Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number 4 December 2021 Pp.

521 -535
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.34

Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five at a Saint Patrick’s

High School for Boys, Hyderabad- India

Zena Abdulameer Mohammad

Scholarships and Cultural Relations Department
University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
Corresponding Author: zena.am@uobaghdad.edu.iq

Muhamad Hasbi
English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
IAIN Salatiga, Salatiga, Indonesia

Received: 7/9/2021 Accepted:10/3/2021 Published:12/27/2021

Abstract
Reading is one of the essential components of the English language. Countries that use English
as a second language (ESL) sometimes have difficulties in reading and comprehension.
According to many researches, mother tongue has proved some interferences with learning a
second language. This study investigated the results of reading difficulties of young second
language learners in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and rate using the Neale Analysis of
Reading Ability test. The study was carried out in one of the High Schools for Boys in
Hyderabad, India and included Grade five, aged 10-12 years. In order to understand the reading
difficulties of English as a second language, a qualitative approach was employed. Interview,
reading tests, and observation were conducted as a data collection tool. The findings showed that
these subjects had no specific language impairments but they had different degrees of language
exposure and usage that led to poor accuracy, comprehension, and reading rate during reading
English language texts. Five students (50%) were classified at a low level of readers, three (30%)
at a high level, and two (20%) at a mild level after evaluation of their compatibility between their
chronological and reading age. It is suggested that the teachers should first assess students who
struggle in reading accuracy and comprehension and then assist them with their language
learning and acquisition that take place at school and home.

Keywords: Reading difficulties, young learners, poor accuracy, Neale Analysis of Reading
Ability test, English as a Second Language

Cite as: Mohammad, Z. A., & Hasbi, M. (2021). Reading Difficulties in English as a
Second Language in Grade Five at a Saint Patrick’s High School for Boys, Hyderabad-
India. Arab World English Journal, 12 (4) 521 -535.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no4.34

521
 Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number 4. December 2021
Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

Introduction
Reading in any language plays an essential role in our educational system and social lives.
The reading process is the avenue for other English functions such as writing, vocabulary
identification, use, grammar advancement, and excellent spelling (Chandran & Shah, 2019,
p.3372).

Reading skill differs from listening and speaking. It is the most essential skill among the
four language skills: listening, speaking, writing, and reading as it can improve the overall
language proficiency (Krashen & Brown, 2007). It is also associated with an individual’s success
as it helps them comprehend written or printed materials that help them in their professional
engagements and interactions. Countries that use English as a second language (ESL) sometimes
have difficulties reading and comprehension.

Reading comprehension is not just realizing or understanding of individual words when

our eyes pass over them. Instead, all comprehension models emphasize the need for readers to
build up a mental representation of text, a process that requires integration across a range of
sources of information from lexical features to knowledge concerning events in the world
(Garnham, 2001; Gernsbacher, 1990).

Reading, understanding, and comprehension of the second language, especially English,

pose a great challenge to the learners, teachers, and parents since young learners may lack
required exposure to the proper enabling environment, social milieu, and peers well-versed in
linguistic abilities. Nature and nurture play their part in creating reading and other linguistic
skills in young learners with English as a second language (ESL). Nurture and socialization play
a predominant role in overcoming ESL learning barriers in young children.

Across the world, a second language (other than mother tongue) is acquired through
Reading in classrooms, often without any exposure to English outside it. In India also, a child
acquires efficiency in ESL, the second language, generally through socialization and in
classrooms. Therefore, oral proficiency may not be a good predictor of reading comprehension,
and speech ability in the ESL context in India, where students learn a second language through
reading rather than speaking. Most of the students start speaking English only after five years of
exposure to English, whereas they start reading and writing their mother tongue fluently by this
time. “These children thus confront with the task of learning to read in a language that they have
yet to master orally. Because reading instruction strongly builds on oral language proficiency,
second-language speaking children may therefore experience a considerable gap.” (Droop and
Verhoeven, 2003: 78)

This study aimed to determine the reading difficulties of young second language learners
in terms of accuracy, comprehension and reading speed in one of the High Schools for Boys in
Hyderabad, India. It also investigated if these difficulties were due to a lack of proper English
language exposure or genetic language impairments. This study posed three primary research
questions:
1. What are the language and literacy backgrounds of the learners?
2. What are the observations of learners’ reading performance using NARA test?

