The Use of Metadiscourse to Teach High School Students' Reading Comprehension

• Main Authors: Yang, Yih-chin, 楊憶琴
• Other Authors: Lin, Chi-yee
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/09899343934745830683

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 英語教學碩士在職專班 === 93 === This study explores whether if there are significant effects of metadiscourse schema on senior high EFL students’English reading comprehension. The study further investigates if there are significant effects of metadiscourse schema on reading comprehension for students with different language proficiency levels. It also reports the students’responses to metadiscourse schema on: the textual and interpersonal aspects. The subjects are eighty second-graders from Y.F. Senior High School in Taoyuan County. They are equally divided into the experimental and control groups based on the statistical s-shape distribution. The experimental group is further categorized into high-and low-proficiency subgroups based on the score of the placement test. Subjects in the experimental group take the instruction of metadiscourse schema for reading comprehension in twelve weeks. All subjects take the pre-and post-test for reading comprehension and fill in Questionnaire I. 　　The independent and dependent-sample t-test is used to analyze the subjects’ scores in the tests. The results of Questionnaire II are tabulated in terms of frequency and percentage. The results of Questionnaire II between high-and low-proficiency groups are analyzed by the test of homogeneity of proportions. Besides, the results of Questionnaire III also be discussed and analyzed. The .05 level of significance is used in all analysis as the criterion level for determining a significant difference. The major findings in this study are summarized as follows: 1.There is a significant difference in the reading performance between the experimental and control groups. When metadiscourse schema is instructed to the experimental group, the EG subjects have the significant improvement in reading performance. 2.There are significant differences for the high-and low-proficiency groups in the experimental group between Questionnaire II before and after the metadiscourse instruction. HPG gain more benefit from the instruction of metadiscourse schema than LPG. 3.The results of Questionnaire III on the students’ responses to metadiscourse schema show that most subjects’ perception of the effects of metadiscourse schema on the reading performance is positive. 4.EG subjects gain more benefit from the instruction of the textual metadiscourse than the interpersonal metadiscourse. 5.The results of Questionnaires II on the instruction of metadiscourse schema indicate that logical connectives and frame markers in the textual metadiscourse are the features most frequently used by senior high EFL students Based on the above-mentioned findings, pedagogical implications are provided and further research suggested.