BONGA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE TITLE:

INVESTIGATING FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE STUDENTS

READING COMPREHENSION

IN CASE OF GRADE 7A STUDENTS AT ABERA YUDA PRIMARY

SCHOOL OF SHISHO ENDE WOREDA

By: SELAMAWIT WOLDE GEBRE MARIAM

ADVISOR: ETAGEGN AMBI (MA)

JANUARY, 2015E.C

BONGA, ETIOPIA
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------1

1.1 Background of the study-----------------------------------------------------------------------------1
1.2 Statement of the problem----------------------------------------------------------------------------3
1.3 Objective of the study--------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
1.3.1 General Objective of the study-----------------------------------------------------------------4
1.3.2. Specific Objectives of the study----------------------------------------------------------------4
1.4 Significance of the study----------------------------------------------------------------------------4
1.5 Scope of the study------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
CHAPTER TWO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
2.1. Definition of reading-------------------------------------------------------------------------5
2.1.1. Definition of reading comprehensions---------------------------------------------------6
2.2. Purpose of reading ---------------------------------------------------------------------------6
2.3. Model of reading Models of the Reading Process ---------------------------------------7
2.3.1 Bottom-up model----------------------------------------------------------------------------7
2.3.2 Top-down model ----------------------------------------------------------------------------8
2.3.3 Interactive model----------------------------------------------------------------------------9
2.4. Techniques of Teaching Reading-----------------------------------------------------------9
2.4.1. Skimming-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------10
2.4.2. Possible Procedure in Skimming-------------------------------------------------------10
2.4.2 Scanning-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
2.4.2.1 Possible Procedure in Scanning--------------------------------------------------------12
2.4.3. Extensive Reading ------------------------------------------------------------------------13
2.4.4. Intensive reading---------------------------------------------------------------------------13
2.5. Putting theory into practice: the three phases of reading-------------------------------15
2.5.1. Pre-reading phase--------------------------------------------------------------------------15
2.5.2. while-reading phase------------------------------------------------------------------------16

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2.5.3. Post-reading phase-------------------------------------------------------------------------16

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Design of the study--------------------------------------------------------------------------------18
3.2. Subject of the study--------------------------------------------------------------------------------18
3.3. Instrument of data collection---------------------------------------------------------------------18
3.3.1. Questionnaire---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
3.3.2 The Interview-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------18
3.3.3. Observation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------19
3.4 Procedures of the study------------------------------------------------------------------------------19
3.5. Methods of data analysis----------------------------------------------------------------------------19
Time schedule------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------20
Budget breakdown -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------21
References---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
Reading comprehension is getting increasing attention because modern information-based
society requires excellent reading comprehension skills. Learning highly depends on the
comprehension of information from text sources. Thus reading is really fundamental in every
academic discipline. Reading research aims to tap into the processes of comprehension in order
to find out how people read. Better understanding of reading skills can help develop more
effective teaching programs. Many of the skills and strategies required for reading
comprehension already appear in beginning readers in their ability to comprehend the language.
As a first step pupils must learn how to decode individual words and sentences (including
syntax). The most recent findings in neuroscience show children need a systematic phonological
and morphological training to become a good reader. Reading abilities develop over time,
readers gradually realize that meaning is often more complex than a single word, a sentence, or
even a paragraph, in the end they learn how to read between the lines, use their associations.
They must use their background knowledge to make the inferences, which are necessary to
reveal these deeper meanings.
RAND Reading Study Group, Snow, C. (2002).

According to Koda, 2005 : Reading comprehension has multiple definitions. It could be seen as
a process versus a product as a sum of parts versus a whole or having varying degrees (pp. 228-
230). It is widely discussed that reading comprehension has many supporting skills, such as
vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, knowledge of grammar, Meta cognitive
awareness, syntactic knowledge and reading strategies. The main factors of Reading
comprehensions are vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, fluency, active reading
skills and critical thinking that must work together.

Historically, interest in reading within the context of foreign language instruction has evolved
cyclically over the years. According to Bycina and Dubin, (1991:195) “some generations back,
the prevailing approach was centered often, exclusively, on the reading of texts in the target
language, thus, the names ‘reading approach’ or ‘grammar translation method’ were used”. They

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further state that the focus of ‘reading approach’ was on matching words in the foreign language
with meanings in the students’ native tongue. Thus, the process of gaining an understanding of
text tended to be obscured. Richards and Rodgers (2001) also explain that while the approach
(grammar translation) had certain limited advantages, for example, it emphasized word
knowledge and proved satisfactory for reading literary genres such as poetry, it came to be
thoroughly rejected because it overlooked the communicative purposes of language.

