TEACHERS’’ BELIEFS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF READING STRATEGIES ON LEARNERS’’ COMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE A CASE STUDY OF FIRST--YEAR LMD TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AT MOHAMED KHIDER UNIVERSITY OF BISKRA

Abstract

Previous research has revealed the influential role of teachers’ beliefs in determining their professional behaviour. Teachers’ beliefs affect not only their teaching, but also filter new input, suggesting significant implications for the implementation of educational innovations and teacher development. A common fact in our universities is the neglect of teaching learning strategies in general and reading strategies in particular. However, The aim of this research is to explore teachers’ beliefs (awareness and knowledge) about teaching reading strategies to foreign language learners as a means to improve their communicative competence; however, the intention is to find out the teacher‘s beliefs about teaching reading strategies at the department of English of Mohamed Khider University and to examine the extent to which their beliefs are reflected in their reading classes / classroom practices. We hypothesize that if teachers’ have knowledge and postive beliefs about reading strategies, they can contribute in enhancing students’ communicative competence and if learners truly understand some effective reading strategies, they will be able to use them more effectively and apply them appropriately for their meaningful reading comprehension. To achieve that aim, the study was led through questionnaire to build up an expression of teachers' beliefs, awareness, knowledge and difficulties encountered in teaching reading strategies to foreign language learners. The results confirmed that teachers do not have much knowledge about reading strategies and how to teach them and that the reading skill is neglected in our classrooms. Finally, the study offers a few implications to raise teachers’ knowledge and awareness about the importance of teaching reading strategies in all foreign language courses. We hope that this study will be beneficial for teachers of the foreign language in that it will provide them with a general sight on the importance of teachers’ development, teachers’ knowledge and teachers’ knowledge in every subject they teach.