Strategies to improve reading comprehension: Impact of an instructional program in Spanish

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an instructional program in Spanish to improve reading comprehension, LEE comprensivamente. The program’s framework was based on targeting text level processes, in particular, inference making, meta-cognitive control, and knowledge of text structure. In addition, a word level process, such as vocabulary, was also trained. The program, which consisted of 16 80-minute sessions during a period of 8 weeks, was tested on 127 children of ages 8-10 from different schools in Buenos Aires. A parallel group remained as passive control in each class group. Assessing processes included vocabulary, monitoring, inference making, and reading comprehension general measures, before and after the intervention. Only the intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement. These findings suggest that interventions focused on skills related to vocabulary, inference making, monitoring, and the knowledge of text structure improve reading comprehension in a school setting.