In addition to collecting data from graduates, the researcher also collected data from instructors to investigate what caused difficulties in academic English reading. The
researcher showed the results of the first five categories of instructors’ survey to see their viewpoints toward graduates’ academic reading difficulties. In order to demonstrate what caused graduates’ reading difficulty, the researcher briefly compared the results of first five categories between graduates’ survey and instructors’ survey briefly. The complete
statistics analysis would be shown in the discussion of the fourth research question.
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Graduates’ Background
Instructors also thought that graduates neither liked English reading nor were they good at English reading. Seventy-eight percent of instructors thought graduates seldom or never liked English reading (IS Item 1, Usually, 6 %; Sometimes, 17 %, Seldom, 72 %, Never, 6 %), and 78 % of instructors believed graduates were seldom or never good at English reading (IS Item 2, Sometimes, 22 %, Seldom, 61 %, Never, 17 %). Eighty-eight percent of instructors considered that graduates should always or usually kept on improving English reading ability (IS Item 3, Always, 44 %; Usually, 44 %; Sometimes, 6 %; seldom, 6
%) whereas only 31 % of graduates kept on improving English reading. That is, graduates did not spend enough time on training their reading ability to read academic English articles.
Moreover, none instructors felt their schools or departments always provided sufficient English journals for graduates to read and 50 % of them thought they usually provided sufficiency materials (IS Item 4, Usually, 50 %; Sometimes, 28 %; Seldom, 17 %; Never, 6
%). On the other hand, only 34 % of graduates thought the material provided by schools or departments were enough for them to read. The results showed that both graduates and
instructors suggested schools and departments to provide more journals for them to consult.
Moreover, 44 % of instructors considered graduates should always or usually be able to read general English articles fluently (IS Item 5, Always, 22 %; Usually, 22 %; Sometimes, 28 %;
Seldom, 22 %; Never, 6 %) and 72 % of them thought graduates should be always or usually able to read academic English articles fluently. (IS Item 6, Always, 22 %; Usually, 50 %;
Sometimes, 17 %, Seldom, 11 %). Even though instructors did not require graduates to be good general English readers, they asked graduates to be able to read academic English article fluently. The results were shown in Table 4.6.
Table 4.6
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Category 1: Personal Background
Items ALW USU SOM SEL NEV Mn SD
1. Graduates in my institute like English reading.
2. Graduates in my institute are good at English reading.
3. Graduates should keep on improving English reading ability.
8
4. The school or the department provides sufficient English journals for graduates to read. (including Chinese and English materials.)
5. Graduates should be able to read general English articles fluently.
4
6. Graduates should be able to read academic English articles related to their major fluently.
Vocabulary
Ninty-four percent of the instructors considered vocabulary was always or usually important toward academic English reading (IS Item 7, Always, 50 %; Usually, 44 %, Sometimes, 6 %). Sixty-six percent of instructors thought graduates should always or usually utilize prefixes, suffixes, and roots to understand the academic English articles (IS Item 8, Always, 22 %; Usually, 44 %; Sometimes, 6 %; Seldom, 28 %) whereas 54 % of graduates did that. Furthermore, 84 % of instructors noted graduates should always or usually use content clues to predict the vocabulary meaning (IS Item 9, Always, 28 %;
Usually, 56 %; Sometimes, 17 %) while 66 % of graduates did that. Eighty-three percent of instructors suggested graduates should always or usually pick out the key words of the content (IS Item 10, Always, 39 %; Usually, 44 %; Sometimes, 17 %) and 65 % of
graduates did that. Both graduates and instructors understood the importance of vocabulary.
Nevertheless, based on the comparison of instructors’ and graduates’ survey results,
graduates did not apply sufficient strategies to solve the vocabulary problems as instructors imagined. The results of instructors’ survey on category 2 were shown in Table 4.7.
Table 4.7
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Category 2: Vocabulary
Items ALW USU SOM SEL NEV Mn SD
7. Vocabulary is important toward academic English reading.
8. Graduates should use prefixes, suffixes, and roots to predict the meaning of vocabulary.
9. Graduates should use content clues to predict the meaning of vocabulary during academic English reading.
5
10. Graduates should pick out the key words of the content during academic English reading.
Like Alderson (1984), some researchers referred vocabulary as the first factors influencing reading. The results of the interviews responded to the survey findings as well as those previous studies, which indicated academic vocabulary chiefly blocked a reader’s comprehension in academic English reading. According to the interview, eight of the ten instructors mentioned that insufficient vocabulary caused academic English reading difficulties. Instructors expressed that graduates checked the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary in academic texts, but did not supply a suitable explanation for the vocabulary in association with the texts. Instructor J pointed out “graduates did not have sufficient vocabulary knowledge quantitatively and qualitatively. The time cost on checking the dictionary slowed down their reading. They got the interpretation of each word from the
dictionary but were still confused with the whole sentence. They did not acquire the most appropriate explanation of the words and make the sentence in sense.”
