The Effects of Sharing Selection, Organization, Association, and Regulation (SOAR) Study Note on Learners’ Reading Comprehension and Reading Anxiety

Abstract

The SOAR study method following the reading steps of selection, organization, association, and regulation is an effective strategy of note-taking based on Mayer’s (1996) SOI study strategy following the reading steps of selection, organization, and integration as well as several studies emphasized the act of sharing such structured notes and its effects on English reading comprehension. This study thus investigated the effects of sharing SOAR study notes in a computer-assisted language learning environment on English reading comprehension and English reading anxiety. Thirty-nine Grade 8 students from two classes of a junior high school in Taiwan participated in SOAR note-making activity after reading an English material online. One class with 22 students was randomly assigned to the control group, which was not allowed to share or read their peers’ notes after making their notes, and another class with 17 students was assigned to the experimental group, which was permitted to read their peers’ notes and revise their own notes after the note-making activity. Analytical results show that the students in the experimental group who shared the notes significantly outperformed those in the control group who did not share their notes in English reading comprehension. Also, students with field-independent cognitive style or with low prior knowledge who shared the notes with their peers made more progress in English reading comprehension than those with field-independent cognitive style or with low prior knowledge who did not share the notes with their peers. In addition, students with field-independent cognitive style who shared the notes with their peers had significantly lower anxiety than those with field-independent cognitive style who did not share any notes. This study confirmed that sharing the SOAR study note provides benefits in promoting EFL learners’ reading comprehension and reducing reading anxiety.