Wednesday, May 18, 2005

TEACHING READING ACROSS CONTENT From Topic-based to Skill-based

TEACHING READING ACROSS CONTENT
FROM TOPIC-BASED TO SKILLS-BASED
Presented at RELC Conference 2004

ABSTRACT
Tien M. Soedradjat & A. Gumawang Jati
Indonesia

This paper will discuss the experience of teaching reading to the undergraduate students from various departments who have to take English as a compulsory subject. The objective is to help the students understand English textbooks that they have to read during their study at ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) Indonesia.

Originally the teaching material was prepared with the assumption that the students would be happy and motivated if the material dealt with the topic with which they were already familiar. Therefore there were a lot of versions of student’s workbooks for the students of different departments.

The teachers could handle only one class each – which was large – because of the preparation they had to make on their own. The teacher had heavy burden to construct 2 sets of tests each semester. The burden of the teacher was heavy in delivering the instruction and preparing for test, yet the result of instruction was not as expected. The departments still complained about their students’ English mastery in reading. The teachers did not get the feedback whether the tests they constructed were of the same level of difficulty as those constructed by other teachers.

Based on the research conducted, we decided to change the material, from topic-based to skills-based. We believe that when the students master the reading skills in this way, they are able to apply them to any topic they come across.

The advantages of the new skills-based material will be discussed as compared to the former topic-based one and some suggestions will be made.

Background
English is a compulsory subject for the first year’s students of ITB. As there are more than 1000 students taking English each year, English has become an important subject yet a problematic one. It is important because students are expected to be able to read English texts during their study. So there is an expectation from the institution that the English Unit’s programme will bring students up to the level of competence required to read those texts.
It is problematic because English is given only for one semester which is about 32 hours of instruction. Before the new approach was used, English was given to big classes, classes of 60 to 90 students. Each of the 21 departments demanded that the students to be able to understand and to use English properly. The student’s workbooks were then “English for Biology students”, “English for Civil Engineering students” and many more. But then we realized that was too much for the teachers, especially in preparing the materials and constructing the tests. Faced with this situation the staff of the English Unit decided to change the approach, using a different type of handbook, from topic-based to skills-based one.

Topic-based approach
In the past, because of the high demand from the departments for ‘good’ English instruction for their students, we tried to satisfy our clients by selecting reading materials from their particular fields of study. We constructed the exercises using specialised vocabulary. As a result we made several handbooks for students from various departments. We had the assumption that by teaching reading in a particular content area we would be able to help the students understand English texts in their field of study. We also assumed that the students would be motivated to study English because they would be working with material on topics with which they were already familiar.

Before the class began each teacher had to prepare the handbook in one particular field of study. Everyone had to select the materials, make the exercises, and be familiar with specialised vocabulary. The process of printing, reviewing, and revising the material took longer time than expected. There was no chance for teachers to review each other’s material as they were in different specialised areas and because of lack of time. This dilemma was to the one described by Johns (1991) :“ … teachers find themselves in a situation where they are expected to produce a course that exactly matches the needs of a group of learners, but are expected to do so with no, or very limited, preparation time" (Johns, 1991, p. 91). So, what we did was selecting the passages from textbooks or popular science readings. We constructed reading comprehension questions followed by exercises on vocabulary and structure.

There was a particularly acute problem at this stage concerning the preparation of materials for the students of certain departments whose number of students was small. The department of astronomy, for example, had a very small number of students. Therefore, since it was not feasible to cater for these students, we put them together with the students from other departments. The handbook was then a compilation of texts of 2 or more fields of study. We predicted that we would not be able to satisfy everyone in the combined class.

During the instruction the students felt at ease at the beginning because of their familiarity with the material. Later on they got bored as they could understand the material very easily because of their background knowledge. This phenomenon is described by Hudson (1991:86) as “technical content schema,” a term defined as knowledge of content from subjects that students have already mastered. Technical content schema of science seems to play a greater role than their language background in students’ comprehension of scientific texts.
Furthermore, the teachers had the psychological burden of having to learn a lot more about a certain field of study. Consequently they had to consult subject teachers, particularly for certain terms. The coordinator of the English programme had a difficulty in finding replacements for teachers who were absent for one reason or another because each teacher specialized in only one particular field of study.

