PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIES:A TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE Sharmini
GhanaguruNg Hee LiangNg Lee KitJabatan Bahasa InggerisInstitut
Perguruan Bahasa-Bahasa Antara bangsa
ABSTRACT
This study seeks to find out what one experienced teacher thinks
are the main reading problems among her primary school pupils and
how she helps them cope with their reading problems. It is an initial
study to find out whether the in-service teacher is aware of the types
of reading strategies she can use to resolve her pupils’ reading
problems and the reasons why she employs certain approaches and
strategies to tackle the problems she has identified. There appears to
be a link between one’s background (both academic and social)and
the strategies employed to teach and handle reading in the
classroom.The conclusion is based on one case study and it is
far-fetched to make any generalizations about reading problems and
associated strategies for other teachers. Nevertheless the initial
findings might still be useful for both teacher trainers and curriculum
designers in order to maximize the potential of teacher training for
ELT in teacher training institutions.INTRODUCTION The work of the
teacher is context specific and constantly revolving (Shulman1992).
Growing research on explaining teachers’ subject matter, knowledge
in teaching and beliefs about learning and pedagogy helps reflect the
reality of teaching.Several studies reveal that teachers’ beliefs about
control, management and motivation consistently relate important
teacher behaviours such as lesson presentation and classroom
management behaviours (Saklofske, MichaylukJURNAL IPBA JILID
3: BIL. 118and Randhawa 1998). Teachers’ belief systems are
founded on the goals,values and beliefs they hold in relation to the
content and process of teaching and their understanding of the
systems in which they work and their roles in it(Richards 1998: 51).
Their beliefs relate to the application of the four macro skills of
language teaching: reading, writing, listening and speaking. How
a teacher deals with the reading needs of her students is of particular
interest in this study.How a teacher identifies the reading problems
of her students and the strategies used provide a clear understanding
of what she needs to know about the reading process and the
teaching of reading skills if she is to cope with students’ reading
problems. How does the teacher cope with the reading class?Does
her understanding and beliefs about the range of alternatives for
teaching a particular skill to particular students influence his/her
behaviors and decisions? The teacher plays an instrumental role in
determining the teaching and learning outcomes. ESL teachers, in
particular, should serve as effective language role models to their
students. To ensure a successful reading class,the teacher must
play an effective role and be able to identify and solvestudents’
reading problems.PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study aims to
explore a primary English language teacher’s perspective of the
reading problems faced by young ESL learners and the strategies
she used to overcome these problems. What is the teacher’s role in
teaching reading and solving her students’ problems? Is there a
tendency to use certain strategies to solve the reading problems
identified? The findings can help provide insights into the types of
strategies the teacher used to solve what she perceives are
her students’ reading problems.RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study
seeks to answer the following research questions:1. What reading
problems does an in-service English language teacher perceive her
students face in the classroom?JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 1192.
How does an in-service English Language teacher help her
student scope with reading problems?REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE Definition of Reading Reading cannot be regarded
simply as a set of mechanical skills to be learned once and for all but
rather as a complex process of making meaning from text for a
variety of purposes and in a wider range of contexts.What research
tells us about the reading process is that sounding out words
is necessary but not sufficient to the task. The reading process is
really meaning driven. It is important to understand that unlocking
the code and reading words is only a part of the complex process of
reading (Adams 1990). In other words,there is a distinction between
reading aloud and reading for meaning.Does learning to read mean
learning to pronounce words?According to Weaver (1994), the first
definition of reading is being able to pronounce the words. Phonemic
awareness is the ability to segment, delete,and combine speech
sounds into abstract units. While students will be able to hear
phonemes, they may not be able to conceptualize them as units.
Phonemic awareness must be based upon a growing understanding
of the alphabetic principle of English; there is sufficient evidence
that many children basically understand this before they have
mastered the set of letter to sound correspondences (Adams 1990).
