Word Recognition and Fluency Activities' Effects on Reading Comprehension: An Iranian EFL Learners' Experience

Abstract

Reading fluently is the goal of many L2 learners. The purpose of this study was to see how word recognition and fluency-building activities affect Iranian EFL students' reading comprehension. To do so, 93 subjects with preintermediate command of English were selected. Then, they were divided into two experimental groups and one control group, each with 31 participants. In an eight-session period, the first experimental group (word recognition group) received word and phrase recognition activities, the second treatment group (fluency group) was exposed to fluency-oriented activities, while the control group was only exposed to the Farsi translation of the assigned texts. Using a randomized pretest-posttest comparison group design, we attempted to see how reading comprehension changes in response to the treatment. Therefore, a one-way between-groups ANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis. The findings revealed that both experimental groups significantly outperformed the control group in the posttest. There was no significant difference between the two experimental groups, according to post-hoc analyses, hence the efficacy of the two implemented techniques. This study implies that material developers should include such activities in their textbooks to enhance text comprehension, especially at the preintermediate level of language proficiency. Additionally, teachers can employ these techniques in their classes with their learners at the preintermediate level.