Abstract
Many first-year students find the reading of academic texts to be challenging and overwhelming. In particular, first-year students studying sociology at a South Africa institution complain of comprehension challenges. This may be due to the presence of numerous theoretical and abstract concepts in sociology texts, which have to be unpacked in order to gain a greater understanding of social phenomena. A high level of reading proficiency is required in the reading of sociology texts; however, a number of students are poor readers. The paper reports on an intervention programme aimed at improving first-year sociology students’ academic reading proficiency. In addition to explicit strategy instruction, which has been used by many researchers to improve reading proficiency, role-play was introduced to the reading of sociology texts during tutorials in order to promote deep reading and improve comprehension. Pre- and post-tests, together with closed- and open-ended questionnaires, were used to determine the efficacy of the intervention. The pre- and post-tests were analysed using t-test, and the questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics for the closed-ended section and content analysis for the open-ended questions. The findings showed that a significant number of students had improved their reading proficiency and reported of both cognitive and affective benefits after the intervention. Recommendations are made in relation to the use of role-play in addition to explicit strategy instruction in order to maximise the improvement of students’ academic reading proficiency.
Presenters
Naomi BoakyeFaculty, Unit for Academic Literacy, University of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
ACADEMIC READING, ROLE PLAY, STRATEGY INSTRUCTION, READING PROFICIENCY, READING COMPREHENSION
