English Reading Course Research Articles

EFL STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS ENGLISH TEXTS

Students who learn business or economics subjects might read different business texts related to their majors. However, many English as a Foreign language (EFL) students are still struggling with their reading comprehension abilities The objectives of the study are to identify students’ perceptions of common difficulties when reading Business English texts and to explore their attitude towards a number of solutions. The participants were ninety-six Business English students who enrolled in a Business English Reading course at a public economics university in Ho Chi Minh City. A five-Likert questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were employed to collect the data for the study. The results show that EFL students often encountered difficulties in reading Business texts. The most prominent factors influencing Business English reading comprehension generally are Vocabulary, Timing, and Background Knowledge. To address those issues, Business English students proposed six solutions regarding lexical and grammatical knowledge enhancement, regular practice, metacognitive strategies, participation in business courses, and online dictionary use. These recommendations collectively aimed to empower students in mastering the skills of Business English reading comprehension.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0101/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Contributions of motivational components to L2 achievement through the mediation of learning strategies

This study investigated the relationships among intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, learning strategies, and second/foreign language (L2) achievement. A self-report questionnaire of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was administered to 291 university students learning English in Korea to collect data about motivation and learning strategies, and L2 achievement was determined by the grade of an English reading course. The results of data analysis using the Pearson product moment correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) were as follows: first, the correlations among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, learning strategies, and achievement were all significant, with intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy the highest and intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation the lowest correlations. Second, the model (Model 4) explaining the contributions of extrinsic motivation and self-efficacy to achievement mediated by learning strategies fit the current data better than other competing models (Models 1, 2, and 3). Third, significant direct effects of extrinsic motivation and learning strategies on achievement were found, whereas a significant indirect effect of self-efficacy on achievement by way of learning strategies was detected. The implications of these findings were discussed in terms of the contributions of extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and learning strategy use to L2 achievement, followed by future study areas to shed further light on relations among motivational components, learning strategies, and L2 achievement.

An Analysis of the Research Trends in Blended Learning Methods in Teaching College English Reading Courses

Curtis J. Bonk defined blended learning as a combination of face-to-face and computer-assisted online learning instruction since it was gradually formed after the emergence of the Internet [1,2]. Breen pointed out that blended learning is a learning method that combines online and offline learning activities and resources [3]. The blended learning approach is popular in school and e-learning. Moreover, it is one of the important trends in promoting higher education reform in the coming years. Therefore, it has attracted the attention of international researchers [4]. In this paper, 42 articles in Scopus (established by international institutions) and 30 articles in CNKI (found by Chinese mainland institutions) on the query of “college English reading blended learning” in the field of education were analyzed. Furthermore, CiteSpace software was used to analyze the research hotspots and trends with the keyword clusters and citations that occurred in the last two decades (1999 to 2022) to foresee future research prospects.

Exploring English newspaper reading of Chinese college English majors in mobile-assisted language learning

Abstract With advances in mobile technology, mobile devices have been widely applied in language learning. English newspaper reading apps are emerging language learning tools for Chinese English majors. However, little has been published on reading in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) environments. Studies of English newspaper reading are limited to the classroom environment. To explore English newspaper reading in MALL, this study analysed the features of English newspaper reading apps, usage patterns, and users’ language learning strategies by adopting both quantitative and qualitative methods. This research found that (1) apps incorporating multimedia technology mainly provide vocabulary instruction. Most English majors prefer English newspaper reading apps with explanations; (2) Learners tend to use WeChat as the main reading platform instead of utilising apps in combination; and (3) The most frequently used strategies by English majors are affective strategies, while the least frequently used strategies are social strategies, although most English newspaper reading apps support collaborative learning. The study is expected to inspire the design of English newspaper reading apps and the reform of the English newspaper reading course.

