Name: Eka Damaiyanti
SRN: 1001240511
Class: A
The
Exploitation Of Pictures In Teaching Vocabulary According To Communicative
Approach For First Year Students At Vietnam National University, Hanoi
University Of Economics And Business
Written by:
Khương Hà Linh
1.
Background
of Study
Vocabulary, one of the major components of
language, reserves a consideration in both teaching and learning English.
In the context of Vietnam National University,
Hanoi University of Economics and Business, English is being taught as a
compulsory subject for non-major students. As far as the situation of English
language learning and teaching is concerned, students have confronted a number
of obstacles preventing them from achieving communicative competence.
To overcome these disadvantages, the gap
between classroom knowledge and students’ ability in real communication should
be bridged.
From the above mentioned reasons,
this thesis on exploitation of pictures in teaching vocabulary meets the
research demand of the context.
2.
Research
Questions
1. How have pictures been exploited by teachers
in teaching English vocabulary for first year students at Vietnam National
University, Hanoi University of Economics and Business?
2. What are the advantages of pictures in
teaching vocabulary as perceived by teachers and students?
3. What
are the main difficulties in exploiting pictures in teaching vocabulary as
perceived by teachers and students?
4. Do teachers and students desire to use
pictures in teaching vocabulary?
What are their suggestions for more exhaustible exploitation of
pictures in teaching vocabulary?
3.
Objective
of The Study
The research thesis is expected to
find out whether pictures have been exploited, a closer look would be taken at
the different ways they are employed. Secondly, the study aims at clarifying
the fundamental advantages, disadvantages paving the ways for several
pedagogical implications for better employments of pictures in the context of
teaching vocabulary to first year students at VNU, HUEB.
4.
Methodology
a.
Participants
The process of data collection involved the
participation of both English teachers and first year students at VNU, HUEB.
b.
Data
collection instruments
1)
Questionnaire
Two different sets of questionnaires were
utilized, one for the teacher and the other for first-year students.
2)
Interviews
In terms of structures, the interviews with the
teachers aimed at exploring specific and typical types of pictures exploited by
the interviewees.
c.
Procedures
of data collection
The data collection went through three major
phases in chronological order: preparing instruments, delivering
questionnaires, and interviewing.
d.
Data
analysis methods and procedure
In the first step, the data
collected was classified according to four research questions. Since each
research question aimed at exploring an aspect of using pictures to teach
vocabulary from teachers and students’ views, it must be answered through the
synthesis of information involving the two parties.
5.
Findings
and Conclusion
Initially, the study confirmed that pictures
had been widely exploited in teaching English vocabulary by English teachers at
VNU,HUEB in the light of Communicative Language Teaching Approach.
Secondly, the study also detected significant
advantages and difficulties of the exploitation of pictures in teaching
vocabulary as perceived by both teachers and students. Most of the participants
showed their strong agreement on major strong points of using pictures such as
making vocabulary more enjoyable, drawing students’ attention, enhancing
motivation to learn, boosting students’ abilities to remember and use words for
communicative purposes and especially bringing images of the real life into the
classroom.
Thirdly, main obstacles for further
exploitation of pictures in teaching vocabulary were also elaborated
apparently. Among the detected hindrances, the problems of being time-consuming
for teachers to choose the suitable pictures and design effective exercises was
one of the most momentous ones as perceived by both teachers and students
Finally, it was
considerable that there were strong desires of the exploitation of pictures
among all of the surveyed students.
The Effect of Keyword and Pictorial Methods on EFL Learners’
Vocabulary Learning and Retention
Writers: Mansoor Tavakoli and Elham Gerami
1.
Background of Study
After a long period of relative neglect, language teachers and
researchers have recently been cognizant of the fact that vocabulary is an
important aspect of language, which is worth investigating. However, learners
usually admit that they experience considerable difficulty with vocabulary and
many of them identify the acquisition of vocabulary as their greatest source of
problems. The problem is to discover which ways or skills will best help
learners better learn, retain and retrieve vocabulary. Consequently, it is
essential for language teachers to be aware of the effectiveness of different
methods of vocabulary teaching to choose the ones that are the most effective
to their students; this is what we follow in this experimental study.
