Evaluation Of Preparatory School Reading Tasks Vis-À-Vis Students’ Future Academic Reading Need: Grade 11 English Textbook In Focus

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preparatory school reading tasks vis-à-vis Students‟ future academic reading needs focusing in grade 11 English textbook. To achieve the above purpose, mixed methods were used. For this study, one hundred sixty five grade eleven students, sixteen English teachers and six external evaluators were involved. The students were selected using random sampling whereas the English teachers and external evaluators were selected purposefully. Both students and teachers were from Ayertena secondary and preparatory school. The external evaluators were postgraduate students in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). All of the external evaluators have been using the textbooks since all of them are teaching in preparatory school. The instruments used to collect data were questionnaire and textbook analysis using checklists. The data obtained from the participants were analyzed by using frequency and percentages. On the other hand, the textbook examinations, which were made based on checklist, were analyzed qualitatively. The study revealed that the reading tasks possess several drawbacks. For example, some of the reading tasks are not compatible with learners‟ interest; the goals of reading tasks are not clear to learners and teachers; in some of the tasks the role of learners and objectives of the tasks are not precisely stated and there are no any schemes which are given to learners to assess or evaluate their progress in achieving academic reading skill in most of the reading activities.