Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies Research Articles

Motivation to explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies after a workshop

Background: Teachers are important role players in improving literacy; however, they lack the expertise to explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies. Studies have showed that when teachers are motivated to explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies in their classrooms, learners’ comprehension is improved.Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate what motivates teachers to explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies in their classrooms after a workshop.Method: Purposive sampling was used and 20 teachers took part in this study. The research followed a qualitative approach, and the data were obtained from teachers’ responses to an open-ended questionnaire. Thematic analysis using concepts from Shulman’s ‘Pedagogical Content Knowledge’, Vygotsky’s ‘Social Constructivism’, Bundura’s ‘Self-efficacy’ and Chalmers and Gardiner’s ‘Academic Professional Development Effectiveness Framework’ was conducted.Results: One key finding was that teachers developed competence through effective pedagogical practices used by facilitators of the workshop; this boosted their confidence.Conclusion: The findings suggest that professional development training plays an important role in making teachers aware of reading comprehension strategies, equipping them with skills that will enable them to guide learners to become proficient readers.Contribution: The uniqueness of this study is that it hinged on collecting empirical evidence, within a South African context, on what motivates teachers to explicitly teach reading comprehension in their professional practice after being exposed to a repertoire of reading comprehension strategies during a workshop.

Do EFL Teachers Reduce the Reading Gap in Qatar? A Study of Strategy Instruction in Government Schools

Teachers’ instructional practices are crucial to students’ achievement in reading comprehension. Students’ low English reading competence in Qatar’s government schools raises concerns about not only reading comprehension strategy instruction, but also, subsequently, learning as a natural outcome of teachers’ praxis. This quantitative survey investigated English as a foreign language (EFL) reading comprehension strategy instruction of a broad cross-sectional sample of (1-12) EFL teachers (n=754) of government schools in Qatar. The study examines teachers’ most frequently used strategies and explicit strategy instruction. To relate the findings of an exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and frequencies, were calculated for each 5-point Likert scale questionnaire item using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-Version 24) statistics software. Results revealed that participant teachers reported a generally moderate and high frequency of using comprehension strategies (lowest mean 3.56 and highest mean 4.52). The seven most used strategies (mean score ≥4) were: Identify main ideas, set purpose for reading, predictions, preview text, monitor comprehension, prior knowledge activation, and handle unfamiliar words. Conversely, the five strategies reported a comparatively lower use frequency (mean score ˂4) were: Text structure, questioning, visualizing, summarizing, and think aloud. The major findings on explicit strategy instruction indicated that teachers ignored the gradual release of responsibility to students. The implications of these findings suggest that EFL teachers demonstrate moderate use of reading comprehension strategy instruction. Further recommendations for the Ministry of Education, school principals, and teachers are offered.

Children’s text comprehension

Abstract This paper first considers what is meant by good reading comprehension and makes a distinction between the product of reading comprehension and the processes that are required to attain that product. It goes on to consider how less-skilled comprehenders can be identified and provides a summary of the research into how less-skilled and skilled comprehenders differ in terms of the skills and processes that they apply during text comprehension. Finally, the implications of these research findings for instruction are considered, and generalizable research-based recommendations for teaching reading comprehension strategies are considered.

The Influence of Sustained, School-Based Professional Development on Explicit Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction

This study sought to examine sustained, school-based professional development (PD) on explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction (ERCSI) and its influence on teacher knowledge and practice and on student outcomes. Eight teachers participated - four first-grade and two teachers each from second and third grade. At the beginning of the school year, the teachers in this study scored less than 50% on an assessment of the declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of the strategies they were to teach. Through sustained PD that provided a six-lesson framework for explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies and observations with feedback, the teachers scored higher with regards to knowledge about the comprehension strategies they were teaching. Teachers felt the PD changed their teaching, and they noted changes in their students’ reading behaviors.

Investigating reading comprehension strategies used by teachers during English First Additional Language reading instruction

Since the purpose of reading is comprehension, the major goal of reading comprehension instruction is to help learners develop knowledge, skills, and strategies so that they become strategic readers who read for comprehension. Language teachers use reading comprehension strategies as an instruction tool to assist learners to develop into strategic readers. However, the range of strategies used by teachers is crucial. This paper presents classroom observations of reading comprehension strategy instruction used by four purposively selected English First Additional Language (FAL) teachers. The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was chosen. The findings of the study reveal that teachers did not provide opportunity to support learners’ independent comprehension strategy use. Furthermore, the study has disclosed that the teachers’ inability to engage learners in reading comprehension strategies might signify the teachers’ lack of knowledge of how to incorporate reading comprehension strategies as an instructional tool during reading comprehension lessons. The authors recommend that the Department of Basic Education institute interventions to empower teachers on how to teach reading comprehension strategies.

