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. 

scholarly journals The Effect of Using Video Technology on Improving Reading Comprehension of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Mohammadian ◽  
Amin Saed ◽  
Younes Shahi
Keyword(s):  
Educational Technology ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Teaching Reading ◽  
Video Technology ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

With the development of educational technology, the concept of technology-enhanced multimedia instructions is using widely in the educational settings. Technology can be employed in teaching different skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these skills, reading comprehension is the skill in which EFL learners have some problems to master. Regarding this issue, the present study aimed at investigating the effect of video materials on improving reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. A Longman Placement Test was administered to 30 EFL learners to ensure that learners are at the same level of proficiency. The students were chosen from the state high schools in Chabahar.  The participants were regarded as intermediate learners and were divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). Then, a pre-test of reading comprehension was administered to assess the participants’ reading comprehension. The participants of experimental group used video files to improve their reading comprehension while the control group received conventional approaches of teaching reading comprehension. Finally, all the participants were assigned a 40-item multiple-choice reading comprehension post-test. The results of the study indicated that video materials had a significant effect on promoting reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners (p = .000, <.05).

scholarly journals The Effect of Problem Solving Task on Critical Reading of Intermediate EFL Learners in Iranian Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Amir Madavi Zafarghandi ◽  
Arezoo Norouz Karkaraq
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Teaching Problem ◽  
Iranian Context ◽  
Experimental Group

The attempt in this study is to investigate the effect of teaching critical thinking through problem solving on  reading comprehension performance of EFL intermediate learners. In so doing, forty including twenty male and twenty female intermediate students studying English in an institute in Ardabil, Iran, were selected based on their scores on Preliminary English Test and assigned into control and experimental groups. Afterwards, the sample TOEFL reading comprehension pre-test was administered to both of these groups to ensure homogeneity. The learners in experimental group were taught through problem solving instruction and the learners in control group were taught through traditional method of instructing reading comprehension. After ten sessions of instruction, the same sample TOEFL reading comprehension as post-test was given to the learners to measure the possible differences between pre-test and post-test. The finding revealed teaching problem solving had statistically significant effect on EFL learners reading comprehension performance. Conclusion can be drawn to confirm that teaching critical thinking through problem solving bring better understanding of the text.

scholarly journals Using Podcasts to Improve Second Language Comprehension in Iranian Language Classrooms

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Mohammad Davoudi ◽  
Mojtaba Rezaei
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Good Method ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Transcript File

<p>The present study aims at investigating the influence of podcasts (POD) on language comprehension of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. An Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was administered to 60 male and female university students. The participants were considered as pre-intermediate learners and were divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). During the fifteen sessions of the treatment, thirty podcasts were presented to the two groups. The experimental group received just the audio file of the POD, and the control group received a different treatment which was the transcript file of the same audio podcast file of the experimental group. The results of the t-tests revealed that there was no significant difference in language comprehension scores across the posttest between two groups. Based on the interview results after the post-test, all of the participants (100%) agreed that both audio and the transcripts (written texts) were useful for them and claimed that it is a good method of improving language comprehension.</p>

scholarly journals Self-directed Learning via Contemplative Teaching to Promote Reading Comprehension Ability

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Giveh
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
L2 Instruction ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study tried to investigate one of the options for improving self-directed learning in Iranian EFL learners, i.e., contemplative L2 instruction with a flavor of transformative instruction. Accordingly, it adopted a quasi-experimental design to investigate the influential effects that contemplative teaching would exert on Iranian EFL learners&rsquo; L2 self-directed learning and reading comprehension abilities. To this end, two groups of Iranian EFL learners were taught on the L2 through either contemplative teaching (Experimental Group) or a traditional method (Control Group). The results of the study indicated that contemplative teaching, accompanied with transformative instruction, would in fact have significant effects on Iranian EFL learners&rsquo; L2 autonomy, i.e., self-directed L2 learning, and L2 reading comprehension skills. In addition, the analysis of the qualitative indicated that the participants in the Experimental Group held positive attitudes towards contemplative and transformative L2 instruction and believed these instructional strategies would create a supporting and viable classroom atmosphere. The findings of this study would have significant implications for both theory and practice on L2 contemplative teaching, self-directed learning, and reading comprehension.

