Effects of Word Recognition Skills on Iraqi EFL Intermediate School Learners' Reading Comprehension

Word recognition refers to the ability to read written words rapidly and correctly by focusing on the comprehension process, which assists readers' understanding of texts. Thus, improving reading comprehension depends critically on efficient word recognition skills. The current investigation attempts to demonstrate the effects of word recognition on the reading comprehension ability of Iraqi EFL intermediate school learners. To achieve the aim of this research, a sample of thirty first-grade students from Al-Hasanat, a public secondary school in Najaf for girls, was selected to be enrolled in two groups: the experimental and control groups. They had difficulties in reading comprehension and vocabulary recognition. An experimental group of fifteen participants was assigned to receive instruction on word recognition strategies to enhance their reading comprehension. The remaining fifteen formed the control group, receiving instruction in reading comprehension using the conventional method. A pre-test, a posttest, and an interview were employed in the current study, and the SPSS statistical program (version 24) was used for quantitative data analysis. The results demonstrated that the experimental group did better than the control group on the reading comprehension posttest after instruction, so there is a statistically significant difference between them and the control group. The control group recorded 6.20, 4.93, and 4.73 for the first, second, and third texts, respectively. The experimental group achieved scores of 8.61, 8.81, and 8.86 across the three texts. Furthermore, the experimental group's mean posttest performance has increased significantly, with scores ranging from 5.73 to 8.61 for the first paragraph, 4.86 to 8.81 for the second paragraph, and 4.40 to 8.86 for the third paragraph. The results suggest that teachers should incorporate word recognition activities into their instruction courses to enhance students' reading comprehension.