This is a presentation a comparative a study that compares experienced teachers' belief system and attitudes with less experienced teachers toward the teaching of Reading Comprehension in EFL context

1. Department of Languages Mohammed V University TRU/DSEA: Applied Faculty of Education – Souissi Linguistics and the Teaching of Rabat English as a Foreign Language 2006 An Investigation of the Moroccan EFL University Teachers’ Belief Systems about Reading Comprehension and their Effects on the Teachers’ Classroom Practice. DR. Mohamed MELOUK Abdeslam BADRE Supervised by: Presented by:

3. Department of Languages Mohammed V University TRU/DSEA: Applied Faculty of Education – Souissi Linguistics and the Teaching of Rabat English as a Foreign Language 2006 An Investigation of the Moroccan EFL University Teachers’ Belief Systems about Reading Comprehension and their Effects on the Teachers’ Classroom Practice. DR. Mohamed MELOUK Abdeslam BADRE Supervised by: Presented by:

19. Table.1: A description of some reading activities, as they most likely appear in reading: pre-reading, while-reading, and/or post-reading stage. To train students to practice fast reading of the text with a purpose in mind. Students engage in pair work to quickly read through a passage to extrapolate specific information. Scanning To train students read quickly to see what the text is about and how it is organized. Skimming allows students to predict the purpose, the main ideas before moving to any focused reading. Students quickly read through several short passages in order to match them to their correct headline. Skimming To allow students practice and identify the sequence of events within a text, which facilitates reading. Students work together to approximate the sequence of events in a passage before reading it. They then read with the purpose in mind Predicting-understanding sequence To make students guess what might happen next in the text by asking high level questions which require interpreting, extrapolating, applying, inferring, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information in the text. Students predict what a text will be about from viewing the title and reading pieces of the text one by one, asking the teacher and responding, and revising their guesses. Predicting asking questions To encourage students to personally determine what information they need about a text they are to read, which highly motivates the readers. In response to a picture or key word prompt about the text, students generate facts and questions about its topic. Questioning-enquiry strategy To develop reading comprehension by making the reader familiar with basic content and structure of the text and activating B.K. Students work with the teacher and then on their own. Exploiting the title, pictures, or subheading of the text to find out the main idea of the text. Previewing To activate students’ prior knowledge about a topic and its vocabulary. Grouping words into categories makes it easier for students to remember and grasp meanings. Students generate and categorize vocabulary they know about a topic into meaningful categories. - semantic mapping Pre – reading activities Objectives Description Activities

20. To raise students’ awareness of the cohesive devices (pronoun references, chronological order, and connectors). By recognizing the function of these words, students will be able to understand and construct a meaningful representation of the text. Students focus on specific time clues, transitional words of sentence and cross-sentence and paragraph coherence. Understanding discourse markers and details. To improve academic reading skills by focusing on main and supporting points. Students read and complete a cloze outline of the text. Focusing on main and supporting points To develop strategies of coping with unfamiliar words and expressions, rather than being dependent on the teacher. Thus, students grow aware of the ways through which they can cope with new words, especially when they analyze their process of inference. Students are encouraged to guess meaning of new vocabulary by considering different context clues. Inferring from context To make students aware of the importance of paying attention to details in reading so as to contribute in the re-organization of the text, also, these kinds of activities fosters students’ team-work. After segmenting a text into subsections and giving each section to a student to read it, students work in group/pairs to reconstruct the text. Jigsaw reading To train students on reading fluently not word-by word. Students are required to read a given text for 5 to 10 minutes at a time with the intent to read faster each time they re-read the text. Increasing reading rate While – reading activities

21. Most of the following activities are adapted from an in-class lesson plan, handed by the professor in the course “Issues in Reading II”, faculty of science of education Rabat, 2004-2005. To introduce students to the inter-connectedness of the literal, inferential and applied learning that occurs when reading. So students will be aware of the hierarchical relationships of the levels of comprehension. In this activity students react- either orally or in wittingly- to a series of statements about the text they have just read. Three-level guides To raise students’ awareness of what makes an effective summary of a given text; this helps them develop more effective understanding of future reading text. Students are required to write a summary of the already-read text or part of it, they will share it with colleagues for the sake of getting feedback. Writing summaries. To develop students’ sense of priorities and strategies for dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary. Students are trained on strategy-use while dealing with vocabulary in the text. Collaboratively, students work through a passage with difficult words with the aim of identifying the strategy they need to grasp meaning of these words. Vocabulary exercises. Post – reading activities

27. The subjects 16 teachers Actual participants 11 teachers Discarded subjects 27 teachers Initial number of participants

28. The subjects’ Profile Table.2: describing the research subjects’ profile. 16 Total number 7 Teachers with no training and no more than 6 years of teaching G2 9 Teachers with training & above 10 years of teaching experience. G1 N Groups

35. III.1.1.1Teachers’ beliefs about what reading is Table.3: Means and standard deviations for beliefs about what reading is M1 = Bottom-up oriented M2 = top-down oriented M3 = Interactive oriented ,91 3,40 16 M3 ,58 3,78 16 M2 1,85 2,84 16 M1 Std. Deviations Means N Underlying models

