E F L R E A D I N G T E A C H E R S ’ P R O C E D U R E S IN F L O R I A N Ó P O L I S P U B L I C S C H O O L S : A C A S E S T U D Y P o r D A N I E L A G O M E S DE A R A U J O N O B R E G A D i s s e r t a ç ã o s u b m e t i d a à U n i v e r s i d a d e F e d e r a l de S a n t a C a t a r i n a em c u m p r i m e n t o p a r c i a l dos r e q u i s i t o s p a r a a o b t e n ç ã o do g r a u de M E S T R E E M L E T R A S F L O R I A N O P O L I S F E V E R E I R O 2002
G r a d u a ç ã o em L e t r a s / I n g l ê s e L i t e r a t u r a C o r r e s p o n d e n t e , <ia U n i v e r s i d a d e F ed er ai de S a n t a C a t a r i n a , p a r a fins d e o b t e n ç ã o do g r a u de M E S T R E E M L E T R A S Á r e a de C o n c e n t r a ç ã o ; I n g l ê s e L i t e r a t u r a C o r r e s p o n d e n t e Op ção; L í n g u a I n g l e s a e L i n g ü í s t i c a A p l i c a d a P ro fa. £)ra. L ê d a M a r i a B r a g a T o m i tc h C o o r d e n a d o r a da PGI B A N C A E X A M I N A D O R A ; P rof. Dra. L e d a M a r i a B r a g a T o m i t c h O r i e n t a d o r a e P r e s i d e n t e
V
Pi\of. Dra. M a r i a C r i s t i n a D a l a c o r t e E x a m i n a d o r a E x a m i n a d o r a F l o r i a n ó p o l i s , 28 d e f e v e r e i r o de 2002tia M a r i a do Socorro, que me ap oi ar am em todos os m o m e n to s des ta c am in h ad a de tra ba lh o aca dêm ico .
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
To my advisor, Dr. Lêd a Mari a Br ag a To m it ch , for the support, c o n f i d e n c e and fru itful su gge sti ons th r o u g h o u t the d ev el o p m en t o f the r es ear ch ;
To m y pa re nt s, José E w e r t o n and M ar ia Pia w ho en co u r a g e d me to start and con ti n u e stu d y in g and also for the pa t i e n c e , love and su p p or t th ey c o n s t a n tl y gave me t h r o u g h o u t the M a s t e r ’s Course.
To m y aunt M a ri a do Soc or ro for the frie nds hi p and he lp fu l sugg estio ns. To m y friends and c ol le ag ue s from PGI, p a r t i c u l a r l y be c a u s e o f th eir f ri en d s h ip and support.
To the tea ch er s o f the state schools o f F l o r i a n ó p o l i s , who p a r ti c ip a te d and h el p ed me with the in te rv ie w , es pe ci all y to the two tea che rs who gen tl y a ll o w ed th eir EFL r e a d i n g classes to be ob served.
To the students, who p a r ti c ip a te d and he lp ed me w it h the qu e s ti o n n a i r e s du rin g the research.
EFL R E A D I N G T E A C H E R S ’ P R O C E D U R E S
IN F L O R I A N Ó P O L I S PUBLIC S C H O O L S : A CASE STU D Y
D A N I E L A GOMES DE A R A U J O N O B R E G A
U N I V E R S I D A D E FE D E R A L DE S A N T A C A T A R IN A 2002
S up er vis in g P r o fe s so r : Dr. Lê da M a r i a B r a g a Tom it ch
The o bj ec t iv e o f this study is to ana lyz e w h at EFL tea chers do in t h e i r r ea d i ng lessons and in v e st i g a t e w ha t l e a r n i n g obj ec ti ve s t h e y t en d to em ph as iz e in th e i r i n s tr u c ti o n and the type o f r e s p o n s e they in ci te in th e ir students. Tw e n ty EF L tea ch er s and 120 stu de nt s from public s ch oo ls in F lo ri an ó p o li s , San ta Cata rina , Brazil, p a r t i c i p a t e d in the study. The data for
this s tu d y came from na in t e rv i e w wi th 20 t ea ch er s, from 12 hou rs o f c l a s s r o o m ob s e rv a t i o n and from the ap p li c a ti o n o f a q u e s t i o n n a i r e to the 120 stu d en ts tha t atte n d ed the cla sses obse rve d. Re sults c o n c e r n i n g the i n te rv ie w r e v e a l e d that the m a j o ri ty o f the t ea ch er s ten ded to em p h a s iz e v o c a b u l a r y study, p r o n u n c i a t i o n th r o u g h r ea d i ng aloud, m ore p a s si v e t h a n ac ti v e r ea di ng t ask s and qu es tio n s that deal w it h co m p r e h e n s io n at the lit era l level. With r e g a rd to c l a s sr o o m o bs er v at i o n , fin di ng s sh ow ed tha t T e a c h e r A te n d e d to ba se h i s / h e r re ad in g lessons in light o f a mo re tr a d it i o n a l p e d a g o g y to re ad in g i n s tr u c ti o n , one that seems to be mo re in line with the di re ct appr oac h, w it h the b o tt o m - u p model fo r e a d i n g and with a mo re t e s t i n g - f o c u s e d m e t h o d o l o g y . As for t ea ch er B, re sul ts d e m o n st r a t e d that the t e a c h e r se emed to be m o r e aware o f tra in i n g stu den ts to pr ac ti ce r e a d i n g str at eg ie s by a p p l y i n g tha t e n co ur ag ed c o o p e r a t iv e learning. Re s ul ts abou t s t u d e n t s ’ q u e s t i o n n a i r e s ind ic at ed that the stu den ts from both sc ho ol s w h e r e c la s sr o o m o b s e r v a t i o n took pl ace se em ed to b e l i e v e that the m ai n lea r n i n g ob j e c t i v e s in the t e a c h i n g o f EFL re ad in g are v o c a b u la r y study and p r o n u n c i a t i o n o f words. A c c o r d i n g to them, it is th r o u g h t r a n s l a t io n that the y can c o m p r e h e n d what t h ey r e a d in English. This study, t h er efo re , was an at tem p t to de s cr ib e the p r o f i l e o f EFL te ach er s i n the te a c h i n g o f re ad in g and to d e t e r m in e the type o f r e s p o n s e th ey te nd ed to m o t i v a t e in th eir students at S ec o n d a r y E d u c a t io n in two e d u c a t i o n a l in st i t ut i o n s in the south o f Brazil.
N u m b e r o f pages: 129 N u m b e r o f words; 27.734
R E S U M O E F L R E A D I N G T E A C H E R S ’ P R O C E D U R E S IN F L O R I A N Ó P O L I S P U B L I C S C H O O L S : A C A S E S T U D Y D A N I E L A G O M E S D E A R A U J O N O B R E G A U N I V E R S I D A D E F E D E R A L DE S A N T A C A T A R I N A 2002 P r o f e s s o r a Orientadora: Dr. L ê d a M a r i a Br ag a Tom it ch
A fin a li d a d e deste tra balho é a n a l i s a r o que os p r of es so r es de Ing lês fazem em suas salas de aulas de l e i t u r a e in v es t i g ar quais os o b j e t i v o s de ap r e n d i z a g e m que eles enfa ti zam no ensino de leitura, e qual o tipo de re sp o s ta que eles esti m ul am nos alunos. Vi nt e pr o fe s so re s e 120 al un o s de escolas p ú b l i c a s de Fl or ia nó p ol is , S an ta Catarina, Brasil, p a r t i c i p a r a m da p es q ui sa . Os dados deste estudo v i e r a m de entre vista s com estes v int e p r o fe s so r e s, de doze horas de o b s e r v a ç õ e s de aulas com dois dos vinte en tr ev is ta do s , e a aplicação de um q u e s ti o n á r i o a estuda nte s que a s s i s ti r a m às aulas obs er v ad as . Os re sul ta dos da e n t r e v i s t a re v el ar am que a m a i o r i a dos p r o fe s so r e s p r o c u r a enf ati zar o estudo do voc ab u lá ri o, p r o n ú n c i a a tr av és de
que lidam com c o m p r e e n s ã o no nível literal. No que diz resp eito à o b s e r v a ç ã o de sala de aula, os r es ul ta do s m o s t r a r a m que o(a) p r o fe s so r (a ) A p r o c u r a b as ea r suas aulas se gu in d o uma p e d a g o g i a mai s tra d ic io n a l do ens ino de leitura; ensino este que se as se m el h a com a a b or d ag em direta, o m od el o asc en de nt e de l e i t u r a e com a m e t o d o l o g i a f o c a l i z a d a na t est age m. Sobre o(a) pr of es so r (a ) B, os re su l t a d o s d e m o n s t r a r a m que este(a) p r o f e s s o r ( a ) p a r e c e ser mais c o n s c i e n te em tr e in a r os es tu d a n te s p a r á p r a t ic a r as e s t r a t é g i a s de leit ura ap li can do a t iv id ad es que e n c o r a j a m a ap r e n d iz a g e m co o p e r a t i v a . Os re su lt ad o s r e f e r e n t e s aos qu es ti o n ár i o s dos es tud an te s i n d i c a r a m que eles p ar ec em ac r ed it ar que os p ri n c ip a is o b j e t i v o s de a p r en d iz ag em no ens ino de leit ura em Ing lês com o Lí ng ua E s t r a n g e i r a são o estudo do v o c a b u l á r i o e a p r o n ú n c i a das p a la v r a s. De acordo com eles, é p o r meio da tr a d u çã o que eles p od em en t en d er o que eles lêem em Inglês. Este estudo, p o r ta n to , foi um a te n ta ti v a de d e s c r e v e r o per fil dos p r o f e s s o r e s de Inglês no ensino de l e it u r a e tam bém d e t e r m i n a r o tipo de r es po s ta s que estes p r o fe s so r e s c o s tu m a m m o t i v a r nos seus es tud a nte s do ensino s ec u nd ár io de duas i n s ti tu i ç õ e s ed uc aci o na is do sul do Brasil.
