Background: Reading comprehension is a challenge among bilingual children. Reading comprehension difficulties are likely to be attributed to the strategies teachers use during their instruction of reading to these children. Objectives: In light of this, the purpose of this study was to establish the effectiveness of a balanced reading instruction programme in empowering teachers with strategies for improving their instruction of reading comprehension in both the native language and English. Method: Qualitative participatory action research was used in the design and implementation of the balanced reading instruction programme. Participants were four Grade 3 teachers as direct participants and 40 children as indirect participants in ‘NKPS’ (pseudonym) primary school, Mbarara Municipality, Uganda. Data was collected through focus group interviews, observation, document analysis, and a researcher’s reflective journal. Data was collected in accordance to the participatory action research cyclic process through which the programme was implemented. Results: Results showed that teachers’ participation in the balanced reading instruction programme empowered them with better strategies such as phonics instruction and formulating carefully graded questions on different texts, to teach reading comprehension first in children’s native language (Runyankole) and then in English. Conclusion: The study being action-oriented and working in collaboration with teachers in one single school offers its conclusions from the findings to be transferred to similar contexts. It is recommended that a large-scale intervention should be conducted for improving teachers’ instruction of reading comprehension to bilingual children.

中文翻译：

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均衡的阅读指导，提高教师对Runyankole-英语双语儿童的阅读理解能力

背景：阅读能力是双语儿童的一项挑战。阅读理解上的困难很可能归因于教师在向这些孩子进行阅读指导时所采用的策略。目的：鉴于此，本研究的目的是建立平衡阅读教学计划的有效性，以使教师有能力提高他们的母语和英语阅读理解教学策略。方法：定性参与性行为研究用于平衡阅读教学计划的设计和实施中。参与者是乌干达姆巴拉拉市“ NKPS”（化名）小学的四名三级老师作为直接参与者，40名儿童作为间接参与者。数据是通过焦点小组访谈收集的，观察，文件分析和研究人员的反思性期刊。数据是根据参与性行动研究循环过程收集的，该程序是通过该过程实施的。结果：结果表明，教师参与平衡阅读教学计划可以赋予他们更好的策略，例如语音教学和针对不同的课文精心制定分级题，首先以儿童的母语（Runyankole）教授英语，然后再以英语进行阅读理解。结论：该研究是面向行动的，并且在一所学校中与教师合作进行研究，得出的结论来自研究结果，并将其转移到类似的背景中。