Readers'' Intertextual Links Used by Eighth Graders in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Hsiang-ping Lai, 賴香萍
• Other Authors: Huey-nah Cindy Chou
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/22dqm8

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系研究所 === 94 === The aim of the study was to explore eighth graders’ use of intertextual links. Thirty participants in the study were divided into pairs according to their English ability. Each pair was composed of one high-proficiency student and one low-proficiency student. After they discussed the two texts, they had to answer ten reading comprehension questions about the texts. All utterances from the participants were categorized into three domains: textual domain, contextual domain, and personal domain. The results of the study indicated that the textual domain was the least significant and the personal domain was the most significant of the three. Through cooperative learning discussions, most of the participants were able to share the process of pair discussions, negotiate meanings, and reinforce their reflective thinking. Moreover, they carried their own inner voices into the texts and reconstructed inner texts while reading. According to the results of the participants’ responses to the reading comprehension performance, first, while the high-proficiency participants comprehended more details, plurality, and multiplicity, the low-proficiency participants tended to mechanically search through the texts for answers and gave less extensive responses. Second, the high-proficiency participants not only relied more on beyond the text-to-text information but also used their personal experiences to answer the questions. However, the low-proficiency participants restricted their answers to the textual information. Third, the high-proficiency participants easily integrated prior knowledge with the textual information, whereas the low-proficiency participants were not sophisticated enough to do that on their prior knowledge. Finally, the high-proficiency participants were more devoted to literary evaluation and judgment. On the contrary, the low-proficiency participants simply followed the texts or brought irrelevant knowledge to answer the reading comprehension questions.Based on these results, teachers should arrange their students to use a wide range of intertextual connections and to allow them to make links. Furthermore, students need to learn more from other people with different abilities and perspectives and they can help one another achieve their goals collaboratively. By socially sharing their experiences, students can establish and build good, strong and social relationships and become collaborators.