The effect of the PQ4R strategy on EFL learners’ reading comprehension at a middle high school in Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

The present research study evaluates the impact of the PQ4R strategy on reading comprehension skills among tenth-grade EFL students. Thirty-two tenth-grade middle high school students took part in this study. It employed a quantitative experimental approach with the pre-experimental design in the form of one group pre-test-post-test design. A Cambridge A2 reading test (KET exam) was used as a pretest and post-test. Pretest was applied before the treatment, while the post-test was administered after the learners were instructed through the PQ4R strategy in reading classes. Scores were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Pretest results demonstrated a mean score of 5.25 (out of 10) with a standard deviation of 0.92, indicating low English reading performance among the participants before implementing the PQ4R strategy. However, after the intervention, the post-test results revealed a significant improvement in reading skills, with a mean score of 7.25 (out of 10) and a standard deviation of 1.00. In addition, the t-test for paired samples indicated a significant difference between the mean scores of the pretest and post-test (t = 3.81, p = 0.000, α=0.05), and Cohen's d effect size demonstrated a large effect size (2.08 > 0.80). These findings indicate that using practical language instruction approaches such as the PQ4R strategy could substantially enhance EFL learners' reading comprehension skills.