MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HIỀN LƯƠNG EFFECTS OFSCAFFOLDING STATEGIES ON ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION SKILLFOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) Code: 60 14 01 11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Trần Bá Tiến, Ph.D. Vinh, 2014 1 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not published elsewhere. Author Nguyen Thi Hien Luong 2 ABSTRACT The study attempted to examine effects of scaffolding strategies on reading comprehension skills for non English major students. It aims to find out students’ difficulties in learning this comprehensive skill, their expectations of teachers’ methodology as well as their attitudes towards scaffolding strategies experimented. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology were utilized in this study. The data was collected through the reading proficiency pretest and posttest, questionnaires, interviews and six experimental scaffolding strategies. The participants of the research who were divided into two groups, the control and experimental groups, included 100 non English major students at Vinh university. The results from the study revealed that most students encountered difficulties in all five aspects of languages namely vocabulary, background knowledge, grammar, discourse structures and reading skills and reading strategies. Most of the students expressed their expectations in term of teachers’ methodology such as pre-teaching vocabulary, providing background knowledge and using appropriate reading strategies. The finding also showed that the reading proficiency level of non English major students were quite low. However, this was significantly improved after three months experimental teaching using scaffolding strategies in reading class. Additionally, all of the students expressed their positive attitudes and good appreciations for six scaffolding strategies experimented which helped them to deal with their reading problems. On the basics of the findings, some pedagogical implications were drawn out not only for students to become effective readers but also for language teachers and the educational administrators to enhance students’ reading proficiency. Limitations of the study were pointed out and further research was suggested. 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Above of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Dr. Tran Ba Tien for his invaluable support, patient guidance, and encouragement he gave me throughout my research. I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the students of the classes I taught in order to experiment scaffolding strategies and gather information for my survey questionnaire and interview. Without their enthusiastic contribution, this study could not have been successful. I am indebted to my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragement. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family members who are always beside me, creating favorable conditions and supporting me both spiritually and materially to complete this thesis. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 CEFR: The common European Framework of Reference for Languages CLT: Communicative Language Teaching DRTA: Directed Reading Thinking Activity EFL: English as a Foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language N: Number P: Percentage ZPD: Zone of Proximal Development LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 7 8 1.1. Rationale Being able to understand what one reads is important for learning in school and for life in general. In higher education, reading in English as a foreign language (EFL) requires teachers to explore strategies that can improve students' reading comprehension. At Vinh University, non-English major students tend to have low levels of English, which makes reading comprehension challenging. Often, instructional approaches promote reading as a product rather than as a process. The former focuses on the text, while the latter explores the readers, their background knowledge and experience, predictions, and interaction with the text. Additionally, reading comprehension skills are usually taught in school in one of two ways. One method is to have students read a text and then read comments or answer questions about the text. This method stresses important components of reading comprehension, but treats them purely as products (i.e., interpretations) rather than as processes (i.e., constructing interpretations). In particular, it does not teach students what to do when they have difficulty comprehending parts of the text; nor does it teach them how to construct and revise hypotheses about what is likely to occur in the text based on what they have already read. Both of these aspects are important in constructing an interpretation of the text. In an effort to find an effective method of teaching reading skills, recent researches emphasize learning by engaging learners in knowledge construction (Reiser, 2004). The conditions of meaningful learning require appropriate strategies, where students need to elaborate, or generate activities, such as self- questioning, semantic mapping, and summary writing, monitor learning, and construct meaning from a reading text. Such strategies can be considered effective in reading comprehension (McGriff, 1996). If provided with appropriate assistance, students can attain a goal or engage in a practice task that is beyond their reach. Reiser (2004) points that with scaffolding strategies, learners receive support and assistance to successfully perform certain tasks and move to more complex ones. Similarly, Vacca (2008) suggests that when guided, supported and provided with 9 the necessary attributes, students become more responsible for their learning, more motivated, and more successful. Scaffolding strategies are, therefore, effective for teaching reading , and such strategies influence the development of higher functions and skills beyond the confines of learner. With more than 3 years of experience in teaching English at Vinh University, I found that EFL learners face serious problems in comprehending facts stated or implied in an English context; they are unable to realize the main ideas of given text as well as reflect on the author’s purpose of writing. Moreover, they find themselves confronted with a vast variety of information, vocabulary, grammatical structures, culture aspects, and resources that make it extremely hard for them to pick their ways through. Consequently, if the teachers do not teach scaffolding strategies, the better students will develop them on their own, and the worse ones will find reading very frustrating. All the aforementioned reasons urge the author to carry out the study entitled “Effects of scaffolding strategies on English reading comprehension skills for non- English major students”. Hopefully, the results could serve as a useful source of reference for those who are concerned about the subject matter. 