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Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

3. What tendency could be observed about learners’ reading performance based on the
test?

Literature Review
It is very important to evaluate critically the reading difficulties of a child, i.e. elements
behind a child's slow and inaccurate reading and writing skills, possible problems encountered in
reading comprehension both in L1 and L2 levels, especially the English language. A learner
needs to be given sufficient time to learn English as a second language so that one can realize
one’s full potential in linguistic and academic development.

Some of the difficulties experienced in ESL countries come from various factors that are
beyond human control. According to Chandran & Shah (2019, p.3372), problems in reading and
comprehension emanate from environmental, instructional, and biological sources. These causes
mean that the surrounding that one is born and brought up determines their ease of grasping new
languages and, in this case, English.

Similarly, the modes of instruction that one receives at an early age or during their growth
determine their ability to grasp reading and comprehension. Lastly, the combination of the
biological parents determines the origin of a person. It would ascribe one to a specific genetic
makeup that either makes them easy to learn languages or not.

Another difficulty that ESL learners face is because of the setup of the English language.
The words in English can be ambiguous and of unfamiliar vocabulary to countries that use it as a
second language (Mohammed & Rashid, 2017, p.429). Also, these learners have limited time to
cognitively process texts presented to them and output the required responses, especially when
around natives. Some of the other sources originate from the wrong pronunciation of words due
to ethnicity, encountering new words, not understanding the meaning of the words, and poor
reading habits (Mohammed & Rashid, 2017, p.427). Looking at these scenarios, ESL students
would need more time and commitment to understand and read English to use it around others.

Young learners are usually presented with the opportunity of strengthening their reading
skills from an early age. At this age, the students still struggle with decoding phonetic
knowledge, word recognition, and comprehension (Sardor, Oyshajon, & Rushana, 2020, p.76).
As a result, the students disengage themselves from reading tasks, have lowered self-confidence
in reading new words, are frustrated in simple reading tasks, and are discouraged by their lack of
success.

India is a multilingual country; it adopted twenty-two official languages and boasts of

having the world’s second-highest (780) number of languages, after Papua New Guinea (839
speeches). The English language holds a prominent place in India. English is one of the principal
languages in private schools right from kindergarten onwards. The government of India has the
policy to provide school education to the children, usually through the mother tongues and the
official languages of the states or union territories. Therefore, English was taught as a “subject”
in the “regional-medium” schools throughout the country. Tarinayya highlighted the importance
and popularity of learning English in children in the statement: “India - where every school-
going child has to be taught English….” (Amritavalli, 2001, p. 216). English was introduced as a
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Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

second or third language between the 4th and 7th years, depending on the policy of individual
states of the Indian republic.

National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), in a study conducted
in 2003, found that ESL was introduced in class I or class III in 26 states/union territories while
only seven states/union territories introduced it as late as in class IV or class V.
In fact, young learners across India, i.e., children aged 7-11 years, start learning English
as a foreign or second language at the very beginning of their formal education, viz. age up to
seven years (Enever, 2009; Graddol, 2006; Savić, 2013). It is not important matter for children in
India to read in a language or languages that they speak in their homes. They may learn to read in
a language they do not yet know to speak, let alone understand. (Elley, 2001) described this
situation clearly:

Children in developing countries face multiple handicaps in learning to read (…)

Children in most developing countries expected to become literate in a non-native
language or dialect. Whereas the majority of children in (the developed, GR) countries
have the luxury of learning to read and write in their mother tongue, those in most
African, South American, South Asian and Oceanic schools are struggling to cope with
English, (…) or some other metropolitan language, usually a legacy of earlier colonial
masters. This challenge of acquiring literacy in a second language (…) is true for most
developing countries. (p.128)

Neale Analysis of Reading Ability- second Edition (NARA II)

The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA) is a verbal reading test like a question-
answer type test for children in the age range of six to twelve years usually. Children read aloud
six short stories of increasing difficulty. Any errors by the children are corrected by the tester,
and the required time to read English passages is noted. After each story, comprehension- based
questions are asked to know the understanding of the learners. Some of the questions may be
answered using verbatim memory, while others may require help and intervention by the tester.

