MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LIEN USING THE BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO ESP STUDENTS AT COLLEGE MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, năm 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LIEN USING THE BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO ESP STUDENTS AT COLLEGE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 601410 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr TRAN THI NGOC YEN Nghệ An- 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my superior, Doctor Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for her valuable guidance, insightful suggestion, precious orientation and warm encouragement from shaping the first draft of this manuscript till the completed thesis I am thankful to head of Foreign Language Department at Nghe An TourismTrading Vocational College, Mrs Le Thi Mai Hong, for letting me to carry out the experiment with second-year accounting learners while I was gathering the data for the research I would also like to thank the administrators, teachers, and students of K17A1 and K17A3 at Nghe An Tourism-Trading Vocational College for their cooperation and help Finally, I would like to delicate this work to my parents and family, whose great support and encouragement have helped me a lot in the production of this study i ABSTRACT Brainstorming has been considered an effective strategy to improve learners’ reading comprehension level Research in this area has concentrated on the effect of brainstorming technique on students’ reading achievement This thesis work investigates the degree of the impact of prior knowledge activation through the use of brainstorming in enhancing learners' reading comprehension To evaluate this, an experimental design was conducted After teaching the eight reading sessions, the learners are supposed to read these informational texts and to the multiple-choice exercises Their reading comprehension is tested and their achievements are marked Three comparisons: the comparison between average total score of eight sessions for both groups, the comparison between average score of the last session and the average score of the first session and the comparison between the average of the second half sessions and the average of the first half sessions in term of means and standard deviations were made to appreciate the participants’ reading comprehension improvement and it was found that the experimental group outperformed the control one Besides, the analysis of the participants’ patterns of progress demonstrates that the participants of the experimental group made gradually increases during the treatment ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 3.5 Pilot testing 38 LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS ESP: English for specific purpose ETC: Et cetera L: Lesson P: Participant %: percent iii LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 3.5 Pilot testing 38 LIST OF FIGURES ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW iv 3.5 Pilot testing 38 v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It is undeniable that English plays a crucial role in all fields of our life, and it is considered as a tool to help us discover what has been happening around the world It is probably the reason why English is a compulsory subject in school, college and university education Like many other compulsory subjects learned in many institutions in Vietnam, English for specific purpose (ESP) has more recently received a great attention What is behind ESP is that teachers hope to compile teaching materials that will be suitable for students’ level in the specific subject area English for accounting, for example, aims at improving students’ reading comprehension and analysing ability to apply in the real contexts of economy field Understanding the importance of English, most students at Nghe An Tourism- Trading Vocational College have tried their best to gain the first objective to become accountants with good knowledge of English in economy field They consider that among four language skill, listening, speaking, reading and writing, reading is an important one because it does not only help student develop other language skills, but also provides them knowledge of other fields Supporting the importance of reading both in study and real life, West (1941) said that, reading is one of the most important skills in study and daily life Because reading ability is powerful, various researchers have attempted to investigate ways to improve students’ reading ability in reading programs (cited in Tran, 2011, p.1) As we read, we can enrich our knowledge through reading material and from that we can apply in other fields However, while teaching reading following the ESP syllabus for the second year accounting students at Nghe An Tourism-Trading Vocational College, the researcher realized that both the teachers and the students still have difficulties in finding effective way to teach and learn reading lessons For these reasons, the study was carried out to answer the question of how to use “brain storming” in teaching reading skill with the hope that students can have good prior knowledge relating to the text before reading so that they can comprehend more 1.2 Aims of the study The thesis seeks to answer the following research questions: - Will brainstorming help to increase ESP learners’ reading comprehension? And if it does, - To what extend does brainstorming increase ESP learners’ reading comprehension? Scope of the study There are many strategies to improve reading skill for ESP students, and brainstorming is one of the most important strategies This study was set to investigate the effects of brainstorming on helping