In the 1940s and 1950s, a new generation of experts (audio-lingual) called for more attention to
the matters of pronunciation. They held that speech was basically what mattered in language;
reading was merely a secondary manifestation. The resulting audio-lingual method used reading
and writing simply to re-enforce grammatical patterns and vocabulary items that had been
introduced orally (Richards and Rodgers, 2001). But this narrow vision, too, changed gradually as
learners’ purposes for being able to use second language or foreign languages become the focus in
planning instructional programs. Reading was again elevated to primacy (Bycina and Dubin,
1991) when the main function of language instruction was to enable students to learn academic
subjects through reading text books and similar materials. Owing to this shift in emphasis, EFL
teachers took on the additional responsibility of providing instruction in reading skills. .

The best English classroom is believed to be the one in which students are actively involved in a
natural context of communication through discussion of ideas, facts, opinions, and feelings, etc.
either with the teacher or among the learners themselves in pairs or small groups. Nevertheless, it
seems that a gap exists between theory and practice of teaching reading. That is to mean, teachers
are often forced to adopt reading methods that tell them how to teach, regardless of their beliefs
and understanding. Hence, there is often little room for the teachers’ own personal initiative and
teaching styles (Richards and Rodgers, 2001.).

1.2. Statement of the Problem

In spite of the fact that teaching English Reading is essential, the teaching methods and techniques
employed in a classroom can have either negative or positive effect on the development of
reading skills on the learners. More specifically, if the method becomes effective and enjoyable,
the meaning can be understood easily. On the other hand, if the methods are not effective and

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enjoyable, students may fail to understand and comprehend. In short, the teaching methods and
techniques used by language teachers can affect not only reading skill but also the development of
other language skills (speaking, grammar, listening etc.) and the overall language performance of
learners (Cunnings worth, 1984). If reading is this much important, it is advisable to employ .the
teaching methods that coordinate with the needs and purposes of students that assure the
development of reading methods employed in the classroom.

Having this in mind, our students in primary schools have been learning reading skills based on
various activities and tasks presenting by classroom English teachers. However, as we have seen
from our experience, there is a complaint among students and teachers at large about the problems
of comprehensive reading skills during English classrooms.

Furthermore, in higher levels of learning, the ability to reading comprehension is very necessary.
Based on these students have different reading comprehension abilities for academic purposes..
The purpose of this academic reading is the understanding of texts written in a variety of types
and forms. Ruddell (1999) states that each grade level, students are expected to become better
readers and to read increasingly different texts”. However, when we see the reality in our Zone
of Kaffa primary schools, most of the students do not have reading skills ability. For instance, in
my personal experience of teaching in elementary schools reveal that the students’ reading skill
is very low or below the level. This problem leads to go to the research study. This study partly
comes from the point of the problem. These problems the immediate cause of could be the come
from language Teachers perceptions practice and its associated factors are the reason why this
study will be going.
Our instructional approach to the teaching of reading in most cases is dominated by reading
approach whereas students are learning are provided with small books for a semester with
reading texts of few pages. For that matter, the teacher should give further extensive reading
activities as assignment to improve learners reading habits. Although the problem is a pressing
problem local researchers have conducted research on teaching of reading focusing on Reading
skill, As well as these Abinet Mengiste (2011),Sisay Zelalem ,Sileshi kassahun and
Alemu(2009) will attempt to deal on reading skills. The above mentioned, instructional

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approach, students reading habit, reading texts and the teachers did not give further additional
extensive reading activities are some of the researchers findings.

However, this study attempts will be answers the questions of the factors that affect students
reading comprehensions skills in case of grade 7 students at Abera Yuda primary school. This
study differs from above mentioned researchers study both in focus and context. Specifically, the
research seeks to examine the issue with reference to the following research questions.
The question of flexible classroom practice and innovative methodology (procedures and
technique) to teach reading comprehension in high schools in the Ethiopian educational contexts
remain the most crucial issue both in theory and Pedagogy (Yonas, 2003). Thus, so as to fill this
gap in the literature, it seems imperative to conduct research on teachers’ theoretical assumptions
about teaching reading and their actual classroom practices particularly in the context of Ethiopia.
This study will try to investigate factors that affecting reading comprehensions. And will discuss
different concepts on reading comprehension and describes some components of reading
abilities, which are important to decode the written text.

