Improving Reading Comprehension through Oral Language Intervention in EFL Grade 3 Students

This study examines the impact of an oral intervention program on the reading comprehension of third-year EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students with limited oral language since kindergarten. It investigates the effectiveness of providing rich, systematic instruction in story retelling through interactive read-alouds to improve reading comprehension and highlights the crucial role that oral language plays in the reading comprehension of EFL students. For this purpose, a total of 371 EFL third-grade students were chosen from four private schools in Lebanon. The experimental group, consisting of 184 participants, received a 10-week oral program of high-quality read-aloud stories over two consecutive semesters. The remaining 187 students were assigned to the control group but continued with the main reading curriculum. Two retelling assessments and two reading comprehension tests were performed for both groups. The data were analyzed utilizing a 3-step comparative statistical approach (MANOVA, one-way ANOVA, and LSD). The results showed a statistically significant difference between the control and the experimental groups for all narrative element variables (characters, setting, main events, and solution) in the second retelling assessment; however, no significant difference was found in the first retelling. Furthermore, comparisons of reading comprehension assessments showed a small to medium effect size in favor of the experimental group. Understanding the relationship between oral and reading comprehension calls for the importance of enhancing oral language in the early years of EFL classroom.