Date of Award

11-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Sadiq Ismail

Second Advisor

Ali Shehadeh

Third Advisor

Dr. Sadiq Midraj

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the reading strategies; and assessment strategies teachers use in their reading classes. Furthermore, it aims to explore the types of reading difficulties students face while reading English. The research is based on three research questions. Firstly, what kind of instructional strategies do elementary school teachers use in their reading classes? Secondly, what type of assessment strategies do elementary school teachers use to assess reading? Lastly, what do elementary school teachers perceive as the difficulties that their ESL learners face while reading in English? The main objectives of this research are to explore the different types of reading strategies used by teachers in reading classes, reading problems that learners face in reading classes and the types of assessments strategies used by teachers. To answer the research questions, the researcher employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The study includes a questionnaire and classroom observations. The questionnaire was distributed to 186 teachers in 13 public schools in Al Ain and the researcher observed six teachers from three different grades. The results showed that the reading strategies teachers preferred using were to predict the content of the story by looking at the cover picture or the title, reading aloud and retelling the story. The findings showed that most of the teachers frequently used answering questions, reading aloud and retelling the story as assessment strategies in the classrooms. In addition, the study revealed that the teachers viewed the inability of students to guess the meaning of words through the text as a reading difficulty student’s face. Moreover, the study revealed that the students in elementary schools, in Al Ain, faced some difficulties in reading and have difficulty in pronouncing the words, using the features of the text and identifying the main idea of the text.

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