Reading teaching strategies are crucial for enhancing comprehension among high school students. This research focuses on the methods employed by English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek, identifying four key strategies: Think-Pair-Share, Reciprocal Teaching, Question and Answer Relationship, and Small Group Discussion. The study highlights the importance of these strategies in fostering student engagement and understanding. It also explores factors influencing teachers’ choices of strategies, making it a valuable resource for educators aiming to improve reading instruction.

Key Points

  • Identifies four effective reading strategies used by teachers: Think-Pair-Share, Reciprocal Teaching, QAR, and Small Group Discussion.
  • Explores factors influencing teachers’ strategy choices in reading comprehension.
  • Highlights the importance of engaging students for improved reading skills.
  • Provides insights into teaching methods for English educators at the high school level.
Ephin Aluni
8 pages
Language:English
Type:Research Paper
English
Ephin Aluni
8 pages
Language:English
Type:Research Paper
English
363
/ 8
Reading Teaching Strategies Used by English Teachers at
Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek
Rini Safrianti
English Education of Graduate Program at State University Padang, Indonesia, (e-mail)
rinisafrianti013@gmail.com
Abstract
This research describes the implementation of strategies that are used by Senior High Schools
English teachers in teaching reading comprehension. The background of this research is based
on the results of the study stated that basically English teachers in Senior High School already
implemented several strategies in teaching reading comprehension, however, the researcher is
interested to know more about strategies that were used by the teachers in teaching reading
skill. Besides, this research also presents the factors that influenced the teachers to choose
certain strategies in teaching reading comprehension. The study was conducted with 4 English
teachers who were teaching English subject at SMA Negeri 1 Ampek Angkek. The data were
collected through observation and interview. The results of the analysis show that the English
teachers use four strategies in teaching reading comprehension, they are: 1)Think-Pair-Share,
2) Reciprocal Teaching, 3) Question and Answer Relationship, and 4) Small Group
Discussion. Two strategies are not used by the English teachers that are Know-What-Learned
and SQ3R strategies. Two important conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, small
group discussion and question and answer relationship were the most popular strategies that
are used by the English teachers. Second, the methods that the English teachers used the
strategies in teaching reading comprehension were congruent with the theories proposed by
experts.
Keywords: reading, teaching reading, teaching strategies
Introduction
Reading is one of the important skills for learners to expand their knowledge of the language,
cultures, and the world. Learners can get more information that they need through reading different
materials, such as magazines, newspapers, novels, books, journals, and so on. In the educational aspect, the
importance of reading has been claimed as one of the skills that can determine the students' success in
learning.
Since reading is a complex process that involves not only the reader's ability to read the text but also
his ability to comprehend it. Therefore, the teachers must facilitate students to learn the reading skill in order
to help the students be engaged with the text they read in a meaningful way. In order to teach students these
skills, teachers need to consider the strategies that they can use in helping the students during the teaching
and learning of reading. The teachers should arm themselves with various teaching reading strategies and
apply the strategies in the classroom in order to facilitate students in their learning. To understand the reading
process and common characteristics of their students, teachers need to be familiar with various approaches to
teaching reading so that they can make a wise choice about how to teach. The teacher has to be selective to
choose the appropriate strategy in teaching reading. She/he will not be successful in her/his teaching if she/he
does not apply a suitable strategy of teaching.
In teaching reading, the teachers use the strategies to guide the students to comprehend the content
and meaning of the reading passage. Duffy, as quoted by, states that reading strategies can be defined as
"plans for solving problems encountered in constructing meaning." It means that reading strategies are the
arrangement for finding out the solution or the answer to some questions, which are written in the reading
passage.
The teacher has to have a strategy to make the students ready to read. By applying the appropriate
strategies in the teaching and learning process, the teachers are able to evoke the students’ confidence to read
correctly. In fact, the use of appropriate strategies help students to develop a better understanding of the
strategies and improve their reading comprehension. Through the appropriate teaching strategies, the teacher
may increase the students’ interest, motivation, modified reading materials, and reading comprehension.
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 411
7th International Conference on English Language and Teaching (ICOELT 2019)
