ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

College of Humanities, Language studies, Journalism & Communication

Department OF

Foreign Languages and Literature /FLL/

Graduate Program

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON

EXPLORING SOME FACTORS AFFECTING READING COMPREHENSION PRACTICE

IN BISHOFTU ADA’A MODEL SECONDAR SC HOOL GRADE NINE STUDENTS IN
FOCUS

By: BEREDU TESEMA GSR/7115/10

Submitted to: Dr.Abebe.D

NOVEMBER,2019
 CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter will deals with the statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research
questions, significance and delimitations of the study

1.1. Background of the Study

Reading Comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from the text. The goal of all
reading instruction is ultimately targeted at helping reader comprehend text. Reading
comprehension involves at least two people:-the reader and the writer. The process of
comprehending involves decoding the writer’s words(Inferring meanings) and then using back
ground knowledge to construct approximate understanding of the writer’s message-Inferential
meanings (Lenz,1999-2005).It involves much more than readers’ responses to text. Besides,
reading comprehension that is the inferential meaning is the ongoing understanding of what is
read while reading. It is the ability that transforms written text into meaningful understanding.
It requires the reader to be able to read the words, know the vocabulary, be relatively fluent
and understand the language structure underlying the text. In addition, a reader must be able
to relate the current text being read to the previous text in order to develop a clear
understanding of the entire passage (Klingner, Vaughn and Boardman, 2007).

According to Natal (1982)cited in Biniam (1998) literally the term “inference “stands for
something derived by reasoning, something that is not directly stated, but only suggested in the
text. In this kind of reading the reader needs to see or go beyond what is directly stated. It also
needs the readers’ interpretation; even though the interpretation is partly based on what is
given in the reading text and partly on what the reader knows-the prior knowledge of the
reader. In reading for inferential understanding the reader infers or deduces meanings from the
text by him or herself, make judgments about what the reader is showing-agreement,
disagreement, saying something is right or wrong, bad or good and do something on the basis
of what the reader has read already etc. Inferring information is more difficult than locating
stating information. This is because the reader has to make mental association between
external (the reading material) and the internal source (background knowledge).

The majority of students' reading should be done silently (The National Capital Language, 2002)
because reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of individual are built. Thus,
reading requires both decoding-sounding out the words and comprehension-understanding
what is read (Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2002.)

Reading comprehension is the ability to gain meaning from what is read. Reading skills (i,e ,
word recognition, fluency, lexical knowledge, pre-existing knowledge) to be under taken rapidly
so that the reader may gain knowledge from text (pressley, 2000: Birsch, 2011)

1.2. Statement of the Problem

Reading comprehension like reading for inferential understanding is a complex process of

constructing meaning from text. And the goal of reading instruction is ultimately targeted at
helping a reader to comprehend inferential meaning in the reading text (Lenz, 1999).Reading
comprehension is a technique for improving students' success in extracting useful knowledge
from text (Mayer, 2005).Reading comprehension is understanding a text that is read, or the
process of "constructing implied meaning-inferential understanding" from a text. Again
comprehension is a “process of constructing inferential meanings " because it involves all of the
elements of the reading process working together as a text is read to create a representation of
the text in the reader’s mind. In fact many studies have been conducted on this area.

For instance, Girma (1994), has conducted a research and the aim of that study was to identify
the reading strategies to make effective reading. And the result of the study indicated that,
most of the subjects have relatively low awareness of reading strategies that may facilitate
more successful reading. Consequently, Girma believed that, reading strategies were either
never used or used only rarely. In addition, Berhanu (2004) has conducted the study focusing
on at investigating the kind of relationship that might exist students’ reading ability in English
and achievement in some subject area courses. And the finding from the study indicated that
the correlations between reading ability in English achievement in some subject area courses
were found to be positive.

But, the gap still existed on the reading comprehension practice of students at the secondary
school level-unable to understand the message of the passage that they have been provided-
implied meaning, and problem of using appropriate reading strategies at the time of reading.
Readers with poorly developed language skills and strategies will not have the tools to take
advantage of the obvious structures and comprehension cues that are part of considerate text
nor will they have the extra tools needed to overcome the barriers of inconsiderate text (Lenz,
1999, 2005).Therefore why the researcher will inspired to conduct the study on this area with
emphasis on the following specific objective

1.3. Objective of the Study

General objective of the study

The main objective of this study will be to exploring some factors affecting reading
comprehension practices in case of Bishoftu Ada’amodel secondary school; grade nine students
in focus.

The specific objectives will be-

1. To explore some factors affecting reading comprehension skills.

2. To deal with how some factors affecting reading comprehension skills.
3. To evaluate some factors affecting student coping strategies to overcome the identified
problem and
4. To explore to what extent students think the strategies they were
using to overcome the problem were effective or not?

1.4. Research Questions

1. What are some factors that affecting reading Comprehension skills?

2 How do these factors affect students in reading comprehension skills?

 3. What are student doing to overcome the challenges?

4. To what extent do student think the strategies they use were effective?

1.5. Significance of the Study

This research will expected to create awareness among students on classroom factors that
affect their reading comprehension practice in language classes. Furthermore, it will be serve
as springboard for potential researchers who liked to conduct a research on related issues.

1.6. Delimitation (Scope) of the Study

The study will focus on some factors that affect students reading comprehension practice in
language classroom And the study will delimited to Oromya Regional State (ORS) in Bishoftu
Ada’a model secondary school.
 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The purpose of this chapter is to review literature related to the topic of the study. And the
chapter covers the following key issues.

2.1. What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is a consuming, continuous and complex activity; but one that for good
readers is both satisfying and productive (Duke and Pearson, 1983.)-reading comprehensions is
not a simple task rather it is a complex activity that needs frequent and continuous practice of
using reading activities to internalize the procedures; reading comprehension is time consuming
that needs effort of the reader to be efficient in reading process. However, it is a satisfying and
productive activity for active readers. Knowing how to read words has ultimately little value if
the student is unable to construct meaning from text-knowledge of vocabulary is meaningless,
unless the reader uses the word in different contexts. Ultimately, reading comprehension is the
process of constructing meaning by coordinating a number of complex processes that include
word reading, word and world knowledge, and fluency (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson,
1985; Jenkins, Larson, & Fleischer, 1983; O’Shea, Sindelar, & O’Shea, 1987) cited in (Klinger,
Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007). Therefore, knowledge of vocabulary has great contribution to
construct meanings and comprehend the idea of the text. The accurate pronouncing of words
helps to understand the meanings of the words and also plays a role in constructing meanings.
Basically; there are some strategies of constructing meanings-, using contextual clues and word
formation.

