a study of the cognitive reading strategies employed …

A STUDY OF THE COGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY ESL

READERS

NURULSYAIDA BINTI MAT SAMAN

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

PSZ 19 : 16 (Pind. 1/07)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF THESIS / UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT PAPER AND

COPYRIGHT

Author’s full name : NURULSYAIDA BINTI MAT SAMAN Date of Birth : 19 APRIL 1985 Title : A STUDY OF THE COGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY ESL READERS Academic Session : 2008/2009 I declare that this thesis is classified as: CONFIDENTIAL (Contains confidential information under the Official Secret Act 1972)* RESTRICTED (Contains restricted information as specified by the

organization where research was done)*

OPEN ACCESS I agree that my thesis to be published as online open access (full text) I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows: 1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies for the purpose of research only. 3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic exchange. Certified by:

___________________________ _____________________________ (SIGNATURE) (SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR)

850419-03-5618 DR. NOOR AIREEN BT. IBRAHIM ( IC NO.) NAME OF SUPERVISOR

Date : 30th April 2009 Date : 30th April 2009

NOTES: * If the thesis is CONFIDENTAL or RESTRICTED, please attach with the letter from

the organization with period and reasons for confidentiality or restriction.

√

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is

sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor

of Science with Education (TESL)”.

Signature : ____________________

Name of Supervisor : DR. NOOR AIREEN BT. IBRAHIM

Date : 30th APRIL 2009

i

A STUDY OF THE COGNITIVE READING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY ESL READERS

NURULSYAIDA BINTI MAT SAMAN

A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)

Faculty of Education

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

APRIL 2009

ii

“I declare that this thesis entitled “A Study of the Cognitive Reading Strategies

Employed by ESL Readers” is the result of my own research except as cited in

the references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not

concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree”.

Signature : ____________________

Name : NURULSYAIDA BINTI MAT SAMAN

Date : 30th APRIL 2009

iii

To my beloved mother and father,

this is the why and wherefore I was not going home as often as I want…

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Praise to Allah the Almighty who has given me strength and confidence to

complete this study and made me what I am today.

First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my

heartiest gratitude and sincere appreciations to my respectful and friendliest

supervisor, Dr. Noor Aireen bt. Ibrahim, for her guidance, advice and support in

assisting me to complete this study throughout the two semesters. She deserves my

additional thanks for dealing so patiently to read and comment on the entire writing

and being tolerance and very helpful during the writing of this study. Thank you for

being a guider and a sister to me. To my grateful examiners, PM Dr. Norazman and

PM Dr. Zaidah, thank you so much for their comments and advices for this study.

I would also like to express my sincere appreciations to my family especially

my parents for their encouragement, motivation and support while completing this

study. To my friends, thank you for helping me in this study and for your beautiful

friendship. My gratitude also goes to all the participants who have given good

cooperation and willing to involve in this study.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank to everybody who has involved

directly and indirectly in helping me to complete this study. May god bless you.

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ABSTRACT

Reading is a complex process that requires active participation from

readers by which, they need to process and understand information in the texts.

Hence, readers can understand the text more effectively if they are able to make use

of appropriate reading strategies. The use of effective reading strategies is important

as they help readers to minimize time and effort to comprehend a particular text.

This research aims to identify and compare the cognitive reading strategies employed

by students who have undergone a reading course and students who have not

undergone a reading course. The participants chosen for this study were final year

students from the Faculty of Education, UTM. All six participants have the same

level of proficiency in English. The ‘think-aloud’ technique was used to identify the

cognitive reading strategies employed by the participants. A set of questionnaire was

distributed to the participants to examine the difference between the participants’

self-reported data and their actual reading strategies. The findings of this study

showed that there are differences in the types and frequency of strategies used by the

participants both as groups and individually. Future research should examine

reading strategies employed by participants with different levels of proficiency.

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ABSTRAK

Membaca adalah satu proses kompleks yang memerlukan penglibatan aktif

pembaca, iaitu mereka perlu memproses dan memahami maklumat di dalam teks.

