The Effects of Gender Differences and Schema-Based Pre-reading Activities on Reading Comprehension Skill

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of gender and Schema-based pre-reading activities on the Iranian EFL learners' reading comprehension. The sample consisted of 60 male and female students studying at second-grade high school in Abhar city. Two reading passages (“Charles Dickens and the Little Children", and “Hic, Hic, Hic") were randomly selected from second-grade English textbook. The subjects were assigned randomly into four groups of fifteen based on school ordering. Then the researcher administrated reading comprehension pre-test in order to know if they were at the same background knowledge. Four groups were exposed to different treatments. Group A and group C (EG) received SBPRA (PTV and PRQ). The subject in group B and group D (CG) received GTM. The subjects were taught for a week and then took reading comprehension Multiple-choice items post-test. The results first showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups (EG and CG). Groups A and C which used SBPRAs comprehended passages better than groups B and D who did not use them. Second, gender did not affect reading comprehension ability so male and female use learning strategies equally. The findings of this study recommended that teachers can use SBPRA as a useful tool for facilitating students' reading comprehension.