Exploring the impact of using scaffolding strategies on EFL students’ comprehension and interpretation of abstract concepts: a quasi-experimental design

For many years, researchers and educators have been making great efforts to improve students’ reading comprehension skills, but still, many students are unable to comprehend and interpret abstract English concepts. To this end, this study examines the influence of implementing scaffolding strategies on EFL students’ comprehension and interpretation of abstract English concepts. It also seeks to explore participants’ perceptions towards their ability to recall and retain the abstract concepts after practicing these strategies. An intact group sampling technique, specifically a quasi-experimental design, was utilized to involve 45 undergraduate students who were attending the course of linguistics course at the University of Anbar during the academic year 2024–2025. The data were gathered by a single-group pre-test, mid-test, and post-test model. Further, a questionnaire was developed to explore participants’ perceptions about the effectiveness of each scaffolding strategy. The results of the one-way repeated measures ANOVA and Cohen’s d tests showed that the differences among the three testing phases were statistically significant, F (2,88) =10.00, p < 0.001, indicating a progressive improvement in students’ performance from the pre-test to the post-test. Additionally, both the quantitative and qualitative findings gathered from the questionnaire demonstrated a sense of positivity and satisfaction among the majority of study participants towards the implementation of the four scaffolding strategies, which were positively associated with their comprehension, recall, and retention of the abstract concepts. Eventually, the results propose that continuous exposure to such strategies strengthened the skills of reading comprehension and memory retention in the most effective way.