Implications of Schema-based Pre-Reading Tasks in Facilitating Comprehension

Abstract

The study investigated the implications of schema-based pre-reading tasks on reading comprehension. A One-Group Pre-Test-Post-test Design (Creswell, 2009:160) was used to test the significance of schema-based pre-reading tasks (SBPRT) in facilitating reading comprehension. The subjects of the study were 56 students taking the Reading Skills (FLEn 103) course who formed one section of a summer in-service degree program at Jimma University. Of these students, 17 ‘high achievers’ and 17 ‘low achievers’ were selected and two groups were identified using their scores from a pretest. The pre-test was a ‘control condition’ and did not have schema-based pre-reading tasks. It was meant to identify the level of achievement of the students in reading comprehension. Then a post-test and a final exam were administered that had ‘treatments’ with different combinations to both groups. The results of the tests revealed that both groups performed better in the post-test as well as in the final exam than they did in the pre-test. This implies that the treatment had facilitated their reading comprehension in general. Further analysis, however, indicated that the treatment brought about a statistically significant effect only on the ‘low achievers’, not on the ‘high achievers’.