The illustrative story to develop the reading habit in students

Abstract

Reading habits are among the most effective strategies for developing essential cognitive skills required in professional fields. However, throughout schooling processes, this habit is often insufficiently promoted in classrooms, leading students to face recurring challenges in critical thinking, creativity, and text comprehension year after year. This research aimed to diagnose the current state of upper-basic education students regarding their reading habits. A descriptive methodology was employed to analyze the relationship between storytelling and the reading process, utilizing a quantitative approach and a reading comprehension test. The studied population consisted of 1,053 students and 49 teachers, with a convenience non-probabilistic sample of 32 eighth-grade students in upper-basic education who exhibit specific difficulties in reading comprehension, along with one teacher from the language and literature area. The findings revealed that many students demonstrate solid skills in inference and synthesis, showing an ability to deduce implicit information and summarize key ideas. Some also exhibited deeper comprehension through interpretations. However, a significant number of blank responses highlighted difficulties in understanding or uncertainty. Based on the results, it was concluded that reading habits are underdeveloped. Consequently, the need to implement pedagogical strategies that include playful activities and preferred genres such as tales and stories is emphasized. It is concluded that illustrative storytelling could foster reading habits and progressively improve the level of text comprehension among eighth-grade students.