The CATESOL Journal

This paper reports on a study investigating the literacy practices, attitudes, and uses of two groups of subjects: Chinese (n=35) and Korean (n=26); it examines the relationship between each group’s practices, attitudes, and uses and success in reading in a second language (English). Results of the research suggest: (a) literacy attitudes, practices, and uses can be seen to vary cross-culturally; (b) that cultural group appears to be a factor in determining attitudes about reading and reading behaviors; (c) differences in attitude, practice, and use in the first language have implications for literacy behavior in the second language; and (d) that second language reading success may be related to certain first language attitudes and behaviors that seem to be characteristic of the groups under study