Influence of knowing another foreign language on learning english: does it increase the use of inferencing as a reading strategy and proficiency in reading and figuring vocabulary meanings from context

Abstract

I53HO ABSTRACT This study aims to answer the following question: does knowing another foreign language increase reading comprehension and guessing vocabulary meanings from context as well as increasing the use of inferencing as a reading strategy in intermediate level EFL students enrolled in Bilkent University School of English Language (BUSED? The reading comprehension was assessed through a multiple choice test the subjects had to complete after- reading a passage and vocabulary inferencing was assessed in a matching exercise where the subjects had to match the unknown words from the passage with their definitions. The number of strategies used were measured in a multiple choice questionnaire adapted from a study conducted by Barnett < 1988a). The subjects participating in the study were 41 students enrolled in BUSEL. The findings of the study demonstrate that this specific group of subjects did not use their knowledge of another foreign language as additional information to make inferences from while reading in English. This finding becomes apparent in the fact that t heir- performance in the reading comprehension and vocabulary tests administered as a part of this study were not significantly better than the performance of the control group which consisted of subjects who did notknow any other foreign languages. Apart from this, they did not report using a higher number of reading strategies which suggests that knowing another foreign language did not increase use of reading strategies and specifically inferencing while reading in English.