Pre-Reading Teaching Strategies in Ethiopian High School EFL Textbooks

Abstract

<p>This study aimed at investigating pre-reading teaching strategies employed in Ethiopian secondary EFL textbooks. The researcher carried out the study based on a descriptive-evaluative research design in the realm of sociocultural perspective of teaching reading in EFL settings. Grades eleven and twelve EFL textbooks were subjects of the study. For this purpose, he documented the softcopy pre-reading instructional tasks of the textbooks in a separate word file. Researcher's self-made checklist about pre-reading teaching strategies adapted from a variety of relevant theoretical and research-based evidence was the data collection instrument. The researcher used content analysis method to analyze the instructional activities. Then, he discussed the results of the data with the participant PhD TEFL instructor and reached an agreement that they analyzed the data consistently. The findings of the study indicate that the textbooks do not use different pre-questioning strategies. For instance, they ask pre-questions to obtain general comprehension abilities, but not to confirm expectations, to extract specific information, and to gain detailed or critical reading facilities. Additionally, they disregard pre-teaching vocabulary and pre-teaching metacognitive reading tasks. Contingent upon the findings, the researcher suggests that secondary EFL textbooks should give due emphasis to different pre-reading teaching strategies necessary to develop students&rsquo; reading comprehension facilities.</p>