An Investigation of EFL Students’ Difficulties in the Reading Comprehension of Homographic Puns

Abstract

The present work attempts to investigate EFL students' difficulties in the reading comprehension of homographic puns. This study was conducted at the department of English at Mohamed Seddik Ben Yahia University. It focuses on identifying the difficulties EFL learners face in the reading comprehension of homographic puns. The research hypothesis assumes that homographic puns are only accessible to advanced learners. To test the validity of this hypothesis, a students test that encompasses 10 homographic puns was designed and submitted with the request to explain the expressions. The sample consisted of 30 first-year stuents and 30 third-year students. The results confirmed the hypothesis, with third-year students whom we judged to be advanced learners, performing better than less experienced first-year students. The results also revealed that EFL learners' difficulties in the reading comprehension of homographic puns are caused by lack of vocabulary, cultural and contextual obstacles, and linguistic and pragmatic competence limitations