EFL Reading
Comprehension Texts: In Search of Appropriateness
Evy C. Ridwan
Ishari Moorrees
Suharna
The purpose of this study is to analyse
EFL reading comprehension texts generally used at non-English departments in
tertiary education. One purpose of teaching English in tertiary education is to
enable students to comprehend academic texts better. Academic texts are
different from narrative texts in that major ideas in expository texts are
commonly arranged in the structure of description, comparison-contrast,
cause-effect, and problem-solution. Generally, readers comprehend texts more
easily if they can identify the structure of the text. It follows that it may
be necessary to train college students in using this strategy to comprehend a
text. The present study analysed commercially available textbooks, several of
which were used in tertiary education, to find out whether they were
appropriate for the purpose. It was found that while all texts were locally and
globally coherent, reading teachers still need to modify the texts or to use
supplementary materials in order to teach the text structure strategy.
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Ridwan, E. C., Moorrees,
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