According to Kelly (htt: reading comprehension info.com/kkelly), there are various components
that impact reading comprehension ,such as decoding problems-reading comprehension can be
compromised if a reader has significant problems sounding out the words in passage. A
conflict may arise in the brain between decoding the words while simultaneously attempting to
understanding the written text and apply that understanding to the prior comprehension of
the text. Attention and self regulation difficulties –reader must be able to relate `a current text
being read to the previous text in order of develop clear understanding of the entire passage.
This requires on-going monitoring of ones ability to build the story. Because of the
requirements involved in comprehension monitoring students who struggle with attention and
other self regulation difficulties may have difficulty the ongoing comprehension of read text.
Working memory deficits -reading comprehension may suffer due to difficulties during the
simultaneous storage and processing of language. This leads to the ability to read what is being
read but not able to understand and remember the context. And finally, language
comprehension problems –overall weak verbal and language skills may also contribute to poor
reading comprehension .Such difficulty would be evident with both written and oral language.

2.2. Efficient Reading and Efficient Reading Strategies

Efficient reading is about reading in a way that allows you to understand the writer’s message
without spending too much time in the process. It is also about reading with a clear purpose in
mind so that you only read material that is relevant. Efficient reading starts with choosing
strategy to suit the kinds of the text you have to read, because your purpose in reading and the
nature of text to be read will determine your strategy (htt://unilearning.uoweducation/reading
(n.d).

For effective reading comprehension practice, reading strategies have undeniable contribution
in making the reader efficient. These strategies are mainly consists of skimming-reading the
text to get the general idea or gist of the text, scanning-reading for specific details, detailed
reading –requires a very detail understanding and revising reading involves reading rapidly and
may be used to summarize main points of the reading text. Actually, reading abilities and
comprehensions skills of readers can be different .Some readers are actively reacted to the
claim of the text and are active participants of the reading process and have adequate
understanding, where as some are passive in reading process and are slowly reacted to the
claim. Mostly, there are some variables commonly affecting readers reading rate. However,
adequate understanding is resulted whenever the reader uses the text effectively and varies his
speed of reading according to the purposes of reading “He varies his speed and his whole
manner of reading according to the text and purpose of reading” (Nuttall, 1982). The purposes
of the reading matters the rate or the speed of the reading that the reader is supposed to use
to comprehend the text provided. Besides, the nature and difficulty of the material calls for
adjustment in rate, that is level of difficulty depends greatly on the particular reader's
knowledge and might cause slower rate where as simpler material permit faster.

That is the active or the good reader is flexible in using his speed of reading “One of
the principal a characteristic of a good reader is flexibility (Nuttall, 1982). Reading
flexibility means always keeping in mind how much you need to read in order to
satisfy your purpose (Nuttall, 1982).

On the other hand, poor results are inevitable if the reader attempts to use the same rate for all
types of material and for all reading purposes. One must learn to adjust his rate to his purpose
in reading and to the difficulty of the material. The fastest rate works on easy, familiar,
interesting material or in reading to gather information on a particular point. But, slower rate is
better for material which is unfamiliar in content and language structure or which must be
thoroughly digested. Therefore, the effective reader adjusts his rate; in such a way that is
efficiency in reading means using the least effort to obtain satisfactory results. English language
students should have trained well to vary their reading rate according to the purposes of the
reading process; therefore they should use enough time and energy to practice reading
comprehension. We want students to use their time and energy to best effort (Nuttall, 1982). A
good classroom teacher has important role in shaping and adjusting Students’ reading rate, but,
the ineffective reader always uses the same rate on different materials, on different purposes
of the reading.

2.3. The Different Components of Teaching Reading Comprehension

There are many ways to think about reading comprehension and many factors that affect
reading comprehension. Teachers should keep in mind two overriding questions about how to
organize, and how to teach reading comprehension. These questions are, "What strategies
should I teach?" and "How should I teach strategies?"
2.3.1. Strategies used when teaching Reading

According to Lenz (1999) the most practical way of thinking about teaching reading
comprehension is to organize instruction according to how you want students to think about
strategies. For this reason, the most straightforward way of organizing comprehension
strategies is to think about strategies that one might use before reading, during reading, and
after reading.

Before reading strategies consist of those strategies that a student learns to use to get ready to
read a text selection. These strategies help the student get an idea of what the author might be
trying to say, how the information might be useful, and to create a mental set that might be
useful for taking in and storing information. These strategies could include previewing headings,
surveying pictures, reading introductions and summaries, creating a pre-reading outline,
creating questions that might need to be answered, making predictions that need to be
confirmed, etc. The primary question for a teacher here is: "What steps (observable as well as
unobservable) should I teach students to do regularly and automatically that will prepare them
in advance to get the most out of a reading selection that needs to be read more thoroughly?"

When a teacher introduces a reading selection to students, walks students through the text,
helps the students get ready to read through the use of advance organizers, or creates pre-
reading outlines, he/she is ensuring content learning by compensating for the fact that students
have not developed good before-reading strategies. Teachers will need to continue to lead
students in these types of before-reading activities to ensure content area learning occurs until
students have been taught to fluently use before-reading strategies. Teacher use of before-
reading prompts and activities does not necessarily lead students to develop and use Before-
Reading Strategies independently without direct and explicit instruction. This is why it is
important to directly teach and provide practice that gradually requires students to use before-
reading strategies.

During reading strategies consist of those strategies that students learn to use while they are
reading a text selection. These strategies help the student focus on how to determine what the
author is actually trying to say and to match the information with what the student already
knows. These strategies should be influenced by the before reading strategies because students
should be using or keeping in mind the previews, outlines, questions, predictions, etc. that were
generated before reading and then using this information to digest what they are reading. The
during reading strategies that help a student understand during reading include questioning,
predicting, visualizing, paraphrasing, elaborating (i.e., comparing what is read to what is
known), changing reading rate, rereading, etc. The primary question for a teacher is: "What
steps (observable and unobservable) should I teach students to do so that they will regularly
and automatically figure out the intended meaning of the text and how it connects to what they
already know?" (Lenz, 1999)

When a teacher develops reading guides and outlines that need to be completed during
reading, requires students to ask and answer questions, creates summaries as they read, etc.,
they are compensating for the fact that students have not developed good during-reading
strategies. Teachers will need to continue to lead students in these types of during-reading
activities to ensure content area learning occurs until students are taught to fluently use
before-reading strategies. Teacher use of during-reading prompts and activities does not
necessarily lead students to develop and use during-reading strategies independently without
direct and explicit instruction. This is why it is important to directly teach and provide practice
that gradually requires students to use during-reading strategies (Hart, 1998).

