English Language Journal Vol 4, (2011) 49-66 ISSN 1823 6820

Reading Strategies of English As A Second Language (ESL) High And Low Achievers
Noli Maishara Nordin Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Sabariah Md. Rashid Universiti Putra Malaysia

ABSTRACT Students level of understanding while reading relies much on the strategies exploited during the session. The strategies not only affect students comprehension of the text, but also determine students academic achievement. This study aimed to uncover the reading strategies of ESL learners at tertiary level. It addressed two research questions: (1) What reading strategies are frequently used by ESL high and low achievers? (2) Is there any significant difference in the use of the different types of strategies between ESL high and low achievers? Forty undergraduate students were randomly selected as the respondents for this study. A twenty-eightitem questionnaire which focused on the frequency of use of pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading strategies was utilised in the study. It was found that both of the ESL high and low achievers frequently used certain reading strategies to grasp the meaning of the texts. The ESL high achievers were also reported to significantly use all the pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading strategies than the ESL low achievers although there were some overlaps in their choice of specific strategies. The findings suggest that the use of appropriate reading strategies should be exposed to students to help them enhance their comprehension of a reading text. Keywords reading strategies, ESL

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