The Effects of Reading Strategy Instruction via Electronic Storybooks on EFL Young Readers’ Reading Performance

Abstract

The prevalence of web-based applications and the use of multimedia in school make learning and teaching through the Internet a popular method in education (Ferdig, 2005). To keep in line with the trend, the purpose of the study was to explore the effects of reading strategy instruction via electronic storybooks on EFL elementary school students’ reading comprehension, their strategy use and their viewpoints toward electronic storybooks-based reading strategy instruction. Fifty-seven Taiwanese EFL fourth graders from two intact classes were chosen, and assigned as an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received a ten-week reading strategy instruction whereas the control group did not engage in any strategy training. The experimental group were taught seven reading strategies, which were practiced in small groups. The instruments included one STYLE proficiency test, five reading comprehension tests, and questionnaires of strategy use and an attitude questionnaire toward e-books based reading strategy instruction. Results indicated that after reading strategy instruction, the experimental group performed better than the control group in story comprehension, but without significance. However, they significantly outperformed the control group in strategy use. Also, the experimental group had positive attitude toward e-books based reading strategy instruction. Pedagogical implications were provided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keywords

• Electronic storybooks, Reading strategy instruction, Reading Strategy Use, Reading comprehension

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