Developing the Reading Comprehension Skills of a Student With a Specific Learning Disability Through the Predict-Organize-Search-Summarize- Evaluate (Posse) Reading Comprehension Strategy

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the Predict-Organize-Search-Summarize-Evaluate (POSSE) reading comprehension strategy in developing the reading comprehension skills of a fourth grader diagnosed with learning diffculty. It was conducted with a student who had learning and reading comprehension difficulties in a primary school in the Western Black Sea region. The data for the study were collected in action research design. They were collected from narrative texts used in primary school grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 Turkish course textbooks, materials and activities designed in accordance with the Prediction-Examination-Summation Organization-Evaluation (POSSE) strategy, using schematic organizers and audio-video recordings. The reading level of the student was determined with a pretest using narrative texts in the 1st grade Turkish textbook. Following the 36-hour pilot trial in which 12 narrative texts were used, 59 main implementations extending over 165 hours were carried out with 40 narrative texts from grade 2, 3 and 4 Turkish textbooks. In the final stage, a posttest was carried out using the narrative texts in grade 2, 3 and 4 Turkish textbooks. The data collected in the study were analyzed with the help of the wrong analysis inventory by Haris and Sipay (1990), Ekwall and Shanker (1988) and May (1986), which had been adapted to Turkish by Akyol (2016). The results suggested that the student’s reading and reading comprehension levels increased from the level of frustrating to the level of independent reading, showing that the Prediction-Examination-Summary Organizing-Evaluation (POSSE) reading comprehension strategy was effective in improving the reading comprehension skills of the student with learning difficulty.