Effects of Prereading Activities on EFL Elementary School Students" Reading Comprehension and Attitudes

Effects of Prereading Activities on EFL Elementary School Students" Reading Comprehension and Attitudes

  The present study has sought to examine the relative effectiveness of two prereading activities (i.e., previewing and vocabulary preteaching) when employed in Korean EFL elementary classes. Specifically, it examined (a) the treatment effects on the learners" reading comprehension and attitudes, and (b) the interaction effects of treatment and proficiency level on the learners" reading comprehension and attitudes. To this end, 95 sixth graders in three intact classes at a local elementary school in Busan were randomly assigned to one of the control group, previewing group, and vocabulary preteaching group. They were then asked to take a pretest and a pre-questionnaire, receive two-week treatments, and take a posttest and a post-questionnaire. The overall findings suggested that vocabulary preteaching as a prereading activity might not be beneficial for young learners, presumably because too much focus on language aspects may have taken their attention away from the story and reading. On the other hand, the previewing activity was observed to have positive effects on learners" attitudes toward English learning and reading. Furthermore, the interaction effects of treatment and proficiency levels were observed only in the attitudes toward English learning and reading. Pedagogical implications and directions for future research are discussed.