Reading comprehension in Chinese adults: its relationships with reading strategies, motivation, anxiety and activities among Chinese adults

Abstract

This study examined English reading comprehension of Chinese adults and its relationships with reading motivation, strategies, anxiety and activities. Participants were Chinese students in Hong Kong and their reading motivation, strategies, anxiety and activities were measured by Adult Motivation for Reading Scale, Survey of Reading Strategies, Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale and Reading Activity Measure respectively. Results showed that reading motivation and reading strategies were positively correlated with English reading comprehension but was negatively correlated with reading anxiety. Hierarchical regression analyses proved that reading motivation, anxiety and strategies were significant factors in predicting English reading comprehension performance. Reading anxiety also had moderation effect in relationship between reading strategies and comprehension performance. In addition, English reading comprehension was significant predictor of academic success. The implications of this study is to broaden the usage of reading strategies in Hong Kong to advocate the reading development and life-long learning for adults.