http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl Reading in a Foreign Language December 2024, Volume 36, No. 1 ISSN 1539-0578 pp. 1–5 https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67477 Expanding the Discussion on Second Language Reading Strategy Training: A Response to Taylor’s Commentary on Lin, Gao, and Huang (2023) Jia Lin Howard University United States Gengsong Gao University of Richmond United States Ting Huang University of Rochester United States Abstract This article responds to Alan Taylor’s commentary (Taylor, 2024) on our study, Lin et al. (2023), which reported the positive effects of a strategies-based Chinese as a second language reading instruction program on reading comprehension. First, we clarify the calculation of effect size in our study, which indicates a moderate effect size. In agreement with Taylor, we emphasize that the effectiveness of reading strategy training may depend on many factors, including the types of strategies taught, learners’ language proficiency, and the linguistic features of target languages. As a result, there is no clear consensus on the impact of reading strategy training. The success of reading strategy training also largely depends on the design and structure of the training programs. Building on Taylor’s discussion, we further elaborate on the strengths and limitations of our reading strategy training program and suggest improvements for further research. Keywords: L2 reading, reading strategy training, reading comprehension, effect size We appreciate Alan Taylor’s insightful commentary (Taylor, 2024) on our research article on strategies-based Chinese as a second language reading instruction (“Strategies-based Chinese as a second language reading instruction: effects and learners’ perceptions” Lin et al., 2023). We especially value his feedback on our research design, as well as the design of the training session and strategy application practice sessions. Additionally, we are grateful for his suggestions regarding future research directions. Lin, Gao, & Huang: Expanding the Discussion on Second Language Reading Strategy Training: A Response… Reading in a Foreign Language 36(1) 2 Nonetheless, we point out that there is no consensus on the effects of strategy training on second language (L2) reading comprehension (Taylor et al., 2006). Echoing Taylor et al. (2006) and other previous studies, such as Singh (2019) and Yapp et al. (2023), we found that the reading strategy training program we designed had a positive effect on L2 reading comprehension, with a moderate effect size of r =0.401. Regarding the effect size, Dr. Taylor suggested using Cohen’s d, which resulted in an effect size of 0.96. First and foremost, we need to clarify our calculation of the effect size. Due to the small sample sizes in our study, we employed non-parametric Mann-Whitney U tests instead of independent sample t-tests to compare group differences. This choice was made because Mann-Whitney U tests are more conservative and do not rely on normal distribution assumptions. The calculation of effect size for the Mann-Whitney U test differs from that of t-tests. When using the Mann- Whitney U test, the effect size should be calculated using the following formula (Pautz et al., 2018), rather than Cohen’s d (see Figure 1). According to Cohen (1988,1992), a commonly used interpretation is to refer to effect sizes as small (r = 0.1), moderate (r = 0.3), and large (r = 0.5). Therefore, we still believe that the effect size of strategy training in our study is moderate (r =0.40). Figure 1. Effect Size Used in Pautz et al. (2018, p. 122) Second, Taylor raised important points that the effectiveness of reading strategy training may depend on a number of factors. Variables like language proficiency, the linguistic features of target languages, and the types of strategies taught may especially impact its effectiveness. In Lin et al. (2023), we focused on the training of top-down reading strategies for advanced L2 Chinese learners. While bottom-up strategies concentrate on word recognition, decoding, syntax, or text details and attend to lower-level linguistic units, top-down strategies focus on higher-level cues and are primarily used to synthesize information and develop a holistic understanding of larger sections or entire texts (Lee-Thompson, 2008). Thus, top-down reading strategies may hold greater significance for advanced readers, who often engage with longer texts. As Taylor suggested, there may be a threshold at which top-down strategy training becomes more effective for beginner or intermediate learners, warranting further research. Regarding linguistic characteristics, Tsao (1979) argued that a key distinction between Chinese and English is that Chinese is a discourse-oriented language, while English is more sentence- oriented. English sentences have clear boundaries, allowing for syntactic analysis at the sentence level. In contrast, reading comprehension in a discourse-oriented language like Chinese should rely on all of the discourse information available (Tsao, 1979). For this reason, top-down reading strategies, which facilitate holistic understanding, could be more salient for reading discourse- oriented languages than sentence-oriented languages. All in all, to further investigate the effects of training of top-down reading strategies, more research is needed that includes L2 learners of other languages and L2 learners of lower proficiency levels. Lin, Gao, & Huang: Expanding the Discussion on Second Language Reading Strategy Training: A Response… Reading in a Foreign Language 36(1) 3 Third, the primary determinant of the effectiveness of strategy training lies in the training itself. Aspects such as the design of training procedures, the quality of strategy modeling and practice, and the alignment of reading materials with the students’ proficiency level directly impact the success of reading strategy training. Several models of language learning strategy training have been proposed, such as Cohen and Weaver’s (2005), Carrell’s (1998), and Janzen’s (2002) models. Based on these models, we designed our 5-step reading strategy instruction used in the study. We attribute the effectiveness of our strategy training program to two main reasons. 