CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION
The results and findings of the study are summarized in this chapter to answer the research questions. Also, some pedagogical implications, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future study are proposed for those who are interested in
incorporating semantic mapping as a reading strategy.
Summary of Findings
The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of semantic mapping strategy on EFL senior high school students’ reading comprehension. One hundred
twenty-eight Taiwanese senior high school students participated in the study. They were divided into two groups, the experimental group and the control group. Each group contained sixty-four students with two proficiency levels, high and low. The effects of semantic mapping strategy were evaluated through measures of three reading comprehension tests, including written recall protocols and multiple-choice comprehension tests. Students’ attitude and responses toward the instruction were explored through post-treatment questionnaire and interviews. Following three research questions proposed in Chapter One, the major findings are summarized as follows.
The first research question focuses on the effects of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension and between different reading proficiency groups. Namely, does the experimental group significantly outperform the control group in the three reading comprehension tests? And which proficiency group, high or low, benefits more from the instruction? The results presented in Table 9 and Table 10 showed that semantic mapping strategy had a significant overall effect on the three recall protocols.
The results shown in Tables 11 to 13 also reveled that semantic mapping activity helped students to comprehend two of the three articles. Thus, semantic mapping strategy facilitated the experimental group’s reading comprehension. Moreover, the
results (see Tables 14 to 21) showed that the high-proficiency students in the
experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group both in the recall protocols and the multiple-choice comprehension tests. However, the
low-proficiency students in the experimental group only significantly performed better in the recall protocols. In other words, the high-proficiency students benefited more from semantic mapping strategy than the low-proficiency students.
The second research question is to explore whether the difficulty level and the structure of a text influence the effects of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension. The results presented in Table 13 and Table 22 showed that the experimental group and the control group did not yield significant difference in reading Article 1 (Easy), but significant differences between the two groups were found in reading Article 2 and Article 3, which were both more challenging texts.
Obviously, the difficulty level of a text affected the effects of semantic mapping strategy. Namely, the easier a text is, the less obvious the effects are. In addition, the experimental group’s scores in the recall protocols and multiple-choice
comprehension tests of Article 2 (well-organized) and Article 3 (less-organized) were significantly better than those of the control group (see Table 13 and Table 22). Thus, semantic mapping facilitated students’ comprehension of both well-organized ad less-organized texts.
The third research question aims to investigate students’ responses to the
semantic mapping instruction. Students’ responses elicited from the questionnaire and the interviews both revealed positive attitudes toward the effectiveness of semantic mapping strategy. They thought that the training and application of semantic mapping strategy was helpful to their reading comprehension.
In addition to the findings mentioned above, other important findings from the study are summarized below.
First, students’ vocabulary size played an important role in their practice of semantic mapping strategy, especially for the low-proficiency students, who
encountered unknown words more frequently than the high-proficiency students did when reading. As Laufer (1997) puts it, top-down reading strategies can not work well when students’ vocabulary ability is limited. Similarly, in the present study, the
low-proficiency students did not benefit from the semantic mapping instruction as much as the high-proficiency students did.
Also, “time” was a critical factor influencing the effects of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension. In the present study, the same time limit for the two groups in Practice Phase affected the performance of low-proficiency students in the experimental group. Students also expressed that if they were given enough time to employ semantic mapping strategy, they would perform better.
In conclusion, semantic mapping strategy was an effective reading strategy to promote students’ reading comprehension in both well-organized and less-organized texts. But it facilitated the high-proficiency students’ reading comprehension more than the low-proficiency students’. Besides, the difficulty level of a text influenced the effects of semantic mapping strategy. The effect will be more prominent on comprehending a text with a moderate difficulty level.
Pedagogical Implications
Some pedagogical implications can be drawn based on the results derived from the study. First, in order to promote EFL high school students’ reading comprehension and enable them to become independent readers, appropriate reading strategies should be introduced and implemented in the reading class. The results of the study showed explicit instruction and students’ independent practice of semantic mapping strategy facilitated students’ reading comprehension. Therefore, semantic mapping strategy is beneficial to students and should be introduced in English reading classes.
Second, direct instruction should be incorporated into reading strategy instruction to promote students’ reading comprehension. In the present study, the process of direct instruction, introduction, example, teaching, teacher-directed application, and independent practice, lowers students’ learning anxiety, gives them the opportunity to practice, and results in the positive effects on reading
comprehension.
Next, students’ proficiency levels and the structure of a text should be taken into account when introducing semantic mapping strategy in the reading class. When students’ vocabulary size and linguistic ability are limited, semantic mapping training may not be effective. Thus, reading materials should be chosen with care. Not only should teachers choose texts that match students’ proficiency levels, they should also choose well-organized texts as the training materials to reduce low-proficiency students’ frustration and raise their interests.
Finally, to make semantic mapping strategy more effective, students should be allowed to practice at their own pace when using semantic mapping strategy in class.
Besides, semantic mapping training and students’ independent practice is
time-consuming; thus, teachers may use the guiding map and the group map in the reading class or in the beginning of the training process.
Limitations of the Study
There are some limitations in the present study. First, the participants in the study were students of low-intermediate EFL proficiency level and the number of the
participants was limited. Thus, it is inappropriate to generalize the results of the study to all EFL senior high school students. Second, the training period of the study was not enough for students to practice the five types of maps, especially for the
low-proficiency students. The results may be different if the duration of practice is extended. Third, the same testing time limit for the control and experimental groups in
the present study might hinder the experimental group’s performance. They did not have enough time to digest what they read and what they mapped, especially the low-proficiency students who needed more time to comprehend a text than the high-proficiency students. Fourth, the length of the articles, the testing time for each article in the reading comprehension tests were not equal to one another, which may reduce the internal validity of the study. In addition, the content and the number of multiple-choice questions in each reading comprehension test should be equal to make the measures more reliable.
Suggestions for Future Research
Based on the research findings and limitations of the study, some suggestions for future study and research are recommended as follows. First, future studies should include the pre- and post-testing design to confirm the effects of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension. Second, one advantage of semantic mapping strategy is the effects of retention. Thus, future studies should investigate the effects of semantic mapping strategy on reading comprehension with one- or two-week delay.
Third, future studies could treat other factors, such as time, individual differences, as experimental variables to explore the interaction between semantic mapping strategy and time or individual differences on EFL students’ reading comprehension. Fourth, future studies could investigate the effects of semantic mapping strategy on students’
reading comprehension and vocabulary development as well as on students’ writing ability.
