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UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL FLUMINENSE

CENTRO DE ESTUDOS GERAIS

INSTITUTO DE LETRAS

COORDENAÇÃO DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM LÍNGÜÍSTICA APLICADA

CRISTIANE DA SILVA LOPES

A CONTRASTIVE GENRE-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION OF READING

COMPREHENSION SECTIONS FROM EFL PROFICIENCY TESTS AND EFL

COURSEBOOKS

Niterói – RJ

2006

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CRISTIANE DA SILVA LOPES

A CONTRASTIVE GENRE-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION OF READING

COMPREHENSION SECTIONS FROM EFL PROFICIENCY TESTS AND EFL

COURSEBOOKS

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de

Pós-graduação em Letras da Universidade

Federal Fluminense como requisito parcial

para a obtenção do título de Mestre em

Lingüística Aplicada ao Ensino de Língua

Estrangeira. Orientador: Prof. Dr. David

Shepherd

Niterói – RJ

2006

ads:

L864 Lopes, Cristiane da Silva.

A contrastive genre-oriented investigation of reading

comprehension sections from EFL Proficiency Tests and EFL

Coursebooks / Cristiane da Silva Lopes. – 2006.

156 f.

Orientador: David Shepherd.

Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal Fluminense,

Instituto de Letras, 2006.

Bibliografia: f. 151-156.

1. Língua inglesa – Estudo e ensino. 2. Língua inglesa -

Gênero. 3. Leitura. 4. Testes. I. Shepherd, David. II.

Universidade Federal Fluminense. Instituto de Letras. III. Título.

CDD 420.7

CRISTIANE DA SILVA LOPES

A CONTRASTIVE GENRE-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION OF READING

COMPREHENSION SECTIONS FROM EFL PROFICIENCY TESTS AND EFL

COURSEBOOKS

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de

Pós-graduação em Letras da Universidade

Federal Fluminense como requisito parcial

para a obtenção do título de Mestre em

Lingüística Aplicada ao Ensino de Língua

Estrangeira.

BANCA EXAMINADORA

____________________________________________

Prof. Dr. David Shepherd (Orientador)

Universidade Federal Fluminense

____________________________________________

Profa. Dra. Solange Coelho Vereza

Universidade Federal Fluminense

____________________________________________

Profa. Dra. Gisele de Carvalho

Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro

To the memory of my grandmother, Maria

do Carmo.

Iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, to God for providing me with guidance and support

throughout the most difficult moments of my existence

To my supervisor, Prof. Dr. David Shepherd, for his patience and

encouragement. Without his valuable support and dedication, the painstaking

task of developing the present research would not have been possible.

To Profa. Dra. Maria Elisa Knust and Profa. Dra. Sonia Torres, who have

enormously contributed to my academic growth.

To Profa. Dra. Solange Coelho Vereza, who always believed in my potential

and encouraged me to carry on in the two most difficult moments of my life.

To my immediate family for their love and support.

To my mother, Sebastiana, who never let me give up despite the difficulties.

To my dear husband João Carlos for reading drafts of this dissertation and for

the kind words of emotional support.

To my friends Cláudia, Elen Lessa, Nelma Pedretti, Roseli Ferreira and

Verônica de Fátima for their supportive friendship.

RESUMO

O principal objetivo da presente pesquisa consiste em desenvolver uma análise

contrastiva das seções de leitura de livros didáticos para o ensino de inglês

como língua estrangeira e das provas que testam as habilidades de leitura em

exames de proficiência. Tal investigação é desenvolvida sob a perspectiva dos

estudos empreendidos no campo da análise de gêneros textuais. O corpus é

constituído por quatro provas de leitura que compõem os exames FCE dos

anos 2003 e 2004 e por vinte seções destinadas ao desenvolvimento das

habilidades de leitura em cinco livros didáticos amplamente utilizados em

instituições privadas para o ensino de línguas no Brasil. Apesar das inúmeras

investigações desenvolvidas no campo dos gêneros textuais e da gramática

funcional sistêmica, observou-se nos elementos do corpus um caráter

incidental no que diz respeito ao emprego de atividades destinadas à

percepção de aspectos organizacionais reveladores do propósito comunicativo

do gênero ao qual o texto alvo pertence. Tal constatação parece sugerir que a

contemplação de aspectos inerentes ao gênero textual ainda não constitui uma

prática na sala de aula de leitura em língua estrangeira. A partir da análise

empreendida foi possível concluir que o potencial pedagógico dos estudos

empreendidos na área dos gêneros textuais ainda não resultou em mudanças

significativas para a abordagem dos textos dentro da sala de aula de leitura em

língua estrangeira.

Palavras-chaves: gênero – leitura – testagem

ABSTRACT

The ultimate aim of the present research is to develop a genre-oriented

investigation of the reading comprehension sections from EFL proficiency tests

in contrast to EFL coursebooks. The investigation opted for the analysis of four

FCE reading papers of the years 2003 and 2004 plus twenty reading sections

from five distinct EFL coursebooks widely used in Brazilian private language

schools. Despite the advances in the area of genre studies, the analysis of the

elements of the corpus reveals an incidental nature as far as the genre-focused

questions are concerned. The identification of generic features such as aspects

of field, tenor and mode does not constitute a common practice. Moreover, the

questions focused on the schematic organization of target texts do not seem to

overtly contribute to the identification of the communicative purposes of the

texts to which they are related. These findings made it possible to conclude that

the potential pedagogical applications of the investigations in the area of genre

studies do not seem to be acknowledged as a crucial element in order to

develop learners` proficiency in reading in the target language.

Key words: genre – reading – testing

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ALTE

Association of Language Testers in Europe

CAE

Certificate in Advanced English. Universidade de Cambridge (UCLES)

CCAA

Centro de Cultura Anglo-Americana

CPE

Certificate of Proficiency in English. Universidade de Cambridge (UCLES)

EAP

English for Academic Purposes

EFL

English as a foreign language

ESP

English for Specific Purposes

FCE

First Certificate in English. Universidade de Cambridge (UCLES)

Foreign language

GMAT

Graduate Management Admissions Test. Graduate Management

Admission Council.

IELTS

International English Language Testing System (UCLES)

KET

Key English Test. Universidade de Cambridge (UCLES)

First language

Second language

PET

Preliminary English Test. Universidade de Cambridge (UCLES)

SBCI

Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa

TEFL

Teachers of English as a foreign language

TKT

Teacher Knowledge Test

TOEFL

Test of Overseas English as a Foreign Language. Educational Testing

Service (New Jersey)

UCLES

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate

vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Genre-texts presented in the format of articles ……………..…….. 110

viii

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1: Occurrences of genre-texts in the coursebooks ……………..……… 96

Graph 2: Predominant genre-texts in coursebook “Alfa”………….…….……..108

Graph 3: Predominant genre-texts in coursebook “Beta” ……………………. 108

Graph 4: Predominant genre-texts in coursebook “Gama” ………………..… 108

Graph 5: Predominant genre-texts in coursebook “Delta” …………………... 109

Graph 6: Predominant genre-texts in coursebook “Épsilon” …………..……. 109

Graph 7: Predominant non-genre oriented questions in the coursebooks …. 128

investigated.

Graph 8: Predominant genre-oriented questions in the coursebooks ………. 131

investigated.

Graph 9: Predominant non-genre oriented questions in the FCE

Reading Papers …………………………………………………..……. 134

Graph 10: Predominant genre-oriented questions in the FCE

Reading Papers …………………………………………………….... 134

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1.: Cambridge EFL examinations ………………………………………. 45

Table 2.2.: Bhatia’s Promotional Genre Framework for analyzing

sales promotion letters ……………………………….………………. 67

Table 2.3.: Bhatia’s Promotional Genre Framework for analyzing job

application letters ……………………………………..………………. 68

Table 2.4.: Motta-Roth’s (1995) academic book review moves ………………. 68

Table 2.5.: Swales’ CARS model for article introductions ………………..……. 69

Table 2.6.: Genre-general patterns ………………………………………….…… 70

Table 3.1.: Samples of specific acronyms …………………

Table 3.2..: Samples of specific lexis ………………………..

Table 3.3..: Genre-texts identified in the coursebooks ……………….

Table 3.4..: The layout features identified in Text ONE …………………..…… 98

Table 3.5..: The identification of macro-patterns via

question-and-answer dialog ………………………………..……… 101

Table 3.6..: Samples of lexico-grammatical choices in Text ONE ……….….. 102

Table 3.7..: The layout features identified in Text TWO …………………….... 103

Table 3.8..: The identification of macro-patterns via

question-and-answer dialog …………………………………….... 104

Table 3.9..: Samples of lexico-grammatical choices in Text TWO ………….. 105

Table 3.10.: Salient genre-texts identified in the FCE

Reading Paper/June2003 …………………………….………….. 112

Table 3.11.: Salient genre-texts identified in the FCE

Reading Paper/Dec.2003 ………………………….……………… 112

Table 3.12.: Salient genre-texts identified in the FCE

Reading Paper/June2004 ……………………………….………… 112

Table 3.13.: Salient genre-texts identified in the FCE

Reading Paper/Dec2004 ………………………………………….. 113

Table 3.14.: An overview of the comprehension questions

identified in the coursebooks …………………………………….. 127

Table 3.15.: An overview of the comprehension questions

identified in the FCE reading papers …………………………….. 133

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations …………………………………………………………… vii

List of Figures ……………………………………………………………….….. viii

List of Graphs …………………………………………………………………….. ix

List of Tables ………………………………..........................................………. x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Situating the problem: EFL reading lessons vs global market: a

contradictory scenario ......................................................................... 01

1.2. Objectives: outlining research phases ................................................ 06

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE

2.1. Approaching EFL reading ................................................................ 08

2.1.1. Defining reading …………………………………………………............ 08

2.1.2. Views on reading ……………………………….................................... 10

2.1.2.1. The cognitive processing of texts ……………………………………… 11

2.1.2.2. A schema-oriented view of reading ……………………..………….… 13

2.1.3. Reading models: three distinct approaches to reading ………….….. 17

2.1.4. Reading skills and strategies ….……………………………………..… 20

2.1.5. The three major constituents of the reading process ....................... 24

2.1.6. Proficient readers: a combination of reading skills and strategies …26

2.1.7. The relevance of EFL reading within a global scenario .................... 30

2.1.8. Approaching reading within overseas settings .................................. 32

2.1.9. An enlightened approach to EFL reading via “alien” coursebooks … 37

2.2. The testing of reading …………………………………………….…… 42

2.2.1. Introduction ……………………………………………………..……… 42

2.2.2. Background to the FCE …………………………..…………………… 43

2.2.2.1. General considerations regarding the UCLES ……………………... 43

Xii

2.2.2.2. The FCE ………………………………………………………………… 44

2.2.3. Similarities between teaching and testing reading ……………….… 46

2.2.4. Differences between teaching and testing reading ………………… 47

2.2.5. The relevance of Washback and Impact Research ………….…...…51

2.2.6. Learning validity: a concern in language testing ……………….…...53

2.3. Revisiting Genre Theories ……………………………………….……55

2.3.1. Background to Text Linguistics ……………………………..………. 55

2.3.2. Approaching reading via text analysis …………………….…………60

2.3.2.1. The interactive nature of reading …………………………..…………60

2.3.2.2. Texts are cohesive …………………………………………..…………63

2.3.2.3. Texts are patterned .........................................................................65

2.3.3. The genre-specific patterns ............................................................67

2.3.4. The genre-general patterns ……………………………….…………..70

2.3.5. Defining genre: Swales’ (1990) Working Definition of Genre ……. 72

2.3.6. The social roles of genres ……………………………………………..74

2.3.7. The Context of Culture ………………………………………………...78

2.3.8. The Context of Situation ………………………….……………………78

2.4. Conclusions ……………………………………………………………80

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1. Selecting the corpus …………………………………………..……….83

3.2. Describing the corpus ………………………………………………….84

3.2.1. The coursebooks ……………………………………………………... 84

3.2.1.1. The Coursebook “Alfa” ………………………………….………….... 85

3.2.1.2. The Coursebook “Beta” ………………………………….…………….85

3.2.1.3. The Coursebook “Gama” ……………………………………..……… 86

3.2.1.4. The Coursebook “Delta” ……………………………………………... 87

3.2.1.5. The Coursebook “Épsilon” …………………………………………….87

3.2.2. The FCE Reading Papers ……………………………………………..88

3.3. Collecting and analyzing data ………………………………………..88

3.3.1. Introduction …………………………………………………………... 88

3.3.2. The Discourse Community behind the FCE examination ………….90

xiii

3.3.3. A quantitative-interpretative analysis of the genre-texts identified ..95

3.3.3.1. In the coursebooks …………………………………………………..…95

3.3.3.1.1. Sample Text ONE …………………………………………………..…97

3.3.3.1.2. Sample Text TWO ……………………………..…………………….102

3.3.4. Predominant genre-texts …………………………………………… 107

3.3.5. Preliminary conclusions ………………………………………….… 109

3.3.6. Predominant genre-texts in the FCE reading paper ……………. 112

3.3.7. Preliminary conclusions ………………………………………….… 114

3.3.8. Analysis of the reading comprehension questions ……………… 115

3.3.8.1. Introduction ………………………………………………..………… 115

3.3.8.2. Analyzing data ……………………………………………….……… 117

3.3.8.2.1. The non-genre oriented questions ………………………………… 117

3.3.8.2.2. The genre-oriented questions ……………………………………… 122

3.3.9. Main findings: contrasting data …………………….……………… 126

3.3.9.1. Introduction ……………………….............................…………….. 126

3.3.9.2. The Coursebooks ………………………………………………….. 127

3.3.9.3. The FCE reading papers …………………………………………... 133

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS

4.1. Final conclusions ……………………………..…………………….. 136

4.2. Potential pedagogical insights …………………….………………. 142

4.3. Limitations and further research ……………….………………….. 148

Bibliography ................................................................................................151

Appendices …………………………………………………………………..… 157

Appendix 1: Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Alfa”

Coursebook “Beta”

Coursebook “Gama”

Coursebook “Delta”

Coursebook “Épsilon”

Xiv

Appendix 2: The four FCE reading papers

June/2003

December/2003

June/2004

December/2004

Appendix 3: Table 3.1: Samples of specific acronyms

Appendix 4: Table 3.2: Samples of specific lexis

Appendix 5: Table 3.3: Genre-texts identified in the coursebooks

Appendix 6: Sample Text ONE: Do we really need to sleep?

Appendix 7: Sample Text TWO: Friends again forever.

Appendix 8: Sample Text: Biographical sketch

Appendix 9: Sample Text: Travel brochure

Appendix 10: Sample Text: an interview

CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Situating the problem: EFL reading lessons versus global market

demands: a contradictory scenario.

My experience as an EFL teacher in a range of Brazilian private language schools

seems to suggest that, despite the development of research studies in the field of

reading, there still seems to be a tendency to regard the development of effective

reading skills as secondary. Speaking, listening, in first place, and also writing

skills have long constituted the major concern within EFL classrooms. This

situation may be said to emerge from a diversity of factors such as tight schedules,

lack of expertise on the teachers’ part and learners’ apparent lack of interest in

reading. This scenario generated the reflections outlined below. Such reflections,

by the same token, led to the development of the research study presented in the

subsequent chapters.

Investigations developed in the area of EFL teaching/learning have revealed a

global tendency to acknowledge the mastery of the English language as an

indispensable tool in the growing competitive global scenario. English is claimed to

have reached the status of a global language (Crystal, 1997:2) and is often

regarded as the major tool for international communication in different parts of the

globe. Recent statistics (Graddol, 2006:62) have revealed that the number of L2

and FL speakers of English is steadily growing. Furthermore, the English language

has long been regarded as a vehicle in international transactions. As Crystal

(1997:2) states, The English language is spoken by politicians from all over the world

(...) wherever you travel, you see English signs and advertisements. Graddol (1999:57)

subscribes to Crystal’s (op. cit.) views and contrasts the sharp growth in the

number of L2 speakers of English, compared to the number of L1 speakers, which

appears to be declining. According to this latter author, such a phenomenon may

be explained from three distinct perspectives. Firstly, there seems to exist

demographic evidence which suggests that the proportion of the world population

which uses English as L1 has been steadily decreasing. Secondly, English has

achieved an international status, which reveals this language as the main tool to

be used in multilingual contexts

. Thirdly, Graddol (1999:57) avers that the

phenomenon previously described might be related to changes in the conception

of languages, linguistic competence and identity. However, more recently,

Graddol’s (2006:62) investigations seem to indicate that nowadays the status of

the English language is being challenged. According to Graddol (2006:62) English

is by no means the only language in global business

. However, considering that the

main aim of this section is to provide no more than a picture of the relevance of the

English language within the global scenario, the main causes for the rise in the

number of speakers of other languages will not be addressed.

In 1995, Crystal (1997, apud Graddol, 1999:62) conducted a detailed investigation

on the use of the English language in 66 countries. At that time, his findings

Within these contexts, English is regarded as the vehicle which allows communication among

non-native speakers to occur.

It seems important to highlight that more recent investigations have signaled that English can no

longer be regarded as the only language in global business transactions (David, 2003 apud Graddol,

2006:62). According to Graddol (2006:62), the dominance of the English language is being

challenged in some parts of the globe by other languages such as Mandarin and Spanish, which

have reached higher status and, as a consequence, have influenced national policy priorities in

certain nations.

revealed that there were about 235 millions speakers of English in the world. In

addition, the same author argued that the number of L2 speakers of English is

expected to reach 462 millions by the year 2045. These figures seem to suggest a

substantial change: the growing number of L2 English speakers which is likely to

outnumber the number of L1 speakers. Similarly, the continuous globalization

phenomenon and the growing urge for a language of international communication

has placed the English language as the language of business transactions into the

international arena. Thus, in summary, it is possible to argue that learning to read

in English has become an indispensable ingredient nowadays, particularly for

professionals who wish to improve their opportunities in the competitive job market

or for those professionals, in all spheres of activity, including academia, whose

progress depends on accessing up-to-date knowledge regarding research.

In Brazil, this need has led to a growing interest for the learning of the English

language. As a consequence, a wide range of private language schools, often

called “cursinhos de inglês” have flourished. These institutions attempt to attract a

demanding and numerous clientele. As a result, the publishing market has also

flourished and become a profitable business due to the continuous demand for

coursebooks, among other pedagogical resources, for the teaching of the target

language.

Moreover, proficiency tests such as Michigan, TOEFL and the various Cambridge

examinations have extended their markets within this scenario, as they are seen

as a means to award or achieve internationally recognized certification for those

learners who have dedicated years to their language learning. These certificates

are said to provide their holders with a number of benefits, particularly in

professional settings. They are claimed to provide evidence that applicants are

able to communicate fluently using certain skills in the target language, which, in

turn, enhances the individual’s chances of obtaining an improved position or

gaining a promotion. In very general terms, most of these examinations are said to

test the mastery of the four skills, i.e., reading, writing, listening comprehension

and speaking. Moreover, they seem to follow a set of pre-established criteria

which must be fulfilled by candidates. Therefore, apart from being linguistically

competent, candidates are expected to take exam practice courses in order to

achieve positive results.

In an attempt to cope with the demands of the proficiency tests market, specific

training is provided by private language schools. More recently, with the advent of

the internet, a number of websites offer online training. Among the major

certificates of proficiency in the English language, it is worth highlighting

MICHIGAN, GMAT and the various Cambridge University qualifications such as

CPE, CAE, FCE, IELTS and TKT. It seems important to point out that substantial

compulsory fees must be paid by candidates prior to undergoing the exams.

As highlighted in the preceding paragraphs, most of these proficiency tests are

said to have as their ultimate aim an assessment of the mastery of the four skills.

The focal point of the present investigation however, has been limited to the

testing of reading. Through recent contact with the studies developed in the area

of systemic functional grammar and genre analysis, I have come to conclude that

there seems to exist aspects which are inherent in the teaching/learning of foreign

language reading and which seem to contribute to the development of more

proficient readers in the target language. Similarly, my own experience as an EFL

learner seems to suggest that “reading lessons”, at least in private language

schools, rarely appear to reflect the actual demands of a globalized market. The

latter demands proficient readers who are expected to be able to experiment and

analyze texts as a semantic entity. In contrast, the development of reading skills is

often given a secondary role with limited focus on the reading sections assigned

as homework.

Coursebooks emerge as a fundamental resource within this scenario. However,

depending on the institution

, they will give little or no emphasis to the

teaching/learning of reading skills. My experience in the light of the theoretical

discussions developed throughout my postgraduate courses, has demonstrated

that, very often, teachers seem to be concerned about focusing on no more than

one of the many aspects which reading appears to comprise: reading as a

decodification of printed symbols (Nuttall, 1996:2). Therefore, one of the most

important aspects related to the teaching of reading skills is often neglected,

namely, the triangular relationship of writer-text-reader. This reflection has led to

the three pedagogical questions which constitute the focal point of this

investigation:

1) Do reading sections of coursebooks really reflect the demands of a globalized

society in which individuals are expected to experiment with texts as semantic

units rather than groups of isolated sentences?

In the last three decades, several private language franchise schools (e.g.: CCAA, BRASAS,

SBCI, Wizard, CNA etc.) have opted to produce their own coursebooks.

2) To what extent can genre analysis contribute to the development of more

effective reading lessons and, as a result, guide learners towards becoming more

proficient readers and, potentially, as a consequence, improved EFL writers?

3) How genre-oriented are reading comprehension questions in the coursebooks

and in the FCE reading papers which constitute the corpus of analysis?

In an attempt to find answers to these pedagogical concerns, the research to be

presented will have as its theoretical foundation three distinct areas of study,

namely the views on reading, the testing of reading skills and genre studies.

1.2. OBJECTIVES: OUTLINING RESEARCH PHASES

The bulk of the present investigation consists of an attempt to answer the three

research questions outlined in Section 1.1. In order to achieve this aim, a

discussion will be conducted by bearing in mind three distinct fields of study,

namely reading, testing of reading and genre studies (Chapter 2). It is hoped that

these theoretical discussions and their applications will provide insightful

contributions for the development of the analysis of the corpus (Chapter 3) and, as

a result, enlighten the conclusions drawn in Chapter 4.

Chapter 2 provides the theoretical background for the development of the analysis.

Section 2.1 discusses the issues surrounding the relevance of teaching effective

FL reading strategies within the modern global scenario. Here, a critical token on

the adoption of “alien” coursebooks within non-native settings is also provided.

Section 2.2 addresses the testing of reading. In this same section, background

information relating to the FCE is provided, in view of the fact that the FCE reading

paper constitutes an integrating element of the corpus of analysis. The relevance

of Washback and Impact research investigations are also discussed in the same

section. Finally, Section 2.3 revisits genre theories, the concept of discourse

community postulated by Swales (1990) and discusses the relevance of text

analysis for the teaching and testing of reading.

Chapter 3 is concerned with the stages of the analysis itself. It provides a detailed

description of the corpus, as well as the set of criteria considered for its selection.

The criteria adopted for the analysis are provided in this same section. In addition,

preliminary conclusions are drawn.

The main findings and conclusions are drawn in Chapter 4. Furthermore, in this

same chapter, the potential pedagogical applications, as well as limitations of the

research are addressed. Finally, possibilities for further research in the area of

genre studies are suggested.

CHAPTER 2

A REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE

2.1. APPROACHING EFL READING

2.1.1. Defining reading

Celce-Murcia & Olshstain (2000:121) assert that the vast literature and substantial

amount of studies developed in the field of L2/FL reading in the past two decades

suggest that the nature of the reading process has long constituted a source of

concern within the second/foreign language teaching world. Since the 1970s the

approaches to reading have undergone continuous processes of reflection and

substantial transformations (Edmundson, 2004:19). Among the existing diversity of

theories on reading, Huey’s is acknowledged as one of the precursors

(Edmundson, op. cit.). According to Edmundson, Huey defines the act of reading

as follows:

Ler consiste em uma série de subprocessos que passam dos perceptuais

(extrair padrões visuais) aos lingüísticos, cognitivos e motores, cuja

integração é afetada tanto por fatores internos (autonomia, atenção e

capacidade de memória) quanto por variáveis externas (construções

sintáticas, ambigüidade léxica e a natureza do material a ser lido)

(Edmundson, 2004:19)

Edmundson claims that in Huey’s (op. cit.) viewpoint, the essence of the act of

reading lies in the combination of what the author defines as lower and higher-level

processing mechanisms. The former is concerned with the visual input (i.e.: the

Reading consists of a number of sub-processes which move from perceptual to linguistic or

cognitive and physical. The integration of such sub-processes tends to be affected by both internal

factors (i.e.: autonomy, attention and memory capacity) and external factors (i.e.: syntactic

constructions, lexical ambiguity and the nature of target reading material. [my translation]

recognition and decodification of linguistic symbols which enable readers to move

from smaller to bigger units such as in the sequence word-sentence-paragraph-

text, whereas the latter is concerned with semantic relationships which are likely to

promote comprehension.

Since then, over a century, as investigations on processes experienced by readers

evolved, a diversity of theories on how reading is processed has been developed.

Empirical evidence has been of substantial value and has provided insightful

contributions towards a more comprehensive understanding of the rationale

underlying the act of reading. The citations below exemplify the several definitions

for the term reading, which have been generated from research in this field:

The process of getting linguistic information via print. (Widdowson,

1979 apud Alderson & Urquhart,1984: XXV)

Reading, according to this view, is an interactive process – as

conversation is – because both reader and writer depend on one another.

