The effects of the summarization strategy on reading comprehension of non-proficient Taiwanese university EFL learners (China)

It is generally found that Taiwanese EFL learners tend to use more local strategies than global strategies. (Field, 1984; Ma, 1991; Parry, 1996; Chia, 2000). Rote memorization is observed more prevalently among some Asian students than students from other cultural background (Oxford, 1994). Additionally, very little suitable and applicable data of global reading strategies for Taiwanese EFL learners is available. It is therefore speculated that Taiwanese EFL readers need the explicit instruction on global strategy use to help them become effective and strategic readers. Unfortunately, no such English reading program exists now.; The present study aims to research the effectiveness of "The Summarization Strategy" and explicitness of instruction towards improving English reading comprehension. The following research questions are addressed: "Does strategy training help improve non-proficient Taiwanese University EFL students' reading comprehension?" and if so, "Which types of reading comprehension questions (main idea, inference, and detailed questions) are influenced most after exposure to TSS?"; Subjects in this study consisted of 124 first-year students at Tunghai University in Taiwan. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to quantify the change in pretest-posttest scores on the TOEFL outcome measurement. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to evaluate the differential effects among the three types of reading comprehension questions on TOEFL outcome measurements.; The study described the TSS instruction and its implementation on the subjects. Findings indicated that the intervention and explicit instruction was effective in increasing the English reading comprehension of non-proficient Taiwanese University EFL students.; The study revealed that the students' ability of grasping main ideas and of making inferences was significantly enhanced, except when responding to detailed items. For further research, it is necessary to investigate whether the limited lexical knowledge caused the comprehension failure. In order to address these issues, employing more appropriate follow-up strategies to clarify confusions is necessary and critical.