Classroom Reading Research Articles

USING STORYTELLLING TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ INTERESTS IN READING

This research explores the use of storytelling to enhance students interests in reading. It was argued that the use of storytelling would provide students with the powerful tool used in the classroom. A case study methodology was used in this research and this research was conducted at the tenth grade of Vocational School in A Regency. It took an English Teacher who teaches reading class and 35 students as samples who were chosen by purposive sampling. The conclusion of the study shows that the implementation of storytelling is conducted by practice storytelling and teacher’s perception and students’ responses shows that storytelling can enhance students’ reading in classroom. Based on these research findings, it is recommended that the teacher can use storytelling in teaching reading to Senior High School students. Furthermore, the storytelling enhances students in reading. Keywords: interest, reading, reading comprehension, reading skill, storytelling

TEACHER-STUDENT VERBAL INTERACTION PATTERN IN READING CLASSROOM SMP PARULIAN 2 MEDAN

TEACHER-STUDENT VERBAL INTERACTION PATTERN INREADING CLASSROOM SMP PARULIAN 2 MEDAN*Nurcahaya Sinaga** Dr. Siti Aisah Ginting M.Pd.** Farida Hanim Saragih, S.Pd., M.HumABSTRACTNurcahaya Sinaga. Registration Number: 2153321022. Teacher-StudentVerbal Interaction Pattern in Reading Classroom at SMP Parulian 2 Medan.A Thesis. English and Literature Department. Faculty of Languages andArts. State University of Medan, 2020.This research was intended to examine the verbal interaction features used by twoteachers in teaching reading comprehension through virtual classroom with zoomapplication. This virtual class was chosen since the offline classroom was changedinto online classroom during the covid 19 pandemic. This research was conductedto answer the research problems; 1. How are the teachers and the students verbalinteraction patterns used in reading classroom of SMP Parulian 2 Medan. 2 Whydo the teachers interact in the way they do? It covers the analysis on thetranscripts of teachers-student verbal interaction and the interview. The analysiscovers the steps of data condensation. In the process of data condensing, allrecorded utterances were selected to focus on the utterances used by the teachersand students during the virtual classroom. Then, the utterances were simplified inorder to be easier to understand. The abstracting process was done to focus on theintention of answering the research problems. The final step was transforming theutterances and interview into transcription. The design of this research is a casequalitative study. The subjects were two English teachers and twenty students ofParulian Junior High School. The data to answer the problems were transcripts ofverbal interaction used by the teachers and students and interview to find thereasons of the teachers to use certain patterns students during the virtualclassroom. The data were collected by using recording tools; smart phonerecording and observational notes. The findings show that the teachers’ verbalclassroom interaction did not cover all types of interactional features by Walsh.The verbal interactions through zoom virtual classroom by the first teacher consistof seven types of interactional features. They are Display questions (0,53%),Seeking clarification (0,21%), Extended wait-time (0,125%), Scaffolding(0,003%), Direct repair (0,003%), Confirmation checks (0,003%), Teacher echo(0,003%). While. The verbal interactions through zoom virtual classroom by thesecond teacher consist of seven types of interactional features. They are Display questions (0,29%), Scaffolding (0,023%), Extended wait-time (0,23%), Seekingclarification(0,12%), Confirmation checks (0,032%), Teacher interruptions(0,032%), Direct repair (0,016%), Content feedback ( 0,016%), Extended learnerturn (0,016%), Teacher echo (0,016 %). The most frequently used of interactionalfeature is display questions. The reason to use display questions is material focus.The teachers wanted the students to focus on the material.Keywords: Classroom Verbal Interaction, Pedagogical goal, ReadingClassroom.

