The ability to read in a second language (L2) for academic purposes is essential for higher education students. Dutch colleges increasingly use materials in English or teach in English. This can be challenging for L2 readers, especially students entering higher education from vocational studies, who may have less experience with L2 academic reading. Teaching L2 reading programmes containing explicit instruction of reading strategies may benefit higher education students in L2 academic reading, particularly since reading strategies learned in the first language (L1) may not transfer to the L2. In this 7-week L2 reading strategy intervention, 801 first-year polytechnic students learned to use seven reading strategies that were effective according to a meta-analysis of L2 reading strategy studies. Data regarding students reading skills were collected over one academic year, from three treatment waves, using a regression discontinuity design. Three tests of equal difficulty were given to participants. In each wave students completed reading tests several weeks before the intervention, at the beginning and directly after the intervention. Results show that in all three waves the improvement in reading comprehension scores between the second and third measurement (due to the experimental course) significantly exceeded the increase between the first two measurement occasions. Although the intervention was shown to be effective, the effects were to some extent mediated by the previous education level. This study supports the explicit instruction of strategies in L2 reading for students in higher education and welcomes more research into L2 reading strategy interventions for students from vocational backgrounds.

出于学术目的使用第二语言（L2）进行阅读的能力对于高等教育学生至关重要。荷兰的大学越来越多地使用英语材料或英语教学。对于第二语言的读者，尤其是从职业学习进入高等教育的学生而言，这可能具有挑战性，他们可能缺乏第二语言学术阅读的经验。教授包含明确的阅读策略指导的L2阅读程序可能会使高中生在L2学术阅读中受益，特别是因为以第一语言（L1）学习的阅读策略可能不会转移到L2。在这个为期7周的L2阅读策略干预中，根据对L2阅读策略研究的荟萃分析，801名一年级的理工学院学生学习了使用有效的7种阅读策略。使用回归不连续性设计，从三个治疗波的一个学年中收集了有关学生阅读技能的数据。对参与者进行了三项相同难度的测试。在每一波中，学生在干预前几周，干预开始时和干预后立即完成阅读测试。结果表明，在所有三个波浪中，第二次和第三次测量之间（由于实验过程）阅读理解得分的提高明显超过了前两次测量场合之间的提高。尽管干预被证明是有效的，但其效果在一定程度上是由先前的教育水平介导的。