The Effect of Input Enhancement and Concordance-based Activities on Iranian EFL Learners' Acquisition and Retention of Phrasal Verbs

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
KHATEREH BEHZADIAN
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Input Enhancement ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Group 2

ABSTRACT Phrasal verbs are commonly used in spoken English but they are difficult for learners to acquire. This is mainly because such verbs, in their combinations with various prepositional/adverbial particles, often exhibit figurative senses not readily clear to the learner. Due to the problems experienced by Iranian EFL learners in acquiring phrasal verbs, this study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of reading with input enhancement and concordance-based materials on 60 Iranian EFL learners' acquisition and retention of phrasal verbs. To this end, three intact classes were assigned to: 1) reading with input enhancement group, 2) concordance-based group, and 3) a control group. These classes had equal numbers of participants and prior to the treatment, participants were asked to complete a pre-test to ascertain their unfamiliarity with the target phrasal verbs. After a ten- session treatment period, the production and retention of the target phrasal verbs were tested through a post-test and a delayed posttest. The results of the ANOVA revealed the superiority of the reading with input enhancement group over concordance-based group in both acquisition and retention of phrasal verbs. In addition, through Pearson Correlation it was found that the knowledge of phrasal verbs has a positive relationship with learners' cloze reading comprehension. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications.

scholarly journals A Cognitive Approach to the Instruction of Phrasal Verbs: Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-25
Author(s):  
Ghuzayyil Mohammed Al-Otaibi
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Common ◽  
Mind Maps ◽  
Experimental Group

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners find some phrasal verbs problematic because of their idiomatic and polysemous nature. They are frequently used in spoken English and textbooks suggest an arbitrary way in teaching them. Cognitive linguists proposed that the particle plays a major role in determining the meaning of such phrasal verbs. This study investigated the effectiveness of a cognitive approach (i.e., Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model) in teaching taught and new phrasal verbs including metaphorical ones. Using a list of frequent phrasal verbs, a quasi-experimental design was used in which an experimental group was required to create mind maps of the common meanings of each particle with example phrasal verbs. The control group, on the other hand, was asked to memorize the frequent senses of the most frequent phrasal verbs along with their translations. The experimental group did not outperform the control group on the post-test. This was attributed to a number of problems such as the fact that some senses given by some particles are not outlined in Rudzka-Ostyn’s Model. Further, the analytical procedure followed by students to cognitively understand phrasal verbs should be made explicit and address the interaction between the verb and the particle. Additionally, following a cognitive approach, instructors should focus more on the particles up and out since they have many senses and contribute a lot to phrasal-verb formation.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Note-Taking on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 308
Author(s):  
Farnoush Bahrami ◽  
Heidar Nosratzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Note Taking ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Analyze Data

By taking notes students could save time for reading all textbooks for their exams or for their representations.  It helps them to be vigilant all the time in class for having good notes and they have to paying attention to lectures or teachers all the time, therefore note-taking causes to listening better to lessons and lectures an also it causes to improves their comprehension when they read texts. Thus, the present study is important because note-taking could provide student’s memorization and helps them to remember what they learnt, absolutely important information. Also it accelerates to one-over their studies.The method used in this research was survey. The 40 Persian EFL learners were selected from a language institute in Karaj to participate in the present study. These learners were divided into two groups; one of them is experimental group (N=20) and the other one is control group (N=20). Pretest and post test were two instruments that were used to carry out this study, a pretest about skill of note-taking of passages of the lessons was used for both experimental and control group. This test consisted of 4 passages. The same test was administrated again as the post test for both groups by the end of the course to see the different conclusion between taking note of experimental group and control group control groups. Reliability between 4 texts is in oscillation from 0.6 to 0.81 (from 0.6 upwards). Therefore this reliability was an acceptable one. To analyze data descriptive statistics (that was contained percentage, frequency and mean score) and also inferential statistics (that was contained ANOVA, Pearson correlation, independent sample t-test, multivariate’s test, regression) were carried out by using SPSS16 soft ware. The findings confirmed that note taking is effective in reading comprehension.

scholarly journals Scrambled Cloze Procedure: Does It Influence EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension and Writing Performance?

