Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a plethora of research to study the relationship between reading strategies and reading comprehension, but few studies have examined the brain functionality; more specifically the relationship between hemispheric dominance and reading strategies. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether there would be any relationship among elementary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ hemispheric dominance (Left, Right and Whole-brained dominance), their reading strategies, and reading comprehension. To this end, 67 elementary EFL students were selected based on convenience sampling. After determining the participants’ brain dominance, they completed a survey of reading strategies (RS) in order to identify their general preferences of reading strategies. Then a Reading Comprehension Test (RC) was administered to examine the students’ reading comprehension proficiency. The results demonstrated that most of the students were left-brain who generally preferred to employ problem-solving strategies (PROB). Furthermore, no significant relationship was found between hemispheric dominance, reading strategies, and reading comprehension of Iranian elementary EFL students. The results had also some implications for teachers stating that they should consider their students’ individual differences in terms of hemisphericity and adopt or balance their teaching techniques based on the students’ brain dominance types (learning styles and strategies) or at least to be sensitive to that.

摘要

过去十年见证了大量研究阅读策略与阅读理解之间关系的研究，但很少有研究检查大脑功能；更具体地说，半球优势和阅读策略之间的关系。因此，本研究旨在调查初级英语作为外语（EFL）学习者的半球优势（左、右和全脑优势）、他们的阅读策略和阅读理解之间是否存在任何关系。为此，基于便利抽样选择了 67 名小学 EFL 学生。在确定参与者的大脑优势后，他们完成了一项阅读策略 (RS) 调查，以确定他们对阅读策略的一般偏好。然后进行阅读理解测试（RC）以检查学生的阅读理解能力。结果表明，大多数学生是左脑，他们通常更喜欢采用解决问题的策略（PROB）。此外，伊朗小学生的半球优势、阅读策略和阅读理解之间没有显着关系。结果也对教师有一定的启示，他们应该考虑学生在半球方面的个体差异，并根据学生的大脑优势类型（学习方式和策略）采用或平衡他们的教学技术，或者至少对那。结果表明，大多数学生是左脑，他们通常更喜欢采用解决问题的策略（PROB）。此外，伊朗小学生的半球优势、阅读策略和阅读理解之间没有显着关系。结果也对教师有一定的启示，他们应该考虑学生在半球方面的个体差异，并根据学生的大脑优势类型（学习方式和策略）采用或平衡他们的教学技术，或者至少对那。结果表明，大多数学生是左脑，他们通常更喜欢采用解决问题的策略（PROB）。此外，伊朗小学生的半球优势、阅读策略和阅读理解之间没有显着关系。结果也对教师有一定的启示，他们应该考虑学生在半球方面的个体差异，并根据学生的大脑优势类型（学习方式和策略）采用或平衡他们的教学技术，或者至少对那。