Text Structure Strategy Research Articles

The Effect of Teaching Text Structure on Improving Writing Composition Skills and Reducing Writing Anxiety Among Seventh Graders in Jordan

The study aimed at identifying the effectiveness of teaching text structure on improving writing composition skills and reducing writing anxiety among seventh graders in Jordan. To that aim, the one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The researchers developed a writing composition test according to the structures of (problem/solution, compare/contrast, description), and writing anxiety scale. The subjects of the study consisted of 29 seventh graders, taught through the text structure procedures. The findings revealed that there is a statistically significant effect of the text structure strategy on improving writing composition and reducing writing anxiety, with a large effect size. In light of the findings, the necessary recommendations were set.

HIGHER-ORDER THINKING STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION WHILE READING AUTHENTIC TEXTS

Productive reading is the key component of the productive linguodidactic technology system. One of the important professional competences that college undergraduates are supposed to acquire is a skill to reflect critically on what they read. They have to learn how to analyze and interpret large flows of information from various sources including those from the foreign media. The important skill of interpretating the value and the meaning of the text in terms of ideas and author’s intentions can be built through productive linguistic reading. The effective application of the text structure strategy can be seen as one of the ways to implement a productive reading approach.This article focuses on the ways used to engage students in higher order thinking activities while reading articles and other authentic texts on various topics. Identifying the main ideas and logical relationships between them, providing background information, and generating inferences enhance undergraduates’ skills to form and articulate an informed and well-grounded opinion on different issues.

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

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.

EMPHASIZING TEXT STRUCTURE STRATEGY INSTRUCTION TO SCAFFOLD 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION

Reading and comprehending an English informational text, always becomes a burdensome activity for Indonesian students. This problem arises not only because of students’ low English language competency, but also insufficient application of traditional reading instruction that teachers teach in regular school. Therefore, this present study has aim to investigate the implementation of Text Structure Strategy as reading instruction to scaffold students’ informational text reading. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the learning process of text structure instruction in this study were conducted in the online learning situation. Researchers employed a qualitative case study design with observation as data collection technique. This study involved 33 participants of 11th-grade students on a class in SMA Negeri 1 Cibitung, West Java, Indonesia. Based on Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis, the result describes that Text Structure Strategy instruction can scaffold learners informational text reading in two main activities, namely introducing the concept of Text Structure Strategy and teaching explicit instruction activity, precisely in modeling and guiding practice.

The effects of web-based text structure strategy instruction on adult Chinese ELLs’ reading comprehension and reading strategy use

Underdeveloped reading comprehension skills can limit academic success; a particular challenge for English language learners (ELLs). The current study investigated whether a web-based text structure strategy, delivered via the Intelligent Tutoring of Structure Strategy (ITSS) program to adult Chinese ELLs, improved students’ use of reading strategies and/or overall reading comprehension. Using a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, 207 adult Chinese ELLs from four classes were assigned to intervention or control groups. The intervention group utilized the ITSS to support their English reading instruction, whereas the control group was exposed to only traditional instruction. Our results indicate that the ITSS intervention had a statistically significant positive effect on adult Chinese ELLs’ reading comprehension ( β = 3.07, p &lt; 0.001) with Cohen’s d = 0.43, as measured by the College English Test-4 (CET-4). Furthermore, we found that Chinese ELLs reported using more higher-order reading strategies ( p &lt; 0.01) after the intervention and there was no significant change of reported reading strategy usage for the control group from pretest and post-test. However, the current study did not provide evidence that the change in use of reading strategies mediated the relationship between the intervention/control condition and Chinese ELLs’ reading comprehension.

Text Structure Strategy for Expository Reading Comprehension: Case Study With an Adolescent With Noonan Syndrome

Purpose This article describes the implementation of a text structure strategy approach to reading comprehension intervention to improve comprehension of expository texts for an adolescent with Noonan Syndrome and a history of developmental language disorder and reading disability. Method The text structure intervention program was created for a feasibility study with adolescents who have language and literacy disorders. In the present case study, we investigated whether it was possible to improve expository text comprehension in a client with Noonan Syndrome and a history of significant needs in literacy. The text structure program leveraged the participant's progressive knowledge and awareness of specific text structures and structure signal words for improved comprehension of compare-contrast texts. The participant attended 60-min sessions twice weekly for three weeks at a university clinic. Results The participant demonstrated an increase in signal word identification as well as compare-contrast text comprehension. Conclusions This preliminary case study demonstrates that a short-term, explicit text structure strategy intervention is feasible for treatment of reading comprehension difficulties. This study also provides support for future text structure research with adolescent language and literacy deficits secondary to medical complexities.

