Teaching Reading in the 21st Century and the Integration of ICT in EFL Moroccan

Classrooms: The Case of High School

By Mrs. Fatima Ezzahra Abid

Abstract

Teaching reading in Moroccan EFL classrooms, all along with the other skills, is no easy task

when compared with teaching a foreign language to teens. The latter is approached from different facets:

psychological, human and even social leading to an abundance of approaches and theories that have

devised meticulous researches to the learning and the teaching processes. Researches in the field, whether

on the teaching profession or on the teaching of EFL in particular, stress the core trinity that no learning

takes place without: the teacher, the learner and the learning environment. Yet, with the introduction of

“Communication and Information Technologies” (ICT) in the classroom, the teaching practices undergo

critical changes that promise the alignment of teaching a foreign language with the prompt changes of

technologies and worldwide economies.

Hence, adopting the communicative approach in EFL Moroccan classrooms shifts focus to a

learner-centered approach that is supposed to generate a learner who can communicate fluently and

effectively in diverse situations not to mention a multicultural learner well aware of the diversity of world

cultures and histories. Shrinking the teacher’s role to a mere mediator and the learner’s to an intercultural

speaker seems to be a very promising objective that is clearly highlighted in the Moroccan English

guidelines; yet, “though the teaching method in the textbook is called the communicative approach, they

use what they call the ‘eclectic approach’ which is a mixture of different approaches”(El Mortaji 15).

Learners of foreign languages, English in this case, is thought for specific purposes so that it could be

used in appropriate cultural situations. In this regard, teachers are cultural mediators who are expected to

provide the learners with the necessary critical skills to transcend language proficiency to cultural

proficiency since “learners need to learn about the social and cultural conventions of language use as well

as the structures and vocabulary”(Pitt 9) and also get the learners to achieve full awareness of universal

values such as respect for other identities and cultures, tolerance and acceptance of differences.

Using literature is one of the delicate means that would transmit such values to learners of foreign

languages through reading; extensive reading could be assigned in class and outside class as

extracurricula activity given time constraints to cover the outlined syllabus (five units per term). The

teaching of English in Moroccan high schools is highly depending on the traditional ways of teaching

which is mostly due to the lack of ICT resources and the necessary equipments, and the teachers’ lack of

expertise in the field that would facilitate their missions in getting learners motivated to learn a language

totally different from theirs.

The paper will highlight the significance of introducing learners to literature in the EFL extensive

reading classrooms and the vital role it plays in motivating learners to read intensively and extensively

inside and eventually outside the classroom. It will shed light as well on the role of ICT and the great

benefits of its use in the classroom for both teachers and learners as it facilitates the teacher’s task in

providing extra material for learners to get them to read and listen to literary works and get them to enjoy

learning the authentic language and get keenly engaged with the activities related to the reading tasks.

Key Words: EFL Classroom, Literature, ICT (computer/internet), Extensive Reading, Audio-literature.

Introduction

Though reading is one of the basic skills that ensure the mastery of the other ones, speaking and

writing, grammar and vocabulary, it is a challenging task for both teachers and learners. The complexity

of teaching this skill lies in motivating learners to be fully engaged with the reading activities and even

get them keen on consulting post classroom reading materials. There is no doubt that reading activities

touch upon the linguistic and the cognitive proficiency of the learners. They are supposed to get the gist

of the reading text and react to its ideas through some comprehension, vocabulary and writing

assignments to attain the main objectives of the assigned readings. Yet, learners are mostly reluctant to

reading as much as they are unwilling to reflect on what they have read. They are rarely exposed to

reading for the sake of enjoyment whether within a family milieu or at school. They are supposed to focus

on the reading texts in the textbooks that are mostly of little interest to them though it provides a very

educating content that supplies material and ensures the implementation of the four skills to be conducted

in the EFL classrooms; hence, “the reading material needs to be well within the learners’ level of

proficiency”(Nation 3) and should be convenient to the syllabus content given time constrainrs as learners

are primarily prepared for the national exam.

Despite the fact that learners are exposed to manifold of texts during the common core and first

Year Baccalaureate classes, the majority of high school learners can hardly read a text and do the related

activities on their own when it comes to the day of the exam especially for Art’s streams compared to

science students who usually excel at languages; an issue that may seem unaccountable given that they

share the same syllabus and equal opportunities to learn the language except that they show no interest in

the subject matter.

