THE EFFECT OF READING STRATEGY ON COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT IN CHINESE LANGUAGE

Abstract

Reading skills play an important role in language learning. There are many reading strategies for effective reading. Yet, not many language teachers emphasized or integrated learning strategies into the learning process of reading skills, especially in Chinese language learning. This article aims to report the impact of reading strategies in teaching and learning on the achievement of Primary 5 students in Chinese national primary schools. The reading strategy of making inferences is the focus of this study. This study adopts a quasi-experimental design, with data collection through pre-test and post-test to identify the impact of reading strategy on student achievement. A descriptive analysis was used. The sample of this study consisted of 70 5th graders consisting of three groups based on three pre-test performance namely Category A (80 - 100), Category B (40-79) and Category C (0-39). The result showed that there was an increase in the number of pupils who received the Category A’s score for the treatment group, which increased from 9 students to 15 students (60%). On the contrary, for the control group, the findings show that pupil performance decreased, with the number of pupils in C category increased, from 4 students to 8 students. It can be concluded that the use of reading strategies can have a positive impact on reading comprehension in Chinese language. The findings implicated that the emphasis should be given to the learning of reading strategies in the teaching and learning reading skills. Language teachers should be aware of the importance of the reading strategies in developing reading skills among students. The learning and application of reading strategies should be giving more emphasis in mastering reading among students in language learning.