Intermediate English As A Foreign Language Learners Research Articles

The Effects of Three Forms of Reading-based Tasks on Iranian Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Uptake

The present study explored the effects of three forms of reading-based L2 vocabulary tasks on learning and retention of 40 target words by Iranian intermediate and advanced male English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To this end, 176 EFL learners were randomly selected and assigned to three experimental and one control condition across two levels of intermediate and advanced proficiency levels. The participants in the experimental conditions read 8 texts including 40 target words and performed word-focused (WF) tasks, oral reproduction (OR) plus summary writing (SW) tasks, and WF plus OR vocabulary tasks incorporating target words according to their task designation. The results of two-way MANOVA and Scheffe’s post-hoc test demonstrated that while all three experimental conditions significantly outperformed the control group in terms of learning and retention of target words, the WF plus OR task was found to be the most effective condition. The results are justified in light of Laufer and Hulstjin’s (2001) Involvement Load Hypothesis, Nation and Webb’s (2011) Technique Feature Analysis, the Skill Acquisition Theory, and Swain’s (1985) Output Hypothesis. The study concluded with pedagogical implications for language teachers and materials developers with regard to including both word-focused and meaning-oriented L2 vocabulary tasks in language classes and language textbooks.

An Account of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention and Recall Through Spaced and Massed Distribution Instructions

There has been an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of spaced and massed distribution instruction in second/foreign language learning. A number of studies in the literature have investigated the impacts of spacing effect on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ vocabulary acquisition. This study aims to expand the body of existing research by exploring the impact of spaced versus massed distribution instruction on EFL learners’ vocabulary recall and retention. To this end, the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) was administered to 120 Iranian EFL students to determine their level of English proficiency. Accordingly, 75 intermediate students were selected and randomly assigned to three equivalent groups: two experimental groups, namely spaced instruction ( n = 25) and massed instruction ( n = 25), and one control group ( n = 25). After administering a pretest, the participants in both experimental groups received two different modes of instruction. The massed instruction group attended one intensive session to learn each set of target vocabularies; the spaced instruction group, on the contrary, had three sessions at irregular time intervals to learn the same vocabularies. The control group studied the same vocabularies but received no vocabulary-focused instructions. Overall, 180 vocabularies were taught to the students during a 12-week period (15 vocabularies per week). The instructions in each group took 60 min each week. Using a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest design, the students first took a receptive vocabulary pretest before the treatment. One week after the treatment, a receptive vocabulary posttest was administered. Finally, after a 4-week interval, the students took the delayed posttest. The results revealed that the spaced instruction group significantly outperformed the massed instruction group on both immediate and delayed posttests. The findings lend support to the modulation of spaced instruction into the curricula in instructional settings as a valuable vocabulary instruction technique to promote vocabulary learning in real classroom environments.

USING GOOGLE SEARCH FOR ENGLISH GRAMMAR LEARNING

Background/Purpose: Second/foreign language learners face problems in different areas such as correct word usage, grammatical accuracy, and pronunciation fluency. This paper responds to one of these problems by investigating the impact of strategic Google Search on Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ grammar learning.
 
 Methodology: Sixty Iranian intermediate EFL learners from a private English language institute in Isfahan, Iran were selected and randomly divided into two groups. To find which areas of grammar are most problematic among the participants, a multiple-choice grammar pretest which was validated by five English experts was given to them. Then 10 questions that most participants answered wrongly were selected as the most challenging ones. During 10 class sessions, the participants were taught how to select the correct choice through Google Search. In fact, each participant in the class had a laptop connected to the internet. The researcher taught them how to search on Google strategically and the participants found out that in Google sites there are some sentences which are grammatically wrong and they should not trust them. They learned how to search strategically for the correct choices. At the end of the sessions they answered a posttest containing different questions but in the same grammatical areas. The pretest and posttest both were conducted while the participants were connected to internet sites.
 
