Integrating reading and writing in testing reading comprehension of the Afghan EFL language learners

This study was conducted to evaluate a potential new way of assessing reading comprehension at the college level in Afghanistan. In this study, synthesis writing is evaluated to determine if reading-writing integration can help in assessing the reading comprehension of Afghan sophomore students. Furthermore, a gap-filling activity was used to examine if a cognitively less challenging activity can provide support (scaffolding) in completing a more complex task. Participants were divided into two groups. Gap-filling and reading-to-write-a-synthesis activities were presented in reverse order to the groups. A 2-by-2 mixed ANOVA was conducted to assess the main effects of task and group and the interaction effect between the two factors. Results of the study suggest that order of presentation affects the performance of participants in these two tests and, contrary to expectations, presenting the reading-to-write-a-synthesis activity prior to the gap-filling activity may result in better performance on the more challenging reading-to-write-a-synthesis activity.