This paper will stress the significance of incorporating literature in the classroom through ICT

tools which may stimulate learners’ motivation to learn new information in a contextualized language and

vocabulary inaccessible to the majority of learners despite the abundance of materials on the net. It will

showcase how to implement literary texts in the classroom and eventually push students to consult extra

readings on their own. Moreover, it will demonstrate how using ICT could boost learners’ motivation for

extensive readings. Sharing insights and ground experience in language teaching practices on daily

encounter with unmotivated students would be a stimulus for teachers continuous professional

development.

The Teaching of reading in Moroccan ELT Classrooms

The Moroccan textbooks devise equal division of the four skills, given that each course: language,

communication, reading and writing are equally tackled within a content based approach that ensures

contextualized learning situations for learners. They are even exposed to courses which focus on phonetic

and spelling. They are expected at all these stages to be able to perceive and effectively produce accurate

usage of the language and the vocabulary studied and communicate their feedback effectively on the

learned materials in written activities “considering all the cognitive tasks required to go from connecting

symbols to sounds, sounds to words, words to meaning, meaning to memory, and memory to thoughtful

information processing”(Willis 2). Hence, understanding the text is highly stressed to attain the main

objectives of reading in class.

Getting learners, who may never have any thoughts about bedtime stories or English reading

backgrounds or even being read to aloud, motivated for reading is the real challenge in teaching EFL to

teens who easily get frustrated when they perceive reading as being beyond their academic abilities.

Researches in the field stress that it is highly recommended to teach reading for pleasure and prioritize it

in syllabus design. Adopting a communicative approach in EFL in Morocco that highlights the teaching

of culture through language does rather unveil the fact that the syllabus is preoccupied with the national

exams since “schools tend to be organized around extrinsic motivation systems: grades, rewards, and

praise—so many students tend to focus on the external reward”(Scanlon and Anderson 60). Yet, it should

provide learners with life-long skills to rather enjoy reading and “extends beyond that—for students to

learn not only the mechanics of reading and reading comprehension, but also to develop a love of

reading”(Willis 4).

Indeed, the most advisable techniques that are to be adopted in the classroom is guided readings;

learners are exposed to reading the assigned texts silently prior to a pre-reading activity that is meant to

check the learners’ background knowledge about the text through the skimming and scanning of some

vocabulary, the accompanying pictures or the title. Learners are then to be assessed based not on how

they process the information given in those readings and reflect upon them critically, but rather on their

ability to answer the accompanying activities. Teachers do struggle to get their students engaged in that

guessing part and during all the stages that are supposed to be conducted in teaching reading, pre-reading,

while-reading and post-reading activities, since “to be successful at reading comprehension, students need

to actively process what they read. That processing skill requires that students have automatic reading

skills and fluency, necessary vocabulary, and text-appropriate background knowledge”(Willis 128).

Yet, learners are mostly bored, sleepy and unmotivated when it comes to reading given that

learners are expected to communicate their knowledge of the topic while they lack the needed vocabulary

and language proficiency to express their ideas on the assigned readings which is only possible “when

students build vocabulary mastery, they can more effectively communicate their ideas, knowledge, and

voice”(Willis 80). Intensive readings do prepare learners to meet the national exams’ expectations, but

they do control their knowledge and limit it to certain skills related to exams, but never broaden their

scope and stimulate the urge for further extensive readings. Time-constrained activities are related to

these intensive assigned readings as comprehension questions, drawing inferences from the text and then

producing a précis or following the text as a prompt to write about a personal experience.

Hence, reading is deprived of its primary goal: pleasure; thus, learners are trained on using reading

as a task to pass the exam following usual procedures and forms that no longer motivate them to read

those texts or to seek further readings, especially that the Baccalaureate English exams are mostly

designed to be within the learners’ reach, hence they are a lot more easier than those assigned in the

curriculum or they do not measure up to all that effort spent on grammar and writing courses. Thus,

although students spend four years learning English, one year in middle school and three years in high

school, only few manage to interact with the teacher in class and even get average grades on the English

national exam. The situation is even depressing for teachers in the classroom as the majority of students

loses hope in learning the language, especially when it comes to reading. Indeed, this would rather

encourage the use of extensive readings inside the class given that the majority of students are from rural,

poor and literate backgrounds that do not facilitate their learning. Indeed, “When learners are not

enthusiastic readers, it helps initially to make extensive reading part of the programme during class time,

with the teacher ensuring that the reading is done. When learners become hooked on reading, it can then

be set as an out-of-class activity (Nation 57).

The internet provides an abundance of materials that could be used in the classroom and that

definitely aligns with the content of the curriculum, providing that extensive readings are time-

consuming. Graded readings are one example that is highly recommended for that aim; they provide

stories within the reach of all levels: beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate and advanced.

