Didactic strategies for encouraging reading: application analysis in pre-professional practices

Abstract

The importance given to the initial education stage increases the possibilities for an optimal and adequate school development of the infant. Thus, for example, reading is considered, socially, one of the main activities in schooling. In this context, playful activities generate curiosity to get involved in learning in general and in reading in particular. Didactic strategies to encourage reading have been considered a fundamental resource at an early age, not only because they promote progress in learning, but also because they generate reading habits from early childhood. This research analyzes the application of didactic strategies to encourage reading; such techniques were carried out during pre-professional practices by eighth-level students of the Initial Education program from the Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas - ESPE, located on the Sangolquí campus. The type of research is qualitative-quantitative, descriptive, and nonexperimental. For data collection, a questionnaire with thirteen items was applied, and it was validated by expert judgment. To be aware of the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach’s Alpha method was applied, obtaining 0,848, which shows acceptable trustworthiness. It is concluded that university students have knowledge about the strategies to encourage reading; however, when students should apply such knowledge in real contexts, they use only two or three strategies (the most used ones) without detecting much innovation in their pre- professional practices.