CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review

ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

Marzban, A. (2011). Improvement of reading comprehension through

computer-assisted language learning in Iranian intermediate EFL students.
Procedia Computer Science 3 (310).

Introduction
Reading is commonly said as important. It is because it controls a
persons participation in a real world. For an active participation,
knowledge is crucial and it can only be attained through reading. Thus,
reading is undeniably important to push or place someone in another
level. Nevertheless, reading alone is pointless without having a good
understanding of what is read as reading is not merely a decoding process
(Fazeli, 2010). For this, endless studies are being done to help students to
improve their reading comprehension level. Especially, through the
integration of computer in developing reading comprehension. As what
had been claimed by some researchers in their studies, computers, indeed
have positive impact in students reading (Samali, V.M., Humphrey, M.S.,
Clive, K.T., Langmia, K., 2015). To review critically on these studies, two
articles have been selected for the purpose.
The first article, Improvement of reading comprehension through
computer-assisted

language

learning

in

Iranian

intermediate

EFL

students is written by Marzban (2011). As the title suggests, Marzban

(2011) has carried out a study to examine whether computer-assisted
language

learning

improves

the

learners

reading

comprehension

significantly and to observe the notable difference between the CALLbased methods and traditional-based methods on the learners.
Before going further into the content of the study, let us first look at
the structure. The researcher has divided his study into fourteen parts.
Each part is clearly numbered and labelled except for abstract which only
has labelling. Thus, the rest of the parts are 1) Introduction, 2) Advantages

CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review
ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

of ICT in EFL, 3) Barriers to the Application of ICT, 4) A Brief Review of

Literature on ICT in Iran, 5) Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL),
6) A Brief History of CALL, 7) Statement of the Problem, 8) Research
Questions, 9) Research Hypothesis, 10) Method, 11) Research Design, 12)
Data Analysis and Results and lastly 13) Discussion and Conclusion.
However, among all the parts presented in the study, only one part has
been further divided into sub-parts which is the 10) Method.

The sub-

parts are including the Participants, Instruments, and Procedure where

Instrument is further divided into four smaller parts which are a) The
Proficiency Tests, b) Computer Laboratory, c) Computer Hardware and d)
Computer Software.
Summarisation of the Article
Marzban (2011) in his article has claimed that the study is focusing
on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on
teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL). This study is
carried out due to a systematic review claimed that there is not enough
studies to support that computers serve important roles in language
education based on a number of criteria.
To prove that computers indeed serve very important roles in
language learning, the researcher has purposely included a segment on
the Advantages of ICT in EFL in his article. According to Marzban (2011),
ICT is able to enhance language teaching and learning to both teachers
and learners. Teachers can access to various resources and innovative
tools to be integrated in their language teaching. Meanwhile, for learners,
one of the advantages of computers stated is they allow learners to learn
through the opportunities provided to access information in different and
helpful forms such as multimedia, key visuals or through models or
simulations. The researcher continues to provide more advantages of the
use of computer in language learning.

CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review
ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

In the next part, problems in implementing ICT are discussed. Some

of the barriers are due to the infrastructures, incompetent teachers in
handling computers such as keyboarding skills and also weak technical
support. Since the study is carried out in Iran, other reasons that
contribute to the problem are individual acceptance of using ICT and
insufficient knowledge and skill among some professors. In addition, it is
also clearly stated that there are still computer illiterates in some
departments in Iran.
This however contradicts to what have been claimed by previous
major studies that the researcher has come across. Based on the earlier
studies that have been reviewed by the researcher, ICT is well-received in
universities and the most frequently used is the email. Besides, the users
also show positive attitude towards ICT. So, what prompted the researcher
to carry out his study?
According to the statement problem, though ICT has widely
accepted in the world of teaching and learning in Iran, its purpose is yet to
be fully put into use. The researcher finds that in most colleges and
universities, only two basic skills namely listening and speaking occupy
the forefront of language learning, thus the importance of reading is
overlooked. Due to this, many learners have major complications with
reading comprehension in which they lead to major disadvantages in all
areas of life. Thus, the researcher intended to investigate the impact of
CALL on the reading improvement of Iranian EFL learners.
To be more specific, the researcher aims to find out whether the use
of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has any impact on the
reading comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners and whether
there is any significant difference between the mean scores of the group
taught using CALL-based methods and the group taught using traditional
methods. Marzban (2011) however, in his research hypothesis says that
there is no significant difference between the mean scores of the groups

CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review
ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

instructed with CALL systems and the control group instructed with
traditional systems at the level of P<0.05.
To carry out the study, a teacher and a number of sixty female
students out of eighty-five ranging in age from 18 to 25 are selected. Their
economy status has also been taken into account. In addition, the
participants are of intermediate level of proficiency who have passed the
placement test at the intermediate level. Some of the instruments that
have been used are two proficiency tests published by Cambridge
University Press and Michigan University Press. Computers are also used
in computer laboratory.
The procedure involves giving two standardised tests to the
participants to ensure that they are of same level of proficiency. From the
results, only sixty participants have been selected based on the standard
deviation of the mean. Then, they are divided into four groups of fifteen
randomly to form two experimental groups and two control groups.
Pre-test/pos-test experimental Solomon design has been used in this
study. The treatment groups receive software for reading section while the
control group receive traditional reading instruction. Their reading
comprehension performance is tested and the outcomes is recorded to
determine the significant difference between the outcomes. Because the
t-test design has potential

to affect the reliability of the result due to

memory effect, the researcher decides to use the Solomon four group
design as stated in his article. The results are then compared through twoway ANOVA.
From the findings, it is clearly shown that there is indeed significant
difference between the use of CALL and traditional reading instruction in
learners reading comprehension level. Thus, the researchers null
hypothesis is rejected.

CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review
ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

Thus, the researcher concludes that the treatment groups have

outperformed the control groups. Based on the previous approaches and
methods used in teaching reading, they are found to be very rigid and is
limited to a certain extent in helping students to understand the various
structures of the language. On the other hand, studies in Iran show that
both teachers and learners like to skip reading as they perceive reading is
an unimportant skill among the other skills. Because communicative
language teaching methods and interactionist theories have dominated
the world of foreign language teaching and learning, thus CALL is adapted.
As for reading, CALL offers reading read by a native speaker at a special
need which is appropriate for different levels of learners, and also it
contains authentic real life purposes. Thus, the researcher sums up that
CALL provides the technical and logistic support for the fulfilment of
theoretical tenets of communicative approach which emphasises a more
humanistic and individualistic learning and which accounts for different
cognitive, affective, biological, and socio-cultural variables among the
learners.

Critical Review of the Article

The article Improvement of reading comprehension through
computer-assisted

language

learning

in

Iranian

intermediate

EFL

students contains many parts. Some of the parts, however could be

integrated into Introduction and Literature Review. Instead, the researcher
has explicitly divided his study into the parts that have been mentioned
above. Thus, when the structure

is critically viewed, it is probably to

highlight certain topics or issues that are related the researchers current
study.
Besides that, the Literature Review overtly discusses on the
implementation of ICT though the title suggests on the impact of CALL on

CHOW SAU KENG (MPP161066)

Critical Article Review
ZAFIRA ZULKEFLI (MPP161036)

NUR

reading comprehension. Thus, reading skill should have been highlighted

more in the Literature Review to show the balance the between the use of
CALL and reading comprehension. As for the part, A Brief History of
CALL, it is mutually agreed that it could have been omitted. It is because
the purpose of having this part in the article could not be clearly seen.
This part only explains the evolution of CALL instead of how CALL has
contributed to the improvement in reading comprehension in the world of
language teaching and learning.
Furthermore, another part that has not been clearly discussed by
Marzban (2011) in his article is the Method. Marzban (2011) did not clearly
state the timeframe for the study that he has carried out. If read again,
the only information to be found is on the instruments used to carry out
the study leaving out the crucial information on how long the learners
received instruction before taking the design tests. However, based the
findings, we do agree

that CALL does impact students reading

comprehension due to the availability of various medias that are offered in

assisting students understanding of a reading passage. Also, reading
comprehension is also important to perform better.

References:

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1074167.pdf
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509469.pdf