Investigating the Effect of Discourse Structure Graphic Organizers on Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

This research sought to explore the impact of teaching discourse structures within texts by means of graphic organizers on reading abilities of a group of Iranian university-level students. To this end, a quasi-experimental approach was exploited including an experimental and a control group, the former received the instructional treatment. Fiftystudents from two reading comprehension classes were involved in the investigation, one was appointed to the experimental training by means of random assignment. We analyzed the data collected from a discourse structure graphic organizers completion test and a test of reading that were administered at two different times, before our instructional treatment and immediately after that. The results of both independent and paired-samples t-tests and their relative effect sizes revealed a significantly better performance of the experimental group than their counterparts on both discourse structures awareness and general reading ability after instructional training. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Keywords:

discourse structures , graphic organizers , reading instruction , EFL learners