This definition supports the bottom-up theory of reading where the
reader decodes the text by referring to the smallest unit(letters to
words to phrases and to sentences).Studies examining how children
with training in phonemic awareness and phonics knowledge fare in
comparison to children receiving “whole language”instruction have
been conducted. Preliminary findings indicate a positive impact on
decoding of training in phonemic awareness. However, children
in“whole language ” classrooms fare better on comprehension
tests.JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 120The importance of the early
development of phonemic awareness is evident asa number of
studies (Carnine and Grossen 1993; Juel 1991; Pearson
1993;Stanovich, 1986) point to phonemic awareness as a predictor
of early readingsuccess. However, it is but one factor important to
the development ofeffective reading strategies.Phonemic awareness
promotes learning to read in the initial stages, but itcannot be used
as a tool or device once the reader is able to read. In otherwords, a
reading approach using the phonemic based awareness is suitable
forbeginner or elementary readers.Does learning to read mean
learning to identify words and get theirmeaning?The second
definition on reading by Weaver (1994) pertains to the ability
toidentify words and extract meanings from words. Knowledge of
phonics orbasic letter-sound relationship is necessary but not
sufficient when reading toextract meaning from a text. Fundamental
questions remain about how much,how, when, and under what
circumstances knowledge of phonics should beincluded in
instruction. Just teaching the letter and the associated sound
doesnot develop good readers. The teaching of phonics should be
contextualizedand the students’ learning ability needs to be taken
into consideration.Does learning to read mean learning to bring
meaning to a text in order toget meaning from it?The third
definition on reading as posited by Weaver (1994), supports
theinteractive model of reading. In the interactive reading model,
the readerinteracts with the text. The level of depth of text
processing depends on thereader’s background knowledge, language
proficiency level, motivation,strategy used and culturally shaped
beliefs about reading (Aebersold and Field1997).The ultimate goal
of reading will be to enable the readers to understand whatthey
have read. Good comprehenders have good vocabularies. They are
able tounderstand and describe words. They use the word in the
text to unravel itsmeaning. They ask questions, predict and extract
main ideas. They are alsoJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 121facile in
employing sentence structures within the text to enhance
theircomprehension.Therefore, one can conclude that the three
definitions of reading by Weaver(1994) encompass three elements:
the ability to recognize and pronouncewords, the ability to extract
meaning and to interact with the text. The threedefinitions of
reading by Weaver (1994) are illustrated in the
followingdiagram:Figure 1: The Three Definitions of Reading by
Weaver (1994)LEARNING TOPRONOUNCETHE WORDSLEARNING
TOIDENTIFY WORDSAND GET THEIRMEANINGLEARNING
TOBRINGMEANING TO ATEXT INORDER TO GETMEANINGFROM
ITJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 122Reading ProblemsA review of
literature on second language learning emphasizes motivation asan
important affective variable. Collins (1996) identifies other causes
forincomprehension besides poor motivation to a lack of experience
or inadequateprior knowledge and a limited or subjective view of
what is read. Studentsexperience low motivation in reading when
they are unable to use the languagein meaningful situations. Only
widespread involvement in language can solvethe problem of poor
motivation. Communicative-based activities such as oraland recorded
readings, asking questions, dictating stories and working in
smallgroups will also facilitate learning as well as increase students’
motivation forreading (Carr 1995). Commitment to read and invest
interest in reading iscrucial in order for instruction in learning
strategies to be effective.Another reading problem is the lack of
prior knowledge to help students makeconnections to text. As a
result, under confident students revert to lower levelreading
processes such as word level literal comprehension. Support
materialssuch as television and films can help enlarge experience
and supply thenecessary vocabulary to aid comprehension. Many
struggling readers lackconfidence in their own ability to learn
unfamiliar words or phrases found in atext. This can sometimes
impede the reading process when students assumethat the text is
far more difficult than it actually is. Moreover, if the readerchooses
to disregard portions of a text deemed unimportant or make
irrelevantassociations, then the actual meaning of the text can be
misconstrued. Toeradicate this reading problem, the reader needs to
