BREAKING THE BARRIER: FROM STUMBLING TO SOARING IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) READING
Keywords:
EFL Literacy, Reading Fluency, Cognitive Load Theory, Reading Comprehension, Automaticity, Prosody, Repeated Reading, Pedagogical StrategiesAbstract
The transition from mechanical decoding to deep conceptual understanding remains a primary hurdle for English as a Second Language English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, often resulting in a "stumbling" reading experience where cognitive resources are exhausted by the technical demands of the language. This article, "Breaking the Barrier: From Stumbling to Soaring in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Reading," explores the cognitive bottlenecks that hinder literacy and evaluates the effectiveness of fluency-building interventions such as Repeated Reading and Prosody training. Through a mixed-methods analysis of intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, the study identifies a significant "automaticity threshold" demonstrating that when word recognition becomes subconscious, mental bandwidth is liberated for high-level synthesis and inferential reasoning. Ultimately, the research suggests that by prioritizing rhythmic phrasing and automaticity, educators can dismantle the barriers to comprehension and empower learners to achieve a "soaring" state of fluid, meaningful engagement with complex texts.
