UNIVERSITY

OF SINDH
M. Phil. THESIS

EXPLORING PROBLEMS IN READING TEXT

COMPREHENSION AND DISCOURSE UNDERSTANDING
OF LEARNERS AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

THESIS SUBMITTED TOWARDS THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SINDH, FOR
THE AWARD OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN
APPLIED LINGUISTICS.

SHEERAZ ALI SOOMRO

INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

UNIVERSITY OF SINDH, JAMSHORO PAKISTAN
2019
I
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work presented in this thesis entitled “EXPLORING
PROBLEMS IN READING TEXT COMPREHENSION AND DISCOURSE
UNDERSTANDING OF LEARNERS AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL” has been
carried out by Sheeraz Ali Soomro under my supervision. The work is genuine,
original and, in my opinion, suitable for submission to the University of Sindh for the
award of degree of M. Phil in English Applied Linguistics.

SUPERVISOR

_______________________________
Dr. Shumaila Aijaz Memon
Assistant Professor
Institute of English Language & Literature
University of Sindh, Jamshoro Pakistan

II
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is being submitted in

partial fulfilment of the degree of Masters of philosophy at the University of Sindh,

Jamshoro, Pakistan. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in

any other University.

Name of the Student signature

Sheeraz Ali Soomro

Date

Director of Institute

Supervisor

Dr. Shumaila Aijaz Memon

Assistant Professor
Institute of English Language & Literature
University of Sindh, Jamshoro Pakistan

III
 DEDICATION

I dedicate this work to my beloved parents, family and friends. The completion of this
research study bears the support of my sincere friends who honestly supported during
the process of research and investigation.

IV
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, my thanks and gratitude are due to my supervisor Dr. Shumaila Aijaz
Memon, whose scholarly guidance, honest efforts, and sincere support have
contributed significantly to the completion of this study.

My special thanks to Dr. Rafique Ahmed Memon whose continuous support served to
be invaluable for the study. His cooperation, assistance, and enthusiastic approach
helped me in carrying out the research study. No less was the contribution of all the
faculty members, who taught us and were most sincere in imparting the knowledge
and the skill.

Special thanks are due to the participants of my study. They supplied ample amount
of responses on questionnaires which considerably helped in contributing to this
study. I am grateful to the administration of the Institute of English Language &
Literature (IELL) for rendering cooperation and giving permission to conduct this
research study.

My special thanks to all my friends, colleagues, and the teacher participants for their
collaboration to conduct classroom observations on teaching reading comprehension
skills to the students of intermediate level. I am deeply indebted to Professor, Iqbal
Ahmed Magsi and Professor, Riaz Ahmed Shaikh for their continuous support,
guidance, and critical input provided till the end of this research study. They all have
been a great source of inspiration and motivation throughout the course of studies.

I greatly appreciate the institutional support provided to me by the management of

C&S Government Degree College, Shikarpur for allowing me to carry out the
research in various classrooms. I am also grateful to the Principals of various colleges
for permitting me to collect data from the participants of this research study.

Finally, my best regards and gratitude are due to my parents and all family members,
whose love, care, support, and prayers have made it possible for me to complete the
M.Phil. Programme in (English-Linguistics) introduced by the Institute of English
Language & Literature (IELL), University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan.

V
 ABSTRACT

This study investigates hindrances in reading text comprehension and the problems in
discourse understanding of the learners at Sindh Government Intermediate colleges,
Pakistan. The study aims to discover the causes for the lack of reading
comprehension among the students at intermediate level. It also intends to achieve
research objectives by eliciting data from participants on reading skills, analyzing
prescribed textbook and conducting classroom observations.

Using mixed methods design, this study gathers data from the participants on a
questionnaire comprised of reading hindrances, reading text comprehension, and
discourse related issues. The data obtained from materials’ evaluation uncover
critical insights regarding the selection of texts, presentation of skills, and type of
activities designed in the textbook. The classroom observations are employed to
record factual data on teaching reading practice, teaching reading comprehension,
and teaching reading discourse to the students of intermediate level.

Main findings from the research study reveal that the majority of learners translate
English text into mother because they lack reading comprehension strategies
employed to understand information. The results indicate deficiency of background
knowledge, predicting skills, and the ability to guess meaning from context. These are
the strongest strategies to comprehend a text successfully. However, the
comprehension activities evaluated in the textbook contain questions without
appropriate instructions to employ reading strategies and extract information from
the text. Therefore, the learners lacking reading skills traditionally read out the text
without comprehending information in the textbook.

The results from the classroom observations prove that the reading comprehension is
taught through Grammar Translation Method (GTM) in the classroom. The learners
find it easier to understand the meaning into mother tongue than using
comprehension strategies to extract the information from the text. An important
finding confirms that the learners practice loud reading to improve pronunciation or
learn grammar to become proficient in English. Therefore, the majority of learners
cannot develop proficiency in reading comprehension because the teaching methods
and the textbook fail to involve them in reading comprehension process.

Keywords: Text, Hindrances, Reading Comprehension, Discourse

Understanding, Authentic Materials,

VI
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE...........................................................................................................II
DECLARATION.......................................................................................................III
DEDICATION...........................................................................................................IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................V
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................VI
LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................X
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................XI
LIST OF APPENDICES..........................................................................................XII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS..............................................XIII
CHAPTER 1.................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1
1.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................1
1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY....................................................................2
1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY.......................................................................5
1.3.1 Summary.......................................................................................................6
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH.......................................................................6
1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH.................................................................7
1.6 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH.............................................................................7
1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS..................................................................................8
1.8 KEY TERMS IN THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................8
CHAPTER 2...............................................................................................................10
LITRATURE REVIEW............................................................................................10
2.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................10
2.2 VOCABULARY AND MULTIWORD UNITS (MWUS)................................10
2.3 CONTEXT IN READING COMPREHENSION..............................................11
2.4 STRUCTURE OF TEXT COHERENCE..........................................................13
2.5 FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE WORDS.........................................................14
2.6 FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH STUDY............................................................15
CHAPTER 3...............................................................................................................18
RESEARCH METHODOLY....................................................................................18
3.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................18
3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH.................................................................................19

VII
 3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................................................20
3.4 SELECTION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS.............................................23
3.5 DESIGN OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS....................................................24
3.5.1 Questionnaire for learners on reading hindrances.......................................24
3.5.2 Materials Evaluation...................................................................................26
3.5.3 Classroom Observation...............................................................................28
3.6 SAMPLING PLAN............................................................................................31
3.6.1 Sampling plan for students’ questionnaire survey......................................32
3.6.2 Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation.................................................33
3.6.3 Sampling plan for Textbook Evaluation.....................................................34
3.7 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 4...............................................................................................................35
QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS.....................................................35
4.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................35
4.2 PARTICIPANTS’ ACADEMIC BACKGROUND...........................................36
4.3 READING HINDRANCES...............................................................................37
4.4 READING TEXT COMPREHENSION............................................................40
4.5 DISCOURSE RELATED ISSUES....................................................................42
CHAPTER 5...............................................................................................................46
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK-I
......................................................................................................................................46
5.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................46
5.2 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE...................................................................47
5.3 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................64
CHAPTER 6...............................................................................................................67
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CLASSROOM OBERVATIONS....................67
6.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................67
6.2 CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST...............................................68
6.3 SAMPLE INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK-I..................................68
6.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE...................................................................69
6.5 PART-I: TEACHING READING PRACTICE.................................................70
6.6 PART-II TEACHING READING TEXT COMPREHENSION.......................76
6.7 PART-III: TEACHING READING DISCOURSE...........................................82
6.8 SUMMARY.......................................................................................................91
CHAPTER 7...............................................................................................................92
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION...............................................................................92
VIII
 7.1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................92
7.2 MAIN FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE.......................................93
7.3 MAIN FINDINGS FROM TEXTBOOK EVALUATION................................97
7.4 MAIN FINDINGS FROM THE CLASSROOM OBSERVATION................100
7.5 DISCUSSION..................................................................................................103
7.5.1 Text Comprehension Problems.................................................................103
7.5.2 Drawbacks in Textbook............................................................................105
7.5.3 Pedagogical Problems...............................................................................107
CHAPTER 8.............................................................................................................110
CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS.......................................................110
8.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................110
8.2 FINAL RESUME OF THE MAIN FINDINGS...............................................115
8.3 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE...........................................................116
8.4 IMPLICATIONS..............................................................................................118
8.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY...................................................................118
8.5.1 Ethical Issues.............................................................................................119
8.6 RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................119
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................121
APPENDICIES.........................................................................................................127

IX
 LIST OF TABLES

Table 3. 1 Presents Sampling Plan for the Selection of Colleges................................33

Table 3. 2 Presents the Sampling Plan for Classroom Observations...........................33
Table 3. 3 Presents the Sampling Plan for Textbook Evaluation.................................34

Table 4. 1 Descriptive Statistics of Reading Hindrances.............................................38

Table 4. 2 Descriptive Statistics of Reading Text Comprehension..............................40
Table 4. 3 Descriptive Statistics of Discourse Related Issues......................................43

Table 5. 1 Subcategories within the Main Category of Textbook Description (n=06).

......................................................................................................................................49
Table 5. 2 Evaluation of Textbook Description Showing Results of Subcategories
(n=06)...........................................................................................................................52
Table 5. 3 Subcategories within the Main category of Skills Evaluation (n=04).......54
Table 5. 4 Presentation of Skills Showing the Number of Activities (n=04)..............55
Table 5. 5 Skills evaluation showing the results of subcategories (n=03)...................57
Table 5. 6 Subcategories within the Main Category of Activities Evaluation (n=10). 59
Table 5. 7 Activities Evaluation Showing the Results of Subcategories.....................64

Table 6. 1 Sub-categories within the main category of Teaching Reading Practice

(n=07)...........................................................................................................................71
Table 6. 2 Teaching reading strategies used by the teachers (n=07)............................75
Table 6. 3 Subcategories within the main category of Teaching Reading Text
Comprehension (n=07).................................................................................................77
Table 6. 4 Teaching Text Comprehension strategies used by the teachers (n=07)......81
Table 6. 5 Subcategories within the Main Category of Teaching Reading Discourse
(n=09)...........................................................................................................................84
Table 6. 6 Teaching Reading Discourse strategies used by the teachers (n=08).........89

X
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2. 1 Graphical summary of the focus the study................................................17

Figure 3. 1 Research design used in the present study.................................................22

XI
 LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix-I Questionnaire for learners on reading skills 129

Appendix-II Textbook Evaluation used for assessing the materials 134
Appendix-III Classroom Observation Checklist used for investigating

teaching methods 136

XII
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

MoI Medium of Instruction

GTM Grammar Translation Method

SGICP Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges Pakistan

ELT English Language Teaching

IET Intermediate English Textbook-I

FLL Foreign Language Learner

RQ Research Question

EAP English for Academic Purposes

MWUs Multiword Units

CA Communicative Approach

EFL English as a Foreign Language

FLR Foreign Language Reading

C&S Chella Singh and Sital Das Government College, Shikarpur

XIII
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

According to National Education Policy (NEP, 2009), English is introduced as a

compulsory subject and the Medium of Instruction (MoI) in public sector schools and
colleges of Pakistan. The purpose of teaching English especially in the context of
Sindh Government colleges is to make learners proficient in language skills so that
they can acquire education in English medium at intermediate level. They also require
strong proficiency in reading skills to become successful in their academic as well as
professional career (Grabe, 2009). Despite learning English as a compulsory subject,
the concerns have been expressed regarding the low proficiency of the learners in the
context of Sindh Government colleges, Pakistan (Muhammad, 2011). The current
pedagogical practices, prescribed textbooks, and the large classrooms can be
responsible for the lack of reading comprehension among the students at intermediate
level. The research studies on classroom teaching practices have proved that the
learners using translation method mostly fail to develop reading skills in Foreign
Language Learning (FLL) context (Zhang, 2014 & Rahman, 2004). This seems to be
one of the major reasons behind the learners’ weak proficiency in English to acquire
competence in reading comprehension. The English teachers’ language competence,
pedagogical awareness, and the ability to teach the prescribed textbooks could also
affect the performance of the students in the classroom context. Therefore, the present
research study explores reading comprehension and discourse understanding problems
faced by the learners at intermediate level.

The rest of the chapter contains following sections:

Background to the Study (Section 1.2)

Rationale for the Study (Section 1.3)

Summary (Section 1.3.1)

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Purpose of the Research (Section 1.4)

Objectives of the Research (Section 1.5)

Research Questions (Section 1.6)

Scope of the Research (Section 1.7)

Key Terms in the Research Questions (Section 1.8)

1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Reading in Foreign Language Learning (FLL) has undergone various development

phases from Grammar Translation Method (GTM) to the emergence of Audio-lingual
and Communicative Approaches (CA) to English Language Teaching (ELT). These
transformations in the field of language education have viewed reading as a cognitive
process of acquiring new knowledge from the texts, printed materials and other
electronic recourses (Bloom et al, 1956). It involves comprehension strategies to
recognize words in the text, guess meaning from context, build ideas from the
structures, and successfully understand the discourse to know the underlying meaning
of a text ((Zeng, 2014; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008)). However, the learners from
traditional language background may not be able to operate reading strategies because
they translate the text to know meaning in mother tongue.

The learners from Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges (SGICP) are taught
English as a compulsory subject through a prescribed textbook to develop competence
in reading skills. Majority of these learners from traditional language background are
unable to carry out comprehension activities because they lack reading strategies to
extract the information from the text. It is indicated that the traditional teaching
methods have been the major sources of hindrances for the foreign language learners
to acquire reading comprehension skills at intermediate level (Spooks, 2012).
Therefore, the present research study intends to investigate the pedagogical gap
causing reading comprehension problems and discourse related issues for the students
of Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur.

According to Zafar & Mahmood (2015), Intermediate English Textbook-I (IET)

designed to meet the language learning needs of the students is consisted of the

2
activities on comprehension, composition, and grammar structures. (132). The
selected texts in view of Dar (2012) mostly mismatch the learners’ reading interests
and the academic needs because the contents provide religious and historical accounts
rather than the modern scientific information (p. 132). The activities designed to
develop reading skills contain questions to locate the information in the text but the
lack of instructions can cause problems for the readers to employ the appropriate
strategies to comprehend the text successfully.

The learners using independent reading strategies can easily apply linguistic
knowledge to deduce meaning from context and develop ideas from the connected
text. On the contrary, the learners from traditional language background mostly
translate the text to understand the meaning into mother tongue or practice loud
reading as mentioned by Zheng & Seepho (2013) in the studies on L2 reading
comprehension strategies.

Moreover, the traditional practice of Intermediate English Textbook-I (IET) cannot

develop discourse comprehension of a text because it focuses on questions and
answers activity. However, the comprehension questions can be useful if they engage
readers to explore data for the deeper understanding of ideas conveyed in the text.
This process involves mental interaction between a reader and a text for the
construction of meaning from the language clues employed in a text (Gabe, 1991).
Unfortunately, a learner in a traditional language classroom may fail to construct
meaning from context because his previous learning experience greatly hinders the
process of learning a foreign language from a text.

According to Grabe (2002), development of reading comprehension necessarily

involves understanding of discourse to get the intended message conveyed in a text.
The most fluent readers from foreign language settings apply predicting, clarifying,
guessing, evaluating, and other associated skills to comprehend the information from
a text. However, the less proficient learners from public sector colleges may
experience comprehension problems regarding the strategies applied to understand a
text. Thus, the strategic awareness not only improves reading comprehension, but also
contributes discourse understanding of a text in foreign language learning.

3
Research on foreign language reading indicates that the deficiency of vocabulary
development, inefficiency to understand context, and the lack of structural knowledge
may cause reading comprehension and discourse understanding problems (Grabe,
2002). There may be some other factors, such as the practice of loud reading and
translation method creating difficulty in comprehension and discourse understanding.
It has been observed that the learners lose interest and motivation in reading text and
fail to decode message from discourse resulting into incompetence, and fossilized bad
reading habits (Zhang & Seepho, 2013). To probe the underlying issues in reading
text comprehension and discourse understanding, there is the need of research and
investigation in pedagogical practices and materials used for reading purpose.

Reading in a classroom context requires accomplishment of certain tasks, such as

identifying and locating general and specific information while using sub-skills like
scanning and skimming. A number of fluent readers can independently work with the
reading tasks by using such strategies to achieve the objectives in the classroom and
the less privileged readers fail to attempt comprehension due to incompetence and
fossilized reading habits. This, however, seems to be overlooked by the teachers in
public sector colleges mainly because they teach reading through translation method
and the learners being passive listeners rarely get chance of reading text silently.

Research on teaching reading discourse highlights the importance of text structure as

a significant aspect of reading comprehension, and the learners being aware of
discourse structures have better comprehension abilities Grabe (2003). There may be
some textbooks in Pakistani context which contain some sections on the learning of a
text structures contributing the development of reading text comprehension.
Pedagogically, the ability to teach structure of a foreign text may not have been
developed in most of language classrooms in Pakistani context. Therefore, reading
seems to be taught traditionally through Grammar Translation Method (GTM) and the
loud reading practice in the classroom.

Koda (2005) in a recent study on discourse analysis identifies that the context
influences reader’s mind creating complication for a non-native learner to understand
language employed in a text. A large number of the learners may find a text difficult
because they cannot apply linguistic knowledge to deduce meaning from the context
of a text. This incompetence is hardly addressed in language textbooks introduced for

4
developing reading skills of the students at Sindh Government Colleges. There could
be many lessons lacking communicative approach in Intermediate English Textbook-I
and ignore students’ academic context to access and identify text situation. Thus, the
selected texts may result in frustration and the lack of motivation among the students
to develop reading skills in the classroom teaching context.

1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

Reading in view of Grabe and Hunt (2003) is considered as a cognitive process of

learning the language from the textbooks used for academic purposes. It is not merely
a matter of comprehending information by guessing words and structures to
reconstruct meaning encoded in a text. This recent shift in viewing reading as a
discourse activity focusses on the ability of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating
texts introduced for academic purposes compels one to review the old reading practice
and texts taught to intermediate students at college level. The research insights from
Grabe (2002) highlight the importance and influence of discourse structures
essentially develop the conceptual understanding of a text used to teach reading
comprehension skills.

In Pakistan, there is the need of such research so as to help learners develop reading
comprehension and discourse understanding skills. The research carried out by Dar
(2014) also indicates lack of authentic materials, efficiency, and practice in Sindh
Government educational institutes. Therefore, the present research study intends to
investigate reading comprehension and discourse understanding problems faced by
the students at Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur.

English is introduced as a compulsory subject for the students of public sector

colleges to develop proficiency in four language skills. The students, despite learning
English for six years from lower secondary to intermediate level, may lack reading
comprehension and the discourse understanding skills. The fossilized reading habits
and the prescribed textbook could be the major reasons behind the weak proficiency
in reading comprehension skills (Dar, 2012). Though, there might be pedagogical and
curriculum issues affecting the overall performance of teachers and learners at college
level. However, this research study point to the problems in the designed English
course and pedagogical practices applied by teachers in their respective classroom

5
settings. Not only this, but there could also be the problems related to the orthodox
attitude of English language teachers badly discouraging learning in a language
classroom (Naseem, Shah & Tabasum, 2015). Therefore, the professional
development is suggested for the teachers teaching English as a compulsory subject to
the students of intermediate level.

Recent research studies focus on learners’ language needs and finding ways to remove
hindrances in academic context to develop learners’ skills to cope with the issues in
second language learning context, such as Pakistan (Dar, 2012; Chang, 2011 &
Rahman, 2004). In view of research insights, it becomes necessary to involve learners
in reading process activities and tasks for developing text comprehension and
discourse understanding skills. Therefore, the existing English compulsory course and
pedagogical practices need to change the old reading textbook practice for developing
competence in reading comprehension and discourse understanding.

To meet this requirement and to bring about change in reading textbook, a

communicative task-based approach needs to be introduced for setting the objectives
in teaching reading comprehension and discourse. This change is possible only when
the English teachers are provided training opportunities in the field of English
Language Teaching (ELT), and creating such awareness regarding problems and
hindrances related to reading comprehension and discourse for college English
teachers in Sindh. Thus, there should also be regular sittings and inter-communication
between English language teachers for sharing teaching and learning problems.

1.3.1 Summary

Thus, the present research study attempts to answer the research questions by
reviewing the literature, evaluating the textbook, and observing the English
compulsory classes for a close investigation of prevailing classroom teaching
practices. It also intends to uncover the methods and strategies applied by the teachers
teaching reading comprehension through the prescribed English course introduced for
intermediate students of Sindh Government colleges. The study aims to explore the
suitability and the authenticity of Intermediate English Textbook-I in terms of
facilitating reading comprehension skills through task based approach. Finally, the
research study offers suggestions/recommendations in view of the results obtained
from research study.

6
1.4 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

The present research study aims to investigate problems in reading text

comprehension and discourse understanding of the learners in the academic context of
Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges, Pakistan. An Intermediate English
Textbook-I is a part of compulsory course taught to the students for developing
proficiency in four language skills. This research study is to focus on evaluating the
selected texts, skills, and the activities designed in the textbook. The study intends to
uncover pedagogical problems in teaching the textbook to develop reading efficiency
in understanding the discourse. Thus, the study would also find out the causes for the
lack of reading comprehension and discourse understanding problems encountered by
the learners at intermediate level.

1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The specific objectives of the research study are:

a. to discover hindrances for the lack of reading text comprehension at

intermediate level

b. to identify discourse related issues in understanding Intermediate English

Textbook-I

c. to evaluate teaching reading practice through classroom observation in Sindh

Government Colleges

d. to analyze Intermediate English Textbook-I for identifying the issue of

authenticity in the materials.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

The research questions in this study are based on objectives that collectively represent
an overall idea of exploring reading comprehension and discourse based issues in the
academic context of the public sector institutions of Sindh province. The specified
objectives may contribute improvements in the context of current education system
which falls short of the latest trends in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT).
Moreover, the objectives may enhance practitioners’ awareness about teaching
reading skills through a prescribed course at intermediate level. Subject to the

7
findings, this study aims at highlighting the specific areas of concern for language
teachers and stake holders to provide professional development opportunities to the
teachers working in public sector colleges Sindh Province, Pakistan.

8
1.7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

RQ1: To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at Shikarpur

have reading hindrances in English text comprehension at intermediate level?

RQ2: What are discourse related issues for the learners of Sindh Government
Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate level?

RQ3: How far the Intermediate English Textbook-I is authentic in developing

reading comprehension skills of the students at Sindh Government Colleges,
Shikarpur?

RQ4: How reading comprehension skills are taught to the intermediate students of
Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur?

1.8 KEY TERMS IN THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Text: The term text refers to a unit or lesson from the prescribed textbook of English
introduced for the students of intermediate level. These texts are generally selected
from history, religion, arts, literature, and science.

Hindrances: Hindrances in foreign language reading are the problems faced by the
learners while reading the text independently in a classroom. These hindrances in
reading text are vocabulary, context, and the sentence structures used in a text.

Reading Text: Intermediate English Textbook-I is comprised of various lessons/texts

starting with a running head along with the topic of the lesson, such as (Reading Text
One-Pakistan Zindabad).

Comprehension: Comprehension refers to the understanding of a text through

questions given in the end of an each lesson in the textbook. The learners are expected
to answer the questions after reading the texts/lessons in the class.

Discourse: Discourse in reading text comprehension is the understanding of

language used to convey meaning embedded in words, phrases, sentences, and
paragraphs. The readers in foreign language reading are expected to understand the
meaning with the help of contextual clues used in a text. Moreover, discourse

9
comprehension raise learners’ awareness of text structure, its’ organization, and the
coherence ultimately helping learners construct meaning from the large segments of
language used in a text (Sparks, 2012).

Authentic Texts: The term authentic refers to the reading materials being used by the
language teachers in their respective classroom settings. Most authentic texts are
carefully selected from science and real life situation to avoid bias and the wrongly
portrayed picture of the world as the development of competence in acquiring
language skills rejects the idea of old and outdated texts introduced for academic
purposes (EAP). Therefore, the researchers in applied linguistics suggest use of
authentic texts to motivate the learners in foreign language learning process (Nunan,
1989).

10
 CHAPTER 2

LITRATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Research on foreign language learning has widely recognized the importance of

reading skills for the students at secondary and intermediate level in the academic
settings of Pakistan. The ability to comprehend information in English largely
depends upon a learner’s proficiency to construct meaning and build a network of
ideas from the text employing discourse from history, literature, and science (Grabe,
2002). However, the less proficient learners often find it difficult and time consuming
activity because they lack linguistic knowledge and reading comprehension strategies.
The issues identified in the research studies are the lack of lexical knowledge,
unfamiliarity with the context and the structure of text coherence, and the inefficiency
to understand the functions of discourse words (Sparks, 2012). Thus, the literature
review discusses the following aspects of reading comprehension and the problems
highlighted in the research studies with a specific focus on the development of
discourse in foreign language learning context.

Vocabulary and Multiword Units (Section 2.2)

Context in Reading Comprehension (Section 2.3)

Structure of Text Coherence (Section 2.4)

Functions of Discourse Words (Section 2.5)

Focus of the Research Study (Section 2.6)

2.2 VOCABULARY AND MULTIWORD UNITS (MWUS)

Learning a large amount of vocabulary is necessary for the development of reading

skills. The lack of lexical knowledge mainly hinders the comprehension of a learner
because a large number of them fail to know the meaning of unknown words used in a
text. Grabe (2003) considers it necessary to know the maximum amount of words for
developing reading fluency of a foreign text. He argues that “a reader should know

11
95% or more of the words encountered in a text for minimal comprehension, and
these words need to be recognized automatically with minimal conscious effort”
(p.280). It therefore becomes important in the light of quoted statement that the
foreign language readers should read extensively for developing vocabulary
knowledge and comprehension skills.

Moreover, the vocabulary in discourse is not merely an occurrence of isolated words

in a text. It includes multiword units which collectively form a pattern to convey
authors’ intended message and bring about coherence in a text. These multiword
units are consisted of idioms and phrasal verbs formulating a string in a sentence to
represent a single meaning that is used as a conventional form of speech. Its use in a
text is either specific or a conventional one, for example, a watched pot never boils,
by and large, to smell a rat; honesty is the best policy and no way. The use of such
expressions in a text is as complicated as a slight change in the structure can distort
the whole meaning of a text. On the pedagogical point of view, no one has yet been
able to offer a truly satisfactory way of teaching them due to the cultural complexity
of language implied in the context of a text (Schmitt, 2000).

