Fostering Reading Comprehension Through Shared Reading in The Year Four English Classroom

FOSTERING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH
SHARED READING IN THE YEAR FOUR

ENGLISH CLASSROOM
SHEEMA A/P AHTMANATHAN
DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION (TEACHING ENGLISH AS
SECOND LANGUAGE)
(MASTER BY MIXED MODE)
FAKULTI BAHASA DAN KOMUNIKASI

UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS
2017
iv
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to identify students‘ responses towards reading

comprehension,the strategies used by the researcher to facilitate students‘ reading
comprehension and students‘ experiences during shared reading sessions. A
qualitative case study design was selected to answer three research questions. Ten
year four students from a school in Cameron Highlands, Pahang participated in the
study. The researcher facilitated the shared reading sessions while observed by
another teacher. Six sessions of shared reading were conducted using two different
big books which were recorded and transcribed. Six students were then selected for
semi-structured interview sessions. The recording transcriptions, interview
transcriptions and observation notes were analysed using the framework technique of
thematic coding.The findings showed six categories of students‘ responses towards
reading comprehension. Overall, the students enjoyed and preferred shared reading
and it enhanced their reading comprehension. The implication of this study suggested
that shared reading needs to be carried out in the English classroom on a regular basis
to foster reading comprehension.
v
MEMUPUK KEFAHAMAN MEMBACA MELALUI PERKONGSIAN

MEMBACA DALAM KELAS BAHASA INGGERIS
ABSTRAK
Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti maklum balas peserta kajian ke arah
perkongsian membaca, strategi yang digunakan oleh penyelidik dan pengalaman
peserta kajian. Reka bentuk kajian kualitatif telah dipilih untuk menjawab tiga
persoalan kajian. Sepuluh murid tahun empat di sebuah sekolah di Cameron
Highlands, Pahang telah mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini. Enam sesi telah
dijalankan menggunakan dua buku besar yang berlainan. Enam murid telah dipilih
untuk sesi temu bual separa berstruktur. Rakaman transkripsi, transkripsi temu bual
dan nota pemerhatian dianalisis dengan menggunakan teknik rangka kerja
pengekodan bertema. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan enam kategori maklum balas
pelajar terhadap kefahaman pembacaan dan strategi yang digunakan memudahkan
kefahaman bacaan pelajar semasa perkongsian membaca. Keseluruhan perserta kajian
menikmati dan lebih suka strategi perkongsian membaca kerana ia membantu dalam
kefahaman bacaan. Implikasi kajian ini menyarankan bahawa perkongsian membaca
perlu dijalankan di dalam kelas Bahasa Inggeris secara berkala.
vi
CONTENTS
Page
DECLARATION OF ORIGNAL OF WORK ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
ABSTRACT iv
ABSTRAK v
CONTENTS vi
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi
APPENDIX LIST xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of the Study 3
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5
1.3 Aims of the Study 9
1.4 Objectives of the Study 9
1.5 Research Questions 9
1.6 Significance of the Study 10
1.7 Research Overview 10
1.8 Definitions of terms 11
1.9 Summary 13
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction 14
2.1 Using Stories in the English Language Classroom 15
2.2 Shared Reading in the English Language Classroom 17
2.3 Teacher‘s Roles in Shared Reading 29
2.4 Reading Skill and Reading Strategy 32
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2.5 Reading Comprehension Strategy 33

2.6 Shared Reading and Think Aloud 35
2.7 Student‘s Proficiency 37
2.8 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 38
2.9 Summary 44
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction 45
3.1 Research Design 46
3.2 Qualitative Research Methodology 47
3.3 Instruments 48
3.4 Setting of the Study 54
3.5 Participants of the Study and Sampling 54
3.6 Data Collection Procedures 59
3. 7 Data Analysis Procedures 63
3.8 Validity and Reliability Strategies 64
3.9 Ethical Considerations of the Study 66
3.10 Summary 67
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.0 Introduction 68
4.1 Findings for Research Question 1 69
4.2 Discussion for Research Question 1 79
4.7 Summary 118
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Overview of the Study 119
5.1 Limitations of the Study 122
5.2 Implications of the Study 122
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5.3 Recommendations for Future Research 125

5.4 Conclusion 127
REFERENCES 129
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table No. Page

3.1 Research instruments of the study 48
4.1 Coding used for the identified effects 70
4.2 Coding used for comprehension strategies 72
4.3 Analysis of responses for ‗The Rainbow Fish‘ 74
4.4 Analysis of responses for ‗ The Smartest Giant in the Town‘ 77
4.5 Teaching strategies used during shared reading 92
4.6 Common themes identified for semi-structured interviews 107
x
LIST OF FIGURES
No. Figures Page

2.1 Procedures in Shared Reading 24
2.2 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of the Study 38
3.1 Flow of shared reading sessions for ‗The Rainbow Fish‘ 61
3.2 Flow of shared reading sessions for ‗ The Smartest Giant in the 62
Town‘
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ESL English as a Second Language

CLT Communicative Language Teaching
HOTS Higher order thinking skills
CDC Curriculum Development Center
UPSR Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah
S1 Session 1
S2 Session 2
S3 Session 3
L Line number
T Teacher
SS All students
SA Student A
SB Student B
SC Student C
SD Student D
SE Student E
SF Student F
SG Student G
SH Student H
SI Student I
SJ Student J
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APPENDIX LIST
A Synopsis of big books

B Observation Checklist
C Interview Questions
D Students‘ mid-year test results
E Lesson Plans
F Audio-Visual Recordings Transcriptions
G Interview Transcriptions
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
The research-based shared reading technique rooted from the theory of
constructivism, emphasizes socially constructed learning through meaningful
discourse between teachers and students in the English language classroom
(Holdaway, 1982). As such, there has been a considerable emphasis in recent years
on the value of shared reading in facilitating the development of language and literacy
among learners especially those in pre-primary and primary grades (Cunningham &
Zibulsky, 2011; Honchell & Schulz, 2012; Ong, 2014; Sullivan, 2014; Waters, 2014).
During shared reading instructions which emphasise natural and developmental
process in literacy, a teacher reads aloud a story to a group of learners using enlarged
picture books or big books while the learners read the print and see the accompanying
pictures in the storybooks. At the same time, learners get to use the language in an
authentic environment as they share their knowledge and experiences with each other
in a group setting facilitated by the teacher.
In this approach, the teacher uses various strategies to engage students in the
comprehension and cognitive process. For instance, students are encouraged to join in
on repetitive text, learn decoding of words, practice reading aloud, read and
understand high frequency words and new vocabulary, make prediction of story
development, understand the text and engage in a critical discourse (Ong, 2014;
Waters, 2014;). After reading the story, some related activities which enhanced
students‘ learning usually follow. For instance, learners are encouraged to pose and
answer questions, discuss main themes or issues, write responses related to the stories
shared and creating something new.
According to Cunningham and Zibulsky (2011), the shared reading technique
is similar to the provision of reading aloud to children or also known as read aloud
technique in its aims and objectives and only slightly differs in its procedures. Thus,
shared reading can be seen as the extension of the read aloud practice and describes
the practice of sharing a book to a group of learners while carrying out meaningful
and purposeful activities related to the stories shared.

3
In this chapter, the overall scope of the study is detailed from background of
the study, problem statement, research aims and objectives, research questions,
significance of the study, research overview and definitions of terms.
1.1 Background of the Study
In Malaysia, English is taught as a second language in schools, colleges and
universities. Though students learn English as a Second Language (ESL), its
importance is never neglected and prioritized as a global language in the Malaysian
Education System. As such, the ministry constantly encourages English language
teachers to up skill their teaching techniques and cater to the rapid development of the
world. It is the Ministry‘s aspiration to see its future generation to be well versed in
the English language and able to place themselves in the working force all around the
globe (Ministry of Education, 2015).
Starting from 2011, the new Standard Curriculum for Primary Schools
(KSSR) with the support of Curriculum Development Center (CDC) was
implemented to the primary grades starting from Year 1. This curriculum emphasizes
on Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) with activity based teaching and learning
activities such as problem solving, creative, analytical, decision making and
innovative. It emphasizes high level of questioning which helps students in their
thinking process and set Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as the basis in the
teaching and learning of the English language. This approach emphasizes interactions
and communication as well as using the language in real-life situations.

4
As such, one of the techniques that English language teachers can use to teach
English with the aim of developing students‘ communicative, comprehension and
HOTS competence is the shared reading technique. Similar to the read-aloud
technique which was stipulated in the Malaysian English language syllabus, shared
reading is an extension of the read aloud technique which focuses on sharing stories
using big books or any other relevant materials such as posters and picture books
(Curriculum Development Centre, 2003).
The shared reading technique lets teachers to communicate with their learners
while reading and sharing stories to them. Inevitably, it provides ample opportunities
for the learners to interact as well as to understand the stories using the English
language. They also will be able to learn vocabulary, varied sentence structures and
story structures in which enhanced their second language performance and at the same
time enhanced their reading comprehension and thinking skills through teacher
facilitated questioning and interaction.

5
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Background of the problem
In the recent 2016 Primary School Achievement Test also known as Ujian Pencapaian
Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) which tested Year 6 students‘ academic performance, the
analysis of results for English subject both in comprehension and writing papers
revealed that English was one of the lowest performed subject along with Science and
Mathematics with 17.4% failures in Comprehension and 22.9% in Writing (Malaysia
Examination Board, 2016). Furthermore, the percentage of students scoring excellent
marks for English were also lower than the previous year with only 12.1% in
Comprehension and 6.8% in Writing.
According to the Malaysia Examination Board (2016), the shift in the
examination format with more structured questions which required the students to
reason and write might explain the fall in the percentage. This new format is in line
with nation aspiration to develop students who have strong thinking skills as well as
able to elaborate and articulate well. Apart from that, based on the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) results for 2015 which was announced on
December 6, 2016, Malaysia showed slight improvement as compared to PISA 2012
with the score of 431 in Reading (Ministry of Education, 2016). However, Malaysia is
still under the average global score which was 493. In PISA 2012, Malaysia was stuck
in the bottom third of the countries surveyed in this international assessment. Among
the 62 participating countries, Malaysia was ranked 59 with the score of 398 in
Reading. Meanwhile, the global average score was 496 in Reading (Chen, 2013)
Although Malaysia shows improvement in which the nation can be proud of,
however, Malaysian students are still lacking the necessary skills and strategies
needed for reading and higher order thinking skill which is one of the main elements
in the PISA assessment which assesses numerous cognitive skills such as application
and reasoning. Thus, English language learners need to be taught using a technique
that could scaffold and enhance their comprehension and enthusiasm to learn and
utilize reading comprehension strategies. As such, shared reading could be one of the
techniques.
Problem Statement
In Malaysian public schools, language is treated as one of the core subjects with great
emphasis on the attainment of phonics, vocabulary, grammar and little opportunity is
provided to use the language (Ma‘rof, Redzuan, Anderson & Ma‘rof, 2012). During
reading lessons, round-robin reading and choral reading are two ways in which
English language teachers frequently practiced instead of shared reading which allow
students to connect their background experiences with the information-rich texts they
read. Shared reading expands students‘ opportunity to think and talk about a text and
extend their ideas and views of the world. Darus and Mohamed (2001) argued that
reading lessons should not be fast-paced and cognitively low-level. To address the
inadequacy of reading lessons in the English classroom, shared reading which is a
technique that promotes relaxed and supportive atmosphere was employed in the
current study.
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Shared reading will help learners who face difficulty in answering reading
comprehension questions that require them to comprehend the text, read the
underlying meaning and response to the questions critically. This technique helps
learners to comprehend a text as well as how to derive meaning and reason from the
text they read through teacher guided interaction and critical discussion. The
questioning techniques utilised during the sessions support students‘ HOTS as they
will be asked to reason and share their knowledge and experiences based on the story
shared. Eventually, students will be able to use the skills they acquired through shared
reading when they do independent reading.
The benefits and importance of shared reading as a technique for English
language teaching and learning especially for the young learners is widely known by
most educators and it is strongest for early literacy skills such as print concepts,
phonetics and vocabulary (Sullivan, 2011).The National Early Literacy Panel also
found out that shared reading had a significant implication towards language
development and general cognitive ability (Lonigan, Shanahan & Cunningham,
2008). In that case, some scholars also argued that shared reading could support
children‘s reading comprehension and their ability for meaning making and using
reading comprehension strategies (Waters, 2014). However, only a few studies have
explicitly studied on reading comprehension as an outcome measure in shared reading
practice in the classroom setting and most of the studies targeted pre-school and lower
primary grades learners (Schickedanz & McGee, 2010).

8
Precisely, research has not been done in identifying the students‘ responses
towards reading comprehension during the shared reading sessions in a qualitative
study for the older learners. Though there were some studies done to identify the
teaching strategies deployed by the teachers during read aloud sessions (Omar &
Saufi, 2015; Wiseman 2011), not much studies were carried out on the teaching
strategies used to facilitate students‘ reading comprehension during the shared reading
sessions. In terms of students‘ experiences or feedbacks regarding the shared reading
sessions, a few studies (Beck & McKeown, 2001; Chen, Huang & Chen, 2009) were
carried out in a quantitative manner where students were asked to fill in
questionnaires and the findings were analysed quantitatively. As such, this study
intended to explore the students‘ experiences during shared reading sessions using a
qualitative approach to gain a more in-depth understanding of the students‘
perspectives.
All in all, there is a need to address these problems and this study intended to
explore the use of shared reading to up skill and enhance students‘ ability in reading
comprehension and in the hope to see better UPSR and PISA results in the near
future.
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1.3 Aims of the Study
This study aimed to discover the effects of shared reading technique on students‘
reading comprehension. Besides that, this study also explored the strategies used by
the teacher to facilitate students‘ reading comprehension during the shared reading
sessions. Last but not least, this study also looked into the students‘ experiences
during the shared reading sessions.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The following were the objectives of the study:
1. To identify the Year 4 students‘ responses towards reading comprehension
during shared reading sessions.
2. To explore the strategies used by the researcher in facilitating Year 4 students‘
reading comprehension during shared reading sessions.
3. To investigate Year 4 students‘ experiences on shared reading in general.
1.5 Research Questions
1. What are the students‘ responses towards reading comprehension during shared
reading sessions?
2. What are the strategies used by the teacher during shared reading in facilitating
students‘ reading comprehension?
3. What are the students‘ experiences during shared reading sessions?

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1.6 Significance of the Study
This research contributes to the teaching and learning of primary ESL learners in
some ways. Students engaged in a quality discussion with the teacher during the
shared reading sessions. The findings of the study also set as a platform for the
teachers to use shared reading technique as it positively influenced and developed
students reading comprehension skill.
Learners engaged themselves in discussion during the shared reading sessions
while they were stimulated with questions by the researcher. Besides students, there
were other stake holders who gain advantage from this study such as the primary ESL
teachers, schools, parents and the Ministry of Education in general. Schools will be
able to produce more students who are able to read for understanding and think out of
the box beyond any given text. Through this study, parents will be motivated to buy
more storybooks for their children and read with them. Finally, this study can
contribute to enrich the body of research on using shared reading and reading
comprehension skill.
1.7 Research Overview
This study took place in a school in Cameron Highlands district in the state of
Pahang. 10 Year 4 ESL students participated in the study. The researcher who was the
teacher in the study facilitated the six shared reading sessions while observed by
another English language teacher. All the sessions were video-recorded and observed.
An observation checklist was used for each session and notes were made along the
checklist.
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After the sessions, six students; 2 proficient, 2 average and 2 below average were
selected for semi-structured interview sessions. The findings based on the observation
checklist, video-recording transcriptions and interview transcriptions were analysed
using the framework technique of Ritchie and Spencer (2002), discussed and put
forward.
1.8 Definitions of terms
Shared Reading
Shared reading is a form of ‗reading aloud‘ with a group of children while the
teachers use various strategies to engage learners in the reading process through and
critical discourse (Cunningham & Zibulsky, 2011).
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is a deliberate process of figuring, building and constructing
meaning from a written text being read (Block & Pressley, 2002).
Reading Comprehension Strategies
Reading comprehension strategies refer to the strategies that are deliberately used by
readers in order to make sense and comprehend what they read. These strategies help
readers to think and have a deep understanding of the text being read. The reading
comprehension strategies are as follow (Block & Pressley, 2002);
a) Making connection- The reader uses what is known and connect to the text
to enrich the meaning the author is trying to convey through the text.
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Usually, the reader can make three types of connections which are; text-to-
self, text-to-text and text-to world.
b) Predicting- Readers will use their own opinion and personal experiences
to predict what is the text about or what is going to happen next before
reading the text. After reading, they usually reconfirmed whether their
prediction was right or wrong.
c) Asking questions- In order to have a good understanding of the text,
readers are encouraged to ask questions before, during and after reading.
d) Inferring- Readers will use the content in the text together with their prior
knowledge to reason and coming into a personal conclusion about
something still related to the text.
e) Visualizing- This is a strategy where readers create mental images or
pictures about the text they are reading in their mind
f) Analysing and Synthesising- Readers tend to combine new ideas that they
get from the text with their existing knowledge and coming into a form of
new ideas or interpretations, making it their own.
g) Evaluating- Readers will make personal judgment to the text they are
reading in light with what they already know.
h) Identifying author‟s purpose and point of view- Readers must know that
every author has reasons and important messages to convey to the readers.
Think Aloud
Think-aloud is a metacognitive strategy of being able to think about one's own
thinking and it is an important component of learning as it enables learners to evaluate
their level of comprehension and adjust their strategies for greater achievement
(Oster, 2001).
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1.9 Summary
The present study was designed to answer three research questions which were the
students‘ responses towards reading comprehension, the teaching strategies used by
the teacher to facilitate students‘ reading comprehension and students‘ experiences
during the shared reading sessions. There is a need to conduct the present study as it
will contribute to the enhancement of English language teaching and learning
techniques especially for those ESL learners. Shared reading has been proven in
numerous researches to be beneficial to the learners. In the next chapter, the literature
related to the study was reviewed.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
A good reader or language learner usually monitors his or her own reading using
various reading comprehension strategies. In order to mould language learners to be
good readers when it comes to reading, teaching strategies deployed for
comprehension instructions by the teachers during reading comprehension lessons are
vital. This has been proven by a considerable number of researches in the area of
reading comprehension and literacy (Harvey & Goudvis, 2013; Yang, 2006). Lennox
(2013) found that increased storybook reading aloud sessions at home and school
have a significant effect on comprehension, general cognitive ability and language
development.
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As such shared reading technique which is similar and the extension of the
read aloud practice is significant in developing early literacy skills and cognitive skills
such as reading comprehension. Sullivan (2014) supported that shared reading
provides opportunities to explore the world by discussing and questioning through
stories. Teachers can purposefully gear up learners‘ natural intelligence, thinking and
comprehension ability through shared reading. It is also significant component in the
Malaysian primary school‘s English language syllabus. Thus, this study focused on
the students‘ responses and teaching strategies used in facilitating students‘ reading
comprehension as well as students‘ experiences during shared reading. In this chapter,
topics and literature related to the shared reading technique, reading comprehension,
theories and researches are reviewed in details.
2.1 Using Stories in the English Language Classroom
Stories are often seemed to be a captivating element for children or even adults. They
do not set a boundary or limit the age group as everyone can listen, tell, read or write
stories. Stories are passed down from generation to generation and cover various
genres; some might be fictions and some goes as non-fictions. For children, stories are
said to provide meaningful context in which stimulates their imagination,
understanding of the world and eventually boost children‘s language ability (Booth &
Barton, 2000; Grugeon & Gardner, 2002). In the ESL classroom, it is highly
beneficial to use stories in the English language lessons by English language teachers.
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Mart (2012) supported that learners will be able to widen their horizons as
well as be aware on the use of English language through stories. At the same time,
stories will enhance their enthusiasm and be a good motivation for the learners to
learn English. Since children will be able to learn moral values, important messages
or themes, stories do not only develop children‘s language ability but rather a holistic
development can be evident. Kim (2008) claimed that when teachers or parents read
to their children, they do not only enhance their academic excellence but lead to
behavioral and emotional learning too. Similarly, Omar and Saufi (2015)
recommended in using stories in the ESL classroom as they are interesting,
motivating and able to attract listeners and holds students‘ attention as well as
encourage interaction. As such, using stories can aid teachers in engaging learners
during the English language lessons.
In a study by Roof and Kreutter (2010), when teachers tell stories to the
students, they must provide learners with clear expectations and what are the intended
learning outcomes from the lessons. This will make sure learning takes place while
students enjoy listening to the stories. Thus, teachers play a great role in promoting
interaction as well as encouraging students to make meaningful connections about the
stories shared. Collin (2010) supported that teachers need to share stories with great
interest and enthusiasm so that the listeners will be engaged and excited to know more
about the stories.

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Stories can be presented in various ways for instance, big charts, picture
books, novels, big books or graphic novels. In picture books and big books,
illustration is provided alongside the text which is supportive for the interpretation
and the comprehension of a story. In this study, the researcher used big books to tell
stories. The shared reading sessions did not only focus on telling stories but other
activities such as questioning and discussion and text related activities also took place.
Loughrey (2001) talked about using big books during the English lessons in
his study and he claimed that teachers can model the reading process and strategies as
well as helping children to understand what they are reading through the use of
enlarged texts such as big books. He added that children will not just merely be the
audience in the reading activity rather than being active participants. As such, the use
of big books in sharing stories to the children provides them a focus in reading. They
will be able to see the illustrations and interpret the relationship between the prints
and illustrations, join in the interaction and enhance their understanding of the text.
Since big books have numerous benefits, therefore, this study used big books in
telling stories during the shared reading sessions.
2.2 Shared Reading in the English Language Classroom
2.2.1 Origin and Purpose
In the late 1970‘s a group of teachers and academics in Auckland, New Zealand led
by Don Holdaway began to cooperate and experiment new way of literacy learning
known as ‗shared book experience‘ (Holdaway, 1982). Holdaway intended to help

18
children from numerous differing cultures and backgrounds to feel the sense of
success in their early years of schooling by making literacy learning a more ordinary
and successful process. Children learning language starting from their early years
should enjoy the process and the learning outcomes have to be something achievable
by them. Thus, Holdaway introduced ‗shared book experience‘ to achieve those
purpose.
Holdaway illustrated the idea of shared book reading by reading stories using
big books as well as using multiple strategies to engage children in the reading
process. In the beginning, readings usually occur as bedtime stories read by the
caregivers. Children are usually encouraged to join in on the repetitive text, practice
reading aloud, learn decoding of words, learn to read high frequency words and make
prediction of story development (Ong, 2014; Waters, 2014). Around 1970s, ‗shared
book experience‘ was well-known among the families of New Zealand. Subsequently,
the practice of ‗shared book experience‘ which later known as shared reading was
introduced to schools in New Zealand and then the United States, Europe and Asia
(Holdaway, 1982).
Shared reading involves a teacher narrating a story from a big book to a group
of learners while carrying out activities and discussion related to the story. The text
print used for shared reading has to be sufficiently large so that it can be seen, shared
and discussed (Campbell, 2011). Shared reading provides opportunities to build oral
language, phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension, print awareness and
cognitive ability (Beauchat, Blamey & Walpole, 2009). The Ministry of Education
New Zealand (2003) had listed down the following purpose of shared reading;
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a) develop positive attitudes towards reading
b) model fluent, expressive reading
c) deliberately teach specific strategies for reading and comprehension
d) develop students‘ awareness of visual and phonological information
e) teach specific vocabulary and identify word features
f) build students‘ understanding of text forms and structures
g) encourage thoughtful and personal responses, including critical responses
to text
h) develop a sense of community in the classroom
i) expose students to a wide range of texts
In Malaysia, teaching technique such as shared reading or also can be referred
as the read aloud practice has been long introduced by CDC and was stipulated in
KBSR since 2003 (Ministry of Education, 2002a). The curriculum placed the reading
of big books during shared reading under English Hour which was later revised as
English Language Programme with the aim of sharing stories for at least 15 minutes
during the English language lessons (Yaacob & Pinter, 2008). Through shared
reading, it is hoped that ESL learners will be able to develop language through stories
while engaging in quality interaction with the teacher which stimulates discussions.
In the year 2011, there was a shift in the curriculum, where it was known as
KSSR (Ministry of Education, 2010). In this curriculum the teaching and learning of
English as second language is still based on Communicative Language Teaching
which was similar to KBSR, however, this curriculum emphasized on teaching and
learning activities and assessments which required learners to have HOTS through
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integration of numerous language skills rather than traditional rote learning skills
(Sulaiman, Ayub & Sulaiman, 2015). In order to develop learners with HOTS,
teachers are encouraged to facilitate teaching and learning activities which focus on
interaction, discussion, problem solving, creativity and innovation. Learners need to
be good at reasoning and think critically about their opinions or ideas. Teaching
technique such as shared reading and read aloud are still practical in the English
language classroom but they need to focus on building students HOTS and other
important literacy skills rather than merely reading stories together (Ong, 2014). Thus,
shared reading needs to be well-planned in order to stimulate students to think and
voice their opinions or ideas at the same time thinking critically about the text.
Therefore, in the present study, shared reading is used as the teaching
technique to enhance students reading comprehension as well as encouraging
thoughtful and personal responses from learners including critical responses about the
text shared.
2.2.2 Benefits of Shared Reading
Numerous researches have well supported the benefits of shared reading for literary
and reading skill development (Cunningham & Zibulky, 2011; Honchell & Schulz,
2012; Ong, 2014; Sullivan, 2014; Waters, 2014). Among the benefits are print and
phonemic awareness, vocabulary building, comprehension, understanding text
structures and features as well as developing cognitive ability. Shared reading is
regarded as collaborative instructional strategy which engages students in an
interactive discourse. It encourages higher order thinking skill and analytical thinking
at the same time providing space for open-ended questioning and discussion
21
(Hubbard, 2009). This enhances students‘ cognitive ability, which is one of the
benefits of shared reading.
Stahl (2012) posited that shared reading helped learners who have limited
language ability to be able to join in the reading process for texts containing
unfamiliar vocabulary and sophisticated themes which need further explanation. Since
shared reading is a teacher facilitated instructional strategy, students will be able to
perform various reading tasks and activities with the help of the teacher. Students with
limited decoding ability will be able to develop their phonemic and print ability which
lead to a sense of success among those children. Moreover, when children are
supported and guided by the teacher, they will be able to learn to read the underlying
meaning of a text which enables them to be more successful when they read the text
independently. Therefore, shared reading does not only benefit good readers, they also
helped those novice readers.
Honchell and Schulz (2012) believed that shared reading benefits children in
a) using all source of information available in a text b) knowing stories are
meaningful c) reading soundly d) exploring specific text structures and features e)
recognizng familiar and high-frequency words f) developing oral narrative skills g)
making meaning from text and exploring connections. They also claimed that children
will learn as a community which develops their social skills as they engage in
discussion and interaction as a group. They will be able to talk about various ideas
related to the text as well as having great opinions and interest towards books and
eventually become proficient and independent readers.

22
Shared reading also benefits learners in terms of reading comprehension. In a
study by Fisher, Frey and Lapp (2008), modeling of reading comprehension strategies
was integrated during the shared reading sessions. Similarly, Kesler (2010) confirmed
that shared reading deepened students‘ reading comprehension ability. He said that
learners got explicit support from teachers in comprehending the text. Thus, teacher‘s
questioning as well as discussion which takes place during the sessions help in
reading comprehension. The present study also focused on reading comprehension
and intended to share the effects and teaching strategies used during shared reading
sessions to facilitate students‘ reading comprehension.
Shared reading is a teaching technique which promotes encouraging and
relaxed atmosphere for learning. Shared reading showed positive influence for
Malaysian Indigenous ESL learners in terms of narrative ability and vocabulary
acquisition (Ma‘ rof, Redzuan, Anderson & Ma‘rof, 2012).They claimed that shared
reading has been a successful instructional strategy which enables social interaction
among second language learners. Learners can develop their self-confidence in a non-
threatening environment. They will be able to share knowledge, exchange ideas and
construct meaning cooperatively as a group. Therefore, shared reading is a practical
teaching technique in the Malaysian classroom and highly recommended to be carried
out due to its various benefits in English language teaching and learning.
2.2.3 Effective Shared Reading Procedures
Shared reading can be carried out as a whole class or small group and the teaching
objectives and learning outcomes usually determined by the teacher, depending on the
students‘ level (Sullivan, 2014). This technique requires strong teacher support
23
(Kindle, 2011). It provides a non-threatening context in which the reading process can
be modeled and the use of effective reading comprehension strategies can be
encouraged. Enlarged texts such as big books which offer culturally suitable stories
for discussion is often used in the shared reading sessions. Firstly, the teacher will
select a text which will support the focus or objective of the lesson and go through it.
The teacher needs to plan and organize teaching activities and strategies centered on
the selected text. Then, she can introduce the book by discussing on the book cover
and invites students to make prediction about the story.
According to Wiseman (2011) open-ended questioning emphasised that
meaning existed in the minds of the reader and they have important perceptions for
interpreting stories. In shared reading, teachers are encouraged to ask questions such
as, ―What do you think?‖, ―How do you know‖, ―I wonder why…?‖ The teacher
reads the text for the first time, with a few pauses as appropriate to discuss and
question the students. Throughout the discussion, the teacher needs to scaffold the
students‘ comments while encouraging them to contribute in ways that extends their
own ways of thinking about the story. Students are encouraged to use technique such
as, ‗think aloud‘ to voice their opinions (Ediger, 2011). The teacher should discuss on
the visual and textual features of the text as well.
During reading, the teacher may ask the students to confirm their predictions
by asking ―Were you right?‖ After reading, the teacher will lead the discussion by
asking students about their impression of the story, the themes and values as well as
important details of the story. Various activities can be carried out following the first
reading of the book such as think-pair-share, journal writing, sequencing, Know-Want

24
to know-Learnt (KWL) chart, story-box and visualizing activity. Throughout the
entire shared reading sessions, students are encouraged to question events of the text,
make connections between their knowledge and the storyline and interact together to
build meaning (Cunningham & Zibulsky, 2011). Shared reading on the same book can
be carried out for few sessions depending on the lesson objective and teacher‘s
intended goal (Ministry of Education New Zealand, 2003). Figure 2.1 summarizes the
procedures in shared reading.
7. Follow-up
shared reading
session(s)
6. Activities and 1. Plan and

task: Individual, organise the
Pairs, Groups sessions
5. After reading: Discussion 2. Introduction: Book

on themes, message and Cover/Tilte page, Making
important details of the text predictions
4. Reading aloud:
Pausing, Asking 3. Reading Aloud:
questions, predicting, Noticing print and
thinking aloud illustration features
Figure 2.1 Procedures in Shared Reading. Adapted from Ministry of

Education New Zealand (2003)
25
2.2.4 Book Selection Procedures
The most vital aspect of shared reading is the book or text selection with the goal of
engagement, interaction and active thinking by the readers. According to Parkes
(2000), teachers need to consider the following aspects when selecting books or texts;
 Interests of the children
 Varied kinds of reading material the children will enjoy
 Physical characteristics of text: size and spacing of print, clarity of
illustrations, layout
 Story line and familiarity with the experience
 Language that provides entry points for participation
Once these features are considered, the teacher has to read the selected text
several times with the audience in mind (Honchell & Schulz, 2012). This will help the
teacher to organize and plan her reading and know where to pause, discuss and ask
questions. The teacher can use enlarged text in the form of big books, chart or posters.
In this study, the teacher used big books for the shared reading sessions. According to
Yaacob and Pinter (2008), big books increase students‘ participation and active
learning as well as interest and motivation in language learning. Thus, the use of big
books was suitable for this study and two big books had been selected for this study
which were ‗The Rainbow Fish‘ by Marcus Pfister and ‗The Smartest Giant in Town
by Julia Donaldson. A brief overview and synopsis of the stories is attached as
Appendix A. The big books used in this study have large print size and beautiful
illustrations. The language is appropriate for the Year 4 ESL students and they have
interesting storylines where students can easily relate to.

