The Effect of Using Shared Vocabulary of Persian and Istanbul Turkish on the Reading Comprehension of Persian-learners of Turkey

This research aims at investigating the effect of shared vocabulary of Persian and Istanbul Turkish on the reading comprehension of Persian-learners of Turkey (PLT), and at which level of language-learning (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) this shared vocabulary (i.e. the words with phonological and semantic resemblance) ​​facilitates the reading comprehension process. At first, an accessible sample of 75 PLTs (25 from each level) was selected randomly. The data gathering instruments were separate exams of reading comprehension for each level. To prepare the exam materials, we selected a text for each level from Dehkhoda Institute couresbooks of Reading and Comprehension. Then, each text was divided into two almost equal parts. In the first part, the shared words were substituted by non-shared words to reduce the usage of shared vocabulary without changing the meaning in the text. In the second part, more shared words were employed to increase the usage of shared vocabulary in the text. PLTs of each level participated in two parallel exams with shared and non-shared vocabulary texts on two separate times with one day interval. Participants’ scores of the exams were analyzed through paired t-tests and two-factor In-group/Out-group design. The results confirmed our first hypothesis: the reading comprehension increases as we increase the usage of shared vocabulary. Furthermore, our second hypothesis was confirmed for the beginners: as we moved towards more advanced levels of language-learning, the effect of shared vocabulary increased. However, we could not observe any significant changes among intermediate and advanced learners with regard to this hypothesis.