Improving EFL Students’ Performance in Reading Comprehension Through Explicit Instruction in Strategies
![Ver Biografía](https://revistas.ucc.edu.co/plugins/themes/temaojsucc/img/Bi.png)
email: olgaluciauribeenciso@mail.ustabuca.edu.co
Introduction: Explicit instruction in reading strategies has been recommended to improve reading comprehension in both L1 and L2 formal educational settings for over 20 years. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a proposal for teaching reading strategies explicitly to efl students, in terms of strategy recognition and performance in reading comprehension tasks.
Methodology: The research is conducted to solve language learning problems and follows a mixed-method approach since both qualitative and quantitative data was collected and analyzed through questionnaires, reading tests and tasks. Besides, purposive sampling was used to select participants, and both qualitative and quantitative data was collected through questionnaires, reading tests and tasks.
Results: After the sixteen-week training, the participants reported wider reading strategy repertoires and higher scores in the reading comprehension Exit Test.
Conclusions: Explicit instruction in reading strategies is effective to improve reading comprehension. Further research is suggested to test the effectivity of the model with other students and to find out if learners in this study continue using the reported strategies consistently and autonomously.
Abbott, Marilyn. “An Introspective Study of Arabic-and Mandarin-Speakers’ Reading Comprehension Strategies.” tesl Canada Journal 28.1 (2010): 14-40. Print.
---. “esl Reading Strategies: Differences in Arabic and Man-darin Speaker Test Performance.” Language Learning56.4 (2006): 633-670. Print.
Afflerbach, Peter, P. David Pearson, and Scott G. Paris. “Cla-rifying Differences between Reading Skills and Rea-ding Strategies.” The Reading Teacher (2008): 364-373. Print.
Aghasafari, Parvaneh, and Faramarz Aziz Malayeri. “Impro-ving Students’ Reading Comprehension through Text Structure Strategy Instruction.” International Journal of Educational Investigations 2.3 (2015): 148-158. Print.
Aitchison, Jean. Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon. uk: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print.
Alderson, John Charles. Assessing Reading. New York: Cam-bridge University Press, 2000. Print.
Alfassi, Miriam. “Reading to Learn: Effects of Combined Strategy Instruction on High School Students.” The Journal of Educational Research 97.4 (2004): 171-185. Print.
Alyousef, Hesham Suleiman. “Teaching Reading Compre-hension to esl/efl learners.” The Reading Matrix 5.2 (2005): 143-154. Print.
Anderson, David. “A Background to Reading Instruction: What is Reading? What is the Best Way to Teach Reading?” Reading Literacy (2005). Print.
Anderson, Neil J. “Active Reading: The Research Base for a Pedagogical Approach in the Reading Classroom.” Second Language Reading Research and Instruction: Crossing the Boundaries (2009): 117-143. Print.
---. “Individual differences in strategy use in second langua-ge reading and testing.” The Modern Language Journal75.4 (1991): 460-472. Print.
---. “Scrolling, Clicking, and Reading English: Online Rea-ding Strategies in a Second/Foreign Language.” The Reading Matrix 3.3 (2003). .
Anderson, Richard C., and P. David Pearson. “A Sche-ma-Theoretic View of Basic Processes in Reading Comprehension.” Handbook of Reading Research 1 (1984): 255-291. Print.
Ashby, Jane, and Keith Rayner. “Literacy Development: Insi-ghts from Research on Skilled Reading.” Handbook of Early Literacy Research 2 (2006): 52-63. Print.
Barnett, Marva A. Language Learner Reading: Theory and Practise. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Englewood Cliffs, 1989. Print.
---. “Reading through Context: How Real and Perceived Strategy Use Affects l2 Comprehension.” Modern Lan-guage Journal (1988): 150-162. Print.
Beckman, Pat. Strategy Instruction. ERIC Digest. Arlington, VA: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, 2002. Print.
Bernhardt, Elisabeth B. “Second-Language Reading as a Case Study of Reading Scholarship in the 20th Cen-tury.” Handbook of Reading Research 3 (2000): 791-811. Print.