26
2.2.5 Previous Studies on Shared Reading
In a study by Kindle (2011), he illustrated the main principles of language
development through shared book reading among the pre-school students. These
children were able to learn new words in varied grammatical sentences. Apart from
that, the appealing pictures and prints of the big books used during shared reading will
promote children‘s interest and attention. Moreover, shared reading also enhanced
their language skills acquisition when they engaged in the interaction and discussion
as well as making meanings about the story shared. Overall, his study showed positive
effects in important early language acquisition skills for the pre-school children.
Similar to this study, the students were able to acquire new words, be attentive to the
appealing pictures, prints and content of the story in the present study. The big books
used in this study helped the learners to acquire language skills and make meanings
through interactions and discussion about the stories shared.
In Ong‘s (2014) study in Singapore with four National primary schools, she
explored the perceptions of quantity, variety, and readability of big storybooks of
twenty teachers used in the shared reading programme and their knowledge of the
programme‘s objectives. The study also aimed to investigate teachers‘ perceptions of
how important the three variables; phonological awareness, word decoding, and text
comprehension in helping young readers develop their reading abilities, and how
much emphasis is actually given to each of these variables in the shared reading
program. By administrating questionnaire and conducting semi-structured interview
sessions with selected teachers, the findings of the study showed that despite the high
importance placed upon phonological awareness, word decoding, and text
comprehension by the classroom teachers in helping young learners develop their

27
reading abilities, these variables did not receive equal importance in the shared
reading program.
While text comprehension was the focus of this study, phonological awareness
and word decoding were not given much attention in this study. In this study, the
researcher gave importance on strengthening reading comprehension skill through the
shared reading sessions. However, the researcher acknowledged the importance of
phonological awareness and word decoding in shared reading sessions done in the
previous studies.
In another study, Strasser, Larrain and Lissi (2013) examined the effects of
specific reading styles on the comprehension of stories of at-risk preschool Chilean
children. The first research question seeked out to answer the effect of word
elaboration on story comprehension with 72 children. Children who were exposed to
elaborations of unknown words during storybook reading achieved better
comprehension than those who were not after vocabulary and narrative
comprehension skills were controlled. This effect was mediated by children‘s learning
the elaborated words and thus provided evidence for the causal role of word
knowledge in story comprehension. This study also examined the effects of asking
questions about coherence relations versus other kinds of open-ended questions such
as requests for predictions, descriptions, and real-life connections. Children exposed
to coherence questions achieved better story comprehension than those exposed to
other open-ended questions after initial vocabulary, narrative comprehension skills,
and attentiveness were controlled. The findings suggest the use of specific strategies
for improving comprehension. Similar to this study, the present study wanted the
28
students to utilize reading comprehension strategies during the shared reading
sessions and asked open ended questions to encourage learners‘ HOTS.
In a local study, Ma‘rof, Redzuan, Anderson and Ma‘rof (2012) conducted a
study based on the quasi-experimental study which investigated the impact of Shared-
book Reading (SBR) on the development of vocabulary and oral narrative skills of
young Indigenous Malaysian children learning Malay as a second language. Sixty
three (63) Orang Asli children from two first-grade classrooms participated in the
study. One of the classes was randomly assigned to implement SBR sessions while
the other served as wait-listed control. After a five-week intervention, all students
were assessed on vocabulary and storytelling. Results showed that experiences of
SBR accelerated Orang Asli children‘s oral Malay language production and increased
their level of word-meaning knowledge. Specifically, the SBR group performed
significantly better than the control group on the word-defining task. They also
produced more coherent, higher quality narratives in a wordless picture story-telling
task. They told the stories with greater verbal rate which contained significantly
greater vocabulary diversity. These results altogether yield significant implications for
the literacy instruction practices of Orang Asli children.
Last but not least, Chen, Huang and Chen (2009) explored how much shared
reading influenced students‘ reading comprehension ability and reading motivation,
and to understand teachers‘ opinions on it. The participants were 22 fourth graders,
13 fifth graders, and their homeroom teachers in a rural elementary school in Taiwan.
The researchers and the teachers chose suitable books, designed the teaching contents,
and tried to combine the teaching of reading comprehension strategies into the
29
teaching processes in the program. Reading comprehension assessments and reading
motivation questionnaires were used before and after the programme. The quantitative
data showed that all the post-tests were higher than the pre-tests. Thus, this study
concluded that shared reading programme could effectively increase the students‘
reading comprehension. The quatitative data showed that most of the students enjoyed
the programme and the teachers took positive attitudes toward shared reading.
While these studies have mainly focused on the use of shared reading in terms
of vocabulary acquisition, text comprehension, and early literacy skill, reading
comprehension was not the focus of many studies especially in the Malaysian context.
In terms of data collection procedures, many of these studies conducted a one-time
evaluation in the use of shared reading technique within a short time and provided
limited qualitative insights resulting in a limited understanding in the use of shared
reading and reading comprehension. Therefore, the present study focused on how the
shared reading technique can be incorporated to enhance students‘ reading
comprehension in the Year 4 ESL learners. This study focused on qualitative data
collection and analysis, thus providing greater understanding on the use of shared
reading and reading comprehension.
2.3 Teacher‟s Roles in Shared Reading
Similar to most teaching English techniques or strategies in the ESL classroom, in
shared reading the teacher will be the facilitator and the lessons will be students‘
centered. The teachers‘ roles are important in this technique since they guide the
children in constructing meaning, giving instructions, feedbacks and encouragement

30
as well as leading children through the story and activities which take place. The
teacher will also lead the discussion by asking questions and probing children to
response. The questions usually required them to make connections to their own lives
as well thinking critically about certain ideas or responses related to the text shared.
As believed by Vygotsky (1978), children‘s cognitive development is largely
influenced by the cultural and social environment in which they learn. As such, in the
language classroom, where the teachers are seen as the experts of the language,
teachers should always be ready to support children to learn the language. Shared
reading required strong teacher support and need to be carefully planned (Sullivan,
2014). Teachers need to be well-trained on how to conduct shared reading to achieve
optimum teaching and learning outcome. It is not just merely reading a book to a
group of learners but it is beyond that. According to Ong (2014) one of the factors
which contribute to the efficacy of shared reading is the quality of interaction which
took place around the book shared. Teachers need to plan and revise on what kind of
questions and activities that will be targeted to the learners before, during and after
reading the text in order for the sessions to be regarded as effective.
2.3.1 Teacher‟s Questioning Styles in Shared Reading
When it comes to shared reading, teacher‘s questioning styles play a major role. It is
important that teachers implement the right instructions and questioning techniques
which do not only support children‘s literacy development but their thinking and
understanding as well. This is also in line with one of the aims of the new primary
31
English KSSR curriculum which to develop students with HOTS ability (Ministry of
Education, 2010).
According to Higham, Tonsing and Alant (2010), a great amount of teacher
talk in the classroom involved teachers asking questions. Mcneil (2012) supported the
idea that questions elicit children‘s thoughts, reasons, experiences and opinions.
Higher order thinking questions prompt children to reflect on their own thinking and
make connection between the text and their real life. Storybook reading can be used to
develop higher order thinking skills through modeling thought patterns,
acknowledging responses and allowing children to actively participate and engaged in
decontextualised interaction (Currenton, Craig & Flanigan, 2008). During a shared
reading session, questions such as ―I wonder why …?‖ ―Can you tell me what would
happen next?‖ ―Who do you like the most in this story and why?‖ ―If you were given
the chance to be the hero, what would you do?‖ stimulate students to think in critical
ways and develop their cognitive ability.
Apart from that, teachers also can use the visuals in the big book and engage
the students in questioning and discussion during shared reading sessions. Teachers
need to ask effective questions, thus, they need to structure their questions during
shared reading sessions. In their study, Hingham, Tonsing and Alant (2010)
discovered that most of the questions asked during shared reading sessions with the
African students were of lower cognitive questions. They argued that those questions
will not develop learners‘ thinking ability and thus would not be able to compete in
the real world. Therefore, they suggest that questioning technique is very important in
shared reading sessions not only to build comprehension skill but thinking skill as
32
well. Teachers need to ask questions which will require students to infer, analyse,
synthesis and evaluate information from the text rather than just recalling facts.
Currently, about 50% of the questions in UPSR are of higher order thinking skills
such as application, analysis, evaluation and creation (Ministry of Education, 2013).
As such teaching practices need to cater to this and the present study intended to
achieve this target through critical interaction, discussion and effective questioning.
2.4 Reading Skill and Reading Strategy
Afflerbach, Pearson and Paris (2008) deliberately clarify the difference between
reading skills and strategies in which they claimed skills to be the automatic
procedures whereas strategies are control and effortful tasks. This means, a reader
needs to make decisions on what reading strategies to use as well as when to use them
whereas reading skills do not required thought or actions from the reader as it happens
automatically. As such, to have acquired reading skills such as print concept,
phonological awareness, and word recognition, reading fluency, comprehension and
critical reading, readers must develop their reading strategies at first. For instance, a
reader should know and utilize reading comprehension strategies to have reading
comprehension skill.
Reading is often seen as a purposeful activity which requires active
involvement, thus, readers can use reading strategies in order to interact and
communicate with the written text (Manoli & Papadopoulou, 2012). As such, reading
strategies help readers to develop their reading skills and be a proficient reader who is
able to have critical thoughts about the reading text. Psaltou-Joycey (2010) supported
33
that a reader needs to know reading comprehension strategies to become skillful at
reading. As such, these strategies can be either implicitly or explicitly taught to the
students. The present study did not focus on the explicit teaching of reading
comprehension strategies but teaching it implicitly through questioning and
discussion.
Therefore, the focus of the present study was to develop students‘ reading
comprehension skill through instructional technique known as shared reading. This
study investigated students‘ use of reading comprehension strategies during the shared
reading sessions in order to comprehend and have a deep understanding of the stories
shared.
2.5 Reading Comprehension Strategies
Reading comprehension strategies come into hands to help readers in comprehending a
text accurately and to achieve success in reading (Duke & Pearson, 2008). It helps readers
to have deep understanding of a text they are reading rather than merely having surface
understanding. Different from the traditional view of reading comprehension as it is only
regarded as learners‘ ability to decode and memorise the content they are reading
(Mandler & Johnson, 1977). Recent researches claimed reading comprehension strategies
involve learner‘s cognitively ability (Trabasso & Bouchard, 2002 ; Gambrell and
Koskinen, 2002; Oczkus, 2004; Grabe, 2009). Those strategies are as follows;
a) Making connection- Making connection between personal knowledge and
experience to the text

34
b) Predicting- Using own opinions and personal experiences to predict
something that is unknown
c) Asking questions- Asking questions about anything related to the text
d) Summarising – Taking important ideas from a text which explains the
overall meaning of the text
e) Inferring- Using content and prior knowledge to make conclusion
f) Visualizing and Creating- Creating mental images or pictures about the
text
g) Analysing and Synthesising- Combining new ideas to existing knowledge
and coming into a form of new ideas or interpretations
h) Evaluating- Making personal judgment
i) Identifying author‟s purpose and point of view- Recognising important
messages from author
2.5.1 Shared Reading and Reading Comprehension Strategies
While many studies reported the positive effects of shared reading on vocabulary
acquisition, Kleeck (2008) supported that being exposed to books supports children‘s
comprehension of connected discourse and future reading comprehension.
Schickedanz and Mc Ghee (2010) claimed that shared reading offers story
comprehension and listening comprehension. There is also evidence that shared
reading positively influence other language measures such the ability to understand
inferential language (Kleeck, 2008). Taken together, these findings support the idea
that reading stories to children frequently is likely to improve their ability to
comprehend stories presented both in oral and written form.

35
In a study by Berne and Clark (2008), they explored the teaching of
comprehension strategies using children‘s literature through group discussions in a
shared reading setting. During the sessions, students need talk about the stories. While
they were engaged in discussion and interaction, students practiced the use of
comprehension strategies such as making connection, visualizing and identifying
main ideas. Berne and Clark‘s study indicated that shared reading can be an effective
teaching technique in motivating and engaging learners. Similarly, Kesler (2010)
emphasized incorporating big books to scaffold reading comprehension strategy
instructions in literacy and reading classrooms. He recommended the use of big
books to teach a wide range of reading comprehension strategies including
summarizing, synthesizing, visualizing, determining author‘s purpose, questioning,
connecting, and monitoring. Reading comprehension strategies are important to this
study as the researcher wants to investigate the students‘ responses towards reading
comprehension and the teaching strategies used to facilitate students‘ reading
comprehension during shared reading sessions.
2.6 Shared Reading and Think-Aloud
The think-aloud strategy asks students to say out loud what they are thinking about
during the reading process. Students need to think while they are reading. It helps
students learn to monitor their thinking as they read. In a shared reading setting,
teachers can direct the students by a series of questions which students need to think
about and answer aloud while listening to the story being read aloud.
36
By using modeling, coached practice, and reflection, teachers can teach their
students strategies to help them think while they read and build their comprehension
during the shared reading sessions. Stahl (2012) suggested that teachers could use
think-aloud to teach multiple strategies such as comprehension skills and
metacognitive awareness of text-structure or text features. Teachers can model how
she thinks aloud these questions while reading the text;
 This made me think of...
 I just thought of...
 That didn't make sense.
 I think ___ will happen next.
 I reread that part because...
 I was confused by...
 I think the most important part was...
 That is interesting because...
 I wonder why...
 So far, I've learned...
Teachers can make connections between the book being shared and her own life,
by thinking aloud when she shares. For example, after reading the title of a book, the
teacher could think aloud by saying, ―This book reminds me of the time my father
took me for fishing. Have you ever been for fishing?" Kesler (2010) agreed that
thinking aloud used in shared reading instruction can promote vocabulary knowledge
and comprehension skills. For instance, the reader can think aloud for the meaning of
a word by saying, ―I wonder what this word means?‖ as well as ―So far, I think I have
37
learnt that it is unkind to be stingy‖. Children need to be shown this type of thinking
and shared reading is a great platform to model it. This active involvement makes the
reader to have better comprehension of the text as well as giving the teacher a glimpse
into each reader's thinking. In this study, the researcher will model and invite the
participants to think-aloud during the shared reading sessions. The researcher will
pause at certain part of the book and modeled think aloud and followed by the
participants.
2.7 Students‟ Proficiency
Students always differ in their proficiency level where some might be more proficient
than others. As teachers, by knowing their proficiency level we will be able to
differentiate what they are capable of doing individually and with the help from the
others. In this study, the sample was made up of students from three categories;
proficient, average and below average. The categories were determined according to
the performance in their English test. A research sample of mix - ability will enable
the researcher to get a significant data which results in extensive and wide discussion
of the findings (Barbour, 2014). Furthermore, during the shared reading sessions, a
mix-ability grouping could benefit the children intellectually and socially as they
interact and share ideas with other students of their group who have different social
behavior and ability to learn. Also, children will be exposed on cooperation activities
with more proficient students in a spirit of collaboration and team working. Therefore,
this study was built by a sample of students from three different categories; proficient,
average and below average.

38
2.8 Conceptual Framework of the Study
Teacher‘s
questioning,
interaction Text
and Vygotsky‟s comprehension
discussion Sociocultural Theory
-Active process
-Cultural transmission
-Sharing of knowledge
Big books- and experience Higher
large prints, order
illustrations, Reading thinking
Interactive Comprehension
simple story skills
Shared
line Schema Theory (HOTS)
Reading -Previous knowledge
-New knowledge
-Reading comprehension
Reading
Stories with Comprehension
cultural Strategies
relevance,
themes and
values
Figure 2.2 Conceptual Framework of the Study.
In order to illustrate the key variables, concepts and theories in this study, a
conceptual framework has been adapted and created as shown in Figure 2.2. During
the shared reading sessions, the researcher narrated a story from a big book with large
prints, illustrations and simple story lines to a group of students. Researcher‘s
questioning, interaction and discussion encouraged the students to join in the activities
which elicited personal, thoughtful and critical responses, made prediction of story
39
development and discussed issues and themes related to the story. Through repeated
shared reading sessions, students‘ reading comprehension developed especially in
their text comprehension, comprehension strategies and higher order thinking skills.
Vygotsky‟s Sociocultural Theory
In terms of theories, Vygotsky‘s Sociocultural Theory is significant in this study.
According to Vygotsky (1978), children usually transform socially shared processes
into internal constructs and their development is regarded as an active process.
Children will construct knowledge based on experiences within the culture and
society they are immersed in. According to this theory, human nature is created within
the cultural context. The overarching culture in which children live as well as learn is
refers as the context. As such, the shared reading approach is carried out in an
environment which permits for both cultural transmission and facilitation of
children‘s cognitive and social development.
In the shared reading setting, the role of the teacher is vital as she needs to
facilitate cognitive development of the learners through critical discussion and
questions. Additionally, when children are supported by the teacher, it can result in
low affective filter. Children will not be afraid to voice their opinions during the
shared reading as they will be scaffolded and assisted by the teacher. Shared reading
approach is also known to be a fun approach (Sullivan, 2014). This also encourages
the learners to answer higher cognitive level questions without fear. As such,
Vygotsky‘s Sociocultural Theory is significant to this study as students will be
immersed in a setting of sharing of knowledge and experience. Such activity

40
stimulates discussion and exchange of ideas between students and guided by the
teacher or a more skilled other.
Active Process
According to Vygotsky (1978), child development is an active process whereby the
child transforms socially shared processes into internal constructs. This means
students play an active role in learning which promotes learning. The roles of the
teacher and students are therefore shifted, as a teacher should collaborate with his or
her students in order to help facilitate meaning construction in students. Learning
therefore becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher and this can be
evident through the shared reading technique. Students will be constructing
knowledge which will be facilitated and guided by the teacher. As such, learning will
be an active process and optimum learning is highly achievable.
Cultural Transmission
Children are immersed in culture and society and thereby construct knowledge based
on experiences within the context (Vygotsky, 1978). He believes that adult and more
expert peers help children to learn culturally meaningful activities. As such, rich
social and cultural contexts profoundly affect children's thinking. In other words, the
environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they
think about. Language, according to the Vygotsky‘s theory, is used as a cultural tool
to transmit ideas, thoughts, and beliefs from the sociocultural world to the self.
Language, for Vygotsky, is embedded in culture and helps promote an individual
culture‘s values and customs. In the shared reading setting, students will immerse in
41
an environment where students will be able to share and exchange cultural values
based on the stories shared.
Sharing of knowledge and experience
Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development.
As such, Vygotsky believes that social learning precedes development and leads not
only to increased levels of knowledge, but that it actually changes a child's thoughts
and behaviors. In a social setting, community plays a central role in the process of
scaffolding and guiding the learners to better understand different views and ideas. As
such, a skillful adult, and in that case, a teacher needs to share knowledge and
experiences with them. The learners, then, use the knowledge and experiences that
they gain to guide or regulate their own performance and learning. As the learner
becomes more competent, he or she would be able to work independently. Hence,
during the shared reading procedures, teacher and students interact with each other by
sharing knowledge and experiences based on the story shared. Students will be more
exposed to various knowledge when such interaction takes place. Therefore, shared
reading emphasized on quality interaction between a teacher and the students.
Schema Theory
Another relevant theory to this study is the Schema Theory. This theory places heavy
emphasis on the interrelationship of new knowledge with previous knowledge to form
an understanding of the new knowledge (Harris & Hodges, 1995). According to them,
readers‘ schemata are paramount and central to the comprehension process because
they are the core of their information-processing systems. Schema Theory provides an
42
important explanation to the relationship between reading and comprehension
strategies in which readers often rely on their schema or schemata when they use
some strategies. Therefore, Schema Theory is considered fundamental to distinguish
strategic from non-strategic readers by showing how some readers use their prior
knowledge to demonstrate their understanding while others cannot.
Schema theory could assist teachers to determine that some comprehension
strategies such as connecting and inferring may require building students‘ prior
knowledge to be taught effectively. Within a shared reading context, the students will
engage in a dialectical learning process by taking in new information about the shared
book by the teacher. The students then relate all new information to what they already
know or have experienced.
Previous Knowledge and New Knowledge
Schema theory emphasizes importance of general knowledge and concepts that will
help forming schemata. In educational process the task of teachers would be to help
learners to develop new knowledge and establish connections between them. Also,
due to the importance of prior or previous knowledge, teachers should make sure that
students have it. Schema theory is often used to assist second language learning and it
is important to activate adequate schema when reading a text. This means, readers
need to use prior knowledge to comprehend and learn from text. During the shared
reading sessions, students will be able to make connection between their previous
knowledge and new knowledge and this will result in better story comprehension.
43
Reading Comprehension
Reading is the positive intercommunication between reader and writer, and it focuses
on the function of background knowledge in reading comprehension. In other words,
reading is a process where students can be active in their process of reading, guessing
and confirming the text positively. Schema theory guides readers as they make sense
of new experiences and also enable them to make predictions about what they might
expect to experience in their reading comprehension. As such it affects the way
information is interpreted, thus affecting comprehension, but also continues to change
as new information is received. Comprehension difficulties occur when the reader
cannot rapidly and automatically access the concepts and knowledge stored in the
schemata. Therefore, learners‘ schema is significant in reading comprehension and
they help them in comprehending a text. In a shared reading setting, the teacher
usually will ask questions to activate the students‘ schema and connect them to the
new ideas. This will help the students to make meaning of the text.
44
2.9 Summary
This chapter included a review of literature on topics related to the shared reading
technique, teacher‘s roles and questioning techniques, reading skill and reading
strategy, reading comprehension strategies, think aloud, theories as well as past
studies. The present study focused on the effects of shared reading on students reading
comprehension as well as the teaching strategies utilized during the shared reading
sessions. Substantially, this also looked into students‘ experience during shared
reading. The next chapter deals with the detailed research design and methodology of
the study.
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
This chapter outlines the research methods involved in the study. The design,
methodology, instruments, setting, participants and sampling, data collection, data
analysis, credibility as well as ethical concerns are included in this chapter. The
present study aimed to answer three research questions which were;
1. What are the students‘ responses towards reading comprehension during
shared reading sessions?
2. What are the strategies used by the teacher during shared reading sessions in
facilitating students‘ reading comprehension?

46
In order to obtain appropriate answers and data for the research questions, the
researcher used qualitative research methodology to collect rich data and to fully
understand the phenomena under investigation.
3.1 Research Design
This study was based on the qualitative case study design. It enabled the researcher to
investigate the present study under a specific context which enhanced and supported
results from the previous studies (Meriam, 2009). Yin (1994) emphasized that the
results of a specific study can be strengthen by using case study design. In other
words, it can increase the robustness of the findings.
In general, case study designs use one or more techniques in collecting
empirical data and usually answers ‘what‘, ‗how‘ and ‗why‘ research questions
(Baxter and Jack, 2008). By having a variety of data sources, there would not be a
problem of exploring the study through a single technique but rather a variety of
techniques. As such, case studies would be able to provide great insights to a
particular study. Case study design can be implemented when the behaviour of the
participants in the study cannot be manipulated and the study is aimed to obtain data
from the natural settings (Rowley, 2002).
Therefore, this study used case study design as its research design given its
value as a qualitative research design within the naturalistic paradigm. This design
was used to study the interaction which took place between the researcher and a group
of learners during the shared reading sessions. The emphasis is on the communicative
47
elements and such as the students‘ responses towards reading comprehension as well
as the teaching strategies which took place during the shared reading sessions. Apart
from that, this design was also appropriate for the interview sessions with the students
and Yin (2011) supported that interviews are one of the sources of data in case studies
apart from informal observations, participant observations and field notes. Based on
these elements which made up a case study research design, it was justified to be an
appropriate design used in the present study.
3.2 Qualitative Research Methodology
The present study used qualitative research methodology as its research method. This
method was in line with the case study research design in which to collect rich
empirical data in the natural settings. According to Barbour (2014), researchers will
be able to understand people and their social and cultural contexts in which they live
and execute their everyday routines, tasks and activities through qualitative research
methods. Thus, in a classroom setting, researchers will be able to investigate and
understand various factors which influenced the learners, teachers, resources and
materials, teaching and learning procedures and other elements related to classrooms
and schools. This understanding is developed around the research participants‘
perspectives and the specific social and cultural contexts they are living.
There are numerous benefits of using qualitative research methodology and
Baxter and Jack (2008) had listed a few in their studies. One of the important benefits
is that through this method the researcher will be able to presents views, opinions and
experiences which cannot be explained through numerical data and statistical

48
analysis. Among other benefits are qualitative research can carry out in-depth analysis
of the phenomena under investigation, and explore new area of research topics. In that
case, this study fully used qualitative research methods to investigate the students‘
responses towards reading comprehension and the teaching strategies used in
facilitating students‘ reading comprehension during the sessions. Students‘
experiences were also the focus of this study.
3.3 Instruments
In any research methods, instruments play a great role in providing data for the study.
As such, the selection of the right instruments for the study is vital. As such this study
used audio-visual recordings, observations and interviews as part of the research
instruments. Table 3.1 shows a detail description of the instruments used in the
present study.
Research instruments of the study

Table 3.1
No. Research Questions Instruments Data Data Analysis
1. What are the students‘ Observation Observation Framework technique

responses towards checklist notes of thematic coding
reading comprehension (Richie and
during shared reading Audio-visual Audio-visual Spencer,2002)
sessions? recordings recordings
transcriptions  Identification
2. What are the strategies of recurring
used by the teacher in Audio-visual Audio-visual themes
facilitating students‘ recordings recordings  Thematic
reading comprehension? transcriptions coding
3. What are the students‘

experiences during the Interviews Interview
shared reading transcriptions
sessions?
49
3.3.1 Audio-visual recordings
Before the introduction of audio-visual recordings in the late 1970s in qualitative
research, many of the qualitative research was conducted largely by researchers who
were observing, taking handwritten field notes and talking to the participants (Gibbs,
Friese & Mangaberia, 2002). Recently, audio-visual recordings have been a popular
method in collecting data as it enables researchers to increase the authenticity of the
research. Though using audio-visual recordings needs careful planning and needs a
lot of ethical concerns, it becomes easier when the portable audio-visual recording
camera can be taken directly into the research setting (Markel, West & Rich, 2011).
This method also will be able to provide details to the research as well as a helpful
tool in confirming the findings of various qualitative studies in details.
Patton (2002) also supported that technological tool such as audio-visual
cameras have increased the quality of naturalistic observations in qualitative research.
Researchers can get rich data when the recordings are transcribed for analysis and
interpretations. According to Rapley (2007), researchers will be able to come out with
detailed transcriptions as they get the opportunity to listen and watch the recordings
again and again. Knoblauch, Baer, Laurier, Petschke & Schnettler (2008) also
supported that recorded data provides direct records of the real events being
investigated as compared to other forms of data collection.
Therefore, the use of audio-visual recordings in this study is justified as a
suitable method of data collection. The researcher recorded all the shared reading
sessions which took place in the study and transcribed the recordings into verbatim
50
text. The transcriptions were then used by the researcher to answer the first and
second research questions.
3.3.2 Observation
Another qualitative method used in this study is observation. According to Barbour
(2014), observation is a systematic way of collecting data in qualitative research
which involves observing particular behavior and people involved in the study. One
of the ways to systematically record the observation is through observation checklist.
Apart from observing and going through the list, an observer also can make notes
along the side of the checklist for more detailed observation. Meriam (2009)
concluded that classroom observation conducted in the qualitative studies will be able
to provide in-depth knowledge and sufficient details about the context, incidents, and
behaviors of the phenomenon and problem under investigation. In other words,
classroom observations can be used to capture the participants‘ actions and behaviors
in an authentic and naturalistic way.
As an observer, he or she can take the role as a participant observer or non-
participant observer. A participant observer usually involves and takes part in the
activities of the group participating in the study (Barbour, 2014). For instance in a
classroom setting where the study incorporate a specific teaching strategy, the teacher
involved in the study are observing the students as well as teaching and interacting
with the students. On the other hand, a non-participant observer does not participate in
any of the activities of the people being studied and act as a neutral observer in
recording the observation.