In 2003, Hunt and Beglar suggested teaching of vocabulary through dictionaries for
better comprehension of new words. They were of the opinion that the use of
bilingual dictionaries in foreign language reading generally helped learners to know
the meaning in their mother tongue on account of providing the entries of words in
English and their translated synonyms. Low proficient language learners may refer
translations while the advanced ones can concentrate on English section. This
teaching strategy involves the learners to know the lexical information offered by a
dictionary, and the said information have implications on raising awareness
regarding the meaning and the use of words in a text.

2.3 CONTEXT IN READING COMPREHENSION

According to Long and Richards (1987) “guessing vocabulary from context is

perhaps the most important of the word attack skills. The students should be made
aware of the number of language clues available to them when they are stopped by an
unfamiliar word” (p. 240). Most efficient readers apply it unconsciously to deduce
meaning from the context but the less proficient users may find it difficult and time

12
consuming activity due to the lack of interest and weak reading skills. However,
applying context based teaching approach in a reading class may train them using
word attack technique to solve the underlying reading problems.

In an article on reading discourse, Harmer (1991) attaches importance to the teaching

of reactivating reading sub-skills like previewing, context, and background
information. The learners have these skills in their own language but are less effective
when exposed to reading in a foreign language. Generally, the English teachers
teaching receptive skills need to make learners conscious of their natural ability. The
consciousness raising factor may cognitively improve their reading efficiency, and
may involve them to apply both the sub-skills for better comprehension of a text. It is
therefore important to involve learners in context based reading strategies for
developing semantic efficiency to understand the background of a reading text.

Nation (2003) discovers that guessing meaning of unknown words in context is one of
the important reading strategies dealing with the semantic based activities of
comprehending a text. He states that “it involves learners consciously focusing on
unknown words, interrupting their normal reading, and systematically drawing on the
available clues to work out the unknown word’s meaning”(p.271). This process shifts
learners’ reading focus from the ideas to the contextual clues of the passage to know
the meaning of unfamiliar words determined by the context. Hence, it is a conscious
mental activity which specifically focuses on guessing meaning from context and later
becomes a regular practice of a learner’s memory.

Nation (2003) is of the opinion that there are a number of benefits of guessing
practice such as, giving learners’ confidence to learn the meaning of unknown words,
raising their awareness of contextual clues, and helping them to avoid unnecessary
concentration on the structures to exactly guess the meaning. The structures may
enlarge readers’ knowledge about the organizational pattern in the text but cannot
help them understand the meaning of such syntactical formations. Therefore,
understanding the sense or an idea becomes more important than knowing about the
formation of structures.

Improving vocabulary through context based activities is an unconscious reading

strategy which fluently goes along with reading text information, but a planned

13
attempt to learn only vocabulary includes learning of its other features like synonyms
and antonyms. It alerts the readers about multiple meanings of a word at different
places of a text and facilitates them to know the accurate one in the real language
context. Thus, the Foreign Language Learners (FLL) may be facilitated with such
reading strategies to practice matching exercises for locating the synonyms of the
words given in the textual activities (Nation, 2003).

2.4 STRUCTURE OF TEXT COHERENCE

A text, may it be scientific, literary or any other is composed of sentences and

paragraphs. There are ideas, constructed in a way to transfer writer’s intended
message to the readers. The sequence of ideas makes a text coherent, and also helps in
comprehending the information conveying meaning in the background of a text. As
Koda (2005), strongly argues that the “text is not an amalgamation of randomly
ordered sentences. It is organized in ways that facilitate its message transmission to
form coherent text representations so as the reader must understand the specific ways
coherence relations among text elements are signaled both explicitly and implicitly”
(p. 127). The message transmission includes sentences and discourse devices to make
shifting in the ideas, and bring about connection between the sentences. Thus, it is the
linking between different segments of text that creates a path way for the readers to
read without hindrance.

In another study on text coherence, Koda (2005) finds that a large number of foreign
language learners generally lack knowledge regarding the structural aspects of text
coherence. This knowledge is comprised of text segments, organization of
information through the words, key sentences and paragraphs. These are collectively
based on a pattern to formulate a sequence in the occurrence of topic sentence, main
idea, and the conclusion. Identifying each segment in a reading text is an obligatory
part of understanding the text coherence because many efficient readers follow the
same pattern in all English texts.

Moreover, there are linguistic as well as organizational clues such as, linking words,
headings, and sections contributing to the overall development of text coherence.
These clues perform certain specific functions of presenting the information in a way
to show contradiction, comparison, additional information, and the connection

14
between different ideas of a text. The English language teachers may raise learners’
awareness of reading text organization and coherence based on the modern
pedagogical strategies involving the learners to recognize the functions of linguistic
clues used in English texts to become efficient readers (Grabe, 2005).

2.5 FUNCTIONS OF DISCOURSE WORDS

Discourse words play significant roles in the linking of information, logical sequence
in the ideas, and the context used in a text. These function are known as text guiding
signals showing the connection, contradiction, comparison, and divergence in the
arrangement of ideas. As in view of Long and Richards (1987), that the “discourse
markers make students conscious of the effect of organization on the message of a
writer” (p. 241). He further elaborates that a writer makes use of discourse devices to
convey his message to the readers but their primary purpose is to raise awareness
regarding the discourse pattern of a text to understand that message. Thus, the foreign
language learners need to develop comprehension skills and the ability to understand
the meaning based on the functions of discourse words.

Furthermore, recognizing the sentence pattern to know how one idea leads to another
improves upon the discourse learning but a large number of foreign language learners
lack this ability, and need to be aware of the use of sentence connectors employed in a
text as discussed by Harmer (1991) in his work The Practice of English Language
Teaching. He further highlights the importance of teaching reading discourse that
facilitates the learners understanding of various functions being performed by the
discourse markers employed in a text. Though, most of the foreign language learners
have reading discourse problems yet modern teaching can help them remove the
underlying difficulties in comprehending a foreign.

Reading discourse implies pedagogical implications on the language learning process,

particularly the instructional strategies that involve the learners in knowing the use of
reference words, comparisons, contradictions, and the role of other grammar
structures in the context of a reading text. The teaching strategies not only ensure
reading involvement but also cognitively impact upon the discourse learning as it
improves comprehension, and enable the learners to acquire the language skills more
proficiently. Furthermore, the instructions designed to raise contextual cues provide

15
background information for deducing the underlying sense of a structure used in a
text. It is therefore important for the foreign language readers to develop the
comprehension ability of understanding the discourse as a process of knowing the
meaning, and the use of language in different contexts focusing on the linking of
sentences, coherence, and the shifting of ideas in a text (Schmitt, 2000).

Reading discourse however, is consisted of vocabulary, context, structure of text

coherence, and the functions of sentence connectors contributing to establish text
coherence, and perform certain linguistic functions in a text. As vocabulary in context
gives an accurate meaning while the sentence connectors link the ideas to
communicate information through text conveying meaning. Finally, the transference
of information requires the readers to have a good understanding of reading discourse
as an important aspect of comprehension skills, and the instructional design must
emphasize the development of discourse through the text based activities. It is
therefore strongly suggested in view of the literature reviewed that the English
language teachers should involve the learners in reading based tasks for the
development of comprehension skills and the discourse understanding to deduce the
underlying meaning in the context of a text (Schmitt, 2000 & Harmer, 1991).

2.6 FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

Keeping in view the research insights discussed in the literature review (See Section
2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 for further details), the present study focuses on reading
comprehension problems associated with the pedagogical practices and the materials
used in a classroom (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008). The development of reading
comprehension as indicated in box ‘a’ is closely associated with the pedagogical
process highlighted in the box ‘b’ below (Zheng, 2014). The role of language teaching
materials in box ‘c’ is also shown as the strongest indicator of engaging the learners in
reading comprehension process (Dar, 2012; Zafar & Mahmood, 2015). Therefore, this
research study shows that the development of reading comprehension is pedagogically
associated with the effective teaching methods and materials used in a classroom.

Box a. Reading comprehension process

Bellet and Gursoy (2008) defines reading as an ability to extract information,

comprehend ideas, and build meaning from a text. This process involves interaction of

16
the reader with a text to recognize words, process sentences, and interpret meaning
from the lexical and syntactical clues available in a text (p. 37). However, the
learners’ language learning background, strategic awareness, and the development of
linguistic knowledge can significantly influence the overall comprehension of a text
(Singhal, 2000). There are psychological and individual differences, such as the
translation of text into mother tongue and the transference of knowledge from L1 into
L2 are also responsible for the poor comprehension abilities. Therefore, the successful
reading comprehension can only takes place when the learners are engaged in
meaningful activities (Grabe, 2009).

Box b. Pedagogical Process

Pedagogical process refers to the methods and strategies applied to develop reading
comprehension skills of the students in foreign language learning context. The
approaches to English Language Teaching (ELT) has undergone various development
phases from Grammar Translation Method (GTM) to the development of
Communicative Approach (CA) in language teaching contexts. A recently held view
regarding the use of pedagogical process attaches importance to the comprehensible
input provided through the language instructions in a classroom setting (Krashen &
Terrel, 1983). However, the traditional practice of reading skills in public sector
colleges of Sindh focuses on loud reading and the translation of text in mother tongue
(Dar, 2014). Thus, the pedagogical awareness among the English language teachers is
necessary for applying the appropriate teaching strategies so as to facilitate reading
comprehension skills (Nation, 2003).

Box c. Materials Evaluation

Language teaching and learning materials can significantly contribute the

development of reading comprehension skills in foreign language learning context.
The materials evaluation is considered as an important aspect of surveying the
language learning needs of the students in accordance with the textbooks used in
classroom (Miekley, 2005). However, the prescribed textbooks used in public sector
colleges of Sindh need to be evaluated to judge communicative aspects of language
learning, authenticity of selected texts, a wide range of linguistic and cognitive tasks
included in the book (Dar, 2012; Naseem, Shah & Tabassum, 2015). A number of

17
 texts in view of research insights are selected from political history, religion, literature
and science, but the selection proves to be less effective because it provides old and
outdated information (Dar, 2014). Therefore, a framework suggested by Mieley
(2005) is designed to evaluate the Intermediate English Textbook-I in terms of
addressing language learning needs of the students at higher secondary level.

b c

Pedagogical Process Materials Evaluation

 Teaching reading practice  Textbook description

(Ro, 2003 & Rahman, 2004) (Miekley, 2005)

 Teaching reading comprehension  Skills evaluation

(Bellet & Gursoy, 2008) (Dar, 2012)

Reading Comprehension Process

 Reading hindrances
(Rahman, 2004)

 Comprehension strategies
(Bellet & Gursoy, 2008)

 Discourse related issues

(Grabe et al, 2009)

Figure 2. 1 Graphical summary of the focus the study

18
 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The previous chapter reviewed literature regarding the important insights related to
the development of competence in reading comprehension skills. It highlighted the
major reading hindrances connected to the structural and semantic aspects of
developing reading from the foreign texts introduced for academic purposes. The
present chapter answers the following research questions by presenting the research
methodology, research approach, and the design of the instruments.

RQ1: To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at Shikarpur

have reading hindrances in English text comprehension at intermediate level?

RQ2: What are discourse related issues for the learners of Sindh Government
Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate level?

RQ3: How far the Intermediate English Textbook-I is authentic in developing

reading comprehension skills of the students at Sindh Government Colleges,
Shikarpur?

RQ4: How reading comprehension skills are taught to the intermediate students of
Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur?

The rest of chapter includes the following sections:

Research Approach (Section 3.2)

Research Design (Section 3.3)

Selection of Research Instruments (Section 3.4)

Design of Research Instruments (Section 3.5)

Sampling Plan (Section 3.6)

Summary (Section 3.7)

19
3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH

Research approaches in view of Creswell (2009) are detailed plans and procedures
employed to investigate an issue or a problem through specific methods of data
collection in the field of education. Historically, there have been three forms of
inquiry in social science research, i.e. qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approach. A qualitative research approach is generally known as non-numerical and
inductive in nature tending to obtain and understand data from the point of view of
individuals. A quantitative research approach deals with the numerical data generally
obtained through the questionnaires and surveys involving statistical packages for the
analysis. A mixed methods approach combines both qualitative and quantitative
strategies at the stage of data collection for a complete understanding of an underlying
problem or phenomena in question (Creswell & Clark, 2009; Dornyei, 2007; Morgan,
2007).

Keeping in view the available methods of inquiry in education, the questionnaires

have been the popular methods of investigation in foreign language reading problems
and discourse understanding issues (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; Hung & Ngan, 2015;
Zhang & Seepho, 2013). However, the quantitative approach helps in gathering a
large amount of data relatively in short period of time, but it also has an inherent
weakness in obtaining the required data from the respondents. The statistical
strategies tend to be useful in examining the relationship between variables, but may
fail to explore the complexity of an issue from the numerical data received from the
respondents (Dornyei, 2007). A qualitative component is necessary to be incorporated
in the study to compensate the weakness of quantitative strategy for an in-depth
understanding of the issue under investigation (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006).
Therefore, no any form a single method of inquiry can sufficiently guide a research
study, capture the phenomenon, and adequately address the problem in a given
context (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998).

The researchers in the field of social science have been using mixed method design
since its emergence in the late 1980s. It believes in selecting several research
strategies from various philosophical assumptions grounded in post-positivist,
constructivist, and pragmatic views of the world (Creswll, 2010). In view of
Denscomber (2008), mixed methods relieves a researcher from the methodological

20
limitations by providing multiple research methods to avoid bias and the inherent
weakness of any single research approach (p. 272). Thus, the proponents of mixed
methods approach reflect diversity, conceptual framework, procedure for data
collection and analysis combined in a single research study.

By combining the two strands of research approaches, the current study adopts mixed
method design for collecting quantitative data from the participants using
questionnaires, and the qualitative data from the materials’ evaluation, and the
classroom observations of the teachers teaching English as a compulsory subject at
intermediate level (Rahman, 2004; Zhang, 2014; Anmarkrud & Braten, 2012; and
Ness, 2011). The primary objective behind the selection of mixed method design is to
investigate and understand reading comprehension problems from the various
perspectives of the research in the given context. It is also hoped to generate the
combination of quantitative and qualitative data so as to avoid bias and some internal
drawbacks of any mono-method approach. Hence, the combination of two research
approaches seem to strengthen the direction of study for appropriately addressing the
problem raised in the research study.

The questionnaire investigating reading comprehension problems was mainly adapted

from the previous studies conducted by (Rahman 2004; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; Hung
& Ngan, 2015; Zhang & Seepho, 2013; and Grabe, 2000). The context of Sindh
Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur is very much different from those
studies conducted in various parts of the world. However, many questionnaire items
were modified keeping in view the current context of the research study and the
learners’ socio-linguistic and academic background at intermediate level. It was
therefore necessary to incorporate qualitative aspects, such as the materials evaluation
and classroom observations so as to obtain the data from the real experiences of life.

3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN

The present study employs mixed method design for addressing the research problem
using various methods of inquiry related to the qualitative and the quantitative
approaches in social science discipline. In view of Teddlie and Tashakkori (2009),
mixed method is defined as a parallel or concurrent triangulation design having
similarity with concurrent equal status design (p. 190). This approach generally
adopts separate quantitative and qualitative methods to offset the drawbacks of one
21
method with the strengths of the other (or conversely, the strengths of one adds to the
strengths of the other) (Creswell, 2009). Both the qualitative and the quantitative
approaches work together to gather data concurrently in one phase from the context of
the research study. Thus, the rationale behind using mixed method design is to obtain
the data relatively in short period of time as compared to other research designs in
mixed method paradigm (Teddlie and Tashakkori, 2009).

Zhang, (2014) and Bellet & Gursoy (2008) provide an example of this design
matching with the current study on foreign language reading problems faced by the
learners in their respective academic settings. The quantitative part of the study
explores the practice of comprehension strategies employing questionnaires and
qualitative part focuses on the teachers’ observations in their respective classroom
settings. Additionally, the materials evaluations in qualitative strand also attach
importance to the triangulation of data occurring at the stage of analysis for drawing
the results separately from the tools employed in the study. Thus, the present study
also used a questionnaire, materials evaluation, and the classroom observation for
addressing the research problem.

Considering the aspects of mixed method design suggested by Creswell (2009), the
present research incorporated the following elements in the study:

Timing implies the data collection strategy applied to gather data concurrently in one
phase or sequentially in multiple phases (Creswell, 2007). A sequential design focuses
on the selection of one kind of data (either quantitative or qualitative) and its analysis
in one phase. The results drawn from the first phase are used to build the second
phase of the study. Later, the second sort of data is gathered and results are interpreted
in the discussion section (Creswell, 2007). However, in concurrent study design, both
sorts of data are collected in one part taking place at the same time (Leech et al,
2009). In the present study, the data were gathered concurrently in one phase during
(August, 2016 to September, 2016). Thus, the questionnaire data was collected from
150 participants along with the materials evaluation, and the classroom observations
of the teachers.

Weighting in view of Creswell (2009) is the value or priority attached to any one or
two forms of inquiry in social science research. The researcher may equally treat

22
quantitative and qualitative approaches in process of data collection and analysis in
the study. However, in a concurrent study design, the weighting or value is often
equal between the quantitative and qualitative approaches. The current study also
attaches equal importance to the both approaches of inquiry because number of
questionnaire was more than 100 than classroom observations and the material
evaluation, but the complexity of situation is deeply explored through the qualitative
approach.

The mixing in mixed method design deals with the combination of data acquired from
the quantitative and qualitative strands of inquiry. The data can be merged on the one
end of continuum or kept separate on the other end of continuum (Creswell, 2009).
There are multiple modes of mixing data for instance, a researcher may collect and
analyze the data using results of the first phase to direct the second phase of the study.
A researcher may collect numerical and non-numerical data concurrently to integrate
it later in the two databases. This type of mixing is known as the integration of data in
mixed method design (Creswell, 2009). In addition, a researcher may gather one form
of data as primary and later on collects another sort of data as secondary to clarify the
aims for integrating the two form of data. Hence, the present study collects two forms
of data together or concurrently in one phase and the discussion section brings
important insights together to have an integrated picture of the findings.

To sum up, figure 3.1 depicts the research design used in the present study.

Data Collection: QUAN Data Collection: QUAL

Timing: (concurrently with QUAL Timing: (concurrently with QUAN

data collection) data collection)

Data Analysis: QUAN Data Analysis: QUAL

Results/Discussion

Mixing: Triangulation

Product

Composite understanding of
23
the research questions
 Figure 3. 1 Research design used in the present study

3.4 SELECTION OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

In order to answer the research questions mentioned in the previous section (1.7), the
present study employs questionnaire, materials evaluation, and the classroom
observations for exploring reading comprehension problems and discourse
understanding issues faced by the learners at Sindh Government Intermediate
Colleges, Shikarpur.

The questionnaires have been the common methods of investigation in the area of
reading comprehension hindrances encountered by the foreign language learners
(Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; Hung & Ngan, 2015; Zhang & Seepho, 2013). The
popularity of questionnaires is due to the fact that they are easy to construct,
extremely versatile, and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of data
relatively in a short period of time (Dornyei, 2003). It is more focused, less time
consuming, and more structured source of recording the responses from the
participants of the study (Rasinger, 2008). Keeping in view the advantages, the
present study employs questionnaires as a major source of gathering data from the
respondents of the research study.

Moreover, the methods of evaluation in qualitative studies have served the purpose of
investigating the textbooks used for classroom teaching activities (McGrath, 2002). In
this regard, the impressionistic method deals with layout, content, illustrations, and
the overall features of target language incorporated in the activities, and also the
language skills designed in the textbook (Miekley, 2005). An in-depth method
critically evaluates the communicative functions and the language learning needs of
the students based on the claims, assumptions, and the objectives mentioned by the
author in the textbook (McGrath, 2002 and Sheldon, 1998). There is also a checklist
method which provides a criterion for evaluating the elements of target language in a
more systematic and organized way than the previously mentioned methods. It is a
more convenient and effective method to not only draw the rich data, but also record
it descriptively in the designed codes and categories. Thus, the present study in view

24
of the research insights on materials evaluation employs checklist method to evaluate
the contents, activities, and the skills designed in the Intermediate English Textbook-I
prescribed for public sector colleges of Sindh (Zafar & Mahmood, 2016; Naseem,
Shah & Tabasum, 2015 and Dar, 2012).

There are a wide range of instruments employed to investigate the interaction,

behaviour, attitude, and the activities of the people taking place in a natural setting
(Carrel et al, 1989). The most commonly used methods in qualitative research are the
observations to record factual data of the context specific settings (Rahman, 2004). In
participant observation, the investigator is required to become a part of the culture or
context being observed in the study. It implies an extended period of time as the
observer can be accepted naturally to become part of the culture in a real situation.
However, the direction observation is a more focused way of looking at the things
neutrally without taking part in the activities observed in the study (Lincoln and Guba,
1981). It tends to remove bias by focusing on the specific areas of concern being
observed in a limited period of time. Therefore, the present study employs direct
observation to gather factual data on the practice of teaching reading skills to foreign
language learners in public sector colleges of Sindh (Alyousuf, 2005; Dar, 2014;
Zhang, 2012; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008).

3.5 DESIGN OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

3.5.1 Questionnaire for learners on reading hindrances

The previous chapter identified three important variables: reading hindrances, reading
comprehension strategies, discourse related issues (See Section 1.8). In order to
explore them, a questionnaire on four point Likert scale was developed to investigate
learners’ reading comprehension hindrances and discourse related issues in foreign
language learning (Zhang & Seepho, 2013; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008). The
questionnaire is comprised of three parts: Section-I Reading Hindrances, Section-II
Reading Comprehension Strategies, and Section-III Discourse Related Issues, which
are discussed below.

Section-I: Reading hindrances: This part elicited data from the respondents on
frequently encountered problems in reading comprehension of an English text. It
enquired about the following reading habits:

25
  encountering difficult words
 reading aloud the text
 translating text in mother tongue
 lacking background knowledge
 preferring lectures than reading text
The nine items included in the first part of the questionnaire collected data regarding
major reading hindrances frequently faced by the learners in carrying out the
comprehension activities in a classroom (Rahman, 2004 and Hung & Ngan, 20105).
These hindrances are mainly caused by the lack of vocabulary development, faulty
reading habits, and the traditional teaching strategies applied to teach the text in a
classroom context (Zhang, 2014). Thus, the data drawn from the respondents intends
to explore and understand causes behind the lack of reading comprehension skills in
foreign language learning context.
Section-II: Reading comprehension strategies: This part sought to investigate the
use of reading comprehension strategies in understanding an English text. It gathered
data from the participants on the comprehension strategies given below:
 predicting text
 guessing meaning from context
 locating specific information
 associating previous knowledge to understand new ideas
 identifying key ideas
There are eleven items included in second part of the questionnaire to investigate the
problems faced in using the reading comprehension strategies in a classroom. They
were asked to respond the statement items so as to become familiar with the
frequency of reading comprehension strategies employed to carry out the language
activities (Zhang, 2014 and Grabe 2000). Most of these strategies are fluently used by
the proficient learners in their interaction with the text to know the meaning and
develop ideas from the language clues (Ro, 2013). However, the less proficient
leaners are less acquainted with the reading comprehension strategies due to the weak
proficiency in English and traditional reading practice (Rahman, 2004). Therefore, the
second part of the questionnaires intends to obtain data from the participants
regarding the reading strategies employed to interact with an English text.

26
Section-III: Discourse related issues: This part of the questionnaire intends to
investigate discourse related issues faced by the learners in understanding the deep
meaning and the hidden message of a text (Komiyana, 2013 and Zhang, 2014).
 understanding deep meaning
 constructing meaning by connecting sentences
 identifying the type of text using context
 understanding text organization
 understanding the shifting of ideas
 differentiating between a fact and opinion

The third part of the questionnaire aims to gather data regarding the discourse related
issues encountered by the participants in reading comprehension of a text (Grabe,
2009). The items included in this part require learners to report issues causing the lack
of discourse understanding in reading the selected texts (Bellet & Gurosy, 2008). The
successful comprehension requires a leaners to know the underlying meaning
conveyed through a text (Nation, 2005). However, the deficit learners can
comprehend information, but cannot understand the deep meaning using language
clues from a text. Therefore, the discourse related issues are investigated through the
statement items given in the third part of the questionnaire.

3.5.2 Materials Evaluation

The qualitative part of the study employs textbook evaluation checklist comprised of
three parts. The first one deals with the textbook description, the second one gathers
data on the variety of language skills, and the thirds one evaluates the activities
incorporated in the textbook (Miekly, 2005 and Naseem, Shah & Tabasum).

Section-I: Textbook description: It appears as a main category in the evaluation

process followed by six subcategories mentioned below:

 interesting contents
 foreign language culture
 authentic language
 real life issues
 literary genres
 scientific texts

27
Textbook Description deals with the external aspects such as, interesting contents,
foreign language culture, and authentic language in the book. The data from these
subcategories may uncover important insights regarding the selection of texts from
history, religion, literature, and science (Zafar & Mahmood, 2016). Most of these
texts in view of Dar (2009) lack motivation, interest, and the language learning
features taking place in communication or in real life situation. Additionally, the data
from real life issues, literary genres, and scientific texts may reveal the important
insights related to the selection of effective, appropriate, and challenging texts
included in the textbook. Thus, the textbook description aims to evaluate whether the
selected texts develop interest, motivation, and address the language learning needs of
the students at intermediate level (Naseem, Shah, & Tabasum, 2014).
Section-II: Skills evaluation: It is included as a main category in textbook evaluation
process followed by four subcategories mentioned below:
 presentation of skills
 preview to the topic
 comprehension skills
 cognitive skills
Skills evaluation highlighted as a main category gathers data regarding the various
skills incorporated in the Intermediate English Textbook-I introduced for the students
of public sector colleges across Sindh (Cunningsworth & Kusel, 1991). There are
various subcategories aiming to investigate whether the language skills incorporated
in the textbook meet the requirements of language learning process or traditionally
focus on learning grammar structures included in the book (Harmer, 1991). The
subcategories also aim to gather data regarding the cognitive development of learners
through the various skills incorporated in the English textbook at intermediate level.
Thus, the overall aim of skills evaluation is to confirm whether the language skills
involve the learners in language learning process or merely focus on the practice of
grammar structures (Dar, 2012).

