Taiwan has pushed forward the national reading project since 2001, to enhance the reading and language ability of students. In 2006, Taiwan joined the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the first time. PISA is held globally by the OECD every 3 years to assess the reading, mathematics and scientific literacy of 15-year-old students. Among the 57 participating countries and regions, Taiwan ranked 1st in mathematics, 4th in science, 16th in reading comprehension. Taiwan has achieved excellence in science and mathematics but was relatively weaker in reading comprehension (Chang, 2009). Also in 2006, Taiwan joined the Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS) conducted by the IEA on fourth graders. Among the 45 countries and regions, Taiwan ranked 22 (Ko, Chan, Chang & You, 2009). In other words, Taiwan’s 10-year-old and 15-year-old students’ reading comprehension performance in international assessments needed improvement, and thus how to enhance students’ reading literacy has become a critical issue in education. In 2007, all education levels in Taiwan initiated another wave of national reading projects. Taiwanese students’ performance in the 2011 PIRLS has shown great improvement, but students’ reading motivation still remained low among other countries and regions (Ko, Chan & Chiu, 2013).

        The reading comprehension test of PIRLS included two processes of comprehension: “Retrieving and Straightforward Inferencing,” and “Interpreting, Integrating and Evaluating.” According to the assessment results of Taiwanese students in PIRLS 2006, the Average Percent Correct of the Retrieving and Straightforward Inferencing process is 73%, but the Average Percent Correct of the Interpreting, Integrating and Evaluating Process is only 49%, and the differences reached statistical significance (Ko et al., 2009). The results showed that the majority of students is capable of making direct inferences and retrieving information, but they are weaker in integrating, interpreting or evaluating the information and ideas. The gap in the comprehension processes might be due to the lack of practice on higher level thinking in classrooms (Chen, 2011).

        To become a truly capable reader, one must be able to grasp new ideas, analyze them and evaluate them, and allow the ideas to internalize into new knowledge. In the information age of the 21^st century, the ability to critically analyze, select and utilize useful information has become one of the vital civic literacies. However, Taiwanese students’ reading comprehension mainly remained at the level of direct inferences; the higher level thinking skills of critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving still need improvement (Ko, 2010; Hsu, 2004; Yeh, 2002).

The newspaper is the lens of the world. The sharp decrease of the newspaper readers has led to the lack of students’ international knowledge and awareness. To broaden students’ international scope is an important issue that education strives to achieve. Thus, reading comprehension, critical thinking, and widening students’ international perspective are all vital aims of the classroom.

This study utilized the Mandarin Daily News as the material, and incorporated teaching strategies of morning reading activity (Newspaper in Education), 6W, higher level questioning, and mind mapping. Through the newspaper reading instruction program devised by the researchers, the study conducted experimental teaching by a quasi-experimental process, aiming to understand the effect of the instruction on students’ reading comprehension, critical thinking, and news knowledge.

This study adopted convenience sampling for the participants, and selected 3 fifth grade classes in an elementary in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The study employed the pretest-posttest nonequivalent groups design of the quasi-experimental approach and divided the three participating classes into “Experimental Group A” (14 male, 15 female), “Experimental Group B” (13 male, 16 female), and “Control Group” (15 male, 15 female). The study employed the quasi-experimental design; all groups took the pretest using Reading Comprehension Screening Test A, CTT-I, and News Knowledge Test A and the posttest using Reading Comprehension Screening Test B, CTT-I, and News Knowledge Test B. However, prior to the post test, Group A underwent the experimental treatment with newspaper and newspaper reading instruction program for 3 months; Group B received the experimental treatment with newspaper and general instruction program; and the Control Group had no experimental treatment. The newspaper reading instruction program was constructed by the researchers. The 6W, cloze activities, higher level thinking questions, and mind mapping were adopted as the teaching strategies, combined with daily morning newspaper reading for 30 minutes. The reading material was the Mandarin Daily News. The program also included discussion, demonstration, group collaboration, and hands-on activity, to achieve the objectives of enhancing reading comprehension, critical thinking and news knowledge. Instruments 1. Reading Comprehension Screening Test (Fifth Grade) The test was devised by Ko and Jan (2007) to screen elementary students’ reading comprehension. The test is divided into two sections, partial processing, and main text processing. The coefficient of internal consistency was .70 to .86, the test-retest reliability coefficient was .70 to .94. 2. Critical Thinking Test-Level I(CTT-I) The test was constructed by Yeh (2003) to test the critical thinking ability of elementary school and junior high school students. The test is divided into five subtests: identifying assumptions, induction, deduction, explanation, and evaluation. The coefficient of internal consistency was .76. The test consisted of 25 questions. 3. News Knowledge Test The test was designed by the researchers to assess students’ knowledge of news events. There were two tests, Test A and Test B, for the pretest and posttest. The questions were multiple choice questions with a set of 4 answers. The tests were divided into two sections: Taiwan Domestic Events containing 15 questions, and International Affairs containing 10 questions. The content of the tests consisted of important news events for the past 2-3 months prior to the tests.

