The Study of EFL Reading Strategies Used by Proficient and Non-proficient Applied Foreign Languages Students

Abstract

The main purpose of this study which was conducted by the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at an University of Technology in the middle of Taiwan was to examine different students' English reading proficiency levels (proficient and non-proficient) in view of their English reading strategy uses. A total of 35 proficient students and 33 non-proficient students were selected for this study. One reading strategy questionnaire was employed in this study, and the subjects were asked to fill out this questionnaire which extracted information concerning readers' reading strategies. The analysis used the SPSS 11.0 statistical software package. An independent-samples t test was conducted to determine whether there were significant differences in English reading strategies and behaviors used by subjects of different English reading proficiency levels (proficient and non-proficient levels). Overall, proficient readers used a few more reading strategies than non-proficient readers based on statistical analysis. It was found that proficient readers tended to use top-down processing. In contrast, non-proficient readers were inclined to use bottom-up processing.