Using the Think-Aloud Technique for Determining Different Reading Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners

Ladan Bakhshalinezhad, Farahnaz Reymani Nikou, Alireza Bonyadi

Abstract


This study explored the reading strategies used by advanced and intermediate Persian EFL learners in both English and Persian reading comprehension texts.  Based on the aims of the study reading comprehension texts were administered to the learners and their reading strategies in both English and Persian reading comprehension texts were examined through the think-aloud method. The findings showed that while the advanced EFL learners employed all the strategies (which were included in the strategy table of the study) in their English texts, the intermediate learners used only some of them and also used their strategies with different frequencies in comparison with the advanced learners. Therefore, the findings supported the view that the use of the reading strategies may be related to the learners’ proficiency level. The findings also supported the idea that reading strategies can be transferred from one language to another based on the learners’ proficiency level.

Keywords: learning strategies, reading strategies, think aloud protocols, threshold level, transferability


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