How Learning Higher-Level Linking Words Impact Students' Understanding

The action research study focused on teaching a 5-hour intervention where 11th-grade science students learned higher-level linking words commonly used throughout their Anatomy and Physiology course. These higher-level linking words tended to detract students while reading or taking exams in Anatomy and Physiology. This problem impacted their achievement in all subjects because they struggled with reading comprehension in Anatomy and Physiology and could not understand what they read. The study attempted to answer the research question of how learning higher-level linking words impacts students' reading comprehension. Participants included 65 11th-grade Human Anatomy and Physiology science students from 11 sending school districts with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Throughout the study, students engaged in 5-hours of instructional intervention activities that helped them build vocabulary skills. Quantitative data was gathered from the pre- and post-assessments, and a report analysis was derived from the online Canvas learning management platform. Those assessments indicated that the interventions improved student proficiency in reading comprehension. The students demonstrated growth as the mean increased from 62.19% to 66.78% between the pre- and post-assessment scores, making the higher-level linking words intervention activities an effective strategy for improving reading comprehension.