 Findings: Data analysis was done through running t-test using SPSS software and statistically significant difference was revealed. The findings showed that those participants who were taught how to strategically use Google Search performed better in the posttest. Therefore, the results revealed that correct Google Search had improved the Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ grammar knowledge. 
 
 Contributions: This study has several implications for both language learners and teachers regarding the use of Google platform for English grammar learning. In addition, it contributes to the body of knowledge that strategic Google Search does not only improve the Iranian EFL learners’ English grammar but also make them less dependent on teachers thus promoting autonomous learning.
 
 Keywords: Google search, EFL learners, grammar learning, intermediate EFL learners, Iran, web-based instruction.
 
 Cite as: Tavakoli, M. (2021). Using Google search for English grammar learning. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 318-339. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp318-339

Effects of attention to segmental vs. suprasegmental features on the speech intelligibility and comprehensibility of the EFL learners targeting the perception or production-focused practice

The present study investigated the training benefits of segmental vs. suprasegmental aspects for the intelligibility and comprehensibility of spoken English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Five groups of lower intermediate EFL learners were formed by random assignment. A pretest of the speaking skills, intelligibility, and comprehensibility of the learners’ speech confirmed that the five groups were homogeneous before starting the training program. The control group listened to authentic audio tracks in English, and discussed their contents, watched authentic English movies, and did exercises to improve speaking skills without receiving explicit segmental and suprasegmental explanations and exercises. The experimental groups received an explanation of segmental or suprasegmental features (during one-sixth of the teaching time) followed by production-focused or perception-focused practice (during another one-sixth of the teaching time). The total instruction time was the same for all five groups, i.e., 15 h. Students then took a posttest in speaking skills targeting their speech intelligibility and comprehensibility. The findings revealed that the speech intelligibility of learners who received segmental training followed by production-focused practice was better than that of all other groups. Learners who received suprasegmental instruction followed by production-focused practice outperformed all other groups in terms of comprehensibility.

Assessing EFL Students’ Language Proficiency in Secondary School Classes in Benin

This paper presents a study on assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language proficiency in Benin secondary schools. Assessment and evaluation are indispensable components of English language teaching. Assessing students is crucial to both learners and teachers themselves in the sense that its basic function is to improve learning. However, much awareness has not been raised on the key roles of assessment in Benin secondary schools. This study aims at investigating how effective teachers’ assessment of their learners’ language abilities is in EFL classroom and to explore EFL learners’ attitude towards assessment. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, 56 EFL teachers and 458 lower intermediate and upper EFL learners in the Atlantic region in Benin participated in this study. The field study revealed that many teachers wrongly mistake assessment for test and thus use both terms to mean the same thing. Teachers have not been able to see tests as a way of assessing their teaching methods and upgrading their students’ language skills. Besides, most teachers stated that testing is the only tool they use in assessing their learners’ language proficiency and it is mostly for the purpose of assigning grades at the end of the terms. Students declared that most tests consist of grammar questions. As this study draws attention to the close relationship between assessment and teaching, training workshops have been recommended to guide and train teachers on how to effectively assess their students so that teaching and learning in the EFL classroom meet expected objectives and goals.

MALL in Collaborative Learning as a Vocabulary-Enhancing Tool for EFL Learners: A Study Across Two Universities in Saudi Arabia

Vocabulary, as important as it is, is largely relegated to the domain of memorization in the English as a foreign language (EFL) situations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Assessment and achievement tests have proven time and again that this strategy is not doing any good for the learners’ proficiency. This study was conceived to suggest means of improving critical knowledge application. In pilot studies with intermediate EFL learners at Majmaah University and Qassim University, preliminary findings after using mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) as a tool of collaborative learning indicated improved vocabulary retention. The study employed a mixed-method approach by comparing pre- and posttest results across genders and obtaining direct teacher–learner feedback using questionnaires, with 80 participants from two Universities over a period of 3 months. The questions were centered around seeking their opinion on collaborative learning and using smart devices as study tools on the campuses. Results showed that, the experimental group’s use of mobile devices for collaboration helped them for better retention of vocabulary, postintervention, and group performance was improved drastically with more learners scoring closer to the mean value, while the control group showed no remarkable difference in performance.

