本研究主要的目的在於探討目前台灣高中生在閱讀英文文章時，所遭遇的困難情形為何，以及找出最常及最不常造成學生閱讀理解的困難因素。
參與此研究的對象為台北縣、市三所高中兩百一十六位高二學生和兩位老師。研究方法為問卷調查法，學生填寫研究者所設計的英文閱讀困難問卷；之後，隨機抽出二十位學生和兩位老師接受訪談。
研究結果顯示，大部份的學生認為在閱讀英文文章時，主要造成理解困難的因素是新單字太多，次之為專業術語、一字多義、句型結構長且複雜，最後則是因為文章太長而無法抓住文章的大意。另外，學生表示較不會因為代名詞而造成閱讀困難。在老師方面，兩位均表示新單字太多主要是造成學生閱讀理解困難的因素。
根據研究結果，研究者建議英語教師：第一，鼓勵學生廣泛閱讀各種文章，以增加其單字量。第二，教授單字學習的策略，幫助學生對單字保持較長時間的記憶。第三，藉由教授以知識為主的文章，讓學生接觸到不同領域的專業術語。最後，教授閱讀策略，以增進學生閱讀理解。

This study investigated reading difficulties that Taiwanese senior high school students encounter while reading.  The purpose of this study is to (a) provide an up-to-date investigation on students’ general reading difficulties and (b) find out the most and least frequent reading difficulties that block students’ reading comprehension.  
There were 216 students from three different senior high schools and two teachers from these high schools who participated in this study.  The students were required to fill in a questionnaire, and twenty of these students were randomly selected and interviewed by the researcher.  In addition, two teachers were interviewed to obtain supplementary information.  Data were collected from the questionnaire, the students’ interviews, and interviews with the two teachers.  Descriptive statistics were computed for data analysis.  
This study demonstrated that the students most frequently encountered difficulty with new words.  Technical terms in the text were the second most frequently encountered difficulty.  The third most frequent reading difficulty that the students stumbled upon was long and complicated sentences.  “I cannot grasp the main ideas
of long text” and “Words containing multiple meanings” were ranked respectively as the fourth and fifth most frequent hurdles students came across.  The least frequent reading difficulty that the students encountered was pronouns in the sentences.  Both of the teachers also considered vocabulary the students’ most serious obstacle in reading English. 
Based on these major findings, it is suggested that, first, teachers should help students build up their vocabulary by reading extensively.  Second, teachers should enhance students’ retention of words by instructing them in vocabulary leaning strategies.  Third, teachers could take content area reading into consideration when they choose reading materials for students and integrate it into their instruction to help students gain more common technical terms.  Last, students should be taught to apply reading strategies to the text.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................................i

CHINESE ABSTRUCT......................................................ii

ENGLISH ABSTRUCT......................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................v

LIST OF TABLES & FIGURE	vii

CHAPTER ONE  INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study..................................................1
Motivation of the Study.....................................................4
Purpose of the Present Study...........................................5
Research Questions........................................................6
Significance of the Study...................................................6
Limitations of the Study...................................................7

CHAPTER TWO  LITERATURE REVIEW
The Nature of Reading......................................................8
Reading Process Models..................................................8
The Bottom-Up Model.......................................................8
The Top-Down Model........................................................9
Interactive Approaches...................................................10
Schema Theory in Reading.............................................12
Factors Influencing L2 Reading Proficiency.......................13
Reader-Based Factors Influencing L2 Reading Proficienc...13
Text-Based Factors Influencing L2 Reading Proficiency.....19

CHAPTER THREE  METHODOLOGY
Participants...................................................................24
Target Population-Students.............................................24
Target Population-Teachers.............................................24
Instruments....................................................................25
Reading Content Selection..............................................25
Questionnaire for Students..............................................26
Oral Interview for Students and Teachers..........................29
Procedures....................................................................29
Reading Materials...........................................................29
Reading Difficulties Questionnaire for Students..................30
The Oral Interview for Students.........................................31
The Oral Interview for Teachers.........................................31
Data Analysis.................................................................32

CHAPTER FOUR  RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Results of Students’ Reading Difficulty Questionnaire......34
Students’ Responses to All the Questions......................34
The Most and Least Frequent Reading Difficulties..............36
Summary of Findings......................................................37
Discussion.....................................................................49
The Five Most Frequently Encountered Reading Difficulties..49
The Least Reading Difficulties – Pronouns.......................56

CHAPTER FIVE  CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS
Summary of the Major Findings........................................58
Pedagogical Implications.................................................60
Suggestions for Future Research......................................64

REFERENCES...............................................................66

APPENDIX A. Chinese Version of the Questionnaire..........76

APPENDIX B. English Version of the Questionnaire...........78

APPENDIX C. Reading Materials......................................80
LIST OF TABLES & FIGURE
Table 1. The Number of the Answered Questionnaires from Each Senior High
School………………………………………………………………………………..31
Table 2. The Reading Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by the
Students………………………………………………………………………………35
Table 3. The Most and Least Reading Difficulties Encountered by the
Students………………………………………………………………………………36
Figure. Procedure for Conducting this Study………………………………………...33

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