Thus, the inspiration for this study mainly arose from the researcher’s interest to address the
factors that affect students’ comprehensions reading skills and also to put a ground base for
further work on this area. To investigating factors that affect students’ comprehensions reading
skills, the researcher has formulated the following guide questions to conduct to the study:-
Statement of the problems:

Research Questions
Depending on the Objectives, this study will try to answer the following questions.

 What are the main problems of students’ reading comprehensions skills?

 what type of techniques do they carry out while teaching reading comprehensions skills
 Do English language teachers use reading comprehensions techniques in ELT classroom?

1.3. Objective of the study

1.3. 1. General Objectives of the Study

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The main objective of this study is to investigating factors that students reading comprehension
at Abera Yuda primary school of grade 7th A students in Shisho Ende Woreda, Kaffa Zone.
. 1.3.2. Specific objectives of the study
 To investigate the main problems of students reading comprehension skills
 To give solutions to mitigate the existing problems of students comprehension reading
skills
 To improve the level of students learning comprehension reading skills

1.4. Significance of the Study

This study, by way of investigating factors that students reading comprehension is believed to
have the following potential contributions
The finding of this research will have the following values
 It helps to know the factors that affect students’ reading comprehension
 It helps to improve the ability of students comprehension reading skills

1.5. Scope of the study

This study focuses on investigating factors that affect students reading comprehension at Abera
Yuda primary school of grade 7th A students .
It will be conducted at Abera Yuda primary school at Shisho Ende Woreda, Kaffa Zone. This
study will be limited to only grade 7 th A students’ problems of reading comprehensions skills. The
school is selected for the fact that the researcher will get an easy access to collect data. The
subject of the study will be students of grade 7th A and their English Language teachers.

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 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Definition of Reading
Different scholars define the term reading in different ways. But, the general concept of the
definitions is similar, and thus there is no point in looking for a single definition of reading. In
line with this, Smith (1988) describes that reading is not different from all other common words in
our language. It has a multiplicity of meanings. And since the meaning of the word on any
particular occasion will depend largely on the context in which it occurs we should not expect that
a single and all inclusive definition of reading.

According to Wallace (1992), reading is a process of extracting meaning from written text. Asher
(1994) on his part defines that reading is the ability to comprehend the thoughts and feelings of
others through the medium of written text. Nuttall (1982) also views reading as a process in which
one looks at and understands what has been written.

Other scholars (e.g. Headge, 2000; Bycina, and Dubin, 1991, and Al-Issa, 2006) further describe
reading as a multileveled and interactive process between the reader and the text where the reader
uses his/her background knowledge and the information given in the text to construct meaning. It
involves processes such as predicting, guessing, confirming and judging. Thus, reading does not
mean understanding every word in a text and it is possible to understand a text even if there are
some words which we may not know .Harmer (2001) asserts that sometimes we can ignore them
as long as they do not affect our understanding or we can try to guess their meaning from the
context. As to many of the writers above, to Harmer as well, the nature of reading skills is
conceptualized in a more elaborated ways. In other words, what actually takes place when a
person handles a text has been taken as an interaction between a reader and the material. Beyond
interaction, the process might as well be viewed as a struggle to indicate the reader’s engagement
to make sense of the text. The same struggle in which the reader is involved for the sake of
creating meaning from the text is also conceptualized as a “psycholinguistic guessing game” by
Goodman (1967) cited in Hedge (2000) and Alyousef (2005). The reader struggles and plays the

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guessing game and accordingly combines information that he/she obtained through his/her
struggle with the text and with the help of the knowledge he/she brought along to apply in making
his/her guessing while reading the text. Hedge (2000) remarks: “from this perspective, reading
can be seen as a kind of dialogue between the reader and the text, or even the reader and the
author (Ibid)

From these definitions, we can deduce that reading is not only an interactive but also an active
process in which the reader seeks to understand, identify, interpret and evaluate the ideas and
point of view expressed by the author. In this process the interpretation largely depends upon the
background of the reader, the purpose for reading and the context in which the reading occurs
(Alyousef, 2005)

2.1.1. Definitions of reading comprehension

According to Koda, 2005 : Reading comprehension has multiple definitions. It could be seen as a
process versus a product as a sum of parts versus a whole or having varying degrees (pp. 228-
230). It is widely discussed that reading comprehension has many supporting skills, such as
vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, knowledge of grammar, Meta cognitive
awareness, syntactic knowledge and reading strategies.
The main factors of Reading comprehensions are vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge,
fluency, active reading skills and critical thinking that must work together.