students to develop their reading comprehension 1.4 Methods of the study The main methodology used in the study was experimental Groups of second year ESP students in Nghe An tourism trading vocational College involved in experimental process The study was to see how brainstorming affects the ESP students’ reading comprehension 1.5 Design of the thesis The thesis consists the following parts: Chapter 1: Introduction This part introduces the rationale, aims, scope, method and organization of the thesis Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter provides background knowledge relevance to the topic such as the definition of reading and reading comprehension, reading process models, classification of reading, factors affecting reading skill, three active stages of reading lesson, brainstorming and its roles in improving reading skill Chapter 3: The study This part presents the study and these include, research questions, participants, material, procedures and results Chapter 4: Conclusion In this part the main points and contents of the study will be summarized APPENDIX B A SAMPLE TEXT IN READING LESSON TEXT 6: INSUARANCE Insurance in Britain: Insurance is divided into two species First, insurance against accidents: ship sinking, buildings burning, cars running over people Secondly, insurance (or technically “assurance”) of a man’s life against a certainly- death The first kind is hazardous, based ultimately on a calculated gamble The second is largely predictable, for the average span of men’s live - when hundreds of thousands are involved - can be quite accurately calculated “Non life insurance”: Its traditional heart is Lloyd's whose financial backbone is made up by over six thousand “names” grouped in 271 “syndicates”, who provide the capital and must pay up for disasters- with unlimited liability Lloyd's like merchant banking, depends on a mixture of trust and daring They were the first insurers in the world to cover cars, planes or crops, or to insure against earthquakes or twins or triplet The whole procedure depends upon the “gentleman’s agreement” Their reputation relies not only upon their reliability, but on their readiness to insure almost anything, very quickly “Life insurance”: By far the biggest among the twelve most important life companies in Britain is legendary Prudential To the public the PRU – is best known for its 11,000 “Men from the PRU”, the army of local travelers who collect the weekly and monthly insurance contribution But to the city of London, the PRU is the largest single investor in the country It does not need to keep its money ready, like a bank’s for a quick withdrawal: it can invest the whole sum, for a whole generation, without the need to call it back Every week, the PRU has another two million pounds to invest- pouring into government stock, industry, or property There are very few big companies where the PRU is not a major shareholder and there are many where it is the biggest – and therefore in a position if it wishes to sway other votes 71 EXERCISE 1: CHOOSE THE BEST ANSWER Insurance is divided into two types: A car insurance and non life insurance B ship insurance and building insurance C credit card insurance and life insurance D non life insurance and life insurance if you want to protect your car, you should buy A life insurance B ship insurance C non life insurance D building insurance Insurance against accidents , it is called A non life insurance B life insurance C accidents insurance D technically assurance In Britain, if you want to buy plane insurance , you should go to A Lloyd’s company B legendary prudential C bank D financial institution Prudential Corporation sells A car insurance B life insurance C traditional insurance D earthquakes insurance 72 Ship insurance against A burning B running over people C sinking D earthquakes The synonym of word “hazardous” A successful B careful C dangerous D good Which kind of insurance is largely predictable for the average span of man’s life? A accident insurance B people insurance C life insurance D non life insurance Which kind of insurance is dangerous, based on a calculated gamble A life insurance B non life insurance C accident insurance D people insurance 10 The word “syndicate” means A member B people C employer D manager 73 APPENDIX C A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Week UNIT 11: INSUARANCE School: Nghe An Tourism – Trading Vocational College Class: K17 A1 Place: room number: 205, building B Teacher: Nguyen Thi Lien Date: 02/04/2013 Time: 45’ I Aims By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Develop such reading skill as scanning for specific information - Broaden some vocabulary items related to the topic “insurance” - Improve the background knowledge about insurance through brainstorming II Materials: textbook, blackboard, chalk III Classroom stabilization time: 2’ - Ask the date - Check the absentees IV Procedures Time 05’ Content Students ‘activities Teacher’s activities Warm up Questions - Ask students some - Pay attention and think 1/ Can you list some types of questions insurance in Vietnam ? related to to answer insurance and types of 2/ Do you and your family insurance - Answer the questions have any insurance? What are - Call on some students they ? 