Professional Documents
Culture Documents
DISTRICT MUZAFFARABAD.
Muneer Ahmed
2010-Sck-12030
Session 2015-17
Institute of Education
Faculty of Arts
Semester: 5th
_____________________
Coordinator
Institute of Education
______________________ ________________________
Dean Director
Pakistan Reading Project was launched in January 2015 which has a worth of
160 million dollars with the aim to improve Urdu reading skill of the students of
grade I and II in public schools across Pakistan. Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs)
like, Daily Reading Lesson plan (DRLP), work books for students, flash cards, story
books and tablets were provided along with face to face training. Focus of training
Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension. Print concept and Writing for learning
reading were also integrated for better reading. This study aims at exploring the
effectiveness of Daily Reading Lesson plan (DRLP) for the improvement of grade II
design will be used in this study. Through stratified sampling, Schools will be divided
in two strata of male and female. Sample size for this study will be 240 students of
grade II for reading test, 40 PRP trained teachers for structured observation and 20
It is a general observation that the reading is neither taught nor learnt as a skill
in Pakistani classrooms. It is mostly a teacher who reads the text of Urdu. Students are
provided less opportunities to read passages. Still traditional methods are being used
in classrooms for teaching reading. These teaching methods are normally teacher-
centred. Teachers also do not have necessary training for teaching reading. So, the
poor teaching and learning process leads students memorising things– words and
teaching and learning process and different techniques should be used to enhance their
different activities at primary level. This area of language learning, therefore, needs
special attention from the teachers for a meaningful education at primary level.
The aim of this study is to examine the current Urdu reading situation of grade
AJ&K. It has 4 constituencies and 25 union councils. There are 746 schools (549
Muzaffarabad. Out of them 413 are boys’ and 333 are girls’ schools (Education
Department AJ&K, 2017). 374 out of 746 schools were selected by PRP to enhance
the reading skill of the students of grade I and II in District Muzaffarabad as per
criteria to have at least 20 students in both grade I and II for the selection of a school
Reading is one of the four basic skills of a language. In Pakistan 53% students
of grade 5 and 64% of grade III students are unable to read simple Urdu sentences
(IRC). IRC has three partners; Creative Associates International, World Learning, and
Institute of Rural Management (IRM) to implement this project. The goal of this
provinces and 4 regions to improve reading skills of children at primary level in grade
I and II. After completion, the project anticipates to get in touch with at least 3.2
million grade I and II students across 3 provinces; Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber
2015).
PRP trained teachers were provided Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) like
workbooks for the students, Flash cards (large and small), Story Books, Levelled
Readers, syllable charts and tablet as an allied material. When, which and how this
material could be used, was pre-determined in the DRLP. There were 144 lessons in
DRLP for grade II and 30-35 minutes were allocated for each lesson. PRP trained
teachers were supposed to use this material as per instructions and sequence. Daily
Reading Lesson Plan was comprised of seven steps (PRP, 2015). DRLP is consisted
0f six steps: preparation and introduction, Letter, Basic word and sound, Sky writing,
Words building, Text reading, Sight Words and Evaluation. During DRLP teachers
ask the comprehension questions about every step and provide constructive feedback
to the students.
According to Dr. Atsh Durani et al, (2015) focus of the DRLP is on 7 reading
also included named Print concept and Writing for learning reading.
Lesson Plan (DRLP) for the Improvement of Urdu Reading Skill of Grade II students
ii. Compare the scores of girls and boys of grade II in Urdu reading in PRP
i. what are the scores of grade II students in Urdu reading in PRP selected
ii. What is the difference in scores of girls and boys of grade II in Urdu
investigations. The sample used in this investigation included only students in grade
Muzaffarabad will be selected through stratified sampling. 1 PRP trained teacher and
some steps must be taken to spot the problems then deal with them to improve the
current situation. This case study aims to do so. Hence, for the country as a whole,
this study will be of great importance and interest. In addition, this study may also
provide an opportunity for the policy makers of such projects to reflect on the
effectiveness of these CPD programs in future. Last but not the least, the practitioners
may also reflect on the findings of the study as how their instruction is helping
face while reading text in Urdu for the right focus in the teaching of reading. Reading
ways. It varies from person to person depending on the person’s different attitude and
aims towards printed words. Hence, the definition and meaning of reading depend,
mostly, on the text, textual contents and on the purpose of the reader. It also depends
on the behaviour of the readers towards the text, on the experience and schemata of
the reader and on the reading materials. Academic success and fluency in reading has
strong relation (Dogan, Ogut & Kim, 2015). The students perform well in in all
subjects with good reading skill (Cooper, Moore, Powers, Cleveland & Greenberg,
2014). Instructions for teaching reading by the teacher play a vital role in student’s
progress.