2.2. Purpose of Teaching Reading

Like any instructional endeavor, the reading pedagogy should primarily base itself on a set of
goals describing what the learning program is going to achieve. Traditionally, the purpose of
teaching reading in a language has been to have access to the literature written in the language. In
language instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that
represent “higher” forms of culture (Freeman, 2000). This approach assumes that students learn to
read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure, not by actually
reading it.

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Currently, however, the purpose of teaching reading, according to Natal (1982:21), is “to enable
students to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with
adequate understanding”. In relation to this, Hedge (2000) points out that the purpose of teaching
reading include the following:
To be able to read a range of texts in English, to adapt reading style according to range
of purposes and apply different strategies (e.g. skimming and scanning) as appropriate,
to build a knowledge of language (vocabulary, structure), which will facilitate
development of reading of greater ability, to build schematic knowledge in order to
interpret texts meaningfully, to develop awareness of the structure of written texts in
English, to take a critical stance to the content of texts.

In line with the different purposes that learners might have for reading and the different styles to
be used in reading a text, it might sound appropriate to take into account the point of tackling text
in a number of ways (Hedge, 2000; Natal, 1987, and James, 2004). For instance, a quick survey of
the text to get the main idea, or specific idea and to read slowly and carefully, or when we want to
know further about an issue, we do an extensive reading. Hence, the purposes for reading help us
determine how, and at what speed we should read. In simple terms, our purpose(s) determine the
kind of reading strategy we use. To keep with the insights indicated above the teacher must first
give students a clear picture of what they are going to do. Giving students with a clear purpose of
reading provides them not only a direction, but also motivates them to read as well.

2.3. Models of the Reading Process

2.3.1 Bottom-up model

An older, and now considered to be out dated view (Bycina & Dubin, 1991) was proposed by
Gough (1977) in Davies (1995). This model focuses on pieces of language, building from the
small units of language (i.e. sounds to larger units such as words and phrases),or on breaking
down the larger segments of language into individual units( Smith,1983 cited by Bycina & Dubin,
1991).In bottom-up approach (Skills-based model),great emphasis is placed on the mastery of

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sound-symbol-relationships (Davies 1995). It is based on the assumption that once this mastery
has been achieved, meaning will follow. Learners are taught that once they have mastered basic
phonics and letter-word recognition, they can use these skills independently to get meaning from
print (Asher, 1994).

According to Bycina & Dubin (1991), a variation of the bottom –up model identifies four distinct
areas of language: Vocabulary, Sound-symbol relationships, grammar, and comprehension. Thus,
each area is analyzed in isolation. They go on to say that the underlying assumption of this model
is that meaning will follow if one can integrate the sub skills that have been presented to the
reader in the form of long lists of vocabulary words, grammar rules and exercise , comprehension
questions relating to the given reading materials ( Natal ,1982; Woollcott, 2002 and
Rivers ,1968).

According to Getachew (1996), this model is criticized for the fact that it disregards the reader’s
contribution to negotiating meaning from within the text. This means, it fails to see that readers
utilize their expectations about the text based on their prior knowledge of the content and the
language.

The implication of the bottom-up approach for reading instruction, according to Natal (1982) is
that classroom practice should focus on drilling linguistic elements with sound relationships to
help learners develop pronunciation.

2.3.2. Top-Down Model

The top-down model (Strategy-based reading) as it has come to be identified (Good man (1967)
cited in Bycina and Dubin (1991) incorporates a psycholinguistic perspective on reading based on
insights from contemporary linguistics and cognitive psychology. Reading is defined as a
language –thinking process involving an inter-relationship of semantics, syntax and graph
phonics. The primary focus is on comprehension. Reading is viewed as a successful interaction of
conceptual abilities, background knowledge and processing strategies (Davies, 1995). The target
is comprehension, not the decoding of sub vocal utterances. Reading, writing, and oral language

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are not learned in isolation. Rather, they are the components of a mutually supporting
communication system and should, therefore, be presented together (Good man (1967) cited in
Bycina and Dubin (1991). Here the focuses is always on meaning .It is only after meaning is
comprehend that the reader incidentally discovers the distinctive features in words and grammar.
In contrast to bottom-up, this newer model places the primary focus on reading and not on
vocabulary building, rule mastery, or sound –symbol relation

The pedagogical implication of the top-down model or reading process is that teachers need to
focus on the teaching of the effective reading strategies. Ali yousef (2002.1) referring to Grabe
and Goodman (1983) describes, teachers need to activate students background knowledge and
teach strategies (e.g. guessing from context, defining expectations, making inferences about the
text, and skimming a head to fill in the context to predict and interpret general information of the
text.)