Block, Cathy, and Michael Pressley, eds. Comprehension Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices. New York: Guilford Press, 2002. Print.
Block, Ellen. “The Comprehension Strategies of Second Language Readers.” tesol Quarterly 20.3 (1986): 463-494. Print.
Bossers, Bart. “On Thresholds, Ceilings and Short-Circuits: The Relation between l1 Reading, l2 Reading and l2 Knowledge.” Aila Review 8.1 (1991): 45-60. Print.
Brantmeier, Cindy. “Second Language Reading Strategy Re-search at the Secondary and University Levels: Varia-tions, Disparities, and Generalizability.” The Reading Matrix 2.3 (2002). Print.
---. “Facilitating esl Reading by Teaching Text Structure.” tesol Quarterly 19.4 (1985): 727-752. Print.
Closs, Ellen K. Teaching Reading Comprehension to Strug-gling and At-Risk Readers: Strategies That Work. Master Thesis Project. Saint Xavier University, 2011. Print
Cohen, Andrew D. “Mentalistic Measures in Reading Stra-tegy Research: Some Recent Findings.” English for Specific Purposes 5.2 (1986): 131-145. Print.
Cohen, Louis, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison. Re-search Methods in Education. 6th ed. London: Routle-dge, 2007. Print.
Dörnyei, Zoltán. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
Ellis, Nick C. “Implicit and Explicit Knowledge about Language.” Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer us, 2008. 1878-1890. Print.
Garner, Ruth. Metacognition and Reading Comprehension. Ablex Publishing, 1987. Print.
Gillet, Jean Wallace, and Charles A. Temple. Understanding Reading Problems. (5th Ed.) New York: Addison Wes-ley Longman, Inc., 2000. Print.
Goodman, Kenneth S. “Reading: A Psycholinguistic Gues-sing Game”. Journal of the Reading Specialist 6.4 (1967): 126-135. Print.
Grabe, William. “Current Developments in Second Langua-ge Reading Research.” tesol Quarterly 25.3 (1991): 375-406. Print.
---. “Key Issues in L2 Reading Development.” Proceedings of the 4th celc Symposium for English Language Teachers - Selected Papers (2014): 8-18. <http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/research/symposiumproceedings.php>.
---. Reading in a Second Language: Moving from Theory to Practice. Cambridge: University Press, 2009. Print.
Guthrie, John T., and Sevgi Ozgungor. “Instructional Contexts for Reading Engagement.” Comprehension Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices (2002): 275-288. Print.
Harris, Karen R., and Michael Pressley. “The Nature of Cog-nitive Strategy Instruction: Interactive Strategy Construction.” Exceptional Children 57.5 (1991): 392-404.Print.
Hedgcock, John, and Dana R. Ferris. Teaching Readers of English: Students, Texts, and Contexts. London: Rout-ledge, 2009. Print.
Hitchcock, John, et al. “The Impact of Collaborative Strate-gic Reading on the Reading Comprehension of Grade 5 Students in Linguistically Diverse Schools. Final Re-port. ncee 2011-4001.” National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (2011). Print.
Kletzien, Sharon Benge. “Strategy Use by Good and Poor Comprehenders Reading Expository Text of Differing Levels.” Reading Research Quarterly (1991): 67-86.Print.
Ko, M. “A Study on Teachers’ Perception of Strategy Use: Reading Strategy Instruction and Students’ Motivation to Read.” Journal of National Huwei Institute of Techno-logy 5 (2002): 202-212. Print.
Koda, Keiko. Insights into Second Language Reading: A Cross-Linguistic Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane. “Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 20 (2000): 165-181. Print.
Lems, Kristin, Leah D. Miller, and Tenena M. Soro. Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Insights from Linguistics. New York: Guilford Press, 2010. Print.
McDonough, Jo and Steven McDonough. Research Methods for English Language Teachers. London: Arnold, 1997. Print.
McNamara, Danielle S., ed. Reading Comprehension Stra-tegies: Theories, Interventions and Technologies. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007. Print.
Mobalegh, Ali, and Mohammad Saljooghian. “The Effect of Teaching Reading Strategies Explicitly on Students’ Understanding of Cohesion in Reading.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research 3.6 (2012): 1180-1185. Print.
