scholarly journals EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PERFORMANCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vo Thi Thuy Duong ◽  
Nguyen Huynh Trang

<p>Extensive Reading (ER) is considered as a good learning technique to enhance every skill in language learning. It is considered to assist the improvement of other skills of language learners especially English as a Foreign Language (EFL) leaners. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of ER on EFL learners’ writing performance and to identify the EFL learners’ attitude towards the effects of ER on writing performance. The study recruited a group of 59 non-English majors at a public university in Vietnam. The participants were divided into two groups, i.e., experimental group and control group. The participants in the experimental group were assigned extensive reading materials as their homework to support their learning of writing meanwhile the participants in the control group were guided to write without the support of extensive reading materials. To check the differences of the participants’ writing ability before and after the intervention, pre-test and post-test were employed. A questionnaire was also delivered to the experimental group after the treatment. The results from the tests revealed that ER supported EFL learners in their writing performance. The experimental group had more significant enhancement. The results obtained from the questionnaire also indicated that the EFL learners had positive attitudes towards the use of extensive reading materials provided in their writing learning process. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0870/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Shahin Vaezi ◽  
Aso Biri ◽  
Farhang Moradi

This study attempted to tap into the potential of reading for incidental vocabulary learning by exposing EFL learnersto elaborated texts. This study was also concerned with investigating learners’ attitudes toward using elaboratedpassages in their reading classes. To this end, 38 students were selected as the participants of this research anddivided into two groups. Students attending the experimental group (N=20) read Persian elaborated texts in whichthe Persian meanings of the specified target words were provided in apposition to them. On the other hand, studentsof the control group (N=18) were required to read the non-elaborated version of the aforementioned texts. Generally,the results of the post-test pointed to the effectiveness of this approach in incidental vocabulary learning, and theparticipants of the experimental group were found to gain a significant vocabulary improvement in comparison to thecontrol group. Furthermore, the interview suggested that students held positive attitudes to reading elaborated textsand regarded them as effective in their vocabulary learning experience. The findings of this study have implicationsfor material developers who need to reconsider the role of modified materials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 240-256
Author(s):  
Bahram Mowlaie ◽  
Milad Abdolmajid ◽  
Ali Rahimi

The unique characteristics of the listening skill and the vital role they play in language learning and communication do not receive the attention they deserve and the situation is worsened in EFL contexts due to lack of communication in everyday context.  Given this, the present study was an attempt to empirically investigate if partial dictation versus dictogloss had any significant effect on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 60 male EFL learners were selected via double sampling and, after taking homogeneity test and listening pre-test, they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups (partial dictation versus dictogloss) and a control group. The first experimental group was exposed to dictogloss, while the second experimental group was exposed to partial diction. The control group underwent the mainstream usual classroom activities. After the treatment which took one hour each session for seven sessions, a listening post-test was given to all groups. The thorough analysis of data using paired sample t-test indicated that partial dictation group slightly outperformed the dictogloss group in the listening post-test and both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group in the listening test. The result can have implications for learners, teachers, and material developers in all second and, especially, foreign language contexts where listening comprehension does not receive the attention it deserves and this, in turns, deprives EFL learners of viable sources of input. It is recommended that dictation in either partial format or dictogloss become an instructional activity in English classes because of its usefulness in improving listening comprehension and, more importantly, because of its practicality which is an important concern in many language learning contexts.  Key words: Dictogloss; English as a Foreign Language, Listening Comprehension; Partial Dictation 


Author(s):  
KAMILA GHOUALI ◽  
RAÚL RUIZ-CECILIA

The present study examines the effect of a technology-based assessment on the writing performance of Algerian English Foreign Language (EFL) students. Forty-two first-year EFL at the English Department at Tlemcen University (Algeria) took part in the experiment. They were divided into an experimental group (n = 21) and a control group (n = 21). A pre-test and a post-test were used as research instruments before and after the administration of the treatment, respectively. The data were analysed quantitatively using IBM SPSS (20.0). The results revealed that the Moodle-based e-assessment had a significant effect on the performance of the experimental group. We argue that the proposed type of assessment had some pedagogical, practical, and emotional attributes that explained students’ improved scores. We also believe that the e-assessment acted as pedagogical teaching support to traditional evaluation.


Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Somayeh Rostami Shirkoohi

The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of two pre- task activities of reading: pre- taught vocabulary and brainstorming in EFL learners’ reading comprehending.  To this end, three intact classes in a private English Institute in Tehran, were selected from a population of 60 English learners.  Based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the students were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group and a pre-test was run at the beginning of the course. At outset of the course a pre- test was run among three groups.  The researcher instructed the experimental groups in 16 weeks, one session a week and lasting 40 minutes in each session. The first experimental group benefited from pre- taught vocabulary, while the second experimental group benefited from brainstorming as a pre- task and the third group did not receive any pre- task activities in the reading class. At the end of the course, a post- test with the same items of the pre- test was run to determine the improvement of EFL intermediate students’ reading comprehension changes and an attitude questionnaire was planned to determine the learners’ attitudes toward the pre- task activities.    The results of paired sample t- test indicated that the use of pre- taught vocabulary and also brainstorming enhanced the scores of  the first experimental and second experimental groups’  post- tests ; moreover, ANOVA results revealed a significant increase in reading comprehension scores  of the first and the second  experimental groups’ post- tests compared to the control group’ post-test scores.  The results of attitude questionnaire demonstrated the pupils’ positive attitudes toward the use of pre- task activities. 


Author(s):  
Aysel Şahin Kızıl ◽  
Abdurrahman Kilimci

With the advent of language corpora and concordancing activities, teaching collocations knowledge of which is considered significant for appropriate and fluent language use has gained new dimensions within the context of technology enhanced language learning. The present study investigates the impact of web-based concordancing activities on EFL learners' achievement and retention of verb-noun collocations compared to paper based-activities. A total of 62 EFL learners participated in the study by taking a pre-test and an immediate and a delayed post-test. Results indicated that learners in experimental group outperformed the control group making significant improvement in their knowledge of verb-noun collocation immediately after the web-based practice. Although both groups regressed later, final performance of the experimental group was still better than that of control group. This study, therefore, suggests that EFL practitioners craving for creating variations in their instructional settings employ web-based concordancing activities to raise collocational competence of learners.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sima Farhadi ◽  
Nader Asadi Aidinloo ◽  
Zahra Talebi

In the framework of language teaching, the writing skill requires to be encouraged during the language learners’ course of study. Since metadiscourse markers help transform a tortuous piece of text into a coherent and reader-friendly one, knowledge about the metadiscourse, amongst other things, is used to improve writing skill. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of instruction of metadiscourse markers on intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance by using metadiscoursal taxonomies proposed by Hyland (2005). For this purpose, a pet test was administrated to 60 intermediate students in Iran Language Institute in Urmia. Having being homogenized by Preliminary English Test (PET), they were assigned randomly into two groups. Both the control and the experimental group sat for a pretest of writing test in the form of a cloze test which aimed to measure the learners’ initial knowledge of writing performance. The experimental group was exposed to explicit instruction of metadiscourse markers for seven successive sessions. On the other hand, the control group didn’t receive any instruction.  Eventually,  a post  test  designed to evaluate  their  writing  ability  with the focus of  metadiscourse markers  was  administered to both groups. The findings implied generally that the implementation of metadiscourse markers (via instruction) significantly improves EFL learners’ writing ability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Enayati ◽  
Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani

Regarding the large amount of vocabulary that learners should learn and the limited amount of time available in the EFL classes, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is considered as an attractive option for learning. One specific benefit of using CALL vocabulary instruction is to provide systematic repetition of words, ensuring that learned words are not forgotten. The objective of current investigation is to examine the effect of CALL on Iranian intermediate learners’ vocabulary learning. The researchers used Tell Me More (TEM) software for this objective. This investigation used Preliminary English Test (PET) as a standardized measurement to seek the level of the subjects in terms of language proficiency. Then, the researchers assigned the participants into two groups: experimental group and control group. Experimental group included 31 EFL students and control group involved 30 EFL students. 80 items were administered as pre-test to evaluate the participants’ previous knowledge of English in respect to the vocabularies. The researchers taught the students of both groups for 12 sessions. The TEM software was used as treatment in experimental group and the control group received no treatment. The taught words were the same in both groups. After 12 sessions, the 65 items were administered as post-test in order to compare the results of the scores of two groups and decide about the effectiveness of the treatment. The data were analyzed through running the Independent sample t-test. The results of post-test showed that the participants of experimental group outperformed the control group and had positive attitudes towards CALL. The results of this study may be useful for EFL teachers, EFL learners, and syllabus designers.


