Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to measure reading comprehension strategies when Tell Me More and Sweet English software were utilized to enhance the traditional reading comprehension practice. The study focused on evaluation of four strategies (i.e., scanning, skimming, inferencing and headline guessing) in reading comprehension in three different classes at an English language Institute in Iran. In addition, the study reported the relationship between learner attitudes and learner perceptions toward the use of the software. To do so, one hundred and twenty students studying at Jam-e-Jam Institute in Tehran were selected. In the first step, CELT was administered and among 83 participants who were found to be homogeneous, sixty were selected and assigned randomly to three groups of 20, one as the two experimental groups and the other as the control group. In the second step, subjects in both experimental and control groups were tested on a researcher-prepared reading comprehension test as a pretest in the first session. In the following 12 sessions, the treatment was administered to the participants. At the end of the semester, the subjects in all three groups were given the same test of the pre-test as post test. The test result showed that CALL groups (the experimental groups) surpassed slightly the control group. The use of Tell Me More produced a significant difference in learners’ inferencing and scanning but not skimming and headline guessing as compared to Sweet English. The result of survey indicated an overall positive attitude toward Tell Me More. A significant correlation was reported between student attitudes and student perception.
Machine summary:
All the mentioned applications serve to enhance learning, and comprehension of texts in the case of reading comprehension; "they help to make the language come alive to students for whom it is largely a distant abstraction" (Warschauer & Healey, 1998).
In both areas, students using computer technologies to assist in comprehending reading passages and identifying vocabulary outperformed control groups of students who did not have CALL assistance available or chose not to use it (Cubillos, Assessing Reading Comprehension Strategies under Three Learning Conditions Journal of Language and Translation Vol. 1 No. 1 1998).
In the early years of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) there were relatively unsophisticated programs that supported reading comprehension and simple writing tasks or a range of word games such as hangman, unscrambling text and gap - filling, As the technology has developed so too has the computer literacy and the ability of many language teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels all over the world to design, adapt or manipulate CALL software.
The reason for choosing this particular course book and software Assessing Reading Comprehension Strategies under Three Learning Conditions Journal of Language and Translation Vol. 1 No. 1 was that they are relatively easy to access and they were popular in Iran.
Procedure The process involved administering a researcher-developed reading comprehension test lasting for an hour to the control and two experimental groups to assure that they were homogeneous with respect to the variable of this investigation; that is, the reading.