Development of Students Reading Competence through the Novel “The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years” ()
1. Introduction
In the teaching of the literature discipline, various critical thinking methods have used to develop students’ reading competence ( Karimi & Veisi, 2016). Bloom’s chamomile strategy categorized by Benjamin Bloom and his team ( Bloom et al., 1956): knowledge; comprehension; application; analysis; synthesis; and evaluation ( Dong, 2014). Bloom’s taxonomy characterized as a six-level classification system helping students understand the level of cognitive achievement ( Athanassiou et al., 2013).
Practical Importance
It is well known that the process of understanding a person’s worldview begins with asking questions. The teacher’s question is a powerful tool in the learning process, and by asking questions and answering to them, students can develop different thinking skills. Competency-based learning requires each person to be professional following modern requirements and to acquire modern skills from a wide range of perspectives, awarding degrees, centric, personalized academic design, and transform learning ( Boyer & Bucklew, 2019). In this work, the teacher explained the new topic by analyzing a group of six types of questions based on Bloom’s chamomile flowers, which helps to increase students reading competence ( Spörer & Schünemann, 2014).
Reading comprehension is important for long-term academic success ( Dickinson et al., 2012), and also reading fluency may influence overall reading competence ( Fuchs et al., 2001). “Distal causes reflect the fact that reading is a taught skill that unfolds over time and across development. It depends upon a range of more cognitive abilities, such as memory, attention, and language skills, to name but a few. According to theoretical and computational models of reading, one proximal cause of impaired reading of nonwords is impaired knowledge of letter-sound mappings” ( McArthur & Castles, 2017). “For a novice, reading is characterized by phonological decoding, whereby letter strings are closely analyzed and laboriously ‘sounded out’ to form words. According to Ehri’s phase theory of reading development, learning to decode is a connection-forming process in which the spelling patterns of words tightly bonded with their pronunciations. Perfetti’s lexical quality hypothesis defines lexical quality as the extent to which a word’s mental representation specifies its spelling, sound, and meaning. High quality representations contain tightly bound orthographic, phonological, and semantic constituents that together comprise a word’s identity. Higher quality representations are considered to be more fully” ( Nation, 2017). Reading defined as a complex ability acquired over time, and that ability which undergoes continual change across the human lifespan as consequence of knowledge ( Alexander, 2012).
This article is describing a scientific-theoretical-methodological approach to the development and establishment of students reading competence skills. The current process of globalization has led to the integration of Kyrgyzstan’s education system into the global educational space, which is making it necessary to adapt traditional education to the European education system. Based on this, the educational paradigm in the education system needs to consider from the point of view of competence ( Dută & Rafaila, 2014; Baartman et al., 2007). The establishment that is taking place in our country and around the world is also associated with the modernization of the education system. As a developing society needs to choose modern education ( Adick, 1992), the new education system must focus on the formation of a constant supply of knowledge, the development of skills and abilities, their consolidation and transformation into competence. It is not necessary to use all the resources of the native language in the formation of reading competence. At the same time, competence reflected in the new content of literary education requires the use of scientific and theoretical content in the modern conditions, and the ability to understand the psychological nature of the character in different works, especially in the communicative situation ( Gabdulchakov, 2014). In other words, subject competence is the leading managerial competence in determining the quality of educational activities ( Hopkins, 2015). Professional competence related to learning opportunities resulting in students’ improved knowledge and skills, as well as teachers’ outcomes, career advancement, and occupational well-being ( Hobbs & Törner, 2019). Competence-based education characterized by the interaction of the individual with others, underlying their experiences, and resembles socio-constructivism, new skills, and knowledge based on former skills and abilities ( Kepanen et al., 2020).
With the change of society, following its time requirements, ideological essences of scientific and methodological sites were renewed, and methods of scientific cognition were developed ( Ross, 1984; Evens et al., 2015). The theory of learning and cognition includes a rich description of items used in the cognitive process, knowledge structure, and strategies ( Rupp & Leighton, 2016). As a result, based on the concept of person-centered learning ( Power et al., 2019), the diversity of the education system has improved, and there are opportunities to create the author’s curriculum, teaching programs and textbooks to provide the necessary education and learning tools. To realize these opportunities, there is a necessity in the new learning technologies, i.e. innovative teaching. Assessing educational technology based on cognitive and affective changes, definitive claims, comprehensive information about in-service teachers learning technology, and unintended consequences ( Ferdig, 2006). Such innovative technologies in the education system become an object of the research in all spheres of production and science. Interactive teaching practiced as new learning technologies that enhance teaching and learning through its dynamic, interactive engagement providing real opportunities for individualized instructions ( Hall et al., 2018). Interactive teaching involves some technology-based activities and frameworks of ICT resources use by students ( Kennewell et al., 2008).
