Tutoring Chinese English-as-Foreign-Language Learners to Read: An Exploratory Research of Customized Reading Scaffolding Instruction

Abstract

Given the status quo that Chinese English-as-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ reading practice is mainly confined to teach-to-test pedagogy, many of them who are struggling in reading have neither the interest nor the ability to comprehend authentic texts for the purpose of acquiring information rather than answering tests. The creation of Customized Reading Scaffolding Instruction (CRSI) was designed based on the Engagement Reading model (Guthrie, 2000) and aims to solve these students’ primary reading problems. This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of tutoring Chinese EFL students struggling with reading in English by using the CRSI on their reading experience, reading amount and reading comprehension and contributed to a deeper understanding of participants’ learning processes and their reflections. Qualitative data showed that reading materials according to individual’s topic interest, prior knowledge, and inter-cultural awareness effectively improved participants’ reading experience, but CRSI remained less effective for forming a stable reading habit for some participants. Quantitative data showed that participants’ amount of reading time increased in varied degrees during the intervention period compared with their previous reading behavior. Accompanying the increasing of their reading amount, participants’ reading comprehension moderately developed during and after the CRSI training.