Reading Skills and Strategies: Assessing Primary School Students’ Awareness in L1 and EFL Strategy Use

The present study was designed and conducted with the purpose to assess primary school students’ awareness in GL1 (Greek as first language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) strategy use and investigate the relations between the reported reading strategies use in first (L1) and foreign language (FL).  The sample (455 students attending the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools in Northern Greece) was first categorized into skilled and less skilled L1 and EFL readers through screening reading comprehension tests, one in L1 and one in FL, before filling in the reading strategy questionnaires. The findings revealed participants’ preference for “problem solving” strategies, while “global strategies” coming next. Girls were proved to be more aware of their reading strategies use with the boys reporting a more frequent use in both languages. Also, skilled readers were found to use reading strategies more effectively, and appeared to be more flexible in transferring strategies from L1 to FL compared to less-skilled readers.