Effects of scaffolded intensive reading on students’ reading comprehension performance

Abstract

This research sought to explore the connection between a small-group intensive reading comprehension project and students’ performance in two sample English national exit exams (ENEEs) developed by the Ministry of Public Education, Costa Rica. The data were gathered from an intervention plan that combined the theoretical principles of schema theory, scaffolded reading comprehension, and intensive reading. The study adopts an action-research approach and uses a mixed design that combines quantitative and qualitative data in the analysis and interpretation of results. Participants included twelve students from a public high school in the Western Area of Costa Rica who needed special preparation for the ENEE, which narrows the research scope down to this population only. The data collection techniques included two sample ENEEs, field notes, and research artifacts. Findings reveal positive effects of scaffolded reading comprehension on student ENEE performance, but also it is warning that the generalizations to larger populations is not possible. The study sets implications at theoretical and practical level, and it calls for further investigation as a way to tackle the limitations identified.

Impact of Intensive Reading Strategy on English for Specific Purposes College Students' in Developing Vocabulary

“…Moreover, (Sari & Huzairin, 2012) in their study how to improve students' vocabulary through intensive reading, the final analysis of the results showed that there was a significant improvement in students' vocabulary achievement after they were taught by using intensive reading, which emphasize that intensive reading can improve students' vocabulary achievement.In addition (Morales, 2017) in his study proves that intensive reading has a positive effect on scaffold reading. Figure 1 Shows Vocabulary Improvement…”

Scaffolding instruction for improvement in learning English language skills

“…According to previous studies [34]- [36], sample sizes comparable to those described in this study have been evaluated in a similar manner. Moreover, the insight reinforced by the process of sampling in the current study, noted in Morales [15] action research, was that a contextualized study like this should not aim to generalize any findings as applicable to a large sample though the researchers should closely examine any recurring patterns or themes that may emerge.…”

“…Soft refers to scaffolding by asking questions or giving constructive feedback, and hard scaffolding refers to helping with higher level thinking by giving hints or clues in solving difficult tasks. A review of some other action research articles, on English writing [11], [24]- [26], speaking [7], [9], [27], [28] or reading [8], [12], [13], [15] informed about new practices. However, most were conducted at the school level or were quasi experimental in design and implementation (pre-test post-test control group).…”

“…Morales [15] action research reports the positive effect of scaffolded intensive reading on students' reading comprehension performance in two sample English national exit exams (ENEEs) in Costa Rica. In this intervention plan, scaffolding was provided in small groups and data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative methods.…”

Implementing Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Method to Enhance the Reading Comprehension of Indonesian EFL Learner

“…Therefore, intensive reading equips students with basic reading strategies to permit them to attain fluency and competence in the fields of vocabulary recognition and to increase their critical thinking skills (Jeanne Wanzek, 2014). Therefore, the students must precisely understand the text details, facts, concepts, opinions, and experiences (Sevilla, 2017). A message occurs in discourse; alongside, the purpose of intensive reading is to promote the reading ability in comprehending the whole contents of text (Miftah, 2015).…”