Effects of Genre-specific Instruction and Strategy Training on the Use of Academic Reading Strategies

Abstract

The present study comprises two phases of research. First, the study investigated whether EFL university students’ uses of academic reading strategies are different depending on genre-specific instruction. Second, it examined whether strategy training influences the students’ use of academic reading strategies. Additionally, it explored whether the students’ reading abilities interact with the results. In the first phase, 93 English majors from two concurrent EAP courses completed a questionnaire and their responses were compared to identify differences in the strategy uses according to the genre-specific instruction they received in linguistics and literature. The results indicated that problem-solving strategies were used most, followed by support reading strategies, and global reading strategies least. Although there was no significant difference in the strategy uses between the groups of two genres, high-proficiency students in the linguistics group used significantly more of global reading strategies than their low-proficiency peers. In the second phase, 47 students participated in a six-week training of EAP reading strategies implemented in EAP reading in linguistics. Analyses of pre- and post-survey responses revealed a significant increase in the students’ use of global reading strategies, while problem-solving strategies and support reading strategies showed little or no change. Implications were discussed. (196 words)