The Degree of Application of Teachers in the First Basic Seminar in Jordan for Teaching Strategies to Teach Reading Comprehension in Arabic in the Light of RAMP Program

The study aims to identify the degree of application of the early learner teachers of the strategies of teaching reading comprehension in the Arabic language in light of the RAMP program. The sample consisted of 150 teachers from 39 schools in Ramtha, Jordan, and the results were analyzed using the SPSS software, where the two researchers followed (the descriptive approach) for the purpose of the study. The results showed the teachers' knowledge of the strategies of teaching reading comprehension, the comprehensiveness of its application, and the positive impact it has on the students, where they showed active learning, which contributed to raising their level of comprehension of texts. The results also showed that there are no statistically significant differences which affect the teacher in teaching reading comprehension strategies due to gender, experience, and gender by experience. At the end of the study, a series of proposals and recommendations were presented.

The Degree of Application of Teachers in the First Basic Seminar in Jordan for Teaching Strategies to Teach Reading Comprehension in Arabic in the Light of RAMP Program

The study aims to identify the degree of application of the early learner teachers of the strategies of teaching reading comprehension in the Arabic language in light of the RAMP program. The sample consisted of 150 teachers from 39 schools in Ramtha, Jordan, and the results were analyzed using the SPSS software, where the two researchers followed (the descriptive approach) for the purpose of the study. The results showed the teachers' knowledge of the strategies of teaching reading comprehension, the comprehensiveness of its application, and the positive impact it has on the students, where they showed active learning, which contributed to raising their level of comprehension of texts. The results also showed that there are no statistically significant differences which affect the teacher in teaching reading comprehension strategies due to gender, experience, and gender by experience. At the end of the study, a series of proposals and recommendations were presented.

Using the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Framework to Teach Reading Comprehension Strategies to Elementary Students with Disabilities

This study examined the effect of the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional model on the reading comprehension of elementary students with behavior challenges using a multiple-baseline across students design. Students were taught TRAP (Think before reading, Read the paragraph, Ask yourself what the paragraph is mostly about and what is the most important information, and Paraphrase the paragraph; Mason et al. 2012) mnemonic using the six recursive stages of SRSD. A functional relation between the TRAP intervention and student scores on reading comprehension probes were observed. High treatment fidelity and social validity were reported. Limitations, implications for practitioner use, and directions for future research are discussed.

An Article Review on “Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction in a First-Year Course: An Instructor’s Self-Study”

This study aims to provide insight for others who wish to do a self-study, discussing emerging themes related to student learning and strategy instruction at the post-secondary level. This study reviews a research article written by Parr & Woloshyn (2013), entitled “Reading Comprehension Strategies Instruction in a First-Year Course: An Instructor's Self-Study.” Results of the review include observations on how the related article doesn't adequately deliver objectives but is excellent at analyzing the previous literature, and the design of the research will make readers understand generally. The contents of this article are valid with all references used accurately. It concisely discussed reading comprehension and strategy instruction. Also, it used a robust theoretical framework that provides an opportunity to reflect the challenges and limitations associated with the application of explicit strategy instruction. Ultimately, this present study looks at independent learning instruction as a strategy in delivering a repertoire of evidence-based understanding strategies designed to introduce students to the conventions of reading and writing academics. This study especially entices educators, because this study can be a benchmark for lecturers to provide reading comprehension strategy in a first years course, especially reading skill.

Reading Comprehension: Theories and Strategies Toward an Effective Reading Instruction

Comprehension is a vital component in the reading process and is associated with a learner’s success in school, and even in life. However, research shows that many students are struggling to comprehend what they are reading, especially texts that require higher order thinking skills. Several factors could be ascribed to this problem and one of them is the insufficiency of teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge. Many of them felt unprepared to teach reading skills and strategies; they focused more on assessing students’ reading comprehension rather than teaching them how to comprehend better. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to present some of the theories that explain how reading comprehension occurs. It also reviews the different researches conducted on teaching reading comprehension strategies specifically on how to comprehend single and multiple texts. Further, this paper argues that it is imperative for reading teachers (including content area teachers) to have operational knowledge on the different strategies in teaching reading comprehension and how to strategically apply these in their instruction, particularly when reading multiple texts to improve their students’ critical thinking skills. Keywords : Reading comprehension, strategies, theories, reading instruction, single and multiple texts comprehension DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-13-12 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