After-reading strategies consist of those strategies that students learn to use when they have
completed reading a text selection. These strategies are used to help the student "look back"
and think about the message of the text and determine the intended or possible meanings that
might be important. These strategies are used to follow up and confirm what was learned (e.g.,
answer questions or confirm predictions) from the use of before and during reading strategies.
However, after-reading Strategies also help the reader to focus on determining what the big,
critical, or overall idea of the author's message was and how it might be used before moving on
to performance tasks or other learning tasks. The primary question for a teacher is: "What steps
(observable and unobservable) should I teach students to do so that they will regularly and
automatically stop when they are finished reading a text selection and try to figure out the
intended meaning of the text to determine what is most important and how they will use it?"

When a teacher reviews a reading selection, leads a discussion on what was important about
the author's message, helps students summarize or "look back" at what was read, provides a
post-organizer, or asks students to complete a study guide over what was learned from reading
text, the teacher is compensating for the fact that students have not developed good after-
reading strategies. Teachers will need to continue to lead students in these types of before
reading-activities to ensure content area learning occurs until students have been taught to
fluently use after-reading strategies. Teacher use of after-reading prompts and activities does
not necessarily lead students to develop and use after reading strategies independently without
direct and explicit instruction. This is why it is important to directly teach and provide practice
that gradually requires students to use after-reading strategies (Hart, 1998).

What are some examples of specific strategies? Some examples of strategies are listed below.
Some of these strategies could be used in all three categories. For example, questioning could
be listed in the before, during, and after reading categories. Summarization could be listed as
both during and after reading strategies. These are grouped based on where the greatest
amount of instruction needs to take place. Note that: - Before-Reading Strategies- Self-
questioning, during-Reading Strategies- Self-questioning, Paragraph Summarization, after-
Reading Strategies- Self-questioning and Summarization (David, 1983).

2.4. How to Teach Comprehension Strategies.

A majority of the research indicates that the most successful way to teach comprehension
strategies to students with limited reading proficiency is to use very direct and explicit
instruction. The stages of instruction that are most often cited as being effective in helping a
student learn strategies are:

(1) Orient students to key concepts, assess, and ask students to make a commitment to learn,

(2) Describe the purpose of the strategy, the potential benefits, and the steps of the strategy,
(3) Model (thinking aloud) the behavioral and cognitive steps/actions involved in using the
strategy,

(4) Lead verbal practice and elaboration of the key information and steps related to the

strategy,

(5) Provide for guided and controlled practice of the strategy with detailed feedback from the

teacher and/or knowledgeable peers,

(6) Gradually move to more independent and advanced practice of the strategy with feedback

from the teacher and/or knowledgeable peers, and

(7) Posttest application of the strategy, and help students make commitments to generalize its
use. Once the strategy is learned, the teacher must then ensure that students begin to transfer
or generalize the strategy to new and different situations.

(8), generalization, which includes four distinct phases: (a) orientation and awareness of
situations in which the strategy can be used, (b) activation by preparing for and practicing
strategies in content-area classes, (c) adaptation of the strategy steps for use in other tasks, and
(d) maintenance of the strategy for continued application in a variety of real-life learning and
work place settings (Lenz., 1999, 2005)

2.5. The key Principles of Reading Instruction

Teachers at every grade level and every subject area should always be planning how reading
assignments will help students develop and practice skills and strategies. Students need
teachers to teach and draw attention to appropriate strategy use in textbooks, especially in
content areas where there are many reading demands (e.g., language, social studies, and often
science). A reading comprehension skill is a developed ability to construct meaning effectively,
immediately, and effortlessly with little conscious attention. A reading comprehension strategy
is defined as an overt process consciously selected and used by a reader to aid the process of
constructing meaning more effectively and efficiently. Once a student uses a strategy
effectively, immediately and effortlessly with little conscious attention to construct meaning, it
becomes a reading skill. Most planning for comprehension instruction is targeted at teaching
comprehension strategies and then developing practice activities that help the student become
skilled in the use of the strategy so that it is unconsciously selected and used in a variety of
situations (David, 1983)

Reading comprehension instruction must be responsive. Continually assess progress in learning,

make specific instructional accommodations to meet individual student's needs, and provided
individualized and elaborated feedback.

Reading comprehension instruction must be systematic. Systematic reading instruction is

structured, connected, scaffold, and informative. Structured instruction is characterized by
lessons that organize and group new knowledge and skills into segments that can be
sequentially presented in a clear manner. Connected instruction is characterized by lessons that
show the learner connections between the segments and what is already known. Scaffold
lessons are characterized by instruction in which the teacher provides to students, early in the
learning process, a significant amount of support in the form of modeling, prompts, direct
explanations, and targeted questions. Then as students begin to acquire the targeted objective,
direct teacher supports are reduced, and the major responsibilities for learning are transferred
to the student. Informative instruction is characterized by lessons in which the teacher explains
the purposes and expected outcomes and requirements for learning and when and how that
newly learned information will be useful.

Reading comprehension instruction must be intensive. Intensive reading instruction means that
sufficient time used wisely and with high student engagement, is provided direct instruction for
students to master the reading skills and strategies they need.
Reading comprehension instruction should involve authentic reading at all stages. Authentic
reading involves incorporating a variety of "real" reading materials, such as books, magazines,
and newspapers into the instructional process (Lenz., 1999, 2005).

Reading comprehension instruction involves providing opportunities to read for pleasure.

Struggling readers don't read as often or as much as their peers. Reading for enjoyment should
be modeled and encouraged at all grade levels. This requires providing ample materials to read
at their independent reading level.

