Teaching second language reading comprehension: the effects of classroom materials and reading strategy use

The past decade has witnessed a plethora of research in teaching second language reading, and how to teach with efficiency has gradually gained ground in the field of Second Language Acquisition. Even though empirical studies have revealed that there is a positive correlation between students’ learning motivation and learning outcome for effective reading comprehension, such a correlation has not been clearly examined in Taiwan because the nature of its reading instruction has long been exam-oriented. The question as to how to stimulate students’ reading motivation still remains unknown. This study aims to bridge this gap by investigating the effects of using reading strategy instruction (metacognitive and cognitive knowledge) based on authentic reading materials for advanced EFL learners with the focus on their reading improvement and learning experience. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to explore students’ reading strategy use. Results suggest that learners generally prefer metacognitive to cognitive knowledge when it comes to reading English texts, and authentic reading materials are found to heighten their learning motivation as well as attitude positively due to several salient factors. The importance of cultivating learners’ second language reading strategy awareness by using appropriate reading materials in class is discussed with several pedagogical and theoretical implications.