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
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In addition, the teachers should vary the use of teaching reading strategies in order to cater to the
difference between the levels of students' abilities and their needs as it will help them to read with an
adequate understanding of the text. By having a variety of teaching reading strategies and knowing when to
use them, the teachers can assist their students to gain the skills to achieve the reading comprehension.
Variation in instructional strategies in reading, such as in grouping, also provides students with multiple
learning experiences. Therefore, it is essential to find out how teachers teach reading in the classroom and
the strategies they use to achieve the aim of English language education in school.
Based on the explanation above, it is concluded that English teachers need appropriate strategies for
teaching reading comprehension to the students. Using appropriate strategies encourages students and
motivates them in studying reading comprehension.
Understanding the concepts of reading is very essential to achieve success in English language
learning. This is also because most of teaching-learning materials are in the written form either in the form of
books or computer-based material.
Teaching reading at Senior High School has some purposes, they are; the comprehending of textual,
ideational, and interpersonal meaning. Textual meaning means the students have to understand the sentence
structure of the text. Ideational meaning means the students have to find the main idea, supporting ideas,
details, and get information from the text. Interpersonal meaning means the student can respond to the text.
Strategies are generally more complex than skills. According to Richards, Jack C, and Richard
Schmidt, Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, strategies are “procedures
used in learning, thinking, etc. which serve as a way of reaching a goal. Brown defines strategies as the
“specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes of operation for achieving a particular end,
planned designs for controlling and manipulating certain information”.
Reading strategies refers to the plans for readers to solve problems encountered in constructing
meaning from texts According to Zhenyu, teaching strategy is how the teacher conducts the classes
applicable in most classroom situations and finds them very beneficial for helping students to learn to read at
the textual level so as to “see the forest as well as the trees”. In doing so, the teacher has to be able to plan a
strategy and modify the strategies based on the present needs. Teachers can use a variety of strategies to
ensure that students are actively engaged in reading.
There are many strategies that can be used by teachers in teaching reading. Some of them are 1)
Think-Pair-Share Strategy. It is one of the strategies in cooperative learning. According to Kagan, Think-
Pair-Share is one of the teaching strategies in cooperative learning used by the teacher in which a problem is
posed, students think alone about the question for a specific amount of time, then pair up to discuss the
questions with someone in the class, usually a teammate. This strategy works well with the students because
it allows them to formulate their ideas on their own, and to test them out in a non- threatening way with their
partners. Then, this activity is reinforced by their partners’ feedback, and the pairs have to share their ideas
with the class. 2) Know Want Learned (KWL) Strategy. KWL is an introductory strategy that provides a
structure for recalling what the students know about the topic, noting what students want to know, and finally
listing what has been learned is yet to be learned. This reading strategy is used to activate students'
background knowledge, prediction and conclusion or summary about one topic by asking them about what
they already know, what they want to know and what they have learned about one topic. (3) Reciprocal
Teaching Strategy (RTS). It is instructional procedures in which teachers and students take turns leading a
discussion about a shared text through four comprehension strategies, prediction, question generate,
summarization and clarification. (4) Question-Answer Relationship (QARs). It is the type of questions
teachers used after students have read. The type of question asked to guide comprehension should be based
on the information readers need to answer the question. 5) SQ3R. SQ3R is a systematic reading strategy to
help students organize the reading process into manageable units. It is only one of many similar strategies
that teachers can use to improve comprehension. This strategy consists of five steps: surveying, questioning,
reading, reciting, and reviewing. 6) Small-Group Discussion. It is a group of three to five students in
studying, practicing or discussion material or an object in order to get a goal.
The first research that is related to the present study is about the observation of strategies in
teaching reading at Senior High Schools in Surabaya. In this study, Imawati observed several teachers’
teaching strategies in reading and analyzed the result using Zhenyu’s criteria in teaching strategies. The
result of this observational study concluded that most teachers used several teaching strategies that are
similar to Zhenyu’s strategies. However, the teachers are encouraged to use strategies that adhere to the