Mokhtari, Kouider, and Carla A. Reichard. “Assessing Stu-dents’ Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies.” Journal of Educational Psychology 94.2 (2002): 249. Print.
Mokhtari, Kouider, and Ravi Sheorey. “Measuring esl Stu-dents’ Awareness of Reading Strategies.” Journal of Developmental Education 25.3 (2002): 2. Print.
Nagy, William. “Metalinguistic Awareness and the Vocabu-lary-Comprehension Connection.” Vocabulary acqui-sition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford, 2007: 52-77. Print.
Nuttall, Christine, and Charles Alderson. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. 2nd Ed. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann English Language teaching, 1996. Print.
nzcer. Shifting to 21st Century Thinking in education and learning: The knowledge Age, 2009 <http://www.shif-tingthinking.org/>
Olshavsky, Jill Edwards. “Reading as Problem Solving: An Investigation of Strategies.” Reading Research Quarter-ly (1976): 654-674. Print.
Oxford, Rebecca L. Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Heinle & Hein-le Publishers, 1990. Print.
Ozek, Yesim, and Muharrem Civelek. “A Study on the Use of Cognitive Reading Strategies by elt Students.” The Asian efl Journal 14.1 (2006): 1-26. Print.
Phakiti, Aek. “Theoretical and Pedagogical Issues in esl/efl Teaching of Strategic Reading.” University of Sydney Papers in tesol 1 (2006): 19-50. Print.
Patton, Michael. Qualitative evaluation and research me-thods: Designing qualitative studies. Beverly Hills: Sage Publishing House. Print.
Paris, Scott G., Barbara Wasik, and Julianne C. Turner. “The Development of Strategic Readers.” Handbook of Reading Research II. New York: Longman, (1991): 609-640. Print.
Paris, Scott G., Marjorie Y. Lipson, and Karen K. Wixson. “Becoming a Strategic Reader.” Contemporary Educational Psychology 8.3 (1983): 293-316. Print.
Pearson, P. David, and Janice A. Dole. “Explicit Compre-hension Instruction: A Review of Research and a New Conceptualization of Instruction.” The Elementary School Journal (1987): 151-165. Print.
Pearson, P. David, and Margaret C. Gallagher. “The Instruc-tion of Reading Comprehension.” Contemporary Educational Psychology 8.3 (1983): 317-344.
Raphael, Taffy E. “Balancing Literature and Instruction: Lessons from the Book Club Project.” Reading for Meaning: Fostering Comprehension in the Middle Grades(2000): 70-94. Print.
Reutzel, D. Ray, et al. “Explicit Instruction in Core Rea-ding Programs.” The Elementary School Journal 114.3 (2014): 406-430. Print.
Richards, Jack C., and Willy A. Renandya. Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Shang, Hui-Fang. “Exploring the Relationship between efl Proficiency Level and Reading Strategy.” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 1.3 (2011): 18-27. Print.
Sheorey, Ravi, and Kouider Mokhtari. “Differences in the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies among Native and Non-Native Readers.” System 29.4 (2001): 431-449. Print.
Silver, Rita Elaine, and Soe Marlar Lwin, eds. Language in Education: Social Implications. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. Print.
Smith, Frank. Psycholinguistics and Reading. Toronto: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973. Print.
Snow, Catherine. Reading for understanding: Toward an r&d Program in Reading Comprehension. Pittsburgh: rand Education, 2002. Print.
Talebi, Seyed Hassan. “Linguistic Proficiency and Strategies on Reading Performance in English.” International Journal of Instruction 8.1 (2015): 47-60. Print.
Thornbury, Scott. Uncovering Grammar. London: Macmi-llan Heinemann, 2011. Print.
Uribe, Olga Lucía. “Incidencia de la Enseñanza Explíci-ta de Estrategias de Lectura en Estudiantes de Nivel Elemental en Ambiente de efl.” Memorias ii Congreso Internacional de Escritura y Lectura en la Sociedad Global, Universidad del Norte (2015): 1-19. Print.