scholarly journals The Role of Persian Elaboration on Incidental Vocabulary Learning from Reading by EFL Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Shahin Vaezi ◽  
Aso Biri ◽  
Farhang Moradi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Experience ◽  
Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Incidental Vocabulary Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

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.

scholarly journals Effect of Elaborative Text Modification on Pre-intermediate Male and Female EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 337
Author(s):  
Shahram Esfandiari Asl ◽  
Asgar Mahmoudi
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Comprehension Ability ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Reading Comprehension Ability

The current study was carried out to investigate whether elaborative text modification improves reading comprehension ability of pre-intermediate male and female EFL learners. To do this, 60 pre-intermediate learners were chosen based on their performance on a standard version of Longman's New Opportunities Placement Test. The participants also received a piloted version of a researcher-made reading comprehension test as the pretest to ascertain their homogeneity. The participants were then divided into two equal groups to represent the experimental and the control groups. Each group was further subdivided into male and female groups. Five reading passages in two formats (unmodified and elaborated) were administered to the participants in five weeks which was followed by a posttest. The experimental group received the elaborated texts, while the control group received the unmodified baseline texts. The results of a Two-way ANOVA indicated no significant effect for gender but there was a significant difference between the experimental and the control groups' reading comprehension. Findings of the study suggest that elaborative text modification can be a worthy option in EFL reading classes.

scholarly journals Improving Upper-intermediate EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence through Authentic Materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 956
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Keshmirshekan
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of authentic materials on enhancing Iranian English as a foreign language learners' communicative competence. To this end, 106 upper-intermediate participants out of 136 were selected based on their performance an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and randomly assigned to two equal groups- one experimental group and one control group. Then a pre-test was administered to assess the participants' communicative competence at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment. The control group was taught the course content using the regular communicative method through which students received teacher-course from the textbook. After the treatment, the two groups took the post-test. The data analysis through paired and independent sample t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. In other words, teaching authentic materials showed to have a significant effect on improving learners' communicative competence. The implications, limitations, and suggestions of this study are explained at the end of the study.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF LEXICAL INFERENCING STRATEGIES ON STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Juliana
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Lexical Inferencing ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Written Test ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Experimental Group

Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of lexical inferencing strategies on students’ reading comprehension. The purpose of the study was to find out whether the use of lexical inferencing strategies had effect on students’ reading comprehension. The population of this study was 90 Informatics Engineering students of Potensi Utama University in the fifth semester of 2014-2015 Academic Year. A placement test was given to 90 students to select 60 similar English proficiency level students. The instruments used for collecting data were written test and spoken test. These tests were conducted to identify students’ reading comprehension performance toward lexical inferencing strategies. These data were analyzed applying an experimental research design involving pre-test and post-test. A pre-test and post test were administered for control and experimental groups. The first, control group was taught using conventional method, while the second, experimental group was treated using lexical inferencing strategies. The results of the test showed that the use of the lexical inferencing strategies had significantly affected to students’ reading comprehension performance. Hence, it was concluded that lexical inferencing strategies was recommended to teach to improve the students’ reading comprehension performance.

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.

scholarly journals Corpus-Based Versus Traditional Collocation Learning: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Elham Mohammadi Foomani ◽  
Karim Khalaji
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Teaching Procedure ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Writing Task

<p>A vital aspect of word knowledge is knowledge of collocations. Regarding its central role in accurate and fluent use of words, it is essential to consider collocation learning as integral to the study of vocabulary. While different methods are proposed for teaching collocations, the efficiency of these methods is yet subject to question. This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of corpus-based learning of verb-noun collocations as opposed to the traditional methods. To this aim Collin Collocation Dictionary was used as a concordancing tool for learning collocations. Forty five upper-intermediate students divided randomly into control and experimental groups were studied. A pre-test was conducted to both groups before the experiment. Next, in 4 subsequent weeks, the experimental group was provided with 24 concordance collocations and was required to identify the collocations and miscollocations while the control group received traditional collocation training through texts. At the end of the teaching procedure a post-test as well as a writing task were administered to compare students’ collocation learning and their accurate application of collocations in the writing task. In a final step, an interview was conducted to gain insight into students’ perceptions of the design. The results indicated the experimental groups’ advantage in collocation acquisition as well as their application in writings. The interview results with seven students indicated their positive perceptions of the corpus-based design despite the reported limitations.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document