Intercultural Rhetoric as Instructional Technique for Improving Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension: Effectiveness & Challenges

Abstract

Framed in schema theory, the present mixed method study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of two instructional techniques-L1 and Ethnography-in promoting knowledge of IRs and to improve Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ reading comprehension on one hand, and to identify the priority of the technique which contributed more to the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension, on the other. Finally, this study explored the challenges that the Iranian EFL learners face in the acquisition and application of the IR features in reading comprehension. The data for the study come from two sources: students’ scores on two achievement tests of reading comprehension administered as pre- and post-tests, as well as the learners’ journals kept during the experimental period. The results of the analyses of the quantitative data revealed that although teaching IR features through both ethnography and L1 was significantly effective in improving the development of the Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension, the instructional technique ‘ethnography’ was more effective in promoting the learners’ acquisition and application of the IRs, and hence their reading comprehension. In addition, the findings from the qualitative data obtained from the analysis of the learners’ journals demonstrated that teaching IRs helped the learners’ self-regulation in reading. These findings imply that teachers’ awareness of IR instructional techniques for promoting reading comprehension should be raised, which would hopefully lead to the high quality teaching and its subsequent successful learning outcomes.

Keywords

• IR Features
• L1
• Ethnography
• Reading Comprehension
• Iranian EFL Learners