the use of reading strategies when reading esp by 4th year english majored students at the people s security academy

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN KHẢ THANH TÙNG

THE USE OF READING STRATEGIES WHEN READING ESP
BY 4TH-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS
AT THE PEOPLE’S SECURITY ACADEMY

(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH
VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ 4
TẠI HỌC VIỆN AN NINH NHÂN DÂN)

M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field : English Teaching Methodology
Code : 60.14.10

Hanoi, 2013


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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN KHẢ THANH TÙNG

THE USE OF READING STRATEGIES WHEN READING ESP
BY 4TH-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS
AT THE PEOPLE’S SECURITY ACADEMY

(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH
VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ 4
TẠI HỌC VIỆN AN NINH NHÂN DÂN)

M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field : English Teaching Methodology
Code : 60.14.10
Supervisor: Dr. Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa

Hanoi, 2013


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DECLARATION
--------*****---------

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled: “The use of reading strategies when
reading ESP by fourth-year English-majored students at the People’s Security
Academy” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts and that this
thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree.

Hanoi, December 2013
Author’s signature

Nguyễn Khả Thanh Tùng

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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Hoang Thi Xuan
Hoa, my supervisor, for thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable suggestions,
various sources of reference and precious corrections on my writing. Furthermore, I am
grateful to her close guidance and generous help, which have been great encouragement
to me during the process of writing up the thesis.
I, hereby, would like to express my sincere thanks to lecturers of Faculty of Post
Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam
National University, Hanoi for their interesting lessons and suggestions, which aroused the
thesis for this study to be realized.
I also owe my sincere thanks to English teaching staff and fourth-year English
majors at the People’s Security Academy who have enthusiastically participated in my
study.
Finally, my heart-felt thanks go to my beloved parents, my wife and my son who
have encouraged and supported me in every stage of this study.

Hanoi, December 2013

Nguyễn Khả Thanh Tùng


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ABSTRACT
Reading is considered one of the most important skills which language learners
should master. During the process of acquiring English language in the light of

communicative approach, reading English for public security seems to be the most
challenging and difficult for teachers and learners. The present study primarily
investigated the use of reading strategies of English for public security by 4th-year
English majors at the People’s Security Academy. Data was collected via survey
questionnaire for 35 4th-year English majors and interviews for 4 teachers of English.
The findings revealed that both teachers and students at the People’s Security Academy
strongly advocated the importance and necessity of using reading strategies and students
used

metacognitive

and

cognitive

reading

strategies

more

frequently than

social/affective reading strategies. From the findings, some suggestions were given with
the hope that they might be a reliable source of reference for teachers of English at the
People’s Security Academy to improve their students’ reading proficiency


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .................................................................................................... ...i
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS...................................................................................... ..ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ .iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... .iv
LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES, ABBREVIATIONS ........................................... ..vi
PART I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. ..1
1. Rationale ................................................................................................................ 1
2. Aims of the study ................................................................................................... 2
3. Significance of the study ........................................................................................ 2
4. Method of the study ............................................................................................... 3
5. Scope of the study .................................................................................................. 3
6. Organization of the study ....................................................................................... 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 5
1.1. Language learning strategies ............................................................................... 5
1.1.1. Definitions ............................................................................................. 5
1.1.2. The importance of learning strategies ................................................... 6
1.1.3. Classification of learning strategies ...................................................... 7
1.2. Reading11
1.2.1. Definitions of reading ........................................................................... 11
1.2.2. Models of reading ................................................................................. 11
1.2.2.1. Bottom-up model .................................................................... 12
1.2.2.2. Top-down model ..................................................................... 12
1.2.2.3. Interactive model .................................................................... 13
1.3. Reading strategies ............................................................................................... 14
1.2.2. Definitions of reading strategies ........................................................... 14
1.2.3. Review of reading strategies research ................................................... 15
1.4. Summary ............................................................................................................. 18
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 19