be exposed to otherviewpoints of the text. Reading and discussing
about the text will helpindividual readers gain different perspectives
on issues in the text. Hence, thiswill enable the reader to realize that
his interpretation of the text is limited byhis subjective
view.According to the Centre for Teaching and Learning, University
of Alabama,bad reading habits come in the form of vocalizing,
reading everything at thesame speed, regression and reading one
word at a time. Vocalizing impedes thereading process as it slows
the reading rate. As a result, processing theinformation in a text will
not be carried out efficiently. A good reader adjuststhe reading
speed according to the level of difficulty of the text. If the text
isdeemed difficult, the reading rate becomes slower. If one reads a
text at theJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 123same speed, there is a
tendency that pertinent information in the text will beignored or
unnecessary portions in the text be given more emphasis.When
words in a text “are efficiently decoded into their spoken forms
withoutcomprehension of the passage taking place” (Stanovich
1986: 372) wordcalling occurs. This idea of word callers has gained
popularity despite a lackof evidence that applies “to an appreciable
number of poor readers” (Stanovich1986: 372). On the other hand,
Stanovich defines “gap fillers” as readers withlow accuracy and high
comprehension. These readers are able to usecontextual clues to
decode the text. They are able to extract meaning from thetext
using their knowledge, experience and intellectual abilities. They are
nottext bound and are able to read beyond the words to achieve a
more globalunderstanding of the text.Reading StrategiesAccording
to Kellerman (1977), a strategy is a well-organized approach to
aproblem. Jordens (1977) asserts that strategies can only be applied
whensomething is acknowledged as problematic. In terms of reading
Carrell (1993)uses the term "strategies" deliberately rather than the
term "skills" because thefocus is on the actions that readers actively
select and control to achievedesired goals or objectives, although
there are different claims in the literatureas to how much conscious
deliberation is involved in these actions. Paris,Wasik and Turner
(1991: 611) define "strategies" and "skills" accordingly:Skills refer to
information-processing techniques that areautomatic, whether at the
level of recognizing graphemephonemecorrespondence or
summarizing a story. Skills areapplied to a text unconsciously for
many reasons includingexpertise, repeated practice, compliance with
directions, luck,and naive use. In contrast strategies are actions
selecteddeliberately to achieve particular goals. An emerging skill
canbecome a strategy when it is used intentionally. Likewise,
astrategy can "go underground" [in the sense used by
Vygotsky,1978] and become a skill. Indeed strategies are more
efficientand developmentally advanced when they become
generatedand applied automatically as skills. Thus, strategies are
"skillsunder consideration."JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 124Therefore
one can say that reading strategies are applied in the readingprocess
to attain comprehension as well as to overcome problems during
thecomprehension process.Each reader possesses individual reading
strategies. However, a good reader isone who is able to achieve a
balance between comprehension (ends) and thereading process
(means) via a vast repertoire of strategies. She understands
thealphabetic system of English to identify printed words; have and
usebackground knowledge and strategies to obtain meaning from
print and readfluently (Snow, Burns and Griffin 1998 cited in Lee
2002: 39 - 40).A weak or poor reader may need to adjust his
comprehension to the text. If thereader decides to adjust his
reading only to the text, he is text bound (Carrell1993). Within the
text, if the reader is faced with textual comprehensionproblems, he
may be forced to adjust his reading by reducing comprehensioneven
more than before. The reduction will lead to word by word
processingand difficulties in sound-to-sound correspondence.A
range of strategies are necessary to develop students’ interest and
pleasure inreading as well as their reading skills to help them
overcome the ir readingproblems. The English teacher should be
skilled and knowledgeable enough toselect those strategies most
appropriate to the needs of her students. This isbecause ESL
learners need to efficiently recognise and at the same
timeunderstand the meaning of the words automatically (Lee 2002:
65).Building Students’ Background or Prior KnowledgeReaders rely
on their prior knowledge and world knowledge to make sense
ofwhat they read. They need to be exposed to content to give them
the contextfor understanding what they read. Working with students
before they beginreading a text helps them to get more involved.