classroom condition, the topic of the reading passage discussed and the time allocation for each lesson.
Besides, the use of other materials could be very important in helping the students comprehend the reading
passages better and increase their knowledge.
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 411
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Another study was done by Ahmad, K. Seken, L.P. Artini who studied the strategies for teaching
speaking and reading comprehension skills. The result of this study revealed that the three teachers being
observed applied the speaking and reading comprehension skills strategies in three stages: Pre-stage, Whilst-
stage, and Post-Stage. Their findings concluded that English teachers need to increase their knowledge and
experience in order to understand the concept and reasons in using the strategies for teaching speaking and
reading comprehension. This study recommended the English teachers to have awareness of the significance
of choosing the appropriate strategies for teaching speaking and reading comprehension skills so that the
learning process can run effectively.
The last research was carried out by Antoni Nurman (2010) with the title “Exploring EFL Teachers'
Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension: A Case Study at a Junior High School in Riau”. This study
is aimed at exploring EFL teachers’ strategies in teaching reading comprehension at a Junior High School in
Riau. It was conducted to get detailed information about the strategies used by teachers in teaching reading
comprehension and the students’ responses towards their teachers’ strategies in teaching reading
comprehension. This study revealed that the teachers used teaching reading comprehension strategies in three
reading stages: pre, while and post-reading stages. In the pre-reading stage, they used the brainstorming
technique, encouraged students to use a dictionary, discussed text types and predicted the text prior to
reading. Then, in the while-reading stage, they conducted reading aloud, reread for checking comprehension,
direct reading activity, discussed unknown words and conducted retelling of the text. In the post-reading
stage, they evaluated their comprehension, performed clarifying and justifying, scanning, reviewing, the
students were given an assignment and a follow-up activity. The students’ responses to their teachers’
strategies were generally quite good, and the responses were classified into low-level association responses
and partly-formed knowledge structure responses.
Although many previous researchers have discussed the strategies for teaching reading
comprehension, this research aims to conduct a further investigation related to the teachers’ strategies in
teaching reading. The researcher believes that it is important to explore the teachers' strategies for teaching
reading comprehension. Moreover, the reserach question is how they use those strategies and the factors that
influence their choice of teaching strategies which the previous researchers did not discuss it.
Method
This research is descriptive qualitative research. The data presented is more of an explanation in the
form of words or in the form of images. It is appropriate to use descriptive and qualitative research since this
research aimed at finding the strategies and the procedures used by the English teachers in teaching reading
comprehension.
The setting of the research was in SMAN 1 Ampek Angkek in Agam regency. There were four
English teachers involved in this research. The participants were chosen by using purposive sampling
technique.
The researcher conducted direct observation. The observation did in the teaching and learning
process in the classroom. Here, the researcher observed the teachers' strategies in teaching reading and
students' responses and participation in the teaching-learning process. She observed events in the classroom
and wrote them down on the fields noted. By direct observing, there were possibilities to take some notes,
behavior, development, and so on, which happened at any time.
In this research, the researcher interviewed the teachers about the strategies used in teaching
reading. The researcher did the interview after doing the observation to get more information. The audio
recorder used to record the teachers’ answers which then transcribed verbatim to make it easier in analyzing
the transcript of the interview.
After collecting the data, then the data were analyzed by the researcher. The data analysis occurred
by following steps: after doing an observation, the researcher analyzed the strategies used by the teachers in
teaching reading. The researcher classified the teachers’ strategy on teaching reading based on the strategy
which will be used by the teachers. Then, the conclusions based on the data which have been analyzed will
be drawn.
Results and Discussion
This part presents the discussion of the research findings. There are three research questions
proposed in this research. The discussion focuses on the findings of the three research questions. The first
discussion is about the strategies that are applied by the English teachers in teaching reading comprehension.
The second discussion is about the teachers’ ways in employing the strategies in teaching reading
comprehension, and the third discussion is about the factors that are influenced the English teachers in
choosing certain strategy in teaching reading comprehension.
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FAQs

