Impact of curiosity-based reading on summary writing in Sri Lankan ESL universities

Abstract

This study examined Sri Lankan English as a Second Language (ESL) undergraduate learners’ reading-to-write task performance over six weeks. The Experimental Group (EG; n = 33) read and summarized articles rated as curious on a Likert scale measuring curiosity, while the Control Group (CG; n = 31) read articles rated as incurious (low-curiosity end of the scale). A pre-test and post-test were used to assess participants’ summary writing performance across five rubric dimensions. A combined measure of all dimensions showed that both groups improved significantly; however, the difference in gain scores between the EG and CG was not statistically significant, despite a small to medium effect size favouring the treatment group. However, an analysis of the individual dimensions revealed that the EG significantly outperformed the CG in the Overall Quality dimension, with a medium-to-large effect size. Results speak to the potential of curiosity in ESL instruction.