This qualitative action research study explores six reading strategies to engage students in more dynamic reading through the implementation of workshops focused on the cross-curricular approach to develop critical reading skills among ninth graders at a public school. The study was conducted with 22 students selected, in the city of Manizales,…

The article investigates the roles of childhood circumstances (including parental socio-economic status, parental education, parental engagement, and sibling composition) and schooling on adult reading skills in low- and middle-income countries. Using regression models and data from surveys of urban labor-force participants in Armenia, Bolivia,…

This article reports the results of a study carried out at a public high school in Colombia whose objective was to design and determine how a reading comprehension module contributed to strengthening English literacy competence in sixth graders. The methodological framework entailed a basic outline of the action-research cycle. The qualitative…

Microlearning has increased its popularity for course designs in eLearning environments due to short attention spans and time constraints. The objective of this designed-based research is to describe the multiple iterations of design, development, and revision of a general framework for creating a microlearning reading mobile application. First,…

This article reports an English language needs analysis of Colombian Social Science master's students. Information from faculty interviews, course syllabi, and student surveys shows that students need English to access and update their disciplinary knowledge through research articles and book chapters to successfully participate in class…

This research focuses on how designing, implementing, and evaluating didactic strategies and activities based on scaffolding with visualization and the use of graphic organizers guide the process of reading comprehension in an eighth-grade public school course placed at A1 level. The research methodology was framed as action research with a…

This paper reports an action research study on cooperative learning projects for engineering students at a public university. The research study is aimed at improving reading skills through the use of four cooperative learning projects implemented during the English classes. Data gathered from a survey, four group interviews, and the teacher's…

The present paper puts under examination the effects of Genre Based Approach (GBA) on 9th grade students from a city in the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The purpose of the study is to analyze how GBA affects reading comprehension and writing by comparing the students' results before and after the execution of the approach. GBA was implemented in…

Learners need diligence when going solo in technology-enhanced learning environments. Nevertheless, self-regulation and scaffolding are two under-researched concepts when it comes to mobile learning. To tackle this knowledge gap, this study focuses on self-regulation and scaffolding for mobile assisted language learning (MALL). Fifty-two students…

Mobile devices are increasingly promoted as tools to facilitate ubiquitous and individualized learning, allowing learners to work at their own pace in authentic and meaningful settings. However, in the case of second language learning, there is a paucity of apps and tools related to improving students' reading comprehension in both Spanish and…

This paper reports the process of designing and partially implementing and evaluating a content-based and genre-oriented syllabus with a group of ninth graders at a public school in Barranquilla, Colombia. The syllabus sought to promote reading strategies in order to improve learners' comprehension of natural science texts. The results of this…

During the past 2 decades, many respective reading processes have been delineated, and much is now known about reading acquisition in children. Most of this research has been completed using English-dominant subjects. As such, the literature focuses on an opaque orthography and aspects of learning to read in this context. In this study, predictors…

This article analyzes the various types of information that alternative assessment and traditional assessment practices provided in an English foreign language (FL) reading course for graduate students at a public university in Medellín, Colombia. This study followed the principles of qualitative research, and a case study was used as a research…

This article reports on an action research project that proposes to improve the reading comprehension and vocabulary of undergraduate students of English for Specific Purposes--explosives majors, at a police training institute in Colombia. I used the qualitative research method to explore and reflect upon the teaching-learning processes during…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 13th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2016), October 28-30, 2016, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), co-organized by the University of Mannheim, Germany, and endorsed by the…