Exploring the Link: A Study of Secondary School English Language Teachers’ Perceived and Actual Reading Skills Proficiency

Abstract

This study aims at identifying secondary school English language teachers’ perceived and actual reading proficiency level and the correlation between these variables. The researchers employed mixed design and used questionnaire, proficiency test and interview to collect data from the participants. There were 112 secondary school teachers who take part in this study and among them four teachers were interviewed. The data gathered from the instruments were analyzed using SPSS version 24 and NVivo version 10 for the quantitative and qualitative data. The results of this study revealed that secondary school English language teachers perceived proficiency level of reading skill was high and that the levels their actual reading skills was medium. It was also found that there was a positive (r=.329) but not significant correlation between the teachers’ perceived and actual proficiency level of reading skills. This implies that there should be professional and skill development trainings given for the teachers. Besides, teachers should make themselves familiar with reading materials apart from the text book they are using in the classroom. The findings of this study could have contribution for other researchers replicate, educators to consider teachers’ proficiency and policy makers to give attention in formulating policy.

Keywords

• actual proficiency
• english language teachers
• perceived proficiency
• reading skills
• secondary school