Reflection
My
research addressed the question, “Does implementing the transactional
strategies instruction improve reading comprehension and enable a reader to
move from an acclimated reader to a proficient reader?” When I began my
research I felt my subjects had no place to go but forward.
During the weeks of my research, the students increased
their self-awareness as they were reading. They were thinking aloud about the text
by questioning while reading the text. Their visualizations improved. At first,
their visualizations were simplified sketches that were not being used as a
tool to summarize the story. In time they were able to create visual
representations with a supporting sentence for the beginning, middle and the
end of the story. Their summarizations did improve. But they needed more
opportunities to practice how to transfer the visualization into a
well-developed summary.
Even though this research may have had limitations, the
students had the opportunity to deepen their reading comprehension. This study
encouraged the students to learn new comprehension strategies, and those
strategies increased their thinking of and interaction with the text.
Because of their participation in this research study,
the students received an opportunity to enrich their literate lives, and these
strategies can be used across the content areas. However, the subjects would
need more exposure to TSI to develop into more independent readers.
In
conclusion, “Does implementing the transactional strategies instruction improve
reading comprehension and enable a reader to move from an acclimated reader to
a proficient reader?” My research suggests that through the use of the TSI
model the subjects become more strategic reader, and, therefore, moved closer
to becoming more proficient readers.
