The Effect of Comprehension Strategy Instruction on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) on Taiwanese university students’ reading comprehension with reference to specific types of reading comprehension questions. The participants were 110 students from two intact classes who had low-intermediate to intermediate level of English. This study adopted a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The data mainly came from statistical results of One-Way ANOVA, but would be triangulated by multiple data sets including the questionnaire responses and transcripts of group discussions during CSR. The findings indicated that CSR had a positive effect on the Taiwanese university learners’ reading comprehension particularly in relation to the comprehension questions on getting the main idea and finding the supporting details. However, the statistical analysis did not show that CSR significantly promoted the EFL learners’ strategic reading competence in regard to predicting, making inferences and dealing with vocabulary problems. The findings of the study suggest that implementing comprehension strategy instruction for one semester may help learners adopt some degree of strategic reading behaviours, but it takes long-term efforts and practices for EFL learners to fully develop their strategic reading abilities.