The Effect of Pre-reading Discussions on Word-guessing Ability of Iranian Pre-intermediate Freshmen University Students

Abstract

Abstract-The study reported here aimed at understanding whether pre-reading discussions affected readers' ability in guessing unknown words in the text. Forty male and female pre-intermediate freshmen university students (within the age range of 18 to 26) participated in the study. A quasi-experimental intact group design was pursued. The experimental and control groups completed four sets of quizzes comprising multiple choice items on unknown words of four reading texts to tap their guessing gains. The experimental group was involved in a pre-reading discussion on the topic of the readings before doing the quizzes, while no pre-reading discussion was used for the control group. Statistical analyses revealed that: a) during quizzes, one, two, and four, there were no significant differences between the experimental and the control groups; however, the mean scores of the experimental group were higher than the control group, implying a relative positive influence of the pre-reading discussions on guessing ability of the learners; b) during quiz three the difference between the groups proved to be significant. In general, the success rate of pre-reading discussions was not considerable, challenging a implications are discussed in the paper. uni-dimensional conception of the role of pre-reading discussion in word guessing ability of readers. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.