Reading comprehension instruction requires collaboration with other professionals and shared
responsibility for student success. All teachers play either a primary or secondary role in
teaching students to read. All classroom teachers who expect students to learn the content of
specific subjects need to be teaching reading. Studies have shown that one of the most
damaging practices affecting struggling readers is the lack of coordination among educators
that are responsible for literacy development. Building staff must work together to plan and
implement effective instruction in reading comprehension (Lenz., 1999, 2005).So that, English
language teachers should show some coordination among themselves in sharing their personal
experience to assist the learning generally and to improve student-teachers reading
comprehension ability in particular. In turn, this will facilitate student-teachers’ inferential
understanding skills as English language department students.

2.6. Types of Reading

2.6.1. Extensive Reading

As its name indicates, extensive reading is required to have further information-knowledge on a

certain subject or area. Natal (1982) states that class time is always in short supply and the
amount of reading needed to achieve fluency is very great. Therefore, she says we need an
extensive reading program that will actively promote reading outside the classes. She also adds
that some class time ought to be devoted to extensive reading. From these facts we can say
that successful students do not limit themselves to prescribed text books and modules. They go
further and read extensively to understand deeply the subject.

2.6.2. Intensive Reading

According to Natal (1982) cited in Habitamu intensive reading is a kind of silent reading, which
is usually carried out slowly and carefully with an objective to get the most out of what we
read. Learning or studying is the major objective of intensive reading. Therefore, it is a kind of
reading which demands high attention and concentration. Intensive reading requires identifying
important points and supporting details, inference (understanding implication), evaluation,
distinguishing facts and opinions, identifying author’s purpose, points of views and using text
structure or organization. Besides, intensive reading involves series of actions and arrange of
skills which demands, Inferential understanding, literal understanding, evaluation and
integration.

2.6.1.1. Inferential Understanding

Literally the term “inference “stands for something derived by reasoning, something that is not
directly stated, but only suggested in the text. In this kind of reading the reader needs to see or
go beyond what is directly stated. It also needs the readers’ interpretation; even though the
interpretation is partly based on what is given in the reading text and partly on what the reader
knows-the prior knowledge of the reader. In reading for inferential understanding the reader
infers or deduces meanings from the text by him or herself, make judgments about what the
reader is showing-agreement, disagreement, saying something is right or wrong, bad or good
and do something on the basis of what the reader has read already etc. Inferring information is
more difficult than locating stating information. This is because the reader has to make mental
association between external (the reading material) and the internal source background
knowledge(htt://wiki.answers.com/Q/What-is-inferential-reading comprehension)
2.6.1.2. Literal Understanding

This involves the reader’s understanding of the information directly stated in the text. It
requires the readers to identify explicitly stated in the reading material itself. It may not be very
difficult for the reader to understand what explicitly stated. It highly needs the reader’s
memory power. Some samples of literal understanding tasks are:-recognition of details, main
ideas sequences, and comparison, recognition of cause and effect relationship and recognition
of character traits that is the reader may be able to call up from memory about the character.

2.6.1.3. Evaluation

In intensive reading the reader may need to judge whether the information addressed to the
reader is accurate and reliable. This is termed as evaluation. Most readers think that any
written in a book is always right, as a result of this misunderstanding, they do not want ask
question of accuracy or reliability of what they read. Here are some examples of evaluation
tasks related to reading-judgments about the reality of the fantasy, fact or opinion, judgments
about the appropriates of the material, and judgments about the worth, desirability and the
acceptability of the material according to the norm.

2.6.1.4. Integration

Integration is the high order skill which demands the ability to state the main idea of what you
read in your own words. It is the ability to relate what you read with the wider context and it is
also the ability to see ideas in the eyes (light) of global knowledge(Huri,2007)

2.6.1.5. Creative-reading

This kind of reading requires the reader to possess the skills to see beyond the literal
comprehension, interpretation, and critical reading. The readers need to look beyond the
obvious and need to come up with new or alternative solutions. For instance, for the question
you ask in the evaluation section. To be good creative reader you have to try to solve problems
in many different ways and try to be risk- taker.
2.6.1.6. Understanding writer’s point of views

Writers are like every one of us, have their own beliefs, attitudes to a certain issues or topics.
The writer’s own beliefs and ideas often determine how the writer looks at a given subject. In
this, point of view means “opinion” or “attitudes” .Writers do not always clearly state their
point of views .sometimes they do not clearly state it. Here the readers’ role is to find out the
writers point of view. But this is not an easy task. Because, it requires a high level of thinking

2.7. Perspectives on the Reading Process

Reading is an important process. The students worked intensively, interacting with the text in
order to create meaning full discourse. And some kinds of reading skills involved in reading
comprehension practice are word attack skills- the reader figure out meanings new words,
comprehension skills which helps the reader predict the next word, phrase, or sentence quickly
enough to speed recognition, fluency skills again that help the readers see larger segments,
phrases, and groups of words as wholes, and lastly, critical reading skills- help the reader see
the relationship of ideas and use these in reading with meaning. Although reading has been
some times characterized as “passive “ or ” recipients” as early has 1917,Thorndike cited in
Venezky,1984 in (Stein,1948) established the notion that reading is a active process related to
problem solving. More recently, scholars notably Goodman, 1967 and Smith.1971 in (Stein,
1948) developed psycholinguistic perspectives of reading, focusing on its active, cognitive
process. So that ,active reading process comprises of some tips that makes the process
effective -highlighting and underlining, note-key words, questions and summary.

2.7.1. Knowledge of Vocabulary

A good vocabulary and good comprehension are interdependent (Milan, 1996). According to
Milan both knowledge of vocabulary and comprehension skills are dependence of each other
so as to read the text effectively. A great deal of research suggests that vocabulary and
comprehension are inextricable linked. Thus, strategies related to ascertaining the meaning of
unknown words, as well as general vocabulary building, are also essential to strong program
incomprehension instruction. When there is ample knowledge of words in the minds of the
reader, reading comprehensions would have come an easy task. As you read the piece, “be
alert to vocabulary (Bazerman, 2000).Words are the writers main tool to convey the message
for the respective readers.

Therefore, potentially active readers should be good enough in interpreting and understanding
the meanings of the words in great care and attention. All words have a concise dictionary
meaning –the denotation of a word and a more complex suggested or implied meaning –the
connotation of a word. As a result a good reader is the one who is easily able to identify
dictionary meanings from its connotation meanings .Besides active readers always think about
the vocabulary weigh why the writer uses one word over the other; these words make you
show how an active reader sees and understands the points. Moreover, words can create
image or pictures, add life and clarity to the ideas presented in the reading material-which
paves the way comprehension of the reading practice. As an active reader, you should pay
attention to the writer’s tone (Bazerman, 2000) this idea refers an active reader easily
understands the attitude of the writer towards the subject. Then, this condition facilitates the
comprehension ability of the students.