36. III.1.1.2 Teachers’ beliefs about factors that facilitate comprehension Table.4 means and standard deviations for the factors that facilitate comprehension 16 Valid N (listwise) 2,33 2,25 16 Awareness of strategy use 8 2,18 2,34 16 Materials’ authenticity 7 1,04 2,81 16 Prior knowlege of the topic 6 1,36 3,88 16 Knowlege of grammar 5 1,34 3,95 16 Awareness of text structure 4 1,34 3,95 16 Word recognition 3 ,80 4,13 16 Cooperative learning 2 ,38 4,38 16 Knowlege of vocabulary 1 Std. Deviation Mean N Factors

37. III.1.1.3 Teachers’ beliefs about a “good” EFL reader M1= Bottom-up oriented M2 = top-down oriented M3 = Interactive oriented 16 Valid N (listwise) ,34 4,01 16 M3 ,77 4,16 16 M2 1,42 2,94 16 M1 Std. Deviation Means N Underlying Theory

38. III.1.1.4 Teachers’ beliefs about a good teacher of reading Table.7: means and standard deviations for skills believed to be acquired by good teachers. 1,42 3,01 16 G.3-Organizational skills 1,03 3,95 16 G.2-Interactive skills 1,31 3,57 16 G.1-Teaching skills Std. Deviation Means N Groups

40. III.1.1.6 Teachers’ beliefs about effective assessment of reading 16 Valid N (listwise) ,51 3,54 16 Reading skills ,66 2,78 16 Language skills Std. Deviation Mean N

41. III. 1.2 Teachers’ actual classroom practices of reading comprehension

42. III. 1.2.1 Factors teachers frequently rely on while selecting teaching materials 16 Valid N (listwise) 1,21 3,42 16 3-Cognitive skills 1,48 3,13 16 2-Linguistic skills 1,01 2,82 16 1-Practicality of materials Std. Deviation Means N Groups

43. III. 1.2.2 Classroom tasks and activities teachers actually use 16 Valid N (listwise) 1,13 3,55 16 Awareness of strategy use 8 1,18 3,34 16 Materials authenticity 7 1,00 4,00 16 Prior knowlege of the topic 6 ,36 4,18 16 Knowlege of grammar 5 1,04 2,25 16 Awareness of text structure 4 ,94 4,15 16 Word recognition 3 ,56 4,00 16 Cooperative learning 2 ,81 4,50 16 Knowlege of vocabulary 1 Std. Deviation Mean N Factors

44. III. 1.2.3 teachers’ assessment of students’ reading proficiency 16 Valid N (listwise) ,51 3,99 16 Reading skills 1,30 2,50 16 Language skills Std. Deviation Mean N

46. comparing the beliefs and practices about factors that facilitate comprehension 1,13 3,55 2,33 2 ,25 16 Awareness of strategy-use 8 1,18 3,34 2,18 2,34 16 Materials’ authenticity 7 1,00 4,00 1,04 2,81 16 Prior knowlege of the topic 6 ,36 4,18 1,36 3,88 16 Knowlege of grammar 5 1,04 2,25 1,34 3,95 16 Awareness of text structure 4 ,94 4,15 1,34 3,95 16 Word recognition 3 ,56 4,00 ,80 4,13 16 Cooperative learning 2 ,81 4,50 ,38 4,38 16 Knowlege of vocabulary 1 Std. Devt. Mean Std.Devt. Mean N practices Beliefs Factors

47. Comparing the beliefs of effective teaching materials and the teachers’ selected materials. 1,21 3,42 1,20 3,81 16 Cognitive skills G3 1,48 3,13 1,40 3,13 16 Linguistic skills G2 1,01 2,82 ,33 4,00 16 Practicality of materials G1 Std. Devt. Mean Std. Devt. Mean practices Beliefs N Groups

48. III.2.3 comparing the participants’ beliefs and practices about effective assessment of reading 16 Valid N (listwise) ,51 3,99 ,51 3,54 16 Reading skills G2 1,30 2,50 ,66 2,78 16 Language skills G1 Std. Devt. Means Std. Devt. Means N Practices Beliefs Groups

50. III.3.1.1. ‘Experienced’ & ‘less experienced’ teachers’ Beliefs about Reading M1= bottom-up oriented M2= top-down oriented M3= interactive oriented 16 VALID N (listwise) 2,90 4,00 3,33 7 GROUP 2 3,90 3,85 2,20 9 GROUP 1 Means M3 Means M2 Means M1 Belief about what reading is N Groups

51. III.3.1.2 ‘Experienced’ and ‘less experienced’ Teachers’ beliefs about factors facilitating reading 16 VALID N (listwise) 1,93 2,00 2,22 4,43 3,00 4,00 4,03 4,41 7 GROUP 2 3,20 3,48 4,45 2,95 4,45 2,25 4,33 4,15 9 GROUP 1 F8 F7 F6 F5 F4 F3 F2 F1 Beliefs about factors facilitating comprehension N Groups

52. III.3.1.5 ‘Experienced’ and less ‘experienced’ Teachers’ beliefs about ‘good’ teaching material of reading F1= practicality F2= linguistic skills F3= cognitive skills 16 VALID N (listwise) 3,40 2,70 4,03 7 GROUP 2 3,83 2,88 4,43 9 GROUP 1 Means F3 Means F2 Means F1 Beliefs about good materials N Groups

53. III.3.1.6 ‘Experienced’ and less ‘experienced’ teachers’ beliefs about effective assessment of reading comprehension 16 VALID N (listwise) 3,80 2,86 7 GROUP 2 3,80 1,68 9 GROUP 1 Means for Reading skills Means for Language skills Belief about effective assessment N Groups

54. Discussion of Findings

64. Thank You Very Much, indeed