Open AccessExplicit Instruction of Memory vs Cognitive Strategies and Reading Comprehension: An Empirical Study with IELTS Candidates
Author(s) -
Jahanbakhsh Nikoopour,
Roozbeh Kargar,
Nadimeh Esfandiari
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
study in english language teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2372-9740
pISSN - 2329-311X
DOI - 10.22158/selt.v5n2p134
Subject(s) - reading comprehension , moderation , cognition , psychology , comprehension , reading (process) , significant difference , cognitive psychology , mathematics education , computer science , linguistics , social psychology , medicine , philosophy , neuroscience , programming language
Research in reading comprehension associates the assumption that readers’ attributes may influence reading comprehension; different readers may process the same text in different ways, depending on their purposes, motivation, attitudes, interests, background knowledge, and the strategies they use. The present study attempted to investigate the impact of teaching cognitive and memory strategies on male and female IELTS candidates’ reading comprehension. To carry out the study, the researcher selected a sample of 88 male and female EFL learners, who attended IELTS preparation classes in Afarinesh English Language Institute regularly. The participants were randomly assigned into three groups; namely, two experimental groups and a control group. Eight memory and cognitive strategies were taught explicitly in the two experimental groups respectively during the treatment, whereas the current usual techniques were being used in the control group. The results showed that the experimental groups outperformed the control group in reading comprehension. The difference between the mean scores of the two experimental groups was not statistically significant. That is, instructing cognitive and memory strategies have had somehow similar impact on the IELTS candidates’ reading comprehension. Finally, the participants’ gender as a moderator variable did not make a significant difference in their reading comprehension.