Effects of scaffolded reading experience instruction on English reading ability of Thai students in physical education program

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of scaffolded reading experience instruction (SREI) on English reading ability of Thai students in physical education program and explored the students’ opinions towards the instruction. The participants were 25 first-year students in a physical education program. They represented Thai students with low English proficiency, but needed English reading skills to acquire world knowledge according to their profession. The experiment lasts 10 weeks. Paired sample t-test was applied to examine the differences between students’ mean scores from the pre and post English reading ability (ERA) test, whereas semi-structured interview was employed to measure the student’s opinions towards the instruction. The findings revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores the students received from the pretest and posttest at a significance level of 0.05. The students’ opinions towards the instruction were positive and they agreed that SREI can help improve their English reading ability.