An Investigation of the Intervention of Zimmerman & Hutchin’s (2003) Information Synthesization vs. Visualization on Iranian Undergraduate ESP Accounting Learners’ Reading Comprehension Achievement Across Gender

Abstract

This study investigated the intervention of Zimmerman & Hutchins (2003) Information Synthesization vs. Visualization on Iranian Undergraduate ESP (Accounting) learners' reading comprehension achievement across gender. 120 ESP University students majoring in Accounting in Iran participated in this study and were assigned to 4 homogeneous groups, 30 male and 30 female students in experimental groups, 30 male and 30 female students in comparison groups. An ESP reading comprehension administered to all participants as a pre-test showed that 4 groups were not significantly different in ESP reading comprehension ability. For treatment, Accounting reading comprehension passages were taught through focusing on Information Synthesization strategy in the experimental group and in the comparison groups it was taught through focusing on Visualization strategy. At the end of the treatment, the post-test was administered. The results revealed that Information Synthesization had more effect on improving the students' ESP reading comprehension ability than Visualization, and also gender does not interact with ESP reading comprehension ability of the participants.