The testers should terminate NARA test when the learner completes reading all six
passages or when they find it too tough to continue. It depends on the number of reading errors
committed. Separate standard scores and reading- chronological age equivalent scores are
generated for text reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and reading speed.

The latter is measured by timing the passages read and converting this into words per
minute over the total number of passages read. Hill, Long, Douglas, Tobin & Grimley (2005), in
their study, found that the NARA test classifies reading errors into six categories: substitutions,
refusals, additions, omissions, mispronunciations, and reversals. The tester can stop the
evaluation of the learner at anytime if a child commits more than twelve errors in a given text. If
a child commits more than sixteen errors in any single passage, the test stands discontinued
immediately, and all six passages are not asked to be read. Furthermore, when administrating a
reading ability test, optimal conditions can be suggested.

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The test is administered in a peaceful place devoid of any distractions and interruptions to
the children. It is preferring to use NARA in the oral reading test on account of the following
reasons;

1. The results obtained by using NARA enable the assessor to select appropriate reading materials
suited to the ability of individual students;
2. NARA allows monitoring the adoption of particular reading skills and helps to formulate
specific intervention strategies;
3. NARA provides standard age scores, reading ages, and important information for proper
evaluation of linguistic skills in young learners.

Methods
This study was qualitative research, which enabled the researchers to generate the data
documenting the students' language, literacy profiles, and reading performance through
interviews, reading tests, and observation. The study was conducted in Saint Patrick’s High
School for Boys, Hyderabad- India. This school had more than 2,000 students on its roll. Two
researchers visited the school before administering the actual test to be familiar with the location,
facilities, authorities, infrastructure, and administration of the school. The test was conducted on
alternate days of the week.

Participants
Based on the researchers’ request, the school principal provided ten children having different
levels of English proficiency (good, medium, poor) as the subjects of the study. They were all
male students of Grade five, age between10-12 years. The examination was administered for two
days; each testing day had one researcher examining five student samples. Another researcher
helped in managing the administrative necessities and running the research procedure as per
study design.

Instrument
To determine the reading difficulties of young second language learners who had different
native language backgrounds, both researchers designed a semi-structured interview, a set of
NARA II test booklets (the test manual), assessment forms, notes book, pencil, audio recorder, a
stopwatch, and observation as a data collection tool. The data was analyzed qualitatively,

Procedure and Materials

In the pre-reading stage, as it is shown in figure (1) below, the researchers welcomed the
participants to enter the experiment place − a quiet, free from distraction and interruption room
−one after another. The researcher commenced the test through opening small discussions with
the participants. Questions were asked before start reading such as talking about their favorite
hobbies, personal information, kind of spoken language at home and school, and literacy
backgrounds. The pre-reading stage was done as a warm-up exercise. The data were documented
in a pre-printed student profile form.

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Pre-reading While-reading Post-reading

- Testing with practice
- Opening discussion. passage. -Closing test.
- Gathering student's information. - Deciding starting level of
- Introducing the test to students. reading passage.
- Setting audio recording on. - Noting reading errors. - Rechecking the
- Noting comprehension gathered data.
answers.
- Noting the time taken.
- Deciding when to stop
testing.

Figure1. Test administration process

Friendly atmosphere was created during the test to ensure that the participants have no
inhibitions and have a free and frank discussion. More clarifications and explanations were given
to the participants to clear any ambiguity concerning the test so they become more interactive
and feel free perplexed.

As this test was taken by considerably young learners, before proceeding with the reading
session, the tester gave obvious and pressure-free instructions to ensure that the students know
the test procedure, feel comfortable, and do their best during the test. For instance,
“Look at the picture and then read the story to me. If you come across a hard word, try reading
it yourself before I help you. I am going to record the time it takes you to read, but it is more
important to read carefully and remember what you read. In the end, I shall ask you some
questions, so try to remember the story as you read it”.

