An Exploration of the Effectiveness of Shadow-Reading in Enhancing EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of using flashcards as a visual aid to improve fourth-year primary school pupils’ vocabulary learning. To achieve this aim, two hypotheses were raised stating that there is no connection between the use of flashcards and the enhancement of EFL primary school pupils’ vocabulary acquisition and the second claimed that the use of flashcards has a positive effect on teaching new vocabulary to primary school pupils. To test the hypotheses two methods were employed, a classroom observation and a quasi- experimental research design to manipulate the effect of the independent variable “using flashcards” on the dependent variable “enhancing primary school vocabulary acquisition”. The study sample consisted of 52 primary school pupils who aged between 8 and 10, divided into two groups the experimental group and the control group.