MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY MẠNH THỊ THUỲ DIỄM EFL HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PRACTICE OF TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION IN RELATION TO COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH: A
INTRODUCTION
Rationale
Reading is one of the most important skills in determining a learner’s linguistic competence; it is a receptive language process that includes the process of recognition, interpretation and perception Students can get new information and the knowledge of language used in the texts through reading Boer and Dallmann (1960: 2) say that reading is the process where the author is attempting to explain into printed symbols We read printed materials because we want to understand what the author is trying to say According to Ungwattanakul (1994), miscomprehension in reading is caused by a lack of knowledge of vocabulary and sentence structures Reading comprehension determines a student's success in learning many things, particularly in school, so reading plays an important role in the learning process
Reading comprehension skill is considered a key skill for the twelfth grade students not only in school but also for the National Examinations In fact, the result for the students’ reading comprehension skill in Phu Yen province is still not high One of the biggest problems is that students do not acquire enough vocabulary items to understand the texts they read It means that the ability of understanding also depends on students’ background Another problem is that the students feel bored in reading lessons because they don’t have motivation Students are expected to understand the reading material well so that they can gain information correctly and improve their knowledge Therefore, according to Pardo (2004), teachers should assist students in activating their prior knowledge so that they can quickly comprehend the information in the text
In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest in teaching reading comprehension using the traditional method and Communicative approach It seems now that the attitude toward the traditional method has not changed completely However, some English teachers have been considering the use of Communicative approaches for different learning purposes
It can be seen that Communicative approach have not been studied deeply in terms of teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in relation to them
These above reasons inspire me to carry out a study on the aspect of teaching Reading Comprehension skill with the topic “ EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in Phu Yen province in relation to Communicative approach” This study aims to explore whether there are any disparities between the practice of teaching reading comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching reading comprehension.
Aim and objectives
The main target of this thesis is to investigate EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in Phu Yen province in relation to the Communicative approach
To achieve the aim of the study, the research focuses on the following objectives:
+ To find out EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in Phu Yen province
+ To compare the practice of teaching reading comprehension with the
Research questions
To achieve the aims and objectives mentioned above, the thesis addresses itself to answering the following question:
+ What is EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension?
+ Are there any disparities between teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching reading comprehension?
Scope of the study
The study is conducted with the data collected from nine EFL high teachers at three high schools in Phu Yen province This study only focuses on the practice of teaching reading comprehension, to examine whether it is similar to Communicative approach or not Besides, the data is collected from observation and interview conducted by the researcher.
Significance of the study
The study is expected to make both theoretical and practical contribution as follows:
Theoretically, up to now, many studies have adopted reading comprehension skill as one of the four main skills in studying English to develop students’ ability to read and get new information Nevertheless, Communicative approaches have not been studied deeply in terms of teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in relation to them Thus, this study provides a new insight into the relation between the practice and the approach In addition, it provides a valuable reference for the readers who are interested in developing students’ reading comprehension skill
Practically, the findings from the present study may assist EFL high school teachers in finding out appropriate methods for their students Moreover, the result of this research not only gives positive implications to EFL teachers but also helps them have additional experience in teaching reading comprehension.
