The main concepts and theories underpinning this study include the interactive process of reading (Rumelhart, 1977, Carrell, 1988); cognitive and metacognitive approaches of reading (Carrell, 1983, 1985, 1989; Kern, 1989; Roller & Matambo 1992) and reading to learn (Chall, 1983; Grabe & Stoller, 2002). The study further looks at reading from cognitive and metacognitive perspectives with an interest in strategy use across two subject areas, i.e. looking at reading comprehension and for learning. With regards to reading to learn setting across the curriculum, the study also takes into account the ‘instructional dilemmas for L2 reading’ as presented by Grabe & Stoller (2002) (see Appendix ii). Two these dilemmas are indirectly related to the current study; (1) building a large recognition vocabulary for academic performance and (2) promoting reading to learn.
Reading in this study is seen as an ‘interactive process’ (Rumelhart, 1977) which sees the reader playing an active role in trying to make meanings from the printed material. It views reading as a complicated, interactive process involving both bottom-up and top-down approaches (Carrell, 1988; Urquhart & Weir, 1998) which will be elaborated in Chapter 3 (see section 3.3). The study also adopts the cognitive approach to reading emphasizing the interactive nature of reading where readers use the bottom-up (Parry, 1996) and top-down (Goodman, 1967; Smith, 1982) approaches in combination.
This study is further influenced by theories and concepts of content area reading for the purpose of reading to learn, specifically in L2 reading instruction. Reading to learn here, at the simplest level means the ability to extract information and meaning from text (comprehension) and to learn, use and apply the content from the text. This includes the procedure they do to retain and recall the information and the content they have learnt. In other words, as stated at the beginning of the chapter, it goes beyond comprehension. In this respect, aspects of learning strategies also contribute to the concepts of the current study. In a conceptual map for planning L2
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reading instruction (see Appendix ii), Grabe & Stoller (2002) regard reading to learn as one of the purposes for reading and acknowledge the importance of it in
comprehension and vocabulary building as one of the instructional practices that support reading.
1.4
Research Rationale
Reading to learn across the curriculum is central to this study mainly because when students proceed to secondary level, many seem to lack comprehension and learning strategies necessary to read and understand the texts which they will read in their secondary school classrooms. Studies such as Sara, (2009); Rosmawijah (2009); Yong (2001) found that content subject teachers have reported comprehension as one of the factors why students do not do well in their subjects. In Brunei, it can be assumed here that students who struggle in the area of reading are usually not identified earlier and often continue into upper secondary school reading at low levels and thus have a difficult time to excel in their academic work.
Moreover, the preliminary study has shown that teachers teaching content subjects such as Geography, Science and History in Brunei do not seem to be fully aware of the concept of reading to learn. The observations conducted in the preliminary study showed that explicit reading strategies were not taught to help students with their reading. It can be hypothesized here that the students have their own ways of coping with their reading tasks for their subjects. This has further prompted the interest to conduct a research with a question: how do students read to learn when there was little emphasis on reading strategies in most lessons, particularly in the content classrooms?
Empirical research looking at reading across the curriculum seemed to be lacking in the local context. Most studies in Brunei usually looked at teaching strategies and learning problems, the teaching of certain topics for subjects such as Geography (Norinah Tahir 2005; Sara 2009), Science (Khairul Azmi 2003) and English (Rahmawati
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2001; Hamidah 2002; Keasberry 2007). To date there has been no study that looks at these subjects collectively which tries to compare classroom practices in any one particular area, such as reading instruction and strategy use. This study intends to look at what happens in different subject lessons in order to investigate any
differences or similarities by focusing on reading, particularly reading to learn. It also focuses on students’ use of reading strategies when reading their academic
text[books] when they are left on their own.
Apart from the factors and perceived problems found in the local studies across the two types of classes, no study has been carried out that looked at both types of classes at the same time. The focus on students’ strategy use was also made in an effort to describe and investigate how the students read in order to learn for their academic subjects. This is particularly true when many studies have identified and concluded that they faced a number of problems and difficulties related to reading. These problems include language proficiency (Yong, 2010 & Nicol, 2004), lack of vocabulary (Nicol, 2004 & Yahya Othman, 2010), unsuitability of reading texts (Yong, 2010) and limited (or poor) reading ability (Yong, 2010, Yahya & Noradinah, 2012). As far as I could tell, to date, no study has been conducted in Brunei that looks at actual students’ strategy use when reading the texts for English Language and Content subjects. Therefore this study is hoped to provide information on students’ reading and learning strategies use which might inform us to understand better how the students read and learn.
This study can also provide a starting point for more local research and the findings will serve as evidential data from which other comparative studies can be developed. This research is also intended to shed some light on students’ reading behaviours and how far their reading skills and strategies have an impact on their studies, not only in English language but also across the curriculum. It is also hoped that the findings in this research will benefit students and teachers in the future to have a better understanding of the process of reading among students. Subsequently, the study has the potential to inform classroom practice amongst secondary teachers
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across the curriculum through its recommendations for changes to teacher education and in-service work.
1.5
Research Aims and Questions
The aims of the study are first to investigate students’ strategy use when they are reading their academic textbooks and secondly to explore the common practices in relation to reading strategy use in English medium classrooms in Brunei.
It is carried out in order to describe reading strategy use in both English language and the content subjects in the upper secondary level classes in Brunei. The purpose of the study is thus twofold. Firstly is to look at students’ employment of strategies when they read their academic material. Secondly is to compare and contrast reading conducted by the teachers teaching English language as well as those teaching content subjects such as Physics, Biology, Combined Science and
Geography. From these, it is hoped that the study will be able to shed some light on how the students actually read their academic textbooks (for comprehension and learning). It also seeks to inform teachers on the problems the students encountered when they read.
Based on the aims of this study, four main research questions are proposed: (1) What reading strategies do upper secondary students use when reading in
English both for English and Content subjects?
(2) What strategies do students use when reading for comprehension? (3) What strategies do students use when reading for learning?
(4) How do students of different ability groups overcome the difficulties they encountered in their reading?
Underlying these four main questions are specific sub-questions which will be presented in detail in the methodology chapter (see section 4.2).
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