developing the right reading comprehension modules

International Journal of Arts & Sciences, CD-ROM. ISSN: 1944-6934 :: 07(02):511–519 (2014)

DEVELOPING THE RIGHT READING COMPREHENSION MODULES FOR THE RIGHT REASON WITH THE HELP OF READS

Lin Siew Eng, Abdul Rashid Mohamed, Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail and Muhammad Javed Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Reading Comprehension Modules were developed based on research, reading theories, and with reference to the mandated English Language Curriculum and Syllabus. A set of 6 modules consisting of a diverse collection of texts from different sources of varying text length were developed based on READS (Reading Evaluation And Decoding System) Assessment Kit previously developed by Abdul Rashid et al. (2010). READS assessment kit was utilised to capture students’ reading ability and comprehension skills and introspectively made sense of students’ actual reading ability in terms of what they could do and could not do. These modules were aim to improve the ESL students' reading comprehension skills by providing effective reading strategies, systematic steps, and precise framework for teachers to teach reading comprehension and subsequently help students develop the reading skills for each Performance Band (Band 1 to Band 6). The developed Reading Comprehension Modules will provide continuous opportunity for students to practise with texts of varied genres that are graded according to their reading ability and beyond as suggested by READS Assessment Kit. Each module consists of 3 sections namely; literal, reorganisation, and inferential comprehension questions. 320 Year 10 students from a secondary school sat for the READS test. From the test scores, the students were categorised from Performance Band 1 to Band 6 according to their reading ability. Subsequently, a series of intervention lessons using Reading Comprehension Modules were conducted based on the READS' test feedback to resuscitate and revive the learners’ shortcomings. Results of the post test indicated an increase in students’ overall test scores. According to the results of the post test, there was an increase in students’ test scores and their ability to handle the three reading comprehension skills amicably. The percentage of Year 10 students who meet standard on reading comprehension rose to 32.0% in the post test from 12.7% in the pre test. Consequently, the findings suggest that the deployment of Reading Comprehension Modules has the potentiality in improving students’ reading and comprehension ability. There was an incremental and progressive increased in test scores among the 320 Year 10 students. We believe that with this innovation, the ESL teachers may now add to their daily reading comprehension instruction and testing initiatives can make a difference in the lives of students’ and their reading skills development. Keywords: Reading comprehension modules, Literal comprehension questions, Reorganisation comprehension questions, Inferential comprehension questions.

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Introduction In the teaching of the English language, all the four language skills such as reading, speaking, listening and writing are needed to be emphasised. The reading skill, being the most dominant skill, needs more attention (Gu, 2003). Though much has been done to enhance students’ reading comprehension as the most important skill, yet they are not still fully proficient in understanding the text comprehensibly (Pressley, & Afflerbach, 1995). In developing the reading comprehension capability, the selected reading materials should be purposeful. The ESL students will be able to understand the text entirely if the text is selected with local setting (Paulston & Bruder, 1976). In terms of reading material development, Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) recommended that it should be taken from local sources such as booklets, books, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and brochures related to daily life routines so that the ESL students can get a sense from the text easily. In addition, material taken from the internet is also useful for developing reading comprehension (Berardo, 2006). Problem Statement The ESL teachers are facing difficulty locating and generating suitable reading materials for ESL students. Hassan and Selamat, (2002) identified that, in Malaysia, the ESL teachers have to use material from other sources such as internet, newspapers and workbooks because the textbooks are either too difficult or too easy and do not match the abilities of different students. Generally, teachers face problems regarding the selection of reading material to develop students’ reading ability. Ideally, an objective method should be adopted for the selection of supplementary reading material, keeping in mind the suitability of the students’ reading ability, vocabulary and sentence structure (Popescu, 2012). Most of the previous studies indicated that the ESL teachers need to use a variety of reading modules while teaching reading academic texts at all levels, especially at school levels in Malaysia (Baker, 2002; Baker & Brown, 1984; Blachowicz, Blachowicz, & Ogle, 2008; Block & Israel, 2004; Mokhtari & Sheorey, 2002). According to David and Govindasamy (2006), there is a dearth of reading material in Malaysia to cater for the different levels of students’ reading ability. Most of the ESL teachers merely teach with the help of the textbooks and workbooks provided by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. Furthermore, they stated that the reading texts are not tailored to meet the students’ abilities and no specific modules are provided to the ESL teachers to teach reading skill. Likewise, proper guidelines and training are considered essential components for ESL teachers to teach students according to their reading abilities (Anderson, 2004, 1972; Mokhtari & Reichard, 2004; Zhang, 2001). However, there is little work done regarding developing modules for ESL teachers to teach reading comprehension at school level. One of the challenging issues that ESL teachers are facing is, the lack of standardised modules and appropriate guidelines for teaching reading comprehension (Bullock, 2004; Ortega, 2009). As a result, there is a pressing need to develop modules for ESL teachers for the teaching of reading comprehension. In view of the above discussion, the present study aims to put emphasis on developing reading comprehension modules for effective reading comprehension at school level. With the increasing demand for English language at all levels, there is a dire need to inculcate the reading material and information effectively so that the ESL teachers’ efforts may be fruitful (Carrell, 1989). The present study describes the development of reading comprehension modules for ESL secondary school teachers. It is anticipated that the findings of this study may provide classroom teachers at secondary schools with guidance for better classroom reading instructions for students. It is hoped that this may enhance the ESL students’ reading comprehension as well as academic achievement.