Organization of the study
This study is divided into 5 chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction - presents the background information of the study; consisting the rationale of the study, the aim and objectives, research questions, scope of the study, the significance and organization of the study
Chapter 2: Literature review- presents the overview of teaching reading comprehension and presents theoretical background related to reading comprehension and communicative approaches that support the study In addition, previous studies related to reading comprehension are also mentioned in this chapter
Chapter 3: Research methods and Procedures- presents the qualitative and quantitative methods employed in the study Secondly, it describes the participants of the study Thirdly, it introduces the research instruments, observation and interview, used to collect data for the study Lastly, this chapter will come to an end with the procedure to conduct the study and the methods of data analysis
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion – analyzes, describes and illustrates the teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in relation to the Communicative approach The information collected from the observations will be analyzed Finally, the data of the semi-structured interviews will be analyzed in order to give more explanations for the findings of the study
From these analyses, the results from the analysis will be discussed
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications - summarizes the main points of the study and suggests some implications for the learners and teachers in reading comprehension as well as for further studies Some limitations are also presented in this chapter.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background
Reading is a language process where people can get information through the printed pages Reading is an important skill that students must master since it cannot be separated from the teaching and learning process Moreover, reading is a reciprocal relationship in terms of knowledge between the author and reader through interactive process to gain meaning from the text Thus, reading necessitates the comprehension of printed symbols as well as an understanding of the structure of language There are some definitions of reading given by some experts Rayner (2001) says reading is defined as
“the level of understanding of a text/message” This comprehension is based on the interaction between the written words and the information outside of the text The ability to master reading texts is referred to as reading skills
According to Rivers (1981:261), reading is considered as the traditional way that enunciates the sounds on the script Meanwhile, Brown (2004:189) says that reading is the process of meaning negotiation In the reading process, the readers must bring their early thought to the next parts to comprehend the meaning of the text they read Furthermore, Nunan (1989:72) explains that reading is a solitary activity in which the learner interacts with the text There are many interactions between the readers and the text such as prior knowledge, the strategy they use in the reading process Burhan (2012) says that reading is considered as a physical and mental activity related to the meaning of written texts It is referred to as a physical activity because it is carried out by the parts of the body, including our eyes
And based on the experts’ quotation above, reading is defined in this study as an activity that allows us to find out new information in order to get new knowledge and experience It is a process of interactions between the readers and the text in which the readers use their knowledge to construct, develop, and build meaning Moreover, reading is also an attempt to get information from written materials and broaden our knowledge
Reading comprehension skills are important for English language learners who learn English as a foreign language Reading comprehension has two elements The first element is vocabulary knowledge The reader must be able to comprehend the author’s vocabulary Text comprehension is the second element, in which the reader combines the vocabulary and different comprehension strategies to develop an understanding of the text Harris & Hodges (1995, p.39) state that comprehension is “the construction of meaning of a written or spoken communication through a reciprocal, holistic interchange of ideas between the interpreter and the message in a particular communicative context” Because comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read, students need to comprehend about what they have read
The ability to analyze the text, comprehend its meaning, and integrate it with what the learner already knows is known as reading comprehension Khoiriyah (2010) defines that reading comprehension is the process of understanding meaning by the readers who get the information from the text Moreover, reading comprehension is also a thinking process that learners seem aware of an idea, understand it through their background The process of understanding and getting information in reading comprehension is simultaneous
Reading comprehension, on the other hand, is defined by Snow et al
(2002) as the process of extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language, which is divided into three elements The first element is the reader that brings to the act of reading, including cognitive capabilities, motivation, knowledge and experiences The second element is the text including the printer text or electronic text Finally, the activity involves the purposes or tasks, process, and consequences associated with the act of reading, all of which occur within some specific context
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is the process of extracting and constructing meaning from written language through interacting with it The main goal of reading is to comprehend what we read It is a complex process that involves the success or failure in the use of a variety of skills We should be able to recollect information after we read it Therefore, reading comprehension skills need to be taught and reinforced in all stages in order to develop necessary skills for students