51
In this study, the observer was a non-participant observer. The observer sat at
the back of the classroom while recording the observation through the use of
observation checklist along with notes made during the shared reading sessions. This
also will reduce observer biasness on the outcome of the findings thus maintaining the
objectivity and neutrality of the observation. Hence, observation is necessary in this
study as it adds additional notes to the audio-visual recordings which then used to
answer the first research question. The procedures and ethical concerns involved in
observation will be further discussed in the later part of this chapter.
Observation checklist
The observation checklist used in this study as in Appendix B was adapted from A
Balanced Literacy Checklist for Reading used by Young Scholar‘s Academy (2010)
in their study. Some of the criteria listed for shared reading in the checklist were used
in the study with additional criteria inclusion to suit the focus of the present study.
The role of the observer is to read through the criteria listed in the checklist before
hand and tick the column in which they were met or not during the observation for
each shared reading sessions observed. Along the checklist, the observer was asked to
make additional notes in the notes column provided. The observation checklists were
then used to support the findings from audio-visual recordings and answer the first
research questions.
52
3.3.3 Interview
Interview is a frequently used method in the qualitative research. A researcher will be
able to explore participants‘ experiences, beliefs and views through interviews. This
method also enables the study to have a clear and deeper understanding of the
phenomena under investigation as the researcher will be able to analyse direct
utterances from the participants. Edwards and Holland (2013) argued that when
compared to research questionnaires, interviews are seen to be personal to the
participants. Thus, interviews can be an appropriate research method when the study
intended to find out detailed insights from the participants. As one of the aims of the
present study was to find the students‘ experiences during shared reading sessions, the
use of interview as a research method was appropriate.
This study deployed semi-structured interview method where additional
questions were included addition to the formulated key questions when there was a
necessity to do so. Furthermore, this way of interview provided the participants with
some form of guidance such as prompting which guide their focus on what to talk
without diverging much from the focus of the study. Stewart, Treasure and Chadwick
(2008) confirmed the flexibility of semi-structured interviews as compared to
structured interviews as this method can be more participant friendly. Some important
experiences that might be significant to the participants and served as important
findings to the research but overlooked by the researcher can be discovered through
this method.
53
Since the interviewees in this study were children, certain considerations need
to be looked into especially the way the questions were asked. Gill, Stewart, Treasure
and Chadwick (2008) suggested starting with questions that participants can easily
answer than to proceed to other questions. As for children, it is important to give
ample time for them to think and generate their views and experiences of the study in
which they participated. Also, it is imperative to design questions which are able to
provide rich information and able to answer the research questions. Valenzuela and
Shrivastava (2002) claimed that the interviewer needs to be gentle and tolerant
towards the participants in order to make the interviewees comfortable as well as
creating good rapport. This in turn put the participants in ease and develops their
confidence level especially for children respondents. For the purpose of interview in
this study an audio recorder was used to record the interview sessions between the
researcher and selected participants. The interviews were then transcribed and
analysed.
Interview questions
The interview questions are attached as Appendix C in this dissertation. The focus on
the questions is on the overall experience of the selected students during the shared
reading sessions. The questions were adapted from the study by Chen, Huang & Chen
(2009) on students‘ reading comprehension and reading motivation in the use of
shared reading. The types of questions formulated were based on their relevancy in
meeting the third research question which was on students‘ experiences during shared
reading sessions.
54
3.4 Setting of the study
The study was conducted in a school situated in the Cameron Highlands district in the
state of Pahang, Malaysia. The school was located in the sub-urban and the students
have access to various facilities such as library, hall and computer laboratory. The
study was conducted in a classroom in the afternoon after school hours. The selected
students sat on the mat with a mini white board and the teacher‘s chair placed in front
of them at the corner of the classroom. The setting depicted a Malaysian classroom
setting with chairs, tables well-arranged, and boards placed around the classroom. The
boards were used to display the students‘ works during the shared reading sessions.
3.5 Participants of the study and sampling
3.5.1 Researcher
As discussed in chapter 2, in a shared reading session, the role of a teacher is
significant and in order to have an effective shared reading session, strong teacher
support is needed (Sullivan, 2014). In that sense, the researcher presented herself to
take the teacher‘s role and facilitated the sessions. The researcher was exposed to the
notion of shared reading when she was pursuing her undergraduate studies in the
University of Otago, New Zealand. Since shared reading was originally from New
Zealand, the researcher received the first hand experience to observe how shared
reading was carried out in a few schools that she went for teaching practice. This
technique was also taught during lectures and was highly recommended to be
practiced in the English language classroom.

55
The researcher will involve in the process call participant observation.
According to Barbour (2014) participant observation is the process enabling the
researcher to learn about the activities of the participants under study in the natural
setting through observing and participating in those activities. It also provides the
context for development of sampling guidelines and interview guides. This means, as
a participant observer the researcher could establish rapport within the community
and learning to act in such a way as to blend into the community so that its members
will act naturally. Apart from that, the researcher is also the English language teacher
for the participants who participated in this study. Thus, this made the participants to
be comfortable and able to express themselves well during the shared reading
sessions. According to Stahl (2012) when students are comfortable with the presence
of the teacher, it reduces their language anxiety thus build their level of confidence. In
other words, they might not be afraid to make mistakes in front of their teacher and
peers. The teacher will always be there to guide and help them whenever needed and
this eventually creates success in them.
In a study by Waters (2014) where she collaborated with her fellow teaching
colleague in implementing shared reading based on the five-day plan incorporated
from Shared Reading Components by Fisher, Frey and Lapp(2008), she claimed that
shared reading needs to be carried out in a non-threatening environment where
everyone has the chance to contribute and share ideas. She further added that when
shared reading is viewed as a fun and meaningful teaching and learning process, it
helps learners especially those ESL learners to relate it to their personal experience
which then promote discussion and thinking. Since the instructional strategies of a
56
teacher are the core for effective shared reading sessions, teachers themselves need to
be confidence enough to execute the task. Teachers need to be the role model in
assistin g students to enjoy books and generate talk centers around books and the
surroundings in order to create a meaningful experience for the learners.
Therefore, in this study the researcher took the role of a teacher in conducting
and facilitating shared reading and aimed to get relevant information and to answer
the research questions as well as keeping in mind the ethics involved in conducting a
study.
3.5.2 Observer
The role of the observer was to observe the shared reading sessions while going
through the checklist and making notes along the way. A teacher from the same
school who holds a degree in Teaching English as Second Language (TESL) had been
selected to be the observer. The teacher has 13 years of English language teaching
experience and knew about the teaching techniques such as read aloud, shared
reading, independent reading which are stipulated in the English language syllabus. In
addition, a short discussion with the teacher revealed the teacher‘s enthusiasm in
teaching English and often tries new methods in helping students‘ acquire the
necessary skills in English language. The teacher also had tried to use big books and
implemented shared reading in the classroom but not as frequently as the researcher.
As such, the teacher was selected to be the observer given the fact of her teaching
experience and her knowledge on shared reading. The observer was also briefed about
the procedures involved in the shared reading sessions in the present study.
57
3.5.3 Students
The key participants in the present study were the students and without them
the present study would not be meaningful. In order to select the students, the
researcher defined the population by listing down all the members of the population
from a Year 4 class in the school the study was conducted . The Year 4 students were
chosen because it is the beginning of their Stage 2 English language learning in the
primary education (Ministry of Education, 2011) and they fit into the purpose of this
study. As such, these students had acquired basic skills in their Stage 1 (Year 1 – Year
3), and they need to applied those skills learnt to a higher level with the integration of
higher order thinking skills in their Stage 2 (Year 4 – Year 6). Furthermore, students
in Year 4 also will be exposed to Contemporary Children‘s Literature where students
will learn about the characters, settings, themes and moral values. Few of the
activities during the shared reading in the study were focused on these elements, thus
students needed those knowledge to execute the tasks effectively during the shared
reading sessions.
Based on the study by Chen, Huang & Chen (2009) with older readers in
Grade 4 and 5, they claimed that shared reading prepares students in these grades to
expertise in comprehension instructions and develop their comprehension strategies.
Stahl (2012) supported that shared reading prepares older readers to tackle a longer
and difficult text with the help of the teacher. A lot of quality interaction which
develop student HOTS can be evident through the use of a more difficult text as it
sparks their thinking and creativity. Fisher, Frey and Lap (2008) further supported that
58
various valuable literacy skills can be addressed with students in the higher grades
such as comprehension, vocabulary, text structures and text features. As such, for the
purpose of this study, Year 4 students who are in the beginning of their stage 2
primary education were selected as the participants.
After selecting and determining the population of the study, ten students from
the Year 4 class were selected through purposeful sampling to make up the sample for
the present study. The sample was made up of students who have proficiency, average
and below average English language academic performance. This was determined
through their mid - year test results in English language performance in the year 2016.
According to Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan (SAPS) , Ministry of Education Malaysia,
those who scored between 80%-100% will be regarded as an A grade, while those
obtained 79-60% are in the B grade and those with marks between 59-40% are in the
C category. Any marks below 40% are regarded as fail. As such in the English
language, those students who obtained A grade are known as proficient, those with B
grade are known as average and those with C grades are below average. A list of the
students‘ marks and categories is included as Appendix D in this dissertation. All the
ten selected students were involved in the shared reading sessions. After the sessions,
six students were selected for semi-structured interview sessions. These students were
selected through purposeful sampling based on their mid-year English language
scores; two proficient, two average and two below average. A mix-ability sample was
chosen for the interview in order to gain perspectives from different students with
differing ability. This would provide a rich data to be discussed and to see whether
shared reading could cater to all students from differing proficiency.

59
3.6 Data Collection Procedures
First and foremost, the researcher approached and asked consent from the school
head to do the study and especially in involving the participants from the school. The
school head agreed in carrying out the study bearing in mind the safety of the
participants. A consent form was signed by the school head. The researcher explained
the purpose of the study, the participants involved and the events which took place in
the study. The researcher clearly informed that the study was carried out in the
afternoon, after school hours, a time that was convenient to the participants. The
researcher purposed the lesson plans for the two big books used in the shared reading
sessions as attached in Appendix E.
A pilot study was conducted prior to the actual study to test out the
instruments used and the data collection procedures as well as to identify any details
that need to be addressed before the main data collection procedures. For this, a small
sample of participants was selected through random sampling from the actual sample.
The pilot study was conducted using a different big book and the observer did the
observation using the observation checklist provided. The session was recorded and
transcribed.
Based on the pilot study, there was not any issue in the audio-visual data
collection procedures and the participants‘ involvement in the session, however, the
observer faced some level of difficulty in understanding the observation checklist and
the criteria listed on it. Therefore, the researcher had to explain in details what do the
60
criteria accounted for and how do they relate to shared reading. The observer
understood the procedures after the explanation and guidance.
Before the pilot study, the observer and the participants participated in this
study were approached. The participants were informed about the study and the time
they needed to be in the school for the study. All the participants participating in the
study showed great interest. The observer, who is an English language teacher from
the school also, agreed on the date, day and time set for the study. A consent form was
signed by the observer.
3.6.1 Shared reading recording procedures
The study was carried out for three sessions for each big book. All together there were
six sessions of share reading using two big books which were recorded. The study
was carried out in a classroom with minimal disruptions. A portable camera with a
stand was placed in the corner of the classroom and recorded the sessions. Each
session lasted between 45 minutes to an hour. Figure 3.1 and Figure 3.2 present a
flow for the three sessions of shared reading for each big book that was used in the
study.
The observer did not interrupt the sessions. The recording took place in a very
natural way and the participants behave naturally though they knew they were
recorded and there was a teacher sitting at the other corner of the classroom. After
61
each recorded session, the research transferred the recording to a computer and began
transcribing. Copies of the recordings were kept safely for reference. The
transcriptions of audio-visual recordings were attached as Appendix F.
• Introduce the picture book

• Vocabulary instruction - familiarise learners with new vocabulary
• Teacher read aloud the story
• Predicting story development- teacher models the strategy followed
Session 1 by activities/tasks
• Making connection - using 'think aloud technique'- teacher models
the strategy followed by activities/tasks
• Recalling of text by teacher - Questioning

• Learners reading the text
• Making connection - using 'think aloud technique'(pair/group work)
followed by activities /tasks
Session 2 • Identifying the author's purpose and point of view using 'think aloud
technique followed by activities/tasks
• Recalling main ideas and important details of the story

• Demonstrate understanding of the central message of the story
Session 3 • Activities and tasks
Figure 3.1 Flow of Shared Reading Sessions for The Rainbow Fish. Adapted from
Ministry of Education New Zealand (2003)
62
• Introduce the picture book

• Vocabulary instruction - familiarise learners with new
vocabulary
• Teacher read aloud the story
• Make simple predictions about events in the story
Session 1 • Ask and answer questions about key details in a text
• Use think-aloud technique to ask and answer questions
• Recalling of text by teacher - Questioning

• Learners reading the text
• Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose
and understanding
Session 2 • Visualize based on imagination and context
• Create based on imagination
• Recalling main ideas and important details of the story

• Demonstrate understanding of the central message of the
story
• Retelling
Session 3
Figure 3.2 Flow of Shared Reading Sessions for The Smartest Giant in the Town.
Adapted from Ministry of Education New Zealand (2003)
63
3.6.2 Classroom observation procedures
The observer sat at the corner of the classroom with her observation checklist before
each session started. The observer started observing as soon as the session started by
going through each criteria listed in the checklist and making notes along the way
without interruption. At the end of the session, the researcher collected the
observation checklist for analysis. This process was repeating for all the six shared
reading sessions.
3.6.3 Interview procedures
After completing the six shared reading session, 6 students (2 proficient, 2 average
and 2 below average) were selected using the purposeful sampling for semi-structured
interview sessions. They were interviewed regarding their experience during the
shared reading sessions using the interview questions as attached in Appendix C. The
interviews were recorded using an audio recorder in the library to avoid disruptions.
Each interview session lasted between 6 to 10 minutes. The entire interview
recordings were transcribed and analysed.
3.7 Data analysis procedures
In this study, the procedures for data analysis for transcribed audio-visual recordings,
interviews and observation checklist were as proposed by the framework technique of
thematic coding by Richie and Spencer (2002). Data from the observation was used to
support and confirmed data from the audio-visual recordings. Thematic coding is
organized, detailed, and grounded in data (Barbour, 2014). It involved (a) first reading
(b) second reading to identify recurring themes or categories (c) grouping data into
64
categories or themes d) creating a framework of categories e) refining and reducing
the categories through grouping them where appropriate f) recoding the responses
using the refined framework of categories. This helped the researcher to obtain a clear
understanding of the effects of shared reading on students‘ reading comprehension
and the teaching strategies used during shared reading to facilitate students‘ reading
comprehension. The students‘ perspectives and experiences were also anaysed using
this method.
3.8 Validity and Reliability Strategies
In a qualitative research, validity and reliability of the research is paramount so as to
establish trustworthiness. Lincoln and Guba (1989) argued that a researcher should
ensure the validity and reliability of a research so that the results of the study are
believable from the participants‘ perspectives. In the present study, several measures
had been taken to ensure the validity and reliability of the study.
Since, the participants involved in the study were children, the researcher
asked the observer to verify the audio-visual and interview transcriptions were
accurately transcribed. The observer was satisfied with outcome of the transcription.
At the same time the observer also checked the interpretations and analysis of
findings between the observation checklist and audio-visual recordings which were
put forward by the researcher.

65
3.8.1 Triangulation of data
Triangulation is an important factor to be used to protect the study from the issue of
validity and reliability. This method was used by combining more than one sources of
data collection method. The present study used audio-visual recordings, observation
and interview as its data collection method which are well established and major data
collection method in qualitative studies. Instead of using single source as data
collection method, the use of multiple data sources creates validation of the research
findings. In addition, through triangulation, the results from one method could
complement and develop the findings from the other method (Johnson & Christensen,
2008). In that case, in the present study the findings from the observation could
support the findings from the audio-visual recordings. As such, through triangulation,
the validity and reliability of the present study is secured.
3.8.2 Familiarity with the participants
Before starting a study, researchers are advised to have preliminary visits to the
organization which will take part in the study (Silverman, 2001). The purpose of this
procedure was to familiarize the researcher with the culture of the organization thus
making sure in not providing irrelevant information. This process also enabled the
participants to trust the researcher and the work which centered on the research. In
this study, the researcher was already a familiar person to the participants since the
study was conducted in the researcher‘s own school. According to Yin (2011)
prolonged engagement between the researcher and the participants enable the
researcher to get adequate understanding of the participants involved in the study so

66
as to establish a relationship of trust between the parties. However, when analyzing
the data, the researcher had to be aware not to be influenced by her professional
judgments.
3.9 Ethical Considerations of the Study
In this study, ethical issues were given priority. According to Shaw (2003), ethics in
research need to be considered in order to promote truth and to avoid false and
misinterpretation of data. The wellbeing, safety, rights and dignity of those
participating in this study were ensured not be harmed from the beginning till
reporting of this study.
Before this study was carried out, consent forms were signed by the school
head and the observer. Since the participants were school students, permission for
them to participate in the study was obtained from the school head. These forms
included details about the study and information about what the participants were
required to do in the study. Informed consent has been recognized as an integral part
of ethics in research (Eide &Kahn, 2008). As such, participations were voluntary and
there were no hard rules imposed in the present study.
Apart from that, participants were also informed that all data collected will be
treated with confidentiality and anonymity. Participants‘ identity will not be revealed
and kept anonymous. The promises and agreement made will be kept in private so as
to protect the participants‘ and researcher‘s integrity. In qualitative studies,
researchers have a great responsibility and play many different roles (Hoeyer,
67
Dahlager & Lynöe, 2005).They need to be honest in reporting the findings and
without misinterpretation of data. As such, they need to be careful and avoid careless
errors as a result of negligence.
All data and activities of this study were recorded and kept safely. Most
importantly, the researcher strived to avoid the issue of biasness by analyzing and
reporting the results of the study based on the data obtained and not in favour of
anyone. Moreover the findings were supported by theories, previous research and
related literature thus minimizes researcher‘s biasness.
Therefore, various ethical concerns had been taken into consideration from the
beginning of the present study such as informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity,
integrity, honesty and carefulness.
3.10 Summary
This chapter has presented important elements in terms of the research methodology.
In summary, this study used case study as its research design. Apart from that, audio-
visual recordings, observation and interviews were the research methods used to
collect relevant data in the study. These data were analysed through the framework
technique of thematic coding by Richie and Spenser (2002). The findings and
discussion of the study will be presented in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.0 Introduction
Through the qualitative case study design, this study had collected a substantial
amount of data to answer the research questions and to fully understand the
phenomena under investigation. The focus of this study was on the shared reading
technique and students‘ reading comprehension in the primary 4 ESL classroom. As
such, this chapter includes the qualitative measure of data analysis which was
obtained through observation checklist, video-recordings transcriptions and interview
transcriptions. The results of this study focus on three major research questions which
were;
1. What are the students‘ responses towards reading comprehension during
shared reading sessions?

69
2. What are the strategies used by the teacher during shared reading sessions in
facilitating students‘ reading comprehension?
4.1 Findings for Research Question 1
The first aim of this study was to investigate students‘ responses towards reading
comprehension during shared reading sessions. For this, data was obtained through
the observation checklist and audio-visual recordings transcriptions. The observation
checklists were completed by an English language teacher during the shared reading
sessions. The observer made some notes along the checklist as well. Data from the
observation checklist and audio-visual recording transcriptions were coded into
several categories according to the framework technique by Ritchie and Spencer
(2002). After the final coding and identifying the themes, the researcher checked with
the teacher who observed the sessions to make sure the coding, categories of themes
and frequency of responses noted for each category was accurate and acceptable.
According to the findings, six categories of responses which influenced
students‘ reading comprehension were identified based on the observation checklist
and audio-visual recordings transcriptions. Data analysis also showed that the shared
reading sessions had positive influence on students reading comprehension. The
identified category of responses on students‘ reading comprehension were, 1) text-to-
self connection; 2) text-to-text connection; 3) extending comprehension; 4) thinking
aloud; 5) extended response and 6) develop cognitive ability. The responses were
70
coded according to their definitions based on literature as stated in Table 4.1 and
Table 4.2.
Table 4.1
Coding used for the identified codes of responses based on observation checklist and
audio-visual recordings
Criteria from Definition
Observation Checklist
Text-to-self 1. Teacher The ability to make connection to

connection activates prior personal knowledge and experiences
knowledge by using ‗I‘ or ‗my‘ statements in the
2. Students justify responses. Teacher asks question
responses by which to activate students‘ prior
referring to prior knowledge.(Keene and Zimmerman,
knowledge and 1997)
personal
experience
3. Utilizing reading
comprehension
strategies-
making
connection
Text-to-text 1. Students justify In the process of reading a text,

connection responses by students make connection and
referring back to reminded of a text they have read
the text they before. Their usual response will be,
have read before ―Oh, this is like the mouse story we
have read before‖. (Keene and
Zimmerman, 1997)
Extending 1. Teacher stops Students will deepen and expand their
comprehension and pauses at own understanding by asking and
strategic places responding to questions, sharing
to ask questions opinions and ideas as well as looking
2. Students interact for clues and information from the
by sharing text to justify their answers (Block,
opinions, ideas 1986)
and
interpretations
3. Students asking
questions
4. Students justify
responses by
referring back to
the text they are
reading
Continue next page
71
Table 4.1 (continue)
Coding used for the identified codes of responses based on observation checklist and
audio-visual recordings
Thinking aloud 1. Teacher models Students and teachers will

some ‗think demonstrate thinking aloud when they
aloud‘ during say out aloud what they are thinking
introduction and about while reading. Teachers will
other parts of the demonstrate thinking aloud by using
book the ‗I‘ statements (Farr & Corner,
2. Students think 2004)
aloud
Extended 1. Open ended Teachers ask a lot of open-ended

responses questioning by questions which results in extended
teacher and lengthy responses rather than
2. Lengthy one-word responses. Students are
responses rather seen elaborating their ideas and
than one word opinions (Brannon and Dauksas,2012)
responses
Develop cognitive 1. Teacher asks Students will be able to develop their

ability higher order higher order thinking skill (HOTS)
thinking through reading comprehension using
questions to strategies such as predicting,
provoke critical inferring, analyzing and synthesizing,
thinking evaluating , creating and identifying
2. Predicting author‘s purpose (Harvey &
3. Students Goudvis,2013).
inferring
4. Students
analyzing and
synthesising
5. Students
evaluating
6. Students
creating
7. Students
identifying
author‘s purpose
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Table 4.2
Coding used for comprehension strategies which develop cognitive ability (Block &
Pressley, 2002)
Coding of strategies Definition
Higher order thinking Teachers ask higher level questions which stimulate students‟
skills questions
thinking
Predicting Students will use own opinions and personal experiences to

predict something that is unknown related to the text
Inferring Students will use content of the text and prior knowledge to
make conclusion
Analysing and Students will combine new ideas to existing knowledge and
Synthesising coming into a form of new ideas or interpretations
Evaluating Students will make personal judgment to the text
Visualising and Students will create mental images or pictures about the text
Creating or for the task related to the text
Identifying author‘s Students will recognize important messages from author

purpose
These responses positively influenced students reading comprehension, yet
they varied in the frequency of occurrences during the shared reading sessions. Table
4.3 showed the analysis of the findings for the big book, ‗The Rainbow Fish‘ by
Marcus Pfister which was coded according to the frequency of responses. Frequency
refers to the number of times the response appears in the students‘ interaction with the
researcher during the sessions. S1, S2 S3 refer to the number of session. Altogether
there were three sessions which lasted between 45minutes to an hour for each big
book.
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A sample on how the sections of transcriptions were coded is shown as below;
Category of responses: Extended responses(ER)
Definition: Teachers ask a lot of open-ended questions which results in extended and
lengthy responses rather than one-word responses. Students are seen elaborating
their ideas and opinions (Brannon and Dauksas,2012).
Transcript 6 (Session 2, Big book „The Rainbow Fish‟) (pp. 165)

L54-T-27: … Okay , my next question is, why does the star fish choose octopus
and not other sea creatures?(ER)
L55-SG-1: Because the octopus is wise and clever(ER)
L56-T-28: Okay, if you are the star fish. Where will you ask the rainbow fish to
go?(ER)
L57-SA-5: I think I will ask the rainbow fish to find teacher T.(ER)
One complete response, sentence or a phrase that has meaning will be counted as 1
frequency.ER: Extended Responses, f: frequency
L54-T-27: … Okay , my next question is, why does the star fish choose octopus and
not other sea creatures?(ER)(f-1)
L55-SG-1: Because the octopus is wise and clever(ER) (f- 2)
L56-T-28: Okay, if you are the star fish. Where will you ask the rainbow fish to
go?(ER)( f-3)
L57-SA-5: I think I will ask the rainbow fish to find teacher T.(ER) (f-4)
Total frequencies based on the coded transcriptions above = 4

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Table 4.3
Analysis of Responses for „The Rainbow Fish‟ by Marcus Pfister
No. Category of Responses Frequency Total
S1 S2 S3 Frequencies
1. Text-to-Self Connection
1. Teacher activating prior knowledge 19 10 6 35
2. Students justify responses referring to 19 15 24 58
prior knowledge and personal
experience(Making connection)
2. Text-to-Text Connection
1. Students justify responses by referring 3 - - 3
back to the text they have read before
3. Extending Comprehension
1. Teacher stops and pauses at strategic 54 52 56 162
places to ask questions
2. Students interact by sharing opinions, 67 65 68 200
ideas and interpretations
3. Students asking questions 3 13 2 18
4. Students justify responses by referring 11 22 25 58
back to the text they are reading
4. Thinking aloud
1. Teacher models some „think aloud‟ 4 2 4 10
during introduction and other parts of
the book
2. Students think aloud 41 49 27 117
5. Extended responses
1. Open ended questioning by teacher 29 35 33 97
2. Lengthy responses rather than one
word responses 47 44 46 137
6. Develop cognitive ability (HOTS, Critical

thinking, Analytical thinking)
1. Teacher asks higher order thinking 11 16 15 42
questions to provoke critical thinking
2. Students Predicting 20 13 - 33
3. Students inferring 13 21 14 48
4. Students analyzing and synthesising 11 9 8 28
5. Students evaluating 8 10 11 29
6. Students identifying author‟s purpose 2 3 - 5
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Based on the findings, it showed that all these responses influenced the
participants reading comprehension during the three shared reading sessions for the
big book, ‗The Rainbow Fish‘ by Marcus Pfister. Noticeably, extending
comprehension accounted the highest responses. During the shared reading sessions,
it was observed that the researcher asked a great number of questions to extend the
students understanding of the story. The type of questions asked varied as there were
closed questions, open-ended questions and higher order thinking questions. Closed
questions required the students to give a yes/ no answer meanwhile open-ended
questions seek for a longer answer with reasons, feelings and opinions.
In this study, open-ended questions were categorized under the category of
response for extended responses with 97 responses. Open-ended questions enabled the
participants to share long answers rather than one word answer. HOTS questions
came to total of 42 responses. This type of questions required the participants to think
critically and is more challenging as they did not only ask the students to give reasons
and opinions but to give further explanation and support their reasoning. Hence,
HOTS questions developed the participants‘ cognitive ability and it was one of the
responses identified to influence students reading comprehension.
The participants also interacted with the researcher by sharing their opinions,
ideas and interpretations which come to total of 200 responses. Most of the times, the
participants provided lengthy responses rather than one word responses which noted
into 137 responses. Participants also asked questions with 18 responses to clarify their
understanding of the story. Apart from that, participants also involved in inferring
with 48 responses, predicting with 23 responses, analysing and synthesizing with 28

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responses, evaluating with 29 responses and identifying author‘s purpose with 5
responses which developed participants‘ cognitive ability and it was identified as one
of the responses.
Another substantial category of response was thinking aloud. It could be
categorized into two forms, which was researcher thinking aloud with 10 responses
and participants thinking aloud with 117 responses. In that sense, the researcher
modeled how to think aloud and participants said out loud what they were thinking
about during the sessions. By doing so, participants could monitor their thinking as
they listened, read and interacted while they were directed by a set of questions by the
researher. Based on the observation, the researcher activated participants‘ prior
knowledge with 35 responses mostly in the beginning of the sessions. Participants
also justified their responses by referring back to their prior knowledge and personal
experience with 54 responses. Thus, text-to-self connection was one of the responses
identified.
Additionally, text-to-text connection was also one of the categories of
responses identified. Participants justified their responses by referring back to the text
they have read before with 5 responses. This category of response had a very little
influence on participants‘ reading comprehension for ‗The Rainbow Fish‘. It was
observed that only some participants attempted to make text-to-text connection. On
the other hand, Table 4.4 showed the analysis of the findings for the big book, ‗The
Smartest Giant in the Town‘ by Julia Donaldson. Frequency refers to the number of
times the responses appeared in the participants‘ interaction with the researcher
during the sessions.

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Table 4.4
Analysis of Responses for The Smartest Giant in the Town by Julia Donaldson
No. Category of Responses Frequency Total

S1 S2 S3 Frequencies
1. Text-to-Self Connection
1. Teacher activating prior knowledge 18 10 7 35
2. Students justify responses by referring 20 14 13 47
to prior knowledge and personal
experience(Making connection)
2. Text-to-Text Connection
1. Students justify responses by referring 3 - 3 6
back to the text they have read before
3. Extending Comprehension
1. Teacher stops and pauses at strategic 49 52 38 139
places to ask questions
2. Students interact by sharing opinions, 57 60 48 165
ideas and interpretations
3. Students asking questions 3 2 2 7
4. Students justify responses by referring
back to the text they are reading 12 20 8 40
4. Thinking aloud
1. Teacher models some „think aloud‟ 2 2 1 5
during introduction and other parts of
the book 25 32 20 77
2. Students think aloud
5. Extended responses
1. Open ended questioning by teacher 24 30 26 80
2. Lengthy responses rather than one 30 29 28 87
word responses
6. Develop cognitive ability (HOTS, Critical

thinking, Analytical thinking)
1. Teacher asks higher order thinking 19 20 16 55
questions to provoke critical thinking
2. Predicting 30 - - 30
3. Students inferring 29 11 12 52
4. Students analyzing and synthesising 13 7 6 26
5. Students evaluating 9 2 2 13
6. Students creating and visualizing 3 3 8 14
7. Students identifying author‟s purpose - 3 3 6
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The category of response for extending comprehension was still noted the
highest frequency followed by extended responses. There was a huge gap of
responses between the researcher modeling thinking aloud with 5 responses and
participants‘ thinking aloud with 77 responses. Probably participants had learnt how
to think aloud from their first three sessions with the first big book. Interestingly, the
category of response for developing cognitive ability was predominant here as
compared to the first big book. The frequency of responses noted for the researcher
asking HOTS questions to provoke critical thinking were 55 responses, inferring with
52 responses, analyzing and synthesizing with 26 responses, evaluating with 13
responses, visualising and creating with 14 responses and indentifying author‘s
purpose with 6 responses.
It was significant to note that, there was an element of visualising which was
not available for the first big book. Attempt to connect the story with participants‘
personal experience as well as activating their prior knowledge with 35 responses
were made by the researcher. Participants justified their responses by referring back to
their prior knowledge and personal experience with 47 responses. For text-to-text
connection, participants justified their responses by referring back to the text they
have read before with 5 responses which was similar to the frequency noted for the
first big book. At the same time, participants justify their responses by referring back
to the content of the text with 40 responses and interact by sharing opinions, ideas and
interpretations with 165 responses. Researcher asking questions were noted as 139
responses whereas participants‘ asking questions were accounted for total of 7
responses only.
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Similar to the first big book, the responses listed above matched the identified
responses and were confirmed by the observer. Although, the findings showed there
was a lesser interaction between the researcher and the participants for the second big
book as compared to the first one, it did not affect the overall performance of the
participants during the shared reading sessions. The students still felt comfortable
with the researcher and were able to share their opinions. As described by the
observer, participants took quite some time to think and the researcher had to prompt
them.
All in all, according to the observation checklist and audio-visual recordings
transcriptions, the researcher identified six categories of responses towards reading
comprehension and they were 1) text-to-self connections; 2) text-to-text connections;
3) extending comprehension; 4) thinking aloud; 5) extended responses and 6) develop
cognitive ability.
4.2 Discussion for Research Question 1
4.2.1 Text-to-Self Connection
According to the findings, one of the identified categories of responses towards
reading comprehension was text-to-self connection. Through the findings, it was
noted that participants made connection between their personal life and the content of
the stories shared during the shared reading sessions. This finding was similar to the
study done by Honchell and Schulz (2012) and Morrrison and Wlodarczyk (2009)
where the researchers in those studies helped the participants to relate the story to
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their own life Similar to the present study, the researcher invited the participants to
make connection to their own self and participants were able to make connection to
their personal experiences and knowledge as well as integrated information from
outside the text during the sessions.
As active readers, in order to comprehend and construct meaning about a text,
they will activate their prior knowledge which is known as schema. Schema Theory
explains the relationship between reading and comprehension strategies used by the
readers in order to understand what they are reading. This theory also supports that
reading is an active process and readers construct new ideas and concepts based on
their previous knowledge and experiences (Harris & Hodges, 1995).
During the shared reading sessions, as the participants actively listened to the
text being read aloud to them, they would make meaning based on what they already
knew (Hubbard, 2009). As such, they would understand the information they were
listening to and make connection with their life, in which making text-to-self
connection. This type of connection involved the listeners or readers relating the text
to their personal experience, prior knowledge or understanding. For instance, the
listeners or readers could relate an activity or information shared in the text with a
similar one experienced by them.
In this study, the participants were actively making connections to their own self
and this aided in their understanding of the text being shared to them during the
sessions. Participants could relate to the meaning of the stories very well when they
could relate them to their own life. As such, text-to-self connections are often the first
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one to occur to the listener or reader (Keene & Zimmerman, 1997). Based on
Transcript 1, the researcher played a great role during the shared reading sessions as
she asked questions which helped the participants to make connection and relate the
information between what they were learning to what they already know. (L- Line
number, T- Researcher, S (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H)- Participants, -1 - number of spoken
interaction)
Example: L2-SA-1
Line 2 (L2), Student A (SA), first spoken interaction (-1)
Transcript 1 (Session 1, Big book ‘The Rainbow Fish’)

L31-T-15: … when I was young , I have to share my clothes with my little sister .
Let‘s say, if I have a dress, and that dress, I cannot wear , I have to give my cloth to
my little sister , which means I need to share things with her.
L32-SA-8: Until you cannot use then you will give it to your sister?
L33-T-16: Yes, something like that I have to share it with my little sister. Do you
have something like that where you have to share?
L34-SB-3: Hmm..Yeah, cloth.
L35-T-17: Okay cloth. Yes A, what do you share?
L36-SA-9: Shoes!
According to Atim and Azahar (2012) thought-provoking questions enable
learners to link newly acquired information to information outside of the current
lesson and to themselves. Inevitably, this helped the learners to be interested and
engaged to the lessons as they could relate the content of the story to themselves
while increasing their learning and comprehension of the text. Therefore, text-to-self
was one of the identified responses to influence participants‘ reading comprehension
during the shared reading sessions.

