Thesis Rahman

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY OF RAJSHAHI
RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH
AN EVALUATION OF THE
TEACHING OF READING SKILLS
OF ENGLISH IN BANGLADESH
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of
MA in English
by
Md. Hamidur Rahman

Roll No. 042069
2004
Supervisor
Dr. M. Shahidullah
Professor
Department of English
University of Rajshahi
January 2007
DEDICATED
To
My Parents
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At first I would like to express my gratitude to the Almighty Whose mercy enabled
me to complete this thesis successfully.
I am deeply indebted to Professor Dr. M. Shahidullah, an inspirational teacher of the
Department of English, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi for his friendly guidance
and assistance at all stages of this dissertation. I would like to acknowledge humbly
that his constant guidance inspired me all through the study. Without his help and
careful guidance this thesis would not have been possible.
I would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to Professor Jahurul Islam, the
Chairman of the Department of English, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi for his
every possible help during the entire period of the work. At the same time I would
like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the respected teachers of the department for
their valuable input.
I would like to express special thanks to Sanjida Islam, Sadia Islam and their family
for their constant help, mental support and encouragement.
I am very much thankful to Masum, Iqubal and Shohel for their help in various
stages of the research. I am also very grateful to the students and the honourable
teachers of various government and non-government colleges for their co-operation.
My heartfelt thanks go to all those persons who assisted me in various ways from
time to time to complete the work successfully.
iii
ABSTRACT
This study investigates an important area of English language teaching and learning.
It examines the present situation of teaching reading skills of English, the problems
students encounter during reading an English text and the learners proficiency level
of reading skills when they are at the H.S.C level in Bangladesh. It also examines the
reading syllabus and reading materials used at the intermediate level.
The study discusses the recent developments in reading pedagogy. It also presents an
evaluation of teaching the different sub-skills of reading and then through an
empirical study examines whether both higher and lower order sub-skills are covered
in the reading syllabus, and taught properly in the country. The empirical
investigation examines whether the modern methods of reading pedagogy are used in
teaching reading in Bangladesh.
The methods for empirical investigation in the study include students and teachers
questionnaire survey, students and teachers interview, classroom observation and
administering reading tests. Reading components of the syllabus and the reading
materials are also evaluated.
The thesis consists of 5 chapters:
Chapter 1 introduces and establishes the topic focus, outlines the objectives,
highlights the problems in the field of study and discusses the significance of the
study. It also outlines research methodology briefly, and defines the key terminology
used in the study.
Chapter 2 describes theoretical development in reading pedagogy which includes the
definition of reading, purposes of reading, techniques of and approaches to teaching
reading in the class. It discusses in detail the sub-skills of reading and the problems
students face while reading. It has also points out how to select an appropriate text
for reading classes or for an appropriate purpose.
Chapter 3 briefly discusses the methods usually used in ELT research of this type,
and the methods used in the present study. It discusses the instruments used for
iv
questionnaire survey, interview, classroom observation and tests of reading skills. It

also presents sampling plans for each method.
Chapter 4 presents the results and analyses the data. It includes the results collected
through the empirical investigation.
Chapter 5 presents a summary of the findings, discusses the implications of the
findings and makes some recommendations for improving the reading syllabus,
materials and pedagogy in Bangladesh. It includes a general conclusion.
The findings show that students present level of reading is not up to the mark; the
reading pedagogy used in the country is also largely backdated.
At the end of the paper some functional measures are suggested.
CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgement
ii
Abstract
iii- iv
Contents
v- x
List of Tables
xi- xii
Chapter 1
Introduction
1- 30
1.1
Introduction
1.2
Statement of the Problem
1.3
Objectives of the Study
1.4
Significance of the Study
1.5
Literature Review
1.6
Purposes of Reading
13
1.6.1
Reading for Pleasure
13
1.6.2
Reading for Information
14
1.6.3
Reading for Meaning
15
1.7
Types of Reading
18
1.7.1
Academic Reading
18
1.7.1.1
Basal Reading Programme
19
1.7.1.2
Individualized Reading
20
1.7.1.3
Management Systems
21
1.7.2
Non-academic Reading
21
1.7.3
Intensive Reading
22
1.7.4
Extensive Reading
23
1.8
Requirements for Effective Reading
25
1.8.1
Knowledge and Experience
26
1.8.2
Schemata and Reading Skills
27
1.9
Research Methodology
29
vi
1.10
Conclusion
29
Chapter 2
Theoretical Development in Reading Pedagogy
31-73
2.1
Introduction
31
2.2
Problems Students often Encounter with Reading
32
2.3
The Sub-skills of Reading
39
2.3.1
Skimming
39
2.3.2
Scanning
40
2.3.3
Browsing
41
2.3.4
Search Reading
41
2.3.5
Careful reading
42
2.3.6
Prediction
42
2.3.7
Inferencing
44
2.3.8
Previewing
45
2.3.9
Anticipation
45
2.3.10
Presupposition
47
2.3.11
Shared Assumptions
47
2.3.12
Recognizing Text Organization
48
2.4
Approaches to Reading
50
2.4.1
Top-down Approach
50
2.4.2
Bottom-up Approach
51
2.4.3
Interactive Reading
51
2.5
Techniques of Teaching Reading
54
2. 5.1
Teaching How to Tackle Meaning
54
2. 5.2
Approaches to Teach the Skills to Understand Meaning
58
2. 5.2.1
Non-linguistic Approach
59
2. 5.2.2
Linguistic Approach
59
2. 5.3
Classroom Procedures for Teaching Reading
61
2. 5.3.1
Pre-reading
62
2. 5.3.2
While-reading
63
2. 5.3.3
Post-reading
64
vii
2. 5.4
Top Ten Principles for Teaching Reading
64
2.6
Text Selection
68
2.7
Conclusion
73
Chapter 3
74- 94
3.1
Introduction
74
3.2
Purpose of the Empirical Investigation
74
3.3
Methods of Data Collection
75
3.3.1
Questionnaire Survey
75
3.3.2
Interview
76
3.3.3
Observation Method
77
3.3.4
Schedule Method
77
3.4
Methods of Data Collection Adopted for the Present Study 77
3.5
Instruments Used for the Empirical Study
78
3.6
Construction of the Instruments
78
3.7
Detailed Description of the Instruments for Students

Questionnaire Survey and Interview
3.8
80
Detailed Description of the Instruments for Teachers

80
3.9
Pilot Survey
81
3.10
Detailed Description of the Instruments Used for

the Classroom Observation
3.11
82
Detailed Description of the Test of Reading Skills

Administered for the Study
82
3.12
Sampling Plan for the Empirical Study
83
3.12.1
Sampling Plan for Students Questionnaire Survey
85
3.12.2
Sampling Plan for Students Interview
86
3.12.3
Sampling Plan for Teachers Questionnaire Survey
87
3.12.4
Sampling Plan for Teachers Interview
88
3.12.5
Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation
88
3.12.6
Sampling Plan for the Test of Reading Skills
89
viii
3.13
Administration of the Empirical Study
90
3.13.1
Administration of the Students Questionnaire Survey
91
3.13.2
Administration of the Students Interview
91
3.13.3
Administration of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey
92
3.13.4
Administration of the Teachers Interview
92
3.13.5
Administration of the Classroom Observation
92
3.13.6
Administration of the Test of Reading Skills
93
3.13.7
Evaluation of the Reading Components of

the Syllabus and Materials Used at H.S.C Level
93
3.14
Processing and Analyzing Data
94
3.15
Conclusion
94
Chapter 4
Results
95-152
4.1
Introduction
95
4.2
Result of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview
95
4.2.1
Description of the Results of the Students

4.2.1.1
102
Students Present Level of Reading Proficiency

(Items 1- 16)
102
4.2.1.2
Students Strategies for Reading (Items 17- 20)
104
4.2.1.3
Approaches and Methods Currently used for

Teaching Reading (Items 21- 58)
4.2.2
Interpretation of the Results of the Students

4.2.3
4.4.1.1
115
Analysis of the Results of Teachers

4.4.1
110
Summary of the Findings of the Students

4.4
106
116
Description of the Results of the Teachers

120
Students Present Ability (Items 1-16)
120
ix
4.4.1.2
Approaches and Methods Used by the Teachers (Items 17- 54)
4.4.2
Interpretation of the Results of the Teachers

4.4.3
126
Summary of the Findings of the Teachers

4.5
122
132
Comparative Study: Government and

Non-government Colleges
132
4.5.1
Interpretation of the Comparative Study
137
4.6
The Results of the Classroom Observation
138
4.6.1
Description of the Results
140
4.6.2
Interpretation of the Results
143
4.6.3
Summary of the Findings of the Classroom Observation
146
4.7
Analysis of the Results of the Test of Reading Skills
146
4.7.1
Summary of the Results of the Test of Reading Skills
149
4.8
Analyses of the Points Noted down During Classroom

Observation
4.9
149
Contradictions between the Results of

Questionnaire Survey and Interview and of the
Classroom Observation and Reading Test
150
4.10
Reasons of the Contradictions
151
4.11
Conclusion
152
Chapter 5
Summary of the Findings, Recommendations and
Conclusion
153- 161
5.1
Summary of the Findings
154
5.1.1
Problems of Students as Found in the Study
154
5.1.2
Syllabus, Materials and Tests Used in the Country
154
5.1.3
Teachers Approaches Currently Used for Teaching
5.2
Reading
155
Implication of the Findings
155
5.2.1
Implication for Text Selection
156
5.2.2
Implication for Syllabus
156
5.2.3
Implication for Materials
156
5.2.4
Implication for Methodology
157
5.2.4.1
Implication for Teachers Role
157
5.2.4.2
Implication for Learners Role
157
5.2.4.3
Implication for Classroom Activities
157
5.3
Recommendations
158
5.3.1
Recommendations for Syllabus
158
5.3.2
Recommendations for Text Selection
158
5.3.3
Recommendations for Material
159
5.3.4
Recommendations for Pedagogy
159
5.3.4.1
Teachers Role
159
5.3.4.2
Learners Role
160
5.4
Recommendations for Teacher Training
161
5.5
Conclusion
161
Bibliography
162- 170
Appendices
171- 192
Appendix 1
Instrument for the Students Questionnaire

Survey and Interview
Appendix 2
172
Instrument for the Teachers Questionnaire Survey

And Interview
177
Appendix 3
Instrument for the Classroom Observation
182
Appendix 4
Test of Reading Skills
186
Appendix 5
A Lesson from the H.S.C Textbook
191
xi
List of Tables
Table 1
Results of the Students Proficiency in Reading Skills
Table 2
85
Table 3
86
Table 4
87
Table 5
88
Table 6
Sampling Plan for the Classroom Observation
89
Table 7
90
Table 8
Result of Students Questionnaire Survey and

Interview (Items 1-16)
95
Table 9
Results of Students Questionnaire Survey (Items 17- 20)
100
Table 10
Results of Students Interview (Items 17- 20)
101
Table 11
Very High Mean Score of Students

Table 12
High Mean Score of Students Questionnaire

Table 13
128
Low Mean Score of the Teachers

Table 19
127
High Mean Score of the Teachers

Table 18
116
Very High Mean Score of the Teachers

Table 17
115
The Results of Teachers Questionnaire Survey

and Interview
Table 16
114
Very Low Mean Score of Students Questionnaire

Table 15
112
Low Mean Score of Students Questionnaire

Table 14
111
130
Very Low Score of the Teachers

131
xii
Table 20
Comparative Study of the Results of Questionnaire

Survey in Government and Non-government Colleges
132
Table 21
Results of the Classroom Observation
138
Table 22
Very High Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
143
Table 23
High Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
144
Table 24
Low Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
144
Table 25
Very Low Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
145
Table 26
Results of the Reading Test
147
Table 27
Item-wise Results of the Reading Test
148
Table 28
Comparison of the Overall Mean Scores of Survey,

Interview and Classroom Observation
150
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Over the last part of the twentieth century, ELT (English Language Teaching)
methodology has developed very rapidly and has been subject to changes and
controversies. Communicative approach to teaching and learning English has been a
significant development; at present, it is used worldwide in teaching and learning
English, especially, in EFL and ESL situations. In Bangladesh also this approach is
recommended by NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board) and being
implemented by ELTIP (English Language Teaching Improvement Project), PERC
(Primary Educational Research Council), American Peace Corps and by teachers and
experts, trained both overseas and locally. Instead of grammar-based approach,
practice-based learning is considered important in recent theoretical approaches. This
practice covers training of all four basic skills- listening, speaking, reading, and
writing. Success of the teaching of English through communicative approach
depends entirely on the practice of these skills. Among the major skills, teaching of
reading has a significant place in Bangladesh as it is still very important for higher
education (Haque, 2006). Teaching of reading, therefore, needs special attention
from the experts and professionals for a meaningful higher education in the country.
English is the no. 1 library language of the world, a vast majority of worlds library
resources are in English, and the biggest publishing industries of the world publish
books in English. Therefore, it has become quite impossible to pursue meaningful
higher education without the reading skill of English. In Bangladesh, though Bangla
is the official language and the medium of instruction and examination in the
mainstream education, library resources are still in English. Haques (2006: 133)
study shows that books and journals in central and seminar libraries in various
universities in the country are mostly in English.
According to his study, in the central library of Dhaka University the total number of
books is 6 lakhs of which 405668 (67.6%) are in English, and out of 73,500 journals
65,662 (89.3%) are in English. In the central library of Rajshahi University the total
number of books is 2,74,586 of which 1,98,922 (72.4%) are in English, and the
number of journals is 36,290 of which 35,582 (98%) are in English. In the central
library of Agricultural University, Mymensingh, the total number of books is
1,41,321 of which 1,20,282 (85.1%) are in English, and the number of journals is
35,577 of which 33,248 (98.1%) are in English. And in the central library of BUET,
the total number of books is 1,17,718 of which 92,887 (78.9%) are in English, and
out of 15,143 journals 13,487 (93.9%) are in English.
Similarly, books and journals in seminar libraries are mostly in English. According
to the same study (Haque, 2006: 135), in 15 departmental seminar libraries in Dhaka
University, there are 99, 849 books of which 94668 (94.8%) are in English, and there
are 10,415 journals of which 8,339 (80.1%) are in English. In 30 departmental
seminar libraries in Dhaka University, there are 71,551 books of which 50,858
(71.1%) are in English, and there are 15,018 journals of which 13,571 (90.4%) are in
English. In 12 departmental seminar libraries in BUET, there are 46485 books of
which 45282 (97.4%) are in English, and there are 5459 journals all of which (100%)
are in English. In 3 departmental seminar libraries in Agricultural University,

Mymensingh, there are 22255 books of which 20900 (93.9%) are in English, and
there are 6860 journals of which 6850 (99.9%) are in English. Again, in the analysis
of University syllabuses Haque (2006: 140) tries to find out the number of texts and
reference books recommended for the undergraduate and Masters Syllabuses.
According to his study, syllabuses of 17 departments of Dhaka University, the
number of recommended texts and reference books for undergraduate programme is
4439 of which 4070 (91.7%) are in English, and for the Masters programme, 1892
texts and reference books of which 1839 (97.2%) are in English. In 39 departmental
syllabuses of Rajshahi University, the number of recommended texts and reference
books for undergraduate programme is 10696 of which 8893 (83.1%) are in English,
and for the Masters programme, 3949 texts and reference books of which 3547
(89.8%) are in English. . In 7 departmental syllabuses of Agricultural University,
Mymensingh, the number of recommended texts and reference books for
undergraduate programme is 2217 of which 2182 (83.1%) are in English, and on the
Masters programme, the number of recommended texts and reference books is 1061
of which 1052 (99.2%) are in English.
These data show an overall picture of the central libraries, seminar libraries and
recommended syllabuses of various universities in Bangladesh. Therefore, it is
impossible to have effective higher education without the reading skills of English.
Many others, for example Raquib (1987), consider reading skills of English very
important for higher education in Bangladesh. Moreover, todays world is becoming
increasingly globalized; a graduate is produced today not only for the local, but for
the global market. So, graduates should have education of an international standard
which is not at all possible without the reading skills of English.
This is also an age of Internet, and it is the best and swiftest medium of getting
information and being acquainted with the world. As the language of Internet is
English, a fair level of reading skill in English is necessary to use or browse Internet.
Reading is, therefore, a very important English language skill that we need in this
present competitive world.
Reading is also necessary to know the answers to a particular question or issue for
which someone reads. To satisfy ones thirst for knowledge, reading books is
necessary, and most of the books are in English. This being the reality of the present
world, teaching of the reading skills of English is very important for Bangladesh, and
it has no alternative.
1.2 Statement of the Problem

Importance of the reading skills of English has reached new heights in the present
context of the globalized world. But the question is: how far are the learners in
Bangladesh prepared for it?
Students proficiency of reading English is very poor here. A large majority of
students at the undergraduate level in our country cannot access English textbooks
prescribed in their syllabus for their lack of required proficiency of reading skills in
English. Therefore, they depend only on Bangla books, and the vast resources in the
libraries being in English remain unutilized. As a result, in most cases, higher
education in this country suffers miserably; it falls far below the international
standard.
Though students do some reading in school, they prefer memorising things words
from dictionaries, sentences from various books, and rules of grammar from different
grammar books.
Reading component of English course in the country focuses on understanding word
meaning and answering specific questions which students mostly get done by private
tutors or at coaching centres. At no stage of the whole education system, students are
encouraged to process the information from texts by themselves through an
intellectual engagement, analysis and interpretation of the text. Reading is not taught
properly in scientific methods. Teachers also do not have necessary training for that.
Greenwood (1998: 5) rightly points out that teachers fail to recognize the potentiality
of reading, and they neglect and/or ignore it in the classroom. According to him, the
responsibility of this failure goes to the attitude first of the teacher and then of the
students.
The most acknowledged cause of failure of the students in effective reading is the
lack of vocabulary. Many students inspired by friends or guided by teachers
sometimes try to read a book but soon they lose the eagerness and interest with
which they start reading the text. In every paragraph, or even in every sentence, or
every phrase they come across some new words, which create a constant barrier for
them to understand the meaning. Sometimes, they do not understand long sentences,
and they miss the links between parts of a text. As a result, they lose their patience
and their interest, and they give up reading. Sometimes they may feel inspired to
look up the words in the dictionaries, but checking the dictionary too many times
proves boring, and at last, their enthusiasm for reading the text dies down.
There are some other problems that discourage the students to continue reading a
text. Most students fail to understand the syntax, especially when the sentence
structures are long. They also have problems with understanding text organization.
Some ELT researches in Bangladesh found that students proficiency in reading is
very poor. Tasmin (2001: 52-53) found out that students proficiency in almost all
the sub-skills of reading is below average. Tamins findings are as follows:
Table 1
Results of the Students Proficiency in Reading Skills
Q.
No.
4
5
9
10
11
12
13
Questions
Understanding unfamiliar
words and expressions in text
Guessing meaning of the words
from context
Understanding long sentences
Understanding shift and
transition of ideas in a text
Reading for substance
Understanding the writers tone,
mood and purpose
Survey
Mean Std. Dev
Interview
Mean Std. Dev
1.10
0.29
1.10
0.14
1.13
0.29
1.13
0.13
1.23
0.55
1.13
0.09
1.13
0.35
1.08
0.08
1.15
0.21
1.03
0.04
1.13
0.35
1.17
0.17
1.05
0.29
1.23
0.19
Critical appreciation and
14
1.08
0.29
1.00
0.17
evaluation of texts
Making inferences, drawing
conclusion and supplying
15
1.05
0.21
1.13
0.13
implied details
Perceiving the organization of
16
1.08
0.21
1.18
0.22
passage or a text
Reference skills: consulting
dictionary for words and their
19
1.28
0.49
1.13
0.45
use, index, and library
catalogue
N.B Only the relevant questions and their results have been used here keeping the
serial numbers of the original study. A 5 point scale was used for the study; the
minimum number of the scale was 1, and the maximum was 5.
Reading for specific information
The table shows that students proficiency level in most of the sub-skills is poor.
Haque (2006: iii) also shows that students proficiency level in reading skills is
below average. In his study, Mean scores of the question related to students level of
proficiency are 2.60 in the questionnaire survey and 2.57 in the interview. These
findings prove the fact, and suggest that teaching and learning of the reading skills of
English needs special attention in the present context of Bangladesh.
Pedagogic approach to the teaching of reading in Bangladesh is still very backward,
though it is an important area of the English syllabus and tests in the country. Focus
in the reading tests, though shifted in recent times, is inadequate in Bangladesh. All
these need closer examination and evaluation to improve the situation in the country.
1.3 Objectives of the Study

The study would examine the recent developments in the methodology for the
teaching of reading skills and its implementation in the academic setting of
Bangladesh. It seeks to outline the problems students face in reading English. It
would recommend measures to overcome the problems of the teaching of reading
skills prevailing at the intermediate levels. The objectives of the study are to
1. examine the problems students face during their reading,
2.
examine the recent development in reading pedagogy,
3.
evaluate the reading component or the English syllabi,
4. evaluate the reading pedagogy, materials and tests currently in use in the
country,
5.
recommend measures to improve the present condition.
1.4 Significance of the Study

There have been significant developments in the theories and practices of reading, in
the world in the last three/four decades. It is important to examine those
developments for insights that can help us bring about significant changes in reading
pedagogy in Bangladesh.
Research in this field is very significant for Bangladesh, because standard of
education of the country depends on students reading proficiency in English. For
meaningful education, it is very important to improve the reading proficiency of
learners in English. It is equally important to examine the present state of students
reading skills in Bangladesh, to identify the problems and address those to improve
the overall situation in the interest of the country. It is admitted that higher education
of the country suffers a setback because of students poor level of reading
proficiency. To improve the situation in the country, some measures must be taken to
identify the problems, address them, and improve the situation. This study is an
attempt to do so. Therefore, the study will be of great significance and interest for the
country as a whole.
1.5 Literature Review

For the right focus in the teaching of reading, it is important to define it and closely
examine what problems students face while reading something in English.
It is difficult to define reading in a word. Many thinkers have defined and analyzed it
in many different ways. The perspective of reading differs from person to person
depending on the persons individual attitude and aims towards printed words, from
language to language considering the cause of reading and the content of the text. So,
the definition and meaning of reading depend, largely, on the purpose of the reader,
on the text and textual contents, on the attitude of the readers towards the text, on the
reading materials and on the experience and schemata of the reader. However,
experts have tried to define it differently, in their own way of observation and
thought.
Some argue that reading is a conceptual and thinking process through print, and the
process is interpretative (Emarald et al.: 1982). Widdowson (1979) is of the same
opinion that reading is the process of getting linguistic information via print.
Ransom (1978: 14-15) defines reading as a conversation between the writer and the
reader. He states that like someone who is talking, the writer is trying to convey
some message to another person. Shaw (1959: viii) also states that reading is the
communication of thoughts, moods, and emotions through which one receives from
others their ideas and feelings. Nuttall (1996: 4) regards reading as the process of
getting out of the text as nearly as possible the message the writer put into it.
Williams (1996: 2) states reading as a process through which one looks at and
understands a written text. Goodman (1967) defines reading as a psychological
guessing game, and Patricia Carrel et al (1988) define reading as an interactive
process where readers employ their background knowledge and past experience to
make sense of the text. Reading, according to Moynihan (1969: 267), frequently
uses chronology, comparison-contrast, causality, and analogy.
This process is precisely active (Doff, 1997: 67; and Rauch et al. 1968) and cognitive
(Urquhart and Weir, 1998: 17), and the reader in a contact with the text carries it out
(op. cit.). Grellet (1996: 8) defines reading as an active skill. Rauch and Weinstein
10
(1968) terms reading as an active, alert thinking process where the reader matches
the writer thought for thought. According to Shaw (1959: viii) reading is thinking
with the author, absorbing his ideas.
Urquhart and Weir (1998: 22) have tried to give a precise, shortcut and acceptable
definition of reading after observing and analyzing the definition of others.
According to them, reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information
encoded in language form via the medium of print.
There are different approaches to defining, analyzing and teaching reading as there
are different schools of critics. According to the New Criticism, reading is just a
process of recreating in our mind the mental condition of the authors or the writer
(Eagleton, 1996: 41). The psychoanalysts consider reading as the proper means to
reach the psychology or, more precisely, the unconscious of the author and to know
the personality of the author, his/her surroundings and hidden desires. But poststructuralist attitude towards reading is quite different from it. Derrida (1976), a poststructuralist, thinks that reading is not a psychological process, for reading cannot
legitimately transgress the text toward something other than it or toward a
signified outside the text.
Reading is not a passive skill. It requires frequent practice and exercise. According to
Rauch and Weinstein (1968), Reading improvement is possible and probableprovided you work at it. There are no shortcuts, gimmicks, or panaceas that will cure
all reading problems. Frankly, reading improvement is hard work, but they assure
that it is gratifying. In short, the more one reads, the better they will read, and the
better one reads, the faster they will read (op. cit.).
11
To be an effective reader, one should make a logical link between the language of
the text and his mental perception. Therefore, the language should suit the level and
perception of the reader and, should enable a student to enter inner worlds which
become real to the perceiver. (Rolaff, 1973) These inner worlds of the reader and
of the text and their structure play vital role in understanding the text. Students
should enable themselves to enter the world of the text without seeking the help from
the traditional teaching method of comprehension checks. Instead they could be
more actively engaged in negotiation for potential meaning, both individually and
with other students. Interest in the activity can sustain interest in the text or be
fuelled by interest in the text. (Greenwood, 1998: 89)
The first and prime thing required for reading is the ability to recognize the written
forms of the words. Then come the perception and internalization of the meaning or
message that a text contains. Thus reading is regarded as a two fold process.
Dechant (1982: 288) gives an elaborate description of the process:
First, it requires word identification (visual discrimination of the word, and recoding or
ability to pronounce the word), which is generally effected by configuration cues, phonic
cues, morphemic analysis cues, and sometimes by picture and context cues. Second, reading
requires comprehension (decoding or associating meaning with the symbols that comprise
the words).
According to Urquhart and Weir (1998: 18) reading is a cognitive activity, and being
so, it mainly takes place in mind; the other physical manifestations such as eye
movement, subvocalization etc. are, to them, comparatively superficial.
Reading is not just an act of going through the text. It involves certain attitudes and
reactions towards the text a reader is reading. According to Grellet (1996: 8), reading
constantly involves guessing, predicting, checking and asking oneself questions.
Rauch and Weinstein (1968) comment that reading involves more than the ability to
12
recognize and pronounce words correctly. It involves knowledge of language, the

processing of messages the text carries, guessing power of the reader to a certain
extent, perception, psychomotor movements and emotional response. In one of the
best-known papers on reading, Goodman (1967) argues that syntactic, semantic and
pragmatic knowledge are involved in the reading process. Urquhart and Weir (1998:
18) argue that reading is a language activity, and it involves, at some time or another,
inferencing, memory, relating text to background knowledge, as well as decoding,
and obvious language aspects as syntax and lexical knowledge. According to Shaw
(1959: viii), reading involves re-creating the thought and experience of the author,
forming images produced by the printed letters, and increasing vocabulary. It
requires organizing and retaining ideas and impressions gained from the printed
page.
Reading also involves linguistic analysis of the text. Eskey (1988: 98) argues that to
teach reading as a kind of cued speculations we should be able to teach reading as
a kind of linguistic analysis.
Nuttall (1996: 41, 62, 78) states that effective reading involves word attack skill,
sentence attack skill and text attack skill. To her, reading involves not only
looking at sentences and words and going through them at random but also
recognizing and understanding them intellectually. It helps students pick up new
words, syntax and style of writing.
Dechant (p: 335) has summarized the whole thing. He believes that a complete
reading involves four steps: recognition of the written symbols, understanding the
13
meaning or message of the text, reaction of the reader after completing reading and
integration of the whole process.
However, many experts have worked on the development of the reading pedagogy.
Eddie Williams, Cristine Nuttall, Francois Grellet among others made significant
contribution to this field.
1.6 Purposes of Reading

