Cultural Background and Reading Strategies: A Study Based on the Sociocultural and Constructive ESL Approach

This cross-sectional study aimed to establish the effect of cultural background on reading strategy and preference of learners of English Language from urban and rural origins. The purpose revolves around the need to discover more about how cultural factors interact with learners’ attitudes and what kind of reading in English, what type of material they prefer, and how their cultural background hinders them. This research is qualitative research and the participants were sampled purposively 10 of which five were selected from the urban areas while the other five were selected from the rural area. Data collection includes interviews with the participants and also, reading of texts in English, with special attention to how students approach the respective texts. The framework of the present study is drawn from sociocultural theory and constructivism which pays attention to the cultural and social aspects of learning. The research findings indicate that the nature of learning settings that learners are subjected to, as a result of the difference in accessibility to urban and rural environments, results in the development of different reading strategies and preferences. Urban learners use more comprehensive and interventionist approaches to reading and have a higher inclination towards E-learning resources, in contrast to the rural learners who have a more conventional approach towards their reading skills and believe in book reading but face difficulty regarding issues of resource scarcity and exposure to English. This is because the study holds several implications concerning the teaching of English in Institutions as well as the construction of its curriculum. It reveals the practical importance of possessing a set of culturally appropriate approaches for teaching multicultural students. Thus, urban learners’ integration of digital and textbook materials can further engagement, while rural learners need more scaffolding and access to textbooks and other types of materials. The implications of this study for future research are clear; more research needs to be earmarked for the development of reading strategies and syndromes; cross-sectional studies need to follow students for longer periods to observe the changes of the reading strategies; and comparative studies need to focus on cultural differences or, at least, use the existing data to investigate the effects of culture on reading strategies.