Section-III: Activities evaluation: It is specified as a main category in materials

evaluation process followed by the following subcategories:

 pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading

 vocabulary learning

28
  text comprehension questions
 deep meaning
 discourse words

Activities evaluation critically examines how well the language activities in

Intermediate English Textbook-I generally facilitate the learners to acquire
proficiency in English for comprehending the text successfully (Naseem, Shah &
Tabassum, 2015). The subcategories in this section draw a large amount of data to
investigate and understand the usefulness of activities designed in the textbook. The
data gathered from reading comprehension process, vocabulary learning, and text
comprehension questions may reveal critical insights regarding the development of
ability in comprehending the text successfully (Dubin & Olshtain, 1986).
Additionally, the deep meaning and discourse words are employed as subcategories to
evaluate the effectiveness of activities designed to develop comprehension skills.
Therefore, the process of activities evaluation may contribute meaningful insights
regarding the suitability, effectiveness, and the function of activities designed in the
textbook (Cunningsworth, 1995).

3.5.3 Classroom Observation

Another qualitative part of this study is to conduct classroom observations of the

teachers teaching English as compulsory subject at Sindh Government Intermediate
Colleges, Shikarpur. This research tool is designed to collect data from the classrooms
for assessing the current pedagogical practices, teaching skills, linguistic awareness,
and the professional development to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in
academic context (Rahman, 2004; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; and Zhang, 2014). Thus,
the research tool employed in the study mainly focuses on teaching reading practice,
teaching reading text comprehension, and teaching reading discourse to the students
of intermediate level (Alyousuf, 2005; Barness, 2012; and Carrel et al, 1983).

Part-I: Teaching reading practice: The first part of classroom observation checklist
is comprised of seven parts mentioned below:

 lesson planning
 reading tasks
 independent reading
 pair work/group work
29
  lecture information
 translating text
 loud reading

Teaching reading practice highlighted as a main category critically provides the

descriptive accounts of the prevalent methods and strategies used by the teachers
teaching reading skills to the students of intermediate level. Using lesson planning,
reading tasks, and independent reading as subcategories gather data on the important
aspects of reading instructions because these strategies can involve the learners in the
activities necessary for developing the comprehension skills (Galton, Hargreaves,
Comber, Wall, & Pell, 1999). Whereas, the lecture information, translating text, and
loud reading explore the traditional practice of teaching reading skills in the
classroom context. Therefore, the main category specified as a teaching reading
practice investigates the current pedagogical practices applied by the teachers
teaching English a compulsory subject at intermediate level.

Part-II: Teaching reading text comprehension: The second part of classroom

observation checklist is followed by following subcategories:

 brain storming
 background information
 key ideas
 vocabulary learning
 guessing meaning
 locating information
 long sentences

Teaching reading text comprehension is followed by seven subcategories displaying

the major aspects of text instructions in a foreign language classroom setting (Patton,
1990). It involves a close investigation of brainstorming, background information, and
key ideas as the essential strategies of teaching text comprehension in Foreign
Language Reading (FLR) research (Duke & Pearson, 2002). Additionally, the
observation checklist provides critical insights regarding the use of instructional
strategies employed by the teachers teaching Intermediate English Textbook-I. Thus,
the subcategories obtain data from the practice of teaching reading skills so as to

30
confirm the use of comprehension strategies by the teachers teaching the prescribed
textbook (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008).

In view of the past studies on Foreign Language Reading research (FLR), the teaching
of key ideas, vocabulary learning, guessing meaning, locating information, and long
sentences help to familiarize the learners with the structure of text and its
comprehension (e.g., Bakken, Mastropieri, & Scruggs, 2002; Cook, 1983; Pullido,
2007). However, the insights from the observation can reveal the lack of above
strategies in the classrooms as the teachers are generally unaware of the instructional
strategies used to develop text comprehension skills. Therefore, the investigation of
teaching text comprehension in classroom observation may reveal the existing of
pedagogical strategies used by the teachers in public sector colleges of Sindh (Pearson
& Rodriguez, 2002).

Part-III: Teaching reading discourse: The third part of classroom observation

checklist is followed by following subcategories:

 contextual clues
 deep meaning
 text organization
 discourse word
 constructing meaning

Teaching reading discourse intends to investigate the use of contextual clues, deep
meaning, text organization, discourse words, fact and opinion, constructing meaning,
identifying text, detailed reading, and shifting of ideas by the teachers in a classroom
(Grabe, 2008). The past studies have revealed that the learners in Foreign Language
Learning (FLL) need to be efficient in understanding the context of language used in a
text. The first four categories reflect the importance of discourse activities essential
for understanding the deep meaning with the help of using contextual cues in the text.
However, the evaluation of observation data can reveal the lack of familiarity with the
text organization because many studies indicate the use of teaching grammar without
integration of reading skills in classroom activities (Ting & Tee, 2008).

Another set of strategies included in the observation show the valuable insights
regarding the various functions of sentence connectors linking information in a text.

31
The discourse strategies can raise learners’ awareness to evaluate the texts based on
the facts and opinion in reading comprehension (Grabe, 2008). However, teaching
reading through translation method may fail to develop comprehension skills because
the learners cannot deduce meaning from language context of a text (Koda, 2007).
The data from teaching reading discourse may highlight the key issues faced by the
learners in developing critical thinking skills to understand the discourse of a text.
Therefore, the third part of classroom observation checklist investigates the use of
discourse strategies in teaching the Intermediate English Textbook-I to the students of
public sector colleges, Sindh.

3.6 SAMPLING PLAN

The sampling plan for this research study seeks to select participants from Sindh
Government Intermediate College, Pakistan. It includes a questionnaire for collecting
data from the participants on reading comprehension problems and discourse related
issues at intermediate level. In order to investigate the issue, cluster sampling strategy
will be used to select four Government colleges of district Shikarpur to represent the
homogeneity of overall population (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000). Since, all
the Government colleges follow a prescribed English course, and the teachers
teaching in these institutions hold Master’s Degree in either discipline (English
language or literature). They are recruited through a selection process comprised of
written and oral examination conducted by (Sindh Public Service Commission,
Hyderabad). Therefore, the respondents from selected colleges are thought to
represent the overall population of Sindh province because of having homogenous
characteristics.

According to the official statistics (2015), uploaded on the website of Education and
Literacy Department Government of Sindh (ww.sindheducation.gov.pk/statistics/
collegeEducation.jsp), there are two hundred and fifty (male/female) intermediate and
degree colleges established in district headquarters of Karachi, Hyderabad,
Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, and Larkana regions. Shikarpur, being the district headquarter of
Larkana region has one female and three male intermediate and degree colleges
representing the rural and urban population of Sindh. Moreover, there are some non-
Government colleges in the district which too follow the prescribed English course at
intermediate level. However, the present study plans to select four public sector

32
colleges of district Shikarpur to represent the rural and urban population of Sindh
Province.

In order to draw a sample from widely dispersed population across Sindh, the
researcher selects four public sector colleges of district Shikarpur for the sake of
convenience in accessing and investigating the problems faced by the participants of
this study. This being an area of cluster sampling helps researcher gather data from
the respondents of a group of colleges located in a specific geographical location.
However, the issue of representativeness is addressed by dividing the population into
homogenous groups and identifying their similarities, such as participants’
sociocultural, linguistic, and economical background (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison,
2000). Therefore, the participants from selected colleges not only share sociocultural
and linguistic similarity, but also show main strata of rural and urban population.

By using stratified sampling strategy under the area of cluster sampling, the research
will classify the selected colleges into three major categories. These categories would
coherently represent the rural, urban, and female population of the district Shikarpur.
In the first category, two public sector colleges of the rural areas will be selected to
represent the male population, the female population is represented in the second
category consisting of a female college, and the third category shows urban
population of the villages in the district headquarter. Thus, the strategies applied for
drawing out the sample may be representative of overall population of Sindh
province.

The respondents from selected colleges participate in the survey regarding

comprehension problems and reading discourse issues faced by them. The researcher
conducts classroom observations of approximately (10-12) teachers teaching English
to the students of selected colleges. The study also aims to analyze Intermediate
English Textbooks-I through an evaluation checklist adapted by the researcher from
the past studies on reading comprehension problems in foreign language learning.

3.6.1 Sampling plan for students’ questionnaire survey

The sample size for students’ questionnaire survey mainly draws upon three
categories of public sector institutions of district Shikarpur. Amongst these, three
Government colleges including a female one from rural areas, and the one from urban

33
areas/villages are selected for conducting a questionnaire survey on reading
comprehension problems and discourse related issues faced by the learners at
intermediate level. Therefore, the number of respondents for carrying out the survey
largely depend upon the number of students present in the classrooms at Government
colleges of Sindh.

Education Name of (Male) (Female) (Female) (Male) No. of

Region District Rural Rural Urban Urban Colleges
Colleges Colleges Colleges Colleges Selected
Larkana Shikarpur 01 00 01 02 04
Table 3. 1 Presents Sampling Plan for the Selection of Colleges

3.6.2 Sampling Plan for Classroom Observation

In order to conduct classroom observations for gathering data on the practice of

teaching reading skills, the researcher plans to observe intermediate classes of
selected Government colleges in the research study. The researcher after seeking
consent from the management of concerned institutions and teachers would carry out
the process of collecting data from eight English classes of four categorized colleges.
The sampling plan for conducting classroom observations is shown in the table below:

Table 3. 2 Presents the Sampling Plan for Classroom Observations

Sr. Name of the Category Type Discipline Total No. No. of
college of Classes
No.
Classes Selected
1. C&S Government Male (Urban) Science 05 02
Degree College College
2. Government Shah Male/Female Commerce 02 02
Latif Arts & (Urban)
Commerce College Commerce
College
3. Government Girls Female (Urban) Science 03 02
Degree College College

34
 4. Government Boys Male (Rural) Science 02 02
Degree College College
Madeji

3.6.3 Sampling plan for Textbook Evaluation

English compulsory course introduced for the students of public sector colleges across
Sindh is comprised of prose, poetry, drama, and grammar. The students at college
level practice reading comprehension through an Intermediate English Textbook-I
prescribed by all Examination Boards of Sindh. The textbook prescribed for the
students contain twelve reading based texts and tasks, and the researcher plans to
evaluate the selected lessons by using a checklist adapted for the purpose of
evaluation.

Table 3. 3 Presents the Sampling Plan for Textbook Evaluation

Title of Name of Year of Level/Grade Total No. No. of
Textbook Publisher Publication of Lessons Lessons
Selected
Intermediate Sindh Textbook 2015 XI 14 14
English Book-I Board, Jamshoro

3.7 SUMMARY

This chapter has presented the rationale for choosing a mixed methodology. The
chapter began with the research problem and the approach to address the issue in the
present study. This was followed by an explanation of the research study. It presented
in detail the process of developing the research instruments along with sample design
followed in the research study.

35
36
 CHAPTER 4

QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The previous chapter discussed in detail the research methodology, research approach,
research design and the research tools employed in this study. The present chapter
quantitatively analyzes the data collected from the respondents of this research study.
There were one hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires distributed among the
participants of Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur. The study
employed only one hundred (100) questionnaires for data analysis because the rest of
fifty were either left blank or not returned to the researcher while conducting survey
in the colleges. The analysis of data provides descriptive measures with mean and
standard deviation of the statement items given in the questionnaire. Thus, the
analysis reports the results in view of the following research questions employed to
investigate the learners’ reading comprehension problems at intermediate level.

RQ1: To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at Shikarpur

have reading hindrances in English text comprehension at intermediate level?

RQ2: What are discourse related issues for the learners of Sindh Government
Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate level?

Part-I of the questionnaire (Reading Hindrances) deals with the problems frequently
discussed in foreign language reading research (Hung & Ngan, 2015; Zhang &
Seepho, 2013; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; and Rahman, 2004). These hindrances are
generally caused by the lack of vocabulary development, faulty reading habits, and
the traditional practice of teaching reading skills in English compulsory classes.
Besides learners’ reading hindrances, the existing pedagogical practices may be less
effective to develop comprehension skills taught through the textbook activities. One
possible reason could be the lack of skill development and guidance for the learners to
employ comprehension strategies in reading text independently in classroom context.
Hence, the items in the first part of the questionnaire investigate the hindrances

37
causing the lack of competence and skill development in reading comprehension of a
text at intermediate level.

Part-II of the questionnaire (Reading Text Comprehension) includes eleven items on a

range of multiple reading strategies discussed by Bellet and Gursoy (2008), and the
factors underlying poor comprehension in foreign language learning (Komiyana,
2013). These strategies can involve the learners in comprehension activities to guess
meaning from context, understand main ideas, and locate the specific information in
reading text. In foreign language, these strategies are employed as the important ways
and means to build meaning from connected text. However, the learners lacking
comprehension strategies often use translation to understand meaning into mother
tongue but it hinders comprehension and also distorts the underlying meaning in
context. Therefore, the second part of the questionnaire aims to explore the problems
in acquiring reading comprehension skills and the strategies through the prescribed
textbook of English at intermediate level.

Part-III of the questionnaire (Discourse Related Issues) adapts nine items from the
past studies on discourse comprehension which is related to the deep meaning or
hidden message conveyed in a text (Grabe, 2009; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; and
Rahman, 2004). The learners in foreign language reading can construct meaning from
connected text by employing discourse comprehension strategies. However, the
translation strategies makes it difficult for the foreign language learners to acquire
semantic awareness and discourse comprehension skills to know the meaning of a
text. As the translation of a foreign text focuses on knowing the meaning into mother
tongue, but cannot develop the ability to infer meaning from the language context of a
text. Therefore, the third part of the questionnaire intends to obtain data from the
students on discourse related issues encountered in developing semantic
understanding of a text.

4.2 PARTICIPANTS’ ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

In Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges, English has been introduced as a

compulsory subject and the medium of instruction (MoI) from lower secondary to
intermediate level. The teachers follow prescribed English course to develop learners’
proficiency in four language skills and the practice of grammar structures. This
teaching practice seems to ignore the cognitive development of a learners because it

38
shifts his role from an active participant to a passive listener of information in English
compulsory classes (Dar, 2014). It also shows that the teacher centered approach
applied in language teaching context may not involve the students in meaningful
communication to share ideas about real life situation. Therefore, the learners in
teacher centered classes are mostly threatened, suppressed, and demotivated to discuss
the learning problems and issues independently.

Moreover, the practice of translation and loud reading may be the major causes
behind learners’ weak proficiency in reading comprehension of a text at intermediate
level. One possible reason could be learning style set on sight-writing, and listening to
the lectures making students to memorize summaries, and answers to the questions
provided in the classroom. It shows as the learners may be lacking mental
involvement and the ability to read text independently without translation into mother
tongue. Therefore, the study intends to investigate the problems in reading text
comprehension and the issues in discourse understanding of the learners at
intermediate level.

Part-I Descriptive Analysis

4.3 READING HINDRANCES

The table 4.1 below provides descriptive statistics of reading hindrances eliciting
information from one hundred participants on four-point Likert scale for nine
statement items given in the first part of the questionnaire (Kothari, 2006). Each
questionnaire item in the analysis provides mean and standard deviation of the
problems frequently encountered by the learners in Foreign Language Reading
Comprehension (FLRC).

39
 Table 4. 1 Descriptive Statistics of Reading Hindrances
Reading Hindrances All Participants

Statement Items Mean Std.

Deviation

I find reading texts boring in English textbooks. 2.05 1.114

I encounter difficult words while reading text in English. 3.04 1.014

I am asked to read aloud the text with correct pronunciation in 2.84 1.509
classroom.
I imitate translation of reading text by the teacher in classroom. 2.96 1.230

I skip reading when encountering unknown words in reading 2.01 1.219

lessons.
I lack motivation in reading some texts included in English 2.26 1.211
textbook.
I lack background knowledge to predict the text before reading 3.71 1.225
comprehension.

I cannot concentrate on long sentences to understand the meaning. 2.67 1.319

I prefer to listen lectures rather than reading text. 3.65 1.445

In the first part of the questionnaire, the statement item 1 indicates that the majority of
learners find many selected texts boring or disinteresting (m=2.05) on account of
lacking authentic language in existing English textbook-one (Nation, 2003). The term
‘authentic’ in view of Nunan (1989) refers to the language learning materials having
features of communication used in real life situation. However, the language learning
materials used to develop text comprehension skills lack motivation and the
communication skills in Intermediate English Textbook-I (Dar, 2014). The table 4.1
indicates another problem causing major reading hindrance is the deficiency of
vocabulary skills (Item2) because most of intermediate students lack semantic
knowledge regarding the meaning of unknown words used in an English text
(m=3.04). It reveals that reading comprehension cannot take place successively unless

40
the decoding skills are acquired to extract the meaning from the passage (Eskey,
2005).

A further look into the questionnaire data also reveals the majority of learners
generally practice loud reading (Item3) for the sake of improving pronunciation in
classroom (m=2.84). They are classified by Cromer (1986) as deficit group in
cognitive view of reading who possess linguistic knowledge, but cannot decode the
meaning from syntax. A majority these learners as highlighted in table 4.1 imitate the
translation of reading text into mother tongue (Item4) because they lack decoding
skills to unlock the meaning of words (m=2.96).

Moreover, the analysis indicates that the large number of learners often skip reading
(Item5) while encountering the difficult words in reading text (m=2.01). They
approach reading text by translating meaning into mother tongue failing interaction
with the ideas to decode message and extract meaning from the words and sentences
(Perfetti, 1988).

In case of statement item 6, it is reported that the majority of higher secondary

students lack motivation and interest in reading some old texts providing religious and
political information on various ideologies (m-2.26). The selection of such texts
proves to be less effective in developing reading comprehension skills because these
contents fail to attract learners’ interest in reading and addressing the language
learning needs (Dar, 2012). In addition, the learners lacking background knowledge
(Item7) as shown in table 5.1 fail to predict what a text conveys for reading
comprehension (m-3.71). This in fact shows the learners’ deficiency in reading text
independently, inability to understand information, and the limited exposure to
comprehension tasks (Nezami, 2012).

Moreover, the results obtained from the questionnaire item 8 reveal that the maximum
number of learners have difficulty in constructing meaning from the complex
sentence structures employed in a text (m=2.67). It is generally known as the
grammar structures form a meaningful unit of syntax, but the learners being
unfamiliar with text structures often have comprehension problems in foreign
language reading (Penny, 2000). The learners as shown in table 4.1 remain passive on
account of teachers’ elaboration of instructions during lesson (Item9) because the
teaching methods follow teacher centered approach to manage the classroom activities

41
(m=3.65). Thus, the overall results obtained from reading hindrances reveal that the
learners are provided less learning opportunities to acquire comprehension skills from
the textbook activities introduced for intermediate students (Alyousuf, 2005).

4.4 READING TEXT COMPREHENSION

The second part of questionnaire deals with reading comprehension strategies

employed to understand vocabulary in language context, access information through
questions, and construct meaning from language clues (Nezami, 2012). This study
investigated the practice of foreign language reading strategies among the students in
approaching the Intermediate English Textbook-I used for improving comprehension
skills. Each statement item as shown in table 4.2 below provides mean and standard
deviation of reading comprehension strategies applied to understand an English text.
However, the outcomes obtained from the descriptive analysis of questionnaire data
revealed the learning problems in acquiring the strategies necessary for developing
text comprehension skills (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008).

Table 4. 2 Descriptive Statistics of Reading Text Comprehension

Reading Text Comprehension All Participants

Statement Items Mean Std.

Deviation

I predict the main ideas of reading text from the contents of its title 3.29 1.351
I turn to dictionary when encountering difficult words in reading text 3.39 1.370
I guess the meaning of unknown words using context of reading text 3.34 1.130
I locate important information in the passage for answering the 3.31 1.574
questions of reading text comprehension.

I use the simple words to replace the difficult ones in sentence 3.58 1.288
understanding.
I associate previous knowledge for the understanding of new ideas. 3.42 1.327
I comprehend a reading text by focusing on the key sentences of each 4.05 1.175
paragraph.

I read large texts by dividing it into paragraphs. 3.06 1.301

I do not pay attention to sentence structures while reading text 2.40 1.378
comprehension.
I read only the first and last paragraph of reading text for drawing 2.67 1.349
conclusions quickly.

42
 I cannot comprehend a reading text without understanding context. 3.19 1.376

In second part of questionnaire data analysis, the item 10 indicates that the college
students mostly find it difficult to apply prior knowledge (Schemata) for acquiring
new information from the textbook (m=3.29). They generally lack predicting skills for
a number of reasons such as, the deficiency of background information, insufficient
vocabulary knowledge, and the lack of conceptual understanding (Nezami, 2012). The
participants as shown in table 4.2 responded on item 11 that they hardly refer
dictionaries for knowing the meaning of unfamiliar words encountered in reading text
(m=3.39). A same number of students were also observed to skip difficult words
(Item12) because they lacked competence to guess meaning from language clues
available in a text (m=3.34). This shows pedagogical gap causing hindrances for the
language learners to acquire reading strategies through the textbook activities
introduced for the students (Varzegar, 1995: 112).

A further investigation into the questionnaire data (Item13), reveals that the learners
mostly fail to locate specific information of comprehension questions given at the end
of each lesson in the textbook (m=3.31). The process of strategic reading as
mentioned by Varzegar (1995) not only involves linguistic knowledge, but also
requires efficient integration of ideas and the construction of meaning from the text
structures. However, the students as indicated in table 4.2 cannot comprehend the
complex sentence structures (Item14) because they lack structural knowledge applied
to extract meaning from syntax (m=3.58). Thus, the reason behind learners’ weak
proficiency in foreign language reading may be due to the influence of translation
method and loud reading practice in classroom context (Nezami, 2012: 314).

Moreover, the item 15 in table 4.2 deals with comprehension ability to associate
previous knowledge for the understanding of new ideas from an English text (Hedge,
2003). Contrary to this strategy, the analysis of questionnaire data reveals that the
majority of learners at higher secondary level fail to link what they already know
about reading a new text (m=3.42). Another drawback reported by the learners on
item 16 was the lack of attention paid to key sentences to understand the various parts

43
of a text to know the organization of ideas (m=4.05). The results not only reveal the
lack of strategic awareness among the students, but also indicate the pedagogical
problems existing in facilitating reading comprehension skills (Carrel et al, 1989).

In descriptive analysis of questionnaire data, it is highlighted in table 4.2 that the

learners at intermediate level mostly encounter comprehension problems in reading
the long and complex texts (Item17). The results reveal inability to access information
by dividing these lengthy lessons or texts into introduction, middle, and conclusion
(m=3.06). However, Grabe (2005) suggests that the less proficient learners may apply
the strategies to access information in some possible ways for interpreting the
meaning of a text (p. 8). Apart from approaching the large texts, the learners as shown
in table 4.2 mainly fail to construct meaning from long sentences (Item18) because a
large number of them lack knowledge regarding sentence structures used in a text
(Carrel et al, 1989).

A further analysis of questionnaire data in table 4.2 explores the most commonly used
strategies among the readers dealing with the idea of selective reading to draw
conclusion from a text (Item19). The outcomes as indicated in the analysis reveal that
there are some learners who mostly read the first and the last paragraph, or focus only
on key sentences to draw conclusion from a text (m=2.40). However, the majority of
same learners were also identified with certain L2 reading deficiencies while handling
with a detailed comprehension tasks for a deeper understanding of information
(Grabe, 2005). The analysis of statement item 20 in reading text comprehension
reports that the learners fail to understand the context due to the lack of knowledge
regarding the language clues available in a text (m=3.31). It is therefore important for
the language learners to acquire comprehension strategies so as to become proficient
in understanding the text in context (Pressely, 2002).

4.5 DISCOURSE RELATED ISSUES

Third part of questionnaire data analysis discusses the key issues faced by higher
secondary students in text study skills and the problems in discourse comprehension
of a text. This process involves critical thinking skills, strategic awareness, and
linguistic competence to know the various function of language performed in a text
(Grabe, 2009). The statement items provided in table 4.3 below covers a range of text

44
 comprehension skills and the strategies applied to understand the structure of a text
(Pressely, 2002). A considerable amount of attention has also been paid to the
interactive approaches in teaching discourse comprehension skills through expository
texts (Grabe, 2002; Zhang, 2014; Hung & Ngan, 2015). Therefore the analysis of data
not only discuss the discourse related issues, but also uncovers the pedagogical
problems in teaching reading comprehension to foreign language learners.

Table 4. 3 Descriptive Statistics of Discourse Related Issues

Discourse Related Issues All Participants

Statement Items Mea Std.

n Deviation

1. I do not pay attention to some parts of a text for understanding its 2.32 1.270
deep meaning.
2. I can understand long sentences by analyzing their structure. 3.52 1.227

3. I try to interpret the writer's intention while reading text in pairs. 3.20 1.385

4. I construct meaning of a reading text by connecting sentences 3.68 1.213

together.
5. I identify the type of text from the use of language in context 3.77 1.213

6. I understand text organization by giving topics to the paragraphs. 3.13 1.315

7. I can evaluate a reading text on the basis of evidences provided in 3.11 1.278
the text.
8. I try to differentiate between a fact and opinion while reading text in 3.23 1.362
detail.
9. I understand the shifting of ideas with the help of sentence 3.31 1.228
connectors used in a text.

Discourse comprehension being presented in the analysis identifies an important issue

to understand the deep meaning of text structures implied to convey message to the
readers (Item21). A large number of learners as shown in table 4.3 mostly fail to pay
attention to some parts of a text to know the deep meaning (m=2.40). It seems as the

45
learners have not acquired awareness about discourse structures which fail the
comprehension process to know what the writer intends to convey in a text (Grabe,
2000: p.9). Moreover, the analysis further reveals that the majority of learners at
intermediate level cannot analyze the structure of long sentences (Item22) for they
lack structural knowledge to comprehend the meaning of text structures (m=3.52).
Thus, the analysis makes it clear that the knowledge regarding language structures
contributes comprehension and develop discourse understanding of the students in
foreign language learning context (Pearson & Fielding, 1991).