between the reader and the writer. He further explains that like anyone who is talking,
“the writer conveys his message to another person by writing.” Widdowson (1979)
through print. Some experts say that reading is a theoretical and intellectual process
through print, and this process of reading is explanatory. Nuttall (2006) explains
reading as the procedure of “getting the nearest message of the writer out of the text.”
Williams (1996) defines that reading is looking at and understanding a written text.
Goodman (1967) states reading as a guessing game. Patricia Carrel et al. (1988)
defines that reading is a process of interaction where readers use their contextual
there are no shortcuts to overcome all reading problems. Frankly, improving reading
is a hard job. When one reads, he will read better, and if one reads better, he will read
faster. Robinson (2003) explains that, in the language of the text and someone’s
mental perception, there should be a logical link. The language should be suitable and
supportable to the mental level of the reader and should enable the reader to explore
the inner worlds which turn into real. To understand a text these ‘inner worlds’ of the
reader, the text and their structure play a crucial role. Students should be able to
explore the world of the text without using the conventional approaches of
The higher they take interest in the activity, the higher they sustain the interest in the
text (Greenwood, 1998). The foremost requirement for reading is the ability to
identify the written word. The message that contains a text and perception are
secondary. Therefore, the reading is called two-fold processes. Rauch and Weinstein
(2002) define reading as a dynamic and attentive thinking development and in this
process the reader tries to match the writer’s thought for thought. Urquhart and Weir
(1998) have presented a very precise and adequate definition of reading with the
observations and analysation of the definition of others. They believe that reading “is
the process of reception and interpretation of information encoded in language form
recognize the written symbols, to understand the meaning or message of the text,
response of the reader after finishing reading and incorporation of the whole
comes first: it includes visual discrimination, recoding and even pronunciation of the
word. This can be enhanced through configuration, phonic, morphemic and context
cues.
books. People usually read for comprehension of the text, answering the questions,
problems, for pleasure, information, to know how to use a tool, to be familiarised with
other people, culture and community, and understanding the message of the text
for pleasure”, Doff (1997) comments that “the only reason behind reading is because
we enjoy or wish to enjoy it” because entire range and shades of feeling is covered by
pleasure, therefore, one should read for what s/he likes to meet the expectations of
pleasure. Eagleton (1996) shares the similar point of view that people read poems,
novels etc. because ‘these types of texts are delightful to them’, and it is also very
suitable foreign language/s. When we read more and more the degree of pleasure
would be high and it would result in better comprehension, increasing vocabulary and
Reading is enjoyable when reader gets pleasure. Reader stops the reading if
s/he did not get pleasure in reading. The objective of a reading program should be to
facilitate the students to enjoy or feel at ease with reading (Nuttall, 2006). Rosenblatt
(2008) called reading for pleasure as ‘aesthetic reading’ because it satisfies the souls
It is significant, and at the same time, mandatory to decide that students either
text express. Nuttall (2006) states that students should know how to read for meaning
has a similar point of view that reading primarily related to the meaning of the
embedded text in the language. The main objective of teaching reading is to explore
the meaning of a text because language skills enhances naturally when reading skill is
enhanced. Primarily, meaning of a text is a general thought of the entire text as Nuttall
(2006) states that meaning can be derived from single morpheme of a text and till
most of the people read to get information from text. Written text is a permanent
source of information which has more effect than any other media and reading is used
as a larger source of decoding the message from sources. Grellet (1996) describes that
people usually read books to get something or to do something with the acquired
information. Nuttall (2006) also endorses this point of view that by reading, our aim is
to get something from the text. In the modern era of information technology, people
spent their most of the time to get and store information of current affairs of the world
and information related to business, culture and politics etc. Newspaper, magazines
and internet are major media sources and we need special skills for reading from these
sources.