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2.1. The context of teaching and learning listening skill to English majors at the PSA ...... 19
2.2. Participants .......................................................................................................... 20
2.2.1. Students ................................................................................................. 20
2.2.2. Teachers ................................................................................................ 21
2.3. Instruments of data collection ............................................................................. 22
2.3.1. Questionnaires ....................................................................................... 22
2.3.2. Interviews .............................................................................................. 22
2.4. Data collection procedures .................................................................................. 23
2.5. Data analysis ....................................................................................................... 24
2.5.1. Coding of questionnaire data ................................................................ 24
2.5.2. Analysis procedures .............................................................................. 26
2.6. Summary ............................................................................................................. 27
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................... 28
3.1. Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 28
3.1.1. PSA 4th-year English-major students' attitudes to reading comprehension ...... 28
3.1.2. Reading strategies ................................................................................. 31
3.1.2.1. Metacognitive reading strategies ............................................ 31
3.1.2.2. Cognitive reading strategies .................................................... 33
3.1.2.3. Social/affective reading strategies .......................................... 35
3.2. Interviews ............................................................................................................ 37
3.3. Summary ............................................................................................................. 39
PART III: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 40
1. Summary of major findings ................................................................................... 40
2. Implications of the study ........................................................................................ 41
3. Limitations and suggestions for further research ................................................... 42
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 44

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX 2 ............................................................................................................ IX
APPENDIX 3 ............................................................................................................ XIV
APPENDIX 4 ............................................................................................................ XV


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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: PSA students’ attitude toward the importance of reading strategies ...... 28
Chart 2: PSA students’ perception of their reading speeds .................................. 29
Chart 3: PSA students’ attitude toward the importance of factors to their reading
comprehension ............................................................................................ 30
Chart 4: Questionnaire results: Metacognitive reading strategies ........................ 32
Chart 5: Questionnaire results: Cognitive reading strategies ............................... 34
Chart 6: Questionnaire results: Social/affective reading strategies ...................... 36

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Learning strategy definition and classification (O'Malley and Chamot, 1990:
119)......................................................................................................................... 8
Table 2: Background information about the participants: Students ...................... 21
Table 3: Questionnaire: Reading strategy coding categories adapted from O'Malley and
Chamot (1990: 119) ............................................................................................... 24

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ESL/EFL: English as a second/foreign language
The PSA: The People’s Security Academy
L1: first language
L2: second language

ESP: English for special purpose


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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
English has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism,
telecommunication, culture, science and technology. In the current context of global
integration, English which has become more and more important is not only a means of but
also a key to accessing the latest scientific and technological achievements. Therefore, it is
necessary for many Vietnamese students to have a good command of English to satisfy the
growing demands in a developing country like Vietnam.
Internationally, teaching English has changed tremendously over the last few
decades. More significantly, the traditional teacher-centered approach has been replaced
with the learner-center one, which reflects a desire to explore ways of making
responsive to learner’s need and interest and allowing learners to play a more active and
participatory role in the day-to-day teaching and learning processes. Therefore, no
longer does the teacher act as the centre of all instructions, controlling every aspect of
the learning process. Learners themselves now, more than ever, are sharing the
responsibility for successful language acquisition and in doing so, are becoming less
dependent on the language teacher for meeting their own individual language needs.
Students are advised to become more and more autonomous to diagnose their own
learning strengths and weaknesses and to self-direct the process of language
development.
Reading is considered one of the most important skills which language learners
should master, particularly as it helps to build a variety of language expression and
structures, widen general knowledge and leads to lifelong learning and improvement in
the first and second language skills. “Reading is an essential skill for English as a
second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) student; and for many, reading is the most important

skill to master” (Anderson, 1999). Carrell (1984:1) states “For many students, reading is
by far the most important of four skills in a second language, particularly in a language as
a second or foreign language”. This is true for Vietnamese learners who have studied


