CRITICAL READING 4

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled ‘The Effect of Teaching Critical Reading Strategies on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Retention’ 

by M Khabiri and M. Pakzad (2012), Islamic Azad University.

Research on vocabulary in recent years has done a great deal to clarify the kinds of strategies use in understanding, using, and remembering words. One of the strategies, which has raised many discussions, is acquiring vocabulary through reading. Learning the word’s meaning implies more than comprehending it in a particular text during a reading activity. The words which are related to each other can be easily retained, because using the meaning of words together with the whole meaning of the sentences is the deepest level of processing and ensures the best retention. One kind of such strategies is critical reading strategies.

This research was an attempt to investigate whether teaching critical reading strategies had any significant effect on English learners’ vocabulary retention. The researcher divided the class into experimental group and control group. Reading texts was taught to both groups with the only difference that the experimental group was taught critical reading strategies while in the control group the common comprehension-based approach was applied. The result is that the data strongly suggested that teaching critical reading strategies can increase the intermediate learners’ vocabulary retention.

Critical reading demands the reader to make judgments about what they read. The students have to read a text not only reflectively but also in a skeptical and analytical way, and then they judge the value of the text critically. The steps include previewing, contextualizing, questioning, reflecting, outlining and summarizing, evaluating an argument, and comparing and contrasting related readings.

In my opinion, one reason for obtaining a better result in the critical reading group might have been that critical reading activities made it easier and more fun for the students to retain the target vocabularies. The teacher should use a critical reading strategies in group discussions of vocabulary learning. Through the group discussion, students can profit from social interactions under guidance or in collaboration. The activities in group discussion should have the sense of  involvement and enjoyment, because students spent a long time dealing with each text. Reading critically involves a wide range of cognitive processes, such as comprehension, analysis, and evaluation of the text. Therefore, it needs an enjoyment situation of vocabulary learning.

CRITICAL READING 3

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled 'The Effect of Mnemonic Key Word Method on Vocabulary Learning and Long Term Retention’

by Mohammad Ahmadi Safa and Raouf Hamzavi (2013), Bu-Ali Sina University

Most of the studies on the key word method of second  language vocabulary learning have been based on the evidence from experiments and have primarily involved the use of English key words to learn the vocabularies of other languages. The present study inquired into the effect of using mnemonic key word method of vocabulary instruction on the learning and retention of vocabulary over long term.

In this study, the researcher compared mnemonic keyword method of vocabulary instruction with the classic memorization method of vocabulary in English learning context. The researcher divided the class into the experimental group which received vocabulary instruction using mnemonic key word method and the control group which received classic memorization based instruction of the same vocabulary items. The results of the research is that mnemonic key word method more efficient vocabulary learning and long-term retention than the classic memorization method. It is showed that the learners who used key word method were more successful in learning and retaining the vocabularies than those who only memorized the vocabularies.

Mnemonic techniques involve the use of both visual and verbal mental imagery to relate a word to be memorized with some previously learned knowledge. One mnemonic technique known as Keyword method. There are two versions of the Keyword Method, one based on the construction of visual images and the other based on the construction of sentences. Evidence exists that the visual imagery version is superior to the sentence construction version in facilitating recall of words.

In my opinion, the mnemonic key word method can be quite useful for the early stages of language development. Mnemonic key word method used visual imagery in learning process, and it will be interesting in the eyes of the young English learners. This method provides insight into the effectiveness of the keyword method, but it suffers from for the limitation. The key word method can be effective for concrete words only, and the abstract words should be taught with another method. The young language learners are exposed to quite concrete vocabulary items and the abstract words are postponed to the later stages.

CRITICAL READING 2

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled ‘Individual and Collaborative Planning Conditions: Effects of Fluency, Complexity and Accuracy in L2 Argumentative Writing’ 

By M. Tavakoli and M. Rezazadeh (2014), University of Isfahan

There are three fundamental dimensions of second language (L2) writing, namely, (a) features of the texts that people produce, it is examining L2 writing improvement in terms of complexity, fluency, and accuracy; (b) the composing process that people use while they write, it is organized into planning, formulating, and revising; and (c) the sociocultural contexts, it is aimed to investigate the effects of individual and collaborative planned conditions.

Students used planning time to organize what they were going to say. Whatever was happening in the collaborative and individual planning did not affect the complexity of the learners’ compositions. Fluency was measured with regard to average number of words and clauses per-text. The result is that fluency is significantly advantaged for individual planning. The learners in the collaborative planned condition had positive effects of accuracy on content, organization, and vocabulary, because the interaction can improve grammatical performance.

 According to Vygotsky, cognitive processes arise from the interaction that occurs between individuals. Students collaboratively construct knowledge when working together on the pre-task sheet. Collaborative planning can provide opportunities for students to conceptualize a variety of other people’s viewpoints. However, individual planning may limit the learners’ ideas, and make them write more detailed and length compositions. It is indicated that collaborative planning promoted more accurate textual output, while individual planning resulted in greater fluency, and both types of planned conditions benefited the complexity.

The implication is that writing after the individual planning might have enabled learners to generate longer texts which need to be revised later for better quality essays. Therefore, teacher may give the individual planners an extra time for revising the text after the completion of the task. In the other hand, if the teachers want to operate the classroom into groups for the collaborative group planning, the students should be composed in mixed qualification. This is related to the concept of scaffolding which the role of a more capable peer in assisting the other to solve problems in the zone of proximal development as described by Vygotsky.

CRITICAL READING 1

REVIEW OF JOURNAL entitled “The Effect of Peer and Teacher Scaffolding on the Reading Comprehension of EFL Learners in Asymmetrical and Symmetrical Groups”  

 by L. Karimi and M. Jalilvand (2014), Islamic Azad University 

Reading comprehension is the cornerstone of reading skill. Many students have a lot of trouble and difficulties in understanding the information presented in the written form of English texts. In reading an English text in the shape of group activity, scaffolding that comes from the students' peers and also sometimes from the classroom's teacher is considered as the most important fact. In the Vygotskian social constructivism, students can profit from social interactions under guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. This guidance or collaboration is called "scaffolding". Through  cooperative learning activities such as pair or group work in language learning in a learner-centered setting, learners can gain support from their peers or teacher.

The current study was based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory that the benefits of applying various scaffolding in reading comprehension development of EFL learners through interactive language acquisition in symmetrical and asymmetrical groups.  Symmetrical group consist of a capable learner and a weaker learner, and asymmetrical group consist of some capable learners and some weaker learners.

In the small groups, symmetrical and asymmetrical group students, got scaffolding via interaction with their partners and teacher. It was more helpful in the reading comprehension development, the teachers would give scaffolding to the students who were working in group activities rather than peers just receiving some scaffolding from their partner in those group activities. The teacher and peer scaffolding can influence the amount of students' learning significantly, and reading comprehension of learners in those small groups can be developed positively. The teacher act as facilitator and provide more language to support the students in the groups, also they encourage motivation and self confidence of students.

The concept of scaffolding is recommended to shift from traditional setting of teacher-centered to more active setting with more collaborative activities in the class, since these activities can increase and accelerate the process of learning. The teacher should try to use a small group activities in their classroom while applying scaffolding procedures. In using the small group activities, it is better to use asymmetrical pair group rather than symmetrical ones to upgrade the reading comprehension of learners. It can be more desirable to include a more knowledgeable learner with a weaker learner in a group activity.