Interest in exploring English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners’ English academic reading has been growing due to increased use of course materials printed in English in Taiwan. In higher education settings, there are numerous passive students who use excuses to discontinue reading their English textbooks when they encounter reading difficulties. However, learning to read is a self-regulated process. To date, longitudinal research targeting this student population is scant. Therefore, this study aimed to explore what a passive EFL undergraduate student’s story of reading English academic materials suggests about an EFL learner’s metacognition changes of English reading for academic purposes over time. The researcher adopted the notion of metacognition as the core framework and employed a case study method, involving a university student who initially considered himself a passive reader of academic English materials, for an entire school year. The data were gathered via questionnaires, follow-up interviews, on-site observations and textual documents. The collected data were then conducted through open coding to document emergent themes and construct meaningful categories. The research findings indicate the dynamics of EFL reading for academic purposes. Based on the results, research implications and pedagogical suggestions are provided.
Keywords: English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), metacognition-based research, passive readers, reading strategy
A Case Study on a Passive Taiwanese University
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