CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

Reading comprehension is getting increasing attention because modern information-based society
requires excellent reading comprehension skills. Learning highly depends on the comprehension of
information from text sources. Thus reading is really fundamental in every academic discipline.
Reading research aims to tap into the processes of comprehension in order to find out how people
read. Better understanding of reading skills can help develop more effective teaching programs. This
paper discusses factors influencing reading comprehension. Many of the skills and strategies
required for reading comprehension already appear in beginning readers in their ability to
comprehend the language. As a first step pupils must learn how to decode individual words and
sentences (including syntax). The most recent findings in neuroscience show children need a
systematic phonological and morphological training to become a good reader. Reading abilities
develop over time, readers gradually realize that meaning is often more complex than a single word,
a sentence, or even a paragraph, in the end they learn how to read between the lines, use their
associations. They must use their background knowledge to make the inferences, which are
necessary to reveal these deeper meanings.
RAND Reading Study Group, Snow, C.(2002).
According to Koda, 2005 : Reading comprehension has multiple definitions. It could be seen as a
process versus a product as a sum of parts versus a whole or having varying degrees (pp. 228-230). It
is widely discussed that reading comprehension has many supporting skills, such as vocabulary
knowledge, background knowledge, knowledge of grammar, Meta cognitive awareness, syntactic
knowledge and reading strategies. The main factors of reading comprehensions are vocabulary
knowledge, background knowledge, fluency, active reading skills and critical thinking that must
work together.

Historically, interest in reading within the context of foreign language instruction has evolved
cyclically over the years. According to Bycina and Dubin, (1991:195) “some generations back, the
prevailing approach was centered often, exclusively, on the reading of texts in the target language,
thus, the names ‘reading approach’ or ‘grammar translation method’ were used”. They further state
that the focus of ‘reading approach’ was on matching words in the foreign language with meanings
in the students’ native tongue. Thus, the process of gaining an understanding of text tended to be

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obscured. Richards and Rodgers (2001) also explain that while the approach (grammar translation)
had certain limited advantages, for example, it emphasized word knowledge and proved satisfactory
for reading literary genres such as poetry, it came to be thoroughly rejected because it overlooked
the communicative purposes of language.
In the 1940s and 1950s, a new generation of experts (audio-lingual) called for more attention to the
matters of pronunciation. They held that speech was basically what mattered in language; reading
was merely a secondary manifestation. The resulting audio-lingual method used reading and writing
simply to re-enforce grammatical patterns and vocabulary items that had been introduced orally
(Richards and Rodgers, 2001). But this narrow vision, too, changed gradually as learners’ purposes
for being able to use second language or foreign languages become the focus in planning
instructional programs. Reading was again elevated to primacy (Bycina and Dubin, 1991) when the
main function of language instruction was to enable students to learn academic subjects through
reading text books and similar materials. Owing to this shift in emphasis, EFL teachers took on the
additional responsibility of providing instruction in reading skills. .
The best English classroom is believed to be the one in which students are actively involved in a
natural context of communication through discussion of ideas, facts, opinions, and feelings, etc.
either with the teacher or among the learners themselves in pairs or small groups. Nevertheless, it
seems that a gap exists between theory and practice of teaching reading. That is to mean, teachers
are often forced to adopt reading methods that tell them how to teach, regardless of their beliefs and
understanding. Hence, there is often little room for the teachers’ own personal initiative and teaching
styles (Richards and Rodgers, 2001.).
The question of flexible classroom practice and innovative methodology (procedures and technique)
to teach reading comprehension in high schools in the Ethiopian educational contexts remain the
most crucial issue both in theory and Pedagogy (Yonas, 2003). Thus, so as to fill this gap in the
literature, it seems imperative to conduct research on teachers’ theoretical assumptions about
teaching reading and their actual classroom practices particularly in the context of Ethiopia.
This study tried to investigate factors that affecting reading comprehensions. And discussed different
concepts on reading comprehension and describes some components of reading abilities, which are
important to decode the written text.

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1.2. Statement of the Problem
In spite of the fact that teaching English Reading is essential, the teaching methods and techniques
employed in a classroom can have either negative or positive effect on the development of reading
skills on the learners. More specifically, if the method becomes effective and enjoyable, the meaning
can be understood easily. On the other hand, if the methods are not effective and enjoyable, students
may fail to understand and comprehend. In short, the teaching methods and techniques used by
language teachers can affect not only reading skill but also the development of other language skills
(speaking, grammar, listening etc.) and the overall language performance of learners (Cunnings
worth, 1984). If reading is this much important, it is advisable to employ .the teaching methods that
coordinate with the needs and purposes of students that assure the development of reading methods
employed in the classroom. Reading comprehension is complex process, in which many other skills
are used (Cain et al, 2004). Many factors are involved which affect this reading comprehension
process (Palincsar& Brown, 1984; Samuels, 1983) and these factors are related to the text, context,
and the reader (Snow, 2002). Vocabulary is also one of the main factors which affect reading
comprehension (Nagy, 1998 as cited in Bauman, 2009). From the past to the present day, there have
been distinctive reasons for poor reading comprehension development in English language among
Senior High School Students. After they join university, majority students need much support on
how to construct meaning or comprehend very ordinary texts or paragraphs in reading tests or
quizzes on Communicative English Skills they take in first semester of the year they join university.
At this educational level students are expected to have good proficiency in reading and
comprehension; and learn different fields of study they join with little challenges of reading
comprehension. The majority of educated parents and teachers complain about the rate of the poor
reading comprehension of students today. Solomon (1999), addressed that learners’ ability of
English can greatly be determined by their ability to read .Moreover, Atkins, J., Hailom, B. And
Nuru, M.(1996:39) note that students’ eventual academic success or failure depends on a large
degree on their ability to read and comprehend the text books and notes they receive in the different
subjects they study as all these study materials are written in English. Most of the knowledge and
abilities students get are based on their reading and comprehending abilities in English. Hence, it can
be said that reading is an important skill for second or foreign language learning in academic
contexts. It is one of the most important skills of language. Students’ success in academic

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performance at the tertiary level can be due to their ability to read and understand materials written
in English. (Daniel Degefe) 2017
Having this in mind, even the above research focus on high school grade level this research was
focused on our students in primary schools have been learning reading skills based on various
activities and tasks presenting by classroom English teachers. However, as I have seen from my
experience, there is a complaint among students and teachers at large about the problems of
comprehensive reading skills during English classrooms.
Thus, the inspiration for this study mainly arose from the researcher’s interest to address the factors
that affect students’ comprehensions reading skills and also to put a ground base for further work on
this area. To investigating factors that affect students’ comprehensions reading skills, the researcher
has formulated the following guide questions to conduct to the study:-
Research Questions
Depending on the Objectives, this study will try to answer the following questions.
 What are the main problems of students’ reading comprehensions skills?
 Which factors are determining the practice of students’ in reading comprehension skills?
1.3. Objective of the study
1.3. 1. General Objective of the Study
The main objective of this study is to investigating factors that students reading comprehension at
Abera Yuda primary school of grade 7th A students in Shisho Ende Woreda, Kaffa Zone.
. 1.3.2. Specific objectives of the study
 To investigate the main problems of students’ reading comprehensions skills.
 To investigate which factors are determining the practice of students’ in reading
comprehension skills?
 To give solutions to mitigate the existing problems of students comprehension reading skills

1.4. Significance of the Study

This study, by way of investigating factors that students reading comprehension is believed to have
the following potential contributions
The finding of this research will have the following values
 It helps to know the factors that affect students’ reading comprehension
 It helps to improve the ability of students comprehension reading skills

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1.5. Scope of the study
This study focused on investigating factors that affect students reading comprehension at Abera
Yuda primary school of grade 7th A students.
It was conducted at Abera Yuda primary school at Shisho Ende Woreda, Kaffa Zone. This study
was limited to only grade 7th students’ problems of reading comprehensions skills. The school is
selected for the fact that the researcher has gotten an easy access to collect data. The subject of the
study was students of grade 7th and their English Language teachers.

