Lin Siew Eng

Assessment of English Reading Age through Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS) : A Measure of Effectiveness and Inequality in Malaysian ESL Education

Recent international comparative research on English proficiency found a strong positive correlation between a countrys level of English language skills and its gross national income per capita. Considering the role of English as a lingua franca in the global exchange of goods, culture, information and innovations, a sufficient command of English is a basic requirement for almost the entire labour force in knowledge-based economies. A key foreign language competence is reading, which functions as a gateway to the world, enabling individuals to effectively participate and compete in a knowledge-based environment. Therefore, effectiveness of English as a Second Language (ESL) reading skills is essential to the success of both socio-cultural and economic development. A principal criterion of effectiveness is equal opportunity to the whole society to access formal education and to achieve academic success. In most education systems, however, the social background of students tends to have a major impact on academic achievement, to the extent that it may affect their whole educational and professional careers. The current study is based on empirical data about the reading age of 3,567 Malaysian secondary school students from various social backgrounds, obtained by the use of a standardised evaluation tool named READS. We found that less than half the students had attained the curriculum standard for ESL reading skills, as defined for their biological age. Moreover, significant disparities were found between the reading age of students by gender, income status and ethnicity, highlighting a substantial level of inequality which challenges the establishment of a knowledge-based economy.

The Potency of "READS" to Inform Students' Reading Ability.

This paper shares an initiative conducted in Malaysia in terms of knowledge to gauge students’ Reading Age and to inform teachers of their students’ reading progress and learning. Ensuring teachers understand the needs of students’ reading ability and preparing students to read and comprehend texts are the two most fundamental parallel tasks in today’s classroom setting. Consequently, determining students’ Reading Age has become an important endeavour in recent years by many education authorities throughout the world. This study aims at incorporating the Reading Evaluation and Decoding System (READS), to ascertain students’ Reading Age and comprehension skills at macro and micro levels. This study employed a stratified sample of high school students who were in Secondary 1 through Secondary 5. Data was gathered through a generic standardized reading comprehension developed test. With a precise Reading Matrix, ESL teachers can appraise their students’ reading ability at any level by referring to the Performance Standards to distinguish whether their students are at Meet Reading Age, Below Reading Age or Above Reading Age status. Subsequently, teachers can refer to the Descriptors of Students’ Reading Abilities to find out what the students have achieved so far and what the struggling readers lacked. Accordingly, ESL teachers will be well informed of their students reading ability and accordingly can focus on reading skills development of their students. The ripple effects of READS may enhance students’ reading ability as teachers are now better informed of their students’ reading abilities and thus teachers will be able to prepare reading lessons appropriately according to their students’ reading needs.