Didattica della comprensione del testo in ambiente collaborativo. Una ricerca quasi sperimentale. Fostering reading comprehension through collaborative strategies. A quasi-experimental study

This study deals with the topic of reading comprehension, a crucial skill for the students cultural development, that is lacking in those who belongs to disadvantaged socio-cultural environments. Particularly, according to the individualized intervention centered on the reader methodology (Lumbelli, 2009) integrated with a collaborative pairs work activity and class discussion it was designed and carried out a short didactic intervention for primary school students in order to stimulate both text integration and inferential skills. This teaching method was investigated through a quasi-experimental design with 106 primary school students. The analysis of two-way mixed ANOVA showed a positiveeffect of thetreatment (F (1, 102) = 4,747, p < 0,05); the effect size shows a marked improvement in the experimental group compared to the control group (0.643 vs 0.248), particularly for the less competent students. More extensive investigations appear necessary but the short training appears both effective and sustainable in the school.