1

Tatenda Goncalvês Campira

Teaching reading for comprehension at grade 11 at Samora Moisés Machel Secondary

School – Chimoio

Licenciatura em Ensino de Inglês com Habilitações em Ensino de Português

Universidade Pedagógica

Chimoio
2015
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Tatenda Gonsalvês Campira

Teaching reading for comprehension at grade 11 at Samora Moisés Machel Secondary

School – Chimoio

Dissertation work submitted to the Department of

Language Science, Communication and Arts,
English Course, Manica Branch, for the obtainment
of the Licenciatura Degree in English Language
Teaching.

Supervisor

dr. António B. Companhia

Universidade pedagógica

Chimoio

2015
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Content Page

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS....................................................................................................iv
LIST OF GRAPHICS.................................................................................................................v
CERTIFICATION.....................................................................................................................vi
DEDICATION..........................................................................................................................vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................viii
ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................ix
APPENDICES...........................................................................................................................xi
1. Information about the respondents................................................................................xii
2. Lesson observation checklist.......................................................................................xiii
1.0.CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the problem.............................................................................................1
1.2. Statement of the problem................................................................................................1
1.3. Research Questions.........................................................................................................2
1.3.1. Major research question........................................................................................2
1.3.2. Sub-research questions..........................................................................................2
1.4. Objectives....................................................................................................................3
1.4.1. General objectives.....................................................................................................3
1.4.2. Specific objectives....................................................................................................3
1.5. Purpose of the study.........................................................................................................3
1.6. Assumptions....................................................................................................................3
1.7. Definition of terms..........................................................................................................3
Reading...............................................................................................................................3
Comprehension...................................................................................................................4
Method................................................................................................................................4
Learning Style.....................................................................................................................4
Decoding.............................................................................................................................4
1.8. Delimitation of the study.................................................................................................4
1.9. Limitations of the study..................................................................................................5
1.10. Research design and instruments..............................................................................5
1.11. Data collection procedure.........................................................................................5
1.12. Data presentation and analysis.................................................................................5
1.13. Conclusion and recommendations............................................................................6
2.0.CHAPTER 2 – RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Possible causes of poor comprehension..........................................................................7
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2.1.1. Naming problems:.................................................................................................7

2.1.2. Working Memory Problems:................................................................................8
2.1.3. Decoding problems:..............................................................................................8
2.1.4. Knowledge:...........................................................................................................8
2.1.5. Slow reading:........................................................................................................9
2.2. Strategies that students can use to improve reading for comprehension........................9
2.3. Strategies that teachers can use to teach reading for comprehension...........................10
2.3.1. B- Before (Pre-Reading).....................................................................................10
2.3.2. D- During (Reading & Rereading).....................................................................13
2.3.3. A - After (Post Reading).....................................................................................15
3.0.CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1. Descriptive survey.........................................................................................................18
3.2. Population.....................................................................................................................18
3.3. The Sample...................................................................................................................19
3.4. Sampling procedure......................................................................................................19
3.5. Research instruments....................................................................................................20
3.6. Data collection procedure.............................................................................................20
3.7. Data presentation and analysis......................................................................................20
4.0.CHAPTER 4 – DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1. Introduction...................................................................................................................22
4.2. Data Presentation and Analysis.....................................................................................22
4.3. Discussion of research findings....................................................................................27
5.0.CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................29
5.2. Recommendations..........................................................................................................30
5.3. Suggestions....................................................................................................................30
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................32
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L1 – First Language
L2 – Second Language
L3 – Third Language
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LIST OF GRAPHICS
Figure 1. Before reading activities used to activate students schema……..……………….…20
Figure 2. Reading skills developed during reading for comprehension (during reading)…....21
Figure 3. Checking the After Reading activities ……………………………………...……...22
Figure 4. Comprehension levels covered……………………………………………...……...24
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CERTIFICATION

I Tatenda Goncalves Campira declare that this work is a result of my personal research
under guidance of my supervisor, its content is original, all sources used are clearly quoted in
the text and it is not submitted to any University for the award of any degree.

Chimoio, ……….. March, 2015

………………………………………..
Tatenda Goncalves Campira
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DEDICATION

I dedicate my dissertation work to all my friends and my beloved father Goncalves Campira
and my wife Ivone Antonio who sponsored my studies an encouraged me whenever I was
weak.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I lot of efforts has been put in this work to make it fruitful. However, without the support and
help of many individuals and the staff of Universidade Pedagógica – Manica Branch in
general it would all be fruitless. I would like to thank them all for such a love.

My profound love and thanks goes to dr. Antonio Companhia for having guided me and his
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the academic
project and also for his support in completing the dissertation work.

It could have been a tough journey without the guidance of my following lecturers’ dr.
Mucheleze, Ndaipa, Companhia, Madhanzi, Senguaio & Hermínio. They were there to help in
everything I wanted in relation to the study. I believe if it were not because of them, I could
not have finished my studies with success as I did.

My special gratitude and thanks goes also to all my friends who encouraged me in the study.
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ABSTRACT

If learning to read effectively is a journey toward ever-increasing ability to comprehend texts,

then teachers are the tour guides, ensuring that students stay on course, pausing to make sure
they appreciate the landscape of understanding, and encouraging the occasional diversion
down an inviting and interesting byway. This research work lays the foundation for an
understanding of what reading comprehension is and how it is conceptualised in the literature.
It develops the notion that reading comprehension is a flexible and ongoing cognitive and
constructive process. It examined a number of factors that impede children’s reading
comprehension. By nature reading comprehension difficulties are complex and reader
difficulties may be related to a combination of factors such as: biological, cognitive, or
behavioural issues. These factors lie within the reader but other factors may also be found
outside of the reader

The purpose of the present research was to determine the main factors that affects reading for
comprehension at Samora Moisés Machel Secondary School, and also to investigate the
effectiveness of methods teachers used to teach reading for comprehension, not only that but
to bring to light the strategies used to teach reading for comprehension. The researcher
employed the survey method and data was collected through observation. The researcher
observed teachers design, recording on an observation checklist the before reading activities,
reading skills developed, activities used to check students comprehension and comprehension
levels covered.

The researcher found out that teachers were not aware of the interactive reading procedure.
Hence teachers used methods which were not very effective since they left out some
important aspects such as activating student’s schema, teaching a reading skill and various
activities used to check student’s comprehension. The researcher recommended that the
teachers be made aware of the effective communicative reading procedure.