An intralinguodidactic reform of STEM English curricular design: a case study of scientific literature reading

To match the teaching demands of STEM talents with global competence, an innovative intralinguodidactic methodological approach has been designed and experimented in curricular constructions of STEM English education. In this research project, the construction of English reading course is focused on achieving the training aim of global competence. The aim of this paper is to develop a practical curricular framework of Scientific Literature Reading on the methodological base of intralinguodidactics. The object of this paper is to evaluate the intralinguodidactic curricular framework of STEM English course. The subject is to examine the effectiveness of employing intralinguodidactics as a methodological basis for curricular design. The relevance of this project has been proven by the teaching practice in three aspects: interconnection, decentration, and compatibility. The teaching practice proves that global competence is a set of knowledge, skills, competencies and personal qualities allowing STEM talents to develop communicative competence of a foreign language. And global competence is shaped by future careers of a graduate. Hence, the educational process of STEM English acquires a new meaning, that is, it becomes a process of the autonomous cognition and digestion of English information literacy materials entertaining professional and sociocultural significance.

GAMIFICATION ELEMENTS AND ENGAGEMENT: exploring students’ perception in an English reading course

Gamification has been widely employed as a pedagogical tool for fostering interaction and learning in class, including in foreign language teaching contexts. The gamification process may modify the structure or the content of a course with the use of specific strategies, such as the attribution of points and acknowledgements, ranking systems, storytelling, and others. Still, there is a lack of formal methodological procedures on how to design such strategies, as well as how they affect the engagement of students. As an attempt to expand the studies on the use of gamification as a pedagogical tool, this research aims at identifying which elements are likely to promote or limit engagement opportunities in class according to the student’s perception. Data was generated through a questionnaire, which was applied on a remote instrumental reading course, and components of quantitative and qualitative research were used to analyze responses to open-ended and Likert-scale questions. The results indicate positive and challenging aspects of certain gamification elements. High importance was attributed to elements that provided task guidance and content feedback, fostered decision-making opportunities towards content, and created moments for interaction with the environment and peers. Elements that appeared to limit engagement were related to individual collaboration in group work, content complexity regarding the target language, introduction of new digital tools and systems, and personal topics of interest; accordingly, these items require careful implementation.

GAMIFICATION ELEMENTS AND ENGAGEMENT: exploring students’ perception in an English reading course

Gamification has been widely employed as a pedagogical tool for fostering interaction and learning in class, including in foreign language teaching contexts. The gamification process may modify the structure or the content of a course with the use of specific strategies, such as the attribution of points and acknowledgements, ranking systems, storytelling, and others. Still, there is a lack of formal methodological procedures on how to design such strategies, as well as how they affect the engagement of students. As an attempt to expand the studies on the use of gamification as a pedagogical tool, this research aims at identifying which elements are likely to promote or limit engagement opportunities in class according to the student’s perception. Data was generated through a questionnaire, which was applied on a remote instrumental reading course, and components of quantitative and qualitative research were used to analyze responses to open-ended and Likert-scale questions. The results indicate positive and challenging aspects of certain gamification elements. High importance was attributed to elements that provided task guidance and content feedback, fostered decision-making opportunities towards content, and created moments for interaction with the environment and peers. Elements that appeared to limit engagement were related to individual collaboration in group work, content complexity regarding the target language, introduction of new digital tools and systems, and personal topics of interest; accordingly, these items require careful implementation.

The Effects of an MMORPG on Thai EFL University Students’ Reading for Main Ideas

This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of using a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) as a tool for improving students’ English reading skills, specifically in identifying main ideas. The study employed a quasi-experimental method to gather comprehensive data, including pre-tests and post-tests consisting of 25 items each, to measure students’ performance before and after utilizing the MMORPG. Additionally, a 15-question questionnaire was used to assess students’ perceptions of using an MMORPG for reading instruction, and semi-structured interviews comprised of five questions were conducted to delve deeper into students’ experiences and opinions. A purposive sample of 35 students enrolled in an English reading course at a university in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand was selected for participation. The findings reveal a significant improvement in participants’ post-test scores compared to their pre-test scores (the results of participants’ post-test scores increased from the pre-test scores at 6.657, p = .000), indicating enhanced understanding of main ideas through MMORPG based instruction. Moreover, the majority of participants expressed enjoyment and enhanced learning experiences using the MMORPG approach. This research study has implications for course developers, emphasizing the importance of a systematic process in MMORPG design and exploring the pedagogical benefits of incorporating an MMORPG as an alternative teaching method for similar subjects.

