Academic Reading Comprehension Research Articles

Factors Influencing Comprehension of Metaphors in Academic Reading Texts among Iraqi EFL Learners

Metaphor is recognized as a valuable tool for analysis and as a means to effectively convey meaning. Although metaphor is supposed to be used to effectively convey meaning, learners of English, particularly those in the foreign language context, often have difficulty comprehending metaphors in academic text. The current study aims to contribute to understand deeply of the influencing factors on metaphor comprehension among Iraqi EFL learners when they read academic texts. The study draws on Steen’s (2010) MIPVU model and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify and analyze the metaphorical expressions. The data for the study were collected from two academic reading comprehension texts. Five Iraqi EFL university learners participated in determining the metaphors contained in the texts. The findings revealed that authors of academic texts often incorporate a wide range of metaphorical expressions. These expressions can vary in their familiarity, ranging from very familiar to less familiar and even unfamiliar, to engage readers’ cognitive processes and facilitate the conceptualization of the metaphor. The findings revealed that the factors influencing metaphor comprehension are varied and that they are of two broad types: external factors related to cultural and social considerations, and internal factors related to linguistic and educational settings. The findings could enable practitioners to devise more effective approaches for teaching metaphor comprehension to EFL learners.

Enhancement of Academic Reading Comprehension Skills through Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)

Language skills are an integral part of quality education as it induces communication, creates comprehensibility of content and expedites knowledge acquisition. This requires students to actively involve in language learning, to meet the growing competent requirements of engineering education. Enhancing Reading competence is one of the crucial factors for achieving academic success. This paper examines the effectiveness of Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach in enhancing the reading comprehension skills of first year Engineering students. Cognitive Language Learning Approach is an instructional student – centred approach designed around cognitive and metacognitive strategies, to enable easy comprehension of academic language content. A study was conducted in one of the leading government aided institutions in southern Tamil Nadu, to enhance the reading comprehension skills through the academic subject of Technical English. Data were collected using post-test experimental design, with control group and experimental group (20 each). The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics while the qualitative data recorded the responses of student’s perception on the efficacy of CALLA. The data analysis revealed in enhancement of reading comprehension skills, elevating the overall reading competency. Keywords— Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach; Explicit language instruction; Metacognitive strategies; Reading Comprehension skills Enhancement.

Effects of Reading Strategy Instruction in English as a Second Language on Students’ Academic Reading Comprehension: A Study in Jordan

This study investigates the effects of reading strategy instruction on English reading comprehension among students in Jordan, where English is widely used in academia but often poses significant challenges for learners. Despite the recognition of English reading skills as crucial for academic success, many Jordanian students struggle with reading comprehension due to factors such as inadequate instruction and cultural differences. While the role of reading strategies in enhancing comprehension is acknowledged in educational literature, there is a lack of research focusing on the Jordanian context. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring specific reading strategies that can be implemented, the methods of instruction, and the potential impact on students' academic performance. By providing actionable insights for educators, policymakers, and stakeholders, this research contributes to the enhancement of English reading comprehension skills in Jordan, offering a nuanced understanding that could lead to significant improvements in English language teaching and learning in the region.

Click It: The Effect of Integrating Socrative and KWL on Students’ Academic Reading Comprehension

Click It: The Effect of Integrating Socrative and KWL on Students’ Academic Reading Comprehension

The effect of background audio and audiovisual stimuli on students' autonomic responses during and after an experimental academic examination.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown during the online-distant education period, certain students tended to combine their courses and homework with TV or social media news or other media content, such as classical music, including a wealth of audio and audiovisual stimuli. As the audio and audiovisual stimuli existing in a learning environment may affect students' autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses negatively, the present study aimed to monitor the impact of background TV, classical music, and silence on students' ANS activity represented by heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood volume amplitude (BVA), and skin conductance level (SCL) during and after an experimental academic examination. Seventy-six students were randomly allocated to background TV, classical music, or silence groups. The experiment with repeated measures design consisted of four consecutive periods: baseline, anticipation, challenge, and recovery, lasting 4 min each. Within-subject analyses indicated significant HRV decrement only in the background TV group. Regardless of the experimental groups, HR and SCL increased while BVA decreased during the task. In addition, the between-subject analysis showed that the background TV group experienced significantly larger changes in HR and HRV parameters compared to the other experimental groups relative to their respective baseline measurements. Based on these results, we concluded that relative to classical music and silence, background TV, including audiovisual and verbal stimuli, extant in a learning environment might raise students' sympathetic activity. Further, classical music, without lyrics, may suppress the withdrawal of vagal activity and elevate the autonomic regulation capacity during the academic reading comprehension task. HRV is a more valid and reliable indicator of students' autonomic responses during a challenging academic task.