(Nuttall, 1996:11)

O processo de ler é complexo. Como em outras tarefas cognitivas, como

resolver problemas, trazer à mente uma informação necessária, aplicar

algum conhecimento a uma situação nova, o engajamento de muitos

fatores (percepção, atenção, memória) é essencial se queremos fazer

sentido do texto

. (Kleiman, 2001:13)

Given that the written text also constitutes an integrating element of our

investigation, an attempt will now be made to provide, in the section below, a

The reading process is complex. As in other cognitive tasks, such as solving a problem, recalling

an essential piece of information, applying any kind of previous knowledge to a new situation and

engaging in a variety of other factors (i.e.: perception, attention and memory) is essential if we

really wish to make sense of a text. [my translation]

theoretically-based discussion on the nature of the act of reading and what its

processes imply. It is hoped that this discussion may prove to be particularly

relevant in order to achieve an improved understanding of the approaches which

are, either conscious or unconsciously, adopted for the teaching of reading

skills/strategies in a number of private EFL schools in Brazil.

2.1.2. Views on reading

Historically, reading was often regarded as a passive activity (Nuttall, 1996:5). It

was long defined as a serial or linear process (Kleiman, 2001:17) whereby the

decoder (hereafter reader) would be restricted to the mere recognition and

decodification of linguistic symbols. Kleiman (1996, apud Edmundson, 2004:20)

rejects this view of reading since it suggests a lack of interaction between lower

and higher-level processing mechanisms i.e., it does not acknowledge the

relationships established between linguistic, syntactic and semantic

interpretations. Nevertheless, the same author acknowledges the crucial

importance of lower-level processing mechanisms in order to achieve

comprehension. A further view regards reading as an opportunity either to teach

pronunciation or to practice fluent speaking (Nuttall, 1996:2).

These two views of reading are undeniably still widely held and have their place in

the reading class. However, up-to-date research studies (Nuttall, 1996:2) have

strengthened Huey’s (op. cit.) views and revealed that the term reading appears to

embody a considerably more comprehensive meaning which may be summarized,

in very general terms, as the conveying of a message from the printed page. As a

result, more recent research investigations in this area have scrutinized the nature

of the act of reading from a diversity of angles. Accordingly, readers should no

longer be viewed as “empty minds” to be filled with the message and knowledge

encoded by writers but as fundamental constituents of a dialogic process (Wallace,

1992:44-45). According to Edmundson (2004:22), Huey’s attempt, in 1908, to

describe reading as a combination of lower and higher-level mechanisms, was of

crucial importance since it triggered the development of further investigations on

the nature of the act of reading. Such investigations focused on reading from

cognitive, psycholinguistic and sociointeractive perspectives, which are further

discussed in the present research.

2.1.2.1. The cognitive processing of texts

According to Kleiman (2002:31), the view of reading as an activity which may be

taught within the classroom boundaries is strongly based on well-defined models

which attempt to describe how information from texts is perceived, first by the

eyes, and later processed by the brain. These models reflect the “psycholinguistic-

cognitive” nature of reading (i.e.: from the recognition of printed symbols to the

storage of information in our brains) as well as incorporate its sociocultural

aspects.

The first psycholinguistic reading models emerged in the 1970s with the advent of

Psycholinguistics. The psycholinguist view of reading acknowledges readers as

thinking individuals who feel and act within a given sociocultural context

(Edmundson, 2004:22). The insights generated from the psycholinguistic view

praised both cognitive (i.e.: linguistic aptitude and cognitive abilities) and affective

factors (i.e.: attitude and motivation) which seem to be inherent in the act of

reading.

Ler é formar um sentido da linguagem escrita, é um processo

psicolingüístico, pois uma teoria da leitura deveria incluir as relações

entre o pensamento e a linguagem

. (Goodman, 1976 apud

Edumundson 2004:22)

As mentioned above, Kleiman (op. cit.) explains that the processing of texts has

the eyes as a starting point. Nevertheless, the eyes enable readers only to partially

reconstruct the writer’s encoded message (Kleiman, 2002:33), i.e., the eyes

enable the perception of the printed symbols (i.e.: graphic input) which are later

sent to functional memory where they are organized into meaningful units.

Functional memory, by the same token, is aided by what Kleiman (op. cit.) defines

as an intermediate memory which is responsible for activating the previous

knowledge required for the comprehension of the given text. This knowledge is

organized within our long-term memory, also regarded as semantic memory or deep

memory (Kleiman, 2002:32) which represents the higher-level functions which allow

the construction of meanings. Thus, from a cognitive perspective, reading is

considered a psycholinguistic guessing game (Goodman, 1976:126-135) whereby

readers formulate hypotheses and combine their linguistic and conceptual

knowledge as well as their experiences so as to construct meanings.

Understanding a text does not result from establishing sequential connections

among the events in the text. Readers undergo inference procedures in order to

make sense of what they read.

Reading consists in making sense of written language. It is a psycholinguistic process. Thus, a

given theory of reading should include the relations between thinking and language. [my

translation]

In the early stages of literacy, reading is usually viewed by the reader as a

painstaking process restricted to the mere decodification of printed symbols.

However, possessing a more comprehensive knowledge of the psychological and

cognitive features inherent in the reading process has proved to be of substantial

relevance. Teachers, by resorting to such knowledge, are likely to enhance their

awareness regarding the pedagogical practices which might promote effective

reading comprehension among their learners. Reading activities are not intended

to be form-focused but meaning-focused and enriched by the teacher’s comments

and questions. As Kleiman (2002:35) argues: The teacher must provide learners with

contexts to which they may resort as a means to promote comprehension at a variety of

levels of knowledge (e.g.: graphic, linguistic, pragmatic, social and cultural).

Furthermore, a comprehensive knowledge of the psycholinguistic-cognitive nature of

reading enables teachers to determine probable sources of difficulties when

processing texts, as well as strategies for coping with such difficulties.

2.1.2.2. A schema-oriented view of reading

Reading as an interactive process (Ruddell, 1976 apud Edmundson, 2004:22)

presupposes the active involvement of both writer (i.e., encoder) and reader (i.e.,

decoder). Similarly, a prerequisite for successful communication to occur is that

the reader and writer have certain things in common (Nuttall, 1996:6). Firstly, both

must share the same code, i.e., they must write and understand the same

language, which suggests that they must have a similar command of the

language. Secondly, a further essential requirement is that the writer and reader

share certain assumptions about the world and the way it works (Nuttall, 1996:6).

Although mismatches of some kind between the writer’s and reader’s

presuppositions are likely to occur, they may be minimized by a set of shared

assumptions between the participants of the reading process. The major

component for successful reading however may be explained through the schema

view of reading (Nuttall, 1996:7). Nuttall defines the schema theory as follows:

A schema (plural schemata) is a mental structure. It is abstract because

it does not relate to any particular experience, although it derives from

all the particular experiences we have had. It is a structure because it is

organized; it includes the relationships between its components parts.

As it may be inferred from the citation above, a schema consists of an abstract,

mentally-organized structure. It is abstract because it is not restricted to a single

particular experience we have had but to all of them. Furthermore, it is also

considered a structure because there is an organized relationship between its

constituents.

According to schema theory (Nuttall, 1996:7), all the assumptions made about the

world are closely related to experiences and the knowledge acquired from these

experiences. Empirical evidence (Stevens, 1980:151-153) has indicated that

previously possessed schemata/background knowledge consists of a prerequisite

if accurate reading is to result (ibid, p.151). Thus, whether readers are able to

interpret texts successfully will strongly depend on how similar their abstract

mentally-organized structures are to the writer’s. In addition, our schemata are

subject to constant processes of change since previous experiences tend to be

expanded throughout readers’ lives, i.e., the act of reading also affects the existing

schemata in the sense that readers will normally learn something new during the

actual reading processes. This view suggests that if, on the one hand, reading

makes use of existing schemata, on the other hand, reading simultaneously

modifies them (Nuttall, 1996:7).

These considerations are particularly valuable in improving understanding of what

being a proficient reader presupposes. Studies have demonstrated that proficient

readers are often aware of their existing schemata. Therefore, by engaging in the

active processing of the assumptions raised by the text, proficient readers activate

the relevant schemata so as to construct meanings. They are thus able to facilitate

their own processing of texts by resorting to both their content schemata (e.g.:

knowledge of content, socially-acquired knowledge, contextual background and

experience in reading) and their knowledge of writing conventions (e.g.: genre

features and register), i.e. their rhetorical schemata (Carrell, 1987: 467-9).

As Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000, 123-124) argue, proficient readers combine

rapid and accurate recognition and decoding of letters, words, collocations and other

structural cues, with sensible global predictions related to the text as a whole. They are

successful in selecting, abandoning, combining and adjusting strategies so as to

make sense of a given text. In addition, they are able to match old and new

information at global and local levels (Lopes, 1999) by linking words and ideas and

by focusing on the co-text. Proficient readers know how to make use of flexibility

(Kleiman, 2002:51). Not only do they know what their aim is but they are also able

to determine the choices in order to achieve their intent:

O leitor experiente tem duas características básicas que tornam a sua

leitura uma atividade consciente, reflexiva e intencional: primeiro, ele lê

porque tem algum objetivo em mente, isto é, sua leitura é realizada

sabendo para que está lendo, e, segundo, ele compreende o que lê, o que

seus olhos percebem seletivamente é interpretado, recorrendo a diversos

processos para tornar o texto inteligível quando não consegue

compreender

. (Kleiman, 2002:51).

A further element to be considered as far as textual comprehension is concerned,

is reader motivation for reading a particular text. Research developed in this area

has revealed that a reader’s needs and aims undoubtedly interfere and affect the

level of understanding.

Another aspect to be considered is that the tackling of different text types and

genres seem to require a variety of processes. Similarly, the same text may be

processed differently by people with different abilities and knowledge. Nuttall

(1996:7) claims that the way we interpret depends on the schemata activated by the text;

and whether we interpret successfully depends on whether our schemata are sufficiently

similar to the writer’s. It may therefore be inferred that interpretation is not solely

restricted to readers’ linguistic abilities. It is also culture-sensitive and demands a

combination of local and sociocultural knowledge (Wallace, 1992:28-29).

More recently, this view of reading has resulted in the so-called psycholinguistic-

cognitive approach (Barnett, 1989 apud Celce-Murcia & Olshstain, 2000:119) or

schema-oriented approach to reading. As Kleiman (2002:31) demonstrates, this

approach places particular emphasis on readers and prioritizes both cognitive

The experienced reader has two major basic characteristics which turn his/her reading into a

conscious, reflexive and purposeful activity: firstly, s/he reads because h/she has an objective in

mind, i.e., h/she knows why h/she is reading. Secondly, h/she understands what is being read: the

linguistic symbols perceived by the eyes are selected and interpreted by resorting to number of

processes in order to make sense of the text. [my translation]

development and text processing, i.e., readers’ interpretation strategies. The

schema-oriented approach to reading assumes that readers must have an adequate

schema for a topic before they are asked to read and comprehend material about that topic

(Stevens, 1980:153). The lack of adequate schema may affect comprehension

and eventually interfere and jeopardize learning. The implications of this latter view

of reading are particularly relevant to the development of effective reading lessons.

Once teachers are engaged in promoting effective understanding of target texts,

special attention must be devoted to the development of the prior knowledge bases upon

which sound reading depends (Stevens, 1980:153).

From this perspective, even though schemata constitute crucial elements

throughout the reading process, they must not be regarded as the unique source

of effective interpretation of texts. Thus, in an attempt to determine the mental

processes undergone by readers when attempting to make sense of texts,

researchers have focused on the development of reading models over the last two

decades.

2.1.3. Reading models: three distinct approaches to reading

Kleiman (2002:49) defines reading as an individual and lonely experience.

According to the author, reading consists of an individual and private activity to

construct meanings via the interaction between the writer and the reader. For this

reason, the same author claims that any attempt to teach reading appears to be

incoherent with its nature, since individuals are likely to differ in terms of

knowledge, interests and aims. However, Kleiman (op. cit.) favors the teaching of

reading as the teaching of a set of reading strategies, on one hand, and as the

development of linguistic skills on the other, even though these two factors are not

enough in themselves to promote efficient reading.

The same author argues that reading strategies consist of regular operations in

which readers engage when tackling a given text. Such operations may be inferred

by the researcher through the reconstruction and analysis of the mental activities

undergone by readers in order to comprehend a given text (e.g.: the reader’s

verbal and non-verbal behavior). In addition, elements such as the answers given

to the comprehension questions proposed, or the way readers summarize and

paraphrase ideas, as well as the way they manipulate the text (e.g.: underlining,

skimming, scanning, rereading etc), are all carefully considered as a means to

reconstruct the mental processes undergone by readers.

Research studies developed in the field of reading have demonstrated that the

same models developed in order to explain how readers of a particular discourse

community understand written texts in their first language may be applicable to

achieve an improved understanding of second/foreign language reading. As

Barnnet (1989:10, apud Lopes 1999:151) argues:

A model provides an imagined representation of the reading process that

not only provokes new ideas about reading but also provides a paradigm

against which aspects of the reading process may be tested.

Historically, research has identified three major categories on which the current

reading models are heavily based (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000: 119-123 &

Nuttall, 1996: 16-17): a) the bottom-up processing, b) the top-down processing

and c) the interactive. The first, according to Hudson (1998, apud Celce-Murcia &

Olshstain, 2000:119), regards reading as a series of stages that proceed in a fixed

order from sensory input to comprehension. It is essentially text-bound, relying heavily

on linguistic knowledge (e.g.: letters, the lexicon, phrases, and sentences). The

second however, views reading as a continuum of changing hypotheses about the

incoming information. It is mainly reader-bound, drawing upon the reader’s schemata

(i.e.: background knowledge, cognitive skills, memory and language proficiency)

as a means to confirm, reject or generate guesses. These two categories,

however, seem to be located in two opposing extremes. The former regards the

text as the only source of meaning and advocates a close relationship between

form (e.g.: the lexical items which constitute the text) and meaning – decodification

as semantic interpretation (Coracini, 2002:14). The latter, by the same token,

seems heavily linked to cognitive psychology and defines the “good reader” as

someone who is able to activate the knowledge stored in his/her mental schema

so as to make sense of the text. According to this view, readers are regarded as

the sole source of meaning and attend to the writer clues so that meaning is

conceived.

In the light of the insights generated from the two hypotheses described above,

Kato (1985, apud Coracini, 2002:13-14) advocates an intermediate theoretical

perspective of reading: the interactive view, whereby effective reading would

spring from the interaction writer-text-reader. Insights from research have revealed

that the interactive model of reading steams from an integration and combination of

both top-down and bottom-up approaches (Wallace, 1992:121) with the two models of

text processing occurring simultaneously:

... The reader needs to recruit his or her prior knowledge and prior

reading experience, apply knowledge of writing conventions, and

consider the purpose of reading in order to engage in top-down

processing. At the same time, the reader needs to recruit his or her

linguistic knowledge and various reading strategies in order to decode

the written text through bottom-up processing. It is the effective

integration of these processes that leads to the appropriate interpretation

and understanding of the written text and creates the interactive reading

process. (Celce-Murcia & Olshstain, 2000:121)

The interactive approach to reading, also defined as the socio-interactive

approach (Moita Lopes, 1996 apud Edmundson 2004:23) is heavily based on the

schema-oriented view of reading, whereby reading is viewed as a communicative

occurrence, i.e., writers and readers negotiate their mental schema through cues

spread within the text surface. From this perspective, meanings are reconstructed

through the reader’s direct contact with the text and indirect contact with the writer.

2.1.4. Reading skills and strategies

Even though results of research support the view that efficiency in reading is likely

to be enhanced through reading on a regular basis (Nuttall, 1996:40), there are

authors who advocate that learners may be taught how to read more efficiently

through the development of reading skills and strategies.

According to Grellet (1995:3) and Nuttall (1996:5), effective reading comprises

being able to interpret the writer’s communicative intent as efficiently as possible

through what Thorndike (1917: 323-332) described as a puzzle-solving process.

However, interpreting the writer’s intentions constitutes more than the

straightforward task it may at first seem. Readers need to be attentive to the

writers’ moves towards organizing their discourse, i.e., they must be aware of the

various tools at their disposal in order to grasp the meaning which emerges from

the printed pages. Efficient readers must be able to recognize a multiplicity of

linguistic signals including letters, morphemes, syllables, words, phrases,

grammatical cues, discourse markers and by using their linguistic data processing

mechanisms decide what needs to be retained or discarded. In the psycholinguistic

guessing game (Goodman, 1976:126-135), the audience must be aware of the fact

that no text carries meaning by itself i.e., the sense of a given text also lies in the

reader. Texts consist of interactive pieces of language from which meanings may

derive only and if readers know what needs to retained or rejected.

Kleiman (2002:50) classifies the strategies employed by readers into two major

groups: a) cognitive strategies and b) metacognitive strategies. The same author

claims that cognitive reading strategies comprise the operations of which readers

are not aware. They are unconscious operations (Kleiman, 2002:50) used by readers

in order to approach a given text. By unconscious, is meant implicit knowledge over

which individuals fail to have explicit control and, as a consequence, is hard to be

conveyed into words. These procedures are also labeled automatism (Kleiman,

2002:50).

In contrast to cognitive reading strategies, metacognitive strategies are those

operations (not rules) realized with a particular objective in mind and over which we

possess explicit and conscious control in the sense that we are able to express and explain

our action (Kleiman, 2002:50). It may be inferred, therefore, that readers who are

able to perform their mental activities consciously i.e., who have overt control over

the operations developed while reading will be able to determine when they cannot

understand a particular piece of writing and what the source of difficulty might be.

As Kleiman (2002:50) suggests, proficient readers are aware of the activities in

which they should engage so as to read more efficiently (e.g.: going back and

rereading certain fragments, looking for and focusing on key-words, summarizing

what has just been read, looking for concepts and examples, etc). Nuttall

(1996:40) corroborates Kleiman’s views by defining strategy training as a useful

means towards raising learners’ awareness of the importance of being able to

make conscious choices when tackling difficult texts. Similarly, learners must be

taught how to tackle texts independently, to detect the sources of potential

difficulties as well as to adopt appropriate strategies in order to interpret meanings

(Nuttall, 1996:41).

Thus, within an effective reading program, teachers must try to anticipate the

possible sources of difficulties for learners. Such difficulties may spring from

vocabulary, syntax, interpretation of value, relationships between different parts of

a text or between reader, writer and text, cultural differences among other sources.

This justifies the relevance of equipping learners with a wide range of strategies to

deal with texts (Nuttall, 1996:41). The range of strategies to approach texts are

regarded as attack skills (Nuttall, op. cit.) and are subdivided into word attack skills

and text attack skills. As far as these two types of skills are concerned, Nuttall

(1996:41) argues the following:

Most students are well aware when they have problems with vocabulary

so they usually appreciate the need for word attack skills. Other sources

of difficulty tend to be less familiar; training in text attack skills therefore

involves making students aware of things they normally do not notice at

all. This awareness is crucial; readers who understand what can go

wrong can take steps to sort out their difficulty.

However, if, on one hand, learners ought to be aware that difficulties may arise

from bits of the text (Nuttall, 1996:41), and that they should be ready to detect

such difficulties as well as cope with them, on the other hand, learners have to be

aware of the fact that the various text features are not fully separable i.e., they are

linked to one another. As Nuttall (op. cit.) claims:

The reader must be able to respond to its overall message, evaluate the

writer’s success, and if appropriate appreciate the text as literature.

In general terms, it may be inferred thus that the processes of reading comprise a

wide range of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to approach texts.

Consequently, the ideal approach to teaching reading seems to embody a

combination of both types of skills. Reading efficiently springs from: a) knowing

what you want from reading, b) choosing the right material and b) using the text

effectively (Nuttall, 1996:46). As highlighted in the preceding section, these three

factors facilitate the identification of what is relevant according to one’s purpose.

Proficient readers know how to make good use of flexibility:

People who read flexibly are skilled at judging what they need to get out

of a text to accomplish their purpose. (...) Reading flexibly means always

keeping in mind how much you need to read in order to satisfy your

purpose. This helps you to decide which parts of the text to ignore, which

to skim to get the gist, and then which parts to study closely. (Nuttall,

1996:48)

2.1.5. The three major constituents of the reading process

As pointed out on the previous pages, research studies over decades have

acknowledged reading as an interactive process by investigating its three major

constituents in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of its

nature. According to several authors, reading comprises three essential and

influential elements, namely the reader, the text and the writer (Alderson &

Urquhart, 1984: XV). These three elements must be integrated throughout what is

defined by Wallace (1992:44-45) as a dialogic relation, whereby readers are

actively involved towards extracting the required information from texts as

efficiently as possible. The selection of effective strategies, however, is likely to be

determined by the purpose(s) for reading (Grellet, 1981:3). Nuttall (1996:3)

describes such reasons as authentic. By authentic the author means reasons that are

concerned not with language learning but with the uses of reading in our daily lives

outside the classroom.

Kleiman (2001:3) further corroborates Wallace’s views on reading by arguing that

it consists of a complex process which demands the combination of a diversity of

factors (e.g.: attention, perception, memory etc) so that meanings may be

constructed. According to the author, reading no longer constitutes a linear and

serial process (Kleiman, 2001:17) since the acceptance or rejection of the ideas

presented appear to be closely related to a wide body of knowledge which

interacts so as to promote comprehension. This moderate view of reading rejects

the somewhat simplistic, often-held view, which suggests that meanings are lying

there in the text passively waiting to be “extracted” or “absorbed” by the reader. As

a consequence, in the last two decades, a multitude of research studies about the

act of reading have placed special emphasis on the reader (Alderson & Urquhart,

1984: XVI). These investigations addressed as “reader-focused studies” aimed at

analyzing the reading skill into a series of subskills. From such perspective, the act

of reading would be viewed as a set of subskills that would be related to one another

within a taxonomy or hierarchy of skills (Alderson & Urquhart, 1984: XVI).

Alderson & Urquhart (1984: XVI) highlight that a diversity of approaches to

determine the subskills applied by readers have been developed. However, in their

view, the most usual approach consists in providing learners with a series of

passages to be understood. Subsequently, learners are asked questions, which

are later subjected to factor analysis so as to determine whether identifiable

factors emerge. These investigations have resulted in a wide range of

taxonomies/lists with varied content. Among such taxonomies, Alderson

addresses that by Barrett (1968: XVI) which comprises five skills, namely literal

comprehension, reorganization of the ideas in the text, inferential ability, evaluation, and

appreciation.

Davies and Widdowson (1974, apud Alderson & Urquhart 1984: XVI) developed a

list of reading comprehension questions, particularly relevant to the testing of

reading skills. This list comprises direct reference questions, inference, supposition and

evaluation questions. Textbooks aimed at teaching reading as a foreign language

usually contain a variety of texts followed by comprehension questions. Such

questions are usually designed based on a particular taxonomy which has as its

ultimate goal to test the learner’s ability to understand the text at a variety of

levels. These levels, by the same token, are supposed to reflect the taxonomies

established by research studies.

2.1.6. Proficient readers: a combination of reading skills and strategies

As far as the processing of texts is concerned, Nuttall (1996:44) defines efficiency

as the ability to use the least effort to obtain satisfactory results. It is certainly true that

for EFL teachers in general, the concept of efficiency in reading seems heavily

connected to the idea of understanding a given text. In fact, as Nuttall (op. cit.)

argues, efficiency in reading springs from a combination of two conflicting factors:

comprehension and the amount of time devoted to the actual reading. Similarly,

these two factors are also strongly related to the audience’s purpose in tackling a

particular text. Nuttall (op. cit.) argues that the primary requirement for EFL or FL

efficient reading is that readers be aware of what is expected from their own

reading. In other words, defining an ultimate goal for tackling a particular text

seems fundamental. Whether one is reading for practical purposes (i.e., checking

how to operate a machine, for example) or not, the aim has to be clearly defined.

Efficiency is likely to occur due to purposeful/meaningful reading. It may therefore

be inferred that EFL teachers are likely to enhance the reading efficiency rate

among learners by encouraging them to define their ultimate goals prior to tackling

a particular text either in class or in other contexts. However, in order to determine

clear purposes for classroom reading as well as define which texts to read and

how to read them, it is important to carefully consider the needs and aims

conceived within the classroom boundaries.

According to Grellet (1981), effective reading seems to derive from an integration

between linguistic knowledge and the ability to use and choose from a variety of

sub-skills and strategies such as skimming, scanning, intensive reading, extensive

reading etc. Furthermore, text-types and aims seem to guide readers towards

determining which strategies would be more appropriate depending on the target

text. Celce-Murcia & Olshstain (2000:119) claim that throughout the process of

trying to make sense of a particular text, the reader performs a variety of

simultaneous tasks such as: a) decoding the message by recognizing the written signs,

b) interpreting the message by assigning meaning to the string of words, and finally, c)

understanding what the author’s intention was. Again, throughout this process, the

three key participants namely the writer, text and reader are actively involved. This

corroborates the assumption of reading as an inherently interactive process (Celce-

Murcia & Olshstain, 2000:119).

A further view regards effective reading as a reduction-of-uncertainty process

(Smith, 1971). According to this view, individuals, as they progress through the

target text, resort to a variety of choices determined by features within and outside

the text. Once the objective for reading is defined and the material to be read has

been chosen, it is time to proceed to the textual resources which are of substantial

value towards reading efficiently.

Successful reading may spring from a complementary combination of bottom-up

(skimming) and top-down (scanning) processing strategies. The former engages

readers in analyzing the graphic display, decoding words and structures, in order

to build up concepts and, as a consequence, construct meanings. The latter

appeals to the reader’s “stored knowledge” as a means to assimilate or reject the

assumptions presented in the text. These two approaches to reading (Nuttall,

1996:16-17 & Kato, apud Coracini, 2002:13) consist of prediction strategies which

enable readers to anticipate what will follow across whole texts and within

sentences/paragraphs (Nuttall: 1996:12-15). This view stresses the notion of

inference as a crucial element in the effective processing of texts. Collins, Brown

and Larkin (1979:386) define inference as follows:

... Inference is thought of as filling in the missing connections between

the surface structure fragments of the text by recourse to context and

knowledge of the world.

.... the purpose of inference is to select and fill out a set of frames or

scripts or schemas.

