The Study of the Effectiveness of Textual Cohesion of Teaching Materials on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies

hengameh vaezi ¹ , parisa farrokh ² , shahnaz habibi ³

1 - Assistant professor, Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch
2 - Assistant professor, Department of English Language and Translation, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan Branch
3 - MA student, Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch

Received: 2018-09-02 Accepted : 2018-10-02 Published : 2018-12-01

Keywords: reading comprehension, Learning, Cohesion, cohesive devices,

Abstract :

The present investigation was an attempt to study the effect of difference in textualcohesion of different teaching materials on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' readingcomprehension. To that end, a QPT test was administered to 105 EFL students learningEnglish language in institutes. Based on QPT test direction individuals who get 31+ ingrammar and vocabulary, 8+ in reading section, and 8+ in writing are considered to be atintermediate level of foreign language proficiency. So 45 learners were selected for thisstudy and they were divided into three groups, two experimental groups and one controlgroup, the first experimental group, studying Topnotch, the second experimental groupstudying Touchstone and the control group studying high school English book. Allgroups contained 15 participants. Then a reading test was administered to all groups as apre-test to take their initial knowledge of reading comprehension. The experimentalgroups received treatment in using the above mentioned books containing more cohesiveelements in ten sessions. The control group was taught the high school English bookreading passages. Finally all experimental and control groups sat for the posttest forreading comprehension test. ANOVA was conducted to see if there was a significantdifference between groups or not. The results were computed and analyzed through SPSSand it was explored that difference in textual cohesion in different teaching materials,namely texts containing more cohesive elements, had a positive effect on Iranianintermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension ability.

References:

Bloor, T. B. (1995). The Functional Analysis of English. London, New York: Arnold
Carrell, P. (1982). Cohesion is not coherence. TESOL Quarterly, 16, 479–488.
Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., & Cai, Z. (2004). Coh-Metrix:
Analysis of Text on Cohesion and Language. Behavioural Research Methods,
Instruments and Computers, 36, 193-202. doi: 10.3758/BF03195564.
Graesser, A. C., Gernsbacher, M. A., & Goldman, S. R. (2003). Introduction to the
Handbook of discourse processes (pp. 1-24). Routledge.
Halliday, M.A.K. and R. Hasan (1976) Cohesion in English. London: Longman. Mackay,
R. and A. Mountford(1976) Reading for information. In E.M. Anthony and J. Richards
(Eds.) Reading: Insights and Approaches. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London. Longman.
Hinkel, E. (2001). Matters of cohesion in L2 academic texts. Applied Language Learning,
12(2), 111-132.
Horiba, Y. (1996). Comprehension processes in L2 reading: Language competence, textual
coherence, and inferences. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(4), 433-473.
doi: 10.1017/S0272263100015370
Kintsch, W. (1998). Comprehension: A paradigm for cognition. New York: Cambridge
University Press
McNamara, D.S. (2001). Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55, 51-62.
Mcnamara, d.s.,kintsch,w. (1996). Proceeding of the eighteenth annual meeting of the
cognitive science society (pp.104-109).AustinTX: cognitive science society.
Mohseni, A. &Behfrouz,B.(2013). The Statistical Investigation of Teaching and
Examining Lexical Cohesion on the Ground of Iran EFL Educational Context from
Theory to Practice. International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences.
ISSN 2251-838X / Vol, 7 (13): 972-978.
Mozaffar-Zadeh,L. (1998). A contrastive study of lexical cohesion in English and Persian
research articles. English Language Teaching, 4, 4-16.
O'Reilly, T. & McNamara, D.S. (2007b). Reversing the reverse cohesion effect: good texts
can be better for strategic, high-knowledge readers. Discourse Processes, 43, 121-152.
doi: 10.1080/01638530709336895.
Rostami,A,. &Gholami,A..(2016).Use of cohesive ties in English as a foreign language
students' writing. Iranian of Applied Language Studies, 2, 137-156.
Sadeghi K (2007). The key for Successful Reader-Writer Interaction: Factors
Affecting Reading comprehension in L2 Revisited. Asian EFL journal 9(3).
Yang, L. & Sun, M. (2012). The use of cohesive devices in argumentative writing. TESOL
Journal, 23(1), 31-48.