Addressing english reading comprehension difficulties by Somali origin pupils in England primary schools: Using parents as resources

The question of whether classroom reading activities in primary schools in England can be solely relied on to be sufficient for English as additional language (EAL) pupils to comprehend English text was the focus of the paper. Two case studies where Somali origin EAL pupils involved in learning English reading comprehension were utilized as a springboard to develop my argument that parents are an intrinsic part of developing pupils’ English comprehension as they may constitute financially less expensive and rich resources in terms of cultural experiences. Furthermore, England’s education policy regarding EAL pupils, reading for comprehension, and factors that influence it: vocabulary knowledge, teacher -students ratio in England school and parental involvement in schools were explored to provide an answer for the question of whether only reading for comprehension activities in the classroom is enough to promote the understanding of EAL Somali origin. It was argued that only those activities are not sufficient, and there is a need for the use of parents as resources to enrich the text input, which potentially increases the comprehension skills of Somali origin EAL pupils.

Extensive reading in an EFL classroom: Impact and learners’ perceptions

A number of studies have suggested that extensive reading can lead to gains in different language skills. Few studies on extensive reading have been conducted outside the East Asia classroom setting. This study investigated the impact of an extensive reading programme conducted over 12 weeks with 90-minutes group sessions 3 times a week involving 10 Jordanian Arabic first language English foreign language learners with low-intermediate proficiency. The participants were situated in a print-rich environment, and given access to a library of graded readers, and did various extensive reading activities in and out of class. The participants were assessed for reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge before during and after the programme. In addition, the participants’ perceptions of extensive reading were explored. A mixed-methods action research design was employed over an extensive reading programme. Data were collected from multiple sources (e.g., tests, interviews and diaries), and the results were both statistically and thematically analysed. The findings of the study indicate that the impact of the extensive reading approach was positive on the learners’ reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. The results also revealed a positive correlation between the amount of reading and reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. The learners’ perceptions of the extensive reading approach and its implications are also discussed.

Cooperative and Teacher Directed Learning Classrooms: Places for the Development of Metacognitive Skills for Reading Proficiency

Introduction. Persistent abysmal academic achievement among adolescents in Nigerian secondary schools has become a concern among stakeholders in the Nigerian system of education. This, over time, has been linked to poor reading culture and reading skills, worsened by unproductive instructional approaches adopted by teachers for reading proficiency. An investigation into effective instructional approaches to arm adolescents with metacognitive skills for reading proficiency becomes imperative. This study, therefore, investigated the impact of cooperative learning and teacher-directed learning approaches on secondary school students’ development of metacognitive skills for reading proficiency. Method. We adopted a quasi-experimental research design in our study. One hundred and eighteen early adolescent students were sampled from three public secondary schools in Anambra state. The instrument used in the study is an open-ended metacognitive skill for reading proficiency questionnaire (OMSRPQ). Three operations were used for the experiment: 1) task understanding, 2) strategy understanding, and 3) management of learning process. The sum of these three operations is the overall metacognitive skills of the students. Results. Our findings showed that students in cooperative integrated reading and composition (CIRC) learning approach differed significantly from those in the teacher-directed instructional (DI) approach and the control group (C1) in task understanding operation F (2, 118) = 8.783, p <.01, strategy understanding F(2,118) = 6.324, p <.01and the overall metacognitive reading skills F(2, 118) = 7.047, p < .01. No significant mean differences occurred among the groups in management of learning process skills F (2,118) = 2.949, p >.05. Adjusted omega squared (est. ω2) test showed large to moderate effect sizes in the operations that were significant. Discussion and Conclusion. We concluded that metacognitive skills for reading could be better enhanced in cooperative learning approach. Based on these findings, the researchers recommended that CIRC can be used in developing metacognitive skills needed in secondary school reading classrooms.

