Language learning is a socially situated activity involving target learners orchestrating all the mediation tools available to construct a collaborative model between the learner and the environment. Sociocognitive theory in second language acquisition prioritizes the social nature of language and language learning while dwells rationally on the psychological and cognitive essence (Atkinson, 2002; 2010)^[2][3]. Reading assumes one of the main ways for learners to mediate a mental and structural system constructed by analyzing linguistic symbols from the environment to establish a socially cognitive alignment with the specific context. Therefore, reading instructions which were reckoned traditionally have shouldered an utterly different role, and from the perspective of sociocognitive theory and relevant pedagogical strategies, the focus of the study was to verify the potential effects of sociocognitive-oriented teaching instructions on university students’ reading comprehension in an EFL context. Empirical evidence will be demonstrated on how learners’ performance on the reading section of the College English Test- 4 could be born upon by the cast of instructions received, and how pedagogical strategy use could benefit learners. A total number of 67 male and female EFL students from a university in Yunnan province China were the targeted participants of the study. A GEPT language proficiency test, a reading comprehension test from the CET-4 and a reading strategy questionnaire (adopted from Phakiti, 2006)^[26] were administrated to collect data. The data was then analyzed through correlational and descriptive analysis revealing sociocognitive techniques giving rise to satisfactory reading comprehension and strategy employment.

Xinrui Guo. An Empirical Study on the Application of Sociocognitive Theory and Pedagogical Strategies on Reading. Frontiers in Educational Research (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 29: 67-76. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2023.062911.

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