Case Studies on L2 Literacy Learning of Thai EFL Learners:What a Great Challenge!

Case Studies on L2 Literacy Learning of Thai EFL Learners:What a Great Challenge!

This case study investigated L2 literacy learning and reading strategies of Thai EFL universitystudents in a rural area in a southern province of Thailand through the lenses of socioculturaland cognitive frameworks. This inquiry looked at how the students’ language learningdevelopment had been shaped and influenced by social practices and the effects of formalschooling since they started learning English in an EFL discourse. The study also analyzed howtheir learning contributed to their cognitive strategies in performing reading tasks. Throughsemi-structured interviews, think-aloud protocols, and field notes from classroom observations,this investigation revealed that the English instruction and the students’ learning experiencesresulted in an unfavorable impact on the students’ overall performance to some critical degree.They developed a bottom-up view of reading and demonstrated very few reading strategies inthink-aloud texts. Pedagogical implication based on the findings of the study will be provided.