The Pedagogical Significance of Bionic Reading Technology for EFL Learners: Focus on Reading Speed and Comprehension

Bionic reading technology has been popular for some time. Instead of reading every letter in a word, a bionic reading process concentrates on just a few letters to decipher its meaning, which is believed to aid in both accelerating and understanding reading. This research sought to examine this assertion empirically with ۶۰ Iranian tertiary-level intermediate EFL learners. The EF SET was employed to select ۱۵۰ intermediate learners from a population of ۲۵۰, and the SwiftRead reading test was employed to select ۶۰ homogenous learners based on their reading comprehension and speed scores. Their reading comprehension scores varied from ۵۰ to ۷۰%, and their reading speeds were average (around ۲۵۰ WPM). They were randomly split into two groups: the experimental group (N = ۳۰) used the original developer’s app to obtain bionic reading of ۳۲ texts over eight teaching sessions. In contrast, the control group (N=۳۰) got non-bionic reading instruction of the same texts. The SwiftRead reading test was used as the posttest of the study to test both groups’ comprehension and reading speed. Respective nonparametric statistical analysis about reading speed and comprehension scores showed that not only did bionic reading technology have a significant impact on developing the experimental group’s reading speed and comprehension level, but it also caused significant development in both areas among its members compared to those of the control group. Based on results, bionic reading technology has pedagogical value in language education; however, additional research is required.

کلیدواژه ها:

bionic reading technology ، Decoding ، reading comprehension ، reading speed ، swiftread reading test