Running head: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE TO INCREASE COMPREHENSION

Module 4 Action Research: Scaffolding Shakespeare to Increase Comprehension

Rebecca Calvert
ED5153 Research Methods
American College of Education
May 2015

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

Research Purpose
Shakespeare: The revered Elizabethan author who strikes fear in the hearts of high school
students everywhere. Their eyes bulge out and their hearts pound as they slip you that familiar
deer-in- headlights gaze. As an educator, it has been challenging to engage students with such
timeless works such as Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Macbeth, and so on. Often
they struggle with the arcane text and the old English and rarely put forth their own ideas or
analysis (crickets take center stage during questioning). Their bent seems aimed at keeping the
material at arms length, which belies their academic success and poses many classroom
challenges. Thus, through this research I hope to answer the following Action Research
Questions:

How can I get my students to enjoy reading Shakespeare?

How can I get my students to forge meaningful linkages with the original text?
Will enacting scaffolding reading strategies improve students grasp of
Shakespeares novel and virtuoso text and get students to produce solid insights
and upshots about his gifts to art and culture?

Problem Statement and Description of Setting

At GL High School, all sophomore students are required to read A Midsummer Nights
Dream by William Shakespeare. Students are expected to employ reading strategies such as:
taking notes, re-reading, and paraphrasing to help comprehend difficult texts. However from the
very moment that the great author Shakespeare is mentioned, student interest hits the wall. In
order to fathom how so many students can hold such disdain for the man, I conducted a prereading survey with fifty students in Sophomore English B. Questions were ranked out though
four; one stood for severe disdain or rejection of a statement and a four stood for strong
agreement or endorsement of the statement. Disappointingly, less than twenty-five percent of the

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

students surveyed reported enjoying reading Romeo & Juliet their freshmen year. An
overwhelming majority reported that they thoroughly loathed the language and difficultly of the
text. A surprising forty-seven out of fifty students reported consulting an outside source such as
Spark notes or Cliff notes to assist with test preparation. Students also struggled with the
definition of, as well as the ability to draw, inferences about what they had read.
The results from my pre-reading survey clearly underscored how students had struggled
with the original text so profoundly that they could not get past the words to their underlying
meaning. Without having an understanding of the context, students do not feel comfortable
making inferences and answering questions in class. This led me to several questions: How can
I get my students to enjoy reading Shakespeare? How can I get my students to make meaningful
connections with the original text? Will implementing scaffolding reading strategies improve
comprehension of Shakespeares difficult text and promote students to generate inferences?
Literature Review
Many and Aoulou (2014) suggest that providing scaffolded instruction is a complex task
and can be challenging for teachers (p. 2). The process requires teachers to prepare ahead of
time how to assist students in building knowledge and enhancing learning, yet requires teachers
to be alert and flexible in taking advantage of the teachable moments. Their study focused on the
teacher educators and their consideration of background knowledge of students in the design and
implementation stages of instructional scaffolding (Many & Aoulou, 2014). What they found
was that the effectiveness of the instructional scaffolding varied by each teacher; it was presented
in different ways, at varied levels, and had multiple outcomes. Ultimately, the more experienced
educators were more successful which suggests more novice teachers may need additional
training on how to effectively implement scaffolding in instruction.

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

In the article, Social Software in the Classroom: The Case of Wikis for Scaffolding
(2014), Wikis are suggested as collaborative and cooperative tools that allow students to learn
from other peoples work. The authors also suggest that Wikis enhance six different ways to
enhance student learning through scaffolding: recruitment, reduction, direction maintenance,
making critical features, frustration control, and demonstrating a modeling a solution (Ahmadi &
Marandi, 2014). The article incorporates the idea of building on a learners prior knowledge and
encouraging collaboration to allow students to learn from each other while under the direction
and instruction of the teacher. Meanwhile, student interest is sparked while utilizing technology
and working with their peers and makes learning meaningful as students are publishing for a real
audience.
After reviewing several articles, it is evident that it is imperative to take into
consideration student prior knowledge when designing a scaffold lesson plan. Ge, Chen, & Davis
(2005), also suggest that educators provide question prompts during the problem solving phase,
and have found that when this is provided, students performance increased. Through their study,
they found that through careful and deliberate question prompts, educators could guide students
to become more expert problem solvers. Web-based instruction is a great tool to scaffold a
lesson as it can promote collaboration; however, educators must still monitor and encourage
student responses by creating question prompts that meet the needs of the diverse learners in the
group. The goal of the question prompts should force students to take careful consideration of
the question an utilize higher order thinking when problem solving; as well as for students to
internalize the problem solving approaches which have been modeled through the question
prompts.
Methodology

