Effects of tool mediation on tertiary level EFL students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary learning skills: a case for a cloud computing environment

Abstract

Underpinned by constructivist learning theory (Feuerstein’s theory of mediated learning experience) and the cloud computing model, an experiment was conducted to examine the differences between the control and experimental groups regarding the linear combinations of tool mediation on students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary learning skills. The participants of the study were three intact classes of first-year students. A non-equivalent (pretest and posttest) comparison group quasi-experimental design and an explanatory sequential design type of mixed-methods design were employed. Questionnaires, tests, and diaries were used for the data collection procedures. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. After several assumptions were checked, the quantitative analysis contained within mean, standard deviation, t-test, one-way MANOVA, Tukey HSD, Difference in Difference (DD), Propensity Score Matching (PSM), Average Treatment Effect (ATE), and Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET). To explore students’ experiences and support the quantitative data, a latent content analysis was also used. The results from the quantitative data analyses indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the post-tests achievements of the study groups and the control group for reading comprehension and vocabulary learning skills (Wilk’s Λ = 0.7565, p < 0.05). After the post-mediation intervention, the multipartite treatment-effects estimation (DD, ATE, and ATET) also indicated that the experimental groups outdid the control group in overall post-mediation tests. The qualitative data results also showed that TM had a positive impact on students’ reading comprehension and vocabulary learning skills.