POLYTECHNIC ARMY SCHOOL LANGUAGE DEPARTAMENT

Theme:
The lack of emphasis on the cognitive strategies and reading skills leads to a deficient reading comprehension on students. An study on strategies to reduce these flaws.

TUTOR : Msc. LIilian Avalos C. AUTHORS: Paolo Cedeo (0993027660)

Lester Peredo (0993025332)

Guayaquil-Ecuador 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
CHAPTER ONE: RESEARCH PROBLEM ............................................................................................ 4 1.1 Problem Identification: ......................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Problem-formulation ........................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Variables matrix .................................................................................................................. 5 1.3. Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.3.1 General Objective: ......................................................................................................... 6 1.3.2 Specific Objectives: ........................................................................................................ 6 1.4. Justification ......................................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................ 7 2.1. Theoretical and Conceptual Focus ....................................................................................... 7 2.2. Structure: ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.3. Hypothesis system............................................................................................................. 10 2.3.1 Working Hypothesis:.................................................................................................... 10 2.3.2. Null Hypothesis........................................................................................................... 10 2.3.3. Alternative Hypothesis................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN ............................................................................. 11 3.1. Research type and design: ................................................................................................. 11 3.2. Population and sample: ..................................................................................................... 13 3.3. Field work ......................................................................................................................... 14 3.4. Instruments for data collection:......................................................................................... 14 3.5. Processing and analysis: .................................................................................................... 16

CHAPTER FOUR: ADMINISTRATIVE FRAME.................................................................................. 17 4.1 Material resources: ............................................................................................................ 17

4.2 Human Competence:.......................................................................................................... 17 4.3 Budget: .............................................................................................................................. 17 4.4 Chronological distribution: ................................................................................................. 17 4.5 Bibliography: ...................................................................................................................... 17 4.6 Glossary: ............................................................................................................................ 18 ANNEX 1: BUDGET.................................................................................................................... 21 ANNEX 2: CRONOLOGYCAL DISTRIBUTION ............................................................................... 21 TIMETABLE ............................................................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX SECTION .................................................................................................................. 22 Reading Test to evaluate .......................................................................................................... 22 Examples of Reading Assessments: .......................................................................................... 25

CHAPTER FIVE: TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS ................................................................................... 30 4.1. Graphical exposition of results: ......................................................................................... 30 4.2. Analysis of results: ............................................................................................................. 31 4.3. Conclusions: ...................................................................................................................... 33 4.4. Recommendations: ........................................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER SIX: THE PROPOSAL...................................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER ONE: RESEARCH PROBLEM

1.1 Problem Identification:
Psychologists interested in how individuals learn have devoted much attention to the cognitive processes involved in encoding, storing, and retrieving information of all types. According to the Simple View of Reading (SVR), reading comprehension is a product of the joint effect of word-level reading skills (decoding) and linguistic comprehension.

An examination of reading curricula of some English Academies and Public Schools, reading assessment is an important ability every student must achieve while they are studying a foreign language. However, when they have to apply their reading ability, apparently previous learnt in daily activities or some special situations, they demonstrate a deficient in reading comprehension, which reveals a lack emphasis on the cognitive strategies and skills of reading.

1.2. Problem-formulation
Independent Variables
The lack of emphasis on the cognitive strategies and reading skills.

Dependent Variables
A deficient reading comprehension on students.

Formulation of the problem:

The lack of emphasis on the cognitive strategies and reading skills leads to a deficient reading comprehension on students.

1.3. Variables matrix

Variables Conceptual definition Dimensions Sub-dimensions

A correct emphasis on cognitive strategies considers all mental Cognitive processes that strategies and underlie the reading skills. acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing.

Independent Variables

Language acquisition Native language

How learners acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. How native language influences on reading second-language texts. Second-language acquisition refers to what learners do; it does not refer to practices in language teaching. Here we will identify what obstacles students should overcome while learning to read.

Secondlanguage acquisition

Variables

Conceptual definition

Dimensions

Sub-dimensions

Dependent Variables

Reading comprehension on students.

Recognition of words is not enough on its own to constitute reading. Understanding what we are reading is key and is certainly the main point of teaching reading in a class.

