درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Methodologically, vocabulary instruction has faced significant ups and downs during the history of language education; sometimes integrated with the other elements of language network, other times tackled as a separate component. Among many variables supposedly affecting vocabulary achievement, the role of teaching word history, as a schemata-building strategy, in developing reading comprehension has received the least, if not any, attention. This study was an attempt, in fact, to explore the possibility of an integration of word history and reading comprehension ability of a group (No=100) of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To conduct the study, 60/100 participants, identified as homogeneous members based on the Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT), were randomly divided them into two groups; an experimental and a control group. They were exposed to a teacher-made pretest and a post-test to check the participants' knowledge of word history and reading comprehension ability prior and posterior to the experiment. Pertinent statistical analyses proved that teaching word history plays both statistically and affectively, through enhancing motivation and attitude, meaningful schemata-building role in developing reading ability. Pedagogically, resort to word history may then be suggested as an effective and affective mechanism as far as teaching language skills, in particular reading, is concerned.

The present study was conducted to investigate whether there was a relationship between EFL learners’ use of language learning strategies and their self-perceived language proficiency at the two levels of intermediate and advanced. A total of 67 subjects (39 intermediate-level and 28 advanced) were selected to participate in this study based on their scores on a piloted language proficiency test. They were asked to respond to two questionnaires: one assessing their self-perceived language proficiency and the other the strategy inventory of language learning. The results of the statistical analysis demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between the two variables among advanced-level subjects while no such relationship existed among intermediates. Thence, as learners reach higher stages of language proficiency, they become more capable of assessing their language abilities and also use their learning strategies more often. Further analysis also revealed that subjects did not change their attitude in using strategies as they reached higher stages of proficiency except for memory and social strategies. Finally, the results showed that the most frequently used set of strategies among both intermediate and advanced learners were cognitive while the least were affective.

Generally speaking، lexical items that enter our minds through reading a text commonly leave us with pictures، sounds، echoes، and feelings in the mind. While the ability to produce images in the mind in the process of reading appears to be vital for greater comprehension and recall of texts، research has indicated that many poor readers seemingly do not visualize as they read. On the contrary، those readers who do typically visualize achieve greater comprehension and recall (see Tomlinson، 1997). In this study، in line with Wittrock’s ‘generative learning theory’ (e.g.، 1992)، two fairly homogeneous groups of EFL undergraduates (N=50)، after taking a reading comprehension test to ensure that their reading comprehension differences are not significant، were randomly assigned to attend a short-story course in two different sections—one serving as the experimental and the other as the control group، both studying the same short stories، and both being taught by the researcher as their instructor of the course. The experimental group was instructed how to form pictures in the mind—i.e.، how to visualize—before reading، while reading، and after reading a short story، for example، by being requested to draw pictures of the characters، scenes، or settings in the story as they perceived them. The control group، however، did not receive any training with respect to imagery production and was not told to practice visualization before، while، or after reading the same texts as the experimental group did. The results of a reading comprehension test on the short stories that had been discussed in both indicated that the “visualizers” significantly outperformed the “non-visualizers”، i.e.، the control group، on both tests.