Teaching reading skills in EFL classes Practice and procedures teachers use to help learners with l Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https //www tandfonline com/action/journal[.]
Cogent Education ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/oaed20 Teaching reading skills in EFL classes: Practice and procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills Ermias Mulatu & Taye Regassa To cite this article: Ermias Mulatu & Taye Regassa (2022) Teaching reading skills in EFL classes: Practice and procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills, Cogent Education, 9:1, 2093493, DOI: 10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 © 2022 The Author(s) This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license Published online: 30 Jun 2022 Submit your article to this journal Article views: 6914 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oaed20 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 CURRICULUM & TEACHING STUDIES | RESEARCH ARTICLE Teaching reading skills in EFL classes: Practice and procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills Received: 23 September 2021 Accepted: 21 June 2022 *Corresponding author: Ermias Mulatu English language lecture, Department of foreign languages and literature, Dire-Dawa, Dire-Dawa University, Dire-Dawa, Ethiopia E-mail: ermi2007ddu@gmail.com Reviewing editor: Weihong Wang, School of Foreign Languages, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, Hubei, CHINA Additional information is available at the end of the article Ermias Mulatu Ermias Mulatu1* and Taye Regassa2 Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the practices of teaching reading skills in grade nine of Dil-Ber Secondary School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia A descriptive case study research design was used to meet this objective Out of 347 total student population and English teachers, 30% of the students i.e 104 of them and all the teachers were selected using lottery and available sampling methods respectively The data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaire The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively The data from the observation, interview, and document ana lysis were analyzed qualitatively On the other hand, the questionnaire of students was analyzed quantitatively using frequency and percentages The findings revealed that teachers didn’t teach and follow the suggested teaching techniques and procedures i.e the three phases of teaching reading: pre-while and post-reading skill phases Letting good reader students to read as a model, immediate articula tion error correction of words, and translating reading passages into the students’ mother tongue were used as techniques to help learners with low reading skills Another essential point the researcher deduced from the results of the study was the absence of supplementary reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, ABOUT THE AUTHORS PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Ermias Mulatu is currently a doctoral candidate in English Language Teaching (ELT) at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia He has been teaching differ ent English language courses such as Communicative English Skills, Basic Writing Skills, and Advanced Speech at Dire-Dawa University He has also been working as coordinator of English Language Improvement Center His major areas of research interest are language exams, language skills, and teaching methods Taye Regassa is an Associate Professor in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Addis University, Ethiopia He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in TEFL in 2000 He has been teaching at this University since 1989 He has also been supervising students, conducting research, pro viding training and consultation His research interest is mainly in language teaching, testing and reading He has published several articles related to reading comprehension and back ground knowledge in reading Reading is a vital language skill It is the foun dation of success In other words, students’ eventual academic success or failure depends to a large degree on their ability to read and com prehend the textbooks and notes they receive in the different subjects they study Consequently, the teaching of this important language skill is advantageous for learners of all levels, particu larly for those with low reading skills Therefore, its practice should be investigated The current study has tried to examine the teaching practice of reading skills and the procedures used to help learners with low reading skills The research has identified that the actual teaching practice of reading skills doesn’t follow the expected proce dures Moreover, the research has found five core strategies the teachers used to help learners with low reading skills: immediate articulation error correction, modeling reading, translation, advising, and reading competition © 2022 The Author(s) This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 and novels Moreover, the teaching of vocabulary which is one of key practices in instructing reading skills was not given sufficient emphasis Accordingly, it is recommended that giving teachers training or seminar on teaching reading skills specifically and teaching, in general, is significant for dealing with the problem Subjects: Language & Linguistics; Language Teaching & Learning; General Language Reference Keywords: Teaching reading; reading skills; secondary school EFL classes Introduction Worldwide demand for learning English has dramatically increased (Alsagoff et al., 2012) The main reason is that English is the world’s most widely used foreign or second language (L2) Moreover, it is the language of international commerce, science, education, and technology, with people from different linguistic backgrounds using English to communicate with each other In Ethiopia, English has been taught as a subject and also used as a medium of instruction for secondary and higher education A number of courses and different teaching materials are also prepared in English In its general aspect, English is used in various fields Abebe (2012) states that English has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism, electronics, telecommunications, culture, and science and technology It is not only used as a means but also a key to accessing the latest development in science and technology Moreover, it helps learners to communicate in the classroom and in a wide variety of everyday life situations The learning of this vital and international language needs a mastery of the four language skills Thus, the mastery of these skills requires well-designed teaching procedures As reading is one of the four language skills, its teaching needs carefully selected activities, methods, and procedures Skills in reading enable learners to benefit from educational activities and to participate fully in the social and economic activities in which they take part Beatrice (2008) clarifies that reading skills are the cognitive processes that a reader uses in making sense of a text For fluent readers, most of the reading skills are employed unconsciously and automatically When confronted with a challenging text, fluent readers apply these skills consciously and strategically in order to comprehend Zakir (2019) added that reading means looking for roots of the tree of meaning Efficient readers focus on the core of a text They don’t need to read every word to grasp the main information They know how to avoid unnecessary text and collect the main point Therefore, in teaching reading, instructors need to take into account that the best way to improve reading is by letting learners to read different texts and by teaching them various reading strategies of