A set of Neale Analysis of Reading Ability-second edition (NARA II) was used in the
initial test, which provided test administration guidelines, practice and reading passages and two
other forms, namely Diagnostic Tutor Form and the Supplementary Diagnostic Tests Form. As
per the set guidelines, the researchers began facilitating the test by allowing the students to read a
practice passage. Several practice passages in the test book were classified by age; thus, the
suitable passage was picked above 7-year-olds.

Figure 2. Illustration of the passages in NARA II test book

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As part of the participant’s assessment, six reading passages were prepared to read orally by
them. See appendix (A) - table 1.

While students read the texts, testers had to multitask the instructions and record
everything that was going on. The students start reading the practice passage and deciding on
which level of actual reading they were (the better result of students ‘practice passage reading,
the higher level they could start their actual reading passage reading from), noting down
students’ classified reading errors, namely words: mispronunciations, substitutions, refusals,
additions, omissions, reversals in the Diagnostic Tutor Form and Supplementary Diagnostic
Tests Form, making notes of students’ answers to the comprehension questions in each passage,
writing down the time taken by students to complete the test, and deciding when to stop testing
them.

The tester decides to stop the test once the students feel hesitated several times or
committed many errors; thus it was not necessary for all students to finish reading the whole
passages. In the NARA II, every inaccuracy in reading was counted as an error and recorded in
the individual record. The categorization of errors was classified during and after students’
reading. The classification included: mispronunciations, substitutions, refusals, additions,
omissions, and reversals. Hesitations and self-corrections were not a part of errors.

According to the allotted time required for the students to read every passage, the time was
recorded from the first to the last. After that, the tester asked the students comprehension-based
questions as soon as they finished reading the passage. They were encouraged to answer
questions in their own words. Ten to twelve seconds of pause was compensated before they
responded to the questions; when they did not, the tester asked the following question without
answering the previous one. The tester decides to terminate the test in case the students exceed
the maximum number of errors per level. The errors were 16-20 errors for level seven, without
giving any comprehension questions after duly recording time spent and the number of errors
made.

The tester made several interruptions, such as prompting the correct word when the
students kept on reading the text while reading a word wrongly. The tester also helped the
student to recite the word correctly when he was reading hesitate or attempting to decode
phonetically but failed within five to seven seconds. The test session was shortly closed after one
student finished with the passages reading. The tester had five minutes interval to scan all the
recorded data and check whether the answers were completed or not. Then another student was
called for conducting a similar test.

Data Collection and Analysis

Primary sources for data collection included (a) Interview with the school principal to
collect information about school and students, (b) Interview with the students to collect their
personal information, and (c) Observation on students’ passages, reading tests to garner specific
information on students’ reading achievements, and their comprehension and accuracy issues.
The tools used in this study included a set of NARA II test booklets (the test manual), assessment
forms, notes, a pencil, and a stopwatch. The data was analyzed qualitatively by cross-referencing
all the findings in each phase of the data collection.
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Students’ Profile
The highlighted areas of students’ language background and reading performance
extracted were clarified in the appendix (B) - table (2) which were extracted from the research
study. The pre-reading stage provided the information on the ten tested subjects.

Results and Discussion

The study results surprisingly revealed that the school was attended by students with
varied native language backgrounds, with English, Telugu, and Urdu being the most common
languages even though they did not project dominancy. These three languages are also equally
exposed by mass media such as newspapers and TV programs. At home, most students spoke
both native and English languages, whereas, at school, they spoke English and probably the
native language with their teachers and their school friends who might have the same local
language. The fact that they studied in English medium school where Telugu is the native
language. The national language of their country is Hindi which mirrors a piquant situation in
which students shared almost equal struggle in terms of their language learning and acquisition.

Students with English as their mother tongue might have a little more ease when it came
to learning. At school, English was taught through speaking and writing. Students were supposed
to excel with similar competency in English depending on how committed they were performing
their academic learning.