First, students learnbackground information to activate useful
schemata (Johnson and Pearson1982). They then recognize textual
landmarks as they meet them. Confidentstudents are more likely to
take risks in guessing word meanings andanticipating text content.
They will be better strategy users while they read.According to
Tierney and Pearson (1985 cited in Devine 1987:186), theteacher ne
eds to be sure of the students’ prior knowledge of the topic and
thegenre of the text before actually implementing the reading
lesson. IntelligentJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 125selection and
preparation before reading can also make the students’ readingmore
efficient and enjoyable.Activating relevant, prior knowledge before,
during and after reading textsenhances comprehension. ESL reading
teachers can select or assist studentsselect texts that they are
interested in and familiar with and of a linguistic leveljust beyond
their students’ current level of reading competence. Hence,
readingmaterials used in the reading class should also possess
content matter that isfamiliar so that students can relate and make
associations using their acquiredas well as new knowledge.De-
emphasizing Oral ReadingOne major difference in the theory and
practice of first language (L1) andsecond language (L2) reading
concerns reading aloud and the relationship ofpronunciation and
comprehension in the teaching of reading. The ability topronounce
words correctly often seem to be a pre-determinant in
assessingstudents’ reading competency. Unless the L2 reader is
already orally proficientin the target language, the ability to sound
out words correctly is not especiallyhelpful in the comprehension
process. For example, students asked to readaloud during
introductory stages of a reading lesson concentrate on sounds tothe
detriment of meaning.Brenhardt’s (1983) study indicates that
comprehension of passages readsilently is higher than that of
passage read aloud. Several other studies alsoargue that students
taught to read using an audio- lingual, decoding-to-soundmethod
do not outperform those who learn to read without active
oralparticipation on their part.Hence, reading aloud can be
considered one of the reading skills that helpstudents read fluently
and gain confidence in the language. It cannot, however,solely be
assumed as an indicator of reading success.Using Cloze to Teach
ReadingUsing cloze to teach reading gives students practice in the
essential skill ofguessing from context, congruous with Smith’s
(1978 in Barnett 1988)JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL.
126psycholinguistic theory of reading in which the development of
the ability toguess meaning from context is seen as the key to
successful reading. Thiscontext includes not only the words on the
page, but also the reader’sknowledge of the language of the subject
matter of the text being read. Bydeleting words from a passage on a
regular basis, cloze brings out into the openstudents’ guessing
strategies, thus allowing learners, then teachers, and theirpeers a
chance to help learners increase their guessing ability. This
increasedability may lead to greater comprehension and also faster
reading speed as thetime needed to decode each word is reduced
and reading is more efficient.Teaching the skill of contextual
guessing may improve reading comprehensionand speed (Van
Parreren and Schouten-Van Parreren 1981 cited in Barnett1989).
However, this method may be effectively used by advanced
readers,but not necessarily appropriate for beginning L2 readers
(Jarvis 1979 cited inBarnett 1989).In L2 reading, readers are not
penalized for making errors. They areencouraged to use contextual
clues and employ reading strategies that willenable them to grasp
the meaning of a text without resorting to word by worddecoding.
This will help the readers to be more independent in their
readingand to gain greater confidence in seeking information from
the text. They willnot be afraid of unfamiliar or difficult words and
use effective readingstrategies (guessing skills) to unravel the
meaning of the text.Other strategies to help problem readers include
generating visual images ofwhat is read, getting them to react or
respond to the content of the text picturesas well as text features
(e.g. headings) and text structures (e.g.
narrative).METHODParticipantsThis is a qualitative based study
where responses from a participant is analysed.The participant is in
service teacher. The respondent had taught in differentprimary
schools mainly in rural areas for sixteen years. She taught for
twoJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 127years at a lower primary level.