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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Definition of Reading
Different scholars define the term reading in different ways. But, the general concept of the
definitions is similar, and thus there is no point in looking for a single definition of reading. In line
with this, Smith (1988) describes that reading is not different from all other common words in our
language. It has a multiplicity of meanings. And since the meaning of the word on any particular
occasion will depend largely on the context in which it occurs we should not expect that a single and
all-inclusive definition of reading.
According to Wallace (1992), reading is a process of extracting meaning from written text. Asher
(1994) on his part defines that reading is the ability to comprehend the thoughts and feelings of
others through the medium of written text. Nuttall (1982) also views reading as a process in which
one looks at and understands what has been written.
Other scholars (e.g. Headge, 2000; Bycina, and Dubin, 1991, and Al-Issa, 2006) further describe
reading as a multileveled and interactive process between the reader and the text where the reader
uses his/her background knowledge and the information given in the text to construct meaning. It
involves processes such as predicting, guessing, confirming and judging. Thus, reading does not
mean understanding every word in a text and it is possible to understand a text even if there are some
words which we may not know .Harmer (2001) asserts that sometimes we can ignore them as long as
they do not affect our understanding or we can try to guess their meaning from the context. As to
many of the writers above, to Harmer as well, the nature of reading skills is conceptualized in a more
elaborated ways. In other words, what actually takes place when a person handles a text has been
taken as an interaction between a reader and the material. Beyond interaction, the process might as
well be viewed as a struggle to indicate the reader’s engagement to make sense of the text. The same
struggle in which the reader is involved for the sake of creating meaning from the text is also
conceptualized as a “psycholinguistic guessing game” by Goodman (1967) cited in Hedge (2000)
and Alyousef (2005). The reader struggles and plays the guessing game and accordingly combines
information that he/she obtained through his/her struggle with the text and with the help of the
knowledge he/she brought along to apply in making his/her guessing while reading the text. Hedge
(2000) remarks: “from this perspective, reading can be seen as a kind of dialogue between the reader
and the text, or even the reader and the author (Ibid)

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From these definitions, we can deduce that reading is not only an interactive but also an active
process in which the reader seeks to understand, identify, interpret and evaluate the ideas and point
of view expressed by the author. In this process the interpretation largely depends upon the
background of the reader, the purpose for reading and the context in which the reading occurs
(Alyousef, 2005)

2.1.1. Definitions of reading comprehension

According to Koda, 2005 : Reading comprehension has multiple definitions. It could be seen as a
process versus a product as a sum of parts versus a whole or having varying degrees (pp. 228-230). It
is widely discussed that reading comprehension has many supporting skills, such as vocabulary
knowledge, background knowledge, and knowledge of grammar, Meta cognitive awareness,
syntactic knowledge and reading strategies.
The main factors of Reading comprehensions are vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge,
fluency, active reading skills and critical thinking that must work together.
2.2. Purpose of Teaching Reading
Like any instructional endeavor, the reading pedagogy should primarily base itself on a set of goals
describing what the learning program is going to achieve. Traditionally, the purpose of teaching
reading in a language has been to have access to the literature written in the language. In language
instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent
“higher” forms of culture (Freeman, 2000). This approach assumes that students learn to read a
language by studying its vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure, not by actually reading it.
Currently, however, the purpose of teaching reading, according to Natal (1982:21), is “to enable
students to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with
adequate understanding”. In relation to this, Hedge (2000) points out that the purpose of teaching
reading include the following:
To be able to read a range of texts in English, to adapt reading style according to range of purposes
and apply different strategies (e.g. skimming and scanning) as appropriate, to build a knowledge of
language (vocabulary, structure), which will facilitate development of reading of greater ability, to
build schematic knowledge in order to interpret texts meaningfully, to develop awareness of the
structure of written texts in English, to take a critical stance to the content of texts.

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In line with the different purposes that learners might have for reading and the different styles to be
used in reading a text, it might sound appropriate to take into account the point of tackling text in a
number of ways (Hedge, 2000; Natal, 1987, and James, 2004). For instance, a quick survey of the
text to get the main idea, or specific idea and to read slowly and carefully, or when we want to know
further about an issue, we do an extensive reading. Hence, the purposes for reading help us
determine how, and at what speed we should read. In simple terms, our purpose(s) determine the
kind of reading strategy we use. To keep with the insights indicated above the teacher must first give
students a clear picture of what they are going to do. Giving students with a clear purpose of reading
provides them not only a direction, but also motivates them to read as well.
2.3. Models of the Reading Process
2.3.1 Bottom-up model
An older, and now considered to be out dated view (Bycina & Dubin, 1991) was proposed by
Gough (1977) in Davies (1995). This model focuses on pieces of language, building from the small
units of language (i.e. sounds to larger units such as words and phrases),or on breaking down the
larger segments of language into individual units( Smith,1983 cited by Bycina & Dubin, 1991).In
bottom-up approach (Skills-based model),great emphasis is placed on the mastery of sound-symbol-
relationships (Davies 1995). It is based on the assumption that once this mastery has been achieved,
meaning will follow. Learners are taught that once they have mastered basic phonics and letter-word
recognition, they can use these skills independently to get meaning from print (Asher, 1994).
According to Bycina & Dubin (1991), a variation of the bottom –up model identifies four distinct
areas of language: Vocabulary, Sound-symbol relationships, grammar, and comprehension. Thus,
each area is analyzed in isolation. They go on to say that the underlying assumption of this model is
that meaning will follow if one can integrate the sub skills that have been presented to the reader in
the form of long lists of vocabulary words, grammar rules and exercise , comprehension questions
relating to the given reading materials ( Natal ,1982; Woollcott, 2002 and Rivers ,1968).
According to Getachew (1996), this model is criticized for the fact that it disregards the reader’s
contribution to negotiating meaning from within the text. This means, it fails to see that readers
utilize their expectations about the text based on their prior knowledge of the content and the
language.

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The implication of the bottom-up approach for reading instruction, according to Natal (1982) is that
classroom practice should focus on drilling linguistic elements with sound relationships to help
learners develop pronunciation.
2.3.2. Top-Down Model
The top-down model (Strategy-based reading) as it has come to be identified (Good man (1967)
cited in Bycina and Dubin (1991) incorporates a psycholinguistic perspective on reading based on
insights from contemporary linguistics and cognitive psychology. Reading is defined as a language –
thinking process involving an inter-relationship of semantics, syntax and graph phonics. The primary
focus is on comprehension. Reading is viewed as a successful interaction of conceptual abilities,
background knowledge and processing strategies (Davies, 1995). The target is comprehension, not
the decoding of sub vocal utterances. Reading, writing, and oral language are not learned in
isolation. Rather, they are the components of a mutually supporting communication system and
should, therefore, be presented together (Good man (1967) cited in Bycina and Dubin (1991). Here
the focuses is always on meaning .It is only after meaning is comprehend that the reader incidentally
discovers the distinctive features in words and grammar. In contrast to bottom-up, this newer model
places the primary focus on reading and not on vocabulary building, rule mastery, or sound –symbol
relation
The pedagogical implication of the top-down model or reading process is that teachers need to focus
on the teaching of the effective reading strategies. Ali yousef (2002.1) referring to Grabe and
Goodman (1983) describes, teachers need to activate students background knowledge and teach
strategies (e.g. guessing from context, defining expectations, making inferences about the text, and
skimming a head to fill in the context to predict and interpret general information of the text.)
2.3.3 Interactive model
Interactive model, according to Rivas (1991), refers not just to the interaction between reader and
text, but to the interaction between the information that the reader obtains by decoding (bottom-up
processing), and the information obtained by interpretation (top-down processing). In relation to this,
Bycina and Dubin (1991:197) say:
Interactive theory acknowledges the role of previous knowledge and prediction skill but, at the same
time, reaffirms the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words of the text ….
Essentially, then, the two processes, bottom-up and top-down are complementary; one is not able to
function properly without the other.

