Metacognitive online reading strategy use: Readers' perceptions in L1 and L2

This study aimed to explore whether first-language (L1) readers of different language backgrounds would employ similar metacognitive online reading strategies and whether reading online in a second language (L2) could be influenced by L1 reading strategies. To this end, 52 Canadian college students as English L1 readers and 38 Iranian university students as both Farsi L1 and English L2 readers were selected. After completing three reading tasks on the Web, their perceptions about their use of strategies were assessed via a survey of reading strategies. Analyses of the data, using an analysis of variance and the Scheffe post hoc test, revealed certain differences. The Canadian readers perceived themselves to be high-strategy users employing mostly a top-down approach, whereas the Iranian readers in both Farsi and English appeared to be medium-strategy users, favouring mostly a bottom-up approach. Additionally, the correlation between readers' perceived use of strategies and their reading scores was statistically significant.