English for Specific Purposes
Wrld

6.CONCLUSIONS

6.1 Summary of the findings of the study

The study that has been presented here is both descriptive - qualitative and quantitative in nature. Its aim was to establish an understanding of a particular group of L2 readers and examine the way in which they tackled an English academic text. Precisely, this study has investigated the reading strategies and perceptual reading styles of the specific students in order to understand the reading comprehension difficulties experienced by the students. In this respect several insights have been gained about reading in the particular language context. It has succeeded in describing and categorizing a large number of the reading strategies used by the particular group of readers. The organization into metacognitive, cognitive and social categories of strategies was useful and informative.

The findings of the research demonstrate that models of L2 reading based on interactive and cognitive principles are applicable to the majority of the readers, and their behaviours are consistent with such models. The majority of the readers here demonstrated effective reading behaviour, much of the time. The degree to which the subjects used certain metacognitive strategies shows that all of them show some understanding of the control that they have over their own cognition as they read; it also implies that they have a good degree of understanding about their role as readers, that they appreciate the need to orientate themselves to the specific requirements of a reading task, and that they see the need to participate interactively in the process of reading. Indeed, such understanding is likely to be much more highly developed amongst the more proficient readers. In short, the interview and questionnaire responses have indicated many features in the L2 reading backgrounds and attitudes of these readers, their reading strategies revealed in the research seem consistent with recent reading theory.

In the light of what the study has revealed, and the confirmation it has offered to some of the writers preconceptions about these readers, several directions for future research emerge. These include the need to refine and expand the particular methodologies used here. Moreover, it is hoped that the findings of this study will foster changes in the approach to reading in the specific teaching situation. Knowledge about students strategy use and learning preferences by the teachers as well by the students should lead to an increase in student reflection about their individual learning processes. Hopefully, this will empower students to adopt a more versatile approach to learning not only in the English language classes but in other learning situations as well. In this way the students may develop more confidence and have greater control over their own learning predicaments.

The findings of the study have provided useful information about student reading behaviour and reading style preferences, which could be utilized to develop a reading training program,which could be incorporated into the reading syllabus. Given the belief that the learning process is conscious, by teaching strategies, learners would become aware of them. As the students become more conscious of their own reading strategies they will then be able to make necessary changes in their approach to reading in English and to language learning in general, they would be developed into active and responsive readers. Strategy training also leads to metacognitive awareness, which has been identified as a key factor in proficient reading (Devine, 1993).It is believed that this metacognitive knowledge, developed in a reading strategy training program will facilitate the transfer of the strategies to new tasks and will assist students towards autonomous use of strategies.