Reading teachers\u27 reading beliefs, comprehending strategies and use of L1 and L2: A description of their processing of an L2 text

This study was undertaken to determine the reading beliefs of Reading teachers, their comprehending strategies as they read an academic text in L2 (English) and the role played by their L1 (Filipino) and L2 as they read it. Specifically, the study sought answers to these questions: 1. What are the beliefs of Reading teachers about reading? 2. When processing an L2 text, a. what comprehending strategies do Reading teachers employ? b. what role do the following variables play in their processing? 1). Reading beliefs 2). L1 and L2 Fourteen graduate students who were enrolled in the Reading specialization program of the Philippine Normal University in the second semester of SY 2002-2003 participated in the study. To gather data about their reading beliefs, a Reading Belief Questionnaire was used. To collect information on their comprehending strategies and use of L1 and L2, the Think-Aloud Procedure and Immediate Written Recall were employed. The data gathered were quantitatively and qualitatively described and analyzed. The analysis of the data came up with these results: 1. Reading teachers believe in the transmission, translation and transmission nature of reading. 2. Reading teachers employ a variety of strategies, namely, previewing, repeating, rereading, disagreeing, questioning, paraphrasing, using prior knowledge, connecting to personal experiences, monitoring, translating, codeswitching, identifying key points, summarizing, attending to vocabulary, sound and syntactic analysis, responding emotionally to information and attending to source of information. These strategies can be categorized as text-generated, readergenerated or interactive. 2. Reading teachers utilize both L1 and L2 in processing an L2 text. They switch from L1 to L2 or vice versa in their attempts to understand the L2 text. 3. Reading teachers utilize both L1 and L2 in processing an L2 text. They switch from L1 to L2 or vice versa in their attempts to understand the L2 text. On the basis of the findings, these conclusions were drawn: 1. Re