Reading is an essential strategic and a life-long skill required for success in learning. The current study explores the knowledge and beliefs of Saudi students of English as a foreign language (EFL) about English reading comprehension strategies. It also intends to determine if there is a significant correlation between the students' foundational…

This study explores the effect of categorically different pre-reading activities in learners' L1 on reading comprehension and learning of focus-on-vocabulary. The participants were sixty Turkish EFL learners attending a state high school, and the data was gathered from their achievement test scores. We analyzed the data through one-way…

As an alternative solution to solve different reading comprehension problems in learning English as a foreign language (EFL), it is necessary to implement a blended learning model that combines both online and face-to-face (f2f) teaching modes. This study aimed at investigating the impact of blended learning on Iranian intermediate EFL learners'…

Ethan Lynn, the author of the article, describes three sets of oral reading activities he developed for his English as a Second Language students. Each set focuses on one of the three types of fluency: word-, sentence-, and passage-level. The word-level fluency activities are best employed as part of the pre-reading phase of a reading activity.…

Academic reading at college and university poses a real challenge for international students with English as a second language. Often the main hurdles are a lack of language proficiency, critical-reading skills, or background knowledge. Also, unfamiliarity with cultural and academic conventions plays a role. Even with intensive English-language…

This theoretical review is an overview of three important theories: schema theory, information-processing theory, and sociocultural theory. Second/foreign language teachers need to familiarize themselves with these theories if they want to teach culturally unfamiliar texts more successfully in their language classrooms. Although each of these…

This study explores the effect of prior discipline-related knowledge in reading comprehension for two groups of students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL). The first group (G1), had 22 students enrolled in a general Spanish course and the second (G2), had 18 students enrolled in a course of Spanish for medical professions. The aim was to…

As research evidence for the facilitative effects of reading strategies on reading comprehension has been accumulating, research and pedagogical interests in prereading strategies such as prediction and schema[superscript activation] are increasing. Yet, little research evidence of how actual performance on such tasks may be related to reading…

English language teaching (ELT) textbooks, especially reading textbooks, often include biographical reading passages (Tomas, Kostka, and Mott-Smith 2013) with accompanying pre-reading questions, post-reading comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, and prompts for writing or discussion. Teachers often begin reading lessons by providing…

This paper reports an action research study which aimed to avoid the use of mother tongue in reading comprehension activities. To this end, an action research study was designed and conducted with 30 elementary level students studying at the Preparatory school of Baskent University. The study was conducted in the first term of 2016-2017 academic…

The current research study investigated the effects of talking story books on Saudi young EFL learners' reading comprehension skills. A sample of Saudi-young-EFL learners were randomly selected and divided into two groups: an experimental group (40 students) and a control group (39 students). Students of both groups took a pre reading…

Previewing a text is a key global reading strategy. Previewing may increase comprehension as it can activate schema, increase global awareness of the text, and enhance the use of other reading strategies. Despite its importance, an explicit focus on previewing skills has been lacking and previous research on the reading strategies of second…

The significance of gaining a better understanding of how test-taking strategies are used has been recognized by researchers. Considering this fact, this study aimed at investigating the test-taking strategies which were employed by IELTS candidates in reading comprehension test. Besides, it tried to take into account the differences among…

This study aims at measuring the amount of the effect of the reader's background knowledge on performance in reading comprehension tests through the assessment of information gained in reading comprehension (RC) tests across-four testing techniques, short answer questions ,true-false items, multiple-choice items, and cloze test and re-test. This…

This study focuses on two pre-reading strategies: vocabulary pre-teaching and comprehension question presentation. Researchers have claimed that a vocabulary strategy is less effective than any other pre-reading strategy. This study investigates whether their claim is true of Japanese university students. The purpose of the study is twofold. The…