Language teaching

Methodology Different reading techniques.

1.3. Objectives
1.3.1 General Objective:

Determine the possible main cause of deficiency in reading comprehension and how to improve students reading ability.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives:

1. To verify the low expertise in reading English texts and corroborate which reading ability has poor proficiency. 2. To demonstrate how incorporating strategic abilities to read in their curriculum implies a high improvement in learners ability to read. 3. To determine which specific barriers students do overcome in acquiring reading comprehension skills.

1.4. Justification
This Research clearly attempts to demonstrate specific barriers in acquiring READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS as well as specific strategies to reduce these flaws. It has established how reading is approached in both Public and Private Schools in Guayaquil (Ecuador). It attempted to explore the field of study and gather accumulative information on it. In order to do this exploration, data was collected and assimilated from formal direct observation, field notes, references to (researcher-written) profiles and reports. Even though the small sampling number (up to 30). It is self-explanatory, in other words, this research clearly leads to determine the actual origin of the problem as well as most necessary problemsolving steps to be taken.

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. Theoretical and Conceptual Focus
In the last several decades, theories and models of reading have changed, from seeing reading as primarily receptive processes from text to reader to interactive processes between the reader and the text (cf., Adams, 1990; Eskey and Grabe, 1988; Perfetti, 1985; Samuels, 1994; Stanovich, 1992; and Swaffar, 1988). Approaches to the teaching of foreign language reading have attempted to reflect this development through interactive exercises and tasks. The use of questions is an integral aspect of such activities, and based on some language teachers experiences we have seen that well-designed comprehension questions help students interact with the text to create or construct meaning. We believe that it is critical that teachers help their students create meaning. Having students actively engaged in actual reading and writing through activities that involved reading, writing, and doing things with the text improve their well-developed comprehension questions and help our students to begin thinking critically and intelligently. Undoubtedly good reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction at all grade levels and for all students, including those with learning disabilities. Accurate assessment of reading comprehension is necessary to know if this goal is being met, to identify children who need remediation, and to help plan future instruction. However, many scientific investigators of reading agree that further work on measures of reading comprehension is essential, including development of comprehensive systems of assessment that pinpoint key strengths and weaknesses in individual learners. In general, different measures of reading comprehension correlate significantly, and quite substantially, with each other. That is, students who score highly on one measure of reading comprehension also tend to score highly on other measures, whereas those who do poorly on one test tend to have difficulty on other measures as well.

However, there is evidence that different tests may tap the abilities that underlie reading comprehension such as word decoding, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and speed of reading to different extents, such that scores sometimes can vary substantially in individual cases. For instance, although all reading comprehension measures tap word decoding, cloze format tests may tap word decoding skills relatively more heavily than do question-answering tests, perhaps because children can rely on the gist of a passage or background knowledge in answering many typical comprehension questions. Similarly, reading comprehension assessments that require students to write answers to open-ended questions as do some state-mandated assessments may be tapping components of writing as well as reading. And a test with stringent time limits clearly will tap speed of reading more than does an untimed test. Therefore, if only one measure of reading comprehension is given, as is often true, the results can potentially be misleading in certain cases. In addition, tests of reading comprehension are broad measures that, by themselves, do not usually help teachers pinpoint difficulties in individual students. Two children might obtain the same score on a measure of reading comprehension but might arrive at that score in very different ways. If one child has a strong vocabulary and strong oral comprehension skills coupled with weak decoding, and the other decodes well but has an impoverished vocabulary, then instruction for those two youngsters will need to differ in some important respects. Assessment of key component abilities, such as those mentioned above, is essential in order to interpret reading comprehension performance and facilitate instructional planning. Finally, current measures of reading comprehension are not geared toward distinguishing specific comprehension processes that might underlie poor comprehension in both listening and reading. Measures identifying such processes could be enormously helpful in diagnosing and remediating comprehension problems. Developing these kinds of measures is currently an area of much interest in the scientific community.
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2.2. Structure:
CHAPTER ONE COGNITIVE SKILLS 1.1.Language acquisition 1.2 Reading matters: What is reading?

