Surasak Khamkhong’s scientific contributions

This study aimed to investigate the use of the PISA reading literacy assessment framework (PRF) to improve EFL learners’ critical reading and thinking skills. The sample group, selected by the random sampling technique, included 36 EFL learners from a university in Northeastern Thailand. The instruments consisted of 8 PRF-based reading lessons, a 27-item-PRF-based reading test used as a pre-test and a post-test, and a questionnaire of their attitude toward the designed lessons. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and a paired sample t-test. The results revealed that before the intervention, the students’ English reading proficiency was low as is evident from their low pre-test scores (M=14.00). They did fairly well for the literal questions (M=6.11), but poorly for the interpretative questions (M=4.89) and the critical questions (M=3.00), respectively. This means that the students could comprehend the texts but they could hardly interpret or evaluate them. However, after the intervention, they could do much better as their post-test scores were significantly higher (M=18.01). They could comprehend (M=6.78), interpret (M=6.00) and evaluate (M=5.25) well. The paired sample t-test results also confirmed this as the students’ post-test scores for overall, literal, interpretative, and critical questions were significantly higher than the pre-test scores at p<0.001. This indicates that after the intervention, their reading skills had improved. In terms of their attitude, most students were satisfied with the lessons and the instruction, particularly because they were given background information of texts and knowledge about different types of the PRF questions. It may thus be concluded that the designed lessons can help improve students’ English critical reading proficiency and may be used as a teaching model for improving EFL learners’ critical reading and thinking skills. © Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. All rights reserved.

This paper examined the Thai EFL learners’reading comprehension abilities focusing on their literal, interpretative, and critical comprehension skills to investigate their reading achievement, the relationship between their English L2 proficiency and their reading proficiency, and the relationships among their literal, interpretative and critical comprehension. The sample group consisted of 46 fourth-year undergraduate students majoring in English in a Thai university, selected by the purposive sampling technique. The instrument used was the PISA sample reading test and the data were analyzed descriptively by using percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. The results revealed thatthe participants’ overall reading proficiency was at the medium level. When examining their literal, interpretative, and critical comprehension abilities separately, it was found that they had high literal comprehension, medium interpretative comprehension, and low critical comprehension. The results also revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between the participants’ GAP and their test score. The participants who had higher GPA appeared to have higher reading proficiency. Moreover, the participants’ literal, interpretative, and critical comprehension abilities were also highly correlated.The participants who had high literal comprehension ability were likely to have higher interpretative and critical comprehension abilities. The results supported the general assumptions that successful reading requires adequate language proficiency and that literal comprehension skill is the foundation of the interpretative and critical comprehension skills. Keywords: L2 reading comprehension; Thai EFL learners; reading and language proficiency; literal, interpretative, and criticalcomprehension.