AN INVESTIGATION OF ESL READING STRATEGIES USED BY VIETNAMESE NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS

Abstract

This study investigated Vietnamese non-English majored students’ English reading strategy use and its relationship with their self-perceived English reading ability. Sixty-seven Vietnamese freshmen self-rated their reading ability and completed the Survey of Reading Strategies measuring their use of global, problem-solving, and support strategies. The results revealed a fairly regular use of reading strategies for English texts by Vietnamese non-English majors, with support strategies being the most frequently employed and followed by global and problem-solving strategies. In addition, students with self-rated reading ability at pre-intermediate level used global and problem-solving strategies at a significantly higher frequency than did students with self-rated reading ability at elementary level, while no significant differences were shown for support strategies. These suggested that Vietnamese non-English majored students are fairly strategic readers in English and students who perceive themselves as better readers appear to have higher strategic awareness and thus, more frequently employ reading strategies.