CHAPTER TWO WHAT CHALLENGES DOES THE LEARNER READER FACE? 2.1 Native language influences 2.2 Does reading in a foreign language differ from native language reading? 2.3. What obstacles should learners overcome to achieve reading ability?

CHAPTER THREE HOW TO IMPROVE READING DEVELOPMENT AND OVERCOME READING DIFFICULTIES 3.1 Types of reading comprehension 3.2 The importance of a correct methodology 3.3. Reading Assessment Techniques 3.3.1 Summarizing 3.3.2 Looking for important information 3.3.3 Determining word meaning 3.3.4 Reflecting CHAPTER FOUR EXPLORING THE MANIFESTATION OF COMPREHENSION

4.1 How should we asses reading comprehension 4.2 Monitoring reading strategies 4.3 Developing and Evaluating Reading Comprehension Questions

2.3. Hypothesis system

2.3.1 Working Hypothesis:

The teaching of reading strategies helps effectively in developing reading skills and improving comprehension abilities in students from an intermediate level.
2.3.2. Null Hypothesis

The teaching of reading strategies doesnt help effectively in developing reading skills and improving comprehension abilities in students from an intermediate level.
2.3.3. Alternative Hypothesis

The teaching of reading strategies and the methodology used by the teachers are decisive to develop students ability to read English texts, acquiring a highest comprehension competence.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN

3.1. Research type and design:
In todays world the ability to read is valued and vital skill. People in the developed world are surrounded by print and it is difficult to imagine a life in which you did not interact with written text on a daily basis. Reading is clearly an important skill. In fact, reading is much more than a single skill: it involves the coordination of a range of abilities, strategies and knowledge. As we have read in the theoretical framework, learning to read involves two components: word reading and comprehension of what we read. This project is concerned with assessing the abilities to read our teenaged students have, then determining which reading ability they most lack by classifying each ability with an specific task included in the exam and proposing some feedback and recommendations that should be considered to improve or reinforce their reading comprehension. Two main variables we want to analyze are: The first concerns the nature of poor comprehension. In it, well review the characteristics of poor comprehenders in relation to their wider literacy skills, in involves only literal meaning of the text. The second examines which reading and reading-related skills cause difficulties for poor comprehenders and the evidence that these difficulties area causally related to their general reading comprehension problems. In this variable, reading comprehension involves going beyond the literal meaning of the text, making links between ideas within the text and between the text and general knowledge, in order to construct a coherent representation of a texts meaning. This kind of research is considered to be explanatory. It is focused to determine which of the main two variables described above influences more in their poor reading comprehension: word reading and word comprehension.

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Methods: Consulting some teachers with experience for teaching a second language who may contribute with their knowledge in finding some reading methodology that should be implemented in students approach. Carrying the reading tests prepared above, with a previous instruction explaining how it is structured and how their answers will be scored. Showing them which were the correct answers, to help them clarifying some doubts they may have about the tasks and explaining why the answers shown are the correct and only ones. Providing some feedback to students when having the final results, well explain which reading abilities were tested and which ones should be reinforced. Explaining to students what involves each reading abilitiy and how it may be improved giving some examples, exercises and resources.

Explaining to teachers what involves each reading abilitiy and how it may be
improved with a correct methodology, implementing some strategic reading abilities teaching in students approach, giving some examples, exercises and resources.

Techniques: Scaling, which is a technique that allows researchers through their respondents to categorize certain variables that they would not be able to rank, focused on a topic or construct of interest, involving input from one or more participants, that produces an interpretable pictorial view (concept map) of their ideas and concepts and how these are interrelated. Listening students doubts about tasks done and explaining why only some options were considered as right. Giving some tips for increasing their ability to read while giving examples and exercises to support them.
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 Teaching some strategies to help them determining word meaning using context and some known words. Giving teachers enough material about reading abilities and how to improve them, to start including in their classes at least twice a month. Giving some demonstrative classes for teachers, so they can learn about the methodology, how to use the resources given and how better to include in their students approach.