In the case of statement item 23, it has been indicated in table 4.3 that the majority of
learners at intermediate level rarely practice pair-work activities to share ideas about
text in a classroom (m=3.20). Whereas, the proficient readers in view of Grabe (2002)
find this strategy useful for the interpretation of information through comprehension
questions based on a text (p.9). The learners can understand information to a great
extent if the comprehension questions explore text for a deeper understanding of
meaning conveyed through the discourse pattern of ideas. However, a large number of
learners as identified in table 4.3 encounter problems to construct meaning from
connected text (Item24) because they lack awareness and the ability to decode
message from a text (m=3.68). It seems as the teaching methods applied to teach text
comprehension activities fail to involve the learners in strategic reading for raising
awareness about discourse understanding of a text.

Discourse comprehension being an important strategy to access information deals

with ability to know the type of text from the language context available to a reader
(Item25). The responses as shown in table 5.3 demonstrate the limited use of
discourse comprehension strategies applied to identify the type of text (m=3.77).
Moreover, the statement item 26 also reveals the same results in terms of learners’
lacking ability to understand the organization of information in a text (m=3.13). The
analysis of above items reveals that the learners lacking discourse awareness not only
encounter comprehension problems, but also fail to understand the underlying
meaning of a text. Therefore, the learners need to achieve overall comprehension by
raising awareness about discourse structures and its functions performed in a text
(Grabe, 2009; and Shiotsu, 2010).

46
A further analysis of questionnaire data in table 4.3 identifies an important issue
related to the critical reading skills applied to evaluate text information based on the
evidences and supporting details (Item27). The ability to read critically involves
comprehension strategies, background knowledge, and the awareness about discourse
structures used in a text (Nezami, 2102). However, a large number of learners as
indicated in the analysis were mostly unable to employ critical thinking skills due to
incompetence in reading comprehension and the knowledge regarding discourse
structures employed in a text (m=3.11).

The analysis of statement item 28 in table 5.3 also provides the same results in terms
of the readers’ ability to identify the difference between fact and opinion in a text
(m=3.25). One of the major reasons for the lack of reading to identify the arguments
is learners’ inefficiency to understand the discourse structures of a text (Grabe, 2002).
Thus, the responses received from the participants on statement item 29 reveal that the
large number of intermediate students fail to know the functions of discourse words
making shifting of ideas in reading text (m=3.31).

4.6 SUMMARY

Finally, the descriptive analysis of questionnaire data not only uncover the reading
hindrances, but also explores the lack of text comprehension strategies among the
participants who encounter discourse related issues while understanding the deep
meaning of a text. The participants traditionally practice reading instead of using the
comprehension strategies to guess meaning from context, extract information using
sub-skills, and develop ideas from the sentence structures used in a text.

47
 CHAPTER 5
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERMEDIATE
ENGLISH TEXTBOOK-I

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The previous chapter presented the quantitative findings related to RQ1 and RQ2
only. The current chapter mainly focuses on RQ3: how for the Intermediate English
Textbook-I is authentic in developing reading comprehension skills of the students at
Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur? To address the research question, the data
gathered from a pre-defined checklist was qualitatively analyzed into themes and
concepts. The evaluation process critically examined the authenticity of selected texts
and tasks designed to develop reading comprehension skills of the students at
intermediate level. The statement items included in the checklist were mainly adapted
from the previous studies conducted by Zafar & Mahmood (2016); Naseem, Shah &
Tabasum (2015) and Miekly (2005) on materials evaluation. Thus, the checklist
critically examines the selection of texts, tasks and the skills incorporated in
Intermediate English Textbook-I.

The rest of the chapter contains following sections:

Data Analysis Procedure (5.2)

Textbook Description (5.3)

Skills Evaluation (5.4)

Activities Evaluation (5.5)

Summary (5.6)

The checklist employed to evaluate the prescribed textbook consisted of three parts,
each one examined the reading materials from a different perspective of learning a
foreign language. The first one deals with the external aspects such as, the contents
and the use of language, and the second one investigates the language skills catering
to the academic needs and interests of the students, and the third section explores the

48
type of language activities designed in the textbook (Miekley, 2005). The checklist
included open ended questions for the description of answers given in the analysis of
the data driven from the research instrument. Thus, the data coded and categorized in
the following tables represent the important areas of textbook description, and its
drawbacks in the comments.

5.2 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

Taking into the accounts of textbook evaluation research, McGrath (2002) describes
the methods of evaluating the language teaching materials, like textbooks used for
developing the reading skills in Foreign Language Learning (FLL) context. The
impressionistic method deals with layout, content, illustrations, and the overall
features of target language providing an idea about the presentation, and organization
of activities. An in depth method critically evaluates the various functions and the
aspects of language learning based on the claims, assumptions, and the objectives
mentioned by the author in the textbook. The checklist method provides a criterion for
evaluating the elements of target language in a more systematic and organized way
than the previously mentioned methods. It is a more convenient and effective way of
not only drawing rich data, but also recording it in relatively a short period of time on
a predefined checklist designed for the evaluation of a textbook. Thus, the present
study in view of the research on textbook evaluation employed a checklist method to
gather and analyze data on the basis of criterion developed for the investigation of
prescribed textbook for the students of intermediate level (McGrath, 2002).

The checklist used for evaluating the prescribed textbook is comprised of three parts
including (a. Textbook Description, b. Skills Evaluation, c. Activities Evaluation).
Each part of the investigation contains statement items, or the investigating areas
being already used by the researchers in the field of textbook evaluation in Foreign
Language Learning (FLL) context (e.g., Richards, 2001; Cunningsworth and Kusel,
1991; Zabawa, 2001). The evaluative items in the instrument are carefully
incorporated in terms of the teaching context, objectives behind the learning of an
additional language, and the purpose of evaluation. Finally, the evaluation makes
suggestions/ recommendations regarding the authenticity and suitability of prescribed
textbook for the students at intermediate level.

49
Part-I: Textbook Description

Textbook description presented as a main category of evaluation in table 5.1 is

consisted of six subcategories describing the external features of the textbook used by
the students for developing reading skills. The textbook used for the classroom
teaching practice cover multiple activities on comprehension, composition, and
grammar but many of these lack integration of reading and writing skills. (Koda,
2005). A large number of learners in public sector colleges find many selected texts
disinteresting due to the presentation of old and outdated information except few
lessons from science, and the stories from humor, and adventure. The selected texts
mainly focus on the religious ideologies representing the authors’ view point rather
than the challenges/issues faced in real life situation stimulating communication. It
therefore seems as the authors/editors have not adequately addressed the language
learning needs and the interest of the students in the prescribed textbook of English at
intermediate level.

Considering culture as an integral part of learning a foreign or an additional language

(Graces, 1998), the present study evaluated the reading materials based on the
checklist data measuring the aspects of culture in the selected texts. The data obtained
from the textbook evaluation indicated the lack of target language culture into the
lessons selected for the teaching of reading comprehension skills at intermediate level.
A number of lessons in reading textbook hardly expose learners to a foreign language
culture because the contents selected from various genres focus on presenting the
information rather than development of communication (Zafar & Mahmood, 2016).

Moreover, the textbook description also provides data on the presentation of language
skills which hardly address the language needs of the students in present academic
and teaching context. The insights obtained from the checklist data revealed that the
materials used for the teaching of reading skills were found inappropriate in terms of
learners’ interest and the use of language in real life situation. Therefore, the textbook
prescribed for the development of reading comprehension skills not only fails to
address the language learning needs of the students, but also lacks cultural aspects in
learning a foreign language. (Dar, 2012).

50
51
 Table 5. 1 Subcategories within the Main Category of Textbook Description
(n=06).

NO. Subcategories Description Comments

1 Interesting Interesting contents develop Most of the selected texts are old
contents learners’ interest in reading and outdated in the prescribed
comprehension. textbook of English at intermediate
level.
2 foreign The contents on foreign Intermediate English Textbook-I
language language culture develop fails to promote language
culture communicative competence of proficiency of the students because
the students by providing traces the selected texts focus on religious,
of communication. political, and historical information.

3 Authentic Authentic language refers to the Most of the selected texts are
language contents focusing on designed to develop language
communication taking place in proficiency of the students, but the
real life situation. contents lack authentic language.
4 Real life The texts focusing on real life Many selected texts in the
issues issues can easily attract the prescribed English course provide
learners’ interest in reading religious, political, and historical
comprehension. information.

5 Literary The selection of texts from Some texts from humor, adventure,
genres literary genres tends to be and fiction are included in the
useful for teaching language Intermediate English Textbook-I to
through literature in the develop language skills of the
classroom. students.

6 Scientific Scientific texts are preferred to There are some old scientific texts
texts teach reading skill because there included in the prescribed English
is less ambiguity for the textbook at intermediate level.
learners to comprehend
information.

52
1 Interesting Contents

Interesting contents specified as a subcategory of textbook description in table 5.1

covers an important aspect of using developmentally appropriate materials in reading
instructions designed for Foreign Language Learners (FLL). In this regard, the
interesting contents are often recommended by the researchers to be used for
developing the learners’ interest and motivation in target language learning (Dar,
2012). The data analyzed from the textbook evaluation indicated that seven out of
fourteen (7/14) different lessons from history, religion, literature, and science were
found interesting on account of learners’ interest and relevance to their academic
background (Dar, 2012). Based on the data from criterion checklist, it was explored
that all other texts lacked motivation and the updated information for attracting
learners’ interest in carrying out reading comprehension activities (Small, 1997).

2 Foreign Language Culture

According to Gareez (1998), exposing the learners to a foreign culture through

textbooks improves their efficiency, and the understanding about the language used in
real life situation. The evaluation presented in table 5.1 above reveals the results of
critical insights regarding the use of cultural aspects in the materials used for
improving reading comprehension skills. The results obtained from the checklist
shows that zero out of fourteen (0/14) lessons are embedded with the cultural
knowledge because the designers have not adequately addressed the underlying issue
in designing the textbook. Therefore, the learners in the context of the research study
not only lack proficiency in comprehension, but also in communication used for the
social and practical purposes of life (Zafar & Mahmood, 2016).

3 Authentic Language

Authentic language highlighted as a subcategory of text description in table 5.1 refers

to the type of communication taking place in daily routine/real life situation. The
selection of classroom teaching materials containing authentic language play an
important part in motivating the learners to acquire ability and communicate
effectively (Richards, 2001). They find such materials interesting and facilitating for
developing the comprehension and communication skills. However, the textbook

53
evaluated in the research study lacked features of authentic language in the texts
designed for the teaching of reading skills at intermediate level. The results obtained
from the table 5.2 explored that zero out of fourteen (0/14) lessons were found
authentic in terms of facilitating learners with the traces of real language use and
communication in real situation. Thus, the learners in view of the outcomes fail to
develop comprehension skills because the prescribed textbook hardly attract their
interest in learning a foreign language (Dar, 2012).

4 Real Life Issues

Real life issues specified as a subcategory of textbook description in table 5.1 deals
with the contents providing substantial amount of information on the hobbies, events,
incidents, and the challenges faced in the practical life. The selection of such contents
provide an adequate level of learning opportunities to the students correlating their
experience with newly acquired information from the materials (Le, 2005). Though,
the textbook prescribed for current classroom teaching hardly engage learners in the
development of comprehension skills as most of the contents present out of date
information which mismatches the language learning needs of the students. Thus, the
outcomes obtained from the table 5.2 explored that zero out of fourteen (0/14) texts
were based on real life issues to attract learners’ interest in reading and addressing
their problems in understanding the prescribed text. (Dat, 2003).

5 Literary Genres

In view of Koda (2005), designing and selecting texts from literary genres such as,
novel, story, humour, and adventure provide a vast variety of materials to the students
for developing their interest and motivation in reading text comprehension. It is
highlighted as a subcategory of textbook description in table 5.1 that deals with the
various texts included in the textbook for the practice of teaching reading skills to the
students of intermediate level. The materials evaluation explored that four out of
fourteen (4/14) texts were selected from humour, adventure, and stories, while the rest
of them contained historical, religious and cultural knowledge in the textbook
(Naseem, Shah & Tabassum, 2015). The selection of such texts can attract learners’
interest in reading comprehension, but the teaching strategies lack mental
involvement due to the translation of text into mother tongue. As a result, the learners
fail to develop interest in reading text independently because the teaching instructions

54
hardly help them acquire competence in reading comprehension skills (Williams,
2005).

6 Scientific Texts

Scientific texts specified as a subcategory of textbook description in table 5.1 deals

with the selection of rational contents used for the teaching of reading skills in
Foreign Language Learning (FLL) context (Sidek, 2012). This selection provide
factual data in an orderly, coherent, and organized way as the readers can easily
comprehend information with less linguistic efficiency implied in the structures
interpreting scientific information (Boling & Evans, 2008). However, the textbook
evaluated in the research study contained four out of fourteen (4/14) scientific texts,
but lacked modern information as per the academic needs and the demands of the
students (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994). Thus, the table 5.2 below provides the
percentage of the overall subcategories evaluated in the textbook description.

Table 5. 2 Evaluation of Textbook Description Showing Results of Subcategories

(n=06).
NO Subcategories NO. of Results Percentage
. Texts

1 Interesting contents 07 7/14 50%

2 Foreign language culture 00 0/14 0%

3 Authentic language 00 0/14 0%

4 Real life issues 00 0/14 0%

5 Literary genres 04 4/14 28.6%

6 Scientific texts 04 4/14 28.6%

The overall analysis of textbook description included six subcategories on the external
evaluation of the prescribed textbook of English at intermediate level. The first three
aspects of interesting contents, foreign language culture, and authentic language

55
contribute the development of reading materials, but the textbook used in the research
study contained less interesting texts due to the presentation of old and outdated
information. Another subcategories revealed that many reading texts were selected
from religion, history, and science and few of these contained features of literary
genres such as, novel, story, and humor. Thus, the textbook description in view of the
subcategories highlighted the lack of scientific texts, interesting contents, and the
absence of foreign language culture in the prescribed course book of English
introduced for the students of intermediate level.

Part-II: Skills Evaluation

The second part of evaluation in table 5.3 critically examines the language skills
presented in the textbook taught to the students of Sindh Government Intermediate
Colleges, Shikarpur. It is specified as a main category followed by the four
subcategories such as, the presentation of skills, preview to the topics, comprehension
and cognitive skills. All of these aspects are frequently used by the researchers (e.g.,
Naseem, Shah & Shafqat, 2015; Sidek, 2012; & Miekley, 2005) in their studies on
textbook evaluation.

The first one discusses the variety and suitability of all four language skills such as,
listening, speaking, reading, and writing-designed in view of satisfying the language
learning needs of the students. Another feature or the subcategory added in table 5.3
investigates how well the contents/lessons provide preview to the topics included in
the textbook taught to the students. Moreover, the third one elaborates and uncovers
the learning aptness, and the linguistic competence implied in the comprehension
skills of the textbook used by the students in classroom activities. Thus, the last
subcategory explores in what way the development of language is supported by the
cognitive skills through the prescribed textbook used by the students at intermediate
level (Miekley, 2005).

56
 Table 5. 3 Subcategories within the Main category of Skills Evaluation (n=04).
NO. Subcategories Description Comments
7 Presentation of The language skills The language skills are not
skills appropriately presented in a appropriately incorporated in
textbook focus on the learners’ the textbook prescribed at
involvement in language intermediate level.
learning process.
8 Preview to the Preview to the topics is The textbook lacks preview to
topics designed to elicit background the topics or any illustration
knowledge of the students regarding the development of
through questions, pictures, general idea about the text.
and graphs.

9 Comprehension Comprehension skills focus on Comprehension skills in the

skills the ability of extracting the prescribed textbook of English
information from the texts focus on reproducing the
used in the classroom. information through questions.

10 Cognitive skills Cognitive skills are the The activities designed in the
language learning activities prescribed textbook of English
focusing on the mental focus more on practicing
involvement of a learner to grammar structures rather the
acquire language competence language development.
through a textbook.

7 Presentation of Skills

In view of Cunnings worth and Kusel (1991), the integration and the arrangement of
various tasks in an organized way deals with the presentation of skills designed in the
textbook being evaluated for the learners’ language needs in the teaching and
academic context. It is indicated as one of the important subcategories in table 5.3
which critically investigates the language skills presented in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I. The data analyzed from the textbook evaluation measured that zero out of
one hundred and seven (0/107) activities were integrated with the language skills
specified in table 5.4 below. It was also explored that a large number of activities in

57
the textbook not only lacked appropriate instructions, but also the context, and
relevance to the text. These isolated activities proves to be less helpful for the learners
in acquiring the language efficiency to communicate effectively. Thus, the designers
in view of the results are found less aware of the integration of language skills and
their successful application through the textbook and teaching instructions (Ur, 1996
& Harmer, 1991).

Table 5. 4 Presentation of Skills Showing the Number of Activities (n=04).

Language No. of Percentage No. of Integrated Percentage
Skills Activities Skills

Listening 0 0% 0 0%
Speaking 0 0% 0 0%
Reading 14 100% 0 0%

Writing 14 100% 0 0%
Grammar 79 564% 0 0%

8 Preview to the Topics

Preview to the topics specified as a subcategory of skills presentation in table 5.3

discusses the important insights obtained from the textbook evaluation. It facilitates
the learners in activating their acquired knowledge (Schemata) through questions,
pictures, and the statement objectives included in the beginning of an each text/lesson.
The learners generally get acquainted with the basic idea about the topic of a reading
text/lesson in many of the pre-reading activities being carried out in the classroom
(Weideman & Van, 2002). On the contrary, the critical evaluation of the prescribed
textbook explored that zero out of fourteen (0/14) texts provided preview to the topics
due to the lack of recent developments in English Language Teaching (ELT)
(Sheldon, 1998). It is therefore important for the textbook designers and reviewers to
be aware of the modern language teaching methods to incorporate necessary changes
in the existing instructional materials prescribed for intermediate students
(Hutchinson & Torrres, 1994).

58
9 Comprehension Skills

Of the four language skills, reading has been regarded crucial for the achievement of
academic success in accessing information through the textbooks recommended for
the educational objectives (Pretorious, 2002). The Intermediate English Textbook-I
generally attaches importance to the development of comprehension skills through the
activities given in the end of each text highlighted as a subcategory in table 5.3
However, the results obtained from the analysis revealed that the fourteen (14/14)
exercises designed to develop comprehension skills not only lacked proper
instructions, but also the question items involving learners in extracting the required
piece of information.

In view of the textbook evaluation, it was also explored that some of the question
items in the activities focused on the reproduction of information rather than the
understanding of ideas in the text. As a result, the learners fail to develop
comprehension skills because the designed activities only provide limited exposure to
access information, but the detailed reading being an important aspect of
understanding a text is ignored in the prescribed textbook of English (Grabe, 200).

10 Cognitive skills

Considering the natural ability of learning an additional or foreign language, the

researchers in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) have frequently insisted
upon the development of proficiency acquired through the tasks designed in the
textbooks (Miekley, 2005). The development of cognitive skills identified as a
subcategory in table 5.3 discusses the tasks facilitating language learning in the
Intermediate English Textbook-I. Though, the outcomes obtained from the evaluation
explored that zero out of seventy nine (0/79) tasks were designed for the development
of cognitive skills in the textbook. A large number of these activities generally
focused on the drills and the practice of grammar structures, but the functional and the
communicative aspects were not incorporated in the textbook. Therefore, the
designers and stake holders need to review the Intermediate English Textbook-I for
facilitating the language learning through the tasks based on the cognitive skills
(Nasreen, Shah & Tabassum, 2015).

59
60
 Table 5. 5 Skills evaluation showing the results of subcategories (n=03).
NO. Subcategories NO. of Texts Results Percentage

1 Preview to the Topics 00 0/14 0%

2 Comprehension Skills 14 14/14 100%

3 Cognitive Skills 00 0/14 0%

In view of the overall outcomes obtained from the skills evaluation, it was explored
that the Intermediate English Textbook-I failed to facilitate language learning on
account of the activities providing syntactical and lexical practice. The critical
insights obtained from the analysis revealed the drawbacks and shortcoming because
the exercises designed in the textbook not only lacked appropriate instructions, but
also the mental involvement required for the development of comprehension skills
(Dubin and Olshtain, 1986). Moreover, the learners lacked competence in all four
language skills such as, listening, speaking, reading, and writing for the tasks in the
Intermediate English Textbook-I focused on the structural aspects of learning a
foreign language, but the communicative competence required to develop language
skills was ignored throughout the activities designed in the textbook. It is therefore
important for the designers, editors, members and publishers to review the
Intermediate English Textbook-I for making necessary changes to address the
language needs of the students.

Part-III: Activities evaluation

The third part critically examines how well the activities in Intermediate English
Textbook-I generally facilitate the learners to acquire proficiency in English as a
medium of instruction used for imparting education in Government colleges across
the province of Sindh, Pakistan (Naseem, Shah & Tabassum, 2015). The analysis of
underlying activities begins by providing an overall description of the subcategories
specified in the table 5.5. It also discusses whether the process of pre-reading, while-
reading, and post-reading strategies applied in the organization of activities designed

61
in the textbook or not. And, the analysis too uncovers to what extent the available
activities involve the students in the language learning process for acquiring
proficiency in the skills (Cunningsworth, 1995).

Another subcategories in table 5.5 evaluates the activities designed to develop

reading/text Comprehension skills. The tasks in the textbook do not follow an
organizational procedure based on the strategies or the sub-skills guiding the learners
in extracting the information from the text (Alyousef, 2005). To evaluate the learning
of vocabulary, the tasks in the textbook were being investigated for ensuring the
amount of words learnt by the readers through reading text comprehension. It was
also explored that the grammar tasks hardly facilitated the learners to understand the
structure and the meaning of long sentences used in a text because many of these
tasks lacked relevance to the context of the reading text. The evaluation identified that
many of the comprehension questions focused on locating the specific information,
but not the detailed reading to understand the deep meaning of a reading text (Ro,
2013). Moreover, the comprehension tasks were deeply analyzed to ignore an
important aspect of understanding the reading discourse in view of the sentence
connectors making coherence and the shifting of ideas in a text (Grabe, 2002). Hence,
the evaluation deeply investigated the tasks designed in the prescribed textbook of
English, and provided the outcomes in terms of percentage obtained from the
Subcategories mentioned in the table 5.6 below.

62
 Table 5. 6 Subcategories within the Main Category of Activities Evaluation
(n=10)
NO. Subcategories Description Comments
11 Pre-reading, Reading comprehension involves Prescribed Intermediate English
while-reading, sub-skills to develop language Textbook-I lacks reading
post-reading competence of the students in comprehension process for the
tasks acquiring information from the language development of a
textbooks. learner.
12 Learning Learning process refers to the The prescribed textbook designed
process development of ability acquired to develop reading skills of the
through the textbook activities. students lack simple to a more
complex language learning
process.
13 Reading Reading comprehension is the The activities designed to develop
comprehension language ability of a learner to reading comprehension skill
understand information through contain only questions rather the
activities. multiple tasks for understanding
information.
14 Text Text comprehension is the Intermediate English Textbook-I
comprehension process of building meaning from lacks activities on text
process the language used in specific comprehension process.
context.
15 Vocabulary Learning a large amount of The activities designed for the
learning vocabulary is a prerequisite for development of reading skills
understanding a foreign text hardly focus on learning a large
without hindrances. amount of vocabulary.
16 Sentence The learners acquire syntactical Most of the post-reading activities
structure knowledge by analyzing sentence focus on the practice of sentence
structures used in a text context. structures without language
context.
17 Text Text comprehension questions The questions in reading
comprehension direct learners to receive comprehension activities are
questions information from the various parts based on locating the specific
of a text. information in a text.
18 Deep meaning Understanding deep meaning of a There are no activities in the
text requires its critical review or textbook on understanding the
survey through questions to deep meaning of a text.
understand hidden intentions.
19 Discourse Discourse words are known as The textbook activities fail to
words text guiding signals used to involve the learners in the text to
connect sentences for building know the functions of discourse
coherence in the text. words.
20 Shifting of Shifting of ideas refers to the The prescribed textbook lack
ideas connection between various ideas activities to understand the
interpreted in a text. shifting of ideas in reading
comprehension of a text.

63
11 Pre-reading, While-reading and Post-reading Tasks

Contemporary investigations on Foreign Language Reading (FLR) have emphasized

the procedure involved in the organization of activities based on pre-reading, while-
reading, and post-reading stages (Alyousef, 2005 & Ro, 2013). Each one of these
generally expose the learners to a substantial amount of language learning activities
focusing on the development of ability in comprehending a text. This being
highlighted as a subcategory of Activities Evaluation in table 5.5 investigated the
stages/sub-skills of reading text comprehension. The evaluation in table 5.6 indicated
the results of important insights because zero out of fourteen (0/14) activities were
designed to follow the suggested procedure of pre-reading, while-reading, and post-
reading stages. Therefore, the learners find such activities less interesting and
facilitating for the development of comprehension skills in Foreign Language Reading
(FLR).

12 Learning Process

According to Bellet and Gursoy (2008), learning process in Foreign Language

Reading (FLR) involves cognitive and psychological aspects of interaction,
perception, and comprehension of information through the textbooks (p. 37). The
activities designed on the basis of suggested learning process facilitate comprehension
from simple to a more complex mechanism demanding the learners’ interest and the
involvement in reading text comprehension. Though, the outcomes obtained from the
Textbook Evaluation explored that zero out of fourteen (0/14) activities followed the
language learning process highlighted in the table 5.5 above. As, all the
comprehension activities designed in the textbook follow the questions to be
answered through the textual information in reading text comprehension. The learners
therefore find these activities not only disinteresting, but also monotonous and less
helpful to develop comprehension skills in Foreign Language Reading (FLR) (Grabe,
1991).

13 Reading for Comprehension

Reading for comprehension specified as a subcategory of Activities Evaluation in

table 5.5 deals with the understanding of information through the activities designed
in the Intermediate English Textbook-I. The learners in Foreign Language Reading
(FLR) often come across problems while interacting with an English text requiring

64
competence, background knowledge, and the appropriate instructions to follow the
tasks in the textbook (Grabe, 1991). The instructions being an important factor to
carry out comprehension guide learners to employ the strategies or the sub-skills
necessary for extracting the information (p.386). However, the Activities Evaluation
in the study revealed that zero out fourteen (0/14) activities provided appropriate
instructions in terms of facilitating the learners using reading sub skills or the
strategies for locating the information from the text.

