BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL
City of Malolos, Bulacan

Critique Paper on Selected Journal

About Teaching Reading

____________________________________

A Module submitted
in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements
for the course ELE 904
(Teaching Reading and Writing in Multi-lingual Context
With Literary Appreciation)

____________________________________

Submitted by:
JEWEN L. ALIMEN
MAEd ELE

Submitted to:
DR. MARCOS Y. LOPEZ

July 2019
 “Strategies on Iranian EFL Pre-University Students' Reading Comprehension
Ability”

Hassan Soleimani ,SajadehHajghan

2016

Abstract

An important part of learning a foreign language is mastering learning. Mastering

the fundamentals of learning not only can help language learners in learning
vocabulary, acquiring basic structures, and improving the necessary linguistic and
communication skills, but also help the learners to be in active control of their own
learning processes. The process of becoming successful at learning creates learners
who are autonomous and employ individualized approaches to learning objectives.
Paying direct attention to the process of learning and gaining mastery over the language
content results in learning the content more successfully, and contributes to the
development of lifelong learners (Rausch,2000). The present study aims to probe into
this important issue by providing formal instruction of the strategies to a group of Iranian
EFL learners and comparing their reading comprehension performance with another
group not receiving such an instruction.

The present study investigated the potential of implementing reading strategy

instruction in raising learners' reading comprehension ability, extending the range of
strategies they employed and enhancing their awareness. To conduct the study, 90
Iranian pre-university female students were selected based on a convenient sampling
procedure. To collect the necessary data, three types of instruments were employed, a
reading comprehension test, questionnaire and interview. A group of 53 students
(experimental) was taught to employ reading comprehension strategies in reading some
English texts during a period of 15 sessions while the other group of 37 students
(control) was taught reading comprehension traditionally. The findings of the study show
that while strategy training appeared to raise students' awareness of reading strategies
and could encourage strategy use by some students, the reading strategy instruction
was not able to enhance the students' reading performance.
Strengths of the Paper

Wright and Brown (2006) explored the potential of reading strategy instruction in
raising the learner readers’ awareness of reading strategies, in extending the range of
strategies they employed and in encouraging learners to monitor and reflect upon their
reading. The findings have revealed that strategy training could encourage learner
readers to reflect on their strategy use and seemed to boost their confidence in their
own reading abilities. Salataci and Akyel (2002) investigated the possible effects of
reading instruction on reading in Turkish and English. The results indicated that strategy
instruction had a positive effect on both Turkish and English reading strategies and on
reading comprehension in English.

The critique believes that studies that have been carried out on of reading
strategy instruction are divided into two main categories. The first category of the
studies describes the readers' strategy use. The results of these studies have revealed
that strategy use is different among more and less proficient readers. Hong-Nam and
Leavell (2006) in a study on language learning strategy use revealed that students in
the intermediate level reported more use of learning strategies than beginning and
advanced students and that more strategic language learners advanced along the
proficiency continuum faster than less strategic ones. Yau (2005) in another study found
that proficient readers employ more sophisticated approaches to reading than less-
proficient readers. For instance, in his study the skilled reader employed strategies of
inference, summarization and synthesis during and after reading, while the less skilled
reader applied bridging inferences, paraphrasing and repetition. YaaliJahromi (2002)
concluded that the high proficient students used more strategies. The results of a study
by Al- Melhi (2000) on the reported and the actual reading strategies and the
metacognitive awareness of a random sample of fourth-year Saudi college students as
they read in English as a foreign language showed that some differences did exist
between the skilled and less-skilled readers in terms of their actual and reported reading
strategies, their use of global and local strategies, their metacognitive awareness, their
perception of a good reader, and their self-confidence as readers. The second category
of studies has been conducted to investigate the effect of reading strategy instruction on
the readers' reading performance. Davis (2010), based on a meta-analysis of
comprehension strategy instruction for upper elementary and middle school students in
America, concluded that instruction on the use of reading comprehension strategies has
a positive impact on students' achievements in grades 4-8.

The results show that reading strategy Instruction can lead to the use of an
extended range of reading strategies by the learners. However, the results pointed to
the fact that learners' awareness of strategies and their ability to use them while reading
did increase, the reading strategy instruction was not able to enhance the students'
reading performance significantly based on the results of a reading comprehension test
given to the participants at the end of the program. The findings of this study offer
several pedagogical implications for teaching reading comprehension in EFL contexts.
Consciousness-raising can play an important role in teaching reading comprehension
strategies as the findings suggest. Therefore, teachers can implement this technique in
the process of teaching reading and help the learners make significant improvements.
Readers with various reading abilities, according to the results of the interviews, might
benefit from an instructional procedure where they learn to monitor their comprehension
and use the various strategies with the help of a teacher who models the steps of the
instructional process, and where they discuss their strategies while reading the text.