Expository Text Structure: A Strategic Visual Representation in Enhancing the Reading Comprehension Skills of the Learners

Expository Text Structure strategy addresses the informational structure of the text that provides students with a feasible way to analyze through a visual representation of the text which creates an understanding of the basic part of the expository text. This study was carried out through a quasi-experimental design or two group pre-test post-test designs to determine the effectiveness of the Expository Text Structure strategy on the reading comprehension of the students. The researchers developed a reading comprehension test to gather data and were analyzed using percentage rate, frequency count, percentage mean, and t-test for independent samples. Results revealed an increase in the result of the experimental group than the control group after the application of the intervention. Therefore, there was a difference in the reading comprehension level of the pupils in both groups. The change between pre-test and post-test scores of both groups was significantly different. Hence, the study concluded that the Expository Text Structure strategy was significantly effective in enhancing the reading comprehension skills of the students. This offers pedagogical implications such that the Expository Text strategy can be applied to increase the comprehension of the students.

Coupling text structure and self-regulated strategy instruction for ESL primary school students’ writing outcomes

Enlightened by the implied potential of coupling text structure knowledge and self-regulated strategies to enhance writing, this study explored the possible effects of a onemonth multicomponent intervention combining text structure with self-regulation training on writing. Target participants consisted of 178 primary school sixth-grade students learning English as a second language (ESL). Among them, 45 students received text structure instruction plus self-regulation strategy development (TSI+SRSD), 45 received text structure instruction only (TSI), 45 received SRSD only, and 43 were in a control group. Dependent variables were learners’ abilities to summarize main ideas and write essays. As expected, TSI instruction or SRSD instruction resulted in better writing outcomes (i.e., summarizing main ideas and writing essays). This study contributes to research on self-regulated writing development by providing evidence that the TSI+SRSD intervention was particularly effective in enhancing primary school ESL students’ abilities to summarize main ideas and write essays. This instructional approach seems promising in ameliorating ESL young learners’ writing ability and minimizing struggling writers’ compositional difficulties. Relevant implications for language education are also discussed.

A Text Structure Analysis of Fourth and Sixth Grade Maltese Textbooks

Reading comprehension is essential for students to be successful in school and active participants of society. The ability to understand text is facilitated by text structures which encourage readers’ ability to locate, organize information, and to recall main ideas. To investigate the presence of text structures, an analysis of four Maltese language textbooks and two social studies workbooks, used in fourth and sixth grade in state schools in Malta, was conducted. Two independent reviewers analysed the books using five criteria: overall book structure, task type, text type, text structure, and reading comprehension strategy. Results showed that whereas narrative texts were the most common text type in fourth grade, more emphasis was placed on expository texts in sixth grade. Most books included cause-and-effect and problem-and-solution text structures. Recall of factual information was the predominant reading strategy, with limited exposure to other crucial strategies such as main idea identification. All textbooks gave importance to tasks that required drawings and games representing the child’s understanding of the text. Results indicated a high level of agreement between the raters’ analysis of Maltese language and social studies texts. This research suggests that texts used in the state school curriculum need to be structured in a way that reflects interventions such as the text structure strategy, to encourage main idea selection thereby facilitating comprehension of text.

Harnessing Text Structure Strategy for Reading Expository and Medical Texts among EFL College Students

