Accurate and effective reading depends on several variables such as the continuation of the reading activity at a certain speed, the understanding of what is read at a certain level, and having a positive attitude towards reading. In this study, research was conducted to determine whether there is any relationship between reading attitude and…

This study examined the relationship of linguistic complexity, captured using a set of lexical richness, syntactic complexity, and discoursal complexity indices, to second language (L2) learners' perception of text difficulty, captured using L2 raters' comparative judgment on text comprehensibility and reading speed. Testing materials were 180…

Readers' memory for belief-consistent texts is often stronger than for belief-inconsistent texts (text-belief consistency effect). However, presenting belief-consistent and belief-inconsistent texts alternatingly reduces the discrepancy between the memory strengths of belief-consistent and belief-inconsistent texts. The present study used eye…

In this article, a three-phase mixed-methods study was conducted to investigate timed reading effects on Chinese university students' English as a foreign language (EFL) reading rate. First, two equivalent reading rate tests were designed and validated with 30 participants. Second, 81 university students from two intact classes participated in the…

Many universities in the Middle East, for instance, Shiraz University in Iran and Sultan Qaboos University in Oman have been running M-reader, a free Internet site which helps educational institutions to manage extensive reading (ER), as a way of including Extensive Reading in ELT classes for years. In spite of few attempts to evaluate this online…

Learning English is one of the most important activities around the world. Learning a language includes a number of skills and sub-skills. Reading is one of the skills of language learning, and it is the focus of the present study. Comprehension and speed are two main parts of the reading skill. The main aim of this study is to investigate the…

This paper builds on recent research looking at how reading speed measures from a reading rate training course are reflected in non-course texts. In this study, 23 first language (L1) Japanese English majors enrolled in a university level reading class completed 20 speed reading exercises with comprehension quizzes from an assigned textbook at the…

This research was aimed at the investigation of mobile device and computer use at a higher learning institution. The goal was to determine the current use of computers and mobile devices for learning and the students' reading speed on different platforms. The research was contextualised in a sample of students at the University of South Africa.…

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of a year-long reading while listening (RWL) program run for university first-year students at a private university in Japan. The program was developed to give students practice in listening to a large volume of spoken English--a practice that the majority of Japanese students lack. The…

Since an alarming number of students do not read their textbooks, the author investigated whether students might more readily review their course information if it were available on MP3 files instead of in textbook form. Her hypotheses are that students who have access to textbook section summaries in MP3 form will cover more of the textbook…

The study examined the effects of cultural familiarity with a text on Chinese students' reading comprehension performance and reading time. In the first phase of the study, participants were required to read a culturally familiar text, write down the time they spent reading the passage, and immediately complete a cloze test without referring back…

This paper reports on the use of an English-language reading practice application for an android tablet computer operating system with students who are not native speakers of English. The application materials for vocabulary learning in reading-passage contexts were created to include words from a database of low-frequency and technical noun-verb…

Reading plays a dominant role among the four skills in foreign language acquisition for college students. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, English teaching practice shows that Chinese students are vulnerable in it. Both their reading speed and their reading skills are far from being satisfactory. Schema theory presents a very efficient…

To develop reading fluency, a 13-week timed reading activity was integrated into a normal curriculum with the aim of improving students' reading rates. Participants were 84 college students divided into an experimental and a control group. The test instruments involved pretests and posttests on reading speed and comprehension. Students'…

Many studies have shown that reading can have a beneficial effect on second language learning, but relatively few of these have focused on extensive reading in classroom environments over a period of time. This study compares an extensive reading class against a more traditional class involving intensive reading and vocabulary exercises. The…