The relationship between teaching styles and SEN students' reading comprehension achievement

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to find out which are the characteristics that affect teachers’ preference on specific teaching styles and whether students with Learning Disabilities are benefited by the use of specific teaching styles in the development of their reading comprehension skills. Seventeen English as a Foreign Language teachers and 309 students, 55 of which were identified as students with special educational needs (SEN), aged 9–11 years old, were participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of four teaching scenarios, in order for teachers’ preferred teaching style to be emerged, and a reading comprehension test, which sought to assess students’ reading comprehension skill and their skill to draw conclusions based on the information given on the text, was given to the teachers and students, respectively. Results indicated a high teachers' preference for the suggestive teaching style when dealing with students with SEN in the mainstream classroom. Findings also showed that teaching styles have a significant impact on their students’ competence of extracting meaning from written text. The most beneficial teaching style to students with SEN was the suggestive one.

Keywords: English as a foreign language, reading comprehension, special educational needs, teaching styles.