Improving Reading Comprehension Skills Through Reading Strategies In Foreign Language Learners.

IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS THROUGH READING STRATEGIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS.

BY: NANCY GOMEZ
JHON J. AVILA C.


INTRODUCTION


Many people think of reading as a skill that is taught once and for all in the first few years of school. They see reading as a simple process: readers decode, figure out how to pronounce each word in a text then automatically comprehend themeaning of the words as they do with their everyday spoken language (Ruddel and Unrao, 1994). Nevertheless, reading is not a straightfordward process of lifting the words off the page. It is a complex process of problem solving in which the reader works to make sense of a text not just from the words and sentences on the page but also from ideas, memories, and knowledge evoked by those words andsentences.

It is important to have in mind that reading is influenced by many situational factors: society, culture, religion, background, likes, particular purposes... Thus, good or proficient readers do not necessarily read all the text with equal ease or success or poor readers will not always have a hard time with all texts (Christine Czico, et all, 2000). On the other hand, an effectivereading comprehension also depends on the strategies the reader uses.

Different reading researchers emphasize different reading strategies which can be used to have better or proficient readers. To carry out this research paper some strategies were selected with the purpose of learning ways to effectively support students’ efforts to read and comprehend text, as well as to become proficientindependent readers ouside of the classroom.






ABSTRACT


In this research study, a variety of strategies were briefly examined and implemented in order to improve students´ reading comprehension skills in a foreign language. Reading is the process of identification, interpretation and perception of written or printed material. Comprehension is the understanding of the meaning of writtenmaterial and involves the conscious strategies that lead to understanding. The reading strategies are conscious techniques or unconscious processes employed by readers attempting to make sense out the written text (Barnett, 1989). Thus, the main goal of this research was to implement some reading strategies in the English as a Foreign Language –EFL- courses to obtain better results in the middleand long term in class and tests such as: ECAES, MICHIGAN and MELICET or MET TESTS, as well as to improve the English level at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana – Monteria.


KEY WORDS


Reading, Strategy, Comprehension, Skill, Summary, Brainstorming, Question, Answer, Relationship, Graphic, Organizer, Know, Want, Learn.














RESEARCH QUESTION:


One researchquestion guided this project:
Can students’ reading comprehension skill be improved by using these reading strategies: Brainstorming, K.W.L. (Know - Will or Want – Learned), and Q.A.R. (Question Answer Relationship(s))?


IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT:



This research project was focused not only on improving students´ reading comprehension skills to obtain better results in theirperformance when taking proficiency tests in a foreign language or when taking tests in their mother tongue but also to improve their reading comprenhension skill for their personal and professional life.



THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:


Reading is the process of identification, interpretation and perception of written or printed material. Comprehension is the understanding of the meaning of writtenmaterial and involves the conscious strategies that lead to understanding. The process of reading deals with language form, while comprehension, the final result, deals with language content. Furthermore, reading establishes a communication between the writer and the reader. It involves the recognition of words, phrases, and clauses, and in some respects, it can be considered a simpler process...