Improving Iranian High School Students' Reading Comprehension Using the Tenets of Genre Analysis

Oct 15, 2026

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This study investigates the impact of a genre-based approach on improving reading ability among Iranian EFL learners. An experimental group was compared with a control group receiving traditional reading instruction. Eighty female learners were selected via the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) and assigned randomly. A reading pretest and posttest were conducted after ten instructional sessions, using ten passages for both groups. Results show the genre-based approach significantly improves reading comprehension performance at the 0.05 level.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 7 No. 4; August 2016 Australian International Academic Centre, Australia | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | Flourishing Creativity & Literacy | | | Improving Iranian High School Students' Reading Comprehension Using the Tenets of Genre Analysis Rezvan Adelnia English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran E-mail: [adelnia_re@yahoo.com](adelnia_re@yahoo.com) Hadi Salehi (Corresponding author) English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran [E-mail: hadisalehi1358@yahoo.com](E-mail: hadisalehi1358@yahoo.com) Doi:10 .7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.187 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.187](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.4p.187) Received: 03/04/2016 Accepted: 24/06/2016 Abstract This study is an attempt to investigate impact of using a technique, namely, genre-based approach on improving reading ability on Iranian EFL learners' achievement. Therefore, an attempt was made to compare genre-based approach to teaching reading with traditional approaches. For achieving this purpose, by administering the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) 80 female EFL learners were chosen. We assigned the participants to an experimental and a control group randomly. A reading test was administered on the whole population as the pretest. 10 reading passages were taught using the tenets of genre based instruction, while the same reading passages were taught to the participants in the control group traditionally. After 10 sessions of instruction when all the passages were taught, the participants sat for aposttest. The research hypothesis according to which using genre-based approach to teaching reading does not significantly improve reading ability of Iranian EFL learners was rejected at 0.05 level of significance. Differently stated, using genre-based approach to teach reading can improve EFL learners’performance in their reading classes. The result also showed that there is a meaningful difference between the performance of students who go under a traditional approach in teaching reading comprehension and those who are instructed using genre-based approach. The outcomes of this study can be used by English language teachers to consider the importance of a genre-based instruction. Keywords: Genre-Based Instruction (GBI), Reading comprehension, Iranian EFL learners, Reading comprehension 1. Introduction Instructing reading skills to the students is one of the most important purposes of any language course. Reading comprehension is one of the crucial skills fundamental for any language learner including the high school students. Accordingly, the students need to make their reading comprehension better to further their studies in higher education or many projects that the teachers ask them. So far, a number of methodologies have been introduced in teaching English language in general and reading comprehension in particular. Among various approaches in teaching reading comprehension (e.g. critical reading, critical discourse analysis, skill model, etc.) genre analysis seems to be prominent. Review of literature shows that implementing a genre-based instruction in teaching reading skill influences the reading abilities of the students positively (e.g. Shishehsaz, 2006) . Genre analysis refers to "a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre" (Swales, 1990. P. 58) . In other words, genre means "the regularities of staged, goal oriented social processes" (Martin, 1993) in which "the typification of social and rhetorical action" (Miller, 1984, p. 159) were recognized. In fact, the main purposes of genre are given to the "

FAQs

What teaching technique does the study evaluate?

The study evaluates a genre-based approach, also referred to as genre-based instruction (GBI), for teaching reading to Iranian EFL learners.

How were participants selected and grouped?

Eighty female EFL learners were chosen using the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) and then assigned randomly to an experimental group and a control group.

What were the main outcome results?

After ten sessions, posttest results rejected the null hypothesis at the 0.05 significance level, showing that the genre-based approach improves EFL learners’ reading comprehension compared with traditional instruction.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk