The Importance Of Reading In English As A Foreign Language

I. INTRODUCTION

Brown (2007) expresses “just as language ego, self-esteem, empathy, and motivation undergird the [learning] of spoken discourse, reading is subject to variability within the affective domain. The love of reading has propelled many learners to successful [learning] of reading skills” (p.36). Reading takes an important role at the time to learn and acquire a language because it provides useful elements that will help the comprehension and production of students. Nowadays, reading is considered as an important language skill in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) since it lets learners to acquire vocabulary and grammar throughout different strategies such as inferences, implicit and explicit information, facts, opinions, rhetorical

It has the status of a lingua franca, the language for transmission of scientific and academic knowledge, and the main door to cutting-age technology” (MEP, 2016, p. 6). English teaching in Costa Rica has been an important subject in the curriculum since it lets students to learn the different elements of the language as well as to prepare them to produce it in real life contexts by developing their communicative abilities in the different linguistic areas. However, the Public Education Ministry (MEP) (2016) states that “learners who receive English lessons in elementary and high schools are not reaching the expected English proficiency levels after eleven or twelve years of instruction.” (p. 15) This suggests that the different methodologies applied as well as the target contents proposed to teach English in national public institutions have not let students to reach the level of proficiency

16). The new curriculum will implement the Common European Framework of Reference which evaluates learners’ language skills at different levels of proficiency within specific scenarios. Likewise, in relation to reading skill, it will intend to expose students to different types of text and genres in order to interpret texts and respond critically by using content, previous background knowledge, and cultural information (MEP, 2016, p. 46- 49). Students will have the opportunity not only to improve their English Skill in reading for the National English Exam (Bachillerato) but also to acquire and use the language in real life contexts. In this way, throughout the different strategies teachers can implement, as well as the new ones proposed by the Public Education of Ministry, will help to have a clear perspective in how to improve the reading skill in rural public institutions.

C. Research Objectives

1c. Research Question

How do teaching strategies and methodologies influence the development of proficiency level´s in reading in EFL rural class, specifically two groups of tenth graders at Francisco J Orlich, Cot High School?

2c. General Objective

To analyze how the strategies used to teach reading influence