Research conducted in South Africa indicates that many South African students
who register for undergraduate study each year are under-prepared for university
education and that many of these English Second Language students also have low
levels of reading ability. This has an adverse effect on their chances of academic
success. These students very often become part of the "revolving door syndrome".
In order to meet the reading needs of students in the 21" century, educators are
pressed to develop effective instructional means for teaching strategic reading at
tertiary level.
In order to help students acquire the strategic reading abilities deemed necessary for
a successful academic experience, the Department of English at Potchefstroom
University implemented a content-based strategic reading module. This module was
offered to students via Varsite (technology-enhanced aspect of the module); a
learning content management system developed at Potchefstroom University. This
system provides an integrated environment for developing, managing and
delivering learning content.
The purpose of this study was to:
discuss the structure and format of the content-based strategic reading module
as developed and implemented for delivery within a distributed learning
environment;
determine what the reading comprehension and reading strategy use profile of
first-year students at Potchefstroom University looks like;
determine whether the students in the experimental group, who completed the
strategic reading component of the English for Professional Purposes course in a
technology-enhanced environment, attained statistically as well as practically
significantly higher mean scores on their end-of-semester English,
Communication Studies, and TOEFL reading comprehension tests, than did the
students in the control group, who were not exposed to the technology-enhanced
environment;
determine whether the students in the experimental group differed statistically
as well as practically significantly from the students in the control group in
terms of their reading strategy use;
determine the scope of the reading problem among the first-year students
participating in this study;
identify the strengths and weaknesses in the reading assessment profiles of one
efficient and one inefficient student;
make recommendations in terms of the reading support needed by these
students;
identify the factors that can affect first-year English Second Language (ESL)
students' acceptance and use of the technology-enhanced component of a
strategic reading module offered via mixed mode delivery;
determine which factors can be considered as statistically significant predictors
of technology acceptance and use by first-year ESL students; and
discuss the implications of the above-mentioned results for the designing of
technology-enhanced courses as well as the support that should be given to ESL
learners who must use the technology.
In this study a combined qualitative and quantitative research method was used. A
Dominant-Less Dominant design was used. The qualitative research approach was
consistent with naturalistic case study methodology. For the quantitative research
component a quasi-experimental non-randomised pre-test post-test control group
design was used.
The participants in this study included the entire population of one hundred and
thirty-one students taking the English for Professional Purposes module. The
students included speakers of Afrikaans and Setswana. These students majored in
Communication Studies and Psychology.
Ten paper-and-pencil instruments were used in this study. In addition to the paper-and-
pencil instruments, various qualitative data collection methods were also used,
namely semi-structured interviews, e-mail messages, informal conversations and
the researcher's field notes.
The data were analysed by means of descriptive (i.e., means, standard deviations) as
well as multivariate statistics (i.e., Pearson product moment correlations; t-tests;
factor analyses; and stepwise multiple regression).
The results of the study can be summarised as follows:
The strategic reading module of the English for Professional Purposes course was
designed for mixed mode delivery. The structure and format of the strategic reading
module consisted of an interactive study guide, contact sessions, and Varsite (i.e., a
learning content management system).
The results indicated that the students who received strategic reading instruction in
the technology-enhanced environment received both statistically and practically
significantly higher marks on three reading comprehension measures than did the
students in the control group. This was true for successful students, as well as for
those considered to be at-risk. The post-test results indicated that the students in the
experimental group used certain strategies statistically (p<0.05), as well as
practically significantly (small to large effect sizes), more often than the students in
the control group.
An analysis of the reading assessment profiles of the students participating in this
study indicated that they experienced problems across all aspects of the reading
components assessed (vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension and reading
strategies). An analysis of the successful student's reading assessment profile
indicated that his/her profile was far flatter than that of the at-risk student; the
successful student had far fewer ups and downs in his/her profile than the at-risk
student (i.e., the majority of the successful student's mean reading assessment
scores were scattered around or above the norm/guidelines for first-year students).
The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated that computer self-efficacy,
ease of use, enjoyment, outcome expectations, usefulness, and quality of resources
were major factors affecting ESL students' acceptance and use of the technology-enhanced
component of a strategic reading module. In addition, the results of the
multiple regression analysis indicated that approximately 71% of the total variance
of Varsite acceptance and use was explained by computer self-efficacy, ease of use,
enjoyment, and outcome expectations. Usefulness and the quality of the resources
also contributed to the total variance, but the contribution was not statistically
significant. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/353 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Nel, Charl |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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