A Comparative Study of Maritime English Reading Comprehension Learning Strategies

While an emphasis is placed on mastery of the IMO’s Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) at Maritime English institutions in Japan, SMCP alone do not lead to the successful acquisition of Maritime English. Various elements constitute proficiency in Maritime English, one of which is reading comprehension ability of nautical publications to ensure the safety of ship navigations. This study is designed to be the cornerstone in identifying the best Maritime English reading comprehension strategy. Participants were 34 university students pursuing to become third-grade maritime officers in navigation. Three learning strategies, namely, the Vocabulary List Method, the Reading Practice Method, and the Vocabulary List and Reading Practice Method, were selected and analyzed with regard to their efficacy, learning time, subjective difficulty, and vocabulary retention level. The results indicated that there were no significant differences among the three learning strategies with regard to their efficacy, learning time, and vocabulary retention level. However, in terms of subjective difficulty, the first method was significantly easier than the other two methods. Moreover, the learning strategies that implemented vocabulary lists have shown more promising results with respect to vocabulary retention level.