Online Reading Support: A Study of Second Language Learners’ Online Reading Comprehension Strategies

1. Online Reading Support: A Study of Second Language Learners’ Online Reading Comprehension Strategies Jaehan Park Jaeseok Yang Sang Jai Choi Yi Chin Hsieh 22nd SLED Presentation

2. Introduction • http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=79635 • The effective use of reading strategies to help L2 paper-based reading comprehension. (Anderson, 1991; Cohen, 1998; Oxford, 1990) • The emergence of new literacy with new technologies (Leuet al., 2004) • What new reading strategies L2 readers use when reading online text. What the information seeking strategies they use in order to locate and comprehend the target text. (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).

3. Theoretical framework • Reading as a process of active meaning construction (Beach, 1993; Langer, Bartolome, Vasquez, & Lucas, 1990; NICHD, 2000) • Knowledge acquired in L1 as resources for L2 reading comprehension (Fitzgerald, 1995; Langer et al., 1990) • New literacies (Leu et al., 2004)

4. Literature review 1) • Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) • Support strategies as “support mechanisms intended to aid the reader in comprehending the text such as using a dictionary, taking notes, or underlining or highlighting the text to better comprehend it.” ( p.3).

5. Literature review 2) • Anderson (2003) • ESL students employed relatively more support strategies than native speakers. • Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) • Native speakers with high-reading-ability also regarded support reading strategies as more valuable than those with low-reading-ability.

6. Literature review 3) • Huang et al (2008) • The use of support strategies played a key role in strategy use and contributed to most of the comprehension gains in L2 online reading. • Coiro and Dobler (2007) • Internet-based supporting tools for reading comprehension demonstrate the unique types of support strategies in online reading, in comparison with paper-based reading.

7. Research Questions • What kind of online resources international students at IU use to support their online reading comprehension? And Why? • How do the participants find necessary support using the online resources?

8. Method

9. Participants (online survey) n=291

10. Participants (online survey)

11. Participants (in-depth study) 8 International Graduate Students (except one Chemist) • Born and educated outside the United States • Finished their undergraduate study in their home countries • English is their second language. • Advanced reader in both L1 and L2 • TOEFL (94 or above)

12. Participants (in-depth study) 8 International Graduate Students (except one Chemist) • Advanced in their technology use • Nationality • 6 from South Korea • 1 from Taiwan and 1 from China • Major • 3 MBA students • 3 Education majors • 2 Science majors (1 Chemist & 1 Biologist)

13. Online Survey Study Online Survey • Online survey data about online reading support strategies and online services • Developed with consultation with the faculty supervisor based on the literature review • Validated via pilot tests. • Incentive for participation – local restaurant certificate

14. In-depth Study Revised Coiro and Dobler’s (2007) study Pre-study Questionnaire • Demographic information • Level of English reading proficiency • Technology skill

15. In-depth Study Pre-reading Interview • Pre-existing knowledge about topics (cloud computing & global warming) • Modeling • Think-Aloud Protocol • Online Reading Support • Incentives • Restaurant certificates

16. In-depth Study Think-Aloud Protocol • Revised version of Coiro and Dobler • Pilot Tests • Think-aloud protocol • Recording Technology • Reading Comprehension Questions • Interview Questions • Observation & Interview Training

17. In-depth Study Observation • Two texts & 9 Questions under each text • Main Idea • Reading Comprehension • Vocabulary • CamStudio • Sound and Video Data • Windows Recorder • Whole voice data of interview and observation

18. In-depth Study Post-reading Interview • Open-ended Questions • 2 purposes • Clarifying questions about observation and think-aloud protocol • Personal perception about online reading

19. In-depth Study Member Checking • When data transcription is completed, • Researcher met the participants again. • Check for accuracy and seek confirmation and further illumination of the observation and interview data

20. Results

21. What kind of online resources international students at IU use to support their online reading comprehension? And Why?

26. How do the participants find necessary support using the online resources? (1) Multiple resources & Verification • multiple websites • different web pages on the screen simultaneously Ex. Kim opened Naver and Google at the same time on the screen. (observation) • L1 & L2 Triangulation • Multimedia resources • Youtube & images “It’s really helpful to use Google images to understand the meaning of English words. Sometimes, it’s even better to see the pictures, rather than reading the definition in the dictionary.” (Feng)

27. (2) Knowledge about characteristics of websites they visit “Google dictionary has simple interface and free of image-dense design that help them locate unfamiliar words fast. Dr. Eye provides the functions of simultaneous translator that translates every word for readers as the mouse goes.” (Feng)

28. (3) Content-specific website • Westlaw – legal topic (online survey) • Wolfram Online – math & physics (online survey) • PubMed—Medicine (Jun)

29. (4) searching strategies • The function of “Ctrl+F” “Because there is lots of information. If I read them all, I will be lost again. The only thing I need is definition of it” (Kim) • Utilizing the “sorting” feature of a website Ex. Jun typed English in Google, and when the results were pulled out, he clicked on the “only show results in Chinese” on the left navigation bar so that only Chinese results are presented.

30. Discussion

31. New Framework Suggested • 3 pilot testers • Participants • Lexical Support • Online dictionaries • Content Support • Web searching • Five domains of New literacies (Leu et al., 2004)

32. Online Dictionary Use Common features of online dictionaries: • English-Korean or English-Chinese translation • English-English translation • pronunciation • sample sentences • synonyms, antonyms • Encyclopedia • Explanations from multiple websites

33. highlighted features of each dictionary • Google dictionary: The simple interface design decreases visual noise, and it also runs faster without overloaded visuals.

34. Naver dictionary: It provides corpus lookup where users can see where the word is used in a wide range of different documented materials.

35. Dr. Eye: It does word by word translation while users are reading, and its Grammar Focus is fairly beneficial for English learners who are learning writing.

36. Iciba dictionary: It shows satisfyingly abundant sample sentences and collocations that offer rich input for language learners.

37. Yahoo dictionary: It provides users with words that are similar to the word they are looking up, which allows users to make comparisons between those seemingly confusing words. The presence of related words in Yahoo dictionary also gives it some credits. It also has the word by word translation function with the use of Mini Pen.

38. Depth of vocabulary--Hudson (2007) • Multiple meanings of a word • Concept behind the meanings

39. Limitation & Future Research • Compartmentalization • Collaborative study with Human Computer Interaction (HCI) • Participants • From east Asian nations • Advanced learners

40. Implication Should we teach second language students to use online reading support? • Explicit instruction (Chamot, 2005) • Peer modeling & reciprocal teaching (Coiro et al., 2008)

41. The EndThank you!