Unlike unskilled readers, skilled readers are able to move beyond the surface

level, not being tied to the sequential structure. They deal with the difficulties

encountered by resorting to a range of problem-solving strategies for evaluating,

revising and confirming their initial hypotheses. For them, text understanding is

developed through a progressive refinement of initial hypotheses constructed from

schemas triggered by the beginning elements of the text. After incorporating a

wider range of elements from the text, these initial hypotheses are progressively

refined in order to fill in the slots which still remain unfilled until other meanings are

constructed.

Lopes (1999:150) advocates that an interactive approach to texts regards

skimming and scanning as complementary and equally important for successful

reading. Furthermore, efficient readers also need to be able to make use of other

resources within the text in order to achieve comprehension. Among these

resources, the following may be cited: a) linear texts and b) non-linear texts. The

former corresponds to the expression of ideas by means of sentences within the

space of paragraphs whereas the latter consists of elements not organized in

sentences or paragraphs but which enable the understanding of linear texts

(Nuttall, 1996:45). Graphic conventions (e.g.: symbols, layout and punctuation),

reference apparatus (e.g.: blurbs, indexes and titles) and figures (e.g.: illustrations,

graphs and tables) constitute examples of non-linear texts.

Proficient readers benefit from their knowledge of both linear and non-linear texts

and, as a consequence, are able to construct meanings more efficiently. It may

thus be inferred that a combination of a variety of reading strategies plays a

valuable part in the development of efficiency in reading. Within this scenario, the

schema theory emerges as a crucial concept towards understanding how human

beings in general tend to organize the previously-acquired knowledge which

enables them to interpret texts.

The theoretically-based discussion developed in the preceding paragraphs seems

to corroborate the view that the effective development of reading skills should

consider a wide range of variables. Thus, due to the purposes of the present

research investigation, the issues surrounding the teaching of reading within

overseas settings will be addressed in the next sub-section.

2.1.7. The relevance of EFL reading within a global scenario

In a literate society, skill in reading is imperative since so much of what

one needs to know is communicated via written text (...) We could not

function in modern society without reading. Yet for some people this is

not an easily accessible skill. (Celce– Murcia & Olshstain, 2000:118)

As Celce-Murcia & Olshtain highlight, reading appears to consist of an ability of

substantial relevance in our modern global scenario. As far as second and foreign

languages are concerned, the same authors (2000:118) claim that reading carries

even greater potential importance since this skill is often the only exposure readers

have to the target language. They aver that learners of other languages are likely

to retain a substantial amount of the knowledge acquired throughout a course of

study by subsequent reading in that language on a regular basis. This practice

enables learners to retain the knowledge gained for many years after completing

their language courses. Furthermore, through reading, learners of languages of

remote geographical areas have the opportunity to access the world of literature

and culture representing such regions.

Individuals read for a number of reasons and for a variety of purposes. Alderson

(1984:1) claims that foreign language reading knowledge, for instance, is often

important, not only for academic studies, but also for professional success, in

addition to personal development. This is particularly true in the case of the

English language in Brazil, which is widely used in a range of contemporary

professional and scientific fields, websites and publications. Critically, it is the

internet which has become the major tool of English as a means of communicating

worldwide.

However, even though the advantages of being able to read in a foreign language

for academic or professional purposes seem unquestionable, it is still often argued

that the most frequent justification for the teaching of reading, within EFL settings,

is that learners read in order to consolidate the spoken language. This is

particularly true at the elementary and intermediate levels of language learning, in

which it is still often common practice to provide learners with texts which contain

examples of the structures and lexical items recently-acquired and practiced orally.

The question then is whether the texts provided for learners in such circumstances

reflect the language encountered in “real” texts. By “real” it is meant “authentic”

i.e., texts which have specific, accepted, and recognized communicative functions,

and which feature a wide range of structures, lexical items, registers, cohesive

devices, formats and textual organization which authentic texts often contain. A

further element to be considered is that the range of reading skills and approaches

which are developed when tackling “authentic” texts will usually differ from the

approaches often adopted when reading is introduced as a means of consolidating

EFL oral abilities. “Real” reading presupposes a combination of a variety of

reading skills such as reading for gist (skimming), for specific information

(scanning) and for inference. These aspects of meaningful reading are to be

discussed in the subsequent sections of the present chapter.

As far as the relevance of EFL reading is concerned, it is surely difficult to

determine when and where EFL learners will make use of English as a vehicle of

communication outside the classroom. However, when they eventually need to do

so it is likely to be in reading since, in Brazil, most up-dated literature (e.g.:

abstracts, journals, periodicals, newspapers, websites etc), in a variety of

professional fields, is available exclusively in English. Another aspect to be

considered is that by equipping learners with the reading skills required to

approach a given text in the target language they may even be helped to be more

effective L1 readers, through the transference of skills.

In view of the considerations presented above, it may be argued that restricting

reading to purely classroom/pedagogic purposes is not advisable. However, if this

is the case, learners must be provided with practice in reading, rather than simply

consolidating oral competence. For this reason, prior to starting any reading

activity, it is important to establish the goals, as well as the means towards

achieving them. Selecting the types of texts to be dealt with inside the classroom

is of crucial importance since different text types make different demands on the reader

(Nuttall, 1996:30). Furthermore, the tasks and activities to be proposed to learners

should also be a focal point upon which teachers should reflect. The development

of effective reading skills in a second or foreign language seems to require a focus

on the difficulties encountered by nonnative speakers when tackling texts in the

target language.

2.1.8. Approaching reading within overseas settings

Language improvement is a natural by-product of reading, and a highly

desirable one. (Nuttall, 1996:30)

Nuttall (1996:30) asserts that reading appears to be a highly effective means of

expanding one’s mastery of the target language. However, as far as reading

lessons are concerned, FL teachers are well-advised to aim at motivating learners

to read for meaning. According to the same author, a substantial number of FL

learners read for a number of reasons which are not closely related to language

learning, but to the conveying of a given message (e.g.: dealing with overseas

customers, keeping up to date with research in nuclear physics, etc). From this

perspective, language constitutes no more than the vehicle through which

messages are expressed. As a result, it is of crucial relevance to focus on the

importance of written texts as vehicles to convey meanings. This discussion is

particularly important due to the fact that messages within texts, very often, tend to

be regarded by teachers as vehicles providing no more than samples of the target

language (e.g.: lexical items and structures) to be acquired by learners.

According to Nuttall (1996:30), there are two types of lessons in which the use of

written texts is central: text-based lessons and reading lessons. The same author

defines the major distinction between both types of lessons as follows:

...Giving a lesson based on a text (i.e.: a text-based lesson) is not the

same thing as giving a reading lesson: most of the skills practiced are

probably not reading skills at all. (Nuttall, op. cit.)

As it may be inferred from the quotation above, according to Nuttall (op.cit.), text-

based lessons and reading lessons differ in two ways:

(a) The first distinction highlights that text types chosen for reading lessons, and

text-based lessons, are likely to differ. In the former, texts are used do convey

a message in the widest sense of the term (e.g.: to inform, to entertain, etc.).

In contrast, in the latter, teachers seem to be particularly concerned about

language development. Meanings are thus subordinate to, for example, the

acquisition of lexical items and grammatical structures.

(b) The second distinction lies in the fact that the teacher’s aims and procedures

adopted in a reading lesson are likely to differ from those of a text-based

lesson. As explained above, in a text-based lesson the text is used as a

vehicle to focus on structures or vocabulary of the target language. In a

reading lesson, on the other hand, meanings are central (Nuttall, 1996:30).

Learners are therefore required to derive messages from a particular piece of

writing, which suggests that in a reading lesson any new learning of

vocabulary or structures emerges as an incidental benefit (Nuttall, 1996:30).

A further consideration to be made as far as reading lessons are concerned is that

readers’ aims are likely to differ from one another. Thus there is no fixed recipe for a

reading lesson (ibid, p. 30-31). Reading lessons should cater for both the variety of

texts and the variety of readers (ibid, p. 31). Nuttall defines the general goal of an

efficient reading program along the following lines:

To enable students to enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with) reading in

the foreign language, and to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts,

at appropriate speed, silently and with adequate understanding. (Nuttall,

1996:31)

In very general terms Nuttall’s (op.cit.) definition above provides good food for

thought in the sense that it seems to carry valuable implications for the teaching of

reading within overseas settings. Nuttall (op. cit.) explains the definition as follows:

(a) To enable students: As Nuttall (op.cit.) asserts: In a reading lesson, it is what

the student does, not what the teacher does, that counts. Teachers and learners

possess well-defined roles. The former are expected to promote the

reading ability in the learners, whereas the latter must be aware of the

importance of their actual involvement throughout the development of

lessons.

(b) To enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with): Teachers must choose interesting

and relevant reading materials to be used in class so that reading lessons

become enjoyable learning opportunities.

2002:49), learners must be encouraged to become independent readers.

They must be able to tackle a wide variety of texts without counting on their

teachers’ support.

(d) Unfamiliar texts: Even though students have both teachers’ and fellow

students’ support throughout their training in class, they must be equipped

with the skills necessary to tackle unfamiliar texts, since these are the texts

they are likely to encounter in real-life situations.

(e) Authentic texts: As mentioned before, teachers should be aware of the

needs and aims of their target groups so that students are equipped with

the reading skills required for real-life purposes. Thus, teachers should be

sensitive in order to determine at which stage students have sufficient skills

so as to be introduced to the target texts. As Nuttall (1996:31) claims, some of

the practice should be with target texts, i.e, the sort of texts the students will want to

read after they have completed their course.

(f) Appropriate speed: Students should be provided with practice in determining

which type of reading best suits their purposes and target texts. Students

should be encouraged to take risks and to adopt a flexible reading style

which, as Nuttall (1996:32) argues, is the sign of a competent reader.

(g) Silently: Proficient readers should be able to read silently. Therefore,

students should be equipped with this skill which, in most cases, tends to

be overlooked or ignored, in the early stages of reading.

(h) With adequate understanding: the notion of being able to read efficiently is

not solely restricted to the understanding of every single word within a text

(Nutall, 1996:32). This suggests that rather than simply focusing on

precision, teachers should equip learners with this indispensable skill so as

to tackle texts according to their purposes for reading such texts.

As far as the teaching and learning of reading is concerned, it appears to be

common practice to acknowledge coursebooks as the sole major tool for

promoting meaningful learning within EFL classrooms. This view may be regarded

as partially true in view of the fact that coursebooks are usually the only material

available in a wide range of teaching/learning environments. Thus, the issues

surrounding the relevance of coursebooks appear to be central, as far as the

teaching of reading is concerned. In the next subsection, therefore, a number of

considerations will be made concerning the instrumental validity of coursebooks.

In addition, there will be an attempt to describe a more critical approach to

coursebooks, which is likely to enlighten pedagogical practices.

2.1.9. An enlightened approach to EFL reading via “alien” coursebooks

A crutch, a tool, a doorway, a bible, a route map, a drug. According to research

(Bolitho, 2004:7), these are a selection of the metaphorical terms utilized by

teachers in general in order to define the love-hate relationship they experience in

relation to coursebooks. However, most teachers seem to agree that coursebooks

appear to play a crucial role in the teaching/learning process and, as a

consequence, in their professional lives. As Santos (2004:32) avers, muitos

professores procuram encontrar legitimidade e apoio para suas aulas neste material

This importance given to coursebooks may be historically explained. It dates back

to the Middle Ages when the advent of printing enabled the expansion of

knowledge in a way that was, until then, unimaginable. As a result, education

became more accessible and textbooks (i.e., literally books of texts) were

regarded as the major tools within the educational scenario. Similarly, it was

assumed that learners who were able to reproduce the content of textbooks would

A wide range of teachers attempt to find theoretical support and reliance on coursebooks [my

translation]

inevitably succeed. Coursebooks were assumed to contain everything a student

needs to know in order to pass an examination (Bolitho, 2004:7). According to the

same author, even though this belief still constitutes a tradition in certain cultures,

the situation appears to have undergone significant transformations in the last

three decades.

As far as ELT is concerned, the advent of the communicative approach has

promoted a shift in focus. A new generation of coursebooks focused on

communicative principles was created and the focus shifted from the acquisition of

knowledge to the acquisition of skills. These new coursebooks are no longer

“textbooks” but rather sources of stimuli for skills development and communication

(Bolitho, 2004:7).

Moreover, the revolution in worldwide communications has enabled publishers to

expand their selling of coursebooks to teachers and learners from the most remote

geographical areas. As the demand for coursebooks increased, publishing

companies were expected to meet these new demands. As a result, a fierce

competition to gain buyers was triggered between publishing companies fighting to

launch new, more competitive publications (Bolitho: 2004:8). This is particularly

true in the case of EFL teaching/learning. The design and selling of coursebooks

has become a profitable business, and booksellers, coursebook writers and

publishers have benefited enormously from the expansion of English-teaching

markets. As a result of the growing interest for the English language, there has

been much debate, not only on the appropriateness and effectiveness of FL

teaching methods, but also on the teaching materials available and how

appropriate they have been in terms of the numerous and different learners’

purposes, needs and contexts. Within the Brazilian EFL teaching/learning

scenario, the choice of coursebooks is very often imposed on teachers, who are

seldom provided with the opportunity to make their own choices (Santos,

2004:32). Furthermore, there seems to be a tendency to regard coursebooks as

the sole source from where consolidated knowledge may emerge. This is

particularly true, as far as EFL coursebooks produced abroad are concerned:

No caso do LD de LE, há também a crença de que principalmente o

autor nativo é aquele que detêm a “fonte do saber” em sua totalidade.

Acreditamos que a legitimidade do livro está justamente relacionada à

crença de que ele seja o detentor da verdade, a qual se encontra

“pronta” para ser transmitida e compartilhada. O papel do professor

seria então reproduzir as idéias dos autores, enquanto aos alunos

caberia assimilá-las

. (Santos, 2004:33)

More recently, it seems to make common sense that the choice of coursebooks

should spring from a variety of pre-established principles, which are expected to

consider target learners, contexts and aims. The adoption of materials, mainly

those produced overseas, should emerge from a concern with the learning

process as a whole. The implications of adopting non-sensitive teaching practice

and materials which disregard the learners’ needs, objectives and contexts should

be carefully considered. Santos (2004:34) argues that teachers are expected to be

able to determine to what extent coursebooks are incompatible with the target

As far as EFL coursebooks are concerned, there seems to be a tendency to view coursebooks

produced by native-speakers as the only source of “true knowledge”, which is ready to be passed

on to teachers and learners. From such a perspective, the language teacher’s role would be reduced

to the mere repetition of the concepts and beliefs imposed by writers and publishing companies.

Similarly, the learner’s role would be restricted to the assimilation of this “true knowledge”. [my

translation]

audience’s specificities and, at a further stage, find ways to tackle possible

mismatches:

(...) salientamos ser de suma importância que professores sejam capazes

de identificar possíveis incompatibilidades do LD em face das

peculiaridades de sala de aula

(Santos, 2004:34)

In view of the considerations discussed above, it might be inferred that the choice

of coursebooks implies a sense of judgment. Coursebooks should not be judged

by their cover (Cunningsworth, 1989). Instead, teachers should behave critically

towards the material being examined and should not take what is in its introduction

as universal truths. It is their role to question and check whether the content

matches the author’s claims in the introduction. Moreover, teachers should bear in

mind that books are produced to be sold and no author would be naive enough to

inform them that learners might not achieve their aims by the end of the course.

All in all, it might be argued that investigations developed in the editorial arena

(Bolitho, 2004:10) suggest that the publishing industry seems to have made a very

positive contribution to the development of ELT. Publishing companies have been

responsible for the publishing of a wide range of outstanding global coursebooks.

Nevertheless, with this success come responsibilities which are gradually being

recognized, more in some contexts than in others. If we are to avoid worldwide

“Mcdonalization” in ELT, the lessons of the last decade need to be learned (Bolitho,

2004:10).

We claim that it is of crucial importance that teachers be able to identify potential mismatches

between coursebooks and the specificities imposed by the classroom boundaries. [my translation]

The avoidance of “Mcdonalization” (Bolitho, 2004:10) in ELT appears to embody

the adoption of a more enlightened and critically-oriented approach to

coursebooks. Therefore, in order to choose coursebooks which reflect the

learners’ needs, aims and contexts, as well as the most recent pedagogical trends

in reading, it seems fundamental that teachers be aware of what is meant by

reading and what it involves. Moreover, the complexity inherent in the act of

reading also suggests that the testing of reading should also consist of a complex

task. In the next section the issues surrounding the testing of reading will be

addressed.

2.2. THE TESTING OF READING

2.2.1. Introduction

The role English plays as the language of the Information and

Communication Age is prompting a rethinking of approaches to the

teaching of reading in many parts of the world (Richards, 2005:10).

Reading lessons are expected to engage learners in developing their analytical

processing skills, problem solving and critical thinking (Richards, 2005:10).

Furthermore, the development of technical reading skills should also be prioritized

in any reading program. This relatively novel view of reading seems to directly

reflect what happens inside and outside EFL classrooms. Thus, it might be

inferred that the new approaches to the teaching of reading seem to have brought

relevant implications for the testing of reading.

In this section, the issues surrounding the testing of reading skills will be

examined. The aim here is to provide a picture of the underlying principles which

seem to govern the elaboration of the reading comprehension papers in the FCE

examination. This discussion is justified by the fact that the testing of reading is

often seen as a source of concern among EFL teachers in general. It is regarded

as a demanding task since very often teachers feel insecure about how the

development of the reading skills should be assessed.

However, prior to engaging in the discussion on how reading should be assessed

it seems important to verify the underlying principles which are claimed to nurture

the elaboration of standardized tests. In the following subsection a selection of

considerations will be made regarding one of the elements of the corpus of

analysis, namely the FCE examination.

2.2.2. Background to the FCE

2.2.2.1. General considerations regarding UCLES

The UCLES was established as a department of the University of Cambridge in

1858. At that time, its major concern was to establish a standard of efficiency for

British schools. More recently, the UCLES has become responsible for both the

professional and specialist aspects of EFL examinations and TEFL schemes.

The EFL examinations were first introduced in 1913 with the CPE, which was

followed by the FCE, first administered in 1939. There is today, a wide range of

EFL examinations administered by the UCLES in different parts of the globe.

These examinations cover a variety of both academic and vocational subjects

The question paper production process consists the core of the UCLES EFL

system (UCLES handbook, 2001:4). This process involves a specialized staff so

as to ensure that the pre-established standards are being met and that the

examinations develop in accordance with the ongoing changing needs of both

candidates and other test users. Moreover, the UCLES EFL system is also in

charge of other three major areas further outlined:

It seems important to highlight that several EFL examinations are claimed to be especially

designed for the international market.

(a) Providing support for the administration of the examinations: the

development of training and monitoring procedures indispensable for the

adequate assessment of spoken and written language by the examiners;

(b) The processing of examinations (e.g.: marking, etc.);

materials, examination reports, etc.) for test users.

Apart from the responsibilities previously described, the UCLES EFL staff is also in

charge of ensuring that the test users’ duties are being met so that the UCLES

EFL examinations reflect the Code of Practice determined by the ALTE

. This

association was founded in 1990 and has as its major concern the responsibilities

of both examination providers and examination users in four distinct domains

(UCLES handbook, 2001:4):

(a) developing examinations;

(b) interpreting examination results;

(d) informing examination takers.

2.2.2.2. The FCE

UCLES has developed a variety of EFL examinations which conform to five

different levels. The FCE, according to the UCLES handbook (2001:6) is the most

widely taken Cambridge EFL examination (i.e., 270,000 people each year in more

All the members of the ALTE are providers of language examinations and certificates from

countries within the European Union.

than 100 countries) and corresponds to Cambridge Level Three which may be

observed in table 2.1. below:

The FCE is an intermediate level Cambridge ESOL exam which demands from

candidates a command of the target language which is good enough to construct

arguments through appropriate communication styles in accordance with a wide

range of situations. Moreover, FCE candidates are expected to show an

awareness of register and conventions of politeness and degrees of formality.

Successful candidates receive a certificate awarded by The University of

Cambridge which is said to be recognized by universities and employers in

different parts of the world. Along with the certificate, passing candidates receive a

statement of results showing their performance in each of the five papers (i.e.

reading, writing, use of English, listening and speaking) which constitute the FCE.

Moreover, prior to undergoing the FCE, candidates are recommended to attend

exam practice courses aimed at preparing for the five papers. In Brazil such

Cambridge Level Five

Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

Cambridge Level Four

Certificate in Advanced English (CAE)

Cambridge Level Three

First Certificate in English (FCE)

Cambridge Level Two

Preliminary English Test (PET)

Cambridge Level One

Key English Test (KET)

Table 2.1.: (Cambridge EFL examinations. From UCLES handbook, 2001:6)

courses are often provided by private language schools which charge for the

lessons. Furthermore, even though exam practice courses tend to be regarded as

an essential element at the preparation stage, attending the exam practice course

constitutes no guarantee of achieving positive results. Furthermore, it almost goes

without saying that the institutions which offer such courses have made

considerable profit from monthly payments.

However, it seems worth questioning the validity of exam practice courses since

candidates are assumed to have already developed the four skills by the end of

their language courses. From this perspective, obtaining positive results in ESOL

exams would come as an additional benefit, besides becoming proficient in the

target language. As far as the testing of reading is concerned, FCE candidates are

expected to be familiar with both the format and types of questions proposed on

the exam. Thus, it seems worth focusing at this stage on the distinctions, if any,

between teaching and testing.

2.2.3. Similarities between teaching reading and testing reading

Alderson (1996 apud Nuttall, 1996: chapter 13) highlights that the literature on the

testing of reading has revealed that the distinction between the teaching and

testing of reading is not as wide as some teachers may believe. On the contrary,

research studies (Richards, 2005:11) have demonstrated that the teaching and

testing of reading are often somewhat similar in certain ways:

In many classrooms there was little difference in approach between

teaching reading and testing reading. (Richards, 2005:11)

In the same chapter, Alderson (ibid, p. 212) argues that the main distinction

between teaching and testing reading resides in the way materials are

manipulated rather than in the materials themselves. As far as the design of

exercises and classroom activities are concerned, for instance, the author claims

that there is no clear cut difference between the design of tasks presented in

textbooks and test items. Among the major reading comprehension questions

identified in reading comprehension sections from coursebooks, Edmundson

(2005:32-37) highlights a) true or false questions, b) yes/no questions, c) multiple

choice(s), d) copy (finding specific information), e) wh questions, f) matching the

columns, g) fill in the blanks h) inference i) referential and j) metalinguistic (i.e.:

focused on formal aspects such as structure/grammar and lexicon). In general,

coursebooks are claimed to contain tasks and exercises which resemble tests and

vice-versa.

2.2.4. Differences between teaching and testing reading

Alderson (1996 apud Nuttall, 1996, chapter 13) seems to be particularly concerned

with the differences between the testing and teaching of reading skills. According

to the author (1996 apud Nuttall, 1996:212), the testing and teaching of reading

differ in four ways:

The first distinction resides in the fact that examinees receive little or no support

when they undergo a test. The exercises aimed at testing are regarded as a

means to assess to what extent learners are able to perform on their own. This

sharply contrasts with what happens when teachers provide learners with a text as

a teaching activity. In this circumstance, having support from teachers constitutes

normal practice since the teachers’ role is to facilitate learning. Thus, they

administer activities through a variety of techniques (e.g.: by repeating previous

lesson points or activities or explaining vocabulary and grammatical points) so as

to engage learners in grasping the intended messages and responding to the

tasks proposed appropriately.

In contrast, when performing a test, learners are expected to demonstrate how

well they can perform without the teacher’s assistance. And, even though

collaboration constitutes a crucial element throughout the learning process, it is

expected to be discouraged during a test on the grounds that it provides a false

picture of the learner’s abilities to deal with the tasks successfully (ibid, p. 213).

Since examinees are expected to perform on their own, test designers play an

essential role. The instructions provided on tests should be straightforward and

unambiguous (ibid). Moreover, the tasks proposed should be familiar to learners;

i.e., they should resemble the type of questions provided in class.

The second distinction between the teaching and testing of reading is that the

latter is intended to discriminate; i.e., tests are supposed to be hard for a particular

group of learners. Tests are expected to establish the difference between learners

who are able to perform the tasks successfully and those who are not. The tests

which discriminate between students are usually addressed as “norm-referenced

tests”. According to Lopes (1999:177), in this type of test, an individual score is

weighed against all the scores in the testing group. In addition, such tests are intended

to be standardized.

Calkins, Montgomery and Santman (1998 apud Lopes, 1999, chapter 6) criticize

the supremacy of standardized norm-referenced tests: The problem with this is that

the test development process is guided by the attempt to sort and rank students in relation

to each other. It is not guided by an effort to reflect what students actually know and can

do. They claim that by focusing on such tests, the teacher’s capacity to evaluate

their learners as well as to devise “informed techniques” and apply curriculum based

pedagogy in order to enable pupils to become conscious citizens (op. cit., p.178) seem to

be underestimated. The authors highlight that these tests are made deliberately

difficult. Therefore, most examinees do not manage to answer the questions

proposed and no more than a small percentage of them are likely to obtain

positive results.

Another aspect discussed by Calkins, Montgomery and Santman (op.cit.) is

related to the secrecy of the curriculum which governs the rationale of standardized

norm-referenced tests (Lopes, 1999:178). These tests are very often regarded as

being “curriculum free” or “curriculum neutral”, i.e., they may be applied to

everyone regardless of cultural, economic or social differences. In addition, the

scores obtained in standardized norm-referenced tests also serve as a means to

evaluate the teacher’s capacity, the principals and the schools. Therefore, low

scores, are often thought to indicate that the foreign language teaching curriculum

needs to be improved.

Unlike norm-referenced tests, criterion-referenced or mastery tests are expected to

reveal the learners’ strengths rather than their weaknesses. In such tests the

general public (i.e.: students, teachers and principals) are aware of the criteria

adopted for the correction as well as of the knowledge and skills to be assessed

(Calkins, Montgomery and Santman, 1998, apud Lopes, 1999, chapter 6).

