NEXUS BETWEEN BELIEFS COLLEGE ENGLISH INSTRUCTORS’ HELD ABOUT TEACHING READING STRATEGIES AND THEIR CLASSROOM PRACTICE

This study examined connections between beliefs college English language instructors’ held about reading strategies and how they implemented them in teaching reading. The sites of the target population for this study were the Colleges of Teacher Education students in Amhara National Regional State Council, Ethiopia. In this region, there are 10 Administrative Zones. In the zones, there are 10 colleges. Among these, 4 colleges were selected by simple random sampling technique. From the 4 selected colleges, 26 instructors were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through close-ended questionnaire items and observation checklist. Data obtained from questionnaire were analyzed using percentage where the observation data were applied one sample t-test. The findings indicate that college instructors held strong beliefs about English language strategies. In spite of their strong belief, however, the research confirmed that instructors do not actually apply the strategies in their reading classes. From the findings, it could be inferred that it would be useful if instructors adjust their beliefs to practices. To help instructors connect their beliefs to their practice, there seems a need to train them on reading strategies.


INTRODUCTION Background of the Study
It is widely observed that English language has been used in many areas such as education, politics, tourism, economics, electronics, telecommunication, culture, diplomacy, business, science and technology since the commencement of modern education in 1908 in Ethiopia (Pankhurst, 1976). English is not only a means to education but also a key to accessing information and education research (American Institutes for Research, 2012;Gessesse, 1999;Pankhurst, 1976). Therefore, it is necessary for many Ethiopian students to have a good command of English language and be competent in their academic area and satisfy the growing needs of their country. Since English is taught and learned in a non-native environment in Ethiopia, reading is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further education can take place (Amlaku, 2010;Gessesse, 1999). Therefore, major actions have been taken in teaching English language over the past decades (Amlaku, 2010; Transitional Government of Ethiopia, 1994). One of the most significant purposes of instructors in teaching English as a Foreign Language (hereafter EFL) is to assist college students acquire better reading skills and strategies. Researchers (e.g., Abebe, 2012;Abiy, 2011;Donaldson, 2011) argued that teaching students" reading skills and strategies in English language at teacher education colleges is a key for not only for teaching reading skill but also for the other language skills since foreign language context demands both teachers and students to use reading outside of instructional settings. College students" success in teaching reading in English language and other subjects in large part depends on the ability to read or success in reading at college level since it is a means to acquire knowledge and skill in other subjects as well (MoE, 2008). Thus, the various importance of EFL has made reading an essential skill to be mastered by students. With strengthened reading skills, EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in their present and future professional careers (Snow, 2002). According to Carrell (1988, p.1), "for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language". This is also true in the case of Ethiopian teacher education colleges since reading skill offers students a wide range of interesting information as well as a variety of language expressions and structures which are of great use for developing other language skills and learn other subjects using English language as medium of instruction (AIR, 2012;Amlaku, 2010).
In learning reading in EFL context, however, students often experience lack of reading skills which are essential for them to overcome challenges. Researchers in reading (e.g., Presley, Beard, Denary & Brown, 1992) have found that effective readers are aware of the strategies they use and that they use strategies flexibly and efficiently. It was found that reading strategies could be taught to language learners by their teachers so that learners can become more successful in language learning. Oxford (1990) states that language learning strategies "... are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, selfdirected movement, which is essential for developing communicative competence" (p.1).Hence, teachers should consider and show their students how to use effective reading strategies. Specially, teachers need to demonstrate to their students how to utilize reading strategies and knowledge that they bring from their first language in order to cope with reading in an EFL instruction (Carrell, 1988).
Recent studies in teaching reading strategies (e.g., Mora, 1999, cited in Cummin, Cheek, & Lindsey, 2004 showed that they have connections with teachers" beliefs. So, the relationship between teachers" beliefs and instructional practices has increasingly attracted attention in recent years in mathematics and bilingual instruction (Mora, 1999, cited in Cummin, Cheek, & Lindsey, 2004. The relationship has also attracted many reading experts (e.g., National Reading Panel [NRP], 2000).