Weaknesses of the Paper

The critique deems that it could not influence respondents’ reading ability
sufficiently and did not make statistically significant improvement in the students'
reading ability. This is, to a great extent, in line with Shang's (2010) study in which the
researcher did not find any relationship between strategies instruction or use and
reading achievement. Does strategy instruction significantly enhance the learners'
awareness of reading strategies? As Table 5 and Figure 1 indicate, the answer to this
question is positive. Findings of this study pointed to a difference in the experimental
group participants' consciousness of the reading strategies as shown by using the
reading comprehension questionnaires at the initial and final stage of the experiment.
Furthermore, the results obtained from the analysis of the interviews are consistent with
those obtained from the statistical analyses. The findings of this part of the study
seeking the effect of teaching reading strategies on raising the awareness of the
strategies on the students' part are consistent with those carried out by Wright and
Brown (2006), Al-Melhi (2000) and Carrell (1998). In all the mentioned studies, results
indicate that the students' metacognitive awareness increased at the end of the
awareness-raising programs.

Which strategies are used the most by learners? The most frequently used
strategies were: Reading the first line of paragraphs (3), using teacher's introduction to
understand content (7), and guessing meanings based on the similarity to other words
in TL (9). Strategies used moderately were: Use of titles to predict text content (4), use
of illustrations to understand content (5), guessing meanings based on cognates in
English (8), guessing meanings from context (10), and writing main points in one's own
words (12). And the least frequently used strategies were: Reading text twice (2),
reading questions first (6), using dictionaries (11), and reading text once (1).

The Likert Scale is an ordinal psychometric measurement of attitudes, beliefs

and opinions. In each question, a statement is presented in which a respondent must
indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement in a multiple choice type format.

The advantageous side of the Likert Scale is that they are the most universal
method for survey collection, therefore they are easily understood. The responses are
easily quantifiable and subjective to computation of some mathematical analysis. Since
it does not require the participant to provide a simple and concrete yes or no answer, it
does not force the participant to take a stand on a particular topic, but allows them to
respond in a degree of agreement; this makes question answering easier on the
respondent. Also, the responses presented accommodate neutral or undecided feelings
of participants. These responses are very easy to code when accumulating data since a
single number represents the participant’s response. Likert surveys are also quick,
efficient and inexpensive methods for data collection. They have high versatility and can
be sent out through mail, over the internet, or given in person.

Attitudes of the population for one particular item in reality exist on a vast, multi-
dimensional continuum. However, the Likert Scale is uni-dimensional and only gives 5-7
options of choice, and the space between each choice cannot possibly be equidistant.
Therefore, it fails to measure the true attitudes of respondents. Also, it is not unlikely
that peoples’ answers will be influences by previous questions, or will heavily
concentrate on one response side (agree/disagree). Frequently, people avoid choosing
the “extremes” options on the scale, because of the negative implications involved with
“extremists”, even if an extreme choice would be the most accurate.

Possible Future Research Work

Researchers have identified a number of factors important to reading motivation

including self-concept and value of reading, choice; time spent talking about books,
types of text available, and the use of incentives.

Students' self-concepts and the value they place on reading are critical to their
success (Gambrell, Palmer, Coddling, and Mazzoni, 1996). And in a recent study of
self- concept about reading and value of reading, gender differences were identified as
early as third grade. Marinak and Gambrell (2007) found that though third grade boys
are equally as self- confident as girls about their reading, they self- report valuing
reading less than girls.

Choice is widely acknowledged as a method for enhancing motivation. Allowing

young children to make even a minimal task choice increased learning from the task
and enhanced subsequent interest in the activity (Cordova &Lepper, 1996;
Iyengar&Lepper, 1999). Worthy and McKool (1996) found that allowing students to
make choices about their reading material increased the likelihood that they would
engage more in reading. In addition, Guthrie and Wigfield (2000) suggest that providing
genuine student choices increases effort and commitment to reading.

Read-aloud and discussion are effective ways to engage in mastery modeling.

Read-aloud allows teachers to model important reading strategies and behaviors.
According to McGee &Richgels (2003), teacher read alouds can be used to promote
deeper understanding and interpretation of text; allow children to take an active role in
understanding text; and prompt children to begin using mental activities that will become
automatic as they begin reading independently. And, according to Gambrell (1996),
small group discussions invite children into active learning. When students engage in
small group discussions, they have more opportunities to speak, interact, and exchange
points of view than are afforded in other talk structures.

Providing balanced book collections at all grade levels is vital to engagement

during both reading instruction and self-selection. This work suggests that a balanced
collection includes lots of informational titles and a variety of print materials. Pappas
(1993) found that children as young as kindergarten showed a preference for
informational text and Mohr (2006) noted that nonfiction books were the overwhelming
choice of first grade students. In addition, Marinak and Gambrell (2007) found that third
grade boys and girls valued reading newspapers and magazines as well as books.

Many schools, teachers and parent organizations use rewards in their reading
programs. (Fawson&Fawson, 1994). And though the use of such rewards continues to
be debated, a recent study indicates that carefully selected rewards can support and not
undermine reading motivation. Marinak and Gambrell (2008) found support for the
reward proximity hypothesis (Gambrell, 1996). Specifically, students who were given a
book (proximal reward) were more motivated to engage in subsequent reading than the
students that received a token (less proximal reward).

A foundation in reading and writing has been the basis of our educational system
since its inception and discovering new ways to increase student interest in those basic
components of learningis something that every teacher struggles with at one time or
another. Many educators encourage theirstudents to read outside of the classroom in
order to increase reading comprehension, vocabulary,general knowledge, and cultural
awareness; however, research indicates that pleasure reading mayhave a greater
influence on a child’s overall academic performance than their socio-
economicbackground (e.g. Pearson, 2015).