Impacts of Combined Reading Strategy Instruction on Ethiopian Students’ Strategy Use and Perception

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of combined reading strategy instruction on reading strategy use and perception of Ethiopian secondary school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test-post control group design, eighty-seven students were selected from two intact classes that were assigned to the control and experimental groups. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect the data. After identifying students' level of reading strategies, students in the experimental group were explicitly taught a combination of reading strategies. The training took four months and at the end of which, a questionnaire was administered to both groups, whereas the interview was conducted only with the experimental group. ANCOVA and interview findings indicated that students in the treatment group greatly benefited from the training. Hence, it was concluded that combined reading strategy instruction is vital for EFL students to increase their reading strategy use and awareness which in turn helps them to improve their reading comprehension problems. Finally, it was recommended that EFL teachers should consider the role of combined reading strategies during teaching reading.