SOME SOURCES OF READING PROBLEMS FOR FOREIGN‐LANGUAGE LEARNERS ¹

Abstract

According to Kenneth Goodman (1967), reading is a psycholinguistic process in which the reader, guided by (he knowledge of the language being read, reconstructs an encoded message by selecting syntactic and semantic cues as he proceeds. To read in a foreign language, we use basically the same method, even though native language interference and unfamiliarity with the code make the process much more complex. Foreign students consider vocabulary their most serious handicap in reading English; because of the nature of the reading process, words are the smallest physical meaningful units of the message and they play a more important role and constitute more of a problem than we are sometimes willing to concede. Current pedagogical approaches to dealing with this problem could be modified with a more accurate understanding of the reading process. Several specific suggestions are made.

Language Learning Strategies: A Key Factor to Improvement of TOEFL Candidates’ Reading Comprehension Ability

“…In short, reading is not a linear process, but it is a dynamic activity. Ryan and Semmel (1969) and Yorio (1971) explain that reading is a sampling, prediction, testing, and confirming process. Prediction is not meaningless or reckless guessing.…”

Effects of Pre-reading Activities on EFL Reading by Iranian College Students

“…The two pre-reading activities addressed in the present study are expected to help EFL overcome two major problems that hinders their comprehension: lack of vocabulary knowledge and conceptual knowledge. Limited vocabulary repertoire can lead readers to stop at unfamiliar words that may disrupt comprehension because readers may forget the earlier part of the sentence (Yorio, 1972). [38] This also happens to L1 readers with decoding problems (Samuels, 1974).…”

“…Limited vocabulary repertoire can lead readers to stop at unfamiliar words that may disrupt comprehension because readers may forget the earlier part of the sentence (Yorio, 1972). [38] This also happens to L1 readers with decoding problems (Samuels, 1974). [30] Limited vocabulary knowledge also hinders comprehension especially when the meaning of a sentence depends on knowledge of certain words.…”

ESL Reading: More on text comprehensibility

“…Nevertheless, it is important to remember that ESL learners can tell us a great deal about what they find to be difficult about L2 reading (Aslanian 1985;Cavalcanti 1983;Cohen & Aphek 1979;Hosenfeld 1977;Lotherington 1984;Lotherington-Woloszyn 1986;Yorio 1971).…”