The effect of mediational artifacts on EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance

Drawing upon Vygotsky’s (1986) sociocultural theory (SCT), the present research aims at investigating the effect of mediational artifacts of response-based mediation (based on Vygotsky’s dynamic assessment) and task based mediation (based on Bruner’s scaffolding) incorporated into the reading test on EFL learners’ reading comprehension (RC) performance. To this end, the assisted and unassisted RC performance of 185 learners forming three groups (two mediation groups and one control group) was compared. The groups were selected through convenience sampling. Two experimental groups received mediations as they answered the RC items. The results of independent samples t-tests revealed that mediation types have differential effects on learners’ RC performance. Specifically, those who were trained based on Bruner’s principle of scaffolding outperformed those in Vygotsky’s group. Furthermore, the participants in the response-based group were not able to Transfer what they had learned during the mediational stage into the new context.