Browsing by Subject "Reading comprehension."
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Item Open Access Ankara ilinde Uluslararası Bakalorya Diploma Programı'na dâhil olan ve olmayan on ikinci sınıf öğrencilerinin okuma alışkanlıkları ve okumaya yönelik tutumları(Bilkent University, 2013-05) Keleş, Ajda BüşraThis study aims to examine the reading habits and attitudes towards reading of all twelfth grade students in the schools offering International Baccalaureate Diploma Program according to being an IBDP student, gender and department variables. The data gathered from the questionnaire conducted on 107 twelfth grade students in two different schools, the interviews with 10 IBDP students and 3 interviews with their teachers in Ankara. The results showed IBDP students read more than the others, girls read more than boys but there is not any difference according to their departments. Besides, IBDP students have higher attitude in “enjoyment” subscale, girls have higher attitude in all subscales.Item Open Access Assessing the effectiveness of the advanced-level reading program at the School of Foreign Languages, Department of Basic English, Middle East Technical University(Bilkent University, 1991) Gül, BenaThe first chapter is an introduction to the study. There is general information related to the university at which the study has been done. The second chapter is the review of literature. In this section, the theories of the reading process are given in order to be able to understand what reading is. Following the theories, the models of reading are presented. It is very important to understand both the reading process and the models of reading to be able to teach reading successfully. The final part deals with issues of teaching. The third chapter is about the method employed in the study. Information about the questionnaire distributed to students and interviews conducted with the teachers, and administrators is provided. The chapter also includes information collected about curriculum documents and instructional materials. The fourth chapter deals with the analyses of the results of the data gathered from the questionnaires and interviews, and survey of curriculum documents and instructional materials. The fifth chaptei' continues with conclusions and lecommendations related to the working of the reiiding program at MEPAL. In view of the ¿malysis of the reading program, extensive reading practice is recommended. Moreover, it is to be remembered that the ultimate solution in overcoming the difficulties related to reading skills lies in extensive leading practice.Item Open Access The effect of combined strategy instruction on reading comprehension(Bilkent University, 2007) Arpacıoğlu, Esra BanuThis study investigated (a) the effectiveness of combined strategy instruction on reading comprehension, (b) students’ perceptions of combined strategy training in reading instruction, and (c) teachers’ perceptions about combined reading strategy instruction and their experiences during strategy instruction. Four upper-intermediate classes (two as control groups and two as experimental groups) participated in the study. The experimental group received four-week long combined strategy instruction while the control group followed the current reading syllabus without strategy instruction. During the four-week study, Chamot and O’Malley’s (1994) strategy instruction model, Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA), was followed for the most part. Prior to and after the four-week study an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test was given to the students to assess their reading comprehension. Retrospective think-aloud protocols were used after the post-reading test in order to gather evidence on the use of strategies during the post-test. Following the treatment, a questionnaire was administered to the experimental group students in order to explore their perceptions of the strategy instruction program. Finally, the instructors of the experimental classes were interviewed about their experiences during the treatment period. The data analysis showed that the experimental group showed significantly greater improvement on the reading test after the four-week study. Furthermore, the retrospective think-aloud protocols demonstrated that experimental group students employed a broad range of strategies during the post-reading test. The analysis of the questionnaire and interviews revealed that combined strategy instruction had a positive impact on both teachers and students.Item Open Access The effect of explicit instruction in contextual inferencing strategies on students' attitudes towards reading(Bilkent University, 2011) Kulaç, DemetThis experimental study investigated pre-intermediate level Turkish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners‟ attitudes towards reading in English, the effect of their attitudes towards unknown words in reading texts on their attitudes towards reading in English in general and the effect of explicit strategy instruction in contextual inferencing strategies on pre-intermediate level EFL students‟ attitudes towards reading in English. The study was carried out at Zonguldak Karaelmas University Foreign Languages Compulsory Preparatory School, with the participation of 82 pre-intermediate level EFL learners and two instructors. