Oral Reading Miscues and Reading Comprehension by Chinese L2 Learners

Abstract

This study investigated types of oral reading miscues and their relationship with silent reading comprehension among college-level Chinese as a second language (L2) learners, as well as these students’ perspectives toward classroom oral reading practice, at three U.S. universities. Altogether, 80 students were selected randomly to participate in the study. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of data showed that first- through fourth-year students committed four categories of miscues while orally reading instructional-level material: orthographic, syntactic, semantic, and word-knowledge-based. Three of the four categories negatively correlate with silent reading comprehension. A survey of students at beginner and advanced levels showed that students at both levels view oral reading practice as important and helpful for improving their reading comprehension. Lower-level students prefer methods focused more on facilitating accurate character and word recognition, while advanced learners prefer methods that stress text comprehension and have oral reading integrated with other creative learning activities.