A study of reading genres and questions in Thai and English textbooks for O-NET examinations

Abstract

Reading is one of English skills that students have to learn since in primary school until university. However, the result of the national examination in Thailand for English subjects seems unsatisfied, which reading part occupies the largest portion. This study aims to find out the differences and similarities in reading sections of English textbooks and O-NET and GAT examinations in terms of genre and type of questions. Reading passages and questions were analyzed based on Derewianka's linguistic features of genres and Nuttall's taxonomy of questions. Text organization and linguistic features were shown in each text on the right and left respectively to identify the genres. The findings show the dominance of information report in the textbooks and examinations. Although literal comprehension questions are dominant in the textbook, reinterpretation questions also appear in the examinations. Therefore, materials writers should develop materials to help students improve their ability in reading a range of texts for their future education and functional roles in their lives.