Impact of Consciousness-Raising via Input Flooding vs. Vocabulary Input Enhancement on EFL Learners’ Reading Fluency

The current study was set to examine whether input flooding and input enhancement of vocabulary affected the reading fluency of Iranian EFL learners. It also evaluated whether there was any substantial difference between the impacts of input flooding and input enhancement of vocabulary on the reading of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 120 out of 150 Iranian EFL intermediate learners at three language schools in Iran were randomly selected and divided into three groups, each consisting of 40 learners. The first experimental group received input flooding as treatment. To this aim, the frequency of the vocabulary items in the reading texts used during the course was increased. In other words, learners were flooded with the vocabulary items via different examples and using the words several times in the reading texts. The participants in the Input Enhancement (IE) group received IE through underlining, boldfacing, italicization, capitalization, and other strategies such as color coding, using different fonts, and diverse forms of vocabulary. To this end, in this experimental group, the vocabulary items appeared in the texts by using underlining, boldfacing, italicization, and capitalization. In order to do so, the researcher retyped the selected materials and carried out the required modifications on them. In contrast, the control group received the traditional method for teaching reading. The results were analyzed via ANCOVA. The findings revealed that both input flooding and input enhancement of vocabulary had positively significant impacts on Iranian EFL learners’ reading fluency. Input flooding of vocabulary was more effective than input enhancement of vocabulary regarding their impacts on Iranian EFL learners’ reading fluency. Some pedagogical and theoretical implications are also presented.