Strategies used and difficulties encountered by efl teachers in teaching reading comprehension at phan ngoc hien high schoolfor the gifted in ca mau province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

-----------------

VO THIEN HUONG

STRATEGIES USED AND DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED
BY EFL TEACHERS IN TEACHING READING
COMPREHENSION AT PHAN NGOC HIEN HIGH SCHOOL
FOR THE GIFTED IN CA MAU PROVINCE

Major: English Language
Course code: 1841900019

HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2020


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------

STRATEGIES USED AND DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED
BY EFL TEACHERS IN TEACHING READING
COMPREHENSION AT PHAN NGOC HIEN HIGH SCHOOL
FOR THE GIFTED IN CA MAU PROVINCE

Submitted to the
Faculty of English Language
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language

Course code: 1841900019
By

VO THIEN HUONG
Supervised by
Dr. LE VAN TUYEN

HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2020


i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY
I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:
STRAEGIES USED AND DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY EFL
TEACHERS IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION AT PHAN
NGOC HIEN HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED IN CA MAU PROVINCE
In terms of the statement of requirements in Master’s programs issued by the
Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 2020

VO THIEN HUONG


ii

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, VO THIEN HUONG, a candidate for the degree of

Master of Arts in English Language, accept the requirements of the University
relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited
in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or
reproduction of the thesis.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 2020

VO THIEN HUONG


iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would not have finished this study without the support and encouragement
of my beloved supporters. First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt
gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Le Van Tuyen, for his constructive feedback,
invaluable correction and advice. His great support carried me through many
challenges, enabled me to complete this study.
My deepest appreciation also to all my lecturers and staff of the HUTECH’s
post - graduation, who have taught me with lots of valuable knowledge during the
time I studied here.
My thankful heart comes to my colleagues and students at my school, PHAN
NGOC HIEN GIFTED SCHOOL, for their collaboration and assistance during my
data collection. Without their willing participation, my work would not have been
possible.
Last but not least, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my beloved
family- my parents, my parents-in-law, my husband and my lovely son who have
given me their endless love, sacrifices and moral support. Their wholehearted
encouragement helped me overcome every hardship throughout the road to the

accomplishment of this MA thesis. Without their faith and support, I could not have
come this far.


iv

ABSTRACT
English education has been considered as one of the most important aims in
Vietnam. Therefore, English is also one of the main subjects at the Vietnamese
school system. It is necessary to teach students to improve their EFL skills and help
them deal with the potential problems that may arise during their process of EFL
learning or prepare them for their further educational purposes. This study,
therefore, aims to explore the extent to which strategies are used in teaching English
reading comprehension and to find out what difficulties EFL teachers at Phan Ngoc
Hien Gifted High School (PNHS) usually face in applying strategies to teaching
English reading comprehension. The study involved 150 students and 5 EFL
teachers. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through three
instruments, namely the questionnaire, the interview and classroom observations.
For analyzing the data collected, descriptive statistics and content analysis were
employed. The results of the study revealed that EFL teachers in PNHS applied
different strategies in their reading teaching. About half of the strategies were
applied to a moderate extent (25 strategies), and over one-third of them were used to
a great extent (17 strategies). The study also revealed that the teachers encountered
several difficulties in the application of strategies in their teaching. Those
difficulties are related to the teachers themselves, the students and the materials.
The study also made several suggestions for both teachers and students with the aim
of contributing a small part to the teaching and learning of English at PNHS. This
study is expected to shed light on the implementation of teaching English reading
skills in high school context and in other similar contexts.
Key words: EFL students; motivation; reading comprehension, reading strategies,

high school.