Oleh itu, pembaca akan dapat memahami teks secara lebih berkesan dengan

menggunakan strategi-strategi pembacaan yang sesuai. Penggunaan strategi

membaca yang sesuai dan berkesan adalah penting untuk memudahkan dan

mengurangkan masa pembaca untuk memahami sesuatu teks. Kajian ini bertujuan

untuk mengenalpasti dan membandingkan strategi-strategi pembacaan kognitif yang

digunakan oleh pelajar-pelajar yang telah mengikuti kursus pembacaan dan pelajar-

pelajar yang tidak mengikuti kursus pembacaan. Enam peserta yang terlibat dalam

kajian ini adalah pelajar-pelajar tahun akhir dari Fakulti Pendidikan, UTM yang

mempunyai tahap kemahiran Bahasa Inggeris yang sama. Kajian ini menggunakan

teknik ‘think-aloud’ untuk mengenalpasti strategi pembacaan kognitif yang

digunakan oleh peserta. Kaedah soal selidik digunakan untuk mengkaji perbezaan

antara laporan kendiri peserta terhadap strategi pembacaan mereka dengan strategi

pembacaan yang telah mereka gunakan semasa aktiviti ‘think-aloud’. Dapatan kajian

menunjukkan bahawa terdapat perbezaan dari segi jenis dan kekerapan strategi yang

digunakan oleh peserta. Hasil dari kajian ini menyarankan penyelidikan pada masa

akan datang mengkaji strategi pembacaan ke atas peserta yang mempunyai tahap

kemahiran Bahasa Inggeris yang berbeza.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE

DECLARATION OF THESIS

SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION

TITLE i

RESEARCHER’S DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF APPENDICES xiii

viii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction 2

1.1 Background of the Study 3

1.2 Statement of Problem 5

1.3 Purpose of the Study 6

1.4 Objectives of the Study 6

1.5 Research Questions 7

1.6 Scope of the Study 7

1.7 Significance of the Study 8

1.8 Definition of Terms 9

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction 11

2.1 What is Reading? 12

2.2 The Reading Models 13

2.3 Cognitive Reading Strategies 15

2.4 Metacognitive Reading Strategies 16

2.5 Think-Aloud Technique 17

2.6 Related Research to Current Study 19

2.7 Reading Course 22

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction 24

3.1 Research Design 24

3.2 Respondents of the Study 25

3.3 Research Instruments 26

3.4 Pilot Study 29

3.5 Research Procedure 30

3.6 Data Analysis 31

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CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.0 Introduction 33

4.1 Reading Strategies Employed by 34

Participants in Understanding a Text

4.1.1 Reading Strategies Employed 35

Participant A


Participant B


Participant C


Participant D


Participant E


Participant F


Participants who Have Undergone a

Reading Course


Participants who Have not Undergone a

Reading Course

4.4 The Strategies Employed by Participants who 56

Have Undergone and who Have not

Undergone a Reading Course

4.5 Discussion 64

4.5.1 The Comparison of Strategy Use 64

in terms of Classification of

the Strategies

4.5.2 The Comparison of Strategy Use 70

in terms of Strategy Types

x

4.6 The Relationship between the Degrees of 74

Comprehension and the Strategies

Employed by Participants

4.7 The Differences between Participants’ 75

Self-Reported Data and Actual

Reading Strategies

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction 78

5.1 Conclusion 78

5.2 Limitations 82

5.3 Recommendations 83

REFERENCES 87

APPENDICES 90

Appendix A-J

xi

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

4.1.1 Reading Strategies Employed Participant A 36

4.1.2 Reading Strategies Employed Participant B 38

4.1.3 Reading Strategies Employed Participant C 40

4.1.4 Reading Strategies Employed Participant D 42

4.1.5 Reading Strategies Employed Participant E 44

4.1.6 Reading Strategies Employed Participant F 46

4.2 Reading Strategies Employed by Participants 47

4.2.1 Sample Transcriptions of Participant A 51

4.3 Reading Strategies Employed by Participants 52

4.4.1 Reading Strategies Employed by All Participants 56

4.4.2 The Differences in the Use of Strategies 60

Employed by Participants

xii

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

4.5.1 The Significant Strategies Employed by 69

Participants who Have Undergone and

who Have not Undergone a Reading Course

4.5.2 The Significant Strategies Employed by 71

Participants who Have Undergone and

who Have not Undergone a Reading Course

xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Sample Text for Think-Aloud Task 91