3/ Why insurances? to answer you - Take note buy - Check and give the - pay attention and open feed back 74 the material Suggested answer - Lead in the topic and 1/ They are life insurance and ask student to open the non life insurance material 2/ Yes I I buy life insurance and motorbike insurance 3/ Because insurance makes 15’ our life better Before you read * Vocabulary - insurance ( n) - Explain the meaning - Pay attention and give - insurer ( n ) of new words and ask the meaning of the - insure ( v ) students to guess the words in Vietnamese - average span ( n.ph) meaning in Vietnamese - listen and take note - Non life insurance ( n.ph) - Correct and give the - backbone ( n.ph ) exact equivalent - disaster ( n ) meaning of new words - cover ( V ) - Read and ask students - earthquake ( n ) to listen at the fist time - Life insurance ( n.ph ) - Ask student to listen - contribution ( n ) again and repeat three - withdrawal ( n ) times - Listen - Repeat - Read individually - Ask students to read individually *Brain storming : - Call on some students Ask students to brainstorm to read what related to the topic - Check and correct “insurance ” based on the pronunciation following cues: 75 - Read new words - pay attention 1/ For what we buy insurance? 2/ How many main types of insurance? What are they? - Ask students to work - Seat in groups and 3/ What the types of in groups and brain discuss to brainstorm insurance insure? what related to insurance storm the ideas related 4/ Can you list some famous to the topic based on insurance companies? the cues Suggested map: ( see the - Go around for any - present the ideas on the brainstorming map below ) help board - Call some groups to - pay attention and take present their ideas on note the board - Check and provide the suggested map While you read Skim and scan for specific - Ask students to read contents from the text 10’ Read the the text individually individually - Ask students to scan - Read carefully and text the specific information scan the main in the text information from the text 10’ After you read: Comprehension - Give the test paper for questions: Choose the best the students answer - Answer choose the best answer answer in the paper test Ask the students 1.D C in C C individually A C silently 76 given to - Choose the best paper individually and A B Go around class and B 10 A control 5.Homework 03’ - Set homework At home, students to reread the text, learn vocabulary and prepare the exercise 77 - Do home work INSURANCE Insurance of a man’s life against a certainly- death Life insurance To protect our life and make our life better INSURANCE Company : PRUDENTIAL Car insurance Housing insurance Insurance against accidents Non life insurance Company LLOYD’S 78 INSURANCE INSURANCE Note : We buy insurance for 2,3 Main types of insurance 4,5 Insurance against… 6,9 Name of famous companies 7,8 other…… 79 APPENDIX D A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR THE CONTROL GROUP Week UNIT 11: INSUARANCE School: Nghe An Tourism – Trading Vocational College Class: K17 A3 Place : room number : 205, Building: B Teacher: Nguyen Thi Lien Date: 4/4/2013 Time: 45’ I Aims By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Develop such reading skill as scanning for specific information - Broaden some vocabulary items related to the topic “insurance” - Improve the background knowledge about insurance through the text II Materials: textbook, blackboard, chalk III Classroom stabilization time: 2’ - Ask the date - Check the absentees IV Procedures Time 05’ Content Warm up Teacher’s activities Students ‘activities Questions 1/ Can you list some types of insurance in Vietnam ? Ask questions students related some - Pay attention and think to to answer 2/ Do you and your family insurance and types of have any insurance? What insurance are they ? 3/ Why - Call on some students to - Answer the questions you buy answer insurances? - Check and give the feed - Take note Suggested answer back 80 1/ They are life insurance - Lead in the topic and ask - pay attention and open and non life insurance 2/ student to open the the material Yes I I buy life material insurance and motorbike insurance 3/ Because insurance makes our life better 15’ Before you read * Vocabulary - insurance ( n) - Explain the meaning of - Pay attention and give - insurer ( n ) new words and ask the meaning of the - insure ( v ) students to guess the words in Vietnamese - average span ( n.ph) meaning in Vietnamese - Non- life insurance - Correct and give the ( n.ph) exact equivalent meaning - backbone ( n.ph ) of new words - disaster ( n ) - Read and ask students to - cover ( V ) listen at the fist time - earthquake ( n ) - Ask student to listen - Life insurance ( n.ph ) again and repeat three - contribution ( n ) times - withdrawal ( n ) - Ask students to read - listen and take note - Listen - Repeat - Read individually individually - Call on some students to - Read new words read - Check and correct - pay attention pronunciation * Game : slap on the board - Erases English words; - Divide whole class into - Listen and sit in two two big groups groups - Choose people in each - Pay attention and go to 81 group and ask them to go the board to the board in two rows - Read the word one time - Listen to the teacher and ask two people to and write on the board write on the board in turn as quickly as possible - Check and correct - Paying attention - Give the gift for the winner 10’ While you read Skim and scan for specific - Ask students to read the - Read the text individually contents from the text text individually - Ask students to scan the - Read carefully and specific information in the scan the main text information from the text 10’ 03’ After you read: Comprehension - Give the test paper for questions: Choose the the students best answer - Ask students to choose - Choose the best answer Answer the best answer in the in the paper test 1.d c given paper individually individually c c and silently a c - Go around class and 4.a b control 5.b 10 a Homework At home, students to read - Ask students to - Do home work the text again, learn homework vocabulary and prepare for the exercise APPENDIX E 82 THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP’S SCORE