It was also suggested that heads of school should facilitate workshops and seminars on how to
teach reading for comprehension. This will help because once teachers understand what is
involved in comprehending and how the factors of reader, text, and context interact to create
meaning, how to deliver the appropriate lesson about comprehension, they can more easily
teach their students to be effective comprehenders. It is important to note that without
adequate support many students with reading comprehension difficulties may be unable to
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compensate for the many difficulties that they experience in understanding what they read.
However, the right kind of support can make a difference despite the many difficulties that
individual students encounter

Key terms: reading, decoding, comprehension, method, learning styles.

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APPENDICES

1. Information about the respondents

2. Lesson observation checklist

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1. Information about the respondents

Please mark (X) in the appropriate box provided

1) Gender Male Female

2) Professional qualifications

N1 N2

N3 N4

3) Teaching experiences
Nil 0 – 9 years

10 – 19 years 20 + years

4) Class enrolment
30 and below 30 – 50

50 – 70 70 +
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2. Lesson observation checklist

READINGPROCEDURE ACTIVITIES YES NO

Activating schema Does the class:

 Discuss the title
 Use pictures
 Use concrete media
 Play related games ( Do Now, etc)
 Think-pair-share
 K.W.L Chart
 Pre-write questions
 Predictions (word splash, story impression)
 Discuss purpose of Reading

Reading the text Skills Yes No

Reading skills Does the class:

 Skim through the text for global
understanding?
 Scan through the text for a particular detail
(rereading, etc)?
 Read intensively for specific details
(response sheets, text rendering, etc)
 Make predictions about the text?
 Prewrite questions
 K.W.L

Checking comprehension Activities Yes No

Responding to the text  Jigsaw

 Answering oral questions ( whip, etc )
 Reflection
 Writing answers to questions
 Think-Pair-Share
 Retelling the story
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 Role playing
 K.W.L
 Summarizing the text
 Writing sequels

Checking comprehension Do the activities cover:

levels  Literal level
 Inference level
 Evaluation level
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1.0. CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the problem

Comprehension is one of the four macro skills of language arts that is important. It is
understanding a written text and extracting required information as efficiently as
possible. Herbert, J (2010) views comprehension as the process of deriving meaning
from connected text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and
reasoning. The reader actively engages with the text to construct meaning. The active
engagement of students in comprehension includes making use of prior knowledge. It
involves drawing inferences from the words and expressions that a writer uses to
communicate information, ideas and viewpoints
In schools comprehension is a very important skill. It is seen as an instrumental to
school learning because progress in most other academic areas is held down to the rate
at which children progress in reading. Comprehension is critically important to
development of children’s reading skills and therefore their ability to obtain an
education. Indeed, reading comprehension has come to be viewed as essential not only
to academic learning but to life-long learning as it depends largely upon one’s ability
to interpret the printed page accurately and fully.
In the schools, it can be seen that teachers do not seem to understand the importance of
comprehension. They seem not use systematic methods to teach this important aspect
of language effectively. However, it’s not clear whether teachers use effective
methods when they teach reading for comprehension. Hence the need to carry out a
research study to find out the effectiveness of methods teachers use to teach reading
for comprehension.

1.2. Statement of the problem

It has been seen that students with weaknesses in phonological awareness have
difficulties in developing these skills which will impact their ability to develop
beginning reading skills. Such students do not understand the alphabetic principle of
English and fail to develop adequate decoding (letter to sound) skills for reading. They
may be unable to produce good invented spellings because they do not have the
requisite skills necessary to segment words into sounds and map those sounds onto the
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appropriate letters. Such students tend to rely on their knowledge of words memorized
as “sight words” and attempt to read new words based on context or by guessing based
on partial letter cues (such as the first and last letters of the word). They may not
recognize the common spelling patterns in words so do not benefit from the
regularities that exist in the English language.
Deficits in decoding (and encoding) are the most critical factors in poor reading for the
majority of students. Studies clearly indicated that a major portion of the difficulty
students have in reading comprehension is related to inaccurate identification of the
individual words encountered which is, in turn, strongly related to decoding skills.
Others can read accurately and quickly enough for comprehension to take place, but
they lack the strategies to help them comprehend what they read. Such strategies
include the ability to grasp the gist of a text, to notice and repair misinterpretations,
and to change tactics based on the purposes of reading. Other struggling readers may
have learned these strategies but have difficulty using them because they have only
practiced using them with a limited range of texts and in a limited range of
circumstances. Specifically, they may not be able to generalize their strategies to
content-area literacy tasks and lack instruction in and knowledge of strategies specific
to particular subject areas, such as math, science, or history. It is, of course, possible to
read words accurately and still have problems with comprehension and this is what the
researcher has investigated and come up with effective ways of teaching reading for
comprehension at Samora Machel Secondary school.

1.3. Research Questions

1.3.1. Major research question

Are the methods used to teach and learn reading for comprehension at grade 11
effective?

1.3.2. Sub-research questions

i) How is pupils’ schema activated during lesson introduction?

ii) How do teachers test pupils’ comprehension during and after reading?
iii) Do teachers provide activities which cover the different comprehension
levels?
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1.4. Objectives

1.4.1. General objectives

The main aim of the study is to identify the methods that teachers use to teach reading
for comprehension

1.4.2. Specific objectives

i) To investigate the causes of poor reading for comprehension by students.

ii) To recommend better methods that can help pupils to read for comprehension

1.5. Purpose of the study

The researcher views comprehension as a very important skill in school life and as
such, got interested to find out whether methods used to teach it were effective. Thus,
the researcher observed comprehension lessons to find out the pre-reading activities
employed to activate pupils’ schema, to find out reading skills developed, the various
activities for developing and checking students’ comprehension and the different
comprehension levels covered by the activities as teachers check pupils’
comprehension.

1.6. Assumptions

i) Use of systematic and effective methods leads to better comprehension by

pupils when they read for comprehension.
ii) Teachers do not use effective methods.
iii) Lack of understanding and knowledge of effective methods affect
comprehension negatively.