2.7.1.1. Contextual Clues

Often we can figure out the meaning of a word by relating it to the text that surrounds it-the
clues. The clues can be examples, contrasts, definitions, or restatements that provide some
information about a word’s meaning. Teaching students to successfully use context clues is a
process that requires careful modeling, scaffolding, and a great deal of practice, especially for
struggling readers (Beck et al., 2002). Effective use of context clues involves making connections
between the known meaning of the text and the unknown word (Klinger, Vaughn, and
Boardman, 2007).Guess meanings of the new word (unfamiliar words) based on the context of
the sentence. They deal with words before and after the new word and also discuss on the
entire message of the construction, which helps to internalize the meaning of the new word.
Good readers try to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and concepts in the text and
they deal with inconsistencies or gaps as needed (Duke and Pearson, 1983). Experience is an
important factor to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words in a sentence ,that is the
reader has to develop experience to identify word meanings based on the clues used in that
context- most experienced readers try to guess the meaning of un familiar words through
context clues(Bazerman, 2000)

2.7.1.2. Word Formation

Of the various components of words to analyze, prefixes are perhaps the most worthwhile to
teach because although they are present in a large number of words, there are relatively few to
teach and learn, their spelling is fairly consistent, and they are always found at the beginning of
a word (Graves, 2004) cited in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman,2007. The basic part of any
word is the root; to it, you can add a prefix at the beginning and a suffix at the end to change
the meaning. For example, in the word "unflattering," the root is simply "flatter," while the
prefix "un-" makes the word negative, and the suffix "-ing" changes it from a verb into an
adjective. Therefore, if the reader has the ability to identify the word classes and how they are
able to change from one class to another it will be difficult to find the meaning of the new word
formed through the word formation process. Then, this would pave the way to understand the
inferential meanings in the reading text. This is because word knowledge is one of the inputs to
associate the writers intention to the meaning searched. A good vocabulary and good
comprehension are interdependent (Milan, 1996). According to Milan both knowledge of
vocabulary and comprehension skills are dependence of each other so as to read the text
effectively. A great deal of research suggests that vocabulary and comprehension are
inextricable linked. Thus, strategies related to ascertaining the meaning of unknown words, as
well as general vocabulary building, are also essential to strong program incomprehension
instruction. When there is ample knowledge of words in the minds of the reader, reading
comprehensions would have come an easy task. As you read the piece, “be alert to vocabulary
(Bazerman, 2000).Words are the writers main tool to convey the message for the respective
readers.
2.8. Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading

In the case of reading, this means producing students who can use reading strategies to
maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and
tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension. By raising students' awareness of reading as
a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching reading strategies,
instructors help their students develop both the ability and the confidence to handle
communication situations they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give
their students the foundation for communicative competence in the new language reading
skills enable readers to turn writing into meaning and achieve the goals of independence,
comprehension, and fluency(The National Capital Language Resource Center, 2004). Reading
enables readers to develop self confidence about themselves and also about the subject to
teach and then comprehension and fluency skills would be consolidated while readers
practice reading in their day to day activities to achieve the goals of reading . The goal of
reading program is to develop fluent , independent readers who set their own goals and
strategies for reading .Students learn aspects of the reading process through reading(Stein,
1948) .

2.9. Schema Theory

According to Janette (Sharon, Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007) in an attempt to improve

comprehension instruction, several theories have been proposed that suggest ways to influence
understanding of the teaching of reading comprehension: schema theory, reader-response
theory, and direct instruction. A brief description of each of these influential theories provides
the back ground for interpreting the instructional practices related to teaching reading
comprehension. Schema theory suggests that what we know about a topic or construct
influences how much we can or will learn by reading a passage that addresses that topic. Thus,
our knowledge and experiences related to key ideas in the text we read influence what we
learn and remember about what we read. World knowledge and word meaning influence our
understanding. The more we read and learn about the topic, the easier the next passage on
that topic will be clear for us to understand. From a reader-response constructivist perspective
(Beach, 1993) in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007), understanding what is read is related
to the individual’s experiences and interpretations of these experiences. This subjective
component makes for a dynamic interaction between the reader and the text. Thus, what
readers learn or how they respond to text is individualistic. Teachers and peers can facilitate
and interact with other readers to enhance and extend learning.

Additionally, students’ schema-prior knowledge of subjects helps students to predict what will
come next in the text being read. This prediction is mostly related with expectation which is
resulted from the individual’s early experience and pre-existed knowledge –back ground
knowledge about the subject or the topic.” Reading expectations are based on reader’s prior
knowledge .Background knowledge that aids in the text comprehension has recently been
studied under the rubric of schema theory (Stein, 1948).

2.10. Models of Reading

During the reading process the interaction of two models is important –the interaction of
bottom up and top-down models interaction. In case of bottom up model the reader uses
every information or input that are provided on the text, but in case of the top down model
the reader uses his back ground knowledge and personal experience to associate with the
material being read.“- - - text comprehension requires the simultaneous interaction of two
models of information processing. Bottom up (text based) processing occurs when linguistic
input from the text is mapped against the readers previous knowledge .This process is also
termed as data driven because it is evoked by the incoming data, on the other hand, top-
down, knowledge based , or conceptually driven information processing occurs when
readers use prior knowledge to make prediction about the data they will find in the text.
Activities that assist students in gaining or in accessing back ground knowledge facilitate
top down processing(Stein,1948) .

Moreover, students’ background knowledge is an important factor that helps readers to be

active in reading; this involves expectation, prediction of main points of the reading material by
using past experience and knowledge. Therefore, back ground knowledge can be categorized to
two parts- two kinds of back ground knowledge-formal schemata –involving knowledge of
rhetorical structure and conventions and content schemata - involving knowledge of the world
beyond the text (Stein, 1948).