Nú m er o de pá gi na s : 129 Nú m er o de pa l a v r a s: 27.734
C H A P T E R O N E - I N T R O D U C T I O N . ... ...01
1.1 C o n t e x t o f In v e st i g a t i o n ... 01
1.2 The s tudy ... ... 04
1.3 S i g ni fic an ce o f the s t u d y ... 05
1.4 O r g a n i z a t i o n o f the diss er tati on ... ... 06
C H A P T E R TW O - RE VI EW OF L I T E R A T U R E ... 07
2.1 M od els o f R ea d in g and their effects on Re a din g I n s t r u c t io n ... 07
2.1.1 The b o t t o m - u p m od el and EFL R e a d in g I n s t r u c t i o n ... 08
2.1.2 The t o p - d o w n m od el and EFL R e a d i n g In st ru ct io n ...10
2.1.3 The I n t e ra c t iv e m od el and EFL r e a d i n g i n st r uc ti on ... ...11
2.1.4 S c h e m a T h e o r y ...15
2.2 Type s o f Ins tr u ctio n : T e a c h e r - c e n t r e d v er sus L e ar n er - fo cu s ed ... 18
2.2.1 T e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d proc edu re: d ire ct and e x p l i c i t -e x p l a n a ti o n m o d e l s o f ; i n s t r u c t i o n ...19
2.2.2 L e a r n e r - f o c u s e d proc edu re: the c o g n i t i v e app re n ti ce sh ip and who le l a ng u ag e m o d e ls o f in st r u ct io n ...21 2.3 T e ac hi ng - fo cu se d ver sus t e s t i n g - f o c u s e d m e t h o d o l o g y ...23 2.4 A ct iv e v er su s P a s s i v e R e a d ing t ask s ... ...25 2.4.1 P a s s iv e r e a d i n g tasks ... ...26 2.4.2 A cti ve r ea di ng tasks ... ...27 2.5 Types o f qu est io ns ... ...30
2.5.2 In fe r en t i al qu es tio n s ... 33 C H A P T E R T H R E E - ME T H O D ... ... 36 3.1 P a r tic ip an ts ... 36 3.1.1 Te ache rs ... 36 3.1.2 Students ... 37 3.2.D at a Co l l ec t i o n and P ro ce d ur e ... 38 3.2.1 T e a c h e r s ’ In te rv i e w ...38 3.2.2 C l a s s r o o m O b s e rv a t i o n ...39 3.2.3 S t u d e n t s ’ q u e s t i o n n a i r e ... 40 C H A P T E R F O U R - R E SU LT S AND D I S C U S S I O N ...43
4.1 Are the EFL t e a c h e r s ’ pr oc ed ur es from F l o r i a n ó p o l i s pu bli c sch oo ls t e a c h e r - c e n te r e d or l e a r n e r - f o c u s e d ? ... 45
4.2 Are r ea d in g ta sks used by tea che rs p a s si v e or a c t i v e ? ... ... 60
4.3 Does the i n s t r u c t i o n h ave a test in g or t e a c h in g f o c u s ? ... 76
4.4 Wha t types o f q ue s tio n s do te ach er s po se and what are their i m p o r t a n c e in EFL r ea d i n g c l a s s e s ? ... ... 84
4.5 What type o f re sp on s e do students give to t e a c h e r s ’ i n s t r u c t i o n ? ... 95
C H A P T E R FIVE - FI NAL RE M A RK S ...109
5.1 Fin al R e m a r k s ...109
R E F E R E N C E S ... 116 LIST OF T A B L E S ... ... ...xii| LIST OF A P P E N C I C E S ...xiii^
A p p e n d i x 1- T e a c h e r s ’ q u e s t i o n n a i r e ... 120 A p p e n d i x 2- S t u d e n t s ’ q u e s t i o n n a i r e ...122 A p p e n d i x 3- A Sample o f Tr an s cr ip ti on o f 2 t e a c h e r s ’ I n t e r v i e w s ... 123
LIST OF T A BL E S
Table 1- F r e q u e n c y and amo unt o f ti m e d e v o t e d to E n g l i s h ...44
Table 2- F r e q u e n c y o f Engli sh c l a s s e s ... ...44
Table 3- A m o u n t o f time d e v ot ed to the te a c h in g o f EFL r e a d i n g . . . ... 44
Table 4- M at e ri a l s used to tea ch r e a d in g in E n g l i s h ... 44
Table 5- Types o f pas sive r ead ing t a s k s ... 60
Table 6- Types o f active r eadi ng t a s k s ... 61
Table 7- C la ssr oo m d y n a m i c s ... ...65
Table 8- P as si ve r ea d i n g t a s k s ... 67
Table 9- A ct iv e re ad in g tasks used b y T A ...67
Table 10- A ct iv e re ad in g tasks used by T B ...71
Table 11- E v a lu a ti o n o f EFL r ea di ng c o m p r e h e n s i o n ...76
Table 12- Focu s o f T e a c h i n g ... 77
Table 13- Types o f q u e s t i o n s ... ... 84
Table 14- P ur po se s for ra is in g q u e s t i o n s ... 85
Table 15- Types o f questions used by T A ... 88
Table 16- Types o f questions used by T B ...91
Table 16- Do you like the EFL re ad in g c l a s s ? ...96
Table 17- What type o f reading task do you enjoy m o s t ? ...97
Table 18- S t u d e n t s ’ pa r tic ip a tio n in g e n e r a l ... 99
Table 19- S t u d e n t s ’ pa r tic ip a tio n in terms o f f r e q u e n c y ... 99
Table 20- S t u d e n t s ’ pa r tic ip a tio n in terms o f a c t i o n s ... 100
Table 21- What do you cons ider im po rta nt in your r eadi ng c l a s s e s ? ...101
Table 22- W hich do you pr efer in your re ad in g class, re ad in g in di vi du al ly or with your c o l l e a g u e s ? ...102
Table 23- Do you like the way in w hi ch the re ad in g class is t a u g h t ? ... ..103
Table 24- Do you like the topics re ad in the r ea di n g c l a s s ? w h y ? ...104
Table 25- Do you thin k that what you learn in the cl as sro om can be use ful ou tsi de the c l a s s r o o m ? ... ...106
Table 26- Did you have any choice o f stu dyi ng di ff er en t fo rei gn lan g ua g es at sc hool? W h y ? ... 107
INTRODUCTION
The id ea for ca rry in g out the p r e s e n t study em er ged from the r e s e a r c h e r ’s aw ar en es s o f the pr ob le m s te ac h er s o f Eng li s h u s ua lly face in the i n st r u ct io n o f r e a d in g at se co n da ry e d u c a t i o n in B r a z i l i a n public schools. Up to the cu rre nt m o m e n t , m a n y studies hav e b e e n co n ce rn ed with el em en t ar y , se co nd ar y and u n i v e r s i t y students, p a r t ic u l a r l y r eg ar di ng co g ni ti v e and m e ta c o g n it iv e r e s e a r c h in EFL read ing . T h r o u g h o u t my ex p er i en ce as a teacher, I coul d o b s e rv e that the t e ac h in g o f r ea di n g in Englis h seems to be gr am m a r and v o ca b u l a r y - b a s e d , and that the focus o f text c o m p r e h e n s i o n is u s u all y left apart in the cla ssroom. Thus, I have decide d to study EFL t e a c h e r s ’ p e d a g o g i c a l p ra ct ic es in the i n s t r u c t i o n o f EFL reading at s e c o n d a ry publ ic scho ols o f F lo ri a n ó p o l i s , Santa Cata rina , in or der to det er m in e the type o f re sp o ns e th ey in st i g a t e in their students.