2.3.3 Interactive model

Interactive model, according to Rivas (1991), refers not just to the interaction between reader and
text, but to the interaction between the information that the reader obtains by decoding (bottom-up
processing), and the information obtained by interpretation (top-down processing). In relation to
this, Bycina and Dubin (1991:197) say:
Interactive theory acknowledges the role of previous knowledge and prediction skill but,
at the same time, reaffirms the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual
words of the text …. Essentially, then, the two processes, bottom-up and top-down are
complementary; one is not able to function properly without the other.

According to Bycina and Dubin (1991) the implication of the interactive model for the teaching of
reading is that classroom practice should include both bottom-up and top-down strategies.
Teacher should focus on teaching reading strategies that help learners to make use of their
background knowledge in the process of tackling any reading task; at the same time teachers must
focus on language development (vocabulary, syntax, etc) to enable learners to overcome any
textual constraints while they engage in reading process.

Once again, Mekasha (2005) has summarized that the socio-cultural and psycholinguistic model
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must be operated simultaneously rather than sequentially to produce the activity that effectively
carried out within the general framework of education.

To sum up, it has been argued that each theoretical assumption supports a particular set of reading
practices or pedagogies. These practices vary according to the amount of time allocated to reading
instruction and self-selected texts, the way that reading is defined, the background assumptions
about where knowledge is located and whether it is “found” or “constructed”, and the emphasis
placed on the role of the text, the reader, and the context in the reading process, Regardless of
whether teachers can explicitly articulate their theoretical assumptions, their experience and
practice play a dominant role in the resources they choose, the instructional practices they
employ, and the environment they create in their classrooms. Thus, teachers must be aware of
which methodologies may and may not work together to provide effective pedagogy (Richards
and Rodgers, 2001).

2.4. Techniques of Teaching Reading

Researchers, in the area of teaching reading assert that effective language teachers show students
how they can adjust their reading to deal with a variety of situations, types of reading, and reading
purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies
to each reading situation. The most common suggested strategies are discussed as follows:

2.4.1. Skimming

Skimming is defined as a way of quickly looking over a text or book to get a rough idea of what it
is about. Skimming is not the same thing as fast reading; instead, it is selective reading of a few
parts of a text. It is mainly concerned with identifying key topics, main ideas, or the overall theme
of the text (Natal, 1992; Grellet, 1981; Scrivener, 1994; Davis, 1995 and Eisenberg, 2002). It is
also used in readings which do not need high concentration and attention. In real life, people often
skim to decide whether or not they want to read something. If we are interested in having the
general picture of the text, we simply run through the text quickly by discarding what is not

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essential or relevant to that general picture (Harmer, 1991; Grellet, 1981; Williams 1984) .In class
this is a useful pre-reading exercise before reading a book or text.

2.4.1.1. Possible Procedure in Skimming

1. Tell students their goal is to very quickly get a rough idea of what the text is about. Then give
them the following instructions:
a. Read any titles of sub-titles
b. Read the first few lines of the first paragraph.
c. Read the first line of one or two paragraphs on each page.
d. Read a few lines from the conclusion.
e. Look at any pictures or illustrations.

2. Give students a time limit.

a. This depends on the length of the text, but usually two or three minutes is enough.

b. Be sure you don’t give students enough time to actually read the text.
3. Have students read, while they read, you should count down the time, perhaps calling it out
every minute. Also check to make sure students aren’t trying to read.
4. To end the exercise, have students tell you as much as they can about the contents of the text.
The key to skim is to know where to find the main idea of different paragraphs or texts. Thus, the
best way to teach skimming is to have students read these steps in full. Skimming gives the reader
the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main message and some of
the developing or supporting ideas (Brown, 1994 cited in Rood, 2001).
Skimming, as clearly stated above, is used when our purpose is to get the general picture or
overview of the content of the text we read.