2.11. Integrating Reading Strategies

Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of reading
activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become effective readers
by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading. Before reading: Plan for
the reading task that comprises of a purpose or decide in advance what to read for, decide if more
linguistic or background knowledge is needed, determine whether to enter the text from the top
down or from the bottom up and during reading- monitor comprehension that comprises of verify
predictions and check for inaccurate guesses, decide what is and is not important to understand,
reread to check comprehension, ask for help. Finally, after reading, evaluate comprehension and
strategy use- evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area ,evaluate overall progress in
reading and in particular types of reading tasks, decide if the strategies used were appropriate for
the purpose and for the task ,and modify strategies if necessary (The National Capital Language
Resource Center, 2004).

2.12. Using Authentic Materials(AM) and Approaches

For students to develop communicative competence in reading, classroom and homework

reading activities must resemble (or be) real-life reading tasks that involve meaningful
communication. They must therefore be authentic in three ways. These are the reading material
must be authentic-it must be the kind of material that students will need and want to be able to
read when traveling, studying abroad, or using the language in other contexts outside the
classroom. Secondly, the reading purpose must be authentic- students must be reading for
reasons that make sense and have relevance to them. To identify relevant reading purposes, ask
students how they plan to use the language they are learning and what topics they are interested
in reading and learning about .Thirdly, the reading approach must be authentic-students should
read the text in a way that matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people
normally read. This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations where it would
take place outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure. The majority of students' reading
should be done silently (The National Capital Language Resource Center, 2004).

Besides, making engage students in reading different material paves some difficulties of reading
skills that they have faced. The nature of activities provided for students determines how fast and
active students are in understanding the central points of the reading. If students are to become
independent language users, they will need to experience a range of reading tasks corresponding
to the kinds of reading they intended in the target language (Stein, 1948). Selecting an
appropriate material for teaching reading is one ways of alleviating problems related with
comprehension practice. After clarifying the objectives of the reading the right material has to be
chosen considering students profiles –educational back ground, age of students. Once a reader
has defined objectives, he must next decide what resources to consult (Nuttall, 1982). And also
choosing well suited texts is another important role for the teacher in implementing the
objectives of reading comprehension skills in choosing the text to use (Duke and Pearson, 2002).

Consequently, this appropriate material helps students in quick fix - active interaction with the
message of the text. Guthrie (2001) cautions that there is no "quick fix" for increasing long-term
reading motivation and engagement. His review of the research helped identify ten (10)
elements that "set the stage" for engagement and motivation in reading: conceptual
orientation, real-world instruction, autonomy support (providing students with meaningful
choices), interesting texts, strategy instruction, collaborative learning, teacher involvement
(e.g., interest in student knowledge, preferences, and abilities), appropriate rewards and
specific praise, and evaluation aligned with instructional strategies for Developing Reading
Skills.

Moreover, visual representation of text is an important activity during teaching language. The
text is verbal, abstract and eminently forgettable ( Duke and Pearson, 2002).A visual display
helps to create image in the minds of readers for easy ways of comprehension ;as a result helps
readers to understand, organize and remember some of these words. In its most objective
visual representation of the text helps learners to understand what the text is all about by
displaying in the form of diagram, picture, table, flow chart by using different resources or
materials and then this will reduce the degree of impediments in the classroom with related to
teaching reading comprehension skill --- a picture is worth a thousand words (Duke and
Pearson, 2002).Comprehension monitoring and the use of visual imaginary techniques have
been proven as effective tools in improving reading comprehension .Visual imaginary helps
children improve a memory for passages(Oak hill and Patel,1999) poor readers do not
monitor their comprehension as well as good readers(Paris and Myers,1981)

2.13. Motivation

Motivation is often cited as an important factor in students' becoming proficient readers and it
is an important factor for the success of teaching and learning. According to (Fernald, 2006),
motivation is a condition of need or desire within an individual. It is an internal state that
activates and directs behavior. Motivated student has a positive attitude towards school in
general and learning in particular” the level of motivation students bring to a task impact
whether and how they will use comprehension strategies (Dole, Brown and Trathen, 1996,
Gutherie etal, 1996 in Duke and Pearson, 2002). Therefore, lack of motivation will be one of
the impediments for students to practice reading comprehension. Brophy (1987) suggested
ways on how to motivate students –teacher should model interest in learning, communicate to
students reasons for being more enthusiastic about school, create low anxiety class room,
provide informative feedback, make abstract materials more personal, concrete and teacher
should also design tasks so that there is opportunity for activity.

2.14. Processes involved in Reading Comprehension

According to Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2007), reading comprehension is a multi

component, highly complex process that involves many interactions between readers and what
they bring to the text (previous Knowledge, strategy use) as well as variables related to the text
itself (interest in text, understanding of text types . Reading is a complex process that involves
interaction and strategies to accomplish it efficiently .That is, good reader brings his or her back
ground knowledge towards the text being read and then this helps to interact with the material
and the message intended to be conveyed. Thus, the reading process would be easy and
effective in understanding the main ideas of the text provided.

2.14.1. Cognitive Processes

Irwin (1991) cited in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007, describes five basic comprehension
processes that work together simultaneously and complements one another: micro processes,
integrative processes, macro processes, elaborative processes, and meta- cognitive processes.
These reading comprehensions processes have their own contribution to comprehend the
material. And then for the sake of identifying one from each other it had better to see
separately in the following way.

2.14.1.1 .Micro Processes

Micro processing refers to the reader’s initial chunking of idea units within individual sentences.
“Chunking” involves grouping words into phrases or clusters of words that carry meaning, and
requires an understanding of syntax as well as vocabulary (Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman,
2007).Reading will be ineffective if the words are separately read; the better way of
understanding the text would be reading the text as a whole .This helps ideas not to be
fragmented during reading process and tackles the problems that impedes the comprehension
skills of students in the class room during the teaching and learning process.

2.14.1.2. Integrative Processes

Klinger, Sharon, Vaughn, and Boardman (2007), describe the integrative process as, reader
progresses through individual sentences; he or she is processing more than the individual
meaning units within sentences. He or she is also actively making connections across sentences.
This process of understanding and inferring the relationships among clauses is referred to as
integrative processing. Sub skills involved in integrative processing include being able to identify
and understand. Understanding the relationship between lines within a paragraph and also the
relationship of paragraph with another paragraph helps to identify and focus on the key
points in the reading process .Then ,this helps to infer meanings from the integrative process
involved in reading comprehension.