Reading for pleasure: exploring reading culture in an Australian early years classroom

AbstractResearch indicates a powerful correlation between students' reading enjoyment, motivation and achievement. This Australian case study investigates how reading for pleasure (RfP) approaches are demonstrated in the teaching of reading in a Stage 1 (6‐year‐old to 7‐year‐old students) classroom. The methodology was designed to mirror aspects of Cremin's 2014 UK‐based study, Teachers As Readers. Engaging an interpretivist paradigm, the case was analysed through three distinct but intersecting lenses, knowledge, affect and material, to develop a rich and multifaceted insight into the social world of the classroom. The study found that while the teacher's pedagogic practices for teaching reading incorporated many indicators of a RfP approach, this stemmed from personal ideologies rather than explicit knowledge of a RfP pedagogical framework. Hence, while the study indicates the positive impacts of RfP approaches on this classroom's reading culture, the efficacy of this pedagogy could be potentially limited if an explicit understanding of the theoretical framework does not underpin teachers' actions.

Targeted Reading Instruction: Four Guiding Principles

AbstractThis article describes four key principles from Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI, formerly called Targeted Reading Intervention), an evidence‐based early reading intervention and professional development program. Focused on accelerating the growth of students not yet meeting grade‐level expectations, one‐on‐one 15‐minute daily TRI lessons engage students in developing phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and beginning reading comprehension. Four key principles guide TRI, which can be applied to classroom reading instruction. First, all work is done in the context of real words and connected text, placing meaning at the heart of instruction. Second, lessons keep it moving, as they follow a consistent structure, use activities to achieve multiple objectives, and make use of all available resources. Third, TRI teachers let the student do the work, engaging students in productive struggle. Fourth, explicit teaching of skills such as blending provides students with unique strategies to become confident independent readers.

The Effectiveness of Teaching Reading Skill Using Communicative Approach in Malaysian Secondary Homeschooling ESL Classroom

The objectives of this study are to investigate the perceptions of the secondary homeschooling students on the use of the communicative approach (CLT) in their reading classrooms and to find out to what extent CLT contributes to the development of ESL learners’ reading skill. Four procedures were employed for data collection which included Pre-test and Post-Test, Classroom Observation, Questionnaire and Structured Interview. In general, the results in the Experimental Group showed that there was significant improvement among the learners between pre and post-test scores. Therefore, we can conclude that there was a significant improvement in scores between pre-test to post-test scores. Most secondary homeschooling students are enthusiastic and positive about the communicative approach in their ESL reading classrooms, whereby they learn more vocabulary through group discussions and improve their reading comprehension when exchanging ideas and opinions. Responses and attitude were very positive and strongly agreed with the use of CLT for improving their reading skills as the CLT approach has changed the reading class atmosphere to be better than before. Therefore, the homeschooling students felt pretty cheerful, comfortable and excited during the learning process of reading using CLT activities. Besides that, both homeschooling teachers tend to have a clear, positive and supportive attitudes and perceptions toward CLT. They strongly agreed that CLT is an effective and useful teaching method to accommodate the demands of the time as this method put high emphasis on the interpersonal skill, stimulate the students to communicate their enthusiasm as well as stimulate their interest in their language learning process. Moreover, this approach is advantageous and favourable as the approach is to involve every student in the communicative activities and places high emphasis on communication which highly encouraged the students to communicate and interact with each other as well as stimulate their interest in English learning and developing their learner autonomy.

PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS AND (E-)TEACHING - THE EXAMPLE OF MATHEMATICS AND READING

Problems faced by students with learning difficulties vary considerably for each student per subject and per educational level, having a common distinctive feature: they relate to areas in the handling of mathematical calculations and in the production of written speech. This brief report emphasises pedagogical skills, techniques and behaviour management as a cross-learning process in mathematics and reading in classroom. The paper can provide highlights in (e-)teaching through the example of mathematics and reading.
 