Instruments: Didactic materials. Classroom observation direct Register of Notes Test of Abilities Additional reading tests and resources

3.2. Population and sample:

This study is developed to a specific English academy: Tnte. Hugo Ortiz High School. The scope of this project will only be intermediate level, which has 32 students. It means there will not be a sample because all the students population on this level will be tested.

The purpose of this study is to reflect what reading abilities students lack and propose an alternative methodology this academy may use to improve students performance on reading comprehension depending on the results obtained.

As was described before, it is a descriptive project which aimed at discovering inferences or a specific problem. We decided to select only the intermediate level. Some reasons to support this idea are: Firstly, they may
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generally represent a student with all the abilities and skills acquired along their educational formation in the academy. So their results may easily be extended for the rest of the academy because all of them have learnt with the same curricula. Secondly, they represent the 37% of students this academy has and where most of them have started to study English in the same academy since the first level. Thirdly, we would like to have the opportunity to improve their reading abilities on their last level. This will increase their abilities to read before graduating from teenager courses as we take them as reference from before and after methodology applied.

3.3. Field work

The present research will be applied a t Tnte. Hugo Ortiz Academy. It is located in front of Samanes 6, in Tnte Hugo Ortiz Military High School , at the north of Guayaquil, Guayas Province; with all the students from the intermediate level of the first term, 2013.

3.4. Instruments for data collection:

The instruments that are going to be employed to collect new facts and different TESTS As data gathering devices, tests are among the most useful tools of educational research, for they provide the data for most experimental and descriptive studies in education. These instruments assess variety of human abilities, potentials achievements and behavior in our specific case we would focus on reading READING comprehenssion tests. kind of information are: tests, interviews and questionnaire.

COMPREHENSSION

TESTS.

It includes one reading. The evaluation will asses three dimensions

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while they are reading: literal comprehension which refers to an understanding of the straightforward meaning of the text, making inferences which involves more than a literal understanding, and prediction which involves using both their understanding of the passage and their own knowledge of the topic.

QUESTIONNAIRE Questionnaire is a self report data collection instrument that each research participant fills out as part of a research study. These questionnaires would include questions like: where did you learn English? Did you learn it in English-Speaking Country? if the answer is yes... Where? How long did you stay in that country? Did you learn English in Ecuador? Was it at high school? Was it at University?, etc . FORMS/KINDS OF QUESTIONNAIRE

The researcher can construct questions in the form of a closed, open pictorial 1. and Close scale items. form

Questionnaire that calls for short check responses as the, restricted or close form type. They provide for marking a Yes or No a short response or checking an item from a list of suggested responses. INTERVIEW (FACE TO FACE) The interview is in a sense, an oral questionnaire. Instead of writing the response, the subject or interviewee gives the needed information verbally in a face to face relationship.

Interview that are done face to face are called in person interviews; interviews conducted over the telephone are called telephone interviews.

The four types of interviews are: The closed quantitative interview. The standardized open ended interview. The interview guide approach.
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The informal conversational interview.

These four types can be grouped into quantitative interviews (which include the closed quantitative interview) and qualitative interviews (which include the standardized open ended interview, the interview guide approach and the informal conversational interview.

3.5. Processing and analysis:

The Reading Test has one text from B1 level. There are four types of questions which will evaluate three dimensions: literal comprehension, making inferences and prediction. All questions are objective with only one answer, all of them with multiple choices. The test will be grade over twenty which scores are categorized into three levels: excellent ability to read (from 20 to 18), medium ability to read (from 17 to 15) and lack ability for reading comprehension (14). In the result section, scores were shown as percentage in each category according to the reading ability that was evaluated. It helps to determine which ability should be reinforced.

Then, depending on the scores, problem formulation will be proposed and in a scientific way confirm or deny the work hypothesis for this investigation. For this research the with median, maximum and minimum grade- test will be carried out as a model of a hypothesis test, which will enable to determine if the pattern of frequency observed in the students of the intermediate level corresponds or fits the prospective or expected pattern.