2.14.1.3. Macro Processes

According to Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2007) ideas are better understood and more
easily remembered when the reader is able to organize them in a coherent way. This means
that when ideas are placed in accordance with the correct order and the relationship that they
have within the paragraph the reading process becomes easy for the reader to understand the
core idea of the reading .The reader can do this by summarizing the key ideas read. Thus, he or
she may either automatically or deliberately select the most important information to
remember but delete relatively less important details. The skillful and an active reader also use
a structure or organizational pattern to help him or her organize these important ideas. More
proficient readers comprehend the core ideas of the reading by using the summary section of
the passage being provided by author to organize the ideas.

2.14.1.4. Elaborative Processes

During the reading process there are two ways of understanding meanings, stated meanings
and implied meaning. Stated meanings are directly stated in the way it has come easy to
understand the theme of the passage; it does not have any hidden agenda, every reader
understands without difficulty, because ideas are explicitly put. However, implied meanings are
placed in hidden way that requires the reader to go further beyond the text to understand what
has been said by the author. It requires knowing even the back ground of the author, because
ideas are placed implicitly. It is inferential ways of understanding the meanings –the reader
makes inference that may or may not correspond with the message intended to convey by the
author. Then, the reader may draw inference upon information provided earlier in the text or
upon his own previous experiences –it requires the reader to go beyond what has been directly
said “When we read, we tap into our prior knowledge and make inferences beyond Points
described explicitly in the text (Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007).This ideas or beliefs can
be made practical when there is high involvement of teachers’ commitment in using different
reading strategies to assist the learning and also students commitment in developing reading
practice for inferential understanding. Again, student-teachers should be strong enough in
overcoming some classroom factors-class size, the physical environmental setting such as
temperature, affecting reading comprehension skills.

2.14.1.5. Meta-Cognitive Processes

Much has been made of the importance of meta-cognition that is, “thinking about thinking”
(Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman, 2007). Meta-cognition is the reader’s conscious awareness or
control of cognitive processes. The meta-cognitive processes that readers incorporated are
involved in monitoring understanding, selecting important points and regulating suitable
strategies used when reading is processed. The different meta-cognitive strategies that the
reader uses include rehearsing -repeating information to enhance recall, reviewing, underlining
important words or sections of a passage, note taking, and checking understanding.

2.15. What to do while you Read?

As you read, “jot down what you are thinking (Bazerman, 2000) this refers taking some notes
from the ideas expressed in the paragraph in the way the reader feels in the mind. This
technique helps the reader to compare the actual topic with the thought. Again this helps to
evaluate how the material does support or challenge the ideas developed on the subject.
According to this points of view highlighting and underlining key points have a great
contribution to comprehend the material being read. While you are reading “identify the
writers main point (Bazerman,2000) all active readers regularly ask themselves one basic
question as they read the reading material. Sometimes the writer might put the main point in
clearly stated manner, which is easy for the readers to understand; in other readings the
readers figure out the main point by themselves, because the main points are impliedly put, in
hidden manner.
2.16. A Supportive Class Room Context

It is not enough just to offer good instruction. Several important features of good reading
instruction also need to be present. Otherwise, the comprehension instruction will not take
hold and flourish. These feature include :-A great deal of time spent in actual reading-as with
decoding, all the explicit instruction in the world will not make students strong readers unless
it is accompanied by lots of experience, knowledge, skills and strategies during actual reading.
Secondly, experience reading real texts for real reasons –to become strong, flexible and
devoted comprehenders of text, students need experience reading text beyond those
designed solely for reading instruction as well as experience reading text with a clear and
compelling purpose in mind. Thirdly, an environment rich in vocabulary and concept
development through reading, experience and above all discussion of words and their
meanings. Any text comprehension depends on some relevant prior knowledge. To some
degree, well chosen texts can, in them-selves build readers knowledge base. At the same time,
activities, excursions, conversations and other, conversations and other experience are also
needed to develop vocabulary and concept knowledge required to understand a given text.

Finally, an environment rich in high quality talks about text-this involves both teacher-to-
student and student –to-student talk .It includes discussions of text processing at the number of
levels from clarifying basic material stated in the text drawing interpretation of text material
to relating the text to other texts ,experiences and reading goals( Duke and Pearson, 2002)

2.17. Assessment

Interviews and questionnaires are informal assessment measures designed to elicit students’
understanding of the reading process and their knowledge of reading strategies (Garner, 1992)
in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2007). Assessment and evaluation of student understanding
and ability is an ongoing process. A variety of methods and strategies should be used to ensure
that the student is being assessed and evaluated in a fair and comprehensive manner while
practicing of reading comprehension in the class. Always keep in mind that the assessment
should take into consideration the opportunities the student had to learn the information and
practice the skills Presented (Saddleback Educational Publishing, 2002). Besides as with any
good instruction, comprehension instruction should be accompanied by ongoing assessment.
Teachers should monitor students’ use of comprehension strategies and their success at
understanding what they read. Results of this monitoring should in turn, inform the teacher’s
teaching ability, strategies he used ,techniques involved and generally shows how the teacher
is committed in teaching reading comprehension for students. When particular strategy
continues to be used ineffectively, or not at all the teacher should respond with additional
instruction or a modified instructional approach. At the same time students should be
monitoring their own use of comprehension strategies, aware of their strengthens as well as
their weakness as developing comprehend (Duke and Pearson, 2002).

2.18. Questions or Questioning

Asking students questions helps to understand students understanding of the reading

comprehension. Mostly, the nature of questions vary based on the purposes of the reading,
hence the questions can be provided either at pre-reading stages -before reading, while –
reading stags- during reading or post-reading stage-after reading the text. No comprehension
activity has longer or more pervasive tradition than asking students questions about their
reading whether this occurs before, during or after the reading. We also know much about the
effect of asking different types of questions on students’ understanding and recall of the text,
with the overall finding that students’ understanding and recall can be readily shaped by the
types of questions to which they become accustomed (Anderson and Biddle, 1975) in Duke and
Pearson (2002).

Therefore, when students are experiencing asking questions while practicing reading
comprehension they would be good readers, they will experience connecting the text with their
prior knowledge of the subject. When students often experience questions that require them
to connect information in the text to their knowledge base, they will tend to focus on this more
integrative behavior in the future (Hansen, 1981) in (Duke and Pearson, 2002.)When people
want to learn something, they ask questions. They ask questions to become knowledge able in
their field of study or to figure out the norms of courtesy in another culture or to master the
fine art of different skills. Questioning is at the very heart of learning, the central skill in
teaching-learning process. Teachers are supposed to be described as the professional question
askers. Questions can have been used for a wide variety of educational purposes ,reviewing
previously read material or previously studied material, diagnosis students ability ,preference
and attitudes, stimulating critical thinking, managing students behavior ,probing student
thought process and assessing students knowledge (htt:
//WWW.answers.com/topic/classroom-questieducationencyclopediaclassroomquestion.

