خلاصة:
This study was designed to investigate the effects of gender and Schema-based pre-reading activities on the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. The sample consisted of 60 male and female students studying at second-grade high school in Abhar city. Two reading passages (“Charles Dickens and the Little Children”, and “Hic, Hic, Hic”) were randomly selected from second-grade English textbook. The subjects were assigned randomly into four groups of fifteen based on school ordering. Then the researcher administrated reading comprehension pre-test in order to know if they were at the same background knowledge. Four groups were exposed to different treatments. Group A and group C (EG) received SBPRA (PTV and PRQ). The subject in group B and group D (CG) received GTM. The subjects were taught for a week and then took reading comprehension Multiple-choice items post-test. The results first showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups (EG and CG). Groups A and C which used SBPRAs comprehended passages better than groups B and D who did not use them. Second, gender did not affect reading comprehension ability so male and female use learning strategies equally. The findings of this study recommended that teachers can use SBPRA as a useful tool for facilitating students’ reading comprehension.
ملخص الجهاز:
The Effects of Gender Differences and Schema-Based Pre-reading Activities on Reading Comprehension Skill Mohammad Reza Oroji1 Assistant Professor, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan Science and Research, Zanjan Mahshid Hajiqorbani2 M.
A. Student, Department of English, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan Science and Research, Zanjan Received 14 November 2011 Revised 16 December 2011 Accepted 23 January 2012 This study was designed to investigate the effects of gender and Schema-based pre-reading activities on the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension.
Second, gender did not affect reading comprehension ability so male and female use learning strategies equally.
Gender Difference, Reading Comprehension, Reading Activities, Schema Theory Introduction Nowadays in Iran, it is important to learn English because it is not only stated as education curriculum but also as the international communication language.
In fact, reading skill is the most important skill in second or foreign language learning because there is a need for curriculum and teaching process in order to prepare EFL/ESL students to utilize real life application.
83) According to Chia (2001), the aim of previewing is, To help readers predict or make some educated guesses about what is in the text and thus activate effective top-down processing for reading comprehension.
Set one, consisted of PTVs and set two was PRQs. In implementing the SBPRA, first, students in groups A and C (male and female EGs) took pre-test.
In implementing the GTM, first students in groups B and D (male and female CGs) took pre-test; second, the researcher gave translation of reading passages to them.