An increasing interest in teachers" beliefs about teaching reading strategies and its match with theirpractices has led to an increasing attention on the beliefs of educators. Clark and Peterson (1986), for example, indicated that teachers" beliefs constitute a major category ofteachers" thought processes. Muijs and Reynolds (2001) notice that based onthe assumption teachers" beliefs are more important to teaching quality thanimmediately observable behavior, recent literature emphasizes the necessity tofocus on teachers" own beliefs about teaching and the students they teach. Poulson, Avramidis, Fox, Med well and Wray (2001), for example,attest thatteachers" beliefs represent an important feature of quality teaching that deserves consideration in any attempt to improve learning. Research (e.g., Hativa& Goodyear, 2002) has pointed toward astrong link between teachers" beliefs andknowledge and their classroom reading practices. Chou (2008) and Willingham (2007) also noted that there is a strong match between teachers" beliefs about reading and their classroom practices. In fact, a few more recent local studies have explored this match between beliefs and practices (e.g., Almaz, 2015).
Many researchers (e.g., Chou, 2008) have examined and gave recommendations regarding the relationship between teachers" beliefs about how reading takes place and how students are helped to develop these reading strategies in their reading. However, empirical investigation of this relationship has been limited and is a relatively recent development (Minwagaw, 2009;Pace & Powers, 1981). On the other hand, Chou (2008) contends, "the little amount of studies on investigating teachers" beliefs in the area of second language reading instruction have indicated an unclear picture of teachers" belief construct in teaching reading" (p. 192). Therefore, there is a need for more research on exploring the link between teachers' beliefs about reading and the actual classroom teaching readingpractices. Chou (2008) conducted a study based on the assumption that teachers are highly influenced by their beliefs. He investigated the construct of teachers" belief systems about reading approaches among 42 university instructors and explored the degree of discrepancies or consistencies between teachers" beliefs about reading theories and their practical teaching activities in the EFL setting of Taiwan. The findings showed that there were no significant differences between the participants" beliefs and their use of each reading approach.
Several themes can be identified in research on teacher beliefs. However, recent researches have tried to connect teachers" beliefs to classroom practices. Teachers" beliefs in relation to classroom practices are by far the most researched theme in EFL teacher cognition research. Gatbonton"s (1999) study, relating to the patterns of pedagogical knowledge of seven experienced ESL teachers in the USA, revealed that teachers" thoughts and decisions are related largely to language concerns (such as explaining new vocabulary and creating contexts for meaningful language use). In contrast, Nunan"s (1992) study of the interactive decisions of nine ESL teachers in Australia found that teachers" decisions are related little to language concerns. Issues of classroom management such as the pacing and timing of lessons, the amount of teacher talk and the quality of their instructions and explanations to the students appeared to be more of a concern for teachers in Nunan"s study. Recent research in the area of reading comprehension has focused on readingrelated strategies, and strategy-training studies. For the most part, such studies have found that strategy training leads to improved reading performance (Singhal, 2001).
Empirical works by Basturkmen, Loewen, and Ellis (2004) found evidence of incongruence between EFL teachers" stated beliefs and their classroom practices related to form-focused instruction. These inconsistencies related mainly to when it was appropriate to focus on form during a meaning-focused lesson and the type of error correction techniques to be employed. In this regard, Basturkmen, et al., (2004) indicate that it may be better to view the stated beliefs of teachers to be "potentially conflictual rather than inherently inconsistent" (p. 268), suggesting that the differences between beliefs and practices are challenges that teachers need to resolve. This follows from several reports of incongruence between teachers" stated beliefs and observed (or reported) practices in mainstream education (Fang, 1996). As Fang notes, such inconsistencies are not unexpected due to the demands and complexities of classroom life which constrain teachers" abilities to provide instruction that aligns perfectly with their beliefs.
Discovering the best strategies to achieve fluent reading with adequate comprehension, and identify what techniques or processes the learners choose to access, is the goal of research in reading strategies. Moreover, the effectiveness of teaching reading strategies has been the subject of over "500 studies in the last twenty five years" and what these studies have concluded is that "strategy instruction improves comprehension" (Willingham, 2007, p. 39).
However, interplay between teachers" beliefs and practice within the context of recent developments in teaching English language reading in colleges in Ethiopia has not been explored yet. It is this interconnection thatmotivated the researchers of the present study to aim at investigating college EFL instructors"beliefs and practices of reading.

