SCROLLING, CLICKING, AND READING ENGLISH: ONLINE READING STRATEGIES IN A SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE

_______________ In spite of the importance of reading, strategy use, and technology, no research to date has reported on the online reading strategies of L2 readers. Two research questions are explored in this paper. (1) What are the online reading strategies used by second language readers? (2) Do the online reading strategies of English as a second language readers (ESL) differ from English as a foreign language readers (EFL)? Participants in this study consisted of 247 L2 readers. One hundred thirty-one (53%) of the learners were studying English as a foreign language at the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano (CCCN) in San José, Costa Rica. The remaining 116 (47%) were studying in an ESL environment at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. The Survey Of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Sheorey and Mokhtari, 2001) was adapted for use in this research project. The adapted Online SORS (OSORS) consists of 38 items that measure metacognitive reading strategies. The items are subdivided into three categories: global reading strategies (18 items), problem solving strategies (11 items), and support strategies (9 items). 1 The results have important implications for L2 teachers to address in the classroom with L2 readers.