The Impact of Pre-reading Strategies on Reading Performance: An Action Research

Reading is one of the essential skills in learning a second language. To be able to pursue academic studies in universities where the medium of instruction is English, students need to have good reading skills and strategies to successfully comprehend a text. However, many students lack effective reading skills and strategies, causing them to struggle during their academic life. It is of great importance that the reading course teachers help students enhance their reading performance; therefore, the aim of this Action Research (AR) was to examine the impact of pre-reading strategies on the reading performance of students studying English as a second language. It attempted to find answers to the question whether pre-reading strategies have an impact on the learners' reading performance. A group of 31 students from the Foundation Program at the University of Bahrain participated in this study. Instruments used for gathering the data were checklists, pre-and post-reading comprehension tests, and a questionnaire. The findings of this AR indicated that employing pre-reading strategies significantly increases reading performance.