Increasing text comprehension of elementary students with learning disabilities

Boulineau, T., Fore III, C., Hagan-Burke, S., & Burke, M.D. (2004). The Use of Story-Mapping to Increase the Story-Grammar Text Comprehension of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 27(2), 105 – 121. doi: 10.2307/1593645

Background

Deficiency in reading skills is a frequent reason for students being referred to remedial classes, learning support programmes or even to special education. Teachers looking to help such students in their own mixed ability classrooms find that published research is focused largely on the development of the alphabetic principle and phonological awareness. There is relatively less published research found on reading comprehension instruction for students with learning disabilities or with weak reading skills.

Aims

This study is focused on:

a. What are the effects of story-grammar mapping on the reading comprehension of students with specific learning disabilities?
b. Will the effects be maintained after the intervention is discontinued?

Sample

The teacher worked with a small group of six third and fifth grade students, identified as having mild learning disabilities. These students all exhibited low levels of story-grammar knowledge during baseline probes.

Method

The intervention was scheduled during the last half of the students’ daily reading time. Passages selected for use had an easily identifiable main character who experienced a problem or conflict of some sort. The teacher then used a story-grammar map as a visual organiser and prompt for the information that the students were expected to identify in the passages they read. Prior to reading the story, the teacher used overhead transparencies of the story-grammar map during instruction to explicitly show students how to organise important story grammar information.

The map contained seven main areas for recording a narrative story’s

a. setting/time
b. characters
c. problem
d. solution
e. outcome
f. reaction
g. theme

Students completed a blank story-grammar map after reading their stories during each session. During the final phase of the study, the teacher stopped explicit interaction on key story-grammar elements. However, the students continued to complete the story-grammar maps independently.

Findings

This study offers encouraging results. The intervention was effective in increasing narrative text comprehension, resulting in an 84% increase in mean percentage correctness in the students’ ability to recall and relate to story elements. Student performance was maintained for many of the elements even after intervention had been discontinued.

Implications

Due to its small sample of students with LD, there are limitations to this study. However, it has shown that story-mapping and story-grammar instruction are effective means to increase narrative text comprehension and are viable as an intervention strategy to consider for students who have significant reading comprehension difficulties.

Original article retrieved from JSTOR.