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Improve students’ reading skills
TABLES OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship .i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------iii Table of contents-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION-------------------------------------------------------3 1.1 Background of the study-------------------------------------------------------------------------3 1.2 Aims of the study---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 1.3 The significance of the study--------------------------------------------------------------------4 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW------------------------------------------------5 2.1 Definition of reading-----------------------------------------------------------------------------5 2.2 The importance of reading-----------------------------------------------------------------------5 2.3 Some reading skills-------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 2.3.1 Skimming-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 2.3.2 Scanning------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 2.3.3 Inferring-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6 2.3.4 Guessing the meaning from context-----------------------------------------------------------6 2.3.5 Answering comprehension question----------------------------------------------------------6 2.4 Factors influence the progress of reading in language learning-----------------------------7 2.4.1 Reader variables---------------------------------------------------------------------------------7 2.4.2 Text topic and content---------------------------------------------------------------------------8 CHAPTER THREE THE METHODOLOGY------------------------------------------------9 3.1 Researcher-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 3.2 Research questions----------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 3.3 Subject---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 3.4 Setting----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9 3.5 Data collection instruments----------------------------------------------------------------------9 3.5.1 Textbook analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 1 3.5.2 Questionnaire-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 3.5.3 Observation-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12 3.6 Data collection procedure----------------------------------------------------------------------13 3.6.1 Textbook analysis procedure-----------------------------------------------------------------13 3.6.2 Questionnaires procedure---------------------------------------------------------------------13 3.6.3 Observation procedure-------------------------------------------------------------------------13 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS-----------------------------------------14 4.1 Results--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14 4.1.1 Results of textbook analysis------------------------------------------------------------------14 4.1.2 Results of questionnaires----------------------------------------------------------------------19 4.1.3 Results of observation-------------------------------------------------------------------------35 4.2 Discussions---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------40 4.2.1 Research question (1)--------------------------------------------------------------------------40 4.2.2 Research question (2)--------------------------------------------------------------------------41 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS-------------42 5.1 Conclusions--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------42 5.2 Recommendations-------------------------------------------------------------------------------42 5.2.1 For the textbook--------------------------------------------------------------------------------42 5.2.2 For teachers-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------43 5.2.3 For students---------------------------------------------44Error: Reference source not found 5.3 Limitations of the study------------------------------------------------------------------------49 REFERENCES-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------51 APPENDIXES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------52 Appendix 1a----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------52 Appendix 1b----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55 Appendix 2-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------58 Appendix 3-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------62 2 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study English is one of the important subjects at High School. It has been used for Final Examinations to evaluate students’ level of knowledge. Therefore, whether students are proficient at English or not is very important to them. Being proficient at English means student is good at both received skills - reading and listening, and productive skills - speaking and writing. These four skills are integrated in a lesson to improve all these skills for the students, because one certain skill can be used to improve the others. Reading is an important and useful skill, because reading is the first step for students to get main and general information about a topic and it is a tool for students to get more information. In addition to, through reading, students can improve their vocabulary in various fields such as real life, science, and culture. Reading can not only train students’ thinking abilities but it also gives students a lot of updated information. In real life, students are able to read different kinds of materials such as documents, newspapers, and magazines. Therefore, reading is one of the good ways to get information, and to obtain knowledge. Reading is an important skill and subject, while “Most of grade 10 students in Thanh Binh-1 High School are not very good at Reading.” said, Mr. NguyenVan Be No, the Head of Foreign Language Teaching Staff in Thanh Binh-1 High School. As a student of pedagogical field, and a teacher of English in the near future, I am concerned in this problem. Moreover, no one has studied the causes of the problem so far. For some reasons above, the study was carried out to seek the real reasons, as well as, the solutions to the problems. 