what are the reading teaching strategies used by English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

The research outlines several effective reading teaching strategies employed by English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek.

  • Think-Pair-Share: This cooperative learning strategy encourages students to think individually, discuss in pairs, and then share with the larger group.
  • Reciprocal Teaching: Involves students taking turns leading discussions about a text, focusing on prediction, questioning, summarization, and clarification.
  • Question and Answer Relationship: Teachers pose questions after reading to guide comprehension and engage students in discussion.
  • Small Group Discussion: Students work in groups to discuss reading materials, enhancing understanding through peer interaction.

how effective are the reading teaching strategies used by English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

The reading teaching strategies used by English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek have proven to be effective in enhancing student comprehension.

  • Engagement: Strategies like Think-Pair-Share and Small Group Discussion foster active participation, making learning more interactive.
  • Comprehension Improvement: Reciprocal Teaching helps students develop critical thinking skills by engaging them in discussions about the text.
  • Peer Learning: Small Group Discussions allow students to learn from each other, which can lead to deeper understanding of the material.

what findings were revealed in the research about reading teaching strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

The research revealed that English teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek primarily use four key strategies for teaching reading comprehension.

  • Popular Strategies: The most frequently used strategies include Small Group Discussion and Question and Answer Relationship.
  • Unused Strategies: Strategies like Know-What-Learned (KWL) and SQ3R were not utilized by the teachers due to lack of familiarity.
  • Alignment with Theory: The methods used by teachers were consistent with established educational theories on effective reading instruction.

what is the importance of reading strategies in teaching at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Reading strategies are crucial for effective teaching at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek as they facilitate better comprehension and engagement.

  • Knowledge Expansion: Effective reading strategies help students access a variety of information from different texts.
  • Skill Development: They support the development of critical thinking and analytical skills necessary for understanding complex materials.
  • Student Motivation: Engaging strategies can increase student interest and motivation in reading, leading to improved academic performance.

what methods do teachers use to implement reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek implement reading strategies through structured methodologies that enhance student comprehension.

  • Direct Instruction: Teachers provide clear explanations of the strategies before students practice them.
  • Collaborative Learning: Strategies like Think-Pair-Share encourage collaboration among students, allowing them to discuss and refine their understanding.
  • Feedback Mechanisms: Teachers use questioning techniques to assess understanding and provide immediate feedback during discussions.

what challenges do teachers face in using reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Teachers at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek face several challenges when implementing reading strategies in the classroom.

  • Lack of Familiarity: Some teachers are not well-acquainted with certain strategies, such as KWL and SQ3R, leading to underutilization.
  • Class Size: Large class sizes can make it difficult to implement group discussions effectively.
  • Time Constraints: Limited time for lessons restricts the ability to fully explore and apply multiple strategies.

how do reading strategies impact student performance at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Reading strategies significantly impact student performance at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek by enhancing comprehension and engagement.

  • Improved Understanding: Strategies like Reciprocal Teaching encourage deeper engagement with the text, leading to better comprehension.
  • Higher Participation: Interactive strategies such as Small Group Discussions promote active participation, which can improve retention of information.
  • Academic Success: Effective reading strategies correlate with higher academic performance, as students become more skilled readers.

what role does teacher training play in implementing reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Teacher training plays a vital role in the successful implementation of reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek.

  • Knowledge Enhancement: Training provides teachers with the necessary knowledge about various effective reading strategies.
  • Skill Development: It equips teachers with the skills to adapt strategies to meet diverse student needs.
  • Confidence Building: Well-trained teachers are more confident in using innovative strategies, leading to better student outcomes.

what are the key components of effective reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek

Effective reading strategies at Senior High School 1 Ampek Angkek include several key components that enhance learning.

  • Active Engagement: Strategies encourage students to actively participate in their learning process.
  • Collaboration: Many strategies promote peer interaction, allowing students to learn from each other.
  • Structured Approach: Strategies like Reciprocal Teaching provide a clear framework for students to follow, improving comprehension.