Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et

de la Recherche Scientifique Département

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Bamako d’Enseignement et
(ENSup)
de la Recherche de
Rue du 22 octobre 1946, Bamako,
Quartier du Fleuve, Langue
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MEMOIRE DE FIN DE CYCLE

THEME :

Difficulties 12th-Grade Letter

Students Face in Reading
Comprehension

Préparé et soutenu par Antanou Léopold GUINDO

Pour l’obtention du Diplôme de l’ENSup
Filière Professeur d’Enseignement Secondaire Général
Spécialité : ANGLAIS

Dirigé par : M. Yaya Traoré

Membres du jury :
1. Dr. Karidiatou Sanogo
2. Dr. Adama Koné
3. M. Yaya Traoré
Année universitaire : 2019-2020
Date de soutenance : 09/09/2020
 Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to my beloved parents Chantal TOGO and Jean-Marie GUINDO.

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 Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to Mr. Traoré Yaya my supervisor for his support and guidance along

this journey. I’d like to recognize the efforts of all my professors at ENSup in inspiring and

pushing us to give our best. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to my

grandfather Léopold Togo and my grandmother Kadidia Togo for their hospitality, patience

and kindness throughout the years. I very much appreciate the availability of the students and

teachers who took part in this research. I cannot leave ENSup without mentioning Demba

Keïta, Gaoussou A.K. Nionon, Mahamadou Dramé, Chacka Diarra and Aboubacrine

Sidick Maïga, who encouraged and supported me whenever they could.

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 Abstract
Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills that guarantee students’ success in

the academic environment. For this reason, the current study sought to investigate the

difficulties 12th-grade letter students face in reading comprehension. The participants were

thirteen females and seven male students (between 15 and 20 years old) and two teachers of

English. A mixed-methods research design was employed with teachers interviewed and a

questionnaire submitted to the students. The analysis of the data revealed that the most

significant problems 12 th-grade letter students face in reading are the difficulties of

pronunciation and vocabulary insufficiency. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers help

their students develop the habit of reading extensively and provide them with some

pronunciation exercises.

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 Table of Contents

Dedication .......................................................................................................................................... ii

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ iii

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. iv

List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... viii

List of Figures and Tables .................................................................................................................. ix

I. Chapter One: Introduction ...........................................................................................................1

1.1. Background to the Study ......................................................................................................1

1.2. Problem Statement...............................................................................................................3

1.3. Purpose: ..............................................................................................................................3

1.4. Significance of the Study: ....................................................................................................3

1.5. Limitation(s) of the Study ....................................................................................................4

1.6. Delimitation(s) of the Study .................................................................................................4

1.7. Definitions of Some Keywords ................................................................................................4

1.7.1. Reading Comprehension ..............................................................................................4

1.7.2. Background Knowledge or Prior Knowledge................................................................5

1.7.3. Syntactic Awareness ....................................................................................................6

1.7.4. Morphological Awareness ............................................................................................6

II. Chapter Two: Literature Review..................................................................................................7

2.1. Theories of Reading.............................................................................................................7

2.2. Different Kinds of Reading ................................................................................................ 11

2.3. Three Main Stages in the Teaching of Reading .................................................................. 12

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 2.3.1. The Pre-Reading Stage............................................................................................... 12

2.3.2. The While-Reading Stage .......................................................................................... 13

2.3.3. The After-Reading Stage............................................................................................ 14

2.4. Some Reading Difficulties Found in the Literature. ............................................................ 15

2.4.1. Vocabulary Issues ...................................................................................................... 15

2.4.2. Background Knowledge Issues................................................................................... 16

2.4.3. Grammar Issues ......................................................................................................... 17

III. Chapter Three: Methodology ................................................................................................. 19

3.1. Research Design ............................................................................................................ 19

3.2. Population ..................................................................................................................... 19

3.3. Sample and Sampling Techniques .................................................................................. 20

3.4. Data Collection Techniques ........................................................................................... 20

3.5. Data Analysis Techniques .............................................................................................. 21

IV. Chapter Four: Results and Analysis ....................................................................................... 22

4.1. Analysis of Students’ Questionnaire Responses ................................................................. 22

4.1.1. Do you like learning English? .................................................................................... 22

4.1.2. What is your favorite skill? ........................................................................................ 22

4.1.3. What kinds of material do you prefer to read ? ........................................................... 23

4.1.4. What is your purpose from reading? ........................................................................... 24

4.1.5. When you read a text and you do not understand, you: ............................................... 25

4.1.6. What are the difficulties you often face when reading? ............................................... 25

4.1.7. What are the causes behind these difficulties? ............................................................ 26

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 4.1.8. Is the time devoted to the reading session sufficient? .................................................. 26

4.2. Teachers’ Interview Analysis ............................................................................................. 27

4.2.1. Students’ preferable skill(s) ........................................................................................ 27

4.2.2. Types of materials used to teach reading comprehension ............................................ 27

4.2.3. Students’ reading comprehension difficulties ............................................................. 27

4.2.4. Reasons behind students’ reading difficulties ............................................................. 28

4.2.5. Tentative solutions offered by teachers ....................................................................... 28

4.2.6. Suggestions for the improvement of students’ reading comprehension ........................ 28

V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 30

References .................................................................................................................................... 32

Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 37

Appendix A: Students’ Questionnaire Guide ............................................................................. 37

Appendix B: Teachers’ Interview Guide .................................................................................... 40

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 List of Abbreviations
A.-O.F. : Afrique-Occidentale Française

N.G.O.: Non-Governmental Organization

L1: First Language

L2: Second Language

RAND: Research and Development

E.F.L.: English as a Foreign Language

V.C.R.: Video Cassette Recorder

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 List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Mixed Methods Research Design: The Process ................................................. 19

Figure 2: Students' Love for the English Language .......................................................... 22

Figure 3: Language Skill(s) Preferred by Students ........................................................... 23

Figure 4: Preferred Reading Materials ............................................................................. 23

Figure 5: Purpose from Reading ........................................................................................ 24

Figure 6: Tentative Solutions to Reading Difficulties ....................................................... 25

Table 1: Students' Reading Difficulties ............................................................................. 25

Figure 7: Causes behind Students' Reading Difficulties ................................................... 26

Figure 8: Time devoted to the Reading Task.....................................................................26

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 I. Chapter One: Introduction
Reading is one of the most important skills involved in language learning. Students need to

read and understand different documents assigned to them to navigate adequately through the

academic setting. Their success is greatly influenced by their reading comprehension abilities.