Teachers’ Perceptions and Challenges in Integrating Technology in English Reading Course: A Systematic Research Review

This study aims to analyze teachers' perceptions and challenges in integrating technology to teach English reading skills. This study uses a systematic analysis method that identifies existing literature on Google Scholar. Data collection was carried out through systematic literature review stages: 1) framing questions for a review, 2) identifying relevant work, 3) assessing the quality of studies, 4) summarizing the evidence, 5) interpreting the findings. The results of this study found that the teacher's positive perception of integrating technology in learning English and integrating technology can help teaching and learning activities and make classes interesting. The challenges faced by teachers in integrating technology include the lack of technology media facilities, slow internet connections, lack of teacher skills in mastering technology, teacher or student motivation to use technology in learning English, and proper material preparation. Based on these results, it can be concluded that teachers have a positive attitude towards integrating ICT in English learning activities, especially for teaching students' English reading skills.

The effect of implementing a critical thinking intervention program on English language learners’ critical thinking, reading comprehension, and classroom climate

Entering the age of globalization and multi-cultures, the education system has become more accountable to provide a positive and productive learning atmosphere in which both life skills and academic skills are taught and trained. Following this welcoming trend, the present study sought to integrate a proposed critical thinking-based intervention program (3Es) on the ground of Bloom’s original and revised Taxonomy (1956, 2001) into a BA English reading course. This study examined the treatment’s effect on learners’ critical thinking, attitudes toward L2 classroom climate, and reading comprehension in an English as a foreign language context of Iran. According to the placement test results, excluding the upper-intermediate ones left a sample of 40 (29 females and 11 males) intermediate participants being assigned to two groups: control and experimental. While the former received conventional instruction, the latter was exposed to the critical thinking program presented in three stages: exposure, exploration, and evaluation. The data were derived from Honey's critical thinking questionnaire (2004), the L2-contextualized adapted version of WIHIC (What Is Happening In The Class) designed by Fraser et al. (1986), and the British Council reading comprehension tests. After analyzing the data, the results demonstrated positive changes in the experimental group participants’ critical thinking, reading comprehension, and learners’ attitudes toward classroom climate after implementing the critical thinking intervention program. Our findings contribute to firstly EFL practitioners and curriculum designers, as the main authorities in revising and developing curricula and educational facilities to include the skill of critical thinking as one of the major contributors to the positive atmosphere of the class, and next to the teachers to become cognizant of the influential role of critical thinking in students’ attitudes toward the classroom and their academic development.

The role of live transcripts in synchronous online L2 classrooms: Learning outcomes and learner perceptions

This study explored the role of live transcripts in online synchronous academic English classrooms by focusing on how automatically generated live transcripts influence the learning outcomes of lower-proficiency and higher-proficiency learners and on their perceptions towards live transcripts. The study adop ted a 2 × 2 factorial design, with the two factors being learner proficiency (high vs. low) and availability of live transcription (presence and absence). The participants were 129 second-year Japanese university students from four synchronous classes taught on Zoom by the same teacher under an academic English reading course. Learning outcomes in this study were evaluated according to the course syllabus through grades and participation in class activities. A questionnaire consisting of nine Likert-scale questions and a comment box was administered to explore participants’ perceived usefulness of, perceived ease of use of, and perceived reliance on live transcripts. Results showed that contrary to previous studies reporting the effectiveness of captioned audiovisual materials in L2 learning, live transcripts as a special type of captions were not effective in promoting the grades of learners of either proficiency. However, it significantly improved the activity participation of lower-proficiency learners, but not that of higher-proficiency learners. Questionnaire results showed that there were no significant differences between learners of two proficiencies in their perceptions towards live transcription, which contradicts previous findings that lower-proficiency learners tend to rely more on captions. Besides enhancement of lecture comprehension, participants reported innovative uses of live transcripts such as screenshots with transcripts for notetaking purposes and transcripts downloaded for later review.

