Enhancing ESL reading through

reader sbategy training

Abstract
Reader StrategyTraining for ESL students in practice and theory is in its
infancy. Recent research, aIthough in the most part successful, has not
reported the major gains expected from this method. Many researchers
have put this down to contextual factors. In this investigation seven E L
high-school students underwent a short course of reading strategy training. Important factors in the training were pre-assessment of learners'
needs, a focus on the 'whf and 'when' of the strategies as well as the
'what', and carefully selected reading texts. Six out of the seven students
showed improvement in reading comprehension in at least one of the two
measures used. Results suppoxt the notion that reading strategy training
can be effective in enhancing second-languagereading.

Introduction

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Reading in one's mother tongue is a complex skill involving the coordination

of attention, memory, perception and comprehension processes such as testing hypotheses, separating main ideas from details, searching for cohesive
elements and contextual guessing (Kern 1989; RusciolelIi 1995). The native
reader uses three main cueing systems to gain meaning from the written text:
graphophonic, syntactic and semantic. A reader expedencing a deficit in one
cueing system relies more heavily on the others as well as employing compensatory strategies (Robinson 1993).
For the second language reader the process is further complicated by
differences in the reading structures of L1 and the target language, in particular, differences in the graphophonic, syntactic and semantic systems, as
well as diverse clhcourse, cultural elf merits and e x ~ l a i l o n iMoreover,
.
if il
is P minority Language, as in the care of ESI students, there are many affective
elements that will be influencing the LZ reading process (for instance; emotions due t o culture shock, motivation to Iearn the target language and the
status of L1 in the community). So, not only is it possible that the L2 reader
has problems with all three cueing systems, but they may not be able to activate effective compensatory processes (Robinson 1993).
Second language reading research has revealed that many L2 readers are
Iinguistically bound to text, using all their resources on word recognition,
relying solely on a word for word translation strategy and performing few
higher order interpretation processes (Kern 1989; Rusciolelli 1995). While

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1 Pm~pectVol.

ENHANCING ESL READING THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

12 No. 3 December 1997

for many students this may be a temporary state, some students, even after
many years of exposure to LZ, find it difficult to progress beyond this point
(Grabe 1995).
Factors found to be significant in the development of L2 reading include
the importance of vocabulary in language learning, the need for language
awareness and attending to language and genre form, the need for extensive
reading and the importance of metacognitive awareness and strategy training
(Grabe 1995). The latter two factors are the focus of this study.

L2 reading strategy training research

Learning strategy has been defined as
the long-range art of learning more easily and effectively by using major
clusters of behaviours for forming concepts and hypotheses, testing hypotheses, personalising linkages, embedding material in long-term memory, understanding one's affective state, managing the learning process,
and producing language while lacking adequate linguistic knowledge
(Oxford and Cohen 2992: 4).

Learner strategy training, a teaching methodology which aims to improve learner's efficiency and to direct ownership and control into the pupil's
hand, is new to the second language field. Catalysed by descriptive research
on the characteristics and learning behaviours of good language learners (eg
Rubin 1975), the fundamental assumption underlying strategy training i s
that identified strategies used by successful learners can be taught to all
learners (Rees-Miller 1993).
The main f m s of research in this area over the iast decade has been the
identification of a conceptuai framework for learner strategies incorporating
descriptions of successful language learning strategies and construction of
typologies and taxonomies (Wenden and Rubin 1987). Only recently have
studies emerged Iooking at the effectiveness of strategy training, and in particular, reading strategy training.
While most recent research shows that LZ reading strategy training has
had some success, the expected dramatic gains of strategy training (as proposed
by O'MaIley and Chamot 1990 and Oxford 1990) have not been recorded.
Hosenfield (1985, cited by RuscioleIli 1995) taught word guessing techniques to t2 students and found an improvement in reading texts after
training. A comparison of traditional and strategic approaches t o teaching
reading by HarnpLyons (1985) gave favourable results to the latter. Bialystok
(1987) trained high school students in inferencing techniques and found
them to be expedient in L2 reading comprehension; additionally students
were able to generalise the technique (cited by Wenden and Rubin 1987).
Similarly, Kern (1989) found that direct teaching of reading strategies had
a strong positive effect on L2 readers' comprehension. Carrell, Pharis and
Liberto (1989) found metacognitive strategy training in semantic mapping
and experience-text-relationship to be effective in enhancing second Ianguage reading.