efficient readers So it is necessary to expose learners to the intensive and extensive reading situation According to Brown (2001), half a century ago, reading specialists argued that the best way to teach reading is through bottom-up methodology: teach symbols, grapheme-phoneme correspon dences, syllables, and lexical recognition first, then comprehension would derive from the sum of the parts On the other hand, researches have shown that a combination of top-down and bottomup processing, or what has come to be called “interactive reading”, is almost always a primary ingredient in successful teaching methodology because both processes are important Anderson (2003) agrees that interactive model combines the elements of both bottom-up and top-down models Correspondingly, Nuttall (2005) explains that the teaching of reading has been in constant revision, especially in recent years Indeed, computers have led the general public to revise their own needs, skills, and reading strategies in their mother tongues and in foreign languages Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 USAID (2017) indicated that Ethiopia has made progress to increase access to primary and secondary school education Unfortunately, the positive achievement of getting more students into schools has strained the capacity of the system and students’ learning has suffered On top of that, most teachers have little experience with modern pedagogy or research-based reading instruction Reading skill instruction is highly beneficial for students of all levels When teachers explain and model multiple strategies, as well as provide guided and independent practice with feedback until students begin to use the strategy independently, the reading levels of middle and high school students improve (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004) Ganske and Douglas (2010) state that the ultimate goal of instruction is to develop independent learners Thus, the instructional practices that are designed to teach reading skills are expected to eventually carry over into independent reading The strength of reading lessons should enable learners to comprehend reading materials In other words, the quality of reading instructions should enable learners to acquire a variety of reading skills Consequently, the main goal of teaching the English language is to enable the learners to use the target language and communicate their opinions and thoughts However, according to Atkins et al (1996) many high school students are weak in their reading ability in English Language This weakness affects their studies and academic performance Atkins et al (1996) added that among the major factor affecting students reading is ineffective teaching of reading The teacher’s ability to teach reading plays a decisive role in students’ language skills and ultimately in the success of learners Therefore, for the advantage of next-generation, it is important to improve the teaching of reading in the Ethiopian high schools Furthermore, reports from secondary school teachers, experts, and the larger educational com munity suggest that too many students have a limited ability to understand reading texts Further, local research has continued to show that the reading ability of Ethiopian secondary school students is deteriorating over time (Jha, 2014) The researcher has been teaching first-year students in higher institutions From classroom observations as an instructor and assessments he has carried out as part of his professional activities such as being a coordinator of English Language Improvement Center (ELIC) and Reading Club, he found out that the majority of the students’ reading skill result is below the standard or expected level Furthermore, informal and formal departmental discussions indicated that many first-year students are weak in their reading comprehension These students were unable to answer very simple comprehension questions On top of this, there were complaints from the students themselves that teachers did not teach reading skills properly in the high schools Some local studies have been conducted in the area Alebel (2020) for example, examined the practice of teaching reading skills He concluded that most teachers not properly teach the three reading stages (the pre, while and post reading stages) Abebe (2012) on the other hand prepared experimental research on teaching reading skills through interactive classroom teaching versus plasma television teaching His finding shows that teaching reading skills through an interactive classroom have a positive effect on students’ reading comprehension Mekonnen (2005) likewise carried out research to examine the cognitive levels of the reading questions and teachers’ classroom supplements to the questions He concluded that the cognitive level of the reading questions in this textbook is more of the lower-level type Moreover, teachers are found to be aware of the case and make efforts to supplement the questions during the lesson This research is different from the above studies since it focuses on investigating the practices of the teaching reading skills with regard to the implementation of the three phases of teaching reading and the procedures used to help learners with low reading skills Accordingly, it specifically Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 tried to explore the teaching of reading skills and the procedures teachers use to help students with low reading skills Therefore, this study is believed to add its own value in the area of teaching reading skills with a prime target to fill the gap The main purpose of this research is to investigate the practices of teaching reading skills in grade nine EFL classes Thus, the researcher formulated the following two research questions based on the research problems mentioned above (1) How grade EFL teachers instruct reading skills in the actual classroom? (2) How teachers help students with low reading skills? Based on these research questions, the study focused on the following specific objectives These are:- exploring the teaching of reading skills in grade EFL classes and examining the procedures teachers implement to help learners with low reading skills In short, how is the teaching of reading skills being handled? Does the actual practice of teachers teaching reading skills follow the expected procedures? Even if it is difficult or impracticable to teach perfectly, being conscious of the common problems one could encounter while instructing reading skills can help teachers minimize these problems or at least reflect on them Review of related literature 2.1 Teaching reading The best teacher of reading is a teacher who conveys not only the value of reading, but also the joy of reading Reading is a competence that teachers have to actively teach since learners not simply “pick up” reading skills There is no clear pathway for progress in learning to read unless the teacher has a plan for teaching the learners how to read Teachers need to know what is expected of learners They need to know precisely how to help learners to achieve satisfactory reading levels, and where necessary, they should ask for extra professional support (Republic of South Africa Education Department, 2008) According to Robinson, Farone, Hittleman, and Unruh (1990) cited in Anne (2000), instructional practices in reading comprehension have shifted over the last century ● from using oral reading to help get meaning from text to using silent reading to aid comprehension; ● from using worksheets, workbooks, and reading kits to direct student comprehension to teaching reading strategies that aid students in guiding their own comprehension; ● from asking “what” questions (e.g., those that provide practice finding the main idea) to asking “how” and “why” questions (e.g., those that teach