The effects of explicit and implicit teaching of connectors on the reading comprehension performance of Iranian EFL learners

Reading comprehension is considered a salient source of input and an important language skill in English as Foreign Language (EFL) learning contexts. Moreover, connectors are regarded as main constituents of reading materials. Connectors refer to linguistic devices which provide cohesion in texts and thus are highly likely to contribute to the reading comprehension process. Due to the importance of reading comprehension as a main language skill and the significance of connectors in the reading process, the present study set out to investigate the effects of explicit and implicit teaching of connectors on the reading comprehension performance of Iranian EFL learners. The participants were 60 Iranian male intermediate EFL learners studying in intact classes. The study adopted a pretest-posttest design and the data were collected through administering Preliminary English Test (PET) which included reading, listening, speaking, and writing. PET was initially used to make sure that the selected learners were homogenized in terms of overall language proficiency and reading comprehension performance. As for treatment, the explicit teaching group received a full explanation for connectors used in texts while the implicit teaching group was just exposed to examples of connectors in texts. A reading section from another version of PET was used as a posttest. The results of paired samples t-test indicated that explicit and implicit teaching of connectors were both significantly effective on reading comprehension performance. Moreover, the results of independent samples t-test revealed that explicit teaching of connectors had a significantly better effect on reading comprehension performance compared to implicit instruction.