Reading Comprehension Strategies in the ELA classroom

This research project analyzes reading comprehension strategies in the English/Language Arts classroom. The comprehension strategies implemented were as follows: “Read Write Pair Share,” “Exit Slips,” “Dialectical Journals,” and “Student Questioning for Purposeful Learning.” The goal of this study was to determine which of these strategies are most effective in improving reading comprehension in the ELA classroom. Research participants were comprised of eighteen students in an English 12, track 3 classroom at Valparaiso High School, in Valparaiso, IN. All participants read at a level that is at least one grade level lower than their own. The strategies were incorporated as a component of the English 12 curriculum unit around the novel Persepolis. As students read, they completed the designated reading comprehension strategy for the particular lesson. Each strategy was practiced for one week. Student work was collected and performance was measured based on completion and accuracy. At the end of the unit, after all of the student work was collected, strategies were compared based on student assessment results. Students also took a survey, which asked them to rank the strategies in terms of how well they helped improve comprehension of the novel. Both assessment score and student survey results showed that “Exit Slips” were the most effective