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CHAPTER FOUR: ADMINISTRATIVE FRAME

4.1 Material resources:
Cassette recorder CD Video tapes Photographic camera Film camera Computer Printer Copy Machine Surveys Presentation Cards

4.2 Human Competence:

English Teachers of Tnte. Hugo Ortiz Academy Tutor appointed by Polytechnic School. Directors of English Department. Researchers

4.3 Budget: Please check the ANNEX 1 at the end of this work. 4.4 Chronological distribution: Please check the ANNEX 2 at the end of this work. 4.5 Bibliography:
Aaron, P. G., Joshi, R. M., & Williams, K. A. (1999). Not all reading disabilities are alike. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32,120-137. Kate Cain, Reading: Development and difficulties, BPS Blackwell BPS Textbooks. National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for Reading instruction. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD),
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National Institutes of Health [online] available: www.nationalreadingpanel.org RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: author. Taylor, B. & Pearson, P. D. (Eds.) (2002). Teaching reading: Effective schools, accomplished teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

4.6 Glossary:
Here you will find some specialized terms, used during the project, in alphabetical order Anticipation/Prediction: to guess or forecast an idea depending on the context presented. Authentic Questions: Questions generated by learners in response to natural curiosity about the content. Questions spontaneously asked by learners without prompting by teachers. Categorization: Thinking skill that allows students to sort objects or concepts into categories according to a variety of criteria. Central Idea: main idea in a reading. Closure: Any activities which help students summarize key points learned and how the new knowledge relates to the objectives to be learned. Cloze Procedure: An activity created by the teacher to give students practice with language usage. The teacher selects a passage of text, marks out some of the words, then rewrites the text with blank lines where the marked out words were. The result is a "fill in the blank" that should be enjoyable for the student while at the same time giving the teacher informa Curricula. - All the courses of study offered by an educational institution. (Social Science /Education) A course of study in one subject at a school or college. Any program or plan of activities. Data Analysis: Having students gather and analyze data can connect them to real-world problems and also improve their critical thinking skills. Evaluating: A critical thinking skill involving judging to place a value on ideas or work. Guided Reading: Structured reading where short passages are read, then student interpretations are immediately recorded, discussed, and revised. Inductive Thinking: Analyzing individual observations to come to general conclusions. Proceeding from facts to the "big picture." Inferential Strategy Like DR-TA but occurs only before and after reading.
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Inferring: A thinking skill, demonstrated when a student can make conclusions based on reading or prior knowledge. Intra-Act: Students' valuing of reading is expressed by students responses to opinion questions and their predictions of classmates' opinions on a "game sheet." Meaningful Sentences: Given vocabulary terms, students can be shown sentences in which the terms are used in a context that helps them to understand the meaning of the terms, or as an assessment, students can be asked to write meaningful sentences containing key words. Oral Reading: Oral reading of existing texts can be used to scaffold learning of vocabulary, pronunciation, and connections to related topics. During the writing process, oral reading becomes a proofreading strategy. One Sentence Summary: Students are asked to write a single summary sentence that answers the "who, what, where, when, why, how" questions about the topic. Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing involves careful reading, then rewriting the ideas of the author in your own words. Learning to paraphrase is critical to understanding how to do research from texts, then properly cite those texts without plagiarizing. Partner Reading: Pairs of students read together and the listener corrects the active reader. One special form of partner reading is called "Reading Buddies." Reading buddies are pairs whose members are several years apart. Population. - All matter and energy, including the earth, the galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space, regarded as a whole. The entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn. Predict / Check / Connect: A reading strategy by Edwin S. Ellis encouraging predictions based on the beginning of a text. Problem-Solving: A Meaningful Use Task which centers on overcoming constraints or limiting conditions Process Writing: Students write following a model specified by the instructor. Emphasis shifts from the nature of the final product, to the process used to create the final product. Questions Into Paragraphs (QuIP) A reading and writing strategy by Elaine McLauglin in which students are taught how to use questions to research answers from multiple texts and incorporate them into a coherent paragraph. Reading.- The skill or activity of getting information from written words

