The Influences of Shared Reading on Students ’ Reading Comprehension and Reading Motivation in a Rural Elementary School in Taiwan

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to explore how much shared reading influenced students‟ reading comprehension ability and reading motivation, and to understand the teachers‟ opinions. The participants were 22 fourth graders, 13 fifth graders, and their homeroom teachers in a rural elementary school in Taiwan. The researchers and the teachers chose suitable books, designed the teaching contents, and tried to combine the teaching of reading comprehension strategies into the teaching processes in the program. The study lasted for twelve weeks and the students have two periods (about eighty minutes) of reading classes for the shared reading programs. Reading comprehension assessments and reading motivation questionnaires were used before and after the program. In addition, students‟ worksheets, reading feedbacks and interviews were used in order to gather more data about the study. The quantitative data showed that all the posttest were higher than the pretests, but only the reading comprehension of the fourth graders‟ had significant differences. It meant that the shared-book reading program could effectively increase fourth graders‟ reading comprehension. The qualitative data showed that most of the students enjoyed the programs and the teachers took positive attitudes toward shared reading.