Web-Based Text Structure Instruction on Ells’ High-Order Reading Comprehension Skills

Abstract

ABSTRACT The difficulties with developing high-order reading comprehension skills negatively impact academic success across fields. The current study investigated whether the text structure strategy instruction, delivered through the Intelligent Tutoring of Structure Strategy (ITSS) to adult English learners as a foreign language (EFL), can improve reading comprehension, especially their higher-order reading comprehension skills. With a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, 61 adult Chinese EFL learners from two classes were assigned to experimental or control groups. The experimental group utilized the ITSS to support their English reading instruction, whereas the control group was provided with the traditional instruction. Our results indicated that the web-based text structure instruction had a statistically significant positive effect on Chinese EFL learners’ reading comprehension (β = 3.22, p < 0.05). Furthermore, we confirmed our hypothesis that text structure intervention was a significant predictor for inferential (β = 0.91, p < 0.05) and evaluative (β = 1.06, p < 0.05) subskills of comprehension, but not for literal subskills (β = 1.25, p > 0.05). Based on these results, research and pedagogical implications of this study are discussed.