Effects of Intercultural Instruction on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension
Description
By recognising the changing demand of the world, this study investigated the effect of intercultural instruction on the reading comprehension of first-year Ethiopian university students. A quasi-experimental, embedded mixed-methods design was employed, involving 106 students divided in two intact classes: 52 students in the treatment group received intercultural instruction, whereas 54 students in the comparison group were taught using conventional methods. Over 12-weeks intervention, quantitative data were collected via pre- and post-test reading comprehension tests, and qualitative data were gathered through post-intervention reflective open ended questionnaires. Pre-intervention results indicated no statistically significant difference in reading comprehension scores between the two groups. However, post-intervention analysis using paired and independent samples t-tests revealed that the reading comprehension performance of the treatment group significantly improved. The mean score of the treatment group increased from 16.77 to 19.44, (t (51) = −6.34, p = .001, with a large effect size (d = 1.05). In contrast, the comparison group’s scores showed a minimal increase from 16.79 to 17.35, which was not significant, t (53) = −1.61, p = .112, d = 0.27. Independent-samples t-tests further confirmed that the treatment group outperformed comparison group, t (104) = 4.99, p = .001, d = 0.97). Qualitative findings from post-intervention reflective questionnaire indicated that intercultural instruction fostered a positive and engaging learning environment. The study concludes that intercultural instruction is an effective approach for improving the reading comprehension ability of EFL university students. The study further underlines the pedagogical utility of integrating intercultural content in EFL curricula to enhance students’ engagement and reading outcomes.
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No funding.
Institutions
- Debre Markos University