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According to Bycina and Dubin (1991) the implication of the interactive model for the teaching of
reading is that classroom practice should include both bottom-up and top-down strategies. Teacher
should focus on teaching reading strategies that help learners to make use of their background
knowledge in the process of tackling any reading task; at the same time teachers must focus on
language development (vocabulary, syntax, etc) to enable learners to overcome any textual
constraints while they engage in reading process.
Once again, Mekasha (2005) has summarized that the socio-cultural and psycholinguistic model
must be operated simultaneously rather than sequentially to produce the activity that effectively
carried out within the general framework of education.
To sum up, it has been argued that each theoretical assumption supports a particular set of reading
practices or pedagogies. These practices vary according to the amount of time allocated to reading
instruction and self-selected texts, the way that reading is defined, the background assumptions
about where knowledge is located and whether it is “found” or “constructed”, and the emphasis
placed on the role of the text, the reader, and the context in the reading process, Regardless of
whether teachers can explicitly articulate their theoretical assumptions, their experience and practice
play a dominant role in the resources they choose, the instructional practices they employ, and the
environment they create in their classrooms. Thus, teachers must be aware of which methodologies
may and may not work together to provide effective pedagogy (Richards and Rodgers, 2001).
2.4. Techniques of Teaching Reading
Researchers, in the area of teaching reading assert that effective language teachers show students
how they can adjust their reading to deal with a variety of situations, types of reading, and reading
purposes. They help students develop a set of reading strategies and match appropriate strategies to
each reading situation. The most common suggested strategies are discussed as follows:
2.4.1. Skimming
Skimming is defined as a way of quickly looking over a text or book to get a rough idea of what it is
about. Skimming is not the same thing as fast reading; instead, it is selective reading of a few parts
of a text. It is mainly concerned with identifying key topics, main ideas, or the overall theme of the
text (Natal, 1992; Grellet, 1981; Scrivener, 1994; Davis, 1995 and Eisenberg, 2002). It is also used
in readings which do not need high concentration and attention. In real life, people often skim to
decide whether or not they want to read something. If we are interested in having the general picture
of the text, we simply run through the text quickly by discarding what is not essential or relevant to

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that general picture (Harmer, 1991; Grellet, 1981; Williams 1984) .In class this is a useful pre-
reading exercise before reading a book or text.
[Link]. Possible Procedure in Skimming
1. Tell students their goal is to very quickly get a rough idea of what the text is about. Then give
them the following instructions:
a. Read any titles of sub-titles
b. Read the first few lines of the first paragraph.
c. Read the first line of one or two paragraphs on each page.
d. Read a few lines from the conclusion.
e. Look at any pictures or illustrations.
2. Give students a time limit.
a. This depends on the length of the text, but usually two or three minutes is enough.
b. Be sure you don’t give students enough time to actually read the text.
3. Have students read, while they read, you should count down the time, perhaps calling it out
every minute. Also check to make sure students aren’t trying to read.
4. To end the exercise, have students tell you as much as they can about the contents of the text.
The key to skim is to know where to find the main idea of different paragraphs or texts. Thus, the
best way to teach skimming is to have students read these steps in full. Skimming gives the reader
the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main message and some of the
developing or supporting ideas (Brown, 1994 cited in Rood, 2001).
Skimming, as clearly stated above, is used when our purpose is to get the general picture or
overview of the content of the text we read.

2.4.2. Scanning
Scanning is reading as fast as possible to look for a specific piece of information related to what you
are reading. In scanning, exercise are the ones that you can use in class to help students break the
habit of reading slowly and intensively all the time .Readers only try to identify specific information
such as name, date or a figure. This exercise involves having students read a text as quickly as
possible while the teachers time them. The important thing is not to have a line by line progress. If
for instance, you are looking for the goal winner of a football match, you may look for the goal
scorer in a newspaper that will satisfy your need. In this case you simply move your eyes very fast

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until you get the information you are looking for, passing quickly over all the irrelevant information
(Grellet, 1981, Harmer, 1991 and Williams, 1984).

In classroom situation, too, students may have a question in their mind and they read a passage only
to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information (Lamp and Johnson, 1999). The purpose of
scanning therefore is to extract certain specific information without reading the whole text and to
gradually increase students reading speeds

[Link]. Possible Procedure in Scanning

1. Look for numbers when they are looking for amount, quantity or words when they are looking for
a person or a name, a place, a day, a date etc.
2. In class, give students the following instruction:
a. Read the text as quickly as you can. Try to finish before the time is up.
b. Don’t use a dictionary.
c. It is better to read the whole text quickly than to read the first part carefully.
3. Then tell students the time limit, give students the text, and start timing.
a. You can either call out the time each minute or so, or mark the time on the board.
b. Be sure to tell students a minute or so before time is up.
4. After the time is up, check by either using comprehension questions or having students summarize
the main points of what they read.
Therefore, the important way of teaching scanning is setting exercise that demands students to
search for specific piece of information (Nuttal, 1982). Once again, Nuttal says that scanning is not a
thorough activity mainly because the reader uses it to locate specific, isolated or scattered
information. On the other hand, skimming is relatively a thorough activity that requires readers to
have the general picture of the reading text. However, both of them are reading techniques used for
quick and efficient reading.

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2.4.3. Extensive Reading

Many researchers (e.g. Barnett, 1984; Bamford, 1984; Grellet, 1981; Brumfit, 1984; Hedge, 1985)
cited in Susser and Robb (1990) define “extensive reading” as a language teaching/learning
procedure to the reading of large quantities of material or long texts for global or general
understanding with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text. Likewise, Harmar (2001) points
out that extensive reading involves reading lengthy material, often for pleasure and in a leisurely
way.
In a report by Davis (1995) quoted by Harmar (2001:204) on the effectiveness of extensive reading
suggest that “any classroom will be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading program, and will
be unable to promote its pupils’ language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a
programmers were present”.

Davis also claim that such a program will make students more positive about reading, improve their
overall comprehension skills, and give them a wider vocabulary. Day and Bamford (1998) further
stress that extensive reading is the best possible way for students to develop automaticity-that is the
automatic recognition of words when they see them. In extensive reading, students are involved in
reading of various kinds of materials ranging from academic references books to novels,
newspapers, magazines etc. Thus, when the aim is at general comprehension, this procedure reduces
both teacher demands on the students and student demands on the text. Since extensive reading is
usually carried out outside classroom, they are allowed to choose the books they read depending on
their interest and likes (Harmar, 2001). On the other hand, if they find a book too difficult or they
don’t enjoy it, the extensive reading procedure requires that the book be changed and not that the
student be made to study it more closely or they can change it for another one based on their topics
of interest. In this type of reading there is not always a follow-up discussion or work in class with the
teacher (Stanley, 2005, and Sesser and Robb, 1990).
Supporting the importance of extensive reading, Bell (1998) identifies the following potential
advantages of extensive reading in language learning:
 It can provide comprehensible input
 It can enhance learners general language competence
 It increases students’ exposure to the language

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 It can increase knowledge of vocabulary
 It can motivate learners to read
 It can consolidate previously learned language
 It helps to build confidence with extended texts
 It facilitates the development of prediction skills

2.4.4. Intensive Reading

Intensive reading on the other hand, is a kind of reading, a slow and careful reading style that is
appropriate for very difficult texts. However, in many ways, intensive reading is more of a language
study method than a form of reading (Susser and Robb, 1990). Similarly, many researchers (e.g.
Harmar, 2001; Bruton, 2004; and Alyousef, 2005) note that intensive reading is useful for English
study-to learn some elements of the language or a particular language skill, because its slow speed
allows students to stop and look new words up in the dictionary; it also allows students to pause and
carefully study long or difficult sentences to get a better understanding of their grammar. To bring
these in to effect, Nuttall (1982) states that intensive reading takes place under the closer guidance of
the teacher, or under the guidance of a task that forces a study to pay greater attention to the text
(Nuttal,1982).It should be noted, however, that many opponents of this procedure, Hedge (2003) in
Alyousef (2005), and Harmar (2001) argue that intensive reading alone will not make students good
reader, in fact too much intensive reading may actually cause students to develop bad reading habits.
For example, because intensive reading requires students to pay attention to every detail, it often
encourages the habit of paying more attention to the vocabulary and grammar of a text than to its
overall meaning. It also encourages the habit of reading English very slowly, and students who
become accustomed to reading English in this way often never learn to read any faster. Finally,
intensive reading tends to be relatively boring, so students who fall into the habit of reading
everything intensively often come to dislike reading in English.