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Literature Review Reading Comprehension Modules

Fisher and Frey (2003) stated in their ‘Gradual Release Model’ that the reading modules or specific instructions assist the ESL teachers and students as well to a great extent in reading comprehension. They provided a systematic and precise framework for teachers to teach reading comprehension and defined purposes for ESL learners. According to Pearson and Gallagher (1983), specific modules for reading comprehension assist the ESL teachers to teach reading skills effectively and likewise enable the ESL students to increase their understanding. Currently, there are a few modules available for ESL teachers to teach reading comprehension. The modules developed by other researchers such as Reading Comprehension Instructional Modules Project developed by Brunk-Chavez (2008) for The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Middle School Reading modules developed by Virginia Department of Education, United States of America (2008), English Language Learning Modules developed by Ministry of Education, New Zealand (2007) and Read Write Inc. Comprehension Modules: Oxford University Press developed by Miskin, Brittain, Munton, and Archbold (2007) are remarkable and useful. These modules are effective and can be utilised for teaching the English language reading skills. However, these modules are rather general, broad or associated with particular contexts or level, that is, they attempted to provide general guidelines for ESL teachers. It is hoped that the ESL teachers would be able to teach reading comprehension skills to ESL students at secondary school level effectively by using reading modules developed by the researcher. A brief description of the Modules developed by others are presented below. a. Reading Comprehension Instructional Modules: The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Brunk-Chavez (2008) developed a set of 14 instructional modules for the teachers and students at college level. The major goal of these modules was to provide effective strategies to improve reading comprehension. All the modules provide comprehensive ideas on teaching reading comprehension. b. Middle School Reading modules: Virginia Department of Education Virginia Department of Education, United States of America (2008) developed Middle School Reading Modules for reading comprehension. Multidimensional goals such as to make inferences, predictions, and generalizations, locate pieces of information from the text, identify the main ideas and supporting details, summarise and draw conclusions from the text, identify different types of test questions, character traits and figurative language and imagery, trace out the purposes of the text by using graphic organisers, and find the meaning of unfamiliar words from the text are set in these modules. c. English Language Learning Modules: Ministry of Education, Te Kete Ipurangi Wellington, New Zealand Ministry of Education, New Zealand developed 5 different modules. These modules provide developing materials regarding the English language learning (Ministry of Education New Zealand, 2007). These modules are developed to cover the English language skills such as oral and writing skills, particularly focusing reading comprehension as well. Therefore, module 3, 4, and 5 are directly related to the present study because they discuss mainly about reading comprehension. d. Read Write Inc. Comprehension Modules: Oxford University Press Miskin et al. (2007) developed 30 reading modules, namely, ‘Read Write Inc. Comprehension Modules’ that cover fictional and non-fictional texts. These modules consisted of different activities carefully drawn for better reading composition. 14 of the modules contained non-fictional text or story to support the activities while other 16 modules consisting of fictional texts were associated with the children’s books developed by Oxford University Press. The strategies and activities were useful for the students to comprehend the text fully.


