A STUDY OF TEXT MAPPING AS A STRATEGY TO MEDIATE BETWEEN TEXT AND THE POOR PRE-UNIVERSITY READER

Abstract

This dissertation is targeted at the study of text mapping as a possible strategy to improve reading comprehension for poor readers. The inability to extract main ideas, recognise authorial intent and infer from given text are severe handicaps to many readers. Such handicaps can lead to academic failure. Having taught in a centralised institute for three years, it has become apparent to me that many students fail the General Paper, a language-based subject, due to poor performance in reading comprehension. Whilst a number of students write reasonably well, presenting lucid arguments in organised paragraphs, many others are unable to perceive that some system of organisation exists in their reading passages. Often, the thrust of the comprehension questions eludes the students and they encounter difficulties locating answers. Many available strategies have been suggested and implemented by language practitioners. Text mapping seems to me a viable means of mediating between reader and text. Theoretically, since a text map captures the underlying ideational and rhetorical structure of a passage, a grasp of text mapping strategies would aid in the comprehension of a text. At the very least, such an exercise would force readers to examine thoroughly, possible connecting ideas within and between paragraphs to construct a coherent and cohesive organisational and structural representation of the text. The aim of this research paper is thus to evaluate the effectiveness of text mapping as a strategy to help poor readers overcome reading problems. The target group of study is a sample of 30 students in their first year of the three-year pre-university course.