Reading serves multifaceted purposes. People read books for a variety of reasons.
They read to comprehend a text and answer comprehension check questions, to do
grammar activities, to solve language problems, to improve language ability, to
achieve pleasure and information, to know the instruction of using a particular tool,
to be familiar with a particular country or place, to decode message from a printed
document, to get idea from inscription from any objects etc. Doff (1997: 170) states,
We usually have a purpose in reading: there is something we want to find out, some
information we want to check or clarify, some opinion we want to match against our
own etc. The reasons and purposes of reading a text differ from person to person
because of their different opinions, backgrounds and experiences and schemata
(Nuttall, 18). Thus, a same text may be a source of diverse interests depending on the
person concerned. According to the purposes of and reasons for reading, Grellet
(1996: 4) has divided non-academic reading into two main criteria. They are (a)
reading for pleasure and (b) reading for information.
1.6.1 Reading for Pleasure
While talking about non-academic reading or private reading in his article,
Reading for Pleasure, Strong (1995: 41) comments that the only sensible reason
14
for reading anything is because we enjoy it or hope to enjoy it because pleasure

covers a whole variety of feelings and shades of feeling, and so one should read
only what one likes so that s/he may get expected range of pleasure.
Eagleton (1996: 166) is of the same opinion that people read books of poems, novels
etc. because they find them pleasurable, and it is truly appropriate as far as the
foreign language is concerned. Intention for seeking pleasure from a text makes
readers read more and more which ultimately leads them towards a better
understanding of and building up vocabulary, and it ultimately helps them to develop
the overall skills in reading ESL and EFL. A reader enjoys a book when s/he gets
pleasure. If the book ceases to provide the pleasure s/he seeks, s/he will simply stop
reading. For this reason, the aim of a reading programme should be, according to
Nuttall (1996: 31), to enable students to enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with)
reading in the foreign language.
Rosenblatt (1938) has described reading for pleasure as aesthetic reading since it
meets the thirst of souls and provides readers with aesthetic pleasure.
1.6.2 Reading for Information
Rosenblatt (1938) has described reading for information as efferent reading since
many people prefer reading to collect information from anything written. The truth is
that written texts as permanent sources of information still have more effect on the
reader than other media (e.g. voice-recording), and reading is widely used skill in
decoding the meaning from these sources.
15
Grellet (1996: 4) states that people read books in order to find out something or in
order to do something with the information [they] get. Nuttall (1996: 3) is of the
same opinion that we read because we want to get something from the writing.
In this age of information technology, people are busy in collecting and storing
information update news of the current world, business information, information on
culture and politics, news of foreign affairs etc. The major sources of these pieces of
information are newspaper, magazines, and internet, and these media require
necessary skills in reading. As the language of computer and international
newspapers and magazines is English, reading skill in ESL and EFL is necessary.
Moreover, learners go overseas with a specific purpose higher studies, or dealing
with overseas customers, or performing professional jobs well etc. (Nuttall, 1996:
30). Williams (1996: 124) rightly states that reading for information in English is
one of the most important purposes that the learners may have in learning English.
Students read books for information also because of the fact that they want answers
of certain questions upon certain issues, and they need to confirm their inferences.
To put it in Doffs word, Questions and guesses make us want to read (because
we want to know answers). (1997: 171)
1.6.3 Reading for Meaning
It is necessary, and at the same time, important to decide why students are made to
read either for developing language or for improving the understanding power of
meaning a text conveys. Nuttalls (1996: 30) opinion is that, students need to
learn how to read for meaning because, according to her, language improvement is
a natural by-product of reading. Shahidullah (1995-96: 210) is of the same opinion
16
that Reading, basically, is concerned with meaning of a text, which is embedded in

the language of the text. A text is a physical manifestation, and readers purpose is
to construct meaning with the data a text supplies. In short, discovering the
intended meaning of a text should be the sole purpose of the teaching of reading
since language skills develop naturally with the development of reading skills.
In a primary sense, meaning of a text is an overall impression of the whole text.
Actually, as Nuttall (pp. 20-22) observes it, meaning starts from the single
morpheme of a text, and it gradually develops up to the text as a whole conveying a
full message to the reader. To produce discourse in the light of the combination of
meanings of particles (single morpheme, sentences context etc.) Nuttall has
mentioned four consecutive categories of the meaning. They are:
a) Conceptual meaning: This kind of meaning is embedded in a word. Every

lexical item embodies a concept simple or complex, and the whole books are
written on complex concepts (op. cit.). This refers to Saussurean definition of
language as a sign system that includes signifier and signified.
b) Propositional meaning: The meaning a sentence can have of its own is a
propositional meaning. A single word does not inherit this type of meaning because
we cannot affirm it, deny it, question it (op. cit.). For example playing as a single
word in isolation may have conceptual but not propositional meaning. If it is used in
a proposition, such as, Boys are playing in the field, it will be possible to deny it (the
sentence or proposition), doubt it, question it and so on. Thus the word (playing)
becomes propositionally meaningful.
17
This is the only category of meaning that can be interpreted without the reference of
the context.
c) Contextual meaning: Contextual meaning occurs when a sentence or
proposition or even a word is used in a context. The use indicates the writers
intention of and reason for using it. The value of its using in a text becomes explicit
from the relationship between it and the other sentences or elements before and after
it in the same text.
For an effective reading it is crucial to interpret contextual meaning.
d) Pragmatic meaning: It is the meaning which a sentence has only as a part of the
interaction between writer and reader (op. cit.). It reflects the writers feelings,
attitude, purpose, tone and so on. Pragmatic meaning is the product of the unified
whole text, and it offers variations in interpreting the meaning because of the fact
that every reader comes to the text with his/her individual concepts and experiences
that largely affect the meaning of the text. Grellet (1946: 9) states that each reader
brings his own meaning to what he reads based on what he expects from the text
and his previous knowledge.
The process of manipulating meaning of a text starts from lexical or conceptual
meaning and it gradually proceeds towards the pragmatic achievement to develop a
unified interpretation. So, it is important for pragmatic readings to understand the
meanings of every part of the text, and then to amalgamate them to produce
successive and coherent unified meaning of the text as a whole. According to
Shahidullah (1995-96: 211), A text is a piece of communication, parts of which
relate to each other to create a meaningful whole.
18
1.7 Types of Reading

Reading, according to purpose and utility, can be basically of two categories. They
are Academic reading and Non-academic reading.
1.7.1 Academic Reading
A student has to pass various examinations during his/her whole course of academic
life. Understanding a given passage is the nub for a student to answer any kind of
questions set in the examinations because understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible (Grellet, 1996:
3). And the understanding of it is possible only when a student reads it effectively
and meaningfully. If the student reads effectively and makes out the entire meaning
of a given text, it will be possible for him/her to answer all types of questions gap
filling, multiple choice questions, short-answer questions etc. This is true for all
academic purposes; this is crucially true for the students learning a second or foreign
language. As English is not their mother tongue, a fair and effective reading skill is
required. Sekara (1988: 121) rightly comments, one of the most important activities,
if not the most important activity, in tertiary education is reading reading not for
pleasure but for information that has been researched, organized, and documented in
accordance with the rules of academic discourse. For effective academic reading, he
has suggested RAP (Reading for Academic Purpose) programme for familiarizing
students with certain aspects such as syntactic sequences and words that are
frequently used in academic discourse. It includes, according to him, both
understanding the syntax and semantics of academic English and understanding of
19
specific aspects of academic reading. He has presented a diagram and showed 16

aspects of academic reading, and it includes finding1. Thesis sentence, 2. Main idea, 3. Main idea and supporting details, 4. Reference,
5. Inference/implication, 6. Comparison/contrast, 7. Analogy/simile, 8. Definition, 9.
Nonlinguistic information, 10. Generalization, 11. Classification, 12. Description,
13. Hypothesis, 14. Claim + evidence, 15. Argument and its sequencing, and 16.
Writers approach/opinion/intention.
Academic reading is important because it prepares a reader for future and further
reading in her/his individual life. It is the pre-stage of non-academic reading.
Several approaches are recommended for academic reading. The three major
approaches, according to Ransom (1978), are Basal Reading Programme,
Individualized Reading and Management Systems.
1.7.1.1 Basal Reading Programme
A Basal Reading Programme is a developmental programme. The main
characteristic of this programme, according to Ransom (1978: 73), is that the same
basic books are recommended for all the readers of a particular reading group. The
programme starts with the pre-reading, and gradually develops towards more
complex criteria of reading.
The benefit the students receive from this programme is that they develop their
reading process systematically. The programme provides the readers with
opportunities to read more and more, and at the same time, controls the arbitrary
increase of vocabulary and its complexity.
20
To make this programme a success Ransom has recommended the following steps to
follow:
1. Introductory interest perker, which helps set purposes.
2. Presentation of new vocabulary.
3. Guided silent reading
4. Discussion moving in whatever direction the objectives have suggested.
5. Reading parts for specific purposes as stated.
6. Evaluation.
1.7.1.2 Individualized Reading
In this programme students are advised to select texts or books according to their
own interest and choice. Ransom (1978: 77) states that unlike Basal reading
programme this approach uses the learners personal interests as the basis for
seeking, self-selecting, and pacing the reading of books. King (1978: 43)
emphasizes most on this reading programme, and declares it the right approach.
His argument is that a student should read individually according to his/her own
interest and rate since purpose and speed of reading of each student are not the same.
The benefit of this programme is that it enables the students to select texts according
to their own comprehension level and interests, and they are not forced to read a
particular text that does not go with their mentality and schemata.
Ransom (op. cit.) has suggested some consecutive steps to make the programme
effective. They are:
1. Individual silent reading of library books.
21
2. Individual pupil-teacher conferences in which the teacher gains insights into

the learners needs by listening to his oral reading and discussion of a book.
3. Small, flexible skill groups for whom the teacher plans needed directed
reading activities, using additional instructional materials.
4. Much emphasis on various ways of sharing books which have been enjoyed.
5. Keeping of individual reading records.
1.7.1.3 Management Systems
The third main approach to academic reading is management systems. These systems
gear up testing and instruction to specific performance objectives. According to
Ransom (p. 80) most management systems provide for specific individual learning
activities. He has suggested two general ways through which these activities are
performed. They are (a) Pace-variable management systems and (b) Skill-specific
management systems. These are used for different students in different situations. In
pace-variable management systems, all the readers are supposed to advance through
the same activities, though their speed may differ. On the other hand, skill-specific
systems are applied in some particular areas where the students seem to be weak
(and it is determined by suggested tests).
1.7.2 Non-academic Reading
Besides academic reasons, there are various non-academic reasons for reading. In an
academic reading students are bound to read texts because of the syllabus and the
thought of passing the examinations. But non-academic reading is open, and
students/readers get an opportunity to choose from a vast range of books according
to their interest, options for choice and opportunity to spending time. It may, in
22
return, help them to develop their language because wide reading is a highly
effective means to extend ones command over a language (Nuttall, 1996: 30). King
(p. 38) says that non-academic reading enables people to have their own feelings
about it. As non-academic reading offers readers an opportunity to choose according
to their own taste, it is the proper stage for acquiring adequate information or getting
satisfactory pleasure.
1.7.3 Intensive Reading
This is a process for reading shorter texts in order to extract specific information.
Grellet (1946: 4) terms it an accuracy activity that involves reading in details.
Bright and McGregor (1970: 80) remark, it is not whole lessons but parts of
lessons that may properly be so divided. In the middle of a chapter, we may stop to
dwell on one word. This is intensive study.
Teachers may influence intensive reading because he is the part of the process, and it
is largely a class room activity. It is sometimes termed local reading.
The aim of intensive reading, according to Nuttall (1996: 38), is
to arrive at an understanding, not only of what the text means, but of how the meaning is
produced. The how is as important as the what, for the intensive lesson is intended
primarily to train strategies which the student can go on to use with other texts.
Intensive reading is much effective for the development of the reading skills of
students since most of the reading skills are trained by studying shortish texts in
detail (Nuttall, 1996: 38). Barry (2002: 4) argues that intensive reading is more
useful than extensive reading. He has advised that the students make their reading
meditative, reflective, and personal. He goes on to say that nothing of any interest
can happen in this subject [English Studies] without close reading. He has also
23
suggested SQ3R method for the students to make intensive reading a success (SQ3R
is introduced by Robinson, 1962, and it stands for Survey, Question, Reading,
Reciting and Reviewing).
1.7.4 Extensive Reading
Davis (1995: 329) defines an extensive reading asa supplementary class library scheme, attached to an English course, in which pupils are
given the time, encouraged, and materials to read pleasurably, at their own level, as many
books as are only competing against themselves.
Williams (1984: 10) describes extensive reading as the relatively rapid reading of
long texts. According to Nuttall (1996: 142), extensive reading, is essentially a
private activity, and the reader dwells in his/her private world of reading for his/her
own interest.
Nuttall (op. cit.) has pointed out two reasons for extensive reading. The first reason is
that extensive reading is the easiest and most effective way of improving the
reading skills of the students. The second reason is that being an educational tool
extensive reading not only serves a favourite climate for the students but also
provides them with enjoyment. As a result, students feel interested, and they acquire
desired progress in developing their reading skills.
However, the purpose of extensive reading is solely to enjoy a text, and in this
reading programme students need not answer questions on the text they have read.
Moreover, they can select their own books and read a great deal at their own pace. In
order to make extensive reading really enjoyable and fruitful to the students, they
should be encouraged to read easy and interesting books and to stop reading a book
if it is too hard, too easy, or boring (Day, 2004: 8).
24
According to Hafiz and Tudor (1989: 1-2), the goal of extensive reading is to
flood learners with large quantities of L2 input with few or possibly no specific
tasks to perform on this material. Its importance lies in the fact that it helps to
increase students vocabulary to a large extent (Nuttall: 62). Nation (1997) supports
it, and explains that extensive reading increases students vocabulary knowledge
because in an extensive reading students come across the same words repeatedly, and
can pick up their meanings from the context. Day (2004: 10), the chair of the
Extensive Reading Foundation, states that Good things happen when EFL students
read extensively. He explains that extensive reading not only makes the students
fluent readers, but also enables them to learn new words and expand their
understanding of words they knew before. Extensive reading also helps them to write
better, and their listening and speaking abilities improve. In short, extensive
reading activities can make student reading a resource for language practice,
vocabulary learning, listening, speaking and writing.
As extensive reading is an open programme for all types of students and their choice
is free, they can read any types of texts they like. All kinds of books, magazines, etc.
especially written for EFL and ESL learners are the most suitable reading materials
for them.
Both intensive and extensive readings are important and necessary for effective
readings, and they are complementary to each other. To be an efficient reader, one
must carry on both these two processes, as Williams (1986: 44) suggests, for every
hour of intensive reading, a learner should be doing at least another hour of extensive
reading.
25
Harmer (1986) mentions a number of sub-skills of reading such as predicting,

guessing word meaning, reading for specific information, reading for general
comprehension, scanning, skimming, inferring from texts, interpreting texts,
surveying text organisation, and critically evaluating texts.
Williams (1996: 37) has suggested that a reading lesson should be divided into prereading, while-reading and post-reading stages for effective teaching. Nuttall (1996:
7-11) has suggested that students schemata, shared assumptions and co-operative
principles should be upgraded to improve reading skills, and she has also
recommended some strategies to do that. She has prescribed interactive reading for
the students.
In addition to these, some teaching techniques such as DRA (Directed Reading
Activity) by Dechant (1982: 292), Top Ten Principles by Williams (1986: 42-45),
Linguistic and Non-linguistic approach by Grellet (1996: 13, 22) have been
introduced and recommended for the classroom teaching of reading.
1.8 Requirements for Effective Reading

During reading, the meaning of a text is achieved and manipulated by the reader
according to his/her purpose of and preparation for the reading. A readers
knowledge, experience and schemata play vital role in manipulating the meaning of a
text because these things are influential. Efficiency of a reader largely depends on
the pre-requisite knowledge and sufficient experience about facts and happenings in
real life. Moreover, proper schemata are also important to reach the appropriate
meaning of the text.
26
1.8.1 Knowledge and Experience

Pr-requisite knowledge may accompany a reader when s/he goes to a text, or s/he
may be entirely stranger to the content of the text. According to Rauch et al. (1968),
having pre-experience about a text enables a reader to pursue its meaning effectively.
Their argument is that A good reader brings a variety of experiences and meanings
to the printed symbol because the more vital experiences one has the more
opportunities he has to observe and participate in the many-faceted world about him,
the more meaning he will bring to the printed word. If the reader brings more
experience related to the textual content with him, s/he can share, support or oppose
the information s/he obtains while reading more successfully; otherwise s/he has to
depend totally on the information the book supplies. Yet this latter attitude can add a
new dimension of knowledge to the readers existing experience or knowledge.
However, an efficient reader always brings some prerequisite knowledge with him.
According to Williams, the elements a reader should bring with him/her are1. knowledge of the writing system
2. knowledge of the language
3. ability to interpret
4. appropriate knowledge of the world as assumed by the writer
5. a reason for reading that determines his style.
Through the acquired data or information we can compare what we read with our
own experience; for example, it is interesting to read about another country because
we can compare with our own, or we can imagine ourselves being there (Doff,
1997: 181).
27
1.8.2 Schemata and Reading Skills

It is to be noted that no writing or text relates every detail. There are certainly some
lacks of information in the writing, and it is assumed that the reader will fill up those
lacks with the assumptions which are shared by both the writer (encoder) and the
reader (decoder). The more the shared assumptions are, the more effective the
reading will be. These assumptions are technically described as schemata (plural of
schema). They are abstract ideas of certain experiences, and affect largely to
interpret a text more precisely. Again, the knowledge people get from experiences is
organized in a variety of ways depending on the individual minds. For this reason,
people have different experiences of the same incident, and consequently, different
interpretations of the same text.
According to Nuttall (1996: 7), the schema is a mental structure. It is abstract
because it does not relate to any particular experience, although it derives from all
the particular experiences we have had. It is a structure because it is organized; it
includes the relationships between its component parts.
If a reader possesses sufficient and/or similar schemata of the writer and the text can
activate them properly, he/she will be able to interpret the text successfully and
meaningfully. On the other hand, a reader of weak schemata cannot penetrate the
thought and message of the writer and will remain in a state of darkness and spend
much time groping the meaning of the text. Nuttall (1996: 7) has illustrated this by
an example. The first sentence from the example is, The bus careered along and
ended up in the hedge. In this text of a single sentence, bus schema can be sited to
illustrate the idea. It is to be noted that there is no mention of road in the text, but the
28
reader does not face any difficulty in understanding the elaboration that the bus was
running along a road. This means that our road schema is hovering at the back of
our minds in case of need; the road schema for some readers will include
components such as walls, hedges, fences which mark the limit of a road (Nuttall,
op. cit). However, if the readers road schema does not include hedge along the
roads, s/he will be in difficulties to understand the meaning of the text, and will,
perhaps, be in a puzzle where the bus actually stopped! Thus, reading makes use of
our existing schemata, and if necessary, modifies it (in the above example, the reader
may check and learn the word, hedge, which will add knowledge to his/her existing
schemata). Moreover, all the schemata should not, and need not be recalled. In a
responsive reader only the relevant schemata are activated.
Schemata in a reader are not constant. They are always changing. Existing schemata
may be changed or modified by new experiences experiences derived from reading,
or from our daily affairs. To put it in Nuttalls (p. 8) word, a schema grows and
changes throughout our lives, for as long as we retain the capacity to learn.
It has already been stated that schemata of a student play vital role in exploiting and
understanding a text. According to Shahidullah (1995-96: 214), teaching of reading
concerns mainly with schema activation and schema availability. Social, cultural,
historical or even mythical or religious schemata are all important to understand a
text properly.
29
1.9 Research Methodology

The study will have two major parts:
(a) library research for a clear idea about the definition of the reading skills
and its components or sub-skills, and also for examining the recent
developments in the approaches and methods of teaching the different
sub-skills of reading.
(b) an empirical research to find out the present situation in Bangladesh to
find out students present level of proficiency in reading skills, the
approaches and methods currently being used for teaching and learning of
reading skills, reading syllabus, materials and tests.
The methods of data collection used for the empirical survey were:
1) Students and teachers questionnaire survey,
2) Students and teachers interview,
3) Classroom observation,
4) Test of reading skills,
5) Syllabus, materials and tests evaluation.
1.10 Conclusion
Like other EFL/ESL contexts, it is very important for Bangladesh to produce
graduates of an international standard in todays globalized world; it is necessary to
improve students reading proficiency in English for that. Though it will take time to
bring about changes in the present state of teaching and learning reading skills, it is
not altogether impossible. If recent pedagogical approaches are used, if proper
30
materials and tests are designed, the situation will improve significantly. This study,
therefore, will prove very useful for the country.
The importance of reading in Bangladesh cannot be denied. To make the students fit
nationally and internationally, their reading skills must be of an advanced level. If
reading skills are improved, learners will be able to utilise maximum resources for
acquiring knowledge and information, and it will change the whole educational
scenario of the country. So, the present study on An Evaluation of the Teaching of
Reading Skills in Bangladesh is of great importance.
Chapter 2
Theoretical Development in Reading Pedagogy
2.1 Introduction
The teaching of reading has undergone significant changes in the 20th century as a
result of experiments with new approaches to education in general. In the beginning
of the 20th century, the personal interest and needs in reading were ignored. Experts
mused over it, and during the late 1920s and 1930s there was a push for emphasizing
individual needs in instruction. It was not until 1960s and 1970s when some fruitful
thesis came into light. Goodman (1977) and others posited a psycholinguistic view of
reading in which reading is viewed as an interactive process between language and
thought.
We are now in the midst of a paradigm shifting towards an emphasis on language as
communication (Raimes, 1983: 546), and modern world has adopted communicative
approach of teaching language where students have more participation in the
classroom activities than teachers have. But earlier, students had little or no
participation in learning; they were mostly passive in the class. The class was
dominated by the teacher and s/he used the approach and style s/he liked. His/her
rule was the rule, and students were to obey him/her. The teacher taught the learners
according to his/her own way of understanding, and after the lesson he/she asked the
students questions the answer of which he himself knew. But the situation has
changed largely, and classroom approaches have been changed significantly. Now
students are considered active participants in the classroom activities. They are
32
learning actively asking relevant questions, sharing knowledge and schemata among
themselves. Reading approaches and reading pedagogy, being important areas of
EFL and ESL, have also been subjected to change change in attitude, outlet, and,
overall teaching method.
2.2 Problems Students often Encounter with Reading

It has been observed that students, especially ESL and EFL learners, confront a
variety of difficulties while reading. These difficulties comprise inadequate
vocabulary, lexical inefficiency, structural complexity, language inaccessibility, poor
reading skills, lack of schemata, and so on. Students lack of interest is another major
cause of their failure in reading. Reading is, for many of them, a passive, boring
activity, performed constantly in isolation and perhaps associated with skills which
they feel they do not possess Greenwood (1998: 5). Dechant (1982: 73) has
expressed the same opinion and stated that achievement in reading is dependent
upon the pupils motivational readiness, and poor reading or reading failure may be
caused by lack of interest. He (p. 79) has also mentioned personal maladjustment
as another cause of reading failure and explained that difficulties in adjusting to a
new environment, poor parent-child relationships, lack of encouragement from
home, negative attitudes of parents to learning in general etc. may all lead to
failure.
The most mentionable cause of students poor reading is the lack of vocabulary.
Students of intermediate level, or even of higher classes, are very weak in
vocabulary. Almost in every sentence they come across new words. This inadequate
vocabulary makes them stumble at each sentence, and soon they begin to lose their
33
patience with and interest in reading. It not only hinders their smooth reading, but
also paralyses their language learning ability. All the linguists and experts have
expressed the same view that insufficient vocabulary is the main cause of students
poor reading. While mentioning the causes of the failure of reading Breen (1975)
stated that paucity of vocabulary, lack of independent reading, and incapability of
fulfilling the demands of the required reading are the problems of the students.
Long and complex structure of sentences often cause reading barrier for most of
the students. They cannot understand the proper subject-verb relationship in a long or
complex sentence, and it creates constant difficulties for them. Eventually, these
difficulties result in poor and insufficient reading.
Words having multiple meanings are another constant threats to the students. They
come across such words every now and then. Poor readers are often unable to adopt
the right meanings. Thus they create multifaceted problems in their reading and get
bored. These problems in their turn make apprehension of meanings difficult.
Sometimes, they cannot reach any meaning at all. As a result, they develop a
negative impression about the text, or even about their ability to read and abandon
reading.
The similar problem that students face very often is the idiomatic and figurative
meanings of words, phrase, and sentence or even of the whole text. Almost every
literary text is replete with idiomatic and/or figurative expressions. These
expressions add to the readers predicament. Many students do not know what the
difference is between connotative and denotative expressions. Since they always
stick to the connotative meanings of a word or text, they fail to make out the proper
34
meanings of the whole text. And after finishing reading (if anyhow they complete it),
they discover that they have spoiled the whole time reading the text. Thus, their
capability of and interest in reading deteriorate gradually.
Words having different syntactical functions and varieties of inflectional endings
may also cause difficulties for the students in reading a text effectively. For example,
the word best has an adjectival function. But it becomes noun when it is used in a
sentence such as your best is not good enough (Dechant, 1982: 290).
In reading a text (whether native or EFL or ESL), schemata of the readers play
crucial role. Schemata are directly related to the meaningful reading, reading speed
and reading enjoyment. But many students lack sufficient schemata. They cannot
associate the language of the text with their experience and knowledge outside the
text because of their poor schemata. As a result, any gap of information in the text
creates serious problem for them to reach the meaning.
Lack of concentration is another mentionable reason for students poor reading
because concentration is an important factor for a good and effective reading. Shaw
(1959: ix) states that comprehension of a text results from reading with
concentration. But students, in most cases, cannot or do not concentrate properly
while reading, or they cannot hold their attention for a long time due to their lack of
practice and patience. The situation results in the frustration and unwillingness, and
prevents them to read further.
Improper classroom activities are also responsible for students poor reading. In
the country, students get little or no opportunity to read themselves. Moreover,
classroom procedure is yet traditional in the most intermediate institutions, or even in
35
high schools, though the communicative teaching method was introduced in the
country 4/5 years ago. In the traditional system, students are asked ready questions
on a given passage, and they write down their answers from their memory. Before
coming to class they memorize answers from traditional note books or answers
supplied by the home tutors. Thus students are becoming accustomed to memorizing
ready answers without reading, and they are passing the exams knowing nothing of
the text. The result is that not only do the students remain ignorant of the text, but
also their reading skills deteriorate.
There are some other problems, too. Students may have deficiency in visual
identification may have poor visual discrimination skill, be weak in visual
imagery, and have poor memory for visual sequences. Moreover, they may be poor
in visual recognition, and thus, unable to recall familiar word when necessary
(Dechant, 1982: 436-7).
Deficiency in associating phoneme and grapheme is another reason for students
poor reading. Dechant (1982: 436-7) explains that sometimes poor reading results
from students inability to relate symbols, to associate the proper phoneme with the
proper shape, or to match a visual sequence with an auditory sequence. The pupil
has great difficulty acquiring phonic skills. And obviously, this lack of phonic skills
results in their inability to associate experiences and meanings with symbols.
The problems most EFL learners face while reading is that their knowledge of the
language is incomplete. This lack creates serious difficulties with some texts
(Williams, 1996: 4). In such situation, what happens is that EFL students unlike
native learners use reading to help them learn that language. As a result, their
36
emphasis and concentration rest upon learning that language, and the target reading
loses its value and interest.
Syntactic inference is also responsible for students poor reading, because, it
causes confusion among the readers. For example, in Bangla, the simple sentence
structure is subject + complement + verb whereas, an English sentence structure is
subject + verb + complement. Thus the sentence in English He plays football is,
in Bangla He football plays. This structural difference causes thematic problem for
the students while reading an English text book.
Cultural difference between the text (the author) and the reader is another problem,
especially for the EFL learners. If the author and the reader cannot share a common
cultural assumption, text may seem difficult to the reader. A student who has a
primary knowledge about western, or more specifically, English culture can enjoy an
English text in the true sense. The more a student is familiar with the concerned
culture of a text, the more effective reader s/he will be. But many students in our
country are ignorant of the social custom and culture of English. As a result, in spite
of being able to translate the word or sentence or text, the cannot understand the
implied meaning of the text as a whole.
Some experts think that reading process for all language is much the same
(Goodman, 1973; Alderson, 1984; Coady, 1979. etc). Jolly (1978) states that reading
in a second language is transference of first language skills into a second language.
It implies that students having fluent and efficient skills in reading their native texts
are able to read EFL or ESL texts in the same manner. Alderson (op cit) states that if
the students learn to read properly in their first language, the problems of reading in
37
English would be vastly reduced. But a number of students here in Bangladesh are
very poor readers even in Bangla (because of lack of inspiration or guidance or
proper environment). Obviously, this inept reading in Bangla has a long-term
negative influence on reading in English. In short, the inability to read in English, to
a large extent, results from their inability to read in Bangla.
Lack of graded materials is another important reason for the failure of reading. In
Bangladesh, graded reading texts written in English are very rare, and in some part
of the country they are totally unavailable. This inadequacy of proper texts or textual
materials affects students reading much. Sometimes students are not supplied with
their texts according to their linguistic level. The texts may be below or above their
linguistic level. The appropriate text-type for the students is that it should be one step
above from their present linguistic level.
King (1978: 38) has pointed out some common problems students face while
reading a text. He has mentioned the problems of eye-fixation, sub vocalization,
limited experience in reading a diversity of texts, the interrelation between reading
and thinking, and the development of sensibility.
Nuttall (1996: 35) has also pointed out some reasons of the failure of the students
reading. They are:
negative expectations
unsuitable tasks
the wrong procedures
expecting to run before they can walk
the wrong texts.
38
Dechant (1982: 336) has mentioned a number of reasons for students failure in
reading a text. He states that they
cannot use dictionary: cannot locate words in a dictionary; cannot use diacritical markings to
determine the correct pronunciation of the word; cannot find the meaning appropriate to the
context; cannot use guide words, accent, and syllabication cues; cannot interpret phonetic
respellings; cannot use cross references; and cannot determine the plural, the part of speech,
or the sense of a word, form the information as it is given.
Moreover, they cannot locate where the appropriate information is, and they are
unable to adjust a proper method or rate of reading according to their linguistic level
and their purposes of reading.
There are some readers whose reading capacity is considerably greater than their
reading achievement. On the other hand, there are some other readers whose reading
performance is substantially below ability level (Dechant, 1982: 384). Both these
two types of readers suffer from the same problem that they cannot achieve what
they are supposed to achieve from reading a text. They are either too fast to capture
the meaning of the text or too slow to reach it.
And finally, the teachers role in the poor reading of the students is worth
considering. Many teachers of numerous colleges and educational institutions, even
today, stick to the traditional teaching system. In the classroom they ask the students
some selected questions conjoined a particular text. The students, in their turn, get
the answers memorized, and in the class, they just vomit them on the exercise books.
Thus, major parts of Bangladeshi students are the direct preys of the negligence
and/or ignorance of their teachers. As a result, not only their capability but also their
interest in reading is deteriorating day by day. And its consequence is that most
students end their academic life without having least skill in reading even Bangla
books, let alone English ones.
39
2.3 The Sub-skills of Reading