ESL/EFL teachers should agree to apply different strategies in
teaching vocabulary so that students could easily boost their vocabulary
repertoire. For example one such strategy could be the use of mnemonics.
Mnemonics are basic kinds of associations or strategies used by learners to
increase the retention and retrieval of lexical items (Hatch and Brown, 1995).
The mnemonic technique under investigation in this study is called
keyword method for which we can find different definitions in the literature
(Holden, 1999; Hustiljn, 1997; Paivio, 1983; Thompson, 1987) the most
comprehensive of which is the definition provided by Hulstijn (1997):
The keyword method comprises three strategies: 1- an L1 or L2 word,
preferably referring to a concrete entity, is chosen based on
acoustic/orthographic similarity with the L2 target word; 2- a strong
association between the target word and the keyword must be constructed, so
that the learner, when seeing or hearing the word is immediately reminded of
the keyword; 3- a visual image must be constructed combining the referents of
the keyword and the target word, preferably in a salient, odd, or bizarre
fashion in order to increase its memorability. (P. 204)
Although the effectiveness of mnemonics, especially KWM in
vocabulary instruction, has been proven in several studies (discussed above),
researchers indicate that they should not serve as a substitute for the
principles of contextual learning, but must be added to the contextual method
when this is necessary and applicable (Hall, Wilson, & Patterson, 1981).
Considering the fragility of vocabulary learning through translation-focused
input, this study aimed at investigating the effect of two non-verbal methods,
the keyword method and the pictorial method, on vocabulary retention.
2.
Research Questions
1.
Do
the different types of instruction on vocabulary (the key-word method,
pictorial method and translation) affect learners’ vocabulary development
differently?
2.
Do
the two non-verbal techniques of vocabulary teaching differ significantly in
terms of permanency of the acquired items? (Which one leads to the storage of
the lexical items in long – term memory?)
3.
Objective
of Study
Considering language learning conditions in Iran, in which learners
usually memorize word lists through translation techniques, there appears a
need for students to be presented with some non-verbal techniques of vocabulary
teaching to be better able to learn, retain and recall vocabulary. Concerning
the important and frequently asked questions of students –“how can we learn
vocabulary in an effective way?”–, they usually find vocabulary learning
difficult and assert that they can not remember many of the words they have
learned. Considering the students’ needs for vocabulary learning and their
interest in learning effective techniques for learning new words, the present
study was intended to find out the influence of two non-verbal methods of
teaching vocabulary and compare them with a traditional verbal method
(translation). This study aimed at investigating the effect of two non-verbal
methods, the keyword method and the pictorial method, on vocabulary retention.
4.
Methodology
4.1. Participants
The population
from which the participants were selected for this study included Iranian EFL
learners whose first language is Persian. The sample participants who had
voluntarily agreed to take part in this study were all female EFL learners in a
language school in Isfahan, who enrolled for the 2008 summer English courses .
The three groups of the study were then arranged, according to the purpose of
the study, in the following ways:
·
The first experimental group, EG1, which was
supposed to receive the treatment in the form of the keyword method;
·
The second experimental group, EG2, which had
to receive instruction based on pictorial representation of the words; and
·
The third group, as the control group (CG),
which was to receive no effective instruction.
4.2. Instrumentation
For the purpose
of data collection, four instruments were prepared, which will be described in
order:
4.2.1. The
Nelson test
In this study, the Nelson test was used at the
beginning of the study for determining the participants’ proficiency level.
4.2.2. Pre-Test
of target words
To make sure of the students’ unfamiliarity
with the target words, a test of vocabulary was used prior to the experiment.
4.2.3.
Immediate post-tests
Five
multiple-choice vocabulary-in-short- context tests (quizzes) were constructed
in order to test the participants’ short-term memory regarding the instructed
lexical items at the end of each session.
4.2.4.
