Reading Comprehension Development

Quantitative and qualitative data were both collected to investigate the effect of the picture book program on promoting the students’ reading comprehension. Based on the result of the quantitative data, the learners’ comprehension did not improve much with picture book reading. The information obtained from the qualitative data, however, indicated the learners’

performance of better comprehension due to the reading activities in the program.

4.1.1.1 Paired T-Test

The result of the paired t-test (p= .518) fails to reveal a significant difference (p< .05) in the students’ development of reading ability after the program. Table 4.1 presents the mean scores and standard deviations (SD) on the students’ reading comprehension in the pre- and post-tests. With a total of 35 questions on the reading, the figures show the mean scores of the numbers of correctly answered questions. The mean in the pre-test (26.10) is slightly higher than that in the post-test (25.47) by .63, suggesting little regression in the learners’

reading ability. That is, the students answered fewer questions correctly after the picture book reading program. The standard deviation of the post-test (6.93), however, is lower than that of the pre-test (7.12), indicating the decreased variance after the picture book program. That is, the lower standard deviation after the program presumably implies that the difference in

the students’ reading ability was reduced due to the implementation of the picture book program. Briefly, despite the subtle difference in the growth of the means before and after the picture book program, the junior high school students’ reading ability still met the elementary level and was more concentrated.

Table 4.1 Results of Pre-Post-tests on Reading Comprehension

4.1.1.2 Qualitative Results

The qualitative data collected from the worksheets and the interviews, on the other hand, suggest that the learners comprehended better in reading during the picture book program. As the teacher researcher examined the first two sections of the worksheets, which were

designed to assess learners’ reading comprehension, she found that most of the students could respond to the questions with one hundred percent of correctness (see Appendix F). In other words, from the teacher’s markings, it was shown that the students could achieve accuracy in the comprehension questions, including the practice of reading skills such as identifying main ideas. As mentioned in the interviews, finding the main idea was considered one of the most helpful worksheet practices to improve the students’ reading comprehension. Through the

Number of Questions

process of gist identification, the students might even think deeper about the underlying messages the picture books attempt to convey. The following excerpt illustrates this point.

[Identifying the] Main idea is more helpful in comprehending stories. Because if you already know the main idea, you understand what the whole story tries to convey. A summary is about the whole story, but a main idea…what the story tries to tell us, what messages there are and so on. So main ideas may be more specific. (Student 4, first interview)

([找出]Main idea 對於理解故事較有幫助。因為你如果已經知道 main idea 你就知道整個故事它…

它想要給你…到底要表達什麼。摘要是把整個故事都大概講一遍，可是主旨是它…這個故事要 對你表達什麼，有什麼道理之類的。所以可能主旨可能會比較具體一點。)

Also, the worksheet was described as an advantageous instrument to enhance the learners’ English proficiency in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and creative or critical

thinking. The students’ comments on how the worksheet developed their reading ability were presented as follows.

Because sometimes you write something ungrammatically, you feel strange about it, and then you start to think. There were also questions asking…asking some things that you had to ponder over.

(Student 1, second interview)

(因為有時候寫東西會沒有文法，然後有時候你就會覺得怪怪的，然後你就會去思考；然後還有 一些它問你...就是問你一些事情然後你要去想。)

Because you would learn…if you want to express something very abstract, of course you will learn some vocabulary, and then you gain the ability to express more clearly. (Student 4, second interview) (因為你會學到…就是…如果你想要表達很抽象的東西，當然會學到一些單字啊，然後你的表達 力又更清晰一點。)

Some questions involved further thinking, your creativity, feelings or opinions. (Student 2, second interview)

(有些題目會是比較需要思考的題目，或是加上你的創造力或是感覺、想法的那些題目。)

In general, from the students’ feedback in the interviews, it was suggested that the

learners’ reading ability developed through the reading comprehension sections in the worksheet. It played a large part in facilitating the development of the learners’ reading ability as a result. The students found the worksheet particularly useful despite the questions of various difficulty levels. A sense of achievement was also expressed after the completion of them. Below is the excerpt from the interview transcriptions concerning the students’

overall development of reading ability with the assistance of the reading activities mostly included in the worksheet.

I think in every part…when you explained the story, the vocabulary, I mean telling us the meanings of words, and working on the worksheets. In fact, working on the worksheets was quite difficult, but I felt a sense of achievement after finishing them. “Oh, it turned out that I could complete them.”

And…main ideas were also important. So, I think every activity was pretty helpful. (Student 3, second interview)

(我覺得各方面…就是你講解故事，然後還有那個單字，就是告訴我們單字的意思，還有寫學習 單，然後…其實有時候寫學習單…挺難的，但寫完之後就會很有成就感，就會覺得「噢原來我 寫的完」這樣子。然後還有…主旨這裡也是滿重要的，所以我覺得其實都還滿有幫助的。)

Briefly, based on the students’ good performance in the worksheets and their comments on the benefits of worksheets during the interviews, the development of the junior high school students’ reading ability was seen to be encouraged in the program.

In the post-program interview, as the teacher brought a picture book for the interviewees to practice reading, all of them could apply basic reading skills by giving summaries and providing main ideas, which further showed their comprehension. Although the extent of their comprehension differed, they experienced almost no difficulty understanding the plots.

Me Alone.

T: What do you think the story tries to tell us?

(你覺得這個故事可能要跟我們說些什麼？)

S2: That friends are important. For they keep your company through tough times. (Student 2, second interview)

(就是朋友很重要。就是可以陪你度過那些難關。)

Better comprehension was also indicated when Student 4 predicted the storylines from the title and the cover image.

Well…he had a sad facial expression. Yes, I thought…if he was already very sad today, and the title read Leave Me Alone, which indicated something happened to him, then you try to figure out what exactly happened to him. (Student 4, second interview)

(就是…他的表情一開始就是傷心的啊。有，我剛才有想說，就是…如果…你今天想說，如果他

今天已經很傷心了，然後又寫Leave Me Alone 表示他一定有發生什麼事情嘛，然後你就要去想

他到底發生什麼事情。)

Interestingly, besides predicting the story from the cover and the title, one student even made a confident prediction about the plot based on the type of literature to which picture books belong. The student’s comment below suggests a generally positive impression he had on children’s literature. A positive development of the story was likely to be anticipated accordingly.

One person is bullying the boy. There must be some kinds of solutions. Well...I didn’t believe there would be constant bullying in children’s literature. (Student 1, first interview)

(就是有一個人在霸凌這男孩嘛，然後應該是有什麼解決方法。嗯...因為感覺童書他不會說什麼 變霸凌，然後...就一直被霸凌。)

Moreover, the facilitative nature of pictures was indicated in helping the students further comprehend the storylines. As presented in the following excerpts, the students knew how to

seek help from the visual representations when they intended to achieve better comprehension.

Well, I read the texts for the first time, and then with the pictures for the second time. (Student 1, second interview)

(嗯...就第一次我先...大概都會先看文字，然後第二次再搭配圖一起看。)

T: Will the pictures or words in picture books help you understand the target word?

(那繪本當中的圖或文有可能幫助你了解這個單字嗎？)

S4: Possible. Sometimes it is possible. From the context, I mean, you can figure out the meanings of words contextually. (Student 4, first interview)

(有可能，有時候可以。就是看那個前後文就知道。)

To summarize, from the quantitative data, despite the opposite effect of developing learners’ reading ability through picture book reading, the qualitative information implies a positive influence the picture book program had on the Taiwanese junior high school students’

development of reading ability, as shown in the findings of similar studies (Chang, 2017;

Kuo, 2010; Li, 2017).