1. In strategy-use modeling, not only declarative knowledge but also procedural and conditional knowledge of reading strategies were introduced. Specifically, the instructor explained what the specific strategy entailed, how to apply it, why it was important, when (before, during, or after reading), and where (in which part of the text) it should be used. 2. We helped students internalize reading strategies through reflection and sufficient practice. The final two steps of strategy-use training encouraged students to reflect on their use of strategies and how to apply them in other reading contexts. What is more important, we arranged six 50-minute sessions of strategy application practice, following the strategy-use training. In each session, students practiced using reading strategies they had learned while reading three articles from diverse genres. In addition, while reading, students were required to mark on reading materials to indicate their strategy use. Although marking the text might distract students’ reading comprehension, it ensured that they were practicing using strategies while reading. In Lin et al. (2023), we reflected on the limitations of the training program we designed and reported student suggestions on how to improve it. Especially, as Taylor also pointed out, the ten reading strategies were taught all at once during the first week of instruction and this intensive approach appeared to overwhelm the students. Students might forget some of the instructions in the following six weeks. To address this limitation, we considered using four 30-minute strategy training sessions instead of a single 75-minute session, focusing on teaching and practicing only two to three strategies more thoroughly in each session. While we still intend to maintain the six 50-minute sessions for strategy application practice, we believe it is essential to provide individualized and immediate feedback, which was lacking in our original design. Generally speaking, participants did not show much interest in reading strategy training. Exploring ways to enhance students’ instrumental and intrinsic motivation for learning reading strategies deserves more research and instructional efforts. In summary, the effectiveness of reading strategy training depends on a range of variables. The effect of strategy training may vary based on students' proficiency levels, the target languages, and the strategies being taught. It may not be feasible to draw a conclusion about the overall usefulness of strategy training; instead, we can only evaluate the effectiveness of specific training programs or models for particular groups of L2 learners. Lin, Gao, & Huang: Expanding the Discussion on Second Language Reading Strategy Training: A Response… Reading in a Foreign Language 36(1) 4 Note 1. In our original article published in 2023, there was a typographical error where the effect size was written as “r = 0.43.” With the editors’ assistance, we corrected this error in March 2024, changing “r = 0.43” to “r = 0.40.” References Carrell, P. L. (1998). Can reading strategies be successfully taught? Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 21(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.21.1.01car Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155. Cohen, A. D., & Weaver, S. J. (2005). Styles and strategies-based instruction: A teachers’ guide. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. Lee-Thompson, L. (2008). An investigation of reading strategies applied by American learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annals, 41(4), 702-720 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2008.tb03326.x Janzen, J. (2002). Teaching strategic reading. In J. Richards & W. Renandya, (Eds.). Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 2871-2911). Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Lin, J., Gao, G., & Huang, T. (2023). Strategies-based Chinese as a second language reading instruction: effects and learners’ perceptions. Reading in a Foreign Language, 35(1), 1– 29. https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67436 Pautz, N., Oliver, B., & F. Steyn (2018). The use of nonparametric effect sizes in single study musculoskeletal physiotherapy research: a practical primer. Physical Therapy in Sport, 33, 117-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.07.009 Singh, S. (2019). Developing reading comprehension through metacognitive strategy training. Asian EFL Journal, 23(3-3), 264-277. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1075507 Taylor, A.M., Stevens, J., & Asher, J.W. (2006). The effects of Explicit Reading Strategy Training on L2 reading comprehension: A meta-analysis. In J. Norris, & L. Ortega, (Eds.), Synthesizing research on language learning and teaching (pp. 231-344). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. Taylor, A. M. (2024). Variables associated with Second Language Strategy Training: Comments on Lin, Gao, and Huang (2023). Reading in a Foreign Language, 36(1),1-4. https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67456 Tsao, F. (1979). A functional study of topic in Chinese. Taipei: Student Book Co. Yapp, D., de Graaff, R., & van den Bergh, H. (2023). Effects of reading strategy instruction in English as a second language on students’ academic reading comprehension. Language Teaching Research, 27(6), 1456-1479. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820985236 AI Usage Disclosure: We used ChatGPT to help correct grammatical mistakes in certain sentences. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.21.1.01car https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2008.tb03326.x https://hdl.handle.net/10125/67436 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ptsp.2018.07.009 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1075507 https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820985236 Lin, Gao, & Huang: Expanding the Discussion on Second Language Reading Strategy Training: A Response… Reading in a Foreign Language 36(1) 5 About the Authors Jia Lin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Howard University. Her research focuses on second language reading, foreign language testing and assessment, foreign language pedagogy, and language learning strategies. Her publications appeared in Reading in a Foreign Language, Applied Linguistics, Reading and Writing, Language Teaching Research, and Foreign Language Annals, among others. E-mail: Jialin1984@gmail.com Gengsong Gao is an associate professor of Chinese studies and Chinese program’s coordinator at University of Richmond. He specializes in contemporary Chinese literature and language teaching. His publications appeared in the journal of Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, Reading in a Foreign Language, The Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium Journal. E-mail: ggao@richmond.edu Ting Huang is a researcher in reading with over a decade of experience in teaching, training, and coordination. She has authored dozens of academic and technical publications (including over a dozen as the first author) and has presented at international, national, and regional conferences. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Rochester and has completed post- master's studies in Bilingual and Multilingual Education at New York University. Her expertise spans DEI training, digital literacy development, career coaching, and higher education administration, with additional professional background in accounting, financial management, and auditing. E-mail: auroraht82@gmail.com mailto:Jialin1984@gmail.com mailto:ggao@richmond.edu mailto:auroraht82@gmail.com