14 Text Comprehension Process

In view of Grabe (2002), text comprehension process is one of the major challenges
commonly faced by the foreign language learners in the teaching of reading skills.
The use of comprehension questions can be helpful in reading about what the text
conveys for a deeper understanding of information organized in a text (p.9).
Considering the text comprehension process highlighted in the table 5.5, it was
explored that the comprehension activities designed in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I lacked the above process due to the questions focusing on the reproduction
of information only. Therefore, the results obtained from the table (5.6) also indicated
that zero out of fourteen (0/14) activities were based on the text comprehension
process suggested by the researchers in the field teaching reading skills (Grabe et al,
2002).

15 Vocabulary Learning

Reading researchers in their studies have frequently insisted upon the acquisition of
vocabulary for better comprehension of the text taught to the students in Foreign
Language Reading (FLR) context (e.g., Grabe, 1991; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008). In this
regard, the Activities Evaluation was being carried out to explore to what extent the
learners acquire vocabulary from the tasks designed in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I. The outcomes obtained from the subcategory of vocabulary learning in
table 5.6 indicated that zero out of seventy nine (0/79) activities were based on the
development of vocabulary essential for comprehension skills. Contrary to what the
recent research studies suggest, a large number of the activities in the textbook were
based on the structural and the descriptive aspects of grammar rather than the
development of semantic competence acquired through the context based tasks
(Hedge, 2003). Hence, the activities designed to develop language skills failed to

65
facilitate vocabulary learning on account of the structural grammar approach
employed in the activities.

16 Sentence Structure

Research on Foreign Language Text (FLT) has strongly favoured the idea of teaching
sentence structure to raise the learners’ awareness about the syntactical and semantic
elements employed in a text. (Grabe, 2009). The English textbooks containing
grammar activities mostly lack relevance to the reading text in terms of the context,
and hardly develop efficiency in drawing meaning from the connected sentence
structures used in a text. It is also shown in the table 5.6 that zero out seventy nine
(0/79) activities focused on the teaching of grammar integrating text taught to the
students of intermediate level. In view of the outcomes, it was observed in the
teaching context that the learners lacked comprehension skills in understanding the
Sentence Structures because the activities designed in the English Textbook-I failed to
raise awareness about the grammatical and semantic aspects implied in a text
(Genesee et al, 2006).

17 Text Comprehension Questions

The ability to understand text information reasonably requires the knowledge of basic
grammar skills, efficiency in identifying the main ideas, background information, and
the awareness of context being used in a text (Haller, 2000; Sparks, 2012). For all
these factors, the questions designed in the activities play a major part in leading the
learners locate the important ideas or the specific information for comprehending a
text (p.1731). Considering the importance of text comprehension questions, the
activities designed in the prescribed textbook of English focus on extracting the
specific information from a text skipping the pre-reading and while-reading stages.
The results obtained from the subcategory of text comprehension questions in table
5.6 explored that fourteen out of fourteen (14/14) activities involved comprehension
questions but lacked appropriate instructions on the strategies helping learners in
reading text comprehension. Therefore, the text comprehension of a learner is
frequently hindered by the lack of guidance/instructions in the activities and the faulty
questions to be answered by reproducing the information already known by the
readers.

66
18 Deep Meaning

Deep meaning specified as a subcategory in table 5.5 refers to the ability of

identifying, exploring, and evaluating a text by making inferences from the ideas for a
meaningful understanding of the topic. It generally implies the L2 reading strategies
used for building meaning from the connected text, and a critical survey of
information conveying hidden thoughts manipulated by the author (Kintsch, 2012;
Grabe, 2002). However, the activities designed in a number of English textbooks
generally facilitate comprehension, but not the underlying meaning implying the
semantic network of ideas drawn from the text (Koda, 2005; Grabe, 2009). Keeping in
view the evaluation in table 5.5, it was also discovered that the comprehension tasks
in the textbook lacked critical reading skills necessary for the development of deep
meaning in understanding of ideas. Therefore, the Intermediate English Textbook-I
need to be changed, and reviewed for incorporating the critical tasks essentially
developing the efficiency in understanding the deep meaning of a reading text.

19 Discourse Words

Research insights on Discourse comprehension significantly attach importance to the

lexical cues establishing coherence in the text, and bring forth the organization of
information implying statements, arguments, contradictions, facts, and opinions
(Sparks, 2012). To raise the awareness of these structures, the students need to be
exposed to reading based activities focusing on the functions of Discourse words
highlighted as a subcategory of Activities Evaluation in table 5.5. However, the
investigation of reading based activities in table 5.6 explored that fourteen out of
fourteen (14/14) activities engaged learners in locating the information of
comprehension questions, but the ability to understand the functions of discourse
words was ignored in the tasks. Therefore, the process of discourse comprehension
needs attention to be incorporated in the English textbooks introduced for the
development of reading skills in Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) context (Grabe,
2002).

20 Shifting of Ideas

Recent research studies conducted on the aspects of text organization reveal that the
L2 readers form meaning from the sentences connecting ideas, and the lexical cues

67
bringing about the logical sequence in shifting of ideas specified as a subcategory in
table 5.5 (Grabe, 2002 & Sparks, 2012). The learners need to develop efficiency to
identify the shifting of ideas occurring in the form of arguments, and potentially
influence the overall structure of a text. Contrary to what the research insights
suggest, the learners traditionally practice reading based on the translation of text to
understand the meaning in mother tongue. The results from the table 5.6 also
indicated that the reading activities designed in the Intermediate English Textbook-I
lacked questions on the shifting of ideas for better comprehension of the text. It is
therefore important to involve the learners in the tasks focusing on the development of
ability to understand the shifting of ideas in reading text comprehension.

Table 5. 7 Activities Evaluation Showing the Results of Subcategories.

NO. Subcategories No. of Percentage
Activities
11 Pre-reading, while-reading and post- 0/14 0%
reading tasks
12 Learning process 0/14 0%
13 Reading for comprehension 0/14 0%
Text comprehension process 0/14 0%
15 Vocabulary learning 0/79 0%
16 Sentence structure 0/79 0%
17 Text comprehension questions 14/14 100%
18 Deep meaning 0/14 0%
19 Discourse words 0/14 0%
20 Shifting of ideas 0/14 0%

5.3 SUMMARY

The overall evaluation of Intermediate English Textbook-I prescribed for Sindh

Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur revealed the results of important
insights obtained from the analysis of Textbook Description, Skills, and the Activities
Evaluation. All these three parts were evaluated on the basis of a criterion checklist
suggested by (Miekly et al, 2005). In each part, the subcategories were included from
the checklist items to analyze the data drawn from the evaluative statements

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indicating the outcomes mentioned in the main categories above. The results obtained
from the Textbook Description revealed that the texts selected for the development of
comprehension skills fail to attract learners’ interest in reading due to the lack of
authentic language used in real life situation. Moreover, the selection of political and
religious texts in view of teaching reading skills hardly facilitate comprehension skills
because the use of biased information mismatches the learners’ language and
academic needs. Thus, it was explored in the evaluation that the contents on foreign
language culture not only develop competence in language learning, but also involve
learners in text comprehension process.

The second part of Skills Evaluation was based on the four subcategories to
investigate the presentation, aptness, suitability, and a range of cognitive development
included in the Intermediate English Textbook-I. The results obtained from the
analysis of subcategories revealed that the skills included in the textbook focused on
the structural aspects of learning a foreign language, but the functional and the
cognitive features were not appropriately incorporated in any of the tasks designed for
the development of language skills. It was indicated in the evaluation that the reading
comprehension activities were based on the questions used for locating the
information in the text. The learners structurally reproduce what the information
mentions without changing any word of the text, or to add any critical comment, or a
view on it because the questions in reading text comprehension do not allow the
learners’ autonomy in reading text comprehension. Therefore, the activities designed
for the development of comprehension skills hardly facilitate language learning
through the textbook prescribed for intermediate students.

The third part of Activities Evaluation employed ten Subcategories to explore the
various aspects of reading text comprehension, vocabulary development, use of
grammar structures, function of discourse words, and the deep meaning implied in a
text. The results showed that the comprehension activities in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I were designed to follow the questions without instructions on the use of
appropriate strategies such as, pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading stages.
Another hindrance identified in the evaluation was the use of faulty questions
misleading the learners in reproducing the information already known by the learners
without reading text. Moreover, it was explored in the analysis of Subcategories that
the prescribed textbook failed to facilitate vocabulary learning because many of the

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activities focused on the structural and descriptive aspects of learning grammar. The
learners, however found such activities less helpful for the development of
comprehension skills as none of these were integrated with the text practiced by them.

The results also unveiled that the learners were unable to understand the deep
meaning of a reading text, for it was either taught through the translation method or
the activities failed to facilitate the semantic understanding of a text. Additionally, the
findings confirmed that the activities failed to address the discourse issues being faced
by the learners in reading text comprehension. It was therefore observed in view of
the evaluation that the Intermediate English Textbook-I not only lacked all important
areas of reading text comprehension but also failed to address the language needs of
the students because the activities focused more on the structural/descriptive view of
learning the language.

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 CHAPTER 6
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CLASSROOM
OBERVATIONS

6.1 INTRODUCTION

The previous chapters 4 and 5 presented findings related to RQ1, RQ2 and RQ3 only.
The present chapter addresses RQ4: how reading comprehension skills are taught to
the intermediate students of Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur? The data
gathered from classroom observation checklist focuses on the factual information
related to the practice of teaching reading skills. The data were qualitatively analyzed
using codes and categories emerged out of the raw data. The classroom observations
checklist to record factual information was mainly adapted from Rahman (2004);
Belet & Gursoy (2008); Ro (2003); and Zheng (2014). Thus, the classroom
observation checklist explores the teachers’ pedagogical awareness, teaching
methods, professional development, and the linguistic awareness related to the
teaching of reading skills at intermediate level (Alyousef, 2005, p. 148).

The rest of the chapter contains following sections:

 Classroom Observation Checklist (Section 6.2)

 Sample Intermediate English Textbook-I (Section 6.3)
 Data Analysis Procedure (Section 6.4)
 Part-I: Teaching Reading Practice ( Section 6.5)
 Part-II: Teaching Reading Text Comprehension (Section 6.6)
 Part-III: Teaching Reading Discourse (Section 6.7)
 Summary (Section 6.8)

Using the observation method, the study gathered data from English compulsory
classes to focus on the important areas of reading comprehension such as, vocabulary,
context, grammar, and discourse comprehension (Barness, 2012, p. 57). These aspects
were included in the checklist to confirm the learners’ participation and the use of text
comprehension strategies as suggested by Carrel et al (1989, p. 647). The teachers’
medium of instruction (MoI), management of the lesson plan and organization of
activities were also observed to understand the practice of teaching reading skills in

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English compulsory classes. Further, the study inquired about the teachers using
independent reading strategies or followed the traditional practice to read aloud the
text in a classroom. Thus, the teachers’ pedagogical approach in terms of traditional
or the functional one was also identified in classroom observations of teachers
teaching reading comprehension skills (Carrel & (Eisterhold, 1983).

6.2 CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST

Following Lincoln and Guba’s (1981) model on classroom reading assessment, the
current study developed an observation checklist comprised of three parts i.e., a)
teaching reading practice, b) teaching reading comprehension, and c) teaching reading
discourse. The first part comprised of seven items recorded data on the prevalent
classroom activities and the methods applied to teach reading skills (Rahman, 2004).
The second part having the same item numbers explored the teaching strategies used
to teach the selected texts and the comprehension exercises given in the textbook
(Zheng, 2014). The third part included nine items to investigate the practice of
teaching reading discourse using contextual clues to understand the deep meaning of a
text (Sparks, 2012). Further, the checklist also recorded (Yes/No) responses against
each statement item along with the comments by the observer regarding the use of
teaching methods/strategies applied to teach text comprehension activities (Merc,
2015). Thus, the overall aim of the checklist was to obtain the factual data from
classroom observations of the teachers teaching of reading skills at intermediate level.

6.3 SAMPLE INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK-I

Intermediate English Textbook-I is prescribed by Sindh Textbook Board Jamshoro for

all the public sector colleges of Education & Literacy Department.

The course book serves the purpose of teaching English as a compulsory subject to
the students of Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) level. It consists of
fourteen selected texts ranging from political history, humor, adventure to the earlier
scientific inventions. Many textbook units/lessons such as, Birkenhead Drill, My
Bank Account and The Wolves of Cernogratz are the literary excerpts selected from
the publications of foreign authors. The selection of novels, stories and science fiction
as revealed in the research (Zheng, 2014) can attract learners’ interest in terms of
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).

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This prescribed textbook is generally designed for mixed language ability learners
who come from diverse socio-academic and language backgrounds. The language
activities given at the end of each text mainly focus on the practice of comprehension
questions, composition tasks and the use of grammar structures (Zafar & Mahmood,
2016; Naseem, Shah & Tabasum, 2015; Miekly, 2005). However, the designed
activities in view of (Alyousef, 2005) cannot involve learners in language learning
process because these lack important elements of context, organization and the
integration of four language skills (p.150). The textbook activities from its layout and
instructions clearly indicate the lack of functional and communicative purposes
because the comprehension questions do not raise discussion regarding the
interpretation of religious and political ideologies (Zheng, 2014). Further, the
composition exercises as explored by Alyousef (2005) also lack relevance to the text
and the writing procedure involved in English Language Teaching (ELT). Therefore,
the learners are mostly find passive in English compulsory classes because they find
the prescribed textbook less interactive and the functional one to attract the learners’
interest and meet the language learning needs (p.148).

6.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

The data gathered from the observation of English compulsory classes were
organized, synthesized, and broken into manageable parts for searching the patterns
and themes, for it is a method generally followed to discover the important insights
from raw data which deeply decides/guides what to convey to others as a mode of
reality and innovation (Bodgan & Bicklen, 1982). The themes emerged out of raw
data were obtained through an analytical procedure known as the inductive analysis in
qualitative research paradigm (Patton, 1990). Therefore, the data collected from the
research context were thoughtfully coded and categorized for the critical analysis and
interpretation of the results.

The analysis initially involved and examined the data on the basis of main categories
representing the codes as sub categories for the description of critical themes that
emerged out of the recorded data. Each main category followed by the sub categories
provided an overall description of the pedagogical strategies applied to teach reading
skills to the students of Higher Secondary Level (HSC-I). Further, the teaching
strategies were coded to reflect upon the thematic analysis of the data obtained from

73
the classroom observations of the teachers teaching English as a compulsory subject
(Anmarkrud & Braten, 2012; Ness, 2011).

Coding scheme in the analysis was mainly developed from the past studies on the
evidence based practices applied to teach reading comprehension skills to foreign
language learners (Zheng, 2014, p. 71). The codes employed in the subcategories
were formed from the checklist items to indicate the description of frequently used
teaching reading strategies in foreign language learning context (e.g. Galton,
Hargreaves, Comber,). However, the observers’ comments in the analysis revealed the
prevalent pedagogical practices in terms of teaching reading skills to foreign language
learners.

Moreover, the main categories in the analysis indicated three important aspects of
teaching reading text comprehension included from the research instrument. Each part
of the analysis used four major categories titled such as, (I) main Categories, (II) sub
categories, (III) description, and (IV) comments. The main categories focused on
Teaching Reading Practice, Teaching Reading Comprehension, and Teaching
Reading Discourse while the sub categories were formed from the statement items for
the description and the interpretation of the results. Hence, the section below
elaborates the procedure, format, and the structure involved in the analysis of
qualitative data obtained from the classroom observations of the teachers teaching
English as a compulsory subject at intermediate level.

6.5 PART-I: TEACHING READING PRACTICE

The first part of Teaching Reading Practice highlighted as a main category in the table
6.1 below critically provided the descriptive accounts of the prevalent methods and
strategies used by the teachers teaching reading skills. It was indicated in the analysis
that the use of lesson planning, reading tasks, and independent reading focused on the
important aspects of reading instructions because these strategies involve the learners
in the activities necessary for developing reading comprehension skills (Galton,
Hargreaves, Comber, Wall, & Pell, 1999). Whereas, the lecture information,
translating text, and loud reading explored the traditional practice of teaching reading
skills in the academic context of the research study. Finally, the analysis of the main
category specified as a Teaching Reading Practice provided the results of the

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underlying strategies applied by the teachers in terms of percentage shown in the table
6.2 below.

Table 6. 1 Sub-categories within the main category of Teaching Reading Practice

(n=07).
Subcategories Description Comments

1. Lesson A lesson plan deals with the Teachers did not practice lesson
planning teaching methods, strategies, and planning before they enter a
learning objectives achieved through classroom.
the classroom activities.

2. Reading Reading tasks are the text based Teacher did not change the design
tasks activities following the language and the presentation of activities
learning procedure from pre-reading (adaptation) given in the textbook.
to while-reading, and post-reading
tasks.

3.Independent Reading text independently engages Teacher instructed the students to

reading a learner in text comprehension to imitate the translation of a text to
build meaning from the language understand the meaning in mother
clues. tongue.

4.Pair The students collaboratively Teaching strategies focused on the

Work/Group participate in the classroom delivery of information, sight
Work activities for achieving the language writing, and the interpretation of
learning objectives. lines by the teacher.

5. Lecture Teacher elaborates meaning into The teacher delivered information

Information mother tongue and delivers on the topic of a reading text in
information to the students. mother tongue.

6. Translating Teacher translates the text into The translation of text into mother
Text mother tongue for the learners to tongue was a major teaching
understand the meaning in their practice followed by the teachers
mother tongue. in the classroom.

7. Loud The teacher instructs the students to Loud reading practice was
Reading read aloud the text for improving encouraged by the teachers in the
pronunciation in the classroom. classroom.

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1. Lesson Planning

In table 6.1 lesson planning is presented as one of the major subcategories of

Teaching Reading Practice to observe the methods and strategies applied by the
teachers in a classroom. A teaching plan primarily focuses on the desired objectives
and the outcomes achieved through the instructional strategies of a teacher (Farrel,
2007). However, the analysis of the checklist data indicated that the teachers teaching
reading skills at intermediate level hardly plan the lessons for the achievement of
objectives because a large number of English teachers in public sector colleges lack
training and awareness regarding the teaching of reading skills at intermediate level.

2. Reading Tasks

Reading tasks specified as a subcategory in table 6.1 deals with the various types of
activities designed in the textbook for developing the reading comprehension skills.
The learners participate in the activities to learn language from the texts based tasks
on pre-reading to while reading and post reading stages (Richards, Platt and Weber,
1985). However, the critical examination of acquired data indicated that the teachers
observed in classrooms were unaware of the pedagogical strategies to involve the
students in text comprehension process (Zheng & Seepho, 2013). Thus, the teaching
strategies applied to teach reading comprehension skills focused more on the
translation of text into mother tongue rather than reading text independently.

3. Independent Reading

Analyzing the classroom data in table 6.1 further investigated the subcategory of
independent reading that deals with the smooth understanding of an English text in
foreign language learning context (Alyousef, 2005). The evaluation of independent
reading mainly revealed that the teachers observed in the study failed to advance
independent reading process for they lacked skills and awareness of instructional
strategies suggested by Duke and Pearson (2002). Generally, the teachers observed in
English compulsory classes used to practice loud reading for the sake improving oral
skills of the students. In addition, it was also observed in one of the English
compulsory classes that the students loudly recited the key ideas of a reading text for

76
the teachers’ interpretation of the lines. This practice did not ensure the learners’
involvement in reading text independently, but only helped them take part in
classroom discussion initiated by the teacher. It is therefore necessary not to mislead
the learners through the faulty reading instructions, but to guide them properly as they
can develop independent reading skills to comprehend the information of a foreign
text (Nezami, 2012).

4. Pair Work/Group Work

Pair work and Group work are specified as a subcategories in table 6.1 which
essentially require the language learners to work collaboratively on a text based
activities to achieve the objectives behind the classroom instructions. The data
analyzed in the research study revealed the results of critical insights as the textbook
taught to the students failed to provide pair work/ group work opportunities. Neither,
the teachers observed in the classrooms were trained enough to manage a large
number of students in collaborative learning activities nor Government colleges
facilitated the teachers to carry out these tasks in the large classrooms. Therefore, the
investigation of pair work and group work as subcategories highlighted in table 6.1
explored the absence of collaborative learning in foreign language reading
instructions while the teachers need to be trained to manage the large classes in public
sector colleges (e.g., Galton, Hargreaves, Comber, Wall, & Pell, 1999).

5. Lecture Information

Lecture information analyzed as a subcategory in table 6.1 is generally used as one of

the traditional teaching strategies used to teach reading comprehension skills to
foreign language learners. It mainly focuses on the textual information orally
presented by the teacher to engage the students in listening comprehension in the
classroom. The analysis of lecture information in the observational study accounted
the lack of learners’ involvement in reading text due to their traditional language
learning background and weak proficiency in English. Similarly, the teachers
observed in the classrooms hardly emphasize the reading of text through questions
given in the comprehension activities. They rather focused to provide the answers
without involving the students in reading text comprehension. As a result, the students
fail to develop comprehension skills and the ability to interact with an English
textbook prescribed for the students of intermediate level (Rahman, 2004).

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6. Translating Text

The analysis of classroom data on the subcategory of translating text in table 6.1 is
one of the major issues in teaching reading text comprehension to foreign language
learners (Rahman, 2004). The outcomes indicated the frequent practice of translation
method followed by the English teachers teaching reading skills through a prescribed
course of English at intermediate level. In addition, the majority of learners were
unable to understand the language of an English text due to the lack of vocabulary
development and the familiarity with the structural knowledge implied to convey the
meaning of a text. However, the English teachers were generally unaware of the
pedagogical strategies that help learners involve in text comprehension to deduce
meaning from the context (Grabe, 1991). The close speculation of research data also
indicated the use of mother tongue in reading instructions for carrying out the
classroom activities on comprehension questions. A few teachers used English for
instructing the students to follow the activities on finding out the key ideas in each
paragraph of a reading text but the learners failed to achieve the objectives due to
certain hindrances such as, the lack of vocabulary and the structural knowledge of
language comprehension (Zheng, 2014).

7. Loud Reading

The data analysis presented in table 6.1 specifies the subcategory of loud reading as
one of the major issues faced by the learners in Foreign Language Reading (FLR)
paradigm (Zheng, 2014). It is generally followed as a traditional teaching strategy
tending to improve the oral skills of the students through the recitation of text
prescribed for Government Intermediate colleges Sindh. The data gathered from the
classroom context revealed the use of loud reading as one of the frequent teaching
practice applied by the teachers to improve pronunciation of the students (Grabe,
1991). Contrary to what the teaching reading skills demand, the current pedagogical
practices were hardly supportive and useful for developing the comprehension skills
of the learners as it focused more on the pronunciation rather than the understanding
of a text. It is therefore obligatory on the part of teachers to address the text
comprehension problems of the students by applying the appropriate reading
instruction in a classroom context.

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 Table 6. 2 Teaching reading strategies used by the teachers (n=07).
NO. Subcategories Result Percentage

01 Lesson Planning 0/7 0%

02 Reading Tasks 0/7 0%

03 Independent Reading 1/7 14.3%

04 Pair Work/Group Work 0/7 0%

05 Lecture Information 7/7 100%

06 Translating Text 5/7 71.4%

07 Loud Reading 5/7 71.4%

The table 6.2 above presented the results of sub categories being used as the teaching
strategies by the teachers observed in English compulsory classes of intermediate
level. The outcomes indicated that the zero out of seven (0/7) teachers prepared lesson
plans because a large number of them lacked pedagogical awareness on the teaching
of reading skills, and the skill to adapt the prescribed textbook for language teaching
and learning purposes. The analysis of reading tasks, independent reading, and pair
work/group work revealed the same results except the use of independent reading by
an English teacher. Additionally, the first four subcategories of Teaching Reading
Practice are frequently used in classroom research due to the pedagogical process
involved in the development of reading skills (e.g. Rahman, 2004; Zheng and Seepho,
2013). On the contrary, delivering lecture information, translating text, and loud
reading were included in the analysis to draw the results on traditional teaching
strategies being practiced by the teachers in their respective classroom settings. The
results therefore revealed the use of traditional teaching strategies such as, delivering
lecture information, loud reading, and translating text being practiced by the English
teachers as shown in the table 6.2.

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6.6 PART-II TEACHING READING TEXT COMPREHENSION

The second part of data analysis critically evaluated the main category of Teaching
Reading Text Comprehension containing seven coded items as subcategories in the
table 6.3 displaying the major themes from the classroom observations (Patton, 1990).
This procedure involved a close investigation of brainstorming, background
information, and key ideas as the essential features of text comprehension in Foreign
Language Reading (FLR) research (Duke & Pearson, 2002). Additionally, the
analysis provided critical insights regarding the use of instructional strategies
employed by the teachers in table 6.3 below. The findings from the subcategories
clearly indicated the traditional practice of teaching reading skills contradictory to
what the above strategies suggested in the description (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008).

In view of the past studies on Foreign Language Reading research (FLR), the teaching
of key ideas, vocabulary learning, guessing meaning, locating information, and the
long sentences help to familiarize the learners with the structure of text and its
comprehension (e.g., Bakken, Mastropieri, & Scruggs, 2002; Cook, 1983; Pullido,
2007). The data drawn from the above strategies/subcategories indicated the
improvement in reading text due to the learners’ involvement in classroom activities.
However, the critical insights obtained from the table 6.3 displayed the lack of above
strategies in the classrooms as the teachers observed in the study were unaware of the
instructional strategies used for developing the comprehension skills. Thus, the
findings were also shown in the form of percentage in the table 6.4 displaying the lack
of comprehension strategies being practiced by the teachers in their classrooms
(Pearson & Rodriguez, 2002).

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 Table 6. 3 Subcategories within the main category of Teaching Reading Text
Comprehension (n=07).
Subcategories Description Comments

8. Brain Brain storming is an instructional Teacher instructed the students to

Storming strategy aiming to develop the read text without attracting the
learners’ interest and motivation about learners’ interest about the topic of
the topic of a reading text. a text.

9. Background Background information is either The teacher interpreted the lines

Information possessed by the students or provided from the text instead of activating
by the teachers in classroom. learners’ prior knowledge to the
topic.

