Application Of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies In College English Reading Teaching

Peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) is a reciprocal classwide peer tutoring program for reading. More than two decades of empirical studies have demonstrated its effectiveness in improving the reading performance of native English-speaking students and second language learners of high-, average-, and low-performance, including students with disabilities, from kindergarten through high school. What is absent here is the examination of PALS effects on college students'reading performance. Still less is research on PALS in the foreign language learning (EFL) context documented. Hence, the present study is aimed at minimizing the research gap by assessing the effects of PALS on college students'reading development in the China-specific context. This thesis will address the following four questions:(1) Does PALS improve college students'reading performance in an EFL environment?(2) Does PALS facilitate all types of students'reading comprehension? Do high-achieving, average-achieving, and low-achieving students get the same benefits from PALS?(3) What are these young adults'attitudes toward PALS? And what affective gains do they get from it?(4) Is PALS acceptable to teachers in terms of workload, administration of reading activities and overall management of students?The experiment was conducted at one university of Shandong Province. Participants were freshmen of two natural classes of science. PALS program was implemented four times a week for 15 weeks. Reading Comprehension Tests were used to measure participants'reading comprehension ability before and after treatment; a questionnaire was administered to elicit participants'attitudes toward PALS program.The findings are briefly summarized as follows:(1) The experimental group outperformed the control group in reading comprehension; (2) Average-especially low-performing students of the experimental group demonstrated statistically dramatic reading progress; while high-performing students did not advance significantly; (3) Irrespective of learner types, students of the experimental group reported that they liked participating in PALS, believing PALS helped them become better readers; and (4) PALS was quite feasible and easy to implement.Major implications for future research and classroom instruction are as follows:(1) PALS reading program can be an effective alternative to conventional reading instruction; (2) PALS might not benefit all types of students. Its effects on high-performing students need further research; (3) Tutoring roles should be reciprocal; and (4) Effects of extrinsic rewards on the use of PALS need further investigation.