2025 Volume 49 Issue 3 Pages 569-580
This study examines the implementation of the Narrative Theme Statement Strategy in an elementary language classroom. The strategy involves summarizing the theme of a story in a single sentence. Instruction was carried out in phases (Practice 1 and Practice 2), followed by an assessment of students’ ability to apply the strategy to a new story outside the textbook (Practice 3). The findings indicate that students’ self-efficacy in using the reading strategy (Analysis 1) improved significantly over time (p < .001). Furthermore, in terms of the transition in the quality of theme-expressing sentences (Analysis 2), students more readily acquired the strategy of articulating the main character’s transformation and its related factors. However, the findings also suggest that additional practice may be necessary to develop strategies for more deeply articulating the character’s transformation and its underlying causes. In addition, analysis of students’ sentence formulation processes (Analysis 3) revealed that strategy acquisition occurred through repeated trial and error, peer learning, and teacher scaffolding, as evidenced by students’ verbal interactions.