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English through reading since English is taught and learned as a foreign language and in a
non-native environment. But acquiring and mastering this skill is likely to be a big
hindrance to many learners while they often find it difficult to exploit this skill in their
learning experience. On the other hand, the findings of many ESL/EFL research projects
have shown the positive effects of learning strategies to enhance the comprehensibility of
learners or to overcome comprehension failures. The use of suitable language learning
strategies can improve proficiency and greater self-confidence.
In process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam in
general, and at the People’s Security Academy (PSA) in particular, reading has always
been attracted a great deal of attention both from the teachers and the students. Reading
is regarded as an important skill to the students because these students need to read a lot
of English books and documents to support their professional studies. Having taught
English majored students at PSA for several years, I am aware of their problems and
very much want to help them to improve their reading ability. Therefore, I conducted a
survey research on their use of reading strategies. Based on the findings, I worked out
some solutions to improve PSA students' reading proficiency.
2. Aim of the study
The major purpose of this study is to identify the reading strategies utilized by
fourth-year English-majored students at the PSA.
In order to achieve the above the aim of the study, the following major research
question was addressed:
What are the reading strategies employed by fourth-year English-majored
students at the People’s Security Academy?

3. Significance of the study
The study is the first one to be carried out in the field of reading strategies
research at the PSA. It helps give a detailed description of reading strategies used by
fourth-year English-majored students at the PSA. More importantly, the findings of
their reading strategies can help teachers to understand more about their students and
they can serve as the foundation for some recommendations on how to improve the


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students' reading proficiency. They are also an important basis for reading strategies
based instruction to be implemented in the future.
4. Method of the study
In order to achieve the aim mentioned above, the present study utilized survey
research with two instruments the questionnaire for 35 fourth-year English-majored
students of class AV41 and interviews for 4 teachers to collect data on the students’
reading strategies.
The questionnaire designed as a means to make the researcher’s evaluation more
objective was developed and given to 35 fourth-year English-majored students of class
AV41.
The interviews were conducted among four teachers who have been teaching
reading for 4th-year English-majored students to obtain their perceptions, comments and
evaluation toward the matter under investigation.
After the data was analyzed and discussed, some conclusions were drawn, and
some suggestions were raised in the thesis.
5. Scope of the study
The present study investigated “the use of reading strategies when reading ESP
by 4th-year English-majored students at the People’s Security Academy”. The study of
learning strategies in other English skills was beyond the scope.
6. Organization of the study

The study is divided into three main parts: the introduction, the development and
the conclusion.
Part I: Introduction includes the rationale, scope, aims, significance, methods
and organization of the study.
Part II: Development consists of three chapters
Chapter 1 reviews the literature relevant to the topic of research and summarizes
some selected studies on reading strategies, which serve as a theoretical and
methodological foundation of the study.


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Chapter 2 presents the research methodology of the study. It provides
information about the participants, the research method, the instrumentation, the data
collection procedures and data analysis.
Chapter 3 presents the results of the study, analyzes the data
Part III: Conclusion summarizes the findings, presents the implications and
limitations of the study and finally gives some suggestions for further research.


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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews theories related to language learning strategies in general
and reading strategies in particular. It also summarizes current research on reading
strategies that have been conducted so far. All of these serve as a basis for an
investigation into reading strategies which is carried out and presented in the next
chapter.
1.1. Language learning strategies

