ESL Readers' Comprehension Performance: The Chinese Secondary Context

ESL Readers' Comprehension Performance: The Chinese Secondary Context

Recent research in reading comprehension in Western settings has focused on collecting evidence from reading tests that would measure relevant ESL reading constructs to inform reading instruction and assessment. Similar studies in non-Western contexts, however, remain under-reported. This study invo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ELT journal 2012-07, Vol.66 (3), p.304-317
Main Authors: Chau, Juliana, Wu, Winnie, Chen, Julia, Lughmani, Shari
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
English (Second Language)
Foreign Countries
Hong Kong
Language Teachers
Pragmatics
Program Effectiveness
Reading Comprehension
Reading Improvement
Reading Instruction
Reading Interests
Reading Tests
Second Language Learning
Secondary School Students
Self Efficacy
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Recent research in reading comprehension in Western settings has focused on collecting evidence from reading tests that would measure relevant ESL reading constructs to inform reading instruction and assessment. Similar studies in non-Western contexts, however, remain under-reported. This study involved 958 senior secondary Hong Kong (Chinese) school students and 45 ESL teachers from local secondary schools. The study identified some of the weaknesses and strengths in aspects of Chinese ESL readers' comprehension performance. Results of the study indicate that reading comprehension is constrained by linguistic-, discourse-, and pragmatic-level problems. The article concludes with a call to rethink ESL reading pedagogy to foster readers' own understanding of a text and to build up interest and confidence in reading. Three instructional methods in this direction are proposed for ESL reading improvement.
ISSN:0951-0893
1477-4526