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 815
Author(s):  
Jahanbakhsh Nikoopour ◽  
Mino Bargnil
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cloze Procedure ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study investigated the effect of using scrambled cloze procedure on reading and writing among intermediate EFL learners. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 60 participants were tested on a PET test, from whom 48 homogeneous participants were selected and assigned randomly to two groups of 25 and 23, as experimental and control group. Then, both groups were given a pre-test of writing and reading comprehension. During 14 sessions, the experimental group were provided with scrambled cloze samples and tasks while practicing paragraph writing and reading, whereas the control group did not, while they were practicing paragraph writing and reading. At the end, the two groups were tested in reading comprehension and writing, based on a posttest. Two raters scored the writing samples collected from two groups in the pre and posttest. Pearson correlation was used to compute the inter-rater reliability. The results showed the experimental group outperformed the control group in paragraph writing and reading comprehension. However, it was found that gender did not make a significant difference in reading comprehension and writing performance.

scholarly journals The Incidental Acquisition of English Prepositions by Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners: Evidence From Al Ain University of Science and Technology

SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824401986149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel Rahman Mitib Altakhaineh ◽  
Mona Kamal Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Multiple Choice Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Al Ain ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Arabic Speaking

This study examined the incidental acquisition of English prepositions by Arabic-speaking English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Employing reading comprehension exercises as a treatment, we adopted the experimental design of a pre- and post-test to determine the effectiveness of the treatment on the participants’ incidental acquisition of English prepositions. For the purpose of the study, we divided the participants into a treatment group, who engaged in reading comprehension exercises for one academic term, and a control group, who did not. We used a multiple-choice test and a fill-in-the-blank test to measure the participants’ receptive and productive knowledge of English prepositions, respectively. We also conducted an introspective session with the treatment group following the administration of the post-tests to determine the areas of difficulty. The results of the study mainly indicated that reading accompanied by exercises resulted in better incidental gains in the acquisition of English prepositions, especially on the multiple-choice test. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.

The Impact of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills on Reading Comprehension of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 1869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotfollah Karimi ◽  
Farshad Veisi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Teaching Reading ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

the purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of teaching critical thinking skills on reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A sample of 50 students from Arshia Language Institute in Ilam, Iran participated in this study. They were both male and female students who were selected among 80 students based on their performances on PET. The participants were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. First, the two groups were exposed to the pre-test of reading comprehension in order to evaluate their knowledge on reading before the treatment. Based on scores obtained from the Pre-test, no significance differences were observed between two groups. After that the treatment was started and the experimental group was exposed to teaching critical thinking skills. Meanwhile, traditional methods of teaching reading comprehension were used for teaching reading comprehension to the control group. Finally, post-test of reading comprehension was delivered to both groups at the end of treatment to check possible differences.  To analyze the collected data, ANCOVA was run using SPSS Software Version 16. The results showed that teaching critical thinking skills positively affect reading comprehension of intermediate EFL learners, but the interaction of gender and teaching critical thinking was not significant.

scholarly journals The effect of instructing critical thinking through debate on the EFL learners’ reading comprehension

2015 ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Danaye Tous ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Sara Haghighi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Experimental Group

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of instruction through debate on the male and female EFL learners’ reading comprehension, and to examine the difference between male and female EFL learners’ perception towards instructing critical thinking (CT) through debate. 88 learners, out of 120, were selected through convenience sampling method. Using a quantitative research method with experimental pre-and post-tests design, this study consisted of 44 participants in the experimental group and 44 participants in the control group. The experimental group received some treatment in the form of “the Meeting-House Debate” strategy, while the control group received no such treatment. After one month and a half treatment of experimental group, both groups participated in the post-test. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics procedures. Findings showed that the debate strategy had statistically significant effect on the students’ reading comprehension. Also, results revealed that there was no significant difference between male and female EFL learners’ perception towards instructing CT through debate. It was concluded that instructing CT skills through debate strategy resulted in better understanding of reading texts.