1.1 Co n tex t o f I n v es ti ga t i o n
Studies in the are a o f EFL t ea ch i n g have b ee n m ain ly c o n c e r n e d in i nv e st i g a t i n g caus es that might in flu en c e failur e o f the fo reign lan gu ag e lea rn ing and te a c h i n g at Br az i l i an p ub li c schools (A lm e id a Filh o, 1991; Celani, 1991). B o t h A lm e i d a Filho and Cela ni found that aspects such as low wages , lack o f m a t e r ia l for all students, too large groups to teach, few cl as ses per week, m a t e r ia ls u n r el at ed to s t u d e n t s ’ re ality, lack o f de fi n iti on o f goals, lack o f i n s t r u c t io n a l m e th od s and o f q u al it y in te a c h e r tra ining p r o g r a m s seem
the analysis o f t e a c h e r s ’ and s t u d e n t s ’ c o n ce p ti o n o f r e a d in g (Manara, 1999) and s t u d e n t s ’ modes o f re ad in g in re ad in g classes ( C o r ac in i, 1995). H ow ev er , few ques tio ns have bee n r ai sed in ter ms o f t e a c h e r s ’ i n s t r u c t i o n a l p r o c e d u re s in EF L reading classes.
In a study carri ed out by Grigo lett o (1995) wi th se co n d ar y public stu de n ts in São Paulo, Br azil, she fo und out that stu de n ts are still tre a t e d as p a s s iv e subjects in FL r e a d in g lessons. Re s ea rc h in the tea ch in g o f EFL r e a d i n g has ob served that t e x t b o o k s have bee n used as the p rin c ip a l source o f k n o w l e d g e for either v o c a b u l a r y gaini ng or any o th er lin gui sti c aspect that t e a c h e r s (or the tex t b o o k itself) co n sid er r el ev an t to the students lear ni ng ( C o r ac in i, 1995b). M o re ov er , it is not u n co m m o n to find teac her s who po se lit era l ques tio ns that do not help learners in ter p re t wh at the w r ite r wa nt s to c o n v e y (Oliveira, 2000). Ot her studies have r ev ea le d that tea ch er s us u all y d es ig n activities that do not de m an d critical th in k in g in students, th er ef or e the ac tivitie s are often aim ed at ill ust ra ti ng g r am m a ti ca l, syn tacti c and v o c a b u l a r y items in the tex t p r o b a b l y re su lt in g in less strategic re aders (B e r n h a rd t , 1991; Coracini, 1995a and M an ar a (1999)). F u r th er m o r e, Co racini ( 1 9 95 a) found that t ra n s l a t i o n activities, often r e g a rd e d as co m p r eh en si o n ac ti v it ie s, are us ually r e c u rs iv e devic es to explain u n f a m i l i a r words and that i d e o lo g y , culture, values and ot h er sources o f i n f o r m a t i o n are not ta ke n into acc ou nt .
In order to o ve r co m e the pr o bl e m s m e n t io n e d above, the idea o f i m p l e m e n t i n g more re ad in g p r a c t i c e at S ec on dar y E d u c a t io n has b ee n r ais ed
r ec ei ve d a great deal o f att ent ion at B r az il ia n p ub li c schools as EFL is a r e q u i re m e n t for all u ni v er si t y courses. Since the p u b l ic a ti o n o f the M in i s t r y o f E d u c a t i o n ’s guid elin es for fo rei gn l a ng u ag e t ea chi ng , there is a gr ow ing con s ci o u sn es s among EFL tea che rs in ap pl yi ng the c o m m u n i c a t i v e - o r i e n t e d m e t h o d o l o g y as the most effec tive for t ea ch i ng read ing . H ow ev er , v er y few tea ch er s have put these th eo r et ic al p e r s p e c t i v e s into p r ac ti ce and th ei r co nc ep ts about a good foreign l a n gu ag e class do not ex ac tl y re p re s en t th eir own t e ac hi ng p ra cti ces (A m ad eu -S ab i n o , 1994; Pinto & Matos, 2000).
The r e a l i ty de sc rib ed above at Br az i li an public schools has called r e s e a r c h e r s ’ atte nti on to the need o f i m p le m e n t i n g a new ap pr oa ch to r e a d i n g i n s tr u c ti o n in English, n am ed the in te ra c t iv e approach. U n d e r the in te ra ct iv e view, wh at tea che rs do in the cl as sr oo m is as im po rt an t as s t u d e n t s ’ b e h a v i o r (S mith, 1981; Pearson, 1992). R u m e lh a r t (1984), M eu re r (1991) and A e b e r s h o ld and Field (1997) state that the re ad in g p ro ces s is a re su l t o f an i n t e ra c t io n b e t w e e n the new i n f o r m a t i o n e n co u n t er ed in the text and p r ev io u s k n o w l e d g e re aders br ing to the text to co n str u ct mean in g. Thereby, thes e aut hors sugg est that a good EFL r ea d i ng te a c h e r should bea r all the se factors in m in d w he n p r ep ar in g a re ad in g less on plan.
The int er a ct ive type o f r ea d i ng in st r u c t i o n r eg ard s rea di ng as a dy nam ic p r a c t i c e and advocates that m ea n i n g der iv es from the in te ra ct io n b e t w e e n the r e a d e r ’s pe r ce p t i o n s about wh at s/he reads and the w r i t e r ’s beliefs. From this p e r s p e c t i v e , s tud en ts /re a de rs are c o n s id e re d active b u il d er s o f m ean in g. For this to hap pen , the more tea ch er s u n d e r s t a n d that re ad in g involves this wr
iter-1997). Furthe rmo re, l e a r n e r s ’ kn o w le d g e about r e a l i t y cannot be ig n o re d d ur in g instruction. S t u d e n t s ’ ba ck gr ou n d k n o w le d g e (or schemata), con text, wh a t students already k n ow about language, th ei r ex p e c t a t i o n s about r ead in g, th e i r interests and needs will serve as dec isive e l em en t s for the or g an i za ti o n o f an effective read ing class in Engl is h (Car rel & Dev in e, 1988; M eur er , 1991; Lynch, 1996). Th e re fo re , t e a c h e r s ’ i n s t r u c t i o n a l di re cti ons should lead students to the study o f lan gu ag e awar eness, cult ure , and praxis o f r ea d in g s tra teg ies for reading c o m p r e h e n s i o n and cr iti ca l t h i n k i n g (Meurer, 1991; A e b e r s h o l d & Field, 1997; Tomitch, 2000).
My interest in stu dy in g the role o f the te ac he r in the EFL l e a r n in g /t e a c h i n g p ro ces s at F lo ri an ó p o l i s p ub li c sc h oo ls is twofold. First, I att em pt to analyze the p r o c e d u re s used by EFL te ac h er s in th eir r ea d in g class. Second, I intend to de t e r m in e the type o f r es p o n s e te ac h er s mo ti vat e in their stud ent s re ga rd in g the te a c h i n g o f reading.
1.2 The study
This resear ch ana ly zes the r e a li ty o f the te a c h i n g o f rea di ng in EFL at some F lo ria n ó po li s p ub li c scho ols ba s ed on some t e a c h e r s ’ m et ho d o lo g ic al p r a c ti c e s and s t u d e n t s ’ re sp o n s es o f their r ea di n g classes. As for teac her s, this study probes: 1) the type o f read in g m odel th ey adopt, 2) w h e t h e r they fo llow a te ac he r -c e n te re d or le ar n e r- f o c u se d p r o ce d u re , 3) the type o f r ea d in g ap p r o ac h they use in class, 4) types and pu rp o ses o f que stions th ey pose to
i n s t r u c t i o n o f EFL read in g th ey receive.
Th er ef ore , this work is d es ig n e d to address the fo llo w in g questions: 1. Are t e a c h e r s ’ p r o ce d u re s t e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d or lea r ne r- f oc u se d? 2. Are re ad in g tasks active or passi ve?
3. Does in st r u ct io n have a t e ac h in g or te sti ng focus?
4. Wha t types o f qu es tio ns do tea ch er s pos e and what are th eir i m p or ta n ce in reading clas ses?
5. Wha t type o f r esp ons e do stu dents give to t e a c h e r s ’ instru cti on?
1.3 S ig ni fic an ce o f the study
The p r es en t resea rc h extends M a n a r a ’s stu dy (1999) in distri ct scho ols o f F l o ri a n ó p o l i s , Santa Catarina, Brazil, r eg a r d in g the i n st r u ct io n o f r ea d i n g in EF L at se co n d ar y education. She found out that stu dents from dist ri ct scho ols o f F l o ri an ó po li s are p o o r re ade rs b e c a u s e th ey tend to “c o n s tr u ct m e a n i n g w or d by w o r d ” ( p . 67) and they do not use read ing s tra teg ies e f f e c t i v e l y p r o b a b ly b eca us e o f the tea ch in g em ph as is on the study o f g ra m ma r, v o c a b u l a r y and p r o n un ci at ion .
So far, studies in the area o f re ad in g in En g l i s h have b ro u g h t up t h e o r e ti c a l d i scu ss ions for a b et t er t ea ch i n g (C ar rel l & Eist erh ol d, 1988; E s k e y & Grabe, 1988; Paris, Wasic & Turner, 1991; Coracini, 1995b; A e b e r s h o l d & Field, 1997; Stahl, 1997; Pr essley, 1997). Theory does serve to
the FL cl as sr oom co nt ext where the r e a d i n g skill should be par t o f instru cti on.