2.1.3.1 Definition of Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is considered as an approach instead of a method, which aims to develop communicative competence and language skills in the interdependence of language and communication (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) This approach emphasizes how students learn a language, the roles of teachers and students in the classroom, and classroom activities which facilitate in learning (Richards, 2005) In other words, CLT is a learner-centered approach whose main goal is to develop students' communicative competence through various tasks and activities It helps students communicate original messages in real life situations in meaningful contexts Similarly, Lightbown and Spada (2013) define CLT as an approach that focuses on the communication of meanings in interaction rather than the isolated practice of grammatical forms They believe that successful language learning requires not only knowledge of a language's structures and forms, but also its functions and purposes in various communicative contexts Furthermore, the communicative approach helps us broaden our perspective on language and language learning (Littlewood, 1981) We no longer consider linguistic forms and structures to be the end goal of language learning, and we have to consider language in terms of its communicative functions that help students master it in real situations In the context of language learning, communicative language allows learners to freely share experiences from various aspects of their lives with their peers, making learning more exciting and engaging (Savignon, 1987)
From the above discussion, it can be stated that Communicative Language Teaching or the Communicative Approach allows students to communicate with others in real-life situations Students are given the opportunity to freely practice what they have learned, which helps them develop communicative skills Moreover, the interactions among students and between students and teachers can create a good environment that encourages them to learn The teacher can design programs for each lesson based on the circumstances of the students and the nature of their learning environment, which help them acquire the skills in language use
2.1.3.2 The aim of Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) began in the 1960s in Britain as a replacement for the earlier structural method known as Situational Language Teaching
The aim of CLT is to develop what Hymes (1972, cited in Richards and Rodgers 2001) refers to as communicative competence This term is used to contrast Chomsky's theory of grammatical competence For Chomsky, linguistic theory is primarily concerned with mastery of grammatical structures, knowledge of sentence construction, and the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences in a language
In contrast, Hymes’s theory of communicative competence concentrate on what a speaker has to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech of community On the other hand, communicative competence can be defined as the ability to use language correctly and appropriately in authentic and meaningful situations to achieve communication goals Communicative competence is assessed by determining the interaction goals
CLT also creates procedures for teaching the four skills that are related to language and communication Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and due to the wide variety of classroom activities, it is not possible to describe typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles Teaching points are presented in the form of a dialogue, grammatical items are isolated for controlled practice, and then more free activities are provided Students are encouraged to use and practice functions and forms through pair and group work It can be said that CLT procedures are evolutionary rather than revolutionary
Before discussing what communicative competence entails, it is critical to distinguish between Chomsky's terms competence and performance (1965).Chomsky defines competence as the speaker-knowledge hearer's of the language, whereas performance is the actual use of language in concrete situations Moreover,competence is a speaker's knowledge of grammar or the linguistic system, whereas performance is the actual utterance or speech production which reflects a speaker's competence Nevertheless, viewing competence as grammar knowledge ignores other aspects of language. Therefore, Hymes (1972) proposes a broader concept of competence - communicative competence - in response to Chomsky's (1965) concept of competence (Canale and Swain, 1980)
According to Hymes,Communicative competence refers to our abilities to interact with other speakers through meaning negotiation within specific social contexts (Brown, 2007a) It also consists of grammatical competence or knowledge of grammar rules as well as sociolinguistic competence or knowledge of language use rules" (Canale and Swain, 1980).Richards' (2005) definition of communicative competence and Canale and Swain's (1980) widely-accepted framework for communicative competence are as follows
Summary
In conclusion, this chapter presents the literature review as well as theoretical background that supports the study including teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension as well as CA More specifically, the related theories and terms related to the study have been introduced in this chapter It is clear that all the research works above related to reading skill have focused on the teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension except for in relation to Communicative approaches
Furthermore, Communicative approaches, despite existing for a long time, have not been studied deeply in terms of teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension in relation to them There is almost little apprehension about teaching reading comprehension in CA Therefore, it creates a research gap for this current study As a result, with the goal of shedding more light on disparities, an investigation into EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching Reading Comprehension in Phu Yen province in relation to CA are carried out to fill the gap in this field Hence, this study attempts to collect authentic data through observation and interview According to Cohen et al
(2018), observation provides valid and authentic data Moreover, the interview is used to help the researcher have valuable information The findings of this study could have practical implications for principles Simultaneously, the study also helps the teachers find out appropriate methods to improve students’ reading comprehension skill.
RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES
Research design
The study is to describe EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching Reading Comprehension in Phu Yen province as well as analyze and compare the practice of teaching reading comprehension with Communicative approaches To this end, this descriptive study is conducted with the employment of qualitative and quantitative methods to seek descriptive information and produce numerical data about EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching Reading Comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching reading comprehension.
Research methods
This research is conducted at three high schools in Phu Yen province This study is focused on a small group of nine EFL high school teachers This research is based on qualitative and quantitative methods It is very efficient to describe EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension In this case study, the major data gathering techniques are participant observation and interview at high schools A case study is a research strategy and an empirical inquiry that investigate a phenomenon within its real-life context (Yin, 1994) A case study is conducted to describe with those they are observing in a natural environment
The researcher would come to three high schools in Phu Yen province to observe directly and then take the data from an interview with the teachers
In order to collect the qualitative and quantitative data and answer the research question, the classroom observation and interview are employed in this study The first instrument is the classroom observation It is conducted to know about EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension The second instrument is the semi-structured interview that involves nine teachers It is conducted in order to deepen the understanding of the teachers’ experience in teaching reading comprehension
The classroom observation sheet prepared to collect information on how reading lessons are conducted The researcher focuses on teachers’ reading instruction stages including pre-reading strategies, while-reading strategies and post-reading strategies The researcher finds out teachers’ techniques in teaching reading in their own classroom
The classroom observations are conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022 on nine EFL high school teachers in three different schools chosen to participate in this study Data are collected during ten-week visits When the researcher gets the approval of the teachers to participate in the study, the observed teachers are asked to choose two reading comprehension lessons Each reading comprehension classroom observation lasts for 45 minutes at the school The researcher records the observations
The classroom observation sheet based on the literature review of the research is designed to show the frequencies of the reading comprehension practices (see Appendix A) It means that EFL teachers could do in the different stages of teaching a reading comprehension lesson The researcher attends eighteen periods of nine high school EFL teachers in Phu Yen to observe how to teach reading comprehension The classroom observation aims to identify reading comprehension strategies that EFL teachers employed before during and in the post-reading classes
The interview is conducted to gain the data about the teachers’ experience in teaching reading comprehension This instrument helps the researcher to get deep information about the teachers’ experience
Nine EFL teachers are interviewed using semi-structured interview after finishing the observations, then recorded in a written form Of these, 3 teachers have been teaching for five years, 3 teachers have been teaching for
10 years and 3 teachers for 15 years
Each of the nine teachers is invited for the interview Each interview takes place in 20 minutes These questions are about teaching reading comprehension consisting of 24 questions (see Appendix B) This interview gives the researcher a deeper understanding of the entire process of the teachers’ practice as well as teachers’ experience in teaching reading comprehension.
Participants
The subject of the research is EFL high school teachers in 2021-2022 academic year The teachers are EFL teachers who have a bachelor’s degree and Master in English
The researcher observes nine EFL teachers who are teaching English in the twelfth grade from three high schools in Phu Yen province They are both female and male Each school consists of three teachers
As shown in the table below, the number of the teachers participating in this study is nine In terms of sex, there are five female people and four male people Similarly, the educational qualifications of the participants are divided into Masters and Bachelor Degree in English, consisting of 4 and 5 teachers respectively The age of the participants in this study has the same rate, including three stages: from 25 to 35, from 35-45 and from 45 to 55
Table 3.1 The information about the participants
According to the data collected in table 3.2, it can be clearly seen that 11.1 % have from 1-5 years of teaching experience 22.2 % have experience of teaching from 6- 10 years 33.3 % have from 11- 20 years of teaching experience The rest have over 20 years, accounting for 33.3 % It is concluded that the teaching staff are quite experienced in their professions
No Years of teaching Number %
Research procedures
As mentioned in 3.3., two different data collection instruments used in this study are classroom observation and teacher post- observation interviews
Firstly, the researcher starts conducting classroom observations on the second week of the second term The researcher first informs the nine teachers of my research purpose and obtains their permission to observe their lessons
Then the researcher works out an observational schedule with each teacher; then finally- arrangements are confirmed
After the eighteen reading periods are observed, the nine teachers are invited to interviews (details of these interview questions are given in 3.3.2).