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

According to Oluseyi (2014), the process of triangulation involves multiple entities

assessing the same outcome, using different methodology, to validate findings. Triangulation is a
strategy used for the purpose of assessing and improving the validity of research findings (p.
51). The methodology for this research project will consist of multiple data sources in an effort
to improve reliability and validity. A sample size of fifty students in Sophomore English B will
be assessed. Due to time constraints, a control group was not implemented. A combination of
quantitative and qualitative data collection will provide a thorough description of the results
achieved.
A quantitative pre-survey will be used to assess student interest in and prior knowledge of
Shakespeare. Students were presented with questions, statements, concepts, and/or ideas and
asked to rate their understanding or agreement on a four-point scale. The survey will be
collected before beginning A Midsummer Nights Dream unit through SurveyMonkey. This selfassessment requires students to formally judge their own skills, ability [and] performance
(Oluseyi. 2014, p. 52). This data will help me answer the research questions by allowing students
to the opportunity to rate their level of academic comprehension of Shakespeare as well as their
personal interest in his work. It will also allow me to gauge students abilities to comprehend
difficult texts and ability to generate inferences.
To enhance student comprehension, I will use scaffolding strategies. A qualitative
formative assessment will be administered during the unit to assess if the scaffolding strategies
are enhancing student learning. This assessment will be a volunteer activity for students to
practice paraphrasing skills. Through volunteering, students will demonstrate confidence in their
ability and allow students that need further assistance the opportunity to continually observe and
learn from peers. I will observe student participation and ability to comprehend difficult text.

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

This will help answer if scaffolding is improving student comprehension.
To determine if the scaffolding strategies are improving student ability to make

inferences as well as increase student enjoyment in Shakespeare, I will administer a quantitative

and qualitative summative assessment. This summative assessment will ask students content
related questions, but also questions that ask students to make inferences about what they have
read using the original text. Students will also be asked to make inferences in essay form using
specific examples from the text to support their ideas.
Data Analysis
For the first round of data collection, I utilized a quantitative self-assessment in the form
of a survey. Out of fifty students polled in Sophomore English B, only twelve students reported
enjoying Romeo and Juliet during their freshmen year. Forty-two students indicated that they
found the original text/language of Romeo and Juliet to be challenging. Forty-seven out of fifty
students polled reported utilizing a study assistant such as Cliff Notes and/or Spark Notes when
reading Shakespeare. The results from this survey clarified that students struggled with the
original text so greatly that it interfered with their ability to make inferences. Without having an
understanding of the context, students do not feel comfortable making inferences and answering
questions in class.
Directions: Think back to your freshmen year when you read Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare. Take a look at the statement and rate whether you agree or disagree according to
the four point scale below. If it is a concept or idea, please rate your level of understanding.
There are no right or wrong answers and you will not receive a grade based on your responses,
rather a participation grade of five points for completing the survey to the best of your ability.
Statement/Concept

I enjoyed
reading
Romeo &
Juliet.
I found the

1-

Strongly
Disagree/Stru
ggle

2-

Disagree/
Challenging

3-

Agree/
Manageabl
e

4-

Strongly
Agree/
Easy

Total
Student
Responses

29

12

50

20

22

50

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

language in
R&J to be
easy to
understand.
I struggled
with R&J
because I had
a difficult
time
understandin
g the text.
I utilized a
study
assistant
(such as Cliff
Notes or
Spark Notes)
to help me
understand
R&J.
I can make
inferences
based off
difficult texts
by
paraphrasing.

12

14

15

50

24

23

50

11

17

19

50

As students indicated on the pre-survey that they struggled with Shakespearean language,
I found it imperative to reduce apprehension in order to increase comprehension. I began by
implementing scaffolding strategies into the reading. We read the original text of A Midsummer
Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. In the beginning, I would stop students frequently and
paraphrase the section that we just read. Making a conscious effort to relate the section to
something that students may have encountered in the real world. Culturally relevant literacy
instruction is teaching that makes connections between classroom learning and the world of the
student(Chenowith, 2014, p. 37). Gradually, I reduced the amount of times that I stopped the
reading to paraphrase and started taking volunteers.

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

While taking volunteers I made observations of how many students took advantage of the
opportunity to paraphrase for the class. This qualitative data allowed me to take note of the
student confidence level and ability to make appropriate inferences. On the first day of taking
volunteers, three out of fifty students volunteered with correct inferences. I did not find this
number to be satisfactory. Therefore, on the next day I re-initiated the teacher led paraphrasing
and gradually increased the amount of times I stopped, and on the same day took volunteers. On
the second day the number drastically increased to fourteen out of fifty students offering correct
inferences and relating the text to real world applications. I continued with this approach on the
third day; though I increased the stops sooner and reduced teacher led paraphrasing. On the third
day, nineteen students make appropriate inferences. I continued with this approach (scaffolding
on a daily basis as opposed to weekly) and each day had an increased number of active
participants. On the final days of the unit, I did not provide any scaffolding; instead, students
provided all of the paraphrasing. The results of this observation indicated that through
scaffolding, student comprehension of a difficult text was improving.
At the end of the unit, a summative assessment consisting of both quantitative and
qualitative data collection questions was implemented to determine if scaffolding strategies
improved student ability to make inferences. The quantitative portion consisted of content
related multiple choice questions. This allowed me to verify if students comprehended the
difficult text. Out of fifty students, the class average on this portion of the assessment was an
87%. This indicated that a majority of the students had a thorough understanding of A
Midsummer Nights Dream. I then included a qualitative short response section. Elaboration
prompts were designed to activate schema and help students elaborate and articulate their
reasoning process (Ge, Chen, & Davis, 2005, p. 223). The questions prompted students to make

