Searching strategies and reading strategies for English E-journal articles used by EFL graduate students

• Published in: Education and information technologies 2020-03, Vol.25 (2), p.665-680
• Main Author: Chen, Kate Tzu-Ching
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Differences; Analysis; College students; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer Science; Computers and Education; Control engineering; Correlation; Education; Educational Technology; Electronic periodicals; Electronic Publishing; English (Second Language); English as a second language; English as a second language instruction; Graduate Students; Graduate studies; Graduate Study; Individual Characteristics; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Multiple Regression Analysis; Online Searching; Reading; Reading ability; Reading Skills; Reading strategies; Search Strategies; Searches; Student Characteristics; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction
• ISSN: 1360-2357; 1573-7608
• DOI: 10.1007/s10639-019-10007-3

This study empirically examined the strategies used by English as Foreign Language (EFL) graduate students for searching and reading English e-journal articles (EEJAs). The relationship between EEJA searching strategy (ESS) and EEJA reading strategy (ERS), and the differences among students in terms of their individual characteristics were also examined. Data was collected from 383 graduate students enrolled at 15 various universities using a structured survey questionnaire and then analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA. The results indicated that ESS was moderately used and ERS was highly used among graduate students. Students’ use of ESS had a positive moderate correlation with ERS. Students with higher usage of ESS were likely to have significantly higher use of ERS. In addition, students aged between 31 and 40, had excellent self-reported reading ability, and spent 3 to 4 hours daily for online reading using more of both ESS and ERS. The results highlighted the need to include ESS and ERS instructions in the curriculum to empower EFL graduate students to be more efficient and effective in their graduate studies. It also provided implications for researchers studying ESS and ERS, differences in using strategies among students with various characteristics, as well as for educators dealing with increasing students’ ESS and ERS usage, thus improving their searching and reading of EEJAs.