ENGLISH-AS-A-2ND-LANGUAGE LEARNERS COGNITIVE READING PROCESSES - A REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN THE UNITED-STATES

An integrative review of United States research on English-as-a-second -language (ESL) learners' cognitive reading processes suggested that, on the whole, ESL readers recognized cognate vocabulary fairly well, m onitored their comprehension and used many metacognitive strategies, u sed schema and prior knowledge to affect comprehension and recall, and were affected differently by different types of text structures. In t he main, where United States ESL readers' processes appeared to be use d differently from those of native English readers, the differences we re in speed and depressed activation of selected processes. Significan tly, overall, the findings from the studies suggested a relatively goo d fit to preexisting reading theories and views generally though to de scribe native-language readers. However, the quantitative differences between processes of ESL readers and those of native English readers i ndicated that the preexisting theories and views might need to be revi sited and elaborated to address a subset of factors special to ESL lea rners.