The Use of Islamic Context Texts to Improve Muslim students’ English Reading Skills

Abstract

      The purposes of this study were: 1) to compare the reading ability of students studying English reading skills using Islamic context texts with that of those using general reading texts 2) to compare the level of satisfaction towards Islamic context texts with that towards general reading texts. The subjects were 62 students in Prathomsuksa 6 from Shumshon Ban Puyud School in Pattani Province, which were divided into 2 groups: the experimental group of 31 students and the control group of 31 students. The study was conducted during the first semester (May-October) of the 2012 academic year. The instruments used in this study were: 1) a pre-test; 2) eight lesson plans on reading using Islamic context texts; 3) eight lesson plans on reading using general reading texts; 4) a post test; 5) a questionnaire asking for satisfaction towards Islamic context texts; and 6) a questionnaire asking about satisfaction towards general reading texts. The findings were as follows: 1. the students who studied using the Islamic context texts improved their English reading skills significantly better than the control group who were taught using general reading texts; (p = 0.05, t = 2.905), and 2) both groups were highly satisfied with the lessons and the training. No significant differences were identified regarding the satisfaction levels.