Digital mind magnets as a scaffold for improving EFL online reading comprehension

This study investigated the effectiveness of a digital mind magnet—a structured framework of pre-, during-, and post-reading strategies—designed to enhance EFL students’ online reading comprehension. Digital texts frequently encourage distraction and cursory processing, whereas the mind magnet, derived from a paper-based model (Read. Teach. 60:373–376, 2006), offers a cognitive framework that focuses learners’ attention on essential narrative elements. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design was utilized, assigning 60 intermediate EFL learners to either an experimental group utilizing digital mind magnets (n = 30) or a control group employing traditional methods (n = 30). A mixed-methods approach combined quantitative assessments of comprehension with qualitative evaluations of students’ written responses. ANCOVA revealed a statistically significant and large effect, F(1, 57) = 113.85, p < .001, partial η² = 0.667, indicating the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on comprehension tests. Qualitative analysis demonstrated a significant advancement from superficial recall to analytical and inferential reasoning, coupled with the employment of metacognitive terminology to elucidate narrative structure. Participants also reported highly positive perceptions of the strategy, citing improvements in focus, organization, and confidence. The findings demonstrate that the digital mind magnet is an effective pedagogical tool that transforms online reading from a passive act into an active, strategic, and metacognitive process, improving both the cognitive and affective dimensions of learning in EFL settings.