Learners’ Reading Performance

The observation through a series of tests produced a record of students’ reading errors,
comprehension, and reading speed. Both appendix (C) - tables (3) and appendix (D) - table (4)
provide information about the level of reading performance of students in three areas. They
include also examples of a student’s error archiving.

Level Achievement
Out of ten students, only three could cover reading all the levels. Two students read to L5
and two others read to L4, while three students stopped only at Level three. Based on the
observation, SH, the least achiever on Day one of the test, read the passages very fast. He was
the fastest reader though he was not the best performer in both accuracy and comprehension. He
committed many errors such as omissions and deleted or missed a few words. This means that
quick reading may lead to reading inaccuracy and a lower level of comprehension. A contrary
situation was experienced on Day two by JA, who stopped at the same Level as SH where his
termination at Level four was in parallel with the fact that he was the slowest reader among all
the participants. Meanwhile, TC, the student with maximum languages exposure and use (Sathri,
English, Hindi, and Telugu), read the texts very carefully but performed poorly at reciting and
comprehending of text.

Level Difficulty
The average points for the number of errors, correct answers, and the time spent to read
were generated to identify the degree of difficulty of the passages. The level was determined
from a lower to a higher level in a linear pattern as per the testing-set criteria. The following
chart showed the difficulty movement from level to level:

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Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

10 8 Average point of number 120

Average point of number Average point of time spend to
of correct answers read
of errors 100
8
6
80
6
4 60
4
40
2
2 20

0 0 0
L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6

Figure 3. The movement of difficulty in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and rate

According to the graphs above which show the movement of difficulty in terms of
accuracy, comprehension, and rate especially in level (four, five, six), students found that most
difficulty was in decoding and reading passages. However, the fact that more questions at higher
levels were harder to answer indicates that lower-level passages had been more understandable
than higher-level ones. Similarly, lower-level passages took a shorter time to read, and this trend
continued throughout the levels.

In this study, it is also noticed that the difficulty movements for the contexts of
comprehension and rate projected a proportional leap which means that in terms of
comprehension, Level two was more comprehensible than Level three, Level three was more
comprehendible than Level four, and so forth. In contrast, in terms of rate, students took a longer
time to read the passage of Level two than that of Level one and took longer of Level three than
that of Level two and so forth. Meanwhile, the accuracy factor across the passages drew non-
linear progress; students made more inaccuracy mistakes in Level four than in Level five and
also in Level five than in Level six.

The findings suggests that accuracy challenges among Level four, Level five, and Level
six passages had not mirrored the nature of the NARA II test design. The other reason could be
the case of students’ background language interference in which vocabularies used in Level four
and Level five had more complexion to cater than in Level five and Level six for Indian second
language learners. If that was right, revision of passage composition is of primary
recommendation.

Based on the comparison between the chronological age and reading age as shown in
appendix (E) - table (5), students (TC, JA, PO, PR, NA, and SS) underperformed the test, with an
exception for PO’s and SS’s reading which was classified as ideal one. Unique treatment should
be given for students (PR, NA, and SS) as both their accuracy and comprehension were
approximately three years behind ideality. SH was surprisingly being the fastest reader among all
the participants. He displayed his reading accomplishment though his accuracy still need a
significant improvement. Results of other students: NP, AJP, and SI were awe-inspiring as NP &
SI passed the test well, however, AJP failed to pass the test because he did not attempting the
minimum number of questions.
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It is to be noticed that the majority of the subjects (8:2) showed quality of their
performance on both word recognition processes and reading comprehension processes.
Therefore, there is a strong tendency between the development of learners’ accuracy and
comprehension that are likely to go hand in hand in the context of reading activities. Moreover,
cross-referencing students’ score achievement with their language and literacy profile, gives
enough testimony that students who use two active languages (SI, AJP, NP) have more potential
than those with more active languages (SS, NA). It could also be due to the use of two languages
which one of them might be used limitedly with family members and few people as the case in
student (PR). Finally, to recap students’ rapport while taking the whole test, figure (3) below
illustrates the individual reading achievement in the form of the simple view of reading diagram.

