USING LEARNING CONTRACTS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION AND SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING ABILITY OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Keywords:
self-directed learning, reading comprehension, learning contractAbstract
The objectives of the study were to study the effects of learning contracts on English reading comprehension and self-directed learning skills of undergraduate students as well as investigate their opinion on the use of learning contracts. The instructional process in the study allowed students to plan their own activities and tasks in a learning contract in order to achieve learning goals. Using quasi-experimental design, the study was conducted with 80 students enrolled in EN112 course in the second semester of 2009 academic year. Two classes were randomized by cluster sampling for the experiment. One section was assigned to be a control group, and another one was used as an experimental group. Three research instruments included a reading comprehension test, a self-directed learning questionnaire, and an opinion questionnaire on the use of learning contracts. The One-way ANCOVA, paired sample t-test, independent t-test, mean, and standard deviation were used for data analysis. The results reveal that students in both groups gained higher English reading mean scores and self-directed learning ability at the significance level of .05. However, the reading scores and self-directed learning ability of both groups were significantly different at the level of .05. Moreover, students had a high level of opinion on using contracts in learning English.
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