Discourse markers can clearly indicate the organization of discourse, remind the hearer of the preceding and the following contents, and express clearly the concrete speech acts. The aims of this study are to explore the relationship between the discourse-marker-based model and listening comprehension as well as the different effects of such a kind of instruction on liberal arts and science stu...

Learning a foreign language is a challenging process in which learners need motivation and encouragement through the use of modern techniques. The present paper investigates the effects digital stories may have on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ listening comprehension. To this end, the researchers carried out a quasi-experimental research in a language institution in Tabriz (Iran). In t...

Based on the assumption that good decoding skills constitute a bootstrapping mechanism for reading comprehension, the present study investigated the relative contribution of the former skill to the latter compared to that of three other predictors of reading comprehension (listening comprehension, vocabulary and phonemic awareness) in 392 French-speaking first graders from low SES families. Thi...

as the main part of a large-scale project, the present study investigated the relationship among reflective thinking, listening anxiety, and listening comprehension of iranian efl learners with regard to their proficiency level. to this end, 223 (106 intermediate and 117 advanced) adult male and female iranian efl learners from a private language institute took part in the study by completing t...

in most general and special english courses of the iranian universities, reading comprehension is the main component of the syllabus. nonetheless, in an attempt to improve listening and speaking skills, some general english courses were accompanied by oral presentations, according to which each student had to give a lecture lasting for nearly 10 minutes. the main objective was to investigate th...

BACKGROUND Children with fluent and accurate word reading in the presence of poor text comprehension are impaired on a wide range of reading-related tasks. AIMS This study investigated the consistency of skill impairment in a sample of poor comprehenders to identify any fundamental skill weakness that (i) might be associated with poor text comprehension, and (ii) might lead to depressed readi...

The two experiments reported here investigated the ability of sighted children and children with visual impairment to comprehend text and, in particular, to draw inferences both while reading and while listening. Children were assigned into 'comprehension skill' groups, depending on the degree to which their reading comprehension skill was in line with that predicted by their decoding skill. Th...

OBJECTIVE To compare the comprehension of depressed and non-depressed male and female Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in receptive skills, and to investigate whether inefficiency in learning English could be due to depression. METHODS We selected 126 boys and 96 girls aged between 15 and 18 by simple random sampling from 2 high schools in Kerman, Iran to examine whethe...

The present study examined the effect of multimedia glosses on foreign language listening comprehension. To this end, 94 male students studying at Rasa English Institute in Tehran were selected for the treatment. The participants consisted of three groups, and each group was randomly assigned to one of the following treatment conditions: textual, pictorial, and textual-pictorial glossing....