A development of the social constructivism blended learning module for enhancing reading engagement and English reading ability of upper secondary school students

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a reading instructional module, namely the Social Constructivism Blended Learning Module (SCBLM); 2) examine the effect of the Social Constructivism Blended Learning Module on Thai secondary students’ reading ability; 3) investigate the effect of Social Constructivism Blended Learning Module on Thai secondary students’ reading engagement;4) to investigate the relationship between students’ reading engagement and their reading ability after taking Social Constructivism Blended Learning Module; and 5) explore students’ collaborative learning behavior while taking Social Constructivism Blended Learning Module. Fifty-three upper-secondary Grade 11[superscript th] students at Chulalongkorn University Demonstration Secondary School, were chosen as the sample group. The study was a single group design using qualitative and quantitative methods. It took 12 weeks for data collection. The findings revealed that: 1) the high reading ability students did not significantly gain higher scores after taking the SCBLM; 2) the low reading ability students gained significantly higher scores after taking the SCBLM; 3) the SCBLM had the significant positive effect on students’ reading engagement; 4) there was a positive low correlation between students’ reading ability and their reading engagement; and 5) there was an effect of the blended learning on students’ collaborative learning behavior. The low reading ability students showed more of the social interaction online than the face-to-face learning. The study indicated that the SCBLM benefited the low reading ability students, improved their reading ability, and suited their diverse collaborative learning behavior.