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4.2.2 Text-to-Text Connection
In a shared reading session, the text used is pivotal as the overall session centers
around the text. Thus, another identified response towards participants‘ reading
comprehension was text-to-text connection and this was similar to Morrrison and
Wlodarczyk (2009) research on students‘ engagement with text and reading
comprehension. According to them, readers made this type of connection when they
could relate the current text to the text they have read or listened previously. In this
study, participants made some connection to the text they read in the past. However,
only a few participants could make text-text connection. Nevertheless, it is still an
important response in shared reading as it helps in student overall comprehension.
When participants made text-to text connection, they could enhance their
sense of story and increase their comprehension (Brannon & Dauksas, 2002). As
readers, they could make connection across different text they have read by thinking
and reflecting which enhanced their comprehension. During the shared reading
sessions, some of the participants were reminded of something they have read
previously and could relate it to the text being shared. Transcript 2 shows an example
of such connection.
Transcript 2 (Session 1, Big book ‘The Smartest Giant in the Town’)

L50-T-24: Okay, have you seen or read any books about giants?
L51-SS-15: Jack and the beanstalk!!
Based on the excerpt, the participants (SS) could make connection between the
giant in the story and the giant they have seen and read in the story ‗Jack and the
Beanstalk‘. Thus, text-to-text connection did help the participants to think, reflect and
comprehend the text better and it was one of the responses identified on participants‘
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reading comprehension. As such, participants need to be exposed to a variety of
stories as they could establish connection across the stories in which will aid in their
reading experience.
4.2.3 Extending Comprehension
During the shared reading sessions, the researcher and participants interact with each
other using the selected stories. During this interaction, participants brought in various
ideas, opinions and explanation meanwhile the researcher engaged the participants
with the text by asking various types of questions. The shared reading sessions
provided a rich context for discussion as well as systematically provided opportunities
for the participants to become readers and thinkers themselves (Rashatchi &
Moghadam, 2012). Participants did not merely comprehend the text but able to reason
and talk further about their understanding. Also, the researcher explained the meaning
of some vocabularies in the beginning of the sessions and participants asked questions
at various part of the text. Taken together, another category response towards
participants reading comprehension was extending comprehension.
Strasser, Larraín & Lissi (2013) found out that learners achieved better
comprehension when they were exposed to the elaborations of unknown words found
in the text. They claimed that children will be able to understand literal information
when they had the knowledge of the words in a story. It is also an essential ability for
story comprehension (Collins, 2010). However, contradicting to the findings of this
study, Strasser, Larraín & Lissi (2013) also found out that children who were
exposed to coherence questions achieved better story comprehension than those
exposed to open-ended questions. Coherence questions refer to questions which deal

84
with causality, goals, feelings and thoughts whereas open-ended questions which are
frequently recommended for researchers, involved general inferential questions,
distancing questions, or requests for descriptions. In this study, the researcher used
both coherence and open-ended questioning technique and they aided in participants‘
involvement and comprehension during the shared reading sessions. The transcript
below shows an example of open-ended question asked by the researcher and the
participants‘ response to it.
In order to extend participants‘ comprehension, they need to be taught a range
of reading comprehension strategies to help them fully understand the text (Kesler,
2010). Similar to this study, Fisher, Fray and Lapp (2008) found out that during
shared reading, teachers can focus on reading comprehension strategies such as
activating prior knowledge, inferencing, summarizing, predicting, clarifying,
questioning, visualizing, monitoring, synthesizing, evaluating, and connecting. In this
study, the researcher frequently asked the learners to explain, elaborate and connect
their ideas using the reading comprehension strategies as the teacher stopped and
paused at various parts of the story and it was done implicitly. Beck and McKeown
(2001) supported that participants need to be engaged in discussion after smaller
segments of text rather than after reading the entire text as it provided the learners
with opportunities to cautiously think of ideas, clarify misconceptions and
comprehend their understanding.
This study also provided some evidence to support Vygotsky‘s Sociocultural
Theory as participants were immersed in a setting of sharing of knowledge and
experience which stimulates questioning, discussion and exchange of ideas between

85
participants and the researcher. Based on previous research, shared reading worked on
constructivist principles of learning, which is consistent with this research (Ceron,
2014). Inevitably, when participants were immersed in questioning, exchange of ideas
and discussion, they extend their understanding of the text which was noticed from
their responses during the shared reading sessions. Importantly, researcher‘s
questioning during the shared reading sessions kept the participants focused on the
text ideas (Heisey & Kucan, 2010).
Transcript 4 (Session 1, Big book „The Smartest Giant in the Town‟)

L163-T-73: Okay, so what can you say about George so far?
L164-SS-37: Kind, helpful
L165-T-74: Why do you say he is helpful?
L166-SS-38: Because when the animals need help, he helped them
Based on the transcript above, it is evident that the participants responded to
the researcher‘s questions as they construct and revise their understanding of the text
along the way. In other words, as the researcher read aloud to the participants and
paused at certain page to question, it stimulates participants to think and reconfirm
their understanding. Omar and Saufi, (2015) claimed that when teachers interact with
children and elicit responses from them, they could bring meaning to the story being
read and shared to them. In that case, learners‘ comprehension will be extended
teachers prompt them with questions. Thus, based on the participants‘ responses and
observation, extending comprehension is one of the responses found to influence
participants reading comprehension during shared reading sessions.

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4.2.4 Thinking aloud
Thinking is a cognitive process which involves reasoning, elaboration and
explanation (Piaget, 1972). For children in the language classroom, they involve in
thinking as they perform various tasks either individually or in groups. Thinking
aloud is a form of thinking strategy which let the learners to say out loud what they
are thinking. In this study, while the participants listened to the story being read aloud
to them as well as reading along the story in few sessions, they involved in various
thinking process. Moreover, the researcher also directed the participants through a
series of questions where they needed to think about and voiced their answers,
thoughts and opinions aloud. This helped in their reading comprehension and this is
similar to the findings of the study by Stahl (2012) where he suggested teachers to use
think aloud to teach various comprehension strategies during shared reading. As such,
another category of response identified on participants reading comprehension was
thinking aloud.
Based on the observation and responses, the researcher took the lead to model
how to think aloud to the participants. Stahl (2012) also claimed that researchers can
teach their participants to think aloud by using modeling, coached practice and
reflection. The extract below showed how the researcher modeled think aloud to the
participants.
Transcript 5 (Session 1, Big book 2 ‘The Smartest Giant in the Town’)

L5-T-3: Okay, when I was young, I was in the primary school, I had a friend . My
friend was very poor that she did not have any pencils . So I had this one extra
pencil, that I got it from my teacher and I gave it to her. So did I help my friend?
L6-SS-3: Yes!
L7-T-4: Okay, so how about you? How do you help your friend?
L8-SA-1: Teach them how to do homework
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Based on Transcript 5, the researcher was thinking aloud her own experience,
thus making connection to her personal experience. By modeling this, the participants
were invited to think about their personal experience and share it to everyone else in
the sessions. By doing so, they managed to make connection between the text and
personal life and built their comprehension strategy. Farr and Corner (2004) suggested
that teachers need to encourage and provide tools for participants to monitor their own
comprehension by modeling and coached practice. Eventually, this will result in
becoming independent users of reading comprehension strategies.
By modeling think aloud, the teacher gained better insights into the readers
thinking. Apparently, Snowball (2005) claimed that think aloud could enhance
participants‘ comprehension in two ways. Firstly, when participants engaged in the
text by listening and reading, they involve in think aloud and secondly when teachers
utilize and model think aloud when reading with the learners. Similar to this study,
Sprainger, Sandral and Ferrari (2011) stated that reading approaches such as read
aloud and shared reading, are great platform for researchers to effectively teach
cognitive reading strategy such as think aloud. Moreover, participants think aloud is
also seen as an effective assessment tool which provides evidence into participants‘
thinking as well as opportunities for researcher to notice and evaluate what the
participants know. Hence, think aloud was another identified response towards
reading comprehension.
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4.2.5 Extended responses
Shared reading approach has been proven in numerous researches to be a platform for
two way communication as well as social interaction between the teacher and learners
(Sullivan, 2014; Ong, 2014). Participants were able to elaborate their answers as well
as in giving further explanation rather than one word answers and thus helped in their
comprehension. As such another identified participants‘ response towards reading
comprehension is extended responses. Based on the participants‘ responses, although
some questions were acceptable to be answered short without reasoning, but majority
of them required lengthy answers. Interaction and questioning process which took
place during shared reading expands participants‘ vocabulary, ideas and opinions.
Kesler (2010) found out in his study that during a shared reading session, learners
were seen to have meaningful social interaction, expanded their vocabulary and
deepened their reading comprehension ability. He added that learners also engaged in
their own learning and gave thoughtful, extended responses. Similar to his study,
extended responses were also evident in this study. The transcript below is an
example of such responses.
Transcript 6 (Session 2, Big book „The Rainbow Fish‟)

L54-T-27: … Okay , my next question is, why does the star fish choose octopus and
not other sea creatures?
L55-SG-1: Because the octopus is wise and clever
L56-T-28: Okay, if you are the star fish. Where will you ask the rainbow fish to go?
L57-SA-5: I think I will ask the rainbow fish to find teacher T
L58-T-29: (Laugh) Okay, why do you want the rainbow fish to find me?
L59-SA-6: Because teacher T is wise and clever
It is important to note that teacher‘s approach in questioning and in leading the
interaction during a shared book session could facilitate rich interaction and responses
as they made sense of the stories together (Kesler, 2010). As such, the extract above
89
showed that the researcher played a great role in directing the participants in making
extended responses. It was also evident that participants made meaning through
dialogue and interaction which resulted in text comprehension. Brannon and Dauksas
(2012) argued that researchers should ask more open-ended questions during shared
reading to expect rich and extended responses as these types of questions expand
participants‘ comments and ideas regarding the book being shared. Thus, the findings
showed that extended response was one of the identified participants‘ responses
towards reading comprehension during shared reading.
4.2.6 Develop cognitive ability
Based on the observation notes, it was noted that participants utilized various reading
comprehension strategies such as making connection, predicting, analyzing,
synthesizing, evaluating, creating and identifying author‘s purpose. These strategies
are part of the cognitive strategies which are desirable for successful comprehension
of a text and they developed participants‘ higher order thinking skill, analytical
thinking as well as critical thinking (Karbalaei, 2010). The shared reading process can
contribute to complex thinking and learning when participants were also responsible
for meaning-making and able to contribute to the literacy knowledge in the English
language classroom. Also, thinking skills can easily be fostered during potentially
language-rich interactions, making storybook reading a powerful tool for preparing
participants for reading performance (Higham, Tönsing and Alant, 2010). The
transcript below shows an example of participants using HOTS skill in a group
activity. The focus of this task was to create something new out of something that can
be worn.
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Transcript 7 (Session 3, Big book, „The Smartest Giant in the Town‟)

L43-T-22: Okay lets have the 1st group. What do you have over there?
L44-Group A-2: We have the hat as a boat.
L45-T-23: Is that hat or cap?
L46-Group A-3: Ohh..we choose cap
L47-T-23: Okay, show me how it can become a boat?
L48-Group A-4: (Showed)Turn over the cap, and it will look like a boat.
L49-T-24: Your boat won‘t sink?
L50-Group A-5: No because it is made of plastic
Moreover, assessment, which used to focus mostly on content recalling and
mastery of facts from the syllabus, is changing to include application of skills and
knowledge. Currently, about 30% to 50% of the questions on school exam papers test
high-level thinking skills, such as application, analysis, evaluation, and creation
(Ministry of Education, 2013) However, not only do examinations and curricula need
to change, but teaching practices need to follow suit. Reading a story to children thus
not only provides them with oral input but at the same time presents an opportunity to
foster a range of different skills, including high-level cognitive skills. Fisher (2007)
also indicated that thinking is motivated by questions. This, therefore, also supports
the importance of questioning for cognitive development.
Thus, through the identified participants‘ responses towards reading
comprehension which were text-to-self connection, text-to-text connection, extending
comprehension, thinking aloud, extended responses and develop cognitive ability,
shared reading can be concluded to be an effective teaching technique to be carried
out in the ESL classroom. Participants will be able to strengthen their reading
comprehension skills through various activities and tasks which take place during the
shared reading sessions.

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The second aim of this study was to investigate the strategies used by the researcher
during shared reading in facilitating participants‘ reading comprehension. For this,
data was obtained through the audio-visual recordings transcriptions. The researcher‘s
responses were coded into several categories according to the framework technique
by Ritchie and Spencer (2002). The coding method for the researcher‘s responses
utilized a frequency count to determine the number of times the identified strategies
were used by the researcher to facilitate participants‘ reading comprehension during
the six sessions of shared reading. Based on the analysis, five strategies have been
identified. The strategies were as follows:
1. Vocabulary building - The teachers explained the meanings of the difficult
words using illustrations in the texts, examples and explanations (Brabham
and Lynch-Brown, 2002)
2. Prompting - The teachers prompted to the pupils before, while and after
they have read the text to gauge their understanding of the stories. The prompt
types are (Whitehurst, Alnold, Epstein & Angell , 1994):
a) recalling – asking questions regarding books they have read before
b) distancing – making connection to learners‘ personal experience and
knowledge
c) open-ended - Teacher encourages the participants to tell and share
their opinions on what they understand and know about the story being
shared
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3. Confirming - Both the teacher and learners confirmed each others‘
responses by giving feedback and encouragement to the responses given
during interaction (Wiseman, 2011)
4. Modeling - The teacher modeled how to read, understand and use
comprehension strategies as well as think aloud (Wiseman, 2011)
5. Extending- The teacher guides the learners to a deeper meaning and extends
their ideas based on what the participants know (Wiseman, 2011)
The strategies that the researcher employed during the shared reading sessions
seemed to focus mainly on the participants reading comprehension. The researcher
read the story for the first session for each big book and later the participants read the
story as a whole class for the other sessions. The researcher stopped and paused at
various part of the story to ask questions and gauge participants understanding of the
text. Table 4.5 shows the frequency of responses for each strategy utilized during the
shared reading sessions for The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and The Smartest
Giant in The Town by Julia Donaldson.
Table 4.5
Teaching strategies used during shared reading to facilitate participants‟ reading
comprehension
Frequency
Strategies The Rainbow Fish The Smartest Giant in The
Town
Vocabulary 15 15
building
Prompting
Recalling 5 5
Distancing 10 13
Open-ended 99 82
Confirming 82 63
Modeling 10 10
Extending 30 41
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Based on the findings, the researcher used five different strategies during the
shared reading sessions. The use of these strategies was to assist the participants in
their reading comprehension. Each strategy used differed in the frequency. The
frequency noted for both big books in term of vocabulary building was similar, which
was 15 responses. The researcher built the participants vocabulary by explaining the
meaning of the unknown words and providing examples. For each big book, a couple
of words which could impede participants‘ understanding of the story were explained
deliberately. This helped in their understanding of the story. They were of low
frequency words which the participants have not encountered before. Also, the
meanings of the words were explained in the first session for each big book before the
researcher started to read the book. This seemed to be an appropriate way as
participants needs to know the meaning of the words before they listen to the story
being read as it will help them in the comprehension of the story.
Another strategy used by the researcher was prompting which noted the
highest frequency for both big books. This strategy was further divided into recalling,
distancing and open ended. Recalling was not a frequently used prompt as it only
came to total of 5 responses for both the big books used in the shared reading
sessions. Recalling is a prompting strategy which gets the participants to recall a book
that they have read before which they can make connection to the story being read
during the sessions. Though, few participants were seen recalling, majority of them
did not. This might be due to the lack of reading English story books. When learners
are exposed to a wide variety of books, they will be able to relate to different stories
and make connection between the stories. As such, exposing learners with stories is
an important element.
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Followed by recalling, another prompt type used by the researcher was
distancing. There was not much difference in the use of distancing prompt type as it
was 10 responses for The Rainbow Fish and 13 responses for The Smartest Giant in
The Town. This prompt type was also not highly used by the researcher during the
sessions. However, the participants‘ responses for this prompt recorded a reasonable
number of frequencies which was known as making text-to-self connection in the first
research question. Distancing prompt type was seen as a vital element during shared
reading sessions as the participants were able to relate the text with their personal
experience and knowledge. When they could make connection to their self, the story
would appear more interesting to them and this enhance their overall engagement in
the sessions as well as involving in meaningful discussion with the researcher.
On the other hand, open ended prompt type recorded the highest frequency of
responses; 98 responses for The Rainbow Fish and 78 responses for The Smartest
Giant in The Town. It was observed the researcher asked a lot of open ended
questions which encourage the participants to voice their opinions and ideas about the
story shared. This type of questions assess participants‘ understanding of the story and
at the same time give the researcher a general idea of the participants‘ level of
understanding. Also, it widened the participants‘ thinking and knowledge. Thus, open
ended prompt type was significant to the shared reading sessions as it supported and
molded participants‘ reading comprehension.
Confirming was another type of strategy used by the research which noted a
frequency of 82 responses for The Rainbow Fish and 63 responses for The Smartest
Giant in The Town. It was evident that both the researcher and the participants
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interact with each other by confirming each others‘ responses as well as giving
feedback and encouragement to the responses given during the interaction. This
strategy helped in the flow of the sessions and created motivation and interest among
the participants. It was observed that the participants got excited when their answers
and opinions were supported by the researcher and other peers. Frequently, the
researcher reconfirmed on the answers and opinions given by the participants to make
sure they were sure about them. This also made the participants to be the owner of
their opinions, thoughts and ideas, thus making shared reading session a student
centered approach.
Apart from recalling prompt type, the modeling strategy also noted a low
frequency which is 10 responses for both big books. The research did not use this type
of strategy frequently and it was noted most of the modeling was done in term of
think aloud. There was not much modeling of reading comprehension strategies found
in the researcher responses. Modeling reading comprehension strategies and how to
utilize them might not be the focus of the study, thus it answers to the low frequency
noted. However, the researcher modeled how to think aloud and this helped the
participants to voice their opinions aloud. This enable the researcher to know what the
participants were thinking, hence she could build the participants‘ comprehension.
Last but not least, extending was another strategy used by the researcher to
facilitate participants‘ reading comprehension during the shared reading sessions.
Extending is a strategy which deepens participants understanding on the story being
shared. It requires participants to reason and support their understanding. Based on the
findings, the researcher used extending strategy more for The Smartest Giant in the
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Town which was 40 as compared to The Rainbow Fish which comes to total of 30
responses. Based on the observation, it seemed that The Smartest Giant provided
more opportunity for the researcher to extend the participants ideas as participants
seemed to be fascinated with the overall idea of a giant helping other animals.
Participants were also able to create new ideas based on this book as compared to The
Rainbow Fish. Participants were invited to design and create their own cloth which
could be useful. For instance, one of the groups turned a cap into a boat. Thus, this
explains the difference in the frequency in term off extending strategy for both big
books.
All in all, based on the video recording transcriptions and observation notes,
five strategies were identified to facilitate participants‘ reading comprehension during
the shared reading sessions and they were vocabulary building, prompting,
confirming, modeling and extending.
4.4.1 Vocabulary building
Beck and McKeown (2001) agreed that second language learners will be able to build
their vocabulary knowledge when they are read aloud frequently. This was also
supported by Brabham and Lynch-Brown (2002) as they claimed that learners learn
many new words through the book shared with them. Similar to this study, the
participants learnt the meaning of some selected words during the first session for
each big book. This is necessary because the participants need to know the meaning
of the words in order to comprehend the story. Thus, the first step taken by the
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researcher before sharing the story with the participants was to build their vocabulary.
Transcript 8 shows the researcher‘s attempt to build the participants‘ vocabulary;

L3-T-2:… What is ordinary? Anybody knows?
L4-SA-1: Ordinary? Hmm
L4-T-3: Ordinary means normal. Like us. We are ordinary people. We are not the
king or queen .So we are just ordinary people. Something that is usual and not
special
L6-SS-2:Oh…okay.( agreeing)
Based on the excerpt above, the researcher explained the meaning of the
words in English and not the pupils‘ native language. However, some researchers
preferred to explain the meanings of the unknown words using illustrations in the
texts and translating them into the participants‘ first language (Omar &Saufi, 2005).
In this study, the researcher wanted the shared reading to be carried out in the targeted
language and attempted to explain the meaning of the words in simpler language that
could be understood by the participants. Thus, this does not impede the researcher‘s
way of building the participants‘ vocabulary.
Dhima (2015) also supported that participants will be able to expand their
vocabulary knowledge through repeated readings of the story as it reinforced
meanings of the words. Hence, new words learnt will be recorded in the participants‘
own vocabulary as the words are frequently heard and repeated through subsequent
readings. In this study, participants were read to and read along in the three sessions
for each big book which helped in their vocabulary and overall comprehension of the
story. Thus, vocabulary building was a strategy used by the researcher to facilitate
participants‘ reading comprehension during the shared reading sessions.

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4.4.2 Confirming
According to Wiseman (2011), confirming strategy takes place when both the
researcher and the participants‘ responses were confirmed to each other as they give
feedback and encouragement during the interaction. Usually, confirming statements
were used to show support to each others‘ opinions, thoughts or ideas. This inevitably
creates a positive environment for learning. The teacher and learners communicate
with each other by giving constructive feedback which helped the learners to achieve
better story comprehension. Vygotsky‘s Sociocultural Theory comes into place in this
situation as learners were immersed in an activity of sharing of knowledge and
experience which enable the researcher and participants to involve in discussion and
exchange of ideas. As the participants were encouraged and supported by the
researcher during the shared reading, a positive engagement and interaction is
developed. Thus, the participants will not be afraid to voice their opinions during the
shared reading as they will be scaffolded and assisted by the researcher. Additionally,
when children are supported by the teacher, it can result in low affective filter. In
Transcript 9, the researcher brought the conversation back to SA‘s comment made in
the beginning of the story.
Transcript 9 (Session 1, ‘Big book, The Smartest Giant in the Town’)

L87-T-42: I think that‘s all for the words and the meanings. Now we are going to
read this book. Are you ready, excited?
L88-SS-25: Yes!!
L89-T-43: Why are you excited?
L90-SA-14: New book!
L91-T-44: You want to know the story, want to know what happened to the
giant?
L92-SS-26: Yes!!
L93-T-45: (Teacher open the book)
L94-SS-27:( Laughs)
L95-SA-15: Ahh, so many giants ?
L96-T-46: Ya, just now you said there‘s no people..but do you see now?
L97-SG-3: Teacher got small and big people too
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In the exchange, the researcher referred back to a comment that SA made
while they were looking at the front cover of the book and making predictions about
the story. This shows the importance of using learners‘ answers or comments to
provide them with initial knowledge that can aid to their comprehension throughout
the reading experience. Confirming strategy does not only promote positive classroom
atmosphere which encourage children to discuss their ideas about the story, it also
aided vital interpretations of the story through the topics of conversation (Ong, 2014).
Similar to Wiseman‘s (2011) study, conversation which took place between the
teacher and the learners in this study, provided great insight as both parties confirmed
each others‘ responses by giving encouragement and feedback. In another example
from the big book, ―The Rainbow Fish‖ by Marcus Fister, the researcher confirmed
different types of responses to the story; thus encouraging participants to use their
own experiences to make meaning.

L120-T-58: Okay, why the author wants to write about the rainbow fish?
L121-SA-11: I think it‘s like the author was proud and doesn‘t want to give his
things to others but suddenly he change his mind, so he use his own story and write
about the rainbow fish. He thinks himself like the rainbow fish.
L122-T-59: Ohh ..you are saying that the author is trying to tell about himself. So
are you telling that the author is trying to portray himself through the story?
L123-SA-12: Yes, like that
L124-T-60: Okay, good idea. Next one?
In the interaction above, the researcher confirmed SA‘s response by
commenting that it was ‗‗a good idea‘‘ as well as restating his words. The researcher
also confirmed SA‘s comment, which was more personal, but also an important aspect
of the participants‘ comprehension. SA had his own opinion about why the author
wrote such a story and this shows his imagination and thinking. During shared
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reading, participants build meaning while guided by researcher‘s interaction. This also
makes shared reading as a student centered approach and the researcher facilitated the
interaction rather than being the one who possesses all the answers. Thus, confirming
was another strategy used by the researcher in the study to facilitate participants‘
reading comprehension.
4.4.3 Prompting
Based on the findings, another identified strategy was prompting. Prompting is a
strategy used by the researcher during the shared reading sessions to determine
participants‘ comprehension of the story. It is a strategy which needs teacher‘s
expertise in questioning and eliciting learners‘ responses. When teachers prompt the
learners, they will be engaged in analytical thinking as they could answer the
teacher‘s questions as well as making comments and voicing their opinions about the
story heard ( Omar and Saufi, 2015). The learners will utilize various comprehension
strategies such as predicting, inferring, analyzing and making connection. Based on
the findings of this study, there were three types of prompting approach that had been
identified namely distancing, recalling and open-ended. The participants could make
connection to their personal experience and knowledge using the distancing prompt
type. This prompt type allowed the participants to respond to the text by referring to
their own lives. When researchers use the distancing prompt type with their
participants, they are encouraging the participants to make text-to-life connections. By
making such connection, the shared reading would become more meaningful for the
participants. The transcript below shows an example of the distancing prompt.

