The effect of a course management system (CMS)-supported strategy instruction on EFL reading comprehension and strategy use

Abstract

This paper reports on the effect of a Moodle-supported strategy instruction on both reading comprehension and strategy use among EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. Specific reading strategy training was first integrated into a Moodle system, which included reading exercises on problem identification, monitoring comprehension, inferencing, summarizing, transfer, resourcing, and questioning for clarification. The comparison between pre-test and post-test of the experimental group indicated that students had improved their reading comprehension performance after the experimental course was implemented. No significant difference in student reading comprehension performance was found in the control group. Moreover, the learning records were significantly correlated with the post-test of reading comprehension in the experimental group, indicating the positive effect on learning outcome. A questionnaire was also conducted to investigate the students’ perceived learning progress and strategy use. Before the instruction took place, there was no difference in strategy use observed between the experimental and control groups. After the instruction, students in the experimental group employed significantly more reading strategies than the students in the control group, especially in the categories of metacognitive and cognitive strategies. The results demonstrate that Moodle-supported strategy instruction can and will facilitate the EFL students’ overall reading comprehension and strategy use.