What separates strong and weak ESL readers?

我提出的研究旨在解决一个非常简单，但同样复杂的问题：是什么区分了优秀和不优秀的ESL1读者？迄今为止，围绕ESL阅读研究的许多重点和讨论似乎主要集中在认知和元认知阅读策略的使用上(例如Knight等人，1985；Carrell等人，1989；Sheorey和Mokhtari, 2001； Fung等人，2003;Phakiti, 2003；Abbott, 2006)，我的建议更倾向于使用眼动追踪技术和内省研究方法（例如，大声思考和刺激回忆访谈[Dornyei， 2007:147]）的结合，来调查学术英语学习者（EAP）在逐字逐句地处理学术文本时，他们是如何逐步从所接触的文本中构建意义的。我在中国教授大学基础阅读课程的几年经历激发了我的这个想法。具体来说，我注意到，尽管在ESL阅读策略（例如预测内容、在心里总结内容、根据上下文猜测未知词汇的意思等）方面得到了类似的指导，但强弱读者在学习应用这些策略的速度和容易程度上，以及更普遍地从所读的文本中构建意义方面，总是出现相当大的差异。为了阐明ESL读者是如何处理学术语篇中的衔接标记的，以及他们在这一过程中的成功或失败在多大程度上影响了他们解读这些语篇的能力，本研究旨在探讨以下四个问题：在语篇衔接的词汇、语法和句法标记方面，强弱ESL读者的注视和扫视模式是否存在差异？2。语篇衔接标记处的加工困难在多大程度上发生？3。在多大程度上，一个旨在解决语篇衔接潜在问题标记的干预项目能改善ESL读者的阅读效果？眼球追踪技术在多大程度上可以用于调查ESL学生的阅读困难？

My proposed research sets out to address one very simple, yet equally complex question: What separates strong and weak ESL1 readers? While much of the emphasis and discussion surrounding ESL reading research hitherto appears to have focused primarily on the use of cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (e.g. Knight et al, 1985; Carrell et al, 1989; Sheorey & Mokhtari, 2001; Fung et al, 2003; Phakiti, 2003; Abbott, 2006), my proposal intends rather to use a combination of eye-tracking technology and introspective research methodologies (e.g. think-aloud and stimulated-recall interviews [Dornyei, 2007:147]), to investigate how stronger and weaker learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) process academic texts on a word-by-word basis, as they seek incrementally to construct meaning from the texts they engage with. I have been motivated in this idea by the several years I have spent teaching university foundation-level reading courses in China. Specifically, I have noticed that despite receiving similar instruction in ESL reading strategies (e.g. predicting content, mentally summarizing content, guessing the meaning of unknown vocabulary from context etc.), considerable differences invariably appear in the speed and ease with which strong and weak readers are able to learn to apply these strategies, and more generally to construct meaning from the texts they read.In an attempt to elucidate how ESL readers process markers of cohesion in academic texts, and the extent to which their success or failure in this endeavor influences their ability to decode those texts, this research aims to explore the following four questions:I. Is there a difference in the patterns of fixations and saccades in stronger and weaker ESL readers regarding lexical, grammatical and syntactic markers of textual cohesion?II. To what extent do processing difficulties occur at the site of markers of textual cohesion?III. To what extent can an intervention program designed to address potentially problematic markers of textual cohesion lead to improved outcomes for ESL readers?IV. To what extent can eye-tracking technology be used to investigate reading difficulties in ESL students?