READING COMPREHENSION FOR THIRD GRADE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Reading Comprehension for Third Grade English Language Learners



TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION3

Purpose3

Problem Statement4

Scope Of Study4

LITERATURE REVIEW4

Feelings of anxiety, discomfort and motivation4

Students' Reading Attitudes and Strategies7

Comprehension Strategies and Prior World Knowledge7

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY9

Participants10

Solutions And Strategies10

Selected Solutions12

LIMITATION13

ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES15

REFERENCES17

Reading Comprehension for Third Grade English Language Learners

Introduction

The problem was that ESL/EFL students in grade 3 lacked the skills to cope with reading comprehension tests. Many ESL/EFL students received low or failing grades in English as a core subject because they performed poorly on the reading comprehension parts of the tests. They did much better on oral and listening comprehension. Every student must learn English in third grade. At the end of third grade, there is a final examination called the English Bagrut which evaluates 4 skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Most of the final exams consist of reading comprehension passages. Deciphering the text does not guarantee understanding. Students struggle with the text due to cultural differences between English speaking nations and Israel. Israeli students often lack background information to comprehend the reading passage.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the causes of this problem and provide a workable curriculum program for third grade language learners on the skills they lacked and improve student scores on reading comprehension tests within a particular third grade language learners. ESL/EFL learners found reading for information easy in their first language but more difficult in a second or foreign language.

Problem Statement

Students, who are deficient in the English language, do not have the skills to cope with or decode English reading comprehension in a third grade. Therefore are not able to achieve scores in reading comprehension tests in their classes.

Scope Of Study

It is important to teach students reading techniques to facilitate their reading comprehension especially under testing conditions. Students are unaware of reading strategies such as skimming and scanning that could help them access information. They feel lost and frustrated because they lack the tools necessary to succeed in reading comprehension tests. Teachers do not equip ESL/EFL students with the necessary tools to take reading comprehension tests.

Literature Review

Feelings of anxiety, discomfort and motivation

Third grade ESL/EFL students experienced problems when taking reading comprehension tests. Reading in a foreign language causes anxiety and poor language achievement in conjunction of students' levels of reading anxiety and general foreign language anxiety (Saito, Thomas, & Horwitz, 1999, p. 202). Unfamiliar scripts, writing systems, and unfamiliar cultural material cause ESL/EFL reading anxiety (Saito, et al, 1999, p. 215).

Foreign language anxiety and irrational beliefs (Tittle, 1997, p. 3) are important issues that need consideration for a better understanding of what ESL students experience in the ESL classroom. Mathew Tittle claims that ESL students experience [a kind of] anxiety that is related [to] test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and communication apprehension(1997, p.1). His studies do not conclusively indicate that there is a correlation between foreign language anxiety and irrational beliefs in learners of foreign languages. There seems to be a correlation when it comes ...