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The Reflection of Vocabulary Implementation Through Educational Texting on EFL Learner’s Reading Skill

This paper investigates the efficiency of using text messaging<strong> </strong>in the EFL reading classroom at the Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch, Iran. After the administration of an Oxford Placement Test (OPT), 74 participants who scored one standard deviation above and below the mean were selected. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups, an experimental and a control, each including 37 individuals. The reading part of the Preliminary English Test (PET) was administered as a pretest. The experimental group received 108 words via short messages during 18 sessions. During each session, they received 6 sentences with 6 words in a meaningful context. In contrast, the participants of the control group received traditional instruction. They were given the same structural points through inductive and deductive instruction in the classroom and the words were presented while teaching each unit. After the treatment, the participants in both groups were assigned to do a reading posttest. The results of the ANCOVA revealed no statistically significant difference between the control and the experimental groups regarding their reading scores. Thus, the vocabulary learning via short message did not have any significant effect on Iranian EFL learners' ability to comprehend pre-intermediate level texts.

Year 5 Pupils’ Perception on Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning (GRPQ) Strategy in Reading Comprehension: A Conceptual Paper

Researchers have studied a variety of effective teaching strategies to be employed in English as a Second Language reading classroom. The studies done on the Guided Reciprocal Peer Questioning (GRPQ) strategy have been proven to provide a wide range of benefits to the pupils’ performance in the ESL classrooms especially towards their reading comprehension skills. Nevertheless, most of the studies focused more on the usage of GRPQ strategy towards secondary and tertiary students. The purpose of this paper is to provide the information on the benefits of GRPQ strategy and the perception of the primary level pupils in ESL reading classroom. The participants of this study are from a primary school in a sub-urban area. There will be 34 intermediate Year 5 pupils involved in this study. The researchers will conduct a mixed methods research to investigate the pupils’ perception on the use of GRPQ strategy in ESL reading classroom. Questionnaire, semi-structured interview and observation note will be used as data collection tools. The findings of this study are hoped to provide some insights on the benefits and perception of GRPQ strategy towards primary school pupils in promoting their reading comprehension.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN READING STRATEGIES AND READING ACTIVITIES IN EFL CLASSROOM IN HIGHER EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

The study explores the university undergraduate biotechnology students’ perceived use of foreign language reading strategies, their perception of EFL classroom reading activities, and their potential relationships. For this purpose, a total of 91 university biotechnology students, learning English as a foreign language at the Faculty of Agronomy, University of Kragujevac, participated in this quantitative research. Two instruments were used in the study – the Inventory of Reading Strategies in a Foreign Language and Students’ Foreign Language Reading Activities Evaluation Scale. The measures of internal consistency, descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation analysis were used for data processing. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical software. The study demonstrates that the students used EFL reading strategies at a moderate level when reading texts in English and that their attitude toward EFL classroom reading activities was positive. The perceived use of reading strategies showed positive correlations with the students’ perceptions of EFL classroom reading activities. The students considered EFL classroom reading activities and reading comprehension testing as effective practices in developing foreign language reading skills.

Reading Assessment: A Case Study of Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom Evaluative Practices

Research has revealed that teachers’ thinking processes highly influence their instructional and evaluative behaviors. Understanding teachers’ beliefs and theoretical orientations about reading are more than necessary to rethink reading instruction and assessment. The present paper reviews a case study conducted at the Department of English, Tlemcen University, Algeria. The study looked at teachers’ beliefs and theoretical orientations regarding reading assessment and its effect on EFL learners’ comprehension ability. It examines the correspondence between reading teachers’ theoretical orientations and classroom reading assessment. This study included 20 teachers and 120 students. Data collection procedures included questionnaires and classroom observations. Data analysis exposed the congruence between teachers’ beliefs about reading and classroom reading assessment. Moreover, standardized classroom reading assessment negatively impacted learners’ comprehension ability and reading motivation. The discussions underscored the importance of alternative reading assessment methods such as portfolios, which represent genuine and effective language learning strategies according to modern research.

