An analysis of strategies used to facilitate reading comprehension in 4th, 5th and 6th grade Maltese classrooms

Abstract

This research aims to shed light on the text structures used within local classrooms of grades 4, 5 and 6 by analysing the textbooks used for Maltese and English reading comprehension lessons within the state, church and independent school systems for the academic year of 2021/22. It also analyses the awareness of local speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and teachers of grades 4, 5 and 6 working in the state and church school setting about the effectiveness of the text structure strategy (TSS) with regards to facilitating performance on tasks of reading comprehension. Eighteen participants were also asked to state which reading comprehension strategies they make use of within classrooms to help students and clinics to assist clients. Textbooks were analysed using a checklist developed by Agius & Zammit (2021) in their study about text structure analysis while data from teachers and SLPs was collected by means of an online questionnaire primarily made up of close-ended questions. It was found that textbooks currently being used within the local curricula do not conform with the recommendations provided in relevant literature. A lack of understanding about the text structure strategy was found to be common among both participant samples (teachers and SLPs). Finally, reading comprehension strategies used within the classrooms and clinics were not always appropriate due to a lack of resources and professional knowledge about the strategies available. Educational as well as clinical implications related to the necessity of more TSS awareness among both teachers and SLPs as well as the need for adequate resources are discussed, including recommendations for future studies.