The roles of vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive awareness as mediators between prior knowledge and L2 academic reading

AbstractIn recent years, reading comprehension studies have followed a componential approach aimed at determining the way in which variables interact. However, in L2 academic reading comprehension, this progress is still in its initial stages. With this context in mind, this paper aims to explore the relationship between prior knowledge and L2 reading comprehension by proposing a mediation model that considers L2 vocabulary knowledge and metacognitive awareness as mediating variables. A final sample of 75 Chilean university students with an intermediate level of English was used for the study. The variables measured were prior knowledge, vocabulary breadth, metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, and reading comprehension. Among the findings of this study, we propose a simple mediation model in which vocabulary knowledge functions as a mediator between prior knowledge and reading comprehension. Unexpectedly, the impact of metacognitive awareness was not found to be statistically significant.

Impacts of Gamification Learning Approach on Student’s Performance and Perception During Covid 19 Post Pandemic 2021 In Indonesia New Normal Learning Setting

This study aims to determine the impact of student performance and perceptions of those taught with a gamification learning approach compared to students in rote classes on their academic reading comprehension during COVID 19 Post-Pandemic 2021 in Indonesia's New Normal learning setting. A quasi-experimental study design with pre-test and post-test control groups was used. Students are allocated to one of two versions of the program's learning environment at random: the gamified version or the original non-gamified version. The results of the pre-post test through the Independent Sample T-Test found a significant value which proved that the Gamification Learning Technique was also more effective than the rote learning method. Questionnaires were used to collect data regarding opinions related to gamification elements and it was found that most students chose "strongly agree" to "agree" with positive statements about research. In conclusion, gamified learning is recommended to make learning more enjoyable, even without fully solving some of the motivational challenges students face.

Impact of a cognitive stimulation program on the reading comprehension of children in primary education.

At present, numerous studies can be found in which influences and relationships between the principal executive functions, reading comprehension, and academic performance associated with reading are reported. However, there is still a lack of convergence regarding the impact of computerized cognitive training on children's executive development and its transfer in academic reading performance and comprehension of written texts. This study analyzes the effect of implementing a cognitive stimulation program on the performance of reading comprehension and academic performance in the subject of Spanish Language and Literature. To this end, a total sample of 196 children from 23 educational centers received the cognitive intervention for 8 weeks, with three weekly sessions of between 15 and 20 min each occurring on non-consecutive days. Pre-test and post-test measurements were collected and analyzed. The results demonstrate a significant increase in the reading comprehension scores. In addition, a significant impact of the training on the participants' academic performance in the subject Spanish Language and Literature was found. These results highlight the usefulness of computerized cognitive stimulation programs for reading comprehension enhancement.

Metacognitive Reading Strategy Awareness and Reading Performance of Vocational Lecturers

In education, the functions of reading, among others, are to access knowledge, to synthesize information, to evaluate arguments, and to learn new subjects. It is believed that successful readers employ various and proper reading strategies to comprehend a text. To examine the use of the metacognitive strategies in academic reading comprehension, this study investigates the reading performance and the major reading strategies of twenty-five vocational Indonesian lecturers from various institutions as the research respondents. Two research instruments were used: Reading Comprehension Test to obtain the data of their reading performance, and Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) to identify their preferred reading strategies. The research finding indicates that the respondents had varied levels of English reading performance. The result also shows that out of the three sub-categories of metacognitive reading strategies, problem-solving strategy was the most frequently used strategy, followed by global strategy and support strategy respectively. Further statistical calculation, however, proves that there was no significant difference in the overall and the three sub-categories of metacognitive reading strategy use between the high and low achievers. There is no significant relationship between the metacognitive reading strategies and reading performance of the participants.