We aimed to develop reading competence and intellectual potential of students in school, college, and university by Bloom’s flower and develop their self-esteem, thinking, spiritual, moral educations, knowledge, skills, and abilities. As a result, the content and directions in the establishment of students reading competence optimized to achieve this goal.
Social implications in this study are to improve students’ attitude in relation to the learning process, and renew the study system. Practical implications are to develop students logical thinking, creativity skills, and outlook, increase students ability to analyze materials and use them in daily life, problem solving and to get out from the once situation.
2. Research Methods and Materials
To check the improvement of students’ reading competence, a pedagogical observation experiment conducted. The set of questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy used by students as learning goals according to the levels of cognitive activity created by the American educator and psychologist Benjamin Bloom, which is still used today in the field of education. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a mechanism that helps students to establish and develop cognitive complexity during writing comprehensive literature reviews ( Granello, 2001). Learning goals in Bloom’s taxonomy include following objectives that require higher levels of cognitive skills, deeper learning, and transfer of knowledge and skills to a greater variety of contexts ( Adams, 2015). Three main domains are resulting in Bloom’s taxonomy: Cognitive, Affective, and Motor Skills ( Reeves, 1990). Bloom’s Taxonomy is a scaffolding platform for students to create and evaluate their knowledge after reading, discussion of topics written by themselves and their classmates. Figure 1 is showing a content summary of six types of questions used by students in this class.
3. Results and Discussions
Here are descriptions of questions used in the Blooms strategy:
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Figure 1. Blooms flower including six types of cognitive development questions.
Simple questions are considering and noting the facts provided in the answer to the audience.
Clarifying questions are such types of questions used to find out not mentioned information expressed during the presentation.
Interpretive questions are usually starting with “Why?” beginning with the words that seem to force apologize in some cases can be perceived negatively. In other cases, they focus on identifying cause-and-effect relationships.
Creative questions have the addition word “had”, which shows the sign of conditionality and conjecture. “What would change in the world if people had three fingers instead of five?” “How do you think the film’s scenario will develop after the commercial?”
Assessment questions are the questions aimed to determine criteria for evaluating certain events, phenomena, and facts. “Why do we call these good and bad?” “How one is lesson different from another?” etc.
Practical questions aimed to determine the relationship between theory and practice. “What would you do if you were the protagonist of the story?” etc. ( Esengulova & Asekova, 2004).
The use of the above questions in class was a way to achieve the final goal for the teacher in the development of students reading competence. All students worked in groups and were inactive movement, discussed topics, and developed creative skills. At the beginning of class, the teacher together with students determined the topics and objectives of the lesson. In the next stage, the teacher introduced students with evaluation criteria after describing the given topics. Homework was to write an essay about images in the story “Gulsarat” by Ch. Aitmatov. During the homework checking, 2 - 3 students read their assays about Ch. Aitmatovs works. The rest of the students’ essays posted on the wall, and they asked to read them in their spare time and share their ideas in the next lesson. To invite students to a new topic, the teacher introduced Ch. Aitmatovs novel through PowerPoint slides with the title “The day lasts more than a hundred years”, its characters, and some facts. In general, the writer Chingiz Aitmatov is a master of the parallel description of the similarities and differences between human and animal nature.
To warm up the students reading text during class, the teacher showed a portion from the film “Epic of Love” by D. Sadyrbaev. At the end of the film, the teacher asks students various types of questions:
· What feature film did you see the excerpt from and who is the director?
· The feature film “Epic of Love” by famous director Dooronbek Sadyrbaev.
· What about is the content of film?
· The film tells about the unrequited love between the poet Raimaly, who is almost 60 years old, and the young beauty Begimai.
· Why do you think he showed this film? How do you think it relates to our subject?
“The film is based on the legend of Raimaly and Begimai in the novel “The day lasts more than a hundred years”. The teacher clarifies students’ answers, as well as answers to some questions about their works and the film. After that teacher introduced slurred words in the text through the slides and analyzed them.
