Strategies to strengthen reading comprehension of argumentative texts in high school

Taking into account the continued low performance shown by Colombian students in reading processes, this research explored the effect of an educational intervention applying strategies such as underlining, summarizing, and questioning in order to improve the comprehension of argumentative texts among students enrolled ina secondary school in the town of Yumbo, Colombia. This was a part of a quantitative research work of quasi-experimental design, including pre-test-post-test assessment on experimental and control groups. 59 7th graders participated. Performance was characterized following Toulmin’s argumentative structure. The use of the strategies was assessed through rubrics that allowed establishing their quality and frequency of use before and after the intervention. Findings showed significant differences between both groups benefitting the experimental group, both in the use of strategies and in the understanding of argumentative texts. This suggests the intervention program contributed to identify the structural elements of the argumentative text and that the summary and the underlining strategies had the most influence in reading comprehension. The results suggest that argumentative texts can be successfully incorporated in early secondary school, as long as reading is supported by teaching strategies that facilitate their comprehension.