Effects of Pre-Reading Strategies on EFL/ESL Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This study focuses on two pre-reading strategies: vocabulary pre-teaching and comprehension question presentation. Researchers have claimed that a vocabulary strategy is less effective than any other pre-reading strategy. This study investigates whether their claim is true of Japanese university students. The purpose of the study is twofold. The first goal is to examine the effects of the two pre-reading strategies; the second is to discuss the relationships between students’ English proficiency and their reading comprehension. The participants in the present study were asked to perform a pre-reading strategy, read a passage, and then answer comprehension questions. They read four passages altogether. Three weeks after they read the fourth passage, they were asked to answer a questionnaire. This study indicates that vocabulary pre-teaching is less effective for Japanese students, although students with higher English proficiency outperformed lowerlevel students regardless of which pre-reading strategy they used.