Surveys on L2 Readers' Perspectives on L2 Reading Competence at Developmental Stages

Abstract

This action research was intended to collect information about L2 readers (n = 131 undergraduates) in terms of their needs, interests, motivations, and perspectives on an L2 teacher’s role and their own in L2 reading. The ultimate goal of this study was to establish a more productive L2 reading teaching program on the basis of the information. To collect the desired information, this study used a survey with 10 open-ended questions, and data collection was conducted three times: at the beginning, the mid-term, and the final-term of a semester. The participants’ responses to the survey questions were coded and classified into categories. The coded responses were analyzed as frequencies, and converted into percentages. Findings of this study indicated that L2 vocabulary, L2 grammar, appropriate L2 reading materials, and motivation were significant factors in facilitating the acquisition of L2 reading competence and fluency. It seems that L2 teachers should be careful in designing an L2 reading teaching program because L2 students’ needs, interests, and motivations were various according to their developmental stages. In regard to the significant factors, some implications and perspectives on ways of dealing with L2 students were discussed at the end of the study.