2.4.2. Scanning
Scanning is reading as fast as possible to look for a specific piece of information related to what
you are reading. In scanning, exercise are the ones that you can use in class to help students break
the habit of reading slowly and intensively all the time .Readers only try to identify specific

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information such as name, date or a figure. This exercise involves having students read a text as
quickly as possible while the teachers time them. The important thing is not to have a line by line
progress. If for instance, you are looking for the goal winner of a football match, you may look
for the goal scorer in a newspaper that will satisfy your need. In this case you simply move your
eyes very fast until you get the information you are looking for, passing quickly over all the
irrelevant information (Grellet, 1981, Harmer, 1991 and Williams, 1984).

In classroom situation, too, students may have a question in their mind and they read a passage
only to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information (Lamp and Johnson, 1999). The purpose
of scanning therefore is to extract certain specific information without reading the whole text and
to gradually increase students reading speeds

2.4.2.1. Possible Procedure in Scanning

1. Look for numbers when they are looking for amount, quantity or words when they are looking
for a person or a name, a place, a day, a date etc.
2. In class, give students the following instruction:
a. Read the text as quickly as you can. Try to finish before the time is up.
b. Don’t use a dictionary.
c. It is better to read the whole text quickly than to read the first part carefully.
3. Then tell students the time limit, give students the text, and start timing.
a. You can either call out the time each minute or so, or mark the time on the board.
b. Be sure to tell students a minute or so before time is up.
4. After the time is up, check by either using comprehension questions or having students
summarize the main points of what they read.
Therefore, the important way of teaching scanning is setting exercise that demands students to
search for specific piece of information (Nuttal, 1982). Once again, Nuttal says that scanning is
not a thorough activity mainly because the reader uses it to locate specific, isolated or scattered
information. On the other hand, skimming is relatively a thorough activity that requires readers to
have the general picture of the reading text. However, both of them are reading techniques used
for quick and efficient reading.

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2.4.3. Extensive Reading

Many researchers (e.g. Barnett, 1984; Bamford, 1984; Grellet, 1981; Brumfit, 1984; Hedge, 1985)
cited in Susser and Robb (1990) define “extensive reading” as a language teaching/learning
procedure to the reading of large quantities of material or long texts for global or general
understanding with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text. Likewise, Harmar (2001)
points out that extensive reading involves reading lengthy material, often for pleasure and in a
leisurely way.

In a report by Davis (1995) quoted by Harmar (2001:204) on the effectiveness of extensive

reading suggest that “any classroom will be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading
program, and will be unable to promote its pupils’ language development in all aspects as
effectively as if such a programmers were present”.

Davis also claim that such a program will make students more positive about reading, improve
their overall comprehension skills, and give them a wider vocabulary. Day and Bamford (1998)
further stress that extensive reading is the best possible way for students to develop automaticity-
that is the automatic recognition of words when they see them. In extensive reading, students are
involved in reading of various kinds of materials ranging from academic references books to
novels, newspapers, magazines etc. Thus, when the aim is at general comprehension, this
procedure reduces both teacher demands on the students and student demands on the text. Since
extensive reading is usually carried out outside classroom, they are allowed to choose the books
they read depending on their interest and likes (Harmar, 2001). On the other hand, if they find a
book too difficult or they don’t enjoy it, the extensive reading procedure requires that the book be
changed and not that the student be made to study it more closely or they can change it for
another one based on their topics of interest. In this type of reading there is not always a follow-
up discussion or work in class with the teacher (Stanley, 2005, and Susser and Robb, 1990).

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Supporting the importance of extensive reading, Bell (1998) identifies the following potential
advantages of extensive reading in language learning:
 It can provide comprehensible input
 It can enhance learners general language competence
 It increases students’ exposure to the language
 It can increase knowledge of vocabulary
 It can motivate learners to read
 It can consolidate previously learned language
 It helps to build confidence with extended texts
 It facilitates the development of prediction skills