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Reading for Information: A type of reading in which learners interact with text to collect information, or to improve their understanding of specific topics. Recall, Summarize, Question, Comment, and Connect (RSQC2): A summarization technique in which students Recall (list) key points, Summarize in a single sentence, ask unanswered questions, Connect the material to the goals of the course, and write an evaluative Comment. Reflection: A metacognitive activity. Learner pauses to think about, and organize information gathered from reading, discussions, or other activities. Reinforcement: something added to provide more strength or support. Sample. - A portion, piece, or segment that is representative of a whole. Statistics A set of elements drawn from and analyzed to estimate the characteristics of a population. A set of individuals or items selected from a population for analysis to yield estimates of, or to test hypotheses about, parameters of the whole population. Scanning: By Reading or looking at material quickly to gain an overview of the content. Self-Correction: Students correct themselves during reading, speaking, or performing skills. Self-Selected Reading: Students select the materials to read. It Improves motivation as students can select materials of interest to them. Similarities and Differences: A form of comparison in which students first list all the similarities they can find between the two objects or concepts being compared, then they list all the differences. Skimming: Reading or looking at material quickly to gain an overview of the content. Study aids: The teacher provides students with carefully constructed tools to assist students in learning for specific structures or environments. For example, the teacher may distribute a "Guide to Using the Library" before taking students to the library to do research. Before a multiple choice test, the teacher may provide test-taking tips or tips on how to study for the upcoming test. Syntax: The use of the structure of language, or knowledge about the structure of language to solve problems or understand text. Teaching for Understanding: The approach used by teachers in order to make learning a smooth process.

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ANNEX 1: BUDGET DESTINY Materials: brochures, surveys, evaluation tests. Transportation Background: research presentation cards. Unexpected expenses Total and cds, VALUES 40,00 15,00 10,00 20,00 85,00

ANNEX 2: CRONOLOGYCAL DISTRIBUTION This research project starts on March 25th and ends on June 10th.

TIMETABLE MONTH ACTIVITIES Planning and Presentation Approval Project X X X X X X X

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MARCH APRIL

MAY

JUNE

The beginning evaluation test Collecting of information Development elaboration data final analysis report

Final evaluation test Inform

APPENDIX SECTION
Reading Test to evaluate

The Story of Helen Adams Keller

Helen Adams Keller was worn in Alabama in 1880 and in 1968. Helen became deaf and blind after a short childhood illness when she was 19 month old. 1886, aged six, Helen was introduced to Anne Sullivan, a twenty year old teacher who was partially blind. Ann was the first person to teach Helen the meaning of words. The first words Helen learned was `water which Anne taught her by running cool water over her palm. She also taught her how to speak by touching the lips and throats of other people which is known as the Tadoma method. Helen was very closed to Anne, and called her `Teacher. They remained close friends and companions for 49 years.

In 1894, they moved to New York to study at Wright-Humason School for the Deaf. In 1898 Helen entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in Massachusetts and in 1900 she was admitted to Radcliffe College. In 1903, she wrote an autobiographical book called The Story of my Life. In 1904, Helen graduated from Radcliffe College becoming the first deaf and blind person to graduate from college.

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Helen became famous all over the world as an author and speaker and travelled to over 39 countries with Anne. Ann Sullivan died in 1936. Helen devoted the rest of her life to raising funds for blind and deaf people of America. In 1960, she published another book, entitled Light in my Darkness. She died in June, 1968 in Connecticut. Helen Keller will always be remembered as an exceptional person who overcame her blindness and deafness to achieve great things. As she always said, `The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.

I.

Read the text and choose the correct answer (A-D) for questions 1-5

1. What is the author main purpose in writing the text? (2 p) A. To present us with a short biography of Helen Adams Keller B. To talk about the success a deaf and blind person can achieve in life C. To explain why Helen Adams Keller is such an inspiring person. D. To describe Helen Adams Kellers personality.

2. What would a reader learn about Anne Sullivan from the text? (2 p) A. She was like a sister to Helen. B. She was Helens teacher and close friend. C. She was very close to Helen. D. She was an inspiration for Helen.

3. What did Helen do after she graduated from college? (2 p) A. She went to Massachusetts. B. She wrote The Story of my Life. C. She travelled the world as an author and speaker. D. She moved to Alabama.

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4. Helen was an exceptional person because (2 p) A. She managed to achieve great things. B. She was the first blind and deaf person to write a book. C. She was the first blind and deaf person to graduate from college. D. She raised funds for blind and deaf person in America.