In general, the main purpose of most reading is to understand the meaning of the text, usually as
quickly as possible using linguistic and schematic Knowledge, so what these researchers are
claiming is that extensive reading is more like “real” reading than intensive reading is. Therefore, in
order to become good readers, students need to practice reading extensively as well as intensively

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(Harmar, 2001 and Hafiz and Tudor, 1989 cited in Alyousef, 2005). Here again, they go on to
suggest that it is good for students to read intensively sometimes so they can study a text’s grammar
and vocabulary. They also need to read intensively if a text is very difficult. But it is equally
important for them to spend time reading texts in an extensive style, focusing mainly on the meaning
of the text, not stopping to look up every new word.

Alyousef (2005) quoting the works of Haifz and Tudor (1989) suggests, some of the reading activity
that demand students to read intensively are analyzing coherence, reading for inference, reading for
reference, analyzing text cohesion, guessing from context, the organization of a text etc.

2.5. Putting theory into practice: the three phases of reading

As it has been stated, traditionally the teaching of reading has often involved little more than
assigning the students a text and requiring them to answer a series of comprehension questions when
they have finished (Lee, 1999, and Williams, 1984).This means that the reader uses the
comprehension questions not to enhance their interaction with the text but to restrict the reader’s
interaction with it. For example, many readers start with the question and use its wording to search
for the answer in the text. The task is not reading but answering the questions; success is defined by
getting answers to the questions. According to Bycina and Dubin (1991), this kind of procedure is a
testing rather than a teaching strategy. They further explain that the procedure does not provide
students with the skills and strategies needed to become efficient, effective and independent readers.

In response to these misconceptions, many language educators have advocated structuring

instructional practices differently. Natal (1982), and Philips (1984) cited by Lee (1999) recommend
adopting a three-phase approach to sequencing exercises that moves from skimming to scanning to
comprehension checks, where, students will be involved in doing pre-reading, while-reading and
post-reading tasks.
2.5.1. Pre-Reading Phase

Consistent with the nature of the reading skill and the possible procedures suggested before, the pre-
reading phase might be devoted to a number of things aimed at introducing the reading text and

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developing a framework for reading. It also intends to build and activate students’ prior knowledge
(schematic knowledge) about the topics, concepts, issues, and vocabulary contained in the text to be
read (Williams, 1984; Hedge, 2000, and Wallace, 1992). Besides, Mekasha (2005), saying it
differently, this phase is a phase of “foregrounding”, and therefore, he calls it “a kind of pilot or
rehearsal task phase”.

According to Nuttal (1982), before students begin to read the text, the teachers are expected to do
many things to make their task more explicit and their way of tackling it more effective. Teachers
need to consider various techniques in order to initiate their students for the reading of any text.
The teacher should first introduce the topic of the text and ask some questions to explore the
students’ background knowledge of the topic.
2.5.2. While-Reading Phase
Wallace (1992) asserts that the aim of while reading phase is to encourage students read the text
reflectively and interactively. According to him students need guidance in order to achieve the
objectives set. Hence, different activities can be provided in this stage so as to encourage interactive
reading. Moreover, students should be given a purpose for their reading lesson because this in turn
leads them to take note of certain facts or rhetorical devices (Brown, 2000).
2.5.3. Post-Reading Phase
The purpose of post-reading stage is to help students evaluate what they have read. They will
evaluate and summarize the text relating to their knowledge and experience. Comprehension
questions are just one form of activity appropriate for post-reading (Brown, 200). In comprehension,
some of the activities which can be used in this phase include: identifying author’s purpose,
discussing the author’s line of reasoning, examining grammatical structures or steering students
toward a follow-up writing exercise. Generally, engaging students in reflection supports deeper
understanding of the reading materials

16
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Design of the Study
A mixed methods design was chosen for this study due to the nature of the research problems.
“Descriptive survey determines and describes the way things are. It is concerned with the assessment
of the existing practices and procedures, etc.” Thus, descriptive survey was chosen as it enables the
researcher to describe the current practices of an area of study.”

3.2. Sampling Method and Sample size

This study was conducted in Kaffa Zone, Shisho Ende Woreda at Abera Yuda primary school. The
study involved Grade 7 students and their English Teachers in the school.
.The sampling techniques used to in this study was carried out through purposive sampling method
for the selection of all grade 7th English language teachers and all sections Stratified random
sampling method is used to pick the selections related to the teachers, the total number of students
are 140 .out of the selected sections through stratified random sampling techniques about 42 or 30%
of grade 7th students were selected using sampling techniques. And also two ELT teachers selected
for the interview.
The size of the sample was 44 out of these 2 were grade7th English teachers and the rest 42 were
selected sample students from three sections of grade 7th students 14 students from each sections
equally.
3.3. Data Gathering Instruments

To gather data for the study, different data gathering instruments was employed (questionnaire,
interview and observation) the necessary information about the study was obtained by distributing
the questionnaires to the selected sample studies. In addition, additional information was gathered
from the sample interviewees and by the actual observation checklist.

In this study questionnaire, interview and observation data collection was used. The data collecting
instruments were applied to collect data from Abera Yuda Primary School grade 7th students and
their English teachers.

17
3.3.1. The students Questionnaires
In order to get information about the reading skills from the selected Schools in 2016 academic year
questionnaires was designed and distributed for the sample subjects the item of questionnaires was
limited. Students` questionnaire about 42 copies of questionnaire was distributed to grade 7th
selected students. The questionnaire was contained 10 items that include closed ended questions.
3.3.2. . The teachers’ interview
The semi structured interview was designed based on the questionnaires. The reason of this was it
would be used as to crosscheck the responses obtained from the sample subjects. The purpose of
these interviews was to gather additional information and also, to strengthen and validate the data
obtained through the open- ended questionnaires
.
3.3.3. Observation

The observation was designed based on the questionnaires and the interview. The reason of this
would be it used as to crosscheck the responses obtained from the sample subjects. The purpose of
these observations was to gathered additional information and also, to strengthen and validate the
data obtained through the questionnaires and interviews
Observation check list was prepared and the activity was carried out to collect the necessary data. It
was designed in the way in which is suitable to grasp information in the classroom while teachers
were presenting comprehension reading tasks. The researcher was tried to observe 2 grade 7 English
language teachers. The result of observation was analyzed and its outcome was showing the intended
problems of the research. .
3.4 The Method of Data Analysis

The data collected by the questionnaires and the observation were analyzed using quantitative
expressions such as percentile, tabulation and other suitable descriptions. In addition qualitative
analysis and expressions was applied to the interview, the students’ questionnaire and observation
check lists. The data analysis involved the following producers: First, the actual interview was
recorded as they occurred using the recorder. After completing the school observation, the ‘Yes/No’
category’ was converted in to ‘Observed/Not observed’ category’.

18
Next, the response gained from the students through questionnaire was tabulated, and analyzed.
Finally, the data gathered through principals’ interview was summarized and analyzed qualitatively
to consolidate the information gained through observation and questionnaires.

