A LEITURA DIGITAL E O MONITORAMENTO DA COMPREENSÃO: PROCESSOS INFERENCIAIS E ESTRATÉGICOS DE LEITORES PROFICIENTES EM LÍNGUA INGLESA COMO L2

Abstract

The present study, data excerpt of a larger study, analyzed metacognitive comments verbalized during the reading of digital texts in English as an L2. Participants were twenty-four proficient users of English as an L2 enrolled in an English undergraduate course participated in the study. Materials comprised two expository texts presented in two modes: one digital linear text and one non-linear hypertext that were followed by two tasks, namely, reading to criticize and reading to summarize. Qualitative analyses of the participants’ report patterns demonstrate how they solve problems by using context, activate prior knowledge, make predictions, and follow task instructions to meet the purpose. Regarding strategic performance in the two text modes, the results did not show a considerable change from the linear to the hyperlinked version. It suggests that those readers proceed in similar ways in both digital contexts, either by choosing a more linear reading or by focusing on the main task and avoiding to click on links. Those strategic behaviors may happen as a choice or due to disorientation as a consequence of the memory resource limitations, as suggested by the literature.