READING STRATEGY REPERTOIRES IN EAP CONTEXTS: STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN ACADEMIC READING STRATEGY USE

Potential mismatches between learners’ and teachers’ perception of appropriate reading strategies in academic reading contexts are of singular importance. This study reports a number of these mismatches in the context of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the college level. The reading strategy section of Reading and Writing Strategies Questionnaire (Baker & Boonkit, 2004) was submitted to 12 male sophomore EAP undergraduate students of psychology at the University of Tehran, and their responses were analyzed for their exploitation of reading strategies. Students were asked to check how often they would use reading strategies from 1 “Never” or “Almost never” to 5 “Always” or “Almost always” (Likert-scale inventory). Then, the same questionnaire was given to three faculty members of the psychology department who taught EAP courses to psychology students. The results showed that the students did not use strategies as intended, indicating a mismatch between what was reported to be useful to students by their teachers and their uptake of those strategies. Finally, a set of mismatches between the teachers’ recommended and practiced reading strategy repertoires and those of students were identified.