Facilitating L2 reading comprehension through L1 and L2 group discussions

The current study was set to explore the influence of the first (L1) and second (L2) language group discussions on L2 reading comprehension. It also explored two sub-elements that were considered vital to L2 reading comprehension: (a) text genre recognition and (b) character and author’s intention and perspective. Participants were 21 college students who were assigned to three groups: (a) no-discussion group, (b) L1 (Arabic) discussion group, and (c) L2 (English) discussion group. Students were introduced to five different texts, and mixed data methods were utilized to examine comprehension through participants’ free-written recalls and group discussion transcriptions. The findings showed that when the L1 was used in group discussions, greater reading comprehension of the L2 texts was achieved; students were able to use more reading strategies and higher-order cognitive and linguistic processing than students in the two other groups. The study challenges language learning conventions that prioritize target language-only methods.