Every discipline they study requires good reading comprehension skills. On another hand,

reading helps improve their vocabulary which in turn will have important repercussions on

their overall knowledge and performance.

Beyond the academic environment, reading once again remains essential in our students’

professional and family lives. Businesses, enterprises, public services all require sound

reading skills. The more proficient readers they are, the more successful they will be in those

careers. Parents who can read are valuable resources to their children. They may help not only

in take-home assignments, but also health, security, and well-being matters.

With regard to what has been stated so far, Al-Jarrah& Ismail (2018) supported that learners

who are unable to understand what they read face many challenges during their studies and

after graduation.

1.1. Background to the Study

Located in West Africa, Mali was an oral tradition country where knowledge was passed onto

the next generation through songs, stories, and tales. This country was colonized by France

after the decisions of the Berlin conference (Roberto, Closs and Ronconi, 2013). As a result,

French became the official language of the country. It was then called French Sudan. When

the colonizers arrived, they brought also their educational system. It was intended to put the

Malian people under French domination. It privileged only a few people. But after the Second

World War, African people began unionizing and raising their voices about their precarious

living conditions. During that period according to Roberto et al., “the international context

would irreversibly distance Western Africa from France domination, which would be

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crystallized in France’s 1958 Constitution of its Fifth Republic, dissolving the AOF structure

and enabling the independences” (p.72). On the 22nd of September 1960, French Sudan

officially became independent under the name of Mali.

In 1962 the leaders of the country undertook a vast and deep reform of the school system

inherited from colonization. One principle of that reform was to make education a priority,

thus allowing as many children as possible to attend school. Despite different actions on the

part of the government and some NGOs it can still be assumed today that a typical Malian

does not read much in the national languages or French and above all English. There are very

rare printed materials in our national languages therefore most students start school without

having learnt to read in their first language. As a result, most Malian students lack the basic

reading skills that in some circumstances could be used as a foundation in helping them learn

how to read in another language. For, Grabe & Stoller hold the view that “students who have

limited L1 literacy abilities cannot be expected to transfer many supporting resources to their

developing L2 reading” (p.49).

English is introduced in the 7th-grade and continues throughout the university. Since Mali is

not an English speaking country, interacting in the language outside school is quite difficult.

For this reason, reading becomes one of the most valuable tools that students have for

academic improvement or achievement. There are many valuable books written in English

that can be found on the internet and elsewhere in bookstores. By reading one acquires

knowledge and expands one’s vocabulary. On the other side, a student who does not read will

face many difficulties over his or her lifetime. In this regard, Savić (2016) said that reading

difficulties can negatively affect learners’ self-esteem, motivation, attitude, confidence, and

academic and career prospects.

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 1.2. Problem Statement
Reading comprehension occupies an important place in the English syllabus in 12 th-grade

letters. English being one of their majors, they are naturally expected to read and understand

many materials throughout the academic year. During this same period, they take different

tests in reading. The baccalaureate exam is part of those tests. The challenges they face in this

process are mostly due to the complexity of reading comprehension. The obstacles they face

seem to stem from a wide array of sources: unfamiliar vocabulary, ambiguous sentences, lack

of prior knowledge, unawareness of good reading strategies, insufficient time to process the

text. Some other factors that may hinder their success in reading comprehension include the

environment where the reading is taking place, biological issues, and their social status.

Many studies corroborate the fact that reading comprehension is indispensable for our

students’ academic performance (Elwér, 2014; Suryanto, 2017; Al-Jarrah and Ismail, 2018).

Acknowledging that students do have problems in this essential domain, which is reading, is

the first step toward possible solutions. Hence, the current study is guided by the following

research questions:

1. What are the difficulties 12th-grade letters Students face in reading comprehension?

2. How can 12th-grade letter students’ reading comprehension problems be effectively

handled?

1.3. Purpose:
This paper intends to identify some of the main problems 12th-grade letter students are

experiencing in reading comprehension, and suggest some ways to overcome those

difficulties.

1.4. Significance of the Study:

This study will yield some benefits for teachers, students, administrators and policymakers,

and the researcher himself. For both teachers and students, it will open up a new perspective

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toward reading comprehension. A perspective where teachers get a better understanding as to

how they can guide their students through the arduous task of getting meaning out of what

they read. The different suggestions proposed here will help the students overcome many of

their reading comprehension problems. For administrators and policymakers, this study will

serve as a resource in their decision makings. Other researchers will also find it useful when

conducting new researches in the field of reading. For the researcher himself, it will broaden

his knowledge about reading comprehension. Furthermore, he will be able to use this

knowledge during his reading classes for the benefit of teaching and learning.

1.5. Limitation(s) of the Study

Due to time, financial and health issues, the researcher couldn’t go thoroughly through the

previous literature. Moreover, the small sample included in this study means that results may

not be generalizable beyond the particular population from which the sample was drawn. The

use of interviews may also lead to some participants giving erroneous information.

1.6. Delimitation(s) of the Study

This study uses a mixed-methods research design. It deals with 12 th-grade letter students and

their teachers of English. Because of the endless strikes in public schools, this study was

conducted in a private school in Bamako. The sample included 20 students and 2 teachers

selected using simple random sampling and purposive sampling. Data were collected using a

questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.

1.7. Definitions of Some Keywords

1.7.1. Reading Comprehension

For the RAND reading study group, reading comprehension is “the process of simultaneously

extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written

language” (p.11). It further stated that comprehension entails three elements:

 The reader who is doing the comprehending,

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  The text that is being comprehended,

 The activity in which comprehension is a part.