Indonesian EFL Undergraduate Students' Interest Towards Metacognitive Strategy in Reading Academic Comprehension

<p><em>Academic reading comprehension is affected by many factors. This research was focused on understanding academic reading comprehension from the perspectives of interest and metacognitive strategy. This research aimed to find a correlation between students’ interests and metacognitive strategy (before and during reading academic comprehension). The research was conducted at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. There were 27 students who participated in this research. The survey design using a correlational study was applied to analyze the data from the survey-open and close-ended questionnaires. Pearson coefficient correlation was used in exposing the correctional status. The result of the current study showed that there is a positive moderate correlation between students’ interest and metacognitive strategy in reading academic comprehension. Supported by an open-ended data interpretation, this research found that both interest and metacognitive strategy are correlated especially in terms of self-motivation and self-regulation, mood, and strategy employment in reading academic comprehension. This research would have a great theoretical and practical contribution to the English language department, especially for teachers and students in terms of reading academic comprehension. </em></p>

The correlation and prediction of depth of vocabulary knowledge to academic reading comprehension of EFL tertiary learners

An in-depth investigation of vocabulary depth knowledge by lexical researchers plays a prominent role in language learning and teaching. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the extent of relationship and prediction of the three constitutes of vocabulary depth knowledge (i.e., analytic relations, morphological knowledge, and depth of vocabulary knowledge test which was represented by paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations) to reading comprehension. Therefore, this study employed standard multiple regression analysis under quantitative approach amongst undergraduate EFL learners. The results of the study show that a significant and strong correlation existed between adapted analytic relations aspect of vocabulary depth knowledge and reading comprehension, and also analytic relations made statistically the most significant unique prediction (which had the largest impact on) to reading comprehension. The study concludes that there are significant correlations and prediction of three components of vocabulary depth knowledge to reading comprehension. The inclusion of analytic relations with paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations and morphological knowledge, which represented vocabulary depth knowledge, has added to the body of lexical knowledge.

INDONESIAN GRADUATE STUDENTS’ ATTRIBUTIONAL BELIEFS AND METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN THE ACADEMIC READING COMPREHENSION

The field of students’ beliefs in reading comprehension has become an increasingly significant research issue in the educational context. However, there have been very few studies examining attributional beliefs and metacognitive strategies adopted by EFL graduate students to deal with comprehension skills and reading difficulties. Applying the attribution framework, this study aimed to fill in the gap by investigating students’ attributional beliefs, metacognitive reading strategies, and the correlation between attribution and metacognitive reading strategies. The researchers employed mixed-method research with questionnaires and interviews as the instruments to collect data. The results showed that the majority of students attributed their successes or failures to internal factors (efforts and strategies). Many students claimed that they often experienced reading difficulties during online learning. Lastly, the Pearson correlation showed that there was a strong correlation (r = 0.746) between attributional beliefs and metacognitive reading strategies. This study offers several implications for language learning, in particular, the academic reading comprehension. First, students need to have a higher awareness of attributional beliefs in academic reading. Second, language teachers should support students to develop internal attribution and metacognitive strategies in academic reading.

Empirical Insights into College Students’ Academic Reading Comprehension in the United States

ABSTRACT This article reports on a collaborative research project involving faculty in writing studies, communication disorders, and applied linguistics that sought to empirically describe the reading skills of students (N = 910) in freshman composition classes at one college and two universities in the northeast United States. The research team developed and administered a questionnaire that evaluated students’ reading abilities according to six categories: inferential ability, background knowledge, general comprehension, vocabulary, figurative language/jargon, and morphosyntactic structures (grammar/syntax). Our statistically significant results showed that students scored best in the categories of background knowledge and general comprehension, which are well researched in a college population. However, students struggled in categories such as figurative language/jargon and morpho-syntactic structures, which are not well researched in a college population. Further, comprehension seemed generally discrete (understanding specific points of an essay) rather than holistic (indicated by an ability synthesize those points into a general statement about the author’s thesis). These findings suggest that further empirical research in this area will help describe the reading skills of college students and consequently will inform the development of pedagogical approaches that more effectively address students’ current needs.

