Reading Strategy Training and its Impact on the Comprehension Skills of Secondary School Learners
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Many scholars agree that reading is among the most important ski lls for second or fo reign
language learning academ ic contexts. This ind icates that reading skills are very essential for
our high school students who are basica lly learning Engli sh as a foreign language and as a
means to cope up with the challenges of the academic situations. However, it is generally
agreed that many Ethiopian secondary school and higher ed ucat ional institution students have
low reading proficiency. Similarly, some local studies revealed that the learners' reading
abi lity is dependent on the extent to which they exploit various reading strategies during their
reading.
Therefore, this study is conducted to experiment the signifi cance of the readi ng strategies
training to enhance the reading skills of the secondary school learners. To do this, one sample
school of 120 students and 8 EFL teachers was se lected. Reading tests were given before and
after strategy training for the target group. Also, questionnaires were administered and
reading classes were observed to see the ongoing experience.
The findings of the study showed that following the reading strategy training, the students
improved their reading performance on the reading test. Moreover, data from the other tools
disclosed that the learners were not being trained the various reading strategies consistently.
As a result, most of them didn ' t use reading strategies efficiently. In addition, there was a gap
on the training among the varieties readi ng strategies: meta cognitive, cognitive and affective
strategies.
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Keywords
Reading Strategy Training