This study d iffers from pre vi ous studies since its o bjective is to help trace the pro fil e o f EFL read in g tea chers in B r a z i l i a n public schools. The p r e s e n t re se ar ch aims at in ve st ig at in g the m e t h o d o l o g i c a l pr act ice s us ed by E F L tea che rs in r ea di n g instruction. It may, t he re fo re , serve as a future r e fe r e n c e for te a c h e r d ev el o pm en t courses for the i n s t r u c t i o n o f r ea d i n g in En g l i s h at S ec o nd ar y Education.
1.4 O r ga ni za ti on o f the Thesis
This thesis is divi ded into five ch apters. C h a p t e r one i n tro duc es the r e a d e r with in fo r m a t i o n about the co nt ext o f in v e st i g a t i o n , the study, the r e s e a r c h ques tio ns and the sig nif ica nce o f the study. Chap ter two re v ie w s some o f the litera tur e about EFL re ad in g in st ru ct io n. Ch ap te r three de sc rib es the m e t h o d o l o g y us ed in this study. Ch ap te r four r ep o rt s and dis cu s s es the d at a collected. Finally, C h ap te r five pr ese nt s final r em ar k s , lim it atio ns o f the stu dy and s ugg est io ns for fu rth er re search, and p e d a g o g i c a l i m p li ca ti on s for the te ac h in g o f r ea d i ng in EFL.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This ch apt er re views some o f the l it era tur e re l a t e d to the m od els o f r ea d i ng and their effects on the in st r u c ti o n o f EFL r ead ing , to the typ es o f in str uct io n: t e a c h e r -c e n te re d or le ar n er - f o cu se d ; to the m e t h o d o l o g y used: t e a c h i n g - f o c u s e d versus tes t i n g - fo c u se d ; to the typ es o f re ad in g tasks, and to the types o f ques tio ns used in r ea d i n g classes. The l it era tu re r e v i e w e d here wil l be the basis for the r e se a r c h e r to del in ea te the type o f r ea d i ng m od el and i n s t r u c t i o n teac her s o f Engl is h adopt in th ei r r ea d i ng classes, the t e ac hi n g p r o c e d u r e used and its purp ose , the ki nd o f r ea di n g ta sks they ap p l y to the texts us ed in class, and finally, the typ es o f q ue s tio n s te ac h er s p o s e and how th ey apply them in the classroom.
2.1 M o d e l s o f R e a d in g a n d th ei r effects on r e a d in g instr uction
P a r t i c u l a r l y in te re ste d in stu dy in g how ch il dr e n p r o ce ss read in g in their m in ds and how tea che rs sh ould fa ci li t at e lea rn ing to read for childre n. Smith (1981) b e li e v e s that it is the t e a c h e r s ’ role to help stu dents make se nse o f the w r i tt e n l a n gu ag e by pr ov id i n g co n s ta nt re ad in g pr ac ti ce to students. In his own w or ds , “to learn to read ch i l d re n ne ed to r e a d ” ( p . 5). He goes on saying that m a t e r ia ls and met ho ds are not the only solut io ns for re ad in g i n s t r u c t i o n pr ob le ms . Smith (1981) po ints out that the more tea ch er s un d er st an d the n at u re and m o de ls o f rea din g as well as the exi sting met hod s for t ea ch i n g
re a d i n g , the more they can decide when, how and w h y to use pa r t ic u la r m e t h o d s and t ech ni qu es to fa ci litate the proc ess o f l e a r n i n g to read.
A ‘m o d e l ’ refers to a th eo ry or a set o f syste ms that expla ins what goes on in the mind when a re ad er co m pr eh en d s or does not co m p r eh en d texts (D avi es, 1995). The thr e e most co m m on m od els o f r e a d i n g that attempt to d es cr ib e how read in g occurs in the r e a d e r s ’ mi nd are the b o t t o m -u p , the top- d ow n and the i nt er a ct iv e models. Eac h o f them p r e s e n t s diffe re nt ins ights about the wa y co m p r e h e n si o n is achieved, and has d if f e r e n t im p li ca ti on s for ho w re ad in g co m p r eh en si o n in st r u c t i o n sh ould be dealt with. In the next sub se ct io n s, I describe each o f the th ree m od els o f r e a d i n g and how they affec t read in g instruction.
2.1.1 The bott om- up m od el an d EFL r ea d in g in str uc ti on
Cr eat ed by Goug h in 1972, the b o tt o m -u p m od el o f re ad in g argues that “ m e a n i n g is der ive d from the visual i n p u t ” (as cited in Samuels, 1972, p . 192). In this type o f p r o ce ss in g mode, re ad in g invo lves a series o f wor d p er ce pt io n s in w h i c h the re ade r co n str u ct s m ea n in g from the sm al le st te xtu al units, the lo w er level sources o f in fo r m at io n , such as p h o n em es and words up to higher- level stages, such as synta cti c and se mantic m ea n in g (C or ac in i, 1995; Davies, 1995; A e b e r sh o l d & Field, 1997; Carrell, 1988). Also called d at a- d riv en p r o c e s s in g , read in g in this m ode l is co ns id er ed a d ec o d in g p ro ces s, co ns ist in g o f r e c o n s t r u c t i n g the a u t h o r ’s me ss ag e from the r e c o g n i t io n o f letters and wo rd s to gene ral info rm ati on. A c co r di ng to this mod el, re ade rs go from
s p ec ifi c in fo rm at io n (printed w or ds ) to general i n f o r m a t i o n (global m ea n in g ), i.e., th ey re ly on the o r th og r ap hi c, lexical and sy n ta c ti c features that are e n c o u n t e r e d in a text to achieve c o m p r e h e n s io n (C ar re ll , 1988; Me urer, 1999).
With rega rd to i ns tr uct io n, this type o f m od el re fl e c t s a p h o n i c - b a s e d a p p r o a c h to reading. In the wor ds o f Davie s (1 99 5) “the se qu en ce o f i n s t r u c t i o n starts from letters to sounds, to words, to s en te nc es and f ina lly to th i n k i n g and m e a n i n g ” (p. 58). The pu rp os e o f this type o f i n s t r u c t i o n is to aid stud ent s in b e co m in g ac q u ai n t ed with l a n g u a g e - d e c o d i n g skills, such as v o c a b u l a r y items and grammar. The tea ch in g o f d e c o d i n g and v o c a b u l a r y are the an ch o rs o f this kind o f ins truction.
Carr ell (1988) di scu ss es two areas o f p e d a g o g y that can help SL r ead ers im p r o v e th eir bot to m -up skills - gr am m a r and v o c a b u l a r y - in reading. A c c o r d i n g to her, te achers s hou ld inclu de in EFL r e a d in g the t e a c h i n g o f c o h e s i v e devices (subst itu ti on , ellipses, co n j u n c t i o n and lexical co h es io n ) to spell out for students how ideas are c oh er en tl y c o n s tr u c te d in a tex t b y thes e li n g u is t i c elements. As for the de v el o p m en t o f v o c a b u l a r y and wor d r e c o g n i t io n , Carrell poin ts out that “ t e ac hi n g v o c a b u l a r y m a y me an t ea ch i n g new conc ept s, new k n o w l e d g e ” (pp. 242 -243). She says that s im pl y pr es en t i n g a list o f u n f a m il i a r wor ds and th e i r re sp ec ti ve m e a n i n g s does not gu ar ant ee s u cc es s in le arning the m e a n in g o f words and the co n ce p ts b e h i n d them. A l o n g wi th a b ac k g r o u n d k n o w l e d g e - d e v e l o p m e n t p r o g ra m , p r e - t e a c h i n g v o c a b u l a r y seems to inc re as e le ar n in g from text i f key wo rd s are to be tau ght w i t h ba sis on con textual clues.
Aga in st the b o tt o m -u p m ode l o f r ea d in g , Sm ith (1981) argues that r e a d in g “must alwa ys be activ ely ini ti at ed and d ir e ct ed b y the r e a d e r ” (p. 9). He be li ev es that the compl ex na tu re o f r e a d i n g i n vo lv es much more than r e c o g n iz i n g words from print. R e a d in g occurs w h e n r e a d e r s ’ hy po th ese s can be c on fi rm ed or r ej ec te d with i n fo r m a t i o n e n c o u n t e r e d in the text. It is th r o u g h the i n t e r a c t io n b e tw ee n the r e a d e r ’s p r e d i c t i o n and the text ual in fo r m a t i o n that, ac co r d in g to Smith, re ad in g m ak es sense.
