79PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study Efectos de la instrucción de estrategias en un curso de comprensión de lectura en inglés como lengua extranjera: un estudio de caso Sergio Lopera Medina* Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia Strategy instruction is useful in teaching contexts. This paper examines the effects of strategy instruc- tion in an EFL reading comprehension course carried out with 26 undergraduate students at a Colom- bian university. As a research method, a case study was implemented. There were three instruments with which to collect data: reading comprehension tests, teacher’s field notes and self-reflection in class at the strategy instruction phase, and a learning perception questionnaire. Given that students improved in reading comprehension, it would seem that reading strategy instruction is indeed very useful. Also, it was noted that when students applied reading strategies, they became more self-confi- dent and this in turn enhanced their motivation. Finally, when students applied the reading strategy approach, the use of dictionaries decreased considerably. Key words: Dictionary use, improvement in EFL reading comprehension, reading strategy instruction, self-confidence. La instrucción basada en estrategias es útil en los contextos de lectura. Este artículo reporta los efectos de instrucción basada en estrategias de lectura en inglés como lengua extranjera a un grupo de 26 estudiantes de enfermería de una universidad colombiana. Como método de investigación se llevó a cabo el estudio de caso. Para recolectar la información, se aplicaron tres instrumentos: pruebas de comprensión de lectura, notas de campo y la autorreflexión en clase en la fase de instrucción de estrategias, y un cuestionario de percepción de aprendizaje. Debido a que los estudiantes mejoraron en la comprensión de lectura, se concluye que la instrucción basada en estrategias de lectura parece ser beneficiosa. Se observó que cuando los estudiantes aplicaban las estrategias de lectura, mostraban mayor autoconfianza, lo cual incrementó su motivación. Además, cuando los estudiantes aplicaban el enfoque de estrategias de lectura, el uso del diccionario disminuyó considerablemente. Palabras clave: autoconfianza, instrucción basada en estrategias, mejora en la comprensión de lectura en inglés, uso del diccionario. * E-mail: serggiolop@hotmail.com This article was received on April 27, 2011, and accepted on November 21, 2011. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras80 Lopera Medina Introduction There is a common belief among educators that appropriate strategy use has a good impact on students when they are trained to apply effec- tive strategies. Janzen (1996) proposes that strategy instruction is useful in reading contexts because students develop knowledge about the reading process. Janzen (1996), Winograd and Hare (1988), and Karbalaei (2001) have focused on the reading strategies that readers use here and throughout in processing written input and have made some sug- gestions on how to teach reading comprehension in foreign language (FL) / second language (SL) con- texts. This paper reports a case study of the effects of strategy instruction in an English as a foreign language (EFL) reading course with students at the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia. This paper begins with a review of the rele- vant literature followed by the research method and research question. Then, the data collection and analysis procedures are described. Finally, it reports the main findings and proposes some con- clusions and an implication. Literature Review This section covers the concepts of reading strategy instruction, motivation, reading, and reading strategies. The Process of Reading Strategy Instruction According to Wenden (1985), and Oxford (1990), learner strategies allow learners to take responsibility for their own language learning. They posit that these learning strategies help them to solve learning problems, and as a result, stu- dents may become autonomous language learners. According to Wenden and Rubin (1987), the pro- cess of learner strategy instruction consists of two important issues: the first one is the description of strategies that successful language learners use, presented as typologies. The second one is training FL/SL students in how to apply strategies that have been proven effective. When the reading strate- gies are outlined by good readers, teachers can use them to motivate poor readers thereby helping them learn more effectively (Hosenfeld, 1979). Block (1986) supports the idea that reading strategies help learners to execute a task iden- tifying which textual cues they have to focus on, to gauge how to make sense of what they read, and to know what to do when they have problems under- standing the text. The reading strategies involved in this process range from the simplest (e.g. scanning, guessing word meaning, previewing), to the most complex (e.g. summarizing, making inferences, and identifying tone). Carrell (1998) states that the difference between good and bad strategies is about using the strate- gies consciously or unconsciously. In order to have effective second language (L2) reading strategy instruction, she suggests the involvement of two important metacognitive factors