• Cheng-Chang Tsai

  Author

The study mainly focused on investigating English as Foreign Language
(EFL) reading anxiety and reading strategy comparing genders and language
proficiency levels. The participants chosen for the study were 223 participants from
an university in Taiwan. The data collection was carried out in two stages. The first
investigation was conducted at the beginning of the semester. The final
investigation was conducted at the end of the semester after the participants had
received the reading comprehension strategy training. The participants were asked
fill out The Foreign Language Reading anxiety Scale (FLRAS), and the Survey of
Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaires to explore the differences between the
pre-test and post-test. The results of this study have stated that the scores
participants got on the FLRAS and the SORS were statistically negatively
correlated. The negative correlation between two variables indicated that when
students’ reading anxiety level increased, their use of reading strategy use
decreased. Regardless of male or female group, it was concluded that their degree
of reading anxiety had been reduced and their reading strategy degree increased
after receiving the reading comprehension strategy instruction. Also, the reading
strategy instruction did have an influence on all of three global, problem-solving,
and support reading strategy use for the lower and intermediate proficiency level
students.
With respect to the high proficiency level students, it is obvious that the
reading strategy instruction did have an impact on global and problem-solving
strategy uses for them with the exception of support strategies. Implications for
EFL educators to recognize the directions of instructional practices for enhancing
reading comprehension are presented.

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