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Transcript 11 (Session 2, Big book „The Smartest Giant in the Town‟)

L48-SA-3: The giant is being a good citizen
L49-T-23: Why do you say the giant is being a good citizen?
L50-SA-4: He always give himself to help the other people.
L51-T-24: Okay, then how can you be a good citizen? As a Malaysian?
L52-SA-5: No ‗polutic‘
L53-T-25 : Polutic or pollution??
L54-SA-6: Ehhh, pollution.
L55-T-26: How do you want to reduce pollution then?
L56-SI-1: Reduce, reuse, recycle
L57-SA-7: Pick up the rubbish
Apart from that, to prompt, researchers use questions such as why, what do
you think and how to provoke participants thinking and assess their comprehension of
the story. Participants could become better readers and engage in higher-level
thinking when the researcher use such prompts during the shared reading sessions. It
is significant that teachers choose the right strategy to ask questions before, during
and after reading in order for participants to have a deeper understanding of the text
(Harvey and Goudvis, 2000). They also claimed that participants will be able to
monitor their comprehension and interact with the text to make meaning when they
ask questions and search for the answers.
Recalling is another prompt type where participants would make connection
between the text they are reading now to the one they have read before. This type of
connection is also known as the text-to-text connection. The extract below shows an
example of the recalling prompt;
Transcript 12 (Session 1, Big book, ‘The Rainbow Fish’)

L105-SA-17: T , this is same like the peacock story
L106-T-50: Oh okay, you think its similar with the peacock story. Okay lets read till
the end then we can know whether its similar or not.
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Although there was not much recalling prompt found in the interaction
between the researcher and the participants, it was still an important prompt type
which helped participants in their overall reading comprehension performance. The
researcher used this type of prompt as they ask questions regarding a text they have
read before and could make connection to the current text being shared. It could be a
text they have read by their own or a text that have been shared and read in previous
lessons.
Last but not least, open ended prompt type was frequently used by the
researcher during the shared reading sessions. This prompt required the researcher to
encourage the participants to share their ideas, thoughts or opinions on what they
understand and know about the story. The transcript below shows such interaction
which took place during the shared reading sessions.
Transcript 13 (Session 1, Big book, ‘The Smartest Giant in the Town’)

L104-T-50: … How do people look at Goerge? Do you think they like him?
L105-SS-29: No!
L106-SI-1: They run
L107-T-51: Okay, they run away. What do you think the people will think about
George?
L108-SA-15: Scary
L109-T-52: Why the people are scared of him?
L110-SA-16: Because he has a big nose
L111-SS-30: Because he is the scruffiest giant
Based on the transcript above, it is agreeable that questioning techniques
during shared reading sessions are important and Mcneil (2012) supported that they
bring out participants‘ experiences, thoughts, reasons and opinions. However,
researcher need to know how and when to ask questions as the right questioning
techniques enable the researcher to check on the participants‘ comprehension. Atim
and Azahar (2012) claimed that learners will be able to have better comprehension
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about the story when they are guided by teacher‘s questions during the shared reading
sessions. Hence, based on the findings on this study, distancing, recalling and open
ended prompt types were to facilitate participants reading comprehension in the
sessions.
4.4.4 Modeling
Apart from vocabulary building, confirming and prompting strategies, the researcher
facilitate the participants reading comprehension by modeling. Much like think aloud,
modeling involves the researcher‘s ability to make certain way of thinking and
comprehending explicit (Lennox, 2013). This means the researcher can model to the
participants how to read, understand and use reading comprehension strategies to
understand various aspects of the story. It has been established long ago that reading
aloud a story to a group of participants in the shared reading setting can be used to
develop high-level thinking skills through modeling thoughts, acknowledging
responses and allowing children to actively participate (Cotton, 1991). In this study,
the researcher modeled her thoughts on certain aspect of the story by thinking aloud.
Other than modeling thoughts and opinions, the researcher also modeled her
experience by thinking aloud.
Transcript 14 (Session 3, Big book „The Rainbow Fish‟)

L142-T-67: Okay, I am generous because……I bake a cake for my neighbor during
Chinese New Year..That‘s about me, how about you?
L145-SA-11: I always share sweets with my friends and I also donate money to the
orphanage.
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Based on the exchange, it is noted that teacher modeling is vital during a
shared reading session. This is because it sets as a platform for participants to learn
different strategies for comprehending story. However, in this study, the researcher
did not model much reading comprehension strategies and the overall findings for
modeling were also few which could be improved. According to Taylor and Person
(2002), teachers could demonstrate to their participants on how they can interact with
the text through modeling them explicitly. Often, during a shared reading session,
there will be specific purpose and researchers will model multiple ways of thinking
about texts rather than focusing on one strategy in each session (Fisher, Frey and
Lapp, 2008).
It is observed that, the researcher had sticky notes attached to the pages in the
book which was used as a reminder for modeling. In Fisher, Frey and Lapp (2008)
study on modeling during shared reading sessions, one of the teachers who
participated in this study claimed that having a purpose is important and researchers
should model something that learners can use during their independent reading such
as reading comprehension strategies. The researcher in this study often modeled her
thoughts, opinions and ideas about the text to show how she came to a conclusion in
thoughts and she often used this when the participants were having a hard time
figuring something out or if she wanted to demonstrate a connection or ideas that
would help them with their thinking.
By thinking aloud, the teacher can show how she understands the text and
model ways of understanding the story which is an important way of teaching second
language learners how to find and make meaning in reading comprehension

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(Kesler,2010). It is important to note that while the researcher modeled her thoughts,
it does not mean that she is dominating the discussions of the shared reading. The
emphasis is on the interaction among the researcher and participants during the
sessions and how the participants can benefit from observing the researcher modeling
her comprehension strategies, thus showing how language can be used for meaning
making. As such, modeling was another strategy used by the researcher to facilitate
participants‘ reading comprehension during shared reading sessions.
4.5.5 Extending
Apart from all the strategies discussed above, extending is another strategy used
during the shared reading sessions. Extending took place when the participants are
guided to a deeper meaning by extending their ideas based on what the participants
know (Wiseman, 2011). This is seen as an important aspect of shared reading
especially in building participants cognitive ability. By using this strategy, the
researcher will be focusing on an important theme or idea by scaffolding the
participants‘ comments, as well as encouraging them to contribute in ways that extend
their own ways of thinking about the story shared during the sessions.
Transcript 15 (Session 1, Big book ‘The Smartest Giant in the Town’)

L196-T-88: … So what will Goerge give?
L197-SS-46: Stockings!
L198-T-89: Why stockings?
L199SB-7: Stockings can be his sleeping bag
L200-T-90: What is the relation between stockings and sleeping bag? Why stockings?
L201-SE-4: Because stockings can keep you warm and dry.
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Throughout the discussion the researcher scaffolded the participants‘
comments, while also encouraging them to contribute in ways that extended their own
ways of thinking about the story. Also, the participants were encouraged to bring up
the topic of conversation, while the researcher facilitated their learning by guiding
their responses. The researcher and participants also pushed each other by extending
ideas beyond the way they were initially articulated. Hence, extending is a strategy
used by the researcher to facilitate participants‘ reading comprehension during the
All together, this study identified five strategies used by the researcher to
facilitate participants‘ reading comprehension during the shared reading sessions.
They were 1) Vocabulary building; 2) Confirming; 3) Prompting; 4) Modeling and 5)
Extending.
The third aim of this study was to investigate the participants‘ experiences during the
shared reading sessions. In order to understand how the participants felt about the
shared reading sessions, semi structured interview sessions were carried out with six
selected participants from the sample; two proficient, two average and two below
average. These participants were selected through purposive sampling by referring to
their mid –year test scores as attached in Appendix D. The participants for the
interviews were SA, SB, SC, SE, SH and SG. The findings were analysed using the
framework technique (Ritchie &Spenser, 2002) in which common themes which
appeared in the participants‘ responses during the interviews were coded into
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categories. Table 4.6 presents the common themes identified during the semi-
structured interview sessions.
Table 4.6
Common Themes during Semi-Structured Interviews
Interview Participants
Themes Proficient Average Below Average
SA SB SC SE SG SH
Fun and enjoyable / / / / / /

Good values / / / / / /
Creative activity / / / / / /
Stimulate thinking and / / / / / /
enhance comprehension
Prefer shared reading / / / / / /
Based on the semi-structured interview findings, five common themes have been
identified which were; 1) fun an enjoyable 2) good values 3) creative activity 4)
stimulate thinking and enhance comprehension and 5) prefer shared reading. The
analysis for each theme is put forward.
Fun and enjoyable
All the interview participants expressed the feeling of happiness and joy for their
experiences in the shared reading sessions specifically when the researcher read the
story using the big books to them. As such, based on their feelings, this study
concluded the participants to have a fun and enjoyable experience during the shared
reading sessions. The evidence is shown as below; (L- Line number, T- Researcher, S
(A,B,C,E,G,H)- Participants, 1-…- number of spoken interaction)
Example: L2-SA-1
Line 2 (L2), Student A (SA), first spoken interaction (-1)

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Transcript 1(All participants)
Question (T): How do you feel when your teacher reads the story to you using the
big books?
L2-SA-1: Yes, I like.
L2-SB-1: Very happy
L2-SC-1: I am happy
L6-SE-3: Yes, I like
L6-SG-3: Very happy
L2-SH-1: Happy
When the participants were asked why they felt happy or like when the
researcher read to them using the big books, many of them said that the stories were
interesting. Additionally, SE who was in the average category said that apart from the
story, the illustration of the book also made her to have an enjoyable experience.
Transcript 2 (SE)
L3-T-2: So, how do you feel when your teacher tells you story using the big book?
L4-SE-2: I feel that the story is very exciting.
L5-T-3: So do you like it?
L6-SE-3: Yes, I like it.
L7-T-4: Why do you like it?
L8-SE-4: Because the story is amazing and the pattern on the rainbow fish is beautiful.
Based on the transcription above, it shows that the colourful scales on the
Rainbow Fish as illustrated in the book attracted the participants to be interested in the
shared reading sessions. Some of the participants were interested to predict and know
more about the stories while others enjoyed working with their peers during the
sessions. The participants also felt happy when they were able to answer the
researcher‘s questions.
Transcript 3 (SG)
L45-T-23: How do you feel when you can answer your teacher‘s questions?
L46-SG-23: Happy.
L47-T-24: Why?
L48-SG-24: Because the story makes me to answer the questions. Make me to
know and answer more questions
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From the participants‘ experiences, it was found that they preferred interesting
stories which made their shared reading sessions as an enjoyable and fun experience.
Though all the participants like both stories, most of them liked The Smartest Giant in
the Town as compared to The Rainbow Fish except SE. A few of them claimed the
story to be funny and they like how the giant gave his clothes to the other animals.
Nevertheless, both stories gave great experience to the participants as they could
relate to the stories very well and were feeling happy during the sessions.
Good values
Based on the transcriptions, all the participants said that they learnt good moral values
from the stories such as not to be greedy, always willing to help and be kind to others
as evident in the transcript below from each participant.
Transcript 4 (All participants)

L41-SA-20: If you see somebody who needs help, and you have the things that
they wanted, then you should help them.
L18-SB-9: We cannot be selfish and we want to be kind to our friends
L14-SC-7: We cannot be proud because one day we might don‘t have anybody
who want to be friend with us.
L24-SE-12: Not to be greedy.
L68-SG-34: Like I learn …for The Rainbow Fish…we cannot be greedy. The
Smartest Giant… to share.
L38-SH-18: Don‘t be greedy, be friendly.
According to the findings, both stories instilled good moral values in the
participants. During the interactions, participants were exposed to these values and
various activities were carried out which centred around themes and values in the
stories. This might be the reason for their value-leaden responses during the interview
when asked about what they have learnt from the stories. It was something significant
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to the overall study as the participants had learnt good moral values through the
Creative activity
The findings also revealed that participants prefer activities which enhanced their
creativity. They felt creative activities are fun and interesting. Almost all the
participants said that they liked the fish and scales cut out activity the most. This was
a whole group activity for the big book The Rainbow Fish in which each participant
will be given three cut out fish scales. They can write anything related to the shared
reading sessions such as their wish, what they have learnt or the things they liked the
most on the given scales and paste their scales on the big fish drawn on a big spread
sheet.
SB also liked the group work where they needed to create dialogues with the
giant. This task required the participants to work in group and create a setting and
dialogues where they need to have a conversation with the giant. Participants had to
be creative in creating the dialogues. SB and her friends created a conversation with
the giant who they went shopping with and had dinner together. SB enjoyed the task
and it was special for her.
Transcript 5 (SB)
L44-T-22: Any special moment that you want to share?
L45-SB-22: The smartest giant in the town, where we make the dialogue.
L46-T-23: Okay, you enjoy it?
L47-SB-23: Yes
L48-T-24: Why do you enjoy it?
L49-SB-24: Because we can create a new dialogue with the giants.
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Based on the transcript, participants enjoyed to explore their creativity through
different task. Such tasks enhanced their shared reading experience.
Stimulate thinking and enhance comprehension
In seeking to identify the students‘ response towards reading comprehension, the
present study found out extending comprehension and develop cognitive ability as
two of the identified category of responses. As such, thinking and comprehension
process also influenced participants‘ experience during the shared reading. When
asked whether the questions asked by the researcher during the sessions helped in
their thinking and comprehension, majority of them said yes. The transcript below
shows an example of it.
Transcript 6 (SC) (pp.196)

L15-T-8: What do you think about the questions asked during the sessions?
L16-SC-8: Some is easy, some is difficult.
L17-T-9: Do the questions make you to think?
L18-SC-9: Yes
L19-T-10: For example?
L20-SC-10: Why the smartest giant help the animals?
L21-T-11: Okay, do the questions help you to understand the text?
L22-SC-11: Yes.
Besides questions, a number of participants such as SB from high-proficiency,
SC from average and SG from below average said that they liked to discuss and talk
with their other peers. Thus, collaboration and interaction which took place between
the participants enhance their overall experience of shared reading as well as their
comprehension and thinking.

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Transcript 7 (SG)
L19-T-10: Which part did you enjoy the most?
L20-SG-10: The Smartest Giant, where you can use the cloth and make it into a
thing.
L21-T-11: Okay, that was a group activity which you talk with your friends?
L22-SG-11: Yes.
L23-T-12: Do you like when you can talk with your friends?
L24-SG-12: Yes. The smartest giant the idea is mine. I say to make the boat..use the
cap.
L25-T-13: So, do your other group members accept it?
L26-SG-13: Yes.
L27-T-14: So, how do you feel when your friends accept your idea?
L28-SG-14: Very happy, excited.
.
Based on the transcript above, participants need to work in group to complete
an activity based on the story of The Smartest Giant in the Town, in which they need
to choose any form of clothing or something that they can wear and turn it into a
usable product. As such, SG and her friends picked a cap and they turn it into a boat.
SG was happy that it was her idea that the group finally used. Hence, through
discussion, participants come out with different ideas which stimulate their thinking
and creativity.
However, for participants in the average and below average group, they felt
sad when they could not answer researcher‘s questions and they felt that they were not
being able to think. Participants in the high-proficiency category said that they did not
feel sad but will try to answer next time for the questions that they could not answer.
This shows that there might be an issue of confidence among participants in the
average and below average category.
Transcript 8 (Proficient category- SB) (pp.194)

L23-T-12: How do you feel when you can answer your teacher‘s questions?
L24-SB-12: Happy.
L25-T-13: When you cannot answer, do you feel sad?
L26-SB-13: No. Maybe next time I can try again.
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Transcript 9 (Average category-SC) (pp.196)

L25-T-13: Okay, how do you feel when you can answer your teacher‘s questions?
L26-SC-13: I feel happy
L27-T-14: If you cannot answer?
L28-SC-14: I feel sad because I cannot think myself.
Transcript 10 (Below average category-SG) (pp.201)

L51-T-26 : How do you feel when you cannot answer the questions?
L52-SG-26: I feel that I cannot think.
Therefore, researchers need to guide and support participants especially those
in average and below average category so that they would feel more confidence of
themselves. This explains the important roles played by a teacher during shared
reading sessions.
Prefer shared reading
Based on the interview transcriptions, all the participants except SA prefer the
researcher to read to them. However, SA said that he could understand the story better
when the researcher reads. Most of the participants suggest carrying out shared
reading at least two times a week. When the participants were asked to rate shared
reading experience between the scales one to ten, their rating was as follows;
Transcript 11(All participants)

Question (T): How much would you rate your shared reading experience?
L57-SA-28: 10
L53-SB-26: 10
L54-SC-27: 10
L44-SE-22: 10
L72-SG-36: 9
L54-SH-26: 7
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Based on the participants‘ rating, it showed that participants had a great shared
reading experience. Participants also prefer it to be carried out on a regular basis.
Therefore, it can be concluded that shared reading can be an effective teaching and
learning technique which offers enjoyable and fun experience as well as developing
and enhancing participants moral values, comprehension, thinking and creativity.
While the findings from the interview transcriptions revealed various experiences of
the participants during shared reading, this study intended to explore and discuss on
those experiences and provide great insights to the research question. In any teaching
and learning environment, students‘ experiences are important as they served as a
feedback on what benefits the students and what can be further improved. As such,
one of the identified themes in terms of participants‘ experience in this study was
shared reading being a fun and enjoyable technique.
According to Yaacob & Pinter (2008) the use of big books during story book
reading would gain much interest among the children since they have large prints,
great illustrations and interesting stories. In reference to the participants‘ interviews,
interesting storylines served as an enjoyable and motivating element for the
participants to participate actively during the shared reading. Moreover they kept
them engaged and wanting to know more about the stories. Bialystok (2002)
supported that the features of stories such as interesting rhythm with repeated patterns
and rich vocabulary as well as interesting storyline made stories not only a fun
element for children but also motivating. As such, choosing the right story to be
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shared during shared reading is important to engage the participants as well as
supporting their overall literacy and language development.
Good stories are always warm to the heart of any readers. As children are
growing and wanting to acquire the English language, good stories which will capture
their interest need to be introduced to them on a regular basis, thus developing
positive attitudes towards English language learning and acquisition. For ESL
learners, stories truly served as a medium for language learning and acquisition
particularly in making their learning experience to be enjoyable as well as increasing
their classroom participation (Tsou & Hing, 2008). From the findings, the two big
books selected for this study had invited a lot of meaningful interaction between the
researcher and the participants.
Hargrave and Senechal (2000) supported that when participants are exposed to
a wide variety of story books, it will increase their enthusiasm to enjoy books and
reading them for pleasure and enjoyment. As such, shared reading can be a platform
for researchers to introduce and expose participants to a variety of books. By using
interesting stories during the sessions, participants will experience an enjoyable and
fun teaching and learning process.
Apart from that, the participants also experienced meaningful social
interaction and collaboration during the shared reading sessions. Supports from peers
enable the participants to complete various tasks during the sessions as well as
answering the researcher‘s questions. According to Zucker, Justice, Piasta and
Kaderavek (2010), social interactions which took place during shared reading
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supports students‘ cognitive development as they exchange ideas and information.
This also in line with the socio-cultural theory has proposed by Vygotsky (1978)
where children learn best by engaging in social environment centers around
interaction and activities. As such, shared reading sessions carried out in this study
enable participants to experience collaborative learning in a classroom setting.
Participants got the chance to contribute ideas and work collaboratively to complete a
task rather than performing it individually.
Ceron (2014) claimed that children would feel comfortable and able to relate
to what they know and yet to know in a collaborative learning environment. In other
words, they will be able to share ideas and thoughts during discussion and by having
the chance to listen to other peers ideas and perspectives and increase their own
comprehension and learning. As such shared reading provides participants the
opportunity to develop their thinking and comprehension as evident in the
participants‘ responses during the interview. Through teacher facilitated teaching and
learning process, this technique invited students to have better story comprehension as
well as using comprehension strategies and stimulate their higher order thinking
skills.
Brabham and Lynch-Brown (2002) supported that the role of researchers are
important in a social learning environment since some participants might need extra
support than others. Based on the findings those participants in the average and below
average category felt sad when they were not able to answer the researcher‘s
questions. As such, researchers need to be aware of such issue and confront those
participants with lower self-esteem that it is a learning process and there is no right or
117
wrong answers. Researchers need to explain this element beforehand so that
participants would not feel uncomfortable rather enjoying the process of learning.
DeBruin- Perecki (2004) claimed that participants will feel a sense of community
learning through supportive dialogue and teacher‘s support would strengthen the
community of learners. Therefore it is vital to have a skilled adult to guide the
children through the whole process of shared reading.
Apart from that, the findings also revealed that the participants learnt good
moral values through the stories read to them during the shared reading sessions. This
proves that, this technique does not only enhance participants‘ comprehension and
thinking but rather a holistic development. According to Otaiba (2004), shared
reading can offer exchange of dialogues which foster social, emotional and moral
development among children apart from language and literacy development. As such,
books which have moral elements in which the children can relate to and beneficial
are good to be shared. Through the use of the two big books, the participants learnt
the values of sharing, kindness and helping others. These values are essential for the
growing children and they will be able to use these values in and outside the
classroom.
Last but not least, the findings also revealed that the participants preferred activities
which stimulate their creativity during the shared reading session. Creative activities
were interesting to the participants and they preferred to create something new out of
the ordinary. Activities such as ‗creating dialogues with giant‘ for The Smartest Giant
in the Town and ‗big fish cut-out‘ for The Rainbow Fish were highly preferred by the
participants as evident in their interview responses. In a similar study, Hochell and

118
Schull (2012) allow the children to play with colours when they learn the mixing of
colours through a story. These activities gave the children hands on practice and
stimulate their imagination. In this study, by exercising creativity in activity such as
‗creating dialogues with the giant‘, for instance, participants will be able to build their
critical thinking skills, imagination and problem-solving. This then developed their
higher order thinking skills which can benefit them in real life situation. Therefore,
the activities carried out during shared reading should be interesting, purposeful and
meaningful for the participants and their overall experience in the teaching and
learning process.
4.7 Summary
In this chapter, the findings of the study were presented align with literature and
previous studies. The conclusion, implications of the study and further suggestions are
discussed in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction
In this chapter, the overview of the study, limitations, implications, recommendations
for future research and conclusion are detailed. This chapter set as the conclusion for
the overall dissertation.
5.1 Overview of the Study
This study aimed to investigate the students‘ responses on reading comprehension and
the teaching strategies used by the researcher during shared reading to facilitate
students‘ reading comprehension. Students‘ experiences during shared reading were
also the aim of this study. For the purpose of this study, 10 Year 4 ESL students from
a school in Cameron Highlands district participated in the six sessions of shared

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reading facilitated by the researcher. The researcher is the English language teacher of
the students and the sessions were observed by another English language researcher.
The sessions were observed and recorded. Later, six students were selected for a
semi-structured interview sessions. The findings revealed that there were six
categories of students‘ responses towards reading comprehension. They were text-to-
self connection, text-to-text connection, extending comprehension, thinking aloud,
extended responses and developing cognitive ability. In terms of strategies used by
the researcher to facilitate students‘ reading comprehension during shared reading,
five strategies were identified. They were vocabulary building, prompting,
confirming, modeling and extending. Overall pupils enjoyed and preferred shared and
the creative activities carried out during the sessions. It was also said to be fun and
enjoyable, develop moral values and enhance students‘ thinking and comprehension.
Through this study, it was evident that students could relate to the meaning of
the stories very well when they could relate them to their own life.As readers, they
could make connection across different text they have read by thinking and reflecting
about the text which help them in their comprehension. Hence, students need to be
exposed to a variety of stories as they could establish connection across the stories in
which will aid in their reading experience. The shared reading sessions provided a
rich context for discussion as well as systematically provided opportunities for the
students to become readers and thinkers themselves (Rashatchi & Moghadam, 2012).
The participants did not merely comprehend the text but able to reason and talk
further about their understanding.

121
Teacher‘s questioning during the shared reading sessions also kept the
students focused on the text ideas (Heisey & Kucan, 2010). As such, shared reading is
a great platform for researchers to effectively teach cognitive reading strategy such as
think aloud. Students think aloud is also seen as an effective assessment tool which
provides evidence into students‘ thinking as well as opportunities for researchers to
notice and evaluate what the students know. The researcher played a great role in
directing the students in making extended responses. Researchers should ask more
open-ended questions during shared reading to expect rich and extended responses.
Thus, shared reading process can contribute to complex thinking and learning when
students were also responsible for meaning-making.
Through shared reading, students will be able to expand their vocabulary
knowledge through repeated readings of the story and explanation of meaning of the
unfamiliar words. The teacher and students could communicate and confirmed with
each other by giving constructive feedback which helped the students to achieve
better story comprehension. By using the distancing prompt, teachers are making text-
to-life connection and relating the story to the students‘ life. Apart from that, teachers
used recalling prompt as they ask questions regarding a text they have read before and
could make connection to the current text being shared. Also, teachers used open-
ended prompt to ask open-ended questions which invite the students to interact and
share their response.Teachers can model how a text can be comprehended and extend
students understanding to a deeper level based on what they already know. All in all,
the finding of this study showed that, shared reading was a reading technique which
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was highly preferred by the participants as it benefits them in various areas as
discussed.
5.2 Limitations of the Study
The limitation of the study was that the conclusions from the present study were
limited to Year 4 students enrolled in regular classrooms in one of the school in
Cameron Highlands. Further studies should be conducted to examine students‘
responses, teaching strategies and students‘ experiences of shared reading on
students‘ reading comprehension in different settings by utilizing a bigger sample size
from various locations.
5.3 Implications of the Study
The findings of this study have implication in teaching. The outcomes of the present
study support the effectiveness of shared reading as a practical technique to enhance
students‘ reading comprehension achievement. Implementation of shared reading in
the English language classroom can be seen as a promising procedure and should be
carried out regularly or at least twice a week as suggested by the students in this
study. The way to go is to purposefully plan activities that would facilitate and
encourage students to express their thoughts, explore new possibilities and even
challenge opinions and viewpoints which will aid in their reading comprehension.
Shared reading needs to be well-planned so as to achieve the ultimate aim of the new
English language curriculum, KSSR, in which to develop students who can apply
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their language skills as well as integrating HOTS. Teachers can adapt and adopt
procedures described in the present study to suit the needs of their learners and shared
reading as a routine during English language lessons.
The primary years of schooling are a critical time for language and literacy
learning and development. The teacher who works with the children can play a
significant role in building, refining, and extending the knowledge, skills, and
dispositions crucial for later learning and academic success. As such, the value of
well-planned, engaging shared reading is one of the key avenues for supporting
children‘s language for thinking and understanding and researcher‘s role is crucial.
Shared reading could be used more frequently and more effectively, especially for
lower performing children to nourish their vocabulary and comprehension. According
to Kesler (2010), when children are read to, they will be able to learn new words from
the stories and strengthen their comprehension skill which will be useful for their
overall English language acquisition. Thus, shared reading provides struggling readers
with necessary support and allows students to enjoy materials that they may not be
able to read on their own. This will create a sense of success for all students including
those lower performing students. In this study, students from the average and below
average category responded during the semi-structured interview sessions that
researcher‘s questioning and interaction during shared reading enhanced their
comprehension and thinking. This shows that shared reading does not only improve
proficient students‘ reading comprehension but those in average and below average
category too.
Apart from that, a closer focus on the nature and quality of interactions can
lead to improved outcomes. The way books are shared open or close learning
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opportunities and possibilities to use language for an increasingly wider range of
purposes. Effective shared reading would expose learners to a language –rich
environment which will lead to a strong foundation in reading comprehension and this
will eventually assist them in their higher level of education. Comprehension of any
reading text is vital at any stage of life and it needs to be build from a very young age.
Hence, teachers need to deploy teaching strategies which will aid learners‘ in their
reading comprehension and this can be done through shared reading. In this study,
the findings revealed that teaching strategies such as vocabulary building, confirming,
prompting, modeling, and extending were used to facilitate participants‘ reading
comprehension during the shared reading sessions. These strategies matched the
teaching practices stipulated in Whitehurst, Arnold, Epstein and Angell (1994) and
Wiseman (2011) studies for the best practices in sharing a book with children. Thus,
teachers should resort to teaching strategies that actively involve their language
learners and facilitate their reading comprehension with activities which are deepen to
enhance cognitive as well as language development.
Last but not least, text selection is vital in shared reading. From the findings,
participants were engaged in the sessions when they found the text used was
appealing and interesting to them. The participants in this study prefer text which has
a sense of humour, values driven and enable them to predict on what is going to
happen next. Such text invites participants to interact and share ideas with the
researcher which stimulate critical discussion as well as the application of reading
comprehension strategies. Hence, researchers need to select text which caters to the
need, interest and level of the students. Most of the texts used for shared reading are
narrative texts which are suitable for children. However, students can be exposed to a
125
variety of text genre such as scientific and informational as it could widen their
knowledge. The use of other type of texts is also suggested to be a part of further
research of this study.
All in all, this study has its implication to the teaching and learning of English
especially in the ESL classroom. It could contribute to the betterment of teaching
techniques employed by English language researchers during the English lessons. In
line with the nation aspiration to produce more students who have HOTS, shared
reading can be a great platform to achieve such aspiration through critical dialogue,
social interaction and the application of reading comprehension strategies.
5.4 Recommendations for Future Research
There is, however, considerable room for improvement, and more research should be
carried out to add to existing data so as to create a more valid and credible stance
towards the use of shared reading on students‘ reading comprehension. Future
research should focus on shared reading using different types of texts instead of only
narrative texts. Historically, narrative text has been dominant in primary classrooms.
Duke‘s (2000) landmark study revealed alarming evidence of the lack of
informational text available to young students. Informational text was extremely
limited in the classrooms she observed. For instance opportunities to interact with
story deals with scientific concept should be investigated. Teacher-led shared reading
sessions can provide the necessary support as children encounter potentially difficult
content, text features, and challenging vocabulary often found in informational trade
126
books. Teachers can create sets of books for the sessions, engaging students in
discussion of scientific ideas such as life cycles, animal habitats, and ecosystems.
The findings of the study thus indicated that teachers need to conduct the
shared reading sessions with their pupils in a manner so as to provide opportunities
for the pupils to benefit in terms of improving their receptive and expressive skills in
English as well as develop their cognitive and emotion skills to become better readers.
As such, the study recognizes the difficulties that teachers would face when
conducting shared reading with the students especially in their interactions and
discussions of the story. Thus, there is a need for further research on understanding
teacher‘s problems in implementing shared reading and find ways to overcome the
problem. Teachers need to understand the strengths of the shared reading so as to
provide an enriching and stimulating environment that promotes and develops the
English language amongst children. Effective shared reading practices would expose
children to a language-rich environment and eventually when they complete their
primary level education, they would have a strong foundation of in language skills to
assist them at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Questioning techniques used by teachers during shared reading are important
as they set as a tool to request information from the students regarding their
understanding of the text. As such, the way and style in which researchers formulate
and use questions to interact with the students should be explored further in future
research. The type of questions, for instance requesting facts, making inferences and
requesting opinions or judgements can be analysed in regards to cognitive level of
questions; whether they are of lower or higher level of cognitive level questioning
127
(Higham, Tonsing & Alant, 2010). The findings of the study will be useful for
teachers to know the technique of questioning which are suitable to use during shared
reading which will increase students‘ performance and benefit their overall English
language development. Moreover, such information also can be used to structure
training programmes intended to train teachers in the dynamic use of questions that
increasingly helped students in their reading comprehension and HOTS.
5.5 Conclusion
The introduction of shared reading and reading comprehension activities into the
classroom remains a much desired goal and its slow progress is not an acceptable rate
to achieve Malaysia‘s aspiration to produce a society of thinking individuals. Only
with an accelerated pace in creative and innovative approach in the curriculum can the
younger generation move forward to compete with global development in the field of
education. Educators cannot lose sight of the fact that creativity and exploration are
crucial elements to bring about improvements in achievement. All said and done, the
ultimate question that planners and educators need to ponder is how equipped and
committed the executors are to carry out shared reading in the language classroom.
Without a doubt, this calls for a reexamination of teaching strategies, learner needs,
learning activities, attitudes and social interactions, learning goals, and reevaluation
practice in a whole new orchestrated learning environment. It demands a setting in
which both researchers and learners must be equally motivated to take responsibility
of the outcomes.
Through this study, it was found that shared reading had positive outcomes on
students reading comprehension and the researcher used various strategies to facilitate
128
reading comprehension through shared reading. Students were engaged in their own
learning and gave thoughtful, expansive responses. In each shared reading session,
students actively collaborated and had meaningful social interactions that expanded
their thinking and deepened their reading comprehension. The students also enjoyed
and benefitted from the shared reading sessions.
In conclusion, shared reading can be acknowledged as an important
pedagogical tool for readers in the English classroom. Not only do they provide
opportunities for children to strengthen their reading comprehension, but they also
create a community where children can learn together. In a long run, it will help to
improve students‘ reading performance and eventually place Malaysia in a higher
position globally in the PISA assessment and cater to the 21st century teaching and
learning needs.
129
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Appendix A
Synopsis of the big books used in the study.
1. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (Big book 1)
This is a story about the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean discovering the real
value of personal beauty and friendship. ‗The Rainbow Fish‟ is an international best
seller. It is simple story about a beautiful fish, which learns to make friends by sharing
his most prized possessions. This gives the book its lasting value. This book is
suitable for students aged from nine to ten years old.
2. The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson (Big book 2)
This is a story about a giant, George. He has always wished he wasn't the
scruffiest giant in town. So one day, when he sees a new shop selling giant-sized
clothes, he decides it's time for a new look. With smart trousers, a smart shirt, a stripy
tie and shiny shoes, George is a new giant. But on his way home he meets all sorts of
animals who desperately need his help and his clothes! This book invites students to
make prediction and learn the value of kindness. This book is suitable for students
aged from eight to ten years old.

