiro, 2007; Leu et al, 2007; Michinov, Brunot, Le Bohec, Juhel, & Delaval, 2011; Salmon, 2013) has cautioned that when learning in the online environment, students must be equipped with strategies and skills which would play a pivotal role in determining their learning effectiveness and outcomes. As studies indicated, many of the learning strategies and skills, through explicit instruction, can be effectively taught to students to enhance their online learning experience. In Bannert, Hildebrand, and Mengelkamp’s (2009) study, compared to those who received no instruction in learning strategies, college students who were coached in the important skills of setting goals, making plans, judging information, monitoring, self-evaluating, etc. were more aware of strategic learning and thereby performed significantly better in their learning outcomes
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