The effect of combined strategy instruction on the comprehension and reader self-perceptions of a selected group of 8th- grade EFL Lebanese learners

النوع : Mémoire

Comprehension is determined by cognitive and affective aspects. To develop activ e readers and to cultivate students' self perceptions, teachers can teach cognit ive strategies to impact reading comprehension. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of combined strategy instruction using Question Answer Relationship Approach (QAR) and Direct Explan ation with regular classroom instruction on the comprehension of 57 8th-garde EF L learners. The study further examined the differential effect of combined strat egy instruction on the ability of low-average and high-average students in answe ring explicit-level and implicit-level questions. Then, the study investigated the effect of combined strategy instruction on the experimental students' reader self-perceptions as measured by the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS). Finall y, the study investigated the effect of combined strategy instruction on the fou r sources of information- Progress (PR), Observational Comparison (OC), Social F eedback (SF) and Physiological State (PS) - that students use to form self-perce ption judgments as measured by the students' responses to the four sub-scales (P R, OC, SF, and PS) in RSPS. First, results of the ANCOVA test revealed a statistically significant treatmen t effect of combined strategy instruction on the comprehension of 8th-grade stud ents while regular classroom instruction did not. Second, results of the MANCOVA test showed no statistically significant difference between the ability of low- average and high ?average students exposed to combined strategy instruction in a nswering explicit- level and implicit-level questions. Then, results of paired s ample t-test analysis of RSPS pre-test and post-test scores indicated a signific ant treatment effect on the students' reader self-perceptions. Finally, results of a series of paired sample t-test analyses of the four sub-scales of RSPS indi cated that combined strategy had a significant effect on PR, SF, and OC sub-scal es. As for the PS sub-scale, results revealed that the intervention had no stat istically significant effect on the students' Physiological State. Conclusions f ocus on the need of adopting a comprehensive approach that addresses the need to provide students with explicit explanations about strategies and improve their reading self-perceptions to ...