Effects of reading strategy instruction in English as a second language on students’ academic reading comprehension

The ability to read in a second language (L2) for academic purposes is essential for higher education students. Dutch colleges increasingly use materials in English or teach in English. This can be challenging for L2 readers, especially students entering higher education from vocational studies, who may have less experience with L2 academic reading. Teaching L2 reading programmes containing explicit instruction of reading strategies may benefit higher education students in L2 academic reading, particularly since reading strategies learned in the first language (L1) may not transfer to the L2. In this 7-week L2 reading strategy intervention, 801 first-year polytechnic students learned to use seven reading strategies that were effective according to a meta-analysis of L2 reading strategy studies. Data regarding students reading skills were collected over one academic year, from three treatment waves, using a regression discontinuity design. Three tests of equal difficulty were given to participants. In each wave students completed reading tests several weeks before the intervention, at the beginning and directly after the intervention. Results show that in all three waves the improvement in reading comprehension scores between the second and third measurement (due to the experimental course) significantly exceeded the increase between the first two measurement occasions. Although the intervention was shown to be effective, the effects were to some extent mediated by the previous education level. This study supports the explicit instruction of strategies in L2 reading for students in higher education and welcomes more research into L2 reading strategy interventions for students from vocational backgrounds.

The correlation and prediction of depth of vocabulary knowledge to academic reading comprehension of EFL tertiary learners

An in-depth investigation of vocabulary depth knowledge by lexical researchers plays a prominent role in language learning and teaching. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the extent of relationship and prediction of the three constitutes of vocabulary depth knowledge (i.e., analytic relations, morphological knowledge, and depth of vocabulary knowledge test which was represented by paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations) to reading comprehension. Therefore, this study employed standard multiple regression analysis under quantitative approach amongst undergraduate EFL learners. The results of the study show that a significant and strong correlation existed between adapted analytic relations aspect of vocabulary depth knowledge and reading comprehension, and also analytic relations made statistically the most significant unique prediction (which had the largest impact on) to reading comprehension. The study concludes that there are significant correlations and prediction of three components of vocabulary depth knowledge to reading comprehension. The inclusion of analytic relations with paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations and morphological knowledge, which represented vocabulary depth knowledge, has added to the body of lexical knowledge.

Fortalecimiento de la comprensión lectora con estudiantes de grado quinto

La comprensión lectora es un proceso que está inmerso en todo contexto académico; por eso es de gran relevancia, ya que leer y entender son dos acciones que cumplen un papel fundamental en la vida escolar, porque gracias a esto se desarrollan los conocimientos y el aprendizaje. Este proceso investigativo buscó fortalecer la comprensión lectora en estudiantes de grado quinto pertenecientes a un sector rural. El diseño metodológico de la investigación se planteó desde un paradigma cualitativo de enfoque descriptivo y tipo etnográfico. Se tomó como unidad de análisis a 25 estudiantes de la Institución Educativa Jesús Nazareno de El Tambo – Nariño. Como técnicas de recolección de información se utilizó una prueba diagnóstica y la observación no participante. Después de haber recolectado y analizado la información, se consideró los factores, intereses y necesidades de los estudiantes para diseñar y aplicar la estrategia virtual ‘Amigos de la Lectura’.

Fostering Low English Proficiency Learners’ Reading in a Freshman EFL Reading Class: Effect of Using Electronic and Print Textbooks on Taiwanese University Students’ Reading Comprehension

This study investigated differences in university students’ academic reading comprehension performance, reading strategy use, and perception of the effects of two textbook mediums. Eighty-one students participated in this study. Two textbook formats, hard copies and soft copies of the same textbook were used. A mixed-method research design was used for data collection with paired sample t tests adopted to compare the reading comprehension of two textbooks versions in immediate learning and summative learning on the same group of students, and a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed to probe students’ perceptions. The results indicated that the participants performed no differently on the summative reading comprehension tests, but performed significantly better on immediate tests using the e-textbook. The questionnaire and the interviews showed that half of the respondents still preferred to use print compared to e-textbooks. This study concluded that e-textbooks were not yet positioned to replace print textbooks for university students in Taiwan. Nonetheless, pedagogically, since e-textbooks provide more interactive features than print, they should be considered an integral part of reading instruction.

