The development of Japanese high school EFL learners' reading processes : Two "Compensation Model"s approach

Abstract

This study investigated how Japanese EFL learners read an L2 text, and how they develop their ways in which they comprehend the text according to their L2 language proficiencies. Two compensation models of the I-CM and the C-EM were reviewed and employed to explain the development of their reading processes. 19 Japanese high school students, who were divided into three groups according to their L2 language proficiencies, read an L2 text, thought aloud while reading and finally wrote down what they recalled from the text Results indicate that the time taken to think aloud, and the total frequency of the bottom-up strategies were significantly djfferent between high- and low- proficiency groups. As for the recall test, the scores between intermediate- and low-proficiency group were significantly djfferent. From the qualitative analysis of the think aloud protocol, it was also revealed that high- and intermediate- L2 proficiency students could manage to grasp the main content of the text using reading strategies, while low-L2 proficiency students were inhibited to comprehend the text because of the lack of language knowledge. Thus, the conclusion was drawn: the development of reading an L2 text can be explained with a continuum from the I-CM to the C-EM.