Impact of Timed Reading on Comprehension and Speed: A Study on Turkish EFL Learners

Kiymet Selin Armagan,Zubeyde Sinem Genc

doi:10.5539/jel.v6n3p204

Abstract

Reading process has always been one of the most significant and debatable topics in the area of learning and teaching languages. Reading process in mother tongue (L1) and in a foreign language (L2), the association of these processes, variables affecting reading and the qualities of good and poor readers in L1 and L2 have been investigated greatly. Developments in the area of reading in L1 have frequently raised questions about reading in L2 and a variety of theories have been proposed to account for the relationship between L1 and L2 reading. One of the most fundamental questions raised is related to “reading fluency”. Even though the importance of reading fluency in both L1 and L2 has been emphasized, studies on fluency in L2 are still scarce if we think about its more complicated and multifaceted nature when compared to reading fluency in L1. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of timed reading practices on the comprehension level and reading speed of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Turkish context. A total of 74 students were the participants, who were randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control group. Experimental group received timed reading activities while the control group did not. Pre-test was applied on the 1st week and post-test was applied on the 7th week. Results illustrated that timed reading intervention positively affected EFL students’ comprehension level and reading speed. Implications for teaching reading in a foreign language were discussed in relation to a number of important details in the findings.

Highlights

1.1 Introduction of the ProblemA number of studies have been carried out to explore the effectiveness of timed reading in order to improve reading fluency in various learning contexts (Chung & Nation, 2006; Atkins, 2010; Crawford, 2008; Utsu, 2004; Utsu, 2005)
Experimental and control groups’ results focus on both reading speed and comprehension levels within groups while comparison of the groups measures the differences between groups
This study presented the possible effects of timed reading intervention on L2 learners’ reading speed and comprehension levels

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Introduction of the ProblemA number of studies have been carried out to explore the effectiveness of timed reading in order to improve reading fluency in various learning contexts (Chung & Nation, 2006; Atkins, 2010; Crawford, 2008; Utsu, 2004; Utsu, 2005). According to Samuels (1976), a number of reading incidents, one of which is reading without comprehension, can be explained by automaticity. Samuels (1976) claimed that even though readers read everything on the text fluently, they might not remember what the text is about, which means the decoding is done automatically without paying attention to meaning. Considering Samuel’s (1976) claim, it can be presumed that when a text is read fast, comprehension may become lower because attention is not involved in reading process. That means despite the importance of automaticity in the process of fluent reading, attention should be paid on the meaning to comprehend the text

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