The effects of teaching strategies on primary school students’ reading outcomes and interest in reading

Abstract

Teaching text comprehension in primary school aims to develop long-lasting skills. This study assessed the direct and indirect effects of teaching strategies on students’ reading and interest in reading in primary school. Two hundred and twenty Estonian primary school students and their 18 native language teachers participated in the study. Correlation analysis indicated that students who achieved better results in read- ing and who were interested in reading in grade 1 had better results in vocabulary, text comprehension and reading interest in grade 3. Moreover, students’ vocabular y acquisition and text comprehension in grades 1 and 3 were associated with the promotion of students’ reading interest by teachers in grade 3. A structural equation model revealed that the frequent use of teaching strategies by teachers in grade 1 had a small positive longitudinal effect on students’ reading outcomes and interest in reading in grade 3. Knowledge of the different effects of teaching strategies on students’ reading outcomes and interest in reading would optimally promote students’ text compr ehension.