PROBLEM STATEMENT.
In general, most Malaysian students face difficulties in learning and mastering English as a second language, both kids and young learners. This is as clarified by Musa et al., (2012), English proficiency has become an important issue in higher education in Malaysia. Earlier, Maniam and Liong (2007) in their study stated that the student’s achievement in examinations is declining, whether among day schools in the urban or rural areas. Adibah Abdul Latif & Azizah Abu Hanifah (2010) in their research among university students concluded that majority participants were in moderate levels of English Proficiency and uses level were in the moderate level and there is a significant relationship between English proficiency and uses. Poor English proficiency is one of five main factors why university students fail in applying for jobs after graduation (Maharam MAMAT, 2016). The study of Ishak and Mohamed (2010) which was conducted randomly among students of several faculties in UTM Skudai have found that the level of readiness, interest and confidence of UITM students towards teaching sciences and mathematics in English (PPSMI) is at a moderate and unsatisfactory level. The difficulties in learning English language are kept aside by most students even though they know its importance (Kadir dan Noor, 2015).
Reading ability is different from one student to another. This may happen heterogeneously among students due to several reasons. Some students are well-trained since their kid ages to read, with a variety of reading resources such as story books and ...
Hence, this research study is conducted to investigate the culture of reading and the levels of reading ability among school students in Malaysia, specifically in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Are they really able to read English passages fluently and understand its text comprehension? And how the phenomenon of reading culture is instilled among them?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
What is the level of reading ability among ESL students?
How to instil the interest towards reading among ESL students since small ages?
What are the most effective methods for teaching reading in an ESL classroom?
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES.
To identify the levels of reading ability among ESL students.
To know the methods to instil the interest towards reading among ESL students since small ages.
To determine the most effective methods for teaching and learning reading in an ESL classroom.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS.
1. The scope of the study is the reading component of English as a second language, mainly several variables regarding reading ability among the students.
2. The study only focus on the respondents in Kota Bharu, Kelantan
3. Reading ability in this study is focus on ability to read among secondary school students, their interest to read, their levels of reading ability, and the methods to help them improving their reading ability
4. The respondents that are involved in this study only limited to those who study in two primary schools and two secondary schools in Kota Bharu
5. The respondents that are involved in this study only amongst 70 of primary children and 70 of secondary students
SIGNIFICANCE.
1. Understanding the consequences of poor reading skills would help teachers to design tasks and supports for students with varying methods and materials creatively.
2. Reading is important as it bridges to another component of knowledge. Failure to master the ability of reading is disappointing. Thus, this study attempts to highlight the significant methods so students may have clear guidance to read confidently.
3. This research study may help teachers, educators and parents can share knowledge and experience in efforts of helping their kids to read fluently
4. This research study may give a clear picture regarding the culture of reading English among students in Malaysia.
5. This research may support that teachers and academics always update and upgrade the method of teaching and learning English especially the reading component.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW.
2.1 The Importance of Reading.
2.1.1 Reading Lead To Mastery Other Components
The main importance of reading is as it leads to master other components of English.
First, reading can develop a collection of words in a student's own dictionary. So, it will be no problem for them to write essays or answer questions with a lot of vocabulary knowledge in hand. Empirical evidence is shown in many studies about the crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension (I. S. P. Nation, 1990; H. Y. Wu and P. Hu, 2007). ovations and improvements in their learning. The learned vocabulary, by using in their own writing, will be stored in students’ memory for a long time and it will help them in future to comprehend any texts. Some teachers suggest that students don’t know techniques of guessing meaning from the context. The students go for word for word meaning; they do not try to guess the meaning of the words from the context in which they are used. One teacher opines that students do not have control over comprehension of parts of speech.
Second, reading helps to improve one’s comprehension and understanding. As confirmed by Iqbal et al., (2015) in their research study that stated that one of the major purposes of reading is on its comprehension. Reading comprehension occurs when reader extracts and combines different types of information from the read text and makes a link between the new information and the already known ones (Koda, 2007)
2.2 ReadingsAbility
Since small ages, students are encouraged to learn reading. It begins with knowing letters, words, phrases and sentences as the initial step to their reading ability. In reality, the length of English learning experienced by students from kid years until they finish their secondary schooling has nothing to do with their awareness of reading strategies, this may be due to the failure of the checklist to accurately reflect the students’ reading strategy usage or reading abilities (Nuttanuch Munsakorn, 2012). Mahzan (2003) and Yahya (2008) agreed that the process of reading is important to help students add their treasures of knowledge. This shows that reading disability can affect the progress of students failing to follow the subject. While Tamam Timbang et al., (2010) stated that the inability to read can affect students psychologically, so that they are less able to develop themselves even if they have good reading ability.
Reading ability can be influenced by a Meta-cognition of learners (Brown et al, 1986). One’s own knowledge and controlling of one’s own actions during reading are two diverse aspects of meta-cognition. Successful and fluent learners show better level of controlling their actions during reading and meta-cognition knowledge than novice and less successful learners or readers (Baker & Beall, 2009). The meaning of Meta-cognition which has been increasingly used is a ‘person’s cognition about cognition, that is, the person’s metacognitive knowl-edge of cognitive processes and states such as memory, attention, knowledge,conjecture [and] illusion’ (Wellman, 1985; Garner, 1994; Hacker, 1998). Lawrence Jun Zhang (2001) defined that Metacognition is thought of as comprising knowledge and regulatory skills that are used to control one’s cognition.
