• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-22
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• 2009

This case study aimed to explore proficient EFL readers' perceptions and experiences about reading tasks and how those perceptions and experiences influence their reading processing behaviors, and to examine how the cultural background of a text affects their reading strategies and comprehension. Three college students who were non-English majors participated in this study. Three data sources were employed: questionnaires, interviews, and think-alouds. The results showed that: (1) the participants emphasized comprehension as the goal of reading and considered themselves good EFL readers; (2) their reading purposes were closely associated with personal pursuits; (3) they preferred to read materials that deal with areas of interest but did not try to take a risk in terms of level of difficulty and/or length; (4) they implemented a multistrategic approach to reading in that the majority of their strategy use was in conjunction with their concern about meaning construction; (5) they were able to develop useful understandings of unknown vocabulary; and (6) their clear awareness of the cultural background presupposed in the text helped them invoke prior knowledge and reduce unknown vocabulary hindrances which contributed to comprehension. Pedagogical implications for EFL reading instruction are provided.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.447-455
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of reading development program on reading comprehension using meta-analysis method. The authors synthesized 70 studies regarding reading comprehension conducted during 2001 through 2011. The analyses revealed that 1) the average effect size of the reading development program yielded.763, which is regarded considerably large, 2) the effect size of elementary school group was the biggest, 1.030. There were statistically significant differences amongst school levels, 3) the average effect size of published journal articles was 1.250, which is statistically significantly larger than that of dissertation's.700, 4) regarding the methods to measure the effect of reading comprehension, the effect size of reading method was larger, and 5) the effect size of Korean reading development program was statistically larger than that of English reading development program. This study has limitation as it didn't include unpublished manuscripts, conference presentations, and the like, however this study is meaningful in terms that it tried to draw integrated conclusion about the effect of reading development programs using meta-analysis.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.249-262
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• 2014

This study investigated differences in children's story comprehension as they related to the types of reading media. The participants comprised 62 four-years-olds from two child-care centers located in a middle-income region of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. In order to control the experience effect, newly developed stories published into two formats of reading media (paperback books and electronic books) were provided to the participants. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in children's story comprehension depending on the types of reading media. Paperback book readers and electronic book readers did not show any significant difference in story comprehension, which consists of recall, recognition and reasoning tasks. As literature pertaining to children's usage of electronic books is limited, the present study offers guidelines for the development of children's reading media and may serve as a useful resource for future studies.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.1
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• pp.69-108
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• 1995

Listening comprehension can be defined as a process of an integrative, positive and creative activity through which listeners get the message of speakers' production using linguistic or non-linguistic redundancy as well as linguistic or non-linguistic knowledge. Compared with reading comprehension, it has many difficulties especially for foreigners. while it can be transferred to the other skills: speaking, reading, writing. With this said, listening comprehension can be taught effectively using the following teaching strategies. First. systematic and intensive instruction of segmental phonemes, suprasegmental phonemes and sound changes must be given to remove the difficulties of listening comprehension concerned with the identification of sounds. Second, vocabulary drill through various games and other activities is absolutely needed until words can be unconsciously recognized. Without this, comprehension is almost impossible. Third, instruction of sentence structures is thought to be essential considering grammar is supplementary to listening comprehension and reading comprehension for academic purpose. So grammar translation drills, mechanical drills, meaningful drills and communicative drills should be performed in succession with common or frequently used structures. Fourth, listening activities for overall comprehension should teach how to receive overall meaning of intended messages intact. Linguists and literatures have listed some specific activities as follows: Total Physical Response, dictation, role playing, singing songs, selective listening, picture recognition, list activities, completion, prediction, true or false choice, multiple choice, seeking of specific information, summarizing, problem-solving and decision-making, recognization of relationships between speakers, recognition of mood, attitude and behavior of speakers.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.649-667
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• 2015

