PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/97) UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

CATATAN: * Potong yang tidak berkenaan.

** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.

Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah dan Sarjana secara penyelidikan, atau disertasi bagi pengajian secara kerja kursus dan penyelidikan, atau Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM).

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS

JUDUL: A COMPARISON OF READING STRATEGIES: HIGH PROFICIENCY VERSUS LOW PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

SESI PENGAJIAN: SEMESTER II SESI 2005/2006

Saya AZURO UMAIRAH BINTI MOHD ROZIN (HURUF BESAR) mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah)* ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk

tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sabagai pertukaran antara institusi

pengajian tinggi. 4. **Sila tandakan ( )

SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau

kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam (AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972) TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan) TIDAK TERHAD Disahkan oleh,

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Alamat tetap: NO.L-55 TAMAN BUKIT PEDAH PUAN AZIAN BINTI ABDUL AZIZ 27000 JERANTUT, Nama Penyelia PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR.

“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 and Education (TESL)”

Signature :

Name of Supervisor : PUAN AZIAN BINTI ABDUL AZIZ

Date : APRIL 2006

A COMPARISON OF READING STRATEGIES: HIGH PROFICIENCY VERSUS

LOW PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

AZURO UMAIRAH BINTI MOHD ROZIN

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Science and Education (TESL)

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

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I declare that this thesis entitled “A COMPARISON OF READING STRATEGIES: HIGH PROFICIENCY VERSUS LOW PROFICIENCY STUDENTS” 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 : AZURO UMAIRAH BINTI MOHD ROZIN

Date : APRIL 2006

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DEDICATION

Especially for my parents, my brother, sisters and those who believe in me…

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The name of Allah Most Gracious and Most Merciful.

Throughout the process of completing this project there are a number of people

who willingly gave their hands and help me to go through this memorable journey.

Therefore I owe a great debt of gratitude to this wonderful people.

First of all I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor Puan

Azian Binti Abdul Aziz for her guidance and advices.

To my parent, brother and sisters, thank you so much for the love and moral

support.

I would also like to express my thanks to the respondents for their cooperation

and willingness.

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to all my coursemates and friends;

Adlina, Anis, Afzan, Bieb, Ina, Yan, Wardah, Nurul, Aifa, Shima and Zak for the

advices, encouragement and opinions.

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ABSTRACT

Reading strategies play an important role in the process of comprehending

written sources. This current research aims to identify the reading strategies utilized by

high proficiency and the proficiency learners. The strategies utilized by both groups

were examined in order to find the differences and similarities in terms of reading

strategies utilization. The participants of this research were first year students of

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The participants were divided into two groups: 10

participants represented the high proficiency group and another 10 participants

represent the low proficiency group. The data for this research were obtained via a set

of reading comprehension task which consist of four texts and 27 comprehension

questions. The reading strategies utilized by the participants were assessed by means of

an 18-item questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed and simple percentage,

mean, and standard deviation were used to interpret the data. The findings of the

research showed that the high English language proficiency group of learners utilized a

wider range of reading strategies compared to the less proficient language learner. The

findings also indicated that the strategies used are different according to an individual.

In addition, the low proficiency group seems not able to effectively utilize the reading

strategies in order to turn them into an advantage which can help them to read

successfully.

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ABSTRAK

Penggunaan strategi dalam proses pembacaan memainkan peranan penting

dalam proses memahami bahan bacaan. Oleh yang demikian kajian ini dilaksanakan

bagi mengenalpasti strategi-strategi pembacaan yang digunakan oleh pelajar-pelajar

yang mahir dan pelajar-pelajar yang kurang mahir dalam bahasa Inggeris. Seterusnya,

strategi-strategi yang telah dikenalpasti akan dikaji dari aspek persamaan dan

perbezaannya. Responden bagi kajian ini adalah 20 pelajar tahun satu Universiti

Teknologi Malaysia. Responden telah dibahagi kepada dua kumpulan iaitu seramai 10

orang responden mewakili kumpulan yang mahir didalam penggunaan bahasa Inggeris

dan seramai 10 orang lagi mewakili kumpulan yang kurang mahir dalam penggunaan

bahasa Inggeris. Bagi tujuan pengumpulan data, satu set soalan pemahaman yang

mengandungi empat teks bacaan dan 27 soalan pemahaman telah diedarkan. Untuk

mengenalpasti strategi pembacaan yang digunakan pula, satu set soal selidik yang

mengandungi 18 item berbentuk soalan objektif telah digunakan. Data yang dikumpul

telah dianalisa dan peratusan, nilai purata dan sisihan piawai telah dikenalpasti bagi

mewakili data. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan pelajar yang mahir dalam penggunaan