She enjoys teaching reading especially at lowerprimary. However,
her preference is teaching listening and speaking skillsbecause she
can evaluate students in the two skills there and then. According
tothe respondent, her parents first started reading to her bedtime
stories both inBahasa Malaysia and English. They used pictures and
books to help herrecognize and/ or read the names of animals,
objects or colours when she wasfour years old. She did not attend
kindergarten but at seven years, she waslearning to recognize words
in the newspapers and using the dictionary to lookup meanings of
difficult words.At school, she had easy access to storybooks made
available by the Englishlanguage teacher. The emphasis was on
grammar rules and sentencestructures. Text length and word
difficulty increased with age and by Year 4,she was more confident
and could read aloud fluently although she still mademistakes in
answering comprehension questions.It was her father’s wish for her
to be a teacher. After completing a three-yearbasic certificate course
in English language teaching, the respondent taughtEnglish for five
years in a primary school in Kelantan. Her students weremostly the
children of farmers. Later, she taught in a FELDA school inPahang. It
was here that she initiated the first English language camp in
thestate. It was the “best school” compared to more urban schools
that she was toteach in later (in Johore and Wilayah Persekutuan
Kuala Lumpur). Herstudents, from different states, showed much
interest and cooperation.The respondent attended a one-year
Diploma in TESL at the UniversitiMalaya. She also received training
in the Malaysian Trainer DevelopmentProgramme (MTDP) for three
weeks, and attended a three-day Newspaper InEducation workshop
and a two-week Big Book Project at state level. Otherrelated
experiences include her involvement in judging story telling and
publicspeaking competitions at zonal level.InstrumentsA fact sheet
was used to obtain the respondents’ background
information,training/involvement and experiences in reading. A
semi-structured interviewJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 128consisting
of open ended questions were asked to enable the respondent
toelaborate and clarify her explanations .Data AnalysisThe
semi-structured interviews aimed to capture the respondents’ ideas
andconcerns regarding young ESL readers’ problems as well as their
reflections onthe types of strategies employed to solve the
problems. The interviews wereaudio-taped and the data obtained
transcribed to allow the researchers to offertheir insights
accordingly. The data were interpreted and categorized accordingto
types of reading problems and strategies. These were then
discussed in ananalytical manner. The categories of problems and
strategies were not based ona priori categories where a framework
with predetermined domains is used tocategorize the data. Rather
the analysis is based on the respondent’s accountand reflection as
there was no observation of actual classroom practice.FINDINGS
AND DISCUSSIONSRespondent’s Definition of ReadingThe
respondent identifies two different schools of thought on teaching
reading– “read aloud the words, pronounce the words correctly”
(Interview, circa June2002: line 347) and “meaning-making process”
(Interview, circa June 2002:line 348). To the respondent, “Reading
is looking at words. OK and thenpronouncing it” (Interview, circa
June 2002: line 98). This definition affectshow the respondent
approaches and teaches young ESL learners reading.Reading is
primarily about reading aloud as “… they pronounce their
wordscorrectly while reading something. The pronunciation is the
most importantthing, right? So I think we should stress more on
reading” (Interview, circaJune 2002: lines 28 – 30).Assessing
reading ability, to the respondent, means “reading aloud ...
Readingand pronouncing the words” (Interview, circa June 2002:
line 351). However,answering comprehension questions is perceived
as an exam-oriented goal“...in terms of exams ... we teach them to
read to understand the text ... becauseJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL.