Alyousef (2006) defines reading comprehension as an “interactive” process between a reader

and a text which leads to automaticity or (reading fluency). He further supports that in the

process, the reader interacts dynamically with the text as he or she tries to elicit the meaning

and where various kinds of knowledge are being used: linguistic and systematic knowledge

(through bottom-up processing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down

processing) (p.64). Bottom-up and top-down processing are two of the three theories of

reading that will be summarized later in this paper.

In the proposed definitions, the words ‘process’ and ‘interaction’ appear interesting. The

process involves taking visual stimuli through the eyes and transmitting them to the brain

where they will be processed for meaning to be accessed. It is also supposed that the reader at

least brings something to the text he is reading. That thing may be his knowledge of syntax,

grammar, vocabulary or his knowledge about the world. So, when presented with a given text,

the reader uses this pre-knowledge to help him get the meaning of what is written or printed.

The purpose of reading not only impacts one’s understanding but also directs one’s choice of

a particular text or strategy in the reading process.

1.7.2. Background Knowledge or Prior Knowledge

Background knowledge and prior knowledge are most often used to talk about the same thing.

Stevens (1980) views background knowledge as what one already knows about a subject.

Biemans and Simons cited in Campbell and Campbell (2008) conceive of prior knowledge as

“all knowledge learners have when entering a learning environment that is potentially relevant

for acquiring new knowledge” (p.9).

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 1.7.3. Syntactic Awareness
According to Cain (2007), syntactic (or grammatical) awareness refers to the reader’s ability

to manipulate and reflect on the grammatical structure of the language.

1.7.4. Morphological Awareness

In Carlisle’s (1995) view stated in Curinga (2014, p.16), morphological awareness is the

students’ “conscious awareness of the morphemic structure of words and their ability to

reflect on and manipulate the structure”.

Levesque, Kieffer, and Deacon (2017) defined it as the awareness of and the ability to

manipulate the smallest units of meaning in language.

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 II. Chapter Two: Literature Review
This section summarizes among other things theories of reading, three stages in the process of

teaching reading and some problems related to reading comprehension found in the previous

literature.

2.1. Theories of Reading

The history of reading has been shaped by different types of theories among which, the

traditional view or bottom-up processing, the cognitive view or top-down processing and the

metacognitive view. Each theory explains in its way how we learn to read and how we should

be taught to read.

The traditional view or bottom-up processing starts with the smallest unit of the sentence

and progresses towards some more complex components. The students have to acquire the

basic elements to comprehend the more complex ones. According to Nunan (1991: 64):

the central notion behind the bottom-up approach is that reading is basically a matter of decoding a

series of written symbols into their aural equivalents. Cambourne, who uses the term “outside-in”

rather than bottom-up, provides the following illustration of how the process is supposed to work:

Print→ Every letter→ Phonemes and graphemes→ Blending→ Pronunciation→ Meaning

discriminated matched

Aligned with the above line of reasoning, Gough (as cited in Sohail, 2015) says that, “the

bottom-up model involves a series of steps the reader has to go through, which involves

moving from one step to another, recognizing the key features of every letter, word, and

sentence and reaching the meaning” (p.117). Snow (2010) claims that “under this view, it is

clear that building oral language skills (vocabulary, comprehension of complex syntax, and

comprehension of extended discourse forms) constitutes a key contribution to reading

comprehension” (p.416). Abraham (2000) to some extent supports the view expressed by

(Gough, 1991; Nunan, 1991) when he posited that in the bottom-up model, “teachers

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emphasize decoding skills and spent almost no time helping emerging readers recognize what

they, as readers, brought to the information on the page” (p.1).

One major reason why the traditional view or bottom-up processing has been criticized by

some scholars and researchers is that in its extreme version, it failed to recognize the

knowledge and experience people bring to the reading task. Those critics led to what is called

in the field of reading “the reading wars”. No matter how fierce those debates were, it should

be recognized that an amount of phonics awareness (sound and letter relationship) is

necessary for reading to be pleasant and profitable. But one difficult question to answer is:

what amount of phonics awareness is necessary? The answer to this question is beyond the

scope of this paper.

Opponents to the aforementioned approach support that meaning is not derived solely from

print. They posit that the reader uses his background knowledge and the context to

comprehend a given text. That trend led to the cognitive view or top-down processing

schematized as follow by Cambourne (as cited in Nunan, 1991):

Past experience, language→ selective aspects → Meaning→ Sound, pronunciation if

Intuitions and expectations of print necessary

Commenting on this diagram, Nunan (1991) argued that:

this approach emphasizes the reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form. The

interaction of the reader and the text is central to the process, and readers bring to this interaction their

knowledge of the subject at hand, knowledge of and expectations about how language works,

motivation, interest and attitudes towards the content of the text. Rather than decoding each symbol, or

even every word, the reader forms hypotheses about text elements and then “samples” the text to

determine whether or not the hypotheses are correct. (p.66)

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The idea that emphasis is put on the reader in the cognitive view is also echoed in Abraham

(2000) when he said that, “readers sample text for information and contrast it with their world

knowledge, helping to make sense of what is written. The focus here is on the readers as they

interact with the text” (p.6). In Ajideh’s view:

texts do not contain meaning; rather they have potential for meaning. This potential is realized only in

the interaction between text and reader. That is, meaning is created in the course of reading as the

reader draws both on existing linguistic and schematic knowledge and the input provided by the

printed or written text” (p.3).

Furthermore, Hall (1999) said that “the meaning of an utterance is not a linear sum of the

meanings of the words that comprise it” (p.157). He views reading as an active search for

meaning, requiring the reader to employ a set of interacting processes and strategies related to

his or her purpose. The purpose of reading a particular text or the kind of information we are

looking for guides our reading strategies. For this reason, Abraham (2000) proposed that the

following kinds of questions be posed to help students in their reading processes:

- Why are we reading this particular text?

- What information do we need to glean from it?

- How closely we need to read it?

