This study investigated the relative predictive power of vocabulary depth and reading fluency on the reading comprehension of advanced Korean EFL learners in college. By doing so, the scope of paradigmatic relations, as part of vocabulary depth, was extended to encompass associative vocabulary as well as synonyms and antonyms, and reading fluency at the discourse level was considered. For this study, 139 college students were tested on a range of vocabulary depth tests, as well as reading comprehension and text-level reading fluency. The findings revealed that although both vocabulary depth and reading fluency are significant contributors to reading comprehension abilities, the predictability of vocabulary depth was larger than that of reading fluency. In addition, associative vocabulary not only revealed additional predictive power for reading comprehension on top of reading fluency, synonyms and antonyms, but also showed stronger predictability compared to synonyms and antonyms. These results highlight that both vocabulary depth, especially the knowledge of how words are related together, and text-level reading fluency play a crucial role in boosting the reading comprehension abilities of even advanced L2 readers.

This study examined the effects of an intervention using audiobooks for the development of reading fluency, in terms of reading speed, reading comprehension, and motivation to read among Kazakhstani English as a foreign language (EFL) ninth-grade learners in the K–11 system. Silent reading with audiobooks (experimental group) and silent reading only (control group) were compared with a mixed-method study design, a reading motivation questionnaire, and a semi-structured interview. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The experimental group was found to significantly outperform the control group in reading speed while preserving substantial comprehension of the texts. The results further revealed that, while both groups’ motivation level increased, no statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups, suggesting that the use of audiobooks was not superior to silent reading for motivation enhancement. Nevertheless, a qualitative analysis of data obtained from the interviews revealed that the use of audiobooks had an overall positive effect on students’ attitudes toward the use of audiobooks and reading comprehension. The study concludes with a discussion of limitations and suggestions for future research.

This study aimed to examine whether overall English proficiency influences the relative predictive power of reading fluency and listening comprehension abilities in explaining the reading comprehension of Korean EFL learners within the simple view of reading framework, when the age factor is controlled for. One hundred sixteen eleventh-grade Korean high school students consisting of two highly distinct groups in general English proficiency―55 Most Highly Capable Students (MHCS) and 61 Capable Students (CS)―were tested on measures of reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension. The findings indicated that reading fluency and listening comprehension abilities were significantly related to the reading comprehension of both MHCS and CS groups. However, the results from a series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that while listening comprehension was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension of the MHCS group, it was reading fluency that explained more variance in comprehension of the CS group. Implications for reading instructions are discussed.

The present study explored a reading-based speaking task for its potential to develop EFL students' fluency. Based on an L1 speaking model by Levelt (1989, 1993), the task was developed in a way that students can maximize their fluency in a scaffolding-rich condition: one in the stage of message generation and the other in linguistic encoding. The use of reading texts for the development of speaking fluency was also hypothesized to induce authentic interaction among interlocutors. How the reading-based speaking task functions as hypothesized was tested with five Korean college students who participated in a 4-week reading-based speaking program. The analysis of the group activity transcripts and interviews revealed that scaffolding in message generation took place in three types of language episode: a personal experience episode, a vocabulary-related episode, and a contentclarification/ elaboration episode. Linguistic encoding in L2 speaking was scaffolded via shared context, which enabled the participants to develop and utilize a paraphrasing skill. Finally, the participants’ engagement in speaking activities increased, affecting their willingness to communicate and their motivation to improve speaking.

This study aimed to examine English oral reading fluency of 5th and 6th grade students. Twenty three 5th graders and 22 6th graders at an elementary school in Daejeon participated in the study. Four texts were prepared: a 5th grade equivalent dialog text, a 5th grade equivalent narrative text, a 6th grade equivalent dialog text, and a 6th grade equivalent narrative text. The students were asked to read them aloud at the end of the first semester and the second semester. Comprehension check-up questions were given immediately after they read the texts. Their reading rate was measured in the number of words they read correctly per minute (WCPM). At the end of the school year, the 5th graders read their grade level dialog text at 103 WCPM on average, and the narrative text at 97 WCPM on average. The 6th graders read the dialog text 111 WCPM on average, and the narrative text at 99 WPCM on average. The correlations between reading rates and comprehension were moderate; .60 at the first administration and .58 at the second administration.

Despite the general understanding of the prominent role of basic reading sub-skills, such as decoding abilities and reading fluency, in the reading comprehension of younger and proficient first and second language readers, little is known about the role of these skills in older and less skilled readers in foreign language contexts. The present study was designed to investigate how decoding skills and reading fluency relate to the reading comprehension of such readers, and to identify the relative strengths between the two. Two hundred twenty two Korean high school students participated, and their performance on decoding, reading fluency, and reading comprehension tasks was analyzed. The results showed that both decoding skills and reading fluency were strongly correlated to reading comprehension. Moreover, between the two fundamental reading sub-skills, decoding skills outperformed reading fluency in explaining reading comprehension, making a unique contribution beyond the effects of reading fluency. These findings suggest that a basic skill like word decoding still deserves instructional attention even at the secondary schools in EFL contexts.

The purpose of present study was to explore the reading fluency of elemenatary school students in Korea. To achieve the purpose of this study, 150 sixth grade students were selected from two schools of Gyeonggi province and their reading fluency was evaluated. Assessment of reading fluency was administered as follows: students were asked to read orally a reading text for one minute, which was developed for this study and the teacher checked their reading performance according to assessment criteria developed by Zutell and Rasinski (1991). Reading fluency dealt with four subcategories: decoding accuracy, reading rate per a minute (WCPM), expression, and comprehension. Mean score at each subcategory and its aspect were analyzed, expression element were compared between the lower and higher group, and finally co-relation between reading fluency and comprehension were examined. The results showed that while most students gained higher score in decoding accuracy or reading rate, their expression was lower. Among four sub-categories of expression, i.e. expression and volume, phrasing, smoothness, and reading rate, score of expression and volume was the lowest. Most students read text with little expression or enthusiasm in their voice. On the basis of the result, some ideas for teaching fluency were suggested.