EXPLICIT STRATEGY INSTRUCTION IN THE LITERACY CLASS:
USING 7 READING HABITS TO IMPROVE COMPREHENSION
Julie R. Petitbon
English Teacher
Warwick Veterans Memorial High School
Warwick, R.I.
July 6, 2005
INTRODUCTION
This year I participated in the implementation of Warwick Veterans Memorial High School's literacy program. Teaching two classes of struggling readers, I anticipated some reluctant students who would not want to take two English classes, especially considering the literacy class would infringe on their normal physical education class. What I encountered was a frightening reality - disgruntled students who refused to accept their placement in English and literacy. “I don’t need literacy”, one boy abrasively declared. “I know how to read, I just hate doing it. I don’t like books!” Upon discussion, this seemed to be the overall consensus of the class.
The conversation I had with this class left me with many questions. Did the students really hate to read? What prompted them to feel this way? Did they dislike being forced to read? Did they consider themselves to be poor readers? Possibly. What could I do to promote successful reading? That was the key question.
In order to build a literate community, researcher Donald Graves claims, readers become more proficient, “when they choose books they can and want to read” (Harvey and Goudvis 29). So, I decided to begin the year with self selected reading, a task students would complete nearly every day. Over the summer, I purchased 20 new young adult books, and Dr. Rekrut, the English department head, provided my class with numerous books as well. As I spent much of my summer reading many of these books, I decided to administer a book talk highlighting various novels with the hopes that students would take an interest in selecting a book. With some encouragement and assistance, most students easily chose a book of interest and read through the allotted time. However, two weeks later, when individually conferencing with a handful of students, I noticed that many had difficulty determining important elements of a story, synthesizing key information, and inferring. The following is a piece of the first student/teacher conference I facilitated:
T: What is your story about?
S: It’s about this kid who gets a rifle, shoots it , and kills some guy on a roof.
T: What is the kid’s name?
S: I dunno.
T: Is he the main character?
S: I think so.
T: Did he do this on purpose?
S: No. I doubt it.
The conversation continued in this lackluster manner for the remainder of the conference. No questions prompted meaningful discussion. Needless to say, I was a bit flabbergasted. This student’s summary lacked detail and his responses were tremendously vague. It appeared that the student did not comprehend his chosen young adult novel, Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonalds. Similar conferences led me to another question: What reading strategies can I employ in this literacy class to effectively enhance the reading comprehension of my students?
Strategies that Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis details seven habits of good readers: determining importance, asking questions, monitoring for meaning, creating images, synthesizing, making connections, and activating prior knowledge. Because this was the primary text recommended and used in a literacy conference I attended last spring in preparation for the literacy class I am now teaching, utilizing these techniques seemed a logical step. As “reading aloud and showing the thinking readers do when they read is central to instruction” (Harvey and Goudvis 4), I decided to hand out the first read aloud novel, Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan. I then distributed post-it notes, an effective hands-on reading tool, to each student, and read to the class while modeling the first habit of good reading – determining importance.
“Interesting”, I said. This is my usual cue for students to write down pertinent information. “This tells me something important about the setting. I’m going to use a post-it note to mark the page, and I think I’ll write the exact quote on the post-it. I always try to note important information when reading because it is a good reading habit.” I then pointed to the 7 habits of good readers which I had placed on the bulletin board. As I modeled this, the students wrote the same information on their post-it note and placed the post-it on the appropriate page in the book. I continued teaching in a read aloud/think aloud format for the remainder of the period, and by the end of the lesson, some students raised their hands and pointed out what they perceived to be important information.
This short lesson seemed successful. The more I modeled the strategy and referred to the “good reading habit”, the more receptive students became to utilizing the strategy. Upon reflection, this small success ultimately led to my research question: Does explicit strategy instruction improve reading comprehension?
RESEARCH
Explicit strategy instruction is a teaching method used to show students how proficient readers think when they read. Explicit instruction is “about making the hidden obvious; exposing and explaining what is taken for granted; demystifying the mental process; letting children in on the information and strategies which will enable them to become powerful literacy users” (Martin 2). Struggling readers must have strategies if they are going to be able to read independently, and students need to effectively use these strategies to comprehend text and to construct meaning when reading. The primary goal of explicit strategy instruction is to develop student’s metacognitive skills. This will enable them to be strategic readers and learners by allowing them to look at a reading task and decide the best way to approach it (Martin 2).