129they have to answer questions ...” (Interview, circa June 2002:
lines 351 –352).Respondent’s Perspective of Her Students’ Reading
ProblemsVarious reading problems were identified. One is “of
course, thepronunciation. Second is the stress, intonation and then
the exclamation marks,the full stops, commas ... intonation and
everything” (Interview, circa June2002: lines 446 – 447). Other
problems include linguistic deficiency, poorreading aloud skills, lack
of prior knowledge and interest in reading.Poor Reading Aloud
Skills The respondent considers reading aloud of major importance in
the macro skill of reading. Testing students’ reading ability seems to
be via “reading aloud …Reading and pronouncing the words”
(Interview, circa June 2002: line 351). Italso includes stress and
intonation. To the respondent, not being able to readmeans not
being able to read aloud. A text is considered difficult if, forinstance,
the students could not pronounce the words. However, in terms
ofexams, promotion becomes secondary, the respondent did not
indicate teachingof phonics or pronunciation skills in her reading
lesson although instruction indecoding “could be a useful
intervention” (Lee 2002: 130).Linguistic DeficiencyStudents often do
not comprehend a text simply because of their linguisticdeficiency in
the target language. “… they have problems in understanding
...Because they’ve what you call ... their knowledge of the language
is not goodenough” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 37, 39).
According to therespondent, students need to understand a passage
“in terms of exams”(Interview, circa June 2002: line 351). Many
face vocabulary problems andcannot understand what is told. When
they come across difficult words in apassage, they “don’t
understand the meaning” (Interview, circa June 2002: line47). The
ability to answer comprehension questions is particularly critical
inYears 5 and 6 in view of the national examination – the Primary
SchoolAssessment Test or “Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah” (UPSR).
When askedquestions about a reading text, her students respond in
the mother tongue,JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 130which in this
case is the Malay language. They also resort to the Malaylanguage if
they do not know the meanings of words. Some students in Years4,
5 and 6 do not want to read because they actually “can’t read”.
They areafraid to “expose their weaknesses” (Interview, circa June
2002: line 278) asweak students are required to attend remedial
classes where different levels ofmaterials are used, such as “short
sentences” and filling in the blanks. “Theydon’t really recognize the
word” (Interview, circa June 2002: line 283). For thepurpose of
answering comprehension questions, sub-skills such as scanningand
skimming are given particular emphasis by the respondent as
students needto look for main ideas and supporting details.Lack of
Prior KnowledgeThe respondent finds that her students lack prior
knowledge especially in thepre reading stage in understanding
interesting texts with foreign content. Forexample, the lack of
background knowledge and information about the natureand uses of
buildings in Indonesia such as the Borobudur can make
reading difficult. In this case, the respondent created her own story
about the places shewent to and the things she saw there to explain
about the buildings.Lack of Interest / Motivation in ReadingStudents
who lack interest in the reading lesson are also unwilling
oruncooperative learners. These are mainly weak students who often
do notvoluntarily get involved or participate in classroom
activities.Some are weak in reading. What prevents them from
attempting to read inclass is their lack of confidence and fear of
being embarrassed by otherstudents. These are the shy ones who
are quiet and afraid of making mistakesshould they be called upon
to read aloud. “You have to take them to the library… guide them’
(Interview, circa June 2002: lines 487 – 488).Respondent’s
Teaching of Reading StrategiesThe process of learning to read
involves decoding and comprehension. Therespondent points out
that she helps to increase her students’ understanding ofJURNAL
IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 131meaning of words, phrases, sentences and
text mainly through explanation,visuals, read-alouds, questions and
summary writing.Explanation of Meaning and ContentThe
respondent usually explains difficult words or the meaning of a text
firstbefore directing the students to read the passage aloud. During
the pre-readingstage, the respondent often explains unfamiliar
content to the students or tells astory, real or otherwise, to arouse
interest and make reading easier. Forexample, in a typical reading
lesson on “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, therespondent starts off
with a recording of the sounds of bears and a briefexplanation
about bears and difficult vocabulary, followed by questionsstudents
need to answer to show their understanding of the text. To make
thereading lesson meaningful to her students, the respondent tries
to contextualisewith examples or illustrations and explanations of
difficult words: “I’ve torelate the text in the way they can
understand it” (Interview, circa June 2002:line 413).Students are
encouraged to use the dictionary to search for difficult words
thatthey encounter in their reading. They copy down any difficult
words they comeacross into a small note book and write down the
dictionary meanings.Visual SupportThe respondent particularly liked
using texts with lots of visuals such aspictures in Big Books and
video tapes. Her students find that pictures andactions of characters
aid their understanding. She thinks “the most relevantway of
teaching (certain topics in the syllabus) is through video tape.
