A Comparative Study Of Reading Strategy Use Between Good And Poor Readers Of English In Senior Highs

The present study intends to investigate the reading strategies employed by Chinese senior high school students. The writer attempts to answer the following research questions:(1) What is the overall pattern of English reading strategies employed by the Chinese senior high school students?(2) Do good/poor readers differ in the types of L2 reading strategies used?(3) Do good/ poor readers differ in the quantity of their L2 reading strategies used?(4) Do good /poor readers differ in the quality of their L2 reading strategies used? The learners' reading strategies were explored through a survey, an interview and an experiment: a questionnaire to survey the types and the frequency of reading strategies used by the subjects; the reading task to trigger off a self-report of the strategies used while reading so as to compare the subjects' flexibility and effectiveness of using cognitive reading strategies; and the interview to investigate the subjects' differences in the quality of using metacognitive and affective strategies. 50 senior high school students were sampled - half as good readers and half as poor readers, based on the scores of simulated examination of NMET.The study reveals that:(1) for senior high school students, the most-often used reading strategies arecognitive strategies and the least-often used reading strategies are themetacognitive strategies;(2) the two learner groups, good readers and poor readers, are similar in their use of metacogntive strategies; but different in their use of cognitive, affective and social strategies(3) and on the other hand, the two learner groups differ in the quantity and quality of reading strategy use. Namely, the good readers, compared with the poor readers, are able to (a) employ more reading strategies; (b) choose strategies more appropriately; (c) comprehend more effectively, given that they have chosen the same type of reading strategy; (d) choose reading strategies more flexibly, which means that good readers adapt themselves, to a greater extent, to the various task demands by using different reading strategies whereas the poor readers tend to employ fixed strategies, disregarding task variations.This paper consists of four parts. Part One, including Chapters One and Two, provides a brief literature review of language learning strategy and reading strategy. And Part Two, from Chapter Three to Chapters, describes the research design encompassing research questions, subjects, instruments and research procedures. Part Three, from Chapter Six to Chapter Eight, explicitly specifies the results and analysis of the research. Finally, Part Four - Chapter Nine provides tentative conclusions, limitations of the research and pedagogical implications.