Comparison between Kit-Build and Scratch-Build Concept Mapping Methods in Supporting EFL Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a rather difficult task for students in all the stages of study, especially when they are reading text in a foreign language. In the EFL (English as a foreign language) context, reading is one of the most intriguing and most common research topics. This study investigates the effects of teaching EFL reading comprehension to Japanese students through the Kit-Build concept mapping (KB-mapping) method. In doing so, we have conducted an experiment to compare the student comprehension with KB-mapping and Scratch-Build Concept Mapping (SC-mapping) methods. We gave participants a comprehension test (CT) and a delayed comprehension test (DCT; two weeks after using the mapping methods). By comparing the results of the CT and the DCT for the two conditions groups, we found that using KB-mapping was no better than using SC-mapping for participants understanding the text just after using the methods, but KB-mapping led to better effects in recalling and remembering of the text after a while.