Rethinking EFL Teachers' Roles from Learners' Academic Reading Difficulties and Needs

Abstract

This study investigates the EFL teachers' roles in EAP course by diagnosing the learners' academic reading difficulties and needs, based on the responses from 47 engineering majors and 59 English majors in a technology university. The analysis for each short essay question involves identifying, coding, and categorizing (Patton, 1990). Results reveal that the main problems highlighted by learners were content-matter constraints and vocabulary difficulty. Teacher facilitation is ranked as the most helpful factor that motivated the learners to learn, followed by teaching reading strategies. Accordingly, nine teachers' roles were identified as: a diagnostician, a resource material, a facilitator, a controller/tutor/information provider, a curriculum and course planner, a mediator, an organizer, an assessor, and a supporter. These findings provide empirical support for the EFL teachers' roles in helping learners to read. Pedagogical implications of the study are discussed.