Administering progress or achievement tests would be another alternative towards

focusing on what learners were expected to learn: Success breeds success and failure

breeds failure (Alderson, apud Nuttall, 1996:213). Thus designing tests which are

too difficult for learners is likely to be discouraging and frustrating. It may lead

those learners to question their ability to learn the target language or reject it

based on the misconception that it is above their level of understanding. For the

reasons previously mentioned, Alderson (ibid) argues that it often makes pedagogic

sense to make tests deliberately easy.

The third difference between the tasks and activities used in order to teach and

test reading is that the latter constitute representative samples (ibid, p. 214) of the

work done in class. It seems undeniably true that more time is devoted to teaching

than to testing. Therefore, a common injunction is that tests are likely to check no

more than a limited portion of what has been taught. As a result, there should be a

degree of similarity between the texts used in class and those presented on tests.

They should be similar but also different enough so as to test what learners are

able to do and not simply what they can remember. The major difficulty at this

point resides in determining which texts are more suitable and reflect the same

level of difficulty of the texts used in class.

The fourth difference is that tests have consequences (Alderson, 1996 apud Nuttall,

1996:214). Unlike texts used for teaching purposes, texts as testing devices are

expected to measure the candidate’s level of knowledge and as a result determine

the candidate’s success or failure. Alderson (op. cit., 1996) defines tests as nerve-

wracking experiences in the sense that they comprise consequences which ordinary

teaching activities do not have. Students can pass or fail and this fact places

considerable pressure on those examinees who may only have a single chance to

achieve their aims, such as entering university, receiving a promotion, passing to

the next level at school, etc. As a consequence, feelings such as stress and

anxiety are generated since the students are being judged according to their

performance on a particular occasion. This amount of pressure experienced by

candidates/learners is often likely to lead to low performance.

Alderson and Wall (1993) seem to agree that tests appear to influence the way

teachers conduct lessons and the way learners learn. As far as the validation of

language testing is concerned, it seems important to highlight the relevance of the

Washback Hypothesis and Impact Studies in the sense that they appear to bring

pedagogical implications to the teaching and/or learning of languages. These

issues will be addressed in the next subsection.

2.2.5. The relevance of “washback” and “impact” research

...our classroom observation research suggests that test preparation does

not have to imply “teaching for the test” in a narrow way. We saw

teachers being both creative and effective by setting out to teach the

skills that are tested, rather than concentrating too narrowly on practice

test questions. (Green and Hawkey, 2004:69)

Within the language testing scenario, the Washback Hypothesis emerges as a

central and complex issue (Alderson & Wall, 1993 apud Green and Hawkey).

Washback is often addressed as the extent to which testing is likely to affect

teaching and learning (Alderson & Wall, 1993 apud Green and Hawkey). It is

claimed to have both negative and positive effects. In an attempt to clarify the

distinction between the two types of Washback, Green and Hawkey (2004:66)

highlight that Washback may be negative when teaching and learning are restricted

to passing a given test. As to positive Washback, the same authors argue that well-

designed tests with clear and well-defined objective are claimed to lead to positive

Washback. Furthermore, the authors suggest that determining the nature of the

Washback of a particular test is often difficult since there is a number of factors

involved such as teachers, learners and classroom materials.

Alderson and Wall (1993, apud Green and Hawkey, 2004:67) highlight the

importance of research conducted in the area of testing In order to probe the

Washback Hypothesis. Results have revealed that the way Language teachers

conduct their lessons is claimed to have significant influence on the Washback of

language tests. By replicating the kinds of tasks found in tests and focusing on the

development of specific skills so as to enable their learners to achieve high scores,

teachers corroborate this assumption. However, the influence of tests does not

seem to be restricted to the language classroom (Taylor, 2004 apud Green and

Hawkey, 2004:68). Tests are also likely to influence decisions about curriculum

planning, immigration policy, or professional registration for doctors. This feature of

tests is often called Test Impact, i.e., the wider influences of tests beyond classroom

boundaries.

Due to the apparent relevance of tests as evidence of performance which is likely

to promote changes in the lives of individuals or groups, the providers of

international examinations such as the FCE have been more concerned with

another crucial aspect of testing: ethics. Shohamy (1999, apud Green and

Hawkey, 2004:68), who advocates a critical view of testing, argues that it seems

risky to regard tests as powerful in the sense that they lead to momentous decisions

affecting individuals and programs. This view suggests that language tests with big

impact ought to have properly-defined targets, appropriate and reliable evaluation

criteria, transparent and fair test interpretation and reporting systems, continuous

validation processes, and a keen regard for the rights of candidates and other stakeholders

(Green and Hawkey, 2004:69).

2.2.6. Learning validity: a concern in language testing

Seville (2003, apud Green and Hawkey, 2004:69) advocates that effective

language testing needs to pursue test validation. This view seems to suggest that:

a) tests are expected to reflect the purpose(s) for which they have been devised;

b) they should present similar results after repeated uses; c) they should reveal a

positive Washback and Impact. Tomlinson (2005:39) claims that apart from being

fair, valid and reliable, the ultimate aim should be providing learners and

professionals in charge of administering the tests with real learning opportunities

(i.e.: learning validity). Learners can learn from being tested (Tomlinson, 2005:39).

From his perspective, learners might benefit from their preparation, from taking tests

and from constructive feedback whilst and after taking them (Tomlinson, 2005:39).

However, if on one hand learning validity emerges as a crucial element in

language testing, on the other hand, developing useful language tests is often

regarded as a source of concern among researchers (Backman & Palmer,

1997:129). The plan for evaluating the qualities of usefulness, according to

Backman & Palmer (1997:131), is expected to comprise two main aspects in test

development: a) the areas of language ability to be measured and b) the

resources available for developing the test. The former seems to comprise aspects

of validity whereas the latter contemplates aspects of practicality. Backman &

Palmer (1997:129) suggest that the process of test development should be based

on a set of pre-established criteria which, by the same token, is expected to

include a set of descriptions and definitions. First and foremost, test designers

should start by identifying the purpose of the test to be designed (i.e., inferences

about language ability). Second, they are expected to identify the target discourse

community of the tests which seems to comprise test takers, teachers and

examiners/supervisors. As far as the characteristics of test takers are concerned,

Backman & Palmer (1997:129) argue that there are four main aspects to be

considered: a) personal characteristics; b) topical knowledge; c) general level and

profile of language ability and d) prediction about test takers potential affective

responses to test. Third, the program in which the test will be inserted should also

be a source of concern. All these elements should be carefully considered in order

to devise suitable tasks.

As far as learning validity in the testing of reading is concerned, research studies

conducted in the area of genre analysis might be regarded as an approachable

alternative in order to promote positive Washback and Impact. In the next section,

the relevance of genre studies will be addressed. Similarly, there will be an

attempt to reflect on their applications in order to develop more effective reading

lessons.

2.3. REVISITING GENRE THEORIES

2.3.1. Background to Text Linguistics

The oldest form of preoccupation with texts can be found in RHETORIC,

dating from Ancient Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages right up

to the present resurgence of classical rhetoric. (Beaugrande and

Dressler, 1981:15)

As the citation above suggests, the investigation of both spoken and written texts

have always constituted a source of concern among theoreticians. However, even

though the study of ”Rhetoric” dates back to ancient times, it still shares a number

of concerns related to a particular field of Modern Applied Linguistics, namely Text

Linguistics. According to Koch (2003:07), Text Linguistics emerged in Europe in the

1960s where it gained fame in the 1970s. At that time, its major focal point was

the investigation and description of syntactic-semantic relationships both at the

level of the sentence and stretches of sentences within a given paragraph.

However, in the 1970s, there was a substantial shift in focus. If, on one hand

researchers were still tied to the concepts of structural grammar, on the other

hand there was an apparent increase in interest towards developing what would

become known as Textual Grammar (Koch, 2003:07). In other words, researchers

engaged in reflecting upon aspects such as textual cohesion and coherence. As a

result, analyses were no longer restricted to the level of the sentence, since

Textual Linguistics had shifted its focus to the description of the linguistic

phenomena which could not be explained through the often-held structural

grammar perspective.

Beaugrande & Dressler (1981:3) define Text Linguistics as being the science of text

whose major concern is to describe and explain features texts have in common,

on the one hand, and to determine the existing differences among them, on the

other. Furthermore, Text Linguistics should be able to determine the standards to

which texts should conform as well as how these same texts were produced and

received. In addition, it should also focus on the reasons why readers would

tackle particular texts within a given discourse community.

A lingüística textual trata o texto como um ato de comunicação

unificado num complexo universo de ações humanas

. (Marcuschi,

1983, apud Koch, 2003:11)

It is important to bear in mind that the investigations developed in the field of Text

Linguistics are usually based on the notion whereby a text does not consist of a

sequence of isolated sentences, but a linguistic unit which presents peculiar structural

features (Koch, 2003:07). From this perspective, texts seem to constitute vehicles

to promote meaningful human interactions (Beaugrande & Dressler, 1981:3). This

position has also been strengthened by Teun Van Dijk (1979, apud Beaugrande e

Dressler, 1981:14) who pointed out that Text Linguistics does not consist of a

designation for a single theory or method. Instead, it designates any work in language

Text Linguistics contemplates texts as communicative occurrences within a complex universe of

human actions. [my translation]

science devoted to the text as the primary object of inquiry. Marcuschi (1983, apud

Koch, 2003:10) supports this view and goes even further by highlighting that Text

Linguistics is a field of study which investigates both the linguistic and cognitive

operations which govern the production, construction and understanding of texts.

In the author’s view, Text Linguistics acknowledges the crucial importance of both

linear (i.e.: the value of existing grammatical dependencies as major signals

towards constructing meanings) and non-linear organization (i.e.: graphic

conventions, reference apparatus and figures). Similarly, it investigates surface

cohesion (i.e.: linguistic constituents), conceptual coherence (i.e.: at the semantic

and cognitive levels) and pragmatic functions.

Interestingly, despite the advances in the area of Text Linguistics, Silva (2004:53)

asserts that a substantial number of the current views on texts still often seem to

be restricted to a list of pre-established formulas to which written texts should

conform, regardless of both the communicative intent, and the social context,

within which these same texts are inserted. In the 1980s, Modern Text Linguistics

promoted the development of a number of theories which generated a diversity of

branches further outlined in Koch (2003:8-10), and including:

• Beaugrande & Dressler (1981) – These authors have placed particular

emphasis on the investigation of the seven major patterns of textuality (i.e.:

cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, situationality, intertextuality and

informativity). They also have the cognitive processing of texts as a focal

point. Beaugrande & Dressler (op. cit.) advocate that the first two patterns

of textuality listed above (i.e.: cohesion and coherence) are text-bound

whereas the other five are reader-bound. As to the cognitive processing of

texts, the authors highlight the crucial role played by both the readers’ socially-

acquired knowledge and the propositional/declarative meanings towards

promoting proficient reading.

• Weinrich – This author’s research study focuses on the development of a

discourse macrosintax whereby written texts are tackled as linear

elements.

• Givón – This author is concerned with linguistic construction of meanings at

the sentence level on one hand and with cognitive processing (i.e.:

production/comprehension processes) of texts on the other. He is

particularly interested in the investigation of the cognitive mechanisms and

models involved in act of processing texts.

• Petöfi – This author was engaged in the development of a semiotic theory

of oral texts, namely TeSWeST (i.e.: Text Structure Theory – World

Structure Theory). He aimed at answering questions concerned with textual

comprehension and production by establishing a relation between the

internal structure of a given text (i.e.: the co-textual features) and its

possible interpretations (i.e.: contextual features).

• Van Dijk – This author has focused on the study of textual macropatterns

and typology of texts. He has focused on the field of Critical Discourse

Analysis since 1985.

• Schmidt – This author describes textuality as any sort of communication,

realized through linguistic symbols or not.

A shift in focus in Text Linguistics, in Hoey’s (1997) views, has led to pedagogical

implications related to the teaching of reading, as far as reading strategies are

concerned. Hoey (op. cit.) argues that Text Linguistics perceives written texts as

semantic entities (Halliday & Hasan, 1976 apud Hoey 1997) i.e., texts derive their

coherence from being meaningful (Hoey, 1997). Thus, according to Hoey (op. cit.),

rather than restricting reading lessons to the identification of the cognitive

processes undergone by readers when approaching texts, teachers of reading

might be advised to focus upon the interactive nature of texts. In the author’s view,

the development of meaning-centered text analyses may prove to be an effective

means towards raising learners’ awareness regarding the interactive properties of

texts as semantic entities (Hoey, op. cit.). In this same author’s view, there is a wide

range of benefits in focusing on reading from the perspective of text analysis: Since

reading is about the derivation of meaning from a text, it is not unreasonable that a

meaning-centered analysis might be helpful in the teaching of reading (Hoey, 1997).

Among such key advantages, Hoey (1997) suggests that text analysis a) seems to

encourage natural reading, b) engages learners in gradually making sense of the

target text and c) provides learners with intensive and memorable experience of the

vocabulary items which are essential to build up the texture (Hoey, 1997:10) of

target texts.

2.3.2. Approaching reading via text analysis

In fact with the help of text analysis you can turn your learners into

confident and independent explorers of texts. Who knows what

discoveries they will make? (Hoey, 1997:17)

It is a commonplace among theoreticians to argue that reading consists of an

interactive process in which meaning is central. It may be thus inferred that

meaning-centered text analysis may be beneficial to the development of effective

reading strategies among FL learners in general. Furthermore, text analysis may

contribute significantly to a more thorough understanding of what effective reading

entails in a broader sense.

According to Hoey (1997:03), there are three major distinctive textual features

which teachers should bear in mind when planning their L1 or FL reading lessons

i.e., texts are interactive, cohesive and patterned. In this author’s view, a thorough

understanding of such features may provide a valuable contribution to the

development of effective reading classes. Thus, due to the purposes of this

investigation and the corpus to be examined, an overview of the three textual

features described by Hoey (op. cit.) will be provided in the following subsections.

2.3.2.1. The interactive nature of reading

The first textual feature cited by Hoey (1997) is that texts are interactive pieces of

language. In the author’s view, texts might well be described in metaphorical terms

as unvoiced dialogues or a waltz between writer and reader. From this perspective,

writers attempt to determine the information the reader wishes to obtain, whereas,

readers, by the same token, attempt to guess which data is likely to be provided by

the writer within the flow of the discourse:

The reader’s guess will be based partly upon the knowledge that the

writer will try and answer the reader’s questions. The writer’s guess on

the other hand will be based partly upon the knowledge that the reader

will try and second-guess what the writer is going to say. (Hoey, 1997)

Conversely, whether the interaction between writer and reader will occur as

idealized in the first place is often difficult to determine. However, if the dance

develops smoothly, the reading process may be either effortless or substantially

easier (Hoey, 1997). Skillful readers are often able to identify the clues spread

over the surface of the text. They are aware of the fact that writers may resort to a

wide range of mechanisms in their efforts to convey the intended message (i.e.,

the answers to the readers’ questions):

These markers of the questions that a writer thinks important are

obviously of interest to any reader, in that they can be seen as intended to

guide the reader into a certain interpretation. (Hoey, 1997:11)

According to Hoey (op.cit.), writers may signal the relevance of the questions they

intend to answer in several different ways such as through the use of:

a) rhetorical questions: These questions are provided explicitly and followed by

their corresponding answers, which are often lengthy.

b) Embedded questions: the first half of these questions provides the question itself,

whereas the second half provides the writer’s answer – such as in the

example: What language learners need is more effective reading strategies (i.e.,

question: What do language learners need? answer – more reading

strategies).

c) Lexis of questions (e.g.: question, answer, explanation etc). Sentences such as The

answer to this problem is a very simple one invites the reader to continue reading

in order to identify the solution to the problem.

In Hoey’s (op. cit.) view this process of predicting what writers are likely to say

next should be cultivated in the reading classroom. According to the author, such

procedures may prove to be highly beneficial for learners. Thus, by engaging in

the process of predicting what comes next, learners are likely to expand their

awareness of the processes they undergo when reading in their L1, and, therefore,

be even more likely to transfer any related skills to the target language.

Furthermore, by being predictive (Hoey, op. cit.) learners work out the answers to

their inquiries by themselves, undoubtedly one step towards becoming more

independent. However, if on the one hand, the benefits of this approach to reading

are clearly evident, they also suggest a substantial amount of preparation on the

teachers’ part, on the other. Furthermore, the benefits presuppose a certain

degree of familiarity with a diversity of textual genres: the development of appropriate

predictive skills is a good a way as any of teaching the informational properties of

particular genres (Hoey, 1997:20). The issues surrounding the development of a

genre-oriented approach to reading will be discussed in depth further in the

present section.

2.3.2.2. Texts are cohesive

Cohesion is an overt feature of the text, providing surface evidence for

the text’s unity and connectedness. (Celce-Murcia & Olshstain, E.,

2000:126)

The second distinctive feature of text is that text is cohesive (Halliday & Hasan,

1976:07 and Hoey, 1997). Cohesion may be realized linguistically through the use

of either lexical or grammatical cohesive mechanisms (Koch, 2003:16), which are

heavily based on the reader’s linguistic competence. According to Beaugrande &

and Dressler (1981:50), such mechanisms establish semantic relations among

closely-knit units, spread along the text surface, in order to promote the construction

of meanings at different levels (i.e.: phrases, clauses or sentences):

É por meio de mecanismos como estes que se vai tecendo o “tecido”

(tessitura) do texto. A este fenômeno é que se denomina coesão textual

(Koch, 2003:15)

Hoey (1997) asserts that the identification of cohesive features spread along the

text surface may prove to be of crucial importance in expanding reading strategies.

The same author argues that such procedure strengths the notion of texture i.e.,

texts are made up of sentences in combination (Widdowson, 1973 apud Hoey,1995:10)

It is through the use of mechanisms like these that the texture of the target text is built. This

phenomenon is called textual cohesion. [my translation]

and corroborates the view that even though written discourse is surely secondary

to spoken discourse, it is not inferior as far as the level of complexity is concerned

(Shepherd, 1984:145):

... a língua tem dois modos, a fala e a escrita, que são variáveis,

paralelos mas não permutáveis meios de expressão contrastivos

(Shepherd, 1984: 146)

Celce-Murcia & Olshstain (2000:126) highlight the importance of being able to

identify the cohesive chains (Halliday and Hasan, 1976) within a text. They argue

that such chains are used by writers in order to facilitate reader interpretative

processes, aimed at achieving the communicative intent. In Hoey’s (op. cit.) view,

there are advantages in focusing on the identification of the cohesive ties spread

along the surface of texts. Among such benefits, the author highlights that spotting

cohesive links requires little or no specialist knowledge on the learner’s part.

Furthermore, apart from developing learners’ reading strategies, the tasks devised

to identify cohesive features in texts may prove to be fun, challenging,

encouraging and enhance learners’ sense of achievement. Conversely, low

linguistic competence on the reader’s part may lead to difficulties throughout the

interpretation process (Celce-Murcia M. & Olshstain, E., 2000:126).

... um estudo mais minuciosos dos mecanismos, do “input lingüístico e

das funções lingüísticas pertinentes à escrita poderia perfeitamente

fornecer detalhes relevantes ao ensino da leitura, também

. (Shepherd,

1984:146)

A given language may be expressed in two different forms: spoken and written. Both forms

although changeable, are contrastive means of expression. [my translation]

A more detailed investigation of the mechanisms, the linguistic input and linguistic functions

relevant to writing shall reveal important findings to the teaching of reading. [my translation]

2.3.2.3. Texts are patterned

As Lopes (1999:76) avers, a number of linguists and genre analysts seem to

agree that the communicative purposes which govern genres impose constraints

on both content and form. Hoey (1997:21) strengthens this view by arguing that

texts are patterned. According to this author, patterns consist of sets of questions

which both writer and reader expect to be answered within the flow of the

discourse. Such questions are signaled to the reader in a variety of ways,

depending on their degree of relevance. In addition, the patterns may occur in

paragraphs as well as in larger pieces of texts.

Using the signals of the patterns is a bit like following the tourist

signposts pointing you to all the main sights of a place. The places that

are signposted are usually worth seeing. (Hoey, 1997)

Another factor particularly relevant in order to achieve a better understanding of

how writers tend to organize, and readers tend to process, discourse is the

concept of clause relation. Hoey (1986:190) claims that all patterns are composed of

clause relations which, by the same token, may be seen as abstractions from the

questions a writer seeks to answer and a reader sees being answered, in a discourse

(Hoey, 1986:189). From this clause-relational perspective, it may be inferred that

whenever readers approach pieces of language that apparently belong together,

they are likely to relate them by either matching or sequencing them. Such a

processing strategy, according to Hoey (1986:189) is independent of the language in

which the information is expressed.

A further aspect to be considered is that, by attending to the clues spread along

the text surface, readers are likely to reach more precise interpretations. The

nature of organizational patterns lies in the sense of order perceived by a reader,

i.e., how clauses and groups of clauses relate to each other (e.g.: expressing

contrast relations, generalization-example relations, etc.). Thus, describing a

particular organizational pattern consists of describing the relations of which it is the

outcome (Hoey, 1986:190). The methods used in order to identify the patterns may

vary. However, they all should be concerned with conveying the meaning(s)

identified by readers as a result of the placement of the sentences.

As far as the analysis of genre-texts is concerned, Hoey (1997:22) asserts that

text analysis may be conducted in two distinct ways depending on its ultimate

goal: by considering the genre-specific patterns (Swales, 1990 apud Hoey, 1997) or

the genre-general patterns (Winter, 1977 apud Hoey, 1997) of target texts. Thus,

given the specific purposes of the present research, it is of crucial importance to

have a clear understanding of both kinds of patterns. For this reason, a more

detailed discussion on both the genre-specific patterns and the genre-general

patterns is provided in the subsequent paragraphs. First and foremost, it is

important to bear in mind is that neither approach is more prominent than the

other. The criterion to be adopted simply reflects the purposes of the analysis to

be developed.

2.3.3. The genre-specific patterns

Bhatia (1993) and Swales (1990) also argue that a particular communicative event

which displays most of the conventionalized characteristics of a particular genre

constitutes a prototypical exemplar of such genre. According to these authors,

genres are realized through specific moves and patterns which unveil the

organizational possibilities of the exemplars. From this perspective, the language

organization functions as a vehicle to achieve the writer’s communicative intent,

i.e., the organizational possibilities of the genres are governed by the

communicative purposes of the discourse communities in which such genres are

inserted.

Many linguists, including Swales (1990), Bhatia (1993) and Motta-Roth (1995)

have investigated particular genres in order to find elements in common as far

their internal organization is concerned. Bhatia (1993), for instance, has

elaborated a Promotional Genre Framework which provides the patterns for

analyzing two specific genres: promotional letters and job applications. These

patterns are outlined in Tables 2.2 and 2.3 below:

1. Establishing credentials;

2. Introducing the offer;

3. Offering incentives;

4. Enclosing documents;

5. Soliciting response;

6. Using pressure tactics;

7. Endin

olitel

Table 2.2.: Bhatia’s Promotional Genre Framework for analyzing sales promotion letters.

Similarly, Motta-Roth (1995) developed a framework for the identification of the

rhetorical moves in academic book reviews based on Swales´ (1990) analyses.

The former author’s schematic description of the rhetorical moves of this genre is

further presented in Table 2.4 below:

Swales (1990), on the other hand, has identified the CARS (Create a Research

Space) model for research article introductions:

1. Establishing credentials;

2. Introducing candidature;

3. Offering incentives;

4. Enclosing documents;

5. Soliciting response;

6. Using pressure tactics;

7. Ending politely.

Move 1 – Introducing the book

Sub-function 1: defining the general topic of the book and/or

Sub-function 2: informing about potential readership and/or

Sub-function 3: informing about the author and/or

Sub-function 4: making topic generalizations and/or

Sub-function 5: inserting book in the field

Move 2 – Outlining the book

Sub-function 6: providing general view of the organization of the book and/or

Sub-function 7: stating the topic of each chapter and/or

Sub-function 8: citing extra-text material

Move 3 – Highlighting parts of the book

Sub-function 9: providing focused evaluation

Table 2.4: Motta-Roth´s (1995) Academic Book Review Moves

Table 2.3.: Bhatia’s Promotional Genre Framework for analyzing job application letters.

Further research studies conducted in the field of genre analysis have revealed

that the models presented in the previous pages account for specific genre-texts,

namely promotional letters, job applications, academic book reviews and

research article introductions. However, due to the wide range of genre-texts

which constitute the corpus of this investigation, it may be inferred that the models

previously outlined would not be suitable for the identification of all genre-texts to

be examined. For this reason, the adoption of an alternative framework seems

advisable, in view of the variety of the genre-texts encountered.

Move 1: Establishing a territory

Step 1: Claiming centrality

and/or

Step 2: Making topic generalization(s)

and/or

Step 3: Reviewing items of previous research

Move 2: Establishing a niche

Step 1

Counter-claiming

Step 1B Indicating a gap

Step 1C Question-raising

Step 1D Continuing a tradition

Move 3 Occupying a niche

Step 1

Outlining purposes

Step 1B: Announcing present research

Step 2 Announcing principal findings

Step 3 Indicating RA structure.

Table 2.5: Swales (1990) CARS Model for article introduction

(

adapted from Swales 1990, fi

ure 10, p. 141

2.3.4. The genre-general patterns

Hoey (1997) also describes internal genre-text organization in terms of patterns,

which reveal the needs and goals of the writer. However, this author follows Winter

(1977) and prefers to describe texts in terms of genre-general patterns. He defines

the genre-general patterns as sets of recurrent questions that writers and readers

agree should be asked and answered (Hoey, 1997). Hoey (1986:191) argues that

there is a wide range of methods in order to identify genre-patterns. The most

basic way consisting of projecting the discourse into a question-and-answer

dialog. According to Hoey (op. cit.), there is a diversity of questions which may

unveil the relationship between the pairs of sentences.

Furthermore, Hoey (1997) asserts that in western society texts contain patterns

which occur and reoccur marking similar organization in a variety of texts.