1.2. Aims of the study With the presented rationale, the specific aims of the study, accordingly, are: 1) to investigate the difficulties faced by non English major students in learning reading skill? 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of scaffolding strategies to improve reading comprehension for non- English major students. 3) to propose some suggestions and recommendations to reading comprehension teaching and learning . 1.3. Scope of the study This research focuses on investigating how scaffolding strategies affect reading comprehension skills at Vinh University. Due to the limitation of time, the 10 [...]... questions: 1 What difficulties do non -English major students encounter in learning reading comprehension skill? 2 How effective are scaffolding strategies in teaching English reading comprehension skills for non- English major students? 1.5 Significance of the study The study is expected to be a good reference for teachers and students to improve students reading comprehension skills In addition, it... strategies of non- major English students at An Giang University In her study, the findings showed that non major English students tend to pay a little attention to strategies used during reading comprehension process This author also suggested some reading strategies to improve reading comprehension skill In summary, the above researchers have considerably contributed to improving the teaching and learning reading. .. reading skill Huynh Thi Mong Thuong (2009) conducted a study on 15 the impacts of pre -reading strategies instruction on Hung Vuong High School student’s reading skill The author pointed out that pre -reading strategy such as semantic mapping, skimming for the main ideas, scanning for details… have a positive effect on reading comprehension skills Nguyen Thi Trinh Huyen (2009) investigated reading strategies. .. common feature of scaffolding that has been emphasized in the texts (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2002; Krause et al., 2003) The most recent work on scaffolding and its relationship with students performance in reading comprehension is that of Pishghadam and Ghardiri (2011) They compared the effects of Symmetrical (S) and Asymmetrical (AS) scaffolding on reading comprehension of adult learners of English as a foreign... ideal for testing and helping comprehension of nonliterary discourse Other types of information transfer include ordering a sequence of pictures, comparing text and pictures, and completing documents Information transfer devices focus on the function of language in a given text and draw students' attention to the logical organization of the text, to the ways in which the writer has deployed information,... support or accommodation for the comprehension skills that will help English language learners to reach a better understanding of what they are reading He also suggested some of scaffolding strategies such as: activating students prior knowledge; using read aloud to support reading comprehension; making comprehension learning tangible… A more specific study of scaffolding is presented by Donovan and Smolkin... The study was conducted on 52 participants, who were learners in one of the English language institutes in Mashhad, Iran The results of the study revealed that the groups’ performance varied on reading comprehension and results indicated that better performance of students who received instructions through the AS scaffolding strategy, whereas the students of the S group had the lower mean on the post-test... successful reading experiences for K-8 learners The book contains practical information on pre reading, during reading, and post reading activities, along with ideas for incorporating scaffolding reading experiences into the classroom Margaret M William (2013) found that learning to read and comprehend fiction and nonfiction text in a foreign language is a complicated task Teachers, therefore, can scaffold,... involve reading for a purpose determined by the students DRTA helps students develop skills in reading and thinking It encourages risk-taking via prediction Allan Collins and Edward E Smith (1980) indicate that current methods for teaching reading comprehension tend to emphasize the products of comprehension, and neglect the process of comprehension They also suggest two sets of processing skills to... skills to teach are comprehension monitoring skills and hypothesis formation and evaluation In term of scaffolding reading comprehension skills, a great number of studies have been conducted in order to find out an effective model in teaching and learning this comprehensible skill Arthur N, Langer and Judith A (2003) discussed 13 a model for teaching reading and writing in which skilled language users . MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HIỀN LƯƠNG EFFECTS OFSCAFFOLDING STATEGIES ON ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION SKILLFOR NON – ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS Major: Teaching English. entitled Effects of scaffolding strategies on English reading comprehension skills for non- English major students . Hopefully, the results could serve as a useful source of reference for those. English major students in learning reading skill? 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of scaffolding strategies to improve reading comprehension for non- English major students. 3)