The Effect of Graphic Organizer (KWL Chart) on Young Learners’ Reading Comprehension in an ESL Setting

Abstract

KWL is a pre-reading strategy used to improve reading comprehension. This paper aims to discover the effectiveness of the Know-Want-Learn (KWL) strategy in improving year-4 pupils’ reading comprehension is one of the elements assessed in the UPSR Examination in Malaysia. This study reports quasi-experimental research on the use of a KWL chart (graphic organizer) on year 4 pupils’ reading comprehension in an ESL setting. Thirty pupils were chosen using purposive sampling in a primary school at Kuala Lumpur. The test was conducted with 30 ESL pupils of the same age group. A pretest of reading comprehension was then administered to evaluate the participants’ comprehension skills. The Quasi-experimental research design used to carry out this study. Participants were separated into two different groups: an experimental group and a control group. The participants of the experimental group used the KWL Chart to answer comprehension questions; the control group received the conventional method of teaching to answer reading comprehension questions. At last, all the participants answered a post-test on reading comprehension. This innovative strategy can be used to develop pupils’ reading comprehension not only for pupils in year-4 but also for pupils at other levels.