A development of a business-oriented English reading course using content- based instruction and team-based learning to enhance the reading ability of EFL undergraduate students

Abstract

This study aimed to (1) develop a business-oriented English reading course using CBI and TBL to enhance the reading ability of EFL undergraduate students. (2) investigate the effectiveness of the course in enhancing the reading ability of the students individually and as a team. The population was second year undergraduate students of Assumption University. The study was a research with one-group pretest-posttest design. The pre-test and post-test scores on the BULATS, the formative RAT tests and the questionnaire yielded quantitative data. Qualitative data were obtained from the open-ended questions in the questionnaire and student diaries. The findings showed that the developed course consisted of four themes and seventeen lessons was effective in enhancing the reading ability of the students. When the CBI-TBL Business-Oriented English Reading Course was implemented with the students, the findings were as follows: (1) the students’ reading ability scores gained from the posttest taken after they had been exposed to the CBI-TBL Business-Oriented English Reading Course that used content-based instruction and team-based learning were significantly higher than the scores gained from the pretest at .05 level, yielding a medium effect size at 0.40; (2) the students’ English reading ability scores in the final formative test were significantly higher than those in the previous ones at .05 level when they performed individually and as a team, and (3) overall findings from the student questionnaire showed that the mean scores of all items were higher than 3.0 from a 4-point Likert scale, indicating positive opinions of the students about the CBI-TBL English Reading Course. In conclusion, the findings show that the CBI-TBL Business-Oriented English Reading Course improved the reading ability of the students individually and as a team.