that can be applied in FL/L2 reading strategy instruction: knowledge of cognition, and regulation of cognition. The former guides readers to be aware of the reading strategies they use when reading. The latter asks readers to choose appropriate or more effective strategies that will help them here and elsewhere to have a better understanding of the text. Research in reading has proved that when teachers use explicit reading strategies in classrooms, students improve their performance. Hamp-Lyons (1985) and Kern (1989) contrasted two different groups and found that a group that followed the strategy training did better than the one that did not follow this strategy instruction. Winograd and Hare (1988, p. 134) outline five recommendations that teachers should follow in order to apply strategy instruction successfully: 81PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study • Explain the strategy to be covered in the lesson. • Describe the importance and benefits of using the strategy. • Model how to use the reading strategy. • Highlight when and where to use the strategy. • Show students how they can assess whether they are using the strategy successfully or unsuccessfully. Motivation When teachers apply strategy instruction in a consistent and realistic manner, students are engaged and this may increase their motiva- tion. Bastidas (2006) claims that “motivation is a dynamic and an interactive process composed of beliefs, wants, reasons, and goals mediated by socio-cultural and historical conditions to learn a second or a foreign language” (p. 154). When students are guided to have a clear purpose in reading, motivation plays a very important role. Guthrie (1996) states that this motivation, or engaged reading, is beneficial because it is based on the cognitive characteristics of the reader. The reader uses cognitive strategies and interacts socially to learn from texts. Therefore, a moti- vated reader is better equipped to negotiate the process of reading comprehension. Reading Reading is an interactive process in which the writer and the reader dialog through a text. Barnett (1989, cited in Omaggio, 1993) defines reading as communication, as a mental process, as the reader’s active participation in the creation of meaning, and as a manipulation of strategies. Moreover, Day and Bamford (2000) posit that reading is the construc- tion of meaning from a printed or written message. For academic purposes, reading is important because it is one of the most frequently used lan- guage skills in everyday life, as witnessed by the use of Internet. Students search for information through the web and most of it is published in English. “As a skill reading is clearly one of the most important, in fact in many instances around the world we may argue that reading is the most important foreign skill, particularly in cases where students have to read English material for their own specialist subject but may never actually have to speak the language; such cases are often referred to as English as a library language” (McDonough & Shaw, 1993, p. 89). Reading Strategies Mikulecky and Jeffries (2004) state that when learners receive strategy instruction, they build “on their already-established cognitive abilities and background knowledge” (p. 183). Students may also view reading strategies as a problem solving activ- ity which takes the place of translating. Through this approach, students increase their confidence and motivation. As a result, they may have faster access to the reading material they have to use in their academic contexts. Poole (2009) points out that “a number of studies show the connection between increased reading strategy use and skilled reading among second language learners at the post-secondary level” (p. 30). Nunan (1999) high- lights a typology of reading strategies developed by teachers in the ELTU (English Language Teaching Unit) at a Chinese university. His list is summa- rized and modified for this paper, in Table 1. In order to guide students to use helpful strat- egies when they read in a foreign language, the teacher can design certain tasks. Tasks are exercises intended to facilitate learning and in which there is an objective to reach. A task is defined as any structured language learning endeavor which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the tasks. ‘Task’ is therefore assumed to refer to a range of work plans Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras82 Lopera Medina which have the overall purpose of facilitating language learning – from the simple and brief exercise type, to the more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem, solving or simulation, and decision making. (Breen, 1987, cited in Nunan 1989, p. 6) Some important aspects of language learning must be included when designing activities, namely, activation and building of background knowledge, activities to work on the comprehension of the spe- cific message, or activities dealing with reflection and discussion. When designing tasks for students, one of the most recommended routines is to design them following the format of pre-activities, while- activities, and post-activities (Lopera, 2003). Research Question What, if any, are the effects of reading strategy instruction in an undergraduate group taking a reading comprehension