The students had to take a mid-term test and the final test. Thus, each teacher had to make two sets of test during the semester. The ability to construct a test varied among the teachers. The levels of difficulty of the tests, therefore, varied too. As a result we could not make a standardization of test scores, because an A in one department was not necessarily equal to an A in other departments.

Besides, the students’ performance on the test might be explained their background knowledge, not by their competence of English. So there was a question whether we were testing the students’ mastery of the content or that of the language.

So the problems we faced were:
- preparation of materials
- construction of tests
- inability to find out the reliability and validity of the tests
- handling classes



Skills-based approach
Realizing that the efforts to carry out the teaching of reading to the undergraduate students was great, yet the result was not satisfactory for the teachers and for the clients, we decided to make some changes.
When ITB had an academic link with the University Leeds in the U.K. and the University of Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, we did some research in material development. Although the objective of English teaching at our university was already set, we did the needs analysis on the students. We planned to prepare a new workbook for all students. So we gave the students samples of a wide range of different materials. The results showed that the students liked the materials and so the teachers were challenged to do something different.

In preparing the materials, we found it easier to do so because we did not have to select the materials from different field of study. As references we used books related to reading and reading skills in which the exercises were provided. The teachers develop exercises following the existing models.

As the workbook was prepared by the teachers as a team, each teacher prepared only one chapter to two chapters instead of one whole workbook. Later the teachers looked into each other’s material and made necessary changes. The aim of preparing the new workbook was to give the students the opportunity to learn other skills apart from knowing how to answer comprehension questions in their own field. In the new workbook the students are trained how to make predictions, to skim and scan a text, to find main ideas in paragraphs, etc.

The number of reading classes is smaller as not all students should take a reading class. The students are categorized into three groups through a placement test which is conducted at the beginning of the semester. Students with the score of higher than 500 should take the academic writing class, those with the score of 475 – 500 should take the seminar presentation class, and those with the score of below 475 should take the reading class. Consequently, the class size for reading is now smaller and the teachers are happier when teaching these classes.

During the instruction the teachers are challenged to be creative and the students have opportunities to apply the reading skills which they are acquiring when reading their textbooks. The teachers have to prepare supplementary materials for exercises to be done spontaneously in class. These supplementary materials are also used for quizzes, and assignments. In addition, the students are asked to submit a text in their own field with their notes on it such as its main ideas, etc. The students are given the skills to be applied when reading texts in their own field. The teachers can consult each other on the content of the book. They are able to help each other by taking each other’s class in case one of them has to be absent for some reasons. The efficiency in teaching is also higher because one teacher can teach in more than one class.

The ITB Language Centre website (www.lc.itb.ac.id) plays a very important role in helping the students to practise the reading skills in their own time. In this interactive website the students have an opportunity to do quizzes (mostly dealing with vocabulary and grammar), and to read texts in their own field of study with comprehension questions. This website has many links to other academic sites so that the students are able to visit similar sites from all over the world.

When it comes to evaluation, we find it easier to construct tests in a team. Instead of producing a lot of items, each teacher can make fewer but better quality test items. We can also evaluate the test by looking at the results. We can compare the results across departments.

Conclusion
At the end of each semester the students are given questionnaires about the English teaching, which they have experienced. From the results we conclude that the students like the approach and they can check whether they master the skills by applying them when they read their textbooks.
The teachers are happier in that they have more flexibility in choosing the suitable time for teaching, for example they can teach any class running on a certain day, at a certain time suitable to their available time. Besides, the teachers work as a team, particularly in preparing the tests.

The materials can be modified after a certain time without having to burden the teachers too much.
This approach will be use until a new approach appears and is suitable to our needs.

Suggestions
The reading class which has been described here is intended especially for students with lower ability in English, so that they will acquire the basic skills required to read efficiently. The students with higher ability can be offered other classes such as the writing class or presentation skills class.
The students should have access to learning other areas of English, such as speaking class and others on their request. This can be done as an elective, non-credited-earning course at the Language Centre.


References
Hudson, T. 1991. A content comprehension approach to reading English for science and
technology. TESOL Quarterly, 25/1: 77-104.
Johns, A., & Dudley-Evans, T. (1991). English for Specific Purposes: International in scope, specific in purpose. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 297-314.