3.1. Glossary of Terms Used in the Text
In a deserted house is a house built lightly for temporary accommodation ( Akmataliev, 2015). His anger trapped inside him means he became very angry, he could not vent his anger ( Akmataliev, 2015). Crossroads is a point with a railway junction designed for passing trains to pass each other. Malakai is a hat made of leather with the fur facing inwards ( Akmataliev & Kydyrmambetova, 2018). Shaiman is a tools used to produce, build, make something, etc. ( Akmataliev, 2015). The essence of life is a meaning and properties of life ( Akmataliev, 2015). Akshyya means dislike ( Akmataliev, 2015).
After explaining the unintelligible words, the teacher distributes the text to students and gives instructions. Students asked carefully read by pencil the stories that make a special impression while reading the work.
3.2. Text used by Students
Edigey was sitting and confusing about what happened. So, Zaripa took advantage of his absence and left on purpose. When he was here, he would not let go, even though he did not know what would happen to him. Zaripa did all things to keep going. She made it easy for him to leave, she did not think about Edigey. Then she went home. Ukubala silently took his coat, hat, felt boots, and took them to the corner. It is impossible to know what Edigey was thinking about and doing. His eyes trapped inside him, as the storm was raging inside. “The tea is hot,” said his wife. “I just got it from the fire.” Edigey stared at him and sipped his hot tea. They both sat in silence, waiting for the right moment. “Zaripa took her children and moved,” said Ukubala at last. “I know,” Edigey nodded, not lifting his head from the cup. He waited and asked, “Where did he go?” “He didn’t tell us,” said Ukubala. He finished his tea and went outside. It was a short winter’s day. Edigey went into the fence at night. He went in, looked at Karanar, who was snatching him from the chain, and shouted: “Are you still screaming?” Still not satisfied? Monster is that what you did! May I not make you a liar! Then, with a bundle in one hand and a whip wrapped in a string in the other, he led the weeping bull to the field. He stopped on a hill far from the crossroads and gave Karanar red applause. In a fit of rage, he vented his anger, slapped her with both hands, and began to beat her. He was shouting louder, louder, swearing, and beating mercilessly, beating his head and eyes. “Here you are! Aram dead animal! All this is your torment! You did it all! Now I will let you go, wherever you go, but I will kill your rabid worm in front of him! You just run away! In the meantime, he took his children and left! No matter what happens to my day, none of you care! How do I live in this world now? How can I live without it? It does not matter to you; it does not matter to me! That is why you are a rabid dog! Karanar screamed, tore off, and as the venom of the slap passed, he suddenly dragged Edigey to the ground and dragged him across the snow. Edigey managed to loosen his belt and pull it back to the ground. On the third day, Edigey met Kazangap at the entrance to the warehouse. Edigey, why did you stay away from the people? Kazangap said, “I don’t want to talk to you.” “I’d rather suffocate before I talk to you.” You know it! - I do not doubt that you will suffocate not only me but also others. But, what if you told him you were going to kill him and then killed him? “Where would he go if you didn’t tell him?” - said Edigey directly to Kazangap. “Oh, you’re funny, too,” Kazangap said, shaking his head and blushing with anger or embarrassment. “If that’s what you’re thinking, you don’t think badly of us or the bride.” Be thankful that he is wiser than you are. Have you ever wondered what the outcome of your adventure will be? The bride thought that she would leave before it was too late. When I asked for a copy, I went and helped ( Akmataliev & Kydyrmambetova, 2018).
3.3. Group Works
After reading the text, the teacher divide students into 6 groups according to the types of questions in the Blooms chamomile flower: 1) Factological questions group, 2) Clarifying questions group, 3) Practical questions group, 4) Interpretive questions group, 5) Interpretive questions group, 6) Evaluation questions group. A student from each group chooses one question from Bloom’s chamomile flower. The facilitator had 10 minutes to prepare the questions. Students prepared answers to the questions from D. Sadyrbaev romantic epic text showing the artistic portion of the film. The teacher asked following questions:
· What featured film portion did you watch and who is the director? Answer: Featured film “Epic of Love” by famous director Dooronbek Sadyrbaev.
· What is the content of the featured film? Answer: The film tells about the unrequited love between the poet Raimaly, who is almost 60 years old, and the young beauty Begimai.
· Why do you think it was shown? How do you think it relates to our subject? Answer: “The film is based on the legend of Raimaly and Begimai from the novel “The day lasts more than a hundred years” We will also be talking about love.