Delayed Post-test
An eighty-item recognition vocabulary –in-
short- context test was also constructed to measure the learners’ lexical
acquisition and recall. The posttest was administered two weeks after the
treatment to test retention of the learned words in long-term memory.
4.3.
Piloting
After preparing
the items and before starting the experiment the tests were piloted with some
students similar to the participants of the study in terms of English
background to remove any potential flaws and to find out whether the
instructions are comprehensible.
4.4 Scoring procedure
As far as the
scoring of the Nelson test is concerned, 1 point was given for each correct
answer, and zero for each incorrect one. Next, the correct answers to the whole
test were added up to a total sum. This total sum was considered in the
following procedures for deciding upon language proficiency of learners. Those
whose scores were ranging from 15 to 36 were chosen.
5.
Finding
and Conclusion
As a concluding
remark, it can be stated that the mnemonic device used in this study, the
keyword method, was shown to be more effective in L2 vocabulary instruction
than pictorial method and method of translation in elementary level among the
subjects of the present study. Although any generalizations based on the
results should be made cautiously and before any interpretation, the
limitations imposed on the study must be taken into account. The
above-mentioned experimental design procedure was carried out and certain
significant findings were obtained as are presented here in brief:
·
The subjects in the first experimental group,
which received instruction based on the keyword method, were able to more
successfully develop the learned items compared with the second experimental
group that received pictorial instruction and the control group that received
ineffective instruction in the form of translation.
·
The difference between the second experimental
group and the control group in terms of vocabulary development was not
significant. That is, no difference was observed between pictorial and
translation techniques in terms of their influences on vocabulary learning.
·
The subjects in the first experimental group
were more successful in retaining the words in their long-term memory compared
with the subjects in the second experimental group. This underscores the
significant role played by keyword method in vocabulary retention.
All the subjects have more or less achievements
regarding their vocabulary repertoire (so translation was less effective rather
than ineffective).
Therefore, this study seems to have almost been
able to show that the use of the keyword method, which is an innovative method,
can largely reduce learners’ problems in the acquisition and retention of L2
words. The findings obtained in this study specify that the use of visual
imagery is the cornerstone of how the keyword method works. This is somewhat
similar to what Shapiro & Waters (2005) demonstrate in their study.
Although the KWM has proved to be helpful, the principle features of context
for teaching L2 vocabulary should not be overlooked by teachers and learners.
The findings
obtained in this study may lead to a number of implications which could
possibly be beneficial for language practitioners, teachers and students in an
EFL context. First, this research is probably a call for language teachers,
practitioners and researchers in language teaching and learning to pay more
attention to L2 vocabulary teaching techniques. The findings may encourage
teachers who still use the traditional verbal method of translation in their
teaching to change their viewpoint in favor of a nonverbal method of teaching
vocabulary. The result may especially be of great value to high-school teachers
in an EFL context who are usually faced with the students’ request for
information about effective techniques of vocabulary learning.
Second, the
findings of this study are also useful for teacher trainers to incorporate
appropriate and practical techniques for instruction of vocabulary in their
existing training courses. This way, teachers themselves would be informed of
different vocabulary teaching techniques and will develop positive attitudes
toward the incorporation of the best techniques into their conventional
teaching programs.
In the long
run, syllabus designers and textbook writers will also benefit from the results
of this study; different mnemonics can be introduced within the graded
vocabulary books and other materials in accordance to the level of the students
for whom the material is designed.
(Friday, January 10th 2014 at 6.20 p.m)
Using
Word-Search-puzzle Games for Improving Vocabulary Knowledge of Iranian EFL
Learners
Writers: Hossein
Vossoughi and Marzieh Zargar
1.
