An Implementation of Close Reading Instruction to Promote English Reading Comprehension of Secondary School Students
Keywords:
Close Reading, reading strategies, English reading comprehensionAbstract
Close Reading has become a common means of helping improve readers’ comprehension of complex texts. This study implemented Close Reading instruction for Thai EFL secondary school students and explored their opinions towards Close Reading strategies.Eighteen secondary school students participated in the Close Reading instruction for eleven weeks and the effects on their English reading comprehension were examined. The research instruments were (1) English Reading Comprehension Test, (2) Close Reading Strategies Questionnaire, and (3) Semi-Structured Interview. Results from a paired sample t-test showed a significance level of .05, revealing that students significantly improved reading comprehension by participated in the Close Reading instruction. Almost all of them reread the texts, thought about the author’s intended meaning, and underlined difficult portions of texts that they encountered. According to the content analysis, students reported using the annotating strategy at the first reading for key ideas and details.
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