3.4. Student Answers to the Bloom’s Flower Questions
3.4.1. Answers to Factual Questions
1) The passage tells about the main character of the novel “The day lasts more than a hundred years” Edigey and his family.
2) Edigey’s wife is Ukubala.
3) The event is taking place at a storm station.
3.4.2. Answers to Clarifying Questions
1) Describing the psychological state of Zaripa, who took advantage of the absence of Edigey and left without leaving her address, she became very angry, self-conscious, and could not “find a foe.”
2) He blamed Karanar for Zaripa’s departure and beat her camel to death, not knowing whom to blame.
3) Unable to bear his longing for Zaripa, he decided to leave.
3.4.3. Answers to Practical Questions
1) If I were in Ukubala’s place, I would patiently wait for Edigey to forget Zaripa and help her to forget.
2) The story of Zaripa and Edigey is very common today. Especially those who have left their families and gone abroad to work are finding something else.
3) There are many people who fall in love with a family, and if you open the Internet, it is heartbreaking that there are so many such cases.
3.4.4. Answers to Interpretive Questions
1) Zaripa wisely moved away from the road, because if she did not leave, Edigey’s family would break up and the respect between Ukubala and him would be lost.
2) Both Zaripa and Ukubala are intelligent, calm, and wise women. It is not for nothing that the Kyrgyz people say: “A woman is good - a man is good”, “Behind a strong man is a strong woman”. Both are smart. But, Ukubala is more patient than Zaripa.
3) Kazangap, who appreciated Ukubala’s wisdom, cunning, and patience, said: “You will not find a woman like Ukubala at the end of the century.” Had he been replaced, Edigey would have been worse off than Karanar.
4) Even if Kazangap does not say that Edigey’s actions are wrong, you should know what you think of Edigey. However, he gently warned her not to regret it later.
3.4.5. Answers to Interpretive Questions
1) The author describes the psychological state of Edigey and Karanar in parallel. This is because both of them can describe in parallel the fact that their inner souls filled with longing and evaporation, unable to suppress the steamy love and feelings.
2) Edigey wanted to strangle Kazangap for helping Zaripa move and putting her luggage on the train.
3) In the text, the writer urges the reader to be wise. He gave the idea that people who always act wisely will succeed, that they will rewarded, and that love must kept as pure as a pearl.
3.4.6. Answers to Assessment Questions
1) I think it is right for Zaripa to leave. Because it is right for her to leave peacefully without discrediting himself or Ukubala.
2) Kazangap’s “Leaving is not a feat. Anyone can leave. However, not everyone can overcome themselves.” He warns Edigey that even if he leaves, he will bring sorrow, longing, and longing and that if you are a young man, you can overcome all this without leaving. Of course, not everyone is in a position to make such a drastic adjustment.
3) A hardworking, kind, and compassionate person.
After a thorough analysis of the text by Bloom’s chamomile flower, the teacher draws a map of the work for students with the following scheme. Each student individually creates a concept map of the work. An example of a concept map created by a student is shown in Figure 2.
By the course of this class, students were able to create a cinquain which is five properties of subject structured in the poetry form. This critical thinking strategy helps in learning to read everything, even to resume short and intensive forms. There are a separate structure and content of each of the five lines ( Nizovskaya, 2003). Example of cinquain (Table 1) created by students in this class:
By reading this novel, the students as a reader were able to combine an image of Edigey, Kazangap, Ukubala, and Zaripa with real life, perceived on the artistic and aesthetic levels, and emotionally perceived the love of Zaripa and Edigey. The following skills confirmed by Bloom’s Flower strategy:
· Students were able to develop their listening skills;
· Ability to perform exercises from verbal practice;
· Ability to think through artistic images;
· Developed cognitive activity;
· Ability to find the necessary learning tools and resources for creation and application of obtained knowledge;
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Figure 2. Concept-map created by students group work as a result of reading competence development.
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Table 1. Cinquain made by students during the class.
· Ability to work with sources of text information;
· Developed figurative thinking skills;
· Individual, pair, and group works independently grown to a high level.
The main reason for the increase in students reading competencies was the structure of the lesson, which consisted of compositional units’ series: the stages of invitation (warming up), comprehension, and thinking. This is because a new topic in teaching used innovative and interactive methods and implemented through these three stages. During the invitation stage, the reader-student perceives and accepts the given topic, connects it with the topic covered, and reflects on it.