A Sociocultural Perspective on Second Language Writing: The Effect of Symmetrical versus Asymmetrical Scaffolding on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Writing Accuracy, Fluency, and Complexity and Their Attitudes

This study investigated the effect of different patterns of scaffolding (symmetrical and asymmetrical) on Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ writing accuracy, fluency, and complexity. For this purpose, 90 intermediate female EFL learners took a Preliminary English Test (PET), based on which those whose scores fell one standard deviation below the mean were considered as low intermediate and those whose score was one standard deviation above the mean were considered as high intermediate learners. So, the participants were grouped into three symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns in terms of their language proficiency level: one asymmetrical group with High Intermediate-Low Intermediate learners (H-L), two symmetrical groups with High Intermediate learners (H-H), and another with Low Intermediate learners (L-L). There were 30 students in each group who were, then, divided into smaller groups to interact with each other to develop their essays during a treatment. To evaluate participants’ writing skill, they were made to take a pretest and a post-test. The results of one-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis H tests showed that there were significant differences between the three scaffolding patterns in the writing accuracy and complexity of the EFL students, but not their writing fluency. The findings of the content analysis for the interview further showed that the students had positive attitudes towards the use of the collaborative writing method as they found it enjoyable and beneficial. The results have implications for teachers and learners.

Developing a New Shadowing Procedure for Japanese EFL Learners

Shadowing, a practice of repeating what one hears as simultaneously and accurately as possible, has been researched in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field for years. The research findings have shown that shadowing contributes to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ bottom-up listening skills, which leads to their overall listening comprehension skills. However, the accumulated research findings have not uncovered what aspects of bottom-up skills shadowing precisely contributes to. Thus, this study attempts to examine the aspects of bottom-up skills to which shadowing contributes and proposes a new shadowing procedure to compensate for the limitation of the current shadowing procedure. To this end, a preliminary study and a primary study were conducted. In the preliminary study, the bottom-up skill development through shadowing practice was precisely examined, using a 112-item bottom-up listening test. Thirty-six Japanese university students participated in the experiment and engaged in shadowing practice in eight lessons for a month. The result showed that shadowing practice was effective for developing the skill of identifying prominence in a speech, and word recognition skills but not effective for enhancing phonemic discrimination skills. In the primary study, to overcome the limitation of the shadowing procedure, a new shadowing procedure including three components of attention to output, corrective feedback, and explicit instruction was proposed. Twelve Japanese university students participated and engaged in the new shadowing procedure for three months. Their progress was assessed by a 32-item phonemic discrimination test, and the result showed that the new output-based shadowing procedure with explicit instruction and corrective feedback improved phonemic discrimination skills for intermediate level Japanese EFL learners.

THE EFFECT OF FLIPPED CLASSROOMS ON L2 LEARNERS’ DEVELOPMENT AND RETENTION OF GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE

The present study was conducted within the framework of sociocultural theory to examine the effect of flipped instruction on Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ development of conditional sentences. The study benefited from quantitative methodology within which 60 intermediate Iranian male EFL learners who were checked for their language proficiency by an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) to meet the homogeneity assumption were selected and given a pre- and post-test as well as a delayed post-test on conditional sentences. Half of the learners formed the experimental group and the remaining participants were assigned to the control group. The flipped instruction occurred through WhatsApp and was amplified by face to face discussions on the linguistic materials. Online learning environment armed the learners with the formal instruction of conditional sentences while the in-class time was devoted to tap into meaningful interaction for internalizing the previously-uploaded audio and video grammar tasks. The learners in the control group were provided with direct instruction by using traditional whiteboards. Results revealed that the experimental group, receiving flipped teaching, outperformed the control group that received conventional type of grammar instruction. Moreover, the use of flipped model resulted in significant improvement in learning and retention of conditional sentences. Findings also demonstrated that learners benefited from flipped-taught grammar augmented through feedback in the face-to-face classroom, which acts as the mediator between the teacher and the learners. It can be strongly recommended that teachers can take advantage of flipped instruction in providing effective instruction of language skills and sub-skills and facilitate the learning process for the learners as well.