Other studies have reported negligible or mixed results where ESL students have shown only slight gains in a subset of the strategies taught
(Barnett 1988; Cotterall 1993). Oxford and Cohen (1992) suggest these results
may be due to improper methodoIogies eg too short a period for txaining, too
easy or difficult a task, inadequate pretraining assessment of learners' needs,
lack of integration of strategy training into regular class activities. Rees-Miller
(1993) cautions that strategies themselves may not be sufficient to lead to
success in learning tasks. Instead teachers need to communicate the usefulness of the strategy to the students.
Many researchers and teachers have stressed the importance of considering contextual variabIes such as learning styles, life experiences, students'
and teachers' beliefs about language learning and demographic features (eg
gender, age, ethnic differences) (McMahon 1992; Oxford 2993: Rees-Miller
1993; Sharkey 1995). These contextual variables mean that not all strategies
will prove equally helpful to a11 learners.

Metacognition
Cotterall (1993) reports that the most successfulstrategy-training programs
have been those which have exploited learners' metacognitive awareness.
Metacognition in the context of reading has two dimensions (Carrel1 et nl
1989; Cotterall 1993):
1. Understanding one's knowledge of strategies for comprehension
2. Controlling this knowIedge (or effectively using the strategies while read-

ing for different purposes)

A crucial concept underlying strategy training is the notion that the dis-

cussion of the mental processes involved in learning will lead t o an increase

in the learner's awareness of these processes (Cotterall 1993). Such an informed reader, it is postulated, will be able to access and apply these pmesses
in future similar situations (Carrel1et a1 1989). The ultimate goal is to turn

students into strategic readers rather than just t o teach them reading strategies (Grabe 1995).
Cotterall (1993: 76) identifies six conditions that must co-occur with
metacognitive behaviour:

1. sufficient exposure to problems in texts

2. repeated application of problem-solving strategies
3. efficient strategy use
4.

instruction concerning the usefulness and appIication of strategies

5. prompts to adopt particular strategies

6. an ability to shift attention from particular instances of difficulty to higher
levels of strategy performance.

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1 Prospect Vcl. 12 No. 3 December 1997

Further, research'suggests that transfer of strategy training to new tasks

can be maximised by pairing compatible metacognitive and cognitive strategies (O'Malley and Chamot 1990).

This investigation
In the light of the above research, the study described below looked at reading strategy training under the following conditions:
6 A needs assessment of students prior to training and determining training content
Instruction concerning the usefuIness of the strategy

zt Allowing sufficient time and appropriate activities for students t o become

familiar with, practise, and experiment with strategies

Careful selection of texts used in order to motivate students

O Pairing

of metacognitive and cognitive strategies

The study addressed the following research questions:

O
Q
9

Does explicit reading strategy training enhance comprehension of texts?

Are gains made in a measurable sense ie score on a reading comprehension test?
Do the students perceive that the training has been beneficial?

Method

Participants
The participants of this research were initially selected by mainstream teachers
at a secondary boys' school. Selection criteria were as follows:
I. the student is currently in year 10
2. the student has a non-English speaking background
3. the student's reading skills are interfering with his learning
identified students were then tested in reading, writing and listening by
the ESL teacher. A subset of these stude~ltswas then invited to participate in
the course. Students not included were those who had a specific difficulty
contributing t o the ianguage problems (eg mild intellectual impairment).
The reason for excluding these students was two-foId. Firstly the type of
instruction and materials used in the training were not suitable for this group
(forinstance the reading texts used were at a year 10 level and many of the
students excluded would benefit from using simpler materials) and secondly
the aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a methodology advocated for students whose difficulties arise from learning a second language.

ENHANCING ESL READtNG THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

19

There was, however, one student 'K' with an intellectual and social difficulty
who was accepted into the course for political reasons.
A11 12 of the year 10 students invited to participate were included in the
course, however only seven completed a11 phases of the research. The demographics of the research group are summarised in Table I.
Table 1: Partidpants
in
Australia

I Years

Language ! Read Write ' Learning style*

I in L1 in L 1

spoken

at home
.
p
a
-

Croatian
Lebanese
Cantonese
Arabic
Cantonese
Italian
Arabic

i-

Little

Little Communicative
Yes
Analytical
Little Little Concrete
' Littie Little Authority-oriented
Little Little Communicative
No
Little I Comihunicative
tittle

Both
L1
Both
-

~otivatioi

Fair
Fair
High
Fair
High
Low
Fair

L1 = First language
* = Approximate leamlng styles group assigned by using a quick questionnaireWlling 1989 Appendix B)