Instructor J revealed “graduates looked up the words but got wrong explanations for the content.” Graduate I pointed out “the vocabulary related to academic fields was the main problem.” Graduate B indicated “vocabulary was the main problem for us, including general vocabulary and academic vocabulary.” In summation, the vocabulary issue
involved a lack of general vocabulary as well as academic vocabulary. The lack of general vocabulary resulted from a reader’s weak English ability; on the other hand, a lack of academic vocabulary resulted from a reader’s insufficient background knowledge regarding the content of the text. However, academic vocabulary had more influence on readers’ academic reading. Instructor J stated “the general dictionary does not include sufficient academic vocabulary; therefore, the general English-Chinese dictionary is not enough for graduates to read academic articles.”
Grammar
Graduates did not consider grammar as a significant factor in academic English reading. Only 38 % of them always or usually used grammar knowledge to analyze the sentence during academic English reading and only 18 % of them always or usually recognized the parts of speech. However, 55 % of instructors considered that graduates should always or usually use grammar knowledge to analyze the sentence (IS Item11,
Always, 11 %; Usually, 44 %; Sometimes, 33 %; Seldom, 11 %) and 55 % of them also thought graduates should always or usually recognize the parts of speech (IS Item12, Always, 22 %; Usually, 33 %; Sometimes, 33 %; Seldom, 6 %; Never, 6 %). Especially, lengthy sentences caused critical problems in academic English reading. Eighty-four percent of instructors considered graduates should always or usually handle lengthy
sentences well (IS Item 13, Always, 28 %; Usually, 56 %; Sometimes, 17 %.); nevertheless, only 6 % of graduates could handle them. Moreover, 61 % of instructors stated graduates should always or usually understand the meaning of sentences after looking up unfamiliar words (IS Item 14, Always, 22 %, Usually, 39 %; Sometimes, 28 %; Seldom, 11 %), but only 19 % of graduates could do that. The results were shown in Table 4.8.
Table 4.8
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Category 3: Grammar
Items ALW USU SOM SEL NEV Mn SD
11. Graduates should use grammar knowledge to analyze the sentence during academic English reading.
12. Graduates should be able to recognize the parts of speech during academic English reading.
13. Graduates should be able to handle lengthy sentences during academic English reading.
14. Graduates should be able to understand the meaning of sentences once they look up the unfamiliar words.
Aside from vocabulary, not many subjects thought grammar caused any serious problem in academic English reading. Most interviewed graduates revealed that after they had figured out the correct explanation of each word in a sentence, grammar would not be much of a problem. Graduate A indicated “when reading academic articles, grammar was not the key point.” Graduate R indicated that “the grammar system in academic English articles was not difficult, but grammar knowledge might be helpful to analyze some long compound sentences.” Graduate P also brought up that “fundamental grammar knowledge acquired in high school was enough for us to read academic English articles. Seriously, our grammar knowledge might be not so good, but it was not so bad to influence the fluency of reading.” Instructor D also believed that five basic sentence structures were enough to handle the academic English articles. Thus, grammar was not considered as a serious problem in academic English reading but a tool to analyze the difficult structure in the content, especially lengthy sentences. Instructor A expressed that “if graduates understand the meaning of vocabulary, they would comprehend the majority of the text to 70 % or 80
%. Only some articles with lengthy sentences, like articles written by the British, required readers’ grammar knowledge to analyze the structures. Most academic articles were not hard to understand if the reader had sufficient background knowledge.” Instructor F
believed that “grammar was the least important in academic reading. Figuring out the right meaning of vocabulary could lead a graduate to understand the text.” Instructor I indicated that “grammar was not important. The grammar and structure of engineering English
articles were not complex.” Instructor C believed “once the problem of vocabulary was solved, graduates would be able to solve the grammar problems gradually”.
However, not all instructors considered grammar to be unimportant. Instructor D considered “grammar was as important as other factors. For example, if graduates knew the meaning of vocabulary but could not figure out the meaning of a sentence, they had to improve their grammar knowledge.” To sum up, even though grammar knowledge was not as important as vocabulary, it might also cause many reading problems in academic
English reading except the lengthy sentences. The lengthy sentences required readers to analyze the structure for comprehension. Readers should utilize more clues and skills to handle those complicated sentences.
Formal Schemata
As to formal schemata, 78 % of instructors noted that graduates should always or usually know the difference between English and Chinese articles (IS Item 16, Always, 39
%; Usually, 39 %; Sometimes, 22 %), and 70 % of graduates always or usually knew it.