140
Appendix B
Observation Checklist for Shared Reading Sessions

Date:………………………………
Class:………………………
Time:……………………………… Focus: Shared Reading
Session( ) Book ( )
No. Criteria Met Not Notes
met
1. Researcher states the focus of
the shared reading session
2. Researcher discusses and
introduces new vocabulary
3. Researcher activates prior
knowledge - assisting to
make connection- relating to
the book
4. Researcher models some
‗think aloud‘ during
introduction and other parts
of the book
5. Researcher stops and pauses
at strategic place to make
connection
6. Researcher stops and pauses
at strategic place to allow
prediction
7. Researcher asks higher order
thinking questions to provoke
critical thinking
8. Open ended questioning by
researcher
9. Researcher conclude and
review the shared reading
session in the end
10. Students interact by sharing
opinions, ideas and
interpretations
11. Students justify responses by
referring back to text
12. Students justify responses by
referring to prior knowledge
and personal experience
13. Students explore various
reading comprehension
strategies (Tick the relevant)
a) Making connection
b) Predicting
141
c) Asking questions
d) Visualising
e) Inferring
f) Identifying author‘s
purpose and point of
view
g) Analysing and
synthesizing
h) Evaluating
i.
14. Students think aloud
15. Students working

cooperatively
16. Follow up after reading
activities
17. Assessment of students‘
reading comprehension
Adapted from Young Scholars‘ Academy for Discovery and Exploration , New York
Balanced Literacy Checklist 11 (2010) retrieved from : http://dww.ed.gov
142
Appendix C
Semi- structured interview questions with the learners;
1. How do you feel when your researchers tell you stories?
2. What do you think about the stories?
3. How often do you like your researcher read a book to you? Why?
4. How do you feel when you can answer your researchers‘ questions regarding
the story?
5. How do you feel when you cannot answer your researchers‘ questions
regarding the story?
6. Which is the story that you like the most? Why?
7. What have you learnt from the stories read to you?
8. Which do you prefer, to read on your own or to have the researchers read to
you?
Adapted from Chen, Huang & Chen (2009).

143
Appendix D
Students 2016 Mid-year test results
Category Student Marks
Proficient A 85%
B 81%
C 71%
D 65%
Average
75%
E
63%
F
G 57%
Below average H 55%
I 50%
144
Appendix E
Lesson Plans for Six Shared Reading Sessions
LESSON PLAN/ Book 1/ Session 1

Date / Day Subject to approval
Time Subject to approval
Class Year 4 A
Focus Shared Reading
Theme World of Stories
Topic The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
By the end of the lesson, pupils will be able to :
a) make simple predictions about events in the story
Objectives b) ask and answer questions about key details in a text
c) use think-aloud technique to ask and answer questions
The big book, ‗The Rainbow Fish‘, by Marcus Pfister; graphic

Teaching Aids organizers, spread sheet, manila card, marker pens, stapler, glitter,
blue paper, shiny paper, glue, scissors,
ACTIVITIES TEACHING AND LEARNING LEARNING
(Time) PROCESS STRATEGY
1.Introduction Have you ever had something that you Making Connection
(10-15 mins) had to give a way?
Researcher will
ask question. ―I remember once when I have to
share my clothes with my little sister. I Researcher will give
Researcher didn‟t feel good about it when I was example from her own
thinks-aloud the young, but as I grew up, I begin to experience(Think-aloud)
answer. understand that sharing is caring‖.
How about you?
Predicting
Introduce the What do you think the story is about?
book. Discuss
about the book
cover. Word meaning
Ordinary, sparkling, glide past,
Vocabulary shimmer, dazzling, admire, coral reef,
instruction wavered, peculiar, whizzed, prized
possessions, delighted
Questions
2. Reading Predicting
aloud (25 mins) When one of the fish ask for a scale
from rainbow fish, what would it say?
Why do you think so? (p.5)
Questioning Evaluating
What do you think about Rainbow
Fish? Do you think what it said
Questioning
what‘s right? Why? (p.8)
145
Predicting
What will happen to the rainbow fish
next? Predicting
(p. 8)
Questioning I wonder what would the octopus say
now ? What do you think? ( p.11) Predicting
Questioning
What would the rainbow fish say after
listening to octopus‘s advice? (p.13) Researcher models think-
Questioning aloud
“I think the rainbow fish will not Students‘ think aloud
listen to octopus‟s advice‖. Do you
Questioning think so? Predicting
Do you think the rainbow fish will

Questioning give its tiny scale to the blue fish
now? (p.15). How do you know?
Predicting and Evaluating
Questioning Will the rainbow fish give to other
fish as well? (p.18)
Analysing
Questioning How does the rainbow fish feel at the
end?
3. Practice (15
mins) Identifying author‘s
purpose and point of view
What are the important messages
Think-pair-share from the story? Why do you say so? Analysing and evaluating
Group work Using the graphic organizer, describe

(Groups of 3-4) Rainbow Fish at the beginning of the
Graphic organizer story and ending of the story. Look
into its characteristics.
4. Closure (5
mins)
Sharing
Discussion
Recalling what Students share their graphic

have been done organizers and discuss about it
on the session
LESSON PLAN/Book 1/Session 2

Class Year 4 A
146

a) actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and
Objectives understanding
b) describe characters , settings and major events in a story
based om key details.
The big book, ‗The Rainbow Fish‘, by Marcus Pfister, spread sheet,
Teaching Aids graphc organizer,manila card, marker pens, stapler, glitter, blue
paper, shiny paper, glue, scissors,
ACTIVITIES TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS LEARNING
(Time) STRATEGY
1.Introduction
(15 mins)
Group Reading Reading with correct intonation, stress and Reading aloud in
rhythm with enjoyment. groups
KWL chart
(Group Discuss what they already know, want to
activity) know and have learnt about the story. Making connection
Sequencing cards based on the plot of the Identifying main

2. Practice (35 story. ideas and details
mis)
Plot of the story

Group work
(Groups of 3-4) Select a particular section of the story, and Analysing and
discuss the cause and effect of Rainbow synthesizing).
Fish refusing to share his scales. (p5-15).
Re-read the section. Use a graphic
Cause and organizer.
Effect
Evaluating
Using a fish cut out, students complete the Making connection
sentence, ―Rainbow Fish was generous by Think-aloud
giving away its scales. I am generous
3. Closure (15 because I
mins _________________________________‖.
Self-Reflection
Every student shares what they have
written
Class Year 4 A
147

a) recalling main ideas and important details of the story
Objectives
b) demonstrate understanding of the central message of the
story
The big book, ‗The Rainbow Fish‘, by Marcus Pfister, spread sheet,
Teaching Aids graphc organizer,manila card, marker pens, stapler, glitter, blue
paper, shiny paper, glue, scissors,
(Time) STRATEGY
1.Introduction
(15 mins)
Recalling the Fill in the missing words Identifying main

story ideas and important
(game)(pair details
work)
Sing the song together
Song- Visualizing
The rainbow
fish Fill in four boxes of story map with details
on the character, setting, problem and Identifying main
2. Practice (35 solutions. ideas and details,
mins) synthesizing,
analyzing.
A story map
(Groups of 3-4)
Each student will be given a fish scale
The Rainbow made from manila card. Identifying author‘s
Fish scales Each student has to decorate their scale and purpose and idea.
write information/words/phrases about
them. Making connection
Then, they will paste their scales on the
large fish prepared by the researcher.
Literature circle The researcher and students will talk about

the fish they have created using different
scales.
3. Closure (10
mins) The researcher and students will sing The Fun and purposeful
Rainbow Fish song together learning
Song

Class Year 4 A
148
Topic The Smartest Giant in The Town by Julia Donaldson

a) make simple predictions about events in the story
Objectives b) ask and answer questions about key details in a text
c) use think-aloud technique to ask and answer questions
The big book, ‗The Smartest Giant in The Town‘, by Julia

Teaching Aids Donalson; graphic organizers, spread sheet, manila card, marker
pens, stapler, papers, glue, scissors
(Time) STRATEGY
1.Introduction Have you ever helped someone? Making Connection
(10-15 mins)
Researcher will ―I remember once when I have to give one
ask question. of my pencil to my best friend who could
not effort to buy a present at that time. She Researcher will give
Researcher was very poor and I had extra pencils that I example from her
thinks-aloud got from my researcher as presents.So, I own
the answer. give one to her‖. How about you? experience(Think-
aloud)
What do you think the story is about?
Introduce the How does a giant look like?
book. Discuss Have you seen before in any movies? Predicting
about the book
cover.
Vocabulary Scruffiest, patched, pavement, sniffing, Word meaning

instruction bleating, magnificent, squeaking, blisters,
scrambled, snuggle, squelchy, bog
Questions
2. Reading
aloud(25 mins) Why does George do not wish to be the
scruffiest giant in town? (p.2)
Predicting ,
Questioning I wonder why George said he is the Evaluating
smartest giant in the town? Do you know
why? (p.5)
What will the goat say to George? ( p.8) Predicting

Questioning What do you think George will do after
hearing from the Goat? (p.10) Predicting
Predicting
Questioning What will the mouse say to George ?(p.13)
“I think George will give his pant ”?. Do Predicting

Think aloud you think so? (p.17)
149
Researcher models
Questioning What will the fox ask from George?(p.18) think-aloud
Students‘ think aloud
Questioning What will George give to the fox? Predicting
Why?(p.20)
Questioning
Predicting
What will George give to the dog? How do
you know?(p.22)
Questioning Predicting
But..I wonder what will happen to George

Questioning after this?(p.24)
What do you think all the animals write in Predicting

the card for George? (p. 28)
3. Practice (15
mins)
Think-pair-write List down all the things that the things that
(graphic George give to the animals and for what
organizer) purpose?
Analysing
Students share their graphic organizers and
discuss about it.
4. Closure (5 Tell something that you liked about the

mins) story.
Discussion ―As for me, I like how the author turn Identifying author‘s
Researcher George clothes to something useful. That‟s purpose and point of
model think show creativity.” How about you? view
aloud
Analysing and
evaluating

Class Year 4 A
150

a) actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and
Objectives understanding
b) visualize based on imagination and context
c) create based on imagination
(Time) STRATEGY
1.Introduction
(15 mins)
Reading with correct intonation, stress and
Group Reading rhythm with enjoyment. Reading aloud in
groups
KWL Chart Fill in the chart for something you already
(Group know, want to know and have learnt about Making connection
activity) the story.
2. Practice (35 Imagine a town where giants live alongside

mis) with you and the others. How would it be? Visualising
What will you talk to the giants? Draw the
The giants are situation and write your dialogues with the
in the town. giants.
(Group
work)(In
groups of 3-4) Share your work to everyone. Why do you Analysing and
imagine that way? synthesizing).
Discussion and
sharing
What other types of clothing not mentioned
in the story can be used to help the animals Visualising
3. Closure (15 in trouble.
mins Eg. Hats, trousers, gloves, singlet, skirt. Creating
Clothes to How can they be used?

rescue Share your creation
(Group
work)(In
groups of 3-4)

Class Year 4 A
151

a) recalling main ideas and important details of the story
Objectives
b) demonstrate understanding of the central message of the
story
(Time) STRATEGY
1.Introduction
(10 mins)
Lend a hand! George, the giant has lost his shirt and tie. Visualing
Pair work Can you show George which part to take
him to find his shirt and tie?
Researcher read What do you think the author is trying to Identifying author‘s
the thank you say through this thank you card? purpose and idea
card
2. Practice (45
mins)
Draw a picture of your imaginary giant and Visualising, creating,
Let‘s create! describe about him. What is the similarities synthesizing,
(Individual) and differences between George and your analyzing.
giant. Write in the graphic organizer.
Think of a way that you could help
somebody today. Each student shares their
opinion.
Discussion Think about the people who have helped

you in your life. How could you show your Making connection
appreciation?
―I remember my friend helped to take my

clothes from the clothes line when it was
Researcher raining heavily and I wasn‘t at hostel. It
think-aloud happened when I was studying in the
university. Then, I bought her some cookies
to show my appreciation‖. How about you? Making connection
Pupils make a thank you card to friend Making connection
Let‘s make! someone who has helped them.
Creating
3. Closure (5
mins)
152
Sharing Sharing the thank you card. Identifying author‘s

purpose and idea
Lesson wrap-up Researcher reaffirm the message of the
story
153
Appendix F
Audio-Visual Recordings Transcriptions
Transcription Shared Reading Session 1 Big Book „The Rainbow Fish‟
Participant Transcription
L1-T-1 Good afternoon to everybody.
L2-SS-1 Good afternoon researcher T.
L3-T-2 Okay, today I‘m going to read a book to you and we will have some
discussion about the book. Before we start , I want to tell you some
words, words that you will encounter in this book. Okay, the first one,
‗ordinary‘. What is ordinary? Anybody knows?
L4-SA-1 Ordinary? Hmm..
L5-T-3 Ordinary means normal. Like us. We are ordinary people. We are not
the king or queen. So we are just ordinary people. Something that is
usual and not special. Okay, what is ‗glide past‘
L6-SS-2 Ohhh… (agreeing)
L7-SB-1 Hmm.. don‘t know..
L8-T-4 Okay, glide past means passing by…for example..you can see my
hand here, it glide past ..glide past who?
L9-SA-2 Ohh..glide past D, E, F
L10-T-5 Okay, what is shimmer?
L11-SS-3 Shimmer??
L12-T-6 Or.. we can say shimmering…or sparkling..you know sparkling?
L13-SS-4 Ohh..ah..ah..(agreeing)
L14-T-7 Ahh..what sparkles?
L15-SA-3 Star..
L16-T-8 Ya..sparkling also got glitters..like shining. Okay , what is ‗admire‘..i
admire somebody..
L17-SG-1 Ohh..i know
L18-SA-4 Hmm.hehe
L19-T-9 Ya, tell me, I know you know what is admire
L20-SA-5 Hehe..I don‘t want to tell about it. (smile)
L21-T-10 It‘s okay. Admire means you like somebody. Especially you admire
something that is really beautiful . Do I admire Á or not.
L22-SS-5 Nooo..
L23-T-11 Yes, how can I admire A if he is sitting down like that. A , please sit
down properly. Okay, what is coral reef?
L24-SA-6 Oh, the sea, the sea coral, I know.
L25-T-12 Yes, sea.. You know sea ..under the sea there is coral reef
L26-SA-7 Sponge bob…haha..
L27-T-13 Since when , sponge bob went under the sea? (Smile)
L28-SS-6 (Laughing)
L29-T-14 Okay,what is delighted?
L30-SB-2 Hmm..
L31-T-15 Delighted means happy. When you see something that you really like
you feel happy , so you feel delighted. Okay what is prized
154
possession? Hmm, something that is belong to you that is very

expensive and it is yours. For example maybe you have a watch and it
is expensive. So it is a prized possession for you. Okay, these are the
words that you will see in the book when I read to you later. Okay, I
want to tell you something. Hmm… when I was young , I have to
share my clothes with my little sister . Lets say, if I have a dress, and
that dress, I cannot wear , I have to give my cloth to my little sister ,
which means I need to share things with her
L32-SA-8 Until you cannot use then you will give it to your sister?
L33-T-16 Yes, something like that I have to share it with my little sister. Do you
have something like that where you have to share?.
L34-SB-3 Hmm..Yeah, cloth.
L35-T-17 Okay cloth. Yes A, what do you share?
L36-SA-9 Shoes!
L37-T-18 Shoes! Okay, you mean you give your shoes to your sister?
L38-SA-10 My imaginable little brother. ( smile)
L39-T-19 Who is that??
L40-SS-6 X……!
L41-T-20 Haha..okay! So B said will give cloth, A said will share shoes.
Others? E, how about you?
L42-SE-1 He..he..water bottle
L43-T-21 Oh okay. When you share things with your little brother or sister, how
do you feel? Because when I was young…
L44-SA-11 I feel happy..
L45-T-22 I didn‘t like it, because I feel that why do I need to give my things to
other people. I feel like that, but as I grow up . I feel okay. It‘s okay to
share things.
L46-SB-4 I don‘t like to share.
L47-T- 23 Why you don‘t like to share?
L48-SA-12 Because she‘s greedy. ( laugh)
L49-T-24 How do you know she‘s greedy? Yes B, Why you don‘t like to share?
L50-SB-5 Some clothes I can wear it but my sister wear it
L51-SA-13 Later the cloths got the lubang-lubang. ( joking)
L52-SS-7 Hahaha( laughing)
L53-T-25 Okay, ohh..lubang..lubang. Other things..C , how about you? Do you
share your things with your brother?
L54-SC-1 Yes, food.
L55-T-26 Okay, what other things do you share?
L56-SC-2 I share my phone.
L57-T-27 Oh, you have a phone already?
L58-SS-8 Yes! Nokia 3. ( Giggling)
L59-T-28 Okay what other things do you share?
L60-SH-1 Share mother!
L61-SS-9 Giggling and Laughing
L62-T-29 Yes, you share your mother, that‘s true.
L63-SA-14 Because we only got one mother
L64-T-30 Yes, you only have one mother, and you need to share with your
siblings
155
L65-SG-2 I share pencil box

L66-T-31 Oh you share pencil box with who?
L67-SG-3 My sister
L67-T-32 Oh you give your pencil box
L68-SG-4 Hmmmm…my sister give me ..
L69-T-32 Oh.. okay..that‘s about sharing. Its about feelings too, Some people
like to share , some people don‘t like to share. Okay, now lets see this
book. The title of the book is..
L70-SS-10 The Rainbow Fish
L71-T-32 And the author is Marcus Phifter. Okay, what do you think the book is
about?
L72-SA-15 Ahh..a rainbow fish..ahh other fish which wanted his colour
L73-T-35 Okay, wanted his colour. How about others? B What do you think?
L74-SB-6 Other fish admire the rainbow fish
L75-SC-3 The fish has no friend
L76-T-37 Yes, H. I know you want to tell something
L77-SH-2 The fish is beautiful.
L78-T-38 Okay, any other?
L79-SS-11 Hmmm…
L80-T-39 Or, do you want to know what‘s the story about?
L81-SS-12 Yes..
L82-SG-5 Hmm..the fish is proud.
L83-T-40 Okay, why do you think the fish is proud?
L84-SG-6 The fish is colourful.
L85-T-41 Since the fish is colourful, so you think its proud. Do you think so?
L86-SD-1 No.
L87-SB-7 Other fish are angry, because it is very proud and make them angry.
L88-SG-6 So he no friends
L89-T-42 Okay, let‘s see what is really happening. ( Researcher start reading)
(Researcher pause and questions)
Who ask for the scale?
L90-SS-12 The little blue fish
L91-T-43 Okay, do you think rainbow fish will give it?
L92-SS-13 No, wont give.
L93-T-44 Why do you say so?
L94-SG-7 How to give? Cannot give.
L95-T-45 Why cannot give?
L96-SG-8 After give later got blood, cannot cut the scale from the body.
L97-T-46 Oh okay, you say later got blood?
L98-SB-8 The rainbow fish cannot pluck its scale
L99-T-47 Okay, A , what do you think?
L100-SA-16 Hmmmm.. the rainbow fish will not bother the little blue fish and will
swim away
L101-T-48 Okay, I, what do you think?
L102-SI-1 I think the rainbow fish is beautiful so it doesn‘t want to give its scale
L103-SG-9 It feels very proud so it doesn‘t want to give
L104-T-49 Okay, let‘s see what‘s happening next ( T continue reading)
L105-SA-17 T , this is same like the peacock story
156
L106-T-50 Oh okay, you think its similar with the peacock story. Okay lets read
till the end then we can know whether its similar or not. ( Researcher
continue reading).
Do you think the rainbow fish will find the wise octopus.
L107-SB-9 Yes, because the octopus is wise. And he wants to be friends with
others.
L108-SA-18 No, I don‘t think so.
L110-SA-19 Later the octopus will eat the rainbow fish
L111-SH-3 The octopus is hungry
L112-SA-19 The octopus is carnivore.
L113-T-52 The octopus is a carnivore? Are you sure?
L114-SS-14 Yes…
L115-T-53 So the octopus will eat the fish? Okay, let‘s see what happen next.
Okay, since the star fish asked the rainbow fish to see the octopus,
what advice will the octopus give? What do you think?
L116-SB-10 Hmm.. the octopus will say, help your friend when they need help.
L117-T-54 Okay, any other things?
L118-SG-10 The octopus said don‘t be proud of yourself.
L119-T-55 Okay, I will continue reading ( Researcher reading)
L120-SS-15 Huh..the octopus is out..!
L121-T-56 Yes..lets see what the octopus says ( Researcher continue reading)
L122-SA-20 Wah..waves tell him the story..
L123-T-57 Yaa..waves.. Okay, what do you think the rainbow fish will say now?
L124-SI-2 No! The rainbow fish wont give its scale .
L125-T-58 Why do you think so? I also think that the rainbow fish will not give
its scale to the little blue fish
L126-SH-4 Because it doesn‘t know how to pluck its scales from body
L127-SC-4 It loves to be beautiful
L128-T-59 Oh okay, any other?
L129-SG-11 It doesn‘t like sharing
L130-SA-21 Yes, it doesn‘t like sharing, it will feel jealous if others more beautiful
L131-T-60 Okay, let‘s see what‘s happening next ( Researcher reads the story)
Ahh.. what you said is right?
L132-SS-16 Yes, the rainbow fish doesn‘t want to give the scale
L133-T-61 Okay. Let‘s continue. ( Researcher reads the story)
Ahh..what does the rainbow fish say now?
L134-SS-17 It will give its one scale to the little blue fish.
L135-T-62 Yes, but just now we say it will not give .. Why it want to give now?
L136-SA-22 Ya, I think its afraid the octopus will eat him.
L137-T-63 Yes,C, you have something to say.
L138-SC-5 Hmm..it want to give the scale…
L139-T-64 Ya, why suddenly, it changed its mind.
L140-SC-7 It want other fish to play with it..so it change its mind.
L141-T-65 Oh is it. Have you been like that before? At first, you say no, then you
agree later.
L142-SB-11 Oh, T, at first my mother ask whether I want to eat the food or not, I
say no. But later, I eat finish the food. (smile)
157
L143-T-66 Oh okay. ( Researcher continue reading) So what the rainbow fish

did?
L144-SS-18 Give its scale to the little blue fish.
L145-T-67 Do you think what he did was right?
L146-SS-19 Yes!
L147-T-68 So, do you think the rainbow fish will give its scales to the other fish
as well?
L148-SA-23 Yes, because it wants to play with the other fish as well.
L149-T-69 (Researcher turns the page)
L150-SS-20 Wah, everybody has the scales now
L151-T-70 Yes..( Continue reading) Why does the rainbow fish say that it feels at
home at last?
L152-SH-5 Because at first it feels lonely, that now it has many friends, so it feels
home
L153-T-71 (Researcher continue reading the last page of the story) . And that‘s
the end. How does the rainbow fish feel in the end?
L154-SS-21 Very happy!
L155-T-72 How about in the beginning?
L156-SS-22 Very sad, upset
L157-SC-6 He is frightened
L158-T-73 Why?
L159-SC-7 Because nobody play with him and has no friends
L160-T-74 Okay. Now you have heard the story, The Rainbow Fish. What do you
learn from this story?
L161-SA-24 We must always share our things, our stuff and do not be proud
L162-T-75 Okay, others?
L163-SC-7 We cannot be greedy
L164-T-76 Okay, which part of the story teaches you that you cannot be greedy?
In the beginning or in the end?
L165-SC-8 In the end..
L166-T-77 What will happen if we are greedy?
L167-SH-6 We will not have friends
L168-T-78 Okay, do you like the story?
L169-SS-23 Yes!
L170-T-79 Before we end the session for today , we want to do an activity. For
that, I need you to be in groups.
L171-SS-24 ( Students getting into groups)
L172-T-80 Okay now you can discuss and write, how is rainbow fish in the
beginning and how is rainbow in the end?
L173-SS-25 (Students discuss and jotting down the answers)
L174-T-81 I can see a lot of answers..Good!
L175-Group In the beginning the rainbow fish is greedy, lonely , proud, sad,
A( E, I. J)-1 beautiful and colourful.
L176-T-82 Okay, in the end?
L177-Group In the end , the rainbow fish is friendly, happy, learn how to share,
A ( E, I ,J)-1 delighted, ordinary and generous
L178-T-83 Okay, very good. Next group.
L179-Group In the beginning the rainbow fish is upset, proud,
158
B ( A. G, H)-
1
L180-T-84 Other groups. Do you agree with their answers?
L181-Group Yes
A-3 and C-1
L182-T-85 Okay, continue
L183-Group Lonely, greedy, sad, disappointed ,
B ( A. G, H)-
2
L184-T-86 Okay, why disappointed?
L185-SA- 25 Because everybody ignore him
L187-Group Happy, got a lot of friends, ungreedy.
B ( A. G, H)-
3
L188-T-88 Ungreedy.. we say not greedy, Okay next
L189-Group Regret..
B ( A. G, H)-
4
L190-T-89 Regret or grateful?
L191-SA-26 regret
L192-T-90 Why regret?
L193-SA-26 The fish regret because if it shares its scales last time, it already have
so many friends long time ago but not only it got a lot of friends
L194-T-91 Oh okay, good
L195-Group We got some more, delighted, friendly
B ( A. G, H)-
5
L196-T-92 Oh okay. Very Good. Next group
L197-Group In the beginning proud, lonely, upset, greedy, colourful, disappointed,
C ( B, C, stingy
J,D)-2
L199Group Delighted, friendly, learn how to share with others, help others
C ( B, C,
J,D)-3
L200-T-94 Okay, good. We have read the story, the rainbow fish today, discuss
on the story and what we can learn from the story.We will continue
again tomorrow with other activities. That‘s all for today. Thank you
and see you tomorrow.
159
L1-T-1 Good afternoon everybody.
L2-SS-1 Good afternoon researcher.
L3-T-2 Today we are going to reread this story. I am not going to read it
alone, but you are going to join with me. Okay, can we do it?
L4-SS-2 Yes researcher..
L5-T-3 What is the title of the book?
L7-T-4 Okay, whose the author?
L8-SS-4 Marcus Pfister
L9-T-5 Okay, let‘s read it together
L10-SS-5 ( Students reading expressively)
L11-T-6 And that‘the end. Okay, I am very glad that all of you read the story
very well. You could pronounce the words well and read it
expressively. Very Good. So, when we read something , we must
have a rhythm. Okay, lets say this again ―Come on rainbow fish,
come and play with us‖
L12-SS-6 Come on rainbow fish, come and play with us. ( Students saying
with expression and action)
L13-T-7 What are other dialogues in the story that you remember?
14-SS-7 Hmmm..( Thinking)
15-T-8 Okay, let‘s go through the story. Hmm..what is the dialogue when
the rainbow fish is very proud?
L16-SA-1 Hmmm…You want..
L17-T-9 and Yes, you want me to give you my shiny scale? Who do you think
SS-9 you are? Get away from me..
L18-T-10 Okay, what tone is this?
L19-SA-2 Angry, crying
L20-T-11 The rainbow fish is crying? I don‘t see the rainbow fish is crying.
L21-SA-3 Got ‗cried‘ there
L22-T-12 Okay you see the word ‗cried‘ so you say rainbow fish is crying.
What are things? What kind of tone can you feel here.
L23-SB-1 Very proud
L24-T-13 Okay, what makes you to say so?
L25-SB-2 Because he say ‗ who do you think you are‘
L26-T-14 Yes! He said so. Very bad..Can we say like that?
L27-SS-10 No!
L28-T-15 Why we cannot say like that?
L29-SC-1 Not polite
L30-SH-1 Later other people don‘t like us
L31-T-16 Okay, so we should not be proud. Now, we want to continue with
other activities. I will ask you questions and anybody can answer
me . We will go through some pages. Before I ask you some
questions, we need to read the page that I have selected. U know
how we get a text, the reading comprehension, and we need to
answer questions.
160
L32-SS-11 Yes
L33-T-17 Okay, this page here. You can read silently first. When you are
ready let me know.
L34-SS-12 Okay, ready.
L35-T-18 Okay, whoever can answer. The one who raise the hand first. Okay,
which part of this text show that rainbow fish is proud oh himself?
L36-SH-2 (Raise the hand) He said, who do you think you are to the little blue
fish.
L37-T-19 Okay, why do you think this is the answer?
L38-SH-3 Because, all the other fish are ordinary, so he said, who do you
think you are.
L39-T-20 Okay, now my second question is what do you think the little blue
fish told his other friends?
L40-SB-3 The little blue fish told his other friends that the rainbow fish is
selfish, greedy and proud.
L41-T-21 What makes you to tell so?
L42-SB-4 Because the rainbow fish don‘t want to give its scale to the little
blue fish
L43-T-22 ( Close reading) Okay, next question , ..What good the dazzling
shimmering scales if there‘s no one to admire them? Who said this?
L45-T-23 Okay, how does the rainbow fish feel when it says so?
L46-SA-4 Lonely
L47-T-24 What makes you to say so?
L48-SA-5 Because it says there he is the loneliest fish in the entire ocean ..so
he is lonely and sad
L49-T-25 Okay, next question. Why does the star fish say that I can‘t help
you?
L50-SE-1 Because star fish say rainbow fish need advice from other sea
creatures
L51-SH-4 He doesn‘t know what happen
L52-T-26 What makes you to say so?
L53-SF-1 Because nobody tell him
L54-T-27 Okay, you are saying the star fish doesn‘t know what happened.
Okay , my next question is, why does the star fish choose octopus
and not other sea creatures?
L55-SG-1 Because the octopus is wise and clever
L56-T-28 Okay, if you are the star fish. Where will you ask the rainbow fish
to go?
L57-SA-5 I think I will ask the rainbow fish to find researcher T.
L58-T-29 ( Laugh) Okay, why do you want the rainbow fish to find me?
L59-SA-6 Because researcher T is wise and clever
L60-T-30 Okay, but I am not a sea creature, I‘m just a normal human being .
So who will the star fish say?
L61-SH-5 Hmmm..Dolphin.
L62-T-31 Okay, why dolphin?
L63-SH-6 Dolphin is clever.
L64-SA-7 Has a big head
161
L65-SS-14 (Laughing)
L66-T-32 Okay, any other. Haa..whale is also in the sea. Why don‘t rainbow
fish see the whale?
L67-SH-7 Ahhh..later the whale eat the rainbow fish.
L68-T-33 So. Dolphin don‘t eat the rainbow fish?
L69-SB-5 No, because dolphin is friendly
L70-T-34 Okay, you say dolphin is friendly. So who else Rainbow Fish will
go and see?
L71-SA-8 Guinea Pig
L72-T-35 Guinea Pig is a sea creature?
L72-SA-9 Haha..no..
L73-SE-2 See the mermaid
L74-T-36 Okay, les read the next text.
L75-SS-15 (Pupils reading the text aloud with researcher)
L76-T-37 Okay,now the question. Why do you think the little blue fish really
wanted the scale from the rainbow fish?
L77-SH-8 Because the scale is beautiful and shiny
L78-T-38 Okay, why rainbow fish scale?
L79-SH-9 Because, when you have the rainbow fish scale, the little blue fish
will feel special and become beautiful.
L80-T-39 Okay, with one tiny scale you can become beautiful?
L81-SH-10 Ya, because its small and special.
L82-T-40 Okay, next question. A rather peculiar feeling come over rainbow
fish, peculiar means strange..a strange feelings come over rainbow
fish. Why?
L83-SA-10 He pluck out something from his body
L84-T-41 Okay, he pluck out something from his body, so what happen?
L85-SB-3 He feel strange because he gives away his scale
L86-SC-1 He gives one of his scale to another fish.
L87-T-42 Okay, any other? For example, you have this pencil that you like
very much and suddenly your little sister is asking . At first you said
you will not give but then you change your mind and you give it to
her and you feel starnge. Why do you feel so?
L88-SB-4 You scared your things will be broken
L89-SI-1 Scared she will lose it
L90-T-43 Okay, you have been keeping that pencil for a very long time right,
so what feeling do you have towards the pencil?
L91-SS-16 Love
L92-T-44 So why Rainbow fish feel strange?
L93-SS-17 Because it loves its scales
L94-T-45 Yes, that‘s why rainbow fish feel strange. Okay very good. Okay
you can get the reward. Everybody will get the reward. Okay, now
we are going to the next activity. ( Know-what to know- learnt)
chart. ( Researcher explains the task with examples- students get
into groups)
L95-SS-18 Students work in groups – discussing and interacting- guided by
researcher ( 15 mins)
L96-T-46 Okay, A‘s group. Lets start presenting. Okay, A‘s group, what do
162
you know?
L97Group A-1( The rainbow fish was greedy.
A, G, H)
L98-T-47 Okay, agree everyone?
L99-SS-19 Yes…
L100-T-48 Okay, next one?
L101-Group A- The rainbow fish was proud
2
L102-T-49 Okay, the rainbow fish was proud in the beginning
L103-Group A- The rainbow fish was alone
3
L104-T-50 Okay
L105-Group A- The rainbow fish has beautiful and colourful scales
4
L106-T-51 Okay, next
L107-Group A- Nobody like the rainbow fish
5
L108-T-52 When?
L109-Group A- In the beginning
6
L111-Group A- The rainbow fish asked the star fish why it was alone?
7
L112-T-54 Hmm, okay true.. Okay next column..what-to know.. what do you
want to know?
L113-Group A- Where did the rainbow fish get the shining scale?
8
L114-T-55 Okay, what do you all think?
L115-SB-5 Ahh..When he was born..
L116-T-56 Okay, next one.
L117-Group A- Why does the author write the book?
9
L118-T-57 Ya, why the author writes the book, the story?
L119-SG-2 Because the book is interesting
L120-T-58 Okay, why the author wants to write about the rainbow fish?
L121-SA-11 I think it‘s like the author was proud and doesn‘t want to give his
things to others but suddenly he change his mind, so he use his own
story and write about the rainbow fish. He thinks himself like the
rainbow fish.
L122-T-59 Ohh ..you are saying that the author is trying to tell about himself.
So are you telling that the author is trying to portray himself
through the story?
L123-SA-12 Yes, like that.
L124-T-60 Okay, good idea. Next one?
L125-SA-13 Who were the rainbow fish parents?
L126-T-61 Okay, who?
L127-SB-6 Hehe..A!
L128-T-62 Ahh A??
163
L129-SS-20 Don‘t know.

