Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A. in TESL, Herat University, Afghanistan

2 Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Collaborative language classes have been always encouraged among teachers, but the effects of online collaborative reading among English learners, especially with Afghan learners, have never received much attention. This study was conducted to investigate if this method would affect students’ reading performance. For Afghan English learners reading skill is a challenging solitary activity which may lead them to failure and disappointment. For data collection, the researchers divided the participants (sophomore students of the English department, Herat University, Afghanistan) into two groups; one group took the online collaborative reading class and the other one, as the control group, took the conventional face to face reading class. The researchers used Schoology platform as the tool for conducting this research for the online class. The participants took a pretest before the treatment and a post-test at the end of the six-week treatment. Data were analyzed quantitatively through SPSS; paired sample t-test and independent-sample t-test were used to find the effects of the treatment. The result of the study shows that students who took the online collaborative reading class and worked collaboratively in completing the assignments performed better in the post-test than the ones who took the conventional reading class.

Keywords

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