| The purpose of this study was to find out whether and to what extent Taiwanese foreign language learners can improve their reading strategies by using the Internet as well as to determine what content on the Internet is of assistance to them. An Internet-based intervention was developed by the researcher utilizing Thompson's (1997) fourteen reading strategies. The study included ninety-six, 20--25-year-old students selected from the student body of a Taiwanese private college. The subjects' first language is Chinese; English is their second language. The majority of students' years of learning English was divided between six to seven years and eight to nine years. The subjects' years of learning computers fell between two to three years and four to five years.; After the eight-week Internet-based intervention, all the subjects reported their English reading strategies improved. Based on the subjects' responses, the Internet-based intervention produced a statistically significant improvement in the subjects' use of reading strategies. According to the findings, the mean average use of 14 reading strategies after the Internet intervention was higher (3.74) than the mean average use of 14 reading strategies before the Internet-based intervention (3.32). In other words, M1 = 3.32 (the mean time of 1), M2 = 3.74 (the mean of time 2).; Seventy-nine percent of the subjects reported improvement in their reading speed, 84% of the subjects felt this Intervention helped them comprehend the text from different perspectives, and 78% of the subjects felt more confident in reading English articles. In addition, 80% of the subjects reported that they enjoyed developing their reading skills through the Internet. Eighty percent also stated that they will continue to use the Internet to improve their reading skills. |