1.1.1. Definitions
Over the last two decades, the study of learning strategies has seen as "explosion
of activity" (Ellis, 1994) with the contributions of such well-known researchers as
Tarone (1981), O' Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990) and Cohen (1998). These
studies have helped figure out a comprehensive overview of learning strategies.
Although research on learning strategies is becoming increasingly popular, there
have been some considerable differences in the definition of learning strategies in the
literature. Tarone (1981: 295) claims that "Learning strategy is an attempt to develop
linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language". Learning strategies,
according to Weinstein and Mayer (1986) (in O' Malley and Chamot 1990), have
learning facilitation as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner. The goal of
strategy use is to "affect the learner's motivational or affective state, or the way in which
the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge." (Weinstein and
Mayer, cited in O' Malley and Chamot 1990, 1986: 43). These definitions are too
general in comparison to the complex nature of learning strategies.
Oxford (1990:5) defines learning strategies as "specific actions taken by the
learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more
effective, and more transferable to new situations". This definition is judged to be quite
comprehensive as it not only covers the cognitive but also the affective aspects of
learning strategies (i.e. to increase enjoyment in learning). However, Oxford's definition


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is not sufficient in the sense that it regards learning strategies as "specific actions", i.e.
learning strategies are behavioral, and therefore, they are mostly observable. However,
many studies in this field have shown that learning strategies are difficult to observe as
they are not only behavioral.
The definition that has been widely accepted to date was proposed by O' Malley
and Chamot (1990). According to them, learning strategies are "the special thoughts or

behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new
information" (O' Malley and Chamot, 1990: 1). In spite of being quite short, their
definition covers the most important aspects of learning strategies, that is learning
strategies are both mental and behavioral (therefore both observable and unobservable),
and learning strategies are individually characterized (i.e. every learner's strategies are
different). Because of its comprehensive features, the present study utilized this
definition as the key direction in its investigation.
1.1.2. The importance of learning strategies
When commenting on the role of learning strategies, Weinstein and Mayer (in O'
Malley and Chamot 1990) say that learning facilitation is the goal of learning strategies,
which are intentional on the part of the learner. The goal of learning strategy use is to
"affect the learner's motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects,
acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge." (Weinstein and Mayer cited in O'
Malley and Chamot, 1990: 43).
Oxford (1990), one of the leading teachers and researchers in language learning
strategies field, also gives her own evaluation on learning strategies: "strategies are
especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, selfdirected involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence".
(Oxford, 1990: 1)
As a teacher of English, my strong belief is that "It takes better teachers to focus
on the learner" (Peter Strevens, cited in Oxford, 1990: 193) and "We cannot teach
another directly; we can only facilitate his learning (Carl Rogers, cited in Oxford, 1990:
193). The current approach that is encouraged to be taken to teach English in our


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country in general and in our own language setting in particular is communicative
language teaching in which learners are central to the learning process. Helping learners
to be independent during their learning process is a task of every teacher. To gain this
aim, one of the suggestions is that learners should be equipped various strategies so that

they control their own learning process confidently and independently.
1.1.3 Classification of learning strategies
Much of the earlier research (Rubin 1981; Stern 1975; Naiman 1978) focused on
compiling inventories of the learning strategies that learners were observed to use or
reported to use.
Rubin (1981) proposes a classification scheme that subsumes learning
strategies under two primary groupings and a number of subgroups. Rubin's first
primary category, consisting of strategies that directly affect learning, includes
clarification/verification, monitoring, memorization, guessing/inductive reasoning,
deductive reasoning and practice. The second category, consisting of strategies that
contribute indirectly to learning, includes creating practice opportunities and using
production tricks such as communication strategies. An alternative classification
scheme proposed by Naiman (1978) contains five broad categories of learning
strategies and a number of secondary categories. The primary classification includes
an active task approach, realization of language as a means of communication and
interaction, management of affective demands and monitoring of second language
performance.
Subsequent descriptive studies have endeavored to identify broad classes of
learning strategies, under which a large number of more specific strategies can be
grouped. The works by Wenden (1983), Oxford (1990), O'Malley and Chamot (1990)
have made an important contribution to our knowledge of learning strategies. Wenden's
(1983) research examines the strategies that adult foreign language learners use in order
to direct their own learning. She identifies three general categories of self-directing
strategies: (1) knowing about language (relating to what language and language learning
involves), (2) planning (relating to what and how of language learning), and (3) self-