how to make inferences while reading); ● from teaching subs-kills (e.g., identifying a story sequence) to teaching comprehension strategies that include these sub-skills (e.g., summarizing); ● from providing little direct teaching to increasing the amount of direct teaching that is specific (e.g., strategy instruction), followed by supervised independent practice This shift reflects an evolving view of reading that is now considered to be a strategic process through which readers construct meaning by interacting with text That is, readers use clues in the text and their own prior knowledge to assign meaning to what they read Furthermore, interac tions among the teachers, the student, the text, the purposes for reading, and the context within which “literacy events” (activities that include reading, writing, discussions, and journal writing) occur all come into play in the construction of meaning and the acquisition of reading strategies Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 Gerry et al (2012) clarified that reading is one strand of literacy The reading process is complex and multi-dimensional Effective teachers have an understanding of this complexity and are able to use a range of teaching approaches that produce confident and independent readers Gerry et al (2012) identified several components that need to be considered in the teaching of reading towards recognizing this complexity Among these are: the establishment of varied and rich vocabulary, development of phonological processes, the provision of a framework for teaching comprehension strategies, a need to ensure that motivation and enjoyment of reading are key aspects of the reading process, and a renewed focus on reading fluency 2.2 Phases in teaching and learning reading Different scholars divide phases in teaching and learning reading in to three main stages They are, pre-reading, while- reading, and post-reading A good reading lesson could follow the following stages: Pre-reading stage, while-reading stage and post-reading stage (Atkins et al., 1996) 2.2.1 Pre-reading phase According to Williams (1984), the pre-phase of reading tries to introduce and arouse interest in the topic, motivate learners by giving a reason for reading, and provide some language preparation for the text Correspondingly, Hedge (2000) explains that the pre-reading phase as one of the major responses to increasing insights about the role of schematic knowledge in reading has been the focus of current reading methodology on a pre-reading stage Williams (1984) clarifies that in order to help prepare for pre-reading work, useful questions that the teacher can ask herself/himself are: a) What knowledge, ideas or opinions might the learners already have on the text topic, and how can this knowledge be drawn out and used? b) Why should anyone want to read this text, and can the same, or similar, reasons be generated in the learners? (p 37) Atkins et al (1996) on their part explain how to use the pre-reading phase as follows: the prereading stage does not need more than a few minutes For Example, ask students to list some words they expect to meet in the passage Write their words on the blackboard If students not suggest them, add other words Pre-teach these words in context, or tell students to try to guess the difference between the words as they read the passage According to these scholars, the aims of the pre-reading phase are: to activate prior knowledge, get students interested in the topic, and theme for the reading In conclusion, the pre-reading stage familiarizes a reader with the basic content and organiza tion of the text and helps to activate prior knowledge It is an important phase that prepares students for the reading text Thus, it should be properly used for every reading lesson which is carried out in the classroom 2.2.2 While-reading phase This phase focuses on the text It allows students to integrate the knowledge and information they bring to the text with new information in the text Students read silently and try to understand the main points They also answer a number of questions designed to understand the ideas in the text There is no need of understanding every word, but they guess the meaning of new words from the context (Williams, 1984, p 38).This shows that the main thing that students should here is to interact with the text and try to relate their prior knowledge with the text for understanding As a rule, while -reading work should begin with a general or global understanding of the text, and then move to similar units such as paragraphs, sentences and words Williams (1984) says the Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 reason for this is that the larger units provide a context for understanding the smaller units—a paragraph or sentence, for example, may help the reader to understand a word Hedge (2000) states students’ activities at this stage These are read and match, read and label, read and complete, and read and draw By doing these activities students try to understand the given text and the comprehension questions given by their teacher in order to check whether they understand the text or not Atkins et al (1996), for instance, state the following as activities the teacher carried out during while-reading stage These are: tell students to read the questions, and then read the passage silently to find the answer Tell them they not need to understand every word to answer the question When they have worked out the answer, they should discuss in their group until they have agreed on one answer Finally, make students give their answers and evidences for their choice Generally, the while-reading stage is significant for processing the text in depth Students attempt to comprehend the text by using the strategies which are used during the while- reading stage They also need to integrate their prior knowledge with what they are reading 2.2.3 Post-reading phase This sage allows students to articulate and process their understanding of what they have read and to think critically about the validity of the text According to Atkins et al (1996), the post reading phase has the following tasks: 1) to check overall comprehension of the text 2) Questions to get students to relate the passage to their experience 3) Relating speaking and writing activities The teacher should ask general questions on the passage to achieve the following: ● To check students’ overall comprehension of the passage ● To encourage them to evaluate the passage (Interesting? Agree? True?) ● To get them to relate the passage to their own experience (similar experience?) ● To get students to imagine themselves in the situation in the text The aims of post-reading work are: a) To consolidate or reflect upon what has been said, b) To relate the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interest or views (Williams, 1984) and c) To integrate other skills (Atkins et al., 1996) To sum up, in this phase it is important to set a related activity possibly involving other skills, such as completing a paragraph summary of the text, a word puzzle based on the passage, discussion about the main topic and dramatization of the passage 2.3 Teachers’ role in teaching reading skill Atkins et al (1996) explain that for the benefit of the future generation, it is certainly extremely important to improve the teaching of reading in schools The teacher’s ability to teach reading plays a decisive role in students’ language skills and ultimately in the success of learners Among the significant factors that contribute to students’ poor reading are ineffective teaching of reading, and inadequate textbooks, containing inappropriate tasks for helping students develop reading abilities According to these scholars, the teacher plays an important role to enable students to read and understand