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…

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…

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 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…

The purpose of this article is to explore the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) assessment under its Institutional Testing Program (ITP) modality as it acts as a curriculum artifact along Mexican undergraduate degree programs considered within the exit criteria. A discourse historical approach (DHA) (Wodak, 2008; Wodak & Meyer,…

Dynamic Assessment (DA), is grounded in Vygotsky's idea on Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of mind, his concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and its related metaphor; scaffolding. This study examined the effects of dynamic assessment on improving reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate students who were learning English as a foreign…

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 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…

Discourse markers (DMs) instruction is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention in the literature on second language learning. As noted by Al-Yaari, Al Hammadi, Alyami, and Almaflehi (2013), and Algouzi (2014), the use of DMs is insufficient to support the development of the language skills, especially reading, of Saudi English as a…

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…

Studies have shown that reading comprehension is the most difficult section of the Paper-Based Test (PBT) TOEFL. Therefore, this research aimed to identify which sub-skill in reading comprehension poses the greatest challenges for the students and how this sub-skill correlates to other reading comprehension sub-skills. To achieve this purpose,…

This study investigated the effects of a 16-week reading instruction program with discourse structure graphic organizers (DSGOs) on the development of English reading comprehension among college-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. A total of 340 first and third semester students of non-English majors at a Chinese university…

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…

The development of critical thinking (CT) skills has become a key goal for educators in first and second language contexts. There is evidence that the use of such activities has still not become widespread in a number of ELT situations. One reason for this may be lack of awareness about how levels of thinking can be conceptualized in ELT…

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…