1.2 Aims of the study - To find out grade 10 students’ common problems in learning reading - To suggest solutions for these problems 3 1.3 The significance of the study Via solutions suggested in the study that based on the real problems also found in the study, both teachers of English and students to solve the problems in reading classes. The teachers can get certain suggestions to teach English reading more successfully or improve students’ reading skills because being good at reading partly helps students good at learning EFL. It means the study can partly help teachers and students better their teaching and learning. 4 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of reading Reading comprehension does not mean being able to answer all questions in the tasks in the textbook Reading comprehension is understanding a text that is read, or the process of "constructing meaning" from a text. Comprehension is a "construction process" because it involves all of the elements of the reading process working together as a text is read to create a representation of the text in the reader's mind. (As defined by Partnership for Reading (2005)) Mr. Françoise Grellet (1992) defines that understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible. 2.2 The importance of reading In the first place, many of people want to be able to read texts in English for their either study purposes or simple for pleasure. All we can do to make reading easier are significant. Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. When we teach the skill of writing, we will need to show students models of what we are encourage them to do. Reading texts also provide opportunities to study language such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. Lastly, good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses, and be fascinating lessons. 2.3 Some reading skills 2.3.1 Skimming According to Wegmann, B. and Knezevic, M. (2007), skimming is a useful way to get an overview of a reading section. To skim, move your eyes quickly through the whole reading; make sure that you look at the titles, headings, and illustrations. Do not stop for details or worry about words you do not understand. Keep going like a fast-moving train from beginning to end. Afterward, you will have a general idea of the content. Then you can read the text again with better comprehension. 5 2.3.2 Scanning According to Wegmann, B. and Knezevic, M. (2007), we skim for general ideas, for facts or details. To scan, move the eyes quickly over the reading until we come to the specific piece of information that we want. If you know that it is in the middle or toward the end of the reading, start there. Do not be distracted by other items. Concentrate. When we find what we want, use it. Then go to the next point. 2.3.3 Inferring According to Wegmann, B. and Knezevic, M. (2007), inferences are ideas or opinions are not stated but that can be inferred from the information given. For example, if your friend says, “Shoot! I have to wear my heavy coat today,” you can infer that he thinks it is cold outside and that he is not happy about this. Learning how to make inferences makes you a better reader and a clearer thinker. 2.3.4 Guessing the meaning from context As mentioned by Forseth, R et all (1998), this skill should be develop as a normal response to unknown words in a passage to avoid an excessive use of the dictionary. 2.3.5 Answering comprehension question While reading, the students are asked to answer some questions about the passage. In other words, they perform how well they obtain knowledge through answering these questions, using their skills in reading. 6 2.4 Factors influence the progress of reading in language learning 2.4.1 Reader variables 2.4.1.1 Background knowledge The nature of the knowledge that the readers have will influence not only what they remember of the text, but the product – their understanding of the text – and the way they process it. What they know affects what they understand. 2.4.1.2 Knowledge of language According to Alderson, J.C. (2003), if readers do not know the language of the text, then they will have great difficulties in processing the text. Nevertheless, structure knowledge has been shown to have a facilitative effect on reading. Having to struggle with reading because of unknown words will obviously affect comprehension and will take the pleasure out of reading. Alderson, J.C. (2003) cited from Research by Laufer (1989), Liu, and Nation (1985) that readers need to know 95% of the words in the text to gain adequate comprehension and to be able to guess unknown words from the text. On the other hand, not very surprisingly, in second- and foreign-language reading studies, there was an early emphasis on the importance of syntactic as well as lexical knowledge. In second-and foreign-language reading, it has always been assumed that learners must first acquire language knowledge before they can read. Alderson, J.C. (2003) showed that students had difficulty identifying the constituent structures in sentences with complex or unusual syntax. For example, where material preposed before the main verb or adverbial phrases come before the main clause. The ability to parse sentences into their correct syntactic structure appears to be an important element in understanding text. Moreover, students found it harder to process syntactic structures in English that differed from structures in the mother tongue. 7 2.4.1.3 Knowledge of topic Knowing how texts are organized – what sort of information to expect in what place – as well as knowing how information is signaled, and how changes of content might be marked – has long been thought to be of importance in facilitating reading. For example, knowing where to look for the main ideas in the paragraph, and being able to identify how subsidiary ideas are marked, ought in principle to help a reader to process information. 2.4.1.4 Reader motivation/interest Studies of poor second-language readers have shown that poor readers lack of motivation to read or spend time improving their ability to read. Of course, this is as likely to be effect of poor reading as the cause of it, but once established, poor motivation doubtless compounds the problem (‘success breeds success, failure breeds failure’). 2.4.2 Text topic and content The other side of the coin in the reader-text interaction is the text itself. Many aspects of text that might facilitate or make difficult the reading process have been studied, from a variety of different disciplines. Although linguistic is the obvious major source of insight into the language of text, texts have often been studied from a linguistic perspective without concern for the reader. It has too often been assumed that the analyst represents a typical reader, and that what results from the analysis can therefore be assumed to be true of any language processor. However, some linguists and particularly applied linguists have indeed been concerned with the impact of linguistic variables on the process of understanding texts. 