If “guiding readers to control their own comprehension should be the goal of all reading teachers” (Primeaux 538), explicit strategy instruction should be demonstrated in a way that exemplifies how proficient readers utilize the habits of good reading when they successfully comprehend. In order for this to happen, teacher demonstration and modeling are essential before, during, and after reading (Primeaux 539). Reading instruction should include “declarative (WHAT), procedural (HOW), and conditional (WHEN and WHY) knowledge about strategies and how students should manage and utilize these strategies they know” (Improving 1). Literacy teachers, therefore, must first describe the strategy being used. They must then model the thinking processes, or think aloud, as they engage in the strategies. This gives students metacognitvie information on why, when, and how to use the strategy. “Showing our thinking and the mental process we go through when we read gives students an idea of what thoughtful readers do. We explicitly teach reading comprehension strategies…before turning the task over to them” (Harvey and Goudvis 31). While interacting with a text, teachers must clarify to students what they are thinking by demonstrating the cognitive behaviors involved in using each of the 7 habits of good reading, thus enabling students to learn and apply meaningful comprehension strategies.
The 2002 Comprehension Project administered by Chevalier, Del Santo, Scheiner, Skok, and Tucci demonstrates that the explicit instruction of reading strategies can be a successful method of developing students reading comprehension if the declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of these strategies are addressed. Teacher modeling and demonstration of reading strategies and activities also proved to be instrumental in guiding the students toward success. Research revealed a 21% increase in student’s comprehension of text upon completion of this project (32-43).
Reading comprehension strategies and activities, according to Harvey and Goudvis, “embody instructional practices that demonstrate to students how good readers utilize strategies to better comprehend what they read” (31), and include independent reading, student/teacher conferences, teacher read-aloud/think-aloud, and guided reading. Students can also learn these strategies indirectly through the use of graphic organizers, journals, and post-it notes. These tools “help students hold their thinking so that when they are reading difficult text, they can remember and reuse what they’ve read” (Tovani 5).
The students in my literacy class, for example, independently read for 15 to 20 minutes during the period. This silent, independent reading helps students understand that they can use the reading strategies that have been previously modeled in the classroom to work through reading individually (Chevalier et al. 24). While they read independently, I call up students for individual conferences. During these conferences, I specifically direct and prompt students to implement at least one reading habit by asking questions such as, “What can you infer from this piece of information?” or “What imagery does this passage create?” or “Why is this character important to the plot of the story?” Also, I ask the student to refer to two to three of his/her post-it notes that he/she had used while marking a piece of text during his/her independent reading. I ask the student to explain the significance of the post-it. This provides the student with opportunities to practice and to demonstrate knowledge of the 7 habits of good reading.
The remainder of the period, approximately 25 minutes, is often devoted to the teacher read-aloud/think-aloud, which is generally accompanied by graphic organizers, post-it notes, highlighting, journal writing, or a combination of these tools. I verbalize to the class my thinking process while reading aloud the text. Furthermore, I model the use of the aforementioned tools, and I always state out loud what I am doing and why I am doing it. I find these activities beneficial in guiding the students to utilize the strategies of the 7 habits of good readers. In assessing their utilization of the reading strategies through conferences, graphic organizers, journaling, etc., I have become more conscious providing practice time so that theses strategies will become more ingrained, effortless and automatic to the students. Finally, I try to encourage students to use the strategies across the academic curriculum because the more students practice these strategies and activities, the better readers they will become (Beckman 4).
As suggested, it is not enough to provide opportunities for students to practice these strategies because they will not be able to recognize when to apply them. “Students need to develop a conscious awareness of exactly how strategies help them transact with texts” (Lifford et al 50). We, as teachers must describe the strategy to present a clearer picture of the reading process. By understanding why and when the seven reading strategies are used, and being able to identify them, students will gain control of how they read and will become more proficient readers. Students must take control of their reading process to become more empowered (Greenleaf and Faye 4). Teachers must “provide ongoing opportunities for helping students to become conscious of the…strategies that they use…for in doing so, they can move to higher levels of response and gain greater control of what they are reading” (Lifford et al 50). When students utilize these methods and become more independent and strategic learners, the will also become confident, responsible, engaged and empowered. Students will eventually “demonstrate that they acquired a greater sense of their own agency, responsibility and control of how they read as well as a much more elaborate set of ideas, strategies, and resources for doing so” (Greenleaf and Faye 8).