Correlation and Prediction of Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations to Academic Reading Comprehension Among Tertiary Level EFL Learners

An in-depth investigation of vocabulary depth knowledge by lexical researchers plays an important role in language teaching and learning. However, little is known of empirical research related to the correlation and prediction of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, which represent vocabulary depth knowledge to reading comprehension in an EFL context like Bangladesh. Therefore, this study examined the correlation and prediction of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations to academic reading comprehension, employing standard multiple regression analysis under a quantitative approach amongst 175 Bangladeshi undergraduate EFL students. The results of this study showed that a significant and strong correlation existed between paradigmatic relations and reading comprehension. In addition, paradigmatic relations made a statistically more significant unique prediction to reading comprehension than syntagmatic relations, and it had a larger effect on reading comprehension than syntagmatic relations. Providing an insight into the research gap, the present study suggests that paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations’ knowledge of vocabulary depth knowledge would have practical use for EFL students, English teachers at the tertiary level, and further implications for lexical researchers.

VOCABULARY DEPTH KNOWLEDGE AND ACADEMIC READING COMPREHENSION OF BUSINESS EFL UNDERGRADUATES: A CORRELATIONAL DESIGN STUDY

Purpose of the study: An in-depth investigation of vocabulary depth knowledge by lexical researchers plays an important role in language learning and teaching. The present study examined vocabulary depth knowledge of Business EFL learners and its correlation and prediction to academic reading comprehension, employing morphological knowledge and analytical relations with syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations as part of vocabulary depth knowledge.
 Methodology: The study employed standard multiple regression analysis under a quantitative approach among 120 Business undergraduate EFL students at the tertiary level.
 Main Findings: Results showed vocabulary depth knowledge, i.e., syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, had the strongest and significant correlation with reading comprehension compared to other independent variables. Significantly, vocabulary knowledge, combined with paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations, was found to be a significant and unique predictor of academic reading comprehension. About 62.2 percent of the variance in academic reading comprehension was explained jointly by all three independent variables. About 32 percent of the variance was explained by the vocabulary depth knowledge test alone. Also, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, representing the depth of vocabulary knowledge test made the most significant unique contribution (uniquely explained about 20.25 percent) to explaining academic reading comprehension in comparison with other dimensions of vocabulary depth knowledge. These findings were elaborated in the perspective of combined paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations as the depth of vocabulary knowledge, derivative word forms as morphological knowledge, part-whole relations as analytic relations and their relationship and contribution to reading comprehension.
 Applications of this study: The study suggests that the depth of vocabulary knowledge would have a practical use for the students, English teachers at the tertiary level and further implications for lexical researchers.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: The inclusion of analytic relations with paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations and morphological knowledge, which represented the depth of vocabulary knowledge, has added to the body of lexical knowledge.

Analytic relations versus syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of vocabulary depth knowledge: Their correlation and prediction to academic reading comprehension of EFL learners

AbstractThe aims of the study were to examine the correlation and prediction of different dimensions of vocabulary depth knowledge to academic reading comprehension. Students were instructed to take part in four English-language proficiency tests voluntarily. The research was carried out, administering four instruments, word associates test, morphological knowledge test, and analytic relations test to measure the depth of vocabulary knowledge. In addition, a reading comprehension test that consisted of three reading passages by Longman Test of English as a Foreign Language was adopted and administered for the current study. The results highlighted that the analytic (part–whole) relations, which represented the depth of vocabulary knowledge had the highest correlation with academic reading comprehension in comparison with morphological knowledge and combined syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, which represented word associates test. Of all the three independent variables, analytical relations made the most statistically significant unique contribution to the prediction of the outcome variable compared to word associates test and morphological knowledge. The present study suggests that the depth of vocabulary knowledge would have practical use for students and English teachers at tertiary level and further implications for lexical researchers.