Therefore, as a means of illustrating the diversity of existing patterns, Hoey (1997)

highlights the most recurrent questions which tend to be answered through textual

organization. In order to illustrate the diversity of existing patterns in European

languages, three of these groups have been summarized in the form of questions

in Table 2.6. below:

Table 2.6: Genre-general patterns (Adapted from Hoey, 1997)

GENRE-GENERAL PATTERNS

PROBLEM SOLUTION

PATTERN

QUESTION-ANSWER

PATTERN

GOAL-ACHIEVEMENT

PATTERN

What was the problem? What do we need to know? What did we want to

achieve?

What did someone do

about it?

How did we go about

finding out?

How did we go about doing

this?

SAMPLE

QUESTIONS

How successful was

this?

How successful was this? How successful were we?

Hoey (1997) argues that the sets of questions presented above may account for

both simple and complex texts. Furthermore, since the genre-general patterns of

written discourse organization consist of sets of global questions which both

reader and writer expect to be answered, writers like to signal them, to ensure that the

reader recognizes that such questions are being answered (Hoey, 1997). Hence, key

lexical items, which are typical signals of a particular pattern, are utilized. Thus, in

the problem-solution pattern, for example, it is common to encounter words such

as difficulty, problem, shortcoming, solution etc. In the goal-achievement pattern, on

the other hand, it would be common to find words such as objective, success and

intention.

However, if each genre-general pattern seems to reveal particular pattern-

signaling vocabulary items (i.e.: key lexical items which draw the readers’ attention

to the questions being answered by the writer), Hoey (1997) claims that

possessing an extensive vocabulary constitutes no guarantee that meanings will

be constructed accordingly. This seems to suggest that even though key lexical

items may be regarded as clues spread along the text surface (Hoey, 1997),

teachers of reading in general possibly ought to be more concerned about

equipping learners with a wider range of strategies in order to enable them to

approach texts in a variety of ways according to their needs and aims. This notion

corroborates the view that reading effectively does not mean sucking up every word

and nuance of meaning in the text (Hoey, 1997). In longer texts, for instance, more

than one pattern may be identified by readers, depending on how well the text and

the discourse has been organized by the respective writer:

So the property of text that it is patterned can directly help the reader read

more effectively. All the reader has to be able to do is recognize the

characteristic signals of the patterns (...), and they are useful in writing and the

spoken skills as well. (Hoey, 1997)

2.3.5. Defining Genre: Swales’ (1990) Working Definition of Genre

The focal point of the current investigation, as highlighted in the introductory

section, is to develop a genre-based analysis of the reading comprehension

questions proposed to readers both in the FCE reading paper and in the reading

sections of coursebooks by different publishers. Furthermore, it is intended to both

determine the textual genre(s) which are predominant in both sources, as well as,

define the target discourse community of the texts and their corresponding

comprehension questions. Finally, an attempt will be made to reflect upon the

extent to which our findings may be revealing for TEFL, more specifically for the

Brazilian private EFL teaching/learning scenario, where learners are often trained

for international examinations.

Swales’ working definition of genre (1990:58) has been selected as a theoretical

basis for our investigation. The decision to adopt this author’s definition may be

justified by its relevance to the field of genre analysis. Swales’ definition of genre is a

synthesis of contemporary interpretations of the term (...). It provides us with a way of

looking at language in use which differs in many respects from that inherent in process

approaches, but which can complement them (Tribble, 1996:23). Moreover, Swales’

definition has been widely used as a valuable starting point for the development of

a diversity of investigations in the field of genre analysis. Swales (op. cit.) defines

a genre as:

... a class of communicative events, the members of which share

some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are

recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse

community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre.

This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse

and influences and constrains choice of content and style.

Communicative purpose is both a privileged criterion and one

that operates to keep the scope of a genre as here conceived

narrowly focused on comparable rhetorical action. In addition

to purpose, exemplars of a genre exhibit various patterns of

similarity in terms of structure, style, content and intended

audience. If all high probability expectations are realized, the

exemplar will be viewed as prototypical by the parent discourse

community. The genre names inherited and produced by

discourse communities are imported by others constitute

valuable ethnographic communication, but typically need

further validation. (Swales, 1990: 58)

Thus, in Swales´ view, a genre consists of a class of communicative events which are

determined by specific communicative purposes. The former comprises the

discourse itself, the participants involved and the environment in which the

discourse is produced. The latter is related to the role of the discourse i.e., using

language to get something done. As Tribble (1996:23) asserts, language exists to

fulfill certain functions. Communicative purposes are, therefore, manifested

linguistically by means of lexical items and grammatical structures.

Focusing on texts from a genre-oriented perspective, according to Swales (op.

cit.), would seem to involve the application of various categories for the analysis of

written text or discourse, in order to determine those elements which are common

to the internal organization i.e., the generic structure of the discourse (Tribble,

1996:32). Bhatia (1993:16) subscribes to Swales’ (ibid) views when he argues that

each genre is an instance of a successful achievement of a specific communicative purpose

using conventionalized knowledge of linguistic and discoursive resources. Within this

scope, the notion of communicative purpose emerges as an essential element in

order to investigate the nature of texts. Halliday & Hasan (1985/1989), for

instance, argue that a text may be defined as a functional use of language. By

functional it is meant that language realizes a particular function within a given

context, in opposition to the idea of text as isolated words or sentences. It is

certainly true that texts may share similar features, including status, lexis and

typography. However, Swales (op. cit.) argues that it is the communicative purpose

of a given genre that is more important than any other formal feature (Tribble,

1996: 34).

A further central factor to be considered in the identification of a genre is related to

the organization of information; which is based on functions, in contrast to an

analysis of a “register”, which would present, as a primary focus, the lexical or

syntactic choices made by writers. As Droga & Humphrey (2002:4) claim, genres

occur in order to achieve a goal or purpose. In order to achieve its purpose a genre moves

through distinctive stages, with beginnings, middles and ends which are recognizable.

Such stages are defined by Tribble (1996:32) as predictable. From this perspective,

any genre would be considered a communicative event materialized via spoken or

written language aimed at a particular discourse community in order to achieve a

given communicative intent.

2.3.6. The social role of genres

In view of the issues discussed above, it seems undeniably true that genres

possess a remarkable role within social interactions. This is the notion which

appears to be particularly relevant to the development of effective L1 and/or FL

reading lessons. By focusing on genres, teachers bring society, as an integrating

element, into and as part of the language classroom (Gazotti, 1999:14). This view

corroborates the assumption whereby a text consists of a product of the categories of

social interactions that are realized by genres (Tribble, 1996:26). Bakhtin (op. cit.)

highlights this characteristic feature of genres by stating that human beings often

create rules to be followed in order to interact according to the environment in

which they are inserted. Such rules reflect the social behavior which is manifested

through linguistic choices. A genre would be a set of rules defined by the members of a

determined social context to be followed as patterns when producing the language in these

contexts (Gazotti, 1999:14).

Thus, as the preceding paragraph suggests, the act of writing within a genre does

not seem to prioritize a straightforward focus on form (Tribble, 1996:32). This notion

seems to be particularly related to Swales’ concept of schematic structure which

suggests that even if writers do not possess absolute control of a given language

system, they are likely to communicate successfully within the scope of a

particular genre. By arguing in this way, Swales (op.cit.) brings the notion of

“formal schemata” into the arena of genre research studies. The author claims that

“formal schemata” enables writers to produce appropriately organized texts

according to their ultimate aim. In addition, it is a combination of procedural, formal

and content schemata which may enable readers to identify particular genres, as

well as evaluate their degree of prototypicality i.e., to what extent such texts may

be considered a true representative of a set of texts.

Bakhtin (1929) also highlighted the crucial role played by the social environment

within the manifestation of linguistic phenomena. This author used the expression

linguistic community whereas Swales (1990), preferred to address the same

phenomenon as discourse community, therefore corroborating the relevance of the

social context for the production and comprehension of a given language. In

Bakhtin’s (op.cit.) view, it is fundamental that both the encoder and the decoder

belong to the same linguistic community i.e., an organized society. In addition, it is

fundamental that the two individuals are integrated within the unity of the

immediate social situation. Marcuschi (2002), by the same token, argues that

textual genres consist of historical phenomena strongly linked to an individual´s

cultural and social life. Thus, they derive from particular needs linked to the social

and cultural life of a given group of individuals i.e., (Swales, op.cit.): discourse

community:

(Os gêneros) surgem, situam-se e integram-se funcionalmente nas

culturas em que se desenvolvem

. (Marcuschi, 2002)

Thus, rather than being governed by linguistic and structural features, genres are

largely characterized by their communicative function. Marcuschi (op. cit.)

subscribes to Swales’ views when he argues that genres constitute socio-

discoursive entities which govern our daily-life activities. Hence, genres are not

static, in the sense that they do not limit human creativity. As Bakhtin (op.cit.),

asserts, the unlimited number of human activities result in an equally diverse

amount of textual genres. From this perspective, Marcuschi (2002) defines textual

genres as being dynamic and plastic:

Genres emerge and are functionally integrated in the cultures where they are developed. [my

translation]

[Muitos gêneros] são de difícil definição formal, devendo ser

contemplados em seus usos e condicionamentos sócio-pragmáticos

caracterizados como práticas sócio-discursivas. Quase inúmeros em

diversidade de formas, obtêm denominações nem sempre unívocas...

(Marcuschi, 2002)

It might be inferred that any new genre which emerges from technological

innovations, for instance, should not be regarded as an absolute innovation in the

sense that it results from already pre-existing genres. The “new” genres appear to

establish new relationships with the uses of the language. They create new forms

of communication characterized by their hybrid (Fairclough, 1989) nature.

A preliminary conclusion which may be drawn, in very general terms, is that textual

genres cannot be regarded as well-defined, static structures (i.e., textual families

grouped together according to their similarities). In fact, textual genres constitute

“linguistic events” which should not be defined by their linguistic characteristics but

by their socio-discoursive roles. They constitute culture-sensitive socio-historical

phenomena and reflect the social structures which are typical in each and every

culture (Malinowski, 1926). Thus, in order to build a text efficiently so as to achieve

the communicative intent, Swales (1990) argues that writers should bear in mind

two crucial aspects, namely (a) the Context of Culture and (b) the Context of

Situation.

A wide range of genres are not easily defined. Thus, due to the diversity of forms which may be

encountered, genres should be contemplated according to their socio-pragmatic functions. They

constitute socio-discoursive practices whose names do not usually emerge from common

agreement. [my translation]

2.3.7. The Context of Culture

As discussed in preceding pages, Swales’ (op. cit.) view of the concept of genre

embodies the identification of discursive patterns. These patterns should be

recognized by a given discourse community within a particular communicative

event. From this perspective, texts should present similarities in content, style,

target audience and communicative purposes. If and when all these features are

fulfilled, then a given group of texts is said to be representative of a particular

genre. Thus, it might be correct to infer that individuals who share the same goals

tend to develop particular kinds of genre, either oral or written. Consequently, the

knowledge of the Context of Culture enables writers to shape meanings

accordingly in order to achieve the communicative intent they have in mind. In

order to achieve such aim, writers count on their familiarity with the discoursive

patterns which govern a particular discourse community.

2.3.8. The Context of Situation

In contrast to the previous definitions of the Context of Culture, the Context of

Situation from Swales’ (op. cit.) perspective seems to be directly related to the

rhetorical moves i.e., the linguistic choices made by writers. Such choices are also

defined as “register”. Halliday and Hasan (1976:22) assert that the linguistic features

which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features – with particular

values of the field, mode and tenor

– constitute a register. In other words, the register

Halliday & Hasan (op. cit.) argue that field, tenor and mode refer to the text itself, the relation

established between the participants (i.e.: writer and reader) and the vehicle through which the

discourse is expressed (i.e.: oral or spoken text), respectively.

appears to emerge from a combination of the two dimensions of a given text i.e.,

its Context of Culture and its linguistic manifestation (i.e., the Context of Situation).

Thus, if we bear in mind that the Context of Situation determines the linguistic

choices realized by the authors in order to achieve their communicative intent, it

may be concluded that a detailed investigation of the Context of Situation might

reveal how language may be used as a tool to shape meanings through a given

genre (Droga & Humphrey, 2002:02). According to Halliday and Hasan (op. cit.),

Field, tenor and mode are inserted in the Context of Situation and constitute the

three major dimensions of the discourse:

• Field – It is related to the nature of the social activity and its purpose. Its

semantic realization is related to experiential meanings.

• Tenor – It is related to the roles and relationships between the interactants.

Its semantic realization conveys interpersonal meanings.

• Mode – It is related to the channel or medium of communication – whether

the text is spoken or written is likely to determine action and reflection. Its

semantic realization expresses textual meanings i.e, using language in a

coherent and meaningful way.

These three aspects within a functional model are claimed to influence the shape

and realize meanings in a particular text (Droga & Humphrey,2002:21-30). As a

result, readers are able to predict aspects of the context of situation from specific

grammatical features and lexis.

2.4. Conclusions

In view of the discussion presented above and considering that all texts are likely

to be manifested through a given textual genre, it is important to highlight that a

more comprehensive knowledge of how textual genres function is a sine-qua-non

for effective understanding of texts. Paltridge (1996) and Dudley-Evans (1997:219)

highlight the relevance of these research studies developed in the field of textual

genre analysis to the teaching/learning of L2 or FL as well as for the

teaching/learning of ESP

(...) communicative purpose is, in fact, the defining feature by which a

genre such as the academic article is distinguished from other genres

and by which the consideration of genre is distinguished from the

consideration of register. (Dudley-Evans, 1997:219)

As the citation above suggests, the use of the term genre to describe those

studies developed in the area of ESP, EAP or in the field of Applied Linguistics,

appears to differ from its use in the area of literary studies in which a given genre

such as a comedy or a tragedy is often identified through its form. ... a genre is a

means of achieving a communicative goal that has evolved in response to particular

rhetorical needs and that a genre will change and evolve in response to changes in those

needs. The emphasis is thus on the means by which a text realizes its communicative

purpose rather than on establishing a system for the classification of genres (Dudley-

Evans, 1997:219).

Within the context of ESP teaching/learning, the term genre was first used by Tarone et al (1981)

via an article which highlighted the importance of both lexical and grammatical choices in order to

achieve a given communicative intent.

Gazotti (1999:7) asserts that the concept of genre has been widely applied to

language teaching, specifically for the teaching of the first language. In Australia,

England, Anglophile Canada, and in the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland,

for instance, a syllabus of a course of French as a mother tongue has focused on

genres as the major tool to teach the target language. As Gazotti (op.cit.) claims,

the concept of genre is not a new one. It is common practice in the language

classroom to invite learners to produce “business letters”, “invitations”, “letters of

complaint”, etc. By doing so, teachers are clearly working with genres. However,

teachers are so often concerned about teaching the structures of the target

language that they tend to overlook both the context in which the text was

produced, as well as the original purposes for which these texts were produced.

Gazotti exemplifies this major concern through the citation that follows:

In fact, the linguistic elements in a genre are a result of the choices a

community has made to create their texts. (...) that’s how grammar is

taught, within a specific context and being used for a specific purpose.

Gazotti (1999: 8)

The claims described in the preceding paragraphs arguably relate to practical

pedagogical implications for the teaching/testing of FL reading. The development

of committed pedagogical practice focused on genre analysis may help to

encourage learners to analyze and/or produce linguistic events, as well as identify

the major characteristics of a genre. Such tasks may also enhance learners’

reading skills, in addition to their capacity to produce their own texts. Therefore,

analyzing reading comprehension questions from a genre-based perspective

would involve, first and foremost, verifying whether the questions proposed to the

target audience contemplate the communicative nature of the target texts.

Furthermore, any analysis should also be able to determine to what extent the

comprehension questions call the learners’ attention to the linguistic choices which

govern the achievement of the communicative purposes of the texts involved.

In view of the arguments raised above, it may be possible to infer that reflective

pedagogical practice, including a focus on textual genres may be introduced within

the Brazilian private language schools sector. This would no doubt serve as a

valuable alternative, as it focuses, on the target language through its authentic

uses. This, in turn, may be achieved by a careful selection of appropriate

comprehension questions.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1. Selecting the corpus

The corpus of analysis selected for the present research study has been extracted

from two different sources. The first half consists of twenty reading comprehension

sections (i.e., texts and questions) from five publications widely used for the

teaching/learning of English either as a L2 or FL (Appendix 1). The coursebooks

are aimed at learners of English at the intermediate proficiency level and have

been published between the years 1996 and 2003. The decision to investigate the

coursebooks previously outlined was based on four parameters which considered

not only the texts and comprehension questions which accompany them but also

the reading skills required from learners when approaching the target texts:

a) Does each unit of the five coursebooks include a section on reading

comprehension?

b) Do the reading comprehension sections claim to relate specifically to the

FCE Reading Paper?

c) Do the texts and activities proposed claim to reflect the demands of the FCE,

as far as a genre-oriented approach to reading is concerned?

d) To what extent do the reading comprehension questions raise learners’

awareness regarding the generic organization of the texts and how does this

knowledge may be beneficial to them in their social practices?

...hoje a necessidade consiste em ensinar ao aluno a linguagem em uso na prática social; há uma

ênfase no “o que”, “para que” se está ensinando, no que isso vai ser importante na vida do

educando. (EDMUNDSON, 2004:88)

The second half of our corpus consists of four FCE reading papers (Appendix 2)

corresponding to the months June and December of the years 2003 and 2004.

Similarly, the texts and questions related to reading comprehension will be the

focus of analysis. The decision to investigate the previously described corpus (i.e.

the texts and questions related to reading comprehension) may be justified by the

recognition of the potential importance of the development of effective reading

within FL pedagogy, at least by international publishers, within the past two

decades. A further factor which has influenced this choice is the growing number

of people within the communities where I teach, who appear to be increasingly

interested in taking proficiency tests as a means to achieve more benefits,

specifically in professional settings. Clearly, the data to be investigated represents

no more than a tiny percentage within a realm of alternatives. However, the small

sample under analysis is believed to be acceptable for the purposes of the present

investigation in terms of their matching recent research regarding genre studies

and the development of reading skills in the field of foreign language learning.

3.2. Describing the corpus

3.2.1. The coursebooks

In this subsection, an attempt will be made to provide an objective description of

the five coursebooks under investigation. The data provided is grounded on a

careful reading of the coursebooks in question and their corresponding Teachers’

Manuals. Thus, there is no concern, at this stage, to develop a critical analysis of

the elements of the corpus.

3.2.1.1. The coursebook “ALFA” (1999, Oxford University Press)

The exemplar investigated has been selected from the fourth edition of the series

and is aimed at intermediate learners of English. According to its authors, this

publication presents a “clearly focused skills development” (Teachers’ Manual,

1999:9). Furthermore, the authors argue that the “well-planned” lessons are

genuinely effective in providing learners with tasks aimed at developing their

listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The student’s book is divided into

eight units called “files”, which are “topic-based” (Teachers’ manual, 1999:9). At

the back of the student’s book, there is a thematically organized section entitled

“vocabulary builder” which focuses on the core topic-based vocabulary of the

course. In addition, the section entitled “build your vocabulary” consists of a

regular feature in the student’s book aimed at recycling the target lexical items

presented in the vocabulary builder. The tasks proposed are presented in a variety

of ways, including quizzes, memory tests and filling-in-the-gaps activities, among

others.

3.2.1.2. The coursebook “BETA” (1998. Cambridge University Press).

Coursebook “Beta” was published by the Cambridge University Press (henceforth

CUP) and has been widely used in different parts of the globe. The exemplar

investigated belongs to the second edition of the series first published in 1998. It is

also aimed at second/foreign language young adult/adult learners of English at the

intermediate level of EFL proficiency. The authors have argued strongly that the

edition to be investigated in the present research incorporates certain changes

suggested by teachers and learners from around the world (Teacher’s Manual,

1998: IV). According to this same teacher’s manual (op.cit., p. IV), the ultimate aim

of the course is to equip learners with the ability to communicate in a variety of

settings by considering the immediate situation, objectives and roles of the

participants involved. The authors claim that this primary goal is achieved through

their balanced focus on the development of the four skills as well as on

pronunciation and vocabulary building. Furthermore, the authors aver that the

design of the course is an attempt to reflect the relevance of the English language

as a means of international communication without being restricted to any

particular region, country or culture. The Student’s Book contains sixteen units.

The tasks proposed are grouped into two “cycles” i.e., topical and/or functional

sections.

3.2.1.3. The coursebook “GAMA” (1991. Longman.)

The series of coursebooks entitled “Gama” was first published in 1991 by the

Longman Group. The exemplar investigated is the ninth edition of the series and is

also aimed at intermediate adult learners of English. Among its key features, the

authors claim that certain topics and situations have been carefully chosen so as

to maximize the learners’ level of interest. The same authors also aver that the

publication aims at balancing fluency and accuracy by focusing on an equal

development of the four skills. It is also argued that learners are encouraged to

mobilize their background knowledge and it is claimed that by interacting with each

other the learners will be motivated to express their opinions on a variety of

“thought-provoking” topics.

3.2.1.4. The coursebook “Delta” (2003. Oxford University Press.)

Coursebook “Delta” was first published in 2003 by the Oxford University Press

(henceforth OUP). The exemplar investigated belongs to the second edition of the

series and is aimed at upper-intermediate young adult and/or adult learners of

English. According to its authors, this publication aims to promote a more natural

use of the target language. It is also claimed that this publication has resulted from

a research study in which communicative activities were piloted with upper-

intermediate and higher level learners in order to identify learners’ “coping

strategies”. The student’s book contains twelve units. Each unit has been divided

into five sections, namely “grammar & vocabulary”, “speaking”, “listening”,

“extended speaking” and “reading & writing” (Students’ Book, p. 2-5). The focus for

the present research will be the latter sections from the units selected.

3.2.1.5. The Coursebook “Épsilon” (1996. Heinemann)

Coursebook “Épsilon” was first published in 1996 by Heinemann Publishers. The

student’s book contains forty lessons, eight fluency lessons and eight progress

check lessons. American English is the model for grammar, vocabulary, spelling

and pronunciation, but other varieties of English are included for listening and

reading practice. The course design is claimed to be based on a broad and

integrated multi-syllabus approach. It is believed to be broad in the sense that it

arguably covers grammar and language functions, vocabulary, reading, listening,

speaking, writing, and sounds explicitly, and topics, learner training, and socio-

cultural competence implicitly. The lessons always include activities focusing on

grammar, language functions, and vocabulary.

3.2.2. The FCE reading papers

Each FCE (see Appendix 2) reading paper takes 75 minutes and consists of four

parts. Each part contains a text followed by its corresponding comprehension

tasks. There might be two or more shorter texts in one of the parts. However, the

texts are not usually lengthy. The number of words ranges from 350 to 700. The

total number of reading comprehension questions per paper is 35. According to

the FCE handbook (2001:9, UCLES, Cambridge) the reading paper attempts to

cater for a wide range of genres such as advertisements, brochures, manuals,

guides, newspaper/magazine articles and messages among other genres. The

types of questions proposed to candidates are usually multiple-choice, gapped

texts and multiple matching.

3.3. Collecting and analyzing data

3.3.1. Introduction

This section of the present research study is specifically concerned with the

analysis of the corpus. However, prior to proceeding to the analysis itself, it seems

important to discuss how the present investigation will be conducted. The

investigation consists of a three-staged analysis which comprises three distinct but

closely correlated stages. The first stage consists of an attempt to delineate the

discourse community at which the FCE Reading Paper is aimed. Therefore, in

order to either confirm or reject the initial hypothesis whereby FCE candidates,

exam designers, in addition to the institutions that prepare for the examination in

question, may be characterized as a discourse community, Swales’ (1990) six

defining features for the term were used as the theoretical foundation. At the

second stage however, the major concern is to provide a quantitative-interpretative

description of exemplars of the genre-texts identified in the reading sections of

coursebooks A, B, Γ, Δ and Ε (see Appendix 1). The same procedure will be

adopted with the genre-texts encountered in the four sets of FCE reading papers

(see Appendix 2). Salient features such as the communicative function, writer,

source and lexical, as well as syntactic choices which might help determine the

macro-patterns (Hoey, 1983; 2001), and which somehow contribute to the global

organization of the discourse, are also tackled. At this stage of the analysis,

Swales’ (1990, op. cit) investigations and “Working Definition of Genre” will serve

as the theoretical foundation in order to characterize the texts as exemplars of a

particular genre. The confrontation of findings from both sources may prove to be

revealing in the sense that this might determine a tendency towards particular

genres which, by the same token, might nurture the format and objectives of the

reading comprehension questions proposed to candidates. Furthermore, it is

possible to infer that the identification of the characteristic features of the genres

may provide EFL teachers in general with insights on how to exploit genres in their

reading classroom. The identification of the genres may function as a powerful tool

in order to prepare more effective and purposeful reading lessons therefore

enhancing learners’ self-confidence when approaching a wider range of genre-

texts. Finally, the third stage of the present investigation contemplates the reading

comprehension questions which accompany the twenty texts randomly chosen

from the five coursebooks. The same procedure will be adopted with the four FCE

reading papers. The ultimate aim at this stage consists of an attempt to determine

how genre-oriented the questions proposed to learners of English in general and

FCE candidates are. In the next sub-section each phase of the investigation will be

described in detail.

3.3.2. The Discourse Community behind the FCE examination

As discussed in sub-section 3.3.1 above, there will be an attempt at this first stage

of the analysis to delineate the discourse community which appears to nurture the

FCE examination. In order to achieve this aim, it has been decided to investigate

FCE candidates, exam designers, teachers and the institutions which prepare for

the examination in question in the light of the six defining features of a discourse

community postulated by Swales’ (1990):

1 – A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

The first defining feature of a discourse community, according to Swales, is that its

expert members should present a set of common goals. As far as the FCE

examination is concerned, this point appears to be closely related to the following

question: What is the common goal shared by The UCLES, exam designers,

institutions that prepare for the examination, teachers and FCE candidates?

