ScholarSpace
ScholarSpace is an open-access, digital institutional repository for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa community. ScholarSpace stores the intellectual works and unique collections of the UH at Mānoa academic community and also provides a permanent web location for those accessing these resources.
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Recent Submissions
The Role of Vocabulary Knowledge, Morphological Awareness, and Working Memory in Reading Comprehension
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-01-20) Teng, Mark Feng; Cui, Yachong
A growing number of studies have focused on uncovering linguistic and cognitive skills predictive of reading comprehension. Vocabulary knowledge (VK) and morphological awareness (MA) are two important linguistic variables for reading comprehension. In contrast, working memory (WM) is an essential cognitive variable for reading comprehension. The current study mainly aims to examine the role of VK, MA, and WM in English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension. A total of 396 learners in a foreign language context took a TOEIC reading test, a battery of three MA tests, two VK tests, and two WM tests. We found that (a) the Pearson correlation coefficients obtained for the variables of VK, MA, WM, and EFL reading comprehension were all positive and significant; and (b) the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that VK was a stronger predictor than MA of EFL reading performance. Relevant implications are discussed based on the results.
Examining the relationship between self-regulated learning strategies and reading comprehension in Chinese and English among primary school students in mainland China: An extension of Tse, Lin, & Ng (2022)
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-01-20) Qi, Ji; Reynolds, Barry Lee; Bai, Xiaoke
This extension study investigates the relationship between self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English reading test performance among 190 primary six students in mainland China, building upon the findings by Tse et al. (2022). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the acceptable construct validity of the SRL strategy use questionnaire used by Tse et al. (2022). Structural equation modeling was then conducted to examine the direct relationships between variables. The results reveal a direct and positive relationship between L1 Chinese planning strategies and L2 English planning strategies, as well as between L1 Chinese monitoring strategies and L2 English monitoring strategies. Furthermore, L1 Chinese SRL strategies directly and positively predicted L1 Chinese reading test performance, while L2 English SRL strategies had a direct and positive effect on L2 English reading test performance. However, L1 Chinese SRL strategies did not have a significant predictive effect on L2 English reading test performance. Additionally, the performance on the L1 Chinese reading test had no significant effect on L2 English reading test performance. These findings underscore the importance of integrating L1 Chinese and L2 English curricula in mainland China and fostering communication and collaboration between L1 Chinese and L2 English teachers. Additionally, the study suggests several directions for further research in this area.
Does comprehension of L2 television programs improve through regular classroom viewing?
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-01-13) Pujadas, Geòrgia; Webb, Stuart
This study investigated second language (L2) comprehension across nine episodes of the same TV series and explored whether comprehension improves through regular classroom viewing. 121 intermediate and advanced EFL learners viewed the series under two conditions: captioned and uncaptioned. Significant differences in comprehension across episodes for both conditions were found. While there was an increase in comprehension from the first to the last episode, the improvement was not linear, and large variability in comprehension scores indicated that comprehension may be contingent to individual episodes. This suggests that the findings of studies investigating the comprehension of one episode of a TV program may not reflect the comprehensibility of related and unrelated programs. Moreover, it suggests that comprehensibility of one episode of a TV program, may not occur to the same degree in the next episode. Results also confirm earlier findings indicating significantly better comprehension when viewing with captions than without captions, and that learners with greater vocabulary knowledge achieve higher comprehension rates, regardless of the viewing condition. Lexical coverage, used as an indicator of lexical difficulty of the episodes, was negatively correlated with comprehension scores, suggesting that other factors such as prior vocabulary knowledge may be better predictors of viewing comprehension.
Encouraging EFL Students’ Extensive Reading Through LMS-Based Reading Logs
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-01-08) Lien, Cao Thi Xuan
This research explores the perspectives of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students about using Learning Management System (LMS)-based reading logs as a measure to encourage extensive reading in the digital age. An online questionnaire was administered to 125 third-year English majors at a public university in central Vietnam to examine their attitudes, preferences, and perceptions of benefits as well as challenges associated with LMS-based reading logs. The findings show that most students had positive attitudes toward LMS-based reading logs, emphasizing benefits like improving their reading skills, enhancing positive reading habits, enhancing self-study skills, and increasing their learning motivation. However, students faced several challenges when making LMS-based reading logs, including time constraints, workload, lack of cognitive skills for reflection, self-discipline issues, and insufficient teacher support and feedback. These problems can suggest some further improvements to increase the effectiveness of applying this kind of activity in EFL reading courses.
Perceptions of Extensive Reading Practitioners in Four Asian Countries
(University of Hawaii National Foreign Language Resource Center, 2025-01-08) Waring, Rob; Puripunyavanich, Mintra
This study reports the perceptions and understanding of extensive reading (ER) of 259 ER practitioners in Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam. The majority of participants understood the core principles of ER, namely (a) the fluent reading of (b) a lot of (c) easy texts. However, about 25% of the participants in Thailand, Mongolia, and Vietnam did not understand that the texts need to be easy and read fluently. Despite all the participants being self-declared ER practitioners, a large number of participants in Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam often reported the desire for intensive reading practices in their ER classes. This suggests more training on ER is necessary. Participants highly rated all questions regarding the need for more ER training, showing that even the more experienced ER practitioners still need assistance.