The Effects of Using the Reading Thinking Activity Model (RTAM) on Reading Comprehension: A Case Study of the Preparatory Year Students at IMISU, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study addressed the effects of the Reading, Thinking, Activity Model (RTAM) on English language reading comprehension among 105 Saudi students studying English as a foreign language in the Preparatory Year Program at Al Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMISU). Two levels of comprehension were considered, literal comprehension relating to explicit information intended to be presented by an author, and inferential comprehension relating to implicit and indirect information derived from analysis and interpretation of what was written. The effects were examined for students with Deep Processing and Elaborative learning styles to consider the effects on literal and inferential comprehension for students with these differing learning styles. The findings indicated that the RTAM positively affected reading comprehension when compared with traditional language teaching methodology and there were significant differences for literal and inferential comprehension, and for students with deep or elaborative learning styles. For students with deep learning style there was no significant difference in literal comprehension but the RTAM method led to improvement in inferential comprehension.  For students with elaborative learning style there was significant improvement in both literal and inferential comprehension.  The greatest impact of the RTAM method was for inferential comprehension for students with elaborative learning style.