The present study primarily aims to investigate the relationship between Pakistani students' receptive vocabulary growth and their reading development at two different points: at the beginning and the end of English course. The standardized vocabulary size test (VST) and reading comprehension test (TOEFL) were administered to 123 first year…

Benefits for L2 reading through offering learners extensive reading with listening have been found in empirical studies, but those findings may be under-utilized in academic English preparation settings, due to prioritized test practice in response to high-stakes testing for university matriculation. Self-paced extensive reading with listening…

This study reports the outcomes of research investigating the relationship between two variables; percentage of word knowledge in an academic English text and reading comprehension scores the participants got for the same text. The study was conducted at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Preparatory Year Deanship, during the first semester…

This study investigated the effects of monolingual book dictionaries, popup dictionaries, and type-in dictionaries on improving reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in an EFL program. An experimental design involving four groups and a post-test was chosen for the experiment: (1) pop-up dictionary (experimental group 1); (2) type-in…

Provision of multiple-choice (MC) glosses, which combines the advantages of glosses and inferring, has recently gained its share of supporters as a potential technique for enhancing L2 texts and increasing word gain for L2 learners. Upon taking an actual TOEFL, the participants underwent a vocabulary pretest to ensure that the target words were…

This study examined the effect of reading goal, topic-familiarity, and language proficiency on text comprehension and learning. English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students with high and low topic-familiarity read and recalled a text. Some were told in advance to expect a recall task in a particular language--the first language (L1) or second…

The present study examines how glossing of second language (L2) texts affects L2 learners' reading comprehension as well as their learning of L2 grammar and vocabulary. It employed a pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest design with two treatment sessions. The target features were English unaccusativity and 10 pseudo-word items.…

This study aims to examine a) whether vocabulary knowledge, captured in the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), is related to the performance on the five types of reading comprehension items tested in TOEFL, i.e., Guessing Vocabulary, Main Idea, Inference, Reference, and Stated Detail; and b) whether EFL learners with different levels of vocabulary…

This study investigates the effects of extensive reading of e-books on tertiary level EFL students' English reading attitude, reading comprehension and vocabulary. Eighty-nine participants were assigned in two groups, with 46 students in the experimental group and the other 43 students in the control group. In addition to a traditional curriculum…

Growing concerns have been voiced about strategies employed in L2 reading in general and dealing with unknown words in particular. Among other strategies, lexical inferencing has received attention in the literature. However, more research is needed to further clarify how different levels of L2 reading proficiency may affect the readers'…

The present study investigated comprehension, immediate and delayed vocabulary retention under incidental and intentional learning conditions via computer mediated hypertext gloss. One hundred and eighty four (N = 184) intermediate students of English as a foreign language at an English school participated in the study. They were randomly assigned…

Many studies have shown that reading can have a beneficial effect on second language learning, but relatively few of these have focused on extensive reading in classroom environments over a period of time. This study compares an extensive reading class against a more traditional class involving intensive reading and vocabulary exercises. The…

This study set out to empirically determine the reliability and validity of the Vocabulary Levels Tests, both the passive and productive versions. Furthermore, attempt was made to investigate the nature of the students' vocabulary knowledge with regard to their passive and active knowledge of the L2 words as a whole and at different word frequency…

The central purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate an in-depth vocabulary knowledge measure in the context of developing the new TOEFL test. The study was carried out with a sample of 207 international students attending an intensive English as a second language (ESL) program in a major Canadian university, in order to determine whether…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) program is exploring a change in Section 3 of the TOEFL test that would replace the vocabulary subpart with additional reading comprehension questions. This study investigated the proposed revision in terms of the length and timing that would be necessary to address concerns of test speededness of…