Learners are introduced to a simple language, graded vocabulary and contextualized grammatical rules

that learners are to be familiar with moving from one level to the other. But, these readings are to be

considered with regard to contextual, the geographical as well as the cultural variables where the teaching

process takes place.

Reading & ICT: Tools to Promote Learner’s Motivation for Reading

There is no doubt that learners have at their fingertips an abundance of technological tools that

could facilitate their learning and even bestow life-skills that could qualify them for the job market. But,

given the Moroccan context and the state of the public schools, the use of these tools is limited to a

minority of schools ‘in big cities’. Yet, the English EFL community strives to teach the language mostly

relying on one’s own resources (personal computer or mobile phones). Teachers endeavour to use ICT

tools effectively in their classes keeping in mind that “English always comes first and technology of any

kind, from the old overhead projector or spirit duplicator to the latest digital device or Web 2.0

application, must serve the teaching of the subject”(Rank, Millum, and Warren 2). Moreover, the aim is to

motivate students to learn the language and keep the teaching practices updated so as to keep up with the

high pace of the world’s development into a digital world where learners constitute the majority of its

digital citizens. Indeed,

Teachers, especially those who teach second languages, had become aware of

the need not only to inform on other “cultures and civilisations”, but to educate

in students the capacity to ‘decentre’ oneself from one’s culture and to deal

with ethnic, social and cultural differences (Byram, Gribkova, and Starkey p

25).

Multimedia resources, computer, internet and videos constitute the range of ICT devices that

could be used in the classroom to improve learners’ performance in using the language accurately and

effectively as well as to enhance their communicative skills. Using these tools is significantly valuable for

teachers and learners as well as the learning environment that is supposed to sustain learners’ continuous

development. Indeed, using ICT encourages students to engage vigorously in the learning process and

explore new skills with the teacher as a mediator who facilitates its use and presents the learning materials

in an entertaining way. Hence, “instruction with motivated learners can actually be joyful and exciting,

especially for the instructor”(Wlodkowski 6) who will be more enthusiastic to guide his students for a

better learning with the most up-to-date teaching approaches and strategies that would be of great benefit

to his learners and empower his/her students through material that stimulates thought rather than mere

understanding of the material introduced. Furthermore, the teacher is there to assess students’ language

and communicative abilities rather than waiting for a summative assessment that gives a limited idea

about learners’ written proficiency.

One of the advantages of using ICT in EFL classrooms is breaking up with the traditional ways of

teaching English that are mostly predictable by students and giving up the blackboard while “computers

are increasingly a part of everyday life ... and many schools have computers and many students have

access to computers at home (Robertson 32); yet, the blackboard still constitutes one of the pillar

resources indispensable for teachers in Moroccan public schools that lacks well equipped classrooms to

teach languages. Providing students with audio visual aids and introducing them to the authentic language

would motivate the teacher to reduce her/his talking time and give them more chances to reflect on the

presented material. It will also lessen the teacher’s persistent urge to provide all the information needed

and even state one’s own opinions when learners can’t process the presented material and have “no room

for students to form their own opinions or to come up with something fresh (or something which is fresh

to them) (Rank, Millum, and Warren 10).

As for students, they would prove much more interest and involvement when being introduced to

materials through ICT given that the use of

the computer accentuates the fluidity of language. It enables experiment and

constant readjustment. Not only can the position and form of individual words

be altered, a writer can also radically change the visual impact of the text by

selecting different fonts, sizes, and layouts (Rank, Millum, and Warren 2).

Indeed, using ICT could guarantee to some extent learners’ full engagement in the learning process and

interaction with their peers through the activities providing a combination of written, communicative and

spoken information the teacher would frequently tackle each separately. Moreover, the content is to be

revealed gradually to learners, unlike using the textbook, which may raise learners’ curiosity towards the

targeted material. To that end, “when learners are motivated during the learning process, things go more

smoothly, communication flows, anxiety decreases, and creativity and learning are more apparent”

(Wlodkowski 6). Indeed, the material targeted is more attractive to learners as it engages all learning

styles: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic; it also provides them with the option of getting instant responses

on the associated tasks.

The Integration of Literature in EFL Classrooms

To make the case of using literature in the EFL classrooms more practical, the following part will

tackle the implementation of literature through ICT resources. There are many Educating sites dedicated

to language that are accessible on the net which provide notable teaching resources and materials that

could be invested in the classroom. Hence, a case study is to be discussed to maintain the objectives of

this research paper in sharing a language learning experience and a temporary break up with the pace of

everyday routines, but with lasting outcomes for the learners.