Data analysis
After being collected from the semi-structured interview and classroom observations, all the data are described and analyzed as in the following steps
Firstly, the data are taken from eighteen observations extracted from nine teachers The researcher uses observation to produce numerical data, which let them compare things and formulate frequencies, interpretations Hence, the researcher determines frequencies of each item The descriptive statistics provides certain insights about the methods that EFL teachers commonly use In this study, observation is helpful in focusing on exactly what EFL teachers perform during reading comprehension lessons in order to better understand how EFL teachers presented this skill
Secondly, the analysis of the interview is done by the researcher by transcribing the nine interviewees' responses, and then classifying interviewees' responses according to their use of strategies while teaching reading comprehension, and how they use them After that, the percentages are calculated by the researcher The interview data is beneficial in answering the research questions as well as supporting the observation findings The researcher analyzes the result of the interview
Finally, the researcher makes a summary as a conclusion of the research that has been done.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings
As shown in data below, the observations are conducted Teachers’ practice in teaching reading comprehension is presented into three teaching stages; pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading It can be seen in the following tables
Table 4.1 and 4.2 summarize the information about the methods used by the teachers at the pre- reading stage These methods are divided into two main categories: the traditional methods and the communicative methods In reading texts, traditional methods include giving a brief introduction, presenting and explaining new words and new grammatical structures The second category, known as the Communicative method, consists of some activities such as making students predict the content of the text, asking students to survey the title of the reading text and heading for topic, using lead-in questions, creating brainstorming to activate the student’s ideas related to the topic of the text and introducing the text's topic with visual aids
As can be seen in the table 4.1, the techniques used in the traditional methods by the teachers are giving a brief introduction and presenting new grammatical structures in the reading text Eight out of nine teachers (88.9%) say that they use these techniques in the reading text, which means that they employ traditional methods most frequently in the first stage, instead of the techniques of the Communicative approach
Table 4.1 Techniques of the traditional methods used at pre- reading stage (N= 9)
No Teaching techniques used at pre-reading stage
2 Presenting and explaining new grammatical structures in the reading text
Table 4.2 shows that the techniques of the Communicative approach are used by a small number of the teachers at pre-reading stage Namely, only four out of nine (44.4 %) use the strategies such as asking students to predict the content of the text, using lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the text's reading topic and using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text Moreover, asking students to survey the title of the reading text and heading for topic and using pair discussion about topic of the text account for 33.3%
The techniques used by the smallest number of the teachers (2%) are creating brainstorming to activate the student’s ideas related to the topic of the text and making students ask questions about the text However, more than a half of the teachers (77.8%) present and explain the new words related to the topic at pre-reading stage To conclude, few teachers use the strategies of Communicative approach because they take them a lot of time to prepare Clearly, the teachers at three schools seem to focus more on providing their students with as many new words and structures as possible so that they can understand the reading text better during the first stage of a reading lesson, rather than spending time preparing students to activate their background knowledge about the topic
Table 4.2 Techniques of the Communicative approach used at pre- reading stage
No Teaching techniques used at pre-reading stage
1 Presenting and explaining the new words related to the topic
2 Asking students to predict the content of the text
3 Asking students to survey the title of the reading text and heading for topic
4 Using lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the text's reading topic
5 Using pair discussion about topic of the text 3 33.3
6 Using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text
7 Creating brainstorming to activate the student’s ideas related to the topic of the text
8 Making students ask questions about the text 2 22.2
Table 4.3 and 4.4 show the techniques used by teachers at the while- reading stage Like in the pre-reading stage, these techniques are divided into two categories: the grammar-translation methods and communicative approach The grammar-translation methods comprise reading aloud by teachers, asking students to read aloud the reading text, having students translate the reading text into Vietnamese and asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer questions Making students read the questions first, then scanning the reading text for answers and asking students to do the tasks in pairs and in groups belong to the communicative approach