a text by using different strategies of reading a text Excellent reading teachers share the following critical qualities of knowledge and practice: ● They understand learner’s reading and writing development ● They can assess a learner’s individual progress and relate reading instruction to a learner’s previous experience ● They know a variety of ways to teach reading Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 ● They are able to use a variety of materials and texts for learners to read ● They can tailor instruction to the individual student ● They can help students strategically (International Reading Association) Overall, teachers should assist students to actively engage in the process of meaning and knowl edge construction Thus, the teachers should apply the techniques and strategies of teaching reading lessons The roles of the teacher in intensive and extensive reading will be discussed below 2.3.1 The role of the teacher in intensive reading In intensive reading students are expected to understand everything they read and be able to answer detailed vocabulary and comprehension questions (Venkateswaran, 2009) In addition, Venkateswaran (2009) explains that in extensive reading students should have a general under standing of the text without necessarily understanding every word It is done for pleasure and to obtain information for different purposes of the reader Different scholars explain the role of the teacher in intensive reading in different ways, For Example, Harmer (2000) as cited in Solomon (2013) explains as follows: The major activity of the teacher in reading session should be creating enthusiasm and interest of reading in the students’ This can be done by using topics that arouse interest in students according to their level The roles the teacher has to assume during a reading practice session in the classroom are: ● Organizer: As an organizer of the activities he/she needs to tell students exactly what their reading purposes are It is also necessary to notify the time given for that particular reading activity and stick to the announced time ● Observer: When students are made to read by themselves silently they should not be interrupted even though the teacher has some information to deliver Teachers rather should observe the progress of the students reading individually or in a group This follow-up may give us whether or not we should give some more time or not It will uncover the problems students are facing during the reading so that we can look for a solution ● Feedback organizer: The teacher has the responsibility of being a feedback organizer in such a way that once the reading session is well organized and appropriately followed he/she can give feedback and organize the text actively The activity could be something like comparing answers with each other or asking for answers from the class in general or from groups and individuals in particular In asking, however, students to give answers, it will be important to ask them wherein the text they found the information for their answers This initiates students to practice a detailed study of the text which will help them the next time they come to a similar reading passage ● Parameter: This means that teachers should be responsible to quickly let students notice language features that they have not been familiar with or direct them to some other features of the language by clarifying ambiguities and confusion New language items should be clarified as well A text that is to be largely dealt with intensively also helps to encourage students to get a general understanding first by using “pre-questions” Then what is to be done is to encourage students to pick out particular information and equally important is to encourage them not to worry at ignoring other, perhaps quite large, sections of the text which are not relevant to the task they have been given Venkateswaran (2009) Generally, the aim of the teacher should be to help the students in overall activities of learning reading skills Then as mentioned above he/she plays organizer, observer, feedback organizer, and parameter role 2.3.2 The role of the teacher in extensive reading Teachers are expected to arouse interest in the students so that they will make extensive reading part of their language learning ability Most students will not extensive reading by themselves Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 unless they are encouraged to so by their teachers (Venkateswaran, 2009) According to this author, teachers should help students how to use extensive reading and encourage them to have a habit of extensive reading is very important Harmer (2003) as as cited in Solomon (2013), for example, states that having persuaded our students about the benefits of extensive reading, we can organize a reading program where we indicate to students how many books or short stories we expect them to read over a given period We can explain how they make their choice of what to read, making it clear that the choice is theirs, but that they can consult other students’ reviews and comments to help them make that choice Whether in intensive or extensive reading time silent reading is very important Venkateswaran (2009) enlightens us that it will be correct to say that what we read depends on why we read and how we read Silent reading is the most important skill that we should aim at when we teach prose or a reading lesson This requires full attention for comprehension and helps in developing the speed of reading Silent reading has to be encouraged for it develops concentration Ibid also lists some points to be born in mind by the teacher ● The teacher should bear in mind that he must give a model reading of the whole or part of any material that is being read (this depends on the students’ level and length of the material) ● Pupils should have an opportunity of reading the passage to themselves before they are called on to read 2.4 Principles of teaching reading Scholars have written principles of teaching; for example, Harmer (2008) lists six principles of teaching reading: Reading is not a passive skill: reading is an active occupation Therefore, readers should understand the meanings of words, see pictures, understand the arguments and take a position to agree or not If students not these things while reading, then they are only scratching the surface of the text, and there will a tendency of forgetting Students need to be engaged with what they are doing: students should be engaged with the reading text This helps them to be actively interested in what they are doing and benefit much from it Students should be encouraged to respond to the context of a reading text, not just to the language: the main purpose of practicing reading is to let students get the meaning and the message of the text Thus, we must give students a chance to respond to the meaning and message of texts Prediction is a major factor in reading: books converse, photographs, contents, and titles give us hints of what is in the book before we read a single word Our brain begins predicting what we are going to read We build expectations and the active process of reading takes place Therefore, teachers should give hints to their students so that they can predict what is going to be read Match the task to the topic: once students are given a reading text to read an appropriate task should be designed The right kind of questions and other useful activities that engage students must be ready Unnecessary and inappropriate questions could make an interesting text boring and unattractive Good teacher exploits reading text to the full: any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions, etc It does not make sense to get students to read it and then drop it to move on to something else Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting class sequences using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and later activation Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 To sum up, the principle of teaching reading to English language learners to increase their fluency and comprehension skills is an important step in helping them become successful readers 2.5 Teaching reading and students with low reading skills Reading is a competence that teachers have to actively teach since learners not simply “pick up” reading skills (Republic of South Africa Education Department, 2008) Thus, teachers are expected to teach reading implicitly and explicitly Moreover, they are expected to use different strategies to help learners with low reading skills Accordingly, the teaching reading practices and the procedures used to help learners with low reading skills have to be examined Success in reading is essential throughout a student’s school career and into adulthood (Julia et al., 2018) This shows that reading skill is significant for students’ academic success Therefore, investigating the teaching practice of this vital language skill has great importance to reveal how the teaching is being handled and whether or not the actual practice follows the expected procedures Consequently, this study sought to examine the practices of teaching reading skills and the procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills To sum up, studying the practice of teaching reading skills and the procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills have importance Initially, it provides information on teachers’ actual classroom practices in teaching reading skills in secondary school education Secondly, it can also serve as a source of information concerning the strategies teachers used to develop low learners reading skills Methods 3.1 Descriptive case study In this research, descriptive case study design was used According to Gall et al (2007), the objective of descriptive research is to describe an occurrence and its features It focuses on “what” rather than’ why’ something has happened Accordingly, observation and questionnaire are often used to gather data On the other hand, Kothari (2004) states that a “case study is essentially an intensive investigation of a particular unit under consideration (p 113).” The defini tion shows that a case study is a rigorous exploration of a specific and real situation Thus, the researcher of this study took a particular unit which is investigating the practice of teaching reading skills and dealt with it in depth Regarding the data analysis method, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed The data gathered from interview, and observation was analyzed qualitatively On the other hand, data from the questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively In short, descriptive case study research design, qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were used to investigate the practices of teaching reading skills in depth 3.2 Participants This research was intended to investigate the practice of teaching reading skills in grade government high school Therefore, the participants of the study were grade EFL teachers and students at Dil-Ber secondary school The participants of this study were grade teachers and students of the sample schools Four English language teachers’ were selected through availability sampling Thus, all four Grade EFL teachers participated in the study On the other hand, all the students in the observed classes were considered as participants They were selected using convenience sampling For filling the ques tionnaire random sampling specifically the lottery method was used to select student participants Dil-ber High school during the research period had 347 grade students in 14 sections (The students were classified into two groups because of COVID 19 The first group learns on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and the second group learns on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Each Page of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 group has sections and a total of 14 sections) Consequently, 30% of the total student population i.e 104 students were selected to participate in the research by filling questionnaire Two of the participants’ papers were not used since they were not filled in properly The selection of partici pant students was made by using lottery method Folded papers that contain number and were prepared Finally, those who picked number were selected as research participants to fill the questionnaires, and those who pick were excluded 3.3 Data gathering tools 3.3.1 Observation In this research, classroom observation was utilized to explore the practices of teaching reading in EFL classes at the research site This instrument was also selected for the following two reasons: first, it allows the researcher to “look at what is taking place directly rather than relying on a second-hand account” (Cohen, 2007, p 396).Second, observation is a data-gathering instrument that gives the researcher an opportunity to gather live data from a naturally occurring social context Since it provides first-hand information, it has the power of yielding more valid and authentic data (Cohen, 2007) Non-participant classroom observation was used as a main data gathering instrument for this study During the classroom observation, the researcher sat at the back of the class and video recorded the process by a stand-by camera and also took some notes when necessary to register events related to teaching reading in the observation checklist The reading lesson observation framework (checklist) used in this study has six components (themes) Under each component, various observation checklists guiding sentences are found The lesson observation also included observation notes Two different reading skill lessons of each participant-teachers and a total of four observations were conducted for the study The data from the observation was analyzed qualitatively Thus, there was a descriptive analysis of the observed classroom lessons 3.3.2 Interview Semi-structured interview was used as data collection instrument Tegan (2022) clarified that a semi-structured interview is a data collection method that relies on asking questions within a predetermined thematic framework However, the questions are not set in order or in phrasing Consequently, this type of interview was used to exhaustively gather information about the teachers’ insight regarding the teaching practices of reading skills The semi- structured interview contained general questions which revolve around the teaching practices of reading skills Clarification questions were asked in order to probe teachers’ responses Four grade nine English teachers were interviewed A mobile phone recorder was used to collect the interview data after getting the participants’ full consent The interviews were conducted after every observation was completed The interview was done inside the target high school The data from the semi-structured interview was analyzed qualitatively 3.3.3 Questionnaire A questionnaire was prepared and distributed to the sample students As Rani (2012) described, a questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically useful informa tion about a given topic It is a valuable tool for collecting a wide range of information from a large number of respondents The purpose of the questionnaire in this research was to collect data about the teaching practice from the students’ perspective and to triangulate their responses with the classroom observation and with the teachers’ interview The questionnaire was prepared in English but it was translated Page 10 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 to Amharic in order to help students understand the