Students’ Perception of The Effectiveness of The KWL Strategy in Enhancing Reading Comprehension

Abstract

This study investigated ninth-graders’ perceptions of the KWL strategy in English reading lessons and explored the practical difficulties they encountered when using the strategy. A mixed-methods approach was employed, with data collected from 42 ninth-grade students at Binh Hoa Secondary School through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that the students generally held highly positive perceptions of the KWL strategy, particularly regarding its effectiveness and their satisfaction with its use. The interview findings further revealed that the strategy increased students’ interest and active engagement, provided clear purposes for reading, activated prior knowledge, facilitated connections between prior and new knowledge, made lengthy texts more manageable, and supported the retention of vocabulary and main ideas. Despite these positive perceptions, the students reported several practical difficulties, including unanswered questions in the W column, limited prior knowledge, unfamiliar topics, time constraints, insufficient worksheet space, and difficulties in generating meaningful questions. Nevertheless, these challenges did not appear to negatively affect their overall perceptions of the strategy. The findings suggest that appropriate teacher guidance, flexible classroom organization, sufficient time, and well-designed learning materials may help address these challenges and maximize the benefits of the KWL strategy for reading comprehension.