MAKING THE BEST USE OF A TEXTBOOK IN INDONESIAN TERTIARY EFL READING CLASSROOMS
Nowadays, EFL reading textbooks have adjusted their level of linguistic difficulties to their prospective users and provide texts about a variety of topics, detailed explanation of reading skills and practices, not to mention the smart lay-out and good quality of paper, all aiming at facilitating both students and teachers to successfully learn and teach reading, respectively. However, having qualified reading textbooks, teachers cannot take for granted that their students will directly appreciate reading and the textbook selected for the course because in some places extensive reading may not be part of the people's routine, and may not be considered to be very important by the authority. This article provides several useful techniques to take a full advantage of textbooks in A. M. Da Silva, Making the Best Use ofa Textbook 21 EFL reading classrooms in the aforementioned context.
The Effect of ESL Students' Perceptions of Their Cognitive Strategies on Reading Achievement
U Although a few studies have investigated the cognitive reading strategies used by Hispanic ESL students (Block, 1986; Knight, Padron, & Waxman, 1985), the effect of these students' use of strategies on reading achievement has not been specifically examined. Furthermore, most of these studies have used think-aloud procedures and verbal reports to identify reading strategies, a methodology that has been questioned because students sometimes have difficulty assessing metacognitive processes (Afflerbach & Johnston, 1984; Ericsson & Simon, 1984). On the other hand, a few studies have successfully used self-report instruments to identify the cognitive reading strategies used by students (Hahn, 1984; Paris & Myers, 1981). These instruments, however, have not been used with Hispanic ESL students, nor have they specifically examined the relationship between students' reported use of cognitive reading strategies and performance on measures of reading comprehension.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.