Collaborative strategic reading with adult EFL learners: A collaborative and reflective approach to reading

Reading, a receptive language skill, is of great importance in the field of second and foreign language teaching or learning. The importance of reading stems from the fact that it enables the language learner firsthand input and knowledge about target language. Reading can simply be described as the process of extracting meaning from a text. Comprehension is a highly significant point in reading and refers to an interactive process in which readers try to construct meaning from the text. Achieving reading comprehension requires the use of different strategies to aid in this process, which was emphasised insistently following the shift from traditional teacher-centered classrooms to learner-centered classrooms. Many researchers (Almasi, 2003; Janzen & Stoller, 1998; Paris et al., 1984) suggest that comprehension strategy instruction has benefits both for learners and the teacher. Reading comprehension strategy instruction provides learners to have a deeper understanding and interpretation of the text and to perform better on comprehension related tests.Taking the significance of reading strategies and development in language education into consideration, many researchers have suggested different kinds of approaches to reading which can show differences in terms of procedure, context, implementation and outcomes (Palinscar & Brown,1984; Pressley,1992; Roehler & Duffy, 1984). Among those reading approaches, Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) was proposed by Klingner and Vaughn (1996) who were primarily influenced by studies on reciprocal teaching and transactional strategy instruction. It involves the use of four reading strategies in collaboration with peers assisting each other in comprehension of the text. Various studies show that Collaborative Strategic Reading facilitates the comprehension of the text and leads to gains in terms of variables such as student achievement, participation, motivation etc. (Fan, 2009; Klingner et al., 1998; Standish, 2005; Vaughn et al., 2011).In the light of these discussions above, our aim in the present study is to find out the effects of practicing CSR on adult EFL learners? reading comprehension, reading-related problems and attitude towards reading in a foreign language. 40 prep-class university students, who had three hours of reading classes per week, participated in the present study. The participants were labeled into two groups as experimental and control groups. The learners in experimental group were exposed to Collaborative Strategic Reading practice in their reading classes for ten weeks while the learners in control group got no treatment in terms of CSR practice but maintained with traditional teacher-led reading approaches.With the aim of investigating the effects of CSR, five types of instruments were utilized to collect the data. Pre-reading comprehension test and pre-attitude questionnaire were administered in both groups to provide a basis for the present study and make a comparison with post-tests and questionnaires. Minute papers were collected from the students in experimental group to shed light on the problems or difficulties they experience while reading in a foreign language. During CSR practice, the experimental group students kept CSR logs and reflective learning logs that would contribute to the understanding of the process and the changes in students? problems. At the end of the practice, post-reading comprehension test and post-attitude questionnaire were administered in experimental and control groups to observe the changes occurred upon CSR practice in comparison to pre-test results. During CSR practice, the researcher took field notes in experimental group to support the findings. The results reveal that CSR has effected the comprehension of experimental group but had no effect on attitudes towards reading in a foreign language. In addition, CSR has seemed to have an effect on reading related problems of adult EFL learners.