Studies prove that there are strong relationships between vocabulary development and reading comprehension. In English, there is a relatively close relationship between the vocabulary size and English language profici...Studies prove that there are strong relationships between vocabulary development and reading comprehension. In English, there is a relatively close relationship between the vocabulary size and English language proficiency. Reading represents the primary way that ESL learners in China can learn on their own beyond the classroom. But vocabulary size in reading comprehension strongly limits the sorts of texts that they can read with ease. First, the problems Chinese EFL learners and teachers confront in comprehensive reading are revealed. And then some feasible ways of helping learners build word size in real teaching practice are demonstrated.展开更多
This study explores the influence of after-school tutoring on reading comprehension skills of students with dyslexia(DD)in grades 3-5 in China and its participating factors.Using a mixed-methods design,the quantitativ...This study explores the influence of after-school tutoring on reading comprehension skills of students with dyslexia(DD)in grades 3-5 in China and its participating factors.Using a mixed-methods design,the quantitative data(GORT-4 reading test)of 50 public primary school students in Qingdao and their parents’feedback were collected through questionnaires,supplemented by semi-structured interviews with eight parents for qualitative analysis.The findings are as follows:(1)Family socioeconomic status and parents’awareness of DD are the key factors to participate in after-school counseling;(2)The students who participated in the after-school counseling performed significantly better in the GORT-4 comprehension test(P<0.05);(3)Counseling makes up for the lack of classroom learning through personalized strategies(such as multi-sensory teaching and phonological awareness training),but parents’psychological support is the core of successful intervention.The necessity of early targeted intervention was emphasized,and practical enlightenment was provided for the educational support system of DD students in China.展开更多
This study investigates how English morphological awareness contributes to reading comprehension in beginner Chinese EFL learners.The research examines both derivational and compounding morphological awareness at mult...This study investigates how English morphological awareness contributes to reading comprehension in beginner Chinese EFL learners.The research examines both derivational and compounding morphological awareness at multiple levels(identification,discrimination,and manipulation)on English reading comprehension and explores whether their contributions are mediated by vocabulary knowledge.Data were collected from 71 Grade 9 students using various morphological awareness tasks,a vocabulary test,and a reading comprehension assessment.Mixed-effects regression and mediation analyses revealed that all components of morphological awareness,except derivational identification,significantly contributed to reading comprehension.Derivational manipulation was found to have both direct and indirect effects on reading comprehension,partially mediated by vocabulary knowledge.In contrast,compounding awareness influenced reading comprehension primarily through its effect on vocabulary.These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how different facets of morphological awareness impact reading comprehension in EFL contexts,offering valuable insights for vocabulary and reading instruction.展开更多
This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,m...This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.展开更多
The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of technology-assisted reading instruction specifically on English language learners.The interview method was employed and the questionnaire served as the major dat...The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of technology-assisted reading instruction specifically on English language learners.The interview method was employed and the questionnaire served as the major data-gathering instrument.The respondents of the study were composed of learners.It was evident from the results that technology-assisted reading instruction provided significant benefits for improving reading comprehension through individualized and interesting learning experiences.In addition to promoting more engagement,this method enhances literacy,allowing students to engage in more meaningful conversations in English.Overall,technology-assisted reading instruction has been shown to help English language learners become more motivated and engaged by providing them with individualized,interactive learning opportunities that effectively accelerate their language development.展开更多
This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the m...This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the main data-gathering instruments.English language teachers from Coral na Munti National High School were selected as the respondents of the study.Finding of the study suggests that the syntactic complexity of the text affects the reading comprehension of the students.Students found it challenging to understand the message that the author conveyed if he or she used a large number of phrases and clauses in one sentence.Furthermore,the complex sentence syntactic structure was deemed the most challenging for students to understand.To overcome said challenges in comprehending text,various reading intervention programs were utilized by teachers.These interventions include focused or targeted instruction and the implementation of the Project Dear,suggested by the Department of Education.These programs were proven to help students improve their comprehension as well as their knowledge in syntactical structure of sentences.This study underscores the importance of selecting appropriate reading materials and implementing suitable reading intervention programs to enhance students’comprehension skills.展开更多