1.7. Definition of terms

Reading
Geoffrey B (2003: 89) defines reading as a complex skill, that is to say it involves a whole
series of lesser skills. One of these skills is the ability to recognize stylized shapes which
are figures on a ground, curves and lines and dots in patterned relationships. In this
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research work, reading can be defined as the ability to utter meaningful words from the
text.

Comprehension
Herbert J. Walberg. (2003) says that comprehension is the process of deriving meaning
from connected text. It involves word knowledge (vocabulary) as well as thinking and
reasoning. In other words comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the
words but do not understand what they are reading, they are not really reading

Method
Methodology is systematic and scientific way of teaching any subject (Block, C 2009). In
this work method can be defined as the technique used to teach reading for comprehension
by the teachers.

Learning Style
Just as teachers have unique ways of delivering information, knowledge, and skills, so too
do students have unique ways of receiving, processing, and applying information,
knowledge, and skills; these different ways of receiving, processing, and applying are
referred to as “learning styles” in this work.

Decoding
It is a process that readers use to quickly and automatically translate the letters or spelling
patterns of written words into speech sounds (Dewitz, P 2009)

1.8. Delimitation of the study

The research study was carried out at Samora Machel Secondary School in the town of
Chimoio. It was a stratified sample for the researcher made up of students of different
ages and background. Since it is a government school, there is little or no discrimination
as in terms of economic background, this implies that all qualities of children can be
found. Also due to the fact that it is a government school, the school allows all the
children of Chimoio an equal education right.
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1.9. Limitations of the study

The study was limited to only one of the secondary schools (Samora Machel Secondary
School) in Chimoio. The sample was made small due to limited time and financial
constraints. Although what happens in secondary schools within the country is usually the
same, the results of the research cannot be over generalized to the extent of saying it
represented all the secondary schools in the country or the town of Chimoio. This is so,
because the study was too small that it cannot reflect the real methods that are used in the
country to teach reading for comprehension in schools.

1.10. Research design and instruments

The researcher employed the descriptive survey design when collecting his data. The
researcher used mostly the observation method to collect the needed information and to
gain the adequate data he went on to use the questionnaires. The data was recorded on a
prepared checklist making the research somehow quantitative and qualitative.

1.11. Data collection procedure

The researcher interviewed four teachers, asking them on the methods that they use in
teaching there students reading for comprehension. Also the researcher went on to
observe eleven lessons on the teaching of reading for comprehension recording pre-
reading activities, reading skills developed, activities used to develop them as well as
checking the students comprehension levels recording on a prepared checklist as the
lessons progress.

1.12. Data presentation and analysis

In this present research study, the researcher used the descriptive statistical analysis.
The researcher used tables and frequencies to record the much needed data about the
effectiveness of methods used by the teacher to teach reading for comprehension at
Samora Machel Secondary School.
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1.13. Conclusion and recommendations

The researcher has seen that teachers in their day to day teaching they do not use the
required effective methods to teach reading for comprehension since they did not follow a
systematic reading process. It seems like they are following the traditional reading
strategy which is mainly concerned with reading and answering questions. The researcher
therefore made the following recommendations:

i) Teachers should begin their lessons by using methods that can activate students during
the pre-reading stage
ii) Students should be adequate enough to use the intensive and extensive reading skills,
scanning and skimming skills depending on the purpose of reading in every reading
for comprehension lesson.
iii) Teachers should try by all means to involve students in a wide variety of activities to
develop and check pupils’ comprehension
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2.0. CHAPTER 2 – RELATED LITERATURE

Reading for comprehension is vital to a student’s ability to successfully engage in text. All
the responsibility for students to effectively use the much needed comprehension and
reading strategies lies on teacher’s because students must apply multiple comprehension
strategies to ensure accurate understanding. It would be of great significant if all students
could easily understand and utilize comprehension skills, and then use them appropriately
in their reading, however, many students struggle with comprehension and teachers are
held accountable in assuring students receive the strategies they need. As McNamara
(2004) is quoted by Samuels, J. & Paul, T. (2007) states that, “Although reading
strategically is important for comprehension, the amount of knowledge the reader
possesses about the world and about the text content is also an important factor to
consider” When educators can include prior knowledge in instruction, it is always
beneficial to student achievement. So, including background knowledge of comprehension
strategies will help adolescents build comprehension skills.

2.1. Possible causes of poor comprehension

2.1.1. Naming problems:

According to Rebecca, F (2012)., Students with difficulties in rapid

naming/word retrieval are characterized by slow and effortful naming of items
such as letters, numbers, and colors. Such students often have difficulty
initially learning letter names. Teachers and parents remark that these students
seem to learn the information only to have forgotten it later. For such students,
learning the names of items requires multiple repetitions over a long period of
time and they may be slow to recall the names of the items even when they
have been learned. The result of naming problems is that learning to read is
very difficult - decoding and encoding will be affected by the difficulty such
students have learning letter-sound associations and memorization of sight
words is equally difficult. Even when such students learn to decode accurately,
they often have to decode the same words over and over rather than
recognizing those words quickly and automatically. Thus, reading is very slow
and laborious and these students typically hate reading and avoid practicing.
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2.1.2. Working Memory Problems:

Holding information in working memory involves the ability to hold a string of

sounds (such as a name of a letter or a number) in short term memory while the
information is being processed. This is often measured by the ability to recall a
string of numbers or to repeat unfamiliar words accurately. Whether reading or
listening, representations of words and sentences must be held in memory
while other aspects of the text or discourse are processed and background
knowledge is activated and integrated

2.1.3. Decoding problems:

A specific form of this hypothesis was proposed by Rebecca Felton who

claimed that when decoding is slow and effortful, resources are dedicated to
word-level processing. By contrast, when decoding is automatic, resources are
available for the task of comprehension. In line with Rebecca Felton “verbal
efficiency” hypothesis, evidence demonstrates that reading comprehension is
compromised when decoding is poor.

2.1.4. Knowledge:

Knowledge is essential to comprehension. Without an appreciation of the

meanings of words, there can be no comprehension. Moving beyond the
meaning of individual words, domain knowledge is also considered crucial for
comprehension. Appreciation of the domain that is being referred to in a text
allows the reader to move from a word- or propositional-level representation of
the text to one which integrates this knowledge with a broader body of
background knowledge, thus allowing the reader to build a potentially
inference-rich mental model of the situation or event. Prior knowledge about a
text predicts comprehension of it and it is plain that complete lack of
knowledge will result in a complete lack of comprehension. Rebecca, F (2012).
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2.1.5. Slow reading:

The way that pupils read a text can influence the way they comprehend it. If
the reader reads the text very slowly, they can forget the whole message by the
time they get to the last part of the text. This can happen most if the reader is
reading a novel.

