Sutthima Wanpeng. Reading strategies and strategy instruction to improve reading comprehension for first year nursing students at Mahidol University . Master's Degree(Applied Linguistics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Reading strategies and strategy instruction to improve reading comprehension for first year nursing students at Mahidol University
Abstract:
The purpose of this research is 1) to investigate reading strategies used by first
year nursing students at Mahidol University when reading texts, 2) to investigate
reading strategies used by the subjects while they are doing cloze passages and
open-ended comprehension questions, and 3) to assess the effects of strategy
instruction on the experimental group when compared to the control group. The
instruments used in the study were a background questionnaire, semi-structuredinterviews,
and reading comprehension tests. The subjects of the study were eight
first year undergraduate students at Ramathibodi Nursing School of Mahidol
University in the academic year 2002.
The results from the interviews revealed that, overall, students in the highscoring
group used strategies slightly more often than students in the low-scoring
group. Students both in the high-scoring and low-scoring groups used cognitive
strategies most often. In the think-aloud protocols, students in the high-scoring group
and the low-scoring group used compensation and metacognitive strategies at the
moderate level. On the second test, after the experimental group had received strategy
instruction, the group improved reading comprehension on the question requiring the
subjects to identify the main idea. The control group, that did not receive the strategy
instruction, also improved reading comprehension on the main idea question.
Therefore, explicit instruction in reading strategies entailed no significant
improvement on the students’ comprehension and performance on comprehension
questions