B Sample of Questionnaire 94

C Types of Strategy Use 96

D Transcription of Participant A 100

E Transcription of Participant B 105

F Transcription of Participant C 110

G Transcription of Participant D 115

H Transcription of Participant E 120

I Transcription of Participant F 126

J Reading Course Outline 132

CHAPTER I

2

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

English has become a significant language in the world as there are millions of people

using English as their first or second language (Baker, 2001). In Malaysia, English plays as the

second language and is becoming extensively important since it is used as a medium of

interaction in various fields mainly in education. In the educational field, university students

have to read a lot of English sources as most institutions of higher learning are currently

changing their medium of interaction to the English language. Thus, students need to master

some basic skills of English language learning in order to cope with the English or content

subjects. Among the most important skill of English language learning is reading skill where it

is essential for learners to master as it is not only to ensure success in learning the English

language, but also in understanding the content subjects.

3

Reading is not merely a receptive process of picking up the information from the page in

a word-by-word manner (Grabe, 1991), but it is a more complex process (Chitravelu et. al, 2005)

that involves selective and active processes of comprehending a text. Reading is a part of a

learning process, as the readers will get information and knowledge from what they read. As

Quinn and Irvings (1991) state, reading is examining and understanding characters, words, or

sentences and it provides new ideas that will add to one’s store of knowledge. In the reading

process, there are various reading strategies used by the readers to improve their reading

comprehension. These strategies would help them to develop their reading and thinking skills.

A number of studies have been conducted on the use of reading strategies. These studies

were to distinguish the reading strategies used by students according to different factors such as

gender, age, level of proficiency, year of study and others. Based on these factors, the studies

show that each student used different reading strategies from one another. Most previous

research on reading strategies was done on the native English readers who are already competent

in the language. The reading strategies employed by native readers and non-native readers were

obviously different, as the reading texts would be more demanding for non-native readers. The

non-native readers also showed differences among each other in the use of reading strategies. As

the use of reading strategies varies from one person to another, this study will examine the

different reading strategies employed by students who have undergone a reading course and

students who have not undergone a reading course.

1.1 Background of the Study

English language has four major skills that students need to master in order to be

competent in that language. These four skills are reading, speaking, writing and listening.

4

Reading skills are very important to enable them to read the text effectively. Students also have

to know what sort of reading strategies they should use to improve their reading comprehension.

Since most materials for teaching and learning purposes in University Teknologi Malaysia

(UTM) are in English, the students would always have to encounter themselves with the reading

of English materials. They will be using various English sources such as lecture notes, articles,

journals, and books. Thus, reading strategies are essential for the learners to help them succeed

in English and then content subjects.

Furthermore, most of the students in UTM have to write their final year project paper in

English. For this purpose, they have to read a great deal of English references to get the

knowledge and improve their writing skills. Successful students must have sufficient vocabulary

not only to read the ideas of others but to express their own opinions. In order to express these

ideas clearly, they must have good reading strategies to pick up the main ideas of the materials.

Those reading strategies would help learners to tackle the reading materials, interpret their

reading and give them ideas of what they need to do when they do not comprehend. Hence,

students should be aware and concern with the reading strategies they employ.

Basically, the types and number of reading strategies employed by individuals are

different. The types of reading strategies adopted while reading a text are important for students

to know in order to comprehend the text with a minimum of time and effort. Students who have

the knowledge of reading strategies might use reading strategies more effectively when they read

a text than those who do not know about the reading strategies. Thus, this study examines

reading strategies used by students who have undergone a reading course and students who have

not undergone a reading course. Students who have undergone a reading course are expected to

have more knowledge of reading skills and reading strategies than students who have not

undergone a reading course since they have been exposed to a wider knowledge of reading skills

and different types of reading materials.

