https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688219854475 RELC Journal 1–15 © The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0033688219854475 journals.sagepub.com/home/rel Seeing What They See: Elementary EFL Students Reading Science Texts Yueh-Nu Hung National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan Hui-Yu Kuo Wanfeng Elementary School, Taiwan Shih-Chieh Liao China Medical University, Taiwan Abstract Science texts use various text features and multiple representations to communicate meaning to their readers. English science texts are challenging for elementary-level English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Taiwan because they are familiar with reading language-controlled texts from textbooks. Teaching students to make use of various text features and visual representations will help them achieve a more successful science text reading experience. In this study, 27 Grade 6 Taiwanese students were instructed in science text reading strategies that included understanding text features, creating imagery, and using visual representations. Before and after the instruction, they took an English reading and writing test. Their eye movements during science text reading were recorded before and after the instruction to more fully understand their visual attention while reading English science texts. Eye movement performances such as number of fixations, mean fixation duration, and saccade size were examined. The findings showed that although the participants’ English reading and writing performance improved in the post-test, they focussed more on the written language than the visuals in both tests. More visual representation reading strategies should therefore be taught to help young EFL students read and learn from science texts. Keywords Science text, reading strategy, eye movement, EFL learners Corresponding author: Yueh-Nu Hung, Associate Professor, National Taichung University of Education, 140 Min-Sheng Road, Taichung 403, Taiwan. Email: yuehnuhung@gm.ntcu.edu.tw 854475REL 0 0 10.1177/0033688219854475RELC JournalHung et al. research-article 2019 Article