The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using Arabic (L1) as a language of questions and answers in testing reading comprehension in English (L2), and to explore student and teacher opinions about this. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. To collect the quantitative data, one hundred and forty-four students were given a reading comprehension test. Both multiple-choice and short-answer questions were used. The subjects were second-year English department undergraduate Saudi students and final-year secondary school Saudi students. Other factors including gender and five reading sub-skills were considered. Twelve students and four English-language teachers participated in semi-structured interviews, the source of the qualitative data. The findings of this study indicate that, for the population, test types and test levels investigated, there is no clear case for having reading comprehension questions and answers in L1. The use of Arabic in the English reading comprehension tests did not improve the performance of students. Interview responses were mixed, but with no consensus in favour of Arabic. Limitations of this study are discussed, and recommendations for further research in testing reading comprehension in English as a foreign language are presented.

The aim of this degree thesis is to see what research says about the use of computer and video games to support upper elementary pupils’ development in English reading comprehension in Swedish schools. Other goals are to see how online and offline gaming can be integrated in the Swedish schools and what attitudes teachers have towards gaming. The method used is a systematic literature review and the purpose is to analyze chosen articles and to find relevant content that answers the research questions. Five articles were chosen from different databases and were systematically analyzed in this thesis. The results show that online gaming as support for education can be rewarding for some upper elementary pupils in English learning. However, in English reading comprehension there is not much research found which means that more research needs to be made within this area. Moreover, involving online gaming in English language learning seems to be a challenge for teachers mostly because of their lack of knowledge about the subject, even though they are positive to gaming. The lack of knowledge about the subject could be altered with more education and courses in the area.