The human beings can express the outside world and their mental feelings by languages, they know the materials＇ nature by comparing with their similarities. The languages are not only tools in understanding,communica...The human beings can express the outside world and their mental feelings by languages, they know the materials＇ nature by comparing with their similarities. The languages are not only tools in understanding,communication and thinking, but also one element of the cultures. Thinking is a kind of abstract skill, and the language is the vehicle of thinking, through which people can understand the human beings＇ thinking methods and cultural characters. The languages are decided by the culture. Reading comprehension is the readers＇ own behavior, during which the schema plays a key role and readers must combine the new information with their former cultural knowledge, rebuilding the new information so as to understand the deep meanings of the articles.展开更多
This article intends to shed some light on effective use of three reading strategies: skimming,scanning and studying for non-English-speaking middle school students.The article also presents some advice for the teache...This article intends to shed some light on effective use of three reading strategies: skimming,scanning and studying for non-English-speaking middle school students.The article also presents some advice for the teacher's consideration when designing and preparing reading materials.展开更多
Chinese,as a logographic language,fundamentally differs from alphabetic languages like English.Previous neuroimaging studies have mainly focused on alphabetic languages,while the exploration of Chinese reading is stil...Chinese,as a logographic language,fundamentally differs from alphabetic languages like English.Previous neuroimaging studies have mainly focused on alphabetic languages,while the exploration of Chinese reading is still an emerging and fast-growing research field.Recently,a growing number of neuroimaging studies have explored the neural circuit of Chinese reading.Here,we summarize previous research on Chinese reading from a connectomic perspective.Converging evidence indicates that the left middle frontal gyrus is a specialized hub region that connects the ventral with dorsal pathways for Chinese reading.Notably,the orthography-to-phonology and orthography-to-semantics mapping,mainly processed in the ventral pathway,are more specific during Chinese reading.Besides,in addition to the left-lateralized language-related regions,reading pathways in the right hemisphere also play an important role in Chinese reading.Throughout,we comprehensively review prior findings and emphasize several challenging issues to be explored in future work.展开更多
This study is concerned with the possible relationship between language anxiety and language learning strategies in reading process among the students of English as a foreign language （EFL）. Participants consist of ...This study is concerned with the possible relationship between language anxiety and language learning strategies in reading process among the students of English as a foreign language （EFL）. Participants consist of a volunteer pool of 120 sophomore non-English majors. Versions of previously published measurement scales, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scales （FLRAS） and the Survey of the Reading Strategies （SOR）, were administered to the subjects as measures of foreign language anxiety and foreign language learning strategy preferences. Based on the collected data, the statistics descriptions were performed to investigate the students＇ anxiety state and strategy use level. The analyses suggest that most of students have the anxiety level above the mean, and the anxiety regarding the reading confidence is mainly responsible for the students＇ reading anxiety, and meanwhile, students use more cognitive strategies in their reading and the level of their language learning strategies are relatively low. Results indicate no significant differences between males and females on their anxiety level, as well as their strategy use. Furthermore, a Pearson correlation analysis reveals that, for the most learners, the anxiety state do hinder them from choosing effective strategies in their reading. The study explores the relationship between the reading anxiety and the reading strategy, demonstrates the effects of the anxiety reduction training on the strategy use, provides the implications for foreign language teachers that in reading comprehension teaching they should focus more on students＇ anxiety, especially their reading confidence anxiety, and encourage them more.展开更多
