The Effect of Knowledge of Pedagogical Grammar on Word Guessing in Reading Comprehension among Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract

The focus of the present study was to explore the effect of pedagogical grammar on the word guessing of intermediate EFL learners in reading. The participants of the present study were 30 learners at the intermediate level. They were selected based on their scores on language proficiency test. The researcher divided the learners of the present study into experimental and control groups. Then, the researcher gave the two groups a test of reading comprehension (as pretest). It consisted of an authentic text with some unfamiliar words. After administering the pretest, the treatment began. For the experimental group, the grammar was taught mainly based on the pedagogical grammar methodology. In contrast, control group was taught based on conventional methods of grammar instruction. After the instruction, the researcher gave a test of reading as posttest. In addition to this, learners answered a grammar test. After gathering the required data, they were analyzed using SPSS software (Paired and Independent Sample t-tests). The Pearson correlation was also used to find out the relationship between the learners' grammar knowledge and their ability to guess the word meanings in reading texts. The results indicated that the knowledge of pedagogical grammar had a significant effect on intermediate learners' word guessing in reading texts. Also, the correlation coefficient was found between knowledge of grammar and the ability to guess the words' meanings in reading texts.