Reading Classes in an EFL University: Students’ Evaluations and Views on Reading Pedagogy

The purposes of this study are to deliver what kinds of reading activities and strategies are utilized to help the students’ reading comprehension; and to see the students’ evaluations and views on their experiences with reading pedagogy used by the instructor. 131 university students from three different reading classes participated in this study. Data were collected by conducting surveys, which included closed and open-ended questions. Surveys included questions asking the students’ general thoughts about reading classes, and the students’ evaluation of the class activities and strategies that took place before reading, during reading, and after reading. Responses to closed questions were quantitatively calculated, and reactions to open-ended questions were qualitatively analyzed. As a result, the students’ evaluations on before-reading (sharing background knowledge, previewing vocabulary, pre-reading discussions), during-reading (skimming reading passages, translating text, sharing reading, and so on), and after-reading (reading comprehension practice, vocabulary practice, text summary in English) activities and strategies were mostly positive. Thus, the reading pedagogy utilized in these reading classes could be a good model for other reading classes to follow. The students’ detailed views on the reading pedagogy are also addressed. Lastly, implications and limitations of the study are discussed.