Abstract:

The paper aims to find out to what extent reading comprehension skills and students` attitudes to reading influence the ability to decode blends and understand wordplay in the English language. The research is not only concerned with the process of blending, but also the process of creating puns, which seems to be a crucial predictor in developing creative thinking in learners, while shaping their reading comprehension skills. The research was conducted in a lower-secondary school and a grammar school in Slovakia. The main research objective is to determine to what extent reading comprehension test results are related to the students' creativity to decode puns and blends in the English language. The theoretical part introduces terms such as reading comprehension, teaching English through literature, and wordplay, while shedding light on the book “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. The practical part applies quantitative and qualitative methods accompanied by a questionnaire for learners, a reading comprehension test, and a test on puns and blends. The research proposes innovative strategies that can contribute to developing decoding skills and creativity in FL learners. The outcome is represented by the samples of students` blends reflecting their creativity. The results indicate that active readers perform better than non-readers while being more creative and flexible in their thought processes. The findings thus point to the significant relationship between reading comprehension test results and the creativity to decode puns and blends.

Keywords:

Reading comprehension, wordplay, blending, questionnaire, tests, creativity.