2.4.4. Intensive Reading

Intensive reading on the other hand, is a kind of reading, a slow and careful reading style that is
appropriate for very difficult texts. However, in many ways, intensive reading is more of a
language study method than a form of reading (Susser and Robb, 1990). Similarly, many
researchers (e.g. Harmar, 2001; Bruton, 2004; and Alyousef, 2005) note that intensive reading is
useful for English study-to learn some elements of the language or a particular language skill,
because its slow speed allows students to stop and look new words up in the dictionary; it also
allows students to pause and carefully study long or difficult sentences to get a better
understanding of their grammar. To bring these in to effect, Nuttall (1982) states that intensive
reading takes place under the closer guidance of the teacher, or under the guidance of a task that
forces a study to pay greater attention to the text (Nuttal,1982).It should be noted, however, that
many opponents of this procedure, Hedge (2003) in Alyousef (2005), and Harmar (2001) argue
that intensive reading alone will not make students good reader, in fact too much intensive
reading may actually cause students to develop bad reading habits. For example, because
intensive reading requires students to pay attention to every detail, it often encourages the habit of
paying more attention to the vocabulary and grammar of a text than to its overall meaning. It also
encourages the habit of reading English very slowly, and students who become accustomed to
reading English in this way often never learn to read any faster. Finally, intensive reading tends to

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be relatively boring, so students who fall into the habit of reading everything intensively often
come to dislike reading in English.

In general, the main purpose of most reading is to understand the meaning of the text, usually as
quickly as possible using linguistic and schematic Knowledge, so what these researchers are
claiming is that extensive reading is more like “real” reading than intensive reading is. Therefore,
in order to become good readers, students need to practice reading extensively as well as
intensively (Harmar, 2001 and Hafiz and Tudor, 1989 cited in Alyousef, 2005). Here again, they
go on to suggest that it is good for students to read intensively sometimes so they can study a
text’s grammar and vocabulary. They also need to read intensively if a text is very difficult. But it
is equally important for them to spend time reading texts in an extensive style, focusing mainly on
the meaning of the text, not stopping to look up every new word.

Alyousef (2005) quoting the works of Haifz and Tudor (1989) suggests, some of the reading
activity that demand students to read intensively are analyzing coherence, reading for inference,
reading for reference, analyzing text cohesion, guessing from context, the organization of a text
etc.

2.5. Putting theory into practice: the three phases of reading

As it has been stated, traditionally the teaching of reading has often involved little more than
assigning the students a text and requiring them to answer a series of comprehension questions
when they have finished (Lee, 1999, and Williams, 1984).This means that the reader uses the
comprehension questions not to enhance their interaction with the text but to restrict the reader’s
interaction with it. For example, many readers start with the question and use its wording to
search for the answer in the text. The task is not reading but answering the questions; success is
defined by getting answers to the questions. According to Bycina and Dubin (1991), this kind of
procedure is a testing rather than a teaching strategy. They further explain that the procedure does
not provide students with the skills and strategies needed to become efficient, effective and
independent readers.

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In response to these misconceptions, many language educators have advocated structuring
instructional practices differently. Natal (1982), and Philips (1984) cited by Lee (1999)
recommend adopting a three-phase approach to sequencing exercises that moves from skimming
to scanning to comprehension checks, where, students will be involved in doing pre-reading,
while-reading and post-reading tasks.

2.5.1. Pre-Reading Phase

Consistent with the nature of the reading skill and the possible procedures suggested before, the
pre-reading phase might be devoted to a number of things aimed at introducing the reading text
and developing a framework for reading. It also intends to build and activate students’ prior
knowledge (schematic knowledge) about the topics, concepts, issues, and vocabulary contained in
the text to be read (Williams, 1984; Hedge, 2000, and Wallace, 1992). Besides, Mekasha (2005),
saying it differently, this phase is a phase of “foregrounding”, and therefore, he calls it “a kind of
pilot or rehearsal task phase”.

According to Nuttal (1982), before students begin to read the text, the teachers are expected to do
many things to make their task more explicit and their way of tackling it more effective. Teachers
need to consider various techniques in order to initiate their students for the reading of any text.
The teacher should first introduce the topic of the text and ask some questions to explore the
students’ background knowledge of the topic.

2.5.2. While-Reading Phase

Wallace (1992) asserts that the aim of while reading phase is to encourage students read the text
reflectively and interactively. According to him students need guidance in order to achieve the
objectives set. Hence, different activities can be provided in this stage so as to encourage
interactive reading. Moreover, students should be given a purpose for their reading lesson
because this in turn leads them to take note of certain facts or rhetorical devices (Brown, 2000).

