Deeper processing for better EFL reading comprehension

Abstract

Many L1 studies have established a positive relationship between more effort or more elaborate processing and better comprehension and recall. The depth of processing notion introduced by Craik and Lockhart (Craik, F.I.M. and Lockhart, R.S., 1972. Levels of processing: a framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour 11, 671–684.) has recently been applied to L2 reading. The present study investigates the extent to which tasks involving processing differences in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading result in differences in performance on comprehension. Processing differences were created by the assignment of two different tasks — writing a summary of a text and listing the examples in a text. Text comprehension was measured by performance on a set of comprehension questions. The qualitative processing required in selecting the main ideas and organizing them in a summary was expected to lead to greater comprehension. The task of listing details, being an irrelevant or distracting task for overall comprehension, was expected to result in poorer comprehension. The participants of the study were 65 undergraduate EFL students of two levels of proficiency who performed the tasks on two different passages. The findings have implications for teachers of EFL reading comprehension.