Reading is a major skill that comprises a number of macro or sub-skills. A successful
and efficient reading means a reader is equally expert in all or most of these subskills. Most of the sub-skills are discussed here in brief.
2.3.1 Skimming
Nuttall (1996: 49) has defined skimming as:
glancing rapidly through a text to determine its gist, for example in order to decide whether a
research paper is relevant to our own work or to keep ourselves superficially informed
about matter that are not of great importance to us.
Grellet (1996: 4) and Urquhart and Weir (1998: 102) are also of the opinion that
skimming is the reading for gist.
Rayner and Pollatsek (1989: 447) have given considerable importance on skimming.
According to them, too many books with a purpose to achieving too much
information confront people. Skimming helps them by saving their times, but people
who are unable to skim material would find [that] they spend their entire day
reading. Nuttall (op. cit.) explains that it enables the readers to select texts, or parts
of texts, that are worth spending time on. Grellet (1996: 19) thinks that it is a more
thorough activity because it requires an overall view of the text and implies a
definite reading competence.
About the purpose of skimming Williams (1996: 96-97) seems to be very explicit.
She states that the purpose of skimming is simply to see what a text is about. The
reader skims in order to satisfy a very general curiosity about the text, and not to find
the answer to particular questions. According to Urquhart and Weir (p. 213) the
purposes of skimming are to
establish a general sense of the text.
40
quickly establish a macropropositional structure as an outline summary.
decide the relevance of texts to established needs.
Various reading schemes recommend skimming as a starting process because by

starting with skimming the reader will have a framework to accommodate the whole
text because it is a quick process of reading.
2.3.2 Scanning
It is a surface level process of reading, and mainly reader-driven. In scanning there
is a rapid inspection of a text with occasional closer inspection. Pugh (1978: 53)
states that scanning is to find a match between what the reader seeks and what the
text supplies. In scanning, very little information is processed for long term retention
or even for immediate action.
According to Nuttall (op. cit.), scanning is glancing rapidly through a text either to
search for a specific piece of information (e.g. a name, a date) or to get an initial
impression of whether the text is suitable for given purpose, and Grellet (op. cit.)
supports it. Williams (1996: 107) states that scanning is reading for particular points
of information. It is a selective reading, and its purpose is to achieve very specific
reading goals.
The main feature of scanning, according to Urquhart et. al. (1998: 103), is that any
part of the text which does not contain the preselected symbol(s) is dismissed.
Scanning involves looking for specific words/phrases, figures, names or dates of a
particular event, the capital of a country etc. Jordon (1980) has mentioned a variety
of texts suitable for scanning indexes, dictionaries, maps, advertisements, reference
materials etc.
41
2.3.3 Browsing
Browsing, according to Urquhart and Weir (1998: 103), is a sort of reading where
goals are not well defined, parts of a text may be skipped fairly randomly, and there
is a little attempt to integrate the information into a macrostructure. Kintsch and van
Dijk (1978) have observed that there are some people who read loosely structured
texts and they have no clear goals in mind the outcome of which, as far as the
resulting macrostructure is concerned, is indeterminate. This process is referred as
browsing.
2.3.4 Search Reading
Unlike skimming, it provides the readers with information to answer set questions.
According to Urquhart et. al. (1998: 103), search reading is guided by
predetermined topics. Search reading involves both bottom-up and top-down
processes of reading. The period of closer attention in search reading is longer than
that in any other reading strategies. For this reason, it is considered as an appropriate
type of reading for the students as they are to answer questions set after a certain
passage.
According to Urquhart et. al. (1998: 214), search reading includes the following
operationalisations:
keeping alert for words in the same or related semantic field
using formal knowledge of text structure for locating information
using titles and subtitles
reading abstracts where appropriate
glancing at words and phrases.
42
2.3.5 Careful reading

The defining features of careful reading, according to Urquhart et. al. (1998: 103),
are
(a) the reader attempts to handle the majority of information in the text, that
is, the process is not selective;
(b) the reader adopts a submissive role, and accepts the writers organization,
including what the writer appears to consider the important parts;
(c) the reader attempts to build up a macrostructure on the basis of the
majority of the information in the text.
For these excellent features careful reading is thought to be the most effective
reading strategy, and many educationalists and psychologists recommend it most.
2.3.6 Prediction
Prediction is the faculty of predicting or guessing what is to come next, making use
of grammatical, lexical and cultural clue (Grellet, 1996: 17). According to Greenall
and Swan (1986: 3) prediction is to know what information is new to the reader and
what information s/he already knows about as s/he goes to read the text. McDonnald
(1983: 54) terms prediction as theory and states that it allows readers to be always
ahead of the arrival of surface structure. Nuttall (1996: 13) explains that prediction
is a kind of sharing of presuppositions of the writer, and a reader who shares these
presuppositions most will be able to think along with the writer and use his own
experience to resolve difficulties.
Efficient readers always depend on their ability to predict what comes next. They use
minimum clues from the text in order to reach the appropriate meaning of the text.
43
Therefore, a successful reading does not require going through each and every line in
the text. Instead, the readers depend largely on the prediction from the syntactic and
semantic clues and their previous knowledge (Hedge, 1985).
As stated earlier, the reader brings his/her own knowledge and experience to the text,
which makes the text easy and smooth for the reader to make out the meaning. The
knowledge or experience that a reader has, helps him/her to predict what the writer is
going to say next. Nuttall (op. cit.) points out that activated schemata which are
ready for use can help the reader to understand the text more easily, and the
importance of prediction lies in the fact that it activates his/her schemata. While
reading the reader calls into mind any relevant experiences and associated
knowledge that s/he already has, and it helps him/her interpret the text more clearly.
Prediction also helps the reader to make sense of sentences. Thus, their ability to
predict what comes next often increases with the development of the reading skills.
Prediction begins with the title of a textbook and continues throughout the whole
process of reading. Sometimes prediction may be wrong, yet it makes the readers
think about the topic and so on, because prediction, according to Nuttall (1996: 119)
need not be successful all the time to be useful.
Nuttall (op. cit.) explains that prediction involves a variety of input the schemata
about the way stories work, the way texts are constructed, the way people tend to
think, clues etc. For this reason, it is a good activity for integrating many of the
reading skills already discussed.
Prediction focuses reading by limiting the range of things to look for, and thus it
enables the reader to read more efficiently. Developing this skill is to ensure the
44
feeling of a reader that while reading s/he is not overloaded with too much
information. It also ensures the readers active involvement with the text.
This skill may be developed by giving the students unified passages to complete or
by going through a text little by little or by stopping after each sentence in order to
predict what is likely to come next (Grellet: 17).
2.3.7 Inferencing
Sometimes, a text suggests something indirectly rather states it directly. It is the
responsibility of the reader to infer this information. So, inferencing is the process of
reconstructing the writers unstated presuppositions. Grellet (1996: 14) has defined
inferencing as making use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the
meaning of unknown elements. It is also the process used by the reader to draw a
certain conclusion from facts, points in an argument etc. supplied by the text
(Nuttall, 1996: 114). Abbott and Wingard (1981) regard inference as a manipulative
thinking skill. While inferring, readers manipulate their thinking power to interpret
the text not only explicitly but also implicitly.
It should be noted that inferencing is not necessarily of certainty it is about
probabilities. But these possibilities may gradually turn into certainties when the
reader meets a word more frequently and understands it more explicitly. Inferencing
affects the interpretation of a text to a large extent. It is, therefore, an essential but
tricky skill (Nuttall, 1996: 114).
Inferencing is a powerful aid for the students to comprehend a text, and it ultimately
helps them to read books more quickly. Moreover, it can make the text more
45
enjoyable because its problem-solving character appeals to most people and it

challenges students to make use of their intelligence (Nuttall, 1996: 114).
In order to infer a piece of information of a given text effectively, students may and
should make use of common sense, power of reasoning, knowledge of the world and
relevant schemata.
2.3.8 Previewing
Unlike predicting, previewing is a very specific reading skill. It is a very quick
technique to find out where the required information is likely to be (Grellet, 1996:
17- 18). It involves using the title of a text, the table of contents, the index, the
appendix, the preface of the author or publisher, headings or subtitles of chapters and
paragraphs, information in the back cover, acknowledgement etc.
This skill is useful for the students in many ways. It not only leads the students
towards intended and specific information, but also saves their valuable time. They
can naturally apply this technique in locating an article in a newspaper or in an edited
book, or having a few minutes to get an assumption or idea of a book through the
text on the back cover and the table of contents etc.
2.3.9 Anticipation
Anticipation is the process of forming an idea about the contents of a text and
expecting the intended items from it before starting reading. Grellet (1996) mentions
that anticipation in reading motivates the readers to read. She further states that
readers start reading a book in order to find a number of things in it specific
information, ideas, answers to a number of questions etc. They expect that the book
will be able to provide them with the intended things. This expectation is inherent
46
in the process of reading which is a permanent interrelationship between the reader

and the text (Grellet, 1996: 18).
The anticipations or expectations of a reader start in the pr-reading stage and they are
modified and increased in the while-reading phase. And finally these expectations
are established or corrected and modified in the post-reading stage. So, anticipation
is a process that continues throughout reading.
Anticipation is of great importance for the readers. It is the anticipation (about what
will happen next) that urges the students to read a text to the end. While emphasizing
on the importance of anticipation, Watson (1991: 137) states that anticipation should
be practised in order to aid the readers overall understanding, thus allowing the
teacher to concentrate on new items of language. It also enables students to think
about the content of the text, focus on the new items, relate them to their previous
knowledge, discuss and prepare themselves for reading the expected text.
Anticipation need not be correct or accurate all the time. Sometimes it may be
correct, sometimes it may lead to a wrong interpretation. Whatever the output is, the
process acts as a useful aid for the students.
To ensure better output students need develop this skill. Grellet (1996: 18) has
suggested the following possibilities in the exercises to enhance their anticipation:
Psychological sensitizing aimed at making the students think about the
subject of the text and ask themselves questions.
Using the title and pictures to talk about the various ways the text may
develop.
Using the key-words of the text.
47
2.3.10 Presupposition
Presupposition is a guessing power that enables the students to understand what
connections between facts are left untold in a text. Students who are not aware of the
unstated facts may likely to fall in difficulties to deal with the message of the author.
But students who are aware of the potential problem are halfway to solving it; they
can scrutinize the text for unstated assumptions and try to identify the mismatch that
has produced difficulty (Nuttall, 1996: 8).
Nuttall (1996: 112) has divided presupposition into two groups:
1. the knowledge and experience that the writer expects the reader to have.
2. the opinions, attitudes, emotions that the writer expects the reader to share,
or at least to understand.
So, the correct interpretation of a text rests mostly on the readers sharing the view of
the writer. While following a writers train of thought from one sentence to the next,
the readers may find that there is no connection between them. Presupposition helps
the readers to connect them using some tools like inferencing, schemata etc.
2.3.11 Shared Assumptions
According to Nuttall (1996: 6), the reader and the writer should have certain things
in common if communication is to take place. The minimum requirement is the
code they share. The writer and the reader should have in common a similar
command over the same language. It sounds ridiculous that a person without
knowing Greek tries to read a text written in Greek.
Vocabulary is also an important area to be shared between the writer and the reader.
A book will be a source of information or enjoyment for a reader only when his/her
48
vocabulary level reaches the writers. If the readers vocabulary is far smaller than
the writers, the text will certainly appear to be a difficult one for him/her.
Shared assumptions include some other intangible things like attitudes, beliefs,
values, clichs of a certain period, norms, culture and customs of a particular society
or group of people, and some unspoken assumptions which are shared by people
brought up in the same society. All these items, if common or identical, may
contribute significantly to the better understanding of a text, and consequently to the
development of the reading skills of the students.
It is now obvious that effective reading occurs only when the writer and the reader
share maximum assumptions. In other words, the writer expects the reader to share
his/her views, and the more the shared assumptions are, the more enjoyable the text
would appear to the readers. In short, the shared assumptions between the writer and
the reader affect the development of the reading skills to a large extent.
2.3.12 Recognizing Text Organization
Recognizing text organization is to know and internalize how sentences are joined
together to make paragraphs, how paragraphs form the passage, and how this
organization is signaled (Greenall et. al., 1986: 3). If a reader fails to understand
how a passage is organized s/he will be in difficulties to make out a cohesive sense
of the text. The ability to recognize the textual pattern may enable the students to
predict the likely values of sentences; and this in turn helps them to interpret difficult
texts. Nuttall (1996: 106) states that if you can identify the principle by which the
text is organized and see how the ideas hang together, it is easier to interpret difficult
sentences. But the readers who are unable to do this may find the text a puzzling
49
one, and at the end of reading the complete picture or the overall meaning of the text
they discover becomes obscure and unorganized.
A sound ability to recognize text organization has further implication and use. It
enables the students to understand how a writer has selected and used raw materials,
how s/he has organized them and arranged them cohesively, and how s/he has been
able to suit his/her purpose. And this understanding is important to reach the writers
unified message.
To train the students to recognize text organization different types of exercises can
be practised. Grellet (1996: 21) has mentioned some of the practices. They are Rejecting irrelevant information.
Finding the topic sentences and what kind of relation they have to the rest of
the text.
Discriminating between generalizations and specific statements.
Completing skeleton outlines of the structure of the text.
Some other higher order sub-skills of reading are:
a. critical evaluation
b. distinguishing facts and opinions
c. recognizing bias
d. understanding attitude, tone and voice of the author and
e. personal responses.
50
2.4 Approaches to Reading

Which approach should be appropriate for a text depends on the size of the text, the
purpose of reading, time allotted etc. Bright and McGregor (p. 65) point some of
these strategies. They are:
(i)
how much there is in the passage waiting to be discovered. Not all
passages are worth meticulous attention.

(ii)
how much time is available. By no means all the passages worth serious
attention can be tackled.

(iii)
how much the class is capable or seeing and how well they respond.
(iv)
how much is essential to a minimum worth-while response etc.
2.4.1 Top-down Approach

It was proposed by Goodman (1967). The main feature of this process is that the
reader comes to the text with a previously formed plan, and perhaps, omits chunks of
the text which seem to be irrelevant to the readers purpose (Urquhart and Weir:
42). Nuttalls (1996: 16) view on top-down approach is:
We draw on our own intelligence and experience the predictions we can make, based on the
schemata we have acquired to understand the text. We make conscious use of it when
we try to see the overall purpose of the text, or get a rough idea of the pattern of the writers
argument, in order to make a reasoned guess at next step.
Expectations of the reader play a crucial, even dominant, role in this process. The
reader brings his/her personal experiences and views with him/her, and those aspects
largely affect the way of interpreting a text. Goodman characterizes this approach as
viewing reading as precise, sequential identification.
51
This approach is precisely suggested by most thinkers and researchers because it is

directly related to the readers schemata his/her personal knowledge and
experiences. Its importance can be stretched from Nuttall (1996: 17):
This enables him to predict the writers purpose, the likely trend of the argument and so on,
and then use this framework to interpret difficult parts of the text. The top-down approach
gives a sense of perspective and makes use of all that the reader brings to the text: prior
knowledge, common sense, etc. which have sometimes been undervalued in the reading
class.
2.4.2 Bottom-up Approach

Bottom-up approach was proposed by Gough (1972). It begins with the stimulus, i.e.
the text, or bits of the text. In bottom-up approach, according to Nuttall (1996: 17),
the reader builds up a meaning from the black marks on the page: recognizing
letters and words, working out sentence structure. Readers use this process
consciously when they are confused with an initial reading. In this approach, the
reader is entirely dependable on the contextual meaning, and s/he does not need any
background knowledge since it is text-driven.
There is a clear-cut distinction between these two approaches. While bottom-up
process is text-driven, top-down approach uses the meaning brought by the reader,
i.e. it is reader-driven. Parry (1987) has summarized their differences in the
following manner:
some argue that reading is a bottom-up process: graphemes are perceived as forming
words, words as forming sentences, and sentences as forming paragraphs and so on (Gough,
1972); others argue that the process is a top down one: the reader stars with a general idea,
or schema, of what should be in the text this being derived from the previously acquired
knowledge and uses this scheme in perceiving and in interpreting graphic cues. (Goodman
1967)
2.4.3 Interactive Reading

Experts argue and explain that none of these approaches (namely, top-down and
bottom-up) stands alone for an effective reading. The proper combination of these
52
two known as interactive approach is actually appropriate, and an efficient reader

uses both these processes and shifts from one approach to another according to the
demand of the reading strategy. Nuttall (1996: 17) comments, a reader continually
shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the
probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is
really what the writer says. Carrell (1988: 240-41) seems to be more specific about
it. She explains that efficient and effective second language reading requires both
top-down and bottom-up strategies in different combinations for different purposes.
In this interactive reading a pattern is synthesised based on information provided
simultaneously from several sources (Rumelhart, 1980: 135). So, reading is not just
a one side approach. Both the reader and the text have their respective shares in an
interactive process. Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) comment that interaction occurs
between the reader and the text.
It is now obvious that a reader cannot reach the proper meaning of a text if s/he
solely depends on what there is in the text, because text itself does not carry
meaning (Carrell, 1983). Better understanding of a text depends on both cues
supplied by the text and schemata of the reader. At the same time, a reader has to be
able to relate information from the text to already existing background knowledge
(Shahidullah, 1996). A text becomes a meaningful discourse only when its graphic
display is reconstructed properly by the reader. The success depends on the skills a
reader possesses and his/her ability to apply them in interpreting a text. So, both topdown and bottom-up approaches are equally important in an interactive reading.
Shahidullah (op. cit.) has pointed out that
53
an interactive process requires the use of background knowledge, expectations, context and
so on. At the same time, it also incorporates notions of rapid and accurate feature recognition
for letters and words, spreading actively of lexical forms, and the concept of processing such
forms automatically.
According to Coady (1979: 7) interactive process involves three factors: conceptual

abilities, background knowledge, and process strategies. So, for a successful reading
a reader should and must possess basic intellectual ability. This ability is used to
make a proper relation between the textual information and his/her existing
schemata, proper knowledge of the world, and reading strategies including
familiarity with the phonology, graphemes, and lexicon of a language. Because
reading is not just a decoding of symbols but and interaction between an individuals
background knowledge and the text, McKay (1988) has suggested to re-evaluate
the traditional activities of a reading class. Shahidullah (op. cit.) argues that an
interactive reading process has deeper implications for a reading class. His
suggestion is that,
(1) reading classes must devote some time for bottom-up concerns such as the rapid and accurate
grammatical forms. Even students with proficiency in reading skills in their native language
may not be able to read efficiently in a second language context until they have developed a
stronger bottom-up foundation of basic identification skills.
(2) there must also be some top-down tasks such as reading for global meaning , developing a
willingness to take chances, and developing appropriate schemata for the proper
interpretation of texts.
He has also suggested developing a readers top-down and bottom-up processing

abilities by extensive reading over time. Teaching programmes, according to him,
should have some points to be included. They are to
make sufficient opportunity for the students to read a lot in order to

increase their skills and knowledge significantly.
54
make use of appropriate materials. Students real needs and interests

should match what they are currently reading, and they must be ready,
willing, and able to read it.
emphasize on the proper roles of the teachers. Because students are to

follow, somehow or other, their instruction, teachers should check and
determine appropriately how much and what their students read.
Thus interactive reading a proper amalgamation of top-down and bottom-up

approaches can be a fruitful option for the students to improve their present reading
skills up to a considerable level of satisfaction.
2.5 Techniques of Teaching Reading

It is important to know how to teach reading to the students. Teachers should adopt
the appropriate technique considering previous performance of the students, their
linguistic level, ability to perceive new items or vocabulary etc.
2.5.1 Teaching How to Tackle Meaning
It has been already stated that meaning of a text is not inherent. It is the reader who
brings meaning with him/her. For this reason, the same text can be interpreted in
different ways though the writer may have only one idea while writing the text. For
this reason, learners should be taught how to reach the proper meaning of the text. If
they fail to guess or understand the meaning a text implies, all the efforts and
techniques to teach reading to the students will end in smoke.
It is now obvious that the teaching of meaning is the most important task for the
teacher. Text-based out look of the students should be changed. Students should be
trained properly so that they may be able to associate the textual meaning to their
55
experience. According to Dechant (1982: 37) Proficient readers are those

whohave an adequate knowledge base that allows them to bring meaning to the
printed page. So, proper association between the textual words and the experience
or knowledge is essential for a better understanding. Meaning can be associated with
the printed word only by associating the word with the experience, whether real or
vicarious, or by associating it with another symbol which fits the context.
As meaning starts its operation from the word, it is suggested to give importance on
word knowledge, as word knowledge is the most important factor for reading
comprehension or for reading with meaning in the elementary and secondary school
years (op. cit. p. 288). Dechant has suggested a three fold process for the teaching
of meaning for the words:
- Students should be taught the basic or literal meaning of words.
- They should be taught what the other alternatives of a particular word are
synonyms, for example.
- And they should know how a particular word for a particular purpose can be
used fitting the context.
The overall meaning of a text can be taught through DRA (Directed Reading
Activity) suggested by Dechant. According to him (p. 292) basic steps of the DRA
are:
1. Building readiness for reading a selection by building concept and vocabulary
background, by creating interest and motivation, and by creating a purpose for
reading.
2. Guided silent reading.
56
3. Checking comprehension.
4. Oral rereading of the material.
5. Extending word-recognition and comprehension skills: learning and practising
new skills.
6. Enrichment and follow-up activities: supplementary reading, dramatization,
and other creative activities.
The purpose of the teaching of meaning is to enable students to develop their reading
skill and prepare a suitable ground for the students to advance their understanding
power. Dechant (1982: 293-8) has prescribed twenty techniques for this purpose.
They are to
1. provide experience with the concrete object or event, because direct
experience is still the best way to develop meaning for word.
2. label objects and made extensive use of signs in the classroom; have pupils
cut out and label pictures.
3. teach the pupils to read pictures, illustrations, charts, graphs, and maps.
4. use riddle, rhyme, and puzzle games to illustrate meaning.
5. have pupils construct and use picture dictionaries.
6. use picture words, flash cards and lotto games; read easy stories build
sentences with words cards; make scrapbooks; and pursue other similar activities.
7. have pupils place words in the categories to which they belong. For example,
the pupils might be required to classify things one might find on a street; things
found on a farm; things to eat; things to ride in; things that are animals, plants,
fruit, birds, countries, clothing, colors, insects; or things that fly, run, or float.
57
8. teach the pupils the use of the context as a cue to word meaning. Students can
be asked to fill in the gaps using given clues. The question may be like thisFather bought the apples at the _____. (store, story)
9. have pupils develops the concept of multiple meaning with an exercise. To
develop the concept of multiple meaning, a single word can be used in different
sentences with different meanings, and students can be asked to write down their
meanings in the blanks provided after each sentence. For example, a single word
run can be used in different sentences like the following ones with a different
meaning in each:
a) The boat runs between Georgia and New York. ______
b) The man runs a hotel in the uptown. ______
c) We saw a run of fish. ______ etc.
And students will be asked to write the meaning of run in each blank.
10. teach pupils develop the meaning of heteronyms, words whose pronunciation
and meaning change depending upon their use in the sentence.
11. teach pupils to use the cloze procedure to develop meaning. This procedure
enables readers to use the context to identify the word that completes a passage.
12. teach pupils to use structural words as cues to meaning.
13. teach pupils the meaning of homonyms.
14. teach pupils to high imagery words and to analyze the sense appeal of words.
15. teach pupils to use the root of a word as well as prefixes suffixes as cues to
meaning.
16. teach pupils how to works out the meaning of compound words.
58
17. teach pupils how to reads words used in a figurative sense.