2.19. Factors Affecting Reading Comprehension?

Comprehension is affected by the reader's knowledge of the topic, knowledge of language

structures, knowledge of text structures and genres, knowledge of cognitive and meta-
cognitive strategies, their reasoning abilities, their motivation, and their level of
engagement. Reading comprehension is also affected by the quality of the reading material.
Some writers are better writers than others, and some writers produce more complex
reading material than others. Text that is well organized and clear is called "considerate
text" and text that is poorly organized and difficult to understand can be called
"inconsiderate text." The more inconsiderate the text, the more work will be required of a
reader to comprehend the text. Readers who do not have the background, abilities, or
motivation to overcome the barriers presented in inconsiderate text will have more
difficulty comprehending these types of texts. Students who had trouble learning to decode
and recognize words often will have difficulty with reading comprehension. Students who
struggle with decoding rarely have a chance to interact with more difficult text and often
learn to dislike reading. As a result, these students do not have sufficient opportunities to
develop the language skills and strategies necessary for becoming proficient readers.

Readers with poorly developed language skills and strategies will not have the tools to take
advantage of the obvious structures and comprehension cues that are part of considerate text
nor will they have the extra tools needed to overcome the barriers of inconsiderate text (Lenz,
1999, 2005).
As conclusion, there were many classroom factors that affected student-teachers’ inferential
understanding in reading comprehension practice. Some of these were students’ background
knowledge, ineffectiveness of reading strategies and large class-sizes (the room size and
number of students in the learning class) lack of reading comprehension practice, specially
reading for inferential understanding and also the nature of the reading activities-unable to use
authentic teaching materials and approaches, teachers’ lack of commitment in using different
methods and student-teachers’ low motivation to practice reading for inferential
understanding in the class in learning-teaching process.

CHAPTER THREE: - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the research methods that will used to achieve the objectives of the
study. The objective of this study is will be to exploring some factors that create impediments in
reading comprehension skills of students in Bishoftu Ada’a model secondary shool in English
language classes. This section will examine the research setting, research design, participants,
sampling procedure, the data collection instruments and techniques of data analysis that will
used in conducting the study.

3.1. The Research Setting

This study will be conducted on grade nine students in Bishoftu Ada’a model secondary school.

3.2. Design of the Study

In this research, to keep its accuracy, both quantitative and qualitative research design will be
used. That means, the researcher will use mixed method research design. Mixed methods
research offers an alternative methodology for nursing researchers to use to address complex
issues in a way that is more comprehensive than could be achieved by either purely qualitative or
qualitative research (Andrew and Halcomb, 2012, Simons and Lathlean, 2010).Mixed methods
research is a methodology for conducting research that involves collecting, analyzing, and
integrating quantitative and qualitative research in a single study or a longitudinal program of
inquiry.
3.3. Participants and sampling procedure

The grade nine students and English language teachers in the school will the participants of this
study. Therefore, a random sampling technique will used to get the desired data. However, all
English language teachers will consider participants in the study, because they will small in
number.

3.4. The Data Collection Instruments

In order to collect the relevant information concerning factors that impede the reading
comprehension skills of the students, three data gathering tools will used. These will be :
interviews, questionnaires with open and close ended questions, and classroom observation as
listed below

3.4.1. Interview

In this study, the researcher will used interviews as instrument of data collection to get data on
the factors affecting students reading comprehension practice in English language classes.
Hannan (2007) pointed out that interviews could be used to collect facts and to elicit
information about the attitudes, opinions, perspectives and meanings. Interviews will widely
used in this study because they are a powerful means of both obtaining information and
gathering insight (Hannan, 2007). Semi-structured interviews were used to ask further
questions and help to control the direction of the interview to produce the data desired. In
semi-structured interviews, the researcher designs a set of key questions to be raised before
the interview takes place, and such interviews are often used in education research (Scherurich,
1995).

In this study, the researcher will used interview as instrument of data collection to get data on
the same factors affecting students’ reading comprehension practice, in English language
classes. Hnnan (2007) pointed out that interview could be used to collect facts and to elicit
information about the attitudes, opinions, perspectives and meanings. Interview was widely
used, because it is a power full means of both obtaining information and gathering insights
(Hannan, 2007). In semi-structured interview, the researcher designs as set of key questions to
be raised before the interview takes place, and most often it is used in education research
(Scherurich, 1995).

3.4.2. Questionnaire

The questionnaire is one of the most popular methods of collecting data in conducting
scholarly research. It provides a convenient way of gathering information from a target
population (Walonick, 1993). Questionnaire is a well-established tool that helps us to
gather information from our participant about social characteristics, present and past
behavior, standards of behavior or attitude and beliefs and reasons for action with respect
to the topic under investigation, (bulmer, and 2004). In the other word, questionnaire is an
appropriate tool to gather information about the topic that we are going to conduct a
research on from our target population. Therefore, questionnaire will be prepared for both
teacher and students to obtain information about exploring some factors affecting reading
comprehension practice.

3.4.3. Classroom Observation

Classroom observation helped the researcher in getting qualitative data that was later
quantified in the form of percentage or frequency. Froehlich (1981) pointed out that the
purpose of systematic classroom observation is to identify and quantify the teaching activities
in the classroom that may be considered important for a specific teaching procedure. Walker
cited in Stein house (1975) stated that classroom observation has many valid and important
educational purposes: description of instructional practice, investigation of instructional
equities for different groups of students and improvement of teachers' classroom instruction
based on the feedback from the individual classroom or school profiles. Thus, in order to obtain
valuable data and relevant input on the exploring some factors affecting students in reading
comprehension practice in English language classes, semi-structured observation check lists will
designed.
3.5. Method of Data Analysis

In this study, two forms of data will generated - qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative
data will be used to analyze the information obtained through interview and open-ended
questions. Thus, the data will be discussed, interpreted, summarized and analyzed qualitatively.
The quantitative approach will be used to analyze the data gathered through classroom
observation and close-ended questions. Because these questions will be provided to the
respondents with limited choices, these alternatives will qualified.

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