10. Key Ideas Key ideas represent important piece of Teacher elaborated the importance
information in each paragraph of a of key ideas and interpreted the
reading text. meaning of lines from the text.

11.Vocabulary Vocabulary Learning is an important Teacher taught the meaning of

Learning reading strategy to know the unknown words in mother tongue
maximum amount of words used in a of the students.
text.

12. Guessing Guessing meaning from the language Sight writing was used to provide
Meaning context results in better the meaning of unknown words
comprehension abilities used in a text.

13. Locating Locating information is an important The teacher provided answers to

Information reading strategy to locate the the questions without learners’
information in the text. involvement in reading text.

14. Long The learners can apply structural Teacher did not involve the
Sentences knowledge to understand the meaning students in the activities to
of long sentences used in a text. comprehend the meaning of long
sentences used in a text.

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8. Brainstorming

Brainstorming identified as a subcategory in table 6.3 revealed the results of

important insights regarding the instructional strategies used in reading
comprehension skills of the students at higher secondary level. The leaners develop
interest and general idea about the topic based on the questions activating their prior
knowledge (schemata) or the background information before reading text
comprehension (Grabe, 1991). Though, the analysis of classroom data explored the
absence of brainstorming strategy because the English teachers observed in the study
were mainly unaware of the advanced teaching methods applied to teach reading
comprehension skills. Therefore, the English teachers in the context of research study
need to be aware of the pedagogical strategies which significantly contribute the
development of text comprehension skills in foreign language learning.

9. Background Information

Background information specified as a teaching strategy/subcategory in table 6.3

handles with the idea of providing contextual data to the readers on the topic of a
selected text (Pressely, 2006). The learners mostly encounter comprehension
problems due to the lack of contextual understanding and the background knowledge
implied in a text. In addition, the English teachers hardly help them address the above
issue because many of them lack required pedagogical awareness and the skills
(Alyousef, 2005). The data analyzed from the Observation Checklist too indicated the
teachers skipped what the learners wanted to know in the beginning of each text/unit.
Thus, the outcomes also measured a less number of teachers provided the background
information in mother tongue for the learners to understand the meaning of contents
but not the Background information to the topic of a reading text.

10. Key Ideas

The data analyzed from the subcategory of key ideas presented in table 6.3
significantly improves the comprehension of a learner by focusing on the important
ideas of a reading text (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008). However, the English teachers fail to
apply the appropriate instructional strategies to develop the learners’ understanding
about the key ideas used in a reading text due to the traditional teaching strategies
employed for developing the text comprehension skills. Further, the outcomes
obtained from the analysis of classroom data highlighted the learners’ inefficiency in

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identifying the key ideas because the teachers focused on the explanation of lines
rather than development of ability to understand the ideas. The results also revealed
that a teacher wrote key ideas on white board and asked the students to write an
introductory paragraph on them. As a result, the learners could not perform in the
classroom activity because they found it vague in terms of the instructions imparted to
them.

11. Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary learning specified as a subcategory in table 6.3 is one of the important

teaching strategies applied to raise the learners’ awareness about the words conveying
meaning in the context. On the contrary, the teachers observed in English compulsory
classes frequently applied translation method or inappropriate instructional strategies
for developing the competence to know the meaning of unknown words used in a text.
Further, the classroom teaching instructions on vocabulary learning focused more on
the teachers’ efficiency in translating the meaning of difficult words rather than the
learners’ ability to deduce the meaning from context (Rahman, 2004). The results
drawn from the analysis of observation data also discussed the problems such as, the
use of traditional teachings method followed by a good number of teachers in English
compulsory classes. Therefore, the results declared that the vocabulary learning being
an important aspect of text comprehension was not adequately managed and taught by
the teachers of public sector colleges (Nation, 2001).

12. Guessing Meaning

Guessing meaning in the table 6.3 is highlighted as a subcategory of Teaching

Reading Text Comprehension which deals with one of the important aspects of
learning vocabulary by using the context of the passage (Koda, 2005). It focuses on
the learners’ language efficiency to guess the meaning of unknown words by using
clues to comprehend the information of a reading text through context based
instructions (Alyousef, 2005). However, the English teachers observed in the research
study hardly introduced any reading activity to involve the learners to extract or guess
meaning from the textual context. The results of the study explored problems and
drawbacks related to the teaching methods which generally focused on the teachers’
version of the meaning provided in mother tongue rather than the ability to guess the
meaning in context. Hence, the outcomes mainly identified the traditional practice of

83
reading failing to support the language development to guess the meaning of unknown
words used in a text.

13. Locating Information

Locating information identified as a subcategory in table 6.3 highlights the

importance of locating the specific information through questions designed in the
comprehension activities of a reading text (Zheng, 2014). Generally, reading sub-
skills are used to locate specific information in the text, but this has been ignored
while designing the comprehension questions given in the course book. Therefore, the
questions are faulty and do not focus on developing reading sub- skills in
comprehension activities or extract specific information of a text (Grabe, 1991). The
results drawn from the analysis of classroom data mainly revealed that the teachers
provided answers to the questions instead of involving the learners in text
comprehension. They focused on the delivery of information through lectures or
facilitated learners with the verbal answers without their mental involvement in
locating information of comprehension questions. As a result, the learners fail to
develop reading ability and greatly depended upon the teachers’ role in providing the
answers to the questions of text and its translation in the classrooms.

14. Long Sentences

Long Sentences specified as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Comprehension in

table 6.3 deals with the language structures and the meaning implied to convey the
ideas of a reading text (Grabe, 1991). It has been observed as a major reading
hindrance causing difficulty not only in understanding the meaning, but also the
functions of various sentence structures transferring message in a text. In addition,
the designed activities in the textbook focus on the development of
descriptive/structural grammar lacking context, function, and the integration of
language skill in the selected textbook (Sidek, 2012). Further, the learners on account
of their little exposure to language comprehension tasks often find it difficult to know
the meaning and the functions of the long sentences used in a text. Therefore, they
need to be trained and proficient through the integrated activities focusing on the
understanding of syntactical and semantic knowledge implied in the language of text.
Despite the English teachers engaged the students in language based tasks, majority of
them were observed to explain the ideas and translated the text into mother tongue.

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Therefore, the English teacher in view of the outcomes need to know the ways of
designing the skills integrated activities to help facilitate the learners become efficient
in knowing the meaning and the functions of Long sentences used in a text (Sparks,
2012).

Table 6. 4 Teaching Text Comprehension strategies used by the teachers (n=07).

NO. Subcategories Result Percentage

08 Brainstorming 0/7 0%

09 Background Information 1/7 14.3%

10 Key Ideas 3/7 42.9%

11 Vocabulary Learning 2/7 28.6%

12 Guessing Meaning 0/7 0%

13 Locating Information 0/7 0%

14 Long Sentences 1/7 14.3%

The overall analysis of Teaching Reading Comprehension in table 6.4 presented the
results of important insights on the subcategories or the teaching strategies used for
developing the reading comprehension skills. The results drawn from the classroom
data explored that zero out of seven (0/7) teachers employed brainstorming strategy
because they traditionally introduced the topics of selected texts by providing
information into mother tongue rather than eliciting ideas through questions. In
addition, the outcomes from background information in table 6.4 indicated that one
out of seven (1/7) teachers provided contextual data for developing the general idea
about the topic, while the rest of them asked students to read aloud the text as a part
of classroom teaching practice. As a result, a large number of Foreign Language

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Learners (FLL) failed to develop ability in reading English text independently due to
the use of translation method applied by the teachers in classroom.

Moreover, the results identified that three out of seven (3/7) teachers practiced key
ideas as one of the significant reading strategies to improve text comprehension skills,
whereas the rest of them elaborated the meaning of lines. It was also discussed in the
analysis that a few teachers only highlighted the importance of key ideas without
carrying out the classroom activities for learners to the ability and identify the key
ideas in each paragraph of a text.

Further, the outcomes obtained from the table 6.4 indicated the lack of vocabulary
learning through context based teaching strategies as two out of seven (2/7) teachers
were observed to facilitate vocabulary development. The results also indicated that all
other teachers provided meaning of difficult words in Sindhi language as they found it
useful for the learners to understand the meaning in their mother tongue. The study
explored that no any teacher (0/7) involved the students into guessing the meaning of
unknown words used in a text rather they were asked to translate the text loudly in
classroom. Another subcategory/strategy analyzed in table 6.4 indicated the same
results because guessing meaning was not employed as a teaching strategy to teach
the meaning of new words used in context. In the same way, locating information in
the analysis provided the negative results because zero out of seven (0/7) teachers
were aware of the pedagogical strategies involved in the development of text
comprehension skills. Thus, the outcomes drawn from analysis of long sentences
specified as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Text Comprehension reflected that
the teachers mainly focused on the para-wise explanation of the passage instead of
learners’ involvement to understand the semantic network of ideas.

6.7 PART-III: TEACHING READING DISCOURSE

The third part of analysis dealt with the Teaching of Reading Discourse as a main
category which included nine subcategories of contextual clues, deep meaning, text
organization, discourse words, fact and opinion, constructing meaning, identifying
text, detailed reading, and shifting of ideas (Grabe, 2008). The valuable insights
obtained from the above aspects revealed that the learners in Foreign Language
Learning (FLL) were mostly less efficient in understanding not only the information,

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but also the context of language used in a text. The first four strategies analyzed in the
table 6.5 reflected the importance of discourse based activities essential for
understanding the deep meaning with the help of contextual cues employed in the
text. Additionally, the evaluation of observation data in table 6.5 also displayed that
the learners in the research context lacked familiarity with the text organization
because many English teachers focused on the structural aspects of learning grammar
without integration of reading skills in classroom activities (Ting & Tee, 2008).

Another set of strategies included in the analysis showed the valuable insights
regarding the various functions of sentence connectors in linking the information of a
reading text. The data indicated that the learners were observed to have problems in
evaluating the arguments based on the facts and opinion given in the text (Grabe,
2008). It was also drawn from the table 6.5 that the learners failed to understand the
underlying meaning or the hidden intentions implied in the language of a text because
the teachers frequently used translation method rather than the comprehension
strategies to deduce the meaning in context (Koda, 2007). The critical evaluation of
obtained data also unfolded the problems in identifying the type of text because the
prescribed course book lacked discourse based activities for developing the critical
thinking skills. Thus, the classroom data in table 6.6 showed the lack of text
comprehension strategies being applied by the teachers in classroom context.

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 Table 6. 5 Subcategories within the Main Category of Teaching Reading
Discourse (n=09).

Subcategories Description Comments

15. Contextual Building meaning from the Teacher translated the text to convey
Clues contextual clues is an important the meaning into mother tongue.
reading strategy to comprehend a
text independently.

16. Deep Deep meaning refers to the hidden Teacher explained the ideas from the
Meaning message of a text conveyed text for the learners to understand
through specific language context. the information.

17. Text Text organization is the logical Teacher taught text without raising
Organization sequence of ideas coherently learners’ awareness of text
presented in a text. organization.

18. Discourse Discourse words are used to Teacher explained the ideas from the
Words connect sentences for the text rather than development of
presentation of ideas in the text. discourse through the activities.

19.Fact and Fact and opinion are used to form Teaching strategies did not involve
Opinion arguments to make a text more the students in the text to identify
authentic and reliable for the the difference between a fact and
readers. opinion.

20. Constructing Constructing meaning is the The learners were not involved in
Meaning process of decoding message from the process of constructing meaning
the words and sentences. from the text.

21. Identifying Most proficient readers apply Teacher did not raise questions
Text background knowledge to know regarding the type of text used in
the type of text. classroom.

22. Detailed Detailed reading involves critical The questions designed in reading
Reading review of the text to know the comprehension activities focused on
author’s intended message. reproducing the information.

23. Shifting of Shifting of ideas represent the The learners were not involved to
Ideas various statements, arguments, understand the shifting of ideas
contradictions, and conclusion. through the various parts of a text.

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15. Contextual Clues

Contextual clues presented as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table

6.5 deals with the knowledge of language clues available to a reader to understand the
functions of a text interpreting the information (Ting & Tee, 2008). Generally, the
learners in Foreign Language Reading (FLR) fail to understand the functions of a text
such as, the use of specific words linking information and the connection between
ideas. A large number of them cannot even recognize the occurrence of ideas
producing meaning through the sentence structures using specific language context of
a text. In addition, the designed activities focus on reproducing the information
through questions, but the ability to understand language functions in a text has not
been adequately addressed in the prescribed textbook of English. It therefore becomes
necessary on the part of English language teachers to design such activities on
contextual clues for supporting learners to understand the language functions in the
text context (Sparks, 2012).

16. Deep Meaning

Deep meaning specified in table 6.5 is often referred as one of the crucial aspects of
reading discourse that deals with the understanding of hidden intentions/ideas
conveyed through a text (Nezami, 2012). The learners in foreign language generally
lack critical reading ability due to the faulty questions designed in the comprehension
activities focusing on the shallow understanding of text information. Further, the
teachers observed in the study hardly introduced reading based strategies facilitating
the detailed comprehension of information in a text prescribed for the students of
intermediate level. Thus, they need to shift from old teaching methods to the
advanced instructional techniques applied to develop the ability to understand the
deep meaning of a reading text (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008).

17. Text organization

The main category of Teaching Reading Discourse in table 6.5 revealed the results of
text organization as one of the major aspects involved to understand the connection
between the various parts of a text (Sparks, 2012). The students of intermediate level
often come across problems in understanding the process implied in the organization
of a text because they hardly practice reading as an independent mental activity in a

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classroom. On the other hand, the teachers use traditional strategies focusing on the
meaning of a text translated into mother tongue rather than the development of ability
to understand the organizational pattern of ideas conveyed through a text. As a result,
the learners fail to develop the ability to understand the text organization because the
teachers observed in English compulsory classes are unaware of using advanced
instructional strategies in teaching text organization and reading discourse.

18. Discourse Words

Discourse words specified as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table

6.5 deals with the use of words linking sentences together to bring about the
coherence in the presentation of information. The learners encounter difficulties in
comprehending the functions of discourse words connecting various segments of a
text in Foreign Language Reading (FLR) context. Moreover, the English teachers
observed in their respective classrooms applied faulty reading instructions to provide
the meaning of difficult words used in a text because they were unaware of the
strategies used to develop the efficiency in understanding the functions of discourse
words employed in the text context. Therefore, the English teachers need to review
the current pedagogical practices and apply the instructional strategies for improving
the efficiency to understand the functions of discourse words.

19. Fact and opinion

The main category of Teaching Reading Discourse analyzed the classroom data
obtained from the subcategory of fact and opinion given in the table 6.5. The results
indicated that the large number of intermediate students in public sector colleges lack
ability in reading to identify the difference between fact and opinion used in a text.
Both of them form the important aspects of written language providing information
regarding the use of established facts along with the supporting ideas in the
production of a text (Grabe, 2002). On the other hand, the learners were taught
prescribed textbook of English which lacked activities on the development of ability
to determine the difference between a fact and opinion implied in the language of a
text. Moreover, the English teachers observed in the research study too taught text
traditionally without learners’ involvement in understanding the various aspects of
language implied in text. The learners therefore need to be trained and proficient in

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understanding the diverse functions of language performed in a text through Teaching
Reading Discourse (TRD) activities (Farrel, 2007).

20. Constructing Meaning

Constructing meaning specified as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in

table 6.5 deals with the learning process implied in making meaning from the various
segments of a text (Grabe, 1991). The learners in Foreign Language Reading (FLR)
often fail to build meaning from the various segments of a text due to the weak
language proficiency level, and the lack of knowledge regarding the language clues
available in a text (Sparks, 2012). Further, the prescribed textbook of English at
intermediate level hardly engage the readers in classroom activities focusing on
improving the language comprehension efficiency in constructing meaning from the
various parts of a text. In addition, the teachers observed in classrooms too lack
pedagogical knowledge and the skills applied to raise the learners awareness
regarding contextual meaning implied in the context of a text. Therefore, the
teachers teaching reading skills not only need to update their knowledge, but also the
skills involved in enhancing the comprehension ability to deduce meaning from the
text context.

21. Identifying Text

Identifying text specified as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table 6.5

focuses on reading to determine the type of text conveying specific information in the
prescribed textbook of English at intermediate level (Sparks, 2012). The learners to
develop this ability need to identify the type of text based on the language
comprehension tasks involving the detailed understanding of information (Grabe,
1991). However, the results drawn from the research study revealed the lack of
Teaching Reading Discourse because the teachers applied Grammar Translation
Method (GTM) instead of the language learning strategies involving learners to
understand the type of text used for developing the reading discourse. Thus, the
English teachers teaching reading skills need to be aware and trained regarding the
pedagogical strategies involved in the development of skills to identify the type of
text included in the coursebook (Belet & Gursoy, 2008).

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22. Detailed Reading

The analysis of detailed reading highlighted as a subcategory of Teaching Reading

Discourse covers an important aspect of comprehension skills involving critical
opinion about the information interpreted in a text (Grabe, 2002). The learners
encounter problems in detailed reading because the textbook only provides activities
which focus on the reproduction of information through the questions given in the end
of each lesson. Moreover, the learners’ language proficiency level hardly support
them to evaluate reading text critically mainly due to the use of traditional teaching
methods focusing on structural aspects of learning the language rather the meaning
implied in a text (Grabe, 1991). Hence, the outcomes obtained from the analysis of
classroom data revealed that the teachers teach textbook through Grammar
Translation Method (GTM) which cannot engage the learners in critically reading of
the selected texts.

23. Shifting of Ideas

Shifting of ideas presented as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table

6.5 deals with the presentation of information implying statements, arguments,
contradictions, and the examples employed in the selected textbook of English
(Grabe, 2002). Further, the results drawn from the analysis of classroom data revealed
that the comprehension activities designed in the prescribed textbook of English focus
only on the structural aspects of learning language such as, the forms of verbs and
other structures practiced without integration of reading and writing skills (Nezami,
2012). In addition, the learners fail to understand the functional and the
communicative aspects of a text in terms of determining the linking of information to
develop the discourse comprehension. The outcomes also indicated that the teachers
fail to facilitate the learners in developing the communicative competence to
understand the language in context. The learners therefore find it difficult to
understand how language works in linking the ideas including statements, arguments,
contradictions, and the examples used in text.

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 Table 6. 6 Teaching Reading Discourse strategies used by the teachers (n=08).
NO. Subcategories Result Percentage

15 Contextual Clues 0/7 0%

16 Deep Meaning 0/7 0%

17 Text Organization 0/7 0%

18 Discourse Words 0/7 0%

19 Fact and Opinion 0/7 0%

20 Constructing Meaning 0/7 0%

21 Identifying Text 0/7 0%

22 Detailed Reading 0/7 0%

23 Shifting of Ideas 0/7 0%

The overall analysis of the main category of Teaching Reading Discourse revealed the
results of important insights regarding the use of subcategories/teaching strategies
employed by the teachers observed in the study. The results drawn from the
evaluation of observation data explored that zero out of seven (0/7) teachers employed
the instructional strategies to raise learners’ awareness of contextual clues presented
in the text. Another subcategory of deep meaning specified in the table 6.6 showed
that no any (0/7) English teacher involved the learners to understand the hidden
intentions implied in a text. Further, the outcomes also indicated that the text
organization highlighted as a subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table 6.6
was not practiced by the teachers observed in classrooms.

Moreover, the analysis of classroom data unveiled that there were hardly any (0/7)
teacher who could employ the appropriate reading strategies to develop the learners’
ability of understanding the functions of discourse words used in a text. The outcomes
obtained from the subcategory of fact and opinion showed that zero out of seven (0/7)
teachers instructed the students to identify the difference between the facts and
opinion presented in a text (Grabe, 2008). Similar results were obtained from the

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analysis of constructing meaning highlighted as a subcategory in table 6.6 because no
teacher involved the leaners in reading discourse to understand the meaning by
joining various parts of a text.

The results obtained from the further analysis of Teaching Reading Discourse
disclosed that zero out of seven (0/7) teachers were able to employ strategies for the
development of ability in identifying the type of text used by the students in
classroom (Bakken et al, 2002). It was also indicated in the table 6.6 that the teachers
lacked awareness on pedagogical strategies used for enhancing the ability in reading
text critically because they focused more on the structural pattern rather than the
functional one. Finally, the results drawn from the shifting of ideas presented as a
subcategory of Teaching Reading Discourse in table 6.6 explored that the teaching
instructions employed by the teachers failed to develop the ability in understanding
the connection between different ideas of a text.

The results presented in table 6.6 showed that the contextual clues and deep meaning
are the important areas of reading discourse involving the learners to focus on the use
of context and the deep meaning implied in text (Koda, 2005). Further, the next
subcategories of text organization, discourse words, and the difference between a fact
and opinion were included in the analysis to indicate the various strategies involved in
the understanding of language used in a text.

Moreover, the analysis also included the subcategories of constructing meaning and
identifying text to emphasize the reading comprehension efficiency involved in
deducing the meaning from the various segments of a text, and identifying its type
from the use of language in context (Cook & Gueraud, 2005). Another subcategories
of detailed reading and shifting of ideas showed that the comprehension of reading
discourse requires to evaluate the information on the basis of statements,
contradictions, facts, and assumptions presented in a text.

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6.8 SUMMARY

Finally, the overall analysis of classroom observation data clearly highlighted three
main categories of Teaching Reading Practice, Teaching Reading Text
Comprehension and Teaching Reading Discourse to focus on the important aspects of
reading text comprehension and discourse understanding along with the teaching
strategies being applied by the teachers teaching reading skills at intermediate level
(Cook & Myres, 2004).

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 CHAPTER 7

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

7.1 INTRODUCTION

The previous chapters 4, 5 and 6 provided detailed analysis of the outcomes obtained
from the quantitative and qualitative parts of the study. The present chapter discusses
the overall findings of the four research question. To answer the research questions,
this study gathered data using questionnaires for discovering the learners’ reading
hindrances and discourse related issues, textbook evaluation to assess the authenticity
and suitability of selected texts and tasks, and the classroom observations for
investigating the pedagogical problems and practices in teaching reading
comprehension skills at intermediate level.

RQ1 To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at Shikarpur

have reading hindrances in English text comprehension at intermediate level?

RQ2 What are discourse related issues for the learners of Sindh Government
Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate level?

RQ3 How far the Intermediate English Textbook-I is authentic in developing

reading comprehension skills of the students at Sindh Government Colleges,
Shikarpur?

RQ4 How reading comprehension skills are taught to the intermediate students of
Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur?

The questionnaire as discussed in the section 3.4 was designed to investigate the
following:

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  Reading Hindrances  Encountering unknown words in
English text
 Reading aloud the text in classroom
 Translating the text in mother tongue
 Preferring lectures than reading text
 Using dictionary to know the
meaning of unfamiliar words
 Locating information in the text
 Reading Text Comprehension  Focusing on key sentences to
understand each paragraph
 Understanding context of reading
text
 Knowing the deep meaning of a text
 Constructing meaning from the
connected sentences
 Identifying the type of text using
language context
 Evaluating text information based on
the evidences
 Discourse Related Issues  Understanding the shifting of ideas

The data gathered from three parts of questionnaire brought forward the major
findings discussed below:

7.2 MAIN FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE

The first main finding related to reading hindrance in section 4.3 reveals that the
participants lack vocabulary knowledge causing problems for them to know the
meaning of unknown words employed in an English text. It is identified as one of the
major reading deficiency among the participants who fail to unlock the meaning of

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words used in a text. The learners being unaware of lexical knowledge mostly fail to
acquire competence in reading comprehension because the majority of them fail to
decode linguistic information from the selected English texts. As a result, the
interaction between a reader and a text mainly fails due to the lack of lexical
knowledge applied to interpret meaning from the text.

Another important finding from the questionnaire revealed that the learners generally
practiced reading by translating the English text into mother tongue in a classroom.
One major reason behind this practice was the use of translation method being applied
by the teachers teaching reading skills through a prescribed textbook. They mostly
read aloud the text as one of the dominant teaching practice used by the teachers in
English compulsory classes. Thus, the leaners may develop fluency of oral skills by
reading aloud the text, but it proves to be less effective in developing reading
comprehension skills of the students at intermediate level.

The next pertinent finding identifies the lack of background knowledge among the
students who are unable to predict or guess what a text contains before reading
comprehension. A large number of higher secondary students fail to interact with an
English text as they fail to integrate previous knowledge to understand new ideas
from the text. The participants lacking background knowledge mostly apply
translation strategies to understand the meaning into mother tongue, but it cannot
develop the ability to build meaning from the text structures. Therefore, the
participants at intermediate level need to develop background knowledge by reading
extensively a large amount of information from the textbooks and other relevant
resources.

The results related to reading hindrances declare that the participants generally prefer
to listen lecture for receiving information than reading text as a part of classroom
activities. One major reason behind this practice was the learners’ behaviour set on
recitation of lines, translation of text, and the teachers’ interpretation of meaning into
mother tongue. It also shows the lack of independent reading practice by the students
who mainly rely or depend upon the teachers’ elaboration of text in the classroom.
The teachers’ centered approach seems to be responsible for the lack of reading skills
among the students in most of English compulsory classes. Therefore, the learners’

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centered strategies are necessary to be introduced to practice reading comprehension
independently and cognitively in a classroom.

Reading text comprehension highlighted as a second part of questionnaire in section

4.4 reveals that the participants never refer dictionary to know the meaning of
unknown words encountered by them in English text. A majority of these learners at
intermediate level seek translation of difficult words in mother tongue because they
lack lexical knowledge to recognize words and extract meaning from a text. In foreign
language reading, the deficiency of lexical awareness is indicated as one of the key
issues faced by higher secondary students in reading comprehension of a text.
Therefore, the participants need to acquire reading strategies so as to become
proficient in language comprehension skills.

Next finding from the questionnaire demonstrates that the participants are unable to
locate specific information from the text to answer the questions of comprehension
activities. It seems as the learners are unaware of comprehension strategies to carry
out selective reading in accordance with the goals mentioned in the Intermediate
English Textbook-I. Moreover, the large number of learners at intermediate level also
fail to resolve reading hindrances because the teaching methods lack guidance for the
learners to access the information in the textbook. Thus, the lack of linguistic
knowledge and strategic reading causes problems for language learners to read
efficiently for extracting the information from the text.