Longitudinal Study of Foreign Language Boredom Experienced by English Major Students in a Blended English Reading Course

Introduction: Boredom is a negative psychological and emotional experience prevalent in foreign language classrooms. However, it has long been neglected by researchers and foreign language teachers. In this context, the present study investigated boredom experienced by college English majors in a blended English reading course. Research efforts revolved around students’ overall boredom level, gender differences, and dynamic changes in boredom.
 Methodology: This study adopted a quantitative research method, and the instrument was a quantitative questionnaire adapted from the Foreign Language Learning Boredom Scale. A total of 174 EFL learners (60 males and 114 females) in the second year of English majors from a private university in Southwest China filled out the online version of FLLBS in weeks 3, 9, and 15 during the fall semester of 2022-2023 academic year.
 Results: The findings demonstrated that participants’boredom was at a moderate level. Moreover, except in foreign language class boredom at Time 2 and over-challenging or meaningless task boredom at Time 3, there existed no significant gender differences. Finally, a complicated picture was painted regarding the dynamic changes in boredom levels over time, and different patterns were found.
 Conclusion: College EFL learners do feel bored in the learning process, which should not be neglected by language teachers and researchers. This study enriched the research on foreign language boredom and can provide enlightenment to EFL teaching.

Research on English Reading Teaching in High Schools from the Perspective of Deep Learning

Reading is an important part of high school English teaching and an important way to improve students' subject literacy. Deep learning is based on the learning method of student subjects, which provides the possibility for the landing and growth of core literacy of subjects. High school English reading teaching from the perspective of deep learning requires students to critically accept the views, thoughts, emotions, etc. in the text on the basis of understanding the general meaning of the text, integrate new knowledge with old knowledge, transfer it to practical application and solve problems. The teaching of English reading under the concept of deep learning can improve students' English ability, so that their cultural character, thinking quality and learning ability can be developed. This paper analyzes the current situation of deep learning in high school English reading courses, summarizes the connotation of deep learning, explains the teaching strategies of high school English reading to achieve "deep learning", and explores the teaching practice of high school English reading courses under deep learning based on teaching cases.

An Exploration of Learning Satisfaction and Problems on Synchronous Online Teaching Mode in an English Comprehensive Reading Course During the COVID-19 Epidemic Period

Abstract In order to explore the learning satisfaction and problems of the synchronous online teaching mode in an English comprehensive reading course during the COVID-19 epidemic period, this study constructed a synchronous online teaching mode based on the theory of community of inquiry and practiced it for one semester. The participants were 60 second-year English education majors, and the research methods were surveys and interviews. The study found that most students were satisfied with the synchronous online teaching mode adopted in this course; the synchronous online teaching mode helped improve learning outcomes; there were problems of distraction and lack of sustained attention in the synchronous online teaching mode. Based on the findings, suggestions were put forward to improve the learning satisfaction of online teaching, in order to provide references for enhancing the quality of foreign language online teaching and blended teaching in the post-epidemic era.

Developing a reading course model for pre-service English language teachers within the framework of critical pedagogy

Today’s global world brought significant changes to our learning and teaching habits, skills, and competencies we need to gain to deal with and make decisions on challenging global issues. One of these essential skills we need to improve is critical thinking skills. Enhancing critical thinking skills and developing an in-depth critical consciousness on challenging issues can be achieved through the improvement of two essential literacy skills, reading and writing. This paper presents a reading course model developed to improve pre-service English language teachers’ critical reading skills within the framework of critical pedagogy. Many English reading courses in higher education level are designed with traditional approaches that aim to improve the basic reading comprehension skills of second language (L2) readers. Unlike these courses, the course model reported in this paper aims to develop pre-service English language teachers’ critical reading skills as well as consciousness on critical global issues by creating a context they experience reading in English as a social act by having a deeper level of engagement with critical global issues such as social justice, gender equality, refugee problems, human rights, and environmental challenges. The paper first provides a detailed description of the theoretical framework behind the design of the course and then presents the course with a focus on learning objectives, course procedure, reading text selection and assessment of students’ works. The pedagogical considerations and implications are provided in the conclusion for instructors who are interested in implementing a reading course enriched with critical pedagogy.