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evaluation (relating to progress in learning and learner's response to the language

experience). Wenden's framework devises as a basic for learner training.
Oxford (1990) builds on the earlier classifications with the aim of subsuming
within her taxonomy virtually every strategy previously mentioned in the literature.
Oxford (1990) draws a general distinction between direct and indirect strategies. The
former consists of memory, cognitive and compensation strategies while the later
includes metacognitive, affective and social strategies. However, Oxford's classification
of learning strategies is somewhat complicated and confusing as she treats
compensation strategies as a direct type of learning strategies and memory strategies as
separate ones from cognitive strategies.
Perhaps, the framework that has been most useful and generally accepted is
O'Malley and Chamot (1990)'s. In O'Malley and Chamot's framework, three major types
of strategies are distinguished in accordance with the information processing model, on
which their research is based. Metacognitive strategies are "higher order executive skills
that may entail planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of learning activity"
(O'Malley and Chamot, 1990: 44). Cognitive strategies "operate directly on incoming
information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning" (O'Malley and Chamot,
1990: 44). The last subtypes of these strategies presented in Table 1 were identified by
O'Malley and Chamot on the basis of their several descriptive studies on learning
strategies used by second language learners.
Learning strategy
A.

Definition

Metacognitive

strategies
Planning
Advance

Previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be learned,

organizers

often by skimming the text for the organization principle.

Directed attention

Deciding in advance to attend in general to a learning task and to
ignore irrelevant distracters.

Functional

Planning for and rehearsing linguistic components necessary to carry


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planning

out an outcoming task.

Selective attention

Deciding in advance to attend to specific aspects of input, often by
scanning for key words, concepts and/or linguistic markers

Self-management

Understanding the conditions that help one learn and arranging for the

presence of those conditions.

Monitoring
Self-monitoring

Checking one's comprehension during listening or reading or checking
the accuracy and/or appropriateness of one's oral or written production
while it is taking place.

Evaluation
Self-evaluation

Checking the outcomes of one's own language against a standard after
it has been completed.

B.

Cognitive

strategies
Resourcing

Using target language reference materials such as dictionaries,
encyclopedias, or textbooks.

Repetition

Imitating the language model, including overt practice and silent
rehearsal.

Grouping

Classifying words, terminology or concepts according to their
attributes or meanings.

Deduction

Applying rules to understand or produce the second language or
making up rules based on language analysis.

Imagery

Using visual images (either mental or actual) to understand or
remember new information.

Auditory

Planning back in one's mind the sound of a word, phrase or longer

representation

language sequence.

Key word method

Remembering a new word in the second language by: (1) identifying a
familiar word in the first language that sounds like or otherwise
resembles the new word, and (2) generating easily recalled images of
some relationship with the first language homonym and the new word
in the second language.

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Elaboration

Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts
or new information to each other, or making meaningful personal
associations with the new information.

Transfer

Using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist
comprehension or production.

Differencing

Using available information to guess the meanings of new items,
predict outcomes or fill in missing information.

Note taking

Writing down key words or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or
numerical form while listening or reading.

Recombination

Constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language sequence by
combining known elements in a new way.

Translation

Using the first language as a base for understanding and/or producing
the second language.

C. Social/affective
strategies
Question

for Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanation, rephrasing,

clarification

examples or verification.

Cooperation

Working together with one or more peers to solve a problem, pool
information, check a learning task, model a language activity, or get
feedback on oral or written performance.

Self-talk

Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make one feel
competent to do the learning task.

