Abstract

GAMBOA-GONZALEZ, Ángela María. Reading Comprehension in an English as a Foreign Language Setting: Teaching Strategies for Sixth Graders Based on the Interactive Model of Reading. Folios [online]. 2017, n.45, pp.159-175. ISSN 0123-4870.

This article presents the results of an action research which attempted to describe and analyze sixth graders' reading comprehension processes in an English as a foreign language setting through the implementation of strategies based on the Interactive Model of reading in the reading plan project at a private school in Bogotá. Twenty students from sixth grade participated in the study for over six months during 2012. Data were collected through students' journals, artifacts, two questionnaires and field notes. The findings revealed that the activities based on the Interactive Model of reading helped students comprehend the stories they read, giving them the opportunity to interact with the text, the writer and their partners in order to create meaning. Moreover, students were able to activate their schemata using their previous knowledge and experiences, make predictions, confirm their guesses, compensate weaknesses using interactive processes proposed in the Model and construct meaning collectively. This project was also an example of how a psycholinguistic model could be converted into instructional practice inside a classroom.

Keywords : Reading comprehension; English as a foreign language; Interactive Model of reading; schema theory; action research.

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