Despite belonging to distinct domains and levels of expertise, it seems possible to

infer that the members previously mentioned appear to be concerned with the

materialization of a specific communicative event i.e., undergoing the FCE

examination. Thus, activities such as preparing and piloting exam papers prior to

their administration (i.e.: researchers and exam designers), training (i.e.: teachers

and institutions that prepare for the tests), applying (i.e.: examiners and

institutions) and undergoing the tests (i.e.: learners/candidates) may be

characterized as a set of goals all of which seem to be directly related to an

ultimate aim, namely passing the FCE.

Moreover, it seems important to note that the set of common goals appear to be

reinforced by the issues discussed in sub-sections 1.1. and 2.1.2. As highlighted,

the mastery of the English language has gained notorious relevance within the

global scenario. Thus, internationally recognized certification is often believed to

guarantee access to a wide range of benefits, mainly in academic and professional

settings. Moreover, certificate-holders are often viewed as representatives of a tiny

elite. They tend to be regarded as successful and competent individuals since

passing an international examination tends to be viewed as a demanding task.

2- A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.

As a result of the increase in the level of interest for the FCE examination, there

has been huge investment in the preparation phase for the exam in question. The

publishing industry has increased its profits through specialized publications aimed

at candidates, teachers and the institutions that prepare for the tests. Moreover,

with the advent of the internet, online training has also become common practice

among teachers and candidates who join discussion groups in which they discuss

aspects of the examination and how positive performance may be achieved. More

recently, specialized websites provide access to samples of past papers in order

to familiarize candidates’ with the format and types of questions. Similarly, private

language schools have also invested in this area by offering exam practices

courses which are often advertised as a sine-qua-non requisite for obtaining

positive results.

Another important factor to be considered in the candidates’ pursuit for success is

his/her economic power. Lopes (1999) addresses a candidate’s economic power

as a decisive element in order to obtain positive results in examinations. This

assumption is based on the fact that the preparation stage for international

examinations, for instance, often requires from candidates the acquisition of

expensive imported instructional materials such as exam practice books.

Moreover, the preparatory classes are usually held in expensive private language

schools which usually invite expert teachers to teach the lessons. Moreover,

classrooms are usually equipped with expensive pedagogical resources such as

computers, stereo systems etc. Similarly, candidates are expected to both devote

considerable “free time” to their studies and to be able to afford the fee to paid at

the enrollment phase. All these factors seem to suggest that less privileged

classes are usually at disadvantage.

3- A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide

information and feedback.

Swales’ third defining feature acknowledges the relevance of the same

mechanisms of intercommunication among members as vehicles which may

regulate membership as well as guarantee that the members’ common goals are

being pursued. Moreover, participatory mechanisms may signal new routes to be

followed.

4- A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the

communicative furtherance of its aims.

The fourth characteristic defining feature postulated by Swales may be illustrated

through the use of handouts, catalogues and leaflets which contain all the

information related to enrollment procedures (e.g.: fees to be paid by candidates,

places, dates and results). In addition, computer softwares and exam practice

books aimed at preparing for the examination are widely utilized as an aid to

preparation. This variety of informational and instructional materials seems to

require from candidates a familiarity with a wide range of genres. Even the FCE

test present particular characteristic features regarding format and discoursal

organization.

5- In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific

lexis.

As far as the FCE examination is concerned, the fifth defining feature advocated

by Swales may be verified through the use of specific “jargon” i.e., specific lexis

and acronyms. These elements might be claimed to be used for two major

reasons: a) to facilitate intercommunication among members and b) in order to

constrain the interference of non-members. Tables 3.1 and 3.2. (Appendices 3 and

4) might be regarded as highly illustrative of the need to be familiarized with a wide

range of specific jargon in order to become a member of the discourse community

which seems to nurture the FCE examination.

6 – A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of

relevant content and discoursal expertise.

As observed in Tables 3.1 and 3.2, as far as the level of expertise is concerned, it

seems possible to note that there seems to be a hierarchy among the members

which compose the FCE discourse community. The UCLES, for instance, is

responsible for the professional and specialist aspects of the examination itself. It

not only selects but also qualifies the EFL team of professionals who will make

sure that the examination reflects the level of excellence established by the

institution. Similarly, it is responsible for the administration and processing of

examinations. The researchers and exam designers also possess very specific

roles within this system. They not only design the tests but also check their

validation in order to ensure that the standards are being met and that the exams

reflect the changing needs of candidates. Moreover, these professionals develop

and implement training and monitoring procedures so that the examinations are

developed the same way regardless of the part of the world where it is being held.

Examiners consist of trained professionals whose major aim is to administer the

tests. Thus, they ought to be familiar with all the testing procedures. It may be

inferred therefore that the teachers who teach the exam practice lessons are

expected to be familiar with all the requirements established by the UCLES.

Furthermore, they should be qualified professionals who will be able to meet the

learners/candidates demands as far as preparation is concerned.

In the following sub-section a quantitative-interpretative analysis of the genre-texts

identified in both sources of the corpus of investigation will be conducted.

3.3.3. A quantitative-interpretative analysis of the genre-texts identified

3.3.3.1. In the coursebooks

As far as the variety and choice of genre-texts are concerned, the FCE question

designers (Teacher’s book, 2001) highlight the following premises:

1) FCE candidates are expected to be able to read semi-authentic texts of

various kinds (informative and general interest .... (p.02)

2) The texts are intended to cover a range of recently published material

and to appear authentic in form, presentation and content. (p.05)

3) Pictures and other diagrams are used where appropriate to illustrate

the text (...). Some of the vocabulary may be simplified in the texts to keep

it within the FCE level but such changes are kept to minimum. (p.05)

As highlighted in the introduction to the present chapter, the reading sections of

the coursebooks A, B, Γ, Δ and Ε will be focused upon in this subsection. The

ultimate aim at this stage is to determine the genre-texts which are predominant in

these sources. For the sake of brevity, there will be an attempt to exemplify how

the identification of each genre-text (see Appendix 5 for complete list of genre-

texts identified in the coursebooks) was conducted in the light of Swales’ (1990)

“Working Definition of Genre” by focusing on exemplars of the two predominant

genres, namely articles and stories. The decision to adopt Swales’ analytical

framework may be justified by its relevance to the field of genre analysis. As Lopes

(1999:83) claims, it provides sufficiently narrow criteria for genre analysis which allows

a more systematized analysis of the texts. The identification of one exemplar of each

predominant genre will be described in detail. In this way, an attempt will be made

towards portraying the procedures adopted in order to identify the exemplars of

the genres which constituted the 101 reading sections investigated (see table 3.3.

appendix 5, for the detailed list of exemplars of genres identified and their

corresponding number of occurrences). Furthermore, this secondary analysis aims

at providing a frame for the ultimate objective of the present research study, i.e.,

investigating the reading comprehension questions from the coursebooks and

FCE reading papers.

As observed, Table 3.3. (see Appendix 5) illustrates that, if, on one hand, a wide

range of genre-texts has been identified in the reading sections of coursebooks A,

B, Γ, Δ and Ε, there was no balanced distribution of the genre-texts among the

sources investigated. This question will be addressed in depth at a further stage in

this chapter. Moreover, as seen in Graph 1, below, magazine and/or newspaper

articles and stories constituted the two salient genre-texts in the corpus examined.

For this reason, the process undertaken throughout the identification of each

genre-exemplar highlighted in Table 3.3 (see Appendix 5) will be illustrated by

focusing on the two predominant genre-texts as seen in Graph 1.

articles

biographical sketches

brochures

conversations

interviews

letters

stories

questionnaires/quizzes

personal accounts

reviews

miscellaneous

articles

biographical sketches

brochures

conversations

interviews

letters

stories

questionnaires/quizzes

personal accounts

reviews

miscellaneous

Graph 1: Occurrences of genre-texts in the coursebooks

As highlighted in the preceding paragraphs, the identification of the genre-texts

was conducted in the light of Swales’ (1990) defining features for the term itself.

According to this author, a genre comprises a class of communicative events, the

members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are

recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community and thereby

constitute the rationale for the genre.

As discussed in Chapter 2, language is usually governed by a given

communicative intent, i.e., the participants of a given communicative exchange

address one another through the linguistic medium. Interactants use language in

an agreed way (Tribble, 1996) in order to achieve a particular aim. As far as written

texts are concerned, writers shape their texts accordingly so as to convey their

communicative intent through printed symbols. As Tribble (1996) argues, each

communicative event requires a written text in order to be satisfactorily enacted. Thus,

the ultimate aim when analyzing the genre-texts provided in the coursebooks A, B,

Γ, Δ and Ε was to determine in the selected target texts the features which

unveiled their corresponding communicative purposes. In order to perform this

task, Swales’ definition of genre and Hoey’s (1983) organizational patterns for

texts analysis (see chapter 2) were borne in mind. Hoey’s (op. cit.) investigations

in this field provided with the rationale for the identification of the surface

characteristics/schematic structure of the target texts.

3.3.3.1.1. Sample Text ONE

Firstly, the focus will be on the magazine/newspaper articles. One exemplar of this

genre-text has been randomly chosen from coursebook A. The text is entitled Do

we really need to sleep? (see Appendix 6) and will be referred to hereafter as Text

ONE. The layout features constituted the starting point for the analysis as

displayed in Table 3.4 below:

(Table 3.4.: the layout features identified in Text ONE)

Text ONE

Layout features

• The title is highlighted in bigger and different fonts from the main body of the text.

• The particle “do we” is highlighted with a different color which distinguishes it from

the rest of the text.

• There is a brief introductory paragraph before the main body of the text.

• The text is displayed in four columns which resembles the layout through which

magazine and/or newspaper articles are presented.

• Pictures have been used in order to illustrate the main topic of the text and arouse

readers’ level of interest.

The layout features outlined in Table 3.4, above, suggest that Text ONE might

have been taken either from a magazine or a newspaper. Since the source is not

provided, it is difficult to determine whether the text is authentic or semi-authentic,

i.e., if it has been modified in order to suit the coursebook writer’s main

communicative purpose. However, it may also be inferred that the numbering of

the lines suggest that the format might have been adapted in order to guide the

target audience when performing the reading comprehension questions related to

this particular reading section.

All in all, it may be argued that Text ONE appears to fulfill the FCE designers’

requirements (see p. above 95) as far as the choice of texts is concerned: the text

analyzed appears to be authentic in form even though the lines have been

numbered (see FCE premise 1, page 95). However, whether the article has been

recently published is difficult to determine in the sense that neither the source nor

the date of publication are provided (see FCE premise 2, page 95). A further key-

aspect to be considered, as far as the layout is concerned, is that pictures have

been added in order to illustrate the text (see FCE premise 3, page 95).

At this stage, as a means to identify the organizational pattern utilized by the

author in order to reach his/her communicative intent(s), Text ONE will be

investigated in the light of one of Hoey’s (2001) genre-general patterns. The

surface characteristics of the text in question suggest that it might be regarded as

a representative of the pattern “gap-in-knowledge-attempt-at-filling”. The

attempt at filling the gap in knowledge, i.e., whether sleeping is essential in human

beings’ lives, is introduced through the title of the text, which seems to aim at

arousing reader’s curiosity towards finding out an answer to the question

proposed. The situation, by the same token, is provided through the short text

which precedes the article itself: Tonight between eleven o’clock and one o’clock

millions of people will start yawning. Very soon, they will get undressed, lie down, and

close their eyes. A few minutes later, they will be asleep and through the introductory

paragraph (see lines 5 to21) in the main body of the text.

The attempt at filling the gap in knowledge is presented in line 22 through the use

of the connector however which introduces three key statements: (1) However, Ray

Meddis, a scientist at the Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University, has a

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fascinating new theory. (2) He suggests that we don’t really need to sleep at all. (3) We

sleep only because our brain is “programmed” to make us do so. Furthermore, the

author supports the new theory by highlighting that:

a) the primitive man was “programmed” to sleep to protect himself from the darkness

with its many dangers. (lines 33-37)

b) Animals appear to have been similarly programmed and the number of hours that they

sleep does not depend on physical activity but on how much time they need to eat.

(lines 37-43)

c) We are “programmed” to feel tired or sleepy at midnight... (lines 56-57)

The exemplification above attempts at filling the gap in knowledge and as a result

reinforces Dr. Ray Meddis’ theory whereby scientists could locate and “turn off” the

sleep mechanism in our brain so that we could live completely normal and healthy lives

without sleeping. (lines 68-74)

It may thus be argued that the schematic structure (Swales, 1990: 84-87) of the

text in question resembles a pseudo-scientific article which aims at filling a gap in

the target audience’s knowledge. As far as the concluding paragraph is

concerned, in an attempt to get readers involved, questions are raised, though not

answered. It may thus be inferred that a new genre-general pattern is introduced:

the problem-response-solution pattern (Hoey, 2001:123-139). These findings

seem to corroborate the view whereby there are usually overlapping patterns

within a given larger clause-relational analysis (Winter, 1977, apud Hoey,

1986:188) of the same piece of writing: ...clause relations are defined in terms of

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writer and reader, they may be seen as abstractions from the questions a writer seeks to

answer, and a reader sees being answered, in a discourse (Hoey, 1986:189).

Alternatively, the identification of the pattern outlined above might have been

conducted by projecting the discourse in question into a question-and-answer

dialog (Hoey, 1986:191) as represented in Table 3.5 below:

(Table 3.5: the identification of macro-patterns via question-and-answer dialog)

Macro-pattern identified

questions

Evidence in text ONE

Gap in knowledge

(What do readers need to know about sleep ?)

Do we really need to sleep ? (title)

Situation

(What do people know about sleep until today ?)

• Sleep is a powerful influence on all

our lives... (lines 5 and 6)

• The traditional theory about sleep is

that our brain needs to rest for

several hours ... the day. (lines 8 to

14)

• ... sooner or later we have to sleep.

(lines 18 and 19)

Attempt at filling

(What is really “true” about sleep ?)

However, Ray Meddis... has a

fascinating new theory.(lines 22 to 26)

Evaluation and/or result

(What was the result/evaluation of the research?)

no evaluation is provided

another pattern takes over

Another central aspect to be considered as far as text analysis is concerned, is to

what extent both grammatical and lexical choices enable readers to identify the

relations between the clauses and, at a further stage, the macro-pattern of which a

particular text may be a representative. The analytical findings for Text ONE have

been listed in Table 3.6 below:

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(Table 3.6: sample of Lexicogrammatical choices in text ONE.)

Samples of Lexicogrammatical features in text ONE

Generic human and non-

human participants

Sleep, traditional theory, hallucinations, a scientist, a new

theory, primitive man, darkness, dangers, animals.

Intensive Sleep is a powerful influence

The traditional theory about sleep is that...

Relational processes

possessive A scientist (...) has a fascinating theory.

Cats (...) have a lot of spare time.

Internal conjunction to state

argument

For instance, for example, however, on the other hand,

according to, even if, because but.

Use of simple present tense

Is, needs, go, suggests, has, believes, spend, suffer.

Causal conjunction

nominalisation

A few minutes later, they will be asleep.

(...) but sooner or later we have to sleep.

So is sleeping a waste of time?

A further aspect to be highlighted is that since this consists of an argumentative

text, in which the writer takes a position on a particular issue, and attempts to

persuade the reader to agree with his/her theory, verbs which describe mental

processes such as those in the statements a) He believes that the sleep instinct

originates from prehistoric times...; b) Dr Meddis believes that the unpleasant symptoms

we suffer (...) and c) But Dr Meddis believes that if scientists could locate and turn off the

sleep mechanism are used. Moreover the mentioning of the title Dr and the name of

the Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University seem to provide

reliability/prestige for the argument in the text.

3.3.3.1.2. Sample Text TWO

The exemplar of the second salient genre-text identified in the coursebooks

investigated consists of a story randomly chosen from coursebook B. The text is

entitled Friends again – forever ! (see Appendix 7) and henceforth will be addressed

103

as Text TWO. The layout features have been investigated as displayed in Table

3.7 below:

(Table 3.7: the layout features identified in text TWO)

Text TWO

Layout features

• The title is highlighted in bigger and different fonts from the main body of the text.

• A question in smaller fonts is provided before the main body of the text in order to get

the target audience interested in reading the text.

• The text is displayed in two columns.

• Two pictures have been provided (one in colors and the other in black and white) in

order to illustrate the main topic of the text and arouse readers’ level of interest.

The layout features outlined in Table 3.7 appear to suggest that Text TWO might

have been taken from a magazine. As far as authenticity is concerned, it is difficult

to state whether the text is authentic or semi-authentic since neither the source nor

the date of publication are provided. Furthermore, since the source is not provided,

it is not possible to determine whether the language has been modified in order to

suit the learners’ level of proficiency. Unlike genre-text ONE, the sentences in

TWO have not been numbered. In general terms, it is possible to infer that text

TWO appears to fulfill the FCE designers’ requirements (see page 95 above), as

far as their three premises are concerned.

As to the schematic structure of Text TWO, it is possible to argue that the text in

question appears to be a representative of the problem-response-solution

pattern advocated by Hoey (2001, op.cit.). The identification of the rhetorical

moves has been conducted as summarized in the question-and-answer dialog

(Hoey, 1986:191) transcribed in Table 3.8:

104

(Table 3.8.: the identification of macro-patterns via question-and-answer dialog)

Macro-pattern identified

questions

Evidence in text TWO

Situation

(What was the situation like between the two

childhood friends ?)

Mary Allen was my best friend (...), we saw

each other on special occasions – like my

wedding and Mary’s.

Problem

(What problem arose after the two friends

had children and moved to their new homes?)

Soon we were busy with children and

moving to new homes (...). There was an

empty place in my heart that only a friend

like Mary could fill.

Response

(What did the writer decide to do when she

saw the photo on the newspaper ?)

One day I was reading the newspaper

when I noticed a photo of a young

woman (...). We laughed and cried and

caught up on each other’s lives.

Solution/evaluation

(How successful was the result ?)

Now the empty place in my heart is filled

(...). We won’t lose each other again !

As observed in Table 3.8, the questions asked appear to focus reader attention on

the generic problem-response-solution pattern. The situation (see table 3.8

above) answers a number of key questions such as what, who, where and when.

The situation sets the scene of the narrative by providing details of what the story

is about (i.e.: two female childhood friends who had taken separate ways); who the

individuals/elements involved in the plot are (i.e.: the two female childhood

friends); where the narrative takes place. In this story the setting may be inferred

from the co-text. In its first cycle, for instance, the story might have taken place in

the neighborhood where the two friends lived. Although information regarding

when the events happened is not overtly mentioned in the text, readers may infer

from the co-text that the story happened a long time ago, at an indefinite time in

the past. The problem is introduced in the selected text by means of syntactic and

lexical choices. Valuable examples of both elements are the clauses Soon we were

busy with children... and we wrote less often, which appear to signal a change in the

105

text and somehow prepare the reader for something negative that is likely to

happen later on: ... a card that I sent came back stamped “address unknown” and I had

no idea how to find Mary. Similarly, the expressions one day and over the years also

constitute signals of change in the narrative. Lexical choices such as address

unknown, empty place and sorrow as well as verb choices such as needed and died

also reveal the problem. The response conveys what finally happened according

to the problem previously described in the narrative. Among the syntactic and

lexical choices which signal the response, it is worth highlighting wrote and anyway,

respectively. As to the evaluation, evaluative terms have been used as a means to

express how successful the response to the problem was. It seems possible to

argue that the evaluation is positive as the connection between the expressions

empty place and my heart is filled appear to reveal. The past simple is the major verb

tense observable throughout the analysis of Text TWO. Samples of the significant

lexico-grammatical features in Text TWO are displayed in Table 3.9 below:

(Table 3.9: samples of lexico-grammatical choices in text TWO.)

Samples Lexicogrammatical features in text TWO

Specific participants

Mary, best friend, I, we, she

Material processes

Wrote, did, moved, sent, was reading, called, laughed and

cried

time

When I was 13...; on special occasions; over the

years

Circumstances

place

To new homes

Temporal sequence

When, and, one day, then, when, now

In view of the considerations presented in the preceding paragraph, it seems

possible to argue that the questions asked by readers enable them to recognize

the connection between the sentences: The questions spell out the relationship

between the sentences (Hoey, 1986:191). According to Hoey (op. cit.), there is

certainly a wide range of possible formulations for questions to be asked by

readers. Thus, the questions presented in table 3.5 and Table 3.8 aim at

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representing a sample within a realm of alternatives. A further aspect to be

highlighted, as far as the formulation of questions is concerned, is that such

questions usually present very specific vocabulary (Winter, 1977, apud Hoey

1986:192). This specific vocabulary aims at signaling the pattern(s) which emerge

from the clause-relational analysis. In the questions presented in Table 3.8, for

instance, it is possible to highlight the following lexical items: situation, problem,

decide to and result. These signals are not restricted to the questions though. They

may be identified within the main body of the discourse itself.

A further aspect which is worth highlighting is that the pattern unveiled in Table 3.8

(i.e.: Situation > Problem > Response > Positive Evaluation) fails to reflect the

sequence in which the sentences are placed, but, rather, reflects the pattern of

relations within the discourse. Thus, as Hoey (1986:195) advocates, some of the

elements in patterns of organization appear in various sequences, and one element may be

embedded within another. From this perspective, it is possible to argue that the

clause but I wrote to her anyway might be interpreted as a response to the problem

introduced by the clause there must be thousands of Wagmans, both inserted in the

response macro-move. Similarly, the clause soon we were busy with children and

moving to new homes, and we wrote less often might be interpreted as a situation

within the problem macro-move. This suggests that a particular text may be

scrutinized from two distinct and, at the same time, closely correlated

perspectives, namely, by considering its macro-structure and, by considering its

clause-relational properties. The latter functions as a facilitator in identifying the

macro-moves.

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3.3.4. Predominant genre-texts

According to the FCE handbook (2001:10), the ultimate goal of the FCE Reading

Paper may be summarized along the following lines:

The range of texts and task types is intended to encourage a familiarity

with many different types of reading material and also the use of different

approaches to reading.

The UCLES FCE handbook (2001:10) draws teachers’ and examiners’ attention to

the variety regarding the choices of genre-texts used in the FCE Reading Papers.

According to these premises, the texts come from a wide range of sources and

include a number of genres such as advertisements, guides, messages, reports,

brochures, newspaper and magazine articles. In their view it is thus desirable that

potential FCE candidates have contact with a wide range of texts which display the

prototypical features of the genres to which they belong. Thus, they should be

familiar with a number of varied reading materials so as to respond to the tasks

proposed accordingly. From this perspective, it may be inferred that reading-skills

books and coursebooks are expected to contain representatives of a diversity of

genre-texts so as to expand learner’s genre-schemata and, as a consequence,

build-up their self-confidence in tackling a range of texts.

Therefore, candidates should be encouraged to read purposefully (UCLES FCE

handbook, 2001:10). Thus, our ultimate aim at this stage is to determine which

genre-texts which are predominant in the coursebooks investigated. This

procedure may be justified by the need to verify whether the genre-texts identified

in our corpus reflect the demands of the FCE Reading Paper. The graphs below

display the percentage of occurrences of each genre-text identified in the reading

108

sections of the corpus examined (see appendix 5 for the complete list of genre-

texts identified).

Graph 2: predominant genre-texts in coursebook “alfa”.

Coursebook "alfa"

40%

25%

10%

25%

articles stories

personnal accounts miscellaneous

Graph 4: predominant genre-texts in coursebook “gama”.

Coursebook "gama"

10%

13%

10%

17%

10%

13%

17%

articles biographical sketches

miscellaneous conversations

letters stories

personal accounts miscellaneous

Coursebook "beta"

68%

13%

19%

articles stories miscellaneous

Graph 3: predominant genre-texts in coursebook “beta”.

109

3.3.5. Preliminary conclusions

As the graphs above demonstrate, among the five coursebooks investigated,

coursebook “Gama” (see Graph 4, page 108) seems to be the only source which

contained a balanced distribution of genre-texts. The most noticeable

discrepancies have been identified in the other four sources (i.e.: coursebooks

Graph 5: predominant genre-texts in coursebook “delta”.

Coursebook "delta"

92%

articles stories miscellaneous

Graph 6: predominant genre-texts in coursebook “épsilon”.

Coursebook "épsilon"

49%

12%

15%

articles letters

stories questionnaires/quizzes

personal accounts miscellaneous

110

“Alfa”, “Beta”, “Delta” and “Épsilon”), which contained a high percentage of either

newspaper and/or magazine articles (i.e.: 40%, 68%, 92% and 49%, respectively).

In a nutshell, it may be argued that determining the exemplars of the predominant

genre-text was a particularly painstaking task, as most texts appear to have been

modified in their layout to resemble articles. Therefore, alongside with the internal

organization/rhetorical moves of the texts, it was necessary to focus on the layout

features of the target texts. This decision may be justified by the fact that the

internal organization, which determined both lexical and syntactic choices in the

target texts, could have also been interpreted as defining features of a variety of

other genres, rather than newspaper and/or magazine articles. The figure below

aims at exemplifying the variety of genres which have been displayed in the format

of newspaper/magazine articles in the corpus investigated:

As it may be observed in Figure 1, genres such as biographical sketches (see

Appendix 8), travel brochures (see Appendix 9) and interviews (see Appendix 10)

have been displayed in the format of newspaper/magazine articles. This finding

seems to suggest that articles could be interpreted as an “umbrella genre” or as a

“primary genre” which incorporates other sub-genre texts. The supremacy of either

Magazine/newspaper

articles

Interviews

Biographical

sketches

Figure 1: Genre-texts presented in the format of articles

Stories

Brochures

Personal

accounts

111

newspaper and/or magazine articles in the sources investigated has led to the

following questions:

a) Does the predominance of newspaper/magazine articles reveal a tendency in

the global editorial market?

b) Does this predominance signal that newspaper/magazine articles constitute the

most popular genre among readers in general?

c) Is it possible to argue that the predominance of newspaper/magazine articles in

the coursebooks investigated reflect the predominance of the same genres in

the FCE Reading Paper ?

d) Even though the coursebooks investigated do not constitute exemplars of

exam practice books, would it be possible to claim that, among other

objectives, such coursebooks are aimed at building up learners’ genre-

schemata for the FCE Reading Paper ?