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Research Objectives The objective of this study is to develop a set of 6 ESL reading comprehension modules to facilitate reading comprehension among Malaysian secondary school ESL students. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to: i) develop a set of ESL reading comprehension modules for secondary school students. ii) benchmark the respondents' ESL reading ability by using the developed reading comprehension modules. Methodology Sample The sample comprises of 320 Year10 students from a secondary school in Penang. The selected students from the school comprised of students from Band 1 to Band 6 based on the scores obtained from the pretest. Instrument Framework Basically, a set of 6 ESL reading comprehension modules was developed and divided into three levels such as: x x x

Reading comprehension Module 1 Band 1 and reading comprehension Module 2 Band 2 consisting of reading texts and reading comprehension questions at the elementary level Reading comprehension Module 3 Band 3 and reading comprehension Module 4 Band 4 consisting of reading texts and reading comprehension questions at intermediate level Reading comprehension Module 5 Band 5 and reading comprehension Module 6 Band 6 consisting of reading texts and reading comprehension questions at advanced level

Each module consists of three parts, namely; Part A (literal comprehension), B (reorganisation comprehension), and C (inferential comprehension) and each part comprises of 3 different passages and each passage contains 5 questions. Part A of each module focuses only on literal comprehension questions such as identifying main ideas in texts and identifying supporting details in texts. Part B of each module focuses only on reorganisation comprehension questions such as extracting supporting details, acquiring the meaning of words by using contextual clues and identifying simple cause and effect. Part C of each module focuses only on inferential comprehension questions such as making inferences and drawing conclusions. 3 to 4 suitable response options are given against each question and each sub-skill is mentioned at the end of each question. The length of the passages varies according to each Band. Module 1 Band 1 and Module 2 Band 2 consist of text within 100 to 200 words each. Module 3 Band 3 and Module 4 Band 4 will comprise of text within 150 to 250 words and 300 to 400 words each respectively, whereas Module 5 Band 5 and Module 6 Band 6 consist of text within 400 to 600 words and 600 to 750 words each respectively. One mark was allocated for each question. In this way, there are 15 marks for each part of a module. Development Process of Reading Comprehension Modules This stage is very crucial and essential in developing the modules. A set of 6 reading modules was developed at this stage in pursuance of the first objective of the study. Therefore, in order to do that, the following processes were involved simultaneously at this stage during the development of reading comprehension modules.