5

1.2 Statement of Problem

According to Forget and Bottoms (2000 as cited in Suspancic, 2006), most students have

difficulty in comprehending and retaining information when simply reading a text. This was

supported by Meltzer (2001 as cited in Suspancic, 2006), who states that most students need help

in learning new vocabulary, learning new reading styles, learning independently and using

reading strategies. Generally, most students read very slowly and their vocabulary is deficient.

They do not know how to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words. They are not capable of

guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words within context. In addition, the second language

readers also face additional challenges while reading an English text mainly when reading

unfamiliar topics that do not allow them to activate their prior knowledge to comprehend the

text.

This is also a problem faced by most students in UTM, where they have difficulty

understanding English text. This is due to that most students tend to translate word by word

while interpreting the text, and although they may know the meaning of each word, they are still

incapable to comprehend the ideas conveyed in the text. They also lack a clear purpose of why

they read a text and thus, they tend to use ineffective reading strategies. Some of them may not

even be concerned with their reading behaviors and do not realize that there are many reading

strategies that they could employ to understand a text. This might be because they have never

been exposed to the reading strategies and never known that that are strategies for reading.

Students who have been exposed to the reading strategies might use better reading strategies.

Therefore, this research which adopted the think-aloud technique was conducted to compare

reading strategies used by students who have undergone a reading course and students who have

not.

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1.3 Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study was to examine the types of cognitive reading strategies employed

by ESL readers. However, the main purpose of this research was to examine the different

reading strategies used by the two groups of students; students who have undergone a reading

course and students who have not undergone a reading course. Students who have undergone a

reading course are assumed to have better prior knowledge of reading strategies compared to the

students who have not undergone a reading course. In addition, this study will also investigate

whether knowledge of reading strategies have a significant impact on the use of strategy types

while reading a text which would affect students’ ability to understand an English text. Finally,

this study would like to discover the effectiveness of attending a reading course on the use of

reading strategies among students.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are:

1. To identify the cognitive reading strategies employed by students who have

undergone a reading course.

2. To identify the cognitive reading strategies employed by students who have not

undergone a reading course.

3. To compare the reading strategies employed by students who have undergone a

reading course and students who have not undergone a reading course.

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1.5 Research Questions

1. What are the cognitive reading strategies employed by students who have

undergone a reading course?

2. What are the cognitive reading strategies used by students who have not undergone

a reading course?

3. Is there a difference between the reading strategies used by students who have

undergone a reading course and students who have not undergone a reading

course?

1.6 Scope of the Study

This study involves students who have undergone a reading course and students who

have not undergone a reading course. The students who have undergone a reading course are

those who have recently taken the UHB 3032; Reading for Specific Purposes subject. Students

who have undergone the reading course are expected to have more knowledge of reading

strategies compared to students who have not undergone the reading course. These students are

the final year students from Faculty of Education, UTM. For this research, six students with the

same level of proficiency were chosen as respondents; three of them have undergone a reading

course while another three have not.

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1.7 Significance of the Study

This study explored the reading strategies used by students who have different knowledge

of reading strategies, which were students who have undergone the reading course and students

who have not undergone the reading course. Specifically, the findings of this study will show

that attending a reading course may help students use reading strategies more efficiently while

reading a text which is important to develop their reading skills and reading competency.

This is because students who have knowledge of reading strategies will use the strategies

more appropriately and effectively to help them tackle the text. It is important to use reading

strategies effectively as it helps students understand the text with minimum of time and effort.

Besides that, this study would also increase students’ awareness about the effective reading

strategies, in which these strategies would change their reading behaviors and help them in their

reading comprehension and retention. It is hoped that students will make use of many useful

reading strategies in order to improve their reading comprehension of English materials and their

content subjects as well.

9

1.8 Definition of Terms

Reading : It is a complex process that requires active participation from the

reader.

Comprehension : Making or gathering meaning from text.

Reading Strategy : A strategy means an action selected to achieve particular goals. Reading strategy means connects the text’s information to what one already knows about a subject.

ESL : English as a Second Language

Cognitive : The thinking process

Metacognitive : The knowledge of one’s own cognitive process and self- regulation of those processes.

a study of the cognitive reading strategies employed …

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