Correlating the Performance of ESL Students in Reading Comprehension Passages with Their Reading Habits

by Dr.N.Pratheeba, Lecturer in English, Kamaraj College of Engineering and technology, Virudhunagar,Tamilnadu,India.

Abstrat

Tackling reading comprehension passages is an onerous task for any student. But reading comprehension passages are an essential part of any competitive examination, be it, IELTS, TOEFL, CAT, MAT, SAT etc. The ability of the student to solve any reading comprehension passages renders a great difference in the life of the student. For it is the deciding factor to get a seat in a coveted company or an esteemed institution.  Reading helps to widen the horizon of the knowledge of any student. Reading habits of students play a major role in enhancing the proficiency of the students in the target language. Time and again, it has been reported that the communicative competence of any student is directly proportional to the comprehensible output received by the student by means of his reading habit. Students who have a greater exposure to comprehensible input usually perform well in reading comprehension passages .To be more precise, strategies can be taught to the average student in the form of explicit instruction. This paper attempts to lay bare the fact that tackling reading comprehension passages has a direct relationship with the reading habit of the students.

KEYWORDS: reading comprehension, free voluntary reading, sustained silent reading, autonomous acquirers, free voluntary surfing, comprehensible input

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A Comparative Analysis of Pair-Work and Individual Assignments in Two ELT Grammar Classes

By Sert, Olcay

Descriptors: Comparative Analysis; Second Language Learning; Grammar; Assignments; Language Teachers; English (Second Language); Second Language Instruction; Grouping (Instructional Purposes)

Publication date: 2005-10-00

Pages: 18

Abstract: Assignments prepared in pair-work have long been evaluated to be more successful when compared to individually prepared assignments in many respects in foreign language learning contexts. However, there is not much research conducted to reveal the advantages of pair-work in preparing assignments and the linguistic characteristics of the finished texts. In this paper, depending upon an experimental study with the first year students in Department of English Language Teaching at Hacettepe University, quality of pair-work assignments and the factors affecting the preparation process are discussed and compared to individual assignments. Results indicate a variety of advantages of student collaboration in preparing written work since outputs are far more grammatical, include less spelling mistakes, and indicate a higher level of grammatical awareness. Additionally, pair-work helps students build positive interpersonal relationships and create a high level of academic solidarity and confidence.

(Contains 7 tables and 2 diagrams.)

[Abstract and keywords are presented in both English and Turkish. This article is a revised version of the article entitled "Comparative Analysis of Pair-Work and Individual Assignments in Two ELT Classes" published in the Journal of Language and Learning.]

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