METHODOLOGY
I am using a cooperative and often enthusiastic ninth grade tier two group of students as the class in which I conduct my case study. These 17 students, 7 girls and 8 boys, are in my literacy class as well as my English class. I, therefore, have 9 instructional periods in a 7 day rotating schedule in which to work with them. This is almost double the amount of time I see students in my other classes. Because of the extended amount of time that I can work with this class and because of their motivation, I feel I am in a prime position to gather various types of data, and, over the course of this study, I used 5 types of data for examining the effectiveness of explicitly teaching the 7 Habits of Good Reading: reading tests, a reading survey, self selected silent reading, read aloud/think alouds, and journaling.
My research and data collection began with the administration of two different reading tests, DRP and GRADE. These tests are used to evaluate what reading skills students already have and what skills they need. The DRP, or Degrees of Reading Power, test was administered in October. As shown in Tables 1&2, the DRP assesses students reading levels. Students will take the DRP again toward the end of the school year. In October and February, I administered the GRADE, or Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation. Students will take GRADE one more time before the end of the school year. The GRADE is more specific than the DRP, as it highlights student’s specific reading strengths and weaknesses. By administering these two tests numerous times in the school year, I am able to gather data, and monitor students reading progression.
On November 4, I asked the students to complete a reading survey. This survey was suggested and used by my department head, Dr. Martha Rekrut, and included prompts like, “I consider myself - a good reader, an average reader, a poor reader”, and “I enjoy reading a book of my choice – often, sometimes, never”. Refer to Appendix A for the complete survey. The survey provided me with data about students reading habits and feelings toward reading.
Self selected silent, independent reading, or SSR, is an important aspect of my literacy class and a valuable method of collecting data. The class began SSR during the very first week of school and continues this task every day for 15 to 20 minutes. Students use post-it notes to integrate the seven reading habits into their daily reading and to demonstrate their understanding of the reading. In addition, students periodically complete reading logs, enabling them to synthesize and ask questions in a more detailed fashion. To further assess students, I administer individual conferences. The conferencing and reading logs are valuable tools in collecting data, monitoring progression and comprehension, obtaining more detailed responses from students about their book of choice, and prompting students to illustrate their thinking during and after reading.
The read aloud/think aloud, another method I found to be imperative in teaching good reading habits, is administered on a daily basis and is crucial to my data collection. The stories that I used as a focus for my research are Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan, the first novel read by the class, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, a short story read during the second quarter, and The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, the most recent reading. A variety of tools were used to help reinforce the 7 Habits of Good Reading and to collect data. Post-it notes were used with Summer of Fear to mark important passages and make inferences. Highlighters were used with The Most Dangerous Game and The Birds to annotate the text, specifically to note important information. Story maps, see Appendix B, were used in all readings to construct meaning. The story maps were a way for me to assess student comprehension of the key elements of a story. Prediction worksheets, shown in Appendix C, were also used with all three read alouds and were a favorite of the class. Students enjoyed guessing what would happen next in a story and, with prompting, would back up their prediction with support from the text. The class made predictions at various points in The Most Dangerous Game and The Birds, and at the conclusion of each chapter of Summer of Fear. Finally, question and answer organizers, see Appendix D, were introduced with Summer of Fear. These curious students had many questions about the plot line and characters early in the novel, and I encouraged them to question the text, as it often engaged the students and prompted them to read more. This data is an effective method of reinforcing good reading habits, and developing questioning skills. The question and answer worksheet also forced students to go back into the text, reevaluate their post-it notes and answer all of their previously written questions. Sometimes there were no answers to their questions, especially at times when students questioned characters motivation, but often these questions prompted meaningful classroom discussion, and allowed students the opportunity to make connections between their life and the story at hand.