In addition to these two models, there is what has been called by some researchers

(Rumelhart, 1977; Stanovich, 1980; Abraham, 2000) the interactive approach. “An

interactive model is one in which data-driven, bottom-up processing combines with top-down,

conceptually driven processing to cooperatively determine the most likely interpretation of the

input” (Rumelhart& McClelland, 1981, p.37). This approach stresses both on what is written

on the page and what the reader brings to it using both top-down and bottom-up skills

(Abraham, 2000). It was designed to compensate for the weaknesses of both the bottom-up

and top-down processes.

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  The Metacognitive View

According to Lai (2011: 4), the term metacognition was originally coined by John Flawell in

the late 1970s to mean “cognition about cognition phenomena”, or more simply “thinking

about thinking”. Biehler and Snowman (as quoted in El-Koumy, 2004), defined

metacognition in relation to cognition as follow:

The term cognition is used to describe the ways in which information is processed –i.e. the ways it is

attended to, recognized, encoded, stored in memory for various lengths of time, retrieved from storage

and used for one purpose or another. Metacognition refers to our knowledge about these operations

and how they might best be used to achieve a learning goal. (p.7)

Metacognition helps the reader to be aware of his understanding or not of the material he or

she is reading. But for Collins (as cited in El-Koumy, 2004), “It is not enough to be aware of

one’s understanding or failure to understand _ a learner must be able to self-regulate his or her

reading process in order to read for comprehension. The reader needs knowledge about

metacognition strategies” (p.21). Indeed, having control over one’s thinking processes may

guide the choice of appropriate strategies to help overcome obstacles where they arise, thus

enhancing comprehension. If our students are to be independent readers, we must provide

them with some metacognitive strategies. For El-koumy, planning, self-regulation, and self-

assessment are three main metacognitive strategies.

This summary of the traditional view or bottom-up processing, the cognitive view or top-

down processing and the metacognitive view is not exhaustive. Moreover, weaknesses in one

view may be compensated by another. In this regard, none of them is to be neglected. It is up

to the particular teacher to find the right balance between these views to ensure an optimum

comprehension on the parts of his or her students.

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 2.2. Different Kinds of Reading
Harmer (2007) differentiates two kinds of reading: extensive and intensive. He views the

first as the “reading which students do often (but not exclusively) away from the classroom”

and the second as “the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes place

usually (but not always) in classrooms” (p.99).

Extensive reading is done for pleasure and general understanding. Students are allowed to

read what they like away from classroom pressure. One interesting feature of extensive

reading is that it resembles real-life reading. Or as Bamford and Day put it, “an extensive

reading approach introduces students to the dynamics of reading as it is done in real life by

including such key elements of real-life reading as choice and purpose.” In an extensive

reading program, the major responsibility of the teacher is to set up an environment where

students can access a wide range of books that interests them. To help him keep track of his

students’ progress, Haider (2012) suggests that, “learners keep a diary of the book as they

read it and then discuss with their classmates on regular intervals” (p.130). Students may also

be encouraged to have oral presentations about books, magazines, journals, they have read.

Writing on Intensive reading, Mart (2015) said that it focuses on accuracy rather than fluency

by emphasizing the detailed study of vocabulary and grammar. With intensive reading,

students read short texts for deeper understanding. This kind of reading is directed by the

teacher, who most often selects the material to be studied. Unlike extensive reading, intensive

reading is followed generally by some comprehension questions. From Koay’s standpoint, in

intensive reading, learners usually read texts that are more difficult, in terms of content and

language, than those used for extensive reading. So, one of the teacher’s tasks is to help his or

her students get the best out of the reading sessions by providing them with some valuable

strategies (finding the main idea, figuring out the meaning of unknown words in context, etc.).

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Macalister (as cited by Koay) offered four learning goals for intensive reading. They are as

follow:

- Focusing on new language such as vocabulary and grammar,

- Focusing on ideas such as themes and topics,

- Learning new skills such as making inferences and identifying main ideas,

- Paying attention to text features such as genre structure and cohesion.

It should be noted that both extensive and intensive readings have their limits. For some

researchers extensive reading is not suitable for EFL beginners; because they do not have

sufficient vocabulary to operate independently. For others, intensive reading turns the class

into a grammar session. Based on that, a new alternative is being tested by some scholars to

find out its benefits on students’ reading comprehension. That alternative is a combination of

both extensive and intensive reading.

2.3. Three Main Stages in the Teaching of Reading

We distinguish three main stages in the process of teaching reading. They are the pre-reading,

the while reading and the post-reading stages.

2.3.1. The Pre-Reading Stage

This is where the teacher sets the scene for the text to be read. According to Dioz-Rico (as

cited by Nagy, Salcido, and Stefani), this is the time to introduce key vocabulary words, make

predictions, activate prior knowledge and get students interested in the text. Deyuan and

Yufen (2006) proposed three strategies that can be used in this stage:

- Establishing a purpose for reading.

- Activating and building prior knowledge.

- Previewing the text to build expectations.

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The purpose of reading, according to the RAND reading study group, “can be externally

imposed (e.g. completing a class assignment) or internally generated (wanting to program a

VCR) (p.15). Activating background knowledge is crucial as it helps the students bridge the

gap between the information in their heads and that on the paper. In this regard, Deyuan and

Yufen (2006: 125) said that having an introduction to the topic before students start the actual

reading enables them to recall any information they may already possess about the topic,

either from personal experience or other reading. If they keep this knowledge in mind as they

read, they increase their opportunities to make sense of the information they find in the text.