L130-T-63 Okay, next one?
L131-Group A- What does the rainbow fish eat?
10
L132-T-64 Okay, SS what does it eat?
L133-SB-7 Sea grass and other fish
L135-Group A- What does the rainbow fish do when it has many shiny scales?
11
L136-T-66 Okay, what does he do?
L137-SA-14 Hmm, continue to be proud..
L138-T-67 Okay, now we move on to the ‗learnt‘ part
L139-SG-3 Researcher still got one more
L140-T-68 Okay, one more what‘s that?
L141-Group A- How many scales does the rainbow fish has?
12
L142-T-69 Okay, can you count?
L143-SG-3 There, researcher. I can count from the book.
L143-T-70 Oh okay, then we can count later. Okay now ‗learnt‘ what have you
learnt?
L144-Group A- Not to be greedy
13
L145-T-71 Okay, not to be greedy. Agree SS?
L146-SS-21 Yes..
L147-T-72 Okay, next?
L148-Group A- We must help other people
14
L149-T-73 Okay, next one
L150-Group A- We must help other people
15
L152-Group A- We must share things, We must always make friends with others
16
L153-T-75 Okay, next.
L154-Group A- We must protect the endangered animals
17
L155-T-76 Okay, where do you learn this from?
L156-SA-15 Because the rainbow fish really doesn‘t exist so much..
L157-T-77 Ohh..so you have to protect the rainbow fish?
L158-SA-16 Ya, we need to protect the endangered species?
L159-T-78 Are you saying rainbow fish is an endangered species? How do you
know?
L160-SA-17 Ya, because theré only one rainbow fish in the whole earth
L161-T-79 How do you know?
L162-SA-18 Because all the fish only come and find one rainbow fish
L163-T-80 Ohh, okay. Good sharing. Okay, now let‘s listen to the next group.
L164-Group B- I know that the rainbow fish is greedy.
164
1 ( B, E, I)
L166-Group B- The rainbow fish has many shining scales
2
L168-Group B- I know the rainbow fish is proud
3
L170-Group B- I know the rainbow fish become friendly himself.
4
L171-T-84 Hmm, what do you mean?
L172-SB-8 Like the rainbow fish gives its scales to the other fish, so he become
friendly
L174-Group B- I know the rainbow fish loves its own scales
5
L175-T-86 Okay, why do you say so?
L176-SB-9 Because it says get away from me
L178-Group B- I know that the Rainbow fish don‘t like to share its scales with the
6 other fish
L179-T-88 Okay, good next one
L180-Group B- I know that the rainbow fish think that he was the most beautiful
7 fish in the entire ocean
L181-T-89 Oh, okay. Next , ‗ what you want-to—know‘
L182-Group B- Does the rainbow fish really exist?
7
L183-T-90 Okay..really exist??
L184-Group B- Does the rainbow really has shining scales?
8
L185-T-91 Okay, the book shows it has..
L186-Group B- Where does rainbow fish live?
9
L187-T-92 Okay, SS, where does it live?
L188-SS-22 Sea!
L189-T-93 Yes, sea. In a big ocean.
L190-SA-19 Ya, researcher you already tell in the beginning of the story
L191- T-94 Ya..okay, next one.
L192-Group B- What is rainbow‘s fish friends‘ name?
10
L193-T-95 Okay…
L194-Group B- What is rainbow‘s fish parents name?
11
L195-T-96 Rainbow fish has parents?
L196-Group B- Want to know
12
L197-T-97 What is rainbow fish hobby?
L198-Group B- What do you think?
165
13
L199-SH-11 His hobby is to be proud every day
L200-T-98 Yes ah?? So Group 2 , what do you think?
L201-SB-10 Swim
L202-T-99 Okay, why do you think so?
L203-SB-11 Because every day swim in the sea
L204-T-100 Okay..every day swims. Next, what have you learnt?
L205-Group B- We must not be greedy and selfish
14
L207-Group B- We must share alike
15
L208-T-102 What do you mean by share alike?
L209-SB-12 Like if we get something extra we must share with our friends
L211-Group B- We must be friendly to our friend
16
L213-Group B- We must treat our friends nicely
17
L215-Group B- We mustn‘t shout at our friends
18
L216-T-106 Okay
L217-Group B- We must always help our friends when they need help.
19
L218-T-107 Okay, good sharing Group B. Group C , you can paste it on the wall
here so that everyone can have a look on it.
(Researcher gives comments on it)
166
L1-T-1 Good afternoon, boys and girls.
L2-SS-1 Good afternoon researcher
L3-T-2 Today is our last session for this book. We will carry out few
activities. Our first activity is to reread this book, after that we
will do cause and effect activity, then we will do story
grammar, then I will ask you to write something about the
rainbow fish, you will cut out a fish yourself then lastly we will
do the fish scales and decorate the rainbow fish. So are you
ready for the session today?
L4-SS-2 Yes!
L5-T-3 Okay, let‘s read this story loudly, clearly with expression
L6-SS-3 Students read aloud
L7-T-4 Okay, we have fished reading it. Now we are going to do our
fisrt activity. For that, I need you to be in groups. Okay this is
called the story grammar. We use this to know more about the
story. Okay , what is setting?
L8-SA-1 Hmm, what is the story about?
L9-T-5 Hmm, setting means place. Where does the story take place.
Where?
L10-SS-4 In a deep blue ocean.
L11-T-6 Ahh.. so you write it here. Is it only in the deep blue ocean?
Any other place?
L12-SA-2 and L12- In a deep cave.
SB-1
L13-T-7 Okay, any place you see in the book , you must write it down.
You can come here to see the book. For your reference. Okay,
next , what is conflict?
L14-SS-5 Hmmm
L15-T-8 Problem. So, what is the problem in the story?
L16-SS-6 ohhh
L17-T-9 Ya.. so if there‘s problem, there‘s always solutions.
L18-SA-3 Like how to cure the problem
L19-T-10 How to solve the problem . Okay, for example. I have a
problem. My brother is very naughty. He always like to disturb
me. So how do I solve this problem?
L20-SA-4 Give him a piece of chocolate
L21-T-11 Okay, maybe I can. But how I solve this problem, is I go and
complain with my father
L22-SS-7 Ohh..haha
L23-T-12 Yes and then my father will give punishment to my brother. So
it‘s a conflict which I find solution. Okay , next one themes.
Who can tell me what is theme?
L24-SS-8 Hmm..don‘t know.
L25-T-13 Okay, themes are like values, moral values. Okay what is the
moral value in this story? What is the theme?
167
L26-SA-5 We must always share what we have

L27-T-14 Okay, so you write the themes related to the stories. Okay, let‘s
get into groups.
L28-SS-9 (Students get into groups and discussing)
L29-T-15 Okay, let‘s get group 1 to present. What is the setting?
L30-Group A-1 Deep blue sea.
L32-Group A-2( B The deep black cave
L33-T-16 Did we see the deep black?
L34-SA-6 Yes, the entire ocean?
L35-T-17 Okay, what happened at the deep black cave?
L36-Group A-3 The blue fish went to see the wise octupus
L37-T-18 Blue fish?
L38-Group A-4 Ehh, the rainbow fish
L39-T-18 Yes, the rainbow fish who went to see the wise octopus. Okay,
you wrote beyond the coral reef. What happened there?
L40-SG -1 Beyond the coral reef to the deep cave.. they will find the wise
octopus
L41-T-19 Okay good one. Okay next one, conflict. What is the conflict?
L42-Group A-4 Rainbow fish do not have any friends.
L43-T-20 How do you know?
L44-Group A-5 Rainbow fish does not want to share his things, so nobody
wants to be friend with it. Everybody don‘t want to see him
when he swam by.
L46-Group A-6 He wants to have friends, but he doesn‘t want to share his
things.
L47-T-22 Okay. So, what‘s the solution? How do you solve this
problem?
L48-Group A-7 Meet the wise octopus and share his scales with the other fish
L49-T-23 Okay , good one. Next one.
L50-Group A-8 Change his own mind and give his scales to the little blue fish.
L51-T-24 Okay, why do you think so? Which part of the story says that?
L52-Group A-9 Change his mind and give its scales to the little blue fish
L53-T-25 Okay, so at first, how was rainbow fish?
L54-Group A-10 Very proud
L55-T-26 Okay, very proud and doesn‘t want to share. So, what are the
themes in the story?
L56-Group A-11 Do not be greedy
L58-Group A-12 We must share things that we have
L59-T-28 Okay . Do you agree ?
L60-SS-10 Yes.
L62-Group A-13 We must help our friends when they need help.
L63-T-30 Okay, very good. Let‘s have the next group. Okay, the setting.
L64-Group B-1 Deep blue sea, entire ocean
L65-T-30 Do you agree the entire ocean?
168
L66-SS-11 Yes.
L67-T-31 The entire ocean belongs to who?
L68-SA-6 The sea creatures
L69-T-32 Okay, sea creatures. What are the examples of sea creatures.
L70-SA-7 Dugong,
L71-T-33 Okay, next you say the deep cave. What is that?
L72-Group B-2 The octopus lives there
L73-T-34 Okay, beyond the coral reef. A dark cloud of ink. Is it a
setting?
L74-SS-12 Hmm, no.
L75-T-35 Okay, group 2. What makes you to write that?
L76-SA-7 Because here said, the octopus already disappeared into the
dark cloud of ink..
L77-T-36 Ahh..so what is the dark cloud of ink? Okay, where does the
octopus comes from?
L78-SS-13 Comes from the cave
L79-T-37 Okay, now the octopus disappeared into where?
L80-SG-2 A dark cloud of ink
L81-T-38 Okay, so what do you think a dark cloud of ink is?
L82-SS-14 The cave!
L83-T-38 Yes, the cave. Instead of saying the cave, we can use a
metaphor and say it as a dark cloud of ink.Okay, next one,
what is conflict?
L84-Group B-3 The rainbow fish was lonely.
L85-T-39 What makes you to say that?
L86-Group B-4 Because rainbow fish has no friends
L87-T-40 Okay. Good next,
L88-Group B-5 Rainbow fish was greedy. Rainbow fish did not like sharing.
L89-T-41 Okay, so how do you solve the problem?
L90-Group B-6 The rainbow fish go and see the wise octopus
L92-Group B-7 The rainbow fish shared his scales to the other fish
L93-T-43 Okay, what is the theme?
L94-Group B-8 Not to be greedy.
L95-T-44 Do you all agree with that?
L96-SS-15 Yes
L98-Group B-9 Always be sharing
L99-T-46 Oh, you say always share things. Next?
L100-Group B-10 We should be fair.
L101-T-47 Where do you get that from? What do you mean that we should
be fair?
L102-SA-8 Hmm, if we have things we must share , not like keep all the
things to ourselves.
L103-T-48 Okay , what is fair SS?
L104-SS-16 Like equal.
L105-SA-9 Yes, everybody got only 1 scale , so it‘s fair
L106-T-49 So, can we say the theme is we should be fair?
169
L107-SS- 17 Yes , we can.

L108-T-50 Okay, Very good. Next group. What‘s the setting?
L109-Group C-1 ( Deep blue sea, entire ocean, deep cave, coral reef
Goh hee yeng)
L110-T-51 Okay, conflict?
L111-Group C-2 The rinbow fish don‘t have any friends.
L113-Group C-3 The rainbow fish don‘t want to share its colourful scales.
L115-Group C-4 The rainbow fish was lonely
L116-T-54 Okay, all these problems are in the story about Rainbow Fish.
So how does the rainbow fish solve the problem?
L117-Group C-5 Don‘t be greedy, don‘t be proud.
L118-T-55 Is that solution SS?
L119-SA-10 No, I think its ‗terbalik‘ already. It‘s the themes.
L120-T-56 So ,what is solution Group 3?
L121-Group C-6 The problem that we want to solve.
L122-T-57 So , are you telling that the rainbow fish solve the problem by
not being proud?
L123-Group C-7 Yes..
L125-Group C-8 The rainbow fish share things
L126-T-59 Share what?
L127-Group C-9 Share its scales.
L128-T-60 Okay, now the themes.
L129-Group C-10 We should not be proud
L131-Group C-11 We must not be greedy.
L133-Group C-12 We must sharing things
L134-T-63 Okay, we must share things with others. Next.
L135-Group C-13 We should not be selfish.
L137-Group C-14 We should help others when they need help.
L138-T-65 Okay, good thank you Group 3. And thank you to the other two
groups as well. I m very pleased with information that you
have shared. It shows that you know about the story very well
especially, the setting, conflict , solutions and themes. Okay,
now let‘s move on the next task. Everybody take one piece of
paper. It is an individual task.
L139-SS-18 Students take a piece of paper.
L140-T-66 Okay , now let‘s read what has been written on it.
L141-SS-19 The rainbow fish was generous because it gives away its scales
to the other fish, I am generous because……..
L142-T-67 Okay, I am generous because……I bake a cake for my
neighbor during Chinese New Year..That‘s about me, how
about you?
L143-SS-20 Students thinking and writing
170
L144-T-68 Okay, let‘s share. A please share yours.

L145-SA-11 I always share sweets with my friends and I also donate
money to the orphanage.
L146-T-69 Are you sure you donate money to the orphanage? Where do
you get your money from?
L147-SA-12 From my tabung, menabung
L148-T-70 Oh, from your pocket money . Which orphanage did you
donate?
L149-SA-13 That one in Ipoh
L150-T-71 How much did you give?
L151-SA-14 RM 200
L152-T-72 Sure?
L153-SA-15 Yes, researcher, I keep it for a long time already.
L154-T-73 Good! I am happy that you did that! Well done. Okay next
person. Lets have E.
L155-SE-1 I am generous because I help the poor by donating some books,
clothes and money.
L156-T-74 Okay, when did you do that?
L157-SE-2 Last year.
L158-T-75 Where?
L159-SE-3 Taiping
L160-T-76 Okay, good. Next, lets have I
L161-SI- 1 I donate toys to the orphans
L162-T-77 Which orphanage?
L163-SI-2 In Ipoh
L164-T-78 Okay, good. Let‘s have C
L165-SC-1 I am generous because I help my parents and friends to do
things
L166-T-79 Okay, good. Next let‘s have D
L167-SD-1 I am generous because I help my friends when they need help ,
I also donate clothes to the orphanage.
L168-T-80 Very good, Let‘s have J.
L169-SJ-1 I am generous because I donate money to the orphanage.
L170-T-81 Okay, how much?
L171-SJ-2 RM 100
L172-T-82 Okay, when is it?
L173-SJ-3 Last week
L174-T-83 Wah, last week? Which orphanage?
L175-SJ-4 The one in Ipoh.
L176-T-84 Okay, good. Next, B? I can see a lot of generous people
around me! Wow! Good.
L177-SB-2 I am generous because I help to donate money to the
orphanage and to help them to study
L178-T-85 Okay, good. Yes, H
L179-SH-1 I am generous because I give a cake to the orphanage
L180-T-86 Okay, good. Next, F
L181-SF-1 I am generous because I share things with my friends
L182-T-87 Such as?
171
L183-SF-2 Hmm, such as colour pencils

L184-T-88 Okay, good. Yes, G.
L185-SG-3 I am generous because I donates clothes, books, toys , food and
money to the orphanage
L186-T-89 Okay, very good! Now we are going to do an activity in a very
big group. Lets get into a very big circle. These are the scales.
Everybody will get 3 colourful scales. 1 st scale you write
something that you have learnt from the story, 2nd scales you
write about yourself and the 3rd scales you write about in
future, what kind of help you can do.
L187-SS-21 Students beginning to write on their scales.
L188-T-90 (Once done, researcher paste the big rainbow fish with the
decorated and written scales on the wall for everybody to see.)
172
Transcription Shared Reading Session 1 The Smartest Giant in Town

L1-T-1 Good afternoon boys and girls.
L3-T-2 Today, I‘m going to share with you another book. While sharing,
we will discuss a lot of things , ask you some questions then we
will do a pair activity . Okay I want to ask you something..Have
you helped someone before?
L4-SS-2 Yes!
L5-T-3 Okay, when I was young, I was in the primary school, I had a
friend . My friend was very poor that she did not have any pencils
. So I had this one extra pencil, that I got it from my researcher
and I gave it to her. So did I help my friend?
L6-SS-3 Yes!
L7-T-4 Okay, so how about you? How do you help your friend?
L8-SA-1 Teach them how to do homework
L9-T-5 Okay good.. others
L10-SS-4 Hmmm
L11-T-6 A simple act of helping. Let‘s say, maybe you help your friend to
take homework and let them know what are the homework
L12-SS-5 Yes!
L13-T-7 Yes, so how do you help your friend. Think about what you had
done before.
L14-SG-1 When my friend fall down I will take her up
L15-T-8 Okay. Good. Let‘s say in the classroom. How do you help?
L16-SI-1 Like if my friend need eraser I will give him.
L17-T-9 Okay, now let‘s look at this book. This is the book that I am
going o read to you today. Okay, tell me what is the title of the
book?
L18-SS-6 The Smartest Giant in Town
L19-T-10 Yes, The Smartest Giant in Town, and the author is Julia
Donaldson and the illustrator is Axel Scheffler. Okay, let‘s look
at this book. What can you see from the book cover?
L20-SA-2 Two giant legs
L21-T-11 Okay, what else do you see?
L22-SS-7 Mouse , giraffe, house, car , fox , goat
L23-T-12 Okay, good. Where do you think this story take place?
L24-SS-8 Town, a small town
L25-T-13 Okay, what makes you to say so?
L26-SS-9 Because the title says, the smartest giant in town
L27-T-14 Ohh, okay good, you think its in town because you refer back to
the title. Okay, what do you think the story is about?
L28-SS-10 It‘s about giant.
L29-T-15 Okay, why do you think its about giant?
L30-SA-3 Because there‘s a giant
L31-T-16 Okay, what other things?
L32-SS-11 About animals, small animals, tall animals
L33-T-17 Okay. Do you see people here?
173
L34-SS-12 No..
L35-T-18 Why?
L36-SA-4 The giant is the people here
L37-T-19 Okay, what makes you to say that the giant is the people ?
L38-SB-1 Because the giant has shoes and legs
L39-T-20 Okay, is it in this town, there‘s only giant?
L40-SS-13 No..
L41-T-21 Then, where are the other people?
L42-SA-5 The giant is the only people there. The town doesn‘t have other
people.
L43-T-22 Okay, how do you think the giant will look like?
L44-SC-1 Like human face
L45-SE-1 Big nose big eyes
L46-SA-6 Small teeth
L47-SJ-1 Don‘t have any teeth..Haha
L49-SS-14 Because it‘s a giant
L50-T-24 Okay, have you seen or read any books about giants?
L51-SS-15 Jack and the beanstalk!!
L52-T-25 Okay any other?
L53-SS-16 Hhhhmmm
L54-T-26 How about The Giant and Rosemary
L55-SS-17 Don‘t know
L56-T-27 It‘s a book, please go and find out about it.
L57-SH-1 Rosemary?
L58-T-28 Yes, Rosemary is a person name.A girl‘s name. There ‗s this girl
and the giant. And then something happen.
L59-SA-7 Researcher, that‘s like beauty and the beast
L60-T-29 Beast is a giant?
L61-SS-18 Noo!
L62-SA-8 Beast is ugly, giant is not ugly. It‘s a gigantic human being
L63-T-30 Yes, good. Before reading the story. I want to share few words
and the meaning, so that when we read the story, you will
understand it better.
(Researcher shares and explain the words)
The first word, scruffiest. What it means?

L64-SA-9 I don‘t know
L65-T-31 Scruffiest means dirty.
L66-SS-19 Ohhhh
L67-T-32 Next one, sniffing
L68-SA-10 ( Showing the action of sniffing)
L69-T-33 Yes, that‘s sniffing. Next one, squeaking. Who can tell me, what
is squeaking?
L70-SA-11 Oh,,squeak is like the poo-poo..the black thing out..
L71-T-34 Really squeaking?
L72-SA-12 Oh no! Squeaking is the mouse!
L73-T-35 Yes, the mouse squeaks. Okay , next one, bleating.
174
L74-SS-20 Ohh, bleeding the blood comes out.

L75-T-36 No, that‘s bleeding with a ‗d‘ this is bleating. Who bleats?
L76-SS-21 Oh, the goat..
L77-T-37 Yes, next word, pavement. What is pavement?
L78-SS-22 Hmmm
L79-T-38 Pavement is like the corridor, like the jalan, we can walk on it .
Outside, near the road there is pavement.
L80-SS-23 Ohh
L81-T-39 Okay, what is magnificent, SA?
L82-SA-13 Oh,, magnificent, it‘s like super power
L83-T-40 Yes, very superb, like very big. Okay, what is bog?
L84-SG-2 The name, the giant name!
L85-T-41 Oh,, no.. okay bog is something like this.. ( researcher explains
the meaning through illustration)
L86-SS-24 Oh.. okay..
L87-T-42 I think that‘s all for the words and the meanings. Now we are
going to read this book. Are you ready, excited?
L88-SS-25 Yes!!
L89-T-43 Why are you excited?
L90-SA-14 New book!
L91-T-44 You want to know the story, want to know what happened to the
giant?
L92-SS-26 Yes!!
L93-T-45 Researcher open the book
L94-SS-27 Laughs
L95-SA-15 Ahh, so many giants ?
L96-T-46 Ya, just now you said there‘s no people..but do you see now?
L97-SG-3 Researcher got small and big people too
L98-T-47 Yes , Okay, let me start reading it to you. ( Researcher reads)
What is scruffiest..i told you just now?
L99-SS-28 Dirty
L100-T-48 Okay, why Geoege does not wish that he is the scruffiest giant in
town
L101-SB-2 Because his cloth is very dirty and old
L102-T-49 Okay, why he don‘t feel that he is the scruffiest giant ?
L103-SB-3 Because later people will laugh at him
L104-T-50 Okay, how do we know? Let‘s look at the pictures . How do
people look at Goerge? Do you think they like him?
L105-SS-29 No!
L106-SI-1 They run
L107-T-51 Okay, they run away. What do you think the people will think
about George?
L108-SA-15 Scary
L109-T-52 Why the people are scared of him?
L110-SA-16 Because he has a big nose
L111-SS-30 Because he is the scruffiest giant
L112-T-53 Okay. ( Researcher continue reading) Why does George say he is
smart now?
175
L113-SS-30 Because he wears all the smart clothes

L114-T-54 So, how does George feel now?
L115-SS-31 Happy!
L116-T-55 Why happy?
L117-SG-4 Because now he didn‘t wear the dirty cloth
L118-T-56 Okay (researcher continue reading) now what happened to the
giraffe?
L119-SA-16 Its sniffing, so it got flu
L120-T-57 Okay, what will the giraffe say to George
L121-SA-17 I‘m sick ..
L122-T-58 Why do you think the giraffe is sick?
L123-SA-18 Because its sniffing
L124-T-59 Others?
L125-SE-2 It‘s feel cold
L126-T-60 Why cold?
L127-SE-3 Because its sniffing
L128-T-61 Okay.lets see what really happened ( Researcher raeds)
L129-SA-19 Ohh, he will take its tie and wrap around the giraffe neck
L130-T-62 You think so?
L131-SA-20 Yes
L132-T-63 Why do you think so?
L133-SA-21 Because the tie looks like the scarf
L134-T-64 Okay, lets see what George did. ( Researcher turn over the page)
So are you right?
L135-SA-22 Yes!
L136-T-65 ( Researcher continue reading) So, what will happen next?
L137-SA-23 He will see other animal
L138-T-66 What makes you to say that?
L139-SJ-2 There got a lot of animals
L140-T-67 Okay, so who do you think he will see?
L141-SA-24 Mouse
L142-SJ-3 Goat
L143-SB-3 Fox
L144-T-67 (Researcher turn over the page. ) So, who did he see?
L145-SS-32 Goat!
L146-T-68 Yes, so whose prediction was right?
L147-SS-33 J!
L148-T-69 Okay, so what happen to the goat?
L149-SS-34 Ohh..don‘t have the thing on the boat.
L150-T-70 What thing?
L151-SI-2 This one here ( point)
L152-SA-25 The sail
L153-T-68 Okay, so what will happen?
L154-SA-26 Goerge took of his cloth and make it as a sail
L155-T-69 What cloth?
L156-SD-1 His white shirt
L157-T -70 Why do you think he choose the white shirt?
L158-SA-26 Because the sail is white colour
176
L159-T-71 Okay lets see.( Researcher turn over the page)

L160-SS-35 Yeahhh.. it‘s the white shirt.
L161-T-72 Yes, so what does the goat feel now?
L162-SS-36 Happy!
L163-T-73 Okay, so what can you say about George so far?
L164-SS-37 Kind, helpful
L165-T-74 Why do you say he is helpful?
L166-SS-38 Because when the animals need help, he helped them
L167-T-75 Okay, let‘s see what happen next?
L168-SS-39 Yeah, its singlet, he wears a singlet
L169-T-76 So, what happen next, who will he meet?
L170-SA-27 Pig
L171-SB-4 Fox
L172-SH-2 Mouse
L173-T-77 ( Researcher turn over the page) and read
L174-SH-3 Yeahh..mouse
L175-T-78 Okay , so what happen to the mouse
L176-SS-40 The mouse house burnt
L177-T-79 Researcher continue reading . So what are the things that Goerge
has given away now?
L178-SS-41 Shoes, tie and shirt
L179-T-80 So, how will Goerge look after this?
L180-SA-28 Wearing stockings only
L181-T-81 Okay we will see. So Goerge will see who
after this?
L182-SS-41 Fox
L183-T-82 Okay. T continue reading. So what happened to the fox?
L184-SS-42 Something happened to the tent
L185-T-83 What happened?
L186-SS-43 Burnt
L187-T-84 Okay, I don‘t see anything burning here
L188-SA-29 He forgot to bring his tent
L189-T-85 HMM so what will Goerge give then?
L190-SS-44 Stockings!
L191-T-86 Why stockings? Does it look like a tent? Can go inside and sleep?
L192-SS-45 HAHA( laugh)
L193-SB-5 Or another shoe?
L194-T-87 Why another shoe?
L195-SB-6 Because the shoe can be a tent
L196-T-88 Researcher continue reading. So it‘s a sleeping bag. You know
when you go for a camp , you can bring the sleeping bag. You
can sleep inside the long bag. So what will Goerge give?
L197-SS-46 Stockings!
L198-T-89 Why stockings?
L199SB-7 Stockings can be his sleeping bag
L200-T-90 What is the relation between stockings and sleeping bag? Why
stockings?
L201-SE-4 Because stockings can keep you warm and dry
177
L202-T-91 Okay, let‘s see what Goerge give. ( Researcher turn over the
page)
L203-SS-47 Yeah!! Its stockings
L204-T-92 So, now Goerge don‘t have shoes, stockings shirt, tie. Do you
think Goerge will be sad?
L205-SS-48 No!
L206-T-93 Why?
L207-SS-49 Because he had helped the animals
L208-T-94 So, what else the other animals will ask for now?
L209-SB-8 Another shoe
L210-SA-30 Pants
L211-T-95 Okay, lets read and see what happened . Okay, now it‘s the dog.
What help will the dog ask Goerge?
L212-SA-31 It cannot cross the bog . Oh researcher later used his belt
L213-T-96 Use his belt??
L214-SB-9 Yes, to let him cross the bog
L215-SJ-4 The belt will become the bridge
L216-T-97 Researcher continue reading. Is Goerge smart now?
L217-SS-49 No!
L218-T-98 How does he feel now?
L219-SS-50 He feel, sad, cold and naked.
L220-T-99 So, what will Goerge do now?
L221-SS-51 He will buy the smart clothes
L222-T-100 Why Goerge need to wear back his old clothes?
L223-SS-52 Because the shop is closed and he only had his old clothes
L224-T-101 What card is it?
L225-SA-32 Thank you, Goerge
L226-T-102 Why thank you card?
L227-SB-10 Because he had helped them when they are in trouble
L228-T-103 Okay what do you like about the story?
L229-SS-56 Goerge
L230T-104 Why?
L231SS-57 Because he is kind
L231-T-105 I like how the author show how we can help someone in different
situation. We will talk about what we have leant from the story in
our next session. Now we want to do a pair activity. (Researcher
explains the activity.) Pupils complete the activity. ( to be
discussed in the next session)
178
Transcription Shared Reading Session 2 The Smartest Giant In The Town

L1-T-1 Good afternoon boys and girls
L3-T-2 Researcher explains what students will be doing in the session
1. Read the book
2. 2 activities
L4-SS-2 Start Reading with expression, intonation and rhythm
L5-T-3 Okay good reading. At first Goerge was what kind of giant?
L6-SS-3 Scruffiest giant
L7-T-4 Then?
L8-SS-4 The Smartest Giant
L9-T-5 Okay, after that?
L10-SS-5 The coldest giant , and lastly the kindest giant
L11-T-6 Okay lets check your answer whether its match with the story
L12-Pair A-1 Tie..scarf for the giraffe, shirt ..sail for the goat
L13-T-7 Others, do you agree?
L14-Other pair Yes
L15-T-8 Okay, others?
L16-Pair A-2 Shoes. House for the white mouse
L17-T-9 Okay, let‘s have another pair..something else that you have
written
L18-Pair B-1 Socks..Sleeping bag for the fox
L19-T-10 Okay, good, let‘s have B and E, what do you have?
L20-Pair C-1 Belt, a bridge for the dog
L21-T-11 Yes, belt for the dog to pass the bog. Okay, what happen when the
belt is out?
L22-SS-6 The trousers fall down
L23-T-12 Yes, So what do you have over there H. Do you have all the things
they said?
L24-SH-1 Yes, I have stockings.
L25-T-13 Yup, stockings are socks. So all together how many things are
there?
L26-SS-7 Five!
L27-T-14 Okay, so what are the five things?
L28-SS-8 Tie, shirt, shoes, socks, and belt
L29-T-15 Okay, very good, it shows that you know what has been read to
you and you understood it . Okay now, in every story, we must
have learnt something. Or you also can say it as the themes. So
what have you learnt from this story?
L30-SE-1 We should be kind
L31-T-16 Okay, which part of the story, you learn that we must be kind
L32-SE-2 When the giant gives his clothes to the animals
L34-SA-1 Share
L35-T-18 Share? okay where do you learnt?
L36-SA-2 The giant share his clothes
L37-T-19 Okay, what else do you learn?
179
L38-SH-2 Smart
L39-SB-1 We must help people when they are in trouble
L40-SF-1 We cannot be sad
L41-T-20 Okay, what make you to say that?
L42-SF-2 At first, the giant was very sad, So he go and buy new clothes
L43-T-21 Okay, so what happened to him at last?
L44-SF-3 He wore back his old cloth
L45-T-21 Okay, so we cannot be sad?
L46-SF-4 Yes
L47-T-22 Yes, A
L48-SA-3 The giant is being a good citizen
L49-T-23 Why do you say the giant is being a good citizen?
L50-SA-4 He always give himself to help the other people
L51-T-24 Okay, then how can you be a good citizen? As a Malaysian.
L52-SA-5 No ‗polutic‘
L53-T-25 Polutic or pollution??
L54-SA-6 Ehhh, pollution
L55-T-26 How do you want to reduce pollution then?
L56-SI-1 Reduce, reuse, recycle
L57-SA-7 Pick up the rubbish
L58-T-27 Okay, very good. Are you doing all these?
L59-SS-9 Yes
L60-T-30 Okay, so how can you reduce pollution form school?
L61-SA-8 If we see rubbish, we pick it up and throw it into the rubbish bin ,
if can recycle we throw into the recycle bin, if cannot recycle then
we throw into the rubbish bin
L62-T-31 Okay what other things can we do as a good citizen?
L63-SB-2 Obey, traffic rules
L64-T-32 Okay, why must we obey traffic rules?
L65-SE-3 For safety
L66-T-33 Okay , good, So just now A said that the giant is being a good
citizen in this story, but why the giant only help the animals and
not the people?
L67-SA-9 Because no people cry for help
L68-T-34 Okay, did you look at the book- do you think the people like him?
L69-SS-10 No, the people don‘t like him
L70-T-35 Why?
L71-SA-10 Because he is so dirty
L72-SB-3 The people don‘t look at him
L73-T-36 You mean the people look down on him?
L74-SA-11 Yes, because he is dirty
L75-T-37 Then, why the animals ask help from him?
L76-SB-4 Because he is kind
L77-T-38 Okay good, so we have learnt that we must be kind, helpful, be a
good citizen. Now ,we are going to do our next activity. Okay,
you have to imagine for this task. Imagine that you live in a town.
This is a group work . In your town there‘s a giant . So I want you
to imagine what are the things you will talk to the giant? Lets
180
think about it for 2 minutes.