O Ensino de Estratégias de Leitura Mediado por Recursos Educacionais Digitais

Este trabalho, de abordagem qualitativa, seguindo pressupostos da pesquisa-ação, teve como objetivo verificar as contribuições do ensino de estratégias de compreensão leitora mediado por recursos educacionais digitais. O aporte teórico é baseado na abordagem de estratégia de leitura preconizada por Solé (1998). A pesquisa foi desenvolvida numa escola de Ensino Fundamental da rede municipal de Marques de Souza/RS. Os sujeitos são os professores de Língua Portuguesa e os alunos de 5º e 8º ano da referida escola. Como instrumento de coleta de dados, fez-se uso do diário de campo da pesquisadora, que desenvolveu as atividades, e das professoras titulares da turma. A partir da prática desenvolvida, pôde-se evidenciar que a metodologia ativa peer instruction favorece significativamente o aprimoramento das estratégias de leitura dos alunos, especialmente a estratégia da inferenciação.

From the Editors

From the Editors

The efficacy of a Reading Comprehension programme: “Lee Comprensivamente” aimed to teach reading comprehension strategies in Elementary School students.

espanolLa comprension lectora es la capacidad para decodificar un texto, extrayendo su sentido global y nutriendolo con los saberes previos del lector. Se confecciono un programa de comprension lectora, Lee Comprensivamente, siguiendo los hallazgos en investigaciones de Jane Oakhill y Kate Cain, quienes proponen que el vocabulario, la generacion de inferencias, el monitoreo de la comprension y la comprension de la estructura textual son conocimientos y habilidades cruciales para la comprension. El proposito del presente trabajo es mostrar los resultados de la aplicacion del programa de intervencion Lee Comprensivamente sobre la lectura, fluidez y comprension de textos, en una muestra de 102 estudiantes de 4to grado, considerando que la intervencion fue llevada a cabo por los propios docentes de los alumnos, capacitados segun el modelo teorico. Los resultados mostraron que el programa tuvo efectos positivos y significativos sobre la lectura y la fluidez lectora, tambien sobre el conocimiento acerca del vocabulario, la comprension de la estructura textual, la generacion de inferencias, el monitoreo de la comprension y sobre la comprension global de textos, favoreciendo asi, el aprendizaje de la comprension lectora en la muestra de ninos. EnglishReading comprehension is a complex skill that involves the ability to decode a text and to construct the global meaning of the text, always based on previous knowledge. The Lee Comprensivamente programme was elaborated following the findings of Jane Oakhill and Kate Cain, who concluded that vocabulary, generation of inferences, comprehension monitoring and the comprehension text structure were crucial skills for reading comprehension in children. The aim of this work is to show the results of the application of the Lee Comprensivamente programme in a sample of 102 4th grade classroom students. The intervention was carried out by the teachers themselves, who received a training according to the theoretical framework. The results showed that the programme had positive and significant effects on reading and reading fluency, as well as on vocabulary knowledge, text structure comprehension, inference generation, comprehension monitoring, and overall texts comprehension measures

Reading Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 and 5: An Observation Study

Researchers conducted an observation study to explore the instructional practices of special education teachers ( N = 20) responsible for teaching reading to students with learning disabilities in Grades 4 and 5. With this study, researchers addressed gaps in previous related literature and improved understanding of how teachers spend their time teaching reading. Researchers observed 80 lessons and found that special educators addressed a wide range of instructional skills. The majority of teachers provided targeted phonics instruction, and overall, minimal instructional time was lost due to off-task behavior. Consistent with previous studies, teachers predominantly monitored reading comprehension by asking questions after reading, while reading comprehension strategy instruction accounted for a smaller proportion of instructional time. Researchers conducted focus groups to explore teachers’ perceptions of professional development and determine needs for future teacher training and research.

Fourth-grade emergent bilinguals' uses of functional grammar analysis to talk about text

While decades of research on reading comprehension strategy instruction has yielded significant insights into the effective use of comprehension strategies, less is known about how students—in particular students who are learning English as an additional language—can leverage their knowledge of language to make meaning with text. This descriptive case study provides insight into the ways talk about language, using a functional grammar, supports a group of fourth-grade emergent bilinguals. Students construct coherent mental representations of text by attending to linguistic features that they had learned to identify during the preceding school year, using a semantically-based linguistic metalanguage from systemic functional linguistics. Their connection of language forms and meanings in think-alouds and interviews suggests that functional grammar analysis holds promise as an instructional tool with which teachers can guide students’ attention to the central meanings in text.