Effects of Lexical Simplification and Elaboration on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Learning and Retention of Phrasal Verbs

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melika Ghorbanian ◽  
Shadab Jabbarpoor
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Multiple Choice Test ◽  
Phrasal Verbs ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Treatment Groups ◽  
Different Order

This study aimed at investigating the effect of lexical simplification and elaboration on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ learning and retention of phrasal verbs. In order to achieve this goal, a PET test was run into 130 learners. When target participants were chosen, they were assigned into three groups including two treatment groups and one control group. Through a multiple choice test, 40 out of 60 phrasal verbs were selected as target phrasal verbs. Through 8 sessions of treatment, each group received a reading comprehension text that contained 5 phrasal verbs. But the way the phrasal verbs in two experimental groups were modified was different. One of them received elaborated input and the other group received simplified input; meanwhile, the control group received unmodified input. After eight sessions of treatment, an immediate multiple choice test was administered to find out which techniques had stronger effect on participant’s learning and retention of phrasal verbs. After one month, the same test, with a different order of items, was administered as delayed posttest to check the participants’ level of retention.  According to the results of the study simplified input group significantly outperformed the control and elaborated group on both learning and retention of phrasal verbs.

scholarly journals Impact of Related Activities on Reading Comprehension of EFL Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Ali S. Alghonaim
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Reading Engagement ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Reading Activities

This experimental study reported in this article is casual research since it aims to improve reading comprehension of EFL students by means of applying pre-related reading activities. The study is quantitative. It used two instruments: (1) Reading Engagement Scale developed by Whitaker (2003) to determine the efficacy of pre-related reading activities and (2) pretest/posttest to measure comprehension level after implementing related reading activities. The subjects, Saudi EFL learners, were students in an English college in Buraidah city. The research used two groups: experimental and control groups. The subjects in the control group (27 students) were receiving a regular reading instruction, whereas those in the experimental group (24 students) did some pre-related reading activities at home and before the class. Multiple statistical tests were used to find out reliability, regression, and pearson correlation. The result of the study showed that the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. The students in the experimental groups far outperformed those in the control group. The study suggests that EFL learners' comprehension level increases with reading engagement that is related to the class reading. Recommendation of this finding for EFL reading environment is discussed.

scholarly journals The Effect of Two Pre- task Activities: Pre- taught Vocabulary and Brainstorming on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Somayeh Rostami Shirkoohi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Attitude Questionnaire ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

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. 

The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension: The Case of Jigsaw Technique

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Behnaz Raji
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
T Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Jigsaw Technique ◽  
Experimental Group

This study examined the effect of Jigsaw technique as a part of cooperative learning on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 40 intermediate participants were selected out of 73 EFL learners based on the results of Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The participants were divided into two groups; control and experimental. Then, the participants of both groups were pretested on reading comprehension. After pre-testing, the cooperative learning activities (Jigsaw technique) were practiced with the participants of the experimental group during 5 sessions. The experimental participants were assigned to five-member teams to work on reading texts. Each team member read an assigned section and then members from different teams who had studied the same sections met in ‘expert groups’ to discuss their sections. Then, students returned to their own teams and taught their team-mates about their section. On the other hand, the control group received traditional teacher-fronted instruction throughout the classroom time. After the treatment sessions, a teacher-made reading comprehension post-test was given to the participants of both groups to measure their reading comprehension ability after the treatment. The results of paired samples t-test and independent samples t-test revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test. The findings also showed that there was a significant difference between the post-tests of both groups in favor of the experimental group.

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