Students' motivation ranged from low to very high. The group as a

whole had a low morale and many had little 'language esteem'. All students
felt that good grades were linked to future prospects.
Several sources of information were examined in order to identify the
particular reading needs of the group. These sources included student work
such as trial moderator papers, assessment tasks and classwork, student ESL
profiles and the reading assessment task initially given (a 2 - i t e m graded
multiple-choice task on a 750 word reading passage at an approximate reading level of 14 years). Perhaps the most illumjnating data resulted from an
informal oral reading comprehension task. Students read a current chapter of
their class novel and retold key events. This task was completed on an individual basis and took the form of an interview with the ESL teacher. While
there were no set questions each student was asked relevailt factual, interpretive and evaluative questions about the text as the opportunity arose.
Additionally, students were asked to explain how they had they had Iocated information.
Two main areas of difficulty were isolated: inferencing (particularly
noted in the multiple choice task and novel discussion) and dealing with
unfamiliar vocabulary (for instance, in the novel discussion one student dismissed half a page because he did not understand three words in the opening
sentence. He did not realise that the meaning of the passage was attainable
without knowledge of those three particular words).

ENHANCING ESL READING THROUGH READER VRATEGY TRAINING

Prospect Vol. 12 No. 3 December 1997

Trairting materials and methods

Eight strategy training lessons of 50 minutes' duration were held over a twoweek period.
Four strategies were selected as a focus in accordance with the above
needs assessment. These were the metacognitive strategies of overviewing and
self-evaluation, and the cognitive strategies of inferencing and deducing the
meaning of unknown words. Xt was hoped that a by-product of conscious
strategy use would be increased learner autonomy.
The strategies were introduced t o the students one at a time, every
second lesson. The introductory sessions commenced with a reading aaivity
for which the focus strategy would be particularly useful. Students were then
invited t o discuss how they went about the task and the new strategy- would
be introduced. A short explanatory paragraph about the strategy was constructed by various means (such as dictogIoss, text reconstruction, cloze) and
then the strategy was modelled using the initial reading activity. A discussion
about the usefulness of the strategy continued throughout the lesson as
students completed practice activities.
,
The lessons between the introductory sessions consisted of specific practice activities for particular strategies and combinations of strategies, as well
as a variety of genera1 reading activities where the student had the opportunity to use the strategies of their choice. These sessions concluded with a
class debriefing regarding the most appropriate contexts to use particular
strategies.
Most activitieswere tailor-made forthe students with reading texts from
magazines, popular fiction and newspapers. Activities were also drawn and
adapted from the following texts: Cooper (2991), Garbutt and O'Sullivan
(1991) and Grellet (1981).
Tasks similar to the assessment tests were avoided during training to
prevent corruption of results.
Assessment procedures ~ n materials
d

Diagnostic assessment of students occurred three weeks prior to training.

Students were given a pre-test one week prior to the onset of training and
given the same test as a post-test. Informal measures to gain information
a b u t students' beliefs, learning styles, and perceptions occurred throughout
the course. These included a questionnaire, learning style inventory, diary
entries and post-course interview with the student.

The pre-test/post-test
Section A. Three-lwel guide (TLG)
Text: An autobiographical recount of approximately 1200 words.
Task: A truetfalse response task using three levels of statements: factual,
interpretive and evaluative.

Section B. Response to litmature (RL]

Text: A narrative of approximately 500 words.
Task: A written response to the following question:
This passage introduces a man called Thomas. What do you learn about
Thomas in the passage {eg his personality, his life, his feelings, what
others think of him)?
The formal components of the pre- and post-test were identical. This
was to allow direct comparison by students and mainstream teachers.

Scoring
An independent judge scored each test. Each section within the TLG (factua1,
interpretive and evaluative) was given a percentage score in order to allow
direct comparison between sections, for individual students and the group.
Then each student's TLG was given a total score out of 100.T h i s matched the
current system of assessment in the school and facilitated communication in
reporting to the teachers and students.
The RL section was given a count score for each statement made by the
student. Tally categories were 'correct statement', 'incorrect statement' and
'neutral statement'. Correct statements were subcategorised into 'factual',
'interpretive' and 'evaluative' statements.

