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ESL 1的强读者和弱读者？尽管迄今为止围绕ESL阅读研究的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，1985; Carrell等，1989; Sheorey和Mokhtari，2001; Fung等，2003; Phakiti，2003; Abbott，2006），我的建议是将眼动追踪技术和内省研究方法相结合（例如，有声思考和刺激回忆访谈[Dornyei，2007：147]），调查学术英语（EAP）学习者如何逐字处理学术语篇，因为他们试图从他们所接触的文本中逐步构建意义。我在中国教授大学基础阅读课程的几年时间促使我产生了这个想法。具体来说，我注意到，尽管在ESL阅读策略方面接受了类似的指导（例如，预测内容，在脑海中总结内容，从上下文中猜测未知词汇的含义等），本文旨在探讨英语作为第二语言的阅读者如何处理学术语篇中的衔接标记，以及他们在这一奋进中的成功或失败在多大程度上影响了他们解读语篇的能力。本研究旨在探讨以下四个问题：一、在词汇、语法和句法等语篇衔接标记方面，英语水平较强和较弱的阅读者的注视和眼跳模式是否存在差异？二.语篇衔接标记的加工困难程度如何？三.针对语篇衔接的潜在问题标记的干预计划在多大程度上可以改善ESL读者的学习效果？四.眼动追踪技术在多大程度上可以用来调查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?