As shown in table 4.3, eight out of nine teachers (88.9%) have the tendency of requiring students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions In addition, more than half of the teachers (55.6%) still ask their students to read aloud to the class and translate the reading text into Vietnamese This shows that the teachers usually make their students focus on the pronunciation and meaning of individual words rather than encouraging them to read the questions first and scan the reading text for the answer In contrast, only 33.3 % of the teachers read aloud the text Most teachers prefer the grammar-translation methods in their teaching reading comprehension
Table 4.3 Techniques of the traditional methods used at while- reading stage (N= 9)
No Teaching techniques used at while-reading stage
2 Asking students to read aloud the reading text to the class
3 Having students translate the reading text into
4 Asking students to read the questions first and then scan the reading text for answers
Table 4.4 presents the techniques of the Communicative approach used by the teachers at the while-reading stage It is clear that only two techniques are employed by some teachers are making students read the questions first, then scan the reading text for answers and asking students to do the tasks in pairs and in groups, making up 44.4 and 33.3 respectively This shows that the techniques of the traditional methods are dominated completely
Table 4.4 Techniques of the Communicative approach used at while- reading stage
No Teaching techniques used at while-reading stage
1 Making students exchange their answers with their partners
2 Asking students to do the tasks in pairs and in groups
Table 4.5 and 4.6 show the information on the methods employed by the teachers in the post-reading stage In the traditional methods, the students are asked to summarize the text both using their own words and doing cloze exercises, and translate it into Vietnamese In some cases, the teachers do nothing at the post-reading stage because of the limited time Meanwhile, the teachers using the communicative approach ask students to have discussion, encourage students to give their personal ideas on the topic of the text and using word games to consolidate vocabulary
As can be seen in the table 4.5, seven out of nine teachers (77.8%) report that they do nothing at the post- reading stage because of time limitation Obviously, pre- and during-reading activities actually take 45 minutes As shown in table 4.1 and table 4.2, there are many reading activities both in pre- reading and post-reading Furthermore, some of the activities are too difficult for students and take too much time to complete Moreover, the teachers ask their students to summarize the text if they have enough time to deal with the post-reading activities It is a good way for them to help the students understand and memorize the text but these technique do not help the students develop their communicative skill More than a half of the teachers (55.6%) ask their students to translate the text into Vietnamese It is an ineffective method of teaching reading comprehension
Table 4.5 Techniques of the traditional methods used at post- reading stage (N= 9)
No Teaching techniques used at post-reading stage
1 Asking students to summarize the text by using their own words or doing cloze exercises
2 Asking students to translate the text into
3 Doing nothing because of the limited time 7 77.8
The result from table 4.6 shows that only two out of nine teachers (22.2%) control the class by asking students to have discussion and using word games to consolidate vocabulary Three out of them (33.3) ask students to give their personal ideas on the topic of the text It cannot be denied that the teachers use traditional methods more frequently than the communicative approach
After observing two classes for each EFL teacher, it can be concluded that teachers used remarkably similar strategies when teaching reading comprehension lessons The majority of the teachers observed had limited familiarity with techniques they used while teaching reading comprehension
Table 4.6 Techniques of the communicative approach used at post- reading stage
No Teaching techniques used at post-reading stage
2 Encouraging students to give their personal ideas on the topic of the text
3 Using word games to consolidate vocabulary 2 22.2
The result of the interview gained from teachers can be illustrated in the following table The percentage of the teachers’ feedback to the interview questions helps to see more clearly about EFL high school teachers’ practice of teaching reading comprehension at three schools
Table 4.7 Interview results from teachers
As can be seen from the table, for the first question “Do you often set specific learning aims?” 100% of teachers state that they set specific learning aims of the lessons at the pre-reading stage to help students understand the objective of the reading texts That means the students more or less have a goal about the reading text
In the teachers’ answer to question 2 “Do you skim the first paragraph for gist and then predict?” the author gets the results as followings: four out of nine teachers (44.4%) say that they skim the first paragraph for gist and then predict
