Factors Related to EFL/ESL Learners’ Reading Strategy Use: A Literature Review

Abstract This paper systematically reviews factors related to the use of reading strategies among college-level learners of English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL). The author examines empirical studies published from 2000 to 2017 in order to answer two research questions: (a) What factors relate to the college-level EFL/ESL learners’ use of reading strategies? (b) How do these factors relate to college-level EFL/ESL learners’ use of reading strategies? An initial review of the literature identifies four factors related to EFL/ESL learners’ reading strategy use: English proficiency, first language (L1) literacy experience, gender, and motivation. For reasons of space, this article only reports and discusses findings on the first two factors. (1) English proficiency: High-proficiency readers use more metacognitive, support, global, and problem-solving strategies and have more metacognitive knowledge of strategy use than low-proficiency readers. They also differ from low-proficiency readers in learning reading strategies. (2) L1 literacy experience: EFL/ESL readers’ L1 linguistic features and L1 reading experience shape their strategy use when they read English.