1 A reading Strategies-Based Course To Improve Reading Comprehension In Ninth Graders At Institución educativa john f. Kennedy of soledad Miguel Ángel Salas Vásquez Research Advisor: Mg. Wilmar Salazar Obeso Universidad del Norte Master Of Arts In English Teaching Barranquilla 2018 2 Affidavit I, Miguel Angel Salas Vásquez, hereby declare that this master’s thesis has not been previously presented as a degree requirement, either in the same style or with variations, in this or any other university. Miguel Angel Salas Vásquez 3 Contenido 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Research question ....................................................................................................................... 12 1.1.1 Sub-questions ...................................................................................................................... 12 1.2. General Objective ............................................................................................................................ 12 1.3. Specific Objectives .......................................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Proposal stages. ................................................................................................................................. 13 2. Rationale ............................................................................................................................................. 16 2.1 Importance of English in the World ............................................................................................ 16 2.2 The status of English in Colombia .............................................................................................. 16 2.3 The status of English at Institucion Educativa John F. Kennedy ................................................ 18 2.4 Institutional Policies in Language Teaching ............................................................................... 19 2.5 The importance of reading .......................................................................................................... 20 2.6 The status of reading at Institucion Educativa John F. Kennedy (IEJFK) .................................. 21 2.7 Needs Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 23 2.7.1. Target Needs Questions ............................................................................................................ 25 2.7.2. Learning Needs Questions ........................................................................................................ 27 2.7.3 Reading Needs Questions .......................................................................................................... 29 2.8. Results Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 34 2.8.1. Target needs .............................................................................................................................. 34 2.8.2. Learning needs .......................................................................................................................... 35 3. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................................................... 37 3.1. The concept of reading as a process ................................................................................................. 37 3.2. The importance of reading as a process ........................................................................................... 41 3.3. The concept of comprehension ........................................................................................................ 44 3.4. The Levels of Comprehension ......................................................................................................... 45 3.4.1. The literal level ......................................................................................................................... 46 3.4.2. The inferential level .................................................................................................................. 47 3.4.3. The critical level........................................................................................................................ 47 3.5. The comprehension processes .......................................................................................................... 48 3.5.1. The reader ................................................................................................................................. 50 3.5.2. The task ..................................................................................................................................... 50 3.5.3. The Text .................................................................................................................................... 50 4 3.6. The Sociocultural theory .................................................................................................................. 51 3.6.1. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) .............................................................................. 52 3.6.2 The concept of scaffolding ......................................................................................................... 53 3.7. Cooperative/Collaborative learning ................................................................................................. 54 3.8. Cognitive and reading strategies ...................................................................................................... 55 3.8.1. Predicting .................................................................................................................................. 56 3.8.2. Questioning ............................................................................................................................... 57 3.8.3. Skimming .................................................................................................................................. 57 3.8.4 Scanning ..................................................................................................................................... 57 3.8.5. KWL ......................................................................................................................................... 58 3.8.6. SQ3R ......................................................................................................................................... 58 3.8.7 Visualizing ................................................................................................................................. 58 3.8.8. Making Connections ................................................................................................................. 59 3.8.9. Generating questions ................................................................................................................. 59 3.8.10. Inferring .................................................................................................................................. 60 3.8.11. Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) ................................................................................ 60 3.8.12. Summarizing ........................................................................................................................... 60 3.8.13. Graphical Organizers (GOs) ................................................................................................... 61 3.8.14. Monitoring .............................................................................................................................. 61 3.8.15. Thinking aloud ........................................................................................................................ 61 3.9 Before, during and after reading model ............................................................................................ 62 4. The Proposal ........................................................................................................................................... 64 4.1 Target needs and situational constraints ........................................................................................... 64 Table 14. Specific needs and situational constraints. .............................................................................. 64 4.2 Approaches ....................................................................................................................................... 66 4.2.1.Approach to education ............................................................................................................... 66 4.2.2. Approach to learning ................................................................................................................. 67 4.2.3. Approach to language ............................................................................................................... 67 4.3. Goals and objectives ........................................................................................................................ 68 4.4. Teaching points ................................................................................................................................ 69 4.5. Syllabus focus .................................................................................................................................