Effects of Oral Reading on EFL Reading Comprehension

The present study compared two reading modes of oral and silent reading to investigate which mode was more advantageous for EFL reading comprehension. The participants were thirty-three Japanese university students. In the experiment, the participants read narrative passages orally and silently. After each reading, a comprehension test was given to see if they comprehend the contents of the passage. The scores of the test were analysed using a 2 x 2 repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on reading mode (oral or silent) and with proficiency (high or low) as a between-subject factor. The analysis yielded no significant main effects for reading modes and proficiency. No significant interactions between the two factors were revealed. The findings suggest that there is no major difference in reading comprehension performance between oral and silent reading.