THE IMPACT OF PLAYMOBIL TOYS MANIPULATION STRATEGY ON PRIMARY PUPILS’ READING COMPREHENSION

Abstract

Research on reading comprehension has been conducted extensively due to the great focus on children's literacy development. It is important to shift from a simple text-to-text method to a text-to-hands-on approach to improve reading skills.  Therefore, the study objectives are to investigate the impact of Playmobil toys manipulation approach on primary students' reading comprehension of short narrative stories in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. Sixty Year 3 students from two primary schools in Raub, Pahang, were involved in this experimental research. After reading the stories, the children in the experimental group had the chance to interact with the Playmobil toys. The toys were then taken away, and the pupils had to create mental pictures that matched the story events. In each session, the children in the manipulation group were compared to their rereading peers to determine if they did substantially better in cued and free-recalls. Furthermore, the study aimed to determine if good, moderate and weak second English language learners (ELLs) differed in their ability to profit from the Playmobil Toys manipulation approach. The statistically significant differences within the sessions in the manipulation group and in between with the rereading group highlighted this method’s practical importance in enhancing the students’ reading and memory skills. Also, the manipulation method benefited the good and intermediate ELLs. This study offers a valuable way to help primary pupils to understand short stories.