v

TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY ............................................................................ i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ...........................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................... viii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. x
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
1.1. Background to the study ................................................................................1
1.2. Problem statement .........................................................................................3
1.3. Aims and objectives.......................................................................................4
1.4. Research Questions........................................................................................5
1.5. Scope of the study..........................................................................................5
1.6. Significance of study .....................................................................................5
1.7. Definitions of key terms ................................................................................6
1.8. Organization of the thesis ..............................................................................7
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................. 8
2.1. . Introduction .................................................................................................8
2.2. Reading Comprehension................................................................................8
2.3. Reading Process and Reading Models ..........................................................9
2.3.1. Reading Process ........................................................................................9
2.3.2. Reading Models ......................................................................................10
2.4. Reading Teaching Strategies .......................................................................12

2.5. Learning Strategies Instruction ....................................................................18
2.5.1. Reading learning strategies .....................................................................18
2.5.2. Learning strategies instruction ................................................................20


vi
2.6. Difficulties encountered by EFL teachers in teaching reading
comprehension ......................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 27
3.1. Research design ...........................................................................................27
3.2. Research site ................................................................................................27
3.3. Description of the English course and the textbook. ...................................28
3.4. Sample and sampling procedures ................................................................29
3.5. Research instruments ...................................................................................31
3.5.1. Questionnaire ..........................................................................................31
3.5.2. Semi - structure interview .......................................................................32
3.5.3. Class observation ....................................................................................33
3.6. Data collection procedure ............................................................................33
3.7. Data analysis procedures .............................................................................34
3.8. Validity and reliability .................................................................................35
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................... 37
4.1. Introduction .................................................................................................37
4.2. Results of the study......................................................................................37
4.2.1. Extent to which strategies were employed in teaching English reading
comprehension ..................................................................................................37
4.3. Discussion ....................................................................................................54
4.3.1. Strategies employed by teachers in teaching reading comprehension ....54
4.3.2. Difficulties encountered by teachers in applying strategies in teaching
English reading comprehension ........................................................................55
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 58

5.1. Conclusion ...................................................................................................58
5.2. The Implication of the Research ..................................................................58
5.3. Limitations of the Research .........................................................................61
5.4. Recommendation for Further Research .......................................................62
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 64


vii
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................. 75
Appendix A: STUDENT QUESTIONAIRE (English Version) ...........................75
Appendix B: STUDENT QUESTIONAIRE (Vietnamese Version) ...................80
Appendix C: STUDENTS’INTERVIEW (English version) ................................85
Appendix D: STUDENT INTERVIEW RESPONSES (QUESTIONING
GROUP) ................................................................................................................86
Appendix E: TEACHER INTERVIEW QUESTIONS-RESPONSES
(QUESTIONING GROUP) ..................................................................................94
Appendix F: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET ......................................99
Appendix G: PLAGIARISM REPORT ..............................................................101


viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ESL

English as a Second Language

PNHS

Phan Ngoc Hien Gifted High School

L2

Second / Foreign language

SPSS

Statistical Package for Social Sciences


ix

LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Content of a sample unit in textbook 11 ................................................... 28
Table 3.2 Demographic information of participants ................................................. 30
Table 3.3 Number of participants for instruments .................................................... 31
Table 3.4 Cronbach’s Alpha Indexes of the questionnaire items ............................. 36
Table 4.1: Rank of strategies employed by teachers in teaching reading
comprehension .......................................................................................................... 37
Table 4.2 Descriptive statistics of pre-reading strategies ......................................... 41
Table 4.3 Descriptive statistics for while-reading strategies .................................... 41
Table 4.4 Descriptive statistics for post-reading strategies....................................... 43
Table 4.5 Descriptive statistics for Management strategies ...................................... 44
Table 4.6 Descriptive statistics for strategy training strategies ................................ 45
Table 4.7 Descriptive statistics for reading assessment Strategies ........................... 46
Table 4.8 Descriptive statistics for assignment-giving strategies. ............................ 46

Table 4.9 Descriptive statistics for motivation strategies ......................................... 47


x

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Conceptual framework of the study......................................................... 26


