reading strategy

The present study investigated the effect of blended online and face-to-face instruction on the use of reading strategies by Iranian EFL learners. Out of 100 pre-selected learners, 60 homogeneous participants were identified as intermediate, according to their scores on the Oxford Placement Test. The participants were assigned to experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. Then, a pretest was administered to assess participants’ current knowledge of reading comprehension. Both groups received a 7-session reading instruction. Whereas the experimental group was subjected to blended online environment where they could take advantage of Nicenet platform, the participants in the control group received materials, instruction and feedback through traditional methods in the classroom. After the experiment, the participants were required to take a reading comprehension test similar pretest as the post-test. In order to compare the frequency of reading strategy use by the experimental and control groups, the participants in the two groups were asked to fill out the Reading Strategies Questionnaire both before and after the experiment. The results of t-test between pre- and post-test showed that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in using the reading strategies.The findings of this study could help EFL teachers and syllabus designers gain insights into the processes learners go through when reading.

Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of second language learning puts the emphasis on social interaction and regards it as a pre-requisite for cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1978). Drawing on the SCT, the present study aimed to delve into the possible effect of ZPD-based teacher and peer feedback on reading comprehension and reading strategy use of EFL learners. In so doing, 75 Iranian EFL learners, who were randomly assigned into two experimental and one comparison groups, participated in a quasi-experimental study. The data were collected through Oxford Placement Test (OPT), reading comprehension test and reading strategy questionnaire. One of the experimental groups received teacher feedback based on Aljaafreh and Lantolf's (1994) regulatory scale while the other experimental group accomplished the reading task using the feedback provided by the peers. Results obtained from the one–way ANOVA and Tukey test demonstrated that both experimental groups, teacher and peer, gained significantly more and performed better than the comparison group in reading comprehension while there was no significant difference between teacher and peer feedback groups in reading comprehension. The findings of the strategy questionnaire indicated no statistically significant difference between experimental and control groups, leading to the conclusion that students’ grouping did not influence their use of reading strategy. Therefore, it is concluded that peer feedback can be as effective as teacher feedback, aiding teachers to have a learner–centered classroom by implementing peer feedback rather than teacher feedback.