18. help pupils to use the dictionary.
19. have pupils study technical vocabularies. Knowing technical vocabularies is
particularly important in the content areas. The primary types of technical
vocabularies are (1) words that are peculiar to a given subject area; (2) words that
are common to all content areas but that have a special meaning in a given
content area; and (3) symbols used in a given content area (Dillner and Olson,
1977).
20. have pupils study the origin of words and how they change, or in other words,
the etymology of words.
Students can also be taught space, numerical and time concepts for developing
word meaning in greater details.
2.5.2 Approaches to Teach the Skills to Understand Meaning
Understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as
effectively as possible. To understand a text meaningfully, students should be made
to practise several exercises. Widdowson (1978: 94) has suggested various types of
questions such as open questions, right or wrong, multiple-choice options etc. for
understanding meaning. But Grellet (1996: 13, 21-24) has pointed out that these
question-types can be advantageous to the students if they involve the students
actively, that is, if the activities need the students to think and reason in order to
give answer or make a choice. For the development of the skills to understand
meaning of texts, he has suggested some activities that are divided into two
categories. They are Non-linguistic and Linguistic approaches.
59
2.5.2.1 Non-linguistic Approach

In this approach no comprehension activities require any complex and verbal
response on the part of the learners. Instead, some elements (a document, a diagram,
a picture etc.) are added to the text and the students are asked to relate the text to a
particular document. Grellet (1996: 13, 22) has mentioned some non-linguistic ways
of teaching understanding meaning. They are:
1. comparing texts and pictures;
2. completing or labeling a document;
3. using illustrations;
4. transcoding the information into the form of a diagram;
5. using the information in the passage to find a solution, make a decision or
solve a problem;
6. matching;
7. mapping out a document; and
8. jigsaw reading.
2.5.2.2 Linguistic Approach
According to Grellet (1996: 13, 22-24) this approach includes the following
strategies:
1. Reordering: In these exercises, the students are asked to present the
information in a different way. They can be asked to reorder disordered
sentences into a cohesive incident, to complete a table, or to draw up a
chronological list of the events mentioned in the passage. The aim of this
60
type of exercises is to let the students know that there are many different
ways of presenting the same information.
2. Comparing: Through the comparison between different texts the attention of
the students is drawn to what is specific to the passage they are reading.
Grellet (op. cit.) states that the passages offered for comparison may differ in
their contents (e.g. one can study the development of an item of news over a
period of time) or in their points of view (e.g. several articles on the same
subject taken from different sources).
3. Summarizing: It is an important technique to develop understanding meaning
of a text. Since summarizing is an accurate and objective account of the text,
leaving out our reaction to it and rejecting all minor details, students are
forced to read meaningfully.
4. Note-taking: It means briefly jotting down ones reactions and ideas about
the passage, and students can be able to note down and establish the key
ideas of a text only when they read the text clearly and effectively. Therefore,
this practice is much useful for the students to develop their understanding
meaning of the texts they read.
Moreover, the following practices are also useful for this purpose:
i)
close reading;
ii)
cloze test;
iii)
surveying text organization;
iv)
using contextual clues to guess meaning of unknown words;
61
v)
transforming information from table, graphs, charts etc. to texts and vice
versa;
vi)
rereading;
vii)
associating; and
viii)
word-grouping.
2.5.3 Classroom Procedures for Teaching Reading

Classroom activities are very important for the development of teaching reading
skills. Teachers should help and encourage the students to read effectively in the
class. To perform the job, teachers have to design effective activities for teaching
reading in the class, because, a successful teaching of reading in the class depends
largely on the proper planning of reading lessons. Teaching techniques should be
designed according to the level of the perception of the students. An experienced and
efficient teacher knows well when a particular technique should be followed and
how. However, in the teaching of reading, there are some tested teaching techniques
by recommended experts, and these techniques can be followed in the classroom.
Grellet (1996: 10) states that practising reading in the classroom is a silent activity.
He, therefore, suggests that students should not read aloud in the class, because, it is
an extremely difficult exercise, highly specialized (very few people need to read
aloud in their profession) and it would tend to give the impression that all texts are to
be read at the same speed. (Grellet, op. cit.) Moreover, reading aloud tends to
prevent the students from developing efficient reading strategies.
62
In order to develop effective reading skills among the students, the teacher should
help the class how to approach a text meaningfully. The following procedure,
according to Grellet (1996: 10-11), is very helpful for the students:
a) Considering the text as a whole, its title, accompanying picture(s) or
diagram(s), the paragraphs, the typeface used, and making guesses about
what the text is about, who wrote it, who it is for, where it appeared, etc.
b) Skimming through the text a first time to see if the learners hypotheses were
right and then asking a number of questions to themselves about the contents
of the text.
c) Reading the text again, more slowly and carefully this time, trying to
understand as much as possible and trying to answer the questions asked by
the learners themselves.
Williams (1996) has suggested that for effective teaching of reading in the
classroom, the lesson should be divided into three consecutive phases. They are prereading, while-reading and post-reading phases.
2.5.3.1 Pre-reading
Pre-reading stage is important because it can whet the students appetites to read.
Greenwood (1998: 15) states that it can provide a need to read to complete an
activity or confirm an idea; and it can persuade the students that as far as perception
or hypothesis is concerned there are no right or wrong answers, only different ones.
In pre-reading stage, teacher should carefully design the activities that prepare the
students mentally to accept what he/she is going to teach in the next stage. Urquhart
and Weir (1998: 184) have suggested some pr-reading activities. They are-
63
1. thinking about the title

2. checking the edition and date of publications
3. reading appendices quickly
4. reading indices quickly
5. reading the abstract carefully
6. reading the preface, the forward and the blurb carefully.
Aims of this phase, according to Williams (op. cit.), are to introduce and arouse
interest in the topic, to motivate learners by giving a reason for reading and to
provide some language preparation for the text.
2.5.3.2 While-reading
In the while-reading phase, Students must be taught how to read and respond to
books. (Greenwood 1998: 59) During this phase students should be involved in
activities which enable them to respond cognitively, emotionally and imaginatively
to imaginative writing.
The teacher should conduct some useful activities in this phase for the better output
from the students in the next stage. The activities in this stage should be designed
according to the level and standard of the students. Shahidullah (1995-96) has
suggested some of the while-reading activities. They are1.
guessing meaning from context,
2.
analysing sentences,
3.
surveying text structure,
4.
extracting specific information,
5.
getting detailed information,
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6.
answering pre-set questions,
7.
matching texts with picture, diagrams etc.,
8.
guessing meaning of unfamiliar words,
The while-reading phase is significant. It is the most active stage among the three,
because, proper activities in this phase, according to Williams (1996: 38), enable the
students to understand the writers purpose, to understand the text structure and to
clarify text content.
2.5.3.3 Post-reading
This stage is designed to evaluate what the teacher has taught in the while-reading
stage. In the post reading stage the teacher may ask the students to know their
reaction to the text, for example, the students may answer whether they have liked
and enjoyed it, or found it useful or not. If the text is found useful, the meaning and
content of it may be extended to the students known social phenomena, personal
interests and knowledge or experience. In short, activities at this stage do not refer
directly to the text, but grows out of it.
This stage is also important since this stage is supposed to evaluate and examine the
output of and feedback from the students. In addition to that, post-reading phase
enables the students, according to Williams (1996: 39), to consolidate or reflect upon
what has been read and to relate the text to the learners own knowledge, interest,
experience or views.
2.5.4 Top Ten Principles for Teaching Reading
In order to make the teaching of EFL reading effective, it is important for teachers
regularly to take stock of their perception or the nature of the reading process itself,
65
relevant reading activities, and appropriate classroom management. (Williams,

1986: 42-45)
She has pointed out 10 principles and termed top ten principles. They are important
to evaluate the successful reading strategy. The principles are:
1. In the absence of interesting texts, very little is possible. According to her,
Interest is vital, for it increases motivation, which in turn is a significant factor
in the development of reading speed and fluency. It echoes Nuttalls (1996:
170) statement that the text should interest the readers preferably enthral and
delight them. The book should be interesting, first and foremost, to the learner,
and then preferably to the teacher. Though it is difficult to know the interestlevel of the students, it is not impossible. To make out whether the books,
currently in use in EFL reading course interest them, they can be asked to assess
them as interesting, all right, or boring.
2. The primary activity of a reading lesson should be learners reading text. It
should be kept in mind while learning to read that the other activities listening,
writing etc. should not be allowed to submerge the central activity, reading
when reading as a single-skill is given emphasis. Though other activities are not
unimportant, teachers should know well that Learners learn to read by reading:
there is no other way.
3. Growth in language ability is an essential part of the development of reading
ability. Students may have sufficient strategies and schemata, but the most
important thing about reading EFL and ESL is that students must have adequate
vocabulary, the full understanding of the sentence pattern and rhetorical
66
patternings of the text. Without these kinds of knowledge, all their skills and
strategies in the world will have little effect. Alderson (1984: 1- 27) having
reviewed the relevant literature, suggests that a minimum language threshold is
necessary before reading skills and strategies can successfully operate.
4. Classroom procedure should reflect the purposeful, task-based, interactive
nature of real reading. A psycholinguistic model of the reading process (e.g.
Goodman: 1967) holds that the reader is actively engaged in striving to
reconstruct the authors message Reading is thus not only active but
interactive process. This interactivity can best be fostered in a reading classroom
in which pair work and group work are permitted because, through classroom
procedures inter-learner discussion of the text and associated tasks required for
the development of their reading skills can actively be generated. This essential
interactivity also encourages learners to make use of what they have read. This
can be done by requiring the completion of a diagrammatic representation of the
text matrix, flow chart, tree-diagram etc. Class room activities can also help
them by encouraging them to make use of what they have read by means of
application questions. Teachers should not forget that purposeful, audible
interactivity of this nature replicates the interactivity which is characteristic of
the efficient, individual, silent reader.
5. Teachers must learn to be quit: all too often, teachers interfere with and so
impede their learners reading development by being too dominant and by
talking too much. Although reading can and should be fostered by collaborative
group work, in the final analysis it is an individual task just like swimming or
67
playing the piano. So, teachers should act like guides under whom students will
develop their individual reading skill.
6. Exercise-types should, as far as possible, approximate to cognitive reality. We
need to identify the strategies, skills, and objectives during the process of real
reading and help the learner to acquire them to make him/her a more efficient
reader. When reading investigations on self-report, self-observation and thinkaloud should be focused.
7. A learner will not become a proficient reader simply by attending a reading
course or working through a reading textbook. Learners should give equal
importance on both intensive and extensive readings. For every hour of intensive
reading, a learner should be doing at least another hour of extensive reading. It
does not matter very much what learners read in extensive reading if they feel
like enjoying the text. To promote extensive reading effectively, a system of
graded readers can be introduced.
8. A reader contributes meaning to a text. Reading is not simply a matter of taking
out information, opinion, enjoyment etc. from a text; it involves contributing
attitudes, experience, pre-knowledge etc. This natural characteristic of real
reading must be encouraged and developed in teaching EFL reading. This can be
done by including questions or tasks which require readers to combine what is in
their heads with what is in the text.
9. Progress in reading requires learners to use their ears, as well as their eyes. .
Research suggests that the more accurate the readers internal prosody, the
greater the degree of comprehension. Audible reading as well as silent reading
68
involves stress and intonation or prosody. So, learners should be encouraged to

listen to texts such as tapes accompanying graded reading, specially recorded
tapes, the teacher reading to the class, older learners reading to younger learners,
and better readers reading to weaker readers in their group.
10. Using a text does not necessarily equal teaching reading. A particular text is
suitable for a particular purpose. So, to develop reading skills appropriate and
suitable texts should be chosen for the learners, because, in a reading class
reading skills and not language skills should be given priority. Thus learners will
be able to develop their cognitive strategies which help them to reconstruct the
authors original message. This gradual development will ultimately heighten
their understanding power of meaning construction, and they can eventually
employ this power outside the reading lesson without the assistance of the
teacher.
Williams (1996: 109-111) has pointed out some meaningful ways of teaching how to
develop students reading ability. They are:
(1) read and match, (2) read and label, (3) read and complete, (4) read and draw, (5)
jigsaw procedure and (6) enquiry strategy.
2.6 Text Selection

Selecting a proper text is important for the students and also for the teacher to teach
reading in the class. It is difficult to select an appropriate text fit for the readers, yet
some proper steps should be practised to ensure the right choice.
Texts should be selected according to the linguistic level of the students and the
purpose of reading. Shahidullah (1995-96: 226) states, Students present linguistic
69
level, and the level of their content and cultural schemata have to be taken into
consideration in selecting texts for them.
There are a huge amount of materials around us to read and explore. Grellet (1996:
3) has pointed out a variety of reading materials that one usually comes across.
They are:
novels, short stories, tales; other literary texts and passages (e.g. essays,
diaries, anecdotes, biographies)
plays
poems, limericks, nursery rhymes
letters, postcards, telegrams, notes
newspapers and magazines
specialized articles, reports, reviews, essays, business letters, summaries,
precis, accounts, pamphlets
handbooks, textbooks, guidebooks
recipes
advertisements, travel brochures, catalogues
puzzles, problems, rules of games
instructions, directions, notices, rules and regulations, posters, signs, graffiti,
menus, tickets
comic strips, cartoons and caricatures, legends
statistics, diagrams, time-tables, maps
telephone directories, dictionaries, phrasebooks.
Among these and other innumerous options one has to select the appropriate text. At
the same time, one should bear in mind that no text is complete in itself, and so, it is
the readers duty to convert the text into meaningful discourse. Candlin (1984: x)
remarks:
70
Texts do not have unitary meanings potentially accessible to all; they rather
allow variety of interpretation by different readers, governed by factors such
as purpose, backgrounds, and the relationship established in the act of reading
between the reader and the writer.
Before the final selection of texts for the students, some criteria which influence the
choice of texts should be considered. Nuttall (1996: 170-6) points out three main
criteria for a good selection of the texts:
Suitability: it is essential to ensure that the text should interest the reader
preferably enthral and delight them (Nuttall, 1996: 170).
Exploitability: it is facilitation of learning, and its importance is next to

suitability. A text you cannot exploit is no use for teaching even if the students
enjoy reading because the focus in the reading is neither language nor content,
but the two together: how language is used in conveying content for purpose
(pp. 171- 2). According to Williams (1996: 36) exploitation is used in broad
sense to refer what is done in the three phases involved in reading: the prereading, while-reading and post- reading phases.
Readability: it refers to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty. As

the linguistic and structural levels are not the same for all the students, it is
necessary to assess the right level for the students (Nuttall, 1996: 174) in terms
of vocabulary and structure into account.
Urquhart and Weir (1998: 205) suggest some other terms in selecting a text.
According to them, texts should be selected considering intended audience, intended
purpose, source, length, lexical range, rhetorical structure, topic familiarity,
relationship to background knowledge, and channel of presentation.
71
On the other hand, the textbooks themselves should have some characteristics that
can make them fit for the purposes and objectives of the readers:
1. A textbook should be authentic, or at least devised to appear authentic. Nuttall
(1996: 177) gives a straightforward explanation why an authentic text is necessary.
According to her, we need texts which exhibit the characteristics of true discourse:
having something to say, being coherent and clearly organized in order to pursue
the crucial text attack skills.
To enhance the authenticity of a text, they can be presented in facsimile. A news
story can be made to look like a piece cut out of a newspaper, or a set of rules can be
presented as a notice pinned to a board. Shahidullah (1995-96: 226) has prescribed
authentic English texts, or texts written by an Englishman for the students to
improve their ability to read.
2. A text should also look attractive, for an attractive looking text is more likely to
appeal to the reader (Nuttall, 1996: 178). Though appearance is only superficial,
and apparently it has nothing to do with the contents of the text, yet it can play an
important role in grabbing students attention. This is essential and useful especially
for extensive reading and for the students who are unwilling to read books.
3. The level of the language of a text is important. A linguistically difficult text may
discourage students to advance. Williams (1984: 18-19) explains it clearly:
it should not contain a large amount of language that is too difficult for the most of the
classif too difficult, then either the pace of the lesson will be slow, and boredom will set
in, or the pace will be too fast, and the learner will not understand enough, and frustration
will result.
So, before selecting a text it should be noted that the text suits the linguistic level of
the learners. But at the same time it should be considered that the text upgrades their
72
present linguistic level. Nuttall (1996: 36) terms it next step level, i.e. one step
further than where students currently are, but no more, as the target from pushing
them on. Williams and Burden (1997: 65-6) discuss this very issue as the zone of
proximal development from the field of educational psychology. They suggest that
the teacher should set tasks that are at a level just beyond that at which the learners
are currently capable of functioning, and teach principles that will enable them to
make the next step unassisted.
4. Vocabulary plays the most effective role in reading. The understanding and the
speed of reading depend on the level of new vocabulary in the text. Nuttall (1996:
175) states that for intensive reading a lot of new words may be acceptable, but for
extensive reading books should have a smaller proportion of new words 1 percent
perhaps because students expect tolerable vocabulary when they are supposed to
read a large amount of texts. So, the vocabulary should offer a 1+1 level of
challenge to the learners (Krashen, 1993).
5. The tendency and/or curiosity to know the unknown implores the students to carry
on their reading. So, a text should deal with the things that are new and imploring to
the students, and which will make them think about things they havent thought of
before (Nuttall, 1996: 175).
6. A good text makes the students want to read for themselves. Such texts should be
selected which will urge the students to continue a story, find out more about a
subject, and so on (op. cit.).
7. A text also should contain cultural background information that enables students
to assimilate cultural assumptions. It is important for an interactive process of
73
reading since there will be a proper interaction between the information of the reader
and that of the text (McKay, 1988: 10).
Last but not the least, the text must be interesting to the readers so that they can
enjoy the book and concentrate their full attention on it. To put it in Nuttalls word,
far and away the most important criterion is that the text should interest the reader
preferably enthral and delight them (1996: 170).
2.7 Conclusion
This chapter presents the definition of reading according to various experts. Purposes
and types of reading are also discussed in this chapter. This chapter gives an
elaborate description of higher order and lower order sub-skills of reading. It also
presents pedagogical approaches to teaching reading and discusses the importance
and means of selecting appropriate texts for effective reading.
Chapter 3
3.1 Introduction
A successful research requires both library research and empirical investigations, that
is, suitable research methodology and instrument have to be used by the researcher.
Empirical research is important because it helps to support or reject the
hypothesis/statement stated in the theoretical arguments of a study.
The empirical research of this study focuses the problems students face during their
reading, the reading pedagogy, materials and tests currently in use in the classes,
present state of the reading skills of the students at the intermediate level, and
teachers role in conducting reading activities in the class.
This chapter includes detailed description of the design and construction of the
research instruments, the sampling plan of the empirical analysis, the process of
administration of the study, and the method of processing and analyzing the collected
data.
3.2 Purpose of the Empirical Investigation

It has already been stated that this dissertation seeks to investigate the problems
students face during their reading, examines the actual state of teaching and learning
of reading skills at the intermediate levels in Bangladesh, find out the extent to which
newly introduced Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is implemented in the
teaching of reading skills in Bangladesh. The study also tries to evaluate the reading
75
components of the English syllabus, the reading materials currently used in the
country and the test of reading skills administered at the intermediate levels.
3.3 Methods of Data Collection

Several types of methods are used to collect data for a thesis. The important methods
include:
a) Questionnaire survey
b) Interview
c) Observation method
d) Schedule method
e) Evaluation of the syllabus, materials and tests.
Some other methods such as Diary Studies, Case Studies etc. are also used to collect
data.
3.3.1 Questionnaire Survey
It is a popular method of collecting data. In this method a questionnaire containing a
set of questions or statements is sent to the respondents with a request to answer
those. After answering the questions, the respondents return it to the researcher.
The form of questions in a questionnaire may be either closed (i.e. yes, no or
multiple point type questions) or open-ended (i.e. inviting free response), and they
are typed out and printed (Kothari, 2006: 101).
The main merits of this method, according to Kothari (op. cit.), are:
1. It is a method that can be conducted at a low cost even when the universe is
large.
2. It is free from the bias of the researchers.
76
3. Respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers.

4. Remote respondents can be easily approached.
5. The result of this method is more dependable and reliable as the research is
conducted in a large scale.
In spite of some negligible demerits, this method is thought to be the most commonly
used technique to collect data.
3.3.2 Interview
Interview method of data collection involves, according to Kothari (2006: 97),
presentation of verbal stimuli and recording of verbal responses. This method is
conducted through personal or telephone interviews.
In the personal interview, the interviewer collects information by asking questions to
the respondent personally. He/she goes to the spot and meets the respondents and
administers the interviews. On the other hand, telephone interview involves
contacting respondents over telephone. Though it is not a widely used method, it
plays an important role in empirical study.
Interview method has some remarkable advantages. By this method, interviewers can
collect more information and that too in greater depth. He can record verbal answers
and use them later. He can collect the interviewers personal information related to
the survey. Moreover, there is greater flexibility under this method.
However, this method has some weaknesses, too. It is not only an expensive but also
a more-time-consuming method. Moreover, there is a probability that the
interviewers bias may affect the proper outcome of the interview.
77
3.3.3 Observation Method

In this method, the information is collected by the investigators direct observation.
The main advantage of this method, according to Kothari (2006: 96) is that in it
subjective bias is eliminated. This method is independent of respondents willingness
to respond because it does not demand any active co-operation from the respondents.
Moreover, it enables the researchers to obtain what is currently happening.
However, it is not flawless. The first limitation of this method is that it is expensive.
Secondly, information provided by this method is very limited. And thirdly,
unforeseen factors may interfere with the observational task, and it is a strong
impediment for this method to collect data effectively.
3.3.4 Schedule Method
This method is like the questionnaire survey. The only difference between these two
systems lies in the fact that schedules are being filled in by the enumerators who are
specially appointed for the purpose (Kothari, p. 104). These enumerators take
schedules to the respondents and record their answers. But in the questionnaire
survey, the researcher himself/herself goes to the respondents and they (the
respondents) themselves fill in the questionnaire.
Though this method of data collection is very expensive, it is very useful in extensive
enquiries and can lead to fairly reliable results.
3.4 Methods of Data Collection Adopted for the Present Study

The present study is basically a descriptive study. For a successful and acceptable
empirical survey the nature and the purpose of the study have been closely
78
examined, and five major techniques of the survey methods have been used for
collecting data. They are:
a) Students and teachers questionnaire survey,
b) Students and teachers interview,
c) Classroom observation,
d) Test of reading skills, and
e) Evaluation of reading syllabus, materials and tests
3.5 Instruments Used for the Empirical Study

Instrument used for the empirical study have been designed according to the
designed methodology of the study. The methods used in this study are1. Questionnaire for the students
2. Questionnaire for the teachers
3. Classroom observation scheme, and
4. A reading test.
It has already been mentioned that the same questionnaire was used for both
questionnaire survey and interview, one for the students and another for the teachers.
3.6 Construction of the Instruments

Instruments used for the study have been constructed and designed according to the
necessity and purpose of the study. While constructing the instrument, its
applicability and adaptability have been considered. Moreover, as the objectives of
the study are to examine the problems students face during their reading, to examine
the implication and use of the communicative language teaching and to evaluate the
79
reading pedagogy, materials and tests currently in use in the country, the instruments
have been constructed focusing on these issues.
For the construction of the empirical instruments, several books (for example,
Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques by C. R. Kothari; Research in
Education by Best et. al.; Second Language Research Methods by Herbert W.
Seliger and Elana Shohamy; Teaching English Worldwide: A Practical Guide to
Teaching English by Paul Lindsay etc.) have been studied. Besides it, several
instruments used in the empirical investigation in other studies of the same fields are
also consulted.
While designing questions for the questionnaire survey and the interview,
respondents intelligibility and their level of vocabulary have been considered.
Without some exceptions in the students questionnaire, all the statements are
identical in both teachers and students questionnaire. Students questionnaire
survey and interview has 58 questions and teachers questionnaire survey and
interview has 54 questions. 4 items have been included in the students questionnaire
survey and interview (questions 17- 20), and these items are not included in the
teachers questionnaire survey and interview because they are concerned with the
students only.
The same questions have been set in both students and teachers questionnaire with
a view to comparing the students evaluation about their own performance and their
teachers ability to teach them, and the teachers evaluation about their students
performance and their own ability to teach the students.
80
The language of the questions is carefully chosen so that the respondents can
understand the meaning of the questions easily. Moreover, in order to make the
language simple and easy difficult words have been avoided and technical terms
have been simplified and exemplified.
3.7 Detailed Description of the Instrument for Students Questionnaire

In the students instrument there are two sections. The first section features the
personal details of the respondents. The personal details include name, institution,
class and roll. Section II includes three consecutive parts- A1, A2 and B.
Part A1 consists of 16 questions that deal with students ability concerning various
aspects of reading strategies. Part A2 consists of 4 questions which are also
concerned with reading ability of the students, but the only difference is that unlike
Part A1, questions in Part A2 are descriptive.
Part B includes 38 questions that are related to the students view on and evaluation
about their teachers attitude and activities, techniques and methodology in teaching
reading in the class.
3.8 Detailed Description of the Instrument for Teachers Questionnaire

The instrument used for teachers questionnaire survey and interview consists of two
sections. The first section is meant for collecting personal details of the respondents.
It includes name and institution.
81
The second section consists of two parts- Part A and Part B. Part A includes 16
questions which are meant to evaluate their students performance concerning
reading strategies according to their views. Part B includes 38 questions which are
related to their own teaching techniques, experience and skills regarding various
aspects of teaching reading in the class.
3.9 Pilot Survey

Before administering the questionnaire survey and interview, a pilot study was
conducted. The purposes of the pilot survey were to develop the standard of the
questions in the questionnaire and interview schedule to make the questions easily
understood to the respondents who are meant to answer them.
Two teachers from two different government and non-government colleges (Mr.
Aminul Haque, Associate Professor of English of Rajshahi Government City
College, Rajshahi; and Sujauddaula Selim, Lecturer of English of Masjid Mission
Academy School and College, Rajshahi) were selected and requested to answer the
questionnaire which would be used for teachers questionnaire survey and interview.
And for the pilot survey of the students questionnaire survey and interview, 10
students of 3 different colleges (New Government Degree College, Rajshahi, Masjid
Mission Academy School and College, Rajshahi and Varendra College, Rajshahi)
were selected and asked to answer the questionnaire.
Both teachers and students were given a few days to answer the questionnaires. In
the meantime they were contacted regularly. When they finished, the questionnaires
were collected from them. Finally, the questionnaires were edited and modified in
82
the light of the problems the respondents faced in answering, and the responses got
from them. Thus the questionnaires were finalized for the fieldwork.
3.10 Detailed Description of the Instrument Used for the Classroom

Observation
An observation scheme has been prepared for the classroom observation. The
scheme used for the classroom observation consists of two sections. The first section
is meant for collecting detailed description of the institution and of the class to be
observed. It includes Name of the college, Name of the teacher, Name of the
class, Total students, Students present and Date and time/period.
The second section consists of 38 questions which are related to their own teaching
techniques, experience and skills regarding various aspects of teaching reading in the
class. The questions are also designed to observe how they teach reading in the class,
what materials and instruments they use in teaching reading and how successful they
are in teaching reading in the class. In addition to these, extra sheets of paper have
been used to note down the important aspects concerning classroom observation.
3.11 Detailed Description of the Test of Reading Skills Administered for

the Study
A question paper of 50 marks has been designed for the test of reading skills. It
includes 7 items. Item 1 is concerned with guessing word meaning without any
choice provided, and it includes 10 questions which equal 10 marks. Item 2 is also
concerned with guessing word meaning, but it provides multiple choice options. It
includes 5 questions which equal 5 marks. Item 3 is based on an unseen passage, and
83
this item is designed to test the ability of students to find out specific information
from a set of alternative answers. It includes 10 marks. Item 4 is concerned with
testing higher order skills such as inferencing, interpreting etc. It is also based on an
unseen passage. This item includes 5 questions which equal 10 marks.
Items 5, 6 and 7 are based on another single passage. These items are also related to
finding out specific information, but unlike item 3, these items include completing
the table with relevant information, answering short questions, and filling in the
blanks using appropriate words. Each item has 5 marks.
Questions used in the classroom observation scheme were designed carefully to test
students readability, their vocabulary skills and capability of guessing word
meaning, to check comprehensive skills and the ability to locate specific information
in a particular text, to scan a text, to match information with relevant topics or dates
etc. The question paper was also designed to check the higher order skills
(inferencing, interpreting etc.) of the students.
3.12 Sampling Plan for the Empirical Study

In sampling for empirical study, the mainstream education and the institutions of
mainstream education were taken into consideration. As the survey was conducted
on the intermediate students, colleges were chosen for the empirical investigation.
And, since the curriculum and syllabi in the intermediate level are same except some
O/A level institutions (which do not fall into the criterion of mainstream education),
colleges of a particular area were thought to represent the whole country. It can be
stated that in every district in the country there are at least one government college
and more than one non-government colleges. Without some exceptions, all the
84
government colleges and some non-government colleges are situated in the district
headquarters. On the other hand, in the suburban areas or in villages only nongovernment colleges are situated. So, only one district and the colleges of the
mainstream education under that district were considered as representatives of the
system and standard of education in the intermediate levels in the whole country.
Considering the above argument and convenience in conducting the present study
only Rajshahi district was chosen for collecting data. It was an area of cluster
sampling. But for the test of reading skills, a college from the rural area of the
district of Naogaon has been selected, because many of the colleges where the
survey and interview were done were closed for the Ramadan Vacation.
Since the field for the empirical study has already been determined, stratified
sampling method under the area of cluster sampling has been adopted to classify the
selected colleges into three categories. The first category consists of the government
colleges of the district (and it can be added here that in Rajshahi all the three
government colleges are situated in the district headquarter), the second category
consists of non-government colleges of the district headquarter, and the third
category consists of the non-government colleges of the semi-urban areas and of
villages.
For students questionnaire survey and interview the students of intermediate first
year irrespective of groups (science, humanities and commerce) have been selected
as the respondents, and for teachers questionnaire survey and interview the English
language teachers of the selected colleges have been selected as the respondents. For
the class observation 3 government and 3 non-government colleges from the district
85
headquarter have been selected. And 52 students from 6 different colleges

(government and non-government) willingly took part in the test of reading skills
administered for this study.
3.12.1 Sampling Plan for Students Questionnaire Survey
From the three categories of colleges, four colleges have been chosen for the
students questionnaire survey. Among them the number of government college is
one, and it is situated in the district headquarter. Of the three non-government
colleges, one is situated in the district headquarter and the rest two are situated in the
semi-urban area and in the village under the same district, Rajshahi.
The study has been conducted on 108 students of the selected colleges.
Table 2 presents the sampling plan for the questionnaire survey.
Table 2
Category of the Sl Name of the
District
college
no. College
Category
1:
government
colleges in the
district
headquarter
Category 2: nongovernment
colleges in the
district
headquarter
Category 3: nongovernment
colleges outside
the
district
headquarter
Total
3
4
New
Government
Degree
College
Rajshahi
Masjid
Mission
Academy
Rajshahi
School
and
College
Talanda Lolit
Mohan
Rajshahi
Degree
College
Pakuria College Rajshahi
4
Total
number
of the
students
in the
class
Number
Number
of
of
students
present in students
the class observed.
150
25
25
102
27
27
188
25
25
42
482
31
108
31
108
86
3.12.2 Sampling Plan for Students Interview

