The Correlation between First and Second Language Strategies and Reading Comprehension among Chinese International Students in an Online Reading Environment

With the ongoing globalisation and digitisation of education, the proportion of Chinese international students in UK higher education has significantly increased. This research investigates 1) how these students’ first language (L1) and second language (L2) online reading strategies differ, 2) how L1 and L2 proficiency affects strategy choice, and 3) how these strategies affect reading comprehension performance. Adopting a positivist paradigm, this study used Struck and Jiang’s Lexical Decision Tasks (LDTs), Anderson’s Online Survey of Reading Strategies (OSORS), and reading comprehension tests. Data were collected from 50 Chinese international students at the University of Sheffield via the Gorilla platform. Results showed that 1) online reading strategies differed significantly between L1 and L2. Participants used global reading strategies more frequently when reading in L1 and relied more on problem-solving and support reading strategies in L2. 2) Higher L1 proficiency predicted more frequent use of global and problem-solving strategies in L1 reading. Conversely, higher L2 proficiency predicted a greater frequency of using problem-solving and support reading strategies in L2 reading. 3) Reading comprehension scores were strongly influenced by strategy use. Frequent use of global and problem-solving strategies was positively correlated with better L1 comprehension performance, while support reading strategies were negatively correlated. In L2 reading, regular use of problem-solving and support reading strategies significantly enhanced comprehension performance. This study enriches the theoretical framework concerning how reading strategies and L1/L2 proficiency affect comprehension performance and validates related measurement scales, providing insights for cross-cultural education for international students.