1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the study
The renewal period of Vietnam started in 1986, since then foreign languages
have received much attention from educators, teachers and students. English has
been considered the most popular foreign language taught and learned in the
educational system of Vietnam from kindergarten to tertiary level. No one denies
that English nowadays plays a very important role in our daily life and there are no
longer language barriers in the world if everyone can use English well. Teaching
and learning EFL at high schools in Vietnam is always of major concern. For long,
teachers have been trained how to teach the four macro skills of English and its
knowledge areas. However, they cannot avoid challenges in their instruction. In the
modern life, both teaching and learning language focus on skills instead of gramma
or structures. Teaching reading skills is one of the tasks that teachers should always
need to improve. Teaching students to read and make them comprehend what they
read is an extremely challenging task. It requires a great deal of teachers’ endeavor
(Blair et al, 2007). In fact, it is extremely necessary for the teachers to apply
reading strategies in their teaching reading skills to EFL students.
A teaching reading strategy consists of guidelines and rules related to

selecting the best tactics and making decisions about their use. In effect, successful
teachers are good strategy users who know how to use a variety of goal-specific
tactics, to execute them in a planned sequence, and to monitor them (Weinstein &
Mayer, 1985; Weinstein &Underwood, 1985; Gettinger & Seibert 2002; Adams &
Hamm, 1994; Henley, Ramsey & Algozzine, 1996). It requires EFL teachers to
know the above aspects clearly so that they can make a better reading lesson to their
students. What is more, teachers should know how to train students to read or to
learn English reading comprehension. That is because the goals of using reading
teaching strategies are to gain general knowledge, to get specific details, to find out


2
the main idea or theme, to study, to remember, to delight, to summarize and to do
research (Hyland, 1990).
Successful language teachers must know how to use reading teaching
strategies efficiently and know how to apply them to their teaching in order to
motivate their learners in their explanation in class. Selecting the appropriate and
effective strategies is very important in the process of teaching reading
comprehension. Having understood all about the importance of reading teaching
strategies and their impact on students, EFL teachers will certainly contribute a lot
to the process of learning EFL in Vietnamese high schools. Investigating what
reading teaching strategies that teachers use and whether they encounter any
difficulties in their instruction of reading comprehension is thought to be beneficial
to both teachers and students. It is no exception for teachers and students at PNH
Gifted High School, the research site of this study.
At Phan Ngoc Hien Gifted High School, English-majored and non-majored
students have to learn English as a compulsory subject that require them in the
national examination, including three reading texts. English is also one of the
subjects that are considered to be hope for the skillful national examinations.
However, teachers and students at Phan Ngoc Hien Gifted High school seem not to

be interested in teaching and learning reading comprehension. For this reason, I
decided on choosing “Strategies used and difficulties encountered by EFL
teachers in teaching Reading Comprehension at Phan Ngoc Hien High School
for the Gifted”.
Both teachers and students realize that reading not only gives them a large
range of interesting and wide knowledge but also offers them lots of chances to
enrich their vocabulary, to build structures and language expression which are
necessary for developing other skills although they sometimes still meet difficulties
in comprehending what they read. Therefore, teachers should consider and choose
effective reading teaching strategies to make students comprehend all the texts and
eager to study it. The teachers in Phan Ngoc Hien Gifted High School are reported


3
to have faced a great number of obstacles in using reading teaching strategies in
their reading comprehension classes. The researcher was stimulated to conduct a
study for these causes.
1.2. Problem statement
Reading skill is considered one of the important skills in Ca Mau teachinglearning context. However, it has been noticed that high school students in Ca Mau
province confront the lack of necessary skills in understanding the whole reading,
some of the teachers at Phan Ngoc Hien High School for the Gifted are unfamiliar
with the utilization of English reading teaching strategies.
Being a teacher who teaches English as a foreign language, the researcher
realized that teaching reading comprehension is a challenge that teachers of English
at Phan Ngoc Hien High School for the Gifted have to face to. They have
encountered many problems that lead the loss of teaching and learning reading, one
of the four skills in English language teaching.
The first problem is that many students are not rich in vocabulary, which
prevents them from improving their reading skills. According to Richek (2005), the
reading achievement is related to reader’s vocabulary knowledge. In order to

