The Effect of Multilingual-Multicultural Discourse Instruction on IELTS Candidates’ Reading Comprehension[پايان نامه لاتين]

Mandana Mohammadi

The present study was an attempt to contribute to L2 reading studies by researching the likely effect of multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction on Iranian IELTS candidates’ reading comprehension development. In order to do so, the researcher selected 70 homogeneous upper intermediate level male and female Iranian EFL learners with the age range of 18 to 30 taking part in the IELTS cramming courses at Irsafam test center in Tehran. The selected participants were divided into two groups; multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction group, as the experimental group and the control group, receiving the conventional method aiming at analyzing the test formats and reading for the test in the cramming courses of IELTS, with almost equal numbers. In the second phase of the study, all the participants received the academic IELTS reading task as the pretest. Then, the experimental and control groups received their specifically designed instructions. Following ten sessions of treatment, both groups received the reading posttest and the results were analyzed through employing SPSS software version 25. Then, the interviews were done with ten of the study participants in the experimental group following the post-test session in terms of their views about the implication of multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction in the IETS preparation course.A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was run to compare the control and experimental groups’ means on posttest of reading comprehension after controlling for the effect of their entry reading ability as measured through the pretest in order to probe the null-hypothesis of the study. In addition, thematic analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data pertaining to interviews with the test takers. There was a considerable impact on the reading comprehension skills of Iranian IELTS test takers after implementing the multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction. The findings based on interviews showed that students' L2 reading comprehension could be improved by using multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction, but they also showed that it could inspire students to learn more enthusiastically, raise their level of sociocultural awareness, and broaden their world views. Furthermore, it was observed that students might raise their ability to learn, increase their responsibility for learning, and ultimately improve their reading scores on the IELTS by relying on multilingual-multicultural discourse training. The findings of the present study have implications for teaching and learning English through multilingual-multicultural discourse instruction for the purpose of improving EFL learners' reading ability.