The final component of my data collection is journal writing. In order to get a feel for what strategies I should focus on most, I began journaling during the first week of school by asking students to write about their reading strengths and weaknesses and their writing strengths and weaknesses. Students continually write in their journals. However, I usually use journaling in conjunction with silent reading and read alouds, and do so for a number of reasons. The journal writing helps students to respond creatively to a piece of literature, to reflect on a passage or complete story, to make predictions, to ask questions, to make connections to the students own life, and to evaluate and articulate the effectiveness of the reading strategies. Some examples of journal entries assigned throughout the course of this case study are:
· Describe your worst nightmare. (making connections)
· Describe your most frightening experience with something non-human. (making connections)
· You are stranded on an island with only a pen, paper, and a bottle. You decide to send a message to a loved one. (creative response)
· Which of the Seven Habits of Good Reading to you find most effective or useful? Why? (methodology reflection)
· Do you think Rainsford, the protagonist from The Most Dangerous Game, has changed his opinion of hunting from the beginning to the end of the story? Explain. (reflection)
It is my hope that, upon completion of the collection and analysis of this data, I will observe an increase in the comprehension of the students due to the enforcement of the 7 Habits of Good Reading.
DATA ANALYSIS
DRP
Initial results for the DRP, shown in Tables 1&2, revealed that 50% of the class, read at a sixth grade level or lower. Conversely, 15% were reading at a twelfth grade or higher level, and 15% were reading at grade level. Therefore, according to the DRP, I have students whose reading comprehension varies from a third grade to a twelfth grade level. Furthermore, only 10% of the class was actually reading at an eighth grade level, the estimated level of a Tier 2 class.
Though I knew the reading levels of these students were varied, I was initially shocked at the wide range of scores. Many of the students whose reading comprehension scores were at a third, fourth, or fifth grade level, did not display grade level reading comprehension skills, but they did appear to have better comprehension skills in the classroom than the test revealed. After numerous discussions with the class, I began to question the validity of these scores. There were some students in the class who revealed that they felt that, if they did well on the DRP, they would be taken out of literacy class. If taken out of literacy, the students would have to attend physical education class on a daily basis instead of every other day. As they did not want this, they admitted to purposely performing poorly. Other students admitted to not taking this test seriously, as they did not see the purpose in performing well. They went into the test with a negative attitude, knowing that they would not be switched out of literacy class. Because they felt there was no incentive, they saw no need to focus or to succeed.
READING SURVEY I
The results of the reading survey I administered, as summarized in Tables 3 & 4, revealed that students, especially in response to questions 1-9, which focused primarily on student’s attitudes toward reading, had more positive feelings toward reading than negative. In fact, of the 17 students surveyed, all surprisingly reported that they liked to read “often” or “sometimes”, and 15 of the 17 considered themselves “average” or “good” readers. Furthermore, 13 of the 17 students did not feel anxious about reading. I found these result to be inaccurate.
Most students admitted that they did not read outside of school, and rarely read for pleasure, and, upon observation, they seemed anxious when reading. When I conferenced with them individually, most students did not display strong comprehension skills. They did like to choose their own books, but often chose novels that were well above their reading level. This further enhanced their reading anxiety. One student, for example, chose Stephen King’s It as his first self selected reading novel. After reading the first 20 pages and conferencing with me, the student determined that this was an inappropriate book choice. There were many confusing words and phrases, and the text was, according to the student, “…way too hard, man. I’m reading the same sentences like three times. Some of his sentences are like a page long. That’s way too long.”
Additionally, 15 of the 17 students surveyed claimed that there were times when they didn’t want to stop reading. These results did not correspond with their attitudes about reading as witnessed in the classroom. At the start of the school year, it took much modeling and prompting to persuade the students to read for a full 20 minutes. It was not until later in the year when students actually asked to continue reading
The responses to statements 14-19, however, did seem to ring true. These questions survey whether students bring their reading experiences to other parts of their life. Students were asked, “How often do you do the following?”, and reported on whether they talk about, write about, and/or discuss reading. Though students claimed to enjoy reading, only 3 revealed that they discuss books with friends, relatives, or teachers. The same 3 students reported that they ask friends about books they’ve read. Furthermore, only 5 students reported that they “often” or “sometimes” write about what they read. Though the responses appeared valid, these results led me to again perceive survey statements 1-9 as inaccurate. If students claimed to enjoy reading, had generally positive feelings towards reading, and didn’t feel anxious about reading, then why didn’t they talk about books of interest with others? As this perplexed me, I often went into the class and, giving a mini book talk, discussed books that I enjoyed reading. By January, numerous students, upon completion of a novel, did the same. Some students even discussed, “The Birds”, our most recent read aloud/think aloud short story, in their science class, prompting students in other English classes to want to read the story.
SELF SELECTED READING
As previously stated, self selected reading was a key method of observing reading comprehension progression and utilization of the 7 good reading habits. Throughout this study, students became more knowledgeable about selecting appropriate books to read, and, by the end of the study, they seemed excited to recommend to others particularly interesting books. The majority of the class now uses post-it notes on a daily basis to highlight key information and to prepare for their conference.
Furthermore, their reading logs are much more detailed. Instead of very brief, 2-3 sentence summaries of their reading, students now often write quality summaries that highlight the most important information in the text. In these logs, students also ask questions and make inferences, something they rarely did at the start of this study. However, the most impressive improvement I observed is evident in the student/teacher conferences.
Conferencing was an invaluable tool in assessing student reading comprehension. This was one of the few times when I could converse individually with students, and there was a noticeable improvement from beginning conferences to end. At the beginning of the school year, students were reluctant to meet one-on-one to discuss their books. Upon conferencing, they appeared anxious and did not seem to grasp the material. Their reading was unfocused and they had difficulty responding to direct questions. Many responses were vague. The students did not seem to understand the fundamental elements of the novel. The majority of the students, however, have since conferenced with me four to five times and have displayed noticeable improvement. The following is a piece of the most recent conference:
T: Can you retell the story?
S: Well, I just started it, but it’s about this girl who’s a princess in Saudi Arabia, and she’s talking about how her brother is wicked mean and treats her bad and he gets away with it because he is the oldest and he’s his dad’s favorite and boys have more power in her country than girls.
T: Is this book fiction or non-fiction?
S: That’s why it’s so messed up. It’s non-fiction. That means it’s true, right?
T: Yes.
S: Yeah, I just can’t imagine my brother getting away with some of the stuff
Ali, her brother, gets away with. I didn’t know stuff like that really
happened. Like on top of Sultana (the protagonist) being treated bad, her
sisters and mom are too. If she does something wrong, or her mom does, or her
sisters do, her dad gets to decide the punishment, even if it’s an unfair one.
That’s not right.
T: You seem quite interested in this book. What stands out most to you?
S: A lot of things, I guess. But especially her relationship with her brother. They really hate each other and do nasty things to each other, but Sultana doesn’t get away with much, and her brother always does. Even if he’s caught, he doesn’t get punished. This one part I marked (with a post-it) is when Ali beats her up, and when she spoke out to her dad about it, she got all her toys taken away and they were given to Ali! That’s wrong! But it shows how much more important he is than her, and it’s all because he’s a boy.
T: I agree. And that is an excellent inference! It looks like you have a few post-it notes marked there. Choose two and explain why you marked the pages.
S: Well, I chose this one cause it’s about Sultana’s family. Her background is important. It says she’s rich and royalty. And I chose this one cause it says women always have to talk softly and not speak out and this reminds me of a movie I watched where this lady goes to like Iraq with her husband and daughter, and when she talks back to him, she gets slapped, and she wants to leave and come home to America, but her husband won’t let her leave with the daughter.
T: That’s great. You’re making connections!
S: I know, Mrs. Petitbon (grudgingly). That’s one of the good reading habits.
It is evident that this student has started to grasp good reading habits. She talks of the main character and discusses important pieces of the plot. She summarizes, makes inferences, and makes connections without much prompting. She also shows enthusiasm toward the reading. I was impressed with her ability to model these reading habits. Once she began discussing the book with me, she did not seem to want to stop. I believe her improvement, as well as the improvement of the rest of the class, can be attributed to the constant silent reading, conferencing, reading logs and read alouds.
READ ALOUD/THINK ALOUD
The use of reading strategies in read aloud/think alouds has had a positive effect on this class. Students observed my interaction with the text, which repeatedly included the use of the 7 habits of good reading. As I modeled my thinking process, I continually encouraged the class to interact with the text by using the good reading habits as well as the tools introduced in class (highlighters, post-it notes, worksheets). This ultimately increased the student’s ability to understand the text.
The prediction worksheet, question and answer organizer, event log, and highlighters reinforced the 7 habits of good reading and also gave the students structure and focus while reading the text. By using these hands-on, interactive tools, I required the students to invest themselves in the reading. Few students, at the start of this study, used tools like this to enhance their reading comprehension. They, therefore, often waited for prompts before highlighting, filling out worksheets, or answering questions. I constantly referred to the good reading habits, which remained on the bulletin board throughout the year, when modeling my use of the reading tools, thus reinforcing the purpose of using these reading habits. As the year progressed, students began to understand how and why they were using the 7 reading habits, and many students pointed out the habits they were using.