Another strategy proposed at this stage is previewing. Here, students are asked to look at

titles, headings, and pictures. As stated in Grabe and Stoller (2011), “teachers can guide

students in examining headings and subheadings in a text and hypophesising [] what each

section is about” (p.144). Some also argued that reading the first sentence of each paragraph

and the last paragraph will also help when the students start reading. Besides these three

strategies, (Pardede 2008) proposed a fourth one. It is called prediction. According to

Goodman (as quoted in Pardede, 2008, p.8), prediction is important because “the brain is

always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs”

2.3.2. The While-Reading Stage

The first stage was meant to warm the students up. Now they are supposed to be ready to

engage in the actual reading. That is where the second stage comes into play. “This stage, too,

requires the teacher’s guidance to ensure that students assume an active, questioning approach

to the material”. (Deyuan and Yufen, 2006, p.125) Among other strategies to be used at this

level are rereading, note-taking, questioning, predicting, and placing a text within one’s own

experience. The teacher should instill in his or her students the habit of rereading. For

sometimes it is better to read a difficult material a few times before you understand it at a

deeper level. In line with that, Grabe and Stoller (2011) said that, “rereading represents one of

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the best ways to build reading fluency” (p.151). And as far as taking notes while you read is

concerned, it keeps the mind focused and engaged with the material. Another important

strategy that should be encouraged here is questioning. Constantly asking yourself questions

while reading helps the reader uncover information that might have been overlooked

otherwise. Drucker proposes the following kinds of questions for that purpose:

- What’s coming next?

- What’s the author really trying to say?

- What is the main idea in this section?

- Do I really understand what I am reading?

These questions have to be answered before reading any further.

2.3.3. The After-Reading Stage

According to Pardede (2008), “post-reading activities are essentially determined by the

reading purpose and the information extracted from the text” (p.12). If you were asked to read

a receipt manual to cook a particular meal, then application could be one post-reading activity

for you. In so doing, you cook that meal based on the information you have just gleaned from

the manual.

For Vaezi (as cited in Pardede, 2008, p.12), the post-reading stage can generally take the form

of these activities:

(1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions:

written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing

reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7)

role-playing.

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 2.4. Some Reading Difficulties Found in the Literature.
Many researchers have investigated the issue of reading comprehension (Stevens, 1980;

Laufer, 1989; Snow, 2010; Chou, 2011). Some of their findings are briefly summarized in this

section.

2.4.1. Vocabulary Issues

Vocabulary knowledge is considered by many researchers (Laufer, 1989; Laufer, 1997; Qian,

2002; Chawwang, 2008; Chou, 2011) as the most important variable that affects text

comprehension.

“No text comprehension is possible, either in one’s native language or in a foreign language,

without understanding the text’s vocabulary” (Laufer, 1997, p.20). Even though Laufer

recognizes that other factors (background knowledge, reading strategies) also influence

reading comprehension, their impact is by far less important than that of vocabulary. In her

conclusion, she stated that lexis was found to be the best predictor of success in reading,

better than syntax or general reading ability. No matter what the effect of reading strategies is,

it is short-circuited if the vocabulary is below the threshold. The threshold she views as 3,000-

word families, or 5,000 lexical items which cover about 95% of the text vocabulary.

According to Hirsch (2003, p.14), “vocabulary experts agree that adequate reading

comprehension depends on a person already knowing between 90 and 95 percent of the words

in a text”. If that prerequisite is met, the person will likely be able to guess the meaning of the

remaining 10 or 5 percent. If the prerequisite is not met, then comprehension will likely be

very difficult. As a consequence, the opportunity of him expanding his vocabulary will be

missed too. Chawwang (2008) investigated reading problems of THAI 12 th-grade students in

Nakhonratchasima Educational Regions 1, 2, 3 and 7. He concluded that 70% of his

participants had vocabulary problems. In a similar study, Chou (2011) studied the effects of

vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge on reading comprehension of Taiwanese

EFL students. He had three different groups (vocabulary group, control group, background

15
group) take part in an experiment. The results showed that the vocabulary group outperformed

both the control and background groups. Therefore, he supported that “vocabulary knowledge

is more important when it comes to helping second language learners improve their reading

comprehension” (p.114).

2.4.2. Background Knowledge Issues

Sometimes we may read and understand each word in a given sentence but fail to get its

overall meaning. Let’s consider the following passage:

‘Jones sacrificed and knocked in a run’. Strung together in this fashion, the literal words are almost

meaningless. A baseball-ignorant Englishman reading that sentence would be puzzled even if there

were nothing amiss with his fluency and general knowledge of words like ‘sacrificed’. (Hirsch, 2003,

p.17)

The passage above underscores the importance of background knowledge in reading

comprehension. It also points to the fact that vocabulary is not always the best determinant

factor in text comprehension. This example illustrates how our experiences, our pre-

knowledge in a certain domain aids our reading comprehension. For, ‘Jones sacrificed and

knocked in a run’ would be easily understandable for a baseball fan; because of his constant

contact with baseball games. His background knowledge allows him to go beyond the literal

meaning and make inferences. In this regard, Hirsch (2003) supported that “domain

knowledge allows the reader to make rapid connections between new and previously learned

information, to draw inferences, and to ponder implications” (p.13). Broughton, Brumfit,

Flavell, Hill, and Pincas (1980) also offered insights into how the reader’s background

knowledge helps him make predictions. They supported that:

most English native speakers faced with a sentence that began, ‘The mathematician soon solved the…’

would, using their knowledge of the world, of how mathematicians behave and what their work is, and

their knowledge of the language, be likely to predict that the sentence might continue with a word like

‘problem’ or ‘equation’ and accurate reading would be a matter of confirming the prediction. (p.91)

16
It follows then that the reader who lacks previous knowledge about a given text may see his

understanding hindered. It is also important to state here that writers leave out some

information in the writing process. Therefore, the reader has to be able to fill in the gaps if he

intends to get an in-depth understanding of the material. And apart from vocabulary,

background knowledge seems to be one of his best supports in this endeavor. But we should

also recognize that as EFL learners, sometimes our students simply don’t have any

background information about a given text. Or the background knowledge they possess is

erroneous. Also, they may find texts containing many metaphors or idioms challenging,

because; these aspects of the language are linked to background knowledge (Neuman, Kaefer,

and Pinkham). So, one of the teacher’s responsibility is to help create new knowledge base

where there is none. Another task of his is to correct misconceptions in knowledge students

already have about a particular subject. Some of the strategies mentioned in the pre-reading

stage may significantly help him do so.

