Developing a Multimodal Interactive Learning Environment to Enhance the Reading Comprehension of Grade 4 Students in the UAE Public Schools
Keywords:
interactive learning environment; Grade 4; public schools; reading comprehension skillsAbstract
The research aimed to develop and validate a Multimodality
Interactive Learning Environment (MILE), in order to enhance the reading
comprehension skills of Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) public schools. The reading comprehension skills and strategies
were drawn from Davis’s (2013) model Building Comprehension Strategies,
which include: making the connection, visualization, prediction and pre-prediction, asking and answering questions, inferencing, retelling and
paraphrasing, and summarization. Since the international exam for
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) targets Grade 4
students, the MILE was developed pedagogically and technologically to
address specific and well-selected activities for Grade 4 students to
practise cognitive skills and strategies related to the intended curriculum
and syllabus. The study was guided by a developmental and design-based
research approach. The MILE was designed on the basis of the Four
Components of the Instructional Design model (4C/ID); and it was
validated in a public school in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The participants were 27
students from Grade 4. The research findings showed that the proper
design of MILE to enhance Arabic reading comprehension is a
combination of constructive learning, based on self-generated activities
and cognitive strategies. In addition, the proposed MILE was designed for
a progression of 200% among low-level committed students. The ‘retelling
and paraphrasing’ skills were the easiest, whereas ‘summarisation’ was
the hardest. Based on these findings, the research suggested some
recommendations, in order to ensure the quality of the learning, and the
assessment of the Arabic language in the UAE public schools.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.1.14
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