Background of Study
Words
are the tools we use to think, to express ideas and feelings, and to learn
about the world. Because words are the very foundation of learning, improving
students’ vocabulary knowledge has become an educational priority. Student word
knowledge is strongly linked to academic accomplishment, because a rich
vocabulary is essential to successful reading comprehension. Furthermore, the
verbal sections of the high-stake standardized tests used in most states to
gauge student performance are basically tests of vocabulary and reading
comprehension. (Johnson & Johnson, 2004)
Thornbury (2002) states that lack of vocabulary knowledge impedes
language comprehension and production. Michael (2006) similarly holds that
knowledge of vocabulary is the most important factor in showing a learner’s
abilities in listening and speaking. Allen (1983) also states that in order to
get native-like mastery over a language, learners must learn thousands of
words. It can be concluded that that without words to express a wider range of
meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way
(McCarthy, 1990).
Learning vocabulary has been considered a boring subject for a
long time and the traditional way of learning vocabulary by mere copying and
remembering has shown to be less than effective. Many experts of language
teaching methodology also agree that playing games is a good way to learn
vocabulary. Games are associated with a feeling of happiness. For this reason,
most learners appreciate games and enjoy to participate in them even if they
are not familiar with their rules.
Word-search-puzzle game is one of many instructional games that
reinforce word-level onto a grid and persuades the class to make suggestions
for the puzzle clues. A simpler but still popular alternative word puzzle is
the word-search. The object of word-search-puzzle is to find the listed hidden
words. This game is good to review general vocabulary, without ever tiring the
students. In most of the puzzles, there are at least 40 words. The words may be
hidden in any direction: horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and forwards and
backwards.
Although some valuable attempts have been made to improve the
vocabulary development of EFL learners, the outcomes, have been unsatisfactory
yet. It seems quite necessary to change the method of teaching vocabulary by
using enjoyable games. Playing vocabulary games is one of the techniques which
require students to dynamically participate in the classroom activities and
thus communicate with their classmates using their own language.
2.
Research Question
1.
Does the use of word-search-puzzle game have any significant
effect on vocabulary development of intermediate EFL learners?
3.
Objective of Study
Learning
vocabulary through games is an effective and interesting way that can be
applied in any EFL classroom and make the lessons more fascinating for the
language learners. The aim of this study is to check the effectiveness of using
of games in teaching vocabulary.
4.
Methodology
a.
Participants
The participants of the study were initially 100 female Iranian EFL
students. They were all native speakers of Farsi with the age range of 18 to 25
and were studying English in an English institute in Semnan.
b.
Instrumentation
Two instruments were used in this study. The first instrument was a
standard CELT which was used to assure the homogeneity of the subjects. The
second test was a standardized teacher-made vocabulary test consisting of 45
multiple-choice items, administered to evaluate the dependent variable of
vocabulary knowledge at the beginning and at the end of the study.
c.
Procedure
The procedure of the study can be summarized into several steps. As
a preliminary step, a standard
proficiency test (CELT), was administered to100 students who were studying at a
language institute in Semnan and 60 students were chosen to participate in the
main study. The researcher divided the subjects into two groups namely a
control group and an experimental group.
The next step was to pilot a multiple-choice test of vocabulary.
For this reason, the test was administered to a similar group of 20 students in
the same language institute. Then, based on the scores obtained, item facility,
item discrimination, and choice distribution were calculated and some of the
items were revised or omitted. The final version with 45 items was subjectged
to the KR-21 formula and the reliability estimate (r = 0.91) came out to be
more than satisfactory. This test was administered to the participants of the
study both as the pre-test and the post-test.
The instruction in both groups lasted for 8 sessions. The textbook
of thiscourse was New Interchange,
Intermediate. The students of the experimental group received
word-search-puzzle game instruction to practice and review their vocabularies
for 25 minutes at the end of each session. The object of the word-search-puzzle
game was to find and circle all of the words hidden in the grid, the list of
the hidden words was provided by the researcher in advance. The words had been
placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally and sometimes they had been
written backwards. Furthermore, three secret synonyms of green words were
hidden in each word search, the secret synonyms were created by the letters
which had been placed horizontally and were not used in any word within the
puzzle. In this game, any student who could find the hidden words sooner and
correct secret synonyms would win.