understand the text well, students need to master their vocabulary skill. Having the
same idea, Steven Stahl (2005), “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the
knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word
fits into the world”. Both teachers and learners need to develop vocabulary
throughout their lives. Vocabulary development is very important in improving
reading skill.
The Second one is that teachers often do not feel interested and eager to
teach reading when they do not understand the reading texts; most of the texts are in
very strange topics. This issue may lead to lack of interest in reading lessons and
teaching reading activities.
Thirdly, there are some other relating issues such as lacking of knowledge of
target culture, having no interest in teaching reading, facing to time limitation,


4
teachers have no motivation to read and try to comprehend the content of the text,
no sufficient preparation in teaching etc., which lead to the confusion in teaching
and explaining some of the reading classes. All these challenges, as a whole, make
reading texts more difficult and learners become bored at reading lessons.
Fourthly, students are not used to applying reading learning strategies to
comprehend the text. They do not know how to find the key words while they are
used to translating word by word and looking up any difficult vocabulary in
dictionary. Students become easily forget all what they have read. According to
Pardo (2004), “the motivation of students is really important to encourage them to
improve their reading skill”. Yunus and Abdullah (2011) agreed that motivation is
the important role in language learning and students to initiate the steps toward
language learning.
Besides, teachers should confirm that reading text is for students. They
practice reading in the classroom and develop their reading proficiency instead of
letting students themselves enhance their reading skills. Gnawali (2005) stated that

it is teacher who improves his English in highly teacher-centered classroom but not
the learner-centered classroom. Generally, they believe that they need to teach
reading texts simply because it is given in textbook and is going to be asked in
examination. This made students passive and lost interest in reading.
In conclusion, regarding previous studies on the field, it cannot be found any
literature relating to strategies used for teaching reading comprehension in PNHS.
Obviously, it is necessary to conduct a study to investigate strategies used by EFL
teachers in teaching reading comprehension to high school students in the context.
1.3. Aims and objectives
The major aim of this study is to investigate strategies that EFL teachers at
Phan Ngoc Hien High School for the Gifted employ in the teaching of English
reading comprehension to high school students and their difficulties they
encountered when they apply these strategies in their teaching. This study sets out
to obtain two specific objectives as followed.


5
- To explore the extent to which strategies are employed in teaching English
reading comprehension.
- To find out what difficulties EFL teachers at PNHS usually face in applying
strategies to teaching English reading comprehension.
1.4. Research Questions
The researcher would carry out the following research questions in the study in
order to find out the answers for these questions:
1) To what extents do EFL teachers employ strategies in teaching English
reading comprehension to students at PNHS ?
2) What are the difficulties that EFL teachers may encounter in applying
strategies in teaching English reading comprehension to students at PNHS ?
1.5. Scope of the study
Regarding reading learning and teaching strategies, researchers have

investigated a variety of aspects such as reading teaching strategies and difficulties
in teaching reading comprehension. This study would only focus on two aspects that
are strategies for teaching reading comprehension and difficulties in applying those
strategies in teaching reading comprehension.

Although there are many high

schools in Ca Mau province, because of the convenient reasons, the study would
only be conducted with high school students and teachers at PHNS in Ca Mau City.
About 150 students from grade 11 and 9 teachers of English at school would be
selected for the sample of the study.
1.6. Significance of study
Reading comprehension is a skill that every teacher needs to access and
transmit. This study was conducted to investigate strategies used in teaching reading
comprehension by EFL teachers at PNHS. It was expected that the study would be
significant both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, the study would
contribute to the existing knowledge of the study field; more specifically, strategies
used in teaching reading comprehension. The findings of the study would be a
precious source of reference for teachers to decide what strategies they should use


6
in their teaching reading comprehension. Practically, the results of this research
might be useful to both the EFL teachers and students at PNHS. The results might
help teachers adjust their methods and techniques or choose strategies in their
instruction so as to help students improve their reading skills as well as find out the
negative influence of strategies. This study can help teachers find new teaching
methods to stimulate students have motivation and development in learning reading
comprehension and make it easier to comprehend all the reading texts. That is why
doing this research is really necessary in the context.

