Self-regulated learning (SRL) has become a cornerstone of educational reform worldwide, yet how individual learners respond to SRL-based reading strategy instruction remains underexplored in Chinese higher education. This study employed typology-building qualitative content analysis to examine how first-year Chinese undergraduate EFL learners at a local university responded to a 12-week SRL reading strategy intervention targeting metacognitive and cognitive strategies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants and analysed using Kluge's (2000) typology-building approach. The analysis yielded three qualitatively distinct learner profiles: Strategic Internalisers, who demonstrated deep understanding, consistent enactment, adaptive flexibility, and cross-contextual transfer; Selective Adopters, who valued and used strategies but in a narrower, task-dependent range; and Reactive Strategy Users, whose strategy use remained contingent and activated primarily when comprehension difficulties arose. These profiles illuminate the experiential diversity within a single instructional context and challenge the assumption that learners respond uniformly to SRL instruction. The findings suggest that effective strategy instruction must account for learner heterogeneity through differentiated scaffolding, peer modelling, and adaptive pedagogical designs. The study contributes a learner-centred typology that bridges the gap between aggregate policy mandates and localised classroom realities in centralised, exam-driven educational systems.
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