Comprehension Teaching Strategies That Teachers Use to Teach Learners' Comprehension Skills in the Secondary Schools of Malawi

Advent Changantuwa Banda; Patrick Kapito; Foster Kholowa

doi:10.37284/eajes.8.4.4202

Advent Changantuwa Banda University of Malawi
Patrick Kapito University of Malawi
Foster Kholowa, PhD University of Malawi

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37284/eajes.8.4.4202

Keywords: Comprehension Skills, Comprehension Teaching Strategies, Reading Strategies, Mediation, Scaffolding, ZPD

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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate teaching strategies that teachers of English use to teach learners' comprehension skills. As such, it was guided by Social Cultural Theory by Vygotsky (1978), which emphasises that learning is a social process that occurs when a competent person (teacher) and learners interact in a psychological space called the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). This theory emphasises the use of ‘tools’ as resources in the learning process, such as the comprehension strategies that result in the retrieval of information from texts to ensure comprehension of what has been read. The researcher used a qualitative case study design to generate data. The data was generated from four form three teachers of English from four Secondary Schools, 24 learners, four head teachers, and English Language Paper II MANEB Chief Examiners’ Reports, in Malawi. These participants were purposively selected in order to get qualified and experienced teachers who could provide the data that was sought. Further, data were generated through document analysis, oral interviews, and classroom observations using a semi-structured questionnaire and a checklist based on three themes. Besides, the data was thematically analysed. This study’s findings mainly revealed that teachers used eleven research-based strategies, but inadequately, due to insufficient knowledge of teaching strategies obtained during initial teacher training and from experienced teachers, as a result, which could not enable them to explicitly teach the learners' comprehension skills. Hence, another finding indicated that the learners had challenges in retrieving information from texts that were meant for comprehension. The implication of this study was that teachers need to be trained to explicitly teach learners' comprehension skills and to improve learners’ performance.

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