| The present study investigates the nature of reading strategies used by Thai graduate students enrolled in U.S. universities when they interacted with different English texts. The study aims to answer three main questions, (a) What reading strategies are used by Thai graduate students enrolled in U.S. universities when they interact with English texts? (b) What are the effects of text genre (Academic Text or Literature in English Text) and English reading proficiency level (High and Low) on the reading strategies employed by Thai graduate students enrolled in U.S. universities? (c) To what extent are these effects mediated by gender/academic major/duration of study in the U.S./and English proficiency level? The participants consisted of 253 Thai students enrolled in graduate programs in universities across the U.S. The data came from the 35-item Reading Strategies Questionnaire for Thai (RSQ-Thai), the Background Information Sheet, an Academic Text and four reading comprehension questions and a Literature in English Text and four reading comprehension questions.; The results showed that participants' strategy use across both text conditions fell in the level of medium-usage (Oxford & Burry-Stock, 1995). Second, there were significant differences in the frequency of strategy use between the two task conditions (Academic Text and Literature in English Text) for only three individual RSQ-Thai items. Third, there were no significant differences in the types of strategies (Metacognitive, Cognitive and Support) reported used on the two task conditions (Academic Text and Literature in English Text). However, in both task conditions, Metacognitive strategies were reported as used more often than the other two categories. Fourth, the participants who were categorized as having high reading proficiency reported more frequent use of Metacognitive, Cognitive and Support strategies on both text conditions. Finally, there was no significant difference in the frequency of strategy use across the variables gender, academic major, duration of study in the U.S., and English proficiency level in either the Academic Text or the Literature in English Text conditions. |