This study handled underachievement issue of gifted students by developing and validating educational programs as a solution, or relief, of their academic underachievement problems. The proposed educational program was designed to enhancing reading comprehension ability of gifted students with underachievement. Based on comprehensive literature review, this study found that key issues of underachievement have to do with learning strategy, and also that learning strategy was established as 'reading comprehension strategy.' Considering diverse reading comprehension models and strategies suggested by preceding studies, the reading comprehension strategy program in Korean was customized for underachieving gifted students on the middle school level. The effectiveness of the reading comprehension strategy program as a solution to underachievement of gifted students was explored by applying the developed program to 36 identified students after school twice a week for 6 weeks, conducting pre- and post-tests that were selected to measure their reading comprehension abilities, collecting their academic achievement data before and after the intervention by this study, and interviewing students. As the results of this study, reading metacognition ability, reading comprehension skills, and school grades of gifted students with underachievement were meaningfully improved as a group. On the individual level, 12 identified students, exactly one third of the whole group of underachieving gifted students, showed so improved academic achievement as we can say they overcame underachievement based on the Supplee's definition.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.667-680
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate 1) the types of knowledge students ask for in their reading comprehension of science textbooks using an online annotation system, 2) the accuracy of the knowledge provided by the students to their peers, 3) the frequency of knowledge sharing behaviors, 4) the evaluation of the effect of collaborative reading, and 5) the trust among peers as knowledge sharers. Questions made by 241 students in the second grade of middle school using an online annotation system in two chapters of the science textbook were analyzed using Bloom's revised taxonomy and their answers were grouped according to five accuracy categories. Also, questionnaires for the evaluation of the effectiveness of collaborative reading comprehension and of trust among the students were used. The students asked their peers 'understanding questions' which comprised almost 80% of the total questions they made and were similar with individual metacognitive strategies for reading comprehension. Of the total threads, 71% has scientifically correct threads shared by the students. The frequency of the knowledge sharing behaviors was high but this was affected by the rewards (point system). Students evaluated that collaborative reading comprehension conducted through an online annotation system were helpful in their learning. In addition, the ratio of students trusting their peers who did the knowledge sharing is over 80%. This study shows that when students use an online annotation system, they can fill one another's cognitive gaps in the reading process by sharing knowledge. Also, collaborative reading using an online annotation system has proved that cognitive individualization is possible through sharing knowledge interactively and dynamically, unlike reading hard copies of textbooks which are a one way information transfer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences of reading comprehension and science process skills between science gifted students and general students and to see the correlations between reading comprehension and science process skills of science gifted students by gender. The subjects were 57 science gifted students and 57 general students in 5th grade in U city. The results can be summarized as follows: First, the science gifted students had excellent reading comprehension skills compared to the general students and the difference was statistically significant. By gender, boys and girls of the science gifted students showed higher marks than those of the general students respectively. But for boys, the difference was statistically significant, while for girls, the difference was not significant. Second, the science gifted students has excellent science process skills compared to the general students and the difference was statistically significant. By gender, boys and girls of the science gifted students showed higher marks than those of the general students respectively. And for boys and girls, the difference was statistically significant. Third, there was low positive correlation between the reading comprehension and science process skills of the science gifted students. By gender, boys and girls showed low positive correlation respectively. But for boys, the difference was statistically significant, while for girls, the difference was not significant.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.123-139
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• 2011

This study sought to examine the impact of reading ability and vocabulary at age 5, as well as analyzing the impact which children's gender, parental education level and family income level has on reading comprehension ability and vocabulary at the first grade level in primary school. The study also sought to compare the characteristics of the results obtained in Korea and Japan on this particular research topic. For the Korean part of the study, 328 first grade Korean children, who had participated in the initial testing as five-year olds and agreed to participate in the longitudinal study were tested; whereas in Japan, 215 students were tested. The study results indicated that, in the case of Korea, reading comprehension ability in the first grade was affected by vocabulary and reading abilities at age 5, gender, as well as the mother's education level, in that order. In Japan, it was affected in the order of vocabulary, gender, and father's education level. In terms of first grade vocabulary, in the case of Korea, it was affected in the order of vocabulary and reading ability at age 5 and father's education level; whereas in Japan, it was affected in the order of vocabulary, gender, and reading ability. In both Korea and Japan, at age 5, vocabulary was shown to have a more significant impact than reading ability on both of language ability and vocabulary in the subsequent primary school period. As such, it can be seen that more interest should be shown not only in the ability to read at age 5 but also in expanding the vocabulary of children at this age through appropriate interaction and support.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2010

This study examined the effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on low level EFL readers' comprehension of expository texts and their responses to these treatments. 130 college freshmen were randomly placed into one of three treatment groups and read two expository texts reflecting unfamiliar cultural information. Prior to reading, one group was given previewing instruction, which included vocabulary preteaching and summaries, and a second group was provided with culture-specific background knowledge through watching videos and slides. The third group read each text without any prereading instruction. Immediately after reading a passage, subjects answered a 10-item multiple-choice test. Results showed significant positive effects of the previewing treatment and weak positive effects of the providing background knowledge treatment. Students' responses on the questionnaires revealed that the majority felt that the experimental treatments contributed to comprehension enhancement, made reading more enjoyable, and expedited their reading process. Students in the control group, however, indicated that they needed explicit prereading instruction in order to understand the texts. Pedagogical implications of the findings for EFL reading instruction are provided.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.145-152
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• 2022

The current study investigates the effects of an interactive learning environment on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension skills. The study utilized a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 41 students enrolled in the English program at Umm Al-Qura University studying Reading in EFL course in Summer 2018/2019. The sample was randomly divided into two groups: A control group consisting of 21 students and an experimental group of 20 students. The results revealed statistically significant differences at (α≤ 0.01) between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the posttest of the vocabulary test and the reading comprehension test favoring the experimental group. Finally, the study concluded with a call for more studies on modern technologies in teaching EFL skills in the Saudi context.