Investigating the Relationship between Students’ Depth of Vocabulary and their Proficiency in Reading Comprehension The case study: Ibn Khaldoon College

Abstract

The study aims to the investigating the relationship between students’ depth of vocabulary and their proficiency in reading comprehension in the university level, to help tutors to opt for the type of authentic vocabulary that will enrich their word power, and help students plan for increasing their vocabulary knowledge through suggesting certain types of reading material and advising them to use the internet. Vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension are the problem of this study, Vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension are important components in the language and literacy development of ES\FL students, and have a profound effect on their overall academic achievement and language proficiency. However, it is observed that the standard of English language proficiency among the Sudanese tertiary level students is rather weak, despite the fact that English is learned for seven years in the basic and secondary school levels. They seem to have problems in all aspects of English skills, specially their reading skills. Their proficiency in reading skills is very poor. This study hypothesized the depth of vocabulary knowledge correlates with good reading comprehension, independent reading help develop vocabulary affects reading comprehension. The method adopted in this research is descriptive analytical approach. Data has been collected by using two tools: a diagnostic test for (30) EFL Sudanese university students and a questionnaire for (30) EFL Sudanese university teachers at Ib Khaldoon Private College, all the data has been then analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).This study sets out main findings: . There is a direct correlation between the depth of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. In order for the students to proceed with their overall learning across the different disciplines, they should have good grasp of reading and good vocabulary, written language has the power to take the mind to different places, times and events; it can put us in the shoes of fascinating characters and hold our attention through gripping plots, suspense and intrigue, and Texts can inform and develop knowledge, provide us with new vocabulary and provoke new ways of thinking. the following recommendations are suggested: Though a number of researches has been done on reading comprehension, the area of reading comprehension is still open to further investigation especially at the university level, tutors at the university level handle their reading comprehension texts along traditional or classic methods, and an alternative approach to examining the process of reading is to inspect the product of reading and, often, to compare that product with the text originally read. This study puts forward the following suggestions: More contrastive studies to be carried out on reading comprehension along the lines of new method of investigation on the area in question, and future investigation on reading comprehension should pay attention to the process and product.