However, graduates might not get fully comprehension of content schemata. Seventy-three percent of instructors considered formal schemata were always or usually important to academic English reading (IS Item 15, Always, 17 %; Usually, 56 %; Sometimes, 28 %), but only 39 % of graduates knew different articles required different writing styles. Even though 72 % of instructors thought graduates should always or usually knew the writing style of academic English article (IS Item 17, Always, 22 %; Usually, 50 %; Sometimes, 28
%), only 18 % of graduates of them always or usually understand that. Finally, 89 % of instructors suggested graduates should always or usually pick out the topic sentences (IS Item 18, Always, 17 %; Usually, 72 %; Sometimes, 11 %); however, only 40 % of graduates always or usually did so. The results were shown in Table 4.9.
Table 4.9
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Category 4: Formal Schemata
Items ALW USU SOM SEL NEV Mn SD
15. Formal schemata are important to academic English reading.
16. Graduates should know writing style of Chinese articles is different from that of English articles.
7
17. Graduates should know the writing style of academic English articles.
4
18. Graduates should comprehend the topic sentence during academic English reading.
3
The comparison of results showed that graduates did not completely understand the formal schemata to help themselves understanding the academic English texts as
instructors imagined. Actually, similar to grammar, formal schemata was also not considered to be a serious issue in academic reading, despite the fact it could help graduates get the crucial information they need. In order to fully understand academic English articles, graduates had different steps to read the academic texts. Heyland (2000)
noted that an academic abstract should contain five elements: introduction, purpose, method, product, and conclusion. Readers could get brief information about the whole content in abstract. Ten interviewed graduates read the abstract as the first step. They attempted to glean what information they needed and to search for the data according to the chapters. Graduate J indicated that “I could get the information I want more easily according to the chapters.” Graduate N brought up that “I read the abstract at first, and then I read the conclusion. After that, I read the methodology. I read the whole passage in detail after I read those three sections.”
Content Schemata
Nearly all instructors noted background knowledge was always or usually important in academic English reading (IS Item 18, Always, 39 %; Usually, 56 %; Sometimes, 6 %).
Thus, 88 % of instructors suggested graduates should use academic knowledge they had learned to understand academic English articles (IS Item 20, Always, 44 %; Usually, 44 %;
Sometimes, 12 %), and 78 % of graduates always or usually did so. Seventy-two percent of instructors also suggested graduates should always or usually utilized research experience to comprehend the academic English articles (IS Item 21, Always, 11 %; Usually, 61 %;
Sometimes, 28 %), and 61 % of graduates always or usually did that. Moreover, 84 % of instructors thought graduates should always or usually connect new knowledge with their internal knowledge for comprehension (IS Item 22, Always, 17 %; Usually, 67 %;
Sometimes, 17 %) whereas 62 % of graduates always or usually made the connection.
Based on the results, both instructors and graduates knew to apply sufficient skills to avoid the problems caused by insufficient background knowledge, but graduates should firstly gain sufficient background knowledge to apply. The results were shown in Table 4.10
Table 4.10
Instructors’ Viewpoints Toward Category 5: Content Schemata
Items ALW USU SOM SEL NEV Mn SD
19. Background knowledge is important in academic English reading.
7
20. Graduates should use academic knowledge they have learned to understand academic English articles.
8
21. Graduates should utilize research experience to comprehend academic English articles.
2
22. Graduates should connect new knowledge they are learning with knowledge they have learned to memorize new information.
3
According to instructor E, “insufficient background knowledge caused the main problem. For example, graduates majoring in engineering have to enhance background knowledge before they can sufficiently understand academic texts from other fields.”
Instructor G believed that any problem with vocabulary must be accompanied by a lack of background knowledge. He emphasized that one word had various implications depending
on the context. He said “one word might have one implication in one content but have different meanings in another. This would cause confusion, so realizing the correct
explanation of vocabulary is important. For example, the word ‘depreciation’ has different implications in accounting and economics.” Instructor E thought that vocabulary and content schemata were highly related while grammar was highly related toward formal schemata.
In sum, the factors influencing a graduate’s comprehension for academic English
articles were chiefly vocabulary and background knowledge. The first obstacle that graduates needed to overcome was deciphering the correct explanation for the academic vocabulary within the context of the text. The influence of grammar and formal schemata in academic reading still existed, but both did not pose the same significant hindrance as academic vocabulary. No instructors and only three graduates indicated that grammar greatly influenced their academic reading efficiency. Actually, readers could develop or learn grammar knowledge by reading sufficient texts. Furthermore, only a few subjects indicated that formal schemata caused serious problems in academic reading, and most graduates expressed that formal schemata could help them comprehend the article more easily.