Through one-way ANCOVA analysis, the results revealed that the treatment of the Newspaper Reading Instruction Program has caused a difference in students’ reading comprehension (F=9.27，p=.00; Group A> Group B and Control Group), with partial correlation η2=.18, signifying a large effect size for the experimental teaching. On the aspect of critical thinking, the Newspaper Reading Instruction Program has caused a significant impact (F=5.92，p=.00; Group A> Group B and Control Group), with partial correlation η2=.12, signifying a medium effect size. Similarly, the Newspaper Reading Instruction Program has a significant influence on students’ news knowledge. In the subtest of Taiwanese domestic affairs: F=11.43, p=.00 (Group A> Group B and Control Group), with partial correlation η2=.15, signifying a large effect size. For the subtest of International Affairs: F=7.89, p=.00 (Group A> Group B and Control Group), with partial correlation η2=.15. The experimental treatment can explain the 15% variance on the posttest of News Knowledge Test, showing a large effect size for the experimental treatment. For the Total Score: F=16.64, p=.00 (Group A> Group B and Control Group), with partial correlation η2=.28. The experimental treatment can explain the 18% variance on the posttest of News Knowledge Test, showing a large effect size for the experiment. The main findings can be summed as follow: 1. The newspaper-reading program, including morning reading activity, 6W, questioning, and mind mapping, can improve students' reading comprehension, critical thinking and news knowledge ability. 2. The newspaper-reading activity must integrate reading strategies in order to enhance students' reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. 3. Morning newspaper reading activity can enhance students' understanding of domestic and foreign affairs, and develop an international perspective. 4. Morning newspaper activity can help students develop the habit and interest of reading newspapers.

Chang, L. H. (2009). The observations and reflections on promoting reading in Taiwan. Interdisciplinary Journal of Taiwan Library Administration, 5(4), 82-98. Chen, M. L. (2011). Exploring reading instruction from progress in international reading and literacy study. Teacher Librarian Newsletter, 8. Retrieved from http://teacherlibrarian.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/index.php?id=56 Hsu, C. K. (2004). Critical thinking and citizenship education. Curriculum & Instruction Quarterly, 7(2)，25-40, 186. Ko, H. W. (2010). What did the result of PIRLS 2006 say. Inservice Education Bulletin, 26(6), 3-9. Ko, H. W., & Chan, Y. L. (2007). The manual of reading comprehension screening test of elementary school (grade 2 to 6) [Test booklet]. Taipei City: Ministry of Education Special Education Section. Retrieved from http://boe.tn.edu.tw/boe/wSite/public/Attachment/f1298970150143.pdf Ko, H. W., Chan, Y. L., & Chiu, C. H. (2013). The report of Taiwan fourth grade students' progress in international reading and literacy study 2011. Retrieved from http://www.dorise.info/DER/image_pirls/country_icon_2006/pirls_2011%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A.pdf Ko, H. W., Chan, Y. L., Chang, C. Y., & You, Y. T. (2008). The report of Taiwan fourth grade students' progress in international reading and literacy study 2006 (Second Edition). Retrieved from http://www.dorise.info/DER/download_PIRLS2006/PIRLS_2006_National%20Report(2nd%20Edition).pdf Yeh, Y. C. (2002). Analysis of the elements of higher-order thinking instructional design. General Education Journal, 1, 75-101. Yeh, Y. C. (2003). Critical thinking test-level I. [Test booklet]. Taipei City: Psychology. Retrieved from http://www3.nccu.edu.tw/~ycyeh/instrument-english/2003%20CTT-I%20introduction.pdf