The role of grammar in language teaching has always been the question that researchers debate.In recent years,grammar knowledge has been distinguished in the foreign language acquisition research,namely the implicit k...The role of grammar in language teaching has always been the question that researchers debate.In recent years,grammar knowledge has been distinguished in the foreign language acquisition research,namely the implicit knowledge and the explicit knowledge(Dai Manchun 2005;Gu Qiyi 2005).As to the reaserch of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge as well as their measurement,it is easy to find that many scholars have studied the role of two different kinds of grammar knowledge in second language development.But the research on the role of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge in second language reading comprehension is too few,not to mention the research on the role of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge in English reading comprehension in the senior high school.The purpose of this study is to find the relationship between implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge and English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students.In addition,since the vocabulary is important to reading comprehension,this factor will also be considered in the study.展开更多
Learning strategies are usually regarded as one of the aspects of the cognitive psychology and reading is a cognitive process in which the reader engages in a conversation with the text or the author. Then is there an...Learning strategies are usually regarded as one of the aspects of the cognitive psychology and reading is a cognitive process in which the reader engages in a conversation with the text or the author. Then is there any relationship between learning strategies and reading comprehension？ To explore this, an experimental study is conducted in this paper. The conclusion is thereafter reached that reading comprehension is closely related to and greatly affected by learning strategies, especially cognitive and metacognitive strategies.展开更多
This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have an...This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have any control over randomization of students and it was considered as one of the features of experimental method, this study is not a true experimental method. This method is called Intact Group Study. In this research there were experimental and control groups. The age range of the learners in both groups was between 19 to 22; the age range difference was so limited that we could neglect the difference concem. The number of students in both groups was closely the same. One of these groups received question-generation reading strategy instruction and the other group---control group--did not receive this instruction. Participants in both groups studied a task-based course book called New Interchange 3 by Richards （2005）. They studied the last eight units of this book during a whole term. The instruction was the same for both groups except for the reading parts. Participants in experimental group were taught how to generate questions as being linked to the main ideas of the text they were reading. They were also given feedback on the correctness of the questions they generated. Then they answered the follow-up questions However, participants in control group received a traditional method of reading for comprehension; they read the text on their own and answered the follow-up questions. Of course both groups enjoyed a warm-up before reading each text. The statistical independent group T-test of the reading comprehension posttest showed that participants in the experimental group performed better than the students in the control group展开更多
The present paper is a correlational study of Junior college students' achievement test and reading comprehension test based on students' interests.Through the case study,students' interests should raw muc...The present paper is a correlational study of Junior college students' achievement test and reading comprehension test based on students' interests.Through the case study,students' interests should raw much attention while teachers choose textbooks or teaching materials or design teaching plan.展开更多
Background Generally speaking. Chinese college graduates in the fifties and sixties took Russian as their second language, and those who graduated in the seventies had no second language to speak of. Now, in the years...Background Generally speaking. Chinese college graduates in the fifties and sixties took Russian as their second language, and those who graduated in the seventies had no second language to speak of. Now, in the years of our Open Door Policy, they find they have to learn some English and learn it quickly. They try to learn from radio and TV and many take English courses of 4 to 6 months, with varying degree of success. Their chief stumbling blocks展开更多
This study aimed at investigating the effect of a proposed EFL （English as a Foreign Language） training program on the teachers＇ reading practices in Mafraq. This program was developed by the researcher according t...This study aimed at investigating the effect of a proposed EFL （English as a Foreign Language） training program on the teachers＇ reading practices in Mafraq. This program was developed by the researcher according to the ninth-grade EFL teachers＇ needs. The participants of the study were 20 ninth-grade females EFL teachers who represented the experimental and control groups （10 teachers in each group）. They were randomly chosen from 10 schools in the Northwestern Badia Directorate of Education. To achieve the purposes of the study, the researcher designed a needs analysis questionnaire, a training program, a pre and post observation checklist, and a pre and post received knowledge test for teachers. Proper statistical analysis was used to analyze the results of the research questions. The results of the study showed that teachers were in need to be trained on 20 reading comprehension practices to be able to teach reading comprehension effectively. Besides, there were statistically significant differences at the level of （a = 0.05） between the means scores of the ninth-grade teachers＇ performance of the control and experimental groups on the post observation checklist and on the post received knowledge test in favor of the experimental group due to the training program.展开更多