academic life. Comprehension questions on given passages are crucial for students
because comprehension means to take out the necessary information from text as
much as possible (Grellet, 1996). And this is possible only when students read the
passage carefully and effectively. If students are able to derive the entire meaning
According to Sekara (2008) most important reading is reading not for pleasure
but for information which is researched, organized and documented according to the
suggested by him for effective reading to enable the students to be familiarized with
academic reading is to bind students complete the syllabus and to pass the
examination. But there are more flexibility and choices in non-academic reading for
language because of wide reading because it is the useful way to master the language
(Nuttall, 2006).
King (1997) is of the opinion that in non-academic reading, reader has the
choice choose the books according to their taste and it is the appropriate period for
reading. Bright and McGregor (2000) comment on intensive reading that it is about
the part of a whole lesson that is divided properly. If we stop dwell on a word in any
text, then it is intensive reading. Intensive reading can be influenced by the teacher
because he is the part of the whole process and these activities are performed in the
classrooms at the larger scale. This type of reading is also called local reading.
understand what a text means but also to know how the meaning is produced and if
‘what’ is important then ‘how’ is also as important. The primary objective of intensive
reading is to enable students to use the learned activities with other text as well. Barry
(2002) prefers intensive reading rather than extensive reading. He recommended that
students should make the reading meditative and personal. He emphasized on closed
Williams (2001) defines extensive reading as, fast reading of the huge text.
for pleasure. They can read as many books as they can at their own level. Nuttall
(2006) is of the opinion that this type of reading is a private activity. The reader
indulged himself in a private world of reading of his/her own interest. He claimed two
reasons for extensive reading that (a) it is the effective way to enhance the reading
skill of the students and (b) it not only creates a suitable environment to the students
but also provide them pleasure. This results in creating interest and enables students to
Nation (1997) describes that in extensive reading students see the similar
words in repetition which results in vocabulary building. This approach also provides
while-reading and post-reading strategies can be used for effective reading. Nation
(1997) also suggests the following strategies: predicting, guessing word meaning,
skimming, inferring from texts, interpreting texts, surveying text organisation, and
Bonita Grossen (1997) points out seven elements to consider for better reading
comprehension.
2. Teach sound-spellings
vocabulary, writing skill and comprehension skills. Dr Atsh Durani et al, (2015)
claims that there are 5 basic reading components: phonemic awareness, Phonics,
comprehension, vocabulary and fluency. Print concept and writing for learning
differentiate and point out them in a word. e.g. ( ) and ( ) starts with
same sound but ends with different sound. If this skill is not developed in a
child, entire reading process will suffer. According to Allington (2007), 80-85%
different from phonics. It takes place before reading skill through listening oral
language and then relating it to the printed text. Basically, phonological skills
do not need print and can be enhanced through practices and instructions
(Schuele, 2008). Reading aloud to the children is one of the best technique for
phonemic awareness. McKnight (2001) explains that read aloud creates pleasure
for the children and this pre-literacy skill must be developed in children
otherwise they will struggle with reading later. Read aloud needs no expensive
programs, even in rural areas with lack of resources can use this technique
easily to uplift the phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness helps in
2.4.2 Phonics
pillar. In phonics, sounds are related with letter patterns. Maston (1996) defines
traditional way and it works with most of the students. This technique for
language teaching was widely used and questioned in 1960 and as a language
component is very crucial. Rhyming, read aloud, choral reading and peer
reading can be used to enhance phonics skill (Dr Atsh Durani et al, 2015).
2.4.3 Vocabulary
Words which are used in any language are called ‘vocabulary’. It is not
only the knowledge of words but also to understand the meanings of those
words and the ability to use them appropriately (Dr Atsh Durani et al, 2015).