Bahasa Inggeris telah menggunakan strategi pembacaan yang lebih pelbagai berbanding

pelajar yang kurang mahir. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa strategi yang

digunakan adalah berbeza-beza mengikut individu itu sendiri. Selain itu pelajar yang

kurang mahir dalam penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris juga didapati tidak mahir

mengimbangi penggunaan strategi pembacaan dan seterusnya menjadikan strategi-

strategi pembacaan sebagai kelebihan bagi memastikan keberkesanan pembacaan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENTS PAGE

Thesis Status Declaration

Supervisor’s Declaration

Title Page i

Declaration (Author) ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgement iv

Abstract v

Abstrak vi

Table of Content vii

List of Tables xii

List of Abbreviations xiii

List of Appendices xiv

viii

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 The Importance of Reading Strategies 4

1.3 The Importance of Reading in Malaysian 6

Context

1.4 Statement of Problem 8

1.5 Purpose and Objective of the Study 9

1.6 Significance of the Study 10

1.7 Scope of the Study 11

1.8 Functional Definitions 12

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 15

2.2 Model of Reading 16

2.2.1 Bottom-Up Models 16

2.2.2 Top-Down Models 18

2.2.3 Interactive Processing Models 20

2.3 Comparison Between Reading in the

First and Second Language 21

2.4 Reading Strategies 22

2.5 Studies in Reading Strategies 27

2.6 Conclusion 31

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Design of the Study 32

3.2 Participants of the Study 33

3.3 Technique of Sampling 34

3.4 Instruments 35

3.4.1 Reading Text and Comprehension

Questions 35

3.4.2 Reading Strategies Questionnaire 36

3.5 Research Procedure 38

3.6 Data Analysis Method 39

3.7 Reliability and Validity of the Research 39

3.8 Conclusion 40

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Introduction 41

4.1.1 Research Participants’

Performance in Reading 42

4.1.2 Comprehension Task

Reading Strategies Utilized

Individually 44

4.1.3 Individual reading strategies

utilized by high and low

English language proficiency

participants. 46

x

4.1.4 The number of reading strategies

utilized according to specific

categories (textual content,

reader response and concrete

technique). 50

4.2 Discussion 55

4.2.1 The Reading Strategies Used

by High Proficiency English

Language Learners 55

4.2.2 The Strategies Used by Low

Proficiency English Language

Learners 56

4.2.3 The Similarities Shared by the

High Proficiency Group and the

Low Proficiency Group in Utilizing

the Reading Strategies 57

4.2.4 The Difference in Terms of

Strategies Used by Both Groups

of Learners 58

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction 60

5.2 Conclusion 60

5.3 Limitation of the Study 61

5.4 Pedagogical Implication 62

5.5 Suggestion for Further Research 63

xi

REFERENCES 65

APPENDICES A-D 69-93

xii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NUMBER TITLE PAGE

1.8.1 Description of Aggregated score (Band 5 and 6) 13

1.8.2 Description of Aggregated score (Band 1 and 2) 14

2.3.1 Strategies for sustaining reading 24

2.3.2 Strategies for Expanding Meaning 25

4.1 Participants’ Reading Comprehension Score 42

4.2 Reading Strategies Used by Each Participant 44

4.3 The Utilization of Reading Strategies According to

Individual Strategies 46

4.4.1 Textual Content Reading Strategies 51

4.4.2 Reader Response Reading Strategies 52

4.4.3 Concrete Technique Reading Response 53

xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1 - First Language

L2 - Second Language (in this context, English)

STPM - Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia

MUET - Malaysian University Entrance Test

xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Group of strategy proposed by Oxford (1990) 69

B Description of Aggregated Score (MUET) 73

C Reading Comprehension Task 75

D Reading Strategies Questionnaire 89

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Reading is a hidden process (Block, 1992). The process that is going on in a

reader’s mind is essentially “unobservable”. Despite the “unobservable” nature of

reading, researchers are still able to obtain valuable insight into reading.

Eskey (1988) and Rumelhart (1977) as cited in Fauziah Hasan (2002) view

reading as a process which is fast, purposeful, active, selective, flexible and interactive.

Fauziah Hasan (2002) further elaborated the view as follows:

1. Reading is fast.

Readers need to sustain the flow of info at a sufficient rate to make the

necessary connection and inferences which are vital to comprehension. In fact

automaticity in the perceptual or identification skill is a prerequisite to fluent reading.

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2. Reading is purposeful.

Wallace (1992) as cited in Fauziah Hasan (2002) proposes three possible

purposes for reading; reading for survival, reading for learning and reading for pleasure.