It is noteworthy to introduce the teaching context before conducting a detailed study about the use

of short stories in the EFL classrooms, hence, justifying the choice of one site over the other. The

following link: http://www.rong-chang.com provides short stories that suit the learners’ low level and the

curriculum as well. They are very short and they are fully interactive that the teacher needs not to turn

his/her back to explain some difficult vocabulary or write down essential notes using the blackboard.

Procedure:

The following represents the variety of short stories chosen because they are essentially related to

the textbook themes such as food, health, entertainment; they also represent contextualised grammatical

rules as it introduces short stories to review tenses as simple present or past tense. Furthermore, these

short stories range from stories for beginners, intermediate and advanced that enable the teacher to pick

out the ones that are well suited the level of his/her students.

Navigating through this page demonstrates how it targets EFL with diverse levels. These short

stories are basically topic-based given the adopted content approach. They are also very interactive as the

four skills are integrated assuring the learners’ full engagement in the learning process. They are

interactive in a way that enables the learner to have access to different options such as to replay the story,

check his/her answers on the spot and check on-line dictionaries for meaning and more importantly get an

authentic language learning experience at his/her own disposal.

The short story that is taken as a case study is represented below and it is related to “shopping”:

http://www.rong-chang.com/mini-novels/m/mini-novel002.htm. Learners can read the story following the

recording as well as the visual image of the vocabulary with pronunciation.

Then, learners check their comprehension of the story going through while doing the

comprehension activities related to it. All kinds of questions are included to stimulate learners’ critical

thinking and full engagement.

Learners can even test their comprehension of the story through an exercise where words are deleted; they

can even be given a hint to allocate more effort for the accomplishment of this activity.

As it is earlier mentioned, learning vocabulary is introduced in a way that is interactive

Learners can have access to online dictionaries for definitions or extra information about the words

targeted as it is manifested in the following picture.

Word puzzles are indeed very entertaining tasks that learners can have access to and try to figure them out

working as teams.

Moreover, students listening skills are to be tested going through exercises that requires the learners to

write down what they hear.

This example showcases how students would learn independently the language in an authentic

context that involves the four skills. Students do read simultaneously and listen to what they‘re reading;

and they are exposed to activities to which they can have immediate feedback, full interaction and

discussion with other peers while the teacher could only monitor the discussion and assess informally to

what extent his/her students are fully engaged in the discussions.

Conclusion

Motivation for reading is indispensable for lifelong learning; the latter should transcend the

classroom’ walls. Assigned classroom readings have to work on the learner’s willingness to make use of

all the learnt skills acquired in the classroom and make use of them even outside class. Reading would be

the sole skill that bestow learners with the critical and independent learning experiences after school life

for “reading is thinking and understanding and getting at the meaning behind a text”(Serravallo 43).

Hence, stimulating the learners’ critical engagement in reading unveils the complexity of teaching that

skill providing the learners’ motivation and one’s learning abilities, social background as well as the

classroom/school environment especially in EFL/ESL contexts.

Introducing literature in the classroom would be the initial step to encourage learners to consult

extra readings, particularly when these readings are presented through ICT. From a personal experience,

I’mstunned at how my students express their admiration for the material presented as they continuously

ask about the next same course. Even avarage might be better average students get motivated by

demonstrating more interest in the reading material as I noticethem asking their peers. Motivated

students replace those same students who keep moving their eyes around the classroom or looking for

other unmotivated students to play and talk with during the reading and the while-reading stages or even

keep silent till they’re relieved when the bell rings announcing the end of the course.

Indeed, it’s mandatory to list the limitations of using such literary material in the classroom as I

have already tackled its impressive outcomes on learners. Implementing such ICT material in class would

necessitate the need for well equipped classrooms, internet connection, multimedia resources as overhead

projector, graded stories for learners to consult in their free time and a room that embraces technology

and equipped with technological tools. In the meantime, the various reading materials available online

accompanied with tasks that involves: listening, speaking and writing calls for an urgent implementation

of literary texts in the syllabus given the significant outcomes in learning contextualized grammar and

vocabulary.

In conclusion, using Literature in EFL classrooms with the support of ICT opens the door to

questioning assessment. The use of such material would constitute very effective assessment tools that

would rather reflect actual learning achievements for this material is short and can be used in the

classroom to test students’ linguistic, communicative and written abilities. It would be a fair evaluation of

all learners given that all learning styles are successively included in such material. Only, that this

requires well equipped teachers and classrooms for the benefit of ELT in Moroccan classrooms and an

urgent call for the implementation of computer technologies in the teaching and learning processes.

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