Mediating effects of english proficiency on the relationships between reading strategies, vocabulary size and reading comprehension among Saudi high school EFL learners
The ability to read and comprehend a text has long been considered critical for achieving success in academic studies. While a myriad of studies have investigated the components that affect learners’ reading comprehension and use of reading strategies, the literature pertaining to reading compreh...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/99342/1/SAEED%20ALZAHRANI%20-%20IR.pdf |
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| Summary: | The ability to read and comprehend a text has long been considered critical for
achieving success in academic studies. While a myriad of studies have investigated
the components that affect learners’ reading comprehension and use of reading
strategies, the literature pertaining to reading comprehension among EFL Saudi
adolescents is rather scarce. The scarcity of research about this populations’ ability
in reading comprehension, as well as the factors that may facilitate and hinder their
reading comprehension makes this study particularly important. To address this gap,
this study examined the mediation effects of English proficiency on the relationships
between vocabulary size, reading comprehension strategies and reading
comprehension achievement among Saudi high school EFL learners. The theories
underpinning this study are bottom-up, top-down, and interactive models (Aebersold
&Field, 1997).
This study, which employed the quantitative design, involved 200 Saudi EFL school
learners. Data were gathered quantitatively and qualitatively. Specifically, two
questionnaires and two tests namely, the reading strategies questionnaire (SORS),
the vocabulary size test (VST), the reading comprehension test, and the proficiency
test were used for the quantitative data collection. Qualitative data collection
methods, namely, interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) were also used for
data gathering. The quantitative data were analysed using both descriptive statistics
and inferential statistics using PLS-SEM, whereas the qualitative data was analysed
using thematic analysis.
The result of the mediation effect analysis indicated that all independent variables
(vocabulary size, global reading strategies, problem-solving reading strategies and
support reading strategies) through English proficiency as a mediator on dependent
variable (reading comprehension) were statically significant. Therefore, the result
showed that English proficiency mediates the relationships between vocabulary size,
global reading strategies and support reading strategies with reading comprehension.
Moreover, the results of the study revealed that the problem-solving strategy was
the most frequently used in reading comprehension among the Saudi EFL school
learners, followed by the global reading strategies and support reading strategies. The
majority of the participants also had a very low vocabulary size and proficiency level.
Yet, there was a significant difference in the vocabulary size across proficiency level.
The results also showed that three reading strategies had a positive and significant
relationship with vocabulary size, specifically the support reading strategies, which
recorded the highest correlation coefficient.
The implications of the present study provided insights about the reading
comprehension challenges encountered by EFL Saudi high school learners. The
study also contributed to the understanding of the factors that may facilitate and
hinder reading comprehension among EFL learners. Also, the above results provide
several useful insights for Saudi ESL teachers, curriculum designers, academic
coordinators, and the Saudi Ministry of Education in terms of improving reading
comprehension among Saudi high school EFL learners. The study presented some
recommendations, the need for more research of EFL reading in Saudi Arabia and,
some recommendations which related to reading materials, and reading strategy
instruction. |
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