Reading Comprehension through Summarization of Narrative Stories: An Action Research Study

Abstract

This innovation focused on implementing summarization as a strategy to improve student’s reading comprehension. It involved 25 students who had different English levels proficiency from A2 to B1. There were 5 elementary, 9 pre-intermediate and 11 intermediate students from a public university in Riobamba. Considering the participants’ English proficiency, they had to read and summarize eleven different stories implemented during a period of 25 pedagogical hours. This innovation was conducted by two methods: quantitative and qualitative. Therefore, the quantitative instruments were pre-test and post- tests. The qualitative instruments were “KWL Charts” and a semi structured interview. Regarding the pre and post reading test, participants improved their reading comprehension from the pre-test to the post-tests significantly since the effect size (Cohen’s d) is 0.73, which means there is a large effect size. Additionally, to the p=0.00 it is interpreted as summarization strategy has given significant results on reading comprehension. Furthermore, outcomes demonstrated participants perceived summarization significantly helped them to increase their reading comprehension. It is concluded that summarization strategy improves English reading comprehension. This study is aimed at the teachers of English as a foreign language from other institutions, who wish to enhance their students, reading comprehension.