In order to add more validity to the study, students interview has been conducted
among the students of the same colleges where students questionnaire survey was
conducted earlier.
24 students from those four colleges have been selected for the interview. Among the
24 interviewees, 5 were from the government college and the rest (19) were from
non-government colleges. It can be added here that the selection of the students for
the interview was done at random.
Table 3 presents the sampling plan for the students interview.
Table 3
Category of Sl Name of the

District
the college
no. College
Category 1:
government
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 2:
nongovernment
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 3:
nongovernment
colleges
outside the
district
headquarter
Total
Total
number
of
the
students
in
the
class
Number
of
Number of
students
students
present in interviewed.
the class
New
Government
Rajshahi 150
Degree
College
25
Masjid
Mission
Academy
Rajshahi 102
School and
College
27
Rajshahi 188
25
Rajshahi 42
31
108
24
Talanda
Lolit
Mohan
Degree
College
Pakuria
College
4
482
87
3.12.3 Sampling Plan for Teachers Questionnaire Survey

The teachers questionnaire survey was conducted on 7 teachers. Among them 6
teachers are of the selected 4 colleges and 1 teacher is of another government
college.
A detailed sampling plan for the teachers questionnaire survey is presented in table
4.
Table 4
Category of
the college
Category 1:
government
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 2:
nongovernment
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 3:
nongovernment
colleges
outside the
district
headquarter
Total
Sl
no.
Name of the
College
New
Government
Degree
College
Government
City
College
Masjid
Mission
Academy
School and
College
Talanda
Lolit
Mohan
Degree
College
Pakuria
College
5
District
Total
number
of the
teachers
Number
of
teachers
present
in the
college
Number
of
teachers
observed.
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
14
88
3.12.4 Sampling Plan for Teachers Interview

All the teachers seemed to be very busy, and some of them were unable or unwilling
to allocate any time to assist the study. So, 5 teachers among the 7 were interviewed.
Table 5 presents the sampling plan for the teachers interview.
Table 5
Category of
the college
Category 1:
government
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 2:
nongovernment
colleges in
the district
headquarter
Category 3:
nongovernment
colleges
outside the
district
headquarter
Total
Number
of
teachers
present
in the
college
Number of
teachers
interviewed.
Sl
no.
Name of the
College
District
Total
number
of the
teachers
New
Government
Degree
College
Rajshahi
Masjid
Mission
Academy
School and
College
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
10
Talanda
Lolit
Mohan
Degree
College
Pakuria
College
5
3.12.5 Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation

On the basis of availability 10 classes in 6 different government and non-government
colleges have been observed. Among the 10 classes 6 are observed in 3 government
colleges, and the remaining 4 are observed in 3 non-government colleges. It can be
89
added here that, for the convenience of study and communication only the colleges
situated in the district headquarter have been chosen for the classroom investigation.
Table 6 presents the sampling plan for the classroom observation.
Table 6
Sampling Plan for the Classroom Observation
Sl
no.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Tota
l
Name of the
Colleges
New Govt. Degree
College
Government City
College
Government
Womens Degree
College
Masjid Mission
Academy School
and College
Shah Makhdum
Degree College
Madar Bux Home
Economics College
District
No. of
English
Teacher in
the College
No of
Classes
Observe
d
Government
Rajshahi
Government
Rajshahi
Government
Rajshahi
Nongovernment
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
16
10
Category of
the Colleges
Nongovernment
Nongovernment
6 colleges
3.12.6 Sampling Plan for the Test of Reading Skills

In conducting the test of reading skills no student was forced. Irrespective of gender
and groups, only the students who were willing to sit for the test were invited. 52
students from 6 different colleges took part in the reading test. After their positive
response, they were given question papers and instruction for the test. After the test
had finished, the answer scripts were collected from the respondents. Then the
scripts were examined.
90
The assessment of this test is based on the study of the ability and performance of the
students in reading.
Detailed sampling plan for the test of reading skills is presented in table 7.
Table 7
Sl
no.
Name of
College
New Government
Degree College
Government City
2
College
Government
3
Womens Degree
College
4
Varendra College
5
Pakuria College
Bandaikhara
6
Degree College
Total 6 colleges
1
District
No. of Students
Participated in the
Test
Government
Rajshahi
13
Government
Rajshahi
Government
Rajshahi
Non-government
Non-government
Rajshahi
Rajshahi
7
7
Non-government
Naogaon
11
the Category of the

College
52
3.13 Administration of the Empirical Study

Since the administration of the empirical study is very important and vital, maximum
care has been taken in conducting it. For the sake of the best output from students
and teachers, the researcher convinced them that the data they would provide would
benefit the researcher, and no part of their information would be published anywhere
except for the purpose of the thesis. They were confirmed that the information
provided by them would be highly confidential.
A brief account of the process of the administration of the empirical investigation has
been presented below.
91
3.13.1 Administration of the Students Questionnaire Survey

After the selection of the college had been completed, the permission of the principal
of the college was sought. On the basis of the convenience of the college authority
and the availability of the teachers and the class schedule, date and time were fixed
for the students questionnaire survey. According to the schedule, different colleges
were visited, and with the help of the English teacher/s the students were introduced
with the purpose and process of the study. After they had been instructed properly,
the questionnaires were distributed among the respondents. Then the questions in the
questionnaire were explained to them for the convenience of their better
understanding. After that, the respondents were asked to tick the most appropriate
answer in the boxes against each question in the questionnaire. Sometimes, some
aspects of the questions were interpreted in Bangla if they seemed difficult to any of
the respondents. Finally, the questionnaires were collected from the respondents.
3.13.2 Administration of the Students Interview
Interviewees were selected from those who answered the questionnaire and were
enthusiastic and willing to take interview. No student was forced to take the
interview.
For the students interview, the questions of the questionnaire survey were presented
orally to the interviewees. If they faced any problem in understanding the meaning of
a question or any terms in the question, they were simplified to make them
understand that. And finally, according to their answer, appropriate box/option
against each question was ticked.
92
3.13.3 Administration of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey

According to the sampling plan, English teachers of the selected colleges were
contacted personally in the college or in the residence. Then they were requested to
fill in the questionnaire. The teachers who wanted to co-operate were handed over
the questionnaires. And, after they had completed those, the questionnaires were
collected from them, but if it was not possible to do that on the spot, the
questionnaires were collected later.
3.13.4 Administration of the Teachers Interview
At first, the selected teachers were requested for the interview. According to their
schedule they were contacted and the questions from the questionnaire were asked
orally to them. If they had any problem in understanding any item related to the
questions, it was explained orally. Then their responses were recorded by ticking the
appropriate box against each question. And finally, they were thanked for their cooperation.
3.13.5 Administration of the Classroom Observation
Due to some temporal restrictions, all the selected colleges used for the questionnaire
survey were not available for the classroom observation. But 10 classes were
observed in six government and non-government colleges situated in the district
headquarter.
The head of the institution or of the department of English in the selected colleges
were contacted to seek permission for the classroom observation. After s/he had
given permission, the teacher concerned was requested for permission to observe
his/her class. After securing permission, the researcher observed the class sitting at
93
the back of the classroom. During the class, the methods and techniques of teaching
reading of the teacher were observed and the right options in the observation scheme
were ticked. Some aspects which require more than one classroom observation to be
ticked correctly were asked to the students in the end of the class after the departure
of the teacher. Moreover, during the class, some important aspects related to the
classroom observation and the teaching of reading in the class were noted down.
Thus all the classes in the colleges available at that time were observed.
3.13.6 Administration of the Test of Reading Skills
Only the interested students were invited for the test of reading skills. The test was
conducted personally through several sittings. In each sitting 9/10 respondents from
different colleges were given the question papers and asked to answer the questions
within a limited period of one and a quarter hours. When the allotted time finished,
the answer scripts were collected and categorized according to college. Then the
scripts were looked over and analyzed to find out the results.
It can be added here that the selection of the respondents for the test was at random.
3.13.7 Evaluation of the Reading Components of the Syllabus and Materials
Used at H.S.C Level
For evaluation of the reading components of syllabus and materials used at H.S.C
level, the points discussed in the theoretical chapter (chapter 2) were taken into
consideration.
94
3.14 Processing and Analyzing Data

When the collection of data through each method was finished, the data were edited
first. Then the data were processed and entered on the computer for data analysis.
With the help of a special software, the statistical measures, such as Mean and
Standard Deviations (SDs) were calculated. These results were used afterwards for
further statistical analysis, explanation, evaluation and recommendation in the thesis.
3.15 Conclusion
This chapter presents detailed description of the empirical study. It presents the
description and explanation of the methodology used in the empirical investigation,
the detailed description of the adopted processes and of the instruments, description
of the sampling plan and construction of the questionnaire for survey, interview,
instruments for classroom observations and design of the reading tests. It also
describes the process of the administration of the questionnaire survey, interview,
classroom observations and reading tests. In addition to these, this chapter briefly
discusses the process of analyzing the collected data.
Chapter: 4
Results
4.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the results of the data analysis in terms of central tendency
(Mean and SD), and in some cases, in terms of frequency counts. It shows the
present state of the students reading skills, their range of problems, the teachers
activities and their role in teaching reading, among others
4.2 Result of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview

Results of the students questionnaire survey and interview are presented in terms of
Mean and SD in table 8, but responses to questions 17 to 20 are analysed in terms of
frequency counts in tables 9 and 10.
Table 8
Result of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview (Items 1-16)
Results
No
Questions
Can you locate information by

previewing the index or table of
content of a book?
Can you find out required
specific information from the
text quickly?
During reading a text can you
guess the meaning of unfamiliar
words by using clues?
Questionnaire
Survey
Interview
Difference
s in
Survey
and
Interview
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
3.65
0.96
3.63
1.06
0.02
2.77
1.12
2.79
1.41
-0.02
2.97
1.16
3.13
1.03
-0.15
96
Results
No
Questions
Can you recall the relevant

experience
or
associated
4
knowledge while you are reading
a text?
Can you infer the unstated
5
statement (presupposition) of the
writer?
Can you predict what would
6
come next?
Can you read closely to know
7
details of a text?
Can you read a large text fast to
8
get an overall idea about it?
Can you use your previous
9
experience
or
background
knowledge to understand a text?
Can you answer questions in
10
English?
Can you read and interpret
11 graphics, charts, maps and
tables?
12 Can you analyze long sentences?
Can
you
survey
text
13
organization?
Can you follow the transition of
14
thought/idea of the author?
Can you give title to a reading
15
passage?
Can you find out the topic idea
16
of a text?
Part B
Does your teacher divide reading
lesson into pre-reading, while21
reading
and
post-reading
activities?
Does your teacher explain the
22 background of the text before
you start reading lesson?
Does your teacher allow you to
23 read in the class?
Questionnaire
Survey
Interview
Difference
s between
Survey
and
Interview
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
3.09
1.19
3.46
1.25
-0.37
3.50
1.08
3.38
1.10
0.13
3.96
1.17
3.71
1.04
0.25
3.72
1.18
3.75
0.94
-0.03
3.67
1.20
3.21
1.06
0.46
3.47
1.07
3.54
0.98
-0.07
3.13
0.99
3.29
0.86
-0.16
3.29
1.19
3.46
1.22
-0.17
3.06
0.97
3.25
1.11
-0.19
2.88
1.17
3.25
1.26
-0.37
3.44
1.16
3.58
1.18
-0.14
3.58
1.17
3.42
0.88
0.17
4.14
1.01
4.08
1.14
0.06
3.21
1.53
2.63
1.38
0.59
3.54
1.31
3.54
1.06
0.00
3.93
1.13
3.58
1.02
0.34
97
Results
No
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Questions
Does your teacher guide you

how to read texts in the class?
Is your teacher an active partner
in reading activities?
Does your teacher make sure
that each of you reads in the
class?
Does your teacher encourage
you to read by yourselves?
Does your teacher arrange the
class in groups/pairs in order to
find meaning of texts through
discussion?
Does your teacher ask you to
read additional materials (stories,
novels, magazines etc. written in
English) at home also?
Does your teacher read the text
himself/herself, and then explain
and interpret it to you?
Does your teacher read out the
text first and then let you read
and explain/interpret it?
When you come across a new
word, does your teacher help you
by supplying the meaning of the
word?
you to consult dictionary when
you come across unfamiliar
words during reading?
you to guess the meaning of
unfamiliar words by using
contextual clues?
Does your teacher point out your
problems regarding reading?
Does your teacher ask you
comprehension check questions
after each reading?
Questionnaire
Survey
Interview
Difference
s between
Survey
and
Interview
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
3.78
1.15
3.79
1.25
-0.01
4.30
1.11
4.46
0.93
-0.16
3.56
1.47
3.67
1.40
-0.11
3.60
1.39
3.88
1.19
-0.27
1.32
0.84
1.79
1.18
-0.47
3.10
1.18
3.54
1.02
-0.44
4.66
0.73
4.46
0.72
0.20
4.01
1.34
3.25
1.51
0.76
4.68
0.78
4.54
0.93
0.13
2.44
1.53
2.92
1.61
-0.48
3.80
3.03
1.04
-0.25
3.98
1.30
4.04
1.12
-0.06
4.06
1.08
3.46
1.06
0.60
4.04
98
Results
No
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
Questions

questions in English?
relate textual information to your
personal
experiences
or
background knowledge?
Does your teacher ask various
questions related to a particular
text in order to prepare you to
read the text or to make you
curious about it?
Does your teacher teach you
how to read a text quickly,
though not carefully, to find out
a piece of information or name
of a particular thing etc. (i.e.
scan a text)?
how to read a text in the shortest
possible time to get an overall
idea about it (i.e. skim through a
text)?
how to read a short text closely
to know the details (i.e.
intensively)?
how to read a large amount of
texts in a given period (i.e.
extensively)?
Does your teacher emphasize
language learning (i.e. grammar,
structure etc) in a reading class?
Does your teacher change texts
according to the purpose of
reading in the class?
how to predict the content of a
text?
Questionnaire
Survey
Interview
Differenc
es
between
Survey
and
Interview
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
3.87
1.12
3.42
1.25
0.45
2.42
1.02
2.75
0.85
-0.33
2.84
1.26
3.04
1.20
-0.20
3.03
1.08
2.88
0.95
0.15
2.50
1.46
3.17
1.34
-0.67
3.68
1.40
3.92
1.14
-0.24
2.39
1.46
2.42
1.38
-0.03
4.57
0.83
4.58
0.65
-0.01
3.34
1.41
3.92
1.28
-0.57
3.28
1.33
3.33
1.20
-0.06
99
Results
No
Questions
Questionnaire
Survey
Mean
SD
Interview
Mean
SD
Differenc
es in
Survey
and
Interview

47 inferencing and interpreting 3.60
1.06
3.96
1.04
-0.36
skills?
48 how to distinguish between facts 3.31
1.16
3.38
0.97
-0.07
and opinions?
49
3.76
1.23
3.58
1.25
0.18
how to evaluate a text critically?
50
3.00
1.39
3.04
1.12
-0.04
how to recognize bias?
51
4.13
1.12
3.92
0.97
0.21
how to summarize?
Does your teacher focus on
52 understanding attitude, mood, 4.00
1.12
3.58
1.21
0.42
tone etc?
Does your teacher use cloze
53
4.38
0.92
4.38
0.71
0.00
procedure for teaching reading?
Does your teacher teach how to
54 interpret graphics, charts, maps 3.83
1.39
3.63
1.21
0.21
and tables?
Does your teacher help you
55
4.32
1.04
3.96
1.16
0.37
analyze long sentences?
Does your teacher make you
56
3.97
1.12
4.04
1.08
-0.07
survey text organization?
57 understand the transition of 3.90
1.21
4.17
0.92
-0.27
ideas?
58 appreciate or comment on the 4.12
1.21
4.42
0.83
-0.30
style of writing in a text?
N=108 in the questionnaire survey, and N= 28 in the interview.
N.B. In the above table, result of the questionnaire survey has been taken as standard
to calculate the differences between the Mean scores of the questionnaire survey and
interview.
100
Table 9
Results of Students Questionnaire Survey (Items 17- 20)
Q.
no
17
18
19
20
Question
How long does it take
for you to read a
standard size page of
English text?
(a. About 30 minutes; b.
About 25 minutes; c.
About 20 minutes; d.
About 15 minutes; e.
About 10 minutes.)
When you do not
understand
a
long
sentence, or part of a
text, you
(a. Stop reading; b. Skip
it; c. Seek help from
your teacher; d. Read
again; e. Try to find out
the cause of the
problem.)
What do you do when
you find that the text
you are reading is not
interesting, or you are
not getting what you
want from the text?
(a. Stop reading; b. Do
nothing; c. Seek help
from your teacher; d.
Read again; e. Try to
find out the cause of the
problem.)
What difficulties do you
face mainly in reading
your English text?
(a. Understanding word
meaning;
b.
Understanding sentence
meaning;
c.
Understanding
organization;
d.
Understanding
main
idea; e. Face no
problem)
10
(9.26%)
10
(9.26%)
27
50
11
(25.00%) (46.30%) (10.19%)
2
(1.85%)
2
(1.85%)
14
43
47
(12.96%) (39.81%) (43.52%)
41
(37.96%)
6
(5.56%)
10
(9.26%)
33
18
(30.56%) (16.67%)
53
32
(49.07%) (29.63%)
8
(7.41%)
12
(11.11%)
N= 108; Here, a= 1, b= 2, c= 3, d= 4 and e= 5
3
(2.78%)
101
Table 10
Results of Students Interview (Items 17- 20)
Q.
no
17
18
19
20
Question
How long does it take
for you to read a
standard size page of
English text?
(a. About 30 minutes; b.
About 25 minutes; c.
About 20 minutes; d.
About 15 minutes; e.
About 10 minutes.)
When you do not
understand
a
long
sentence, or part of a
text, you
(a. Stop reading; b. Skip
it; c. Seek help from
your teacher; d. Read
again; e. Try to find out
the cause of the
problem.)
What do you do when
you find that the text
you are reading is not
interesting, or you are
not getting what you
want from the text?
(a. Stop reading; b. Do
nothing; c. Seek help
from your teacher; d.
Read again; e. Try to
find out the cause of the
problem.)
What difficulties do you
face mainly in reading
your English text?
(a. Understanding word
meaning;
b.
Understanding sentence
meaning;
c.
Understanding
organization;
d.
Understanding
main
idea; e. Face no
problem)
1
(4.17%)
4
8
10
(16.67%) (33.33%) (41.67%)
0
(0.00%)
0
(0.00%)
3
6
15
(12.50%) (25.00%) (62.50%)
4
(16.67%)
1
(4.17%)
3
11
5
(12.50%) (45.83%) (20.83%)
9
5
4
6
(37.50%) (20.83%) (16.67%) (25.00%)
N= 24; Here, a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4 and e = 5
1
(4.17%)
0
(0.00%)
102
4.2.1 Description of the Results of the Students Questionnaire Survey and

Interview
The results presented in tables 8, 9 and 10 above are discussed in this section of the
chapter.
4.2.1.1 Students Present Level of Reading Proficiency (Items 1- 16)
This section (Part A) of the Questionnaire consists of 16 questions that deal with
students ability regarding their reading activities.
For item 1 (Can you locate information by previewing the index or table of content
of a book?) the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.96 and in the interview it
is 3.71.
For item 2 (Can you find out required specific information from the text quickly?)
the Mean scores are 2.77 in the questionnaire survey and 2.79 in the interview.
For item 3 (During reading a text can you guess the meaning of unfamiliar words by
using clues?), the Mean scores are 2.97 in the questionnaire survey and 3.13 in the
interview.
Item 4 (Can you recall the relevant experience or associated knowledge while you
are reading a text?) has 3.09 and 3.46 Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and
interview respectively.
Item 5 (Can you infer the unstated statement (presupposition) of the writer?) has 3.50
Mean score in the questionnaire survey and 3.38 in the interview.
For item 6 (Can you predict what would come next?) the Mean score in the
questionnaire survey is 3.96 and in the interview it is 3.71.
For item 7 (Can you read closely to know details of a text?), the Mean scores in the
questionnaire survey and in the interview are 3.72 and 3.75 respectively.
103
For item 8 (Can you read a large text fast to get an overall idea about it?), the
questionnaire survey has 3.67 and the interview has 3.21 Mean scores.
Item 9 (Can you use your previous experience or background knowledge to
understand a text?) has 3.47 and 3.54 Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and
For item 10 (Can you answer questions in English?) the questionnaire survey has
3.13 and the interview has 3.29 Mean scores.
For item 11 (Can you read and interpret graphics, charts, maps and tables?) the
questionnaire survey and the interview have 3.29 and 3.46 Mean scores respectively.
For item 12 (Can you analyze long sentences?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire
survey and in the interview are 3.06 and 3.25 respectively.
Item 13 (Can you survey text organization?) has 2.88 Mean score in the
questionnaire survey and 3.25 in the interview.
For item 14 (Can you follow the transition of thought/idea of the author?) the Mean
scores are 3.44 in the questionnaire survey and 3.58 in the interview.
For item 15 (Can you give title to a reading passage?) the Mean score in the
questionnaire survey is 3.58 and that in the interview is 3.42.
For item 16 (Can you find out the topic idea of a text?), the Mean score in the
questionnaire survey is 4.14 whereas in the interview it is 4.08.
The overall results of this section show that students present level of reading
proficiency is good.
104
4.2.1.2 Students Strategies for Reading (Items 17- 20)

Part B of the questionnaire consists of 4 questions (items 17, 18, 19 and 20). This
part surveys the problems of the students during their reading, and their strategies of
reading.
For item 17 (How long does it take for you to read a standard size page of English
text?: a. About 30 minutes; b. About 25 minutes; c. About 20 minutes; d. About 15
minutes; e. About 10 minutes.) out of 108 (9.26%) students 10 ticked a in the
questionnaire survey, and 1 (4.17%) student out of 24 ticked a in the interview. In
this item 10 (9.26%) students out of 108 ticked b in the questionnaire survey, and 4
(16.67%) out of 24 students ticked b in the interview; 27 (25.00%) students out of
108 ticked c in the questionnaire survey, and 8 (33.33%) students out of 24 ticked
c in the interview; out of 108 students 50 (46.30%) ticked d in the questionnaire
survey, , and 10 (4.17%) students out of 24 ticked d in the interview; and 11
(10.19%) students out of 108 ticked e in the questionnaire survey, and 1 (4.17%)
student out of 24 ticked e in the interview.
Item 18 (When you do not understand a long sentence, or part of a text, you a. Stop
reading; b. Skip it c. Seek help from your teacher d. Read again e. Try to find out the
cause of the problem.) 2 (1.85%) students out of 108 ticked a in the questionnaire
survey, and no (0.00%) student ticked a in the interview. In this item 2 (1.85%)
students out of 108 ticked b in the questionnaire survey, and no (0.00%) student
ticked b in the interview; 14 (12.96%) students out of 108 ticked c in the
questionnaire survey, and 3 (12.50%) students out of 24 ticked c in the interview;
43 (39.81%) students out of 108 ticked d in the questionnaire survey, and 6
105
(25.00%) students out of 24 ticked d in the interview; and out of 108 students 47
(43.52%) ticked e in the questionnaire survey, and 15 (62.50%) students out of 24
ticked e in the interview.
For item 19 (What do you do when you find that the text you are reading is not
interesting, or you are not getting what you want from the text?: a. Stop reading b.
Do nothing c. Seek help from your teacher d. Read again e. Try to find out the cause
of the problem) 41 (37.96%) students out of 108 ticked a in the questionnaire
survey, and 4 (16.67%) students out of 24 ticked a in the interview. In this item 6
(5.56%) students out of 108 ticked b in the questionnaire survey, and only 1
(4.17%) student out of 24 ticked b in the interview; 10 (9.26%) students out of 108
ticked c in the questionnaire survey, and 3 (12.50%) students out of 24 ticked c in
the interview; 33 (30.56%) students out of 108 ticked d in the questionnaire survey,
and out of 24 students 11 (45.83%) ticked d in the interview; and 18 (16.67%)
students out of 108 ticked e in the questionnaire survey, and 5 (20.83%) student out
of 24 ticked e in the interview.
For item 20 (What difficulties do you face mainly in reading your English text? : a.
Understanding word meaning b. Understanding sentence meaning c. Understanding
organization d. Understanding main idea e. Face no problem.) out of 108 students 53
(49.07%) ticked a in the questionnaire survey, and 9 (37.50%) out of 24 students
ticked a in the interview. In this item 32 (29.63%) students out of 108 ticked b in
the questionnaire survey, and 5 (20.83%) students out of 24 ticked b in the
interview; 8 (7.41%) students out of 108 ticked c in the questionnaire survey, and 4
(16.67%) students out of 24 ticked c in the interview; 12 (11.11%) students out of
106
108 ticked d in the questionnaire survey, and 6 (25.00%) out of 24 students ticked
d in the interview; and only 3 (2.78%) out of 108 students ticked e in the
questionnaire survey, and no student (0.00%) ticked e in the interview.
4.2.1.3 Approaches and Methods Currently used for Teaching Reading (Items 2158)
This section (questions 21- 58) covers the approaches and methods currently used for
teaching reading in the class. The results are discussed in detail.
For item 21 (Does your teacher divide reading lesson into pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading activities?), the questionnaire survey has 3.21 and the interview has
2.63 as their respective Mean scores.
Item 22 (Does your teacher explain the background of the text before you start
reading lesson?) has the same Mean score, 3.54 in both questionnaire survey and
interview.
For item 23 (Does your teacher allow you to read in the class?) the questionnaire
survey has 3.93 Mean score and the interview has 3.58 Mean score.
For item 24 (Does your teacher guide you how to read texts in the class?)
questionnaire survey and interview have 3.78 and 3.79 Mean scores respectively.
For item 25 (Is your teacher an active partner in reading activities?), the Mean scores
in the questionnaire survey and interview are 4.30 and 4.46 respectively.
Item 26 (Does your teacher make sure that each of you reads in the class?) has 3.56
Mean score in the questionnaire survey and 3.67 Mean score in the interview.
For item 27 (Does your teacher encourage you to read by yourselves?) the Mean
107
For item 28 (Does your teacher arrange the class in groups/pairs in order to find
meaning of texts through discussion?) the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is
1.32 and that in the interview is 1.79.
For item 29 (Does your teacher ask you to read additional materials [stories, novels,
magazines etc. written in English] at home also?), the Mean score in the
For item 30 (Does your teacher read the text himself/herself, and then explain and
interpret it to you?), the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 4.66 whereas in
the interview it is 4.46.
Item 31 (Does your teacher read out the text first and then let you read and
explain/interpret it?) has the Mean scores 4.01 in the questionnaire survey and 3.25
in the interview.
For item 32 (When you come across a new word, does your teacher help you by
supplying the meaning of the word?), the Mean scores are 4.68 in the questionnaire
survey and 4.54 in the interview.
Item 33 (Does your teacher encourage you to consult dictionary when you come
across unfamiliar words during reading?) has 2.44 and 2.92 in the questionnaire
survey and interview respectively.
Item 34 (Does your teacher encourage you to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words
by using contextual clues?) has 3.80 Mean score in the questionnaire survey and 4.04
in the interview.
For item 35 (Does your teacher point out your problems regarding reading?) the
Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.98 and in the interview it is 4.04.
108
For item 36 (Does your teacher ask you comprehension check questions after each
reading?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and in the interview are 4.06
and 3.46 respectively.
For item 37 (Does your teacher ask you questions in English?), the questionnaire
survey has 3.87 and the interview has 3.42 as their respective mean scores.
Item 38 (Does your teacher ask you to relate textual information to your personal
experiences or background knowledge?) has 2.42 and 2.75 in the questionnaire
survey and in the interview respectively.
For item 39 (Does your teacher ask various questions related to a particular text in
order to prepare you to read the text or to make you curious about it?) the
questionnaire survey has 2.84 Mean score and the interview has 3.04 Mean score.
Item 40 (Does your teacher teach you how to read a text quickly, though not
carefully, to find out a piece of information or name of a particular thing etc. [i.e.
scan a text]?) has 3.03 and 2.88 in the questionnaire survey and interview
respectively.
Item 41 (Does your teacher teach you how to read a text in the shortest possible time
to get an overall idea about it [i.e. skim through a text]?) has 2.50 Mean score in the
questionnaire survey and 3.17 in the interview.
For item 42 (Does your teacher teach you how to read a short text closely to know
the details [i.e. intensively]?) the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.68 and
in the interview it is 3.92.
109
For item 43 (Does your teacher teach you how to read a large amount of texts in a
given period [i.e. extensively]?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and in
the interview are 2.39 and 2.42 respectively.
For item 44 (Does your teacher emphasize language learning [i.e. grammar, structure
etc] in a reading class?), the questionnaire survey has 4.57 and the interview has 4.58
as their respective Mean scores.
Item 45 (Does your teacher change texts according to the purpose of reading in the
class?) has 3.34 and 3.92 in the questionnaire survey and interview respectively.
For item 46 (Does your teacher teach you how to predict the content of a text?) the
For item 47 (Does your teacher teach you inferencing and interpreting skills?)
questionnaire survey and interview have 3.60 and 3.96 Mean scores respectively.
For item 48 (Does your teacher teach you how to distinguish between facts and
opinions?), the Mean scores in questionnaire survey and in interview are 3.31 and
3.38 respectively.
Item 49 (Does your teacher teach you how to evaluate a text critically?) has 3.76 as
the Mean score of questionnaire survey and 3.58 as the Mean score of interview.
For item 50 (Does your teacher teach you how to recognize bias?) the Mean scores
are 3.00 in the questionnaire survey and 3.04 in the interview.
For item 51 (Does your teacher teach you how to summarize?) the Mean score in the
For item 52 (Does your teacher focus on understanding attitude, mood, tone etc?),
the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 4.00 whereas in the interview it is 3.58.
110
Item 53 (Does your teacher use cloze procedure for teaching reading?) has the same
Mean score, 4.38 in both the questionnaire survey and the interview.
For item 54 (Does your teacher teach how to interpret graphics, charts, maps and
tables?) the questionnaire survey has 3.83 Mean score and the interview has 3.63
Mean score.
For item 55 (Does your teacher help you analyze long sentences) questionnaire
survey and interview have 4.32 and 3.96 Mean scores respectively.
For item 56 (Does your teacher make you survey text organization?), the Mean
scores in the questionnaire survey and interview are 3.97 and 4.04 respectively.
For item 57 (Does your teacher help you understand the transition of ideas?) the
Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.90 and that in the interview is 4.17.
And for item 58 (Does your teacher help you appreciate or comment on the style of
writing in a text?) the Mean scores are 4.12 in the questionnaire survey and 4.42 in
the interview.
It can be added here that the differences between the mean scores of students
questionnaire survey and those of students interview are close in most cases, and in
some cases the difference is negligible. Only in a few items the differences are
relatively large.
4.2.2 Interpretation of the Results of the Students Questionnaire Survey

and Interview
The results of the students questionnaire survey and interview have been classified
into Very High, High, Low and Very Low categories by using the following
interpretation key:
111
1.00 1.99 = Very Low [Very Poor]