2.4.3. Grammar Issues

Besides vocabulary and background knowledge deficits in relation to reading comprehension,

grammar (syntactic and morphological complexity) is often associated with poor performance

on reading comprehension. Indeed, Berman (as mentioned in Sahiruddin, 2019) holds the

view that syntactic complexity plays an important role in text comprehension. He asserts that

complex sentences require the reader to understand the individual propositions first for him to

get the overall meaning of the sentence. A failure to do so may result in him losing track of

some information. As a result, he will face a comprehension breakdown. In the same vein,

Scott (as quoted in Jarrah and Ismaïl, 2018) says that comprehension is hindered where EFL

learners encounter complex sentences. But Cain (2007) who has also investigated the nature

of the relationship between syntactic awareness and reading ability says that this nature is still

unclear despite over two decades of research on the issue. She stated in her conclusion that

17
“there was little support for a special relationship between syntactic awareness and reading

comprehension” (p.17). Similarly, it is believed that morphological awareness affects

students’ comprehension of a text. Nagy and Anderson (cited in Curinga, 2014) found that

60% of words encountered in texts above third-grade level were complex morphologically

derived words for which the meaning could be figured out through a process of breaking

down the words into morphemic parts. A morpheme is usually defined as the smallest

meaningful unit of a language. For example, the following word can be broken down as

follow: naturalization=>base noun Nation + the adjectival suffix-al + the verbal suffix – ize

+ the nominal suffix- tion(Nagy and Anderson; in Curinga, 2014). This form of exercise

should be encouraged by the teachers in the beginning levels, especially in EFL classes with

different language systems like Chinese and Japanese. As French and English both share the

same system, French-speaking EFL learners may be in a position where they could transfer

their morphological awareness to English. Curinga (2014) researched newcomer Spanish-

speaking high school students in the United States. Her study confirmed that morphological

awareness does play a significant role in reading comprehension for these adolescent

newcomers. Specifically, morphological awareness in the L1 contributes to both L1 reading

comprehension and L2 morphological awareness.

The literature on reading comprehension is broad and sometimes complex. The field includes

so many aspects that one is overwhelmed by the task. Consequently, this is a modest and

succinct review. Many points were just tackled here, not developed. The aim was to raise at

least the reader’s awareness about those points. We hope that he who will be interested in any

of the elements mentioned here will be willing to carry out further reading on the topic.

18
 III. Chapter Three: Methodology
This chapter describes the methodology that guided this study. It encompasses the research

design, the population, the sample and sampling techniques, the data collection and analysis

techniques.

3.1. Research Design

The current study seeks to get an in-depth understanding of the problems 12 th-grade letter

students face in reading comprehension. For this reason, it follows a mixed-methods research

design. According to Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) as cited in Creswell (2012, p.535), a

mixed methods research design is a “procedure for collecting, analyzing and “mixing” both

quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study or a series of studies to understand a

research problem”. Because the use of only one method might lead to insufficiency in the

data, this kind of design was prioritized.

Mixed Methods
Research Design

Quantitative Data Qualitative Data

Questionnaire
containing mainly Open-ended
interviews
multiple choice
questions

Data are Thematic data

descriptively analysis
analyzed

Figure 1: Mixed-Methods Research Design: The Process

3.2. Population
th
The population of this study was 12 -grade letter students and their teachers of English. Such

students learn English as a foreign language. Therefore, their English language learning

experience varies between six and eight years. They can be categorized as adolescents as their

age ranges between 15 and 20.

19
 3.3. Sample and Sampling Techniques
MacDonald and Headlam (2008) defined sampling as “the process by which you reduce the

total research population for a research project to a number which is practically feasible and

theoretically acceptable (the sample)” (p.69). For Alvi (2016) “a sample can be defined as a

group of relatively smaller number of people selected from a population for investigation

purpose” (p.11). Accordingly, this study involved twenty (20) students_ seven (7) males and

thirteen (13) females_ and two (2) of their teachers of English. The first sample was selected

randomly. In so doing each student has an equal chance of being selected as a participant. The

second sample, consisting of two teachers, was chosen using a purposive sampling technique.

"Purposive sampling technique, also called judgment sampling, is the deliberate choice of an

informant due to the qualities the informant possesses". (Tongco, 2007, p. 147) The rationale

behind this choice is that it is quicker to administer and allows the researcher to directly select

only people who meet his criteria.

3.4. Data Collection Techniques

As previously mentioned, a questionnaire was submitted to the students. A questionnaire

consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of

forms. The questionnaire is given to respondents who are expected to read, understand the

questions and write down the reply in the space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire

itself (Kothari, 2004, p.100). This questionnaire is composed mainly of multiple choice

questions and divided into three segments. The first will seek to uncover the students’ age,

sex, branch of study and English learning experience. The second deals with students’

preferences. The last concerns itself with students’ reading difficulties.

To get teachers’ insights about the problems 12th-grade letter students face in reading

comprehension, semi-structured interviews were used. A semi-structured interview is:

20
a commonly used interview technique that follows a framework in order to address key themes rather

than specific questions. At the same time it allows a certain flexibility for the researcher to respond to

the answers of the interviewee and therefore develop the themes and issues as they arise ”

(MacDonald and Headlam, 2008, p.40).

Those interviews were carried out in a quiet environment at the selected school. Because of

the nature of these interviews, they were audio taped with the consent of the interviewees and

transcribed for analysis purposes.

3.5. Data Analysis Techniques

In a mixed-methods research design, data are in numerical (quantitative data) and word,

pictures, audios (qualitative data) forms. One way of analyzing qualitative data is called

thematic analysis.

The goal of a thematic analysis is to identify themes, i.e. patterns in the data that are important or

interesting, and use those themes to address the research or say something about an issue. This is much

more than simply summarizing the data; a good thematic data analysis interprets and makes sense of

it. (Maguire and Delahunt, 2017, p.3353)

However, we used descriptive statistics to analyze the quantitative data obtained from

students. The software that was used for this purpose is Microsoft Excel. The findings are

displayed in the next chapter.

