The Effectiveness of Socio-Affective Strategy Used with Primary School Students with Learning Difficulties in French to Improve Reading Comprehension: A Case Study of Fourth-Grade Students in Constantine

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of socio-affective strategy employed with fourth-grade elementary students who struggle with learning French and to assess their contribution to improving reading comprehension. To achieve this goal, we followed several steps to develop and implement this educational strategy, which French language teachers designed. The central research question addresses how socio-affective strategy can improve reading comprehension among primary school students with learning difficulties in French?

The study was conducted with 54 students who experienced difficulties and obstacles in learning the French language. The effectiveness of the socio-affective strategy was assessed through various tests and measures, including an intelligence test, The Myklebust Test (Myklebust Pupil Rating Scale), and performance-based assessments in French to determine the student's current language proficiency levels. Additionally, pre-and post-tests on reading comprehension were administered after implementing the strategy.

The study employed specific protocols and a quasi-experimental design, utilizing single and two-group models. Several statistical tools were used, including Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency, Spearman-Brown's split-half reliability method, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests to assess the normality of the data distribution related to reading comprehension, and Wilcoxon tests to examine differences between pre-and post-implementation comprehension scores. Cohen's d (1988) was applied to estimate the effect size and gauge the strategy’s impact on reading comprehension improvement.

The descriptive and quasi-experimental approaches were chosen due to their alignment with the characteristics and nature of the study. The final results revealed statistically significant differences between pre-and post-test scores in reading comprehension, indicating the positive impact of the socio-affective strategy on fourth-grade students struggling to learn French.