course? Research Method This paper reports an exploratory case study (Cresswell, 2007; Merriam, 1998; Tellis, 1997; Yin, 2003) used as the research method to understand the effect of reading strategy instruction on students’ reading comprehension. A case study is the most qualitative method used in information systems. It involves a phenomenon which has to do with real issues and one’s taking into account the context (Myers, 1997). In terms of this study, the teacher is seen as a researcher because she or he explores the effects of reading strategy training in his students (Freeman, 1998). On the other hand, researchers can also use a quantitative analysis in order to support data. One kind of quantitative design is pre-experimental. In this process, an evaluation is administered at the beginning of the experiment; then, treatment takes place with the group; finally, the same evaluation is given after the treatment in order to confirm the results. It is worth noting that this study favors qualitative analysis, and that the quantitative part aims at endorsing findings. Context and Group Profile A group of the Faculty of Nursing at Universi- dad de Antioquia was chosen to explore the effects of strategy training in reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. Reading Comprehen- sion courses I and II are included in their curriculum. For this case study, Reading Comprehension I was Table 1. Typology of Reading Strategies Developed By Chinese University Teachers (Based on Nunan, 1999) Strategy Comment Having a purpose Knowing what you want to gain from the text Previewing Making a quick survey of the text, identifying the topic, main idea Skimming Getting the author’s point of view Scanning Looking for specific details Predicting Anticipating what is coming next Inferring Getting the ideas that are not explicit Cohesive devices Identifying functions of conjunctions Guessing word meaning Using context, word structure, cognates Background knowledge Using what one already knows and applying it to new ideas in the text. 83PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study taken as the setting for data collection. Participants were instructed in the typology of reading strate- gies stated above in the section of reading strategies, namely: having a purpose, previewing, skimming, scanning, predicting, inferring, using cohesive devices, guessing word meaning, and activating background knowledge. There were 26 students in the class. There were 24 women and 2 men, and their ages ranged from 19 to 22 years old. The course lasted 20 weeks, with one class period of four hours a week. The course was taught in the students’ mother tongue (Spanish), but the exercises and readings were in English. Both the teacher and students used Spanish because the students did not feel sure of expressing their opin- ions, asking or requesting clarifications as well as giving explanations in English. The participants expressed a high level of motivation to attend this course because they knew the importance of being skilled readers for their academic purposes. Research Procedure The researcher used three instruments in the process of data collection: The first instrument was a reading comprehen- sion test which consisted of two paragraphs with 20 multiple choice questions that included main ideas, referents, guessing word meaning, and infer- ence. Students had to circle the best answer based on four options. Students were allowed to use dic- tionaries and had 90 minutes to take the test. This test was implemented both at the beginning and at the end of the course. The second instrument was the documentation of the pedagogical intervention of the teacher, done through field notes in the class sessions and self-reflection in a diary, as the teacher was the researcher in the study. The teacher followed the five recommendations outlined by Winograd and Hare (1988) as described above in the section of the process of reading strategy instruction. The teacher also involved the experience-text-relation- ship (ETR) method which has been applied usefully by researchers (Carrell, Pharis, & Liberto, 1989; Au, 1979). This method helps learners to activate and/ or develop their background knowledge of the text. This method also helps learners to monitor their reading comprehension and to become aware of the reading strategies they use when the teacher uses the reading strategy instructions. The teacher followed a diary in order to collect information of the process that students followed. A set of peda- gogical activities are described: • The teacher told the students the purpose for each reading strategy. He also emphasized the benefits of using them. • Both the teacher and students looked at the title of the selected text and predicted the possible content of the reading. The teacher selected authentic readings not only about their spe- cific area (nursing) but also about social issues, tourism, technology, education, and medicine. The teacher always motivated the students to activate their background knowledge related to the content of the text. • The teacher usually introduced a reading strategy by explaining and modeling how to approach and apply the reading strategy to the text. During this process, the teacher high- lighted some repair strategies such as using the context to guess the