A development of an english reading comprehension instruction using four-blocks literacy framework with repeated reading for university students

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to: 1) design two modes of Four-Blocks literacy framework with repeated reading (FB-RR), the teacher-directed mode and the learner-directed mode for university students; 2) investigate the effects of two modes of Four-Blocks literacy framework with repeated reading on the students' English reading comprehension proficiency scores; and 3) study students' opinions on the two instructional modes. The samples of the study were two classes of second-year students. The students in each class were placed in high and low-proficiency subgroups. During the twelve-week study, one group received the teacher-directed FB-RR and the other group received the learner-directed FB-RR. The data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the FB-RR instructional development revealed that the two modes were appropriate for most university students who read English as a foreign language. The findings indicated that: 1) students in the two modes significantly gained higher scores on their English reading comprehension proficiency test after receiving the instruction; 2) students in the teacher-directed FB-RR group did not significantly differ from students in the learner-directed FB-RR group in their reading comprehension proficiency test scores; 3) the high-proficiency students did not significantly gain higher scores after receiving the instruction; 4) the low-proficiency students significantly gained higher scores after receiving the instruction; 5) the teacher-directed FB-RR mode significantly improved scores on the reading comprehension proficiency test of the intermediate and low-proficiency students; 6) the learner-directed FB-RR mode significantly improved scores on the reading comprehension proficiency test of the intermediate and low-proficiency students; and 7) overall, students in the teacher-directed and learner-directed and learner-directed groups had positive opinions on the FB-RR instruction. The promising findings suggested two modes of Four-Blocks literacy framework with repeated reading for all students. When considering the proficiency levels, the two modes of FB-RR instruction most benefited students with intermediate and low proficiencies.