In the control group, however, the students received the usual
training based on the procedures suggested in the Teachers’ Book of New
Interchange, and worked with the vocabulary and grammar through contexts and
exercises.
Finally after the treatment the same vocabulary test was
administered as the posttest to the experimental and control groups. To examine
whether there was a statistically significant difference between the two
groups, a t-test was run.
5.
Finding and Conclusion
The
finding of this study shows that games can afford a valuable technique in
language classroom for students at intermediate level and hence can be used to
facilitate the process of vocabulary learning. The exciting nature of playing
games can facilitate the vocabulary learning process. Language games are
suitable evaluation tools in the hands of teachers. They quickly reveal the
depth of students understanding and reinforce their previous knowledge. The
teacher needs to argue that, through games, learners are given opportunities to
meet and explore new vocabulary without direct teacher assistance. In this
case, the results are especially of great value to teachers in Iran who despite
devoting much time to vocabulary teaching encounter various problems in
teaching vocabulary to the learners. The finding of this study may also help
syllabus designers and textbook writers to embody sections related to pedagogical
games in the materials they develop.
(Friday,
January 10th 2014 at 6.33 p.m.)
Teaching Reading Strategies in an Ongoing EFL
University Reading Classroom
Writer: Mi-jeong Song
1. Background of Study
Reading strategies indicate how readers conceive a
task, what textual cues they attend to, how they make sense of what they read,
and what they do when they do not understand (Block, 1986). They range from
simple fix-up strategies such as simply rereading difficult segments and
guessing the meaning of an unknown word from context, to more comprehensive
strategies such as summarizing and relating what is being read to the reader's
background knowledge (Janzen, 1996).
Research into reading strategies of native English
speakers has concentrated on describing those strategies which are involved in
understanding. A vast amount of research in first language reading and reading
strategies has found that good readers are better at monitoring their
comprehension than poor readers, that they are more aware of the strategies
they use than are poor readers, and that they use strategies more flexibly and
efficiently (Garner, 1987; Pressley, Beard El-Dinary, & Brown, 1992). For
example, good readers distinguish between important information and details as
they read and are able to use clues in the text to anticipate information
and/or relate new information to information already stated. They are also able
to notice inconsistencies in a text and employ strategies to make these
inconsistencies understandable (Baker & Brown, 1984; Garner, 1980).
Since the late 1970's, many ESL researchers have also
begun to recognize the importance of the strategies ESL students use while
reading. Several empirical investigations have been conducted on reading
strategies and their relationships to successful and unsuccessful second
language reading (Hosenfeld, 1977; Knight, Pardon, & Waxman, 1985; Block,
1986; Jimenez, Garcia, & Pearson, 1995). Research in second language
reading has also demonstrated that strategy use is different in more and less
proficient readers, and that more proficient readers use different types of
strategies, and they use them in different ways. In addition, strategy research
has begun to focus on metacognition, knowledge about cognition. These studies
have investigated metacognitive awareness of, or perceptions about, strategies
and the relationships among awareness or perception of strategies, strategy
use, and reading comprehension (Barnett, 1988; Carrell, 1989).
Moreover, in recent years, a great deal of research in
L1 and L2 fields has been conducted on reading strategy training. Strategy
training comes from the assumption that success in learning mainly depends on
appropriate strategy use and that unsuccessful learners can improve their
learning by being trained to use effective strategies (Dansereau, 1985;
Weinstein & Underwood, 1985). Many studies have shown that reading
strategies can be taught to students, and when taught, strategies help improve
student performance on tests of comprehension and recall (Carrell, 1985; Brown
& Palincsar, 1989; Carrell, Pharis, & Liberto, 1989; Pearson &
Fielding, 1991). No research, however, has been done that relates to training reading strategies in an ongoing
classroom reading program, particularly in an EFL reading classroom context.
The present study was motivated by the reading
strategy training approach of Brown and Palincsar (1984). In their teaching
approach, students were taught four concrete reading strategies: summarizing,
questioning, clarifying, and predicting. From the study, they found that the
strategy training was effective in enhancing the reading ability of the students.
