Hungarian teachers' reading strategy use in mother tongue and foreign language analysed by background variables

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to identify teachers' reading strategy use in L1 (mother tongue) and L2 (foreign language), and also to examine whether background variables such as gender, qualification, teaching experience, platform of teaching, reading habits, majors, L2 level and the number of L2s known make a difference in teachers' reading strategy use. Reading has been widely researched yet examining L1 and L2 reading strategy use simultaneously yielded contradicting results. Furthermore, there is little research on teachers' reading strategy use although their role in students' reading is vital. An online, anonymous questionnaire including background variables and items from MARSI was used, which was filled in by 256 teachers. Data analysis found that teachers use more reading strategies in L1 than in L2. No background variable had any significant relationship with L1 reading strategy use. Reading habits, L2 level, majors and L2s known, however, did make a difference in teachers' L2 reading strategy use. Thus it seems that L2 metalinguistic knowledge and reading habits might be important to consider when examining reading strategies.

The effect of reading strategy use on online reading comprehension

“…The two other strategies, global and support reading strategies, exerted no significant impact on language arts achievement and reading comprehension achievement. This result may be due to the Hungarian students managing to answer the reading comprehension questions very well in their L 1 because they were described in their native language [[ 28 , 29 ]]; thus, it was very easy for them to grasp key information from the reading tasks. The result was also in line with [ 29 ]'s (2022) study, thus showing the positive impacts of the problem-solving strategy on students' online reading comprehension achievement.…”

“…In the digital age, online reading has become increasingly prevalent [ 9 ]. Studying online reading comprehension in a specific language, such as Hungarian, can shed light on how individuals navigate and comprehend digital texts [ 28 , 29 ]. This knowledge can contribute to the development of digital literacy skills and help individuals engage with online content effectively.…”

Strategy use and self-perception in L2 academic reading

“…However, students tend to use more problem-solving and global strategies in the L1, and they have recourse to problem-solving and support strategies the most often when they read in the L2, and only then do they tend to employ global strategies (Tary & Molnár, 2022, p. 65). Related research suggests that while teachers are more likely to employ global and support strategies in their L1, there is no significant difference in the ratio of problem-solving strategies between the two languages (Tary, 2023).…”

“…The available data (Mónos, 2005;Szűcs, 2017) suggest that students entering tertiary education do not generally tend to have a well-developed repertoire of strategies when it comes to reading in their L2. Adopting a comparative approach, some recent studies have provided valuable information about students' strategy use and self-perception in both their L1 and L2 (Tary & Molnár, 2022;Tary, 2023). The main objective of the project was to contribute to and expand the existing body of L2 English reading strategies used by speakers of L1 Hungarian by exploring EFL majors' strategy use and self-perception in the process of reading academic texts in English.…”