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews in two phases: pre- and posttreatment. An “Attitudes towards Reading in English” questionnaire was used to find out the students‟ pre-training attitudes towards reading. Data from the prequestionnaire and pre-interviews provided information about the effect of the students‟ attitudes towards unknown words in reading texts on their attitudes to reading in English. After a three-week explicit strategy training period and a twoweek interval, the students were given the same questionnaire and interviews were held. The analyses of the pre-training data revealed that the students‟ attitudes towards reading in English were neutral, and their negative attitudes towards unknown words in reading texts had a negative impact on their attitudes towards reading in English. The comparison of the pre- and post-treatment data indicated that explicit instruction in contextual inferencing strategies had a positive effect on the low attitude students‟ attitudes towards reading.Item Open Access The effect of the timing of pre-reading activities on students' reading comprehension(Bilkent University, 2009) Gümüş, PelinThis study investigated (a) the effects of the timing of pre-reading activities on students’ reading comprehension when they were conducted either one day before reading a text or immediately before reading a text, and (b) the students’ attitudes to the effectiveness of pre-reading activities with respect to their timing. Two preintermediate and two intermediate classes participated in the study. The study used a within-subjects design in which all four classes acted as their own control and experimental groups since they all received both treatments in two weeks. During the two-week study, two texts were used (Text A and B). The pre-reading activities used for each group of students were the same (class discussion-brainstorming, vocabulary matching and video watching). In the first week of the experiment, treatment group A both in the pre-intermediate level and the intermediate level, was given prereading activities one day before reading text A, and treatment group B in both levels, was given pre-reading activities immediately before reading text A. In the second week, treatment group A was given the pre-reading activities immediately before reading text B, and treatment group B was given the pre-reading activities one day before reading text B. After each treatment, the students were asked to write a summary in their L1 about the texts they had read, as a post-test. Following the treatment, the self-reports of eight randomly chosen participant students in the form of post-treatment semi-structured interviews, were taken to explore their attitudes towards the timing of the pre-reading activities. The data analysis showed that when pre-reading activities were done immediately before reading a text, the students performed better in their post-tests than when the pre-reading activities were done one day before reading a text. The study also revealed that effective timing of pre-reading activities might be more important for lower level students when a text is difficult. The analysis of the interviews demonstrated that the pre-reading activities that the study used were effective for students’ comprehension; the attitudes of the students about the timing of the pre-reading activities were mixed. The interviews also revealed students’ different reactions to variations in teaching methods. It was speculated that their different preferences were due to their different learning styles.Item Open Access The effects of native culture-based folk stories on reading comprehension of Turkish high school students(Bilkent University, 1998) Karadağ, YasemenThe role of background knowledge in reading comprehension has been formalized as “schema theory,” that is, any text is meaningful in so far as the background knowledge of the reader matches the information that the text brings. Research has demonstrated that the background knowledge that the reader brings to the comprehension process is often culture specific. Consequently, much of the empirical research focused on providing learners with the knowledge of the target culture based on the view that a language is learned in its own sociocultural milieu. Also, it has been demonstrated that the students’ comprehension is higher when reading texts about native culture. This quasi-experimental study intended to investigate whether native culturebased texts contribute to reading comprehension skills of Turkish high school students. Consequently, a two-week experimental-control group treatment of English renderings of Nasreddin Hoca stories and of target culture based texts was conducted.The hypothesis was that students who were exposed to native culture-based texts would improve significantly in comprehension as opposed to the students who were taught target culture-based texts. Seventy-one intermediate level high school students participated in the study; thirty-five in the experimental group and thirty-six in the control group. Both groups were tested prior to, and after the treatment. The pretest and the posttest contained the three passages with the same number of objective multiple choice questions (22). A Likert-type scale questionnaire which investigated their interest towards the use of native folk stories in teaching reading was administered to the students in the experimental group. The statistical analysis was carried out by the application of two t-tests: a ttest for independent samples, and another t-test for paired samples. Results indicated that the difference between the means of the pretest and the posttest of the experimental group was statistically significant at the