Other teachers find their students at average level and state that their students’ qualification is mixed with learners of lower levels mainly
Discussion
Analyzing the EFL teacher’s practices of teaching reading comprehension at pre-reading stage, while-reading stage and post-reading stage is to find out the strategies that they use in the classroom and disparities between the practice of teaching reading comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching reading comprehension
The first research question examined the EFL teachers’ practices of teaching reading comprehension The findings reveal that the number of the teachers using some reading strategies, such as asking students to predict the content of the text, using pair discussion and visual aids to introduce the topic of the text, creating brainstorming to activate the student’s ideas related to the topic of the text, surveying the title of the reading text and heading for topic was very low This demonstrates that the teachers acquired knowledge about reading comprehension strategies, but due to limited practice or training, and students’ difficulties, so they avoid applying them This is in line with Ong
(2016), which showed that teachers are unfamiliar with instructional strategies for teaching reading comprehension, and they prefer to use traditional teacher-centered approach in reading classes
The results of observing nine EFL teachers for eighteen reading classes are to determine if they practice the reading comprehension strategies of the communicative approach The results of observation data and interview data show that the EFL teachers have limitation and traditional understanding of the reading comprehension strategies and practices of the communicative approach They do not know the importance of the communicative approach at each stage For instance, at the pre-reading stage, the teachers do not organize pair discussions of the text and create brainstorming to activate the student’s ideas related to the topic of the text Moreover, they do not clarify the tasks how to be performed through modeling it such as scanning, skimming, and prediction
The findings also reveal that the participants of the study are used to the traditional methods, so the teachers find it difficult to change the strategies in teaching reading comprehension Furthermore, it has been noticed that the students’ qualification is average and the size of a class is large The students are familiar with passive learning style For examples, the teachers frequently ask students to summarize the text at post-reading stage, without using these practices and strategies
This idea is in line with what Enyew and Yigzaw (2016) said, that the observed teachers do not use any of the effective reading comprehension practices According to Rublik (2017), in order for learners to become independent, they require assistance and guidance from an adult, the teachers give this assistance by showing students how to preview, predict, scan, skim, guess the meaning of new words, summarize, and interact with their group
Regarding the second question, “Are there any disparities between the practice of teaching reading comprehension and the Communicative approach-based theory of teaching reading comprehension?, the analysis of the observation data reveals that the teachers ask students to use limited reading comprehension strategies such as reading aloud or silently, answering questions, identifying examples of structures, and summarizing the text In contrast, a small number of teachers use the communicative approach such as asking students read the questions first and then scan the reading text for answers or have discussion in pairs and in groups Furthermore, when the teachers ask students to predict or summarize, they do not show them how to use the strategies and practices This explains why students' reading comprehension skill in Phu Yen deteriorates These results are in line with the results of studies like Dole (2000) as cited in Ortlieb (2013) The teachers' primary role is to ask students questions about reading passages and ask them to identify the main ideas, then teachers determine whether the students' responses are correct or not
In addition, the difficulty that teachers and students meet when dealing with a reading lesson is the poorly equipped classrooms Most students face the major challenges in learning reading lessons such as lack of background knowledge and world knowledge and lack of appropriate reading strategies Besides, their lack of motivation and time limitation can affect their reading ability These difficulties cause problems for teachers They can hardly finish their lessons on time, and do not have enough time to follow the procedures, which affects all the tasks designed in the reading lessons
In this sense, EFL teachers in Phu Yen province should be exposed to professional development programs with practical aspects in which EFL teachers become acquainted with these Communicative approach while teaching reading comprehension, as well as how to apply and model them in order to transfer these methods to students It is not only applied for the teachers in Phu Yen province but also can involve English language teachers while teaching reading comprehension.