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2.5.3. Post-Reading Phase

The purpose of post-reading stage is to help students evaluate what they have read. They will
evaluate and summarize the text relating to their knowledge and experience. Comprehension
questions are just one form of activity appropriate for post-reading (Brown, 200). In
comprehension, some of the activities which can be used in this phase include: identifying
author’s purpose, discussing the author’s line of reasoning, examining grammatical structures or
steering students toward a follow-up writing exercise. Generally, engaging students in reflection
supports deeper understanding of the reading materials

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 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1. Design of the Study

A mixed methods design will be chosen for this study due to the nature of the research problems.
“Descriptive survey determines and describes the way things are. It is concerned with the
assessment of the existing practices and procedures, etc.” Thus, descriptive survey will be chosen
as it enables the researcher to describe the current practices of an area of study.”
In this chapter, the sample of the study will be selected, the research instruments and how they
will be administrated, the procedures will be followed to collect the data will deal with.

3.2. Subject of the study

This study will be conducted in Kaffa Zone, Shisho Ende Woreda at Abera Yuda primary school.
The study will involve Grade 7 students and their English Teachers in the school. The subject of
the study will be selected by using non-probability sampling system- especially it will use
purposive sampling system. And the subject of the study will be selected from grade 7 students
and their all English teachers who teach them in 2015 academic year.

3.3. Instruments of Data Collection

To gather data for the study, different data gathering instruments will be employed (questionnaire,
interview and observation) the necessary information about the study will be obtained by

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distributing the questionnaires to the selected sample studies. In addition, additional information
will be gathered from the sample interviewees and by the actual observation checklist.

3.3.1. The Questionnaire

In order to get information about the factors that hinders grade 7 students to reading
comprehension skills the researcher will design 12 items of questions for the students and their
English teachers. The questionnaire will include close -ended and open- ended questions and will
be distributed for the sample subjects and the questionnaires will be collected on time.

3.3.2. The Interview

The interviewee will be designed for English teachers based on the questionnaires. The reason of
this is it will use as to crosscheck the responses obtained from the sample subjects. The purpose
of these interviews will be to gather additional information and also, to strength and validate the
data will obtain through the questionnaires. The interview questions will be including 7 items of
structured interview questions.
3.3.3. Observation

The observation will be designed based on the questionnaires and the interview. The reason of
this will be it will be used as to crosscheck the responses obtained from the sample subjects. The
purpose of these observations will be to gather additional information and also, to strengthen and
validate the data obtained through the questionnaires and interviews

3.4. The procedures of the study

After having adequate reading on the available literatures that related to the study the researcher
will design the required data collection tools. Then the required questions will be distributed and
will be collected from the subjects and it will be analyzed. The data analysis will involve the
following producers: First, the actual interviews will be recorded as they occurred using the
recorder. After completing the school observation, the ‘Yes/No’ category’ will be converted in to
‘Observed/Not observed’ category’.

23
Next, the response gained from the students through questionnaire will be tabulated, and
analyzed. Finally, the data gathered through principals’ interview will be summarized and
analyzed qualitatively to consolidate the information gained through observation and
questionnaires. Afterwards, the final study will be made.

3.5 Methods of Data Analysis and Interpretation

The data collected through classroom observation, questionnaire and interview were analyzed,
and the descriptive quantitative and qualitative data analysis method was used. Besides this, data
interpretation of students’ questionnaire was worked out using percentages. Since the target of the
study was to describe the existing problems, the researcher perceived that percentage was an
appropriate statistical procedure. However, data interpretation of teachers’ questionnaires was
worked out simply by writing in numbers. Thus, to accomplish to this, first responses of teachers
and students were organized and tabulated into numerical data to be analyzed quantitatively.
Then, the results of the interview and classroom observation were analyzed. They are mainly used
to circular the results of the students’ responses to the questionnaires at different levels.

24
TIME SCHEDULE
For the sake of convenience the researcher designed the following time phase
Month Activities
September Read different research materials and take notes
October Preparation of the proposal
November Submission of the proposal
Get Feedback on the proposal from the advisor
December Design Data collect instruments
January Distributed and data gathering
February Organizing the collected data
March Analysis and interpretation of data
Drawing summary and conclusion
April Typing and binding the research report
Submission the first hand draft

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 Getting comments from the advisor
May Preparing the second draft
Rewriting and binding
June Getting comment from advisor
Producing the final draft
July Submission the final research document
August Presentation

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

No Topic of the text Birr

1 Stationary materials 1000
2 CD, flash and recorder 800
3 Writing , printing, copy and binding 1500
4 Transport 500
5 Refreshment 500
6 contingency 1000
7 Total 5300

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