AN INVESTIGATION OF EFL TECHNICAL COLLEGE LEARNERS’ HYPERTEXT READING

Abstract

This study was an analysis of forty-six technical college English as a Foreign Language (EFL) freshmen, non-English major, in central Taiwan with their reading experiences and reading strategies committed to reading hypertext from English CD-ROM materials. Interview and questionnaire data were collected for the data analysis. Schema theory, readers’ use of information processing strategies, and bottom-up and top-down reading process were used to present different learning styles and strategies. The reading mate- rials used were CD-ROMs published by LiveABC publishing company. The results of this study showed that readers’ motivation of learning increased through the use of hypertext reading from CD-ROM materials; therefore, factors such as interest and needs of readers of a reading material deserve teachers’ and publishers’ attention in selecting suitable reading materials for EFL readers. The lack of enough vocabulary and grammar knowledge restrained technical college readers’ reading motivation. Thus, read- ing materials should centre on the purpose of building new schemata and activate readers’ existing ones.