<![CDATA[Background: English reading competence is essential in Islamic higher education because students increasingly access academic and disciplinary knowledge through English-language sources, while first-semester students must simultaneously develop academic English and discipline-specific understanding. Aims: This study compared the effectiveness of Discovery Learning and Direct Instruction in developing comprehension of Islamic texts in English among first-semester Islamic Education students. Methods: Twenty-five students experienced both instructional conditions using texts designed to be comparable in length, difficulty, vocabulary demand, and conceptual complexity. Reading comprehension was assessed through literal comprehension, vocabulary in context, inferential comprehension, and integrative interpretation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests. The instructional sequence followed a fixed order (Discovery Learning first, then Direct Instruction) without counterbalancing. Results: Discovery Learning produced a higher overall mean score than Direct Instruction (87.08 vs. 79.84), with a mean difference of 7.24 points and a 95% confidence interval of 6.61 to 7.87. The largest advantages occurred in inferential comprehension (89.87% vs. 78.27%) and integrative interpretation (88.48% vs. 77.60%), whereas differences in literal comprehension and vocabulary in context were smaller. Implications: Discovery-oriented learning appears particularly useful for higher-order reading processes requiring inference, information integration, and meaning construction, while explicit instruction may remain valuable as complementary scaffolding for foundational language and reading skills.]]>
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