3.5. The Procedures of the study

After having adequate reading on the available review of related literature about comprehension
reading strategies, the researcher designed the required data collection instruments. Then, after
having feed backs and comments from the researcher advisor the instruments were revised and the
pilot study was carried out on 10 grade 7 students at Abera Yuda primary school. The main purpose
of this is to assess the clarity of items and to tackle the problems related to administrating, and
collecting the questionnaire. Next, some modifications were made. Finally, the real study was
performed

19
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1. Analysis of Data
4.1.1. Analysis of Students Responses
In order to get information about the factors that affect students comprehension reading activities
used by the grade 7th English teachers in teaching comprehension reading skills at Abera Yuda
Primary School, a questionnaire which contains ten items each distributed among 42 students to be
filled. After it had been collected, the data have been tabulated and analyzed as follows.
Table 1 Responses of the Students concerning their English teachers’ relationship with
students and how often their teachers introduced the day’s comprehension reading lessons
N Details Responses Obtained From The Students
o
Very Frequently Some Rarely Never Total
Frequently Times

N % N % N % N % N % N %
o o o o o o

1 How often -
your English
teacher has
78.57

16.67

4.76

good 33 7 2 42

100
relationship
with students

2 How often 4 9.52

English
teacher
introduces the 10 20 8 42
23.81

day’
19.05
47.62

comprehensio
n reading
100

lesson

20
As illustrated in the table above, students were asked their teachers relationship with students.. In
relations this, 33 (78.57%) of the students revealed that their teachers had Very frequent a nice
relationship with them. At this point, 7 (16.67%) of the respondents pointed at they have agreed
frequently. However, only 2 (4.76%) of them have confirmed that their sometimes had good
relationship with their students.
As shows in the table above, students were asked how often their teachers introduced the day’s
comprehension reading lessons. Regarding to this 20 (47.67%) of the respondents confirm that their
teachers have introduced the days lesson sometimes. Whereas, the other 10 (23.81%) and 8(19.05%)
of them revealed that their teachers have introduced the days lesson frequently and rarely
accordingly. But only 4 (9.52 %) of the students signified that their teachers have introduced the
days lesson very frequently.

The implication of the above data revealed that even though the teacher-student relationship is
encouraging; still there exist some kind of problems that reduces the expected proper relationship
and introductions of the lesson.
Table 2. Responses of the Students about suitable class room organization, and about ample
time allotment and how often encouraged to guess word meanings

Responses Obtained From The Students

N Details Very Frequently Some Rarely Never Tot

o Freque Times al
ntly

N % No % No % N % No % No %
o

21
3 How often your - - - -
English teacher
provide
suitable class
room
33 9 42
organization
for
comprehension

78.57

21.42

100
reading
activities

4 How often
your English
teacher gives
you ample time
for
7 26 9 42
16.67

comprehension
61.9

21.42

100
reading and
discussion

5 How often
your English
teacher
encourages you 9 24 9 42
to guess at
word meanings
57.14

21.42
21..42

from the
100

context

22
As indicated in the table above, students were asked how often their teacher class room
organizations.. Concerning this, majority 33 (78.57 %) of the respondents said that their teachers
created suitable classroom organization for comprehension reading activities sometimes. Whereas 9
(21.42%) of the students unlighted that their teachers created suitable classroom organization for
comprehension reading activities rarely.
As illustrated in the table above, students were asked , how often their teacher gave ample time for
comprehension reading and discussion activities. Regarding this, Majority 26 (61.9%) of the
respondents responded that sometimes. And the other 9 (21.42%) of the respondents answered that
their teachers had given ample time for comprehension reading rarely. But only 7(16.67%) of them
clarified that their teachers had given ample time for comprehension reading activities frequently.
As shows in the table above, students were asked how often their teachers encouraged them to guess
at word meanings from the context. On this point, more than half 24 (57.14%) of the respondents
revealed that their teachers sometimes have encouraged students to guess at word meanings from the
context during comprehension reading activities. Furthermore, the rest 9 (21.42 %) and 9 (21.42 %)
of them revealed that their teachers have encouraged students to guess at word meanings during
comprehension reading activities frequently and rarely equally.

From the above respondents result, it can be said that teachers seem to give little attention for proper
emphasis encouraging students. Moreover, teacher’s consistent attempt to encourage students while
teaching comprehension reading skills still needs improvement.
Table 3 Responses of the Students how often their teachers gave feedback and integrated
reading with other language sills

No Details Responses Obtained From The Students

Very Frequent Some Rarely Never Tot

Freque ly Times al
ntly

N % No % No % No % No % No %

23
6 How often your -
English teacher
gives feedback you

30.95

33.33
after the given 5 13 14 9 21.42 42

100
comprehension
reading activities

7 How often your 6

English teacher
17 19 42
integrates reading

40.47

45.24
14.3
text with other

100
language skills

As illustrated in the table above, students were asked, how often their teacher gave feedback after the
given comprehension reading activities. On this point, 14 (33.33%) of the respondents revealed that
their teachers gave feedback after the given comprehension reading activities rarely, and 13(30.95%)
of them answered that sometimes. Furthermore, the rest 9 (21.42 %) and 5 (11.9 %) of them revealed
that their teachers gave feedback after the given comprehension reading activities never and
frequently accordingly.
As illustrated in the table above, students were asked, how often their teacher integrated reading text
with other language skills. Concerning this issue, 19(45.24 %) of the respondents revealed that their
teachers could integrated reading text with other language skills never. Also, 17 (40.47%) of them
answered that rarely. Only 6 (14.3 %) of them revealed that their teachers could integrated reading
text with other language skills sometimes.
The response of students for the above two questions implied that the effort of English teachers to
gives feedback and integrates reading text with other language skills is in question mark. Moreover,
it is possible to say that the teacher’s did not gave attentions for feedback and for integrates reading
text with other language skills while teaching comprehension reading skills. So that still it needs
improvement.

24
Table 4 Responses of the Students concerning the factors that student’s comprehension reading

No Details Responses Obtained From The Students

Very Frequent Some Rarely Never Total

Freque ly Times
ntly

N % No % No % No % No % No %

8 How often your

English teacher
advise you to
practice reading

30..95
69.05
strategies ’in
29 13 42

100
comprehension
reading activities - -

9 How often your 21 50

English teacher
encourages you to
read daily other - - - - - 21 42
50

100
materials outside
the classroom
-

10 The teacher advise

you to apply your
comprehension
33.33

66.67

reading skills in the 14 28 42

100

real life situation

- - - -

25
As indicated in the table above, students were asked , how often their teacher advised them to
practice reading strategies of comprehension reading activities. Regarding this, Majority 29
(69.05%) of the respondents responded that rarely. And the other 13 (30.95%) of the respondents
answered that their teachers never advise them to practice reading strategies of comprehension
reading activities.
As showed in the table above, students were asked, how often their teacher encouraged them to read
daily other materials outside the classroom. Regarding this, half 21(50%) of the respondents
responded that never. And the other half 21(50%) of the respondents answered that their teachers
had encourages you to read daily other materials outside the classroom.
As indicated in the above table, students were asked, how often their teacher advised them to apply
their comprehension reading skills in their real life situation. Regarding this, Majority 28 (66.67%)
of the respondents responded that never. And the other 14 (33.33%) of the respondents answered
that teacher advise students to apply their comprehension reading skills in the real life situation
As can be seen from the table above, the majority of students responded the fact that their teacher
never advised them to practice reading strategies, read other materials and to apply their
comprehension reading skills in the real life situation. On the above activities, teachers work on
advising students on the uses of the language in different situations warned such reading strategies,
read other materials and apply their reading skills are not being used fully during teaching
comprehension reading skills.
4.1.2. Results of data collected through interview
The second instrument used in this study was the interview which was meant to consolidate the
information gained through classroom observation and questionnaire. Most of the interview items
were similar to the items of the classroom observation and the questionnaire.
To gain the information needed from the interview seven items were prepared for grade 7 th English
teachers
The following are sections of teachers’ responses to each interview items

The first item in the interview was intended to know how teacher facilitated students’
comprehension of the text going to be read.
In reaction to this item, both of the interviewed teachers responded that, they usually made students
to work out the pre-reading exercises as a means to facilitate students’ comprehension of the text

26
going to be read. That is, students were made to do the pre-reading exercise in order to draw out
their relevant prior knowledge of the text.
English teachers were also asked whether they pre-taught unfamiliar words and encouraged students
to predict what the text was about based on its title or a selected key words as a means to facilitate
students’ comprehension of the text to be read. Regarding to this, one of the teacher said that he
always do pre-reading activities which used encourage students in activities that activate their
background knowledge about the topic. Whereas, the other one responded that he sometimes do pre-
taught some unknown lexical items which contained in the topic of the text. However, both of the
teachers responded that they did not encourage students to predict what the text is about based on its
title related to the topic.
In the second item of the interview, the researcher asked how the teachers helped their students to
understand the text better while reading. As the reaction, both teachers responded that they provided
students with activities (questions) that drew (directed) their attention to the text and assured more
mental involvement.
On the other hand, one of the teacher interviewed asserted that in attempt to help students understand
the text better, students were first made to read the text silently and quickly for gist specific piece of
information. Then in the second silent reading they were made to read slowly and carefully for
through understanding. As they read they worked out the comprehension questions.

