International Journal of Language & Linguistics

The Effect of Vocabulary, Syntax, and Discourse-Oriented Activities on Short and Long-Term L2 Reading Comprehension
Abbas Ali Zarei, Sepide Shakoori Neya

Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vocabulary, syntax, and discourse-oriented teaching on Iranian EFL learners' short-term and long-term reading comprehension ability. 90 intermediate level EFL learners were assigned to three groups. One of the groups received vocabulary-based reading instruction, the other group received syntax-based reading instruction, and the third group received SFL discourse-base reading instruction. Following the treatment, immediate and delayed reading comprehension tests were administered. The results of the two One-Way ANOVA procedures showed that the group which received discourse-based instruction had the best performance on both immediate and delayed post-tests, followed by the group that received syntax-based instruction. It was concluded that Iranian EFL learners will have best performance on reading comprehension when they receive instruction on the discourse features (register, genre, and cohesive ties). It was also concluded that reading in a word-by-word manner prevents global understanding of the text.

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