The role of reading skills on reading comprehension ability of Turkish EFL students

Reading is a part of our daily lives. It is done both for pleasure and information. Reading skills are important for the individuals since they foster comprehension in reading. There does not exit an exact number of reading skills. Researchers have grouped the reading skills in their own terms. If the students do not have the knowledge of reading skills, they cannot be expected to be successful readers. Thus, they cannot achieve comprehension required to pass their exams in their own departments. For this reason, reading skills should be taught in universities. The students will be able to cope with comprehension problems. In addition, they will become active readers. This case study aims to find out whether reading skills has a role on reading comprehension ability of Turkish EFL students. This study is both a qualitative and a quantitative study which lasted 14 weeks. Two groups were selected (experimental and control) among prep classes at KSU. Both groups were administered a pre-test and questionnaire in the beginning of the study to find out if they were aware of reading skills. In addition, 10 Students were chosen randomly and they were interviewed. During the study, reading skills were infused into the curriculum through designing the lesson plans in accordance with the language content and topics for level C students determined by Common European Language Framework. The lessons required the students to use reading skills within pre-, during and post reading. At the end of the study, the same questionnaire was administered. The students were given the post-test and they were interviewed. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The obtained data revealed that the students enhanced their comprehension ability provided that they were taught to use reading skills.