The third item in the interview was intended to get information about how the teacher help students
to extend their understanding of the text after the actual reading takes place. In response to this item
both of the two teachers responded that in an attempt to extend students’ understanding of the text,
they provided a brief summary of the day’s reading lesson. Moreover, they made students to perform
the post-reading tasks of the text book that helps them relate the knowledge that they got from the
passage to their life.

Item four in the interview was intended to get information about how the teachers help students to
develop more interpretations that meaningful reading comprehensions. Regarding this, both the
classroom teachers revealed that they tried to encourage students to relate the reading text with their
experience or their background knowledge.

27
In the fifth item of the interview, the researcher asked the teachers about how they helped students
connect reading activities to their life situation. Regarding to this question the interviewed, both
classroom teachers replied that they sometimes made students to perform additional post-reading
activities of the text book. Moreover, they provoke students to read a variety books from the school
library which have the same story with the day’s reading text.
Item six in the interview, was intended to get information about the type of classroom organizations
teachers usually employed for reading tasks. As a reaction, both the classroom teachers responded
that they used the sitting arrangements that was obliged by the school which was organized in a way
those six students facing each other.

In the seventh item of the interview, the researcher asked the teachers whether or not they
encouraged students to read other authentic materials out of the classroom. Concerning this, one of
the interviewed classroom teacher said that he sometimes ordered students to do some assignments
to do reading particular books which was found in the school library and he sometimes gave them to
do writing activities by reading any materials. But the other interviewed teacher replied that he did
not give attention to encourage students to read these supplementary reading materials.

4.1.3. Results obtained through observation.

The observation was conducted on three reading lessons. The researcher used an observation
checklist consisting; pre- reading activities, while- reading and post- reading activities. The activities
were designed based on review of related literature. The items in the observation checklist were first
prepared in ‘Yes/ No’ category. After the observation sessions were completed they were tallied and
converted into observed and not- observed ‘category. The classroom observation data were analyzed
in three parts as follows, the pre- while and post- reading phases.
[Link]. Observation activities of teachers’ during the pre-reading phase
The pre-reading phase is the stage where teachers are expected to motivate and activate students’
background knowledge about the topics, concepts, issues and vocabularies in the reading text.
Table 5. The results of observed actual classroom activities during pre-reading phase

No The observed pre-reading class The result of observations

CRT 1 CRT 2
L1 L2 L3 L1 L2 L3

28
1 Introduces the day’s lesson through short - - - x x -
discussion
2 Use pictures related to the topic to get students - - - - - -
to predict to the topic
3 Use a set of key words related to the topic to get - x - x - x
students’ to predict the topic
4 Gives purposes for reading - x - - - -
5 Pre-teach selected key words from the passage - x - - - -
6 Break up the text in to comments for easy - - - x - x
reading

Key Points = CRT 1 = Classroom Teacher 1 CRT 2 = Classroom Teacher 2

L1= Lesson 1 L2 = Lesson 2 L3 = Lesson 3
As it indicated in the above table 1, introducing the day’s reading lesson, one of the classroom
teachers got students to discuss on the brain storming activity in the two of the lessons observed.
And, he is introduced the day’s lesson by telling the title of a passage. Students want directly to the
while- reading phase skipping pre-reading activates. On the other hand, one of the other teachers
asked students questions that can arouse their interest towards the text and that can activate their
background knowledge related to the two lessons observed.
As regards prediction, both the observed teachers did not have their students got down a brief
prediction of what they thought the text would be about based on its title or a set of selected key
words. However, the classroom observation result did not approve whether or not they encouraged
students to predict the content of the text based on pictures related to the topic since the topic of the
lessons observed did not contain pictures.
Concerning giving purpose for reading, both teachers were not seen trying to give purposes for
reading in all their classes observed. Students were made to engage themselves in the text without
being clear with what the purpose for reading was to get the main idea, obtain specific information
understand all of the messages or enjoy reading the text. To put it another ways the focus questions
that give students purposes for reading are not found in the students text book, rather they are in the

29
teacher’s guide. The text book simply says “your teacher will tell you what to do” however, the
teacher did not tell students in advance what they should do while reading or after reading.
As to pre- teaching key words selected from the text, one of them was observed attempting to pre
teach some selected key words as a means to facilitate students’ comprehension of the text to be
read. It was, of course, done in only one of the three reading lessons observed. However, the
remaining one teacher observed did not pre teach any unfamiliar vocabulary items selected from the
reading passage.
Regarding to breaking up text in to components, one of the teachers who were observed breaking up
text into paragraph for easy reading, the result one teacher observed did not do so. He simply made
students read the whole text laboriously at a time.

[Link]. Observation activities of teachers on the while- reading phase

As it is discussed in review of related literature this stage is an actual reading process where in the
students come to terms directly with the reading text. It draws on the text rather than the students’
idea prior to reading. It aims at helping students understand the writer’s purpose and the text
structure, and clarifying text content.
Table 6. The results observed actual classroom activities during while-reading phase.

The result of observations

No While- reading activities observed CRT 1 CRT 2
L1 L2 L3 L1 L2 L3
1 Gets students to read the text silently and quickly - - - x - x
for gist.
2 Gets students to read the text intensively for - - - x x -
detail information
3 Encourages students to guess the meaning from - - - - - -
context
4 Provides students ample time for reading and x x x x x x
discussion
5 Encourages students to find answer themselves - x - - x -
rather than telling them what it is

30
The above table 2.1 shows that, the observed while-reading phase activities. Regarding to skimming,
only one teacher was observed getting students to read for gist. Whereas, the other teacher observed
did not get students to read silently and quickly for general picture of the text. After the completion
of reading the whole text aloud, students were made to work all the comprehension exercises that
follow.
The result of observation which focuses on intensively reading for detail information indicates that
the one of them attempted to get students to read the text silently and detail information in the two of
the reading lessons observed but the other teacher did not do so at all.
Pertaining to guessing at word meanings, both the teachers observed did not encourage students to
guess at word meanings using contextual clues in the text. That means, they did not help students to
guess the meaning of the new vocabulary items contextually. They were rather observed telling the
meanings of the words themselves.
Concerning teachers’ time allotment, both of the teachers observed offered students adequate time
for reading and performing the comprehension exercises that follow. The allocation of time, of
course, varied according to the nature of the tasks to be done.

[Link]. Observation on classroom activities of teachers during post- reading phase.

The post-reading phase helps students to consolidate what they have read and at the same time to
relate the text to their experience, knowledge and opinions to integrate the new information from the
text with what students already know.
Table 7 presents the results of observed actual classroom activities during the post-reading
phase as follows.

The result of observations

Post- reading activities observed CRT 1 CRT 2

L1 L2 L3 L1 L2 L3

1 Gets students to discuss answers to the x x x x x x

comprehension questions in pairs
2 Encourages students to read out their answers to the x x - - x x
comprehension questions.

