Psychological Attitude of Medical Students towards Course-book Modification: A Case of Text Simplification in ESP Courses
Archives of Advances in Biosciences,
Vol. 10 No. 4 (2019),
14 October 2019
,
Page 1-14
https://doi.org/10.22037/aab.v10i4.26195
Abstract
Introduction: The current study sought to investigate the impact of linguistic modification of medical textbooks on reading comprehension ability of medical students and their attitude towards text simplification.
Materials and Methods: 150 male and female medical students coming from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences participated in this study. The homogeneity of the participants was attained through passing a placement test, followed by completing the pre-requisite and general English courses. For the purpose of modifying the texts, the framework proposed by Van Den Branden (2000) was adopted. Moreover, the questionnaire developed by Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999) called Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) was used.
Results: Data analysis was conducted, using one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA). Concerning the major research question, analysis of the data indicated that there were significant differences between the participants’ performance on the four reading tests. Thus, the major null-hypothesis as “lexical modification, grammatical modification, and lexical and grammatical modification in comparison with no modification of input do not significantly affect the reading comprehension ability of Iranian medical students differently” was rejected. The last research question deals with medical students’ perceptions towards different types of input modifications
Conclusion: The overwhelming majority of the interviewees chose lexically and grammatically modified texts. However, “not modified text” was regarded as the most boring one. Also, the participants believed that grammatically modified texts were best for improving students’ work knowledge. Moreover, the interviewees mentioned that grammatically modified texts with fewer complicated structures were more straightforward for them.
- SLA
- ESP
- Text Modification
- Reading Comprehension
- Simplification
- Psychological Attitude
- Syntax
- Lexicon
How to Cite
References
Alderson, J. C. (1984). Reading in a foreign language: A reading problem or a language problem? In J. C. Alderson & A. H. Urquhart (Eds.), Reading in a foreign language (pp. 1-27). London: Longman.
Allen, D. (2009). A study of the role of relative clauses in the simplification of news texts for learners of English. System, 37(2), 585-99.
Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bae, J., & Bachman, L. F. (2010). An investigation of four writing traits and two tasks across two languages. Language Testing, 27(2), 213-234.
Baleghizadeh, S., & Borzabadi, D. (2007). The impact of two types of input modification on EFL reading comprehension: Linguistic versus interactional. TELL, 1(3), 71-94.
Berman, R. A. (1984). Syntactic components of the foreign language reading process. In J. C. Alderson & A. H. Urquhart (Eds.), Reading in a foreign language (pp.139-157). London: Longman.
Bernstein, B., Gierl, O., & Rogers, T. (2003). Pedagogy, symbolic and identity: theory, research and critique. London: Rowan & Littlefield.
Bernhardt, E. B. (1991). Towards an information processing perspective in foreign language reading. Modern Language learning, 68(2), 322-331.
Brewer, B. (2008). Effects of lexical simplification and modification on ESL readers’ local-level perceived comprehension. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Brigham Young University.
Chaudron, C. (1985). Intake: On models and methods for discovering learners’ processing of input. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7(3), 1-14.
Chiang, C., & Dunkel, P. (1992). The effect of speech modification, prior knowledge, and listening proficiency on EFL lecture learning. TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 345-374.
Crossley, S. A., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M., & McNamara, D. S. (2007). A linguistic analysis of simplified and authentic texts. Modern Language Journal, 91(1), 15-30.
Esfandiari Asl, S., & Zoghi, M. (2016). The effect of elaborative text modification on Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 3(2), 44-60.
Filed, A. (2018). Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS, Statistics for Statistics. (5th ed.). London: SAGE Publications.
Fielding, L., & Pearson, D. (2004). Reading comprehension: What works? Educational Leadership, 51(5), 62-68.
Garfinkel, B. D., & Hoberman, H. M. (1989). Self-reported anxiety in adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146(3), 384-386.
Heydarpour Meymeh M., Rashtchi M, Mohseni A. Anxiety Effect: A Case of Text Modification and the Effect of High and Low Anxiety Levels on Medical Students’ Comprehension Performance. Journal of Paramedical Sciences. 2019: 10 (1)
Huang, H. C., Chern, C. L., & Lin, C. C. (2009). EFL learners’ use of online reading strategies and comprehension of texts: An exploratory study. Computers & Education, 52(2), 13-26.
Krashen, S. D. (1994). The input hypothesis and its rivals. In N. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 45-77). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Harlow: Longman.
Lautamatti, L. (1978). Observations on the development of the topic in simplified discourse. In V.Kohonon & E. Enkavist (Eds.), Turku, Finnish Association for Applied Linguistics.
Leow, R. (1997). Simplification and second language acquisition. World Englishes, 16(2), 291-296.
Long, M. H. (1985). Input and second language acquisition theory. In S. M. Gass& C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 377-393). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Macaluso, R. (2006). Through the looking glass: Grammatical skills as a critical component to successful reading comprehension. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation), St. John’s University, New York.
Nujaidi, A. H. (2003). The relationship between vocabulary size, reading strategies, and reading comprehension of EFL learners in Saudi Arabia (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation), Oklahoma State University.
Oh, S. Y. (2001). Two types of input modification and EFL reading comprehension: Simplification versus elaboration. TESOL Quarterly, 35(2), 69-96.
Palinesar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (2002). The effects of L2 reading assessment methods on anxiety level. TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 172-176.
Prabhu, N. S. (1997). Acquisition through comprehension: Three procedures. In R. Singh (Ed.), Grammar, language, and society: Contemporary Indian contributions (pp. 343-356). New Delhi, India: Sage.
Rashtchi, M., & Aghajanzadeh, M. (2008). Comparative critical reading strategy and writing achievement of Iranian EFL learners. The Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 117-130.
Repley, W. H., & Blair, T. R. (2009). Effective reading instruction for struggling readers: the role of direct/explicit teaching. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25(2), 125-138.
Sellers, V. D. (2000). Anxiety and reading comprehension in Spanish as a foreign language. Foreign Language Annals, 33(5), 512-521.
Swaffar, J. K. (1985). Reading authentic texts in a foreign language: A cognitive model. Modern Language Journal,69, 15-34.
Tabata-Sandrom, M. (2013). The reader-text-writer interaction: L2 Japanese learners’ response toward graded readers. Reading in a Foreign Language, 25(2), 264-282.
Van den Branden, K. (2000). Does negotiation of meaning promote reading comprehension? A study of multilingual primary school classes. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(3), 426-443.
Yano, Y., Long, M. H., & Ross, S. (1994). The effects of simplified and elaborated texts on foreign language reading comprehension. Language Learning, 44(2), 189-219.
Yazdanpanah, K. (2007). The effect of background knowledge and reading comprehension test items on male and female performance. The Reading Matrix, 7(2), 64-80.
- Abstract Viewed: 92 times
- PDF Downloaded: 104 times