INVESTIGATING DIGITAL READING IN L2 TO CRITICIZE AND TO SUMMARIZE: WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY AND READING PURPOSE INFLUENCING STRATEGY USE

The construction of meaning and the generation of inferences by working memory (WM) readers were investigated. Participants read digital texts in English to criticize and summarize them. Through tests, verbal protocols, and post-reading tasks, both groups made more comments on hypertexts to summarize. Although the group with short-range WM had comprehension problems, there was a moderate correlation between reading time and summary time of the same group. There was also no correlation between post-reading tasks and reading purposes. Finally, both groups satisfied the demands of nonlinear hypertext.