questions easily and reduce errors while filling it The scales used in the questionnaire are N = Never, R = Rarely, S = Sometimes, Vo = Very often, and A = Always The questionnaires were distributed to 104 participant students from which two of the respondents’ responses were invalid due to incomplete pages The data from the questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively The criteria for the interpretation of the Mean Value in the questionnaire were taken from Tavakoli (2012) Thus, the range for the mean value indicates that 0.00–1.80 = Never, 1.81– 2.60 = Seldom (rarely), 2.61–3.40 = Sometimes (neutral), 3.41–4.20 = Often and 4.21–5.00 = Always In general, observation was used as a major tool to examine the teaching practices of reading skills The questionnaire and interview were used as supporting tools for triangulation purpose Specifically, in order to examine the procedures or strategies teachers implement to help learners with low reading skills, observation and teachers interview were mainly used Results 4.1 Results on the teaching practices of reading skill 4.1.1 The pre-reading phase As mentioned in the methodology section, observation, questionnaire, and interview were the data gathering tools used Accordingly, here the results from these instruments are triangulated and presented as follows The data from the classroom observation showed that out of the four observed reading lessons only one of the lessons had pre-reading activities Three of the remaining lessons began by ordering students to read the texts silently; which is a while reading activity Table presents the frequency, percentage, and mean value of students’ responses concerning their teachers’ teaching practices at the pre-reading stage As the students’ response shows, the mean value of the frequency in which teachers teach prereading activities is 2.57 and this implies rare use of the pre-reading stage In addition, most of the interviewed teachers responded that they started their reading classes by letting students read silently In short, the results of the study showed that teachers did not teach and follow the suggested teaching techniques and procedures one of which is the inclusion of the pre-reading stage 4.1.2 The while-reading phase Although it was implemented at the beginning of most of the reading lessons, which is a prereading stage, as the observation showed while-reading stage is frequently used Table and shows the details of the frequency, percentage, and mean value of students’ responses regarding the while-reading phase practices in their reading skill classes The mean value of the frequency at which teachers teach while-reading activities is 2.88 and this implies neutral use of this reading phase The teachers also reported that they regularly apply while reading activities To sum up, while-reading activities were more frequently applied than those in the pre-reading stage Page 11 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 Table Students’ responses regarding the pre-reading stage Questions N R S Vo A No Our teacher asks us various questions related to a particular text in order to prepare us to read the text or to make us curious about it 33 (32.35%) 18 (17.64%) 20 (19.60%) 18 (17.64%) 13 (12.74%) Our teacher teaches us how to predict the content of a text 17 (16.66%) 29 (28.43%) 28 (27.45%) 16 (15.68%) 12 (11.76%) Our teacher explains the background of the text before we start reading lesson 37 (36.27%) 23 (22.54%) 21 (20.6%) 12 (11.76%) (8.82%) Mean 2.60 + 2.77 + 2.34 = 7.71/3 = 2.57 Note:—The scales used here are: N = Never(1), R = Rarely (2), S = Sometimes (3), Vo = Very often (4) and A = Always (5) 4.1.3 The post-reading phase The researcher observed that this stage of reading is seldom practiced in most of the observed reading classes However, the teachers’ claimed that they often implement post-reading activities Yet, the observation also showed that this stage is not often implemented Thus, the omission or exclusion of such activities would make students not to benefit from the advantages that could be gained from such reading activities 4.2 The procedures employed to help learners with low reading skills The data from teachers’ interview and classroom observations as well as students’ questionnaire were analyzed and interpreted in order to examine the procedures teachers implement to help learners with low reading skills The result from classroom observation showed that translating the written text into learners’ L1 was used as one way of helping learners with low reading skills Moreover, during loud reading activities, immediate articulation error correction of words was used as another technique to help those learners The interviewed teachers forwarded different strategies Some of these are: letting good reader students read as a model, translating reading passages into the students’ mother tongue, letting them read in front of the class, preparing reading competitions, and advising them to read different English texts are some of the ways teachers use to help students develop their reading skills Page 12 of 18 Our teacher teaches us how to distinguish between facts and opinions Our teacher teaches us how to recognize bias Our teacher asks us comprehension questions after each reading Our teacher asks us to interpret graphics, charts, maps and tables Mean Questions Our teacher checks our inference and interpretation skills No 2.88 29 (28.43%) (5.88%) 37 (36.27%) 29 (28.43%) 19 (18.62%) N Table Students’ responses regarding the while-reading stage R 26 (25.49%) (7.84%) 17 (16.66%) 26 (25.49%) 19 (18.62%) S 22 (21.56%) 13 (12.74%) 26 (25.49%) 22 (21.56%) 30 (29.41%) 14 (13.72%) 27 (26.47%) 11 (10.78%) 10 (9.80%) 18 (17.64%) Vo A 11 (10.78%) 48 (47.05%) 11 (10.78%) 15 (14.70%) 16 (15.68%) Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 Page 13 of 18 Our teacher teaches us how to distinguish between facts and opinions Our teacher teaches us how to recognize bias Our teacher asks us comprehension questions after each reading Our teacher asks us to interpret graphics, charts, maps and tables Mean Questions Our teacher checks our inference and interpretation skills No 2.88 29(28.43%) 6(5.88%) 37(36.27%) 29(28.43%) 19(18.62%) N Table Students’ responses concerning the post-reading stage R 26(25.49%) 8(7.84%) 17(16.66%) 26(25.49%) 19(18.62%) S 22(21.56%) 13(12.74%) 26(25.49%) 22(21.56%) 30(29.41%) Vo 14(13.72%) 27(26.47%) 11(10.78%) 10(9.80%) 18(17.64%) A 11(10.78%) 48(47.05%) 11(10.78%) 15(14.70%) 16(15.68%) Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 Page 14 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 The participant teachers’ responses concerning this particular question showed the procedures they apply to help learners with low reading skills For instance, using clever students (good readers) as model readers was one of the strategies employed Teacher 04 regarding this said, “There are some students who cannot even read a word The only thing I to help students with low reading skills is I let a good reader read it and I just make them follow them as a model.” He added that if he has time, he himself sometimes shows them how they should read Translating reading passages into the students’ mother tongue was the other strategy used On this subject Teacher 03 said, “Sometimes I try to help learners by using their mother tongue That means in the classroom I help them by interpreting (translating) the text Especially if the text is short, I try to interpret it in the classroom Teacher 02ʹsstrategies are letting them read in front of the class and advising them to read different English texts On the other hand, the student respondents to the questionnaire item: “Our teacher guides us how to read texts in the class.” The majority (28.43%) of the participants said their teachers