In our daily life reading can be considered as a life-support system (Chitravelu,

Sithamparam and Teh, 1995). We need to read in order to perform certain tasks for

example reading the label before consuming any medication, reading sign boards in

order to get to the right location and many more. In the academic field, reading is an

essential skill in order to gain knowledge and information. Any reading act with an

intention to enhance knowledge can be considered as reading for the purpose of

learning. Meanwhile, reading for pleasure is referred to aesthetic reading by Rosenblatt

(1978) as cited in Fauziah Hasan (2002). In real life situations people read magazines,

novels and many more in order to entertain themselves.

3. Reading is active.

Reading involves a continuous cycle of hypothesis until the most satisfactory

interpretation of the message is achieved.

4. Reading is selective.

Reading is a process where readers will attend to information that is relevant to

answering their hypothesis.

5. Reading is flexible.

Reading is not a rigid process. Reader can employ a variety of strategies

according to the type of reading materials, purpose of reading and understanding level.

In order to accommodate the differences in terms of purpose reading materials and level

of understanding reader can adjust their reading strategies to facilitate the

comprehension process.

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6. Reading is interactive

Reading involves the interactions of many skills such as linguistic skills in

processing orthographic and lexical information, cognitive skills in utilising conceptual

knowledge to predict and relate the text to existing schemata and metacognitive skills to

evaluate and regulate the ongoing process of comprehension. Reading also involves

different levels of processing from both bottom-up to top down processing.

Reading can simply be interpreted as the process of negotiating meaning

between the reader and the written text (Grabe, 2002). However this simple definition

is not able to present the complex process which occurs in a reader’s mind. A more

complex definition is being suggested by Meena Singhal (1998). She defines reading as

a meaning making process involving an interaction between the reader and the

text.Vega (2004) states reading as a cognitive process because it requires the utilization

of certain mental and intellectual procedures and strategies. Sweet and Snow (2002)

suggest reading comprehension is a process of extracting and constructing meaning

through interaction and involvement with written language. Furthermore they mention

that the reading comprehension process includes three dimensions; the reader, the text,

and the activity. In addition these three dimensions define the phenomenon that occurs

within a larger socio cultural - context, which shapes and is shaped by the reader, and

which infuses, each of the three elements. Therefore it can be concluded that reading

not only involves the reader and the text that are available but it also entails the

activities that the readers are engaged with the texts as well as the reader’s language

repertoire.

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1.2 The Importance of Reading Strategies

Reading is a receptive skill (Chitravelu, Sithamparam and Teh, 1995). It is

essential in acquiring the target language. It is through reading that one can develop

language proficiency. The connection between language development and reading is

explained by the Input Hypothesis proposed by Krashen. The Input Hypothesis argues

that an important “condition for language acquisition to occur is that the acquirer

understand (via hearing and reading) input language that contain structure ‘a bit

beyond’ his or her current level of competence” (Brown, 2000, p.278). In terms of

reading, it is an activity which engages readers with much language inputs such as

vocabulary, grammatical structure, foreign culture and writing convention. Therefore,

reading is able to provide a source of input for readers to establish their language

proficiency. Research has shown that there is a close relationship between reading on

the one hand, and schooling achievement and language development (Ulijn and Salager-

Mayer, 1998) on the other. In other words, language learners cannot escape from

reading in order to establish their language proficiency.

One of the ways to achieve successful reading is by utilizing appropriate reading

strategies (Block, 1986). Strategies are defined as specific methods of approaching a

problem or task, modes of operation for achieving a particular end, and planned designs

for controlling and manipulating certain information (Brown, 2000). Basically,

strategies vary because each individual has different possible ways to tackle a particular

problem. Brown (2000) states that the strategies vary intra-individually. This means

that each of us has a number of possible ways to solve a particular problem, and we

choose one or several in sequence for a given problem.

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In terms of reading, reading strategies indicate how readers conceive a task,

what textual cues they attend to, how they make sense of what they read and what they

do when they do not understand (Block, 1986). Oxford (1990) went a step further by

identifying and classifying the strategies into six major groups; memory strategies,

cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, social strategies, metacogntive strategies

and affective strategies (see Appendix A).

Reading strategies play an important role in the reading process. According to

Block (2002) and Johnson(2002) many readers who struggle to attain a semblance of

meaning from the text they are reading, do not contemplate a detailed relevance of

unfamiliar words, thus creating a vague meaning of what is being read. As a result,

comprehension becomes such a challenge that these readers disengage and refrain from

meaning making. Block (1992) mentioned that when teaching reading, teachers cannot

expect that second language readers will continue to meet easy-read texts as they go

through school (Block, 1992). Therefore she suggests that one of the ways to help

students to develop their reading skills is through teaching them awareness of the

metacognitive process and of their strategic resource as this will give the students ways

to keep on nourishing themselves through school.