Statistical anaZyses
Paired t-tests were applied to assess the significance of differencesbetween
pre- and post-test scores (tw~tailed).Significance was established at an alpha
level of .05. Non-significant scores are reported as 'ns'.
Results
The results of individual students can be seen in Table 2 (TLG) and Table 3
(RL). Five of the seven students revealed gains in all forms of assessment (I,
Kj, K, D and L). Student R showed a decrease in Task A but a gain in Task B.
Student N showed a dramatic decrease in Task A and no gain in Task B.
Tabk 2: Individual scores on a three level guide (TLG)
Student
I

KJ
R
N

K
D

L
Average

-~ost-test~/o?Difference

Pre-test YO

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ENHANCING ESL READING THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

Prospect Vol. 12 No. 3 December 1997

The results of the two-tailed t-test fox paired samples for Task A and
Task B can be found in Table 4 and Table 5 . The overall gain in the TLG for
the group was not significant. It js worth noting that the results become
significant (p i-05%) if student N's scores are not included in the analysis.
Decomposition of the TLG reveals that only one component of the task, the
interpretive level, evidences a significant group gain (p < -01%).
Conversely a breakdown of the components of the RL task (TabIe 5)
reveal, a significant gain in all sections for the group except for interpretive
statements: Length @ i.Oloh), factual statements ( ~ . 0 5 % } evaluative
,
statements (p < .02%) and overall statements (p < .01?hf.
Table 4: Group results for three-levei guide

'
Level
-

Mean

Factual

'

Pre-test

Post-test

Mean

SD

'

Average Paired df
gain , t

Significance

SD

< .01%
Overall
The average gain excluding student

N is 21.8% with a t value of 2.80 which gives

a significance level of alpha .c .05% {df=5).

Table 5: Paired t-test for response to literature scores

Word length
Factual statements
Interpretive statements
Evafuative statements
Overall statements

df

Paired t

Scores

1
1

4.20

2.83
1.87
3.24

1
1

Signir~ance

6
6

< .01%
i.05%
ns

< .02%
< .Ol%

Thus, in answer to the first research question, it appears that strategy

training may enhance L2 reading, but not for all students.
Some researchers such as Carrel1 et al (1989) report that traditional
measures of reading comprehension such as multiple choice questions are
not sufficiently sensitive to detect reading training effects. This study used
the traditional measure of True/FaIse questions in the TLG. Although there
were slight gains observed using this measure, these wefe nat statisticaIly significant. Thus in response to the second research question, gains in strategy
training, in this case, were not measurable on a traditional reading comprehension test.
T h e diary entries at the end of the course as well as the post-course
interview revealed that all students perceived that the course was useful: and

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ENHANCING ESL READING THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

Prospect Vol. 12 No. 3 December 1997

that they had gained valuable skills. Thus in answer to the third research
question the students did perceive that the training was beneficial. Student
L wrote:
What I have learned in ESL is how to understandand get more out of what
I'm ready [sic] and this means I understand the text better and don't find
is [sic] difficult ...
Student N reported:
1 have learned how to think with my brain ...
Student KJ states:
What I have learned over the last two weeks i s to look beneath the text
and find hidden information which isn't printed out in writing ... 1 also
have learnt to look for clues in the passage and answer the questions.
Comments from the mainstream teachers when the students returned
to class were positive although mostly general statements. These included:
The boys are more confident
K's novel work has improved
K (is showing) greater depth In his answers
He's not asking as many questions - doing more himself
Limitations

There are several limitations to this study and results should be interpraed
accordingly. The lack of controI group prevents dear conclusions being
drawn about the effects of training. Furthermore, the small sample size used
and purposive selection of the participants prevents generalisation of findings.

Finally research in strategy training which has used an identical preand post-test, as well as a control group, has shown the training to be effective (eg Carrel1 et a1 1989).
It is worth having a close look at the students who did not respond to
the strategy training. Although student K did improve dramatically in Task
A, his response to Task B and classroom observation would suggest that the
training was not as successful for him as might statistically appear. It was
evident during the course that K did not understand when a breakdown in
comprehension had occurred and therefore was unable to monitor himself
or self-evaIuate. It is likely that K's learning difficuIties interfered with K's
grasping of the strategies. As suspected before the study began, K needed
more explicit and amplified instruction at a much simpler level.
Student N reported having a disagreement with a teacher in the classroom lesson just prior to post-testing. This may have contributed to the
dramatic decrease in his score on the TLG. Additionally N had been involved
in a serious incident at the school and he was obviously nervous and undexstandably distracted during the second week of the course. I t should be noted
that the researcher did not note any gain of skills by N although, surprisingly,
he reported in the post-course interview 'It was good Miss. Like that reading
stuff Miss. What do you call it ... you know that overviewing stuff ... I used
to read every word'.
Winser (1991) reports that poorer readers can lock themselves into a
pattern of belief that inhibits their reading development. This seemed certainly
true in the research group. Among the inhibiting beliefs were:
9 The text must always be read word for word.
Q

If I do not understand some of the vocabulary I cannot understand the

paragraphltext

*:*

If I do not understand a keyword in the first sentence i might as well

Discussion
The reported gains made by the students in this study codd be accredited to
familiarity with the texts as students sat identical pre- and post-tests. Furthermore the lack of control group makes it impossible t o determine the degree
to which test sensitisation influenced results. Yet, there are several factors in
the students' history that would suggest that the influence from test semitisation would be minimal.
Firstly, the participants selected were students who were not performing
well in Engiish class. These students had unlimited access to class novels they could read and re-read them as much as they desired. Yet these students
were unable to access the same quantity or quality of information from these
novels as their peers.
Furthermore these students had a long histoy of difficulty in accessing
inferential information. Teachers reported repeated failure of these students
in performing similar inferential tasks. The students had been exposed to
similar and sometimes identical tasks in their educational history and not
improved in their performance of the task.

give up.