Brown and Palincsar's (1984) study, however, was not conducted in an ESL/EFL
setting. The subjects of their study were 7th grade native speakers of English,
and the study was not carried out in a classroom setting: the teacher gave each
subject individual training. In other words, like most reading strategies
training studies, the study was not done in an ongoing regular reading class.
2. Research Question
1. Does strategy training enhance EFL college students' reading proficiency?
2. How is the effectiveness of strategy
training related to students' reading proficiency?
3. Which types of reading comprehension questions are influenced most by the
teaching method?
3. Objective of Study
Therefore, the first objective of the present study was to investigate
whether the training approach of Brown and Palincsar (1984) can be successfully
adapted to an EFL university reading classroom situation. That is, it
investigated whether the training method is effective in enhancing EFL tertiary
students' reading comprehension ability. In addition, since this study was
conducted in a university general English reading class where students' reading
proficiency was mixed, the second objective of this study was to find out how
students with different reading proficiency are influenced by the training
method. Since the teaching method of Brown and Palincsar was tried with
students whose reading ability is low, it was important to examine the
effectiveness of the teaching method on students with intermediate and high
levels of reading proficiency. Finally, among the three types of reading
comprehension questions such as main idea, inference, and detailed questions,
this study examined the types of questions which are affected by the training
method.
4. Methodology
a. Subjects
The subjects consisted of 68 first-year tertiary
students majoring in Archeology, Esthetics, and Religion at a university in
Korea. These subjects were enrolled in a College English for Liberal Arts
course in the spring semester of 1996.
b. Instruments
A reading proficiency pre-test was constructed to
divide the subjects into three different reading proficiency levels. The
pre-test included 40 multiple-choice items and consisted of 6 passages, ranging
from 302 to 333 words in length.
c. Testing Procedures
One day prior to the onset of the training, all
subjects were given a reading comprehension pre-test. Fourteen weeks later,
when the subjects finished the 42-hour-long training, all subjects were given
the same reading comprehension test as a post-test. The rationale for using
exactly the same test for both pre- and post-testing was to assure an exactly
comparable test, thus avoiding the problem of equating different forms of
pre-test and post-test. The fourteen-week interval between administration was
deemed long enough to control for any short-term memory effect; since subjects
were not provided with the correct answers after the pre-test, even were they
to remember how they had answered a question the first time, they had no way of
knowing whether that answer was correct. Moreover, any effects due to
experience with the test would be comparable for each of the three groups. And,
finally, one of the most common types of test reliability in psychometrics
consists of such test-retest reliability.
5. Finding and Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of strategy
training on the reading ability of EFL university students. It also aimed to
obtain answers for the differential effect of the strategy training on
students' reading proficiency level and types of reading comprehension
questions. The findings of the study showed that the reading strategy training
does improve EFL college students' reading proficiency. Furthermore, the
present study demonstrated that less able readers might benefit more from the
training than more able readers. The amount of gains made by the low and the
intermediate reading proficiency group was found to be much greater than that
made by the high proficiency reading group. Finally, the study revealed that
the students' ability of grasping main ideas and of making inferences from
given passages was significantly enhanced. These findings suggest that
strategies can be taught, which will help EFL tertiary students improve their
reading comprehension ability.
Given that one of the most important goals of teaching reading is to help
our students develop as strategic and independent readers, several suggestions
for EFL reading teachers can be made on the basis of the findings of the study.
First, strategies should be taught through direct explanation, explicit teacher
modeling, and extensive feedback. In addition, students should never be in
doubt as to what the strategies are, where and when they can be used, and how
they are used. More importantly, they should be informed of the value and usefulness
of strategies in L2 reading. Second, EFL readers, particularly less capable EFL
readers, should be given intensive and direct strategy training for a long
period. As Gaskins (1994) claims, teaching of strategies without direct
explanation and explicit teacher modeling for a short period would not have a
long-term effect on students and effectively help them develop as strategic
readers. In conclusion, the results of the study suggest that foreign language
reading pedagogy, especially for adult students in academic settings, would
benefit from the inclusion of explicit and direct strategy training.