21
 IV. Chapter Four: Results and Analysis
This section is divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to the students’ responses on

the questionnaire and the second concerns itself with the interpretation of the data obtained

from the teachers.

4.1. Analysis of Students’ Questionnaire Responses

4.1.1. Do you like learning English?

All of the participants answered yes to the above question. The reasons for their choice are

among others the fact that English is the language of the world today, and that its mastery

may help them get some job opportunities. One student said for instance that he likes English

“because it is the dominant language in the entire world. In speaking English, you get lots of

advantages in the world”. Below is a summary of these results:

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes No Total Number

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency

Figure 2: Students' Love for the English Language

4.1.2. What is your favorite skill?

The answers of the students show that 65% of them prefer more than one skill (speaking,

writing, reading and sometimes listening), 20% chose the writing skill and 15% the speaking

one. See details in figure 3.

22
 Preferable Skill(s)
Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency
20

13

4
3
15% 20% 65% 100%
0 0% 0 0%

Listening Speaking Writing Reading More than Total

one skill number

Figure 3: Language Skill(s) Preferred by Students

4.1.3. What kinds of material do you prefer to read ?

More than the majority of the students (70%) prefer reading stories. Novels and magazines are

the second preference of the students representing 15% of the data each. From the figure (4)

below, it can be seen that students don’t like reading newspapers.

20 14
15 70%
20
10 15%
15%
5 3 0%
3 100%
0

Stories 0
Novels
Magazines
Newspapers
Total number

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency

Figure 4: Preferred Reading Materials

23
 4.1.4. What is your purpose from reading?
Many participants (5O%) said they read to get general knowledge, 20% read to enrich their

vocabulary, 10% read for pleasure, 5% read to meet academic research needs and three (3)

copies representing (15%) of the data were invalid. These results are shown in figure 5.

PURPOSE FROM READING

Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency

25
20
20

15
10
10
4 3
5 2
50% 10% 20% 1 5% 15% 100%
0
Get general Read for Enrich your Answer some Invalid copies Total number
knowledge pleasure vocabulary academic
research
needs

Figure 5: Purpose from Reading

24
  Students’ Reading Difficulties

4.1.5. When you read a text and you do not understand, you:
When comprehension breaks down, 75% of the students translate into French, 15% use a

dictionary to overcome the issue and 10% stop reading. Figure 6 shows these findings.

Absolute frequency Relative frequency

20

15

3
2
75% 15% 10% 100%

Translate into Use a dictionary Carry on your Stop reading Total number
French reading without
understanding

Figure 6: Tentative Solutions to Reading Difficulties

4.1.6. What are the difficulties you often face when reading?
Difficulties of pronunciation are considered by 45% of the students as the main problem they

face in reading. In addition to that, some participants (30%) claim their reading problems are

related to the unknown words they encounter in the text. The remaining students (25%) said

they have issues in two areas: reading aloud and pronunciation. (See results in table 1).

Table 1: Students' Reading Difficulties

Reading Difficulties Absolute Frequency Relative Frequency

Difficulties of pronunciation 9 45%

Unknown words 6 30%

At least two difficulties 5 25%

Total number 20 100%

25
 4.1.7. What are the causes behind these difficulties?
From the data, the main causes behind these difficulties are: the difficulty of the reading skill

itself (40%), the lack of reading habit (25%), and the lack of time for the reading task (20%).

See summary in figure 7.

Causes of the Reading Difficulties

25
20
15
10
5
0
Lack of Difficulty of Difficulty of
More than Invalid Total
Lack of time reading the reading the kind of
one difficuly copies number
habit skill itself texts
Absolute Frequency 4 5 8 1 1 1 20
Realative Frequency 20% 25% 40% 5% 5% 5% 100%

Figure 7: Causes behind Students' Reading Difficulties

4.1.8. Is the time devoted to the reading session sufficient?

As it can be seen in figure 8, most of the students (55%) view the time allotted to the reading

task sufficient. But for the others (35%), the time dedicated to the reading session is

insufficient and cannot allow them to read and understand the text.

Time devoted to the Reading Task

Yes
27%
Total number
50%
No
18%

Invalid copies
5%

Figure 8: Time devoted to the Reading Task

26
 4.2. Teachers’ Interview Analysis

4.2.1. Students’ preferable skill(s)

For the first teacher, students prefer the writing skill because they are taught and examined in

this skill. In other words, the teaching of English is more focused on writing than the other

skills. However, the second teacher holds the view that his students like listening to the

teacher, not to audios or videos.

4.2.2. Types of materials used to teach reading comprehension

The second interviewee talked about images, videos, and technology (video projector). He

said, for example, that he uses “images related to the text to facilitate comprehension because

some images tell us immediately what the text is about”. As far as the texts are concerned, he

selects them from either the Mapel or Tado two books written by Mr. Sanou Christophe.

These books, he claims, include many texts about the topics in the curriculum.

The first teacher said he uses a textbook related to the different topics given in the syllabus in

the high school. He also searches the web for texts or articles that are faithful to the syllabus.

Both teachers agreed that they select most of these materials alone without the help or

involvement of either their colleagues or the students.

4.2.3. Students’ reading comprehension difficulties

The main issue according to the first teacher is the lack of vocabulary. He said “understanding

any text requires the understanding of the vocabulary which are used in the text.” In addition

to the vocabulary problem, he assumes that students do not “take time to read, read and

understand the text”.

The second teacher also views words especially unfamiliar ones as the first obstacle. The fact

of not paying attention to the teacher, when he explains the topic before introducing the text,

is also undermining many students’ understanding.

27
 4.2.4. Reasons behind students’ reading difficulties
The first reason that was evoked by the second teacher is the students’ background. He

supports that students in high school are not familiar with reading. Since junior high school,

these students were not immersed into reading. So, the high school teacher may wrongly

assume that they can read and understand. Unfortunately, they can’t. This leads to the second

cause: the teacher’s instruction. As mentioned by a teacher “some teachers are not strategic.