A key finding from reading text comprehension explored that the participants
encountered difficulties while identifying the key sentences in each paragraph to
understand the main ideas of a text. The learners’ limited exposure to reading tasks
and the lack of structural knowledge were mainly responsible poor comprehension
skills at intermediate level. It seems as the learners have not acquired linguistic
knowledge to construct meaning, connect sentences, and build ideas from the text
taught in the classroom. Therefore, the majority of students lacking comprehension
skills cannot identify the main ideas because they apply translation method to
understand the meaning into mother tongue.

Another key finding from the questionnaire reports that the participants at
intermediate level cannot comprehend the text because they lack knowledge regarding

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the contextual clues available in a text. The learners as mentioned earlier fail to
extract information and deduce meaning from context as the large number of them
lack ability to identify the language clues connecting sentences together in a text. One
major reason behind this lack of ability is the inefficiency to interpret ideas and
understand the meaning into mother tongue. Thus, the findings reveal that the
participants not only lack reading strategies, but also fail to acquire awareness about
the language structures used in a text.

Discourse related issues presented as the third part of questionnaire in section 4.3
reveals that the participants at intermediate level mostly encounter comprehension
problems in understanding the deep meaning of a text. The learners being unaware of
discourse structures cannot explore the text for a deeper understanding of information
because they fail to conceive what the writer conveys in the text. The knowledge
regarding discourse structures in the text was identified as a major reading deficiency
among the students who cannot deeply comprehend the message encoded in the text.
Another drawback reported by the learners was the use of loud reading and the
translation method applied to understand the meaning into mother tongue. Thus, the
ability to comprehend deep meaning in text context is mainly hindered due to the lack
of knowledge regarding discourse structures employed in a text.

A key finding from discourse related issues reveal that the participants are unable to
construct meaning from the sentences showing connection between the ideas
presented in a text. The learners as mentioned earlier were unaware of linguistic clues
which build coherence and guide the readers through discourse words to comprehend
the meaning from sentence structures used in a text. A commonly used classroom
teaching strategy was to answer the questions of reading comprehension activities
which only focus on reproducing the information of a text. It was also explored that
the large number of learners were not familiar with the idea of discourse
comprehension because they traditionally approach text through translation method in
the classroom. Therefore, the participants in English compulsory classes are not very
proficient in making connection between the sentences for a deeper understanding of
meaning in the text.

Another pertinent finding from the discourse related issues reports the lack of
language competence among the participants who cannot recognize the type of text

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used in the classroom. The learners are mostly unaware of discourse functions to
identify whether the contents provide political, religious, historical or scientific
information in the textbook. It seems as the learners traditionally access the
information in the text to carry out the comprehension activities without knowing the
language context implied in the text. A large number of intermediate students were
mostly found demotivated while interacting with some old texts due to the outdated
information mismatching the learners’ language needs. It is therefore necessary that
the learners should be proficient to use language context for identifying the text
before carrying out the comprehension activities in the classroom.

Discourse related issues reveal that the participants mostly read information without
evaluating the arguments, evidences, and supporting details provided by the author in
the text. The majority of learners comprehend information as the part of classroom
teaching activities, but they fail to develop critical opinion about the ideas interpreted
in a text. It seems as the learners lack critical reading ability and the language
awareness to examine the information produced in a text. It is therefore important for
the participants to develop critical reading skills so as to achieve the objectives in
reading comprehension of a text at intermediate level.

The last finding from discourse related issues reveals that the participants at higher
secondary level cannot comprehend the discourse functions performed in the shifting
of ideas in the text. In text organization, the sentence connectors contribute a variety
of ideas in the form of statements, arguments, facts, opinion, contradiction, and the
conclusion for the readers to recognize the discourse structures in the text. However,
the learners being unaware of text organization mostly fail to know the functions of
language structures representing information in various parts of a text. One major
issue related to discourse comprehension was the inability to apply cognitive
strategies for a semantic understanding of ideas organized in a text. Thus, the
participants encounter discourse related issues in accessing the information because
the majority of them are unable to recognize language functions in the text.

7.3 MAIN FINDINGS FROM TEXTBOOK EVALUATION

The first main finding from textbook description reveals that the Intermediate English
Textbook-I prescribed for Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges lacks authentic

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language used for communication in real life situation. The texts selected for
classroom teaching practice fail to develop the learners’ interest in reading
comprehension because the contents present out of date information in the textbook.
The language employed in many texts serve the purpose of interpreting information,
but it does not expose the learners to experience communication in real life situation.
Thus, the evaluation of textbook description indicates that the selected texts not only
lack authentic language, but also fail to attract learners’ interest in reading
comprehension.

Another pertinent finding from the textbook description indicates that the contents
taught to develop reading comprehension skills are mainly selected from history,
religion, literature, and science. The selection of texts proves to be less effective for
developing reading comprehension skills as the contents do not focus on real life
issues such as, the hobbies, events, incidents, daily routine, and the challenges faced
in real life situation. It seems as the selected texts do not involve the learners in
language learning process due to the lack of motivation and interest in the contents
taught in English compulsory classes.

One major finding from textbook description explores that the prescribed textbook of
English at intermediate level contains less number of scientific texts for the
participants to become aware of modern information. However, a good number of
texts selected to teach reading comprehension skills mostly focus on religious and
historical information which do not support the language development in classroom
context. The intermediate students from science discipline mainly encounter
comprehension problems while interacting with old and outdated contents included in
the textbook. On the contrary, the learners show interest and prefer to read modern
information in the texts so as to acquire excellence in comprehending the scientific
information.

The second main category of skills evaluation reveals the major findings from
textbook analysis presented in the section 5.4. An in-depth evaluation critically
examines that the Intermediate English Textbook-I presents comprehension skills
based on the activities designed at the end of each lesson. However, the activities
based on comprehension questions lack instructions or guidance for the learners to
apply the strategies for extracting information from the text. In most of these

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activities, the learners lack mental involvement because the question items only focus
on reproducing the information presented in the text. Thus, it seems as the activities
are not carefully designed to develop the students’ reading comprehension skills at
intermediate level.

One major finding from skills evaluation explores that the English textbook
introduced for intermediate students presents the activities designed to develop
knowledge regarding the grammar structures employed in the textbook. However, in
most of the language activities, the cognitive development of a learner was ignored
due to the structural approach followed in the textbook. The structural approach
mainly causes hindrances for the language learners to acquire competence in four
language skills. Therefore, the activities evaluated in the checklist were mainly
responsible for poor comprehension skills and the lack of cognitive development
among the learners at intermediate level.

The first main finding from the third category of activities evaluation reveals that the
Intermediate English Textbook-I lacks procedure in the organization of activities from
pre-reading to while-reading, and post-reading tasks. In most of the text
comprehension activities, the questions focus on reproducing the information without
activating the learners’ prior knowledge to the topic. The questions designed in
reading comprehension activities lack guidance for the readers to apply appropriate
strategies for locating the information in the text. Moreover, the post-reading tasks,
having no relevance to the text context are given as direct questions on composition to
write essays without following the sub-skills involved in English writing procedure.
Finally, the activities on grammar structures lack integration of skills to use language
for academic purposes in classroom context.

The second main finding from activities evaluation explores that the textbook taught
to the students of intermediate level do not include vocabulary learning as an integral
aspect of text comprehension. A large number of textbook activities as indicated in
the analysis focuses on learning grammar structures rather than the language used in
context. The major portion of textbook is occupied with the exercises on isolated
sentence structures and descriptive grammar for the learners to acquire competence in
reading and writing skills. However, the structural approach followed in the textbook

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activities do not build semantic ability to comprehend information from the contextual
clues available in a text.

The third major finding from activities evaluation indicates that the textbook
introduced for higher secondary students cannot develop comprehension skills to
know the deep meaning of a text. The learners are unaware of comprehension
strategies because the activities designed in the textbook focus on reproducing the
information through questions. However, the comprehension questions do not
appropriately guide the learners to explore textual information for a semantic
understanding of ideas interpreted in a text. It was also explored in the analysis that
the activities designed to develop text comprehension skills mainly ignore the critical
evaluation of information presented in a text. Therefore, the majority of learners lack
critical reading ability due to the inappropriate comprehension activities designed in
the textbook.

The fourth main finding from activities evaluation reveals that the Intermediate
English Textbook-I does not contain any task on the functions of discourse words
employed in a text. The learners lacking awareness of discourse functions cannot
develop a coherent pattern of ideas from the sentence structures presented in a text.
Moreover, the role of prescribed textbook also seems limited in facilitating the
discourse comprehension because the activities contain questions to locate the
information in the text. Therefore, the learners find it difficult to understand the
discourse functions as well as the connection between ideas presented in the text.

The fifth pertinent finding from activities evaluation uncovers that the textbook
activities fail to engage the learners in understanding the shifting of ideas through
sentence connectors in a text. An in-depth evaluation of activities reveals that the
learners only practice comprehension questions for locating the information required
to write the answers in a classroom. However, the learners remain unaware of text
organization because the comprehension questions do not inquire about logical
sequence of ideas presented in a text. Thus, the analysis indicates the lack of ability to
understand the shifting of ideas because the textbook activities only contain questions
to be answered in the classroom.

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7.4 MAIN FINDINGS FROM THE CLASSROOM
OBSERVATION

An important finding from the main category of teaching reading practice reveals that
the majority of English teachers do not prepare lesson plans before they enter a
classroom. The teachers mostly teach the lessons from the prescribed textbook
without making necessary changes into the selection, organization, and the
management of activities in the classroom. In most of Sindh Government Intermediate
Colleges, the English teachers follow textbook activities because they lack
pedagogical awareness to plan their lessons for achieving the objectives. It therefore
seems as the lesson planning is not practiced by the English teachers working in Sindh
Government Colleges.

Another pertinent finding from teaching reading practice demonstrates the lack of
independent reading skills among the students at intermediate level. The English
teachers as observed in the study were mostly unaware of the modern teaching
methods applied to teach the prescribed textbook through task based approach. In
most of English compulsory classes, the teachers teach reading comprehension skills
through Grammar Translation Method (GTM) at intermediate level. It is one of the
major problems faced by the learners who cannot even read independently because
they lack ability to deduce meaning from the text.

One more relevant finding from teaching reading practice discovers that the English
teachers apply traditional translation method to teach the prescribed textbook to the
students of intermediate level. It is one of the dominant teaching practice followed in
most of Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges because the teachers lack training
and awareness about English Language Teaching (ELT). The English teachers
generally translate the text in a classroom as the learners can easily understand the
meaning into mother tongue. However, the practice of translation method proves to be
ineffective in developing the learners’ reading comprehension skills because they fail
to build meaning from the text. It therefore becomes necessary for the teachers to be
aware of modern teaching methods so as to help the learners become proficient
readers of English at intermediate level.

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Teaching reading text comprehension reveals that the Intermediate English Textbook-
I does not provide activities on the practice and the development of vocabulary skills.
It is taught by the teachers who apply translation strategies to convey the meaning into
mother tongue. However, the ability to understand meaning in context was not
developed by the teachers due to the inappropriate reading strategies applied in
English compulsory classes. One major drawback was the teachers’ inefficiency to
shift learners from the translation of text to independent reading practice for acquiring
new words from the text. It therefore causes hindrances for the language learners to
acquire vocabulary skills without translation of text into mother tongue.

Teaching reading text comprehension indicates one more relevant finding that the
learners at intermediate level cannot guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in text
context. The teaching methods applied to teach the prescribed English course mostly
focus on the recitation of lines, the practice of sentence structures from the textbook
activities. However, the ability to guess meaning from context is generally overlooked
by the teachers who lack awareness and training about teaching reading
comprehension skills at intermediate level. Thus, the learners lacking lexical
knowledge fail to carryout guessing from context because they cannot associate
previously acquired information to learn new words from the text.

Another pertinent finding from teaching reading text comprehension explores that the
learners at intermediate level are unaware of reading strategies to locate the specific
information from the text. A large number of learners cannot carry out the
comprehension tasks because the teaching methods follow traditional approach to
teach reading skills. The teachers generally explain the meaning from the text as the
learners can easily receive information without reading text in the classroom. As a
result, the majority of intermediate students cannot develop reading ability to locate
the specific information from the text.

The first main finding from teaching reading discourse discovers that the students at
intermediate level cannot use contextual clues to become familiar with the meaning of
a text. It seems as the teaching methods do not engage the learners to become aware
of the language functions while carrying out the comprehension tasks in the
classroom. The comprehension activities also lack guidance for the learners to
understand how information works through the various parts of a text such as,

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introduction, middle, and conclusion. Thus, the contextual clues are text guiding
signals, but the learners being less proficient encounter comprehension problems in
semantic understanding of a text.

One major finding from teaching discourse comprehension reveals that the learners at
intermediate level are unable to operate reading strategies to know the deep meaning
of a text. The lack of discourse comprehension strategies among the students mainly
causes hindrances for the learners to understand what the writer intends to convey in
the text. Moreover, the teaching methods applied in the classroom do not promote the
comprehension of deep meaning because the teachers follow textbook activities
designed to extract the information through questions. Though, the ability to reflect on
the deep meaning of a text is not being focused in any of the activities designed in the
textbook.

Another relevant finding from teaching reading discourse indicates that the English
teachers are generally found unaware of discourse functions performed in a text. They
lack pedagogical awareness and the skills to raise learners’ awareness of sentence
connectors used in a text. The textbook designed to develop reading comprehension
skills also lack activities on how language functions to organize the information and
bring about coherence in the ideas of a text. It seems as the teaching methods and the
textbook activities fail to promote discourse comprehension of a text due to structural
approach followed in the classroom.

A subsequent finding from teaching reading discourse finds out that the learners at
intermediate level encounter problems in identifying the type of text being taught in
the classroom. The teaching methods applied to teach reading comprehension skills
do not raise linguistic awareness related to the discourse functions interpreting
information in the text. It is also observed that the textbook activities fail to develop
the ability to recognize the genre of text employing specific language context.
Therefore, the majority of the students at intermediate level are unable to identify the
type of text due to the lack of discourse comprehension activities in the textbook.

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7.5 DISCUSSION

This section briefly discusses the meaningful insights in the light of findings from
quantitative (chapter 4) and the qualitative (chapters 5 and 6) and the previous
research studies on foreign language reading comprehension (FLRC).

7.5.1 Text Comprehension Problems

Exploring text comprehension problems in foreign language reading was one of the
significant objectives of the current research study conducted in Sindh Government
Intermediate Colleges, Pakistan (see research questions 1 and 2 in section 1.7). These
problems were divided into three parts such as, reading hindrances, reading text
comprehension, and discourse related issues encountered by the students in reading
comprehension of an English text.

However, the previous studies on Foreign Language Reading (FLR) have not
investigated the text comprehension problems as compared to the modern studies
exploring hindrances and suggesting strategies for better comprehension abilities. In
this regard, the findings from Bellet and Gursoy (2008) critically explore the strategic
awareness among the students and the relationship between L1 and L2 reading
strategies. The outcomes from Hung and Ngan (2015) also discover the causes for
poor comprehension abilities and suggest ways for improving the reading skills in
foreign language context. Thus, the present study is an attempt to discover reading
hindrances in relationship to the text comprehension strategies and explore discourse
related issues faced by the learners at intermediate level.

The quantitative results of my study as mentioned in the (section 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5) are
discussed separately in three main categories highlighting reading hindrances,
reading text comprehension, and discourse related issues. The findings show
relevance with the studies being carried out by Rahman (2004); Bellet & Gursoy
(2008); Hung & Ngan (2015); Zhang & Seepho (2013) in terms of L2 reading
problems, and the lack of comprehension strategies. The results from Rahman (2004)
indicate the unfamiliar words mostly hinder the reading comprehension of a learner.
The insights from Bellet & Gursoy (2008) reveal the use of loud reading and
translation method as a behaviour to understand the foreign language in Turkish

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teaching context. The findings from Hung & Ngan (2015) also reveal the lack of text
comprehension strategies particularly the inefficiency to guess meaning from context.
Finally, the outcomes from Zhang & Seepho (2103) identify the lack of predicting
skills among the students who fail to associate previous knowledge for the
understanding of new ideas in a text.

Moreover, the results drawn from the prior studies also indicate relevance to the
discourse related issues explored by Grabe (2000); Nezami (2012); and Alyousuf,
(2005). The insights from Grabe (2000) discover the causes hindering the process of
constructing meaning from the text. He also identifies the inefficiency among the
students who fail to recognize the organization of ideas due to the lack of awareness
about discourse functions in a text. A relevant finding from Nezami (2012) explores
the lack of critical reading ability to evaluate text in Arab EFL context. Thus, the
results from Alyousuf (2005) highlight the various aspects of reading text
comprehension and its deficiency among Arab EFL learners who fail to develop
discourse comprehension skills.

In Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges, English is taught as a compulsory

subject from lower intermediate to intermediate level. The learners from diverse
socio-linguistic and academic background are taught a prescribed English course for
developing the overall proficiency of the students in language skills. However, a large
number of them with weak proficiency level in English depend on the translation to
comprehend the meaning into mother tongue because they generally lack exposure to
English Language Teaching (ELT) methods. Further, the texts selected from history,
religion, and literature do not develop English language skills mainly due to the lack
of modern scientific information and the features of communication used in real life
situation. It badly discourages the language learning process because the learners do
not acquire what they want to learn from the prescribed textbook of English in the
classroom. Therefore, the traditional teaching and learning process are mainly
accountable for the lack of deficiency among the students who cannot develop reading
comprehension skills through a prescribed English course (Dar, 2014).

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7.5.2 Drawbacks in Textbook

Moreover, the qualitative findings from the evaluation of Intermediate English

Textbook-I reveal shortcomings and drawbacks in the selection of texts, and the
design of reading comprehension activities. The insights reveal that the textbook do
not provide authentic materials for developing the learners’ interest and motivation in
learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) (Dar, 2012). In view of research
findings from Richards (2001), the learners mostly find scientific texts interesting for
their academic goals and language learning needs, but the present textbook fail to
address learners’ language needs due to the wrong selection of texts in the course
book. This also discourages the language learning process because they hardly show
interest while reading some political/religious and unscientific texts such as, Pakistan
Zindabad and The Miracle of Radio.

In the light of findings from textbook evaluation, it is reported that the textbook
contents do not include real life issues such as, hobbies, events, incidents, and the
challenges faced in real life situation. These according to Lee (2005) are the important
elements to design the texts for academic purposes as the learners can continuously be
motivated to share experience in the classroom. However, the findings indicate that
the most of contents in the existing textbook are selected from political history,
humour, adventure, and the earlier scientific inventions. A few of these texts titled as
Birkenhead Drill, My Bank Account, and The Wolves of Cernogratz were found
interesting in the textbook due to the learners’ interest in reading humor and
adventure (Zhang, 2014). Thus, the findings reveal that the textbook contents provide
out of date information which do not attract learners' interest in reading
comprehension activities being carried out in the classroom (Zafar & Mahmood,
2016).

The results from textbook evaluation critically examine that of all the four language
skills i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing, more emphasis has been placed on
sentence structure activities. However, the cognitive skills being important for the
language development of a learner are not being incorporated in the Intermediate
English Textbook-I. One such example is the presentation of comprehension skills
lacking guidance for the learners to apply appropriate reading strategies for locating
the key ideas in the text. The insights from Pretorious (2002) also emphasize the

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importance of reading skills leading to academic success and independent reading
strategies, but the textbook used to develop reading comprehension skills lacks all the
important aspects of learning a foreign language. It therefore cannot facilitate
language learning due to the structural approach followed in most of the textbook
activities taught to the students of intermediate level (Naseem, Shah & Tabassum,
2015).

Major findings from textbook evaluation reveal that the activities designed in the
lessons do not follow the procedure from pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading
tasks. The majority of learners were found unable to predict the text because the
questions given in the activities focus on the while-reading stages only. It was also
discovered that the composition tasks designed in the end of each lesson do not follow
the sub-skills involved in the English language writing mechanism. A number of
direct questions are given to compose essays on various given topics which mostly
lacked relevance to the text and the integrated language skills (Alyousuf, 2005 & Ro,
2013). The learners find such activities difficult due to the lack of appropriate
instructions, strategies, and the organizational procedure involved in reading
comprehension process (Alyousuf, 2005 & Ro, 2013).

The critical insights from textbook evaluation suggest that the activities designed in
each lesson do not facilitate vocabulary learning. It was identified as a major reading
hindrance because most of the intermediate students lacked knowledge regarding the
meaning of unknown words used in a text. The contemporary insights from Bellet &
Gursoy (2008) also insist on acquiring the maximum lexical knowledge for carrying
out the comprehension tasks in the classroom. Moreover, the learners in view of the
findings were found inefficient to guess meaning from context and comprehend the
underlying message in the text. The major causes for the lack of vocabulary
development were wrongly designed activities focusing more on grammar structures
rather than the skill to build meaning from the text (Hedge, 2003).

More pertinent finding from textbook evaluation report that the reading
comprehension activities fail to raise learners’ awareness of discourse functions in the
text. These activities in view of Sparks (2012) lacks aspects of text organization,
shifting of ideas, and the deep meaning implied in the text. It also seems as the
questions designed in most of the reading comprehension activities only engage the

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learners to reproduce the information without probing into the ideas of a text. Thus,
the learners in view of the findings remain unfamiliar with the text structures and
discourse functions due to the faulty activities designed in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I.

7.5.3 Pedagogical Problems

The qualitative findings from teaching reading practice state that the English teachers
in Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges do not plan their lessons before they
enter a classroom. It was observed as a major pedagogical problem with the teachers
teaching English as a compulsory subject to the students of intermediate level. They
mostly teach the textbook lesson without making necessary changes in the activities to
meet the language learning needs of the students in the classroom. The insights from
observational studies demonstrate that the most EFL teachers fail to achieve learning
objectives because they lack pedagogical skills and the awareness of lesson planning
(Farrel, 2007 & Zhang, 2014).

The insights from evidence based practices further reveal that the EFL teachers
lacking pedagogical awareness mostly fail to address reading comprehension
problems in the classroom. One common observation highlighted by Duke and
Pearson (2002) is the use of traditional teaching strategies applied by the teachers
teaching reading skills to foreign language learners. The teachers also observed in the
present study mainly used loud reading and the translation method to teach reading
skills through a prescribed English textbook. It seems as the current pedagogical
practices in the context of the research study fail to promote independent reading
practice in the classroom. Therefore, the learners at intermediate level encounter
comprehension problems due to the learning behaviour set on the translation of text
into mother tongue (Alyousef, 2005).

The outcomes from reading text comprehension reveal that the English teachers
generally apply inappropriate strategies to facilitate vocabulary learning in the
classroom. An important observation related to the teaching of vocabulary skills was
the practice of mother tongue by the teacher in the classroom (Rahman, 2004). The
learners in view of the findings comprehend the meaning into mother tongue because
they lack independent reading skills and the knowledge regarding the lexical clues

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available in a text. The insights from Koda (2005) suggest the use of guessing
meaning from context, but the English teachers being unaware of instructional
strategies cannot involve the learners to construct meaning from the text context.

Moreover, the results from teaching reading text comprehension report the
pedagogical problems pertaining to the textbook activities being carried out by the
learners in the classroom. The comprehension activities designed to involve the
learners in reading process mainly lack strategic guidance for the learners to locate the
information in the text. These strategies in view of Zheng (2014) are the mental
abilities used by the learners to comprehend the information in foreign language
reading. However, the findings from previous studies reveal that the learners are
unable to employ comprehension strategies due to the translation method used by the
teachers in the classroom (Grabe, 1991).

The findings from teaching reading discourse identifies that the teachers practicing
Intermediate English Textbook-I are not familiar with the concept of discourse in
foreign language reading. The practice of Grammar Translation Method (GTM) as
observed in the classroom causes major hindrances for the learners to read a text
independently and comprehend the meaning successfully. The insights from Ting and
Tee (2008) reveal that the learners from traditional language background cannot
deduce meaning from contextual clues because the use of mother tongue hinders
comprehension process. Thus, the knowledge regarding contextual clues not only
improves comprehension, but also develops discourse understanding of a text
(Nezami, 2012).

Another aspect of teaching reading discourse reveals that the learners are unable to
understand the functions of linking words used in a text. The instructional strategies
applied to teach the prescribed textbook fail to raise learners’ awareness of discourse
words connecting sentences to bring about coherence in the ideas of a text. The
findings from Sparks (2012) critically examine that the L2 learners cannot
comprehend the underlying meaning because the teaching methods focus on the
translation of text in the classroom. It was further explored that reading
comprehension activities in the textbook do not develop the ability to understand the
organization of ideas in the text. Therefore, the learners cannot comprehend the text

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independently because the teachers apply traditional teaching methods in the
classroom.

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 CHAPTER 8

CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS

8.1 INTRODUCTION

This research study explores the problems in reading text comprehension and
discourse understanding of the learners at Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges,
Shikarpur. An Intermediate English Textbook-I is a part of compulsory course taught
to the students for developing proficiency in four language skills i.e. listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the authenticity
of selected texts, presentation of developmentally engaging skills, and the suitability
of language activities designed in the textbook. Additionally, the current pedagogical
practices are investigated through the classroom observations of the teachers teaching
English as compulsory subject at intermediate level. Using mixed method study
design, the study employs questionnaires, textbook evaluation, and the classroom
observations for collecting data from the participants of the study. Thus, the study
employs following research questions to investigate the problems and issues faced by
the learners in reading comprehension and discourse understanding of an English text.

1. To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at Shikarpur

have reading in English text comprehension at intermediate level? RQ1

2. What are discourse related issues for the learner of Sindh Government

Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate

level? RQ2

3. How far the Intermediate English Textbook-I is authentic in developing

reading comprehension skills of the students at Sindh Government

colleges, Shikarpur? RQ3

4. How reading comprehension skills are taught to the intermediate students of

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 Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur? RQ4

Reading hindrances have been an important area of concern for the researchers to
address the issue and suggest some possible ways and means for language learners to
acquire proficiency in text comprehension skills (Hung & Ngan, 2015; Zhang &
Seepho 2013; Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; Rahman, 2004). These hindrances in view of
the research studies are mainly caused by the lack of reading skills, insufficient
vocabulary knowledge, and the traditional teaching practice in the classroom. Despite
the importance of reading comprehension in Foreign Language Learning (FLL), there
is the need of such research and investigation in the academic context of Sindh
Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur. It is one of the major reasons that the
present study would significantly contribute important insights in the existing body of
literature regarding the development of reading comprehension skills in Foreign
Language Learning (FLL) context.