2.1.2 The top -d ow n mod el an d EFL r e a d in g i nst ru cti on
The to p -d o w n m ode l has bee n kn ow n as an al t er n at iv e to the b o tt o m -u p one. D ev el o p ed by Go o d m an in 1967, this m od el argu es tha t the r e a d e r , , r a t h e r th an the text itself, is at the core o f the re ad in g pr o ce ss . That is, the r e a d e r s ’ an ti c i p a t i o n and p r e d ic t io n are the dr iving forces in this model o f reading. Also n am ed co n c e p t u a l l y - d ri v e n , this m odel ad vo ca te s that readers go from g en er al to more spe cific in fo rm ati o n; re ad er s b r in g syntactic, semantic, ba ck g r o u n d k n o w l e d g e and lexical sources o f k n o w l e d g e to interp re t texts (G oo dm an , 1970; M eur er , 1991).
Wit h rega rd to in str uct io n, tea ch er s that fo ll o w the to p- d ow n m ode l co n s id e r th in k in g and m ea n i n g at an ear ly stage. P r e d ic ti n g and in fe rri ng m e a n i n g b eco me part o f the t o p- d o w n p r o c e s s i n g strat egy to re ad in g co m p r e h e n s i o n in st r u c t i o n (Carrell, Devine, & Eskey, 1988; Davies, 1995). The s equ enc e o f i n s t r u c t i o n starts from r e a d e r s ’ p r e d i c t i o n and as su m pt io n s about the topic o f a given text, to attentio n to words. In case students pr e se n t some ‘re ad in g p r o b l e m s ’, for example, i n su f f ic ie n t b a c k g r o u n d k n o w le d g e, it
can be assumed that im pr o v in g b ac k g r o u n d k n o w l e d g e can im p ro v e c o m p r e h e n s io n and lear nin g from text ( E s ke y & Grabe, 1988; D ev in e & Esk ey, 1988).
Carrell (1988) p r ov id e s a d is cu s s io n in te rm s o f the tea ch in g o f top- d o w n read in g skills to SL students. She sugg ests that con tent and qu an t i t y are the m ost i m por ta nt d et er m in a n ts in the re ad in g p r o g r a m and that the t e a c h e r s ’ j o b is to make the subje ct m at te r in ter es ti ng to the students. Also, she stres ses the n ee d to im ple m ent i n te re st in g read in gs to the stud ent s so that th ey can dev elop awareness in some area o f inter es t, and hence im pr ov e co m p r e h e n s i o n and learn from texts.
2.1.4 The int er ac ti ve mod el and EFL re a d in g instr uctio n
There has bee n a c o m m on sense amo ng r ea di ng r es ea r ch er s that the i n t e ra c t iv e model is “the best de s cr i p t i o n o f the r ea di ng p r o c e s s ” ( A e b e rs h o l d & F i e l d , 1997, p. 20). C r ea te d by R u m e lh a r t in 1977, this view o f r ea d i n g arg ues that read in g is a co n ti n u ou s i nt er p la y b e tw e e n the bo tt o m -u p and top- do w n p r o ces se s (P earson, Ro ehl er , Dole, Janice & Duffy, 1992; Ca rrell et al, 1988; Sa muels & Kam il , 1984; Coracini, 1995). A c c o r d i n g to R um el h ar t, s ynt ac tic, lexical, sema nti c and o r th og r ap h ic sources o f i n fo r m at i on op er ate s im u lt a n e o u s l y during r e a d in g and the in t e ra c t io n amon g these sources can i n fl u e n c e r e a d e r s ’ c o m p r eh en si on .
Grabe (1988) clar ifies di sti nct conce pts o f the term ‘i n t e r a c t i v e ’ and its i m p l i c a t i o n s for ESL r ea di n g re search. Initially, the au tho r rem ark s that r e a d i n g can be r eg ar d ed as an i n te ra ct iv e proc ess and an i n te ra ct iv e model. It
is an int er a ct iv e p ro ces s as it refers to the i n t e r a c t io n be t w e e n the b o t t o m - u p and t o p- do w n p r o c e s s i n g modes. It is co n s id e re d a m od el beca us e it i n v o lv es the draw ing o f in fe re n ci n g and p r e d i c t io n from the par t o f the reader, a view al re ady d isc u ss ed in the to p- d o w n model, as e x p la i n e d b y Goodm an (1970). In G r a b e ’s words, “ in te ra ct ive m o de ls o f re ad in g as su m e that skills at all levels are in t e ra c t iv e ly ava il ab le to p ro ces s and in te rp r et t e x t ” (p. 59). For ex am pl e, the w r it e r - t e x t - r e a d e r in te ra c t io n takes place by the time the re ade r co nf ir m s or r eje cts h is /h er h y p o t h es e s b y ma k in g use o f the to p - d o w n p r oc es s in g mod e, and che ck in g w h e t h e r s/he un d e r st o o d the co n v ey ed m es s ag e by m ea ns o f the b o t t o m -u p p r o ce ss in g mode. That is, bo th the v o c a b u l a r y pr es en te d in the text and the gr am ma tic a l c o m po n en ts func tio n as sour ces to support r e a d e r ’s tex t com p re h en sio n.
A n o t h er use o f the term int er a ct iv e im pl ie s te x tu al intera ction . This type o f in te ra ct io n has to do with the a b il it y to r eco gni ze tex t genres, diff er en t text types, and the re la tio n b e t w e e n the li ng u ist ic elements wi th the co nt ex t o f the texts . In other words, textual i n t e ra c t io n deals with c o he r en ce and c oh es io n in a cr itical p e r sp e c t i v e o f read ing . A sp ect s such as the p la ce s w he re texts are p r o du ce d, the time when they w er e p r o du ce d , the social role s o f the w r i te r and re a d e r and the pu r p o se s to p r o d u c e the texts enter into pl ay in tex tu al in te ra c ti o n (Meurer, 2000). C o n c e rn in g the p e d a g o g i c a l im p l i ca t i o n s to EFL read ing, in the t e ac h in g o f tex tu al in ter ac tio n b o t h li n gu i st i c str uctures and v o c a b u l a r y have to be ta u g h t in com b in at io n as th ey m a y occu r in di stinct text types. By doing so, t ea ch er s can develop s t u d e n t s ’ aw ar en es s in terms o f who is writi ng , what is said and for what p u r p o se s the text is written. This way, re ad in g is or ien te d un d er a cr itical per spective.
As regards i n str uct ion , te achers that pu rs ue the int era cti ve m o d e l o f r e a d i n g take into ac cou nt the s t u d e n t s ’ b a c k g r o u n d kn o wl edg e, ex p e c t a ti o n s about EFL read ing, needs, as well as m o t i v at i o n , in ord er to pr ep ar e th e i r FL r e a d i n g lesson plan (Grabe & Eskey, 1988; Gas ki ns & Gaskins, 1997). U n d e r this pe r sp ec ti ve o f in str uct io n, teac her s sh oul d co ns id e r both the lo w er -l ev el and h ig h er -l ev el p r o ce ss es o f in for m at io n. The le arning o f v o c a b u l a r y and g r a m m a r study ( lo w er - le ve l sources o f in fo r m at i o n) , co nt ext and the s t u d e n t s ’ p r i o r k n o w le d ge (h ig h e r-l ev el sources o f in fo r m at io n ) and the issue o f criti ca l r e a d in g are fun da me nt al assets used to aid students i nt erp re t texts. Th e re fo re , as s ug ges ted by Grabe (1988), ef fec ti ve EFL r ea d i ng in str u ct io n de pen ds on the t e a c h e r s ’ abil it y to not only pr ov id e pr a c t ic e o f useful reading s tra teg ies but also orient stu dents on how to p e r fo r m h ig h and low level t h i n k i n g op er at io ns before, dur ing and after reading.
Ac co rd in g to Paris, Was ik and Tu r n er (1991), the d ev el o p m en t o f s tra teg ic reading re fle ct s the use o f c og n it iv e strate gies , cons tant pr ac ti ce , m e t a c o g n i t i v e d ev el o p m en t and the issue o f m o t i v a t io n towar d r ead ing . R e a d in g strategies inv o lv e p r e p a ri n g to read, c o ns tr uc ti n g m ea n in g w hi le re ad in g , and re v i e w i n g and re fl e c t in g after reading. As part o f the i n s t r u c t i o n a l move, p r e p a r in g to read co n cer ns setting a pur pos e for r ea di ng and ac ti vat in g r e le va nt p r io r k n o w le dg e to EFL reading. In a part o f i n s t r u c t i o n na m ed co n s tr u c ti n g m ea n in g whil e re adi ng, some examples o f the m a i n re ad in g strate gies wo rk ed in class are: id en t i fy i n g main ideas, m a k i n g i n fe re n c e s and text in sp ec tio n, i.e. looking b a c k w a r d and forward in the text to spell out diff icu lt i n f o r m a ti o n en co u nt er ed in the texts.
