Cohesion Theory of Halliday and Hasan has been widely applied in different parts of language teaching. As many cohesive devices are used in language, it's very necessary for language learners to understand and identify those devices. Now in China, a large number of college students have to take part in the CET-4 test every year. Thus, it is of…

The current study examined the impact of translanguaging on second language reading comprehension. The study involved an experimental and a control group. The participants in the experimental group (n = 38) were offered four opportunities to engage Arabic -- their first language -- in comprehending a text in English. These occasions for…

This study explored the role of vocabulary breadth and depth in second language learners' performance in IELTS academic reading tests in China. Sixty-two Chinese learners of English as a foreign language completed a vocabulary size test, a vocabulary depth test, and an IELTS reading test. Results showed that vocabulary breadth and depth both…

The present study examines the influence of ambiguity tolerance on the performance of Iranian GFL-learners (Note 1) at level B1 in the processing of gap-filling-text tests. It is assumed that learners with more tolerance of ambiguity achieve better results in the reading comprehension or in the contextual guessing of the omitted words. 34 GFL…

Cloze procedure is a technique generally used to assess learners' reading comprehension by deleting words based on a criterion. Learners are then asked to supply the omitted words to complete the sentences as they read the text, guessing the words that may be inserted based on the context. Cloze procedure can also be used to assess, recycle, and…

This study has recently been conducted to find out the effect of extensive exposure to reading materials and of moderate amount of exposure supported by explicit instruction on enhancing discourse signaling awareness. Data analyzed quantitatively came from test scores of 36 high school students at elementary level in Istanbul, Turkey, divided into…

This study draws on Sociocultural Theory to explore how 12 adult EFL learners engaged in pair work, how their willingness to engage was demonstrated in pair activities, and what other factors influenced that willingness. Six pairs engaged in seven different activities and were interviewed after all activities were completed. Each pair's type of…

Extensive research has been conducted on the relationships of Chinese-character recognition to reading development; strategic competence to reading comprehension; and home linguistic exposure to heritage language acquisition. However, studies of these relationships have been marked by widely divergent theoretical underpinnings, and their results…

As part of an international effort to develop theory and best practices for teaching languages, the U.S. military has, since the American Revolution, been a leading supporter of literacy education to improve the job performance of soldiers. One important aspect of literacy education today--which continues to be a priority for government agencies,…

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…

The study reports on implementing self-developed English for specific purposes (ESP) courseware for technology industries in an elective course, "English reading for technology," offered to junior students of English as a foreign language in a technical university in southern Taiwan. Courseware implementation was combined with a…

Cloze tests have been widely used for measuring reading comprehension since their introducing to the testing world by Taylor in 1953. But in 1982, Klein-Braley criticized cloze procedure mostly for their deletion and scoring problems. They introduced their newly developed testing procedure, C-test, which was an evolved form of cloze tests without…

Since Finnish is not an Indo-European language, studying foreign languages in general and then also studying special fields through the medium of foreign languages may provide an extra difficulty for Finnish students. Most university language centres in Finland have organized reading comprehension courses in several foreign languages for the…

According to many research findings, the presence of discourse markers (DMs) enhances readers' comprehension of the texts they read. However, there is a paucity of research on the relationship between knowledge of DMs and reading comprehension (RC) and the present study explores the relationship between them. Knowledge of DMs is measured through…

This paper is part of a work-in-progress that reports on the design, development, and evaluation of a Digital Collaborative Strategic Reading (DCSR) application with regard to its effectiveness in improving English as a second language (ESL) reading comprehension. The DCSR application allows users to read collaboratively on multitouch and…