The Development of Reading Comprehension Skills using the DR-TA (Directed Reading-Thinking Activity) Technique for Prathomsuksa 4 Students, Marie Upatham Chaiyaphum School

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study the reading comprehension skills using the DR-TA (Directed Reading-Thinking Activity) technique for fourth-grade students at Mary Uphat Chaiyaphum School and to compare the reading comprehension achievement of the fourth-grade students before and after learning with the DR-TA technique. The sample for this study included 18 fourth-grade students from the first semester of the 2023 academic year at Mary Uphat Chaiyaphum School, selected through simple random sampling by drawing lots. The research instruments included 1) a reading comprehension skill assessment comprising 5 sets from 5 types of literature: articles, tales, short stories, news, and advertisements, and 2) an assessment of reading comprehension achievement. The statistics used in the research included basic statistics such as percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The statistical tests employed to compare the achievement before and after learning were the dependent t-test with a significance level set at .01. The research results indicated that (1) the reading comprehension skills of the fourth-grade students using the DR-TA technique improved significantly, with an overall reading comprehension skill score ( = 2.43, S.D. = 0.29) rated as very good. The skills in each area included the ability to understand the content read ( = 2.58, S.D. = 0.12) rated as very good, the ability to differentiate main ideas and supporting details ( = 2.51, S.D. = 0.42) rated as very good, and the ability to grasp key points from the reading ( = 2.21, S.D. = 0.33) rated as very good. (2) The reading comprehension achievement of students who learned using the reading comprehension skill practice with the DR-TA technique after learning ( = 16.33, S.D. = 2.16) was significantly higher than before learning ( = 8.05, S.D. = 2.71) at a statistical significance level of .01.