The Effects of Graphic Organizer Strategy on Improving Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension

Abstract

For many learners, reading is certainly the most vital language skill. It even turns into a more challenging issue when it comes to EFL learners with their incomplete exposure to the target language and inadequate opportunity to make use of target language in real circumstances. There is no uncertainty that Graphic Organizers are effective instructional tools for language teaching. Graphic Organizer is a visual and graphic display that represents information in a variety of ways. A graphic organizer establishes the relationships between facts, terms, and ideas within a learning task and makes incremental growth. Therefore, the current study aimed at investigating the effect of Graphic Organizer Strategy on Improving Iranian EFL learners’ reading comprehension. Sixty female learners contributed in this quasi-experimental research which lasted for one academic semester. For the purposes of this study, 60 learners were divided into two groups. Before the treatment, both groups were administered a reading comprehension pretest. The experimental group (n=30) was taught reading comprehension through Graphic Organizers. Nevertheless, the control group (n=30) received the traditional instruction of reading comprehension. At the end of the study, a post-test was administered to both groups. The results of t-test designated that Graphic Organizers had a significantly positive effect on reading comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. The positive effects of Graphic Organizers are due to their effectiveness in matching the mind and making reasonable links between concepts and facilitating the process of meaningful learning.