2.00 2.99 = Low [below Average]
3.00 3.99 = High [Good]
4.00 +
= Very High [Excellent].
Tables 11, 12, 13 and 14 present the results of the students questionnaire survey and
interview according to the above interpretation key:
Table 11
Very High Mean Score of Students Questionnaire Survey and
Interview
Q.
No
16
25
30
31
32
36
44
51
52
Questions
Can you find out the topic idea of a
text?
Is your teacher an active partner in
reading activities?
himself/herself, and then explain and
interpret it to you?
Does your teacher read out the text
first and then let you read and
explain/interpret it?
When you come across a new word,
does your teacher help you by
supplying the meaning of the word?
Does
your teacher ask
you
comprehension check questions after
each reading?
Does
your
teacher
emphasize
language learning (i.e. grammar,
structure etc) in a reading class?
Does your teacher teach you how to
summarize?
Does your teacher focus on understanding
attitude, mood, tone etc?
Differen
ces
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
4.14
4.08
0.06
4.30
4.46
-0.16
4.66
4.46
0.20
4.01
3.25
1.50
4.68
4.54
0.13
4.06
3.46
1.06
4.57
4.58
-0.01
4.13
3.92
0.97
4.00
3.58
1.21
Mean scores
in the
questionnaire
112
Q.
No
53
55
58
Differen
ces
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
4.38
4.38
0.00
4.32
3.96
1.16
4.12
4.42
-0.30
Mean scores
in the
Questions
questionnaire
Does your teacher use cloze procedure

for teaching reading?
Does your teacher help you analyze
long sentences?
Does your teacher help you appreciate
or comment on the style of writing in
a text?
Table 12
High Mean Score of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Q.
No
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
15
Questions
previewing the index or table of
content of a book?
Can you recall the relevant experience
or associated knowledge while you are
reading a text?
Can you infer the unstated statement
(presupposition) of the writer?
Can you predict what would come
next?
Can you read closely to know details
of a text?
Can you read a large text fast to get an
overall idea about it?
Can you use your previous experience
or
background
knowledge
to
understand a text?
Can you answer questions in English?
Can you read and interpret graphics,
charts, maps and tables?
Can you analyze long sentences?
Can you follow the transition of
thought/idea of the author?
passage?
Mean score
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
score in
the
interview
Differen
ces
3.65
3.63
0.02
3.09
3.46
-0.37
3.50
3.38
0.13
3.96
3.71
0.25
3.72
3.75
0.03
3.67
3.21
0.46
3.47
3.54
-0.07
3.13
3.29
-0.16
3.29
3.46
-0.17
3.06
3.25
-0.19
3.44
3.58
-0.14
3.58
3.42
0.17
113
Q.
No
21
22
23
24
26
27
29
34
35
37
42
45
46
47
48
49
50
Questions
lesson into pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading activities?
background of the text before you start
reading lesson?
Does your teacher allow you to read in
the class?
Does your teacher guide you how to
read texts in the class?
Does your teacher make sure that each
of you reads in the class?
Does your teacher encourage you to
read by yourselves?
Does your teacher ask you to read
additional materials (stories, novels,
magazines etc. written in English) at
home also?
words by using contextual clues?
Does your teacher point out your
Does your teacher ask you questions
in English?
read a short text closely to know the
details (i.e. intensively)?
according to the purpose of reading in
the class?
predict the content of a text?
inferencing and interpreting skills?
distinguish between facts and opinions?

evaluate a text critically?
recognize bias?
Differen
ces
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
3.21
2.63
0.58
3.54
3.54
0.00
3.93
3.58
0.34
3.78
3.79
-0.01
3.56
3.67
-0.11
3.60
3.88
-0.27
3.10
3.54
-0.44
3.80
4.04
-0.24
3.98
4.04
-0.06
3.87
3.42
0.45
3.68
3.92
-0.24
3.34
3.92
-0.57
3.28
3.33
-0.06
3.60
3.96
-0.36
3.31
3.38
-0.07
3.76
3.58
0.18
3.00
3.04
-0.04
Mean scores
in the
questionnaire
114
Q.
No
54
56
57
Differen
ces
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
3.83
3.63
0.21
3.97
4.04
-0.07
3.90
4.17
-0.27
Mean scores
in the
Questions
questionnaire

interpret graphics, charts, maps and
tables?
Does your teacher make you survey
text organization?
understand the transition of ideas?
Table 13
Low Mean Score of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Q
No
2
3
13
33
38
39
41
43
Questions
Can you find out required specific
information from the text quickly?
During reading a text can you guess
the meaning of unfamiliar words by
using clues?
Can you survey text organization?
consult dictionary when you come
across unfamiliar words during
reading?
Does your teacher ask you to relate
textual information to your personal
experiences
or
background
knowledge?
What do you do when you find that
the text you are reading is not
interesting, or you are not getting what
you want from the text?
read a text in the shortest possible time
to get an overall idea about it [i.e.
skim through a text]
read a large amount of texts in a given
period (i.e. extensively)?
Mean score
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
score in
the
interview
Differ
ences
2.77
2.79
-0.02
2.97
3.13
-0.16
2.88
3.25
-0.37
2.44
2.92
-0.48
2.42
2.75
-0.33
2.84
3.04
-0.20
2.50
3.17
-0.67
2.39
2.42
-0.03
115
Table 14
Very Low Mean Score of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Q
No
Questions
Mean
score in
the
questionna
ire survey
28
Does your teacher arrange the class in

groups/pairs in order to find meaning
of texts through discussion?
1.32
Mean
score in
the
interview
Differenc
es
1.79
-0.47
The above tables show that in the students questionnaire survey, 12 items (questions
16, 25, 30, 31, 32, 36, 44, 51, 52, 53, 55 and 58) have Very High Mean scores
which are above 4.00, 33 items (questions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 21,
22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 34, 35, 37, 40, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 54, 56 and 57) have
High Mean scores, 8 items (questions 2, 3, 13, 33, 38, 39, 41 and 43) have Low
Mean scores and only 1 items (question 28) fall into the category of Very Low
Mean scores (1.99 and below it).
The results suggest that the overall situation is good.
4.3 Summary of the Findings of the Students Questionnaire Survey and

Interview
Out of 58 items only 9 items have Low and 2 items have Very Low Mean scores.
But 34 items have High and 13 items have Very High Mean scores.
The results show a good state of the present proficiency of the learners reading and
reading pedagogy in the country. Students performance concerning major sub-skills
of reading is relatively good, and apparently they face no difficult problems that may
116
bar their reading activities. They also have high opinion about their teachers, and
seem to be satisfied with their teaching methodology.
4.4 Analysis of the Results of Teachers Questionnaire Survey and

Interview
Table 15 shows the results of the teachers questionnaire survey and interview in
terms of Mean and SD:
Table 15
The Results of Teachers Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Results
Q.
no
5
6
7
8
9
Questions
Can
your
students
locate
information by previewing the
index or table of content of a
book?
Can your students find out
required specific information from
the text quickly?
During reading a text can your
students guess the meaning of
unfamiliar words by using clues?
Can your students recall the
relevant experience or associated
knowledge while they are reading
a text?
Can your students infer the
unstated
statement
Can your students predict what
would come next?
Can your students read closely to
know details of a text?
Can your students read a large text
fast to get an overall idea about it?
Can your students use their
previous experience or background
Questionnaire
Survey
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
3.71
0.49
3.40
0.55
0.31
3.71
0.76
3.20
0.45
0.51
3.29
0.95
3.20
0.84
0.09
3.00
0.58
3.00
0.71
0.00
2.86
1.07
3.00
1.22
-0.14
3.00
0.00
3.00
0.00
0.00
3.57
1.40
3.60
0.89
-0.03
3.14
1.21
3.40
1.34
-0.26
3.14
0.90
3.00
1.22
0.14
Interview
Differ
ences
117
Results
Q.
no
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Questions
Can
your
students
answer
Can your students read and
interpret graphics, charts, maps
and tables?
Can your students analyze long
sentences?
Can your students survey text
organization?
Can your students follow the
transition of thought/idea of the
author?
Can your students give title to a
reading passage?
Can your students find out the
topic idea of a text?
Do you divide your reading lesson
into pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading activities?
Do you explain the background of the
text before you start reading lesson?
Do you allow the students to read

in the class?
Do you co-operate/guide the
students to read texts in the class?
Are you an active partner of the
students in reading activities?
Do you make sure that every
student reads in the class?
Do you encourage the students to
read by themselves?
Do you arrange the class in
groups/pairs in order to find
meaning
of
texts
through
discussion?
Do you ask the students to read
additional
materials
(stories,
Do you read the text yourself, and
then explain and interpret it to
your students?
Questionnaire
Survey
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
2.86
0.69
3.20
0.84
-0.34
2.86
0.69
2.40
0.55
0.46
2.71
0.76
2.60
0.55
0.11
2.43
0.53
2.40
0.55
0.03
3.00
1.15
2.20
0.84
0.80
3.00
1.00
3.00
1.22
0.00
3.29
0.95
3.60
0.89
-0.31
3.14
1.21
3.40
0.55
-0.26
4.14
0.90
4.00
0.71
0.14
4.00
0.82
4.20
0.84
-0.20
4.57
0.53
4.60
0.55
-0.03
4.14
0.69
4.20
0.84
-0.06
3.29
0.49
3.20
0.45
0.09
3.43
0.76
4.40
0.89
-0.11
3.43
0.98
3.00
0.71
0.43
3.43
0.79
4.00
0.71
-0.57
4.86
0.38
5.00
0.00
-0.14
Interview
Differ
ences
118
Results
Q.
no
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
Questions
Do you read out the text first and
then let your students read and
When a student comes across a
new word, do you help him/her by
supplying the meaning of the
word?
consult dictionary when they come
reading?
Do you encourage students to
words by using contextual clues?
Do you point out students
Do you ask the students
after each reading?
Do you ask the students questions
in English?
Do you ask your students to relate
textual information to their
personal
experiences
or
Do you ask various questions
related to a particular text in order
to prepare the students to read the
text or to make the students
curious about it?
Do you teach the students how to
read a text quickly, though not
carefully, to find out a piece of
information or name of a particular
thing etc. (i.e. scan a text)?
read a text in a shortest possible
time to get an overall idea about it
(i.e. skim through a text)?
read the short text closely to know
the details (i.e. intensively)?
Questionnaire
Survey
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
4.29
0.49
4.40
0.55
-0.11
4.57
0.79
4.80
0.45
-0.23
4.29
0.76
4.20
0.84
0.09
4.14
0.90
3.80
1.10
0.34
4.00
0.82
3.80
0.45
0.20
3.86
0.90
4.00
1.00
-0.14
4.00
1.00
3.80
1.10
0.20
3.86
0.69
3.80
0.84
0.06
4.29
0.95
4.00
1.00
0.29
3.86
1.21
3.20
0.84
0.66
3.57
0.98
3.60
1.14
-0.03
3.71
1.11
3.40
0.89
0.31
Interview
Differ
ences
119
Results
Q.
no
Questions
Questionnaire
Survey
Mean
SD
Interview
Mean

read a large amount of texts in a 3.43
0.98
3.40
given period (i.e. extensively)?
Do you emphasize language
40 learning (i.e. grammar, structure 4.29
0.76
4.60
etc) in a reading class?
Do you change texts according to
41 the purpose of reading in the 3.57
0.98
3.40
class?
42
3.57
0.53
3.20
Do you teach the students
43
4.14
0.90
3.20
44 distinguish between facts and 3.29
0.49
3.20
opinions?
45
3.57
0.53
3.40
46
3.29
1.25
2.80
recognize bias?
47
4.43
0.79
4.20
summarize a text?
Do you focus on understanding
48
3.43
0.53
3.60
Do you use cloze procedure for
49
3.71
0.95
3.80
teaching reading?
Do you teach how to interpret
50
3.14
0.38
3.20
graphics, charts, maps and tables?
Do you help students analyze long
51
4.43
0.53
4.40
sentences?
Do you make students survey text
52
3.57
1.40
3.40
organization?
Do you help them understand the
53
3.57
0.98
3.20
transition of ideas?
Do you help students appreciate or
54 comment on the style of writing in 3.86
0.90
3.60
a text?
N= 7 in the questionnaire survey, and N= 5 in the interview.
39
SD
Differ
ences
1.14
0.03
0.55
-0.31
0.89
0.17
0.84
0.37
0.45
0.94
0.45
0.09
0.55
0.17
1.48
0.49
0.84
0.23
0.55
-0.17
1.10
-0.09
0.45
-0.06
0.55
0.03
1.52
0.17
0.84
0.37
0.55
0.26
120
4.4.1 Description of the Results of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and

Interview
54 questions constitute the teachers questionnaire survey and interview. The results
of these items are discussed in this section.
4.4.1.1 Students Present Ability (Items 1-16)
Part A that includes 16 questions (1- 16) is concerned with teachers evaluation
about their students present proficiency of reading skills.
For item 1 (Can your students locate information by previewing the index or table of
content of a book?), the Mean score in questionnaire survey is 3.71 and that in the
interview is 3.40.
For item 2 (Can your students find out required specific information from the text
quickly?) the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.71 and that in the interview
is 3.20.
For item 3 (During reading a text can your students guess the meaning of unfamiliar
words by using clues?) the questionnaire survey has 3.29 Mean score and the
interview has 3.20 Mean score.
For item 4 (Can your students recall the relevant experience or associated knowledge
while they are reading a text?) the questionnaire survey and the interview have 3.00
and 3.00 Mean scores respectively.
For item 5 (Can your students infer the unstated statement [presupposition] of the
writer?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and in the interview are 2.86
Item 6 (Can your students predict what would come next?) has 3.00 Mean score in
the questionnaire survey and 3.00 Mean score in the interview.
121
For item 7 (Can your students read closely to know details of a text?) the Mean
For item 8 (Can your students read a large text fast to get an overall idea about it?)
the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.14 and that in the interview is 3.40.
For item 9 (Can your students use their previous experience or background
knowledge to understand a text?), the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.14
whereas in the interview it is 3.00.
For item 10 (Can your students answer questions in English?), the Mean score in the
Item 11 (Can your students read and interpret graphics, charts, maps and tables?) has
2.86 Mean score in the questionnaire survey and in the interview it has 2.40.
For item 12 (Can your students analyze long sentences?), the Mean scores are 2.71 in
the questionnaire survey and 2.60 in the interview.
Item 13 (Can your students survey text organization?) has 2.43 and 2.40 Mean scores
in the questionnaire survey and in the interview respectively.
Item 14 (Can your students follow the transition of thought/idea of the author?) has
3.00 in the questionnaire survey and 2.20 Mean scores in the interview.
For item 15 (Can your students give title to a reading passage?) the Mean score in
the questionnaire survey is 3.00 and in the interview it is 3.00.
Item 16 (Can your students find out the topic idea of a text?), the Mean scores in the
questionnaire survey and interview are 3.29 and 3.60 respectively.
122
4.4.1.2 Approaches and Methods Used by the Teachers (Items 17- 54)
Items 17 to 54 are concerned with the approaches and methods used by the teachers
to teach reading in the class. This section describes them.
For item 17 (Do you divide your reading lesson into pre-reading, while-reading and
post-reading activities?), the questionnaire survey has 3.14 and the interview has
3.40 as their respective Mean scores.
Item 18 (Do you divide your reading lesson into pre-reading, while-reading and postreading activities?) has 4.14 and 4.00 Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and
For item 19 (Do you allow the students to read in the class?) the questionnaire survey
has 4.00 Mean score and the interview has 4.20 Mean score.
Item 20 (Do you co-operate/guide the students to read texts in the class?) has 4.57
and 4.60 Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and in the interview respectively.
Item 21 (Are you an active partner of the students in reading activities?) has 4.14
For item 22 (Do you make sure that every student reads in the class?) the Mean score
in the questionnaire survey is 3.29 and in the interview it is 3.20.
For item 23 (Do you encourage the students to read by themselves?), the Mean
scores in the questionnaire survey and in the interview are 3.43 and 4.40
respectively.
For item 24 (Do you arrange the class in groups/pairs in order to find meaning of
texts through discussion?), questionnaire survey has 3.43 and interview has 3.00 as
their respective mean scores.
123
Item 25 (Do you ask the students to read additional materials [stories, novels,
magazines etc. written in English] at home also?) has 3.43 and 4.00 Mean scores in
the questionnaire survey and interview respectively.
For item 26 (Do you read the text yourself, and then explain and interpret it to your
students?) questionnaire survey has 4.86 Mean score and interview has 5.00 Mean
score.
In item 27 (Do you read out the text first and then let your students read and
explain/interpret it?) the questionnaire survey and the interview have 4.29 and 4.40
Mean scores respectively.
For item 28 (When a student comes across a new word, do you help him/her by
supplying the meaning of the word?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire survey
and interview are 4.57 and 4.80 respectively.
Item 29 (Do you encourage the students to consult dictionary when they come across
unfamiliar words during reading?) has 4.29 Mean score in the questionnaire survey
and 4.20 Mean score in the interview.
For item 30 (Do you encourage students to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words
by using contextual clues?) the Mean scores are 4.14 in the questionnaire survey and
3.80 in the interview.
For item 31 (Do you point out students problems regarding reading?) the Mean
score in the questionnaire survey is 4.00 and that in the interview is 3.80.
For item 32 (Do you ask the students comprehension check questions after each
reading?), the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.86 whereas in the
interview it is 4.00.
124
Item 33 (Do you ask the students questions in English?) has 4.00 and 3.80 Mean
scores in the questionnaire survey and interview respectively.
For item 34 (Do you ask your students to relate textual information to their personal
experiences or background knowledge?) the questionnaire survey has 3.86 Mean
score and the interview has 3.80 Mean score.
For item 35 (Do you ask various questions related to a particular text in order to
prepare the students to read the text or to make the students curious about it?) the
questionnaire survey and the interview have 4.29 and 4.00 Mean scores respectively.
For item 36 (Do you teach the students how to read a text quickly, though not
carefully, to find out a piece of information or name of a particular thing etc. [i.e.
scan a text]?), the Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and interview are 3.86
For item 37 (Do you teach the students how to read a text in a shortest possible time
to get an overall idea about it [i.e. skim through a text]?) the Mean score in the
For item 38 (Do you teach the students how to read the short text closely to know the
details [i.e. intensively]?) the Mean scores are 3.71 in the questionnaire survey and
3.40 in the interview.
For item 39 (Do you teach the students how to read a large amount of texts in a given
period [i.e. extensively]?), the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.43
whereas in the interview it is 3.40.
125
Item 40 (Do you emphasize language learning [i.e. grammar, structure etc] in a
reading class?) has 4.29 Mean score in the questionnaire survey and 4.60 in the
interview.
For item 41 (Do you change texts according to the purpose of reading in the class?),
the Mean scores are 3.57 in the questionnaire survey and 3.40 in the interview.
Item 42 (Do you teach the students how to predict the content of a text?) has 3.57
and 3.20 Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and interview respectively.
Item 43 (Do you teach the students inferencing and interpreting skills?) has 4.14
For item 44 (Do you teach the students how to distinguish between facts and
opinions?) the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.29 and in the interview it
is 3.20.
For item 45 (Do you teach the students how to evaluate a text critically?), the Mean
scores in the questionnaire survey and in the interview are 3.57 and 3.40
respectively.
For item 46 (Do you teach the students how to recognize bias?), the questionnaire
survey has 3.29 and the interview has 2.80 as their respective mean scores.
Item 47 (Do you teach the students how to summarize a text?) has 4.43 and 4.20 in
the questionnaire survey and interview respectively.
For item 48 (Do you focus on understanding attitude, mood, tone etc?) the
In item 49 (Do you use cloze procedure for teaching reading?) questionnaire survey
and interview have 3.71 and 3.80 Mean scores respectively.
126
For item 50 (Do you teach how to interpret graphics, charts, maps and tables?), the
Mean scores in the questionnaire survey and interview are 3.14 and 3.20
respectively.
Item 51 (Do you help students analyze long sentences?) has 4.43 Mean score in the
questionnaire survey and 4.40 Mean score in the interview.
For item 52 (Do you make students survey text organization?) the Mean scores are
3.57 in the questionnaire survey and 3.40 in the interview.
For item 53 (Do you help them understand the transition of ideas?) the Mean score in
the questionnaire survey is 3.57 and that in the interview is 3.20.
And for item 54 (Do you help students appreciate or comment on the style of writing
in a text?), the Mean score in the questionnaire survey is 3.86 whereas in the
interview it is 3.60.
The results show that without a few exceptions, the difference between the scores in
the teachers questionnaire survey and those in the interview are very small or
negligible.
4.4.2 Interpretation of the Results of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and
Interview
The results of the teachers questionnaire survey and interview have been classified
into Very High, High, Low and Very Low categories by using the following
interpretation key:
3.00 3.99 = High [Good]
127
4.00 +
Tables 16, 17, 18 and 19 present the results of the teachers questionnaire survey and
interview according to the above interpretation key:
Table 16
Very High Mean Score of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and
Interview
Q.
No
18
19
20
21
26
27
28
29
30
31
33
Questions
Do you explain the background of
the text before you start reading
lesson?
Do you allow the students to read in
the class?
Do you co-operate/guide the students
to read texts in the class?
Are you an active partner of the
students in reading activities?
Do you read the text yourself, and
then explain and interpret it to your
students?
Do you read out the text first and
then let your students read and
When a student comes across a new
word, do you help him/her by
supplying the meaning of the word?
consult dictionary when they come
reading?
Do you encourage students to guess
the meaning of unfamiliar words by
using contextual clues?
Do you point out students problems
regarding reading?
Do you ask the students questions in
English?
difference
s
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
4.14
4.00
0.14
4.00
4.20
-0.20
4.57
4.60
-0.03
4.14
4.20
-0.06
4.86
5.00
-0.14
4.29
4.40
0.11
4.57
4.80
-0.23
4.29
4.20
0.09
4.14
3.80
0.34
4.00
3.80
0.20
4.00
3.80
0.20
Mean scores
in the
questionnaire
128
Q.
No
35
40
43
47
51
difference
s
survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
4.29
4.00
0.29
4.29
4.60
-0.31
4.14
3.20
0.94
4.43
4.20
0.23
4.43
4.40
0.03
Mean scores
in the
Questions
questionnaire
Do you ask various questions related

to a particular text in order to prepare
the students to read the text or to
make the students curious about it?
Do you emphasize language learning
(i.e. grammar, structure etc) in a
reading class?
summarize a text?
Do you help students analyze long
sentences?
Table 17
High Mean Score of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Questions
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
difference
Can your students locate information

by previewing the index or table of
content of a book?
3.71
3.40
0.31
Can your students find out required

specific information from the text
quickly?
3.71
3.20
0.51
3.29
3.20
0.09
3.00
3.00
0.00
3.00
3.00
0.00
3.57
3.60
-0.03
3.14
3.40
-0.26
3.14
3.00
0.14
Q.
no.
4
6
7
8
9

unfamiliar words by using clues?
Can your students recall the relevant
experience or associated knowledge
while they are reading a text?
would come next?
Can your students read closely to
know details of a text?
Can your students read a large text
fast to get an overall idea about it?
Can your students use their previous
experience
or
background
129
Q.
no.
14
15
16
17
22
23
24
25
32
34
36
37
38
Questions
transition of thought/idea of the
author?
Can your students give title to a
reading passage?
Can your students find out the topic
idea of a text?
Do you divide your reading lesson
into pre-reading, while-reading and
post-reading activities?
Do you make sure that every student
reads in the class?
read by themselves?
meaning
of
texts
through
discussion?
additional materials (stories, novels,
magazines etc. written in English) at
home also?
Do
you
ask
the
students
comprehension check questions after
each reading?
Do you ask your students to relate
textual information to their personal
experiences
or
background
knowledge?
read a text quickly, though not
information or name of a particular
thing etc. (i.e. scan a text)?
read a text in a shortest possible time
to get an overall idea about it (i.e.
skim through a text)?
read the short text closely to know
the details (i.e. intensively)?
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
difference
3.00
2.20
0.80
3.00
3.00
0.00
3.29
3.60
-0.31
3.14
3.40
-0.26
3.29
3.20
0.09
3.43
4.40
-0.57
3.43
3.00
0.43
3.43
4.00
-0.57
3.86
4.00
-0.14
3.86
3.80
0.06
3.86
3.20
0.66
3.57
3.60
-0.03
3.71
3.40
0.31
130
Q.
no.
39
41
42
44
45
46
48
49
50
52
53
54
Questions
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
difference
3.43
3.40
0.03
3.57
3.40
0.17
3.57
3.20
0.37
3.29
3.20
0.09
3.57
3.40
0.17
3.29
2.80
0.49
3.43
3.60
-0.17
3.71
3.80
-0.09
3.14
3.20
-0.06
3.57
3.40
1.52
3.57
3.20
0.37
3.86
3.60
0.26

read a large amount of texts in a
given period (i.e. extensively)?
Do you change texts according to
the purpose of reading in the class?
distinguish between facts and
opinions?
recognize bias?
teaching reading?
Do you make students survey text
organization?
Do you help them understand the
Do you help students appreciate or
comment on the style of writing in a
text?
Table 18
Low Mean Score of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Q.
no.
5
10
Questions
Can your students infer the unstated
statement (presupposition) of the
writer?
Can your students answer questions
in English?
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
Difference
2.86
3.00
-0.14
2.86
3.20
-0.34
131
Q.
no.
11
12
13
Questions
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
difference
2.86
2.40
0.46
2.71
2.60
0.11
2.43
2.40
0.03
Can your students read and interpret

sentences?
organization?
Table 19
Very Low Score of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Q. no.
Questions
Mean scores
in the
questionnair
e survey
Mean
scores in
the
interview
Difference
The results in tables 16, 17, 18 and 19 show that in the teachers questionnaire
survey, 16 items (questions 18, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 40, 43, 47
and 51) have Very High Mean scores which are above 4.00, 33 items (questions 1,
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45,
46 48, 49, 50, 52, 53 and 54) have High Mean scores and only 5 items (questions
5, 10, 11, 12 and 13 ) have Low Mean scores, and no item has Very Low Mean
score (2.99 and below it).
It can be added here that the Mean scores of the teachers interview are rather close
to those of the teachers questionnaire survey.
132
4.4.3 Summary of the Findings of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and