always guide them on how they should read texts On the subject of whether or not their teachers point out students’ particular problems regarding reading, most (22.54%) of them replied their teachers very often showed students reading problems Contrary to this, a significant number of students (19.60%) and (21.56%) consecutively answered that teachers never and rarely declare the stu dents’ specific reading difficulties Discussions and conclusions 5.1 Discussions In this research, both qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were employed to encoun ter the research objectives Consequently, observation, interview, and questionnaire were used The first research question focused on identifying how teachers handled the teaching of reading skills in the actual classroom As the result of the study manifested, teachers didn’t teach and follow the suggested teaching techniques and procedures i.e the three phases of teaching read ing This finding agrees with the results of the previous study by Alebel (2020) who showed that the three stages of teaching reading skills were not properly implemented Another very essential point the researcher deduced from the practice of teaching reading skill was the absence of supplementary reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, and novels The teachers were dependent on the textbook Supplementary materials help to motivate learners (Dodd, 2015) by creating interest in learning and encouraging learners to use the language in the class Moreover, Riasati and Zare (2010) explain that using supplementary materials in the class is necessary because there are different groups of learners with different learning needs and learning styles, topics in a textbook may not be relevant for and interesting to all learners Thus, to fulfill the needs of students and the objectives of the lesson a teacher has to select and use the appropriate supplementary materials for the reading classes On the other hand, there were no instructional practices of teaching reading strategies in order to help learners develop their reading comprehension skills Alex et al (2018) described that explicitly teaching reading strategies provides students with the tools needed to become aware of their thinking, and provide confidence in their ability to think and analyze text Furthermore, the teaching of vocabulary which is one of the key practices in instructing reading skills was not given sufficient emphasis In line with this, Thorburry (2002) states teaching words is a crucial aspect of learning a language as languages are based on words Walters (2004) added that it is almost impossible to learn a language without words; even communication between human beings is based on words Both teachers and students agree that the acquisition of vocabulary is a central factor in teaching a language These assertions show how vocabulary is Page 15 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 an important element in language teaching Thus, adequate emphasis should be given to both its instruction and method of instruction The second research question sought to reveal the procedures teachers implement to help learners with low reading skills The study findings indicated that in loud reading activity immedi ate articulation error correction (feedback) of words was used as one technique to help learners with reading difficulty in articulation (pronouncing words) In connection with this, Paul (2017) stated that teaching the correct pronunciations helps learners to improve their reading ability Adam (2019) on the other hand, mentioned that effective feedback plays a vital role in boosting students reading progress The other procedure the teachers used to develop learners reading skills was letting better reader students read to the class or the teachers themselves read as a model Teaching reading by modeling is significant Regarding this, Adam (2019) described that effective modeling helps students to see what outcomes could/should look like It also allows students to engage and succeed and reduce teachers’ workload because common misconceptions are addressed as or before they arise On the contrary, as seen in the observation of this research if a teacher or a model reader student makes an error while reading, students follow that model reading and commit the same mistake As a result, modeling reading needs careful implementation Moreover, translating the written text into learners’ mother tongue was also dominantly used as a means to help learners understand the given texts As Vishal (2018) states when we translate texts to learners, the main focus remains only on the mother tongue and the target language remains ignored In other words, it prevents students from thinking in the foreign (target) lan guage Consequently, students will start to expect everything to be translated for them Through such a process, they will forget the target language Thus, if a teacher wants to develop learners’ reading comprehension skills in English, he\she should ask and let students respond in English Advising learners to read different English texts was also declared as a strategy to help learners elevate their reading skills Nevertheless, advising learners to read different books alone is not a guarantee that they would read As a result, the better way to help them read more is to give them reading assignments and let them report what they read In brief, the procedures (strategies) used to help learners reading skills are immediate articula tion error correction (feedback), modeling reading, using translation, and advising students 5.2 Conclusions This study was conducted on the practice of teaching reading skills in grade nine at Dil-Ber Secondary School Based on the findings, it is possible to conclude that the three phases of teaching reading were not properly implemented Especially the pre-and post-reading stages were not given enough emphasis This implies that the pedagogically suggested teaching reading techniques and procedures were not appropriately applied Various techniques were used to help learners with reading difficulties Articulation correction and translation were the two main tech niques used The observation result also indicates the absence of supplementary reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, and novels Thus, the teachers used only the students’ textbooks Furthermore, the teaching of vocabulary was not given sufficient emphasis Recommendations To improve some of the problems seen in the teaching practices of reading skills, it is important to offer solutions Thus, the following recommendations have been made based on the above-drawn conclusions The teaching methodology of the teachers specifically their teaching of reading skills with regards to the three phases should be improved Teachers should use supplementary reading materials to help learners improve their reading skills Besides, the teaching of vocabulary which is one of the key elements in teaching reading was not given sufficient emphasis Thus, the con cerned stakeholders like the government and non-governmental organizations should give better Page 16 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 attention to enhancing the skill, knowledge, and practice of the teachers The government should create professional development strategies to enhance the performance of the teachers The supervisors and education experts of Addis Ababa city administration should provide need-based training, seminars, rethinking mentoring, and coaching systems that facilitate a better teachinglearning process and alleviate the problem Taking the importance of teaching reading skills into consideration, it is vital to recommend the need to study the practices of teaching reading skills in various schools and grade levels of Ethiopian high schools and