L78-SS-11 Student‘s thinking
L79-T-39 How will you talk to the giant? What are the things you will talk
to the giant? How will you be friend with the giant ? Will you play
with the giant? Imagine next to your house is a giant
L80-SA-12 The giant will murder us
L81-T-40 Oh, maybe..Okay, now get into your group
L82-SS-12 Students get into groups
L83-T-41 Researcher explain the task in details and guide the students
L84-SS-13 Students work on their dialogue while researcher guides the
students by giving suggestions. To be shared in the next session.
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Transcription Shared Reading Session 3 “The Smartest Giant In Town”

L1-T-1 Today will be our last session for this book. We will do a few
activities today. So yesterday, you did the dialogue with the
giants, right. So today you are going to present it. I will give you
another 10 more minute for you to complete and prepare yourself.
L2-Group A-1 Presenting their dialogue
L3-T-2 All I heard was murder, killing, so where do you get the idea
from?
L4-SA-1 From my brain( hehe)
L5-T-3 Yes, but you must have get it from somewhere else
L6-SA-2 Yes, it‘s a movie called killer giant
L7-T-4 There‘s a giant in the movie?
L8-SA-3 Yes, the giant wants to attack the human being.
L9-T-5 So, the giant is bad. So are you telling that all giants are bad?
L10-SA-4 No, the movie‘s ones
L11-T-6 Bt here you say the bad one.
L12-SA-5 Yes, the giant is the bad one
L13-T-7 Okay, lets listen to the next group.
L14-Group B-1 Share their dialogues
L15-T-8 Oh, this is a girl giant who likes shopping
L16-SS-1 Hahaha
L17-T-9 Okay, good one. What can you say about Group 2 giant?
L18-SS-2 Friendly
L19-T-10 Okay, is it same like Goerge?
L20-Group B-2 Yes
L21-T-11 Why do you say your giant and Goerge are the same?
L22-Group B-3 Because they are kind
L23-T-12 Why do you say your giant is kind?
L24-Group B-4 He made food for his friends
L25-T-13 Okay , where do you get the idea from?
L26-Group B-5 From the book, The Smartest Giant
L27-T-14 Okay, now lets listen form the last group
L28-Group B-6 Sharing
L29-T-15 Okay, so what giant do you have , a good one or bad one?
L30-Group C-1 Good one
L31-T-16 Okay, the good one live where?
L32-Group C-2 Up the mountain
L33-T-17 Where do you get the idea from?
L34-Group C-3 We think ourselves
L35-T-18 Why do you say got mountain and then the village
L36-Group C-4 The giant live up the mountain is the good giant and the one live
in the village is the good giant
L37-T-19 Oh, so you have two giants?
L38-Group C-5 Yes
L39-T-20 So what happened?
L40-Group C-6 The evil giant wants to eat the people in the village. So the giant
in the village help them.
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L41-T-21 Okay, very good stories shared by all the groups. Next, we are
moving on to our next activity. So , I need you to be in the same
group. ( Researcher explains the task
L42-SS-1 Students working on the task
L43-T-22 Okay lets have the 1st group. What do you have over there?
L44-Group A-2 We have the hat as a boat
L45-T-23 Is that hat or cap?
L46-Group A-3( Ohh..we choose cap
S1, S7,S8)
L47-T-23 Okay, show me how it can become a boat
L48-Group A-4 (Showed)Turn over the cap.
L49-T-24 Your boat won‘t sink?
L50-Group A-5 No because it is made of plastic
L51-T-25 Okay, so why do you choose a cap?
L52-Group A-6 Because when we turn the cap around and put on the water , it can
float
L53-T-26 Oh okay, good that you imagine that way. Okay, lets have group 2
L54-Group B-7 A dress
L55-T-27 Made into?
L56-Group B-8 A tent
L57-T-28 How to make?
L58-Group B-9 Cut into half and then pulled it
L59-SA-6 How can you close the door?
L60-Group B- Use the zip
10
L61-SA-7 Dress got zip?
L62-Group B- Yes dress got zip
11
L63-T-29 Yes, got zip. Very good idea. Okay group 3. What do you have?
L64-Group C-7 Gloves
L-65-T-30 Gloves make it into what?
L-66-Group C-8 Hot air balloon
L67-T-31 Wow..good idea.
L68-SA-8 Why there are two hands there?
L69-Group C-9 There are two gloves
L70-T-32 Okay, two gloves. What is the use of the two gloves
L71-Group C- If up there broken, so we use the two hands to fly
10
L72-T-33 Oh, like a feather?
L73-Group C- Yes
11
L74-T-34 Okay good..I like all the ideas presented by all of you. Okay, now I
want to ask questions and you can answer me.
L75-T-35 You think about someone or somebody in your life who had
helped you..anybody
L76-SS-2 Mother and father
L77-T-36 Okay let me share to you my story. It happened when I was in
University. One day, I went out. Suddenly, it rained heavily and
183
my clothes are on the clothes line So my friend, who was at home,

helped me to take my clothes. So I bought her some cookies to
thank her. There must be people in our life that will help us..and
we need to show our appreciation like the smartest giant who
helped the animals. How do the animals thanked him?
L78-SS-3 They give him a card and a crown
L79-T-37 Why do they make a card, why not they buy something like
cookies for him?
L80-SB-1 They don‘t have money
L81-T-38 Okay, why a crown?
L82-SS-4 Because he is the kindest giant in town
L83-T-39 Ya, why not buy him other things?
L84-SA-9 Because the animals want to thank him by their own handmade
things
L85-T-40 Okay, so how do you thank somebody who helped you? Okay , E ,
share with me.
L86-SE-1 Last week, I was alone at home. Suddenly the pipe broke and the
water was coming out. So I quickly called my neighbour, She
came and help me to close and fix the pipe
L87-T-41 Okay, so how do you thank her?
L88-SE-2 Give her a pack of kacang putih.
L89-T-42 Okay, that‘s a way of saying thank you. Thank you E for sharing
with us. If somebody help you, do you really need to give
something to that person?
L90-SS-5 No.
L91-T-43 So, what other way can we show our appreciation?
L92-SS-6 Say thank you
L93-SA-10 Use your heart to say thank you
L94-SF-1 Help them back
L95-SS-7 When they need help
L96-T-44 Yes, good. It doesn‘t mean that we need to give something if
someone helped us. A simple act of saying thank you , is good
enough. Why must we say thank you?
L97-SG-1 To show polite
L98-T-45 Okay, to show politeness. So do you like this story?
L99-SS-8 Yes
L100-T-46 Okay, so you must have learnt something from this story. So what
are the things that you have learnt? Lets recall.
L101-SS-9 We must be kind, we must be polite, we must be helpful.
L102-SB-2 We must be honest
L103-T-47 Why do you say, we must be honest?
L104-SB-3 Because when we want to help someone, we must use our heart to
help
L105-T-48 Okay, very good. Like what A said, we must help with our heart
L106-T-49 So we have done with our session for today. I hope you have learnt
something from this book. I will see you next time with our new
book. Thank you.
184
Appendix G
Interview transcriptions
Interview Transcription Student A

L1-T-1 Can you retell me the story about The Rainbow Fish
L2-SA-1 Retell
L3-T-2 Okay, good sharing. So when your researcher shares you story using
the big books. Do you like it?
L4-SA-2 Yes
L5-T-3 Why do you like it?
L6-SA-3 Because I love interesting stories
L7-T-4 Do you think the way your researcher shares you the story was
good?
L8-SA-4 Yes.
L9-T-5 What was good?
L10-SA-5 When you don‘t understand some words and the story, he researcher
will teach you.
L11-T-6 Does it make you to understand the story?
L12-SA-6 Yes.
L13-T-7 Okay, when your researcher did not turn the page and waited for you
to guess, how do you feel?
L14-SA-7 Very excited and wanted to know what will happen
L15-T-8 Did you enjoy it?
L16-SA-8 Yes
L17-T-9 What do you think about the stories that your researcher shared with
you?
L18-SA-9 Very interesting.
L19-T-10 Which one do you like better? The Rainbow Fish or The Smartest
Giant?
L20-SA-10 Smartest Giant
L21-T-11 Why?
L23-SA-11 Because I like giants. ( smile)
L24-T-12 Okay, do the questions asked by your researcher make you to think?
L25-SA-12 Some of them yes, some of them no
L26-T-13 For example, the question which makes you to think?
L27-SA-13 Like why the giant wants to share his things with the other animals.
L28-T-14 Okay, do the questions make you to understand the story better?
L29-SA-14 Yes
L30-T-15 How do you feel when you can answer your researcher‘s question?
L31-SA-15 Happy
L32-T-16 Okay, for questions that you cannot answer?
L33-SA-16 I will keep on thinking until I can answer.
L34-T-17 Do you ask your friends?
L35-SA-17 No
L36-T-18 Okay, so you think by yourself?
L37-SA-18 Yes.
L38-T-19 What have you learnt from the stories? Lets say the rainbow fish?
185
L39-SA-19 We must always share our stuff no matter how much we like it.
L40-T-20 Okay, The smartest giant?
L41-SA-20 If you see somebody who needs help, and you have the things that
they wanted, then you should help them.
L42-T-21 Okay, which activity do you like the most?
L43-SA-21 For the rainbow fish, I like the one we stick our wish on the big fish.
L44-T-22 How about the smartest giant?
L45-SA-22 I like the one we write how the giant help the other animals.
L46-T-23 Okay, so do you like to read by your own or your researcher to read
to you.
L47-SA-23 Read by my own
L48-T-24 How about when your researcher read to you?
L49-SA-24 I can know the story even more
L50-T-25 Any special thing that you remember?
L51-SA-25 Haha..when the smartest giant pants fall off.
L52-T-26 Why do you like that?
L53-SA-26 Because very funny. HEHE
L54-T-27 Okay so how often your researcher should carried out this shared
reading sessions?
L55-SA-27 Two times a week
L56-T-28 Okay how much would you rate your shared reading experience?
L57-SA-28 10
L58-T-29 Okay that‘s all. Thank you for your sharing.
186
Interview Transcription Student B

L1-T-1 How do you feel when your researcher tells you the story using the
big book?
L2-SB-1 Very happy
L3-T-2 Why happy?
L4-SB-2 I can see the pictures, the words and know about the stories
L5-T-3 What do you think of the way your researcher tells you the story?
L6-SB-3 Very excited
L7-T-4 Why excited?
L8-SB-4 Because doesn‘t know about the story so want to know more about it
L9-T-5 Okay, do you enjoy it?
L10-SB-5 Yes
L11-T-6 Okay, what do you think about the stories shared with you? Are they
good?
L12-SB-6 Yes, they are good stories.
L13-T-7 Which story do you like more?
L14-SB-7 The smartest giant
L15-T-8 Why?
L16-SB-8 Because the smartest giant said that although we are very big, but we
also can help people like other people.
L17-T-9 How about rainbow fish?/ What do you learn?
L18-SB-9 We cannot be selfish and we want to be kind to our friends
L19-T-10 Okay, are those questions asked by you researcher make you to think
L20-SB-10 Yes
L21-T-11 For example?
L22-SB-11 What‘s going to happen next?
L23-T-12 Okay, how do you feel when you can answer your researcher‘s
questions
L24-SB-12 Happy
L25-T-13 When you cannot answer. Do you feel sad?
L26-SB-13 No. Maybe next time I can try again.
L27-T-14 Do you talk with your friends during the sessions?
L28-SB-14 Yes. Sometimes.
L29-T-15 Does it help you to answer the questions?
L30-SB-15 Yes.
L31-T-16 Do the questions asked by your researcher make you to understand the
story?
L32-SB-16 Yes
L34-SB-17 Why does the blue fish called the rainbow fish?
L35-T-18 Okay, during the shared reading sessions, which activity do you like
the most?
L36-SB-18 Paste the scales on the rainbow fish
L37-T-19 Why do you like that activity?
L39-SB-19 Because we can write our wish and paste it on the rainbow fish and it
will have many colourful scales.
L40-T-20 Okay, good. Do you prefer to read by your own or your researcher
read to you? Which one you enjoy?
187
L41-SB-20 My researcher read to me

L42-T-21 Why?
L43-SB-21 Because researcher make me to be interested in the story and for me
to understand the story
L44-T-22 Okay. Any special moment that you want to share?
L45-SB-22 The smartest Giant in the town, where we make the dialogue.
L46-T-23 Okay, you enjoy it?
L47-SB-23 Yes.
L48-T-24 Why do you enjoy it?
L49-SB-24 Because we can create a new dialogue with the giants
L50-T-25 Okay, so how often do you want your researcher to read to you?
L51-SB-25 Twice a week
L52-T-26 Okay, how much would you rate your shared reading experience?
From 0- 10.
L53-SB-26 10
L54-T-27 Okay, that‘s ll. Thank you for sharing.
188
Interview Transcription Student C

L1-T-1 How do you feel when your researcher tell you the story using the
big book?
L2-SC-1 I am happy
L3-T-2 Why?
L4-SC-2 Because the book is interesting and we can learn many things from
the book
L5-T-3 Okay, what do you learn from the smartest giant?
L6-SC-3 We must help the people
L7-T-4 What do you enjoy ?
L8-SC-4 The smartest giant is interesting to read
L9-T-5 Why its interesting
L10-SC-5 Because the smartest giant helped the animals who need the help
L11-T-6 How about the rainbow fish?
L12-SC-6 We cannot be proud
L13-T-7 Why we cannot be proud?
L14-SC-7 We cannot be proud because one day we might don‘t have anybody
who want to be friend with us
L15-T-8 Okay, what do you think about the questions asked during the
sessions?
L16-SC-8 Some is easy, some is difficult
L17-T-9 Do the questions make you to think?
L18-SC-9 Yes
L20-SC-10 Why the smartest giant help the animals?
L21-T-11 Okay, do the questions help you to understand the text?
L22-SC-11 Yes
L24-SC-12 Like we can learn what is in the story(content)
questions?
L26-SC-13 I feel happy
L27-T-14 If you cannot answer?
L28-SC-14 I feel sad because I cannot think myself
L29-T-15 Do you talk with your friends to get the answer?
L30-SC-15 Yes
L31-T-16 Does it help you?
L32-SC-16 Yes
L33-T-17 Which story do you like the most?
L34-SC-17 The smartest giant
L35-T-18 Why?
L36-SC-18 Because the smartest giant like to help the people
L37-T-19 During the sessions, which activity do you like the most?
L38-SC-19 The rainbow fish, the one which has setting, place , themes
L39-T-20 Oh, the story grammar?
L40-SC-20 Yes
L41-T-21 Why do you like the activity?
189
L42-SC-21 Because the activity can help my mind to think.

L43-T-22 Okay, do you like your researcher to read or you read by yourself?
L44-SC-22 Researcher read to me.
L45-T-23 Why?
L46-SC-23 Because got any words I don‘t understand the researcher can explain
to me
L47-T-24 How about the story?
L48-SC-24 When researcher read to me, I understand the story better
L49-T-25 Anything special that you want to share?
L50-SC-25 Yes, the rainbow fish, has a big rainbow fish, and we paste the scales
on it
L51-T-26 How often do you want your researcher to read to you?
L52-SC-26 Two times a week
From 0-10
L54-SC-27 10
L55-T-28 Okay, thank you for your sharing.
190
Interview Transcription Student E

L1-T-1 Can you retell me the story, The rainbow Fish
L2-SE-1 Retell
L3-T-2 Okay, good. So how do you feel when your researcher tells you story
using the big book?
L4-SE-2 I feel that the story is very exciting.
L5-T-3 So do you like it?
L6-SE-3 Yes, I like
L7-T-4 Why do you like it?
L8-SE-4 Because the story is amazing and the pattern on the rainbow fish is
beautiful
L9-T-5 What do you feel when your researcher ask you questions?
L10-SE-5 I feel that my other friends could answer the questions but I could
not. So sad little bit.
L11-T-6 Which story do you like?
L12-SE-6 The Rainbow Fish
L13-T-7 Why?
L14-SE-7 Because the rainbow fish is under the sea and I love to see the things
under the sea
L15-T-8 What do you think about the questions your researcher ask? Is it
difficult or easy?
L16-SE-8 Normal only.
L17-T-9 Do the questions make you to understand the story?
L18-SE-9 Ya
L19-T-10 Do they make you to think?
L20-SE-10 Yes.
L22-SE-11 What is the story about?
L23-T-12 Okay, what have you learnt from the story? The rainbow fish?
L24-SE-12 Not to be greedy
L25-T-13 The Smartest Giant?
L26-SE-13 Share our things with our friends
L27-T-14 Which activity do you like the most?
L28-SE-14 Pasting the scales on the big rainbow fish
L29-T-15 Why do you like that?
L30-SE-15 Because after that it looks very beautiful
L31-T-16 Okay, do you like to read the book by your own or your researcher
read the book?
L32-SE-16 Researcher read to us
L33-T-17 Why?
L34-SE-17 I feel lonely when I am reading myself.
L35-T-18 When your researcher read to you?
L36-SE-18 I feel very happy
L37-T-19 Any special moment that you want to share?
L38-SE-19 The paper where we can write what we did generously
L39-T-20 Okay, why do you like the activity?
L40-SE-20 Because I can let everybody know what I do
191
L41-T-21 How often do you want your researcher to read to you?

L42-SE-21 Twice a week
From 0- 10?
L44-SE-22 I will choose 10
L45-T-23 Okay, thank you very much.
192
Interview Transcription Student G
L1-T-1 Good Morning, S
L2-SG-1 Good morning T
L3-T-2 Okay, today we are just going to talk about your experience regarding
the shared reading sessions, the Smartest Giant and the Rainbow
Fish. Do you still remember those books
L4-SG-2 Yes.
L5-T-3 Okay, so how do you feel when your researcher shares you the stories
using the big book?
L6-SG-3 Very happy
L7-T-4 Why do you feel so?
L8-SG-4 Because the stories are very interesting
L9-T-5 Okay. Do you like the way your researcher tells you the story?
L10-SG-5 Yes.
L11-T-6 Okay. What do you like?
L12-SG-6 The Smartest Giant
L13-T-7 Okay, which activity do you like the most?
L14-SG-7 The rainbow fish, when we cut the colour papers and put on the
rainbow fish.
L15-T-8 Anything you don‘t like?
L16-SG-8 All also I like.
L17-T-9 So, did you enjoy it?
L18-SG-9 Yes.
L19-T-10 Which part did you enjoy the most?
L20-SG-10 The smartest giant, where you can use the cloth and make it into a
thing
L21-T-11 Okay, that was a group activity which you talk with your friends.
L22-SG-11 Yes.
L23-T-12 Do you like when you can talk with your friends?
L24-SG-12 Yes. The smartest giant the idea is mine. I say to make the boat..use
the cap
L25-T-13 So, do your other group members accept it?
L26-SG-13 Yes.
L27-T-14 So, how do you feel when your friends accept your idea?
L28-SG-14 Very happy.excited
L29-T-15 SO, where do you get the idea from?
L30-SG-15 The movie.
L31-T-16 What movie?
L32-SG-16 About the cap.
L33-T-17 Okay, during the sessions, your researcher got ask you a lot of
questions. Do you like when your researcher ask you questions?
L34-SG-17 Yes, I like.
L35-T-18 Why do you like?
L36-SG-18 The questions medium ones.
L37-T-19 Do the questions make you to think?
L38-SG-19 Yes.
L39-T-20 How?
L40-SG-20 Talk with friends, I get the ideas
193
L41-T-21 Okay, so when your researcher ask you the questions, do they make
you to understand the stories better?
L42-SG-21 Yes.
L43-T-22 Okay, how. What kind of questions? Lets say Rainbow Fish
L44-SG-22 Hmm, like the fish was greedy or not.
questions?
L46-SG-23 Happy.
L47-T-24 Why?
L48-SG-24 Because the story makes me to answer the questions. Make me to
know and answer more questions
L49-T-25 Are you telling that the story makes you to think?
L50-SG-25 Yes. I feel like think.
L51-T-26 How do you feel when you cannot answer the questions.
L52-SG-26 I feel that I cannot think.
L53-T-27 Okay, which is the story that you like the most?
L54-SG-27 The smartest giant
L55-T-28 Why?
L56-SG-28 Because its like the giant no clothes, so he buys new cloths, the he
can share his new cloths with his friends
L57-T-29 Okay, so what did you learn from the story?
L58-SG-29 Want to be sharing
L59-T-30 Okay, what other thing dou you like the most?
L60-SG-30 For the Rainbow fish, we need to write inside the fish..I am generous
…
L61-T-31 Why do you like that activity?
L62-SG-31 Because it let me want to be a generous person
L63-T-32 Okay, good. So do you like your researcher read to you or you like to
read by your own?
L64-SG-32 Researcher read to me for English
L65-T-33 Why?
L66-SG-33 Because got any words or things I don‘t understand, I can ask the
researcher.
L67-T-34 Okay, do you want to share anything special to you during the shared
reading sessions?
L68-SG-34 Like I learn .for the rainbow fish..we cannot be greedy. The smartest
giant… to share..
L69-T-35 So, how often do you want your researcher to read to you?
L70-SG-35 Two times a week.
L71-T-36 Okay, now you rate the shared reading sessions from 0-10…which
you will choose?
L72-SG-36 9
L73-T-37 Okay, why 9?
L74-SG-37 Because the story book teach us, what we can do, what we cannot do.
L75-T-38 Okay, thank you for sharing your experience with researcher.
194
Interview Transcription Student H

L1-T-1 How do you feel when your researcher reads the story to you?
L2-SH-1 Happy
L3-T-2 Why happy?
L4-SH-2 Because I don‘t need to read
L5-T-3 Okay, so do you like to listen more?
L6-SH-3 Yes
L7-T-4 Do you like the way your researcher share the stories with you?
L8-SH-4 Yes
L9-T-5 Why do you like?
L10-SH-5 I can see the stories
L11-T-6 Okay, which activity during the shared readings do you enjoy the
most?
L12-SH-6 AHH..use the colour papers and then write.
L13-T-7 Is it the one we cut out the scales and put on the big fish?
L14-SH-7 Yes, that one.
L15-T-8 Okay, what do you think about the stories shared with you?
L16-SH-8 Hmmm
L17-T-9 Okay, which story do you like the most?
L18-SH-9 The smartest giant
L19-T-10 Why?
L20-SH-10 Because it is interesting
L21-T-11 Okay, how about rainbow fish?
L22-SH-11 Rainbow fish interesting also.
L23-T-12 Okay, but you like the smartest giant more.
L24-SH-12 Yes
L25-T-13 So during the sessions, your researcher got ask you a lot of questions
what do you think about it?
L26-SH-13 Good. I like.
L27-T-14 Do they make you to think?
L28-SH-14 Yes
L30-SH-15 Like the giant will see who?
questions
L32-SH-16 Happy.
L33-T-16 Okay, can u tell me the smartest giant story?
L34-SH-16 (RETELL)
L35-T-17 What other things do you like in the story?
L36-SH-17 Like what I learn from the stories
L37-T-18 Okay, so what did you learn from the rainbow fish?
L38-SH-18 Don‘t be greedy, be friendly
L39-T-19 Okay, how about The Smartest Giant?
L40-SH-19 We need to share with others
L41-T-20 Okay, do you like to read yourelf, or your researcher read to you?
L42-SH-20 Researcher read.
L43-T-21 Why researcher read?
195
L44-SH-21 When researcher read I can just listen

L45-T-22 Your researcher got ask you questions as well, can you answer the
questions?
L46-SH-22 Yes
L47-T-23 Do they make you to understand the story?
L48-SH-23 Yes
L49-T-24 For example
L50-SH-24 Like will the rainbow fish give its scales to the little blue fish
L51-T-25 Okay, so how often do you want your researcher to read to you?
L52-SH-25 Once a week
L53-T-26 Okay, so how much would you rate your shares reading experience?
Here got 0 to 10
L54-SH-26 7
L55-T-27 Okay, thank you very much for your sharings.

Fostering Reading Comprehension Through Shared Reading in The Year Four English Classroom

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Fostering Reading Comprehension Through Shared Reading in The Year Four English Classroom

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FOSTERING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH

SHARED READING IN THE YEAR FOUR

SHEEMA A/P AHTMANATHAN

DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT

FAKULTI BAHASA DAN KOMUNIKASI

The objective of this study is to identify students‘ responses towards reading

MEMUPUK KEFAHAMAN MEMBACA MELALUI PERKONGSIAN

APPENDIX LIST xii

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.5 Reading Comprehension Strategy 33

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.3 Recommendations for Future Research 125

Table No. Page

No. Figures Page

ESL English as a Second Language

A Synopsis of big books

The research-based shared reading technique rooted from the theory of

constructivism, emphasizes socially constructed learning through meaningful

discourse between teachers and students in the English language classroom

in a group setting facilitated by the teacher.

shared and creating something new.

According to Cunningham and Zibulsky (2011), the shared reading technique

and purposeful activities related to the stories shared.

significance of the study, research overview and definitions of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

In Malaysia, English is taught as a second language in schools, colleges and

universities. Though students learn English as a Second Language (ESL), its

importance is never neglected and prioritized as a global language in the Malaysian

Education System. As such, the ministry constantly encourages English language

globe (Ministry of Education, 2015).

(KSSR) with the support of Curriculum Development Center (CDC) was

activities such as problem solving, creative, analytical, decision making and

innovative. It emphasizes high level of questioning which helps students in their

and communication as well as using the language in real-life situations.

English with the aim of developing students‘ communicative, comprehension and

HOTS competence is the shared reading technique. Similar to the read-aloud

(Curriculum Development Centre, 2003).

facilitated questioning and interaction.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Background of the problem

Mathematics with 17.4% failures in Comprehension and 22.9% in Writing (Malaysia

Examination Board, 2016). Furthermore, the percentage of students scoring excellent

Comprehension and 6.8% in Writing.

According to the Malaysia Examination Board (2016), the shift in the

December 6, 2016, Malaysia showed slight improvement as compared to PISA 2012

emphasis on the attainment of phonics, vocabulary, grammar and little opportunity is

inadequacy of reading lessons in the English classroom, shared reading which is a

reading when they do independent reading.

The benefits and importance of shared reading as a technique for English

development and general cognitive ability (Lonigan, Shanahan & Cunningham,

explicitly studied on reading comprehension as an outcome measure in shared reading

primary grades learners (Schickedanz & McGee, 2010).

towards reading comprehension during the shared reading sessions in a qualitative

sessions. In terms of students‘ experiences or feedbacks regarding the shared reading

carried out in a quantitative manner where students were asked to fill in

qualitative approach to gain a more in-depth understanding of the students‘

1.3 Aims of the Study

during the shared reading sessions.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The following were the objectives of the study:

1. To identify the Year 4 students‘ responses towards reading comprehension

during shared reading sessions.