---. “Learning Strategies: Tracing the Term.” Revista Elec-trónica Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras 4 (2010): 1-33.Print.
Van Peer, Willie. “Top-Down and Bottom-Up: Interpretati-ve Strategies in Reading ee Cummings.” New Literary History (1987): 597-609. Print.
Widdowson, Henry George. Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Print.
Zhang, Lawrence Jun. “Constructivist Pedagogy in Strategic Reading Instruction: Exploring Pathways to Learner Development in the English as a Second Language (esl) Classroom.” Instructional Science 36.2 (2008): 89-116. Print.
Zhang, Lawrence Jun, and Wu Aijiao. “Chinese senior school efl students’ metacognitive awareness and rea-ding-strategy use.” Reading in a Foreign Language 21.1 (2009): 37-59. Print.
Zhang, Zhicheng. “Literature Review on Reading Strategy Research.” Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, 10-12 Nov 1998. Paper.
Ética. La revista y su equipo editorial propiciarán, a través de sus políticas y actuaciones, la ética en los procesos de investigación, el uso apropiado de los contenidos protegidos por derechos de autor y la calidad de los trabajos que publica, de manera que los diferentes colaboradores (editores, autores y evaluadores) interactúen bajo principios de integridad académica.
- Autores. Se espera que los autores que participen en la revista presenten textos originales, de su propia creación, derivados de procesos de investigación rigurosos, que no hayan sido previamente publicados, usen de manera adecuada las fuentes que sirven de soporte bibliográfico y cualquier otro material que esté protegido por derechos de autor. Los textos también deben estar escritos de manera cuidadosa y considerando los requisitos de forma y citación que correspondan al estilo de la revista.
- Evaluadores. Se espera que los evaluadores de la revista realicen una lectura minuciosa y constructiva de cada artículo que acepten revisar, buscando no sólo emitir una recomendación de aprobación o rechazo para el editor, sino que sus comentarios permitan que los autores mejoren sus textos o reflexionen sobre los alcances, posibilidades o falencias de su manuscrito. Asimismo, los evaluadores deben considerar que los textos que el editor les ha confiado son inéditos, y cualquier uso indebido o no autorizado de la información allí contenida implicaría una falta ética grave. También, la responsabilidad de evaluar un trabajo, una vez se ha aceptado, no puede ser transferida a terceros, en especial, si no se ha justificado y consultado previamente con el editor. Finalmente, cualquier conflicto de intereses que el evaluador identifique después de haber recibido un trabajo y que potencialmente menoscabe su independencia en la elaboración de un concepto debe informarse.
Notificación sobre casos. Si hay alguna evidencia de problemas éticos en las investigaciones que presentan los trabajos publicados por la revista, dudas sobre su rigor científico, sospecha de falsificación o manipulación indebida de datos, conflictos de intereses no revelados, identificación de publicaciones previas (“refritos”), problemas de autoría o plagio, pedimos, por favor, que se contacte de manera inmediata al editor de la revista para que pueda ahondar en el caso y tomar las acciones que correspondan. Las notificaciones que se reciban sobre problemas éticos se manejarán con absoluta confidencialidad, protegiendo la identidad de la persona que ha detectado el problema, si así lo solicita.
Retractaciones, correcciones y resolución de conflictos. La revista sigue los lineamientos (http://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines) y procedimientos (http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts) del Committee on Publication Ethics (cope) para el manejo de conductas inapropiadas en la publicación académica. Asimismo, se harán retractaciones o correcciones de artículos ya publicados cuyos contenidos presenten errores que afecten su calidad científica o el reconocimiento apropiado de sus autores, ya sea por equivocaciones involuntarias en el proceso de investigación y publicación o por problemas éticos serios como plagio, falsificaciones, manipulaciones de datos, entre otros.
Uso de los contenidos y autoarchivo. La revista publica sus contenidos en acceso abierto, sin que medie ningún periodo de embargo. Asimismo, todos los trabajos publicados aparecen bajo una licencia Creative Commons de Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 4.0 Internacional (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), y su uso debe hacerse bajo esas condiciones de licenciamiento.