Effects of guided reading on motivation and comprehension in reading expository texts

Guided reading is used to support the development of readers' strategies in order to process more difficult texts. Fourth grade is the first time students are required to gain information from reading a textbook. During this first experience many students lose the love of learning because they struggle to understand the terminology and structure of a textbook. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use guided reading to improve the student's motivation and comprehension when reading expository text. The procedure involved meeting and teaching the guided reading groups of four or five students the skills needed to read and understand expository text successfully. Skills included finding the important facts and using graphic organizers to highlight the facts. The students practiced these skills in the group and independently along with completing extra self-regulating activities while not in their guided reading groups. The results of this study supported the idea that guided reading does support motivation and comprehension when reading an expository text.