The findings of the study refer clearly that these children with reading difficulties,
especially in the elementary schools had no specific language impairments but they had different
degrees of language exposure that led to poor accuracy, comprehension, and reading rate. The
findings also proved the shyness of these students while reading passages in English language in
front of their peers and teachers. Therefore, their situation became complicated and further
aggravated the learning deficit of the students in respect of the second language.

Language comprehension processes

Good

SI
AJP
SH NP
Word recognition processes
Poor
TC Good
JA
PO
PR
NA
SS

Poor
Figure 4. The simple view of reading

Conclusion
The current study provides significant insight into the development of initial reading in
English as a second language (ESL). The aim of the study was to examine reading difficulties of
young second language learners in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and rate using Neale
Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA II) test. Listening to the participants who read different
types of texts in a second language gave valuable information about their development as readers
and about their difficulties in reading while performing the tasks. The findings of this study
revealed that the accuracy difficulty level throughout the whole passages did not go linear. It also
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showed that the difficult aspects which need improvement in priority varied from student to
another. The ratio of passing the NARA II reading test, based on comparing their chronological
and reading age, was 3:2:5 for good, mild, and poor achievers, respectively.

These findings highlight the need for more frequent exposure to and use of English in
increasing the ability to read accurately, comprehensibly, and fluently. Other difficulties
encountered were that the participants did not recognize mistakes like omissions, substitutions,
and mispronunciation, which adversely affected the participants’ comprehension and accuracy
levels. According to the findings, the recommendations below were made:

i) At schools in general, teachers need to provide solutions such as giving unique

treatments to low performers or changing their approaches of teaching, i.e. reading.
ii) More research using the NARA II reading test need to be conducted with multiple
illiteracies, language, gender, and other backgrounds of the learners.
iii) Parents should share their responsibilities to ensure the learning process of their
children. They should encourage them to read different materials such as stories and
science fiction in their free time to improve their reading. Besides, bring their
children to school at a younger age to encourage their abilities development in writing
and reading.

About the Authors:

Zena Abdulameer Mohammad is currently working at Scholarships and Cultural Relations
Department, University of Baghdad. She is university instructor teaching English as Foreign
Language to undergraduate’s students, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Baghdad.
She is also delivering English language training courses at Development and Continuing Center
to all learning levels for EFL learners. She got her B.A. in Translation, Mustansiriyah University,
Baghdad-Iraq and her M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), The English and
Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad-India. Her main interest in developing
reading, and listening skills through using multimedia technology. ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5569-049X

Muhamad Hasbi is an English education lecturer in the Teacher Training and Education
Faculty, IAIN Salatiga, Indonesia. He has involved in several Indonesian and American
Language Massive Open Online Courses (LMOOCs) projects as both a participant and a
facilitator, and has grown teaching and research interest in technology-enhanced language
learning. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7446-2062

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Appendixes

Appendix A
Table 1. Details of six main reading passages in NARA II test book
Title of passage Level of each passage Number of words in each passage Number of comprehension
questions in each passage
Road Safety level 2 52 8
Ali Level 3 73 8
Jan Level 4 96 8
The fox Level 5 117 8
Migration Level 6 141 8

Appendix B
Table 2. Students’ language and literacy background
Initial name Age Mother tongue Other spoken languages Language exposure and use
NP 10,04 English Hindi, Telugu (passive) - spoke English to family
members and teachers.
- spoke English and Hindi
with friends.
- watched cartoons and
news in English.
- read book, stories, and
newspapers in English.
SI 11,08 Urdu English (equally used as his Urdu) - spoke in English and Urdu
with family and friends.
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- spoke only in English with