(eg paragraph) is an isolated entity and must be

understood completely before moving on.

90 Each portio11of the text

(In response to inferential questions) The answer is not written in the

text

a mistake has been made.

Strategy training allowed the students to realise that there were various
options available to them and that capturing meaning can be tackled in several different ways.
As a consequence of dealing with the above beliefs an unforeseen strategy was developed during the course - the affective strategy of 'Tolerance
of ambiguity' (as described by Sharkey 1995). Students increasingly became
aware that it is fine if you come across an ambiguous or uncertain passage;
re-reading, reading on, or suspended judgement will aid in clarification of
the passage.

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ENHANCING E S t READING THROUGH READER STRATEGY TRAINING

ProspectVol. 12 No. 3December1997

This research dws raise some interesting issues. Why rims this study show
enhancment in readiitg comprehensiorl for sorne studen& nrld some others studies
do not? Many of the past research papers which have not reported success or
significant gains were looking at students learning English for Academic
Purposes (students 18 and over). Perhaps the target group in these studies
is a clue to the lack of success of the study. Students who are looking at
entering Tertiary studies are presumably already competent and successful
language users in L1 and reasonably competent in L2. Perhaps these successful learners are already using strategies and have little to gain from strategy training. Wenden and Rubin (1987) instituted a Ieamer strategy training
course for two groups of very advanced learners - one group had to be
abandoned and in the other onIy 5 out of 23 students reported that they
learned something that they did not know (as reported in Rees-Miller 1993).
Perhaps those that stand to benefit the most are students who have
been exposed to the language for a while and just cannot crack the code. The
research group in this study certainIy falls into this category. The students
had been exposed to the language for at least three years (most since school
age).They had experience in the language, were able to extract factual,information and were aware (saveK) that they were not extracting as much information
as their peers were.
Another possibility is the choice of strategies chosen for instruction.
Rusciolelli (1995) in a recent study on student response to L 2 reading strategies instruction found that out of the I 1 strategies covered, students found
skimming and word guessing t o be the most useful.
An additional factor that may have enhanced the students' adoption
of the strategies is that two students in the class repeatedly challenged the
worth of the strategies at their introduction. For instance one student asked
'Isn't overviewing a waste of time - you might as well, just start reading'.
This allowed for conscious experimentation with the strategies by the students. In the above situation the students were then given two articles with
five minutes to read each - one they overviewed and the second they did
not. A quick comprehension check revealed that they had a better idea of
content for the overviewed article. Spontaneous reflection on the value of
the strategies certainly helped the communication of the usefulness of the
strategies to the students and allowed students to see the choices they have
in their learning.
Need to include ~e neffsureof the affective benefits. A large degree of the
effectiveness of the course was observed in affective gains. Students' diary
entries and comments during the course and at the post-course interview revealed that students felt more in control, of the reading process after training.
Positive results in the study could be attributed to several factors: increased self-esteem due to inclusion in a select group, intensive instruction
in a small group or test familiarity. While these factors may have come into
play to a certain degree, students' comments throughout the course point
to other exphnations. Their comments reveal a gradual articulation of the

reading prccess, a dawning consciousness of their ability to be active in the

learning process and an increasjng awareness of themselves as strategic
readers. Furthermore, informal observation by the researcher noted that the
above articulations coincided with increased risk-taking behaviours, willingness to attack the text and decreased dependence on the teacher. These
areas were not fully exploited in this study and are worth pursuing further.
RemIts presented in this research suggest that the prospect of enhanced
reading comprehension for ESL students through Reader Strategy Training
merits further investigation. Particular avenues for further study include the
following issues:
9 What is the best method of measuring the effects of L2 reading strategy
training? How can the affective measures be encompassed into this
measurement ?
+ How do we teach manipulation and control, of successful, learning
strategies?
Q What are the prime Iwek in age and language experjence in responding
to strategy training? OR Which strategies are most effective for certair:
age groups or language experience groups?

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