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ajelt/vol8/art3.htm
(Friday, January 10th 2014 at 6.00 p.m.)
Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies to Iranian EFL
Pre-University Students
Writers: S. Mehrpour, Sadighi, Z. Bagheri
1.
Background of study
An important part of learning a foreign language is mastering
learning. Mastering the fundamentals of learning not only can help language
learners in learning vocabulary, acquiring basic structures, and improving the
necessary linguistic and communication skills, but it also helps the learners
to be in active control of their own learning processes. The process of
becoming successful at learning creates learners who are autonomous and employ
individualized approaches to learning objectives. Paying direct attention to
the process of learning and gaining mastery over the language content results
in learning the content more successfully, and contributes to the development
of life long learners (Rausch, 2000). O'Malley and Chamot are two of prominent
figures in specifying learning strategies and conducting research on them.
O'Malleyet al. (1985b) categorized learning strategies under three main
categories: metacognitive, cognitive and socioaffective. They also studied the
use of strategies by ESL learners in the United States.
The application of learning strategies was later on extended to
more specific domains of language such as teaching and learning language
skills. For instance, since the late 1970's, many ESL/EFL researchers have
begun to recognize the importance of the strategies students use while reading.
Some empirical studies have been carried out on reading strategies and their
relationships to successful and unsuccessful L2 reading (Hosenfeld, 1977;
Knight, Pardon, & Waxman, 1985; Jimenez, Garcia, & Pearson, 1995). It
is also the goal of language strategy instruction (Oxford, 1990). Williams and
Burden (1997) for example, have pointed out that language teachers should go
beyond the transmission of knowledge and should empower students by helping
them to acquire the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to become
autonomous learners who can take responsibility for their own learning.
From among various types of learning strategies, reading
comprehension strategies have long been recognized by researchers of
second/foreign language reading (Brantmeier, 2002; Janzen, 1996; and Slataci
& Akyel, 2002). Reading strategies have been defined by some theorists.
They are referred to as mental operations which are used by readers when they
read a text and try to understand it effectively (Barnett, 1988).
In fact, reading strategies show how readers conceive a task, what
textual cues they attend to, how they make sense of what they read, and what
they do when they do not understand. Reading strategies range from simple
fix-up strategies such as simply rereading difficult segments and guessing the
meaning of an unknown word from context, to more comprehensive strategies such
as summarizing and relating what is being read to the reader's background
knowledge. Generally, researchers claim that strategy use is different in more
and less proficient readers, in that they use the strategies in different ways
(Carrell, 1989). As a matter of fact, reading comprehension strategies separate
the passive, unskilled reader from the active reader. Skilled readers don't
just read, they interact with the text.
Many reaserches have indicated that teachers can teach reading
strategies to students and when they are learned, this can help them enhance
their performance on tests which involve comprehension and recall of what is
read (Carrell, 1985; Brown & Palincsar, 1989; Carrell, Pharis, &
Liberto, 1989; Pearson & Fielding, 1991). Studies conducted on reading
instruction and reading strategies (e.g., Davis, 2010; Khosravi, 2000; Salataci
& Akyel, 2002; and Wright & Brown (2006), Shokrpour & Fotovatian
(2009) indicated that reading comprehension strategy instruction had either a
positive effect on learners' reading comprehension ability or their awareness
of reading comprehension strategies.
Reading strategies are taught in a sequence of various steps. In a
model proposed by Maccaro (2001), as shown in Figure 1, nine steps should be
considered in instructing reading strategies.
2.
Research Questions
Accordingly, this study aimed at finding answers
to the following research questions:
1. Does strategy instruction significantly
enhance the learners' awareness of reading strategies?
2. Does strategy instruction significantly
help learners succeed in extending the range of strategies they employ to
involve both topdown and bottom-up processing?
3. Does strategy instruction significantly
enhance learners' reading ability?
4. How is the effectiveness of strategy
instruction related to the learners' reading ability?