This classroom-based study was conducted in Kuwait to investigate the impact of text structure strategy (TSS) instruction on the ways in which 54 English as a foreign language (EFL) college students approached expository and medical texts. Data collection involved two surveys, fieldnotes, class observations, and group interviews. A system of codes and categories was developed from the recurrent patterns and commonalities in the interview data and classroom observations. Two surveys were distributed in 2 intervals, 8 weeks apart, which focused on identifying text structure strategies such as introducing the concept of text structures, asking guided questions, identifying signaling words, and using graphic organizers, as well as the extent to which the participants applied text structure strategies to approach expository medical texts. Data analysis involved using the Microsoft Excel program to generate two tables and descriptive statistics including the means, standard deviations and percentages of the results of the two surveys. Findings indicated that the participants benefited from TSS instruction in strategies that involved group discussions rather than strategies that relied on individual class work. Moreover, a large percentage of the participants applied most of what they learned in analyzing expository texts into reading medical texts. Implications were drawn for EFL teachers to conduct action research studies on text structure strategy for EFL learners and to apply TSS instruction in class in group and pair work which are suitable for EFL leaners. Finally, EFL researchers were invited to conduct classroom-based studies of TSS instruction.

Students’ patterns of accessing time in a text structure learning system: relationship to individual characteristics and learning performance

This study developed a learning system that allows teachers to edit assignments designed to teach students the text structure strategy through the use of four phases: instructing, modeling, practicing, and reflecting. A 7-week instructional experiment was conducted in which 84 12th-grade students learned the text structure strategy using this system. The results produced several significant findings. First, the students demonstrated very different patterns of accessing time when using this system, making it possible to classify them into 3 categories or clusters of users: “low-practice-low-reflection students”, who spent little time using the system; “low-practice-high-reflection students” who spent most of their time in the reflecting phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries primarily by referring to the teacher’s examples; and “high-practice-low-reflection students” who spent most of their time in the practicing phase, during which they constructed graphic organizers and wrote summaries without referring to the teacher’s examples. Second, the students’ patterns of accessing time were related to their prior knowledge, Web experience, and learning performance. In particular, the “low-practice-low-reflection students” had the lowest learning performance. The “low-practice-high-reflection students” had a higher frequency of using PCs to access the Web, a lower level of prior knowledge, and higher gain scores than the “high-practice-low-reflection students”. These findings are discussed, and several suggestions are proposed for future research work.

A comparison of text structure and self-regulated strategy instruction for elementary school students’ writing

PurposeThis study aims to examine the writing outcomes of 6th-grade students learning English as a second language.Design/methodology/approachIn all 45 students in a text structure instruction (TSI) group were compared with 45 students in a self-regulated strategy instruction (SRSI) group and 43 students receiving traditional writing instruction. SRSI was adapted from the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model (MacArthur et al., 2015). The SRSD model includes self-regulation writing strategies, text and genre knowledge and think-aloud modeling. Findings allowed for a comparison of TSI and SRSI, in which organization knowledge does not need to be taught using SRSD methods. Measures of writing outcomes, including writing quality and summarization of main ideas, were administered after a one-month intervention.FindingsResults revealed that, compared with traditional instruction, the TSI and SRSI groups each exhibited better writing outcomes. Compared with the traditional instruction group, each technique had a unique impact: SRSI on writing quality, and TSI on main ideas included in written summaries. Linguistic and textual analyses of students’ writing revealed that the TSI and SRSI group learners both demonstrated high syntactic complexity, content organization and lexical variation in their compositions.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study provides empirical evidence that explicit teaching of SRSI writing strategies or TSI can be implemented effectively and elicit gains in elementary school L2 learners’ written output. A clear division does not exist between self-regulated writing strategies and text structure knowledge; the two techniques should be complementary, as suggested in the earlier SRSD model.Originality/valueClassroom-based research has addressed the need to enhance self-regulated capacity in writing. However, writing has become more challenging for primary school learners. In addition, writing is a cognitively demanding process. The plethora of processes involved in writing may be one of the factors that caused difficulties in writing. Thus, writing proficiency relies on the development of text structure knowledge and the fostering of self-regulation capabilities.

Supplementing teacher knowledge using web-based Intelligent Tutoring System for the Text Structure Strategy to improve content area reading comprehension with fourth- and fifth-grade struggling readers.