The present study attempts to identify the major factors influencing EFL reading comprehension by drawing on the data collected from questionnaire and tests. The findings indicate that reading comprehension is compose...The present study attempts to identify the major factors influencing EFL reading comprehension by drawing on the data collected from questionnaire and tests. The findings indicate that reading comprehension is composed of three major components： ＂Schema＂, ＂Vocabulary＂, and ＂Motivation ＆ Purpose＂. These three components are made up of the following six factors respectively： ＂textual schema＂, ＂extra-textual schema＂, ＂vocabulary guessing＂, ＂vocabulary noticing＂, ＂motivation＂ and ＂purpose＂. Among the major components of reading comprehension, the four factors of ＂textual schema＂, ＂vocabulary guessing＂, ＂vocabulary noticing＂ and ＂motivation＂ are significantly correlated with reading comprehension.展开更多
In order to provide English as a foreign language students with effective English language learning approaches, this investigation is focused on how students deal with words when they are doing reading material. It is...In order to provide English as a foreign language students with effective English language learning approaches, this investigation is focused on how students deal with words when they are doing reading material. It is found that most students can use some skills to guess the unknown words in reading materials, such as explanatory analysis skills, syntactic analysis skills, and structural analysis skills, while they have overlooked how these words are organized metaphorically and metonymically. This investigation will provide students with the target language knowledge metaphors and metonymy, examining the impact on computer vocabulary guessing and reading comprehension through teaching the concept of metaphor and metonymy. In this research, the new word-guessing skill based on the knowledge of metaphor and metonymy was applied to word-guessing teaching in reading comprehension of computer material. The research question is studied in this experiment： Can the training of using ways of word-guessing base on the knowledge of metonymy and metaphor promote students＇ ability of word guessing in reading comprehension of computer material？ The results show that students have gradually paid attention to the word-guessing skill in reading process. The skills based on the knowledge of metaphor and metonymy have helped students get the right meaning of the unknown words in computer reading materials. It has really enlarged students＇ vocabulary and improved their confidence in finishing reading.展开更多
This paper is intended to reveal the likelihood that conceptual categorization can be used to understand a text by reconstructing the semantic categories through which the author＇s meaning is conveyed, and proposes a...This paper is intended to reveal the likelihood that conceptual categorization can be used to understand a text by reconstructing the semantic categories through which the author＇s meaning is conveyed, and proposes an alternative way to look into reading comprehension. It is proposed that categorization can be taken as an alternative approach to second/foreign language reading instruction. That is, while reading comprehension is defined in terms of the ability to recognize the inclusion and membership properties of contextually determined semantic categories in a text, the learner needs to arrange the events, actions, or concepts into a structured unit, both horizontally and vertically. Categorization theory will be introduced in relation to Rosch famous studies （1973, 1975）, examples taken from a graded reader will be illustrated as how to identify items with category structure, and finally issues that are not addressed in this paper will be discussed.展开更多
文摘Studies prove that there are strong relationships between vocabulary development and reading comprehension. In English, there is a relatively close relationship between the vocabulary size and English language proficiency. Reading represents the primary way that ESL learners in China can learn on their own beyond the classroom. But vocabulary size in reading comprehension strongly limits the sorts of texts that they can read with ease. First, the problems Chinese EFL learners and teachers confront in comprehensive reading are revealed. And then some feasible ways of helping learners build word size in real teaching practice are demonstrated.
文摘This study explores the influence of after-school tutoring on reading comprehension skills of students with dyslexia(DD)in grades 3-5 in China and its participating factors.Using a mixed-methods design,the quantitative data(GORT-4 reading test)of 50 public primary school students in Qingdao and their parents’feedback were collected through questionnaires,supplemented by semi-structured interviews with eight parents for qualitative analysis.The findings are as follows:(1)Family socioeconomic status and parents’awareness of DD are the key factors to participate in after-school counseling;(2)The students who participated in the after-school counseling performed significantly better in the GORT-4 comprehension test(P<0.05);(3)Counseling makes up for the lack of classroom learning through personalized strategies(such as multi-sensory teaching and phonological awareness training),but parents’psychological support is the core of successful intervention.The necessity of early targeted intervention was emphasized,and practical enlightenment was provided for the educational support system of DD students in China.
