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Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Special Issue on CALL Number 11. July 2025 Pp. 252-270
Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Al-Baha University
Saudi Arabia
Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Al-Baha University
Saudi Arabia
This mixed-methods study investigates the effectiveness of the Reading Progress Tool on Microsoft Teams in enhancing reading fluency among first-year Saudi undergraduate students studying English as a Foreign Language. Its primary goal is to answer: How effective is the Reading Progress Tool for improving Saudi EFL students’ reading fluency? Conducted over nine weeks in the second term of the 2023–2024 academic year, the study involved 40 students, both male and female, from four reading course sections at Al-Baha University’s Department of Foreign Languages. These students were equally split into an experimental group, which used the Reading Progress Tool on Microsoft Teams, and a control group, which followed traditional reading methods. Additionally, four instructors were interviewed to provide qualitative insights. The results revealed that the experimental group experienced significant gains in reading fluency and actively engaged with the module’s features and feedback. Based on these findings, the study recommends incorporating this tool into the Rafid platform or creating a similar one to support data-driven, student-centered reading instruction. It also advocates for further research with larger, more diverse samples to explore the long-term impacts and broader applicability of technology-based reading interventions in EFL contexts.
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Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Alsalami is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Al-Baha University, Saudi Arabia. He holds a BA in English Language from King Abdulaziz University, and both an MA and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Newcastle and the University of Western Sydney, Australia. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Applied College. His research interests include EFL, SL writing, ESP, CDA, and sociolinguistics. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0989-3752
Dr. Abdelaziz Mohammed, an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at Al-Baha University in Saudi Arabia, holds a Ph.D. from Gezira University, Sudan. He has worked at King Saud University (Saudi Arabia), Shaqra University (Saudi Arabia), and Yobe State University, Damaturu (Nigeria). With over nine publications, he is an editorial board member and reviewer for various English journals. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5447-7590