2.1.1 Definitions
Based on the literature review, it is discovered that there is no precise definition of academic English reading. Therefore, the definition of academic English reading in this thesis will be reviewed along with other relevant concepts.
Academic English
Academic English is a sub-branch of English for Particular Purposes (ESP). According to Chamot & O’ Malley (1994), academic English can not only be used by teachers and students for acquiring new knowledge and skills, describing abstract concepts, and enhancing students’ ability in conceptual understanding; Jordan (1997) considers academic English to be a communication skill required for learning purposes in a formal education system; Flowerdew and Peacock (2001) consider academic English to be the language used by teachers and students to learn new knowledge and skills, describe abstract concepts, and develop conceptual understanding; and academic English, according to Scarcella (2003), is English used in academic papers with language characteristics related to the topic.
In light of the research subject and purpose of the study, in the thesis academic English is defined as any English texual material that is pertinent to the learner’s profession and has a linguistic feature in a specific research area.
2.2 Reading Engagement
The concept of reading engagement receives a great deal of attention in the field of foreign monolingual studies. While early studies focused on a single dimension of behavior, later studies gradually expanded from unidimensional to multidimensional, covering multiple dimensions such as behavior (engaging time in reading consistently), emotion (feeling pleasure in reading), cognition (making mental efforts to promote text comprehension), and society (sharing reading experiences with teachers and peers) (Guthrie & Klauda, 2016), reflecting the learners’ comprehensive and deep engagement in the field of reading. Behavioral research is still dominant internationally in terms of the studies on second language reading, with a greater emphasis on the construct of engagement with real-world behaviors (Hiver, Mercer et al., 2021), which has not received the attention it deserves. Domestic research on second language reading engagement has just begun. In this chapter, a literature review is conducted on the construct, structure, and measurement of reading engagement.
2.2.1 Definitions
By reviewing previous studies, we find that most studies don’t define reading engagement precisely in articles but focus more on the characteristics of reading engagement (Braten et al., 2017; Hill, 2014); (Parsons, Malloy, Parsons, & Burrowbridge, 2015), and focus on the general characteristics of engagement. Definitions of reading engagement are more on the term itself than on the extended meaning given in a specific study.
Chapter Three Methodology ................... 15
3.1 Research Questions .................. 15
3.2 Participants .................................. 15
Chapter Four Results and Discussion ................................ 24
4.1 General Situation of Academic English Reading Engagement ................... 24
4.2 Variance Analysis and Post Hoc Multiple Comparison of Academic English Reading Engagement ................... 25
Chapter Five Conclusion .......................... 42
5.1 Major Findings .............................. 42
5.2 Implications ............................... 43
Chapter Four Results and Discussion
4.1 General Situation of Academic English Reading Engagement
The statistical method used for analyzing the status quo of AERE is descriptive statistics. The main purpose of this part is to clarify the overall status of postgraduates’ AERE with research objects from two universities in Hangzhou.
The Likert 5-Point Scale, which rates academic English reading engagement from 1 to 5, is used in four subdimensions of the AERE Scale. The mea