Author(s):  
Gholam Reza Parvizi ◽  
Hooshang Khoshsima ◽  
Mohammad Tajik

<p>This article investigated the impact of task-based language teaching (TBLT) on writing performance of the Iranian intermediate EFL learners. There were two groups of forty students of the intermediate female learners studying English in Jahad-e-Daneshgahi language institute, ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen. They participated in their regular classes in the institute and were assigned to two groups including an experimental group of task-based language teaching and a control group for the purpose of homogeneity, all students in two groups took an achievement test before the treatment. As a pre-test; students were assigned to write a task at the beginning of the course. One of the classes was conducted through talking a TBLT approach on their writing, while the other class followed regular patterns of teaching, namely traditional approach for TBLT group. There were some tasks chosen from learners’ textbook. The task selection was in accordance with learning standards for ESL and TOFEL writing sections. At the end of the treatment, a post-test was administered to both experimental group and the control group. Scoring was done on the basis of scoring scale of “expository writing quality scale”. The researcher used paired samples t-test to analyze the effect of TBLT teaching approach on the writing performance of the learners. The data analysis revealed that the subjects in TBLT group performed better on the writing performance post-test than the subjects in control group. The findings of the study also demonstrated that TBLT would enhance writing performance in the group of learners. Moreover, it was indicated that TBLT has been effective in teaching writing performance to Iranian EFL learners. </p>


Author(s):  
Shahram Afraz ◽  
Leila Taghizade ◽  
Ali Taghinezhad

Speaking is a crucial form of communication in language learning settings. Through speaking skill, ESL/EFL language learners can communicate and convey information. Pictorial aids have been deployed as efficacious mediatory tools in teaching various disciplines such as language teaching. Still, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, a direct look at the impacts of pictorial aids on EFL intermediate learners’ speaking proficiency has been less addressed. Thus, the main concern of the present study was to investigate the role of pictorial aids in creating a favorable ground for teaching speaking and how it may affect learners’ speaking proficiency. To this end, 40 intermediate EFL learners were selected out of 70 from a private English language institute in Shiraz, Iran. The homogeneity of their proficiency level was established via the administration of Oxford Proficiency Test. Then they were randomly divided into two control and experimental groups. Three instruments were used to answer the research questions: Pre-test and post-test interviews, classroom observation, and a questionnaire. Subsequently, the participants were randomly assigned to an experimental (n=20) and a control (n=20) group. During 6 sessions, the experimental group received treatment while using pictorial aids. By contrast, the control group followed their routine instruction at the institution through traditional method, i.e. the tasks of Top notch 2. Then by the end of the study, an interview was held as a post test in order to monitor any effect the treatment might have on increasing speaking proficiency of the participants under the investigation. The results gained from a post-test were analyzed via t-test indicated that visual aids had a positive impact on the intermediate learners’ speaking proficiency in which experimental group outperformed control group. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 549
Author(s):  
Mohammad Davoudi ◽  
Moslem Zolfagharkhani ◽  
Mojtaba Rezaei

The present study aims at investigating the effects of extensive reading (ER) on language proficiency of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A Preliminary English Test (PET) was administered to 106 male and female university students. The participants were selected as intermediate learners and were divided into three groups (one control and two experimental groups). During the ten sessions of the treatment, ten short stories (authentic and simplified) were provided to the two homogenous groups (two experimental groups). The first experimental group received authentic reading texts and the second experimental group received simplified reading texts, while the participants of the control group followed the ordinary reading course at the university. All three groups received post-tests administered after the treatment. The results of the t-tests revealed that there is no significant difference in reading scores across the posttest between two experimental groups. The results of ANOVA also revealed that there is a significant difference between the scores of the control group and experimental groups’ participants. Based on the interview result after the post-test, all of the participants (100%) agreed that they had positive attitude toward extensive reading after participating in the treatment sessions. The study suggests, however, students’ curriculum courses should include extensive reading texts in order to develop EFL language proficiency.


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