Effects of an Informational Text Reading Comprehension Intervention for Fifth-Grade Students

Upper elementary school students who have reading problems may have difficulty in one or more areas of reading, each requiring specific types of interventions. This study evaluated a short-term reading intervention for 46 fifth-grade students with poor reading comprehension. Students were randomly assigned to an intervention or no treatment control condition. The 40 session (20 hr) intervention targeted reading comprehension strategy instruction in the context of informational science texts. Analyses showed statistically significant effects favoring the intervention on two proximal measures (i.e., measures closely related to the intervention content). The effects for the outcomes were moderate ( gs = 0.61 and 0.72). There were no statistically significant differences on distal measures (i.e., measures less closely aligned with the intervention). The findings provide support for the efficacy of a reading comprehension intervention that may inform short-term interventions within a Response to Intervention framework.

Implications of pedagogical beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge for the reading comprehension strategy instruction of teachers

Implications of pedagogical beliefs and pedagogical content knowledge for the reading comprehension strategy instruction of teachers

A Study on Teaching Methods of Reading Comprehension Strategies by Comparison between TEM-4 Reading Comprehension and IELTS Academic Reading Comprehension

The ultimate purpose of Test for English Majors 4 (TEM-4) and International English Language Test System Academic (IELTS A) are to test students' English language application abilities. This paper made a comparative study between reading comprehension part in two tests. It points out that IELTS A, with its up-to-date and diversified types of writing, can reflect students’ real English level and ability to use English. IELTS reading requires that students adopt effective reading comprehension strategies to accurately and effectively extract the information and understand the meaning in the face of different types of English reading materials. Meanwhile, students can apply productive skills to use English language. It further puts forward 3 teaching methods of reading comprehension strategies: direct explanation, transactional method, interactive constructive method. It ends with factors teachers should take into consideration when teaching reading comprehension strategies. Three methods can be used in combination considering context of Chinese students’ English learning, teachers’ demonstration and effective group discussion and communication.

The Effect of Three Kinds of Reading Strategies on EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension and Gender Difference Using Think-aloud Protocol

Reading comprehension strategy instruction is a powerful tool in teaching context. The present study examines the effect of teaching three kinds of reading strategies on L2 learners’ reading comprehension ability as well as identifying the gender role in this intervention. This quasi experimental study was carried out on 100 Iranian EFL students who were chosen on the basis of a convenient sampling procedure. These participants were divided into two groups of experimental and control. 50 students (experimental group) were taught to use three reading comprehension strategies while reading English texts over 16 sessions, whereas the other 50 students (control group) were taught reading comprehension traditionally. The results of the study revealed significant effect of reading strategies application on L2 learners’ reading comprehension ability. It also showed that not only male learners employ reading strategies more than their female counterparts, but also male learners had higher reading comprehension performance in comparison to their female counterparts. Thus, it seems that training of reading strategy raised students' awareness towards these strategies and could encourage some learners to use them; which in turn could improve the students' reading comprehension skill.

Chunking, Elaborating, and Mapping Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension Using Content Area Materials

This paper reports on an experimental study of the application of chunking, elaborating, and mapping strategies inteaching reading comprehension using content area reading materials. The research method employed apretest-posttest control group design. The purpose was intended to answer the research problem related to the effectof the treatment on the students’ English reading achievement. The hypothesis proposed was that there was nodifference in reading achievement scores of the two groups before and after the treatment. The subjects of theresearch were the first year students at the Economics Faculty, Bandung Islamic University, Indonesia. The researchinstruments were reading comprehension tests covering micro processes, integrative processes, macro processes, andelaborative processes. The data obtained through pretest and posttest, were statistically analyzed using t-test. Thestudy showed that the treatment had a significant effect on the students’ reading achievement. In addition, thestudents in both groups were asked to fill in questionnaires to identify their perception on the trained readingstrategies and teaching materials. The study indicated that their perception was mostly positive. In brief, this studysuggests that chunking, elaborating, mapping, and summarizing strategies facilitate students’ reading comprehensionin expository texts in the Indonesian context. However, further research utilizing different reading strategies shouldbe conducted to explore other outcomes that might be more effective in EAP classrooms.