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In order to develop a set of reading modules, the Malaysian English Language Syllabus, Barrett’s (1968) taxonomy of reading comprehension, Day and Park’s (2005) taxonomy of reading comprehension, and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives revised by Anderson, et al. (2001) were taken into consideration. All the components that assisted in developing modules are discussed here briefly. Firstly, Barrett’s taxonomy of reading comprehension cited in Clymer (1968) was considered for the development of prototype reading comprehension modules. This taxonomy consists of five categories of reading skills, namely; literal comprehension, reorganisation, inferential comprehension, evaluation, and appreciation (Alderson & Urquhart, 1984). However, the present study focused on the first three categories, whereas evaluation and appreciation are not focused as the study is not focusing on literary texts. Secondly, with regards to the present study, the skill specifications in the Malaysia English language syllabus were taken into consideration for the development of the prototype reading comprehension modules. Thirdly, Day and Park’s (2005) taxonomy of reading comprehension were also taken into consideration for developing the prototype reading comprehension modules. This taxonomy stated six types of comprehension skills such as literal comprehension, reorganisation, inference, prediction, evaluation, and personal response. With regard to the present study, only first three types of comprehension skills such as literal comprehension, reorganisation, inference and prediction. Evaluation and personal response comprehension are not considered for the study, as the modules do not include literary texts. Fourthly, another taxonomy namely; Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives revised by Anderson, et al. (2001) were also considered for developing prototype reading comprehension modules. This taxonomy consists of six major categories such as remembering (recall), understanding (comprehension), applying (abstract), analysing (analysis), evaluating (judge), and creating (production). Only four skill categories such as remembering, understanding, analysing and creating were considered for the development of reading comprehension modules because these skill categories are in line with the reading comprehension skills in Barrett’s taxonomy cited in Clymer (1968) as well as Day and Park’s taxonomy (2005). The above-mentioned taxonomies play their vital role in developing the prototype reading comprehension modules in line with the skill specifications in the Malaysia English language syllabus. The skill specifications taken from the Malaysian English language syllabus that elaborate the objectives of teaching of the English language at elementary, intermediate and advanced levels are scanning text for certain details, locating main ideas in a simple text, identifying supporting details in a simple text, extracting supporting details, acquiring the meaning of words by understanding contextual clues, identifying simple cause and effect, making inferences and drawing conclusions in the texts. Lastly, descriptors of reading ability developed by Abdul Rashid et al. (2010) were also adopted and applied to determine the respondents’ abilities in reading comprehension. These descriptors of reading ability comprise of sub-skills of reading comprehension questions to answer literal, reorganisation and inferential comprehension questions. For example: Module 1 is used to teach students who are categorised in Band 1, based on the Descriptors of Reading Ability, these students can hardly locate the main ideas and supporting details explicitly stated in the text. They can understand only a few words in short text. Therefore, the researcher will construct only literal comprehension questions using short text of about 100 to 200 words for Part A of Module 1. Based on the descriptors, students in Band 1 can hardly acquire the meaning of words by using contextual clues. Part B of Module 1 comprises of reorganisation comprehension questions which require students to synthesise, summarise or analyse the text. Part C of Module 1 comprise of inferential questions of short simple text as students in Band 1can hardly make inferences, predict or draw conclusions.

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Pilot Study A pilot study was conducted using the developed reading comprehension modules to find out the reliability of the developed modules. Before using the modules, the reading comprehension test developed by Abdul Rashid et al. (2010) was used as a pre-test to find out the students’ reading ability. Eighty students of Form Four were selected randomly from a selected secondary school in Penang Malaysia. Subsequently, the pretest consisting of 60 questions was conducted. The total marks for the test is 60. The time allowed for this test is one hour and 15 minutes. The reliability of each module was determined by using Kuder and Richardson Formula 20. The reliability of the 6 sets of modules was within 0.804 and 0.917. Results and Discussion A total of 320 Year 10 students sat for the standardised reading comprehension test (pre test) to identify the students' reading ability. According to the Reading Matrix developed by Abdul Rashid et al. (2010), Year 10 students who are categorised as Band 5 are classified as 'meet standard'. Those who are categorised as Band 6 are classified as 'above standard' whereas students who are categorised as Band 4 are classified as 'below standard'. The rest who are categorised as Bands 1, 2 and 3 are classified as 'academic warning'. a) Analysis of Pretest of Year 10 students' reading ability Table 1. Analysis of Pretest's Result. Band 1 Year 10

13.0%

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Band 5

Band 6

28.5%

19.2%

17.4%

*12.7%

9.2%

READING MATRIX key: * = meet standard

From the analysis of the pretest's results in Table 1, only 12.7% of the respondents were classified as 'meet standard'. Only 9.2% of the respondents were 'above standard'.17.4% of the respondents were 'below standard' and more than 60% of the respondents were categorised as 'academic warning' indicating that the students have major gaps in learning at their educational level. These students have limited knowledge and skills in reading. b) Interventions Based on READS feedback, a series of intervention classes using the reading comprehension modules were conducted to all the students from Band 1 to Band 6. The teaching instruction were tailored according to the students' reading ability for a period of 3 months (March to May). The students are streamed according to their reading ability i.e. according to their Performance Bands (Band 1 to Band 6). The ESL teachers used the reading modules to teach reading comprehension. After identifying the students' reading ability, the ESL teachers taught the students using the right reading modules according to the students' reading ability. For example: Students who were categorised as Band 1 were taught using Module 1. During the first three weeks of the intervention, the ESL teacher taught the students Part A of Module 1which comprises of literal comprehension questions. There are 3 passages in Part A with literal comprehension questions in that section. Next, the ESL teacher taught the students Part B which comprises of reorganisation comprehension questions and the following three weeks the students were taught Part C of Module 1 which consists of inferential comprehension questions.