1.7. Definitions of key terms
Brief definitions of key terms used in this study are provided in this section.
Investigation: In this study, it means the action of investigating the use of
strategies in teaching reading comprehension to high school students through a
survey and interviews.
Reading teaching strategies: refer to the methods or techniques that EFL
teachers mostly use in teaching English reading comprehension to EFL students.
Reading learning strategies: A general definition of learning strategies is
‘specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new
situations’ (Oxford 1990, p.8).
Reading comprehension: refers to the process of discovering the meaning of a
text in order to gain an overall understanding of what is described in the text rather
than to obtain meaning from isolated words.
Tiếng Anh Thí Điểm: is an English language set of textbooks for Vietnamese
upper secondary school. It follows the systematic, cyclical and theme-based
curriculum approved by the Ministry of education and training on 23rd November
2012. The aim of this set of textbooks is to develop students’ communicative
competence in learning, speaking, reading and writing so that when finishing upper
secondary school, students will achieve level three of the Vietnamese Foreign
Language Competence Framework.


7
1.8. Organization of the thesis
The thesis is divided into five chapters:
Chapter 1: 8 sections are included in the introduction (the chapter provides a
general background of the study), problem statement, the aims and objects as well
as significance of the study. Research questions are mentioned clearly to help the
researcher find the answers and solutions of problems. Scope and definitions of

some terms are provided in the last part.
Chapter 2: Literature Review: It covers the definition of strategy and
reading comprehension strategies, models of reading, reading process and
challenges of EFL teachers when they teach reading comprehension. It ends with a
review of previous related studies and the conceptual framework.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology: The chapter mentions methodology of
the study. It gives a description of research design, research site, sample and
sampling procedures, research instruments, data collection and analysis procedures
and finally, reliability and validity.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions: The chapter presents the findings of
the research questions and discussion of the findings.
Chapter 5: Implications and Conclusions: The chapter summarizes the main
findings

of

the

study

and

provides

recommendations for the further research.

the

conclusions,

limitations

and


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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.
2.1. . Introduction
This section contains the theories of strategy and reading comprehension
strategies. Three major aspects are presented in this chapter: (1) theoretical
foundation about reading and reading comprehension which includes several
subsections, previous studies and the conceptual framework of the study.
2.2. Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is one of the important factors in English language
teaching for all teachers because it provides the basis for a substantial amount of
learning in education (Alvermann & Earle, 2003). Reading comprehension is the
series of ability to process text, comprehend its meaning, and integrate with what
the readers already knows and their ability to process information, ability to
comprehend what is read, ability to draw inferences from a passage about its
contain, ability to recognize the literary devices, ability to understand meaning of a
word from discourse context, ability to follow organization of passage and to
identify antecedents and references in it… Fundamental skills required in efficient
reading comprehension.
According to Kintsch (1998) and Pourhosein and Sabouri (2016), reading
comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from text. The aim is to
understand a text rather than to acquire meaning from individual words or
sentences. Ahmadi, Hairu, and Pourhosein Gilakjani (2012) stressed that reading

comprehension is one of the significant elements in language learning because it
provides the foundation for a substantial amount of learning in EFL learners.
Reading comprehension is defined as the process of making meaning by
coordinating a number of complex processes that involve language, word reading,
word knowledge, and fluency (Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004; Paris, 2005).


