The Effect of Reading Comprehension and Problem Solving Strategies on Classifying Elementary 4th Grade Students with High and Low Problem Solving Success

Abstract

In this study, the effect of fluent reading (speed, reading accuracy percentage, prosodic reading), comprehension (literal comprehension, inferential comprehension) and problem solving strategies on classifying students with high and low problem solving success was researched. The sampling of the research is composed of 279 students at elementary school 4 th grade. In the research, in order to figure out reading accuracy percentage and reading rate, 5 scales were used: a reading text, prosodic reading scale, literal comprehension scale, inferential comprehension scale and problem solving scale. In order to see the effect of fluent reading and comprehension skills on classifying students with high and low problem solving success, logistic analysis was conducted while discriminant analysis was conducted to determine the effect of problem solving skills. At the end of the study, it was seen that fluent reading skills had no effect on classifying students according to their problem solving success. It was concluded that both comprehension skills are 77% effective in classifying problem solving success, but inferential comprehension is more effective than literal comprehension. It was found that problem solving strategies were effective on classifying students with high and low problem solving success problem at 88% level; that the most important factors while classifying were estimation and control, systematic listing, looking for a pattern and drawing figures and diagrams respectively; and that backward-studying strategies were inadequate in classifying successful and unsuccessful students. At the end of the study, mathematical sentence writing strategy appeared to be the most important strategy in classifying students with high and low problem solving success, but it had a negative correlation. In other words, a rise in the usage rate of this strategy increased the likelihood for individuals to be in the group with low problem solving success. Keywords: elementary school, fluent reading, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, high problem solving success, low problem solving success, logistic regression, discriminant analysis IntruductionProblem solving process is defined as a complicated process requiring multiple skills together. The constituents of this process are listed as problem comprehension, choosing the required information among the data, converting this information into mathematical symbols and reaching a solution through required operations. Although these constituents do not follow a linear path (Olkun and Toluk, 2004), it is thought that the first and key step of problem solving is reading comprehension problem and that when reading comprehension process doesn't occur, meaningless results arise by using the numbers given in the problem randomly (Mayer, 1985;Artzt and Thomas, 1992;Hong, 1995;Morales, 1998;Goos, Galbraith and Renshaw, 2000). In the studies conducted by Wijaya, Panhuizen, Doorman and Robitzsch (2014), Ulu (2011), Singh, Rahman andHoon (2010), Clements and Everton (1...

A Review of Studies on Cognitive and Metacognitive Reading Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension for ESL/EFL Learners

“…main tool to collect qualitative data (see Bastug & Demirtas, 2016;Nurie, 2017;Omar & Saufi, 2015;Semtin & Maniam, 2015;Teba, 2017;Wai et al, 2014;Tercanlioglu, 2004;Semtin & Maniam, 2015). As for the observation data collection technique, there are five research studies used this technique to collect data (see Bastug & Demirtas, 2016;Ciullo et al, 2016;Omar & Saufi, 2015;Teba, 2017;Ulu, 2017).…”

“…The most highly used online database was Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) as 15 studies were obtained via this particular online educational database (i.e., Bastug & Demirtas, 2016;K. Chen & S. Chen, 2015;De Leon & Tarrayo, 2014;Gomaa, 2015;Guo, 2013;Kasemsap & Lee, 2015;Melekoglu & Wilkerson 2013;Migdadi & Baniabdelrahman,2016;Nurie, 2017;Omar & Saufi, 2015;Semtin & Maniam, 2015;Solak & Altay, 2014;Teba, 2017;Ulu, 2017;Wai et al, 2014). Nine studies were obtained from Google Scholar (i.e., Alsheikh & Mokhtari, 2011;Ciullo et al, 2016;Fu et al, 2014;Küçükoğlu, 2012;Lai, 2017;Lee & Chang, 2017;Li, 2010;Nasab & Ghafournia, 2016;Tercanlioglu, 2004).…”

“…In terms of the number of participants in the research articles reviewed, the most focused population was on high school ESL/EFL students (see K. Chen & S. Chen, 2015;Ciullo et al, 2016;De Leon & Tarrayo, 2014;Nasab & Ghafournia, 2016;Melekoglu & Wilkerson, 2013;Migdadi & Baniabdelrahman, 2016;Semtin & Maniam, 2015;Teba, 2017;Pinninti, 2016). There weree six research conducted on elementary school ESL/EFL students (see Bastug & Demirtas, 2016;Fu et al, 2014;Lee & Chang, 2017;Gomaa, 2015;Melekoglu & Wilkerson, 2013;Ulu, 2017) and only two studies that focused on primary school ESL/EFL students (see Guo, 2013;Omar & Saufi, 2015). Seven reviewed studies focused on university students and language teachers (see Wai et al, 2014;Yukselir, 2014;Tercanlioglu, 2004;Nurie, 2017;Teba, 2017;AD-Heisat et al, 2009;Solak & Altay, 2014).…”

“…A number of researchers found a high frequency use of reciprocal teaching intervention strategy 'questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting', planning strategies 'pausing and thinking about reading, trying to stay focused on reading, scanning the text, reading slowly and carefully, determining what to read and monitoring strategies, such as rereading the text, paying attention, treading, and asking oneself questions (see Semtin & Maniam, 2015;Kasemsap & Lee, 2015;Alsheikh & Mokhtari, 2011;Küçükoğlu, 2012;Tercanlioglu, 2004;Pinninti, 2016;Ulu, 2017;Gomaa, 2015;Heisat et al, 2009;Kasemsap & Lee, 2015). However, the use of summarization strategy was reported to have a low frequency of occurrence, although it highly occurred in one article (see Semtin & Maniam, 2015).…”

“…On the other hand, there are quite a number of studies which focused on the use of Problem-Solving Strategy, such as rereading strategy and adjusting reading speed (see De Leon & Tarrayo, 2014;Alsheikh & Mokhtari, 2011;Ulu, 2017;Solak & Altay, 2014). From these studies, it is found that rereading the reading passages and adjusting their reading speed helped them in understanding the contents of the text read.…”