REVEALING EFL STUDENTS’ RESPONSES ON THE USE OF SOCRATIVE IN READING ACTIVITY

Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 has influenced practice of English Foreign Language (EFL) instruction. One of which is through the deployment of Socrative as the technology integration to enhance the students’ skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. This paper was aimed at elaborating the use of Socrative in English academic reading classrooms done by students in university level. The students’ responses on their experiences when utilizing this application were revealed. The results exemplified that students used Socrative for reading activities. By collecting the students’ opinions on Socrative via a survey, it was found out that the students could enrich their vocabulary because they employed a reading strategy that should be implemented by them, such as noting difficult word(s), and looking for the meaning in dictionary. In another side, the students argued that this online application had a lack of aspect in a reading course. Further, recommendations on the practice of Socrative in EFL classroom are discussed.

Teachers’ Knowledge about Higher-order Thinking Skill and It’s Implementation in Teaching Reading Classroom: A Case Study in a Higher Secondary School in Indonesia

ABSTRACTHigher-order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is a well-known term that is nowadays being discussed among researchers, especially in education contexts. In this globalization era, developing students’ ability to think with HOTS becomes teachers’ challenging task to do. They are responsible to enrich their knowledge about HOTS and update findings and ideas of HOTS implementation in teaching. So, they will be able to implement HOTS in teaching they believe will be ideal and effective to develop students’ HOTS. This research aims to investigate teachers’ knowledge about HOTS and investigate how they implement their knowledge of HOTS in teaching reading classroom. This is a qualitative research with case study as the research design. The data were collected using in-depth interviews followed by observation. The participants of this research are three English teachers from a senior high school who teach different grades. The results of this research show that the teachers’ knowledge of HOTS is still low. They do not understand HOTS conceptually. However, their implementation of HOTS in teaching reading show that they implement HOTS to teach reading that enables students to activate their HOTS. They include the concept of effective HOTS teaching suggested by Fogarty (2009).

Reading Assessment: A Case Study of Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom Evaluative Practices

Research has revealed that teachers’ thinking processes highly influence their instructional and evaluative behaviors. Understanding teachers’ beliefs and theoretical orientations about reading are more than necessary to rethink reading instruction and assessment. The present paper reviews a case study conducted at the Department of English, Tlemcen University, Algeria. The study looked at teachers’ beliefs and theoretical orientations regarding reading assessment and its effect on EFL learners’ comprehension ability. It examines the correspondence between reading teachers’ theoretical orientations and classroom reading assessment. This study included 20 teachers and 120 students. Data collection procedures included questionnaires and classroom observations. Data analysis exposed the congruence between teachers’ beliefs about reading and classroom reading assessment. Moreover, standardized classroom reading assessment negatively impacted learners’ comprehension ability and reading motivation. The discussions underscored the importance of alternative reading assessment methods such as portfolios, which represent genuine and effective language learning strategies according to modern research.

Swedish teachers’ views on the use of personalised learning technologies for teaching children reading in the English classroom

Abstract The present study aims to understand Swedish primary school teachers’; views on a prospective system for children’s personalised reading skill development in the English classroom. This study was performed within the context of a larger EU funded project called iRead. This project aims to develop personalised learning technologies for reading. Understanding the context in which such technologies are aimed to be embedded is important if we want them to be adopted and used successfully by teachers. We address this question through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 primary school teachers. Our analysis shows that Swedish teachers experience large competence differences in English between children. The teachers consider personalised learning technologies a promising way to mitigate these differences. However, they also acknowledge that the Swedish’ curricular focus on communication, seen as mainly acquired through human-to-human dialogue, does not match the fundamental idea behind many personalised learning technologies. Based on these findings we discuss the potential and problems when aiming to introduce personalised learning technologies for learning English in Swedish schools.