One student, for example, while reading Summer of Fear drew pictures on his post-it notes to document key elements of the plot. When I asked him why he did this, he replied, “I don’t know. It’s easier for me to remember a picture.” He was creating images and using a good reading habit without knowing. When the class read “The Most Dangerous Game”, I asked the students to describe the setting of the story. One student asked, “Can we draw a picture of it, Mrs. Petitbon?” I replied, “That’s a great idea! Do you know why?” He rolled his eyes and said, “Cause it’s a good reading habit.” Because the students showed enthusiasm for drawing, or creating images, I had them draw event logs for the entire short story.
The read aloud/think alouds were administered on a daily basis in conjunction with the reading strategies, and student comprehension seemed to improve by the end of the study. They did not rely solely on prompting and modeling to demonstrate their understanding of the text. Instead, they were questioning, predicting, inferring, and highlighting key information on their own. Though I continued to model my thinking process when reading, students became much more voluntary in vocalizing their thinking process. By utilizing these tools and strategies in the read aloud/ think alouds throughout the year, students became more actively involved in the text, displayed more ability to construct textual meaning, and showed that the 7 reading habits were becoming ingrained.
The final short story read by the class, “The Birds”, was a more difficult piece. However, students showed much enthusiasm for the reading, and proved that by using the reading habits to enhance their comprehension, they could more than manage the text. They repeatedly made connections from the story to their own life, and made predictions throughout the text. They also highlighted, annotated, and made lists to monitor for meaning and display their understanding. Finally, because the students became so involved and interested in the story, they wrote in their journals numerous times in conjunction with “The Birds”.
JOURNALING
Journaling, like student/teacher conferencing, was successful in many ways. Through journaling, I was able to get to know students on a more individual basis. Students often felt more comfortable expressing themselves on paper rather than orally amongst their peers. The class felt more freedom to express themselves in the journals without fear of assessment because they knew they would not be penalized for grammatical errors, and that, instead, they would be assessed on their creativity and ability to completely respond to the prompt. I noticed that as the year progressed, student’s journal responses, much like their reading logs, became more detailed. The quality of their writing noticeably improved, and students seemed more interested in responding to the text. Many of the prompts given were creative and this, too, promoted detailed, quality writing.
I also found the journaling to be an effective way of combining good reading habits to writing, as the class often made inferences, reflected and summarized pieces of the self selected reading and read alouds. Furthermore, because students often made connections to their own life and gave personal responses in their journals, I was able to not only learn more about their lives, but also learn more about their strengths and weaknesses as writers and readers. By evaluating their journals, I was able to determine which reading habits needed to be focused on the most.
CONCLUSION
The goal in conducting this study was to determine if explicit strategy instruction was an effective method in enhancing reading comprehension of students in a Tier 2 literacy class. Specifically teaching the 7 habits of good reading during read alouds, self selected independent reading and conferences proved to be a success. Students who seemed anxious and reluctant at the start of the study concluded the study with much more enthusiasm and confidence. Their day-to-day class work, journals, conferences, and overall performance did reveal an improvement in comprehension.
Though this study has concluded, I do feel that administering the DRP again at the conclusion of this study would be an effective tool in assessing the effectiveness of explicit strategy instruction. I would then be able to compare results and evaluate improvement of the class as a whole from the beginning of the study to the end. Furthermore, the GRADE test, if administered at the beginning and end of the year, would aid in analysis, as this diagnostic test highlights individual student’s strengths and weaknesses rather than displaying class results as evidenced in the DRP. The GRADE test would enable me to assess individual students reading comprehension progression.
Though the DRP and GRADE would be useful assessment tools, I have no doubt that explicitly teaching the 7 habits of good reading helped develop essential reading strategies and improve comprehension. “Students’ ability to learn has been increased through the deliberate teaching of cognitive and metacognitive strategies…It has been demonstrated that when struggling students are taught strategies and are given ample encouragements, feedback, and opportunities to use them, students improve in their ability to process information, which, in turn, leads to improved learning” (Beckman 2).
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