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Reading Comprehension Modules in Action As part of the intervention programme, the ESL teachers in the school had to attend a series of workshops on how to execute the intervention. Besides, the ESL teachers were also trained to teach the reading skills and reading strategies involved in comprehending the texts as well how to use the relevant reading strategies to answer the reading comprehension questions. The students were taught sub-skills of reading involved in answering the literal comprehension questions which are concerned with information stated explicitly in the text such as scanning for details, identifying mail ideas in a simple text and identifying supporting details in a simple text. As for answering reorganisation comprehension questions which include analysing, synthesising and organising information that has been stated explicitly, the students were taught how to extract supporting details, acquire the meaning of words by understanding contextual clues and identify simple cause and effect. The students were also taught the sub-skills of reading required to answer inferential comprehension questions such as making inferences and drawing conclusions. Besides reading the texts carefully selected for students in the various bands, the teachers can include different types of text for teaching different sub skills of reading. Not all texts can develop all the different types of sub skills of reading. c) Analysis of posttest of Year10 students' reading ability Table 2. Analysis of Posttest's Result. Band 1 Year 10

1.3%

Band 2

Band 3

Band 4

Band 5

Band 6

9.9%

11.9%

29.3%

*32.0%

15.6%

READING MATRIX key: * = meet standard

According to the results of the posttest in Table 2, there was an increase in students’ test scores and their ability to handle the three reading comprehension skills amicably. The percentage of students who meet standard at each educational level has increased in the posttest. The percentage of students at above standard also increased after the interventions in May when compared to the percentage of students at meet standard and above standard in the pretest conducted in March. On the other hand, the percentage of students at below standard and academic warning has decreased. This probably shows that the interventions have a positive impact on the students’ reading performance. There was some improvement when compared to the February pretest. The Right Reading Comprehension Modules for the Right Reason A review of the data obtained with the help of READS following the reading lessons from a school’s initiative to improve the reading scores shows some improvement in Year10 students' reading performance. Specifically, there was a slight improvement in the reading performance of Year 10 students. Some factors that might contribute to only a slight improvement as the teachers were not ready to teach the different sub skills of reading and some of the teachers tend to use the traditional method of teaching reading for example; teacher ask students to take turns to read followed by giving answers to the comprehension questions. One of the possible factors the researchers predicted contributed to the significant change in Year 10 students’ reading performance is by teaching students who were classified in the same performance band in the same class using the reading comprehension modules developed according to the students' reading ability. Accordingly, teachers can teach the students using the relevant

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comprehension modules for that particular level and at the same time, focus on the sub skills of reading that they lack. The only problem during the intervention is that, there were too many students in Bands 1, 2, 3 and 4. Therefore, it is quite difficult for respective teachers to teach such a large group. From the pretest, there were only a small number of students in Bands 5 and 6. Conclusion As it was intended, READS potency was put to test to tackle reading instruction for secondary school students with reading difficulties and consequently instructional plans were designed to improve reading instruction for students. Specifically, students who were identified as below standard or at academic warning were administered the right intervention to avoid further disparity in relation to reading proficiency. After completing the intervention process that was administered by ESL teachers, the overall results showed impressive improvement in the reading performance of all the secondary students tested. Apparently, READS used in combination with the Reading Matrix, Performance Standards and Descriptors of Reading Abilities can provide a potent and accurate account of learners’ reading proficiency. We believe that this minor innovation that ESL teachers may now add to their daily reading comprehension instruction and testing initiatives can make a difference in improving the students’ reading ability. References 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

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