Approaches to English as a foreign language (EFL) reading instruction in Norwegian primary schools

Abstract

This thesis is based on multi-perspective study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading instructions in Norwegian fourth and fifth grades. The research focuses on the teaching of reading and investigates the use of four different approaches to EFL reading instruction: a textbook-based approach, an extensive reading approach through the use of graded readers, a combination of textbook-based and graded readers approach, and the Australian Early Years Literacy Program (EYLP) approach. The main aim was to find out how EFL reading was taught in fourth and fifth grades. Sub-aims were to find out which materials, activities, and instructional practices the grade 4 and 5 teachers used to teach English reading; second, to find out how the above mentioned reading approaches enabled differentiation in reading instruction; third, to find out how the reading approaches differed in the reading interaction between teacher and students; and finally, to discover the teachers' perception of their English reading instruction and best practice. [...]