Table 1: Learning strategy definition and classification
(O'Malley and Chamot, 1990: 119)
This classification of learning strategies is comprehensive and sufficient and it is
applicable to learning strategy studies on four English disciplines. Therefore, the current

study will adopt O'Malley and Chamot's classification of learning strategies as the
theoretical framework for investigation.
1.2. Reading
1.2.1. Definitions of reading


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For many foreign language or second language learners, reading is a very
important skill. Concerning the role of reading, Anderson (1999:3) confirms that "the
more exposure a student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities
that overall language proficiency will increase".
Reading plays such a significant part in the success of second language learning
and it is essential to understand what reading really is. However, the act of reading is
not completely understood nor easily described. In a general term, (Anderson, 1999:1)
defines reading as "an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading
material in building meaning". This definition of reading has been generally shared by
other researchers.
According to Rumelhart (1977), reading involves the reader, the text and the
interaction between the reader and text. Aebersold and Field (1997:15) share the same
view on reading: "Reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign
meaning to the written symbols in that text. The text and the reader are the two physical
entities necessary for the reading process to start. It is, however, the interaction between
the text and the reader that constitutes the actual meaning".
The above-mentioned views on reading are only general ones. In order to
understand more about the nature of reading, it is necessary to take a closer look at the
actual process that really takes place in the reader's mind. So far, several models have
been proposed to describe this process. The next section is going to present these
models of reading and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
1.2.2. Models of reading

Up to now, attempts to describe the interaction between reader and text have
been numerous and different views of the reading process have been proposed. These
views are often grouped under three different reading models named the bottom-up, the
top-down and the interactive ones.
1.2.2.1. Bottom-up model
According to Nunan, (1991), bottom-up model of second language reading was
viewed as the process of meaning interpretation in which the language is translated from


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one form of symbolic representation to another. In other words, in the bottom-up
reading model, the reader begins with the written text (the bottom) and constructs
meaning from the letters, words, phrases and sentences found within and then processes
the text in a linear fashion. The coming data from the text must be received before the
high level mental storage of understanding transform and recode the data.
However, this model reveals several shortcomings in describing the actual
reading process. An important weak point of this model, as pointed out by Samuel and
Kamil (1988: 31), is "the lack of feedback, in that no mechanism is provided to allow
for processing stages which occur later in the system to influence processing which
occurs earlier in the system. Because of the lack of feedback loops in the early bottomup models, it was difficult to account for sentence-context effects and the role of prior
knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and
comprehension." Because of this drawback, and together with the advent of Goodman's
top-down view of reading, many researchers were not in favor of the bottom-up model.
1.2.2.2. Top-down model
In this model, reading was seen as the process in which readers move from the
top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself. The readers prove their
active role in the reading process by bringing to the interaction their available
knowledge of the subject, knowledge of and expectation about how language works,
motivation, interest and attitudes towards the content of the text (Goodman, 1988).

According to Ur (1996:138), “reading means reading and understanding” and
according to Anderson (1999:1), “reading is not a passive process but an active fluent
process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning”. Just
like bottom-up models, top-down models do have some limitations. These models "tend
to emphasize such higher-level skills as the prediction of meaning by means of context
clues or certain kinds of background knowledge at the expense of such lower skills as
the rapid and accurate identification of lexical and grammatical form. That is, in making
the perfectly valid point that fluent reading is primarily a cognitive process, they tend to
deemphasize the perceptual and decoding dimensions of that process" (Eskey, 1988:93).


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Due to the above limitations of both bottom-up and top-down models, a new and
more insightful model of reading process has been proposed by Rumelhart (1977), and
Eskey (1988) under the name of interactive model.
1.2.2.3. Interactive model
Because the interactive model combines elements of both bottom-up and topdown approaches, using that "a pattern is synthesized based on information provided
simultaneously from several knowledge sources" (Stanovich, 1980:35), it is accepted by
most researchers and teachers (Hudson T., 1998).
Eskey (1988) defines the interactive model as a reading model that "posits a
constant interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing in reading, each
source of information contributing to a comprehensive reconstruction of the meaning of
the text" (Eskey, 1988: 94). According to this view, good readers are regarded as "both
good decoders and good interpreters of texts, their decoding skills become more
automatic but no less important as their reading skill develops" (Eskey, 1988: 94).
Eskey also believed that to achieve both fluency and accuracy in reading, developing
readers must work at perfecting both their bottom-up recognition skills and their topdown interpretation strategies. In other word, good reading - that is, fluent and accurate
reading - can result only from a constant interaction between these two processes.
Therefore, it is generally agreed that the interactive model is the best one that can