An attempt to determine the salient genre-texts in the coursebooks investigated

would seem to constitute a subsidiary aim in this research. However, the questions

outlined above serve as “good food for thought” in the sense that they are likely to

reveal the parameters which determine the choice of genre-texts to be presented

to learners/FCE candidates. On the other hand, no doubt further investigations

focusing on the choice of genre-texts will be necessary in order to determine the

rationale behind such choice. Therefore, for the purpose of the present

investigation, a quantitative-interpretative analysis of the genre-texts utilized in the

FCE Reading Paper will be made, and, by confronting the data obtained through

the analysis of the coursebooks, conclusions will be drawn on what the findings

appear to suggest.

112

3.3.6. Predominant genre-texts in the FCE reading paper.

The tables presented below aim at summarizing the findings regarding the choice

of genre-texts. These findings emerged from the detailed investigation of the four

FCE Reading Papers which constitute the corpus of analysis (see Appendix 2).

(Table 3.10: salient genre-texts identified in the FCE Reading paper: Form A – June 2003)

Genre-text identified Title Source

Part 1

Magazine article Absolute beginners Not provided

Part 2

Magazine article Not provided Not provided

Part 3

Magazine article

Cooking for the

camera

Not provided

Part 4

Magazine article Speak easy Not provided

(Table 3.11: salient genre-texts identified in the FCE Reading paper: Form A – December 2003)

Genre-text identified Title Source

Part 1

Magazine article Memory test Not provided

Part 2

Magazine article

Acting minus the

drama

Not provided

Part 3

Magazine article The runningman Not provided

Part 4

Magazine article A new life Not provided

(Table 3.12: salient genre-texts identified in the FCE Reading paper: Form A – June 2004)

Genre-text identified Title Source

Part 1

Magazine article Summer job abroad Not provided

Part 2

Magazine article Bringing up Rupert Not provided

Part 3

Magazine article an artist at work Not provided

Part 4

Magazine article Women in pop music Not provided

113

(Table 3.13: salient genre-texts identified in the FCE Reading paper: Form A – December 2004)

Genre-text identified Title Source

Part 1

Magazine article Funny faces Not provided

Part 2

Magazine article

Growing up with the

violin

Not provided

Part 3

Magazine article Taking care of bears Not provided

Part 4

Magazine article My attitude to work Not provided

The procedures adopted for the identification of the salient genre-texts presented

in the FCE Reading papers were identical to those adopted for the identification of

the predominant genre-texts in the coursebooks (see Sections 3.3.3 and 3.3.4 for

detailed description of procedures). As may be observed in the tables presented

above, a preliminary analysis revealed that all texts in the FCE Reading Papers

investigated constitute examples of “articles” (see discussion on the modification

of generic layout features in Section 3.3.5, pp 110 and111). The data obtained

was confronted with the three premises established by FCE question designers

(see Sub-section 3.3.3.1., p. 95 for a comprehensive description of such

premises). As far as the three premises for choice of texts are concerned, it is

possible to argue that:

Premise 1: According to this premise, FCE candidates are expected to be able to read

semi-authentic texts of various kinds (Teacher’s book, 2001:2). It is worth questioning

at this stage what is meant by the term “semi-authentic”. It is difficult to determine

whether the expression is being used to refer to texts which have had their lexico-

grammatical features modified from the original text (i.e.: made deliberately easier)

in order to suit the FCE demands (i.e.: the candidates’ proficiency level), or which

have had their original forms modified (i.e.: a story changed into an article, for

instance). Furthermore, it is also difficult to determine what is meant by “various

114

kinds”. This expression might have been used to refer to either textual genres (i.e.:

brochures, interviews etc) or text types (i.e.: argumentative, descriptive). The fact

that in the FCE handbook, the terms “text type” and “textual genres” have been

used interchangeably is revealed by the extract transcribed below:

Text Types

From the following: advertisements, correspondence, fiction,

informational material (e.g.: brochures, guides, manuals, etc.),

messages, newspaper and magazine articles, reports. (FCE

HANDBOOK, 2001:9)

Premise two: It seems difficult to determine whether the texts proposed to

candidates come from recently published material since neither the source nor the

date of publication are provided. However, the texts appear authentic in form,

presentation and content (Teacher’s book, 2001:5).

Premise three: Certain sample texts present pictures and other diagrams as

illustrations. It may be inferred that these elements have been utilized in order to

activate candidates’ schemata and/or arouse the level of interest regarding the

issues to be discussed in the target text.

3.3.7. Preliminary conclusions

According to the premises established in the FCE Handbook, FCE candidates are

expected to be able to tackle a wide range of genres. In fact, a variety of genres

was identified. However, most genre-texts were presented to candidates in the

format of articles. This seems to suggest that, in common with the coursebooks

115

investigated, the umbrella or primary genre, denominated “articles”, appears to

have been used in both sources as an “umbrella genre” which embodies a wide

range of other genres. The layout features in which stories are presented, for

instance, resemble that of the articles. However, the investigation of the rhetorical

moves/internal organization and lexico-grammatical features seem to suggest that

the texts examined might be representatives of a range of distinct genres.

Furthermore, the genres to which the texts used in the FCE belong is clearly

stated in the rubric to the tasks (see Appendix 2). Thus the rubric activates the

readers´ schemata in terms of the kind of genre they are about to read. However,

the mentioning of the genre to be presented in the rubric is somewhat problematic

in the sense that it might mislead the reader towards activating inappropriate

schemata.

3.3.8. Analysis of the reading comprehension questions

3.3.8.1. Introduction

As stated in previous sections, the bulk of the present investigation lies in

identifying and discussing the degree to which the reading comprehension

questions proposed for learners of English at the intermediate level of proficiency

and FCE candidates are genre-oriented. Thus, there will be an attempt to

investigate whether the questions proposed reflect the communicative purposes of

the genres to which the target texts belong. In other words, this research aims at

verifying the extent to which the questions which accompany the target texts are

aimed at measuring learners’ and FCE candidates’ awareness regarding genre

116

features (see Section 2.3 for a detailed discussion on this topic). The results might

serve to indicate whether coursebook writers and FCE Reading Paper designers

approach the question of genre as an integrating element when assessing the

development of effective reading skills.

A preliminary analysis of the corpus for analysis revealed that the reading

comprehension questions proposed for learners and FCE candidates seem to

serve to a wide range of purposes, which have been labeled as follows:

1) testing the knowledge of grammar;

2) testing vocabulary recognition;

3) testing the knowledge of grammatical and/or lexical cohesion;

4) testing the identification of specific information in the target text (i.e.,

scanning);

5) testing the identification of the overall message of the target text (i.e.,

skimming);

6) testing the awareness of discourse organizational features (i.e. coherence);

7) testing the knowledge of generic features (i.e.: aspects of field, tenor and

mode);

For analytical purposes, the variety of testing purposes previously outlined was

divided into two major arenas: a) non-genre oriented questions (i.e.: purposes 1, 2

and 4) and b) genre-oriented questions (i.e.: questions aimed at assessing the

knowledge of genre features) (purposes 3, 5, 6 and 7). These two categories will

be described in detail in the following sub-sections.

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3.3.8.2. Analyzing data

The following sub-sections are aimed at exemplifying the occurrence of the testing

purposes outlined in the previous section. The choice of the sample questions

transcribed below was determined by the fact that they appear to constitute typical

evidence of each testing purpose. For a full view of the reading comprehension

questions from the corpus of analysis, see appendices 1 and 2.

3.3.8.2.1. The Non-genre oriented questions

The non-genre oriented questions seem to comprise the reading comprehension

questions which seem to be specifically related to the identification of information

which is overtly expressed in parts of the text (Purpose 4) or questions which are

concerned with the recognition of grammatical and/or lexical items (Purposes 1

and 2). It seems important to highlight that reading comprehension questions

should not be restricted to Purposes 1, 2 and 4. They are expected to require

readers to interact a wider range of knowledge including linguistic (i.e.:

grammatical and lexical knowledge), textual (i.e.: awareness of discourse

organizational features), as well as background knowledge in order to infer,

understand and/or synthesize ideas, facts, values and beliefs (Lopes, 1999:192).

As far as linguistic knowledge is concerned, it seems important to highlight that

even though grammatical items and lexical items are said to belong to distinct

systems of the language (i.e., the former would be related to the closed systems

whereas the latter would be treated as belonging to the open systems), they seem

118

to be integrating elements of the same phenomenon: combining form and function

in order to construct meanings (McCarthy, 1991; Halliday & Hasan, 1985, apud

Lopes, op. cit.).

a) Testing the knowledge of grammar:

3. Find the examples of

though

and

although

in the text. Complete the sentences in your own

words. Compare with a partner.

1. _________________. It rained all the time, though.

2. _________________. The journey back was terrible, though.

3. Travelling can be fun. _________________, though.

4. Dieter Graf’s book looks interesting. _________________, though.

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Delta, Text 1)

As may be observed, the question transcribed above fails to develop either the

learners’ reading skills or their awareness of generic features. It may be inferred

that this question seems specifically concerned with the teaching/testing of

grammatical knowledge. The reading of the target text thus seems to have as its

ultimate aim the identification of the elements of grammar which are necessary in

order to fill in gaps. Moreover, even though it is suggested that learners read the

text prior to answering the question, it is possible to argue that the reading of the

text does not constitute a sine-qua-non procedure in order to perform the task. In

actual fact, learners might well be able to perform the task even without reading

the text provided that they had already been introduced to the use of though and

although.

119

b) Testing vocabulary recognition:

The question transcribed above seems to illustrate the testing/teaching of

vocabulary. Both the reading of the target text as well, as a knowledge of

discourse organizational features (i.e., aspects of cohesion and coherence), are

necessary in order to identify the unknown lexical items or expressions.

Furthermore, meanings may be inferred by resorting to the co-text.

C. In pairs, underline all the new words or expressions in the text, and try to guess their

meaning from the context. Now find a word or expression which means:

Paragraph 1

1. having or using something with another person (v.) ................................

Paragraph 2

2. person you share a flat with (n.) ................................

3. began living in a flat or house (v.) ................................

4. discovered (v.) ................................

5. always worried about (adj.) ................................

6. having everything in the right place (adj.) ................................

Paragraph 3

7. some, but not many (adj.) ................................

Paragraph 4

8. annoying (adj.) ................................

9. very tired (adj.) ................................

(

See A

endix 1, Coursebook Alfa, Text 1

)

120

c) Testing the identification of specific information in the target text (i.e.,

scanning):

A. Read the article. Then answer these questions.

1. How has Silver Cliff changed over the years ?

2. When, where, and by whom were the blue lights first seen ?

3. What do the blue lights look like ?

4. What are some of the explanations that people have proposed ?

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Beta, Text 4)

3. Answer these questions.

1. How long has Batman been saving Gotham City from evil ?

2. How long has Charlie Brown been living in a small American town ?

3. How long has Bugs Bunny been eating carrots in public ?

4. How long has kermit been singing and dancing on television ?

5. How many Batman TV series has the team made ?

6. How many Charlie Brown movies have there been ?

7. How many cartoon movies has Bugs Bunny appeared in ?

8. How many Muppet shows have people seen ?

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Épsilon, Text 1)

You are going to read a magazine article about five women pop musicians. For questions 23-35,

choose from the musicians (A-E). The musicians may be chosen more than once. When more

than one answer is required, these may be given in any order. There is an example at the

beginning (0).

...

Which musician(s)

Lost her job ?

Advises people not to give up easily ?

Says she was encouraged to be ambitious ?

Says her first job came as a result of some publicity ?

Says that people took a while to accept her ?

Says she wasn’t forced to learn an instrument ?

121

Dislikes certain aspects of her job ?

Was worried about what would happen when she joined a band ?

Admits that her early music lessons were disappointing ?

Mentions the difficulty of adjusting to a normal lifestyle ?

Says she enjoys making decisions ?

Says she isn’t very outgoing ?

Were offered a temporary position in a band ?

(See Appendix 2, FCE June/2004, Part 4)

Even though the identification of the pieces of information required from

learners/FCE candidates seem to derive from a multiplicity of inferential

processes, it may be argued that the answers to the questions proposed above

spring mainly from the recognition and decodification of printed symbols. In order

to perform Tasks 1 and 2 above, for example, learners/FCE candidates should be

attentive to the use of the question words such as how, when, where, what and

which. These words seem to signal the information which is required as in the

question When, where, and by whom were the blue lights first seen? whose answer is

overtly mentioned in the body of the target text through the expressions late one

night in 1880, a graveyard on a hill and a group of miners, respectively. Question 3,

however, requires the identification of synonymous words, expressions or ideas

such as the relation between the phrases lost her job and got sacked (Appendix 2,

FCE June/2004, Part 4, extract B); was encouraged to be ambitious and the sentence

My mum was a brilliant executive who had got to the top, and she made me believe that the

sky was the limit (Appendix 2, FCE June/2004, Part 4, extract A) and the phrases

her first job came as a result of some publicity and one day the local paper did a piece on

me and my sisters’ group (...) I was asked to join the group full-time (Appendix 2, FCE

June/2004, Part 4, extract C).

122

3.3.8.2.2. The genre-oriented questions

As discussed in Subsection 2.3., above, the rationale of a genre seems to govern

the rhetorical and structural organization of a given text. It influences register

variables related to aspects of field, tenor and mode. Furthermore, it seems to

constrain the content of a particular communicative event.

Thus, in very general terms, it may be argued that the genre-oriented questions

(Purposes 3, 5, 6 and 7, above) proposed to learners/candidates should

contemplate the aspects of genre such as the identification of the communicative

purpose(s) as well as the aspects of field, tenor and mode. Similarly, they are also

likely to contemplate salient layout features which are might be revealing of the

genre to which they refer. If the questions contemplate at least one of the aspects

previously mentioned, they may be considered as representatives of genre-

oriented questions.

a) Testing the knowledge of grammatical and/or lexical cohesion:

Read better

a. Read two mixed-up stories:

The Wedding

and

The Interview

. Which four paragraphs

belong to each story ? Write the correct order 1-4.

The wedding 1........ 2........ 3........ 4........

The Interview 1........ 2........ 3........ 4........

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Alfa, Text 3)

123

Reading

Read the five parts of the following story. See if you notice anything unusual.

...

1. You probably noticed that the five parts of the story are not in the right order. Put them

in the order you think is correct.

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Gama, Text 3)

11. “This” (line 21) refers to

A The book department.

B a confusing situation.

C the assistants’ free choice of clothes.

D Mr Parker’s attitude to customers.

(See Appendix 2, FCE June/2003, Part 2)

You are going to read a newspaper article about a man who is running round the world. Eight

paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A-I the one which fits

each gap (16-22). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use. There is an

example at the beginning (0).

(See Appendix 2, FCE December/2003, Part 3)

The four questions transcribed above seem to reflect the fact that the

teaching/testing of both grammatical and/or lexical cohesion may be performed in

a variety of ways. As may be seen, in order to perform the tasks transcribed

above, learners and/or FCE candidates should be attentive to the clues spread

along the text’s surface. The four questions seem to draw learners’/candidates’

attention to elements of both grammatical and lexical cohesion. Furthermore,

aspects of coherence are of crucial importance in the sense that they determine

the organization of information at the sentence level and between paragraphs in a

coherent way, so as to construct meanings. Thus, in question 1, for example, it

124

may be inferred that lexical items such as ceremony, elegant suit and best man seem

to correspond to the extract entitled The Wedding whereas the lexical items

interview, job and manager seem to be related to the extract entitled The interview. In

addition, in order to put each of the paragraphs in the appropriate chronological

sequence, learners would need to focus on the use of connectors for explicitness

such as but, although and five minutes later, among others.

b) Testing the identification of the overall message of the target text (i.e.,

skimming):

2. Match these headings with the paragraphs in the article.

- taking care of my diet - emotional support

- providing physical help - how I ended up in hospital

- life in a typical hospital

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Delta, Text 3)

You are going to read a magazine article about an orchestra. Choose the most suitable heading

from the list A-I for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do

not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0)

A Not as silly as it sounds

B Not the original intention

C Responding to a demand

D A great discovery for many

D Leading to new ambitions

F Modest origins

G Great dedication

H Nobody is excluded

I The orchestra you can join straight away

(See Appendix 2, FCE June/2003, Part 1)

125

Both questions transcribed above seem to illustrate the testing of the readers’

ability to infer the writer’s intended meanings. The questions seem to be aimed at

measuring the overall comprehension of the extracts to which the headings are

related.

c) Testing the awareness of discourse organizational features (i.e.:

coherence):

1. You’re going to read about a woman who participated in a scientific experiment. Put these

paragraph topics in a logical order. Compare with a partner.

a. the conditions she lived in for a month

b. the purpose of the experiment

c. the after-effects of the experiment

d. how scientists created the conditions for the experiment

e. her feelings during the experiment.

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Delta, Text 2)

The question transcribed above seems to illustrate the identification of a logical

discourse structure, which is likely to unveil the communicative purpose of the

target text. Moreover, it may be argued that in order to perform this task,

learners/candidates are expected to resort to their genre-schemata in an attempt

to identify the logical sequencing which would be characteristic of this particular

socially recognized genre. This appears to suggest that the ability to identify genre

features requires a familiarity with a variety of genres since it is the communicative

purpose which determines the content, the grammatical and lexical patterns used

and ultimately, the overall organization.

126

d) Testing the knowledge of generic features (i.e.: aspects of field, tenor and

mode):

Study the three texts and answer these questions.

1. One is a diary entry. What are the other two ?

2. Where would you find a text like “A dead film about a dead actor ?”

...

4. Who sent the wedding announcement ?

6. Think about the diary entry. Which person on the plane wrote this ? What is the writer’s

father like ?

(See Appendix 1, Coursebook Gama, Text 1)

The questions transcribed above are related to three different genres: a movie

review, a wedding announcement and diary entry. Those questions aim at

illustrating the testing/checking learners’ and/or candidates’ awareness regarding

generic features. Question 1, for example, seems to be concerned with the

identification of the communicative purposes of the target texts. In the rubric, one

of the target texts is identified as a diary entry and learners are required to identify

the other two genre-texts. In order to perform this task, learners and/or candidates

are expected to be familiar with the kind of overall organization which

characterizes those particular genres. Learners and/or candidates must be aware

of the fact that the rationale of the genre not only determines their schematic

organization but also the grammatical and lexical choices so as to shape

meanings accordingly. Question 2, however, appears to focus on the aspects of

mode i.e., the type of publication where readers are likely to find the genre-text

entitled A dead film about a dead actor. Similarly, Questions 4 and 6 seem to focus

on the identification of interpersonal meanings (tenor) i.e. the individuals involved

in the interaction.

127

3.3.9. Main findings: contrasting data

3.3.9.1. Introduction

The analyses and subsequent identification of the reading comprehension

questions from both sources of the corpus have generated the urge to quantify the

proportion of genre-oriented questions in contrast to non-genre oriented questions.

It may be argued that the figures and percentages identified are likely to reveal the

extent to which the question of genre is contemplated in both sources of the

corpus. Furthermore, this procedure might unveil the rationale which appears to

nurture the choice and elaboration of reading comprehension questions.

3.3.9.2. The coursebooks

The investigation of the comprehension questions in the five coursebooks from the

corpus has led to the elaboration of Table 3.14 below:

(Table 3.14: an overview of the comprehension questions identified in the coursebooks)

Reading comprehension questions ¾

Coursebooks investigated À

Genre-oriented

Non-genre

oriented

ALFA 1 14

BETA 0 7

GAMA 7 18

DELTA 2 15

ÉPSILON 6 5

Total 16 59

As the figures presented in the table above suggest, there seems to be a lack of

concern for the importance of evaluating learner awareness towards the question

of the genre, as an integrative component of the reading skill (16 genre-oriented

128

questions vs. 59 non-genre oriented questions). This finding prompts an

investigation into the underlying principles which are likely to determine the

preference for non-genre oriented questions. This investigation will prove to be

particularly valuable as an attempt to answer Research Questions 1 and 3 (pp. 5-

6) presented in the introductory chapter of the present study.

Thus, in order to identify the underlying principles which seem to govern the

predominance of non-genre oriented questions in the coursebooks, an attempt will

be made to specify the types of non-genre oriented questions utilized by the

coursebook writers. The graph below summarizes the main findings.

As Graph 7 above suggests, it may be argued that the five coursebooks from the

corpus do not seem to regard the development of a genre-oriented approach to

reading as an essential element in equipping their audience with effective reading

20%

15%

21%

22%

14%

pre-reading scanning vocabulary recognition

post-reading inference retelling

grammar

20%

15%

21%

22%

14%

pre-reading scanning vocabulary recognition

post-reading inference retelling

grammar

(

Gra

h 7:

redominant non-

enre oriented

uestions in the coursebooks investi

ated

)

129

strategies. As it may be observed, the sources investigated present a diversity of

comprehension questions which do not seem to contemplate aspects of the genre-

text to which they are related. Moreover, even though Graph 7 displays a variety of

questions, they do not appear to have been equally distributed among the reading

sections. As a result, it is possible to observe a high percentage of post-reading

(22%) and pre-reading (20%) questions, for example. It may thus be argued that if,

on one hand, both types of question seem to be beneficial to learners, as far as

the development of reading strategies is concerned, on the other hand, the

reading of the target text is not a sine-qua-non requisite in order to perform those

tasks. Therefore, it may be claimed that such questions are not, in fact, checking

reading strategies. Edmundson (2005:37) avers that pre and post-reading

questions should not be placed under the label comprehension questions in the

sense that their corresponding answers are not found in the text. The same author

suggests that these types of questions should be placed in a separated section for

discussion.

A further salient feature revealed by Graph 7 is the high percentage of questions

aimed at vocabulary recognition (21%). Even though it has been argued that

vocabulary is likely to reveal aspects of the genre, the questions proposed for

learners in the sources of the corpus seem to reinforce the traditional view of

reading as the ability to identify and decode printed symbols. 21% of questions on

vocabulary appear to subscribe to the assumption that construction of meanings

tends to be associated with no more than the knowledge of lexical items. From this

perspective, texts are not contemplated as semantic units but, rather, as isolated

sentences grouped together.

130

Moreover, the high number of questions on scanning (15%) suggests that reading

for gist or identifying the communicative purpose of texts does not constitute a

priority in the sources investigated. Instead, target learners are expected to be

able to extract pieces of information spread throughout the text surface. These

preferences would seem to indicate a more traditional view of reading as the ability

to locate and copy information explicitly mentioned in the text.

However, the limited number of questions focusing on grammar (3%) may be

claimed as a positive shift in the sources investigated. It seems to suggest that

EFL learners at the intermediate level of language learning have been provided

with the opportunity to experiment with reading lessons rather than text-based

lessons (see subsection 2.1.2 on pp. 11 to 13 for the main distinction between the

two types of lessons). Most activities devised seemed to present grammar as a

tool in order to construct intended meanings within a given context. This finding

seems to suggest that although language has traditionally been analyzed and taught at

the level of the sentence, real language use seldom consists of sentences in isolation, but of

groups of sentences that form coherent texts (Thornbury, 1999:71)

The second half of Table 3.14 displays the number of genre-oriented questions in

the coursebooks analyzed. Firstly, it ought to be said that the results seem to

reveal a lack of concern for the importance of the concept of genre as an

integrative core in the development of EFL reading skills. Secondly, the

predominance of skimming-type questions (38% as displayed in Graph 8, p. 131)

gives rise to two questions which need discussing. One question is whether the

131

skimming questions were designed to verify a certain “genre awareness” of the

candidates, or whether they appear as no more than an incidental occurrence as

skimming in itself might be said to inherently contribute to the identification of the

genre. In short, it might be questioned whether the test designers intentionally

devised such questions as part of a concern for the generic features of the texts in

question. The other question is related to the degree to which the candidates to

the FCE are consciously applying their genre schemata when responding to these

questions. Due to the intuitive nature with which such questions seem to have

been elaborated, it would be supposed that the candidates are not indeed applying

their knowledge of the genre. The main finding regarding genre-oriented questions

are shown in Graph 8, below:

It also seems important to highlight certain conclusions which may be drawn from

the identification of the genre-oriented questions displayed in Graph 8. As may be

31%

38%

25%

cohesion coherence skimming generic features

31%

38%

25%

cohesion coherence skimming generic features

(

Gra

h 8:

redominant

enre-oriented

uestions in the coursebooks investi

ated

)

132

observed, 25% of the questions focused on generic features, 31% focused on

aspects of coherence and 6% contemplated cohesive ties. As already discussed,

the first group comprises questions focused on the identification of elements which

signal aspects of field, tenor and mode. These questions seem to have been

intentionally devised in order to raise learners’ awareness regarding genre

features. They have focused on two aspects of the genre-texts: a) naming the

genre-text itself (field) and b) identifying the source of the text in question as well

as the participants involved in the interaction (tenor). It may be argued that in order

to answer such questions, learners are expected to be familiar with a range of

texts and to resort to their genre-schemata when attempting to accomplish the

tasks proposed. The second group represents the majority of genre-oriented

questions/tasks. However, it may be argued that in the coursebooks analyzed the

development of genre awareness on the learners’ part would come as no more

than an incidental benefit. These tasks were merely restricted to ordering jumbled

paragraphs or numbering a list of events in the sequence in which they originally

occurred. None of the coursebooks from the corpus seem to have provided

learners with overt assistance as to what extent the discourse organizational

features (aspects of coherence) are likely to contribute to the identification of the

communicative purposes and, as a consequence, the identification of the genre in

question. The third group of questions, however, was restricted to no more than

the identification of elements of reference in the texts.