traditional probability level .05, which meant that the treatment of native folk stories contributed to the reading comprehension skills. Hence, it can be argued that native culture-based materials could be utilized to improve Turkish learners’ reading comprehension skills in the teaching of English as a foreign language.Item Open Access An investigation of the cognitive reading strategy needs of the freshman students at Hacettepe University(Bilkent University, 1998) Bezci, Emek ÖzerIn recent years, reading has been considered to be a critical skill, especially in academic oriented classes for which students have to do extensive reading to pursue their studies successfully. The major interest in reading comprehension has become reading strategies due to the research evidence which reveals that successful readers differ from the less successful ones mainly in their stra.tegic approach towards the text they are reading. Therefore, helping readers employ effective strategies is considered to be an essential component of reading classes. This study aimed at identifying the cognitive reading strategies that the freshman students at Hacettepe University need to develop in order to continue their academic studies successfully. The assumption was that the students lack the necessary cognitive strategies which can direct them towards becoming better readers. In testing this assumption, questionnaires, checklists and Think-Aloud Protocols (TAPS) were used as data collection instruments. The questionnaires and TAPs were administered to freshman students in order to collect data on their strategy use. The checklists were administered to the instructors of the Department of Basic English with the purpose of investigating the relationship between cognitive strategy use of the students and the training they get in employing those strategies. For each item in the questionnaires and checklists, frequencies and percentages were determined. In the analysis of the TAPs, transcriptions of student verbalizations were coded to identify the cognitive strategies that were employed during the TAPs. Similarly, frequencies and percentages were calculated for these strategies. A comparison was made to see whether the self reported data about the strategy use is consistent with the strategy use during the actual reading. A further comparison was made between the results of questionnaires, TAPs and the checklists to understand whether the strategy use o f the students reflect the training they get. Findings of the study suggest that freshman students at Hacettepe University lack certain cognitive reading strategies which are believed to be essential in making sense of the written material. According to the results of the study, the strategies that the freshman students need to develop are reading the first line of each paragraph to get the gist, guessing the meaning o f a word by considering its grammatical category, avoiding word-for-word translation, visualization, note-taking, assimilating background knowledge with the text, classifying word according to their meanings and grammatical categories, summarizing and rereading to remember important information.Item Open Access The role of narrow-focus strategy training and broad-focus strategy training on promoting reading comprehension of Turkish EFL students(Bilkent University, 1997) Baysal, OktayStrategy training is suggested as an effective way of promoting language learning by many researchers. Among the various types of suggested strategy training models, narrow-focus and broad-focus strategy training are two models that maximize the learning potential of students. This is particularly true for reading comprehension which is considered as one of the most important skills in learning a language (Carrell, 1988). In this study, two hypotheses were put forth. The first hypothesis was that both narrow-focus and broad-focus strategy training are effective in promoting reading comprehension of EFL students. The second hypothesis was that broad-focus strategy training is more effective than narrow-focus strategy training in promoting reading comprehension of EFL students. Three intact groups were used in this study, thus, a quasi experimental design was adopted. The groups were selected from the same language proficiency level, upper-intermediate. There were three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. All three groups had six 50-minute treatment sessions. The first experimental group was trained with a narrow-focus strategy training model. In the second experimental group a broad-focus strategy training model was used. The control group did not receive any strategy training, in other words, they continued their regular reading classes. The researcher had no control over the choice of the groups in the experiment. A total of 48 EFL upper-intermediate level students at Osmangazi University participated in this study, with 19 subjects in the first experimental group, 17 in the second experimental group and 12 in the control group. The data for this study were collected by means of pre- and post-tests and a reading strategy inventory. The reading strategies to be trained in the treatment sessions were selected through an analysis of the reading strategy inventory (SILL). In the first experimental group (narrow-focus group), the selected reading strategies were trained individually within each reading passage within a given time period. In the second experimental group (broad-focus group), the three reading strategies were trained in an integrative