Contributions of Abstract Extratextual Talk and Interactive Style to Preschoolers’ Vocabulary Development

Caregiver abstract talk during shared reading predicts preschool-age children’s vocabulary development. However, previous research has focused on level of abstraction with less consideration of the style of extratextual talk. Here, we investigated the relation between these two dimensions of extratextual talk, and their contributions to variance in children’s vocabulary skills. Caregiver level of abstraction was associated with an interactive reading style. Controlling for socioeconomic status and child age, high interactivity predicted children’s concurrent vocabulary skills whereas abstraction did not. Controlling for earlier vocabulary skills, neither dimension of the extratextual talk predicted later vocabulary. Theoretical and practical relevance are discussed.

The Realization of Brown’s Theory of Assessing Reading on Reading Section of English National Examination

This study is concerned with the realization of Brown’s theory of assessing reading on the English national examination. This study focused on the English national examination for junior high schools in the academic year 2018/2019. It aimed to know what types of assessing reading were used and what the most dominant types were used on the English national examination based on the realization of Brown’s theory. The qualitative approach was employed. The method of analysis used was descriptive research. Based on the data analysis, there was only one type of the four types of reading assessment which was implemented on the English national examination. It was interactive reading. The tasks which were used in interactive reading are impromptu reading plus comprehension question as many as 49 questions which are included in 17 texts and ordering tasks as many as 1 question which was included into 1 text. All of them were spread into 17 texts. The most dominant type of assessing reading was interactive reading (50 questions) which consisted of 49 questions of impromptu reading plus comprehension questions and 1 question of ordering tasks.

Enhancing Oral English Communication Ability of Thai EFL Undergraduates via Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT)

This paper reports on the effectiveness of Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT) in improving the oral English communication ability of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) undergraduates. It is based on a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental study employing IRCT, composed of self–study reading assignments and a structured peer-teaching project. The participants who were purposively sampled to partake in the study included 105 second- and third-year undergraduates from various faculties who were enrolled in a functional reading course, of which 46 was assigned to the control group and 49 was treated as the experimental group. One-on-one and group oral assessments were administered to both groups at the end of the course after IRCT implementation. The results showed IRCT had a very positive effect on the oral communication skills of the students in the experimental group, significantly improving their confidence and motivation toward speaking English. The students’ opinions from a questionnaire also revealed high speaking improvement, reinforced by evidence from close observations, interviews, and student work samples. IRCT was, therefore recommended as a reading-based approach to improving students’ oral English communication.

IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION SKILL THROUGH INTERACTIVE READING STRATEGIES OF GRADE 10TH STUDENTS AT PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

It is widely accepted that English reading comprehension skill is vital for academic success. Yet a majority of Pakistani teachers adopt the traditional grammartranslation approach, which fail to assist students to comprehend course contents that are taught in English. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of interactive reading comprehension strategies and traditional grammar-translation reading comprehension approach. This research used a quasi-experiment research design and the independent sample t-test to compare the reading comprehension skills of 10th grade students of two different schools of district Korangi, Karachi. The findings of the study proved significant improvements in English reading comprehension skills of the interactive reading comprehension treatment group over the grammar-translation treatment group.

Enhancing Oral English Communication Ability of Thai EFL Undergraduates via Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT)

This paper reports on the effectiveness of Interactive Reading Comprehension Teaching (IRCT) in improving the oral English communication ability of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) undergraduates. It is based on a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental study employing IRCT, composed of self–study reading assignments and a structured peer-teaching project. The participants who were purposively sampled to partake in the study included 105 second- and third-year undergraduates from various faculties who were enrolled in a functional reading course, of which 46 was assigned to the control group and 49 was treated as the experimental group. One-on-one and group oral assessments were administered to both groups at the end of the course after IRCT implementation. The results showed IRCT had a very positive effect on the oral communication skills of the students in the experimental group, significantly improving their confidence and motivation toward speaking English. The students’ opinions from a questionnaire also revealed high speaking improvement, reinforced by evidence from close observations, interviews, and student work samples. IRCT was, therefore recommended as a reading-based approach to improving students’ oral English communication.