Children at early age have a limited vocabulary but as they grew up, their
vocabulary grows rapidly each year. For better learning, children must be
vocabulary like television and radio listening and engaging young children with
2.4.4 Comprehension
comprehension in a child (Parker and Hurry, 2007). These are: asking questions
about the text, prediction, clarification and summarization of the text. This
the text inn a better way. Reading the text with accuracy and fluency,
motivations for comprehension and background knowledge are the key elements
Frequent use of classroom activities before, during and after reading plays a
2.4.5 Fluency
(Dr Atsh Durani et al, 2015). A weak reader is very choppy. (e.g. “the” – pause
requires the reader to read aloud and practice. Reading in pairs and small groups
students. Read aloud by the child or teacher who master the reading is very
fruitful the struggling children. Children could master the fluency only when
Dr Atsh Durani et al, (2015) also considers print concept and writing as
integrated reading skills. Where print concept is Knowing how text works for
reading and writing can also be considered a means of learning. This type of
comprehension.
2.5. Approaches to Reading
It depends on the size of a text, allotted time and purpose of reading that which
approach best fit. Bright and McGregor (2000) present some basics to consider:
i. Not each and every passage have worth for selection. It matters al lot that how
ii. How much time devoted for the text is also important.
iii. What is the capacity of the class? Whether they have the ability to respond or
not.
reader left the irrelevant chunks in a passage and this is previously formed plan
(Urquhart and Weir, 1998). Nuttall’s (2006) reflection on this approach is that we
make predictions based on our intelligence and experience. This intelligence and
experience is based on the schemata. Seeing the purpose of a text or getting the gist of
the writer’s views, we use these schemata. This will help us to guess in next step.
This process is dominated by the expectations of the reader. The readers come
with their own point of view and experiences, so, this affect the interpretation of a
text. Reader’s schemata are associated to this approach, so, many researchers and
thinkers advocate this approach. Nuttall (2006) describes its importance that this
approach enables the readers to understand the writer’s purpose. After identifying the
purpose, reader use this outline to understand the other difficult parts of the text. This
Gough (1972) proposed the bottom-up approach. Starting with stimulus like,
the text or bits of text, is its prominent feature. Reader predicts meaning by marking
on the page: identifying letters and words and sentence structure in this approach. He
uses this procedure intentionally if he is confused with the reading at initial stage.
Contextual meaning plays vital role because reader does not depend on background
knowledge. This is the main difference between top-down and bottom-up approaches.
Some argue bottom-up by saying that graphemes form word, then word
become sentence and at last these sentences form a paragraph (Gough, 1972). Others
of the opinion about top-down that in this approach readers begin with general idea
which they called a schema that what is the derivation source of this text and relate it
alone. Therefore, they suggest the blend of both of the approaches which they called
interactive approach. Readers shift from one approach to another as per requirement
of the reading strategies. Nuttall (2006) says that a reader changes its focus
consistently by using top-down approach to guess the most appropriate meaning, then
shifts to the bottom-up to extract what exactly the writer wants to say. Carrell (2008)
is more specific about interactive approach. She is of the opinion to use both top-
down and bottom-up approaches in different situations with different objectives. This
reading approach is based on several sources (Rumelhart, 1980). So, reading is not a
one-way process. In interactive process, both reader and text takes part as per due
shares in reading. Carrell and Eisterhold (1983) explains that during reading,
interaction happens when reader and text interact. It is concluded that reaching to the
appropriate meaning does not depend only on what is in the text because text itself
does not provide meanings (Carrel, 2008). Both, clues in the text and reader’s
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Reading Lesson Plan (DRLP) for Grade II students in District Muzaffarabad AJ&K.
The Explanatory Sequential Research Design will be used for current study
which consists of first collecting quantitative and then qualitative data to elaborate the
quantitative results. The rationale for this design is that quantitative data provide a
general picture of a problem and qualitative data help to explain the problem in depth
3.2. Population
Population for this study are 4320 students of grade II and 578 PRP trained
3.3. Sample
and female. 240 students of grade II for reading test, 40 PRP trained teachers for
structured observation and 20 teachers for open ended interviews will be the
After closely examining the nature and objectives of the study, following tools
a) Document Review
d) Open-ended interviews
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doi:10.1002/TRTR.1193
1 Name (optional)
2 Name of Institution
3 Academic qualification
4 Professional qualification
5 Experience
6 Gender
7 Date of Observation
Statements Yes No
Part I. Preparation/Introduction
1 Did teacher have all necessary Teaching Learning Material?
2 Did teacher confirm that students are ready and interested?
3 Did teacher hand over the work books to the students?
4 Did teacher introduce the topic of the day?