5. Which is the best description of Helen? (2 p) A. An exceptional person who overcame blindness and deafness to achieve great things B. A blind and deaf author who travelled over 39 countries. C. An exceptional blind woman who was speaker and author. D. A gifted blind and deaf speaker who wrote many books.

II.

Match each word with a word or phrase that is similar to meaning: (6 p) A. Collecting B. The state of not being able to see C. To stay in the same condition D.To defeat or succeed difficulties

1. Remain ( par 1)________ 2. Raising ( par 3)_______ 3. Overcame ( par 4)_______ 4. Blindness ( par 4)______

What do these words refer to? (4 p) 1. She (par 1, line 5) : __________________ 2. Her (par 1, line 6) : __________________

Reading: Level B1+

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Examples of Reading Assessments:

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CHAPTER FIVE: TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS 4.1. Graphical exposition of results:

Final Results

33%
Correct

68%

Lack of ability

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4.2. Analysis of results:

Summarizing:

37,5%

Summarizing
62,5%
Correct Lack of ability

This ability is one of the hardest reading and comprehension skills to be achieved as it requires a thorough evaluation of facts. It is required for learners to provide a global or comprehensive judgment about some aspect of the text plus inherent skill of summarizing main ideas. The figures show that 62 percent of students could summarize properly which means that almost 4 out of ten learners are still deficient in this area. It is also worth mentioning that these learners mostly come from medium class families who can afford, to certain extent, private English classes. It leads that the number of students with this lack of ability of summarizing would considerably increase if students from poor areas would be surveyed.

Determining word meaning:

Determining Word Meaning

33%
Correct

67%

Lack of ability

This type of comprehension is closely related to literal meaning, it also deeply connected to the straightforward understanding of meaning of any given
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text, this includes: facts, vocabulary, dates, times, and locations. Under the latter category we would also find those questions that are categorized as literal comprehension, indeed they can be answered directly and explicitly from the text. It seems these parameters need to be heavily reinforced as it seems learners still do not have enough vocabulary that allows them to recognize words and phrases properly. The figures, however, are not totally discouraging, almost 67% of learners could identify word meaning. Regretfully our sample is small but experience has shown that this amount would tend to get lower when it comes to deal with school in deprived areas. Therefore, teachers should increase the amount of vocabulary focusing on those words and expression which are really useful for their daily interactions or careers rather than unnecessary one.

Reflecting:

Reflecting
38% 63%
Correct Lack of ability

It is well-known that reflecting on a passage of reading is a practical way of connecting learners experiences, beliefs, and values, which in turn helps students to remember the material better. Results are on the figure which appears to be on an average of 62%. It is undoubtedly that this percentage would be less positive in poor and rural areas.

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Literal comprehension:

Looking for important information

0%

Correct Lack of ability

100%

Literal comprehension refers to an understanding of the straightforward meaning of the text, such as facts, vocabulary, dates, times, and locations. Questions of literal comprehension can be answered directly and explicitly from the text. In our experiences working with teachers, we have found that they often check on literal comprehension first to make sure that their students have understood the basic or surface meaning of the text. In our study, when we test children, all of them got the maximum grade of 2/2. This means students dont have enough problem looking for relevant or specific information such as names, dates, reasons and some punctual information written in the same way the question asks.

4.3. Conclusions:
Comprehension is a complex process that requires a number of skills from recognizing individual words through to forming a coherent and cohesive mental model of a text. In turn, these skills place demands on a variety of linguistic and cognitive processes.

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 It was found that poor readers constituted four heterogeneous groups which may be classified or identified depending on the deficiency in any of the following skills: (a) decoding only, (b) comprehension only, (c) a combination of decoding and comprehension, and (d) a combination of orthographic processing and reading speed. The criteria used in selecting poor readers influenced the distribution of the ratio of the four types of poor readers within any given group. As it has been stated throughout this research the conclusions are limited to this specific group. However, teaching experience has shown that reading flaw seems much bigger in other population segments. It is also worth mentioning that these learners mostly come from medium class families who can afford, to certain extent, private English classes. The number of students would considerably increase if students from poor areas would be surveyed.