One o f the p e d a g o g i c a l im p li ca ti on s r a is e d by the i n te ra ct iv e m o d e l o f r ea d i ng is the t e ac hi ng o f po st - r ea d in g ac t i v i t i es that exploit the iss u e o f cr itical reading. Paris et al. (1991) re po rt some stud ies about ex plic it tr a in i n g for l o we r-l ev el stu dents with r e fe r en ce to s um m ar iz at io n and s e l f m a n a g e m e n t in st r u ct io n to develop skills in s u m m a r iz i n g text i n f o r m a ti o n as par t o f the r ef le ct in g after re ad in g ( p o s t - r e a d i n g activity). They s us ta in that “until strate gies b ec om e ro utine , stu dents m a y be una bl e to use and m o n i t o r them s i m u l t a n e o u s l y ” (p. 615). These studies c o n c l u d e that students who pl an be fo re writing, use text stru cture as a s up p or t to select and ge n e r a li z e re le v a n t i n fo r m a ti o n to wri te i n fo rm at io n in th ei r own words, and to m o n i t o r the text to evaluate th eir u n d e r st a n d i n g are m o r e - c a p a b l e s u m m a r iz e r s , t h e r e b y m o re -c a p a b l e readers.
A d v o c a t o r o f the i nt er a ct iv e m od el o f in str uct io n, P r e s s l e y - (1997) asserts that i f the de v e lo p m e n t o f c o m p r e h e n s i o n is m u l t i c o m p o n e n t ia l, co n s e q u e n tl y the te a c h i n g o f c o m p r e h e n s io n skills must be the same. A c c o r d i n g to Pr essley, c o m p r e h e n s i o n in st r u ct io n , also called s tr at eg ic in st ru ct io n , aims at a) t e ac h in g how to d ec ode ; b) m ot iv at in g stu d en ts to b ec om e fluent re aders th r o u g h ext ens ive re ad in g ; c) hel pi n g students to learn w o rd m ea ni ng s us ing con te xt u al cues; d) h e l p i n g them to lea rn ho w to
f
org an iz e ideas from the text itself; e) a ct iv at in g or b ui l d i n g r ele v an t s c h e m a ta to the i n t e rp r e ta t i o n o f texts. By fo llo w in g thes e pro ce d u re s in r e a d in g i n st r u ct i on , tea che rs en co ur ag e students to be c o m e ind ep en de nt , s e l f r e g u l a t e d and critical readers.
2.1.5 Schema Theory a n d R e a d i n g mo del s
One im por tan t co n t r ib u t i o n to r ea d i n g studie s p r o vi de d b y the i n t e r a c t i v e m odel is the co nce pt o f s ch em at a (t h e o ry o f kn o w l ed g e) and its r e la t io n to the read in g p ro ces s (E sk ey & Grabe, 1988; M eurer, 1991; A e b e r s h o l d & Field, Carrell, 1994) and to FL r ea di n g cl as sr oo m contexts.
Sc hem a th eor y (th eo ry o f kn o w l ed g e) e x pl ic at es that the use o f p r io r k n o w l e d g e facilitates c o m p r e h e n s i o n since any p r e v i o u s kn o w l e d g e serves as b as is for a new p l an ne d co n s tr u c t io n o f m e a n i n g (Wi lso n, 1981; R u m e lh a r t, 1984; Carrell, 1987; Carrel & Ei st erh o ld , 1988; M eu re r, 1991; A e b e r s h o l d & F iel d, 1997).
Rum el ha rt (1984) p r o vi de s an analysis o f a s c h e m a ti c - t h e o r e t i c a l m o d e l o f re ad in g in the light o f a study about h ow re ad er s ( r e ) c o n s tr u c t i n t e rp r e ta t i o n s in the co nte xt o f story co m p r e h e n si o n . He d isc us se s ho w sc h e m a t a - p ack et s o f kn o w le d g e that re ade rs h ave avai lab le in m e m o r y - i n fl u e n c e the proc ess o f text co m p r e h e n s i o n p o s iti v el y . In his view, s kil le d re ad er s use th eir s ch em ata to mak e infe ren ces . In the wor ds o f R u m e l h a r t , “ a re a d e r o f a text is p r e s u m a b l y c o ns ta nt l y ev al u at i n g h y p o t h e s is about the m o st p l a u s i b l e in t er p r et at i o n o f the t e x t ” (p. 3). On the ot he r hand, w he n a r e a d e r fails to ide nt ify the c o n f i g u ra t i o n o f h yp ot h es e s ( sc h em at a) , the text will not ap p e a r to be un d er st an d ab le .
Using R u m e l h a r t ’s (1984) words:
the p ro ces s o f co m p r e h e n s i o n is very m u c h like the pr o ce ss o f co ns tru ct in g a theory, te sti ng it against the data c u r re n tl y av ail abl e, and as more data bec om es , spe cif yi ng the t h e o r y furth er - i.e., r ef in in g the d efault values (p. 7).
Samuels and Kamil (1984) dis cus s h o w the r e a d e r ’s s c h e m a t a or kno w le dg e a lr ea d y stored in m em o ry fu n ct io n s in the process o f i n t e r p r e t i n g n ew i n fo r m at io n and the extent to w h ic h this n ew i n fo rm at io n b e c o m e s pa r t o f the stored k no w le dg e. They explain tha t the r e a d e r s ’ structure o f s c h e m a t a can p o s it iv e l y in fl u en c e the role o f i n fe re n c e s , allo catio n o f a t t e n ti o n and r em em be ri n g in r ea di n g compr ehe nsio n. F o r exam pl e, when the s c h e m a is m e a n i n g f u ll y a c ti v at ed by a reader, th en i n fe re n c e s take place. Al so , the authors argue that the schema oper ates w h e n e v e r a p e r s o n ’s r e a d i n g is des ign ed to lear nin g. Finally, the s ch em a is a source to reject or sele ct r el ev an t in fo r m a t i o n to report when r e c a l l i n g a pas sage.
A c co r di n g to Carrell (1994), s ch em at a can be clas sif ied as co n t e n t and formal schemata. Cont ent sc hemata are r e l a t e d to the conce pt o f p r io r knowl edg e; k n o w l e d g e readers have abou t the se mantic cont ent o f text s, w her eas formal s c h e m a t a refe r to the k n o w l e d g e re aders have c o n c e r n i n g the r he to ric al str uc tu re o f texts (ways d if f er en t genr es are or ga ni zed in texts). Content s ch em at a (ty p ic a ll y top -do wn ) af fe ct text c o m pr eh en si on sinc e t h ey allow re aders to draw infere nce s in texts h a v i n g th eir pr e- ex i s t i ng k n o w l e d g e and r es po ns e as the m ai n supports to in te rp r e t texts. Ac co rd in g to r e s e a r c h on s ch em at a and re ad i n g , the re co g n i t io n o f tex t stru cture can m i n i m i z e future p r ob le ms in the c o m p r e h e n s i o n o f fo re i g n langu age texts. As this ch ar ac te ris ti c serv es as a v ehicle for d e t e r m in i n g the layout o f the text, r eaders might be mor e p r ep ar ed to at least i d e n t i f y the pur pos e o f the text. Thus, co m p r e h e n s i o n can be achieved more effec ti vel y.
M eu re r (1991) di scu ss es the conce pt o f s ch em at a and their r e l a t io n to text c o m pr eh en si on . He not only explains the n o ti on o f schemata, the s ch em
a-r el at ed not ions o f bo tt om -u p and t o p- d o w n p a-r o c e s s i n g , the a-re l at io n b e t w e e n s ch em at a and text structure, the role o f sc h e m a t a in in fe re n ci ng , b ut also di scu ss es re lat ion sh ips b e t w e e n con text and a c ti v a t i o n o f sc h e m a ta wi th r e fe r en ce to reading in a n o n - n a t iv e la nguage. He asserts that the ro le o f i n fe re n c i n g is p a r t ic u la rl y im po rta nt in the i d e n ti f i c a ti o n o f n o n - e x p l i c i t i n f o r m a t i o n in texts be c a u s e re aders u n d e r s t a n d texts by mean s o f th ei r schemata. He goes on saying that the rh e t o ri c a l str u ct ur e (related to form al s che m ata ) is also a f u n da m en ta l part o f the r e a d e r ’s s ch em ata and this in flu en c es text co m p r eh en si o n po sitively . Some i m p l i c a t i o n s are that w h e n a r e a d e r re co g ni ze s the a u t h o r ’s text str ucture, text c o m p r e h e n s i o n wi ll d ep en d on the t o p- do w n p r o c e ss i n g mode. Wh en a r e a d e r is not able to r e c o g n i z e the a u t h o r ’s text structure, text c o m p r e h e n s io n will d ep en d on the b o tt o m - u p p r o c e s s in g mode.
R eg a rd i n g rea di ng in a n on -n at iv e lan g u ag e, M e u re r r e v ie w e d some studies sh owing that L2 re ade rs do not use co nte xt in the same w a y as LI r ea de rs use. Sup po rte d by othe r studies abou t L2 r e a d e r s ’ r e a d i n g p e r f o r m a n c e (Hudson, 1982; Carrell & Wa ll ac e, 1983 as cited in M eu re r, 1991), M eu re r claims that “ li ng ui sti c k n o w le d g e is j u s t one d e t e r m in a n t o f r e a d i n g p e r f o r m a n c e ” (p. 179) and that , as sh own by ot he r studies, p r o b le m s that app ear in L2 re ad in g p e r fo r m a n c e seem to be the resu lt o f lack o f eith er the li ngu ist ic k n o w le d g e o f the l a n g u a g e or o f ge ner al p r io r know ledge.