Theseyoung ESL learners tend to enjoy looking at pictures and at
the same timelistening to stories too. Pictures can also focus
students’ attention on importantinformation as they read. As the
respondent reads, the students follow thestoryline with the help of
pictures.Based on the pictures, various questions could be asked to
help students thinkaloud what they see and describe their reactions
to the picture(s). The pupilsalso try to follow the words in the
sentences. Weaker students enjoy looking atpictures and “are more
eager ... to see the actions” (Interview, circa June 2002:JURNAL
IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 132line 392) on a video tape. The respondent
enjoys explaining about pictures anda great deal on visuals to foster
students’ interest in a text and aid theirunderstanding. “It’s of a
more friendly … they feel that you’re near to them so,in that way, I
think they’ll understand better than leaving them to do their work on
their own” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 83 – 86).Read-
alouds The importance accorded to reading aloud influences the
respondent’s classroom practice, that of getting individual students to read aloud. Theemphasis is on stress, intonation and pronunciation. Hence the respondentconsiders it imperative to ensure correct pronunciation as she believes that “thepronunciation is the most important thing, right?” (Interview, circa June 2002:line 29). However, pronouncing it right does not warrant that all studentsunderstand the meaning of words.The respondent subscribes to the idea that making mistakes is part and parcelof the process of learning especially in reading aloud. One way to promotereading is to be always patient and tolerant of errors made by other students.She is relatively tolerant of errors amo ng her students as she subscribes to theidea that errors are part of parcel of the learning process.Use of QuestionsQuestions are regularly used to assist students’ understanding of a text. Therespondent notes that “… we get the main ideas from the question itself, right?So, in the question itself it’s stated where they’re supposed to find the answer…” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 403 – 404). In this respect, focusing oncertain key words in a question is considered an important skill as “… the keyword from the question will be the answer” (Interview, circa June 2002: lines406 – 407). However, this is considered the “worst technique” (Interview, circaJune 2002: line 405) by the respondent. The use of questions is for the purposeof meaning- making and learning, though it is not regarded by the respondent asa skill of reading.JURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 133Summary writingA common task given by the respondent is summary writing. This is to gaugewhether students understand the books they select in the library. In this task,individual students get to share their summary by reading them aloud whenthey are back in the classroom. The respondent felt that getting her students tofind “words that they don’t really understand and look up for the meaning”(Interview, circa June 2002: lines 66 – 67) and to write down a shortsummary work because she will “know if they understand the story or not”(Interview, circa June 2002: line 69).CONCLUSIONThe types of problems and strategies identified by the respondent are based onher experience and understanding of reading and reading problems. Thisunderstanding in turn affects her approaches in teaching reading. In her sixteenyears of teaching, the respondent enjoyed teaching at the lower primary levelwhere she taught for two to three years. Her definition and understanding ofreading is centred mainly on reading aloud to develop fluency. She believesthat pronunciation is important and becomes secondary only “in terms ofexamination” (Interview, circa June 2002: line 356). So her usual classroompractice of teaching reading is to get individual students to read aloudparagraphs of a text and correct any mispronunciation. This may embarrassstudents who make mistakes or encourage others to read or think aboutsomething else while others are reading aloud. No doubt mouthing out wordshelps young readers correct pronunciation but the respondent does notdemonstrate how read-alouds could be made more meaningful and enjoyable.There is also no mention of how classroom instruction and activities candevelop phonological awareness. This seems to be the respondent’sinterpretation of the sub-skills of reading specified in the primary Englishlanguage syllabus (Ministry of Education 1995):3.2 Acquire word recognition and word attack skills· recognise words on sight3.4 Read aloud expressively and fluently· observe