The Comprehension Strategies of Second Language Readers

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10819084
AutoresE Block (0000-0002-6370-2013, Baruch College, autor correspondente)
Ano1986
Volume20
Fascículo3
Páginas463
Data de publicação1986-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTESOL Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0039-8322 • E-ISSN: 1545-7249
EditoraJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3586295
OpenAlexW2067009645
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas93
Referências citadas18

Think-aloud protocols, a version of verbal report in which participants state their thoughts and behaviors, have become increasingly popular as a means of studying the comprehension processes of native English speakers. The study reported in this article used think-alouds to examine the comprehension strategies used by college-level students-both native speakers of English and nonnative speakers--enrolled in remedial reading classes as they read material from a college textbook. Poor readers (those who had failed the college's reading proficiency test) were chosen for study because they are the ones at whom college remedial reading programs are aimed. Furthermore, their use of comprehension strategies has not attained the degree of automaticity found in fluent readers. Thus, they may be more aware of how they solve the problems they encounter as they read. Some of the strategies used by the ESL and native-speaking readers in the study are described. Strategy use is related to measures of memory and comprehension and to academic performance, and implications for teaching are discussed. The thoughts that wander or rush through the minds of readers, the searches and struggles for meaning, the reflections and associations, are hidden from the outside observer. Yet this struggle and search for control are the core of reading comprehension. For teachers, knowledge of the components and management of this internal process is extremely important. Without it, educators must resort to designing reading programs based on intuitions and guesses about students' problems. Without it, classroom teachers are left commiserating with Eskey (1973), who described the maddening experience of having a student who appears to understand every sentence and yet cannot answer the simplest question about a passage as a whole (p. 177). Knowledge about the process, not just the product of reading, is needed if we are to move

Comprehension · Comprehension approach · Language education · Linguistics · Reading (process) · Reading comprehension · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Philosophy · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Second Language Acquisition and Learning