The effect of computer-assisted and direct strategy teaching on reading comprehension

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of computer-assisted and direct strategy teaching on reading comprehension, reading comprehension self-efficacy and reading comprehension metacognitive awareness. This study had a combined sequential descriptive design where qualitative and quantitative research models were used together. The study was carried out with 61 fourth-grade students who studied in three classrooms of a public school at the moderate socioeconomic level in the central district of Kastamonu, Turkey in the spring semester of the 2015-2016 academic year. The quantitative part of the study was designed with a pre-test-post-test control group experimental study. The qualitative part included focus-group interview and observation. Two experimental and one control groups were formed in this study. The experimental group that was formed for the computerassisted strategy teaching included 20 students, the experimental group that was formed for the direct strategy teaching included 20 students and the control group that continued education according to the Ministry of National Education curriculum included 21 students. The Reading Comprehension Test, Metacognitive Reading Comprehension Scale, and Reading Comprehension Self-Efficacy Scale were used as data collection tools in the quantitative dimension of the combined sequential descriptive model.Semi-structured interview and observation forms were used for the data collection in the qualitative dimension. In addition, the "researcher's diaries" that were kept by the researcher before and during the implementation were used. Arithmetic mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation, ANOVA and ANCOVA were used for the analysis of quantitative data. Descriptive analysis was used for the evaluation of the qualitative data. Data obtained in the study were analyzed with the SPSS 21.0 statistical package program. It was found that computer-assisted and direct strategy teaching positively contributed to reading comprehension and there was a significant difference between the computer-assisted strategy teaching and reading comprehension in the control group.There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of reading comprehension self-efficacy while there was a significant differentiation in favor of direct strategy teaching in relation to the metacognitive awareness in reading comprehension. Moreover, this qualitative study revealed that computer-assisted and direct strategy teaching contributed positively to the ' interest, attitude and behaviors of the students about the lesson.