文摘This study investigates how English morphological awareness contributes to reading comprehension in beginner Chinese EFL learners.The research examines both derivational and compounding morphological awareness at multiple levels(identification,discrimination,and manipulation)on English reading comprehension and explores whether their contributions are mediated by vocabulary knowledge.Data were collected from 71 Grade 9 students using various morphological awareness tasks,a vocabulary test,and a reading comprehension assessment.Mixed-effects regression and mediation analyses revealed that all components of morphological awareness,except derivational identification,significantly contributed to reading comprehension.Derivational manipulation was found to have both direct and indirect effects on reading comprehension,partially mediated by vocabulary knowledge.In contrast,compounding awareness influenced reading comprehension primarily through its effect on vocabulary.These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how different facets of morphological awareness impact reading comprehension in EFL contexts,offering valuable insights for vocabulary and reading instruction.
文摘This experimental study investigated how text difficulty and different working memory capacity(WMC)affected Chinese EFL learners’reading comprehension and their tendency to engage in task-unrelated thoughts,that is,mind wandering(MW),in the course of reading.Sixty first-year university non-English majors participated in the study.A two-factor mixed experimental design of 2(text difficulty:difficult and simple)×2(WMC:high/large and low/small)was employed.Results revealed that 1)the main and interaction effects of WMC and text difficulty on voluntary MW were significant,whereas those on involuntary MW were not;2)while reading the easy texts,the involuntary MW of high-WMC individuals was less frequent than that of low-WMC ones,whereas while reading the difficult ones,the direct relationship between WMC and involuntary MW was not found;and that 3)high-WMC individuals had a lower overall rate of MW and better reading performance than low-WMC individuals did,but with increasing text difficulty,their rates of overall MW and voluntary MW were getting higher and higher,and the reading performance was getting lower and lower.These results lend support to WM theory and have pedagogical implications for the instruction of L2 reading.
文摘The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of technology-assisted reading instruction specifically on English language learners.The interview method was employed and the questionnaire served as the major data-gathering instrument.The respondents of the study were composed of learners.It was evident from the results that technology-assisted reading instruction provided significant benefits for improving reading comprehension through individualized and interesting learning experiences.In addition to promoting more engagement,this method enhances literacy,allowing students to engage in more meaningful conversations in English.Overall,technology-assisted reading instruction has been shown to help English language learners become more motivated and engaged by providing them with individualized,interactive learning opportunities that effectively accelerate their language development.
文摘This study examines the role of the syntactic complexity of the text in the reading comprehension skills of students.Utilizing the qualitative method of research,this paper used structured interview questions as the main data-gathering instruments.English language teachers from Coral na Munti National High School were selected as the respondents of the study.Finding of the study suggests that the syntactic complexity of the text affects the reading comprehension of the students.Students found it challenging to understand the message that the author conveyed if he or she used a large number of phrases and clauses in one sentence.Furthermore,the complex sentence syntactic structure was deemed the most challenging for students to understand.To overcome said challenges in comprehending text,various reading intervention programs were utilized by teachers.These interventions include focused or targeted instruction and the implementation of the Project Dear,suggested by the Department of Education.These programs were proven to help students improve their comprehension as well as their knowledge in syntactical structure of sentences.This study underscores the importance of selecting appropriate reading materials and implementing suitable reading intervention programs to enhance students’comprehension skills.
文摘The human beings can express the outside world and their mental feelings by languages, they know the materials＇ nature by comparing with their similarities. The languages are not only tools in understanding,communication and thinking, but also one element of the cultures. Thinking is a kind of abstract skill, and the language is the vehicle of thinking, through which people can understand the human beings＇ thinking methods and cultural characters. The languages are decided by the culture. Reading comprehension is the readers＇ own behavior, during which the schema plays a key role and readers must combine the new information with their former cultural knowledge, rebuilding the new information so as to understand the deep meanings of the articles.
