The paper titled "Reading English as a foreign language: The interplay of abilities and strategies" by Abdulkhaleq Abdulhadi Al-Qahtani investigates the preferred order of reading strategies used by L1 Arabic learners of English at different ability levels in an EFL setting. The study aimed to explore how EFL learners use reading strategies, whether reading ability level affects strategy use, and if there are relationships between strategy use, perceived proficiency, and actual reading ability.
The research involved 92 EFL college students in Saudi Arabia who completed a TOEFL reading test to determine their reading abilities, as well as biographical and Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaires. Statistical analyses were then conducted on the collected data.
The results revealed that each reading ability level (high, intermediate, low) reported different patterns of strategy use in terms of order and intensity. There was a statistically significant difference in strategy use between the high and low ability groups, with low ability readers reporting higher use of global reading strategies compared to high ability readers. However, no significant correlation was found between overall reading ability and strategy use.
The study found that as reading ability increased, learners tended to rely less on support strategies and more on problem-solving and global strategies. Intermediate level readers showed a unique pattern of strategy use compared to high and low ability readers. Low ability readers compensated for weaker decoding skills by relying more heavily on global strategies.
The findings suggest that explicit strategy instruction should be tailored to learners' ability levels. Teachers can help lower ability students increase use of supporting strategies to improve comprehension and gradually transition to more problem-solving strategies. Curriculum designers may benefit from considering how strategy instruction could be presented incrementally to mirror ability level requirements.
In conclusion, the study provides insights into how EFL learners at different proficiency levels approach reading strategies, with implications for reading instruction and curriculum design in EFL contexts. The results highlight the complex relationships between reading ability, strategy use, and perceived proficiency among L1 Arabic learners of English.