All in all, it is possible to infer that, to a certain extent, the variety of

comprehension question purposes, identified in the five coursebooks investigated,

appear to match with their main concern: equipping learners with a wide range of

133

reading strategies. However, a genre-oriented approach to texts is still an aim

worth fighting for, since it fails to be seen by the coursebook writers as an

integrating element capable of developing more effective reading strategies.

In the following subsection, conclusions will be drawn in the light of the

investigation of the four FCE reading papers from the corpus.

3.3.9.3. The FCE reading papers

Interestingly, the testing of reading in the four FCE reading papers analyzed also

focuses on non-genre oriented questions, as displayed in Table 3.15:

(Table 3.15: an overview of the comprehension questions identified in the FCE reading papers)

reading comprehension questions

FCE reading paper À

Genre-oriented

Non-genre

oriented

June 2003 14 15

December 2003 14 22

June 2004 16 22

December 2004 15 23

Total 59 82

As may be observed in Table 3.15, above, most questions testing reading

comprehension in the FCE reading papers of the corpus are non-genre oriented,

with, specifically, a predominance of questions on inference and scanning. The

main findings regarding non-genre oriented questions are shown in Graph 9

below:

134

Most comprehension questions in the FCE reading papers examined seem to

focus on scanning (67%) i.e., identifying specific pieces of information on the text

surface. The questions on inference (33%), despite being extremely important for

the development of effective reading skills, do not reflect aspects specific to the

type of genre-text to which they are related.

As far as the genre-oriented questions are concerned, Graph 10 is an attempt to

summarize the main findings.

33%

67%

inference scanning

33%

67%

inference scanning

(

Gra

h 9:

redominant non-

enre oriented

uestions in the FCE readin

ers

)

52%

48%

skimming coherence

52%

48%

skimming coherence

(

Gra

h 10:

redominant

enre-oriented

uestions in the FCE readin

ers

)

135

As Graph 10 suggests, questions on skimming (52%) and coherence (48%) are

also predominant in the FCE reading papers examined. It may be claimed that test

designers seem to be mainly concerned with the identification of the

communicative purposes of the target text (field) and to what extent the schematic

organization/rhetorical schemata of the discourse is likely to promote the

identification of the communicative purposes of texts. The questions focusing on

skimming and coherence have been identified in Parts 1 and 3 of each test,

respectively.

136

CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSIONS

4.1. Final conclusions

As described in sub-section 3.3.1, the present study consisted of a three-staged

investigation. Firstly, there was an attempt to delineate the discourse community at

which the FCE Reading Paper is aimed (see sub-section 3.3.2 for discussion on

this topic). The ultimate aim at this initial stage was to either confirm or reject the

initial hypothesis whereby FCE candidates, as well as people engaged in

designing and administering the tests, could be regarded as a discourse

community. This part of the study was conducted in the light of Swales’ (1990)

concept of discourse community. Secondly, a quantitative-interpretative

description of the genre exemplars identified in both sources of the corpus, namely

coursebooks and FCE Reading Papers, was developed. This stage of the analysis

was conducted by considering salient layout features, communicative function(s),

source(s), writer and lexical and syntactic choices, among other variables which

may contribute for the identification of the global organization of the discourse.

Similarly, the second stage of the investigation attempted to focus on the

contributions that genre studies may provide for the development of more effective

reading lessons. Thirdly, the final stage of the investigation contemplated the

reading comprehension questions which accompanied the texts from both sources

of the corpus. The ultimate aim of the third stage was to determine to what extent

the questions proposed to learners/candidates were genre-oriented. The

subsequent paragraphs will focus on each of the stages previously outlined.

137

As far as the first stage of the analysis is concerned, the initial hypothesis was

confirmed. It was possible to conclude that there seems to exist a discourse

community which nurtures the FCE examination. This discourse community is

sustained by its members` set of shared common goals, among the other defining

characteristics postulated by Swales` (1990).

As highlighted above, the second stage of the analysis was particularly concerned

with a detailed quantitative-interpretative investigation of the genre-texts

encountered in the corpus. As far as the five coursebooks are concerned, the

investigation of the genre-texts presented in the 101 reading comprehension

sections appear to be directly related to research questions 1 and 2:

1) Do reading sections of coursebooks really reflect the demands of a globalized

society in which individuals are expected to experiment with texts as semantic

units rather than groups of isolated sentences?

2) To what extent can genre analysis contribute to the development of more

effective reading lessons and, as a result, guide learners towards becoming more

proficient readers and, potentially, as a consequence, improved EFL writers?

The analysis has revealed magazine/newspaper articles and stories as the two

predominant genres in the coursebooks investigated (see Graph 1, p. 96). The

investigation conducted in the light of Swales’ Working Definition of Genre (1990)

and Hoey’s genre-general macropatterns for text analysis seem to suggest that

the previously referred genres tend to be preferred by coursebook writers. As

discussed in Sub-section 3.3.5, this finding may be said to signal a tendency

among coursebooks in general and has led to the three following questions:

138

1. Does the predominance of newspaper/magazine articles reveal a tendency in

the global editorial market?

2.Does this predominance signal that newspaper/magazine articles constitute the

most popular genre among readers in general?

3.Is it possible to argue that the predominance of newspaper/magazine articles in

the coursebooks investigated reflect the predominance of the same genres in the

FCE Reading Paper ?

The first possible conclusion for such supremacy is that articles tend to be the

genre which is more likely to be encountered in most discourse communities all

over the world. Thus, this could be regarded as the genre which individuals are

more likely to encounter in real-life reading situations. In addition, the

predominance of articles may be interpreted as an attempt to engage learners in

reading texts which make real-life demands (question b, Sub-section 3.3.5, p.

111). Moreover, the process of identification of the predominant genres revealed

articles as an “umbrella genre” or a “primary genre”, i.e., a number of other texts

whose internal organization reflected a diversity of genres was presented under

the format of articles. This factor appears to corroborate the assumption that

articles consist of a genre of substantial relevance in the global editorial market

(Question a, Sub-section 3.3.5, p. 111). This situation may be explained through

the apparent growing relevance of either magazine/newspaper articles as a source

of information which is likely to reach the discourse communities from the most

remote geographical areas.

139

The findings previously described were confronted by the identification of the

salient genre-texts in the FCE reading papers of the corpus. As summarized in

Tables 3.10, 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13 (see Sub-section 3.3.6, p. 112 and 113),

magazine and/or newspaper articles have also been identified as a “primary

genre” in the FCE reading papers examined (see Sub-section 3.3.6, Question C,

p. 111). Again, even though a detailed investigation of the internal organization of

the genre-texts from both sources has revealed that a number of other genres has

been identified, a substantial number of texts were presented in the format of

articles which appears to highlight the supremacy of such genre within the global

editorial arena. As a result, there was an attempt to find evidence which would

allow to draw conclusions related to question d (see Sub-section 3.3.5., p. 111)

further transcribed.

d.Even though the coursebooks investigated do not constitute exemplars of exam

practice books, would it be possible to claim that, among other objectives, such

coursebooks are aimed at building up learners’ genre-schemata for the FCE

Reading Paper ?

Therefore, considering that articles constituted the major genre identified in both

sources, it may be inferred that even though the coursebooks investigated do not

constitute exemplars of exam practice books, they may be claimed to have been

aimed at building up learners’ genre-schemata. From such a perspective, it would

seem reasonable to argue that learners would benefit from such coursebooks as a

preparation tool for the FCE reading paper as far as the choice of genre-texts is

concerned. As a result, it could be inferred that learners are expected to feel

140

confident enough to take the FCE reading paper by the end of their three-year

language courses, at least as far as their genre-schemata are concerned.

In very general terms, it is also possible to argue that the procedures adopted in

order to identify the predominant genre-texts in both elements of the corpus (i.e.,

reading comprehension section + FCE reading papers) seem to suggest that

genre analysis may provide insightful contributions to more enlightened EFL

reading lessons (Research Question 2, Section 1.1). However, in order to achieve

this aim, it seems fundamental that teachers in general be aware of the underlying

principles which should nurture reading lessons in contrast to text-based lessons.

Moreover, by raising learners’ awareness regarding genre features, teachers may

also provide learners with opportunities to improve their writing abilities. This

finding suggests that a more comprehensive knowledge of how to achieve a given

communicative intent might lead learners to produce more readable texts. From

such a perspective, the positive Impact (see Sub-sections 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 for

discussion on this topic) to be experienced by learners, i.e., passing a given

proficiency test, would result as an incidental benefit.

However, the predominance of articles in both sources of the corpus appear to

signal a drawback in the three premises established by the FCE question

designers, as far as the variety and choice of target texts are concerned. As

already discussed (see Sub-section 3.3.3.1, p. 95), according to FCE questions

designers, reading papers should reflect the three premises further transcribed:

1) FCE candidates are expected to be able to read semi-authentic

texts of various kinds (informative and general interest ....

141

2) The texts are intended to cover a range of recently published

material and to appear authentic in form, presentation and content.

3) Pictures and other diagrams are used where appropriate to

illustrate the text (...). Some of the vocabulary may be simplified in

the texts to keep it within the FCE level but such changes are kept

to minimum.

As the exemplification of analysis illustrated through texts ONE and TWO (see pp.

98-106) seem to suggest, even though the reading comprehension sections from

each coursebook do not claim to relate specifically to the FCE reading paper, it is

possible to argue that, as far as the three premises are concerned, premises two

and three have apparently been met by the reading comprehension sections. The

texts from the coursebooks appeared authentic in form, presentation and content

(premise two). Similarly, a number of texts presented non-linear texts such as

illustrations and diagrams in order to illustrate them, as well as arouse learners’

topic schemata (Premise Three). However, as far as Premise One is concerned,

the percentages of occurrences of each genre-text identified in the coursebooks

has revealed that there seems to be a lack of variety among the sources, i.e., four

out of five coursebooks from the corpus did not meet the demands specified by the

FCE reading paper designers as far as the variety of genre is concerned.

In the third stage of the analysis the major aim was to focus on the investigation of

the reading comprehension questions from both sources of the corpus. There was

an attempt to determine to what extent the questions proposed were genre-

oriented i.e., to what extent they aimed at measuring learners’ and FCE

candidates’ awareness regarding genre features. The third stage of the analysis

142

seemed to be particularly related to Research Question 3 (see Section 1.1): how

genre-oriented are reading comprehension questions in the coursebooks and in

the FCE Reading Papers which constitute the corpus of analysis ?

The results obtained are believed to indicate whether coursebook writers and FCE

Reading Paper designers approach the question of genre as an integrating

element when assessing the development of reading skills. The reading

comprehension questions from both sources were divided into two major groups

according to their testing purposes: a) non-genre oriented and b) genre oriented

questions. The former comprised questions which focused on the testing of

grammatical knowledge, vocabulary recognition and identification of specific

information in the target text (scanning). The latter focused on the testing of lexical

and grammatical cohesion, identification of the overall message of the target text

(skimming/communicative purpose(s)), awareness of discourse organizational

features (aspects of coherence) and finally the knowledge of generic features (i.e.,

aspects of field, tenor and mode). Each testing purpose was illustrated with

sample questions from the corpus. The sample questions were selected due to the

fact that they seemed to constitute typical evidence of each testing purpose

previously outlined. The identification of the genre-oriented questions was based

on the assumption that the rationale of a given genre seems to govern the

rhetorical and patterned organization of a particular text. Genres influence register

variables related to aspects of field, tenor and mode and, as a consequence,

constrain the content of a particular communicative event.

143

The preliminary identification of the types of reading comprehension questions

proposed to learners/candidates generated the need to quantify the proportion of

genre-oriented questions in contrast to non-genre oriented questions. The ultimate

aim at this stage was to reveal the rationale which seemed to nurture the choice

and elaboration of reading comprehension questions in both sources. As displayed

in table 3.14 (see p. 127), most reading comprehension questions identified in the

coursebooks from the corpus were classified as non-genre oriented (59

occurrences in contrast to 16 occurrences). These figures seemed to suggest a

certain disregard on the part of coursebook writers regarding the question of

genre. Thus, the identification of aspects of genre tends to be ignored as an

integrative element which may contribute to the development of proficient reading.

As displayed in Graph 7 (see p. 128), most comprehension questions identified in

the coursebooks investigated consisted of pre and post reading questions,

vocabulary recognition, questions on inference, questions focused on grammatical

knowledge, scanning and retelling. Even though a variety of comprehension

questions was observed, most fail to acknowledge the aspects of the genre-text to

which they belonged. Moreover, the high percentage of questions focused on

vocabulary recognition (21%) seem to suggest that the underlying principle for the

elaboration of comprehension questions are limited to the notion of reading as the

decodification of printed symbols therefore not contemplating texts as semantic

units. This type of question appears to subscribe to the more traditional views

whereby FL proficient reading is acknowledged as homage to clarity and precision

(Silveira, 2002:92). From this perspective, negotiation and construction of

meanings are often overlooked. Furthermore, the high number of questions on

scanning (15%) appears to suggest that identifying the communicative purpose of

144

the target texts did not seem to constitute a source of concern among coursebook

writers in general. Rather, target learners were expected to be able to extract

pieces of information spread throughout the text surface. These preferences would

seem to indicate a view of reading as no more than the ability to locate and copy

information explicitly mentioned in the text. These questions, in turn, do not seem

to require extra-linguistic knowledge on the readers’ part.

As far as genre-oriented questions (i.e.: cohesion, coherence, skimming and

generic features) are concerned, the figures provided in the second half of Tables

3.14 and 3.15 seem to suggest that focusing on the concept of genre as an

essential element in the development of EFL reading skills did not seem a priority

or source of concern. The occurrences of explicit genre-oriented questions were

mainly incidental. The questions which apparently focused on generic aspects of

the target texts did not seem to have been intentionally or consciously elaborated.

Such apparent intuitive nature of the questions investigated makes it difficult to

determine whether the genre-oriented questions have been devised by

considering the relevance of a genuine genre-oriented approach to reading.

4.2. Potential pedagogical insights

The analysis of the predominant genres in both elements of the corpus appear to

suggest that texts constitute communicative events in the sense that they manifest

their communicative intent linguistically through written discourse. In addition, the

texts examined seem to constitute typical exemplars of their respective genres.

145

Thus, it is possible to conclude that the writer’s both lexical and syntactic choices

constitute fundamental elements. They seem to contribute to the internal/global

organization of texts, thus providing readers with improved chances of grasping

the message(s) being conveyed. In broader terms, it is possible to argue that the

analyses of the texts from the corpus in the light of Hoey’s (2001) macro-patterns

emerge as a precious opportunity to verify how genre-texts in general tend to be

organized and how writers manage to keep the flow of the discourse as well as the

readers’ attention throughout the reading process.

Moreover, pedagogically speaking, it may be claimed that each and every EFL

teacher should be aware of the potential benefits of providing learners with the

opportunity to inductively experiment with global macro-patterns for text

organization. This might, in turn, lead to more effective reading lessons and, as a

consequence, more proficient reading on the learners’ part. As Hoey (1997)

states, texts are interactive pieces of language and the analyses developed in the

present investigation seem to constitute a sample of what may be done in the

classroom as a means to praise more conscious reading: Since reading is about

getting meaning out of a text in interaction with that text and text analysis involves the

description of the interactive properties of a text with regard to its semantic structure,

there ought to be a close connection (Hoey, 1997:13). Furthermore, the investigation

of the reading comprehension questions provided a positive model for the types of

questions which should be exploited/elaborated in the EFL classroom. As Nuttall

(1996, pp. 32-34) claims, this view seems to suggest that the development of

effective reading may be claimed to make specific demands on both EFL teachers

and learners. Among such responsibilities, the same author highlights:

146

Teachers’ responsibilities

• Encouraging learners to enjoy and value reading;

• Having a thorough understanding of what effective reading comprises (i.e.:

language as a vehicle to convey meanings and textual organization);

• Investigating learners’ potential so as to identify the skills they lack;

• Selecting suitable material and devising effective tasks;

• Equipping learners with the knowledge necessary to tackle the tasks and activities

successfully;

• Ensuring learners are given equal opportunities to work productively according to their

own intellect.

Students’ responsibilities

• Being actively engaged in the learning process;

• Regarding reading as a source of enjoyment and personal development.

• Monitoring their own comprehension: being aware of the processes they undergo in

order to understand the presuppositions spread within the text surface;

• Establishing a dialogue with the text by taking risks: adopting and switching

strategies so as to achieve comprehension.

(Adapted from Nuttall, 1996:32-34)

Therefore, readers should be able, not only to construct texts, but also to

deconstruct them and identify which lexical and syntactic choices may enable the

writer to answer the set of questions that they have themselves established. The

interactive character of texts (i.e., the waltz between writer and reader) seems

undeniable and should be cultivated in the EFL classroom by encouraging

147

learners to employ the tools at their disposal in order to become fluent readers in

the target language.

In a nutshell, it seems that text analysis may well provide valuable contributions for

the teaching of EFL reading. Nevertheless, it seems of crucial importance that

both teachers and learners are aware of what effective reading lessons are

claimed to entail. Again, as Nuttall (1996, pp. 32-34) argues, teachers and learners

need to be aware of their responsibilities throughout the process.

Undertaking the process of investigating the genre-texts and the reading

comprehension sections from a genre-oriented perspective has been of great

value in terms of raising my own awareness towards what may be done in the EFL

classroom, as far as a genre-oriented approach to reading is concerned. The

pedagogical implications of this study appear to be related to the importance of

genre studies to the EFL teaching/learning scenario. Through the analysis

described in Chapter 3, I have concluded that it is possible to provide learners with

challenging opportunities to experiment with texts from a perspective which moves

beyond reading at the sentence level and acknowledges the communicative

nature of texts as the major feature which constrains format, lexis and register.

As discussed above, texts are samples of language in use. Therefore, learners

should be encouraged to view language as a resource, a means to an end. EFL

learners need to be aware that language consists of a powerful tool in order to

construct meanings. Therefore, it should be used in order to reflect the context in

which it is inserted, the interactants, their roles and aims. Learners need to be

148

encouraged to regard meaning as the starting point for the use of grammatical

resources and therefore use language more effectively as a means to express

their thoughts by considering the context and the co-text.

4.3. Limitations and further research

As discussed in the preceding section, the present study may have practical

pedagogical implications. However, it is worth examining its limitations. The

importance of the present discussion is justified by the fact that an attentive and

reflective look into the limitations of this study is likely to unveil relevant focal

points for future research in the area of genre studies.

In Chapters 1 and 2 the substantial relevance that coursebooks and proficiency

tests have gained within the English-teaching market was addressed. The former

have long been acknowledged as the major pedagogical resource in the language

classroom and their level of appropriateness and effectiveness have seldom been

questioned by learners, teachers and course administrators. The latter, by the

same token, seem to make specific demands on learners/candidates and have

been regarded as a means to achieve internationally recognized certification in an

increasingly competitive globalized world. Similarly, the need for preparation for

international examinations either during regular courses or during exam practices

courses, has placed considerable emphasis on the adoption of coursebooks

produced abroad.

149

However, if on one hand, the coursebooks produced abroad tend to be regarded

as reliable sources for learning and preparation, on the other hand, my experience

as an EFL teacher in a number of Brazilian private language schools, has

indicated that a significant percentage of EFL intermediate learners still tend to

feel insecure about undergoing proficiency tests. As far as reading is concerned, a

substantial number of learners tend to panic whenever confronted with lengthy

texts in the target language. As explained in Sub-section 1.1., the apparent lack of

self-confidence when tackling texts in the target language may spring from a

diversity of factors such as tight schedules, lack of expertise on teachers’ part and

Brazilian learners’ apparent lack of interest in reading in general. However, the

development of reading skills seems to be given a secondary role in the EFL

classroom when teachers often devote most of their class time to the development

of speaking and listening skills. It is possible to infer that the apparent lack of self-

confidence experienced by a number of Brazilian EFL learners as far as reading is

concerned might be nurtured by the traditional view of reading as a passive

activity. From this perspective, reading disregards the interaction between lower

and higher-level processing mechanisms. In fact, the precise identification of the

main causes which inhibit the development of effective reading skills among

Brazilian EFL learners did not constitute the focal point of the present

investigation. Further research in this area would be necessary in order to

delineate more precise conclusions on this issue. Thus, a detailed investigation of

how genre-oriented reading lessons may contribute as a tool for a rise in the level

of interest and, as a result, for more proficient reading emerges as a possibility.

From this perspective, not only coursebooks would be the focus but also teachers’

and learners’ attitudes towards reading. This same future research could involve

150

reading lessons observations, as well as interviews with teachers and learners.

Moreover, the investigation previously described could be developed in both

private language schools (i.e., with learners attending exam practice courses) and

schools from the public sector (i.e. with learners preparing for vestibular). At a

further stage, a contrastive analysis could be conducted in order to identify

differences and similarities among reading lessons in both environments.

Finally, it seems crucial to highlight that the present research study constitutes a

possible practical application of genre studies in the area of Applied Linguistics.

Thus, there is no attempt to provide universal status to the conclusions drawn. The

findings were based on the investigation of a restricted corpus. However, despite

the limited scope of this study, it may be argued that the results obtained may

function as a source of investigation into what has occurred in the reading

classroom.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Alfa”

Text 1: Flat-sharing – the inside story.

Text 2: Eat as much as you like – and stay healthy!

Text 3: Nightmare journeys

Text 4: Sun Tours: short breaks in New York

APPENDIX 1

Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Beta”

Text 1: Strategies for keeping your job.

Text 2: Culture check

Text 3: Learning styles

Text 4: The blue lights of Silver Cliff

APPENDIX 1

Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Gama”

Text 1: “Reading and discussion”.

Text 2: “The Randolf Hotel”.

Text 3: “Reading: Read the five parts of the following story.

See if you notice anything unusual’.

Text 4: Are they crazy or am I?

APPENDIX 1

Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Delta”

Text 1: Words fail me.

Text 2: Excuse me, is it day or night ?

Text 3: Caring students watch over teacher.

Text 4: My day as a 75-year-old.

APPENDIX 1

Sample texts from the five coursebooks

Coursebook “Épsilon

Text 1: Fictional heroes never die.

Text 2: “Reading: lesson 18.”

Text 3: “Reading: lesson 31.”

Text 4: Lost in the Pacific.

APPENDIX 2

The four FCE reading papers

FCE June/2003

FCE December/2003

FCE June/2004

FCE December/2004

APPENDIX 3

University of

Cambridge

Researchers and

exam designers

Examiners

Teachers

Preparatory

schools and

examination

boards

candidates

UCLES

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

EFL

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

TEFL

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

ALTE

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

CPE

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

CAE

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

FCE

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

PET

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

KET

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

3.1.: Sam

les of s

ecific acron

(Ï) This symbol indicates that the discourse community members are

expected to be familiar with this particular acronym.

( - ) This symbol indicates that the discourse community members are

not expected to be familiar with this particular acronym.

APPENDIX 4

Specific lexis

University of

Cambridge

Researchers and

exam designers

Examiners

Teachers

Preparatory

schools and

examination

boards

candidates

Results

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

skills

Ï Ï Ï

Communicative strategies

Ï Ï Ï

Spelling

Ï Ï Ï

consistency

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Subsidiary points

Ï Ï

- -

Proficiency

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

Question paper

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

Overseas teaching situations

Ï Ï Ï Ï

Grading

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Monitoring procedures -

- -

Handbook

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Sample material

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Editing -

- - - -

Question paper construction

Ï Ï

- - - -

Item analysis -

Ï Ï Ï

Revision -

Ï Ï Ï

Examination reports

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Code of Practice

Ï Ï Ï

- - -

Reporting of test results

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Empirical research

Ï Ï

- - - -

Score

Ï Ï Ï Ï

Topics -

Ï Ï Ï

guidelines

Ï Ï Ï Ï

Listening/speaking/writing/reading

test

Ï Ï Ï Ï Ï

Use of English

Ï Ï Ï Ï

Multiple-choice cloze, open cloze -

Ï Ï Ï

Framework -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Malpractice committee

Ï Ï Ï

- - -

Supplementing material -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Candidate answer sheet -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Feedback

Ï Ï Ï Ï

- -

Task-specific mark scheme -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Accuracy -

Ï Ï Ï

Seminars

Ï Ï Ï Ï

Interlocutor/assessor frames -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Mark allocation -

Ï Ï Ï

- -

Tapescript -

Ï Ï Ï

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Applied Linguistics

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3.2.: Sam

les of s

ecific lexis

APPENDIX 5

(Table 3.3.: genre-texts identified in the coursebooks)

Coursebooks

Genre-texts

(Alfa)

(Beta)

(Gama)

(Delta)

(Épsilon)

occurrences

of the

genre-texts

Articles Magazine

Newspaper

11 3 11 13 46

Biographical sketch

1 1 4 6

Brochure Travel

1 1 2

Classified ads Job

opportunities

1 1

Conversations

3 3

Diary entry

1 1

Graphs

1 1

Interviews

1 1 2

Invitations

1 1

Personal

3 3

Letters

Advice

(asking

for/giving)

1 2 2 5

Narrative/story

5 2 3 1 2 13

Questionnaire/quiz

1 2 3

Personal accounts

2 4 3 9

Poems

1 1

Postcards

1 1

Book

1 1 2

Reviews

Place

1 1

Total number of reading sections

20 16 27 12 26

The categories presented in Graphs 1 to 6 have been labeled according to the names they receive in

western countries:

* Articles = mainly newspaper and magazine articles covering a wide range of topics such as science,

entertainment, politics etc.

* Stories = fictional or non-fictional narratives, biographical sketches, anecdotes etc.

* Personal accounts = texts in which the writers describes his/her own experience

* Miscellaneous - term created by the author in order to address the genres which had a single

occurrence in the corpus examined (e.g.: ads, diary entries, graphs, invitations, poems and

postcards)

APPENDIX 6

Sample Text ONE

Do we really need to sleep?

APPENDIX 7

Sample Text TWO

Friends again forever.

APPENDIX 8

Sample Text

Biographical sketch

APPENDIX 9

Sample Text

Travel brochure

APPENDIX 10

Sample Text

An interview

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