Statement of the Problem
It is generally acknowledged that instructors have theoretical beliefs about EFL learning and teaching and that such beliefs and theories tend to shape the nature of their instructional practices (Gebel & Schrier, 2002). However, while significant contributions to understanding the relationship between instructors" beliefs and practices have been made in first language (L1) education contexts, studies investigating teachers" cognitions in foreign language (FL) contexts have been limited (Borg, 2006). Furthermore, little work has been done on college of teacher education instructors" beliefs and practices in an EFL college instructional setting (Borg, 2006). Similarly, scant attention has been paid to instructors" beliefs in Ethiopian college of teacher education, with the exception of Girma"s (1994) investigation in to the reading strategies of Addis Ababa University first year students, which does not include teachers" beliefs and Minwagaw"s (2009) research on an EFL teachers" expressed beliefs and actual practices in testing reading skills in the case of grade 10 three high school students of West Gojjam Zone. To the researchers" best knowledge, no study was done by integrating both teachers" beliefs about teaching reading and their classroom practices to Amhara National Regional State Colleges of Teacher Educations" context.
This study, thus, hopes to address the need to identify the belief hold by the English language teachers of College of Teacher Education and the actual classroom practices in the context of government teacher education colleges. This need arises from the fact that the English language teaching and learning at the colleges is essentially student course material-based, with a number of activities based on these reading texts. English language instructors are required to develop students" reading strategies and reading skills, enabling them to effectively communicate in other academic subjects and learning contexts. Thus, by examining the connections between instructors" beliefs about reading strategies and their classroom practices, this study hopes to help teachers become better reading teachers and increase student reading ability in English and in other core subject areas.

Objective of the Study
The general objective of the present study is to find out the extent to which EFL instructors in Colleges of Teacher Education in Amhara Regional State (Ethiopia) are aware of the importance of reading strategiessuch asteaching key vocabulary in the pre-reading phase, skimming, predicting about the text to read, guessing the meaning of unknown words, scanning the text, how to comprehend text read, summarising the text readand whether or not they translate their beliefs into relevant instructional practices.
Specifically, the study is designed to achieve the following research purposes: -To find out the instructors" beliefs about teaching reading strategies in the sample teacher education colleges, and -To examine the match between teachers" beliefs and their classroom practices.

Research Questions
Based on the above objectives, the following research questions were formulated to guide this research.
-What are instructors" beliefs about teaching reading strategies in Colleges of Teacher Education in Amhara Regional State? -How are reading strategies taught in actual reading classrooms in Colleges of Teacher Education in Amhara Regional State?

Significance of the Study
The findings of the study have immense contributions to possible stakeholders in the context of teaching reading skill. Colleges of Teacher Education instructors who participated in this study would be beneficiaries as they will be familiar with reading strategies that can help them improve their teaching practices in reading skills. Moreover, the study might highlight the important role of instructors" beliefs on teaching reading strategies to students in general and students at the selected Colleges of Teacher Education in particular. It may also strengthen the theoretical basis for the application of reading strategies in the classroom.

Delimitation of the Study
Students" success or failure in acquiring a language can be affected by many intervening factors. Therefore, teaching reading strategies should be taken into consideration, among others. However, this study only focused on the teaching of Vol. 14 No 1, September, 2018 6 reading strategies by EFL instructors at fourColleges of Teacher Education, which are found in Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia.

Limitation of the Study
As the purpose of the study was aimed at investigating college English language instructors" beliefs about reading strategies and its match with their classroom practices, post-interviews with instructors might have been employed to add strengths to the data obtained from questionnaire and classroom observation.