The effects of teaching the text structure strategy using a web-based Intelligent Tutoring System for the Text Structure Strategy (ITSS) were examined with fourth- and fifth-grade children scoring below the 25th percentile on comprehension measures using the Gray Silent Reading Test (GSRT) and researcher designed assessment from 130 fourth-grade and 130 fifth-grade classrooms. The ITSS was designed to teach students how to select and encode strategic memory from expository texts. The system provides modelling, practice, assessment, scaffolding, and feedback to learners on identifying signalling words, summarizing, making inferences, generating elaborations, and monitoring comprehension. A large scale randomized controlled trial was conducted with 130 fourth-grade and 130 fifth-grade classrooms. Students completed GSRT- and researcher-designed measures of reading comprehension at pretest and posttests. An analysis of fourth-grade students using ITSS who scores less than the 25th percentile on the GSRT pretest showed small but meaningful effect sized on the posttests. The fifth-grade students in ITSS, who scored less than the 25% percentile on the GSRT pretest, showed the highest effect sizes (moderate to large effects) on the standardized test scores on the posttests.

The Effect of Using Text Structure Strategy (TSS) on Enhancing EFL Preparatory Stage Pupils' Reading Comprehension Skills and Their Attitude

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using Text Structure Strategy (TSS) on enhancing 2nd EFL preparatory stage pupils' reading comprehension skills and their attitude. The targeted reading comprehension sub- skills were (understanding, text attack skills, searching , inference ,prediction ,problem solving). The participants of the study were eighty- 2nd year preparatory pupils drawn from“ Kolongnile School for Basic Education” in Mansoura city. They were divided into two groups: an experimental group who received the TSS treatment and a control group who received the traditional method of teaching. Each group consisted of forty (N= 40) pupils. The experimental treatment was conducted during the second semester in the academic year 2016/2017. The study adopted the quasi-experimental design. Three instruments were used: Reading Comprehension Skills questionnaire to determine the most suitable reading comprehension skills for second year preparatory pupils, Reading Comprehension Skills test ,and an attitude scale to identify the pupils' attitudes towards reading. Results indicated that Text Structure Strategy( TSS) helped participants improve their EFL Reading Comprehension Skills and enhance their attitude towards reading.

Why Children With Dyslexia Struggle With Writing and How to Help Them.

Children with dyslexia often have related writing difficulties. In the simple view of writing model, high-quality writing depends on good transcription skills, working memory, and executive function-all of which can be difficult for children with dyslexia and result in poor spelling and low overall writing quality. In this article, we describe the challenges of children with dyslexia in terms of the simple view of writing and instructional strategies to increase spelling and overall writing quality in children with dyslexia. For spelling strategies, we conducted systematic searches across 2 databases for studies examining the effectiveness of spelling interventions for students with dyslexia as well as including studies from 2 meta-analyses. To locate other instructional practices to increase writing quality (e.g., handwriting and executive function), we examined recent meta-analyses of writing and supplemented that by conducting forward searches. Through the search, we found evidence of effective remedial and compensatory intervention strategies in spelling, transcription, executive function, and working memory. Some strategies included spelling using sound-spellings and morphemes and overall quality using text structure, sentence combining, and self-regulated strategy development. Many students with dyslexia experience writing difficulty in multiple areas. However, their writing (and even reading) skills can improve with the instructional strategies identified in this article. We describe instructional procedures and provide links to resources throughout the article.

Comparative signaling generated for expository texts by 4th–8th graders: variations by text structure strategy instruction, comprehension skill, and signal word

Explicit signals of important relationships in expository texts can provide efficient processing instructions for readers with strategic knowledge about text structures. However, such signal words do not help readers without strategic knowledge about use of text structures and signal words. This study provided the first detailed investigation about the effects of structure strategy instruction on understanding several types of comparative signal words in multi-paragraph expository texts. The study, set in 41 school districts, examined four comparative signal words generated by three groups of reading comprehenders in Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 and how such understandings were impacted by instruction with the text structure strategy. Students in classrooms randomly assigned to structure strategy instruction showed more understanding of comparative signal words than those in the business as usual control. The intervention aided 4th, 5th, and 7th graders’ generation of all signal words, but more so for the more difficult signaling words that transitioned between paragraphs. For Grade 4 the intervention helped some reading comprehension groups more than others depending on signal word difficulty. For Grade 8 the intervention increased understanding of difficult signal words, but not the easiest signal word. Males in Grade 5 using the web-based structure strategy instruction improved their generation of the easiest signal word more than females, but females improved more on the difficult signal words. The comparison text structure and its signaling words appear ideal targets for instruction at upper elementary and middle school. The findings have implications for classroom instruction about text structures.

