Text Complexity as a Factor of Japanese EFL Learners' Reading Strategy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine how text difficulty (easy and difficult) affects frequency of reading strategy use by Japanese EFL learners at different reading levels. Fifty-two Japanese EFL college students answered two reading tests comprised of two text types (easy and difficult) after an interval of three months, followed by the questionnaire on what reading strategies they used during the comprehension processes. The subjects were divided into three groups (high, intermediate, and low), depending on total scores of the two reading tests. Two way ANOVA was conducted with means of frequency of strategy use. The results revealed frequency of strategy use was affected mostly by Group (high, intermediate, and low), not by Text Type (easy and difficult). There was only one interaction effect. It indicates that Japanese EFL learners are not likely to change the strategy use at differing level of the text. The low-level group and some of the intermediate group may need to pass a certain linguistic threshold level before they are able to use local strategies and global strategies effectively. The highlevel group, who are assumed to have done so, may need more cognitive resources to employ localized/intensive strategies and cognitive strategies effectively. Unlike L1 fluent readers, it might be difficult for EFL Japanese learners to use a variety of cognitive strategies effectively at differing levels owing to limited cognitive resources.