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An investigation of the reading activities in the content-area classrooms of selected secondary schools in Singapore
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Type
Thesis
Author
Ngeow, Ah Cheng
Supervisor
Lim, Kiat Boey
Abstract
This study set out to investigate the importance and pattern of reading activities carried out by secondary school teachers in relation to the textbook in content-area classrooms as well as to determine whether these reading activities were influenced by the content-area responsibility and instructional level of the teachers. The study also sought to determine whether these reading activities were influenced by the content-area responsibility and instructional level of the teachers. The study also sought to determine the attitude of the teachers toward incorporating reading instruction into content-area objectives and to find out if these attitudes were determined by the content-area responsibility, the instructional level, the sex and length of teaching experience of the teachers.
A sample of 248 secondary teachers from eight secondary schools in Singapore was taken. To determine the pattern of reading activities, the sample was classified by content-area subjects and the instructional level at which they teach. For the attitudinal study, the teachers were further classified by their sex and length of teaching experience.
The instrument used in data collection was the questionnaire.
The results indicate that the majority of the teachers realized the need for reading instruction for their secondary pupils, while only slightly more than half of them were actually teaching their pupils to read. Also less than one- fifth of them followed any systematic reading programme. The study also found the textbook to be greatly used outside the content-area classroom than in the classroom, with reading often being assigned for homework by content-area teachers.
Little use was made of silent and oral reading although generally there was greater use of silent reading.
The attitude of the teachers toward content-area reading instruction in the surveyed schools was found to be positive. Statistically too, the teacher's attitudes were significantly influenced by their content-area responsibility as well as by the their sex, but not by their instructional level or length of teaching experience Content-area responsibility was also found to determine both the pattern of reading activities as well as the sue of the textbook, while instructional level influenced the pattern of reading activities but produced negligible differences among the Upper and Lower secondary teachers in the use of the textbook.
On the use of the textbook, Literature teachers reported the greatest use but it was the English Language teachers who reported the greatest use of the textbook in the classroom while all the content-area subject teachers made use of the text mainly for assigned reading at home.
The general trend in the pattern of reading activities shows that English Language and Literature teachers led in making the most frequent use of the reading activities listed in the questionnaire. Mathematics teachers consistently remained the least frequent users, while History, Geography, Science and others teachers were in the Intermediate group. The only deviation from this trend was the response to study skills for which Geography, History and Science teachers were the most frequent users.
The finding on instructional level was that the Lower secondary teachers reported a higher use than the Upper secondary teachers of both silent and oral reading as well as a higher frequency in providing outlines/guides for their pupils and in teaching the critical, inferential and most of the literal comprehension strategies.
A sample of 248 secondary teachers from eight secondary schools in Singapore was taken. To determine the pattern of reading activities, the sample was classified by content-area subjects and the instructional level at which they teach. For the attitudinal study, the teachers were further classified by their sex and length of teaching experience.
The instrument used in data collection was the questionnaire.
The results indicate that the majority of the teachers realized the need for reading instruction for their secondary pupils, while only slightly more than half of them were actually teaching their pupils to read. Also less than one- fifth of them followed any systematic reading programme. The study also found the textbook to be greatly used outside the content-area classroom than in the classroom, with reading often being assigned for homework by content-area teachers.
Little use was made of silent and oral reading although generally there was greater use of silent reading.
The attitude of the teachers toward content-area reading instruction in the surveyed schools was found to be positive. Statistically too, the teacher's attitudes were significantly influenced by their content-area responsibility as well as by the their sex, but not by their instructional level or length of teaching experience Content-area responsibility was also found to determine both the pattern of reading activities as well as the sue of the textbook, while instructional level influenced the pattern of reading activities but produced negligible differences among the Upper and Lower secondary teachers in the use of the textbook.
On the use of the textbook, Literature teachers reported the greatest use but it was the English Language teachers who reported the greatest use of the textbook in the classroom while all the content-area subject teachers made use of the text mainly for assigned reading at home.
The general trend in the pattern of reading activities shows that English Language and Literature teachers led in making the most frequent use of the reading activities listed in the questionnaire. Mathematics teachers consistently remained the least frequent users, while History, Geography, Science and others teachers were in the Intermediate group. The only deviation from this trend was the response to study skills for which Geography, History and Science teachers were the most frequent users.
The finding on instructional level was that the Lower secondary teachers reported a higher use than the Upper secondary teachers of both silent and oral reading as well as a higher frequency in providing outlines/guides for their pupils and in teaching the critical, inferential and most of the literal comprehension strategies.
Date Issued
1983
Call Number
LB1632 Nge
Date Submitted
1983