THE EFFECT OF TEACHING CULTURAL CONTENT ON INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

This study investigated the effect of teaching cultural content on Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension. To this end, 60 intermediate EFL learners from Shokouh Institute in Motelqu, Mazandaran, Iran were selected randomly and assigned to two groups, namely the control group and experimental group; 30 participants in each group were chosen based on their performance using the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). This study used a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest control group research design. After the OPT, the reading comprehension pre-test was given to the participants to check their initial reading comprehension. During a six-week treatment period, both control and experimental groups received the same routine lesson plan of the institute but only the experimental group enjoyed the culture instruction in order to test its effect on learners’ reading comprehension improvement. At the final stage, the post-test was given to check their reading comprehension after the six-week treatment period. The data were analyzed using an Independent Samples T-test and a series of paired Samples T-tests. The results of this study showed that receiving cultural content instruction improved learners’ reading comprehension. In general, the results of experimental group supported the effect of teaching cultural content on Iranian learners’ reading comprehension.

The Influence of Topic Management on the Speaking Ability of Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings where English is not the spoken language, Topic Management has been recognised as one of the factors that influence the speaking ability of learners (Du-Babcock, 1999). In Iran, many intermediate EFL learners find it very difficult to manage the speech aspect of the English language. The present study examines the influence of Topic Management on the speaking ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. It provides useful insights on teaching speaking skills through Topic Management to improve the speaking ability of learners. In this study, quasi-experimental design was used. 40 intermediate learners were selected and divided into two groups, the Control Group and the Experimental Group. Three tests were administered to obtain data from the participants. These were a proficiency test to check the English proficiency level of the participants, a speaking pre-test to check their speaking ability before the treatment, and a speaking post-test to check their speaking ability after the treatment. The results indicate that Topic Management has an influence on the speaking ability of Iranian EFL learners. That is, the more the student is confident in managing the topic the more he/she is able to sustain the conversation. The study concludes that Topic Management can be a facilitative approach to improving Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ speaking ability.

Effect of Task Complexity Manipulation in Writing on EFL Learners' Task Motivation

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners may not appreciate writing and even perform poorly in writing tasks partly due to what feelings they harbor toward such tasks. This study explored the relative effects of three degrees of writing task complexity based on resource directing dimensions of complexity on EFL learners' task motivation. Participants were 64 intermediate EFL learners at a language school in Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, and were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: low complexity group, medium complexity group, and high complexity group. After completing the tasks, they filled in a task motivation questionnaire. The results showed that perceived relevance as a dimension of task motivation was higher in medium complexity group. With respect to emotional state as another dimension of task motivation, medium complexity task motivated participants more than low and high complexity tasks, because the participants showed a positive emotional state after doing it. Based on the findings and regarding intermediate EFL learners, it is recommended that writing tasks with a medium degree of complexity should be incorporated into task-based syllabuses by EFL teachers because of learners' task motivation toward these tasks.

Pedagogical utility of oral discussion versus collaborative drafting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion and small-group collaborative drafting as pre-writing tasks on Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing performance. Additionally, the difference between the writing components was examined. Design/methodology/approach To achieve these objectives, a group of 120 intermediate EFL learners participated in a pretest–posttest study in which they were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group. The students in all three groups were tasked with writing a textbook evaluation report for the pretest and posttest. The pre-writing process in the first experimental group consisted of a group-to-whole student-led oral discussion, while the second experimental group engaged in small-group collaborative drafting. Findings The results indicate that both pre-tasks were effective in improving the participants’ writing skill, while collaborative drafting was even more efficient. Furthermore, it was observed that more writing components improved through collaborative drafting. It is concluded, therefore, that the social atmosphere created through oral discussion and the scaffolding resulting from collaborative drafting can help in writing improvement. Research limitations/implications The findings herein can have implications for first language (L1) composition instruction and second language (L2) writing teaching and, thus, underscoring the utility of the social constructivist approach to writing instruction. Originality/value As there has been no study conducted to explore the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion on EFL learners’ writing skill and to compare its impacts to those of small-group collaborative drafting, the results of this study fill this gap in the literature.