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

inferences based off the difficult text. Out of fifty students, forty two students mastered this
concept. The eight students that did not master the concept of making valid inferences seemed to
also struggle on the multiple choice section.
Finally, to gauge if students enjoyed reading Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream,
I asked students to reflect upon the unit. Students were asked to explain what they liked and
disliked about the text, reading strategies, and content. A majority of the students responded that
they enjoyed the unit and would like to read another play by William Shakespeare in the future.
Students also reported that the scaffolding strategies helped them gain a better understanding for
the text.
Conclusions
Students in Sophomore English B fostered resentment towards reading William
Shakespeare due to a lack of understanding. Through action research, data was collected while
implementing scaffolding strategies to increase comprehension. The data has revealed that
through teacher led scaffolding, students can significantly increase their understanding of
difficult texts which ultimately leads to increased confidence making inferences. Once students
were able to make valid inferences, they were able to connect the difficult text to real world
application thus increasing their enjoyment in William Shakespeare.
Communicating the Findings
Interested to see what other teachers were doing to teach Shakespeare, I discussed my
findings with two co-workers that teach the same unit. I also shared the findings with peers in
my Research Methods course. According to Colleague A (personal communication, May 11,
2015), students in her Sophomore English B class also seem to foster the same negative feelings
towards Shakespeare. She uses a study guide that prompts discussions through each part of the

ACTION RESEARCH: SCAFFOLDING SHAKESPEARE

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play. Colleague B (personal communication, May 11, 2015) did not see such a negative
association with the author, and utilizes No Fear Shakespeare by SparkNotes.com wherein a
modern translation is provided next to the old text. Peer A (personal communication, May 13,
2015) suggested providing the same pre-survey at the end of the unit to see if student feelings
had changed. She also suggested utilizing Linked Text Sets which include various forms of
media that link the central ideas/themes of the play to help peak student interest and enhance
comprehension (Elish-Piper, Wold & Schwingerndorf, 2014). My coworkers were intrigued
about learning more about scaffolding the reading and would like more information as they were
interested in implementing this approach in the upcoming school year.
Future Actions
Moving forward, I will continue to scaffold the reading of difficult texts to help build
student ability to make inferences and personal connections with the literature. I will continue to
issue pre-surveys as well as post surveys to gauge improvement. I will also share the findings
from my research with my colleagues at the beginning of next school year in hopes they will find
the approach as effective as I did. My hopes is that students will no longer roll their eyes at the
name of a famous author due to the difficulty of the text, yet engage in the reading and make
inferences and meaning. This will ultimately promote lifelong learners and true appreciation for
timeless authors. After my classmates suggestion of incorporating Linked Texts Sets (LTS), I
am curious:

Will Linked Text Sets engage students and peak interest in difficult texts?
Through the inclusion of Linked Text Sets, will student comprehension improve?

Therefore, I will likely implement another action research plan within the Shakespeare unit that
incorporates Linked Text Sets.

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References
Ahmadi, S. D., & Marandi, S. S. (2014). Social Software in the Classroom: The Case of Wikis
for Scaffolding. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 98(Proceedings of the
International Conference on Current Trends in ELT), 100-108.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.394
Chenowith, N. H. (2014). Culturally responsive pedagogy and cultural scaffolding in literacy
education. Ohio Reading Teacher, 44(1), 35-40. Education Source, EBSCOhost
(accessed May 2, 2015).
Elish-Piper, L., Wold, L. S., & Schwingendorf, K. (2014). Scafolding high school students
reading of complex texts using linked text sets. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,
57(7), 565-574.
Ge, X., Chen, C., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Scaffolding Novice Instructional Designers' ProblemSolving Processes Using Question Prompts in a Web-Based Learning Environment.
Journal Of Educational Computing Research, 33(2), 219-248. doi:10.2190/5F6J-HHVF2U2B-8T3G
Many, J. j., & Aoulou, E. (2014). Understanding Literacy Teacher Educators' Use of Scaffolding.
Reading Horizons, 53(3), 1-34.
Oluseyi, A. E. (2014). Students, peers and teachers strategies as a measure of effective
classroom assessment and the value of triangulation. International Journal of Social
Sciences & Education, 5(1), 50-57.