چکیده:
This study aimed to investigate gender differences in L2 reading accuracy and fluency among Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Initially, Oxford Quick Placement Test was administered to the 70 participants to assure homogeneity in terms of overall language proficiency and accordingly, 28 male and 28 female learners were identified as the legitimate participants who had been interviewed on 8 reading passages taken from Active Skills for Reading, Book 1 by Anderson (2008), and Top Notch, level 1 A by Saslow and Ascher (2007). The reading of the participants was recorded and subsequently analyzed by two raters based on the fluency and accuracy measurement criteria (Jenkins, Fuchs, Broek, Espin, & Deno, 2015). Inter-rater reliability was established for both the fluency and accuracy (.896 and .908, respectively). Having finished the analysis of the participants’ performance, the findings showed that female participants outperformed the males in terms of fluency while males were superior in terms of accuracy. Finally, implications arising from the findings and suggestions for further research were explained.
خلاصه ماشینی:
An Investigation of Gender Differences in L2 Reading Accuracy and Fluency among Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners Ehsan Namaziandost1*, Ava Imani2, Reza Banari3, Goodarz Shakibaei4 Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran1 University of Isfahan, Iran2 Department of English, Baghmalek Branch, Islamic Azad University, Baghmalek, Iran3Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Ahvaz Branch, IslamicAzad University, Ahvaz, Iran4e.
com* Received: 2019-11-10 Accepted: 2019-12-26 *Corresponding Author Abstract This study aimed to investigate gender differences in L2 reading accuracy and fluency among Iranian intermediate EFL learners.
Initially, Oxford Quick Placement Test was administered to the 70 participants to assure homogeneity in terms of overall language proficiency and accordingly, 28 male and 28 female learners were identified as the legitimate participants who had been interviewed on 8 reading passages taken from Active Skills for Reading, Book 1 by Anderson (2008), and Top Notch, level 1 A by Saslow and Ascher (2007).
These variations in reading ability usually refer to two different levels of processing: lower-level word recognition accuracy and fluency, and higher-level verbal and intellectual skills linked to comprehension (Pazzaglia, Cornoldi & Tresoldi, 1993; Namaziandost, & Çakmak, 2020), for example, working memory, inferencing, combination of information and the utilization of metacognitive methodologies Both skill levels are important to a good comprehension of reading.
Previous Empirical Studies MacArthur, Konold, Glutting, and Alamprese (2010) investigated gender differences in reading performance in a group of low literate adults and found that women performed significantly better on measures of reading fluency in comparison to men.