The effect of reading novels on Iraqi EFL learners, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension ability

The study investigated the effect of reading novels in learning English as a foreign language(EFL)among sixty-five students at the Department English Language and literature/ Sulaimani University. The participators were intwo groups (control and experimental groups) including both sexes (39 male and 21 female). All of them were third-year students; they had already studied literature for two years prior to their participation. order to determine the effect of reading novels on language learning, it was necessary to measure placement test, vocabulary and reading comprehension tests, Rosetta Stone software for vocabulary knowledge and Tell Me More software for reading comprehension. The findings showed that control and experimental groups both reported higher than vocabulary in language learning with the mean score of pre-test 15.16, and that for post-test being 17.03. The findings also revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between both groups' vocabulary knowledge, while a statistically significant difference was found to exist in the post-test. The findings showed that reading comprehension reported higher than control and experimental groups in pre-test with mean 14.30 while in post-test, control and experimental groups scored higher than Reading comprehension with mean 17.03. Again, there was no statically significant difference in the mean of the scores of the pre-test of reading comprehension of both groups, while statistically significant difference in the mean of the scores of the post-test of reading comprehension of both groups existed. Correlation analysis was carried out to determine the relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge, adhering to the administration of tests. In both groups, the results demonstrated that there was appositive relationship between the students' reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in their learning of English as a foreign language.