4.4. Recommendations:
It is clear that Ecuadorian teachers need to deepen their preparation in all areas, of course, reading cannot be exception. Ecuadorian teachers need to embrace cutting edge techniques which encourage group activities. Those activities establish and promote the discussion of the answers, even if this also implies to deal with those that are wrong in order to have learners really involved in creating useful meaning. Regretfully we have a weak reading culture and this is reflected on the way our students see reading, therefore, these activities should be interesting and useful to students interests. In addition, some specific recommendations we would like to be considered for teachers are:

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Provide explicit instruction and practice in the use of comprehension strategies Begin with a text about a familiar topic in which the structure is easy to identify. Move on to a text on a less familiar topic and with a somewhat more complex structure Encourage students to make predictions, select a text in which many outcomes are possible Increase the amount and quality of open, sustained discussion of reading content Set and maintain high standards for text, conversation, questions, and vocabulary Increase students' motivation and engagement with reading Teach essential content knowledge so that all students master critical concepts rather than unnecessary.

Finally, we would like to mention that in the appendix section, youll find some model of reading assessments to take as reference when evaluating students performance. These ones could be applied after applying some reading strategies described in the proposal chapter.

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CHAPTER SIX: THE PROPOSAL

One of the most important treasures that human being has is the ability to communicate with language. Good reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction at all grade levels and for all children, including those with learning disabilities. Accurate assessment of reading comprehension is necessary to know if this goal is being met, to identify children who need remediation, and to help plan future instruction. However, many scientific investigators of reading agree that further work on measures of reading comprehension is essential, including development of comprehensive systems of assessment that pinpoint key strengths and weaknesses in individual youngsters.

Start discussing why poor comprehenders fail to understand text will involve designing another project with an explicative research design to determine its main reasons. However, by some experience and investigation, we can generally classify those problems into three broad categories: text-level processing, exploring underlying language weaknesses and poor comprehenders memory skills.

Our purpose is not to investigate deeply on each broad category. On the contrary, bring teachers some functional tools to overcome those reading obstacles. For this reason, as a strategy to reinforce students abilities for reading comprehension, we have decided to share some material and strategies found on the internet that may be inserted in students approach, without changing its general structure.

Developing Reading Comprehension Strategies

Some teaching techniques that have been shown to be effective in promoting reading comprehension are:
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Comprehension monitoring Graphic/semantic organizers (diagrams) for learning new vocabulary Story structure training focusing on plots, characters and main events Question answering Question generation Summarization (identifying and integrating details to create a coherent and succinct summary of a text) Multiple strategy teaching, based around discussion between children and a tutor.

Some effective strategies that lead to better reading skills standards:

Active comprehension monitoring that leads to the use of fix-up strategies when comprehension fails; use of graphic and semantic organizers, including: Story maps Question generation Summarization and paraphrasing Selective rereading.

Interventions for Poor Comprehenders A number of small-scale training studies provide evidence that reading comprehension can be improved in poor comprehenders. Strategies include training in: Inferencing and monitoring skills Lexical inference resolution, question generation and prediction. Mental imagery encouraging children to make representational and transformational pictures in their minds. Visualizing and Verbalising

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Finally, we would like to share with you one interesting and amazing channel weve found on the internet:

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/balancedliteracydiet/Reading_Comprehension_Strategies.ht ml

The Balanced Literacy Diet presents literacy concepts using the familiar terminology of a healthy diet. This channel is organized around 15 key "food groups" for literacy. These are based on what is known from research and practice to be essential for effective literacy instruction. Through hundreds of brief engaging videos, educators can learn about the essential food groups for literacy and hear from "classroom chefs" presenting "literacy recipes" in their own personal styles.

Here we will find hundreds of detailed lesson plans and Virtual Tours of the classrooms of exemplary literacy teachers, who share insights on implementing effective and engaging instruction in classrooms from Pre-K to 6th grade. However some of these techniques may also be used with teenagers with hardly little changes on methodology. In the Appendix, youll find come recommended videos about how to improve students reading abilities and comprehension.

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