use the findings to improve the teaching practices of reading skills Thus, broadening the scope of investigation is one possible suggestion for further research Although this study has given useful and usable insights on the practices of teaching reading skills, it only offer information on a single grade level i.e Grade Therefore, it is possible to widen the scope by incorporating more grade levels like Grade 9–12 and schools Funding The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article Author details Ermias Mulatu1 E-mail: ermi2007ddu@gmail.com Taye Regassa2 English language lecture, Department of foreign lan guages and literature, Dire-Dawa, Dire-Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia Associate professor in English Language Teaching (ELT); Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Citation information Cite this article as: Teaching reading skills in EFL classes: Practice and procedures teachers use to help learners with low reading skills, Ermias Mulatu & Taye Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 References Abebe, D (2012) Teaching reading skills in English as a foreign language through interactive classroom teaching versus plasma teaching with reference to grade ten students in Addis Ababa [Unpublished PhD Dissertation] Addis Ababa University http://etd.aau edu.et/handle/123456789/7068 Adam, R (2019) Effective teacher modeling-Sec-Ed The Voice For Secondary Education https://www.sec-ed co.uk/best-practice/effective-teacher-modelling/ Alebel, A (2020) The practice of teaching reading skills: Preparatory school in focus International Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, 10(2), 29–42 https://doi.org/10.37648/ijrssh.v10i02.004 Alex, Q., Rebecca, & Christina, G (2018) What are the roles of reading strategies in literacy instruction? Education week, projects in education inc https://www.edweek org/teaching-learning/opinion-response-teachreading-strategies-little-often/2018/10 Alsagoff, L., McKay, S., Hu, G., & Renandya, W (eds.) (2012) Principles and practices for teaching English as an international language Routledge Anderson, N (2003) Reading In D Nunan (Ed.), Practical English language teaching Mc Graw Hill Anne, P (2000) Ten proven principles for teaching reading U.S National Education Association https:// eric.ed.gov/?id=ED447441 Atkins, J., Hailom, B., & Nuru, M (1996) Skills development methodology: Part two Addis Ababa University Printing Press Beatrice, S (2008) Teaching reading in a second lan guage Pearson Education, Inc Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C (2004) Reading next a vision for action and research in middle and high school lit eracy: A report to Carnegie corporation of New York Alliance for Excellent Education Brown, D H (2001) Teaching by principles and interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd ed.) Longman Cohen, L M (2007) Research methods in education Routledge Dodd, A R (2015) The use of supplementary materials in English foreign language classes in Ecuadorian sec ondary schools English Language Teaching, 8(9), 187–195 https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v8n9p187 Douglas, H (2010) Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices Long man https://www.acade mia.edu/26575645/H_Douglas_Brown_Language_ Assessment_Principlesand_Classroom_Practice Gall, M D., Gall, J P., & Borg, W R (2007) Educational research: An introduction (8th ed.) Pearson Gerry, S., Aine, C., Anne, M., & Peter, A (2012) Oral language in early childhood and primary education (3–8 years) National Council for Curriculum and Assessment https:// www.erc.ie/documents/oral_language_in_early_child hood_and_primary_education_3-8_years_.pdf Harmer, J (2008) The practice of English language teaching Pearson Group Ltd Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and learning in English class room Oxford University Press Jha, S (2014) Shall we teach English as a subject or as a language? Education Practice and Innovation, 1(1), 17–24 https://doi.org/10.15764/EPI.2014.01004 Julia, L., Stacey, P., & John, W (2018) Struggling readers NEA research brief NBI N0.31 Center for Enterprise Strategy National Education Association1 https:// files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED616227.pdf Kothari, C R (2004) Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.) New Age International Ltd Mekonnen, G (2005) The cognitive levels of reading ques tions and teachers class room supplement to the ques tions [Unpublished MA Thesis] Addis Ababa University Nuttall, C (2005) Teaching reading skills in a foreign lan guage (3rd ed.) MacMill Paul, R (2017) The importance of teaching pronunciation LINCS community, adult education and literacy, U.S Department of Education https://community.lincs.ed gov/group/20/discussion/importance-teachingpronunciation Rani, M S (2012) Questionnaire designing for a survey The Journal of Indian Orthodontic Society, 46(4), 37–41 https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-10021-1104 Republic of South Africa Education Department (2008) National reading strategy Department of Education https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/en/2008/nationalreading-strategy-6425 Page 17 of 18 Mulatu & Regassa, Cogent Education (2022), 9: 2093493 https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2093493 Riasati, M J., & Zare, D (2010) Text book evaluation: EFL teachers’ perspectives on “New Interchange” Studies in Literature and Language, 1(8), 54–60.Corpus ID: 142828002 Solomon, G (2013) Assessing the challenges of teaching reading skills in grade English classrooms: The case of Chelenko secondary and preparatory school [Unpublished MA thesis] Haramaya University Tavakoli, H (2012) A dictionary of research methodol ogy and statistics in applied linguistics Rahnama Tegan, G (2022) Semi-structured interview: Definition, guide and examples Scribber https://www.scribbr com/methodology/semi-structured-interview/ Thorburry, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary Pearson Education Limited USAID (2017) Improving reading in Ethiopia USAID fact sheet https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/docu ments/1860/Fact_Sheet_Improving_Reading_in_ Ethiopia_Jul_2017.pdf Venkateswaran, S (2009) Principles of teaching English Vikas Publishing House Vishal, G (2018) Grammar translated method– Advantages and disadvantagesExam Web https:// www.examweb.in/grammar-translation-methodadvantages-disadvantages-3964 Walters, J M (2004) Teaching the use of context to infer meaning: A longitudinal survey of L1 and L2 vocabulary research: Language teaching Academia https://www.academia.edu/314355/ Teaching_the_Use_of_Context_to_Infer_Meaning_ A_Longitudinal_Survey_of_L1_and_L2_Vocabulary_ Research Williams, E (1984) Reading in the language classroom Longman Zakir, H (2019) Tips for improving your reading skill Tips for Learning English Tune Your English https:// tuneyourenglish.com/tips-for-learning-english/tipsfor-improving-your-reading-skill/ © 2022 The Author(s) This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made You may so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits Cogent Education (ISSN: 2331-186X) is published by Cogent OA, part of Taylor & Francis Group Publishing with Cogent OA ensures: • Immediate, universal access to your article on publication • High visibility and discoverability via the Cogent OA website as well as Taylor & Francis Online • Download and citation statistics for your article • Rapid online publication • Input from, and dialog with, expert editors and editorial boards • Retention of full copyright of your article • Guaranteed legacy preservation of your article • Discounts and waivers for authors in developing regions Submit your manuscript to a Cogent OA journal at www.CogentOA.com Page 18 of 18