PROMOTING FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS� WRITING: COMPARING THE IMPACT OF ORAL CONFERENCING AND COLLABORATIVE WRITING

This study is an attempt to compare the effect of oral conferencing alongside collaborative writing on writing skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. For this purpose, a piloted sample of the Preliminary English Test (PET) was administered to 90 intermediate female EFL learners, between 20 and 32 years old (Mage = 26). The results of this test enabled the researchers to select 60 homogenous individuals who were then randomly assigned into two experimental groups of 30 named �oral conferencing group� and �collaborative writing group�. To ensure the homogeneity among the participants in terms of their writing ability before the treatment, their scores on the writing section of the PET test were analyzed in isolation and it was considered as the pretest of the study. Oral conferencing included the discussions and negotiations among the participants and the teacher before and after writing activities followed by live teacher-student as well as student-student feedbacks. In the collaborative writing group, the participants wrote compositions in groups based on the same topics introduced in the oral conferencing group. At the end, both groups were given another piloted writing section of the PET test as the posttest. The analysis of the test scores using an independent sample t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that there is a significant difference between the effect of oral conferencing and collaborative writing on EFL learners� writing skills. Finally, it can be concluded that EFL learners� writing skill was more affected by applying oral conferencing rather than collaborative writing.

The Comparative Effect of Spacing Instruction and Massed Instruction on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

This study compared the effects of spacing and massed instructions on Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension. To fulfill this objective, 50 Iranian participants were selected among 80 students based on the results of Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The intermediate selected participants were then randomly divided into two equal experimental groups; spacing group and massed group. Afterward, the researcher measured the participants’ English reading comprehension by administering a reading comprehension pretest. Then, five English texts from Active One Book were instructed to both experimental groups. In the massed class, each text was taught in an intensive 60-min session, whereas each text was taught to the spaced group in three short sessions (about 60 min in total). The first session lasted for 20 min; the second occurring 2 days after the initial session lasted 20 min; and the third session took 20 min and was held 2 days after the second session. After the instruction, a reading posttest was administered to the both groups and finally the data were analyzed by using paired and independent samples t tests. The obtained results indicated that there was a significant difference between the posttests of spacing and massed groups. The findings indicated that the spacing group significantly outperformed the massed group ( p < .05) on the posttest. The implications of this study can make the teachers aware that teaching through spaced intervals can provide better results than teaching through one massed session.

The Comparative Effect of Collaborative Strategic Reading and Content-Based Instruction on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

The present study was an attempt to compare the effect of teaching Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) and Content-Based Instruction (CBI) on the reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. To fullfill this objective, a group of 90 intermediate female EFL learners, within the age range of 17 to 19, took a piloted sample of the PET as a pre-treatment proficiency test. Sixty of them were selected as homogeneous learners and were randomly divided into two experimental groups of CSR and CBI. The CSR group receieved CSR strategy training based on Klingner, Vaughan, and Schumm's model (2001), while the CBI group receieved CBI-based strategy training, using Tsai and Shang's (2010) model. At the end of the training, another piloted PET reading test was administered as the posttest. The pre-treatment reading scores were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test whose results confirmed the pre-treatment homogeneity of the participants. The post-treatment scores were also analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test whose results indicated no significant difference in the reading posttest levels of CBI and CSR groups, U = 423.5, z = -.401, p = .688, r = -.0517. The article concludes with a discussion on the results and presenting some implications.

