A Study of Reading Strategies Used by Thai University Engineering Students at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reading strategies used by Thai university first year engineering students. The six research questions addressed in this study were: (a) What are the reading strategies used by Thai university first year engineering students? (b) Do readers of different reading ability appear to be using the same strategies while reading expository text? (c) Do male and female subjects appear to be using the same strategies while reading an expository text? (d) Do the levels of reading ability have a significant influence on the use of reading strategies? (e) Does gender have a significant influence on the use of reading strategies? and (f) Is there any significant interaction between gender and reading ability on students’ use of reading strategies?

Forty-eight Thai full-time, first year university students (28 male and 20 female; 24 high- readers and 24 low-readers) participated in the study. All subjects were asked to produce verbal reports during the process of reading expository text.  The subjects’ verbal reports were transcribed and coded into idea units (Block, 1968; Green, 1998) using Anderson’s framework (Anderson, 1991).

The results of this study showed that subjects appeared to be using the same strategies, but they used them with different frequencies. Cognitive reading strategies were used most frequently while metacognitive reading strategies were used least frequently. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference in the use of cognitive, metacognitive, and compensatory reading strategies between high and low English reading ability students. That is, differing levels of English reading ability influenced the subjects’ use of reading strategies. In contrast, gender did not seem to influence the subjects’ use of reading strategies. Similarly, no statistically significant interaction between gender and reading ability on students’ use of cognitive or metacognitive reading strategy was found. Interestingly, though, there was a statistically significant interaction between gender and reading ability on students’ use of compensatory reading strategies. Results suggested that since students with different levels of English reading ability used strategies not only with different frequencies, but also in different ways, it is necessary to teach low English reading ability students how to use strategies more appropriately and effectively. In addition, suggestions are offered for future research.

Presented on April 5, 2006 by

Pattaraporn Thampradit

Curriculum and Instruction,

at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale