ABSTRACT
In the United States, literacy centers, or reading clinics, have been established at universities, and this has offered exemplary practicum for reading teachers and reading specialists while providing direct service to struggling reading students. In Taiwan, where English is learned as a foreign language, guidance for young struggling readers is much needed; however, university teacher training programs have yet to include rigorous programs to teach pre-service teachers how to diagnose and identify children's reading difficulties to address individual learning needs. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to implement diagnostic reading training for pre-service English language teachers and to address how pre-service teachers were trained, the assessment tools used to diagnose EFL learners, and the perceptions of pre-service teachers who took the training. The study was conducted over a three-semester period, with three iterations of the same course taught to graduate and undergraduate students. Students' reading diagnostic reports and the reflections in classroom observations were some of the tools to help the teacher-researcher reflect upon how best to adjust the coursework to help students with the skills of becoming a reading specialist.
