The Effect of Comparison and Contrast and KWL Chart on Reading Comprehension of Unfamiliar Texts

Abstract

Comprehension is the basis of reading and reading without comprehension is not considered as reading. Very often students can become easily frustrated when they do not understand what they are reading in unfamiliar texts. As a result, they become demotivated. A teacher needs to find out what are the causes and design and tech strategies in order to help students close the gaps in their understanding of the unfamiliar texts. This study investigated the effect of comparison and contrast and KWL chart as pre-reading activities on reading comprehension of unfamiliar texts.

Specifically, the study answered the following questions: (1) is there a significant difference between the students’ reading comprehension scores on familiar texts and their scores on unfamiliar texts? And (2) Is there a significant increase in reading comprehension scores as a result of using KWL chart for activating prior knowledge and using comparison and contrast for unlocking vocabulary of unfamiliar texts?

Data were elicited from thirty-six 1st year Chinese Malaysian students consisting of 18 males and 18 females who were randomly selected from a secondary school.