scholarly journals Helping Struggling Readers Comprehend Information Texts

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-59
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Lee

This experimental study examined the effect of an instructional intervention that combined the use of information texts and instruction in reading strategies to improve the reading comprehension of struggling grade 5 students. Elementary (primary) school children are infrequently instructed in strategies for reading informational text, with its genre specific text structure although this is an essential component of information literacy. Two grade 5 classes were pre- and post- tested for reading comprehension. One class received instruction in collaborative strategy instruction for reading informational text. The post-test revealed that students in the experimental class achieved significantly better comprehension scores than the control class. This study examined the effect of an instructional intervention that combined the use of information texts and instruction in reading strategies to improve the comprehension of struggling fifth grade readers.

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110223
Author(s):  
Zhihong Xu ◽  
Kausalai (Kay) Wijekumar ◽  
Qing Wang ◽  
Robin Irey ◽  
Hua Liang

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 < 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 < 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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110115
Author(s):  
Ali Amjadi ◽  
Seyed Hassan Talebi

Implementing social-emotional learning skills into Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR), the current study intended to extend the efficacy of CSR for teaching reading strategies when applying it to students in rural areas from a working-class community. To this purpose, forty-four students who made the comparison and the experimental groups were taught reading strategies through CSR and ECSR (Extended Collaborative Strategic Reading), respectively. A reading comprehension test with different question types was implemented to the students as pretest and posttest, and an interview was given at the end of the study to investigate the perception of the students toward reading strategy instruction through CSR and ECSR. Analysis of data indicated that only the ECSR group improved significantly in overall reading comprehension, but the componential analysis of the reading test showed that despite the fact that the CSR group showed no significant improvement in the reading tests in four formats (true–false, multiple-choice, matching, and cloze), the ECSR group improved significantly in reading tests with multiple-choice and cloze test formats. Moreover, although the students in both groups showed a positive view toward the interventions, the students in the ECSR group improved in social-emotional and communication skills. It seems that CSR can be improved to be effective by implementing the emotional component to it.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madoda Cekiso

The aim of this study was to examine the reading strategies used by Grade 11 English Second Language (ESL) learners and the possible effects of reading instruction on their reading comprehension and strategy awareness. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test control group design was used. The participants included a total of 60 Grade 11 learners from a high school. The results of this study indicate that (1) learners who received reading strategy instruction scored both statistically and practically significantly higher marks on the reading comprehension test than those in the control group and (2) explicit instruction in the use of reading strategies was essential to bring about the increased use of reading strategies of learners in the experimental group. The study has implications for learners, teachers, university students and lecturers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-73
Author(s):  
Azadeh Rajaei ◽  
Seyed Hassan Talebi ◽  
Shirin Abadikhah

In an EFL context reading is a very important skill in language learning. This study aims at finding if instruction of reading strategies in two different collaborative and non-collaborative approaches affects reading comprehension and attitude toward reading differently. Forty-five Iranian adult female EFL learners at pre-intermediate general English proficiency level in Iran Language Institute (ili) were selected and divided into three groups of 15 students. One group functioning as the control group did not receive any strategy instruction; the second group, as the first experimental group, received reading strategy instruction in collaborative groups (Collaborative Strategic Reading or csr), and the third group considered as the second experimental group received reading strategy instruction in a non-collaborative way. A reading comprehension test and a reading attitude questionnaire were given to all three groups at the beginning of the term as pretests and after the experiment as posttests. The results obtained through one-way anova indicated that though both experimental groups outperformed the control group, there was no significant difference between the two experimental groups in reading comprehension and attitude toward reading. Therefore, it is up to teachers to weigh the advantages of using the collaborative approach to teaching reading against its disadvantages.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 2191-2210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Arfé ◽  
Lucia Mason ◽  
Inmaculada Fajardo

Sophia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
Alejandro Toro Criollo ◽  
Rosana Ramírez Toro

This article presents the results of an action research entitled “Development of Reading Comprehension Strategies for the high school Icfes (Supérate) tests, eleventh grade.” This pre-experimental research was carried out with a group of eleventh grade of the Santa Teresa de Jesús school in the city of Armenia, Quindío. The students had a poor level of comprehension of texts in English. This type of study requires a pre-test and a post-test, the former served as a means to evaluate the performance of the students in real tests, followed by a training course on more convenient reading strategies for the type of questions used in the high school Icfes (Supérate) tests, eleventh grade (ISG11, for its initials in Spanish)*. The post-test measured their performance after having finished their training in reading strategies. The purpose of this research was to improve their performance in the analysis of English texts, and to measure how training affects the performance of students in the ISG11 tests. It is concluded from this study that the reading workshops improved the students’ ability to understand readings as well as the degree of familiarity with the English section of the ISG11 tests. This research provides a guide to train students in how to answer this type of test. It was demonstrated that with the training in reading comprehension and recognition of the type of items present in the English session of the ISG11 tests, students are better prepared to overcome their difficulties. As a result of this, the students had a positive performance in the real ISG11 tests, raising for the first time in five years the level of English in the institution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghada M. Awada ◽  
Mar Gutiérrez-Colón

This study reports the relative effectiveness of the inclusion theory when the combined strategy instruction on improving the reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts for students with dyslexia is implemented. A total sample of 298 students of English as a foreign language from both public and private schools participated in the study which employed a pre-test- post-test control group design to investigate the efficacy of combined strategy instruction consisting of Graphic organizers, Visual displays, Mnemonic illustrations, Computer exercises, Prediction, Inference, Text structure awareness, Main idea identification, Summarization, and Questioning. The study concluded that combined strategy instruction in the field of the inclusion theory is more effective than regular instruction in improving reading comprehension when using narrative texts, but there’s no difference, when using expository texts. There was no significant difference neither by gender nor by school types in all the grade levels under study.


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