31
3 Summarize the day’s reading lesson. - x - x x x
4 Encourage students to relate the information in the x x - - x -
text to their real life experience.
5 Encourages students to integrate reading with other - x - - x -
language skills
6 Advising students to read other authentic materials - - - - - -
-

As indicated in the above table the efforts of teachers are unsuccessful. The activities indicated in the
above table techniques to teach reading skills and the intended purposes of these activities are to
develop students’ self- confidence and use the language for their daily life.
As indicated in the table above concerning group/ pair work, As regards, both of teachers observed
did not get students to discuss answers to the comprehension tasks in pairs/ groups. They were
rather observed practicing oral question – and answer work. The teachers asked the comprehension
questions written in the text book and those active students raised their hands to give immediate oral
answers. It was only those students who raised their hands that the teachers focused on for class
participation. The silent vast majority students were entirely ignored to answer questions forwarded
to the class.
As it could be seen from the above Table 7, regarding out answers for the comprehension questions,
both of the teachers were not observed encouraging students to read out their answer to the
comprehension questions. Instead, their classes were dominated by oral question and answer
activities. Students did not get the chance to write and read out their answers. However, it is
understood that only when students are made to read out their answers to the comprehension
questions that the teacher can know how many of his/ her students are working properly.
With respect to summarizing the day’s reading lesson, one of the observed teachers gave a brief
summary of the day’s reading lesson. However, the other one teacher did not summarize the main
points of the day’s reading lesson in order to stabilize what the students had learnt.
As regards relating the text to students’ real life situation, both of the teachers did not encourage
students to relate the information in the text to their real world experience or knowledge in all the
three reading lessons absented. That means, they were not observed asking questions which enable
students to relate the content of the text to their life experience.

32
Attempt was also made to observe the textbook activities. Accordingly, it was found that activities
which enable students to relate the information in the text to their real life experience are not in
corporate in the text book. Teachers were also not observed making attempt to substitute the text
book exercises with their own tasks.
Concerning integrating reading with writing, one teacher made an attempt to encourage students to
explore the ideas and issues in the reading text through writing activity in only one of the three
reading lessons observed. He was seen having students write a paragraph using the information
contained in the text. But in the rest two lessons observed he did not integrate reading with writing
skills. This it was, of course, done in only one of the three reading lessons observed. However, the
other one teacher was not observed getting students to do any writing activities related to the reading
text.
The researcher also made an attempt to observe the reading tasks of grade 7th English text book.
Accordingly, it was found that the post- reading activities of the kinds supported to be very essential
for integrating language skills, such as, summery, writing, expressing personal opinion or listening
to a related text are almost missing in the text book. Never the less both the teachers will observe
rigidly following the text book missing the afore-mentioned activities. There was no attempt made
to set their own tasks that enable them to integrate reading with other language skills.

4.2. DISCUSSIONS

4.2.1. Pre-reading Activities

The results of questionnaire, observation and interview revealed that the observation and
questionnaire results denoted that teachers had a nice relationship with their students and teacher-
student relationship is encouraging. Whereas, teachers do not introduced the day’s lesson
appropriately

The result of the interview, however, contradicts with this. It indicated that students were made to work out
the pre- reading exercises in order to draw out their prior knowledge of the topic. As to pre- teaching key
words selected from the text, teachers sometimes pre- taught a set of key words selected from the
reading passages but both the teachers observed did not encourage students to guess at word
meanings using contextual clues in the text. .

33
The analysis of the observation, questionnaire and interview data on prediction depicted that, the classroom
teachers did not encourage students to predict what was the text would be about based on its picture. On the
other hand, both the observed teachers did not have their students got down a brief prediction of
what they thought the text would be about based on its title or a set of selected key words. The
classroom observation result did not approve whether or not they encouraged students to predict the
content of the text based on pictures related to the topic since the topic of the lessons observed did
not contain pictures.
The result of the data showed that students were not encouraged to predict the contents of the text. This may
be due to the absence of theoretical background knowledge about the importance of prediction in extensive
reading or may be the low value teachers attached to the prediction in comprehension reading process.

As regarding class room organization, the classroom observation and interview results showed that the
classroom teachers rarely organized the students in groups for comprehension reading and did not almost
students in groups to help each other during comprehension reading lessons and students were made
to engage themselves in the text without being clear with what the purpose for reading was to get the
main idea, obtain detailed information understand all of the messages or enjoy reading the text.
4.2.2. While-reading Activities

The analysis of the classroom observation and interview data on skimming and intensive reading showed that
out of the observed classroom teachers, only one teacher made students read the text silently and quickly for
gist and specific information. Whereas the other one observed teacher made students read the text in detail.
As regards guessing at word meanings, the results of the classroom observation and questionnaire illustrated
that the teachers did not encouraged students to infer the meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary items using
contextual clues in the text. The majority respondents’ answers for item of the questionnaire that focused on
guessing showed that the classroom teachers also got students to guess at word meanings from the context.
However, the observed results were not in harmony with this. Instead they worked out the meanings of words
themselves.

4.2.3. Post-reading Activities

The analysis of the observation, questionnaire and interview data on the group or pair work indicated that, the
classroom teachers got students to discuss answers to the comprehension questions in groups. However, as
shown in the interview part and class observation the teachers usually employed in groups and the students
seem inhabiting face-to-face setting arrangement of the class.

34
Encouraging students to discuss answers to comprehension questions in groups or pairs is very important. It is
understood that the pair or group discussion are very crucial in language classes as they offer students the
opportunity to use language actively, which may in most cases be the only chance for foreign language
students. They enable students to share information and negotiate meaning among them.

Pertaining to relating the text to students’ life experience, the results of classroom observation and interview
showed that the teachers did not help students relate the information in the text to their life experience

As regards, giving feedback for the given comprehension reading and integrating with the other skills, the
results of the classroom observation and questionnaire denoted that the classroom teachers did not generally
help students explore the ideas and issues in the text through speaking and listing.

English teachers tried sometimes gave feedback for the given reading activities, rarely advised
students to practice reading strategies, and rarely tried to check students understanding about the
given reading comprehensions did not give attentions for feedback and for integrates reading text
with other language skills while teaching comprehension reading skills. Also they never integrated
reading with other language skills, students did not get the chance to write and read out their answers
Teachers never advised students to practice reading strategies, read other materials and to apply their
comprehension reading skills in the real life situations. Both of the teachers did not encourage
students to relate the information in the text to their real world experience or knowledge in all the
three reading lessons absented. That means, they were not observed asking questions which enable
students to relate the content of the text to their life experience

The results of the observation also indicated that the post-reading activities of the kinds supposed to be very
essential for integration of language skills such as debating, summary writing, expressing personal opinions or
listening to a related text are almost missing in the text book. This indicated that integration of reading with
other language skills seems to be given a little attention.

As regards advising students to read other authentic materials out of the class, the results of classroom
observation and questionnaire showed that the classroom teachers did not advising students to read authentic
materials out of the class.

35
Generally, from the above discussions made it can be said that, the school teachers seem to offer a summary
of the day’s lesson and got students to discuss in groups. On the other hand, they seem to give little attention
to relating texts to students’ real life experience

36
CHAPTER FIVE; SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. INTRODUCTION

This study aims to investigating the factors that affect students’ comprehension reading skills in
Abera Yuda Primary school at Grade 7 th students. The study used mixed methods design and
collecting data using questionnaire, interviews, and classroom observation. It came up with a number
of insights presented, interpreted and discussed in Chapter four. This last chapter derived
conclusions the major findings that emerged from the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data
collected for the study. Finally, based on the findings, it draws conclusions of the findings, and
recommendations.

5.2. SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

This study was aims to investigating the factors that affect students’ comprehension reading skills in
Abera Yuda Primary school at Grade 7th students. . Based on the data clearly presented and analyzed
above, the following major findings were drawn as follows.