IN GENERAL ENGLISH TEST P A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 Experiment group 15 16 17 15 18 14 16 17 16 15 17 19 19 16 17 17 18 18 16 16 P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 Control group 17 16 18 17 18 15 17 16 17 19 18 18 18 16 16 17 18 17 18 17 APPENDIX F THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP’S SCORES IN THE 8-SESSIONS P TEST NUMBER 83 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 A20 L1 5 6 6 6 7 5 5 L2 6 7 6 6 6 6 6 L3 7 7 7 7 8 6 7 L4 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 L5 8 8 8 8 7 8 L6 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 L7 8 8 9 9 8 9 L8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 APENDIX G THE CONTROL GROUP’S SCORES IN THE 8-SESSIONS P B1 B2 B3 L1 6 L2 5 L3 TEST NUMBER L4 L5 5 84 L6 6 L7 L8 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 5 5 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 5 7 6 6 5 5 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 7 85 7 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 6 5 6 5 7 5 5 7 7 5 7 [...]... sources Students confirm content information - Helps students to connect from different reading sources 2.7 Brainstorming in teaching reading skill The brainstorming technique plays an important role in teaching and learning reading skill This technique is mainly used in the pre -reading phase Through brainstorming, the reader is likely to bring all that is in his brain which he may think is linked to the. .. text's topic 2.7.1 Brainstorming Brainstorming enables students to create and share their prior knowledge to solve problems to reach the goal Students have to think to generate the ideas from their mind toward the topic that they are going to read In his study, Isaksen (1998, p.3) stated that there are various meanings for the term brainstorming It can be seen as a meeting where people are together in. .. LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the background knowledge on the topics that relate to the research Previous studies on reading process, reading process models, comprehension, reading comprehension, classification of reading, factors affecting learning the reading skill, the three stages of a reading lesson, brainstorming in reading comprehension, brainstorming rules, and the roles of brainstorming. .. According to Widdownson (1978) reading as the process of combining textual information with the information the reader brings to a text In this view, the reading process is not simply a matter of extracting information from the text Rather, it is one in which the reading activates a range of knowledge in the reader's mind that he/she uses, and that, in turn, may be refined and extended by the new information... Factors affecting the learning of reading skill There are many different factors affecting the learning reading skill However, in this thesis, these factors are grouped into text factors and reader factors 12 2.5.1 Text factors The reading text is one of the main factors which influence reading comprehension The text is defined by Davies (1995, p.194) as "a coherent piece of writing exhibiting both structure... debate attempting to bring some ideas Others consider brainstorming as synonymous with idea generation It means that brain storming is considered as an effective tool to generate new ideas, this activity 26 or is also a way to be creative in whatever matter In addition, while brainstorming, the reader brings his storm many different meanings that he has already known about the subject matter of the. .. automacity in reading skill at high level, he will recognize the meaning process more rapidly, and it also helps him to save time on reading comprehension process 2.5.3 The instructor Donoghue (2009, p.1) states that the quality of instruction can influence the students reading comprehension The quality of the instruction is determined by the instructors themselves An effective instructor engages the. .. the students productively on the reading tasks They can motivate the students in the reading lesson The types of their instruction also can encourage the students to be active readers Those will give positive impact to the students reading comprehension 2.6 The three stages of a reading lesson According to Brown (2001, p.315) a reading lesson can be arranged in to three stages namely: Pre -reading. .. attention to the text The aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text: not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning is produced The "how" is as important as the "what", for the intensive reading lesson is intended primarily to train students in reading strategies” This view is supported by Grellet (1981, p.4) who states that “intensive reading means reading. .. determine how will the readers comprehend a text When the readers set a purpose for reading the text, they will draw their attention to the text and they will try to comprehend the text It is obvious that the purpose of reading must be set before reading Therefore the instructors should be able to help the readers in constructing their purpose before reading In short, the reader should identify the reasons ... Helps students to connect from different reading sources 2.7 Brainstorming in teaching reading skill The brainstorming technique plays an important role in teaching and learning reading skill. ..MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LIEN USING THE BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING THE READING SKILL TO ESP STUDENTS AT COLLEGE Field: Theory and Methodology... about the topic In teaching reading skill, the instructor should also find effective ways to introduce the topic to warm up the students in order that the students can become familiar with the