Abstract
The trend in the Reading class in KSA has been what is called ‘Standards Based Proficiency’ as opposed to the more desirable ‘Real World Reading Requirements’. This is also where the greatest gap occurs. Whereas white collar jobs may require more reading, blue collar jobs may invariably involve reading of technical manuals and scripts where a single error can lead to disastrous results. Reading is a skill that is very much related to the real life language use by FL learners. Can this gap be closed in our educational institutions? The answer is yes as concluded by the current study that evaluates the role of Linguistics in empowering the teachers of EFL to successfully tackle the reading failure of the KSA EFL learners. Our results show that with basic training in the field teachers can bring about much change in the reading proficiency of the learners.
Highlights
IntroductionPilot studies of the EFL classrooms in Saudi Arabia have revealed that Reading is treated in an ad hoc manner with repetition taking up a large part of class time, the burden to train learners in reading being solely on the teacher and students having no opportunity to analyze their reading proficiency
Can this gap be closed in our educational institutions? The answer is yes as concluded by the current study that evaluates the role of Linguistics in empowering the teachers of EFL to successfully tackle the reading failure of the KSA EFL learners
Our results show that with basic training in the field teachers can bring about much change in the reading proficiency of the learners
Summary
Pilot studies of the EFL classrooms in Saudi Arabia have revealed that Reading is treated in an ad hoc manner with repetition taking up a large part of class time, the burden to train learners in reading being solely on the teacher and students having no opportunity to analyze their reading proficiency. At the pre university level, having taught their EFL learners the English alphabet and corresponding sounds, English teachers on the Saudi Arabian EFL canvas take their reading skills for granted. We list them here: Job situations will typically demand of our learners (when they look for employment), the ability to read and comprehend e mails, ‘to do’ lists, memos, notices and other inter and intra office correspondence. If they are not equipped with a wide array of vocabulary along with an understanding of the same, professional accomplishment will surely elude them
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