An Exploratory Study of Newspaper-based Instruction in Cultivating University Freshmen’s Vocabulary Ability and Reading Comprehension

• Main Authors: Chih-Hsiung Chang, 章智雄
• Other Authors: Chin-Fen Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58723139610547844707

碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 102 === This study aimed to investigate university freshmen’s development of vocabulary ability and reading comprehension under newspaper-based instruction. Fifty-nine university freshmen from two intact classes in the National Taipei University of Education were categorized as members of either the control group or the experimental group. Both groups were further divided into three language proficiency levels, high, intermediate, and low, based on scores of vocabulary ability and reading comprehension pre-tests. Newspaper-based instruction was explicitly instructed and integrated into the English curriculum in the experimental group and lasted for nine weeks. The control group only received a conventional teaching approach without any extra treatment. Data were collected regarding subject performance on vocabulary ability and reading pre-and-post tests and a questionnaire. Findings reveal that the vocabulary ability and reading comprehension of both groups significantly improved; however, the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group in terms of vocabulary ability, but not in terms of reading comprehension. In addition, newspaper-based instruction yielded different effects on subjects with different language proficiency levels. Accordingly, the intermediate level reached a significant level in both vocabulary ability and reading comprehension, and the high level performed significantly in terms of vocabulary ability only. According to the questionnaire data, subjects provided positive feedback that gaining cultural knowledge helped their vocabulary ability and reading comprehension improve under newspaper-based instruction.