Students will try to answer all of the above questions, and some questions may have different answers. In this case, the teacher must listen to the views of other groups and draw general conclusions. In the same way, students can create six different questions: factual, clarifying, practical, interpretive, interpretive, and evaluative. In this case, the teacher first explains to students the meaning of each question and then writes down the question words for each group of questions. For example, How? When are? For what purpose? Why? How? Why? etc. Instead of answering to the ready-made questions, students do a lot of research when they ask a question, clarify the information they receive, try to give their opinion, and get used to listening to the opinions of others. Therefore, answering these six types of questions and asking questions will give them a better understanding of the text and increase their interest in reading the rest of the text. If students learn to use questions, they will be able to ask such questions in a variety of situations.
Among the new technologies, the strategies of the Critical Thinking Reading and Writing Program used, which has led to a radical change in the activities of the subject and the object, the style of communication in all areas of education. As a result, interactive methods have become the main tool for achieving clear goals. As a result, first, the student-reader can solve the most important problems of any life situation with his creative active position and get out of it. Secondly, at the same time, as a reader, the student began to distinguish by the development of the ability to distinguish language units, regardless of the meaning of the text. Third, the ability to work in a group characterized by an increase in the level of activation. Fourth, they began to distinguish by their accuracy in working with information sources (works of art, audio, video materials), their ability to set goals, and their ability to perform them carefully. Fifth, the development of students’ ability to express their critical views on misconceptions has contributed to the development of each student’s reading competence. To increase the reader’s competence in the teaching of Kyrgyz literature, especially in secondary vocational schools, they were able to present to the audience their creative pursuits, feedback, deepening the vocabulary, ideological unity as a reader. At the same time, the implementation of students’ reading skills in individual, pair, and group activities helped to increase their vocabulary, logic, active and entrepreneurial level. As a result, the skills of reading, perception, creative thinking, writing, and speaking, which are characteristic of competence, began to increase. By the end of this class, the reading competence of students achieved as shown in Tables 2-4.
Obtained results in this study presented at methodical seminars and trainings held for the teaching staff, proposed for production of technologies that increase the reading competence of students. Score percentages shown in above tables calculated by using the following formula:
(1)
For example, in case of group ФКК-1-18, the reading comprehension score was:
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Table 2. Results of the monitoring conducted in February (when students have just started studying the subject).
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Table 3. Results of the monitoring conducted in May (when students have just started studying the subject).
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Table 4. An index of students’ responses to Bloom’s chamomile flower.
As the result of this study, when calculating the reading competence quality of students groups, the percentage increased from 6% to 14% (Table 1 and Table 2): Group ФКК-1-18 - 6% (61 − 55 = 6), group ННК-1 - 18 14% (59 − 45 = 14), group ЭБК-3-18 increased by 8% (60 − 52 = 8), group ЭБК-2-18 increased by 13% (63 − 50 = 13). We compared the same indicators and analyzed them on the basis of students’ scores (5, 4, 3, 2) (Table 3). As a result, the highest rate was: group ФКК-1-18 by 3% (29% − 26% = 3%), group ННК-1-1 by 3% (24-21 = 3%), group ЭБК-3-18 by 4% (28% − 24% = 4%), and group ЭБК-2-18 to 4% (25% − 21% = 4%); in the middle: group ФКК-1-18 by 3% (32% − 29% = 3%), group ННК-1-18 by 10% (34% − 24% = 10%), group ЭБК-3-18 by 4% (32% − 28% = 4%), and the group ЭБК-2-18 increased by 9% (38% − 29% = 9%).
4. Conclusion
The use of critical thinking strategies, especially Bloom’s taxonomy was more effective than traditional teaching. After using this strategy, the students of each group became more self-confident and began to participate in classes with interest. The students’ opinions were also lively, and the feeling of respecting and listening to each other’s opinions was awakened. Bloom’s chamomile strategy has stimulated students’ critical thinking skills. However, we are not saying that all the students in the group have developed their critical thinking. By analyzing six different questions in students’ group works, they were able to characterize and imagine the real picture of the novel heroes life, feel the consequences of the characters’ actions in life, compared them with their own lives and determine the idea, theme, and position of the author. Teaching using this strategy directly contributes to the development of students’ reading competence by helping students to interpret the work of art in an accessible way, to form the expected learning outcomes in the classroom.