文摘This article intends to shed some light on effective use of three reading strategies: skimming,scanning and studying for non-English-speaking middle school students.The article also presents some advice for the teacher's consideration when designing and preparing reading materials.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China(81901826 and 61932008)the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai(19ZR1405600 and 20ZR1404900)the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project(2018SHZDZX01)。
文摘Chinese,as a logographic language,fundamentally differs from alphabetic languages like English.Previous neuroimaging studies have mainly focused on alphabetic languages,while the exploration of Chinese reading is still an emerging and fast-growing research field.Recently,a growing number of neuroimaging studies have explored the neural circuit of Chinese reading.Here,we summarize previous research on Chinese reading from a connectomic perspective.Converging evidence indicates that the left middle frontal gyrus is a specialized hub region that connects the ventral with dorsal pathways for Chinese reading.Notably,the orthography-to-phonology and orthography-to-semantics mapping,mainly processed in the ventral pathway,are more specific during Chinese reading.Besides,in addition to the left-lateralized language-related regions,reading pathways in the right hemisphere also play an important role in Chinese reading.Throughout,we comprehensively review prior findings and emphasize several challenging issues to be explored in future work.
文摘This study is concerned with the possible relationship between language anxiety and language learning strategies in reading process among the students of English as a foreign language （EFL）. Participants consist of a volunteer pool of 120 sophomore non-English majors. Versions of previously published measurement scales, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scales （FLRAS） and the Survey of the Reading Strategies （SOR）, were administered to the subjects as measures of foreign language anxiety and foreign language learning strategy preferences. Based on the collected data, the statistics descriptions were performed to investigate the students＇ anxiety state and strategy use level. The analyses suggest that most of students have the anxiety level above the mean, and the anxiety regarding the reading confidence is mainly responsible for the students＇ reading anxiety, and meanwhile, students use more cognitive strategies in their reading and the level of their language learning strategies are relatively low. Results indicate no significant differences between males and females on their anxiety level, as well as their strategy use. Furthermore, a Pearson correlation analysis reveals that, for the most learners, the anxiety state do hinder them from choosing effective strategies in their reading. The study explores the relationship between the reading anxiety and the reading strategy, demonstrates the effects of the anxiety reduction training on the strategy use, provides the implications for foreign language teachers that in reading comprehension teaching they should focus more on students＇ anxiety, especially their reading confidence anxiety, and encourage them more.
文摘The role of grammar in language teaching has always been the question that researchers debate.In recent years,grammar knowledge has been distinguished in the foreign language acquisition research,namely the implicit knowledge and the explicit knowledge(Dai Manchun 2005;Gu Qiyi 2005).As to the reaserch of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge as well as their measurement,it is easy to find that many scholars have studied the role of two different kinds of grammar knowledge in second language development.But the research on the role of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge in second language reading comprehension is too few,not to mention the research on the role of implicit and explicit grammar knowledge in English reading comprehension in the senior high school.The purpose of this study is to find the relationship between implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge and English reading comprehension ability of senior high school students.In addition,since the vocabulary is important to reading comprehension,this factor will also be considered in the study.
文摘Learning strategies are usually regarded as one of the aspects of the cognitive psychology and reading is a cognitive process in which the reader engages in a conversation with the text or the author. Then is there any relationship between learning strategies and reading comprehension？ To explore this, an experimental study is conducted in this paper. The conclusion is thereafter reached that reading comprehension is closely related to and greatly affected by learning strategies, especially cognitive and metacognitive strategies.
文摘This paper tries to explore the effect of question-generation reading strategy on the reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL （English as a Foreign Language） learners. Since the researchers did not have any control over randomization of students and it was considered as one of the features of experimental method, this study is not a true experimental method. This method is called Intact Group Study. In this research there were experimental and control groups. The age range of the learners in both groups was between 19 to 22; the age range difference was so limited that we could neglect the difference concem. The number of students in both groups was closely the same. One of these groups received question-generation reading strategy instruction and the other group---control group--did not receive this instruction. Participants in both groups studied a task-based course book called New Interchange 3 by Richards （2005）. They studied the last eight units of this book during a whole term. The instruction was the same for both groups except for the reading parts. Participants in experimental group were taught how to generate questions as being linked to the main ideas of the text they were reading. They were also given feedback on the correctness of the questions they generated. Then they answered the follow-up questions However, participants in control group received a traditional method of reading for comprehension; they read the text on their own and answered the follow-up questions. Of course both groups enjoyed a warm-up before reading each text. The statistical independent group T-test of the reading comprehension posttest showed that participants in the experimental group performed better than the students in the control group
文摘The present paper is a correlational study of Junior college students' achievement test and reading comprehension test based on students' interests.Through the case study,students' interests should raw much attention while teachers choose textbooks or teaching materials or design teaching plan.