meaning of unknown words, continuing to read until the meaning becomes clear, re-reading difficult or problem- atic parts, finding the most important parts of the text, and asking classmates or the teacher for help. • After the explanation, the teacher asked the students to do some exercises with the readings in order to apply a reading strategy or a set of reading strategies which had been just intro- duced. In order to apply the said reading Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras84 Lopera Medina strategies, the teacher designed pre, while, and post activities for each reading. The teacher also asked the students to work in small groups of two or three students; the teacher timed the activities in order to prompt the students to be fast readers. They were allowed to use dictionaries. • In the classroom, the teacher was always around the small groups in order to observe their reading endeavors and was always avail- able to answer questions or guide students. • When time for a specific activity was up, the teacher asked certain students to socialize the possible answers to the whole group. • At this socialization stage, the teacher en- couraged the students to relate the content of the reading to their personal experiences by applying the Experience-Text-Relationship (ETR) method. • The teacher demonstrated to students how they could assess themselves. He asked the students to summarize and socialize the most important parts of each reading as a way of assessing the process of applying the reading strategies. • Public praise was given by the teacher as a motivational strategy for learners. • The teacher took notes in his diary during the development of the classes. • Homework was assigned for each class, and students socialized it with the whole group at the beginning of each class. Most of the home- work emphasized the reading strategy being worked in class; the homework had to be done individually. Finally, the third instrument was a learning perception questionnaire (see Appendix). It was an open questionnaire about students’ experience as regards the reading strategy learning process; it was administered at the end of the course. Data Analysis and Findings The analysis of data shows that students improved in reading comprehension after having had the strategy instruction. Reading Comprehension Test The results of the first and second tests given to the 26 students are different, but they both keep the same structure and the same level of difficulty. They are shown in Table 2 and Figure 1, and suggest an overall gain in reading comprehension ability. Table 2 and Figure 1 show that the average score of evaluation moved positively (Mean Before= 9.69; Mean After= 12.12). The median shows that 50 per- cent of the students selected more than 9 and 13 questions right on both tests respectively. This means that the course had a positive impact on stu- dents. This positive movement is represented in the graphic which shows that the mean on the second test is higher than the mean on the first test (black arrows). Nevertheless, the variation (Std. Deviation) increased (Before= 2.494; After= 3.456). This vari- ation suggests that new tries have to be applied in order to improve and check efficiency. Regarding the qualitative part, the teacher made notes in his diary related to students’ group work, their performance on the tests, and the use of dictionaries in class. When learners took the first test, their time was mostly devoted to using the dic- tionary; most of the learners wrote the meaning of unknown words in the paragraphs. Five students out of 23 finished the test in 60 minutes; the others handed in their tests after the allotted 90 minutes. Some questions (two or three) were left out by four students. Finally, the teacher noticed that some stu- dents doubted or were not sure of the answers they marked. Students were faster on the second test. Eight students finished the test in 40 minutes, and the others took an hour. They considerably lessened 85PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study the use of dictionaries compared to the use on the first test. Nobody left out questions on this test, and only three students wrote the meanings of some unknown words in the paragraphs. The teacher noticed that students seemed to feel more confi- dent when answering the questions. Pedagogical Intervention To persuade students of the importance of each topic –that is, of each reading strategy– the teacher modeled it and showed how, when, and where to use it. He then gave students two readings to which they could apply each topic (having a purpose for reading, previewing, skimming, scan- ning, predicting, inferring, identifying cohesive devices, guessing word meaning, and activating background knowledge). The teacher made notes about the students’ application of the reading strat- egies and these notes resulted in the following observations: • In the early stages of the experiment, some students used their fingers to guide their eyes across the lines of the paragraphs. The teacher interpreted this to mean students were reading word by word. However, towards the end of the strategy training period, students did not use their fingers to follow the reading in the last topics of the strategy training. Thus, for the teacher-researcher, this