Investigating EFL learners’ reading comprehension processes across multiple choice and short answer tasks

Abstract Reading comprehension is an essential language skill and cognitive ability usually elicited and examined through tasks. Investigations into the effects of task type on reading comprehension have mostly focused on reading outcome (accuracy) and drawn divergent conclusions because of research instrument restrictions. This study employed eye tracking to explore 43 Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension processes with the multiple choice (MC) and short answer (SA) tasks based on Khalifa and Weir’s model of reading. It was found that: (1) task type influences EFL learners’ reading of the text and question stems, with the MC task eliciting more careful and expeditious reading of the text and the SA task producing more fixations and saccades in the question stems; (2) task type does not influence EFL learners’ eye-movement patterns in task completion; and (3) processing demand (realized through scope and depth) influences EFL learners’ cognitive load and attention allocation, although the effects are not as salient as those of task type. This study examines EFL learners’ reading comprehension processes modulated by task type and makes scholarly contributions through locally expanding Khalifa and Weir’s model.