2.2. Strategies that students can use to improve reading for comprehension

Teachers cannot assume that students will improve their comprehension strategies
simply by reading more. Teachers need to provide direct, explicit instruction in
strategies throughout the reading process. These comprehension strategies should be
stressed before, during, and after the reading of a selection. Likewise, comprehension
strategies should be taught using a wide variety of genres. Beers, K. (2003) says that
some of the strategies that students should be taught are:

i) Plan and Monitor: Controlling one’s mental activities; it is metacognitive in

nature, centering about readers’ awareness and control of their comprehension.
When engaged with this strategy, students are taught planning skills how to
preview texts and how to set a purpose for reading and make predictions. They are
also taught how to clarify ideas by using fix-up strategies and how to clarify
vocabulary by using context clues and other word-level fix-up strategies.

ii) Determine Importance: Identifying essential ideas and information. This is the
ability to separate the wheat from the chaff in text. Students are taught how to
identify stated and implied main ideas, how to summarize texts, and how to note
the personal relevance of ideas and information.
iii) Ask Questions: Interrogating texts for a variety of purposes, such as checking
one’s understanding, querying the author about his or her writing, and discerning
relationships among ideas and information within a text
iv) Make Inferences: linking parts of texts that authors did not link explicitly. Using
what one already knows to form links across sentences and paragraphs. Often
known as “reading between the lines.”
v) Make Connections: Using what is known to enrich authors’ meanings; taking
what has been learned from one’s own life experiences, other texts, and cultural
and global matters to deepen understandings of what the author presents.
Otherwise known as “reading beyond the lines.”
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vi) Synthesize: Putting together ideas from multiple sources; deciding how ideas go
together in a way that is new; figuring out how what one is reading and learning
fits together in a way not thought of before. Youth are taught how to draw
conclusions, form generalizations, and make comparisons across texts.
vii) Visualize: Forming sensory and emotional images of textual contents, especially
visual images. This strategy also includes an aspect specifically for teens who
don’t consider themselves to be readers: the strategy of recognizing that one is
having an emotional response while reading and to identify what the author did to
invoke that response.

2.3. Strategies that teachers can use to teach reading for comprehension

Also teachers should follow some of the strategies in teaching reading for
comprehension. The pupils might know the skills of comprehending a text but without
the help of a teacher they will be herding for nothing most of them. This means that
teachers must play their role so that the goals set might be achieved. The strategies
that teachers should take are divided into 3 stages, namely before reading, during
reading and after reading Almasi, J. F. (2003). They can best be called BDA’s. It
should be known that reading involves connecting new text to that which is already
understood (prior knowledge). BDA strategies are used to get students to activate
existing knowledge, thereby creating a mental framework to which new text, terms,
ideas, etc. can be attached. This mental framework is begun before reading even
begins, strengthened as students interact with the text during the reading, and reflected
upon after reading as students incorporate what they have just read into their core
knowledge.

2.3.1. B- Before (Pre-Reading)

Activation of prior knowledge makes up a great amount of the process of

reading comprehension. Teachers should attempt to activate as much prior
knowledge as possible prior to reading the text, allowing students to apply the
prior knowledge use while reading. They also need to teach how to decipher
useful background knowledge from other background knowledge. Strategies to
effectively activate prior knowledge include:
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i) Word Splash:
Students write a story using some familiar and unfamiliar words that
are all found in the text. Some stories are shared aloud; any
misunderstood or unknown words are then defined. A Word Splash
activates prior knowledge about key vocabulary and concepts. It is a
fun activity that also engages students in writing while providing
motivation for reading by setting a clear purpose for reading (Honig, D,
& Gutlohn 2000)
1. It is done by first, selecting 7-10 key words or phrases from the
given text; use word that are both familiar and unfamiliar to the
students.
2. Dictate the words to the students so that they have to try to spell the
words.
3. Have students write a short story of at least seven lines using all the
words.
4. Give students a chance to share their stories with a partner; then
select several students to read their story aloud.
5. Read the given text to see if any student-generated story was close
to the text.
ii) Key Words:
Students write an informational essay using new concept vocabulary;
typically this is a way for students to describe what they already know
about the terms before they actually read the text. It is a tool for
activating prior knowledge and determining necessary instruction. A
Key Words activity can be used again after a unit to demonstrate
increased understanding. Honig, D, & Gutlohn (2000)
iii) Pre-write Questions:
Students survey the text and create questions they think the text was
designed to answer. This sets a purpose for reading. (During reading,
students should try to answer their questions).
iv) Story Impression:
Students write a story using vocabulary words; appropriate for
literature. A story impression is a prediction of a story; as students
begin to do the actual reading, they have a schema in place to which
 27

new ideas from the text can be attached, corrected, or enhanced. The
teacher chooses key words, phrases, or concepts from several chapters
and lists them in the order in which they appear in the chapters. The list
will normally consist of 10 to15 items. Students should be given
enough words to form an impression of the chapters but not so many
that they are able to create entire episodes that they will encounter in
reading. Honig, D, & Gutlohn (2000).

v) Pictures:
Using a big book version or, if available, a document camera to project
the pages, the teacher models how to make predictions about the
content from the images found in the text. For example, the teacher
might say, “The front cover has a large picture of a fishing boat, so I
think that this is probably a nonfiction book.” Next, students work in
pairs to view images in the text. The first student might say, “I think
this article is about a way scientists tag killer whales so they can follow
them around in the ocean.” The second student listens and then makes a
prediction based on the next image. Students continue in this way,
building on each other’s predictions in a consistent and logical way.
Students confirm or correct their predictions when they read the article
(Essley, R. 2010).
vi) Do Now:
A Do Now is a quick question or thought-provoking statement that the
students are asked to respond to within a given time (usually3-5
minutes). The Do Now question can be written on the board, shown on
an overhead or duplicated and passed out. The object is to engage
students in writing their thoughts without the pressure of being correct
and to focus the students on the concept that will be targeted in class
that day (Essley, R. 2010).
vii) Think-Pair-Share:
Students write down thoughts, discuss with partner, and share
meaningful ideas with class. Forces interaction and uncovers various
perspectives and prior knowledge.
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viii) KWL Chart:

Using a three-columned poster or page, students write what they “k”
now or think they know about a topic, and then add any questions they
“w” ant to have answered by the text. Return to the chart after reading
to record what was “l” earned through the reading, and/or to correct
any prior misconceptions.
This means that the before reading phase of a lesson is of utmost importance in
enhancing students’ comprehension as it consists of two basic kinds of
strategies: prediction, and vocabulary. At this phase, the students will establish
in their minds a purpose, and a plan for reading. During pre-reading stage,
activating students’ prior knowledge before a reading selection, will keep
students actively thinking about the story or ideas being presented. Stimulating
“before reading” dialogue can help students draw on relevant past experience
to improve all levels of comprehension.
From the above assertions the writer agrees that it is very important to start a
reading lesson by engaging students in pre-reading activities as a way of
making students read for the lesson. The researcher therefore, wanted to find
out the pre-reading activities used by teachers to introduce their reading for
comprehension lessons.

2.3.2. D- During (Reading & Rereading)

The second phase of reading is where students read the written text. While
students read, they think about their purpose for reading and about their prior
knowledge. This may occur during short pauses. Some of the strategies that
can be used include:
i) Response Sheet:
Students note key statements on the left and personal responses to
them on the right; helps connect text to prior knowledge, and provides
meaningful study guide later; based on Cornell note-taking method.
ii) Text Rendering:
An alternative to traditional highlighting of words or concepts that
stand out an interaction between reader and text. A typical text
rendering might focus on three types of student-text interaction. Using
 29

a code to simplify the process, the student might be directed to place a

check (/) next to some statements with which he/she agrees; an
exclamation point (!) next to text that appears to state the main idea,
and a question mark (?) near text which confuses the reader. Of course,
the teacher may request some different types of connections to be
made, with appropriate symbols, and with some students only one type
of connection might be suggested at first until they become able to
handle more than one. During text rendering, a highlighter might be
used to highlight the actual words that are connected to the symbol
markings. Additionally, students can be encouraged to write marginal
notations, if possible, to capture more of their thoughts as they read
(John, C. 2006)

iii) Rereading:
Students look back at the text to find support of an answer/ opinion/
position. Students should be explained that “rereading” does not mean
reading the entire passage again; instead, it is an effort to zero in or
target specific text for its importance in defining or exemplifying key
concepts. It may also be part of an I-search process to find additional
supporting evidence. In addition to ensuring that they are able to
support their answer/ opinion/ position with information from the text,
rereading can be used to practice students’ ability to quickly locate
information by using titles, headings, bold or italicized words etc (John,
C. 2006)
iv) Chucking:
Teacher breaks up reading passages into “chunks” (1 paragraph – 3
paragraphs)
v) Pre-write Questions:
Students answer the questions they composed prior to reading, and
create additional questions that arise as they read the text. Students
survey text book and create questions that will probably be answered
by the text. As students read, they look for information that will answer
their questions. An alternative is for students to try to anticipate the
questions that a teacher might ask if they were planning to assess the
 30

students’ comprehension. Then students read to locate the answers to

such possible test questions (John, C. 2006)
vi) KWL Chart:
Students return to the chart they created prior to reading to record what
was learned through the reading, and/or to correct any prior
misconceptions.
From the above strategies, the researcher acknowledged the development of
the different reading skills in every reading lesson. The researcher therefore
wanted to find out whether teachers used methods which enable their students
to skim, scan, and read intensively and extensively depending on their purpose
for reading during their lessons on reading for comprehension.

2.3.3. A - After (Post Reading)

The after reading stage is of paramount importance in checking for

understanding and evaluating a topic under study. This phase of the process
occurs when students finish reading the written text. The students take time to
think about what they knew before the reading and what they have learnt or
what connections were made during the reading, and then link this information
together to build new knowledge. Teachers can engage students in discussions
that check for individual understanding, facts, and also ideas. Teachers can
also help students to draw conclusions, and clarifying any doubts or form of
misunderstandings from previous predictions. Strategies to be used are;

i) Expert Jigsaw:
An expert jigsaw breaks up a large text into smaller chunks. It allows
the students to take leadership by teaching their peers what they’ve
learned, but first gives them the confidence to do so by giving them
time to consult with other students that read the same section of a given
text (Kumpulainen & Wray. 2002)
ii) Reflection:
Students write about the new content or perspectives learned, and
describe how the new learning relates to previous understanding and
future actions. For new learning to go into memory, students need time
 31

to think about what they’ve just heard, done, saw, or read. Reflection
activities usually ask students to write a few lines in a journal or other
record, and often a prompt or guiding question will be used to target
their reflection. It is not the same thing as free-writing, where anything
goes; it is most useful if the reflection prompt is anticipated when the
teacher is planning the lesson, and when its purpose is meant to connect
new learning to prior knowledge. Reflection doesn’t always have to be
shared, although it is sometimes affirming for students to discover that
they are not alone in their perception, or conversely, that a classmate
finds merit in their original thinking (John, C. 2006).
iii) Think-Pair-Share:
Students write down thoughts on a given subject, discuss with partner,
and share with class. Forces interaction and uncovers various
perspectives and comprehension.
iv) Whip:
It’s a text rendering activity that involves full student participation. It is
a quick around-the-room activity that ensures everyone’s participation;
done to share many different responses to an open-ended question OR
to complete a quick review of a concept (and find out if there are
misconceptions or errors to clarify).A whip does not allow critical or
corrective comments from either the teacher or other students that
might dissuade students from sharing. It is a strategy for total
participation and data gathering. It also provides weaker readers with
other perspectives and models of text-based thinking. Teachers should
after reading, instruct students to answer aloud, going up and down
each row, responding to a given question that connects to the text, e.g.
“Which paragraph offered the best visual description of _______?” or
“Read aloud the phrase that stood out in your mind”. Often, the Whip
question follows the text rendering, so students are revealing some of
their during reading thought processes (Dewitz, P.2009)
v) KWL Chart:
Students return to the chart after reading to record what was learned
through the reading, and/or to correct any prior misconceptions
 32