Ehri (2005) suggested that children with enough skills in reading letters can read the words easier, can add any new words they found within reading to their vocabulary list and, eventually can achieve a fluent and smooth reading.
It is important to foster positive attitudes to reading while children are still in school (Logan, S., & Johnston, R., 2009) as school is the best place for social interaction amongst them in learning. Henry & Rickman (2007) found that in early periods of students' school sessions, the ability level of peers in the classroom has direct effects on their cognitive, pre reading and language skills discovery.
Next, there is a relationship between ability and attitude to recreational reading and it is believed to grow stronger over time (McKenna et al., 1995). Recreational reading refers to ……………..
Henry & Rickman (2007) meanwhile relate the reading ability with both attitude to reading and frequency of reading among students regardless their gender.
Reading disability is referred to kids or students who still can't read even easy short sentences when they are in primary or even secondary school. Based on Sharon Vaughn et al., (2000), a few students in their case study demonstrated significant reading problems and qualified for special education or were identified by the school district as dyslexi. This is supported by Emine Balcı & Aybala Çayır (2018) by stating that dyslexic students do not have any significant problems in the phonological coding process but students at each grade level of schooling have problems especially in spelling and fluent reading processes. Spinelli et al., (2005) agreed that Italian students with dyslexia have problems in fluent reading depending on the length of the words, while Suárez-Coalla et al., (2014) indicated that the individuals with dyslexia experience problems in orthographic processes which leads to fluent reading problems. Raija Pirttimaa et al., (2015) considered dyslexia as synonym as a serious reading and writing disability.
2.2 Interest Towards Reading
2.2.1 Reading Among Small Kids
Since ages, some researchers argued the initial reading among kids begins with Pattern recognition (fat, sat, bat, cat, mat, pat, etc.) form while word recognition exercises are practiced among high learning institution students (Evelyn Hatch, 1974).
There are a variety of methods initiated by educators and teachers to instil an interest in students’ towards reading, however to achieve the full commitment and interest is less than expected. In Iqbal et al., (2015), different factors of the poor reading comprehension ability among students are highlighted such as poor command of vocabulary, habit of cramming, no interest to learn creativity in reading except their mere goal only to pass the examination.
2.3 Different Levels of Reading
This distinction is made between literal, referential, and critical understanding of the text comprehensions (Feng Liu, 2010). Three distinctive levels of meaning of reading the text comprehension as briefly elaborated in (Feng Liu , 2010), they are;
A. A literal understanding is an understanding of meanings that are directly stated in text, or an understanding of the main implications. Comprehension at this level involves surface meanings, readers find information and ideas that are explicitly stated in the text.
B. The second level is referential or interpretive understanding. At this level, readers go beyond
what is said and read for deeper meanings. Readers must read carefully and analyze what they have read, they need to be able to see relationships among ideas, for example, how ideas go together, and also see the implied meanings of these ideas. It is obvious that before readers can do this, they have to first understand the ideas that are stated (literal understanding).
C. Referential comprehension includes thinking processes such as drawing conclusions, making generalizations and predicting outcomes. Finally, the third level is critical reading whereby ideas and information are evaluated.
In brief, different types of readings can be labeled as: scanning, skimming, reading to learn, reading for general idea/understanding, reading for critical evaluation and reading to integrate information (Carrell & Grabe, 2010).
Several past studies revealed the levels of reading among students in Malaysia. Siti Hamin Stapa et al., (2007) viewed that the levels of reading ability among students are at moderate level.
2.4 Perception of Students Towards Reading.
1. Passion To read
Students who love reading and they always have passion towards reading. They know the text and have the ability to read.
2. Struggle To read
Students who love reading but they have less ability to read.
Based on past study (Nor Fadila Mohd Amin & Adibah Abd. Rahim, 2010), students perceive that English language is important for career preparation even if the mastery of English language proficiency level among students is moderate.
3. Ignore To read
Students who do not have any interest in learning English and they have no ability to read or lazy to read. This is appropriately matched with ‘reluctant readers’. Stringer and Mollineaux (2003) defined reluctant readers as “those who are able to but do not possess the desire or the inclination to read.” According to the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS), a reluctant reader is a person who, for whatever reason, chooses not to read, doing so only when necessary (Michael J. Strauss, 2008).
2.5 Ways of helping ESL students to master reading and text comprehension fluently.
Learners generally prefer metacognitive to cognitive knowledge when it comes to reading English texts, and authentic reading materials are found to heighten their learning motivation as well as attitude positively due to several salient factors (Fan Wei Kung, 2019).
2.5.1 Methods of teaching reading in an ESL classroom.
The importance of cultivating learners’ second language reading strategy awareness by using appropriate reading materials in class is discussed with several pedagogical and theoretical implications (Fan Wei Kung, 2019).
Educators and teachers must learn and practice the best strategy of reading among their students. According to Nuttanuch Munsakorn (2012), teachers and instructors can teach reading strategies in the classroom, then, it helps to improve student performance on tests of comprehension and recall.
2.7 Cognitive Theory of Reading
