The Effects Of Repeated And Serial Readings In Oral And Silent Modes On The Reading Performances Of Esl Adults (college, Spanish-Speaking)

A study was conducted to assess the effects of repeated and serial readings in oral and silent modes on reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension. The subjects were 71 Spanish-speaking college students who were learning to read English as a second language. They were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: oral repeated readings, oral serial readings, silent repeated readings, and silent serial readings. Subjects practiced reading for a total of 16 practice sessions, two per week for eight weeks. The data were treated in a multivariate two-by-two factorial design. The dependent measures were rate of silent reading, rate of oral reading, accuracy of word recognition during oral reading, and comprehension of written discourse. Multivariate analysis of variance of the combined outcome measures indicated a significant silent/oral effect, F(4, 64) = 4.76, p \u3c .01, but not a significant repeated/serial effect. Subjects who had practiced reading orally read significantly faster orally; however, they read significantly less accurately than subjects who had practiced silently. Based on these results, and practical considerations, the conclusion was that silent serial reading was the preferred reading practice technique for ESL students