An analysis of the ecological components within a text structure intervention

The Component Model of Reading expanded upon the Simple View of Reading by adding an ecological and psychological component. Elements of the ecological component include teacher knowledge, information provided in textbooks, and teacher instructional practices. In this study, the authors examined the extent of teacher knowledge about text structure, the extent to which textbooks focused on text structure related skills and strategies as well as the percentage each skill and strategy was covered in lessons and teacher instructional practices. Such analysis shows that although text structure interventions may have positive effects on student reading comprehension, there are multiple elements of the ecological component that may be counteracting the benefits of the intervention. First, teachers have a limited knowledge of the five common text structures. Second, textbooks systematically minimize text structure instruction and only cover comprehension skills and strategies sporadically throughout a year-long curriculum. Third, teacher learning of text structures and change in practice was moderated by these ecological factors including textbook scheduled instruction and administrator support.

Text Structure and Its Teaching Implications: An Analytical Study

The way information is organized in a text enables students to read effectively. As such, the current study content analyzed the first and the second stage secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks taught at public schools in Jordan. This descriptive analytical research design was carried out to explore the means and frequencies of text structure types included in both textbooks and the extent of fairness in presenting these structures within the reading texts of both textbooks. The main aim of the study is to provide insights for both EFL teachers and book designers to expose students to varied types of text structure. A content analysis sheet for coding the material based on the criterion of inclusion was used. The reading passage was the unit of analysis. The analysis of the study revealed that the Jordanian secondary stage textbooks include a variety of text structure types that are not fairly distributed; nevertheless, the descriptive structure was the most frequent structure in both textbooks. Starting from this premise, the current study discussed the pedagogical implications of text structure teaching. Accordingly, the study recommends that book designers should integrate reading texts of varied text structure types without ignoring some structures in favor of others, also it recommends that EFL teachers should be trained to use text structure strategy in EFL reading classes.

Text Structure and Its Teaching Implications: An Analytical Study

The way information is organized in a text enables students to read effectively. As such, the current study content analyzed the first and the second stage secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks taught at public schools in Jordan. This descriptive analytical research design was carried out to explore the means and frequencies of text structure types included in both textbooks and the extent of fairness in presenting these structures within the reading texts of both textbooks. The main aim of the study is to provide insights for both EFL teachers and book designers to expose students to varied types of text structure. A content analysis sheet for coding the material based on the criterion of inclusion was used. The reading passage was the unit of analysis. The analysis of the study revealed that the Jordanian secondary stage textbooks include a variety of text structure types that are not fairly distributed; nevertheless, the descriptive structure was the most frequent structure in both textbooks. Starting from this premise, the current study discussed the pedagogical implications of text structure teaching. Accordingly, the study recommends that book designers should integrate reading texts of varied text structure types without ignoring some structures in favor of others, also it recommends that EFL teachers should be trained to use text structure strategy in EFL reading classes.

Improving content area reading comprehension of Spanish speaking English learners in Grades 4 and 5 using web-based text structure instruction

Reading and comprehending content area texts is important for academic and professional success as well as life skills necessary to maintain good health and quality lifestyle. Spanish speaking English language learners have shown poor performance on high-stakes assessments in reading comprehension. The number of Spanish speaking English learners (ELs) in our schools continues to increase at a fast pace, and therefore it is imperative that we address their reading comprehension needs swiftly and effectively. The text structure strategy has shown positive results on comprehension outcomes in many research studies with students at Grades 2, 4, 5, and 7. This study is the first implementation of instruction about the text structure strategy expressly designed to accommodate the linguistic and comprehension needs of Spanish speaking ELs in Grades 4 and 5. Strategy instruction on the web for English learners (SWELL) was designed to deliver instruction about the text structure strategy to Spanish speaker English learners. A randomized controlled study with pre and post-tests was conducted with 14 classrooms at fourth-grade and 17 classrooms at fifth-grade in high poverty schools where over 85% of students were Spanish speaking bilinguals or ELs. Analysis of data using multi-level models show moderate to large-effects favoring the students in the SWELL classrooms over the business as usual control classrooms on important measures such as a standardized reading comprehension test and main idea and cloze tasks. This research has practical implications for the use of web-based tools to provide high-quality and supportive instruction to improve Spanish speaking ELs reading comprehension skills.