his teachers.
- watched cartoons, cricket,
and news in English.
- read books and
newspapers in English.
TC 10,04 Sathri (Marathi-Hindi) English, Telugu - spoke in Sathri and
English with the family.
- spoke in Sathri, English,
Hindi, and Telugu with
friends.
- spoke in English only with
his teachers.
- watched cartoon in
English/Hindi, series in
Hindi.
- read books in
English/Hindi, newspapers
in English.
SH 10,07 Urdu English, Telugu (passive) - spoke Urdu and English
with relatives and friends.
- spoke only in English with
his teachers.
- watched cartoon, news,
football, baseball in English
- read books and
newspapers in English.
AJP 10,09 Telugu English, Telugu (passive) - spoke Telugu and English
with family members.
- watched TV programs in
English/Hindi/Telugu.
- read books and
newspapers only in English.
JA 10,01 English Hindi - watched TV programs in
English/Hindi.
- read books and
newspapers in
English/Hindi.
PO 10,08 Telugu English, Hindi (passive) - watched TV programs in
Telugu/English/Hindi.
- read books and
newspapers in
Telugu/English/Hindi.
PR 10,07 Konkani English - watched TV programs in
English.
- read books and
newspapers in English.
NA 10,03 Hindi English, Telugu - watched TV programs in
English/Hindi.
- read books and
newspapers in Hindi.
SS 10,06 Telugu English, Hindi (passive) - watched TV programs in
Telugu/English/Hindi.
- read books and
newspapers in
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Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

Telugu/English/Hindi.

Appendix C
Table 3. Students’ reading performance
Initial No. Of Errors No. Of Correct Answers Time Spent to Read
No.
name L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6
1. NP 0 1 7 10 11 6 8 7 3 2 23 36 84 75 87
2. SI 0 0 4 0 2 8 7 7 8 5 21 36 74 84 99
3. TC 0 2 11 14 / 5 5 4 4 / 34 51 114 139 /
4. SH 1 2 14 / / 8 7 7 / / 16 41 65 / /
5. AJP 0 0 4 0 6 5 5 3 5 4 22 39 68 83 114
6. JA 0 4 15 / / 7 2 4 / / 36 88 187 / /
7. PO 4 5 15 16 / 6 0 3 3 / 27 42 83 119 /
8. PR 4 10 / / / 6 3 / / / 25 87 / / /
9. NA 4 9 / / / 5 5 / / / 26 91 / / /
10. SS 1 7 / / / 4 3 / / / 25 82 / / /
Total 14 40 70 40 19 60 45 35 23 11 255 593 675 500 300
Total average 1,4 4 10 8 6,3 6 4,5 5 4,6 3,7 25,5 59,3 96,4 100 100

Appendix D
Table 4. Level-wise analysis of sample of error typologies of the students
Subject: NP
Level Mispronunciations Substitutions Refusals Additions Omissions Reversals TOTAL
L2 - - - - - - 0
L3 - seems - - - - 1
(seemed)
L4 dinghi (dinghy) Driving - - Kell(Kells - 7
mountenless (diving) )
(motionless) followed bubble
(following) (bubbles)
driver (diver)

L5 frisis (feats) sin (scent) - - back - 1

alightning responsibility (backs) 0 29
(alighting) (responsibilitie pursuer
expenditions s) (pursuers)
(expeditions) too (through)
skrit (skirted) an (the)
L6 consideable swallowed - - season - 1
(considerable) (swallows) (seasonal) 1
rigyeres (rigorous) itself (instead) journey
flending was (with) (journeys)
(fledglings) … (it)
yunnering easter
(unnering) (easterly)

Appendix E
Table 5. Students’ score summary in relation to their chronological age and reading age
Students’ Chronological Reading Age Standardized Score
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Reading Difficulties in English as a Second Language in Grade Five Mohammad, & Hasbi

Initial Age Accuracy Comprehension Rate Accuracy Comprehension Rate

NP 10:04 10:10 11:04 12:10 102 105 111
+
SI 11:08 12:10+ 12:10+ 12:10 113 113 104
+
TC 10:04 9:10 9:04 8:10 93 93 92
SH 10:07 8:06 10:04 12:10 88 98 115
+
AJP 10:09 12:10+ 10:04 12:05 113 97 106
JA 10:01 8:04 8:04 7:02 89 87 83
PO 10:08 7:11 8:01 10:08 85 84 99
PR 10:07 7:05 7:07 9:08 81 80 95
NA 10:03 7:04 7:08 9:04 81 83 95
SS 10:06 7:11 7:01 10:01 85 76 97

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