manner within a reading passage in a given time period. The subjects in the control group read the passage, found out the meanings of new vocabulary and answered the related comprehension questions. In the data analysis, the mean scores and standard deviations of both pre-and post-tests, for each group, were calculated. For the pre-test, a one-way ANOVA was used to determine whether the level of proficiency in reading comprehension among the groups was equal. After the pre-test, a reading strategy inventory was administered to elicit strategy use among the subjects. Frequency distributions and percentages for each item in the inventory were calculated. After the treatment a post-test was administered to all groups. A t-test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between pre- and post-tests within each group. Then, a one-way ANOVA was used among the three groups to determine whether there was a significant difference. Later, a t-test was applied across groups to determine which of the three groups significantly improved their reading comprehension skills. Following the post-test, a reading strategy inventory was administered a second time to elicit responses regarding whether the subjects in each group made use of the strategies trained in the treatment sessions. Finally, the frequency distributions from the first and second administration of the inventory were compared to note difference in use of strategies reported. Data analysis showed that after the training, improvement in the reading comprehension test scores of experimental group 1 (narrow-focus) was not significant. Thus, the hypothesis that stated narrow-focus strategy training is effective in promoting reading comprehension was rejected. On the other hand, there was a significant improvement in the reading comprehension scores of the second experimental group (broad-focus) at the level p<.001. Thus, the second hypothesis, that stated broad-focus strategy training is more effective than narrow-focus strategy training was accepted.Item Open Access Teachers' perceptions of strategy training in reading instruction(Bilkent University, 2002) Sallı, AyşegülReading strategies are processes used by a learner to enhance reading and to overcome comprehension failures. In order to better help students overcome such difficulties, training in reading strategies is necessary. Only with the appropriate use of materials and techniques, can reading strategies be best taught to students. The objective of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of strategy training in their reading instruction at Eastern Mediterranean University, School of Foreign Languages (EMU SFL). Additionally, the study attempted to explore what reading strategies teachers teach, how they decide which strategies to teach, and how they make use of the materials to teach reading strategies. The findings of the study might contribute to the design of the reading materials in terms of more effective usage of reading strategies. A questionnaire was administered to the 46 teachers who taught at the intermediate level during the third module of the 2001-2002 academic year in EMU SFL and 33 of them returned the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of five parts, reflecting the different research questions. The aim of the questionnaire was to gather a general picture of the perceptions of the teachers towards reading strategies and their presentation through the materials. After the analysis of the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gather more in-depth information about the teachers’ teaching practices, reading strategies, and how they make use of the reading materials both in the Headway course book and the intermediate pack with six participants. Data collected through the questionnaire were analysed through quantitative methods by employing descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages. In order to support the results and see the distribution of answers for each question, chisquare values were also calculated using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Data collected through the interviews were analysed by using cross sectional and non-cross sectional categorization. Through cross sectional categorization, teachers’ responses were categorized under the heading of three phases of reading instruction, and through non-cross sectional categorization, unexpected themes within the individual participants were analysed separately and interpreted by the researcher. The data results revealed that the majority of teachers at EMU SFL are somewhat familiar with the concept of reading strategies. The results show that teachers use the materials in the Headway course book and the intermediate pack to teach certain reading strategies. According to the results, all the teachers teach prereading strategies, and they rely on the activities designed for the reading materials to teach while-reading strategies. However, teachers are likely to neglect the use of post-reading strategies as they claim there are few such activities in the materials and students are easily bored with them. Apart from the reading strategies taught, some teachers mentioned some materials that are culturally unfamiliar to students. Therefore, they claim that it is difficult for them to use some strategies as well as to adapt the materials. Some teachers mentioned the issue of training for teachers so that they could be more aware of the use of reading strategies other than skimming, scanning, and guessing meaning from the context.