The Differential Viewpoints on Reading Difficulties and Metacognitive Strategies Application Toward Academic English Reading Between Non-English Major Graduates and Instructors

• Main Authors: Chun-Wei Huang, 黃俊瑋
• Other Authors: Liang-Tsu Hsieh
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75341833547022358139

碩士 === 國立屏東商業技術學院 === 應用外語系 === 95 === Abstract Previous studies have investigated many reading difficulties encountered in academic English reading and addressed various strategies meant to increase the comprehension of the readers. However, most studies collected data only from students and ignored the viewpoints of their instructors, who were certainly more experienced on the subject. Thus, this study aimed to investigate reading difficulties and the metacognitive strategies that should be used in academic English reading from the viewpoints of both instructors and graduate students. In addition, this study also compared the viewpoints of graduate students from different majors. In total, 129 non-English major graduate students and 18 instructors were surveyed and 18 graduate students as well as 8 instructors were interviewed. The results showed that (1) academic vocabulary was the main reading problem encountered by non-English major graduate students. Readers often misunderstood the proper implications of academic vocabulary and thereby failed to fully comprehend the text. (2) Instructors believed that graduates had to acquire and apply more content schemata to their academic English reading. (3) As for metacognitive strategies, support reading strategies were the most popular strategies among graduate students whereas problem solving strategies were the most recommended by instructors. Self-evaluation strategies were not as emphasized as other strategies. (4) Instructors recommended that graduates consulted references to get more information on the issue at hand rather than merely to interpret the article. (5) Graduates majoring in engineering had more access to sufficient academic materials, courtesy of their departments or schools, than those majoring in management. To sum up, this study found that graduate students should apply more reading strategies to academic English reading to replace the usage of electronic interpretations. Moreover, schools or departments should supply more resources for graduates to have at hand. Graduate students should also take related courses in order to enhance their academic English reading proficiency before entering graduate level courses. Furthermore, students should be wise in utilizing appropriate strategies and resources to solve their academic reading problems.