Grabe and Es k ey (1988) di scuss that the no ti ons o f c o n c e p t u a l k n o w l ed g e, i n fe ren ce and s ch em ata are crucial el em en ts for the o r g a n iz a t i o n o f any re ad in g lesson plan, e s pe ci al ly w hen tea ch er s deal with stu d en ts that h av e r ea di n g pr ob le m s in terms o f content. A w ay to develop c o n t e n t - b a s e d
skills (t o p - d o w n skills) is by act i v at i n g or b u il d i n g b ac k g r o u n d k n o w l e d g e w h ic h can be ac co m pl ish ed by u s in g p r e - r e a d in g activities, d e f i n e d as o r ga n iz ed m et ho ds, text m ap pi ng str at eg ie s and by tea ch in g p r e d i c t io n (C ar rel l et al, 1988). These t e c h n iq u es can help pr ev ie w text con ten t. In b u i l d i n g b a c k g r o u n d kno wle dg e, t ea ch er s s hou ld use analogies, i l l u s tr a t i o n s , p r e se n t n e c e s s a r y v o ca b ul ar y and s tru ct ur es , p r o v id e semantic co n te n t for l o w e r -l e v e l re ade rs and co m pa ri so ns to b u i l d b r idg e s b e tw e e n w h a t stud ent s al re ady k no w about the topic and wh at th ey m ay need to know in o rd er to u n d e r s t a n d and learn from a given text (C arrell & Eis ter ho ld , 1983; P e a r s o n & A n de r so n , 1984; Tablieber, 1985; T om it ch , 1988). All o f these p r o c e d u r e s m e n t i o n e d above should call s t u d e n t s ’ at te n ti o n about the p r o c e s s o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g what goes on when r e a d in g a foreign lan guage text. In the nex t section, I draw on the types o f i n s t r u c t i o n and th eir r e sp ec ti v e ap p r o a c h e s to reading.
2.2 Types o f I nst ru ctio n: T e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d versus l e a r n e r - f o c u s e d
The pr o c e d u re s used by the EFL r ea di n g tea che rs seem to r e fl e c t b o t h the obj ec ti ve s o f their read in g classe s and the m odel o f in st r u ct io n on w h i c h the r ea d i ng is based. Some i n s t r uc ti o na l m o de ls have the te ac he r as a sou rce o f kn o w le d g e and direction; others see the te ac h er as a f a c i l it a t o r for lear ning. Stahl (1997) exam ines d if f er en t i n s t r u ct io n al m odels in r e a d in g and ana ly ze s the extent to which each o f them defines t e a c h e r s ’ role in the in st r u c t i o n o f re ad in g in English.
In his first chapter, Stahl (1997) cites G ar ci a and P e a r s o n ’s (1991) div isi on o f ap p r o ac h es to read in g n a m e d as: direct i ns tr uct io n, e x pl ic it i ns tr uct io n, co g n i t i v e ap pr ent ice shi p i n s t r u c t i o n and whole la n g u a g e i nst ruction. Each o f these appr oac hes m i r r o r s ei th er a t e a c h e r - c e n te r e d or a l ea r n e r- f o c u se d p r o c e d u r e and I develop th em in the f oll ow in g section.
2.2.1 T e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d p r o c e d u r e : d i r e c t a n d exp licit a p p r o a c h e s to reading.
A c co r di n g to Stahl (1997), the t e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d p r o c e d u re can be i de n ti fie d with the dire ct and the exp licit a p p r o a c h e s to reading. Two c o m m o n pro ce d ur es are u s u a ll y d isp lay ed by t e a c h e r s who follow these ty pes o f approaches. First, tea ch er s tend to co n tr o l the purp ose s o f the lessons. Second, the m o d e l i n g and p ra cti ce o f r e a d i n g come pr im ar i l y from the t e a c h e r in the cla ssroom. Ho we ve r, there are some o t h e r featu res that may d i s t i n g u i s h these two types o f m e th o d o lo g i c a l p ro ce d ur es .
The dire ct app roach, which was b a s e d on beh avi or al roo ts, was d ev elo ped to t ea ch dec oding. Th er ef ore , r e a d in g is v ie w ed “as a p r o ce ss c om po se d o f i s o l a t e d sub pro ces ses , and ‘r e a d i n g i n s t r u c t i o n ’ as us in g a set o f p r oc ed u re s to t e a c h stu den ts each o f thes e sub p r o c e s s e s ” (Stahl, 1997, p. 8). Te achers who p u r su e the direct approach: 1) aim at the teaching o f co g n i t i v e strategies used in r ead in g, 2) teach l a ng ua ge c o m p on en ts in iso la ti on and out o f m ea n in g f u l co n te xt , and, 3) stim ulate stu d en ts to use the s tra te gie s ta u g ht au t o m at ic al l y w h il e read ing . One o f the b e li e f s hel d by teachers and stu de nt s
who foll ow the direct ap pr oa ch is that the act o f EFL r ea di n g ca n n o t be as su m ed i f re ade rs do not u n d e r s t a n d wor ds first ( G rig o le tt o, 1995).
The explicit ex pl an at io n a p p r o a c h takes into ac cou nt the p r o c e s s o f de co d i n g as strategic and focuses on the t e ac h in g o f a single s tr a t e g y one at a time. That is, tea chers who use this ap p r o ac h con ten d that stu den ts wil l use the s tra teg y tau ght when re q u i re d to do it. Stahl (1997) sugg ests that “the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for using a s tra teg y lies lar ge ly with the teacher; by the end, the s tu de nt exe cutes the str ate g y i n d e p e n d e n t l y ” (Stahl, 1997, p. 3). In the c la s sr o o m context, it is the t e a c h e r who contr ols the ac tivitie s. S/he d et er m in e s p u rp os es for the r ea di ng activ ities only at the be gin ni ng. The m a i n ob j ec t i v e o f the explicit ap p ro ac h is to “tea ch c o m p r e h e n s i o n s tra te gi es in a m a n n e r that students would tr a n s f e r [ gradually] to ‘r e a l ’ r ea d i ng t a s k s ” (Stahl, 1997, p. 3).
In a study co n ce rn in g t e a c h e r s ’ p ro c e d u re s in the L2 r e a d i n g class, B e r n h a r d t (1991) analyzed te xt b o o k s in F r en ch as a fo rei gn l a n g u a g e and c o n c l u d e d that, by fo llo wi ng t e a c h e r s ’ m an ua ls , teac her s us u a ll y adop t a t e a c h e r - c e n t e r e d pr ocedure. Te ac he rs tend to:
1) p r e -t e a c h the v o c a b u la r y w h i c h con sists o f p r o n o u n c i n g the w o rd s for the students and then h a v i n g the stu dents p r o no u nc e the w o r d s in re sp o n s e as th ey look at the En g li sh tra n sla ti o n, 2) as sig n .reading se lec tio n for ho m ew o rk , 3) de s ig n ac tivitie s in the form o f oral r ea d i ng and then ques tions and answers, 4) call s t u d e n t s ’ a tt e n t i o n to p r o n u n c i a t i o n errors, 5) focus on v o c a b u l a r y exer cis es , dire ct co nt ent qu es tio n s and syntactic exe rc ise s deri ved from or bas ed on texts ( p . 176).
In p r e s e n t i n g a co gn it iv e and m e t a c o g n it i v e s tra teg y for stu den t q ue s ti o n in g i ns tr uct io n, Ciard ello (1998) n am es the t e a c h e r - c e n te r e d p r o c e d u r e as the ‘T e ac h q ue st t ra in in g m o d e l ’. He d es cri bes the t e a c h e r as the m a i n agent who m odels and r ei n fo r ce s all n e c e s s a r y stru ctu re s o f q u e s ti o n i n g
tra ini ng in the cla ssroom. It is the t e a c h e r who ident ifi es , cl a s si f ie s and gener ate s d i v e r g e n t think ing ques tions . F ur th er m o r e, the te a c h e r m o n i t o rs s t u d e n t s ’ p r o g re s s and dete rm ine s i f r e i n fo r c e m e n t activities are m ad e necessary.
Not only the analysis o f r e a d in g m a te r ia ls (te xtbooks) but also o f L2 r ead in g less on s ha ve shown that t ea ch er s u s u a ll y tend to favor the te ac h er - cente re d p r o c e d u re . Te achers as au t h o r it i es and sources o f k n o w le d g e are the p rin c ipa l f eat ur es that govern this p r o c e d u re . P r o n u n c ia ti o n co r re ct i o n , activities in the form o f oral re ad in g and t e a c h e r -d e c id e d q u es ti o n s are the p r e d o m in a n t o b je ct iv es in most L2 r e a d i n g lessons. In the next s u b se c t i o n , I de sc rib e the ro le o f the EFL r e a d i n g te ac he r und er the co g n it i v e a p pr en ti ce sh i p and who le language ap p r o a c h e s to reading.