As the saying goes, a good teacher has to be strategic”. The last reason they talked about is

the insufficiency of the time allotted to the English language in general, and that of reading in

particular. “The time for instruction especially in 12 th-grade (TTL) they have just four hours

per week dedicated to teaching English. This may not be enough for teachers to focus on

students’ reading comprehension”, deplores another teacher.

4.2.5. Tentative solutions offered by teachers

During instruction, the teacher is a resource to his/her students. In this regard, he provides

help to them whenever necessary. To the students’ vocabulary issue, one teacher said he

provides them with the meaning of the key words in the text. He also encourages them to read

extensively and check along the way the meaning of unknown words in the dictionary.

Moreover, he inspires them to learn the irregular verbs and take notes while they read.

As for the other teacher, he makes sure that his students follow the topic lesson about the text

before dealing with the actual text. He gave the following example “if you are teaching a topic

about means of communication, students should be able to know at least some different means

of communication and their importance…”

4.2.6. Suggestions for the improvement of students’ reading comprehension

“The improvement of students’ reading comprehension goes with improving their level in

general. Students must be encouraged to improve all the four skills. They have to read, read

and read so as to boost their level in English. Once their level in English is boosted, their

reading comprehension problems will be solved”, claims the first teacher.

28
In addition to what the previous teacher said, the second teacher argues that structural

analysis, prediction and skimming are some good strategies that can be used to improve

students’ reading comprehension. He said for instance that “structural analysis helps to foster

students’ word recognition and understanding”.

In this chapter the findings of students’ answers on the questionnaire and teachers’ interview

responses were presented. In the next chapter, they are summarized and some suggestions are

made.

29
 V. Conclusion
This study was conducted to find out the difficulties 12th- grade letter students face in reading

comprehension. Twenty students selected randomly and two teachers selected purposively

participated in the study. The summary that follows is based on the research questions.

Research question 1: what are the difficulties 12th-grade letter students face in reading

comprehension?

The most significant findings are the difficulties pertaining to reading aloud and vocabulary

deficits. These findings are consistent with the results found by Laufer, 1997; Chawwang,

2008; Chou, 2011.These issues are mostly due to students lack of reading habit as they

consider reading a difficult task in itself. Teachers are to be blamed also for not instilling in

their students the desire to read, especially outside school. Only ten (10%) of the students

claim they read for pleasure. Knowing that the time for the reading session is insufficient;

teachers should fill the void by helping their students do extensive reading away from the

classroom pressure. In so doing, students will learn a lot of vocabulary. As a result, their

reading problems will be diminished. Furthermore, teachers should help improve their

students’ pronunciation using strategies such as breaking down words to syllables, reading

aloud and recording one’s voice, speaking English as much as possible, checking

pronunciation patterns in the dictionary, etc.

Research question 2: how can 12th-grade letter students’ reading comprehension

problems be effectively handled?

Most students (75%) translate into French whenever they face difficulties in reading. This

underlines their unawareness of other reading strategies that can also help them. Therefore,

teachers should help their students discover those strategies (setting a purpose for reading,

prediction, previewing, taking notes, guessing, rereading, etc.). If put in practice, these

strategies will push the students read dynamically. Also, students should be involved in the

30
selection of some of the materials they read, because; this shows them their voice and choice

matter.

Suggestions for further studies

 This study focused on only 12th-grade letter students and included a small sample.

Therefore, it needs to be extended to other classes with a larger sample.

 This study investigated only the issues students’ face in reading comprehension. A

subsequent study could try to investigate teachers’ use of reading strategies in their

classrooms using a questionnaire and observations as research methods.

31
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 Appendices

Appendix A: Students’ Questionnaire Guide

Research Project

Topic: Reading Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by 12th-greade Letter Students.

Researcher: Mr. GUINDO Antanou Léopold

Dear Students,

The following questionnaire aims to collect data about the difficulties you face in reading

comprehension. You are kindly requested to fill in this questionnaire either by putting a

cross(x) in the appropriate box, or by answering the given questions.

Student’s profile

1. Age ☐

2. Gender ☐

3. Branch of study ☐

4. How long have you been learning English? ☐

Student’s preferences

1. Do you like learning English?

Yes ☐

No ☐

Why?……………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

2. What is your favorite skill(s)? (You can choose more than one skill)

Listening ☐

Speaking ☐

Reading ☐

37
Writing ☐

3. What kinds of materials do you prefer to read?

Newspapers ☐

Stories ☐

Novels ☐

Others, please specify:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

4. What is your purpose from reading?

Get general knowledge ☐

Read for pleasure ☐

Enrich your vocabulary ☐

Answer some academic research needs ☐

Others, please specify:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why?……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Student’s reading difficulties

1. When you read a text and you do not understand, you:

Translate into French ☐

Use a dictionary ☐

Carry on your reading without understanding ☐

Stop reading ☐

Others, please specify………………………………………………………………….

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…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. What are the difficulties you face often face when reading?

Difficulties of pronunciation ☐

Ambiguous words ☐

Unknown words ☐

Reading aloud ☐

Others, please

specify…………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………

3. What are the causes behind these difficulties?

Lack of time ☐

Lack of reading habit ☐

The difficulty of the reading skill itself ☐

The difficulty of the kind of texts ☐

Others, please

specify…………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………….....

4. Is the time devoted to the reading session sufficient?

Yes ☐

No ☐

Why?.............................................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................

Thank you for your collaboration!

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Appendix B: Teachers’ Interview Guide
Research Project

Researcher: Mr. Guindo Antanou Léopold

Topic: Reading Comprehension Difficulties Encountered by 12th-grade Letter Students.

Teachers’ Interview

1. How long have you been teaching English?

2. What skill do you think your students’ prefer the most?

3. What kinds of materials do you use to teach reading comprehension?

4. How do you select those materials? Alone, from the school’s textbook or/and with the

participation of the students?

5. What are the main issues your students face in reading comprehension?

6. What are the causes behind these difficulties?

7. How do you help them overcome those issues?

8. What can you suggest to improve students’ reading comprehension?

Thank you for your collaboration!!

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