ESL Novice Teachers' Beliefs and Practices on The Teaching of Reading Strategies

In recent years, research has progressively accentuated teachers' beliefs and practices of reading strategies as the emphasis has shifted away from observing the reading result to the reading process. However, little has been done in Malaysia, specifically among novice teachers, to explore how they perceive and practice reading strategies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted to investigate ESL novice teachers' beliefs and practices in teaching reading strategies in an ESL classroom. In this qualitative study, four national secondary school ESL teachers were selected as they shared their beliefs, and actual classroom practices of reading strategies during the period of hybrid learning were conducted. The data were obtained through two online semi-structured interview sessions, a collection of documents and digital materials. The findings indicated that participants show a positive stance on teaching reading strategies by highlighting its functionality in developing essential reading skills such as enhancing vocabulary learning, facilitating understanding of the whole text and a few others. Additionally, the results revealed the teachers' classroom practices of reading strategies during the three stages of reading. The outcomes indicated that teachers' beliefs are aligned with their classroom practices though some adjustments had to be made primarily when classes were conducted remotely. Overall, the current study has further proven the continuous need for reading strategies instruction from the perspectives of novice teachers; hence, it is hoped to be beneficial for future teachers and researchers and, most notably, will help contribute to the ESL teaching methodology in general.