This paper reports a study which examines how text-based vocabulary instruction influences English as a foreign language (EFL) freshmen's reading comprehension and explore their perceptions on this type of instruction in reading comprehension. It was a quasi-experimental study with control and experimental groups including eighty freshmen at a university. The quantitative data from reading tests for pre-test and post-test were used to examine students' reading comprehension over nine weeks. The qualitative analysis used semi-structured interviews to examine students' perceptions towards text-based vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension. The findings reveal that text-based vocabulary instruction influenced positively students' reading achievement after the experiment and that they had positive perceptions towards this type of instruction in their reading lessons.

Abstract: Reading is a language-based skill and involves cognitive process. It is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success in learning. Reading is a process that requires effort on the readers’ parts if they want to understand what they are reading. A considerable amount of research has been devoted to understanding the process that contribute to reading comprehension.Vocabulary knowledge and its role in reading comprehension has been one of the main areas of focus in second language research for the last twenty years. So, the present study tends to investigate the effect of vocabulary knowledge on EFL learners ’ reading comprehension performance. Data were collected by questionnaire from 81 Iranian EFL undergraduate students of English.The results of Pearson Correlation analyses showed a significant positive relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. The findings suggest that giving awareness of vocabulary knowledge to the students alo...

This action research paper examines the relationship between explicit vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension, specifically with English Language Learners (ELL). The research took place in a second and fourth grade classroom in the same school in central Minnesota. Students took pretests and posttests for grade level comprehension and vocabulary assessments. Students would then receive explicit vocabulary instruction throughout the week. Finally, students would complete the same assessments as were completed at the beginning of Student surveys were also used to measure confidence and motivation. Data was collected in the form of pretest and posttest scores for grade level comprehension and vocabulary assessments, student surveys, and Fountas and Pinnell assessments. Study results suggest that explicit vocabulary instruction does have an effect on reading comprehension and that ELLs showed a greater degree of growth than non-ELLs. However, more research needs to be conducted...

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between EFL learners perceived reading strategies, vocabulary size and reading comprehensions. The participants in the study were 226 first-year university students enrolled in Khorasgan Azad University. Participants completed a reading strategies survey and took a vocabulary size test (Smith, 2000) and a reading comprehension test. Descriptive and Inferential statistics were used to describe the participants’ performance on the two tests and their reported reading strategies use, and to assess the relationship between the study s three main variables. In general, Iranian EFL first- year university students had a low reading ability and an estimated small vocabulary size (500-700 word families), which is far below the threshold level needed for reading un-simplified English texts. Except for a few strategies like critical reading, summarizing, using typographical aids, and noting text characteristics, the participants reported using most of the reading strategies with high and moderate frequencies. They also reported significantly more frequent use of problem-solving strategies. However, extensive reading was found to be an unpopular activity among EFL learners in Iran. A statistically significant relationship was found between the participants’ vocabulary size at the 2000 word level and higher reading proficiency reported using reading strategies more frequently than lower proficiency students. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research.

This project involves the collaboration of researchers with 24 teachers in a study aimed at investigating and improving the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of 4th and 5th grade students for whom English is a second language. Cross sectional and longitudinal data were collected on various aspects of vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary inferencing, and reading comprehension of English language learners (ELLs) and English-only peers. Researchers and teachers collaborated in developing and implementing intervention strategies directed at improving vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension in the ELLs. In the first year of the study, the vocabulary knowledge of ELLs and English-only students were examined. In the second year of the study, the intervention (exercises aimed at improving vocabulary knowledge) was implemented at sites in Virginia, Massachusetts, and California. In the third year of the program the intervention was again administered to the same children, now...

Research on Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) and Reading Comprehension Strategies (RCS) is so fascinating that has attracted much attention in English language teaching domain. Accordingly, strategies for vocabulary learning and reading comprehension have been the cornerstone of a lot of studies. Nevertheless, empirical studies on the relationship between vocabularies learning strategies and reading comprehension strategies among Iranian elementary EFL learners are few. The goal of the present research is to shed some light on the relationship between Iranian elementary EFL learners' VLS and RCS. In elementary levels, learners are interested in learning new vocabulary to become good reader being able to understand English text better. As a consequence, vocabulary plays an important role in developing and enhancing one's reading comprehension. Learning vocabulary is a huge assistance for learners to understand, since it provides the learners with more ability in reading c...

Research has revealed numerous problems regarding the teaching and learning of EFL in Morocco. One of these problems concerns students’ performance in reading comprehension tasks. Given the assumption that a large proportion of the problem can be attributed to lexical deficiency, this study sets out to evaluate the vocabulary load of the reading comprehension texts in EFL second-year baccalaureate textbooks. This was actualized through determining how much text coverage students could achieve with their vocabulary knowledge. To this end, a sample of 106 Moroccan bac2 (second- year baccalaureate) students was non-randomly sampled, and their vocabulary knowledge was assessed using an updated version of the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT). In parallel, the vocabulary profiles of the reading texts in the three EFL textbooks were described using the Vocabulary Profiler software. Results have shown that students have a rather impoverished vocabulary knowledge of approximately 1317 word families, which have thus revealed a gap between their actual knowledge and the lexical load contained in their textbooks.