The researcher has agreed with the above strategies that can be used to teach
reading for comprehension. The above citations show that effective methods
should engage students in a variety of meaning activities and these activities
develop children’s comprehension. Therefore, the researcher wanted to find
out the different activities that teachers are using in a way of developing their
student’s comprehension in their lessons.
 33

3.0. CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH DESIGN

3.1. Descriptive survey

Creswell, J. (2008) asserts that “descriptive survey entails a collection of data in a
number of units and usually at a single juncture in time, with a view to collect
systematically, a body of quantifiable data in respect of a number of variables which
are examined to discern patterns of association”. In support of the author, Dan, R
(2011) went on to say descriptive survey gather data at a particular point in time as a
means to describe the nature of existing conditions, to identify standards against which
existing conditions can be compared and to determine the relationship existing
between specific events.
Lodico, M (2006) defines qualitative research as an inquiry process of understanding a
social or human problem, based on building a complex, holistic picture formed with
words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducting the study in a natural
setting. From the above definitions we can say that qualitative research is the
appropriate method for the research study because it uses non-interfering data
collection strategies to discover natural flow of events. In this study the researcher
used the descriptive survey to find out the effectiveness of method used to teach
reading for comprehension at grade 11. The study was descriptive in that data
collected were quantifiable since a lot of lessons were observed on teaching reading
for comprehension on pre-reading, during reading and after reading activities and
observation instrument was used with data collected on a checklist.

3.2. Population

As population is a group of individuals who have certain characteristics and are of

interest to a researcher, “Community college students, race car drivers, teachers,
college-level athletes, and disabled war veterans can all be considered populations.”
Gavin, T. L. Brown. (2010). The population that was under study was of Samora
Machel Secondary school. It was from this population that the researcher drew out the
sample that he worked with.
 34

3.3. The Sample

Mugo, F (2002) defines a sample as a finite part of a statistical population whose

properties are studied to gain information about the whole. When dealing with people,
it can be defined as a set of respondents (people) selected from a larger population for
the purpose of a survey. A population is a group of individual persons, objects, or
items from which samples are taken for measurement for example a population of
presidents or professors, books or students. In other words we can say that a sample is
a portion of the overall population that one wishes to study. For this study the
researcher focused mainly on the learners of grade 11 classes and to some extend
grade 12 class of Samora Machel Secondary School Chimoio. The researcher worked
with day scholars and night scholars of the school above. Due to limited time, the
researcher could not involve all the grade 11 class teachers and students, so he selected
a small portion to represent the entire population using a stratified sampling procedure.
A total number of 7 teachers and their respective classes were chosen randomly so as
to observe their lessons as they progress.

3.4. Sampling procedure

Sampling is defined by Mugo, F (2002) as the process or technique of selecting a

suitable sample, or a representative part of a population for the purpose of determining
parameters or characteristics of the whole population. In this study the researcher used
the stratified sampling procedure. According to the same author Stratified sampling
permits the researcher to identify sub-groups within a population and create a sample
which mirrors these sub-groups by randomly choosing subjects from each stratum.
Such a sample is more representative of the population across these sub-groups than a
simple random sample would be. Subgroups in the sample can either be of equal size
or proportional to the population in size. Equal size sample subgroups are formed by
randomly selecting the same number of subjects from each population subgroup.
Proportional subgroups are formed by selecting subjects so that the subgroup
percentages in the population are reflected in the sample. The choice was based on
random selection using the students of the respective classes.
 35

3.5. Research instruments

Creswell, J. (2008) argues that descriptive survey entails a collection of data in a

number of units and usually at a single juncture in time, with a view to collect
systematically, a body of quantifiable data in respect of a number of variables which
are examined to discern patterns of association. In this study the researcher used the
observation instrument recording pre-reading activities teachers employ to activate
student’s schema and other skills such as skimming and scanning. He went on to
record activities teachers involve in when they develop comprehension as well as
testing it. The comprehension levels covered by activities for checking comprehension
such as questions, summaries written were also recorded on a prepared checklist. The
researcher opts to use the observation method because it helps him to record the much
need information as the lesson progressed. So he got the first hand information.

3.6. Data collection procedure

In all the classes that the researcher had the privilege to observe lessons, he observed
the teachers as they were teaching the lessons on reading for comprehension. The
researcher used the prepared checklist and the field notes to record the following:
i) Before reading activities teachers employed to activate student’s schema, for
example, playing games, using pictures and also discussing the title of the
story.
ii) Skills such as skimming and scanning
iii) Activities used to develop as well as to check student’s comprehension. For
example, answering oral questions, dramatization and also jigsaw activities.

3.7. Data presentation and analysis

The data that the researcher found were presented in field notes, figures and frequency
tables, showing frequencies, number of respondents and their percentages. Thus
descriptive statistical analysis was engaged. Lodico, M (2006) says descriptive
statistical analysis deals with describing the contour of data, and in the case of two or
more groups, of data, their proximity or remoteness of relationship. Therefore in this
research, the researcher compared the activities and skills observed during lesson
 36

observations against the communicative reading process which includes pre-reading

activities involved, skills developed and activities used in after reading stage.
 37

4.0. CHAPTER 4 – DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1. Introduction
This chapter presented analysed and interpreted data about the effectiveness of
methods teachers used to teach reading for comprehension. The data was gathered
through observation. The researcher observed teachers method design and
recorded the before reading activities, the reading skills developed, activities used
to check students comprehension and the comprehension levels covered by the
activities used to check comprehension. The data was presented in form of
frequency tables and these were used in order to find out or to bring out the
relationship between effective methods and performance of students. Each table
was accompanied by an analysis as a means of confirming the research question
and its sub- problems.

