Reading Comprehension Strategies for Discipline-Specific Texts among University Students: A Literature Review and Implications for Language Education

Abstract

This literature review synthesizes evidence on the strategies university students use to comprehend textbooks and discipline-specific texts and derives implications for language education. A structured search of Scopus retrieved 790 records, of which 15 journal articles published between 1986 and 2023 met the inclusion criteria. Findings were examined through thematic synthesis. Four interrelated strategy categories emerged: cognitive processing strategies, metacognitive monitoring and regulation, learning-support strategies, and text-structure strategies. Across the studies, strategy use varied according to reading and linguistic proficiency, prior disciplinary knowledge, field of study, text characteristics, presentation format, and task demands. Evidence from survey, think-aloud, and intervention research also showed that different designs illuminate different aspects of reading and should not be treated as directly equivalent. Nevertheless, intervention studies consistently indicated that explicit strategy instruction can improve comprehension and content retention when it is aligned with text type, learner characteristics, course content, and expected learning outcomes. The synthesis further highlights the need to support both print and digital reading, including navigation, attention management, and link evaluation in hypertext environments. The review concludes that reading strategy instruction should be integrated into discipline-specific course teaching and assessed through both comprehension outcomes and process-based evidence. These findings provide a focused basis for designing textbook-reading support in university language programs.