文摘Background Generally speaking. Chinese college graduates in the fifties and sixties took Russian as their second language, and those who graduated in the seventies had no second language to speak of. Now, in the years of our Open Door Policy, they find they have to learn some English and learn it quickly. They try to learn from radio and TV and many take English courses of 4 to 6 months, with varying degree of success. Their chief stumbling blocks
文摘This study aimed at investigating the effect of a proposed EFL （English as a Foreign Language） training program on the teachers＇ reading practices in Mafraq. This program was developed by the researcher according to the ninth-grade EFL teachers＇ needs. The participants of the study were 20 ninth-grade females EFL teachers who represented the experimental and control groups （10 teachers in each group）. They were randomly chosen from 10 schools in the Northwestern Badia Directorate of Education. To achieve the purposes of the study, the researcher designed a needs analysis questionnaire, a training program, a pre and post observation checklist, and a pre and post received knowledge test for teachers. Proper statistical analysis was used to analyze the results of the research questions. The results of the study showed that teachers were in need to be trained on 20 reading comprehension practices to be able to teach reading comprehension effectively. Besides, there were statistically significant differences at the level of （a = 0.05） between the means scores of the ninth-grade teachers＇ performance of the control and experimental groups on the post observation checklist and on the post received knowledge test in favor of the experimental group due to the training program.
文摘The present study attempts to identify the major factors influencing EFL reading comprehension by drawing on the data collected from questionnaire and tests. The findings indicate that reading comprehension is composed of three major components： ＂Schema＂, ＂Vocabulary＂, and ＂Motivation ＆ Purpose＂. These three components are made up of the following six factors respectively： ＂textual schema＂, ＂extra-textual schema＂, ＂vocabulary guessing＂, ＂vocabulary noticing＂, ＂motivation＂ and ＂purpose＂. Among the major components of reading comprehension, the four factors of ＂textual schema＂, ＂vocabulary guessing＂, ＂vocabulary noticing＂ and ＂motivation＂ are significantly correlated with reading comprehension.
文摘In order to provide English as a foreign language students with effective English language learning approaches, this investigation is focused on how students deal with words when they are doing reading material. It is found that most students can use some skills to guess the unknown words in reading materials, such as explanatory analysis skills, syntactic analysis skills, and structural analysis skills, while they have overlooked how these words are organized metaphorically and metonymically. This investigation will provide students with the target language knowledge metaphors and metonymy, examining the impact on computer vocabulary guessing and reading comprehension through teaching the concept of metaphor and metonymy. In this research, the new word-guessing skill based on the knowledge of metaphor and metonymy was applied to word-guessing teaching in reading comprehension of computer material. The research question is studied in this experiment： Can the training of using ways of word-guessing base on the knowledge of metonymy and metaphor promote students＇ ability of word guessing in reading comprehension of computer material？ The results show that students have gradually paid attention to the word-guessing skill in reading process. The skills based on the knowledge of metaphor and metonymy have helped students get the right meaning of the unknown words in computer reading materials. It has really enlarged students＇ vocabulary and improved their confidence in finishing reading.
文摘This paper is intended to reveal the likelihood that conceptual categorization can be used to understand a text by reconstructing the semantic categories through which the author＇s meaning is conveyed, and proposes an alternative way to look into reading comprehension. It is proposed that categorization can be taken as an alternative approach to second/foreign language reading instruction. That is, while reading comprehension is defined in terms of the ability to recognize the inclusion and membership properties of contextually determined semantic categories in a text, the learner needs to arrange the events, actions, or concepts into a structured unit, both horizontally and vertically. Categorization theory will be introduced in relation to Rosch famous studies （1973, 1975）, examples taken from a graded reader will be illustrated as how to identify items with category structure, and finally issues that are not addressed in this paper will be discussed.