The Impact of COVID: Case Study of an Academic English Reading Course at Qassim University

This paper contributes to the burgeoning field of research investigating the educational effects of COVID. A questionnaire with both open and closed questions was administered to female takers of an Academic English Reading course at a Saudi university, eliciting responses about aspects of the quality of delivery of that course before and after the onset of COVID. From this quantitative and qualitative student evaluation of traditional class teaching (TCT) versus emergency remote teaching (ERT), some findings emerged that echoed those in the few comparable studies in the West. For example, certain features like the greater autonomy of the student in ERT than TCT were liked by some students but not others, while features such as the superiority of teacher-student communication in TCT were more uniformly approved. Furthermore, predictions from the literature such as that favouring TCT would be associated with greater self-efficacy, or a greater perceived degree of transactional interaction between student and teacher were not supported in the context of this study. Analysis of suggestions for ERT improvement leads to the conclusion that, at present, it may be that students need training to exploit the existing ERT, rather than that the ERT to be altered.
 
 Received: 28 September 2022 / Accepted: 30 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023

On Integrating the Moral and Political Elements into the English Reading Course for Minors

The Moral and Political education, since proposed as a concept, has received much attention among literature works. It regards strengthening moral education and cultivating people as the foundation of education and provides the major and clear orientation for all the talents cultivation. Many researches have worked on the construction of integrating moral and political education into major courses, each with different mode, but little consideration was taken into research participants. Due to the diversity and particularity of the minor degree, the study determines to explore the complex path of integrating moral and political education into the English reading course for minors, hoping it may shed some insights into the similar types of integration and the researches on complex courses.

Study on Cultivation of Critical Thinking Ability in College English Reading Course

Critical thinking ability is one of the core competencies of college students. Cultivation of college students’ critical thinking ability is the key to cultivation of their innovative talents. English reading is one of the important ways for college students to learn English language and get in touch with western ideas and cultures. Improving students’ ability to understand and evaluate western culture through reading English is of great significance for the improvement of college students’ critical reading ability. The cultivation of critical reading ability can be done from encouraging students in raising questions, optimizing teaching procedures and improving assessment methods.

大學英語閱讀課程深度學習場域構建研究

Based on Deep Learning Theory, this paper analyzes the construction of reading strategies, environments, tasks, dialogues, contents, feedback and other fields in the deep learning field of college English reading courses, so as to summarize the effective path of deep learning of college English reading courses.

Design of a dual-hierarchy scaffolding board game-based learning activity for EFL reading comprehension

Promoting English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ reading comprehension, improving their reading motivation, and reducing their anxiety have always been the focus of EFL researchers. Educational board games have gradually received attention from educators. Various studies have found that board game-based teaching can improve students’ learning performance, motivation, and classroom engagement, and contribute to increasing discussion. However, there are few discussions on board games in the field of EFL, so further discussion is necessary to fill the research gap of board games in EFL reading comprehension. This study developed a dual-hierarchical scaffolding board game activity framework integrating game-based learning (GBL) and scaffolding strategies, and used card board games as teaching materials to promote EFL students’ reading comprehension. The game activity framework provides a scaffolded language learning environment with dual-hierarchy concepts to support students in building successful reading strategies. Moreover, the verbal and visual representations are displayed together on the cards game component. Game mechanics can help students to link verbal and image information. On the other hand, this framework emphasizes allowing students to first use the group discussion and collaborative reading mode to conduct self-directed and game-based learning activities with the dual-hierarchy scaffolding strategy. Then the teacher guides the students to use the concepts learned in the game activities to analyse and read the text so that they can understand the text content. A quasi-experimental design was conducted in a high school English reading course to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed framework. The experimental results showed that the proposed framework not only significantly promoted the EFL students’ reading comprehension and learning motivation and decreased their learning anxiety, but also helped them maintain a high level of learning motivation in the process of the activities. It is expected that the proposed structure can lead to better EFL teaching practices.