Type of Study
The present study applied descriptivesurvey for it helps get in depth data about teachers" beliefs and their actual classroom practices in the four teacher education colleges of Amhara region. It endeavoured to investigate Colleges of Teacher Education English language instructors" beliefs about reading strategies and the actual classroom practices. It was assumed thatrespondents could berepresentative of the target population. As such, the findings can be generalized to the whole population (Cohen, et al., 2007).

Design of the Study
A mixed-methods research design was used in this study. The rationale for choosing mixed approach was that both quantitative and qualitative data provide a better understanding of the research problem than employing only qualitative or quantitative approaches (Creswell, 2009). Sometimes one type of research approach (quantitative or qualitative) is not enough to answer the research questions especially in the humanities and social sciences. Mixed methods allows to cross-validating or corroborating results received from quantitative or qualitative data alone.

Study Site, Samples and Sampling Procedure
The sites of the target population for this study were the Colleges of Teacher Education in Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. In this region, there are ten Administrative Zones. In the zones, there are about ten colleges. Among the ten Colleges of Teacher Education, four colleges, namely, Debre Birhan, Sekotta, Gondar and Debre Markos were selected by simple random sampling using lots. To select the participating instructors for the study from the four selected colleges of teacher education, again, simple random sampling technique was used. This is because this kind of sampling technique can give equal chances to the participants. Thus, the sample sizes for this study were twenty-six instructors. The sample consists of both female and male instructors.

Instruments
This study applied questionnaire, and observation.

Questionnaire
The study employed the "Teaching Reading Strategies Questionnaire" devised by Chou, (2008). The questionnaire was on "Reading Strategy". It is a two page questionnaire which consists of a mixture of close-ended questions having Liker Scales from 1 to 5, in which 1 indicates the "Strong disagreement" on a statement, 2 indicates "Disagreement", 3 indicates "Undecided", 4 stands for "Agreement" while 5 refers to " Strongagreement" of the item on teachers" beliefs about reading strategies. The questionnaire in part one investigates instructors" beliefs about the importance of reading strategies in reading comprehension. Part two investigates instructors" perceived practicesof reading strategies in teaching reading. Section one contains 14 items that are considered important factors in reading comprehension. The 14 items are classified into six categories of reading strategies. Items 1-3 refer to linguistic knowledge, such as studying vocabulary or grammar. Item 4 is about translation, namely translating English texts into L1.
Items 5-8 are related to conceptually-driven basis, such as understanding the connections between paragraphs. Items 9-14 are related to cognitive strategies, such as guessing, scanning or skimming. Part two is on instructors" perceived practice of English Language reading strategies. The questionnaire has three frequency scales 1 to 3 in which 1 indicates "Always" on a certain statement, 2 indicates "Sometimes" while 3 refers to "Not at all used" of the items.

Observation
Lesson observations in this study aimed to obtain direct information on English Language instructors" teaching practices. Each instructor was observed three successive 40-minute lessons. The lessons were not video recorded to avoid artificiality on the part of instructors practice and minimize frustration among students. The strategies included the use of a particular activity related to the teaching of reading, such as activating prior knowledge before reading a text, the preference for reading aloud or silently, or the inclusion of a discussion in groups or with the whole class about a text, to be able to gain insights into the factors behind the instructors" behaviours as they prompt questions. Structured check list and field notes were used to see how far the reading strategies were applied.

Procedure for the Study
The research was conducted with English Language instructors of college of teacher education for two months selecting reading classes during the first semester of the Ethiopian academic calendar which began from September 2015 and lasted in January 2015. The research was conducted in the classroom in which English Language instructors taught. In the research process, the following activities were implemented that comprise teachers"/instructors" beliefs and reading strategies: selection of classroom English instructors, developing the instruments, piloting the instruments, carrying out the classroom observation and dispatching the questionnaire with the sample Colleges of teacher education instructors (26 instructors), collecting the filled in instruments, organizing and cleaning the data, entering the data into SPSS, analysing the data, and at last making conclusions and recommendations.