9
According to Kintsch and Rawson (2005), Joffe, Cain, and Maric (2007) and
McGrew and Wendling (2010), text comprehension includes processing at various
levels.
Grabe (1991) states that for a reader to retain the message conveyed in a
written text, and to make the necessary inferences and connections, rapid reading is
essential. Reading is comprehension because the reader expects to understand.
Grabe (2000) points out that reading requires efficient knowledge of word
and a given topic and also an efficient knowledge of the language. So it is stated
that reading requires a rich background and also some ability to comprehend the
text. In contrast, Grabe and Stoller (2001) claim that reading is related to a language
and it requires being efficient in second language.
Deriving from these definitions, it is concluded that reading comprehension
is a means of language acquisition.
2.3. Reading Process and Reading Models
2.3.1. Reading Process
Theorists vary on the nature of reading comprehension. Traditional opinions
regard reading as a passive decoding process when “meaning is embodied in the
text and the reader can extract the meaning from the print if he understands it letter
by letter and word by word” (Goodman, 1988). Teachers should use strategies to
reduce uncertainty and be selective about the use of the cues. Teachers must know
as much as they can about students existing knowledge. Teachers also need to
acquire a clear understanding of what students may or may not know about the

reading process.
Different from the above ideas, Schema theorist believed that we
comprehend something only when we relate it to something we already know, that
is, when we can relate the new experience to an existing knowledge structure, as in
Rumelhart’s saying “one’s background knowledge plays a more important role than
new words and new structures in reading comprehension” (Rumelhart, 1985). Good
readers combine the knowledge they already possess with information in texts and


10
with features of the context in order to get a meaning. A student’s prior knowledge
is important in the process of teaching and learning.
Having the same idea, Goodman (1967) has described reading as a
“psycholinguistic guessing game” in which “the reader reconstructs, as best as he
can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (p.135).
Carell (1983, p.82) considered the process of reading comprehension a text as “an
interactive one between the listeners or reader’s background knowledge of content
and structure, and the text itself” because he believed that “the text alone does not
carry meaning; rather, a text only provides guidance for listeners or readers as to
how they should construct the intended meaning from their own previously acquired
knowledge”. Kingston also viewed reading as “a process of communication by
which a message is transmitted graphically between individuals”.
Kazemi, Mohsen and Mohamadreza (2013) highlight that cognitive views of
reading comprehension indicate that reading is an interactive process while
comprehension is a constructive process; recommending that comprehension
instruction should emphasize teaching students how to use a set of text
comprehension strategies and empowering them with a sense of conscious control,
or metacognitive awareness.
Based on these opinions, Schema has validity for suggesting instructional
strategies that can help readers’ comprehension of texts. Rumelhart (1985) also

suggested that teachers of reading skill should teach the background knowledge first
to prepare in advance the knowledge that the passage will be about to help students
predict the meanings from the printed words.
2.3.2. Reading Models
In order to promote reading at any level of education, one has first to
understand the reading process. There are three main models of reading: the bottomup reading model, the top-down reading model, and the interactive reading model.
Bottom - up reading model


11
A bottom-up reading model emphasizes a single- direction, part - to - whole
processing of a text. In the beginning stages it gives little emphasis to the influence
of the reader’s world knowledge, contextual information, and other higher-order
processing strategies (Dechant,1991). A bottom-up reading model implies that
meaning is constructed starting from the smallest units and working up to a broader
understanding. In bottom-reading, the comprehension goes from “word” to
“sentence” and to “discourse” (Silberstein, 1994, p.7). That is to say, words are
combined into meaningful sentences and those are formed as meaningful
associations, and finally information is stored. Clearly, the readers using this model
seem to be playing a passive role because the basis of bottom-up model is the
linguistic knowledge of the readers. These shortcomings make bottom-up model
unfavorable with language educationists. However, this model is still useful for
learners with limited reading comprehension.
Top -down reading model
In this model, reading was seen as the process in which readers move from
the top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself. A top-down reading
model asks readers to construct meaning from text; this knowledge is made from the
whole text to the part words. This is so because according to Paran (1996, p.138)
“reading means reading and understanding.” This model does not focus on phonics
and decoding, but instead, allow readers opportunities to read “real” books and

makes sense of them. Barnett (1988) and Carell (1989) stated that. “Getting a gist of
a text by skimming, scanning, and the strategies related to textual organization are
some of the reading strategies that are promoted through the use of a top- down
reading model. This model also suggests that readers should use background
knowledge, their knowledge of how language works, their own motivation, interest,
and attitudes towards the content of the texts, in their interaction with the text
(Zalioglu, 2000).
Interactive model
An interactive reading model is a reading model that recognizes the


