A study utilizing an online application to improve student reading comprehension of undergraduate students in a Private International University

Edward Bacon; Supinda Lertlit

Authors

Edward Bacon Department of Bilingual Education, Faculty of Education, Rangsit University, Patumthani 12000, Thailand
Supinda Lertlit Department of Bilingual Education, Faculty of Education, Rangsit University, Patumthani 12000, Thailand

Keywords:

curriculum development, Eddie’s Vocab Challenge, flash-based vocabulary-oriented in-class online application, in-class online application, reading comprehension

Abstract

Technology is very much a part of our daily lives, and is only natural to want to implement the same technology in our classrooms. Thus, this study engaged undergraduate international university students from distinctive linguistic backgrounds, utilizing Eddie’s Vocab Challenge, testing its impact on the students’ capacity to comprehend fundamental English reading passages. When initially introducing technology into a classroom setting, it is not a matter of simply adding an interactive online exercise randomly, but rather making sure the newly integrated technological application and/or feature is synchronized with a classes’ or course’s overall curriculum development or design. During the course of this study, a mixed method of both quantitative and qualitative approach was utilized. First of all, both (control and experimental) groups participated in a 100-question reading comprehension pre-test and post-test. Secondly, students were asked to participate in focus groups that were randomly selected. Lastly, the researchers kept audio journals after each teaching session. When compared to utilizing teaching methods, the findings of this study showed that by using a flash-based vocabulary-oriented in-class online application, students reading comprehension scores in the experimental group improved 12% as opposed to the control group’s 5%. Additional unintended findings of the study also found that student motivation improved 14.2% more in the experimental group than did in the control group. The other unintended finding was that the student truancy decreased 6.8% more in the experimental group when compared to the control group.

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