Teaching procedures (questionnaire and observation)
The fieldwork of this study lasted for 20 days. In the first three days, the 26 instructors were introduced to the study. In this stage, reading topics were selected with the 26 instructors. Instructors were asked to review the selected reading topics and they were given the opportunity either to confirm or disconfirm their suitability to their teaching goals. Instructors" reflected on their beliefs about reading strategies and the importance of reading strategies in reading comprehension before the study began. Then, some basic reading comprehension strategies were introduced to the instructors, including linguistic knowledge,i.e., studying vocabulary or grammar, translation, namely translating English texts into L1, conceptually-driven basis, like activating background knowledge or understanding the connections between paragraphs which are related to cognitive strategies ( e.g., guessing, scanning, skimming and the like).
The researchers explained to the instructors the rationale of selecting these reading comprehension strategies that was summarized in their frequency use in most research studies and approaches. Finally, the researchers introduced the basic Vol. 14 No 1, September, 2018 8 comprehension strategy explicit instructions that instructors could follow in their daily instructional routines. The reading comprehension instruction was based on the following steps: explaining new words, over-viewing the reading comprehension, providing an opportunity for students to discuss and read the passage silently, introducing a reading comprehension strategy, explaining what, when, and why the strategy should be used, modelling the strategy using think aloud to explain and finally, reading responsibility by providing an opportunity to students to use, model, and practice the strategy collaboratively and then independently. Instructors were encouraged to supporting the students" discussion and providing feedback as needed. By the end of the observation, the questionnaire was filled in by the English Language instructors who participated in the study by getting their consensus on the day of an appointment in the respective college campus after they received orientation by the researchers.

Data Analysis Techniques
The data gathered from instructors through different instruments such as questionnaireand classroomobservation were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. To make things clear, the data gathered through the questionnaire and observation checklist wereanalysed with the use of percentages, mean scores and one sample t-tests. The SPSS version 20 software was used to compute the quantitative data analysis. Moreover, the qualitative data was thematically described using themes emerging out of the data as categories and referring the basic research questions of this study.

Research Ethics
To ensure respect and to promote healthy relationships with the respondents of this study and to keep the scientific rigor in doing this study, the researchers made an effort to adhere to basic ethical principles. Creswell (2009) and Marczyk, et al., (2005) recommend that it is necessary for researchers to be confidential, protect participants" rights and privacy. They suggest that obtaining permission from the participants is one of the safest ways to protect participants" rights. Hence, the researchers first got consent from the deans of the respective colleges, and the instructors to conduct the research in those colleges. Then, researchers made a rapport with classroom instructors before they participated in this study. The researchers told the participants about the purpose and advantage of the study and asked them whether or not they were willing to take part in the study. As instructors agreed to get involved in the study, the researchers made the research in the sample colleges.