3. Objective of Study
This study intended to investigate the
effect of teaching reading strategies which actively engage the learner and the
effect of repeated practice of such strategies on raising the learner readers’
awareness of the strategies. It attempted to explore the potential of strategy
instruction in extending the range of strategies that learners (in this case, a
group of pre-university students in an EFL context) employ. Secondly, it
investigated whether the training method was effective in enhancing the
learners' reading comprehension ability. Since this study was conducted in a
class where the students' reading ability was mixed, an attempt was made to
find out how students with different reading ability levels were influenced by
reading strategy instruction. The present study enjoys significance in that it
can provide an insight to the effect of reading strategy instruction on
learners' performance and their awareness of reading strategies. In fact,
reading strategy instruction, due to its complexity, has rarely been conducted
in an EFL context such as Iran.
4.
Methodology
a. Participants
This study was conducted using two groups of 90 female
pre-university students in a pre-university center. They ranged in age from 17
to 19 and had already studied English for 6 years at school.
b. Procedure
One group consisting of 55 students served as the experimental
group. The students in this group were divided into three reading ability
levels based on their scores in the reading pre-test: low (with scores one
standard deviation below the mean), intermediate (with scores between one
standard deviation below and above the mean) and high (with scores one standard
deviation above the mean).
c. Instruments
In order to gather data, two
instruments were employed in this study:
·
Reading
proficiency test
·
Questionnaire
d. Materials
The texts which were employed during the instructional practice
procedure were taken from the subjects' English text-book. The passages
contained around 650 words, with the average readability of 57.27. Because of
the length of the chosen passages, each passage was covered in two or even more
sessions. The texts included different topics such as earthquakes, IT, child
labor, space exploration and the great people.
e. Data Analysis
Prior to the experiment and in order to make sure that no
significant difference in terms of reading comprehension ability existed
between the two groups, the reading comprehension pre-test was administered to
both control and experimental groups. An independent samples t-test was then
run to see if the two groups performed significantly differently on the reading
comprehension pre-test or not. The results obtained from this statistical
analysis (Table 1) revealed that the two groups did not differ significantly in
their performance on the reading comprehension pre-test.
5.
Finding and Conclusion
Based on the limited data generated from and analyzed in this
study, one cannot make big claims regarding the gerneralizability of the
findings. The results show that reading strategy instruction can lead to the
use of an extended range of reading strategies by the learner readers. Other
factors such as the nature of the texts as well as problems in self-report data
may intervene. However, the results pointed to the fact that learners'
awareness of strategies and their ability to use them while reading did
increase. The findings of this study offer several pedagogical implications for
teaching reading comprehension in EFL contexts.
1. Consciousness-raising can play an important role in teaching
reading comprehension strategies as the findings suggest. Therefore, teachers
can implement this technique in the process of teaching reading and help the
learners make significant improvements.
2. Readers with various reading abilities among general and lower
level language proficiency students in particular, according to the results of
the interviews, might benefit from an instructional procedure where they learn
to monitor their comprehension and use the various strategies with the help of
a teacher who models the steps of the instructional process, and where they
discuss their strategies while reading the text.
3. The results of this study point to the need to teach reading in
L2 by changing the focus, material, method, and attitude based on the readers'
L2 proficiency level. In doing so, we should teach beginning L2 learners in a
way that they can acquire the language proficiency in order to develop their L2
reading comprehension. This might be carried out through texts carefully chosen
to support the development of language proficiency.
4. Regarding the advantages of reading strategy instruction, though
the results of the present study indicated marginal effects of reading strategy
instruction on learners' reading comprehension ability, it seems necessary for
teachers to be trained in strategy instruction and assessment. They should
actually receive direct instruction on how to teach strategies inside their
classrooms. In addition, Cohen, Weaver, and Li (1998) advise teachers to
systematically introduce and reinforce learning strategies that help the
students to use the target language more effectively and thus improve their
performance and help them develop as strategic and independent readers.
Friday, January
10th 2014 at 6.25 p.m.
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