Examining the Impact of Summer Vacations on ESL Learners’ Retention in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Vacations affect students’ level of retention and their academic performance since students unwillingly bother to actively remain in touch with academic activities during vacations. This study aims to examine the impact of summer vacations on ESL learners’ retention in reading comprehension. Specifically, it investigated whether summer vacations affect ESL learners’ retention level in reading comprehension. A sample of 240 ESL learners of secondary schools from Southern Punjab, Pakistan was selected through convenient sampling method. Both males and females were addressed in the study. A comprehension test was designed in line with the revised Barrett’s taxonomy of reading comprehension based on the contents of the English textbook taught to secondary school grade X students. SPSS version 22 was employed to analyze the quantitative data. The analysis indicates that there was an impact of summer vacations on learners’ retention in reading comprehension. It also reveals that the learners acquired better scores in pre-test that was conducted before starting summer vacations as compared to the scores of post-test, which was given after summer vacations. A two-sample t-test reveals a significance difference between the performance of urban and rural learners and the learners studying in public and private schools as well. A significant gender difference was also found between the scores of pre-test and post-test. Based on the findings of the study, some implications and recommendations were furnished for ESL learners to improve their academic performance in reading comprehension by utilizing summer vacations effectively.