truly reflect the reading process that takes place in the reader's mind. In this process, the
reader constantly shuttles between bottom-up and top-down processes and he can not be
successful in reading comprehension without either of these two processes. As this study
focuses on reading strategies, the next part is going to summarize some outstanding
studies on reading strategies that have been carried out.
1.3. Reading strategies
1.3.1. Definition of reading strategies
Reading strategies have been studied by many researchers. Reading strategies are
of interest for what they reveal about the way the readers manage their interaction with
written text and how these strategies are related to text comprehension.


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As mentioned earlier, research in second language learning suggests that learners
use a variety of strategies to assist them with the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of
information. Brantmeier (2002) defined reading strategies as "the comprehension
processes that readers use in order to make sense of what they read" (Brantmeier,
2002:1). This process may involve skimming, scanning, guessing, recognizing cognates
and word families, reading for meaning, predicting, activating general knowledge,
making inferences, following references and separating main ideas from supporting
ones (Barnett, 1988). Obviously, some strategies may be more useful than others with
different types of reading texts and tasks.
Based on O'Malley and Chamot's (1990), reading strategies can be understood as
the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them to comprehend, learn
and retain new information from the reading text. These strategies are both observable
and unobservable and individually different. According to O'Malley and Chamot's (1990),
reading strategies can be classified into three main types including metacognitive,
cognitive and social/affective strategies.

1.3.2. Review of reading strategies research
A considerable number of studies examine the comprehension strategies that
second language readers utilize to process a text. In these studies, the participants are
quite diverse, some from elementary, secondary and university levels, some from
remedial reading classes and others enrolled in courses taught at non-university
language centres. Obviously, the participants are of many different ages and
backgrounds. Furthermore, the investigators use a variety of research method and tasks
to examine strategy type and frequency of strategy use including think-aloud reports,
interviews, questionnaires, observations and written recalls (Brantmeier 2002:1).
Second language reading research started to concentrate on reading strategies in
the late 1970s and early 1980s. Several studies – often exploratory, descriptive
investigations with small numbers of individual learners, and using think-aloud


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techniques. One of the earliest pieces of research on individual learners' reading
strategies was conducted by Hosenfeld (1984) who examined successful and
unsuccessful readers using think-aloud protocols. Participants were ninth grade students
learning French. Hosenfeld (1984: 233) found out that the successful readers used the
following kinds of strategies: keep the meaning of the passage in mind; read in broad
phrases; skip inessential words; guess from context the meaning of unknown words;
have a good self-concept as a reader. On the other hand, unsuccessful readers translated
sentences and lost the general meaning of the passage, rarely skipped words or looked
up unknown words in a glossary and had a poor concept as a reader. While these results
clearly described the strategies the students used to process the text, they did not link the
strategy use to comprehension of specific paragraphs or to text as whole. The data only
focused on sentence level comprehension so the results of the study did not reveal
overall comprehension of the entire text.
Sarig (1987) investigated the contribution of L1 reading strategies and L2

language proficiency to L2 reading, as well as the relationship between L1 and L2
reading strategies. Sarig's subjects were 10 female native Hebrew readers who were
studying English as a foreign language. Sarig classified the data from think-aloud
reports into four general types of behaviors or responses: (1) technical aids, (2)
clarification and simplification, (3) coherence detection and (4) monitoring moves.
Sarig's results revealed that subjects transferred strategies from L1 reading to L2
reading and that the same reading strategy types "accounted for success and failures in
both languages to almost the same extent" (Sarig, 1987: 118). Top-down, global
strategies led to both successful and unsuccessful reading comprehension. The two
language dependent strategies, the clarification and simplification strategies contributed
to unsuccessful reading comprehension in both L1 and L2. Results also indicated that
most of the strategies used during the reading comprehension process were particular to
each reader or that each individual read differently and used a different combination of
strategies. These results do not duplicate Block's (1986) where global strategies led to
successful (not unsuccessful) reading comprehension.