appeared to indicate that students were using the context to guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary. • When the teacher moved around the classroom in order to observe whether or not the students were applying the reading strategy approach, he noticed that the students showed an aware- ness of knowledge of cognition (Carrell, 1998). They produced expressions like “let’s look at the title, subtitles, and images first, then…”; “read the first and last sentence of each para- graph to get the main idea”; and “let’s use the context to get the meaning of that word.” • At the beginning of the course, some students claimed that reading in English was difficult and complex. They also said that the readings were too long and that they could not handle them. The teacher noticed that their motivation was low. During the course, however, the stu- dents’ motivation and attitudes toward reading changed. Through the process of reading strat- egy instruction, students were able to develop and apply reading strategies which resulted in a boost of their confidence. Figure 1. Results of the First and Second Tests Value scale of test 26 20 5 1 2 7,5 10 12,5 15 17,5 20 Test Table 2. Results of the First and Second Tests Before instruction After instruction Valid Missing Mean Median Std. Deviation Minimum Maximum 26 0 9.69 9.00 2.494 7 16 26 0 12.12 13.00 3.456 5 20 N=26 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras86 Lopera Medina • When homework was checked, the teacher asked them if they had followed the recom- mendations given. Some of them said that it was difficult with some readings, especially the ones about technology; but the ones about medicine, social issues, and nursing were okay and they said “they were workable.” Learning Questionnaire The teacher analyzed the answers on the ques- tionnaire (see Appendix) by categorizing as follows the students’ comments into the most significant issues: Application of Reading Strategies They now apply reading strategies when they read materials in English. They can also manip- ulate unknown vocabulary because they try to contextualize the words in the reading, or by using morpho-lexical strategies. Use of Dictionary They noticed that the frequency in the use of the dictionary could be decreased when they used the reading strategies mentioned above. Also, they obser- ved that they saved time when they did not use it. Self-confidence On the questionnaire, they stated that they now felt more confident when reading in English because they could interact with the reading in order to get the meaning. Also, after the strategy instruction, they felt more confident with the vocabulary. The Course They were of the opinion that the methodol- ogy implemented in the course was quite useful; it facilitated the understanding of the readings. They felt they were more skilled after the strategy instruction. Findings The three instruments –tests, teacher’s field notes and self-reflection in class at the strategy instruction phase, and a motivation questionnaire– were contrasted with one another in order to find similarities. The answers to the research question “What, if any, are the effects of reading strategy instruction on an undergraduate group taking a foreign language reading comprehension course?” are the following: • The effects of the reading strategy instruction were quite useful for these foreign language readers because they improved in reading comprehension. • When the students applied the reading strat- egies, their self-confidence improved and this resulted in higher levels of motivation. • When the learners applied the reading com- prehension strategies as they read, the use of a dictionary was considerably reduced. Conclusions and Implication The primary goal of reading strategy instruction is to improve students’ reading comprehension. This paper has shown that students improved not only in EFL reading comprehension but also in knowledge of strategies. With the strategy instruction, students were able to develop meta-cognitive awareness in using reading strategies. Moreover, students’ atti- tudes and motivation changed positively toward reading in a foreign language. Specifically, students gained self-confidence as they showed they could interact with different kinds of readings. Finally, as the students applied the reading strategies as they read, the use of a dictionary was reduced as a con- sequence of reading strategy instruction. However, with these and no doubt other students, it was nec- essary to guide them in order for them to become autonomous. 87PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study This study did not cover how, if at all, the pro- cess of becoming autonomous learners is linked to the use of reading strategies. Knowing how to use reading strategies helps EFL readers to interact with the reading but it does not mean that they are autonomous readers. Further research is necessary to examine the issue of learner autonomy when students are applying reading strategies. References Au, K. H. P. (1979). Using the experience-text relationship method with minority children. The Reading Teacher, 32, 677-679. Bastidas, J. A. (2006). A framework to understanding moti- vation in the TESOL field. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 7, 147-159. Block, E. (1986). The comprehension strategies of second language readers. