Online reading strategies use in English as a foreign language in Biotechnical Engineering.

Abstract

The paper examines the use of reading strategies by biotechnology engineering students when reading English texts online. The study involved twenty undergraduate students learning English as a foreign language at University of Kragujevac, Serbia. The instruments used in the study were the Background Information Questionnaire and Survey of Online Reading Strategies. The participants’ overall use of online reading strategies is at the medium level. The obtained results also demonstrate that the most prominent online EFL reading strategies involve trying to maintain focus when losing concentration, reading slowly and carefully in order to understand the online text better, using reference materials for better understanding when reading online, and paying closer attention to what is read when reading difficult online texts. Significant gender differences are found with four online reading strategies: overviewing the online text to see what it is about, confirming the purpose of reading, guessing the content of the online text, and self-questioning about the online text.