Efl learners’ choice of reading strategies in a reading classroom

European Journal of Educational Studies 5(1), 2013

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EFL LEARNERS’ CHOICE OF READING STRATEGIES IN A READING

CLASSROOM

BHARATHI NAIDU*, MARSHAL BRIEWIN & MOHAMED AMIN EMBI

Faculty of Education, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

*E-mail address for correspondence: [email protected]

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Abstract: Reading skills are no doubt an important criterion in students’ lives. However, many a time, learners face

obstacles when they come across reading materials. As such, the assistance of reading skills will aid language

learners in becoming good readers. These skills will further assist them in their academic reading as well. This study

investigates the reading strategies preferred by English as Foreign Language (EFL) students. Learners were

provided with a needs questionnaire to identify their preferences. The questionnaire utilised a four-point Likert scale

and contained 11 items on the reading strategies. The 20 participants were from the advanced level of an English

improvement programme. Five most frequently used strategies were highlighted based on the results of the

questionnaire. The five highly rated strategies range from 55% to 75%. These reading strategies could be used as a

teaching aid by educators to make reading both fun and educational. Nonetheless, with these strategies educators

can facilitate learners to achieve better grades and become exceptional readers.

Keywords: Needs analysis, Reading Strategies

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INTRODUCTION

Reading is considered as one of the most important and useful components for students. Reading skills enable

learners to comprehend any type of texts, which eventually enable them to have greater understanding. As such,

mastering reading skills is considered essential for learners. In order to create successful language learning

environment in a reading classroom, educators need to help learners to identify their reading needs. In the long term,

this will help educators to plan and cater to the learners‟ requirements. Thus, this study explores the reading

strategies employed by EFL learners when they read.


© 2013 Ozean Publication

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NEEDS ANALYSIS AND READING STRATEGIES IN TEACHING READING

Needs analysis examines the needs of students. Iwai et al. (1999) defined needs analysis as activities that entail

gathering of information as a base for developing a curriculum that caters to the needs of students. Nunan (1999)

termed needs analysis as “sets of tools, techniques, and procedures for determining the language content and learning

process for specified groups of learners”. Iwai et al. (1999) claimed that needs analysis gathers information that

assists in developing a syllabus that helps the learners of a particular targeted segment. Cowling (2007) stated that

EFL schools and institutions usually rely on textbooks as they do not require designing of syllabus, which is an

expensive process. Cowling (2007) argued that this approach often neglects the learning needs required by learners.

Due to this, needs analysis is essential for students. According to Gayser (2006), there may be a conflict between

students and instructors concerning the perception of needs. Secondly, there may be conflicts in terms of teaching

and learning styles. As such, Geyser (2006) affirmed that it is advisable to give priority to learners‟ opinions. The

teaching methods or curriculum should be designed to meet the learners‟ needs rather than the instructors‟

requirements.

Reading is seen as an important medium that not only helps learners to expand their vocabulary, but also to improve

their grammar. When learners read, they are introduced to a wider range of words and the contexts in which the

words are used. Through this, learners are exposed to a variety of vocabularies and expressions. It is noted that

reading skills among EFL learners has always been an issue. A number of researches have been conducted on this

issue to study how EFL learners perceive reading comprehension. In order for learners to be good in reading

comprehension, they need to develop reading strategies. There are a number of reading strategies, which may be

useful to learners during reading. One of such strategies is called „skimming the text for main ideas‟. Brown (2001)

stressed that skimming means looking through a text at a glance to get the gist of it. He further stated that skimming

helps learners to predict the purpose and identify the main idea of the text. This assists learners to grasp the main

points of the text to be more focused when they start reading it. Another reading strategy is known as „scan the text

for specific information‟. Nunan (1999) claimed that scanning is a process where learners look at a text quickly in

order to extract information. Besides that, it also makes reading more understandable to learners as the extracted

information is clearly spelled out. The third strategy is „mapping or clustering‟. Mapping can be presented in many

ways: diagrams, ideas and concepts of a term. Mohd Azam Nair (2000) adds that mapping strategies are essential as

they stress the learners‟ understanding of the texts. Mapping is significant because learners enjoy the process of

identifying information and collate the pieces of information to understand the text. Learners can employ the above-

mentioned reading strategies when they read and relate it to their existing knowledge and experience.

Mohd Azam Nair (2000) claimed that students have problems in understanding and growing into knowledge-seeking

learners of particular content areas. „This problem of non-transfer of reading skills among students is a serious matter

worth contemplating‟ (Mohd Azam Nair, 2000, 140). This shows that learners lack reading skills, which in turn

cause difficulties in reading. Thus, many EFL learners face problems in understanding reading materials. A solution

to this problem is through introducing appropriate reading strategies, which will guide learners to understand the text

more effectively.

METHODS

Participants who were involved in this study were 20 EFL learners from a private university in Malaysia. These

learners were enrolled in an English improvement programme and were in the advanced level. The instrument used

for this study is a set of needs questionnaire that was adapted from Cohen et al. (2002). The principal idea of

distributing the needs questionnaire was to help learners identify their preferred reading strategies. The questionnaire

was based on a four-point Likert scale given to the students. The summary of the four-point Likert scale language

inventory is as follows:


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Table 1: Four-Point Likert scale

This strategy doesn‟t fit for me

I have tried this strategy and would use it again

I use this strategy and like it

I‟ve never used this strategy but am interested in it

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Table 2.0 shows the respondents‟ preferences on reading strategies. A total of 65% of the students claimed that they

have tried drafting a plan on how to read the text, monitor their progress and check to see how much they understood

in reading the text. This is probably because most of the students do keep track of their understanding in reading the

texts.