Basically, reading strategies need to be emphasized in language teaching since it

can facilitate students to read effectively. At the tertiary level of education, the students

are required to deal with information from varies kind of written texts therefore it is

important to train them to utilize and make us of the reading strategies efficiently. It is

important to investigate the reading strategies utilized by university so that the second

language reading instruction can be improved.

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1.3 The Importance of Reading in the Malaysian Context

Globalization offers a lot of opportunities for Malaysians to discover and

explore new technologies and new fields of knowledge in order to develop the nation.

Here, English plays a vital role to enable us to communicate with other people so that

we can share the knowledge and technology as well as invent new ones. Due to the

requirement of the global scenario, academicians and the government have expressed

their concern over the deteriorating level of proficiency in the English language among

students in Malaysian schools and universities (Halimah Badioze Zaman, 1998). She

further elaborates that as part of the nation's objectives for the education system under

Vision 2020, Malaysia should aim at creating future generations of Malaysians for the

21st century who will be professionally and culturally proficient not only in the national

language (Bahasa Malaysia), but also the global "languages" of science, commerce,

communications, and cultural literacy generally (i.e., English). Therefore to achieve

such a huge vision, it is important for us to view reading as a platform to develop

language proficiency. In many countries, including Malaysia, a good ability to read not

just in the first language (L1) but also in the second language (L2) is important for

academic advancement and for professional and self-development (Fauziah Hasan,

2002). Ulijn and Salager-Mayer (1998) also stress that there is a close relationship

between reading on the one hand, and school achievement and language development

on the other. As a conclusion, educators and teacher cannot take reading for granted as

it is needed not only to enhance language proficiency but also knowledge acquisition

among Malaysian students.

Learning, both in school and beyond, largely depends on information derived

from texts (Ulijn and Salager-Mayer, 1998). In real life situation, students usually

encounter wide range of texts as they are required to read the simplest text such as

advertisements to the most complicated technical texts from specialized journals.

Hence, students need to be wise in dealing with reading particularly why they read, how

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to read and what they need to take into account while reading. Zuraidah Zakaria (1999)

mentions that, it is of the utmost importance to possess appropriate reading strategies to

enable students to effectively process text in their attempt to upgrade themselves in

terms of knowledge.

This current research is therefore concerned with comparing the reading

strategies which have been utilized by high proficiency students and low proficiency

students. Students’ proficiency is an independent variable in the study. The research

intends to identify the reading strategies utilized by both groups of students where the

focus would be to investigate the similarities and the differences of the reading

strategies used.

In terms of reading, the second language readers also encounter several

problems in reading as they need to deal with unfamiliar culture, syntactic structure and

background knowledge (Meena Singhal, 1998). The findings of several previous

studies suggest that good readers are more able to monitor their comprehension than

poor readers are. In addition, the former group of learners is aware of the strategies

they used than poor readers and that good readers use strategies more flexibly (Block,

1986).

Reading strategies are closely related to comprehension. In other words, reading

strategies play a central role in the comprehension process. Sweet and Snow (2002)

suggest that it is important for students to learn that strategies are important means for

understanding and gaining meaning and knowledge. They further pointed out that

students should spontaneously apply certain strategies, such as questioning, in order to

improve their comprehension. Reading strategies are important in order to enhance

students’ comprehension in reading and it can facilitate the students’ reading abilities.

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To conclude, good readers are able to turn the strategies into an advantage as

they use the strategies to facilitate their comprehension and understanding. This is the

issue which this research intends to explore. The research will investigate the reading

strategies utilized by high proficiency English language learners as compared to the

reading strategies utilized by low proficiency English language learners. This current

research hopes to disclose the importance of reading strategies and how reading

strategies can improve students’ reading proficiency.

1.4 Statement of Problem

As mentioned earlier, reading is important both in acquiring the language and in

obtaining knowledge. However, not all students are able to read well. This is

particularly so in the Malaysian context as English is considered as a second language

in Malaysia. The differences in terms of language structure, culture and background

knowledge might cause some difficulties to students. According to Block (1992)

second language reader can be expected to encounter more unfamiliar language and

cultural references while reading authentic or unadapted texts than first language

readers.

Learning and acquiring English is an ongoing process at the tertiary level of

education. In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia the importance of learning English is

reflected in the variety of proficiency courses that are offered by the university. Since

reading is important not only to acquire language but also to acquire knowledge it is

significant for the current research to further investigate reading strategies.

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The research questions addressed in this paper are as follows:

1. What are the reading strategies used by high proficiency students?

2. What are the reading strategies used by low proficiency students?

3. Are there similar reading strategies shared by high and low proficient

students?

4. What are the differences in reading strategies used by both groups of

students?