12
interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes simultaneously throughout the
reading process. Grabe (1991) and Hayes (1991) argue that reading comprehension
is a combination of different processes that are thought to be responsible for
providing information that is shared with other processes. Silberstein (1987, p.31)
viewed that reading is an interactive process because it is based on the linguistic and
background knowledge of the readers. She offers a rationale that an interactive
reading model is the result of the interaction of bottom-up and top-down models.
Therefore, an interactive reading model requires both the contribution of
background information as well as knowledge of the language. Teachers need to
acquire a clear understanding of what students may or may not know about the
reading process through learner analysis.
2.4. Reading Teaching Strategies
There are a variety of strategies used to teach reading. Strategies are key to
help with reading comprehension. They vary according to the challenges like new
concepts, unfamiliar vocabulary, long and complex sentences, strange topics in life,
etc. Reading is a complex “cognitive process” of decoding symbol in order to
construct or derive meaning. Reading is a means of language acquisition,
communication and of sharing information and ideas. According to Anderson and

Nagy (1989), understanding text normally depends on knowledge that goes beyond
specific word knowledge, and readers can comprehend the text without necessarily
figuring out the meaning of a few unfamiliar words (Anderson & Freebody, 1981;
Jenkins & Dixon, 1983). Moreover, reading comprehension may also entail ‘the
ability to determine how and where to apply one’s reading resources in order to
maximally reach one’s goals in a comprehension given situation” (Wagner &
Sternberg, 1987). Dunn and Griggs (1998) claimed that teaching strategy is vital
and appropriate to enhance learning as to encourage students to activate their own
learning style.
What and How to use Reading teaching strategies are now discussing to
enable teachers become successful trainers. There are some main types of reading


13
teaching strategies that the teachers can use to encourage students focus on the topic
they read. To teach the use of reading strategies, the teacher has to prepare students
to read a one or two- page passages from a textbook by providing or activating any
background knowledge related to the subject which is needed for comprehension.
Brainstorming Strategies
Osborn (1963) mentioned the four following central guidelines for
brainstorming: 1. Criticism is ruled out. 2. Freewheeling is welcomed. 3. Quantity is
wanted. 4. Combination and improvement are sought. Osborn's claims have been
investigated in great deal of research concerning the usefulness of group
brainstorming. It has been verified that generating ideas in group is considerably
more when Osborn's brainstorming guidelines are applied compared with individual
ideation (Johnson, Parrott, & Stratten, 1968; Meadow, Parnes, & Reese, 1959;
Parnes & Meadow, 1959). It has been found that brainstorming can be an effective
tool in teaching English as a foreign language. In Mongeau and Morr's (1999) terms
brainstorming is a "method of ideation" (p. 14), through which a group of language
learners are motivated to generate a large number of ideas. One of the main benefits

of brainstorming is the activation of readers' prior knowledge. As it is expressed by
Feather (2004, p.82) "brainstorming provides plenty of materials for making
prediction".
Furthermore, it is likely that through this strategy, the reader becomes
conscious concerning what he knows about a given text's topic before he goes on
reading it. Feather (2004, p. 84) argues that brainstorming enhances the activation
of the reader's schema globally; so that they will know in advance about the ideas,
vocabulary, culture, grammatical features and genre structures which are most
probably met in the text to be read. It has been documented in Labiod's (2007) study
that prior knowledge activation through brainstorming enhances learners' reading
comprehension. Richards (1990) recognized that brainstorming was effective of
achieving student interaction in developing the cognitive skills for the purpose of
generating ideas. He found that students trained in brainstorming techniques were