The Effect of Pre-segmented Instruction on Reading Fluency: A Study on Chinese-English Intermediate Learners

Intra–sentence segmentation has been proven a useful way for first language (L1) learners to increase reading fluency, including comprehension and reading rate. However, although it is widely used in China to deal with long sentences, it is still worth investigating whether it can be an effective strategy for Chinese-English intermediate learners. In addition, different methods used for segmenting also deserve to be studied. In this study, two English-speaking graduates and four Chinese- English learners are presented with nine long sentences within three different conditions (non-adjustable, segmenting different phrases with a backslash, and putting different phrases into different lines) and under each sentence there is a statement of correct or incorrect judgment. According to the results, the presegmented strategy increases the comprehension for Chinese- English intermediate learners and putting different phrases into different lines is most useful.