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Barnett (1988) investigated the relationships among reading strategies and
perceived strategies use on reading comprehension in a two-part study, the first looking
at strategy use, and the second looking at the effect of a teaching intervention designed
to help students develop more effective reading strategies before, during, and after
reading. The subjects were 272 college level students in fourth-semester French classes.
The reading strategy training focused on skimming, scanning, guessing, and predicting.
She used “text-level” and “word-level” coding scheme. Barnett concluded that students
who were taught strategy use did show a greater ability to read through context than did
their more traditionally taught peers. The students also increased their self-perception of
effective strategies use. Moreover, the treatment group had significantly higher scores
for strategy use. Nevertheless, the groups did not differ in term of perceived strategy use

as well as their comprehension scores. This finding may show the importance of quality
and intensity of the strategy instruction.
Some studies have shown that better readers are also better strategy users. Carrell
(1989) for example, conducted a study to investigate the metacognitive awareness of
second language reader strategies in both their first and second language and the
relationship between this awareness and their comprehension. Her first group of
subjects was native Spanish speakers of intermediate and high-intermediate levels
studying English as a second language at a university level institute. Her second group
consisted of native English speakers learning Spanish as a foreign language in first,
second and third-year courses. Carrell first asked subjects to read two texts, one in L1
and one in L2. She controlled for content schemata as both texts were on a general topic
of language. The subjects answered multiple choice comprehension questions about the
text followed by a strategy use questionnaire. Carrell correlated strategy use with
comprehension and concluded that the ESL readers of more advanced proficiency level
perceived "global" or top-down strategies as more effective. With the Spanish as a L2
group, she found that at the lower proficiency levels, subjects used more bottom-up or
"local" strategies.


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The last study mentioned here was conducted by Block (1992). He investigated
the comprehension monitoring process used by first and second language readers of
English. The subjects were 25 college freshmen and consisted of proficient and nonproficient readers of English. While reading an expository text, the participants were
asked to think aloud or more specifically, to "say everything they understood and
everything they were thinking as they read each sentence" (Block, 1992: 323). The
results indicated that when facing a vocabulary problem, proficient ESL readers used
background knowledge, decided on whether the word contributed to the overall
meaning of the passage, reread the sentence and used syntactic clues. The meaningbased strategies are classified as global behaviors. On the other hand, non-proficient
ESL readers focused on identifying lexical problems and did little to figure out the

meaning of the words.
From the above findings of research in reading strategies, it becomes clear that
there are indeed differences between successful or good readers and less successful or
poor readers in terms of strategy use. Overall, more proficient readers combine both
top-down and bottom-up strategies in reading but tend to use more top-down strategies
than bottom-up ones. Although this list is not prioritized or complete, it helps provide a
description of the characteristics of successful readers and serves as an important
foundation for more research into reading.
However, a gap that can be found in these studies on reading strategies is that
few researchers have attempted to classify reading strategies into a more comprehensive
scheme except for top-down and bottom-up strategies (or global or local strategies).
That is the gap that the current thesis study tries to bridge by using O'Malley and
Chamot's scheme to classify the reading strategies used by the 4th-year English majors at
the PSA. As mentioned earlier, this scheme was developed by O'Malley and Chamot's
(1990) based on their several descriptive studies on learning strategies in four English
skills. It can reflect the actual reading process as it contains both top-down and bottomup strategies within its categories. The top-down strategies included in this scheme are
elaboration, transfer, inferencing and summarizing. The bottom-up strategies are