Gender Differences In Strategy Use In English Reading

The present study investigated gender differences in L2 reading performance and cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in EFL reading context. Specifically, the research was designed to find out whether there were statistically significant gender differences in second language reading comprehension performance among Chinese vocational school students and whether there were statistically significant gender differences in their use of reading strategies. This study involved 520 subjects, including 264 female students and 256 male students enrolled in Yangqiao Vocational School in Beijing. The research instruments included an English reading comprehension test, a questionnaire on reading strategy use, and an interview. The data were processed and analyzed with the aid of SPSS.The research yielded the following results:(1) Male and female students did not differ significantly in their second language reading comprehension performance.(2) As for the the use of reading strategies, males and females were not found to differ significantly in their cognitive strategy use; however, males were found to use signifieantly more metacognitive strategies than females.(3) The study shows that the subjects at the same achievement levels across gender did not differ much in their use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies.