The effect of thinking aloud strategy on reading comprehension and summarizing skills of primary school 4th grade students

This study aims to examine the effect of the think-aloud strategy on the reading comprehension and summarization skills of 4th-grade primary school students. A quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control groups was employed, using quantitative research methods. The study group consisted of 49 students enrolled in a public primary school in Ordu. While the experimental group received a ten-week instructional intervention based on the think-aloud strategy, the control group followed the standard curriculum as outlined by the Ministry of National Education. To measure reading comprehension, two different tests comprising multiple-choice and open-ended questions were used; summarization skills were evaluated using an assessment form developed for informative texts. The collected data were analyzed using parametric statistical methods. The findings indicated that students in the experimental group showed a notable improvement in reading comprehension and summarization skills, while no significant improvement was observed in the control group. The results suggest that the think-aloud strategy may have contributed positively to enhancing students' ability to engage with text meaningfully and structure information. These findings point to the potential usefulness of the think-aloud strategy as an instructional approach for reading comprehension at the primary school level.