4.2. Data Presentation and Analysis

Figure 1. Before reading activities used to activate students schema

Activity Number of teacher Percentage of

who used the activity teachers who
used the activity
used not used

Discussing the title of the story 2 5 28%

Using pictures 3 4 42%

Using concrete media 1 6 14%

Related games ( DoNow, etc) 0 7 0%

Think-pair-share 0 7 0%

K.W.L Chart 0 7 0%

Pre-write questions 0 7 0%

Predictions (word splash, story 0 7 0%

 38

impression)

Discussing purpose of reading 0 7 0%

Fig 1. Showed a table on before reading activities observed when 7 English

teachers were teaching reading for comprehension. Of the teachers observed, only
2 teachers discussed the title of the story with a percentage of 28% and only 3
teachers with a percentage of 42% used pictures to activate student’s schema. 1
teacher used relevant concrete media with the percentage of 14%. From the
presented data, it showed that only 3 skills were used by teachers to activate the
student’s schema. The number of teachers that used the 3 skills were 4 and they
managed to make their students ready for reading.
The students whose teachers had activated the schema were able to link what they
had done or saw with what they were to read. They were also able to guess some
of the meanings of unfamiliar words when they came to the actual reading unlike
those whose teachers had not activated their schema.
Duke, N (2003) asserts that “background knowledge is an important factor for
creating meaning, and teachers should help students activate prior knowledge
before reading so that information connected with concepts or topics in the text is
more easily accessible during reading”. Hence it is very important to begin every
reading for comprehension lesson by activating student’s schema, thereby
familiarizing students with the texts to be read. So if students do not have adequate
background knowledge, teachers can help students build the appropriate
knowledge.
The table also revealed that no teacher involved students in storytelling, no teacher
activated students in playing games related to the texts. It was clear that no teacher
discussed the purpose of reading the texts and no teacher involved students in
making predictions about the text. It means that from the 7 teachers who were
observed 3 did not engage their students in before reading activities. As a result
their students struggled to read the texts because the teachers had not equipped
them with familiar clues through before reading activities. Therefore it should be
known that unless new information is linked in some meaningful way to prior
 39

background and knowledge students are unable to remember what they have read.
Duke, N (2003). Hence reading activities are a pre-request to reading for
comprehension.

Figure 2.Reading skills developed during reading for comprehension (during

reading)

Skills used Number of teacher Percentage of

who used the activity teachers who
used the activity
used not used

Skimming for global understanding 0 0 0%

Scanning for a particular detail (rereading, 1 6 14%

etc)

Picking out main ideas (response sheets, 3 4 42%

text rendering, etc)

Making predictions 1 6 14%

Do Now 0 7 0%

Pre-write questions 0 7 0%

K.W.L 0 7 0%

Fig 2 presented data that was collected on the reading skills developed in students
by teachers as they reading the texts. From the table it is evidenced that only 1
teacher or 14% developed the scanning skill in students. 3 teachers helped pupils
to pick out the main ideas from the texts with a percentage of 42%, while 1 teacher
or 14% had students predict the text. In overall only 4 teachers or 57% developed a
reading skill during lessons. The teachers who developed one of the skills
presented had students read seriously since they were aware of what to look for in
 40

the texts. As a result students were able to pick out main ideas from the texts and
also scan for the particular details wanted by the teachers.

The table also show that no teacher developed the skimming skill, no teacher
developed the predicting skill, no teacher involved students in K.W.L, and teacher
involved students in Do Now activity although all students read through the text. A
total of 3 teachers did not teach their students any reading skill. Instead they
simply asked their students to read through the text. This can mean in other words
that these teachers had their students read through the text just for the sake of
reading or just “barking at print”. This is so because the students had no specific
aims to fulfil or to acquire. These teachers used the traditional reading strategy
which deals with just reading and answering questions without developing any
reading skill.

Figure 3. Checking the After Reading activities

Skills used Number of teacher Percentage of

who used the activity teachers who
used the activity
used not used

Jigsaw 1 6 14%

Answering oral questions (whip, etc ) 4 3 57%

Reflection 0 7 0%

Writing answers to questions 7 0 100%

Think-Pair-Share 0 0 0%

Retellingthestory 1 6 14%

Role playing 1 6 14%

K.W.L 0 0 0%

Summarizing the text 0 0 0%

 41

Writing sequels 0 0 0%

Figure 3 showed that the activities which could be used by teachers to check their
students comprehension. Only 1 teacher or 14% used the jigsaw method in this
stage whilst 4 teachers which is 57% had students answering oral questions based
on the text read, while 6 teachers which is 100% checked the student’s
comprehension through writhing answers to questions in groups and individuals. 1
teacher (14%) had his students retelling what they had read while the other teacher
asked his students to role play the story. Retelling and role play the story means
that the students have understood the story.
The table also showed that all the teachers checked the student’s comprehension
through the writing of answers of the given questions. However most students did
not answer the questions correctly because they had not been prepared to read for
meaningful understanding on before reading stage and also they had no require
skills developed in the during reading stage. The few whose schema had been
activated in the before reading stage, they managed to answer the questions
correctly.
The table shows that no teacher has asked their students to summarize the text
neither no involve his students in writing sequels. This seems to mean that the
teachers are examination orientated; hence they ignore the above activities because
they are not tested at the end of the grade. The teachers only asked those activities
that appear in the final examination especially the use f multiple choice questions.
By not involving a lot of people in the comprehension checking, the teachers
stifled student’s comprehension and reasoning capacity. Hence some students tend
to memorize the given questions and their answers.

Figure 4. Comprehension levels covered

Level Frequency Frequency Percentage

used not used used

Literal 7 0 100%
 42

Inference 1 6 14%

Evaluation 0 0 0%

Figure 4 showed comprehension levels that were covered. From the table it is
evidenced that all the teachers (100%) gave the students tasks that required them to
recognize and recall specific details from the text at the literal level of
comprehension. The tasks given required the students to use explicit information
from the text. This means that the teachers gave much of “what”, “where”, and
“when” questions with very few of “how” and “why” questions. From the table it
can be seen that only 1 teacher or 14% of the teachers gave students work which
require them to infer. Students used their personal knowledge and imagination
when they developed the role play based on the text.
The other 6 teachers did not give their students work that is beyond the literal level
and none of the teachers covered the evaluation level. This could be because the
evaluation level is a bit more complicated when students were not given the skills
to read in between the lines. As it is known that evaluation level require students to
develop critical thinking so as to be able to make judgements. Block, C. (2009)
cautions that reading ,merely to find answers to specific questions should be
discouraged and replaced by thought provoking questions calling for more than
factual information and by discussions centered around why , how, what was the
results.

