Developing reading comprehension through talking stories in the fourth grade of basic education at "Doce de Abril" elementary school

Abstract

The topic of this thesis is “Developing Reading Comprehension through Talking Stories in the Fourth Grade of Basic Education at Doce de Abril Elementary School”. The purpose of this work is to develop innovative strategies to improve the reading comprehension skills of fourth grade students at Doce de Abril Elementary School. In order to determine the students’ actual level of reading comprehension, a diagnostic test was applied. The test was based on a 90-word story in English which contained sequenced sentences and relatively simple vocabulary. After a reflexive analysis of the diagnostic test the teacher-researchers concluded that the students did not reach an understanding of the readings in English and for that reason they did not show much interest or motivation to develop this skill. The results found have led the authors of this work to use a variety of materials based on reading which are beneficial to engage students in the learning process. This project was based on the application of strategies and techniques through ICT to improve English reading comprehension. The treatment lasted for 12 sessions including the pre-test, 4 interim tests and the final test. The results seem to suggest that the treatment involving a variety of methods and approaches led to a considerable and measurable improvement in the students’ reading comprehension skills.