Revisiting Herringbone-Scaffolded Reading A Statistical Reanalysis of EFL Learners’ Gains in Recount-Text Comprehension
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v13i2.12647Keywords:
Herringbone technique; reading comprehension; visual scaffolding; recount text; effect sizeAbstract
This article revisits data from a quasi-experimental study of the Herringbone technique in reading instruction for eighth-grade EFL learners at MTs Negeri 1 Palu. Rather than repeating the original mean-score comparison, the study provides a transparent secondary statistical reanalysis of the student-level pre-test and post-test scores reported in the research record. Fifty-four students participated, with 27 students in the Herringbone group and 27 in the comparison group. The original instructional treatment was delivered across six meetings and used a visual Herringbone diagram to guide learners in identifying who, what, when, where, why, and how in recount texts. The reanalysis indicates that the Herringbone group increased from a mean of 41.85 to 72.22, whereas the comparison group increased from 44.44 to 60.92. The mean gain difference was 13.89 points. Based on the student-level scores listed in the source record, the independent-samples comparison of gain scores produced t(52) = 9.39, and the standardized between-group effect was very large (Cohen’s d = 2.55; Hedges’ g = 2.52). Normalized gain was 0.52 for the Herringbone group and 0.30 for the comparison group. These results strengthen the interpretation that the visual questioning framework was associated with substantially greater reading gains. The article also identifies a discrepancy between the t value reported in the original research record (2.353) and the value obtained from the listed student-level scores, highlighting the importance of transparent statistical reporting.
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