LITERATURE REVIEW
Level 3: Applied
2.11 READING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS
2.11.2 Approaches for Reading Comprehension Strategies
Research shows that lecturers rarely focus on teaching RC strategies in their classrooms. However, research also revealed that lecturers play a major role in the development of students’ reading and their RC as well. In teaching students RCSs, the lecturer can employ one or more of the following methods of teaching: the reciprocal method, the explicit teaching method and the scaffolding method (Stols, 2012).
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Developed by Brown and Palinscar (1984), the reciprocal method teaches students to apply various RCSs taught by the lecturer. The method is based on the assumption that when learners read a text, paragraph by paragraph, they learn how to practise RCSs. As a result, they make predictions and inferences to the next paragraph and generate questions before, during and after reading (Stols, 2014: 46).
Explicit teaching would be practised when the lecturer explicitly and directly defines and explains RCSs (Stols, 2012: 47). Explicit teaching happens when lecturers give reasons and purposes of the choice of the texts they have selected for students to work with and their reasons for giving activities related to the texts. The goal of the explicit reading strategy should be to improve and enhance RC skills of students.
Students that are equipped with reading strategies are able to read independently even in the absence of their lecturers (Beck & Condy, 2017: 3).
The six interrelated instructional actions encompass the lecturer who introduces the piece to be read to students, the lecturer who gives an explicit announcement of the strategy to be studied; the learner who applies the new strategy they have just learned to a passage from a text; the lecturer who gives a direct statement about the strategy;
its application in other contexts; and the strategy on how it can be implemented (Duffy, Roehler, Meloth & Vavrus, 1986).
The scaffolding method of teaching is about lecturers operating within learners’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978; Vygotsky, 1935). ZPD refers to the gap between learners’ actual development level and their potential level (Podolskiy, 2012: 3487). Scaffolding creates step by step instructions by explaining what students should do in order to meet expectations. It also gives clear instructions and decreases confusion for students; it helps students determine the reason and the significance of doing particular tasks. Further, scaffolding gives clarity by incorporating assessment with feedback, and reduces confusion, frustration and time by directing the students to use worthy sources given by lecturers. By diagnosing the problems which may appear in their lectures, students’ uncertainty, surprise and disappointment are reduced (McKenzie, 1999).
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First entering English language students in SA HBUs need to be taught RC together with RCSs. This would presuppose the scaffolding of their reading experiences by their English language lecturers.
The following table outlines the type of scaffolding strategies and their traits (Abdul- Majeed & Muhamad, 2015: 97).
Table 2.3: Adapted Scaffolding strategies
SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES CHARACTERISTICS
1. Modelling • A learning process where modelling happens because another person’s behaviour was observed and learned.
• The learning of this behaviour can happen consciously or unconsciously.
2. Bridging • This happens when the lecturers activate and build on the prior knowledge of the students.
• Students can be taught to link new concepts or behaviour to what was previously learned.
3. Schema building • Schema refers to units of meaning that are interrelated. These units are organised in the students’ brains. Students must be taught to extract those units and link them with new information for comprehension.
4. Developing metacognition • Metacognition refers to one’s ability to monitor their level of understanding and to decide whether it is good enough or not.
• The students must be taught to think about their thinking.
Scaffolding activities should serve two main purposes, that is, to help students comprehend the reading texts, and to develop effective reading strategies that will assist them with their reading (Al Eissa & Al-Bargi, 2017: 5). In line with Table 2.3, the four strategies of scaffolding are scaffolding through modelling and think-aloud;
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scaffolding through activation of prior knowledge and through the use of questioning;
scaffolding through the use of bridging and building connections; and scaffolding through the use of visualisation and graphic organisers.
There is a framework for Scaffolding Reading Experience (SRE) designed to assist English language students with activities and skills that could assist them in RC. The SRE is divided into the first, and second phase. The first phase is considered the planning phase and takes into account the three important factors – the students, the reading selection and the purpose of reading. The second phase is considered the application phase, and emanates from the planning phase.
Figure 2.4 below demonstrates the phases of SRE (Graves, Juel & Graves, 1998).
Figure 2.4: Scaffolding Reading Experiences (SRE) Phases
The reading in the application phase is divided into three parts. Each of the parts consists of several activities that the lecturers can choose depending on their students’
needs. The sections are pre-reading activities, which aim to prepare students to cope
The Students The Reading
Selection The Purpose(s)
of Reading
Pre-reading Activities
During-reading Activities
Post-reading Activities
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with the reading text. They are expected to do this by activating their prior knowledge.
The aim of during-reading activities is to model effective reading strategies that students can choose from and use, and post-reading activities aim to check that the students have comprehended the reading material.