intonation, stress, rhythm, pauseJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 134· in meaningful chunksAccording to the respondent ‘Reading is looking at words. OK and thenpronouncing it’ (Interview, circa June 2002: line 98). The focus is on wordlevel decoding and literal comprehension. However, reading is more thanfocusing on words, trying to say all the words. Silent reading also needs to beencouraged for faster reading and to facilitate comprehension. Improvingstudents’ comprehension abilities is essential to academic learning in allsubject areas as well. However, the goal of improving reading comprehension,to the respondent, seems to be preparing Years 5 and 6 students for UjianPenilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR). The concerns over examinations in theprimary schools have inevitably led to “teaching to the tests” (Nutall 1995).Hence, classroom practice focused on the attainment of examination results inUPSR as it reflected effective English language teaching in the primary school.The respondent mentions skimming and scanning for main ideas and details.Higher order reading skills, for example, making inferences are not mentioned.Perhaps, the respondent finds it more difficult to teach students to useinformation from various parts of a text to infer meanings that are notexplicitly stated. Other strategies used to monitor comprehension or meaningsuch as rereading or looking back to earlier parts of the text are also notmentioned by the respondent. Neither did she give explicit instructions on howto answer except for identifying the key word in a question which she thinks isthe worst technique. Student-generated questions could be encouraged to buildcomprehension as it requires readers to tie new information to priorknowledge. The quality of questions and feedback to reader response is alsocritical to good comprehension.To teach comprehension skills, students could paraphrase and summarizeworks. Summarizing requires readers to actively clarify meaning, condenseinformation, select what is important and combine selected ideas in a newform. The respondent does not elaborate how she teaches her students tointegrate ideas and generalize from information in the texts. There is nomention of structures for organising information that would make review,retelling or summary of a text read easier.Vocabulary plays a crucial role in reading. The respondent emphasizedunderstanding the meaning of difficult words in a passage and the use of aJURNAL IPBA JILID 3: BIL. 135pocket chart as a ‘good way of letting them to know the words because …knowing the meanings of the words then they’ll understand the story or thesentences’ (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 89 - 90). She thinks her studentsneed to know the meaning of individual words first before guiding them ‘topronounce the words’ (Interview, circa June 2002: lines 93 - 94). Difficultwords are considered a pre-requisite to the comprehension of the overallmeaning of a text. Teaching vocabulary is one of the sub-skills in the primaryEnglish language syllabus (Ministry of Education 1995):3.5 Acquire a wide range of vocabulary· synonymsMany ESL readers encounter vocabulary problems. Their one constantresource is the dictionary to help improve their understand ing of the meaningsof individual words. However, using the dictionary while reading makes fluentreading difficult. The use of contextual clues, vocabulary puzzles, mnemonictechniques and the teaching of spelling rules help readers to effectively guessthe meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. However, the respondent believes herstudents should look up the dictionary for the meanings of difficult wordsperhaps because that was how she learnt difficult words under the guidance ofher father.The respondent also relies a lot on visual support to help aid comprehensionand motivate struggling or weak readers. She seems adept at using pictures tofoster students’ interest and response. For these readers with limitedknowledge of content, the respondent provides verbal explanation or createsstories which she sometimes makes up as she believes her students would notbe able to tell the difference. Instead of filling in blanks, the respondent couldgive her students story blanks to focus on important elements of a story andanticipate what might happen next. Moreover, she could use text features suchas headings and sub-headings to activate and build students’ prior knowledgeGraphic organizers such as story maps also help familiarize students with theuse of text structures, for example, a narrative or guidance in understandinghow a narrative text is structured to enable students to ask questions and makeconnections as they read
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