RQ1: To what extent do the learners of Sindh Government Colleges at

Shikarpur have reading hindrances in English text comprehension at
intermediate level?

This study provides evidences that the participants frequently encounter problems in
reading comprehension of an English text at intermediate level. These hindrances are
the lack of competence in vocabulary, inability to understand sentence structures, loud
reading, and the translation of text into mother tongue. The learners cannot carry out
comprehension activities independently because they lack linguistic knowledge to
decode the message from syntax, build meaning from context, and develop ideas from
the text taught in the classroom. Additionally, the students’ limited exposure to
linguistic knowledge is one of the major reasons behind poor comprehension skills,
and the cognitive ability to construct meaning from a foreign text. It was found from
the results that the learners traditionally practice reading to understand the meaning
into mother tongue or improve pronunciation by reading aloud the text in the
classroom.

In Foreign Language Reading (FLR), the proficient learners use text comprehension
strategies to guess meaning from context, locate specific information in the text, and
associate previous knowledge to acquire new ideas from the text. However, the

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participants in the study lack reading comprehension strategies to acquire information
from the text used in a classroom context. These strategies can facilitate reading
comprehension by raising learners’ awareness of contextual clues available in a text
and develop the ability to extract meaning from the text context. It is an unconscious
mental ability of a learner to read text efficiently for a semantic understanding of
ideas, but the less proficient learners may it difficult to employ strategies so as to
focus on the information as well as on the language used in context. Therefore, the
present study reveals drawbacks and the issues faced by the learners in acquiring text
comprehension strategies through a prescribed English course at intermediate level.

There are findings revealing the role of a learner as a passive receiver of information
in the context of the present research study. The participant are generally disengaged
in text comprehension because they tend to acquire information through lectures
delivered in a traditional language classroom. It also seems as the learners have not
been trained to become strategic readers to work independently with the various tasks
designed in the Intermediate English Textbook-I. In most of teacher centered classes,
the learners hardly find space for communication, and share learning problems, and
issues encountered in developing reading comprehension skills. Therefore, the
learners in the light of results fail to develop reading skills due to the traditional
reading practice and the translation of text into mother tongue in English compulsory
classes.

RQ2: What are discourse related issues for the learners of Sindh Government
Colleges at Shikarpur in understanding the English text at intermediate level?

The development of discourse involves various competencies such as, strategic

reading awareness, linguistic knowledge, critical evaluation, and the ability to
understand sentence connectors linking information in the text. It also requires a
learner to construct meaning by paying attention to complex text structures conveying
ideas through specific discourse pattern organized in the text. However, the learners
from traditional language background lack discourse comprehension because the
strategies used in the classroom focus on the translation of text into mother tongue.
This traditional reading practice does not involve a learner in language development
process because it focuses on the structural approach rather than the ability to
understand language in context. Thus, the findings reveal the lack of independent

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reading practice and the incompetence in developing the discourse understanding of a
text at intermediate level.

Discourse related issues in the study indicate the lack of awareness about language
functions performed in a text. It is one of the important comprehension ability to
know the deep meaning and understand the writers’ intentions using specific
discourse structures in the text. The findings reveal that the participants are not
acquainted with the discourse comprehension of a text because they follow reading
comprehension questions to locate the information in the text only. However, the
ability to evaluate a text critically has not been practiced in many of English
compulsory classes in public sector colleges of Sindh. The learners in view of the
results are found inefficient to understand text coherence and the organization of ideas
presented through the discourse structures. Therefore, the majority of learners fail to
develop discourse comprehension due to the deficiency of linguistic knowledge and
the familiarity with sentence structures used in a text.

RQ3: How far the Intermediate English Textbook-I is authentic in developing

reading comprehension skills of the students at Sindh Government Colleges,
Shikarpur?

This research study selected Intermediate English Textbook-I for evaluating the
contents, skills, and the activities designed to develop overall proficiency in listening
speaking, reading and writing skills. The findings from textbook description reveals
that the contents selected from history, religion, literature, and earlier scientific
inventions provide out of date information which mismatch the learners’ language
needs in the academic context. In addition, the selected texts fail to develop language
competence because the contents lack features of communication used in real life
situation. The selection of such texts in the light of results proves to be less effective
for developing the proficiency in reading comprehension skills of the students at
intermediate level. Therefore, the textbook description reveals shortcomings and
drawback in terms of selection and the design of materials in the prescribed textbook
of English at intermediate level.

An in-depth skills evaluation brings forward the important insights related to the
learners’ involvement in language learning process implied in the textbook prescribed
for intermediate students. The findings reveal that the skills designed in the textbook

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focus on developing reading comprehension, composition, and the practice of
grammar structures aiming to acquire accuracy in language skills. However, there
seems to be lack of attention paid to the cognitive and communicative aspects of
learning a foreign language through the activities designed in the textbook. It is one of
the major drawbacks that the language skills are presented without context lacking
relevance to the text and guidance for the learners to apply appropriate strategies for
carrying out the activities in the classroom. Thus, the language skills designed in the
textbook fail to address language learning needs of the students due to structural
approach followed in the Intermediate English Textbook-I.

Moreover, the activities evaluation indicate that the textbook lacks procedure
involved in the organization of activities from pre-reading to while-reading, and post-
reading stages. Most of the comprehension activities contain questions to be answered
by the students by locating the specific information in the text. It is also found that the
composition tasks are presented without context lacking relevance to the text,
appropriate writing procedure and the integration of language skills in the textbook.
There are hardly any activities designed to activate learners’ prior knowledge, or the
questions to elicit background information from the students on the selected texts. A
number of grammar activities in view of the study are also designed to practice
sentence structures without using language context and the integrations of language
skills in the textbook. It therefore seems as the activities designed in the Intermediate
English Textbook-I fail to develop competence in four language skills due to lack of
communicative approach in the materials.

RQ4: How reading comprehension skills are taught to the intermediate students
of Sindh Government Colleges, Shikarpur?

The present study conducted classroom observations of the teachers teaching English
as a compulsory subject at Sindh Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur. In
view of the observations, this study investigated the prevalent pedagogical practices
applied to teach the prescribed English textbook. The results revealed that the teachers
follow traditional teaching strategies such as, the Grammar Translation Method
(GTM), loud reading, and the interpretation of lines from the textbook. Further, the
evidences reveal that the traditional teaching reading practice fail to promote
independent learning from the textbook introduced for intermediate students. It is also

119
evident that the teachers mostly follow the lessons from the textbook without making
necessary changes in the design and the organization of activities so as to suit the
learners’ proficiency level.

It was discovered in the light of findings that the lack of pedagogical awareness
causes problems and issues for the teachers to teach reading comprehension through
modern teaching methods. They fail to involve the students in reading comprehension
process because of the wrongly designed textbook activities lacking instructions and
appropriate guidance for the learners. An important drawback is the lack of textbook
adaptation for the teachers to introduce interesting and communicative activities for
the learners to achieve learning objective from the existing materials. However, the
learners in view of the results are not involved in strategic reading process to become
proficient in vocabulary, access the information efficiently, understand the context
fluently, and draw conclusions quickly. In most of English compulsory classes, the
learners remain dormant due to the teacher centered approach in the language
classroom. Therefore, the learners are demotivated to raise questions and share
learning problems in such sort of authoritative situation in the academic settings like
public sector colleges of Sindh.

Teaching reading discourse in the light of research study is an important issue to

promote independent learning and critical thinking ability for evaluating the text
taught in the classroom. The learners generally fail to know the deep meaning of a
text because they lack awareness of discourse functions in the text. In addition, the
teachers are also unaware of discourse based teaching due to the lack of training and
awareness about teaching reading skills in foreign language context. The learners
cannot operate reading strategies to understand the context of a text, develop ideas,
and build meaning from the language clues available in a text. It ultimately causes
learners to rely on the translation of text to understand the meaning in mother tongue
or loudly read the text to improve oral proficiency in the classroom. Therefore, the
present study proves that the learners have discourse understanding problems due to
the traditional reading practice and the translation of text into mother tongue.

8.2 FINAL RESUME OF THE MAIN FINDINGS

 Translating the text is the learning behaviour of the students who prefer to
receive information through lectures than independently reading text in the

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 classroom activities. They mainly lack competence in vocabulary, inability to
build meaning from sentences, and inefficiency to comprehend information
from the text. The traditional reading practice also ignores the development of
discourse to know the deep meaning of a text implied in the language context.
 The selection of varied texts from history, religion, literature, and earlier
scientific inventions proves to be less effective for developing the learners’
interest in reading comprehension activities. These activities lack appropriate
instructions and guidance for the learners to locate specific information using
sub-skills related to the reading skills. A number of activities on composition
and grammar structures cannot involve the students in writing procedure due
to lack of context, relevance to the text, and the integration of language skills
in the textbook. Therefore, the activities designed in the Intermediate English
Textbook-I fail to address the language learning needs of the students at
intermediate level.
 The current pedagogical practices reveal the shortcomings and drawbacks in
developing reading comprehension skills of the students at intermediate level.
In most of English compulsory classes, the teachers traditionally practice
reading by translating the text into mother tongue. The translation method fails
to involve the students in text comprehension process and ignores the
cognitive development of a learner lacking ability to interact with an English
text independently in the classroom. Therefore, the traditional teaching
reading practice seems to be less effective for developing proficiency in
reading comprehension and discourse understanding of a text at intermediate
level.

8.3 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

This research study contributes meaningful insights regarding reading comprehension

problems and discourse understanding issues faced by the participants in public sector
colleges of Sindh. A recent review of the literature in section 2.2 briefly discusses the
studies conducted on the various aspects of text construction and reading
comprehension in foreign language learning (Grabe, 2002; Hun & Beglar, 2003;
Schmitt, 2000; Koda, 2005; Nation, 2003; Harmer, 1999). In addition, a number of
studies have also been conducted to explore reading comprehension hindrances and
suggest strategies to address the issues faced by the Foreign Language Learners (FLL)

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in their respective academic settings (Bellet & Gursoy, 2008; Zhang, 2014; Rahman,
2004; Hung & Ngan, 2015; Zhang & Seepho, 2013). However, the present study in
the existing line of research studies significantly contributes knowledge regarding the
reading hindrances, discourse related issues, drawbacks in the textbook, and the
pedagogical problems observed in the respective classroom settings.

An important contribution of this research study is to focus on reading comprehension

problems associated with the current pedagogical practices and the materials used in
the classroom. The development of reading skills in the context of Sindh Government
Intermediate Colleges mainly depends upon the learners’ language background,
current proficiency in English, and the motivation to satisfy language learning needs.
In this regard, English is introduced as a compulsory subject and the medium of
instruction to facilitate the learners with the basic requirements of learning a foreign
language. However, the results reveal that the learners fail to develop proficiency in
English due to the traditional teaching methods and the lack of authentic texts and
tasks designed in the prescribed textbook of English at intermediate level.

Another contribution of this research is to uncover the potential problems regarding

the selection of various texts from diverse fields of knowledge such as, history,
religion, literature, and the earlier scientific inventions. All these areas are an essential
source of receiving information but these cannot be useful for teaching a foreign
language due to the lack of communicative features used in real life situation. The
selection of such texts proves to be less effective because the learners fail to develop
interest in reading the contents providing old and outdated information. In addition,
the activities designed to develop reading comprehension skills also lack appropriate
instructions and guidance for the learners to locate the information in the text. Thus, a
number of these activities lack important elements of context, relevance to the text,
and the integration of language skills given in the Intermediate English Textbook-I.

One more important contribution of this research study is to discover the current
pedagogical practices followed by the teachers teaching English as a compulsory
subject at intermediate level. The practice of Grammar Translation Method (GTM)
remains a dominant teaching strategy which focuses on the comprehension of
information in mother tongue. This teaching strategy is applied to teach the prescribed
textbook for carrying out the activities in the classroom. However, the traditional

122
teaching practice in the light of this study makes a learner passive rather than an
active participant who can communicate ideas and share problems in the classroom. It
also ignores cognitive development of a learner and causes failure in acquiring
proficiency in reading compression and discourse understanding of a text at
intermediate level. Thus, the teachers’ incompetence in English language and the lack
of professional development are mainly responsible for the traditional teaching
practice in the classroom.

8.4 IMPLICATIONS

This research study contributes significant insights related to the teaching of reading
comprehension skills through Intermediate English Textbook-I prescribed for Sindh
Government Intermediate Colleges, Shikarpur. It intends to raise pedagogical
awareness among the teachers, head of the institutions, managers, and policy makers
to review the existing English course for making possible changes to make it more
functional and communicative. The teachers may seek help from the findings to
reflect upon their on-going pedagogical practices for a transition from traditional
teaching methods to the advanced reading instructions in facilitating text
comprehension and the development of discourse.

Further, the future research on the development of reading comprehension and

discourse understanding can significantly contribute improvements in the practice of
teaching reading skills to foreign language learners. The previous studies have
remarkably addressed the reading hindrances in foreign language learning but the
future research and investigation in the context of public sector colleges can bring
about practical changes in the teaching methods, materials development, and the
development of language skills acquired through the communicative approach.
Therefore, the researchers, trainers, academicians and the teachers are suggested to
advance their research studies and investigations for addressing the language learning
needs of the students so as to meet the modern needs of language education in the
public sector colleges of Sindh, Shikarpur.

8.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Some of the major limitations regarding this research study are mentioned as under:

123
  Since the research is to be conducted in public sector colleges with a sample of
one hundred participants. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all
the students of other academic settings.
 Eight English compulsory classes were observed in twenty days due to some
problems faced by the administration of the institution. It hindered the process
of data collection because each day there was a visit to the institution to have a
classroom observation.

8.5.1 Ethical Issues

The following ethical considerations were taken care of:

 The teachers’ participation regarding this research study depended upon their
willingness and interest.
 Consent from the management of the institutions was sought for conducting
the classroom observations and the distribution of questionnaires.
 Confidentiality regarding the names of students and teachers was maintained
to avoid labelling and misuse of the information.

8.6 RECOMMENDATIONS

Intermediate English Textbook-I prescribed for the students across the public sector
colleges of Sindh fails to improve reading comprehension of the learners lacking
discourse understanding skills. The course is still taught through the (Grammar
Translation Method) which seems strange on account of developing the language
comprehension skills acquired through the textbook. Hence, the following
recommendation are made in the light of literature, analysis and discussion, and it is
strongly suggested that the old English course should be changed to meet the modern
language learning needs of the students through advanced teaching strategies focusing
on the development of text comprehension skills. Finally, the English teachers, course
designers, professionals, and the authorities concerned may bring about significant
changes in view of the recommendations mentioned below:

 The Government institutions should extensively arrange the training

programmes for the professional development of English language
teachers and create awareness about the advanced pedagogical strategies
applied to teach reading comprehension skills.

124
 Extensive reading strategies must be included in the textbook to give
learners confidence and support for discourse comprehension and critical
thinking.
 The English language teachers need to be aware of planning their lessons
and design appropriate reading materials for achieving learning aims and
the objectives through the classroom teaching activities.
 The English language teachers should reflect upon the choice of reading
materials, contents, and the comprehension tasks for facilitating the
language learning through textbooks.
 Meaning and context based teaching approaches should be applied to
develop the learners’ knowledge of contextual clues in a reading text.

125
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APPENDICIES

Appendix-1 Questionnaire for Learners on Reading Skills used for data

collection

Code No_______

I am a research student of M.Phil. Programme in English (Applied Linguistics) at the

Institute of English Language & Literature (IELL), University of Sindh, Jamshoro,

Pakistan. Currently, I am collecting data on the issue of Reading Discourse Problems

faced by learners at intermediate level. Your cooperation to fill in the questionnaire

and provide data will be of great help and support for me to continue my research

work. All the information that you supply on the questionnaire will be confidential

and used anonymously in writing of the research report.

If you wish to participate then please tick in the box below and sign.

I AGREE Signature: ______

Thank you very much for your help and support.

132
133
 Personal Information

Roll no: ________________

Class: __________________

Group: _________________

Age:
16 17 18 19 20

Institution: _____________________________

Place: _________________________________

Name of School Place Medium of Instruction Mode of Schooling

Sindhi Public

Urdu

English Private

Educational Background up to Class-V

Name of School Place Medium of Instruction Mode of Schooling

Sindhi
Public

Urdu
Private

English

Educational Background up to Class-V

134
 Part-I: Reading Hindrances

No. Question Statements Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never

1 I find reading texts boring in English
textbooks
.‫مونکي انگريزي َء جي ڪتاب جا سبق پڙهڻ ۾ بيزاري ٿيندي آهي‬
2 I encounter difficult words while reading
text in English.
.‫مونکي سبق پڙهڻ جي دوران ڏکيا لفظ منجهائيندا آهن‬
3 I am asked to read aloud the text with
correct pronunciation in classroom.
‫مونکي تلفظ جي درستگي َء لا ِء سبق بلند آواز سان پڙهڻ لا ِء چيو ويندو‬
.‫آهي‬

4 I imitate translation of reading text by

the teacher in classroom.
.‫مان سبق استاد جيان ترجمو ڪري پڙهندو آهيان‬
5 I skip reading when encountering
unknown words in reading lessons.
‫سبق پڙهندي جڏهن اڻ ڄاتل لفظ سامهون ايندا آهن ته آ ُء سبق پڙهڻ‬
.‫ڇڏي ڏيندو آهيان‬

6 I lack motivation in reading some texts

included in English textbook.
‫مونکي انگريزي ڪتاب جا ڪجهه سبق پڙهڻ ۾ شوق جي گهٽتائي‬
.‫ٿيندي آهي‬
7 I lack background knowledge to predict
the text before reading comprehension.
‫سبق پڙهڻ کان اڳ ۾ اهو سمجهي ته سگهندو آهيان ته اهو ڇاجي‬
.‫متعلق آهي‬

8 I cannot concentrate on long sentences

to understand the meaning.
‫ڊگهن جملن جي معن ٰي سمجهڻ لا ِء انهن تي ڌيان ڏئي نه سگهندو‬
.‫آهيان‬
9 I prefer to listen lectures rather than
reading text.
.‫سبق پڙهڻ کان بهتر ان جي متعلق ٻڌڻ پسند ڪندو آهيان‬

Part-II: Text Comprehension Strategies

135
No. Question Statements Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never

10 I predict the main idea of a reading text

from the contents of its title.
.‫آ ُء سبق جو مرڪزي خيال ان جو عنوان ڏسي ٻڌائيندو آهيان‬
11 I turn to dictionary when encountering
difficult words in reading text.
‫سبق پڙهڻ جي دوران ڏکين لفظن جي معن ٰي‬
.‫ل اِء ڊ ڪشنري جو استعمال ڪندو آهيان‬
12 I guess the meaning of unknown words
using context of a reading text.
‫سبق پڙهڻ جي دوران اڻڄاتل لفظن جي معن ٰي سمجهڻ لا ِء انهن جي‬
.‫مفهوم مطابق اندازو لڳائيندو آهيان‬
13 I locate important information in the
passage for answering the questions of
reading text comprehension.
‫سبق صرف ان لا ِء پڙهندو آهيان ته جئين مضمون ۾ اهم معلومات ڏسي‬
.‫سوالن جا جواب ڏسي سگهان‬
14 I use simple words to replace the
difficult ones in sentence understanding.
‫جملي کي سمجهڻ لا ِء ڏکين لفظن جي جا ِء تي آسان لفظ استعمال‬
.‫ڪندو آهيان‬
15 I associate previous knowledge for the
understanding of new ideas.
‫نيئن معلومات سمجهڻ لا ِء پهريان واري معلومات جو استعمال ڪندو‬
.‫آهيان‬
16 I comprehend a reading text by focusing
on the key sentences of each paragraph.
‫سبق کي سمجهڻ لا ِء هر پيراگراف جي اهم جملن تي ڌيان ڏيندو‬
.‫آهيان‬
17 I read large texts by dividing it into
paragraphs
.‫آ ُء وڏن سبقن کي ننڍن حصن ۾ ورهائي پڙهندو آهيان‬
18 I do not pay attention to sentence
structures while reading text
comprehension.
.‫سبق سمجهڻ لا ِء جملن جي بناوت يا گرامر تي ڌيان نه ڏيندو آهيان‬
19 I read only the first and the last
paragraph of reading text for drawing
conclusions quickly.
.‫آ ُء سبق جو پهريون ۽ آخري پيراگراف پڙهي جلد نتيجو ڳڍندو آهيان‬
20 I cannot comprehend a reading text
without understanding of its context.
.‫مفهوم کانسوا ِء سبق سمجهي نه سگهندو آهيان‬

136
 Part-III: Discourse Related Issues

No. Question Statements Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never

21 I do not pay attention to some parts of

a text for understanding its deep
meaning.
‫سبق جي ڪجهه حصن جي اندري معن ٰي سمجهڻ جي لا ِء ڌيان نه‬
.‫ڏيندو آهيان‬
22 I can understand long sentences by
analyzing their structure.
‫وڏن جملن کي سمجهڻ جي لا ِء جملن جي بناوٽ جو جائزو وٺي‬
.‫سگهندو آهيان‬

23 I try to interpret the writer’s intention

while reading text in pairs.
‫ س ب ق پ ڙ ه ڻ ج ي د و ر ا ن ل ي کڪ ج ي خ ي ا ل ن‬، ‫ٻ ه ڄ ڻ ا ج ي گٽ ج ي پ ڙ ه و ن‬
.‫جي ترجماني ڪرڻ جي ڪوشش ڪندو آهيان‬

24 I construct meaning of a reading text

by connecting sentences together.
‫سبق جي معلومات سمجهڻ لا ِء جملن کي پاڻ ۾ ڳنڍي معن ٰي‬
.‫جوڙيندو آهيان‬

25 I identify the type of text from the use

of language in context.
‫زبان جي مفهوم جي استعمال مان خبر پوندي آهي ته سبق ڪهڙي‬
.‫قسم جو آهي‬

26 I understand text organization by

giving topics to the paragraphs.
.‫پيراگرافس کي عنوان ڏئي سبق جي ترتيب سمجهندو آهيان‬

27 I can evaluate a reading text on the

basis of evidences provided in the text.
.‫سبق ۾ ڏنل شاهدين جي بنياد تي ان جو جائزو وٺي سگهندو آهيان‬

28 I try to differentiate between a fact and

opinion while reading text in detail.
‫سبق کي تفصيل ۾ پڙهڻ جي دوران حقيقت ۽ خيال ۾ فرقق ڪندو‬
.‫آهيان‬
29 I understand the shifting of ideas with
help of sentence connectors used in a
text
‫جملن کي ڳنڍيندڙ لفظن جي مدد سان خيالات جي ڦير گهير کي‬
.‫سمجهندو آهيان‬

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Appendix-II: Textbook Evaluation used for assessing the materials.

A. Textbook Description Yes No

1. The contents are interesting in the textbook.
2. The textbook contains lessons on foreign language culture.
3. The textbook lessons provide authentic language used in
communication.
4. The textbook contents provide real life issues to develop
interest and motivation of the students.
5. The texts are selected from a variety literary genres.
6. The textbook provides scientific contents matching with the
learners’ language and academic needs.
B. Skills Evaluation

7. The skills presented in the textbook are appropriate to the

course.
8. Each reading text begins by providing preview to the topic.
9. The textbook provides learners with sufficient guides for
learners to develop their comprehension skills.
10. The skills presented in the textbook include a wide a range of
cognitive skills that will be challenging to the learners.
C. Activities Evaluation

10. 11. The exercises are divided into pre-reading, while-reading, and
post-reading tasks.
12. The activities move learners from simple to a more complex
learning process.
13. There are appropriate instructions for the learners to read text
for comprehension.
14. The reading activities involve leaners in text comprehension
process.
15. The activities are designed to promote vocabulary learning.
.16. The activities on Grammar enhance knowledge regarding
the sentence structures.
17. The questions designed in the comprehension activities focus
on specific information in the text.
18. The tasks are designed to know the deep meaning of words
and sentences.
19. The activities focus on the various functions of discourse
words used in a text.
20. The activities help learners understand the shifting of ideas in
the text.

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 Appendix-III: Classroom Observation Checklist used for investigating the teaching
methods.

Name of the College________________________ Category Type_______________

Name of the Teacher (optional) _____________________ Code No.______________

Topic of the lesson ________________________________ Class ________________

Time Duration _________ Objective/s of the Lesson __________________________

TeachingAids/Materials_________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

No. Statement Items Yes No Remarks

Part-I: Teaching Reading Practice

The teacher follows PPP or TTT model of the lesson

plan.
01

02 The teacher divides reading text/lesson into pre-

reading, while reading and post reading tasks.

03 The teaching method encourages independent reading

practice by the students.

04 The teacher manages reading lesson into pair-work or

group-work activities.

05 The teacher delivers lecture/information on the topic

of reading text in a classroom.

06 The teacher translates text into mother tongue for

learners to understand the meaning.

07 The teacher invites students for reading aloud the text

in a classroom.

Statement Items Yes No Remarks

Part-II Teaching Reading Comprehension

08 The teacher brainstorms the topic for developing
learners’ interest in reading text comprehension.

09 The teacher provides background information before

learners’ reading text comprehension.

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10 The teacher explains key ideas of each paragraph of a
text.

11 The teacher promotes vocabulary learning by

providing the meanings of unknown words.

12 The teacher helps students guess the meaning of

unknown words in the context of reading text.

13 The teacher instructs students how to locate the

information of comprehension questions.

14 The teacher explains the meaning and the structure of

long sentences in reading text.

No. Statement Items Yes No Remarks

Part-III: Teaching Reading Discourse

The teacher raises learners’ awareness of the

contextual clues in reading text.
15

16 The teacher focuses on the ability of understanding

deep meaning of reading text.

17 The teacher involves students in the process of

understanding text organization.

18 The teacher focuses on the functions of discourse

words in teaching reading text.

19 The teacher involves the learners to understand the

difference between a fact and an opinion in reading
text.

20 The teacher trains learners in constructing the

meaning by connecting sentences together.

21 The teacher engages learners in reading to identify

the type of text by understanding the use of language.

22 The teacher involves learners in detailed reading for

evaluating text critically.

23 The teacher teaches shifting of ideas with the help of

sentence connectors in reading text.

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Comment by the observer:

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