 The effort of English teachers to gives feedback and integrates reading text with other
language skills is in question mark. Moreover, it is possible to say that the teacher’s did not
gave attentions for feedback and for integrates reading text with other language skills while
teaching comprehension reading skills. Also teachers never advised them to practice reading
strategies, read other materials and to apply their comprehension reading skills in the real life
situations and teachers tried to advising students on the uses of the language in different
situations warned such reading strategies, read other materials and apply their reading skills
are not being used fully during teaching comprehension reading skills.
 They usually made students to work out the pre-reading exercises as a means to facilitate
students’ comprehension of the text going to be read. That is, students were made to do the
pre-reading exercise in order to draw out their relevant prior knowledge of the text. In
addition, one of the teacher always do pre-reading activities which used encourage students
in activities that activate their background knowledge about the topic. Whereas, the other one
sometimes did pre-taught some unknown lexical items which contained in the topic of the

37
text. However, both of the teachers responded that they did not encourage students to predict
what the text is about based on its title related to the topic.

 , They provided a brief summary of the day’s reading lesson. Moreover, they made students
to perform the post-reading tasks of the text book that helps them relate the knowledge that
they got from the passage to their life. and they tried to encourage students to relate the
reading text with their experience or their background knowledge.
 They sometimes made students to perform additional post-reading activities of the text book.
Moreover, they provoke students to read a variety books from the school library which have
the same story with the day’s reading text and they used the sitting arrangements that was
obliged by the school which was organized in a way those six students facing each other.
5.3. CONCLUSIONS

Based on the presentation of the results and the discussions made on the pervious chapter the following
findings are summarized to show the investigated approaches of English language teachers in teaching
comprehension reading. These conclusion deals with the teacher’s lesson presentation indicated by the
students through questionnaire and classroom observation.

 Teachers had a nice relationship with their students and teacher-student relationship is
encouraging. Whereas, teachers do not introduced the day’s lesson appropriately, teachers
sometimes pre- taught a set of key words selected from the reading passages but both the
teachers observed did not encourage students to guess at word meanings using contextual
clues in the text. .
 On the other hand, both the observed teachers did not have their students got down a brief
prediction of what they thought the text would be about based on its title or a set of selected
key words. The classroom observation result did not approve whether or not they
encouraged students to predict the content of the text based on pictures related to the topic
since the topic of the lessons observed did not contain pictures. They often organized
students in groups to help each other during comprehension reading lessons and Students
were made to engage themselves in the text without being clear with what the purpose for
reading was to get the main idea, obtain detailed information understand all of the messages
or enjoy reading the text.

38
 Both of the teachers observed offered students adequate time for reading and performing the
comprehension exercises that follow. One of them attempted to get students to read the text
silently and detail information in the two of the reading lessons observed but the other
teacher did not do so at all. The teachers asked the comprehension questions written in the
text book and those active students raised their hands to give immediate oral answers. But it
was only those students who raised their hands that the teachers focused on for class
participation. They were rather observed practicing oral question – and answer work.

 Both of the teachers were not observed encouraging students to read out their answer to the
comprehension questions. Instead, their classes were dominated by oral question and
answer activities. They rarely advised students to practice reading strategies of
comprehension reading.
 . One of them was seen having students write a paragraph using the information contained in
the text. Never the less both the teachers will observe rigidly following the text book
missing the afore-mentioned activities. Both of teachers observed did not get students to
discuss answers to the comprehension tasks in pairs/ groups. They tried to check students
understanding about the given reading comprehensions rarely.
 English teachers tried sometimes gave feedback for the given reading activities, rarely
advised students to practice reading strategies, and rarely tried to check students
understanding about the given reading comprehensions did not give attentions for feedback
and for integrates reading text with other language skills while teaching comprehension
reading skills. Also they never integrated reading with other language skills, students did
not get the chance to write and read out their answers, and teachers never advised students to
practice reading strategies, read other materials and to apply their comprehension reading
skills in the real life situations.
 On the other hand, both of the teachers did not encourage students to relate the information in
the text to their real world experience or knowledge in all the three reading lessons absented.
That means, they were not observed asking questions which enable students to relate the
content of the text to their life experience.

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5.4. RECOMMENDATIONS
From the results found and conclusions drawn the researcher would like to recommend the following
for the Abera Yuda Primary School English Teachers, Grade 7th students and concerned bodies

 English teachers should introduced the day’s lesson appropriately and they should pre- taught
a set of key words selected from the reading passages also they should encourage students to
guess at word meanings using contextual clues in the text. .

 English teachers should get students to discuss answers to the comprehension tasks in pairs/
groups. Also they should try to check students understanding about the given reading
comprehensions. They should try gave feedback for the given reading activities, and they
should advise students to practice reading strategies. Also they should integrate reading with
other language skills
 English teachers should encourage students to relate the information in the text to their real
world experience or knowledge. English teachers should give feedback for the given reading
activities,
 The effort of English teachers to gives feedback and integrates reading text with other
language skills is in question mark.

40
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APPENDIX A = STUDENTS QUESTIONNAIRE

Key
Very Frequently= 5 Frequently = 4 Sometimes – 3 Rarely-= 2 Never= 1

No Details 5 4 3 2 1

How often your English teacher has good relationship with

1
students
2 How often English teacher introduces the day’ comprehension
reading lesson

3 How often your English teacher gives you ample time for
comprehension reading and discussion

4 How often your English teacher provide suitable class room

organization for comprehension reading activities

5 How often your English teacher encourages you to guess at word

meanings from the context

6 . How often your English teacher gives feedback you after the
given comprehension reading activities

7 How often your English teacher integrates reading text with other
language skills

8 How often your English teacher advise you to practice reading

strategies ’in comprehension reading activities

9 How often your English teacher encourages you to read daily other
materials outside the classroom

10 The teacher advise you to apply your comprehension reading skills

in the real life situation

APPENDIX B = ENGLISH TEACHERS’ INTERVIEW

1. What do you do in order to facilitate students’ comprehension of the text they are going to be
involved before the actual act of reading begins?

44
2. How do you help students understand the text better during the reading processes?

3. How do you help students extend their initial understanding of the text after reading process?

4. How do you help students develop more interpretations that are meaningful?

5. How do you help students connect reading activities to their life situations?

6. What type of classroom organization do you usually use in the reading classroom?

7. Do you encourage students to read extensively other materials at their disposal outside the
classroom? If you answer is ‘yes’, how?

APPENDIX: C. ENGLISH TEACHERS’ OBSERVATION CHECKLIST

Topic of the Lesson _____________ Grade and section ______ Date________ Time________
This observation checklist is designed to observe the actual classroom practices of teacher during the
three phase procedures. Pre- reading, While- reading and Post- reading stages activities to get
information about the factors that hinders the students’ comprehensions reading lessons
45
Pre-reading phase
No The Classroom Teacher Ye No
s
1 Introduces the day’s reading lesson through short discussion.
2 Uses pictures related to the topic to get students to predict the content.
3 Uses a set of key words related to the comprehension reading topic to
get students’ to predict the content.
4 Gives the purpose of the comprehension reading
5 Pre- teach the selected key words from the comprehension reading
passage.
6 Breaks- up the text to components comprehension reading for easy
reading
While - Reading Phase

Item
No The classroom Teacher Ye No
s
1 Gets students to read the comprehension reading text quickly for gist
2 Gets students to read the comprehension reading text silently
3 Encourage students to guess at word meanings from comprehension
reading context.
4 Provides students ample time for comprehension reading and
discussion.
5 Encourages students to find answer themselves rather than telling them
what it is.
Post - Reading Phase

No The classroom Teacher Ye No

s
1 Gets students to discuss to comprehension questions in pairs / groups
2 Encourages students to read out their answers to the comprehension
3 Summarizes the day’s comprehension reading lesson.
4 Encourages students to relate the information in the text to their life
experience.
5 Encourages students to integrate comprehension reading with other
skills
6 Advising students to read other authentic materials out of the class

46