WH-Wheel with Digital Newspaper in Education (NIE) Improving Reading Comprehension Skills

Authors

Lizamaria Raphael Parrikal, Stephanie Ann A/P Thevadas, Parveen Nair A/L Sridharan, Melor Md Yunus

Abstract

As the nation moves towards the 4th Industrial Revolution, technology has become a focal point in the classrooms. However, recent exam scores have shown that secondary and primary level students struggle with the English language, particularly, reading comprehension. They fail to elicit specific information effectively resulting in poor test results. It is thought that insufficient attention is paid to teaching of reading skills such as skimming and scanning. For most students in suburban and rural areas, the only exposure to English material is through the textbooks during English lessons. A action research was conducted to test the implementation of digital NIE and the WH-Wheel in improving students’ skimming and scanning abilities. A WH-Wheel was designed online, containing concise questions that could be used to tackle different kinds of reading passages. Reading passages were sourced from digital newspaper articles which provided a source for current and authentic reading materials. Students would spin the wheel and immediately skim and scan the text to locate the answer. The action research carried out involved 12 primary school students from a national school in Kuala Lumpur. Pre-test and Post-test scores were compared and analysed to determine if there was an improvement in students’ reading comprehension skills. The findings revealed that pupils performed better in the post test indicating that the intervention used successfully improved students skimming and scanning skills to elicit information. By utilising digital reading materials and innovating a WH-Wheel, newspaper in education (NIE) can be incorporated in a fun way in the language classroom. It is hoped that English Language Teachers can integrate the WH-Wheel and digital NIE in teaching of reading comprehension.

Keywords

WH-Wheel, digital newspaper in education, reading comprehension skills, skimming, scanning

WH-Wheel with Digital Newspaper in Education (NIE) Improving Reading Comprehension Skills. Lizamaria Raphael Parrikal, Stephanie Ann A/P Thevadas, Parveen Nair A/L Sridharan, Melor Md Yunus. 2019. IJIRCT, Volume 4, Issue 4. Pages 78-82. https://www.ijirct.org/viewPaper.php?paperId=IJIRCT1801014