Data analyses and findings of the study
It deals with the analysis of the research data obtained from instructorsabout their beliefs of English language reading strategies and their actual classroom practices through questionnaire and observation. The questionnaire was first designed with five point liker scale and thereby reduced to three for ease of analysis after receiving the data from the respondents. Instructors were asked to confirm their beliefs about English language reading strategies. Having receiving the data, analysis was carried out to examine instructors" beliefs about English language reading strategies. As can be seen from Table 1, 15(57.69%) of the English Language instructors believe that vocabulary in the context should not be taught before teaching reading. However, closer to similar percentages (i.e., 53.84%) of instructors believe that grammar should be taught in reading classes. Fifty percent of the instructors believe that reading the text aloud does not help to teach reading. Forty six percent of the respondents believe that translating the text in to mother tongue is helpful. Similarly, fifty three percent of the instructors believe that activating prior knowledge integrates prior knowledge to the topic. The result in the same table portrayed that fifty percent of the respondents believe that connecting each paragraph while reading helps readers understand the whole paragraph.
The results in Table 1 also depicted that 12(46%) of the instructors believe that understanding the text as an instrument enhanced good reading while 15(57%) agreed introducing the title is one of the strategies to help read better. As seen from instructors" responses, 19(73%) of them believe that guessing the meaning of words Vol. 14 No 1, September, 2018 10 simplifies difficulty in understanding a text. Concerning scanning strategy, 15(57%) of the instructors agreed that teaching reading through scanning is an instrument to get specific information. Regarding skimming strategy, 14(53%) of the instructors believe that skimming is helpful to get the gist of reading text. 13(50%) of the instructors" respond that summarizing the story enhances internalizing and understanding reading. However, 5(19%) of the instructors do believe that predicting the main idea of the following paragraph integrates the ideas in the text. In the same vein, only 6(23%) of the instructors believe that activating silent reading helps to check comprehension. This item by item analysis has clearly uncovered the strategies which instructors mostly favour. However, to examine their overall beliefs, one sample ttest was calculated as indicated in the Table  2 below. To examine instructors" beliefs item by item analysis was carried out. However, to measure the overall picture of instructors" beliefs, one sample t-test was calculated. The result in Table 2 depicts that the observed mean (42) significantly exceeds the expected mean (37). The findings in Table 1 and 2 discloses that there exists high consistence of results between the item by item analysis and one sample t-test. This shows that teachers" have strong beliefs about English language reading strategies. Observation was conducted to see whether or not instructors are employing English reading strategies in their reading classes. The observation result of instructors" actual classroom practice in applying reading strategies indicates that there exists a significant mean difference between the observed mean (15) and the expected mean (18) in favour of the expected mean. This implies that instructors do not actually practice reading strategies in their reading classes.

DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
Studies on the relationship between instructors' beliefs about reading strategies and their actual classroom practices investigated whether or not there was match between instructors" beliefs to their actions. Most of the studies showed that there were positive and strong relationship between instructors' beliefs and their reading instructional practices. Supporting this finding, researchers(e.g., Chou, 2008;Kuzborska, 2011) proved that instructors' beliefs influence their practices in the classroom.
The above findings demonstrated that Teacher Education College instructors believe that teaching reading strategies are so crucial. The findings indicated that guessing the meaning of difficult words or phrases, key vocabulary in context, understanding the text, scanning the text, teaching grammar, and skimming are the most significant strategies in teaching reading skill in English language instructions.
Several studies disclosed consistent relationships between instructors" believe and classroom practices. For example, Johnson (1992) examined the relationship between English as second language teachers" beliefs and their actual classroom practices, and asserted that there was a clear relationship between teachers" teaching practices and their beliefs about these practices.  further argued that the nature of curriculum design, the selection of learning tasks and teaching approaches are clearly influenced by teachers" existing beliefs. However, the present study was found inconsistent with these findings.
Therefore, the present study was consistent with the findings of earlier studies, such as Basturkmen, Loewen and Ellis (2004), and Khonamri and Salim (2010), to mention few. Basturkmen, Loewen and Ellis (2004) found that there is an inconsistent correlation between second languageteachers" beliefs and their actual classroom practices related to form-focused implementation. Khonamri and Salim (2010) also concluded that teachers do not reflect what they believe in the actual classroom practices. They also concluded that there is inconsistency between EFL teachers" beliefs and practicing teaching reading strategies.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings of the current study suggested that the beliefs have powerful influences on instructors" classroompractices. This study suggested that in order to change instructors" practices, there is a need to change their held beliefsabout the practices. The main implication of the present study is that English language instructors" should adjust their beliefs to their practices. Thus, instructors should be trained to admit how theirbeliefs and school setting contribute to their practices. This is because training instructors may show the gap between what they would ideally liketo do and what they actually do can be narrowed or avoided by makingthem aware of their strengths and weaknesses and helping them toaddress how to improve their practices and become more effective practitioners.

Suggestion for further research
The research on English instructors" beliefs is insufficient and it is the researchers" suggestion that more research is necessary. Other forms of beliefs related to speaking, listening, writing skill or sub-skills such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, etc., could be considered and studied in future research.