Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The Effect of Top-Level Structures in Developing Reading Comprehension of ESL Learners at AMU Girls High School

Asfia Khanam, Anam Shams and Shagufta Imtiaz

This paper explains how reading becomes more effective when learners make use of top-level structures to develop their reading skills and comprehension level. In the current study, top-level structures were used as an organizer to support learners in improving their reading skills and comprehension level. The study looks after the effects of top-level structures in developing a skill of organization while reading and comprehending. The ESL (English as a Second Language) learners were given an expository unseen passage; they were asked to comprehend that passage and then were asked to answer the related questions. Questions were patterned in such a way that they ask to describe a certain aspect of the passage, to sequence the ideas according to the passage, and to give causes for the aspects discussed in the passage. Such a practice affects the reading and comprehension ability of the learners and this study attempts to examine all these effects. This study was conducted on school level learners of 9th grade. The study used two point rating scale questionnaires so that the learners of school level can easily answer in ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The description of some top-level structures was tabulated. This study follows a comparative analysis of the collected data in a pre-test and post-test format. All the statistical analysis of this paper has been done through the SPSS software, MS Word & MS Excel of Windows version 7. Results showed a statistical difference in a hasty manner.