4.3. Discussion of research findings

From figure 1 it can be seen that at least 4 teachers were aware of the importance
of before reading activities in the teaching of reading for comprehension. Hence
they involved their students in before reading activities and activated their schema
thereby making them ready to begin to anticipate as they went on to read the given
text. Due to the fact that these students were highly motivated for the lesson, they
went on to approach the text positively. The remaining teachers who did no
activate their student’s schema but started off lesson by explaining meanings of
 43

words seem to be following the same why that was discovered by Duke, N. (2003)
when he refers to the following statement. (Durkin 1978–79, 481–533) found that
from Grade 3 onward students received very little instruction in reading
comprehension. Instead, teachers focused on comprehension testing. Once a
reading was completed, students were often required to respond to questions based
on what was read.
However, to avoid explaining meanings of words teachers could have maximized
on discussing titles of texts and purpose for reading it, playing games related to the
texts to be read and making predictions about the texts.
Figure 2 revealed that only 4 teachers were also aware of the need to develop the
reading skills during the reading for comprehension lesson. It can still be
concluded that the 4 teachers were perhaps the same teachers who had activated
their students schema at the first place during the before reading stage. The 4
teachers had their students absorb in reading the texts because they were aware of
what the teachers require of them. Taking for instance, the teacher who had
allowed students to scan through the text had asked them to pick out the main
ideas as well as describing the words.
The remaining teachers who did not teach the students any reading skill had
discipline problem with the students since the students were reading loudly
unnecessarily even though the teacher had instructed them to read silently. This
was so because the students reading was not meaningful but just “barking at the
print” since the teacher did not spent his time on the reading skill to be adopted.
Hence Duke and P. (2002) suggest that “readers must be taught a number of
specific skills to aid them comprehension”. This citation implies that 3 teachers
who did not teach students any reading skills field to help students to comprehend
the text. Hence their students struggled as they read the texts.
Figure 3 and 4 showed how teachers checked their student’s comprehension and
the comprehension levels covered through the given activities. All the 7 teachers
gave their students questions to answer in writing as way of checking their
comprehension. 4 teachers used teacher’s oral questions. However, most questions
that teachers provide only covered the literal level of comprehension. Only 1 \
teacher included questions at the inferential level of comprehension. The above
suggested that teachers only checked students comprehension just at the surface
and did not go deep beyond recorded facts.
 44

Duke and P. (2002) went on to say that “comprehension involves understanding

the intent of the author and going beyond literal recorded facts to hidden meanings
and implications” the above shows that to have taught reading for comprehension
effectively, teachers were supposed to have used a variety of activities as means of
checking students comprehension at literal inference and evaluation levels.
The researcher also noted that the classes observed had an average enrolment of
forty-five students. This might have had a bearing on students’ performance since
it was rather difficult for the teachers to check individual student’s comprehension
adequately within a 45 minute period. The researcher also noted that due to large
enrolments, students shared the reading books in pairs and yet students needed to
read as individuals especially if they were to scan, skim and infer because
individuals have different reading speed and different reading strategies.

5.0. CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMMENDATIONS

5.1. Conclusion

This article defines comprehension as the process of readers interacting and

constructing meaning from text, implementing the use of prior knowledge, and the
information found in the text. In some situations, reading comprehension is often
tested, but is seldom taught. In the past few years, reading instruction focused on
teaching decoding skills, while comprehension consisted of simple questions and
retelling. Today in the present day life, it is known that skilful readers use prior
knowledge, make connections, visualize, infer, ask questions, determine importance,
and synthesize the materials that they read. As the amount of background knowledge
concerning a text increases, the ability to comprehend the text correlates. When skilful
readers use their schema, their known information is integrated with their new
information through a series of connections. Struggling readers need to be taught to fix
 45

their reading when it does not make sense. Teachers need to use explicit reading
strategies to teach reading for comprehension.
From the research findings, the following points were noted:
 Before reading activities prepare students to read with comprehension.
Hence most teachers observed did not include them in their lessons of
reading for comprehension
 Most teachers that the researcher observed, checked student’s
comprehension of the text through the traditional strategy of making
students write answers to comprehension questions at the end of each
reading for comprehension lesson.
 Most teachers used methods concerned with teaching mechanical skills
such as explaining meaning of words which was not very effective when
teaching reading for comprehension.
 Because most teachers had large class enrolment, they failed to check
student’s individual comprehension adequately. Hence teachers based the
success or failure of student’s comprehension on response from just a few
individual students.
 Most teachers are examination-oriented, so they used multiple choice
questions to check comprehension because they aim at preparing students
for their final examination paper.

5.2. Recommendations

The following recommendations were made based on the research findings:

 Every teacher should make use of experiences or schema as much as
possible involving students in the before reading activities.
 Teachers should follow the communicative or interactive reading procedure
which enhances comprehension
 Headmasters and school principals should be encouraged to hold staff
development workshop and seminars where knowledgeable resources
persons can be invited to talk about and demonstrate the use of
communicative reading procedure
 Teachers should include other activities such as role play, writing sequels
and retelling so as to vary their lessons when checking student’s
comprehension of texts read.
 46

 Teachers should check student’s comprehension at all levels of the lesson.

This means that the literal, inferential and evaluation levels.
 Teachers should teach or develop in students different reading skills in
every reading for comprehension lesson.

5.3. Suggestions

On the basis of the research findings the following suggestions were put forward by
the researcher:
 School development committees should establish libraries so that students
can be exposed to a wide range of text genres
 Teachers should not be slaves of timetables. Instead time should only guide
the teachers. Hence teachers should be flexible as regard to length of
lesson.
 Teachers should be encouraged to read magazines, journals and pamphlets
on effective methods of teaching reading for comprehension.
 District and regional educational officers should mount seminars and
workers for teachers on effective teaching or reading for comprehension.
 Teachers colleges and universities should make sure that effective reading
for comprehension process are fully grasped by students before they
graduate.
5.4. Conclusion
This research sought to find out the effectiveness of methods teachers used to teach
reading for comprehension. Hence the researcher observed the teachers method
design. The researcher found out that teachers were not effective since they left out
some important reading for comprehension aspects here and there within the effective
interactive reading procedure. The study was carried out at Samora Machel Secondary
School in Chimoio, so these findings cannot be generalized to be a true reflection of
the methods teachers used to teach reading for comprehension countrywide. As a
result, the researcher felt that other interested persons in the area are free to take up the
same study of teaching reading for comprehension, using a large population so that the
findings can be a true reflection of the methods teachers use countrywide.
 47

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