Interview
The results of the findings of the teachers survey also show a positive situation
about the topic. The results show that only 5 items have Low Mean scores; the rest
have High and Very High Mean scores.
These findings indicate that teachers are pleased with their students performance.
Their students have no problems in reading activities in the class. In maximum
reading skills their students performance is good. In the same time they can teach
their students using the recently recommended instruments. They also seem to use
CLT techniques to teach their students.
4.5 Comparative Study: Government and Non-government Colleges

Table 20 presents the comparative study between the results of students
questionnaire survey in government and non-government colleges.
Table 20
Comparative Study of the Results of Questionnaire Survey in
Government and Non-government Colleges
Results
Q.
no.
questionnaire
survey
Question

previewing the index or table
of content of a book?
specific information from the
text quickly?
interview
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colle
ge
differ
ence
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colleg
e
differ
ence
3.84
3.59
0.25
3.20
3.74
-0.54
3.44
2.57
0.87
3.60
2.58
1.02
133
Results
Q.
no.
5
6
7
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
21
questionnaire
survey
Question

guess
the
meaning
of
clues?
experience
or
associated
knowledge while you are
reading a text?
statement (presupposition) of
the writer?
come next?
details of a text?
Can you read a large text fast to

get an overall idea about it?
experience or background
knowledge to understand a
text?
English?
graphics, charts, maps and
tables?
Can
you
analyze
long
sentences?
Can
you
survey
text
organization?
Can you follow the transition
of thought/idea of the author?
passage?
of a text?
lesson into pre-reading, whilereading
and
post-reading
activities?
interview
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colle
ge
differ
ence
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colleg
e
differ
ence
3.08
2.94
0.14
3.00
3.16
-0.16
3.44
2.99
0.45
4.00
3.32
0.68
3.48
3.51
-0.03 2.80
3.53
-0.73
4.08
3.93
0.15
3.60
3.74
-0.14
4.16
3.59
0.57
3.40
3.84
-0.44
4.12
3.53
0.59
4.00
3.00
1.00
3.76
3.39
0.37
4.00
3.40
0.58
3.76
2.94
0.82
3.60
3.21
0.39
3.48
3.23
0.25
3.40
3.47
-0.07
3.12
3.05
0.07
4.00
3.05
0.95
3.16
2.80
0.36
3.60
3.16
0.44
4.20
3.22
0.98
3.20
3.68
-0.48
3.96
3.47
3.60
3.37
0.23
3.96
4.19
-0.23
4.00
4.11
-0.11
2.92
3.30
-0.38
2.60
2.63
-0.03
0.49
134
Results
Q.
no.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
questionnaire
survey
Question

background of the text before
read in the class?
Is your teacher an active
partner in reading activities?
class?
discussion?
Does your teacher ask you to read
additional
materials
(stories,

yourself, and then explain and
word, does your teacher help
you by supplying the meaning
of the word?
contextual clues?
interview
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colle
ge
differ
ence
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colleg
e
differ
ence
3.80
3.46
0.34
3.40
3.58
-0.18
3.64
4.01
-0.37
3.20
3.68
-0.48
3.48
3.87
-0.39
3.60
3.84
-0.24
3.60
4.51
-0.91
3.00
4.84
-1.84
3.52
3.57
-0.05
3.40
3.74
-0.34
4.00
3.48
0.52
3.60
3.95
-0.35
1.80
1.18
0.62
3.20
1.42
1.78
3.40
3.01
0.39
2.60
3.79
-1.19
4.20
4.80
-0.60
3.60
4.68
-1.08
4.44
3.88
0.56
3.00
3.32
-0.32
4.88
4.61
0.27
3.40
4.84
-1.44
2.44
2.43
0.01
3.20
2.84
0.36
3.20
3.98
-0.78
3.60
4.16
-0.56
135
Results
Q.
no.
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
questionnaire
survey
Question
Does your teacher point out

your
problems
regarding
reading?
after each reading?
relate textual information to
your personal experiences or
curious about it?
Does your teacher teach you how
to read a text quickly, though not
information or name of a
particular thing etc. (i.e. scan a
text)?

how to read a text in the
shortest possible time to get an
overall idea about it (i.e. skim
through a text)?
intensively)?
extensively)?
language
learning
(i.e.
grammar, structure etc) in a
reading class?
interview
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colle
ge
differ
ence
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colleg
e
differ
ence
3.48
4.13
-0.65
3.20
4.26
-1.06
4.44
3.94
0.50
3.40
3.47
-0.07
4.12
3.80
0.32
4.00
3.26
0.74
2.92
2.27
0.65
3.20
2.63
0.57
3.68
2.59
1.09
4.00
2.79
1.21
3.44
2.90
0.54
3.20
2.79
0.41
2.60
2.47
0.13
3.20
3.16
0.04
3.84
3.63
0.21
4.40
3.79
0.61
3.32
2.11
1.21
3.00
2.26
0.74
4.48
4.60
-0.12
3.80
4.79
-0.99
136
Results
Q.
no.
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
questionnaire
survey
Question

text?
inferencing and interpreting
skills?
how to distinguish between
facts and opinions?
how to evaluate a text
critically?
how to summarize?
understanding attitude, mood,
tone etc?
procedure for teaching reading?
and tables?
understand the transition of ideas?
interview
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colle
ge
differ
ence
Govt.
Colle
ge
Nongovt.
Colleg
e
differ
ence
3.44
3.31
0.13
3.80
3.95
-0.15
2.96
3.37
-0.41
3.60
3.26
0.34
3.56
3.61
-0.05
4.20
3.89
0.31
3.40
3.28
0.12
3.00
3.47
-0.47
3.28
3.90
-0.62
3.00
3.74
-0.74
2.84
3.05
-0.21
3.40
2.95
0.45
4.48
4.02
0.46
3.60
4.00
-0.40
4.28
3.92
0.36
2.80
3.79
-0.99
4.36
4.39
-0.03
3.60
4.58
-0.98
4.16
3.73
0.43
3.00
3.79
-0.79
4.48
4.28
0.20
3.20
4.16
-0.96
4.00
3.96
0.04
3.80
4.11
-0.31
3.80
3.93
-0.13
3.60
4.32
-0.72

appreciate or comment on the 4.28 4.07 0.21 4.20 4.47 -0.27
N= 25 in the government colleges, and N= 83 in the non-government colleges.
N.B The calculation has been conducted considering the Mean scores of government
colleges as the standard.
58
137
4.5.1 Interpretation of the Comparative Study

The differences present the comparative pictures of the teaching of reading in
government and non-government colleges. It shows that the picture of teaching and
learning in both government and non-government colleges is almost the same. In
some cases, there are significant differences. These differences have been taken
under consideration when these are 0.50 or above it.
One important thing to be noticed is that the differences are, in almost all cases,
positive values, that is, in these cases the performance of government colleges seems
to be better than that of non-government colleges.
The differences show that teachers of government colleges are more efficient in
making their students read extensively, more sincere to make them curious about a
text by asking them various questions related to that particular text and more active
in teaching their students how to scan, in encouraging them to read by themselves
and in asking them comprehension check questions in English after each reading.
The results also show that the students of government colleges are better in
answering questions in English, and they can read faster than students of nongovernment colleges.
There are some items where the performance of the students of non-government
colleges seems better than that of the students of government colleges. The negative
differences of some aspects show that the teachers of non-government colleges are
more active as reading partners, and they seem to be better in reading the text
themselves before explaining and interpreting it to the class.
138
Considering the overall results it can be said that the condition of the teaching of
reading in both government and non-government colleges is almost identical.
4.6 The Results of the Classroom Observation

Table 21 presents the results of the classroom observation in terms of Mean and SD.
Table 21
Results of the Classroom Observation
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Questions
Does the teacher divide reading lesson into prereading, while-reading and post-reading activities?
Does the teacher explain the background of the text
before s/he starts reading lesson?
Does the teacher allow the students to read in the
class?
Does the teacher guide the students how to read
texts in the class?
Is the teacher an active partner in reading activities?
Does the teacher make sure that each of the
students reads in the class?
Does the teacher encourage the students to read by
themselves?
Does the teacher arrange the class in groups/pairs in
order to find meaning of texts through discussion?
Does the teacher ask the students to read additional
materials (stories, novels, magazines etc. written in
Does the teacher read the text himself/herself, and
then explain and interpret it to the students?
Does the teacher read out the text first and then let
the students read and explain/interpret it?
When the students come across a new word, does the teacher
help them by supplying the meaning of the word?
Does the teacher encourage the students to consult

dictionary when they come across unfamiliar words
during reading?
Does the teacher encourage the students to guess
the meaning of unfamiliar words by using
contextual clues?
Does the teacher point out the problems regarding
reading?
Results
Mean
SD
1.40
0.52
2.30
1.34
2.20
1.23
1.60
0.84
1.90
0.57
1.90
1.10
1.90
0.88
1.40
0.97
2.60
0.97
4.00
0.67
2.40
1.07
3.20
0.92
3.00
0.82
2.10
0.99
1.80
0.92
139
No
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
Questions
Does the teacher ask the students comprehension
check questions after each reading?
Does the teacher ask the students questions in
English?
Does the teacher ask the students to relate textual
information to the personal experiences or
Does the teacher ask the students various questions
related to a particular text in order to prepare them
to read the text or to make them curious about it?
Does the teacher teach the students how to read a
text quickly, though not carefully, to find out a
piece of information or name of a particular thing
etc. (i.e. scan a text)?
text in the shortest possible time to get an overall
idea about it (i.e. skim through a text)?
short text closely to know the details (i.e.
intensively)?
large amount of texts in a given period (i.e.
extensively)?
Does the teacher emphasize language learning (i.e.
grammar, structure etc) in a reading class?
Does the teacher change texts according to the
purpose of reading in the class?
Does the teacher teach the students how to predict
the content of a text?
Does the teacher teach the students inferencing and
interpreting skills?
Does the teacher teach the students how to
distinguish between facts and opinions?
Does the teacher teach the students how to evaluate
a text critically?
Does the teacher teach the students how to
recognize bias?
Does the teacher teach the students how to summarize?
Does the teacher focus on understanding attitude,

mood, tone etc?
Does the teacher use cloze procedure for teaching
reading?
Does the teacher teach how to interpret graphics,
charts, maps and tables?
Results
Mean
SD
3.40
1.07
3.30
0.67
1.10
0.32
1.80
0.42
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
3.30
0.82
1.00
0.00
1.40
0.52
1.10
0.32
1.00
0.00
2.10
0.88
1.00
0.00
3.20
1.40
1.10
0.32
2.20
0.63
1.40
0.70
140
No
35
36
37
38
Questions
Does the teacher help the students analyze long
sentences?
Does the teacher make the students survey text
organization?
Does the teacher help the students to understand the
Does the teacher help the students appreciate or
comment on the style of writing in a text?
Results
Mean
SD
3.20
1.03
1.00
0.00
1.10
0.32
2.20
0.63
N= 10
4.6.1 Description of the Results
38 questions constitute the classroom observation scheme. The Mean scores of these
questions are described here.
For item 1 (Does the teacher divide reading lesson into pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading activities?), the Mean score is 1.40, for item 2 (Does the teacher
explain the background of the text before s/he start reading lesson?), it is 2.30.
For item 3 (Does the teacher allow the students to read in the class?) the Mean score
is 2.20.
Item 4 (Does the teacher guide the students how to read texts in the class?) has 1.60
Mean score.
Items 5 (Is the teacher an active partner in reading activities?), 6 (Does the teacher
make sure that each of the students reads in the class?) and 7 (Does the teacher
encourage the students to read by themselves?) have the same Mean scores, 1.90.
Items 8 (Does the teacher arrange the class in groups/pairs in order to find meaning
of texts through discussion?) has 1.40 Mean score.
For item 9 (Does the teacher ask the students to read additional materials [stories,
novels, magazines etc. written in English] at home also?), the Mean score is 2.60.
141
For item 10 (Does the teacher read the text himself/herself, and then explain and
interpret it to the students?), the Mean score is4.00.
Items 11 (Does the teacher read out the text first and then let the students read and
explain/interpret it?) and 12 (When the students come across a new word, does the
teacher help them by supplying the meaning of the word?) have 2.40 and 3.20 Mean
scores respectively.
For items 13 (Does the teacher encourage the students to consult dictionary when
they come across unfamiliar words during reading?), 14 (Does the teacher encourage
the students to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words by using contextual clues?),
15 (Does the teacher point out the problems regarding reading?), 16 (Does the
teacher ask the students comprehension check questions after each reading?), 17
(Does the teacher ask the students questions in English?) and 18 (Does the teacher
ask the students to relate textual information to the personal experiences or
background knowledge?) the Mean scores are 3.00, 2.10, 1.80, 3.40, 3.30 and 1.10
respectively.
For item 19 (Does the teacher ask the students various questions related to a
particular text in order to prepare them to read the text or to make them curious about
it?), the Mean score is 1.80.
For items 20 (Does the teacher teach the students how to read a text quickly, though
not carefully, to find out a piece of information or name of a particular thing etc. [i.e.
scan a text]?), 21 (Does the teacher teach the students how to read a text in the
shortest possible time to get an overall idea about it [i.e. skim through a text]?), 22
(Does the teacher teach the students how to read a short text closely to know the
142
details [i.e. intensively]?) and 23 (Does the teacher teach the students how to read a
large amount of texts in a given period [i.e. extensively]?), the Mean scores are the
same, 1.00.
For item 24 (Does the teacher emphasize language learning [i.e. grammar, structure
etc] in a reading class?), the Mean score is 3.30.
For item 25 (Does the teacher change texts according to the purpose of reading in the
class?), the Mean score is 1.00.
For item 26 (Does the teacher teach the students how to predict the content of a
text?) it is 1.40.
For item 27 (Does the teacher teach the students inferencing and interpreting skills?),
the Mean score is 1.10.
For item 28 (Does the teacher teach the students how to distinguish between facts
and opinions?), the Mean score is 1.00.
For item 29 (Does the teacher teach the students how to evaluate a text critically?),
the Mean score is 2.10.
Item 30 (Does the teacher teach the students how to recognize bias?) has 1.00 Mean
score.
For item 31 (Does the teacher teach the students how to summarize?), the Mean
score is 3.20.
For items 32 (Does the teacher focus on understanding attitude, mood, tone etc?) and
33 (Does the teacher use cloze procedure for teaching reading?) the Mean scores are
1.10 and 2.20 respectively.
143
Mean scores in the items 34 (Does the teacher teach how to interpret graphics,
charts, maps and tables?) and 35 (Does the teacher help the students analyze long
sentences?) are 1.40 and 3.20 respectively.
For item 36 (Does the teacher make the students survey text organization?) the Mean
score is 1.00.
Mean scores in the items 37 (Does the teacher help the students to understand the
transition of ideas?) and 38 (Does the teacher help the students appreciate or
comment on the style of writing in a text?) are 1.10 and 2.20 respectively.
4.6.2 Interpretation of the Results
In order to categorize the results under Very High, High, Low and Very Low
Mean scores, the following interpretation key has been used:
3.00 3.99 = High [Good]
4.00 +
Tables 22, 23, 24 and 25 show the results of the classroom observation according to
the above interpretation key:
Table 22
Very High Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
No
10
Total
N= 10
Questions
Does the teacher read the text himself/herself, and then
explain and interpret it to the students?
1
Results
Mean
SD
4.00
0.67
144
Table 23
High Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
No
12
13
16
17
24
31
35
Total
Questions
When the students come across a new word, does the
teacher help them by supplying the meaning of the word?
Does the teacher encourage the students to consult
dictionary when they come across unfamiliar words
during reading?
Does the teacher ask the students comprehension check
questions after each reading?
Does the teacher ask the students questions in English?
Does the teacher emphasize language learning (i.e.
grammar, structure etc) in a reading class?
Does the teacher teach the students how to summarize?
Does the teacher help the students analyze long
sentences?
7
Results
Mean
SD
3.20
0.92
3.00
0.82
3.40
1.07
3.30
0.67
3.30
0.82
3.20
1.40
3.20
1.03
N= 10
Table 24
Low Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
No
2
3
9
11
14
29
33
38
Total
N= 10
Questions
Does the teacher explain the background of the text
before s/he starts reading lesson?
Does the teacher allow the students to read in the class?
Does the teacher ask the students to read additional
materials (stories, novels, magazines etc. written in
Does the teacher read out the text first and then let the
students read and explain/interpret it?
Does the teacher encourage the students to guess the
meaning of unfamiliar words by using contextual
clues?
Does the teacher teach the students how to evaluate a
text critically?
Does the teacher use cloze procedure for teaching
reading?
Does the teacher help the students appreciate or
comment on the style of writing in a text?
8
Results
Mean
SD
2.30
1.34
2.20
1.23
2.60
0.97
2.40
1.07
2.10
0.99
2.10
0.88
2.20
0.63
2.20
0.63
145
Table 25
Very Low Mean Score of the Classroom Observation
No
1
4
5
6
7
8
15
18
19
20
21
22
23
25
26
27
28
Questions
Does the teacher divide reading lesson into pre-reading,
while-reading and post-reading activities?
Does the teacher guide the students how to read texts in
the class?
Is the teacher an active partner in reading activities?
Does the teacher make sure that each of the students
reads in the class?
Does the teacher encourage the students to read by
themselves?
Does the teacher arrange the class in groups/pairs in
order to find meaning of texts through discussion?
Does the teacher point out the problems regarding reading?
Does the teacher ask the students to relate textual

information to the personal experiences or background
knowledge?
Does the teacher ask the students various questions
related to a particular text in order to prepare them to
read the text or to make them curious about it?
Does the teacher teach the students how to read a text
quickly, though not carefully, to find out a piece of
information or name of a particular thing etc. (i.e. scan a
text)?
Does the teacher teach the students how to read a text in
the shortest possible time to get an overall idea about it
(i.e. skim through a text)?
Does the teacher teach the students how to read a short
text closely to know the details (i.e. intensively)?
Does the teacher teach the students how to read a large
amount of texts in a given period (i.e. extensively)?
Does the teacher change texts according to the purpose of
Does the teacher teach the students how to predict the
content of a text?
Does the teacher teach the students inferencing and
Does the teacher teach the students how to distinguish
between facts and opinions?
Results
Mean
SD
1.40
0.52
1.60
0.84
1.90
0.57
1.90
1.10
1.90
0.88
1.40
0.97
1.80
0.92
1.10
0.32
1.80
0.42
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.40
0.52
1.10
0.32
1.00
0.00
30
Does the teacher teach the students how to recognize bias?
1.00
0.00
32
Does the teacher focus on understanding attitude, mood,

tone etc?
1.10
0.32
146
No
Questions
Does the teacher teach how to interpret graphics, charts,

maps and tables?
Does the teacher make the students survey text
36
organization?
Does the teacher help the students to understand the
37
Total
22
N= 10
34
Results
Mean Mean
1.40
0.70
1.00
0.00
1.10
0.32
Tables 22, 23, 24 and 25 show that only 1 item (question 10) has Very High Mean
scores, 7 items (questions 12, 13, 16, 17, 24, 31 and 35) have High Mean scores, 8
items (questions 2, 3, 9, 11, 14, 29, 33 and 38) have Low Mean scores and
remaining 22 items (questions 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27,
28, 30, 32, 34, 36, and 37) have Very Low Mean scores.
4.6.3 Summary of the Findings of the Classroom Observation
The overall results in the classroom observation are very disappointing.
The observation results show a significant difference from survey and interview
results. Only 1 item has Very High and only 7 items have High Mean scores,
whereas 8 items have Low and 22 items have Very Low Mean scores. Thus a
strong contrast between survey and interview results and observation results is seen.
The results of the classroom observation indicate that students performance
regarding the major parts of the reading skills is very poor.
4.7 Analysis of the Results of the Test of Reading Skills

The results of the test have been interpreted in terms of the grading system
currently in use in the intermediate levels in the country. The used grading standard
is presented below:
147
1. A+
(80 marks and above it)
2. A
(ranges between 70 and 79)
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. D
7. F
(below 33)
Table 26 presents the results of the test of reading skills in the light of the grading
system:
Table 26
Results of the Reading Test
Sl no.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Total
N= 52
Grade
A+
(80 + )
A
(70- 79)
A
(60- 69)
B
(50- 59)
C
(40- 49)
D
(33- 39)
F
(Below 33)
No. of students
1.9%
0%
3.85%
13.5%
13
25%
13.5%
22
42.3%
52
The above table shows that among 52 only 1 student got A+ and the percentage is
only 1.9. No students got A, and the percentage is 0. 2 students out of 52 got A,
and the percentage is 3.85. 7 students out of 52, that is, 13.5% of the total students
148
secured B. 13 students got C, and the percentage is 25. 13.5% of the total
students, that is, 7 students out of 52 got D; and the remaining 22 students (42.3%)
got F, that is, they have failed in the test of reading skills.
The following table presents the item-wise results of the reading test in terms of
grading system:
Table 27
Item-wise Results of the Reading Test
Item
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
A+
0
9
12
0
26
11
16
A
1
0
7
0
0
0
0
A
0
12
8
1
5
14
17
B
3
0
13
0
0
0
0
C
5
18
6
0
10
21
9
D
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
F
43
13
6
51
11
6
10
Table 27 shows that in item 1 (guessing word meaning without any choice provided.)
no students got A+, A or D. Only 1 student got A, 3 students got B and 5
students got C. And 43 students got F.
In item 2 (guessing word meaning from multiple choice option) no students got A,
B or D. 9 students got A+, 12 students A, 18 students got C and 13 students
failed.
In item 3 (finding out specific information from given choices), no students got D.
In this item, 12 students got A+, 7 students got A, 8 students got A-`, 13 students
B and 6 students C and 13 students out of 52 failed in this item. In item 4 (higher
order skills such as inferencing, interpreting etc.) only 1 student got A, and
remaining 51 got F.
149
In item 5 (finding out specific information) 26 students got A+, no students got
A, 5 students got A, no students got B, 10 students got C, no students got
D, and 11 students failed.
In item 6, 11 students got A+, 14 students A, 21 students C and no student got
A, B or D. In this item 6 students failed.
In item 7, 16 students got A+, 17 students got A and 9 students got C. In this
item no students got A, B or D. 10 students failed in this item.
4.7.1 Summary of the Results of the Test of Reading Skills
The results show a miserable state of students reading skills. Only in a very few
items their performance is excellent, but for the majority of the sub-skills their
proficiency is extremely poor.
The results also indicate that students proficiency in finding out specific information
from a given passage seems to be good, but their performance in guessing word
meaning is very poor. In addition to these, students proficiency in higher order skills
such as inferencing and interpreting is extremely bad.
4.8 Analyses of the Points Noted down during Classroom Observation

Classes were lecture-oriented. Teachers read, and explained the text; the activities of
the book were not done as they appear in the book.
Students direct involvement was hardly seen in the classes. In almost all the classes
the teachers were the only speakers, and they were not concerned whether they were
able to make students understand what they were teaching in the class. They were
also indifferent to get feedback from the students.
150
One common feature noticed during the class observation is that all teachers are
habituated to following the same age-old Grammar-Translation method. They were
not careful enough or not able to hold attention of the class. Except some few
students at the front rows all the students were inattentive in the class, and they
seemed to be uninterested to listen to their teacher. Some students at backbenches
preferred gossiping to joining the class, and the teacher was completely unaware of
it. One day, a student was seen doing sums in an English class!
4.9 Contradictions between the Results of Questionnaire Survey and

Interview and of the Classroom Observation and Reading Test
Table 28 presents contradictions between the results of questionnaire survey and
interview and of the classroom observation.
Table 28
Comparison of the Overall Mean Scores of Survey, Interview and
Classroom Observation
Students Questionnaire Survey
and Interview
Interview
Survey
Average
Mean
Mean
3.53
3.55
3.54
Teachers Questionnaire Survey

and Interview
Interview
Survey
Average
Mean
Mean
3.63
3.55
3.59
Classroom
Observation
1.94
N= 54 in both students and teachers survey and interview, and N= 38 in the class
observation.
The table shows that there are significant differences between the results of survey
and interview and those of classroom observation. The average Mean score in the
students questionnaire survey and interview is 3.54, and it is very close to the
average Mean score in the teachers questionnaire survey and interview which is
151
3.59. But average Mean score of the classroom observation is only 1.94. The overall
Mean score of classroom observation is significantly different from the respondents
self-reporting data in the questionnaire survey and interview.
The results of the questionnaire survey and interview show that the students present
proficiency level of reading is very good and the teaching techniques and coverage
of sub-skills are also very good but an opposite picture is presented by the data of
classroom observation and reading test.
The performance of the students in almost all aspects of reading skills is very
disappointing. And even some items that have high mean scores in the survey and
interview results were seen neglected not covered at all. And the results of reading
test also prove that students performance in these items is very bad. Moreover, some
very important sub-skills of reading such as scanning, skimming, intensive and
extensive reading, recognizing bias and surveying text organization are totally
ignored and neglected in the class.
4.10 Reasons of the Contradictions

An obvious reason for the contradictions between the results of questionnaire survey
and interview, and of the classroom observation and reading tests is the difference of
techniques applied for obtaining information. During conducting questionnaire
survey and interview for the present study, teachers and students seem to be
responding in favourable ways and they seem to have answered the questions
casually though they were requested to provide authentic, sincere answers.
On the other hand, in the classroom observation and reading tests teachers and
students have less opportunity to hide facts. Therefore, the results of the classroom
152
observation and the tests of reading skills are more valid, authentic and acceptable.
For this reason, the latter results have been taken to be the real picture of the
condition of teaching reading skills in the country.
4.11 Conclusion
This chapter shows the results of the questionnaire survey and interview with both
teachers and students. It also shows the results of the classroom observation and
reading test. The results of questionnaire survey, interview and classroom
observation have been presented in terms of Mean and SD, but the results of the
reading test have been presented and interpreted in terms of the grading system used
at the intermediate levels.
Chapter 5
Summary of the Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion
This chapter presents a brief summary of the study, its objectives, methodology and
findings. It also discusses the implication of the findings and makes some
recommendation in the light of the findings for improving the state of the teaching
and learning of reading skills in Bangladesh.
The objectives of the study have been to examine students problems in reading
skills, the present state of reading pedagogy, strength and weaknesses of the reading
components of the existing syllabus and reading materials used at the H.S.C levels in
Bangladesh. For field data on these areas, empirical investigations were conducted in
several government and non-government colleges of both urban and rural areas.
The methods for investigation included questionnaire survey, interview, classroom
observation, reading tests and evaluation of syllabus, materials and tests currently
used in the country.
The study includes a detailed literature review that defines reading processes,
discusses sub-skills of reading and recent approaches to the teaching and learning of
reading and then examines whether the recent approaches are used in the country or
not.
The results show that students have problems in most of the sub-skills of reading,
and it also shows that the approaches to teaching and learning reading skills are still
backdated. The observation shows that the syllabus, materials and tests are not bad,
154
but these emphasize only on the lower order skills; the higher skills are totally
neglected.
5.1 Summary of the Findings

The findings of the study are summarized and outlined in this section of the chapter
under the following headings:
(i)
Problems of students as found in the study,
(ii)
Syllabus, materials and tests used in the country and
(iii)
Approaches currently used for teaching reading.
5.1.1 Problems of Students as Found in the Study

