awej 5 no.4 full issue 2014

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.4, 2014Reflections on Reading Studies done by M.A Students at Al- UniversityBELMEKKI & IBRAHIMIHamdanDridFigure 4. Number of M.A Theses Published per YearThe chart in Figure 4 shows that the largest number of reading theses was defended in 2011(44.83%). The second largest number (17.24%) was defended in 2014. The third largest numberof completed theses was in 2012 (13.79%). The other years received the lowest portion on thechart.Findings of Qualitative content analysisThis section presents the finding of qualitative content analysis in tables 2, 3, and 4 by pointingout each study’s author, title, subject’s procedures and conclusions. The main purpose of thiscontent analysis is to answer the second question “To what extent did the studies vary in theircontent genres?” , and to indicated whether the studies content was focusing on reading solelyor on its connection to other languages arts skills or/and to other subject matters.Table 2. Studies done on reading alone without connecting it to other language skillsAuthor Study title briefly Study subjects Study conclusions1.Al-Twaijri(2007)The effectiveness of thetext structure on EFLSaudi readers’ ability torecall more informationfrom the assigned readingtextsThe participants were30 Saudi femaleuniversity studentsclassified intosuccessful andunsuccessful readers.- Successful readers’ superior recallwas due to their use of text structure,which resulted in more recall fromorganized passages.- The researcher’s main conclusionwas that there was a high correlationbetween the tight high organizationof the text and the increased readingability of EFL Saudi learners.2.Al-Ghamdi(2007)The attitudes of EFLSaudi readers towardextensive readingA group of first-yearSaudi female studentstoward readingextensively.- Participants had positive attitudestoward extensive reading when usingsimplified materials.- The study concluded that extensivereading helped the participantsArab World English JournalISSN: 2229-9327www.awej.org490