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 463-494. Carrell, P. (1998). Can reading strategies be successfully taught? ARAL, 21(1), 1-20. Carrell, P., Pharis, B., & Liberto, J. (1989). Metacognitive strategy training for ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 463-494. Cresswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design. Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Day, R., & Bamford, J. (2000). Extensive reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Freeman, D. (1998). Doing teacher research: From inquiry to understanding. Boston, MA: Newbury House. Guthrie, J. T. (1996). Educational contexts for engagement in literacy. The Reading Teacher, 49, 432-445. Hamp-Lyons, L. (1985). Two approaches to teaching reading: A classroom-based study. Reading in a Foreign Lan- guage, 3, 363-373. Hosenfeld, C. (1979). A learning-teaching view of second lan- guage instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 12, 51-54. Janzen, J. (1996). Teaching strategic reading. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 6-9. Karbalaei, A. (2011). Assessing reading strategy training based on CALLA model in EFL and ESL context. IKALA, 16(27), 167-187. Kern, R. (1989). Second language reading instruction: Its effects on comprehension and word inference ability. Modern Language Journal, 73, 135-149. Lopera, S. (2003). Useful ideas when taking songs to a class. IKALA, 8(14), 135-149. McDonough, J., & Shaw, C. (1993). Materials and methods in ELT. Oxford: Blackwell. Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study appli- cations in education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Mikulecky, B., & Jeffries, L. (2004). Reading Power. United States: Pearson, Longman. Myers, M. (1997). Critical ethnography in information sys- tems. In A. S. Lee, J. Liebenau, & J. I. DeGross (Eds). Information systems and qualitative research (pp. 276- 300). London: Chapman & Hall. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Omaggio, A. (1993). Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Poole, A. (2009). The reading strategies used by male and female Colombian university students. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 11(1), 29-40. Tellis, W. (1997). Application of a case study methodology. The qualitative report, 3(3). Retrieved from www.nova. edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html Wenden, A. (1985). Learner strategies. TESOL Newsletter, 14, 1-4. Wenden, A., & Rubin, J. (Eds.). (1987). Learner strategies in language learning. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall. Winograd, P., & Hare, V. C. (1988). Direct instruction of reading comprehension strategies: The nature of teacher explanation. In C. E. Weinsten, E. T. Goetz, & Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras88 Lopera Medina P. A. Alexander (Eds.), Learning and studying strate- gies: Issues in assessment instruction and evaluation (pp. 121-139). San Diego: Academic Press. Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research. Design and methods. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. About the Author Sergio Lopera Medina, candidate for the PhD in linguistics; MA in linguistics; specialist in teaching foreign languages, Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia. He is a full time professor at Universidad de Antioquia. His research interests are teaching EFL reading comprehension, compliments in pragmatics. 89PROFILE Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2012. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 79-89 Effects of Strategy Instruction in an EFL Reading Comprehension Course: A Case Study Appendix: Learning Questionnaire*1 Universidad de Antioquia – Escuela de Idiomas – Sección Servicios Learning questionnaire in reading comprehension in English Dear student, The following questionnaire is aimed at verifying your progress in reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. Please answer the questionnaire as objectively as possible. The information gathered here will be used for research purposes in human sciences. Proper names will not be used in order to protect the informants’ identities. You agree with participating as soon as you fill out this questionnaire. Last name: ___________________ Name: ____________________________ Age: _________________________ Social strata: _______________________ Year you finished your undergraduate program: _____________________________ Do you have an undergraduate degree? Yes____ No____ Do you have a job? Yes____ No____ Are you graduated from a public high school? Yes____ No____ Has this course helped you improve your reading ability in English? Yes____ No____ Why?____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ What did you learn in this course?_____________________________________________________ Do you feel more confident reading texts in English? Yes____ No____ Why?____________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ What was the positive part of this course?_______________________________________________ What about the negative part?________________________________________________________ * This questionnaire was administered in Spanish and translated into English for the purpose of this publication.