The Comparative Effect of Portfolio and Summative Assessments on EFL Learners' Writing Ability, Anxiety, and Autonomy

The present study was an attempt to systematically compare the effect of portfolio and summative assessment on writing ability, anxiety, and autonomy of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The participants were 70 male and female intermediate level EFL learners, between 19 and 35 (Mage = 27), who were non-randomly selected from among 90 EFL learners through employing a piloted sample of the Preliminary English Test (PET). They were randomly assigned into two experimental groups of 35, named portfolio assessment writing and summative assessment writing. Prior to the treatment phase, the participants filled out the English versions of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and Zhang and Li's (2004) Learner Autonomy Questionnaire. The portfolio group was instructed based on the Classroom Portfolio Model, by Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000), whereas in the summative assessment group, the common traditional summative assessment approach was implemented. After the treatment phase, both experimental groups were given another writing section of the PET test and the same anxiety and autonomy questionnaires as the posttests. The analysis of the test scores using two independent-samples t-tests and an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the summative assessment group had a significantly higher post-treatment level of anxiety. Furthermoe, the level of post-treatment autonomy in the portfolio assessment group was significantly higher. It was also concluded that there was a non-significant difference between the impact of portfolio and summative assessment on writing scores when controlling for the impact of pretest scores.

Learning English as a Foreign Language through the Listening in Mute Approach

<p><em>One of the major problems faced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners is the difficulty of decoding words and their meanings. While some are very early discouraged by the large amount of words to know before having a good command of this language, others struggle to progress in learning it because of the complexity of some words due to the multiplicity of their meanings. To overcome this problem, the author of this paper, after several years of research, tried to set up the listening in mute (Note 1) (low volume listening or soft listening) approach which refers to the action of the subconscious that has the capability of assimilating the language instead of the learner ((his or her) (Note 2) conscious mind) while the latter is sleeping in an environment where the English language is spoken in a low voice by native speakers. </em></p><p><em>Therefore, to examine the effectiveness of this approach, seven Beninese intermediate EFL learners were voluntarily recruited from three English Language Clubs (Note 3). It was recommended to each of them to take the habit of listening to a radio with a reduced volume in a low voice tuned to a channel broadcasting English programs before going to bed at night. The results were very impressive. Through individual interviews and focus groups, participants revealed that their six-month experience in these programs has helped them develop many skills such as listening, meaning-decoding and pronunciation.</em></p>

Investigating the Relationship between Learning Style and Metacognitive Listening Awareness

This research investigated the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ style and their metacognitive listening strategy awareness. In order to investigate the relationship, 135 female intermediate Iranian EFL learners took part in the study voluntarily. Two sets of questionnaires, Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) and Reid Learner Style Questionnaire, are used in this research as the medium of data collection. To have a comprehensive assessment, four learner styles—auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile/haptic, and visual learners—are considered in the study. The results indicated there is a statistically significant relationship between learner style and metacognitive listening strategy awareness of EFL learners. In other words, each learner type differ in the degree of metacognitive listening awareness. The auditory learners reported a significant difference in the mean scores on MALQ than other learner styles.

The Comparative Effect of Teaching Metacognitive Strategies and Collaborative Strategic Reading on EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

This study was an attempt to systematically investigate the comparative impact of teaching Metacognitive Strategies (MS) and Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' Reading Comprehension (RC). The participants were 58 homogenized intermediate level female EFL learners, within the age range of 18-30 (Mage = 24); they were non-randomly selected and were randomly assigned into two experimental groups of 29. One experimental group received MS training based on Anderson's (2002) model, and the other experimental group received training in CSR based on Klingner and Vaughn’s (1998) model. Inspecting the initially-homogenized participants’ post-treatment performance, through using a piloted PET reading test and running an independent-samples t-test, revealed that the MS group performed significantly better than the CSR group in terms of RC. The study concludes with a discussion on the obtained results, followed by presenting some implications for EFL teachers, EFL learners, and EFL material developers.