AN INVESTIGATION OF TEACHERS’ QUESTIONING IN THE ENGLISH READING CLASSROOMS – A CASE STUDY

Questions are a crucial part of classroom life and so questioning is one of the strongest tools at a teacher’s disposal as it engages students in the learning process and challenges levels of thinking. Many of the questions teachers ask in each lesson are concerned with the recall of textbook information. The question then is how classroom questioning strategies can become more effective; therefore, help teachers fulfill their mission of language instructions and development of students’ language competence. The study aims at exploring the questioning strategies used by teachers in the reading classes, through a case study where 3 classes of Reading (by one teacher who voluntarily joined in the study) was audio-recorded and observed. Teacher’s questions (and classroom interaction) were transcribed and categorized. Findings revealed that there are two main categories of questions, audience-oriented questions and content-oriented questions. Audience-oriented questions were found to be used three times more frequently than content-oriented questions. The triangulation of the data sources revealed that Eliciting response, Focusing information and Checking comprehension are three functions that made up the biggest percent in the seven functions of questions proposed by Chang’s (2012) through the reading activities. There is also a mapping relationship between question functions and question forms used by the teacher to facilitate her Reading classroom. The consolidations of question functions the teacher employed to support students responses proposed that the teacher attempted to involve students in the interaction and guide them to a higher level of cognitive competence.

A Comparative Analysis of English and Chinese Reading: Phonetics, Vocabulary and Grammar

The article covers the issues related to the development of reading skills of the students majoring/minoring in English and Chinese (as non-native languages). In the backdrop of linguistic differences between English and Chinese, this action research was conducted to investigate the components of the reading skills, which are to be developed within the Bachelor programs. The primary purpose of the article is to analyze the methodological background for teaching Ukrainian students to perceive information from authentic texts. The methods of induction and deduction enabled us to analyze and generalize the theoretical bases for the investigated topic, to systemize the results of the study (the reading tactics and strategies, classification of reading activities). The study was based on focused observation using the register as a tool for data collecting for two semesters each in three groups of third-year students at Ushynsky University. The total sample size was 54. The article presents an analysis of difficulties in reading English and Chinese texts: 1) phonological level – differences in sound pronunciation (English: /T/, /D/ /w/, /N/, /x/, etc.; Chinese: the alveolo-palatal consonants j, q, x; affricates zh, z; consonant r, etc.), the phonetic phenomena (English: nasal plosion, lateral plosion, loss of plosion, assimilation, reduction/elision, etc.; Chinese: tone, erization); 2) lexical level – conversion (in English) and transposition (in Chinese), homonymy, polysemy; 3) grammatical level – the division of lexicon into parts of speech, different word order in English and Chinese sentences, (non)segmentation of English and Chinese syntagms/clauses/compound sentences, use of tenses, etc. The article contains some recommendations for English and Chinese reading classrooms.

Loudness and Intelligibility of Irrelevant Background Speech Differentially Hinder Children's Short Story Reading

Reading skills are usually assessed in silent conditions, but children often experience noisy educational settings. Effects of auditory distraction on children's reading skills remain relatively unexplored. The present study investigates the influence of two features of background speech—intelligibility and loudness—on children's reading speed and comprehension. Sixty‐three 8‐to‐10‐year‐old elementary school children performed a reading task in the context of single‐talker background speech. Background speech was either intelligible or unintelligible and presented at low (45–50 dB SPL) or moderate (65–72 dB SPL) sound intensity (here termed “loudness”). Results showed a differential effect of intelligibility and loudness, respectively affecting children's comprehension and reading speed. In addition, the intelligibility effect was larger in children with lower interference control, as assessed with an auditory Stroop task. Our findings provide evidence for the influence of different properties of background speech on children's text reading with implications for reading in everyday classroom environments.Lay SummaryChildren often read in noisy environments, but we know little about how background chatter might affect their reading. Here, we found that 8–10‐year‐old children read stories more slowly with louder background speech. The children also understood less about a story if the background voice was speaking in their own language—especially those who, in a different task, were less able to ignore irrelevant but attention‐grabbing information. This suggests background speech differentially affects beginning readers.