Skimming an academic text to get the main idea followed by reading it in further detail is one of the popular

strategies practised by the students. A total of 75% of the students said that they use this strategy and they like it.

This may be because the students are taught to skim reading materials to identify the main ideas first. Hence, the

students deem it essential for them to skim the text to get the main idea first before reading further. In addition, the

students are also subject to constant practice in class, which leads them to utilise this strategy.

Besides that, 60% of the students claimed that they read a dialogue several times in order to understand it. This

shows that most of the students feel that it is important to read a text several times to comprehend it. Perhaps, they

feel that reading the text more than once might give them a clearer picture of the text read.

In addition, 55% of the students said that they do pay attention to the text structure and organisation, especially the

headings and subheadings. The students probably look at the headings and subheadings to get a better picture of the

content of the text. This strategy is widely used by these students.

Moreover, the students gave positive feedback on the „make prediction as to what will happen next‟ strategy. A total

of 65% of the students have tried this strategy and would like to use it again. This shows that they do make

intelligent guesses to predict the next event, and this is what helps them become successful language learners.

Furthermore, the students read, digest and try to predict what will happen next; this shows that they take initiatives to

comprehend the texts they are reading.

In short, these students are successful language learners and they are motivated to improve their reading skills. In

addition, they do take initiatives to look for materials to read on their own rather than wait for their instructors to

spoon-feed them.

The students use the prediction approach to stimulate their interest to make the text interesting. Perhaps, having

interest in the text eventually leads to their understanding of the reading material. The students also try to jot down

summary notes while reading the comprehension texts. They are making an effort to comprehend the texts instead of

avoiding them by saying that the texts are difficult to understand. This is one of the attributes of good language

learners. The students also guess the meaning from clues given and are willing to accept mistakes made in their

learning process. This shows that they are prepared to take risks, and this is an important characteristic of learners.


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Overall, the learners have identified five most frequently used strategies when they read. Based on the feedback

given, it is clear that the students are self-motivated and self-reliant, which shows their positive attitude towards

language learning. Hence, the strategies used in this study do help them to understand the reading materials better.

Table 2: Findings of students‟ preference on reading strategies

Reading Strategies

Strategies to improve my reading ability:

1. Read as much as possible in the target

language.

This strategy doesn‟t fit for me 5%

I have tried this strategy and would use it again 40%

I use this strategy and like it 30%

I‟ve never used this strategy but am interested

in it

25%

2. Try to find things to read for pleasure

in the target language.





in it

10%

3. Find reading material that is at or

near my level.





in it

5%

4. Plan out in advance how I‟m going

to read the text, monitor to see how

I‟m doing, and then check to see how

much I understand.





in it

10%

5. Skim an academic text first to get

the main idea and then go back and

read it more carefully.





in it

10%

6. Read a story or dialogue several




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times until I understand it. I use this strategy and like it 35%


in it

0%

7. Pay attention to the organization of

the text, especially headings and

subheadings.





in it

10%

8. Make ongoing summaries of the

reading either in my mind or in the

margins of the text.

This strategy doesn‟t fit for me

30%




in it

25%

9. Make predictions as to what will

happen next.





in it

20%

Strategies used when words and grammatical

structures are not understood:

10. Guess the approximate meaning by

using clues from the context of the

reading material.





in it

30%

11. Use a dictionary to get a detailed

sense of what individual words

mean.





in it

15%


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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this study highlights some of the reading strategies preferred by EFL learners during reading. Findings

gathered from the study will enable educators to incorporate these strategies into their teaching. As these students

were in advanced level, they were considered better learners compared to students from lower levels. As such, it is

also possible for educators to familiarise lower level learners with these strategies to help them to improve their

reading skills. Through these strategies, learners have a better chance of grasping effective reading skills with the

help of their reading instructors.

REFERENCES

Brown, D.H. 2001.Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Ed.2. New

York: Pearson Education. 299-308, 209-213.

Cohen, A.D., Oxford, R.L, & Chi, J.C. 2002. Language Strategy Use Survey. Minneapolis, M.N: Centre for

Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota. Retrieved on 12.Jan 2010.

Cowling, J.D. 2007. Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive workplace courses at a

leading Japanese company. ScienceDirect. 26.

Geyser, J.P. 2006. English to The World: Teaching Methodology Made Easy. August Publishing Sdn. Bhd.

Iwai, T., Kondo, K., Lim, S. J. D., Ray, E. G., Shimizu, H., and Brown, J. D. (1999). Japanese language needs

analysis. Available at http://www.nflrc.hawaii.edu/Networks/NW13/NW13.pdf

Mohd Azam Nair. 2000. Teaching of English as a Foreign Language: Methods, Approaches and Techniques – from

Theory to Practice. Utusan Publications & Distributors Sdn. Bhd.

Nunan, D. 1999. Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston: Heinle &Heinle Publishers. 252-258.

Efl learners’ choice of reading strategies in a reading classroom

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