The study shows that many-faceted problems exist with students reading skills. The
main problem is their insufficient vocabulary. New words in every sentence prove a
main hurdle for them to understand texts. Many students depend on dictionary
meaning more than contextual meaning of words. As a result, they fail to understand
the meaning words assume in the context of a text. Moreover, most of the students
are unable to understand and analyse long sentences in a text. They also have
problems with understanding syntax and surveying text organization.
5.1.2 Syllabus, Materials and Tests Used in the Country
The syllabus and textbook cover some of the lower order sub-skills of reading. The
sub-skills covered are scanning, skimming, predicting, summarizing and reading for
specific information. It also includes finding out the topic idea of a text and giving
title to a reading passage. Higher order skills such as distinguishing facts and
opinions, recognizing bias, finding out authors attitude, tone and mood, critical
155
evaluation etc. are not covered in the syllabus, materials and texts. Moreover, the
practice opportunities of the sub-skills are not adequate.
5.1.3 Teachers Approaches Currently Used for Teaching Reading
Teachers activities in the classroom are disappointing. Teachers do not follow the
prescribed student-oriented techniques; instead, they use traditional teacher-oriented
methods. The teachers are arbiters, and the students are passive learners in the class.
Students direct involvement in the classroom activities is totally neglected in the
practical setting. The activities and lesson format as laid out in the textbook are not
followed in the class by the teachers.
As the class observation shows, teachers have no planned activities in teaching their
lessons. They give lecture and explain the reading passages word for word in Bangla.
They do not engage their students in reading the text in the classroom. Therefore,
students reading skills do not develop at all.
5.2 Implication of the Findings

The findings imply that pedagogical approaches to teaching reading in Bangladesh
need special attention. Since this area of teaching English is very important for the
present context of the country, changes are required to ensure students engagement
in reading activities. Instead of teachers explaining texts, students should be made to
read and find out the meaning of the text. Teachers will guide them, and help them to
reach the meaning a text implies. It must be kept in mind that reading skills will
develop only if the students are made to read as much as possible.
156
5.2.1 Implication for Text Selection

In selecting texts for students, teachers should pay careful attention since reading is
mainly a text-based activity. Teachers should select texts considering students
present linguistic and cognitive level. Interesting stories, anecdotes, jokes, sports and
similar topics will prove interesting and motivating for the learners. The textbook
currently in use at this level presents a variety of topics, but they are becoming old.
Topics of the temporal interest and contemporary issues should be included in the
text.
Topics should be changed in every five years.
5.2.2 Implication for Syllabus
The syllabus covers some of the lower and none of the higher order sub-skills. It has
some limited option to practise summarizing, scanning, guessing word meaning and
vocabulary building. Higher order sub-skills such as inferencing, transition of
thought or ideas, recognizing bias etc. are absent from the syllabus. The syllabus
should include these sub-skills for the development of students overall reading
skills.
5.2.3 Implication for Materials
The material, that is, the textbook used at the intermediate level also covers some of
the lower order sub-skills of reading to practise. Like the syllabus, the textbook
includes no higher order sub-skills of reading.
Amount of reading provided in the textbook also is not enough for this level. So, the
amount of reading activities in the textbook should be increased. Opportunities to
practise reading should also be increased.
157
There should be more varieties in the activities of the textbook. The paper and print
quality i.e. the layout of the book should also be more inviting.
5.2.4 Implication for Methodology
Learning by doing should be the focus of teaching reading. The methodology should
be based on controlled and free reading practices. As students reading level is poor,
guided reading will prove more effective. Small groups or pairs should be formed for
the convenience of discussing the idea of the text, the unfamiliar words and the long
sentences.
5.2.4.1 Implication for Teachers Role
Teachers should not lecture. They should guide, monitor, help and provide feedback.
Their responsibility should have been to engage students in reading. They should not
be the arbiter or controller of the class; rather they should be parts of it.
5.2.4.2 Implication for Learners Role
Students should be actively involved. They have to discuss problems in pairs or
small groups. They should read more, and discuss with other students whenever they
find anything difficult. They should also discuss their problems with teachers, when
necessary. They should try to discover meaning by themselves.
5.2.4.3 Implication for Classroom Activities
Activities should focus on the different sub-skills, but most of the activities have to
be student centred. There should be little or no lecture because lecture does not help
develop reading skills. The activities in the class should be task-based instead of
158
lecture-based. Moreover, extensive practice should be provided on both higher and

lower order sub-skills of reading.
5.3 Recommendations
In the light of the present condition of teaching and learning of reading in
Bangladesh, this section presents some recommendations with a view to improving
students overall reading skills.
5.3.1 Recommendations for Syllabus
The present syllabus does not include the higher order sub-skills of reading. It does
not emphasize on extensive reading also. So, the reading components of the syllabus
should be revised, and the higher order skills such as predicting, using contextual
clues, guessing word meaning, interpreting texts, evaluating a text critically,
recognizing the authors position and bias, distinguishing between facts and
opinions, understanding authors tone, mood and attitude, surveying text
organization etc. should be included in the syllabus.
5.3.2 Recommendations for Text Selection
Reading texts should be changed in the textbooks in every five years because some
of the texts have become outdated. Topics should be of contemporary interest. Texts
of all the different types of writing descriptive, narrative, expository,
argumentative, literary etc. should be used. Sports, culture, global issues, scenario,
history etc. prove interesting for learners. So, topics that interest the young learners
most should be included in the textbook.
159
5.3.3 Recommendations for Material

The amount of reading in the present textbook is not adequate. Reading materials
should provide more texts both longer and shorter ones. The materials should be
task-based or activities oriented that involve the students in reading.
The book should provide for both lower and higher order sub-skills. There also
should be a large amount of literary texts. More and varied reading activities such as
reading cloze, using clues to guess meanings, general comprehension check tasks,
supplying title to a passage, identifying the topic sentence, arranging jumbled text,
jigsaw reading, writing an outline of the text, finding surface and deeper meaning,
transferring information from one form to another etc. have to be included in the
book.
5.3.4 Recommendations for Pedagogy
Reading is not really taught in the classroom nowadays. But students reading skills
will never develop without their active engagement in the reading process. The more
they are made to read, the better they will be able to read.
Students must be engaged in doing tasks on all the sub-skills of reading, and learning
by doing should be encouraged in the classroom.
5.3.4.1 Teachers Role
Teachers should set students with reading activities. They should help them with
hints and clues, and train them the cognitive and metacognitive strategies to read.
Teachers must not lecture, and explain everything to the students. They should make
the students read and find out for themselves the different layers of meanings in the
160
texts. Teachers should monitor students activities, assist them and provide guidance
and feedback.
They should do what Nuttall (1996: 32-33) describes as responsibilities of the
teachers:
Helping students to enjoy and value reading, including making sure there
is an attractive extensive reading programme;
Finding out what the students can and cannot do, and working out a
programme to develop the skills they lack;
Choosing suitable texts to work on;
Choosing or devising effective tasks and activities;
Preparing the students to undertake the tasks;
Making sure that everyone works productively and to their full potential
by encouraging students, promoting text-focused discussion and providing
scaffolding to enable them to interpret the text themselves, rather than
having to rely on the teacher;
Monitoring progress to make sure that everyone in the class improves

steadily according to their own capabilities.
5.3.4.2 Learners Role

Learners need to be engaged in the reading process. They should read individually,
work in pairs or groups to find out meanings of words, sentences and texts. In other
word, they should be engaged in word attack, sentence attack and text attack
activities.
Students should be active organizers, not passive recipients.
161
5.4 Recommendations for Teacher Training

A large number of teachers in Bangladesh are not competent for implementing the
modern approaches to the teaching of reading. Though some teachers use modern
approaches, they are not trained and hence cannot apply the methods properly.
Therefore, arrangements should be made to train teachers in the new approaches to
teaching reading.
5.5 Conclusion
The present study refers to the needs of reading skills for the students of Bangladesh
and finds out that students are weak in reading. Their speed of reading is very slow,
and their efficiency in understanding the meaning of a text is very poor. At the same
time the study has also proved that the teachers and teaching methods are mostly
responsible for the students poor proficiency in reading.
The problems of the students regarding reading are multifaceted. The study has tried
to identify these problems and examine the nature of them in some detail. The study
helps to develop insights in the modern approaches to teaching reading.
The implications of the findings of this study discussed earlier in this chapter should
be taken into careful considerations, and steps should be taken to implement the
recommendations made in the preceding section of this chapter, and if implemented,
the state of the teaching and learning of reading skills in the country will improve
significantly.
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University of Rajshahi.
Tumpsoky, N. 1982. The Learners on His Own in Shahidullah, M. 1998. Basic
Paradigms of English Language Teaching and Their Limitations in Gabeshana
Patrika (Research Journal). Vol: 4, pp. 241-54. Rajshahi: Uttara Offset Printing
Press.
Urquhart, S. and Weir, C. 1998. Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product
and Practice. London: Longman.
Watson, C. R. J. 1991. Classroom Discussion as a Prelude to Reading. ELT
Journal, vol. Xxxv, number 2, January 1991.
Weir, C. J. 1993. Understanding and Developing Language Tests. London: Prentice
Hall.
Widdowson, H. 1978. Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. 1979. The Process and Purpose of Reading. In H. G.
Widdowson (ed.) Explorations in Applied Linguistics. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Williams, E. 1984. Reading in the Language Classroom. London: Macmillan.
Williams, E. 1996. Reading in the Language Classroom. Malaysia: Modern English
Publications.
170
Williams, M. and Burden, R.L. 1997. Psychology for Language Teachers: A Social
Constructivist Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, R. 1986. Top ten principles for teaching reading. ELT Journal. vol. 40/1.
pp. 42-45.
Witkin, H.A., Dyk, R.B., Tolerson, H.F., Goodenbough, D.R. and Karp, S.A. 1962.
Psychological Differentiation: Studies of Mental Development. New York: Wiley.
171
Appendices
172
Appendix 1
Instrument for the Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Personal Details:
Name: .............................................................................................................................
Institution: ......................................................................................................................
Class & Roll:
..................................................................................................................
This questionnaire is meant for an MA thesis in English Language Teaching. Your
co-operation is very important for the study. I will highly appreciate it if you kindly
fill in the questionnaire at your earliest convenience. The information you provide
will be strictly confidential and used only for the purpose of this study.
Md. Hamidur Rahman (MA, 2004, RU)
PART: A 1
Some- Very
Always
No
Questions
Never Rarely
times
often
1 previewing the index or table
of content of a book?
2 specific information from the
text quickly?
guess
the
meaning
of
3
clues?
experience
or
associated
4
knowledge while you are
reading a text?
statement
(presupposition) of
5
the writer?
6
come next?
7
details of a text?
Can you read a large text fast
8
to get an overall idea about it?
9

experience
or
background
173
No
Questions
Never

English?
11 graphics, charts, maps and
tables?
Can
you
analyze
long
12
sentences?
Can
you
survey
text
13
organization?
Can you follow the transition
14
of thought/idea of the author?
15
passage?
16
of a text?
PART: A 2
How long does it take for you About
30
17 to read a standard size page of
minutes
English text?
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
About
25
minutes
About
20
minutes
About
15
minutes
About
10
minutes
Skip it
Seek
help
from
your
teacher
10
18
When you do not understand a

Stop
long sentence, or part of a text, reading
you
19
What do you do when you find

that the text you are reading is
Stop
Do
not interesting, or you are not reading nothing
getting what you want from the
text?
20
What difficulties do you face

mainly in reading your English
text?
Understa
nding
word
meaning
Understa
nding
sentence
meaning
Never
Rarely
Read
again
Try to
find out
the
cause of
the
problem
Try to
find out
the
cause of
the
problem
Seek
help
from
your
teacher
Unders
tanding
organiz
ation
Underst
anding
main
idea
Face no
problem
Someti
mes
Very
often
Alway
s
Read
again
PART: B
No
21
22
Questions
Does your teacher divide
reading lesson into prereading, while-reading and
174
No
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Questions
read in the class?
Is your teacher an active
partner in reading activities?
class?
discussion?
read
additional
materials
(stories, novels, magazines etc.
written in English) at home
also?
yourself, and then explain and
word, does your teacher help
you by supplying the meaning
of the word?
contextual clues?
Does your teacher point out
your
problems
regarding
reading?
comprehension
check
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
175
No
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
Questions
your personal experiences or
curious about it?
how to read a text quickly,
though not carefully, to find
out a piece of information or
name of a particular thing etc.
(i.e. scan a text)?
how to read a text in the
shortest possible time to get an
overall idea about it (i.e. skim
through a text)?
intensively)?
extensively)?
language
learning
(i.e.
reading class?
text?
skills?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
176
No
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Questions
Never
Rarely
Sometimes

how to distinguish between
facts and opinions?
how to evaluate a text
critically?
how to summarize?
tone etc?
procedure
for
teaching
reading?
Does your teacher teach how
to interpret graphics, charts,
maps and tables?
understand the transition of
ideas?
appreciate or comment on the
Thank you for your co-operation.
Very
often
Always
177
Appendix 2
Instrument for the Teachers Questionnaire Survey and Interview
Personal Details:
Name:
........................................................................................................................................
Institution:
........................................................................................................................................
This questionnaire is meant for an MA thesis in English Language Teaching. Your

co-operation is very important for the study. I will highly appreciate it if you kindly
fill in the questionnaire at your earliest convenience. The information you provide
will be strictly confidential and used only for the purpose of this study.
Md. Hamidur Rahman (MA, 2004, RU)
PART: A
No
5
6
7
Questions
Can your students locate
information by previewing the
index or table of content of a
book?
Can your students find out
required specific information
from the text quickly?
clues?
Can your students recall the
relevant
experience
or
associated knowledge while
they are reading a text?
Can your students infer the
unstated
statement
would come next?
Can your students read closely
to know details of a text?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
178
No
8
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Questions
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
Can your students read a large

text fast to get an overall idea
about it?
Can your students use their
previous
experience
or
background knowledge to
understand a text?
Can your students answer
Can your students read and
and tables?
sentences?
organization?
transition of thought/idea of
the author?
Can your students give title to
a reading passage?
Can your students find out the
topic idea of a text?
PART: B
No
Questions
17
Do you divide your reading

lesson into pre-reading, whilereading
and
post-reading
activities?
18
19
20
21
22
Do
you
explain
the
Do you allow the students to
read in the class?
Do you co-operate/guide the
students to read texts in the
class?
Are you an active partner of
the students in reading
activities?
Do you make sure that every
student reads in the class?
179
No
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Questions
Do you encourage the students
to read by themselves?
meaning of texts through
discussion?
additional materials (stories,
novels, magazines etc. written
in English) at home also?
Do you read the text yourself,
and then explain and interpret
it to your students?
Do you read out the text first
and then let your students read
When a student comes across a
new word, do you help him/her
by supplying the meaning of
the word?
Do you encourage the students
to consult dictionary when
they come across unfamiliar
Do you encourage students to
guess
the
meaning
of
contextual clues?
Do you point out students
comprehension
check
Do you ask your students to
their personal experiences or
Do you ask various questions
related to a particular text in
order to prepare the students to
read the text or to make the
students curious about it?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
180
No
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
Questions
Do you teach the students how
to read a text quickly, though
not carefully, to find out a
piece of information or name
of a particular thing etc. (i.e.
scan a text)?
to read a text in a shortest
possible time to get an overall
idea about it (i.e. skim through
a text)?
to read the short text closely to
know
the
details
(i.e.
intensively)?
to read a large amount of texts
in a given period (i.e.
extensively)?
Do you emphasize language
learning
(i.e.
grammar,
structure etc) in a reading
class?
Do you change texts according
to the purpose of reading in the
class?
to predict the content of a text?
skills?
to distinguish between facts
and opinions?
to evaluate a text critically?
to recognize bias?
to summarize a text?
teaching reading?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
181
No
50
51
52
53
54
Questions
Never
Rarely
Sometimes

graphics, charts, maps and
tables?
Do you help students analyze
long sentences?
Do you make students survey
text organization?
Do you help them understand
the transition of ideas?
Do
you
help
students
appreciate or comment on the
Thank you for your co-operation.
Very
often
Always
182
Appendix 3
Instrument for the Classroom Observation
Name of the college: __________________________________________________
Name of the teacher: _________________________________________________
Name of the class: ____________________________________________________
Total students: _______________________________________________________
Students present: ____________________________________________________
Date and time/period: ________________________________________________
No
2
3
4
5
6
10
Questions
Does the teacher divide
reading lesson into prereading, while-reading and
Does the teacher explain the
s/he starts reading lesson?
Does the teacher allow the
students to read in the class?
Does the teacher guide the
students how to read texts in
the class?
Is the teacher an active partner
in reading activities?
Does the teacher make sure
that each of the students reads
in the class?
Does the teacher encourage the
students
to
read
by
themselves?
Does the teacher arrange the
discussion?
Does the teacher ask the
students to read additional
materials (stories, novels,
magazines etc. written in
Does the teacher read the text
himself/herself,
and
then
explain and interpret it to the
students?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
183
No
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Questions
Does the teacher read out the
text first and then let the
students
read
and
When the students come across
a new word, does the teacher
help them by supplying the
meaning of the word?
students to consult dictionary
when they come across
unfamiliar
words
during
reading?
students to guess the meaning
of unfamiliar words by using
contextual clues?
Does the teacher point out the
students comprehension check
students questions in English?
students to relate textual
information to the personal
experiences or background
knowledge?
students various questions
related to a particular text in
order to prepare them to read
the text or to make them
curious about it?
Does the teacher teach the
students how to read a text
quickly, though not carefully,
to find out a piece of
information or name of a
particular thing etc. (i.e. scan a
text)?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
184
No
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Questions
students how to read a text in
the shortest possible time to
get an overall idea about it (i.e.
skim through a text)?
students how to read a short
text closely to know the details
(i.e. intensively)?
students how to read a large
amount of texts in a given
period (i.e. extensively)?
Does the teacher emphasize
language
learning
(i.e.
reading class?
Does the teacher change texts
students how to predict the
content of a text?
students
inferencing
and
students how to distinguish
between facts and opinions?
students how to evaluate a text
critically?
students how to recognize
bias?
students how to summarize?
Does the teacher focus on
tone etc?
Does the teacher use cloze
procedure
for
teaching
reading?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
185
No
34
35
36
37
38
Questions
Does the teacher teach how to
and tables?
Does the teacher help the
students
analyze
long
sentences?
Does the teacher make the
students
survey
text
organization?
students to understand the
students
appreciate
or
comment on the style of
writing in a text?
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Very
often
Always
186
Appendix 4
Test of Reading Skills
Name: _____________________________________________________________
Roll: ______________________________________________________________
College: ___________________________________________________________
Marks: 50
Time: 1.15 hours
1. Give the meaning of the underlined words:

10
a) Nobody likes a fickle-minded person like you.
b) All efforts to change the economic condition in our country proved futile so far.
c) Our country needs a truly benevolent ruler.
d) Recently I bought a handy camera.
e) We need a national consensus for progress and prosperity.
f) The boss is very authoritarian.
g) He expressed it in a univocal tone.
h) One noteworthy feature of the Bangalis is that they love freedom.
i) Tanzila seldom visits her parents after marriage.
j) He is an affluent man.
2. Tick the appropriate meaning of the underlined words in the following
sentences.
05
i) The nation pays homage to its martyr.
a. job
b. medals
c. respect
d. house
ii) Children often become a liability for parents if not educated properly.
a. an asset
b. helpful
c. a burden
d. careless
iii) Young people of the country should involve themselves in income generating
activities.
a. activities that decreases income
b. activities for helping others
c. activities that help earn
d. sporting activities
187
iv) Two groups of people are heading towards confrontation.

a. meeting
b. conflict
c. end of rivalry
d. right direction
v) Mr. Hasan has the lions share in the business.
a. small share
b. half share
c. the whole business
d. bulk of the business.
3. Read the following passage and answer the question below it.
Kuakata with its 18 kilometer wide shining sand beach and the glittering waves of
the bay of Bengal is gradually becoming one of the most attractive tourist spots of
Bangladesh. The vast Sundarbans, another tourist attraction of Bangladesh, is very
close to this dazzling seashore. The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the
world having a unique beauty of its own. Kuakata and Sundarbans offer exciting
opportunities for the development of tourism in our country. Kuakata is situated at
the lap of the Bay of Bengal. With serene beauty of natural landscape, it is one of the
rare sea beaches in the world form where both the sunrise and sunset can be seen.
Another attraction for the tourists to come here is the Rakhain life style which is
quite different from that of the modern people of the plain land. Kuakata sea beach is
only seventy kilometers away from the Patuakhali district headquarter. To reach the
beach area it needs nearly three hours by road. One may take river transports like
launch or engine propelled trawlers to reach the spot cleaving the breast of zigzag
river. The vast coconut garden along the sandy beach at Kuakata has created a
wonderful scenic beauty. Some seventy years ago an image of lord Buddha with 1.5
tons of weight and seven feet height was set up at the Mulapara temple. Vikkhu
Ukhema set up that image in the temple. The temple was damaged severely and was
almost wrecked during the cyclones in the early sixties. One Talukder has rebuilt it.
But unfortunately it was damaged in the cyclone and disaster of 1965 once again.
Afterwards, the image was shifted from Mulapara to Keranipara under Patuakhali
district. Since then the brass-made Buddhas is there and is being considered as one of
the great attractions for the tourists coming to the Kuakata sea resort. Everyday many
tourists come to observe the Buddha image and take snaps.
1. The passage mainly discusses
a) the statue of Budha at Kuakata
b) the natural disasters that damaged temples and statues of Kuakata
c) the attractions of Kuakata as a tourist spot
d) the disadvantages of going to Kuakata
2. The word dazzling is closest in meaning to
a) gloomy
b) very beautiful
c) rough
d) calm and quit
188
3. The word propelled is closest in meaning to

a) driven
b) thrown
c) pushed
d) left
4. The word some is closest in meaning to
a) a few
b) many
c) a good number of
d) about
5. The word brass is closest in meaning to
a) metal
b) wood
c) brick
d) wax
6. Rakhains have a _______ life style from that of the people of plain land.
a) different
b) a slightly different
c) almost similar
d) similar
7. Tourists can use _______ to reach Kuakata
a) land transports
b) river transports
c) walk
d) both land and river transports
8. The image of Buddha in Kuakata got damaged
a) once
b) twice
c) thrice
d) four times
9. The Sundarbans is unique in the sense that it is
a) a vast forest
b) it has Royal Bengal Tigers
c) it adds to the attraction of Kuakata
d) it is the largest mangrove forest in the world
10. The major attractions of Kuakata are
a) its serene natural beauty, Rakhain lifestyle and the image if Buddha
b) the Sundarbans and the Royal Bengal Tigers
c) the sunrise
d) the sunset
4. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.
Mrs. MacAndrew shared the common opinion of her sex that a man is always a brute
to leave woman who is attached to him, but that a woman is much to blame if he
does.
Mrs. Strickland looked slowly from one to another of us.
189
Hell never come back, she said.

oh, my dear, remember what weve just heard. Hes been used to comfort and to
having someone to look after him. How long do you think itll be before he gets tired
of a scrubby room in a scrubby hotel? Besides, he hasnt any money. He must come
back.
As long as Id thought hed run away with some woman I thought there was a
chance. I dont believe that sort of thing ever answers. Hed have got sick to death of
her in three months. But if he hasnt gone because he is in love, then its finished.
Oh, I think thats awfully subtle, said the colonel, putting into the word all the
contempt he felt for a quality so alien to the traditions of his calling. I dont believe
it. Hell come back, and, as Dorothy says, I dare say hell be none the worse for
having had a bit of a fling.
But I dont want him back, she said.
Amy!
It was anger that had seized Mrs. Strickland, and her Pallor was the pallor of a cold
and sudden rage. She spoke quickly now with little gasps. I could have forgiven him
if hed fallen desperately in love with someone and gone off with her. I should have
thought that natural. I shouldnt really have blamed him. I should have though he
was led away. Men are so weak, and women are so unscrupulous. But this is
different. I hate him. Ill never forgive him now. Colonel MacAndrew and his wife
began to talk to her together. They were astonished. They told her she was mad.
They could not understand. Mrs. Strickland turned desperately to me. Dont you
see? she cried.
Im so sure. Do you Mean that you could have forgiven him if hed left you for a
woman, but not if hes left you for an idea? You think youre a match for the one,
but against the other youre helpless?
Mrs. Strickland gave me a look in which I read no great friendliness, but did not
answer. Perhaps I had struck home.
a) How many people talk part in the conversation? Who are they?
b) From the conversation, in what sort of situation do you think Mrs.
Strickland is? What is Mrs. Stricklands opinion of the characters of man and
women?
c) From the conversation we learn that the person being spoken about has
changed his circumstances of life. In your own words explain briefly what
these changes in circumstances are.
d) What strong emotion did colonel and Mrs. MacAndrews opinions cause
in Mrs. Strickland? How was this shown in her appearance?
e) What did Mrs. Strickland say that so astonished and confused Colonel and
Mrs. MacAndrew? Why do you think it had that effect on them?
190
Read the following passage and answer the questions 5, 6 and 7 those follow:
Nobel prize was instituted by and named after a man, Alfred Bernard Nobel, who
was the inventor of the science of destruction. He was born in Stockholm on 21
October 1833. Though he was a citizen of Sweden, he was educated in Russia. He
invented dynamite. This material is widely used for breaking rocks, digging petrol
wells and in wars. He earned a huge sum of money from selling it. When he died at
the age of 63, he left behind a fabulous sum of 90,00,000 dollars. According to his
will the interest on this money is given as prizes to persons for their outstanding
contributions in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The first prize
was given to Roentgen at the 5th anniversary of Nobels death. Obviously, the
winners of this prize are treated with great respect all over the world.
5. Complete the table with relevant information from the text:
1 5
birth of Alfred Bernard Nobel.

1896
used for breaking rocks, digging wells, and in wars.
Roentgen received Nobel
The interest on the left
money
6. Based on the information in the reading text answer each of the following
questions in one complete sentence.
1 5
a) Who are given the Nobel prizes?
b) What was Alfred Nobels valuable invention?
c) What was the will of Nobel?
d) Who was first to receive the Nobel prize?
e) What does the word fabulous in the text mean?
7. Fill in the blanks using the appropriate words:
1 5
Alfred Nobel was a scientist. He was a (a) ______________, but he (b)
______________ his education in Russia. Dynamite was (c) ______________ by
him. This (d) ______________ invention brought him worldwide fame. He also (e)
____________ a lot of money.
191
Appendix 5
A Lesson from the H.S.C Textbook
192

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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Md. Hamidur Rahman

questionnaire survey, interview, classroom observation and tests of reading skills. It

Statement of the Problem

Objectives of the Study

Significance of the Study

Reading for Pleasure

Reading for Information

Reading for Meaning

Basal Reading Programme

Requirements for Effective Reading

Knowledge and Experience

Schemata and Reading Skills

Theoretical Development in Reading Pedagogy

Problems Students often Encounter with Reading

The Sub-skills of Reading

Recognizing Text Organization

Techniques of Teaching Reading

Teaching How to Tackle Meaning

Approaches to Teach the Skills to Understand Meaning

Classroom Procedures for Teaching Reading

Top Ten Principles for Teaching Reading

Purpose of the Empirical Investigation

Methods of Data Collection

Methods of Data Collection Adopted for the Present Study 77

Instruments Used for the Empirical Study

Construction of the Instruments

Detailed Description of the Instruments for Students

Detailed Description of the Instruments for Teachers

Detailed Description of the Instruments Used for

Detailed Description of the Test of Reading Skills

Sampling Plan for the Empirical Study

Sampling Plan for Students Questionnaire Survey

Sampling Plan for Students Interview

Sampling Plan for Teachers Questionnaire Survey

Sampling Plan for Teachers Interview

Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation

Sampling Plan for the Test of Reading Skills

Administration of the Empirical Study

Administration of the Students Questionnaire Survey

Administration of the Students Interview

Administration of the Teachers Questionnaire Survey

Administration of the Teachers Interview

Administration of the Classroom Observation

Administration of the Test of Reading Skills

Evaluation of the Reading Components of

Processing and Analyzing Data

Result of Students Questionnaire Survey and Interview

Description of the Results of the Students

Students Present Level of Reading Proficiency

Students Strategies for Reading (Items 17- 20)

Approaches and Methods Currently used for

Interpretation of the Results of the Students

Analysis of the Results of Teachers

Summary of the Findings of the Students

Description of the Results of the Teachers

Students Present Ability (Items 1-16)

Approaches and Methods Used by the Teachers (Items 17- 54)

Interpretation of the Results of the Teachers

Summary of the Findings of the Teachers

Comparative Study: Government and

Interpretation of the Comparative Study

The Results of the Classroom Observation

Description of the Results