The Study of the Effectiveness of Textual Cohesion of Teaching Materials on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The present investigation was an attempt to study the effect of difference in textual cohesion of different teaching materials on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension. To that end, a QPT test was administered to 105 EFL students learning English language in institutes. Based on QPT test direction individuals who get 31+ in grammar and vocabulary, 8+ in reading section, and 8+ in writing are considered to be at intermediate level of foreign language proficiency. So 45 learners were selected for this study and they were divided into three groups, two experimental groups and one control group, the first experimental group, studying Topnotch, the second experimental group studying Touchstone and the control group studying high school English book. All groups contained 15 participants. Then a reading test was administered to all groups as a pre-test to take their initial knowledge of reading comprehension. The experimental groups received treatment in using the above mentioned books containing more cohesive elements in ten sessions. The control group was taught the high school English book reading passages. Finally all experimental and control groups sat for the posttest for reading comprehension test. ANOVA was conducted to see if there was a significant difference between groups or not. The results were computed and analyzed through SPSS and it was explored that difference in textual cohesion in different teaching materials, namely texts containing more cohesive elements, had a positive effect on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension ability. Keywords: cohesion, cohesive devices, reading comprehension, learning. DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/52-03