2.2.2 L e a r n e r - f o c u s e d p r o c e d u r e s : the cog nit ive a p p r e n ti c e s h i p and whole l a n g u a g e a p pr oa ch es to reading.
The c o g n i t i v e ap pr ent ice shi p a p p r o a c h focuses on the t e a c h i n g o f var ious r e a d i n g strategies s im u lt an eo u s ly . Here, the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for lea rn ing is g r a d u a ll y t ra nsf err ed from the te ac he r to stude nts ; social in t e ra c t io n thus servin g as a mediator. S u p p o r te d by V ig o t sk y who argu es that k n o w l e d g e is s ocia lly cons tructe d, this type o f in str u ct io n s us ta in s that “tea ch er s and stu d en ts work to ge th er to c o m p r e h e n d in c r e a s in g l y co m p le x t e x t ” (Stahl, 1997, p. 5). Instead o f a t e a c h e r - d o m i n a t e d cla ssroom, t ea ch er s aim at s c a ff o l d i n g lea rn ing using the s t u d e n t s ’ p r io r kno wledg e. Tha t is, the i ns t r u c t i o n a l mov es involve c o - o p e ra ti v e learning, r ec ip ro ca l te ac hi ng ,
co ll ab o r at iv e p r o b le m - s o lv in g , and c o n v e r s a t io n a l d i sc u s s io n groups. As for the role o f the te acher, s/he assumes a p o s it i o n o f m ed i at o r o f i n f o r m a t i o n and as si s ta nt o f cl as sro o m re ad in g activities.
Gaskins and Gaskins (1997) make it cle ar that t e a c h e r s ’ p e d a g o g i c a l p r ac t i ce s should be c o n s id e re d as a r e fl e c t i o n o f the s t u d e n t s ’ nee ds and int ere sts in the clas sro om s. At B e n c h m a rk sch ool, pl ace where Ga sk in s and Gas ki ns bas ed th eir study, bo th t e a c h e r s ’ p r o c e d u r e s and the school i d e o lo g y are c en te r ed on the w ho le lan gu ag e and co g n i t i v e a pp re nt ic es h ip ap p r o ac h es to reading. As “the o r ie n ta ti o n is to w ar d l ea rn in g, stu dents are w i l l i n g to take r i s k s ” (p. 145). All lesson plan s in B e n c h m a r k School are de s ig n e d to help students b eco m e self- re g u l at ed read ers , lea rn ers , th in ke rs and p r o b le m solvers. In order to ac hi eve these out com es, te ac h er s are sup po sed to take into ac cou nt the n o ti on o f the r ea di n g pr oce ss, s t u d e n t s ’ s ch em at a along w i t h the s t u d e n t s ’ ex p ec ta ti o n s, nee ds and int ere sts w h e n o r g an iz in g th e i r r ea di ng lesson plans.
The who le lan g u ag e ap pr oac h shares m an y ch ar ac t er is ti cs wi th the cog nit iv e a p p re n ti ce sh ip view o f i n str uct io n. R ea di ng tasks are seen as a whole, th ey stress hi g h -l e v e l t hi n ki n g o pe r at i o n s and m ake use o f social intera ct ion. Ho w ev er , wh ol e lan gu ag e in st r u c t i o n assu mes a more co m m u n ic a ti v e ap p ro ac h to read in g i n st ru ct io n . T e a c h e r s ’ pr ax i s are in re sp o ns e o f the s t u d e n t s ’ nee ds as an effort to m a k e stu dents use l a ng ua ge to co m m u n i ca te since the b e g in n in g level. The t e a c h e r ’s role is to p r o v id e an e n vi r o n m e n t in w h i c h l ear ne rs can obse rve that the lan g ua ge th ey are ta ugh t is fu nctional, to m o t iv at e them to b ec o m e i n t e re st e d in read in g and wr iti n g , and to support s t u d e n t s ’ lea rn in g to re ad and wri te (Stahl, 1997).
Ly n c h (1996) pr op o ses some dy nam ics in v o l v i n g q u e s ti o n in g i n s tr u c ti o n to the text, in group wor k, as a wa y to create a le a r n e r - f o c u s e d p ro ce d ur e. As an outset, he claims tha t there is a nee d for te ac h er s to co n s id e r three co m p r e h e n s i o n re sources to p l an the re ad in g lesson: b a c k g r o u n d k no w le d g e, con text and k n o w l e d g e o f the language. W i t h o u t thes e co m p o n en ts , teachers cannot raise s t u d e n t s ’ awar ene ss about the di ff i c u l t i e s that m a y ap p ea r when they re ad any text. The fo llowin g su b se c ti o n d isc u ss es di ffe re n t types o f m et h o d o l o g y a d op te d by teac her s and the p u r p o s e s for us ing th em in class.
2.3 T ea c h i n g - fo c u se d ver sus t e s t i n g - f o c u s e d m e t h o d o l o g y
The in s tr u ct io na l ap p ro ach es d i sc u s s e d above have d i ff e r e n t co nc ep ts o f r e a d i n g and, th erefore, de s cr ib e the EFL re ad in g class as b e i n g either t e a c h i n g - f o c u s e d or test in g -fo c us ed .
B a s e d on discus sio ns about m e ta c o g n it i v e re se ar ch re l a te d to re ad in g and its im p l i ca t i o n s for re ad in g i ns t r uc ti on . Garn er (1992) gives p r io r i t y to the c r e a t i o n o f t e a c h i n g - fo c u s e d pr og ra m s that i m p ro v e re ad in g c o m p r e h e n s io n . The author stres ses that the t e a c h e r ’s job is to ‘t e a c h ’ r at h er than ‘t e s t ’ s t u d e n t s ’ read in g co m p r e h e n si o n . He asserts that t e a c h e r s hav e to entice stu de n ts to read i n d e p e n d e n tl y and “ em ph as ize wh y a p a r t i c u l a r ro u tin e is used, ho w to use it, and how to k n o w wh en it has to be used w e l l ” (p. 250). F o l l o w i n g G a r n e r ’s (1992) o b s e rv a t i o n , Br um fit (1980) asserts that it is th ro u gh the t e a c h i n g - fo c u s e d i n s t r u c t i o n that tea chers can orie nt stu d en ts in group di sc u s s io n , for example, by str es si n g the proc ess o f u n d e r s t a n d i n g and
in t er p r et i n g texts. By doing so, te ac h er s are m ea nt to m o t i v at e st u d en t s to find out th ei r own kin d o f response.
T e s t i n g -f o c u s e d instru ction, on the o th er hand, aims at “ t e s t i n g ” the s t u d e n t s ’ p e r f o r m a n c e in reading t h r o u g h co m p r e h e n s i o n q u e s tio n s . As p o in t ed out by B r u m f it (1980), this kind o f in str uct io n, w hi ch is v e r y s im il ar to wh at the dire ct vi ew o f in str u ct io n p r o p o s e s (as p r e s e n te d in s u b s e c t io n 2.2.1), aims at d e v e l o p i n g the m a s t e r y o f l a ng u ag e skills, at the t e a c h i n g o f letters and wor ds one at a time, at f in d in g out i f the students u n d e r s t o o d the text or not, and at r a is i n g ques tions w hi ch are used to test s t u d e n t s ’ re sp o n se . Also, s t u d e n t s ’ ans wer s should be e x p e c t e d by the te a c h e r who, in turn, p r o v id e the righ t an s w er for each r e a d i n g task. S t u d e n t s ’ ans wers s h o u ld be those that te ac h er s c on s id e r to be the r ig h t ones.
Curr ent EFL r ea di ng re se ar ch claim s for the nee d to i m p l e m e n t tra in in g p r o gr am s that em p ha siz e the t e a c h i n g - f o c u s e d m eth odo log y. It can be ad voc at ed that the ob je ct iv es assume d by the t e a c h i n g - fo c u s e d m e t h o d o l o g y are v er y m u c h r el at ed to what the w h o l e l ang uag e and co g n i t i v e ap p r en t i ce sh i p ap p r o ac h es to re ad in g su stain. The y favor the t e a c h i n g o f r ea di n g s tra te gi es by m ean s o f c o - o p e ra t i v e lea rn in g among the t e a c h e r and students, the t e a c h e r is always a fa c il it a to r and m ed i at o r o f in f o r m a t io n , and the group d i sc u s s io n s not only aim at in te g r a ti n g s t u d e n t s ’ w o r ld k n o w l e d g e to the text in f o r m a t i o n but also allow them to in t e ra c t iv e ly e x ch an ge ideas. In the nex t s u bse ct io n, types o f r ea d i n g tasks applied to texts and th eir obj ect iv es in the r e a d in g classes will be de sc rib ed .
