The Impact of Posing (Lead in) Pre-reading Questions on Reading Engagement of Iranian EFL Learners: Focusing on Extensive Reading

The significance and effectiveness of pre-reading activities in the contexts of both ESL and EFL has been acknowledged by many researchers. If students lack the required background knowledge, a teacher must activate students’ background knowledge or offer background information prior to reading a text. The present study aimed at investigating the role of pre-reading questions plus extensive reading in affecting the reading engagement of Iranian EFL learners. Participants of the study included two groups of 30 EFL learners with similar language proficiency. Reading engagement was measured using Reading Engagement Index developed by Wigfield and Guthrie (2004). Language learners were pretested on reading engagement and it was found that the two groups of the study were not significantly different in terms of reading engagement. Afterwards, one group received extensive reading plus pre-reading questions and another group received just extensive reading. The two groups’ reading engagement was measured after treatment to explore the effect of treatment on reading engagement of language learners. The results of paired samples and independent samples t-test indicated that pre-reading plus extensive reading was more successful in enhancing reading engagement of language learners compared to extensive reading.