8 CHAPTER THREE THE METHODOLOGY 3.1 Researcher The researcher of the study is a fourth year student of Foreign Language Department, Dong Thap University. 3.2 Research questions The thesis attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What are grade 10 students’ problems in learning reading? (2) What are the solutions for these problems? 3.3 Subject Students at grade 10 in Thanh Binh-1 High School, they have been learning English for more than three years. Teachers who have been teaching English for a long tine in Thanh Binh-1 High School are experienced teachers. English 10 textbook were analyzed to find out whether it contained problems. 3.4 Setting The survey took place in Thanh Binh-1 High School where the researcher carried out teaching English performance. It was done in co-operation with the teachers and the students from February to March 2009. 3.5 Data collection instruments A number of procedures have been used for collecting information such as interviews, observations, record reviews, diaries, material analysis, etc. In this research, three instruments: textbook analysis, questionnaires and observation were chosen and employed. The usage of these instruments will be discussed below: 9 3.5.1 Textbook analysis The textbook are a material of reading; therefore, some of reading lessons in the textbook English 10, which would be taught or observed during the researcher’s teaching performance and contained problems, was analyzed to find out some common problems from them. 3.5.2 Questionnaire A questionnaire is “an instrument for the collecting data, usually in written form, consisting of open and /or closed questions and other probes requiring a response from subjects.” (Ms. Le Hong Phuong Thao. M.A. cited from Nunan (1992, p.231)). Questionnaires are printed form for data collection, which includes questions or statements to which the subjects are expected to respond, often anomalously. (Ms. Ms. Le Hong Phuong Thao, M.A. cited from LevSalinger & Shohamy (1989, p. 172)) Many researchers state that questionnaires are commonly used to collect data on phenomena, which are not easily observed, such as attitudes, motivation and self-conceptions, in other words, those in social science. The present researcher’s choice of using questionnaires comes from the following reasons. Firstly, questionnaires save the researcher’s time. They are self-administered and can be given to large groups at the same time (Salinger & Shohamy, 1989). It is easy to get the information from many people quickly and without the need of the researcher’s presence. Secondly, questionnaires help avoid pressure of interview bias when completing the questionnaires. Furthermore, when anonymity is assured, respondents tend to feel free to what they answer so that the result will be objective. It is because there is no face-to-face interaction between subjects and the interviewer. Questionnaires in the form of closed questions or statements, in which the respondent is asked to select an answer from a list provided by the researcher, provide a great uniformity and standard of responses are easy for statistical analysis afterwards. In order to answer the research questions, the two questionnaires were used: - Questionnaire 1a- for students (See Appendix 1a-in English, Appendix 1b-in Vietnamese) was given to the students. The questionnaire was firstly designed in English. Then - during the study in Thanh Binh-1 High School, the Questionnaire 1b was designed to 10 [...]... habit in reading Table 4.1.2.a The students’ interest in reading Question 2 Do you like reading? Yes No C 151 % 76.6 C 46 % 23.4 The answers to the questions reveal that the number of students who like reading is more than those who do not like reading three times It means the students may still like reading 1 Notes: count / number of responses 2 percent 20 Table 4.1.2.b The students’ interest in reading. .. integrating skills in reading classes C % C % Other ideas - Not so many - Sometimes C % 10 100 0 0 3 Question 13 Yes No Do you integrate other skills in reading 30 classes? The results reflect that most of the teachers integrate reading skill with the other skills in reading classes They also reveal that the job is not used often However, as we know, it is beneficial to integrate receptive skills – reading. .. them still think very highly of vocabulary in reading texts and approximately 1/8 of them think nothing about the topic And 44.2% of the students seem to have skill to prepare for reading However, frankly speaking, more than half of the students have no skills for preparing reading This is also obstacle of reading 24 Table 4.1.6.b The students’ skills in reading Question 11 Read the text Move your eyes... 4.1.6.a The students’ skills in reading Question 10 What you have already known about the topic C % Vocabulary related to the topic C % Predict what the text will give you C % Nothing C % 24 12.2 Before reading, what do you 41 20.8 96 48.7 46 23.4 think of? To prepare for reading, the students also have to use proper skills However, the result reflects that the students have no skills for pre -reading Half... problems of reading classes because the negative feelings can prevent the students from reading Table 4.1.3.a The students’ preparation vocabulary for reading Question 5 Every reading lesson C % Sometimes Never Other ideas C % C % C % 52 26.4 96 48.7 0 0 How often do you prepare new 49 24.9 words for reading lessons? The table shows that 26.4% of the students “sometimes” prepare vocabulary for reading, ... problems in reading classes? - Remove or simply some tasks - Redesign the tasks Table 4.2.11 Teachers’ solutions to improving students’ reading skill Question 17 What can you do to Answers - Ask the students to use English-English dictionary improve your students’ - Ask the students not to read loud and translate everything English reading skill? - Elicit the words for the students to guess - Make the reading. .. the topics of reading text in the textbook However, the others (38.1%) do not agree, they maybe want the text to be changed Table 4.1.2.c The students’ interest in reading Question 4 Difficult C % Easy C % 91 21 10.7 Very difficult C % Very easy C % In your opinion, learning reading 46.2 28 14.2 57 28.9 is… Over half of the students feel reading is difficult, and a few of them (39.6%) feel reading is... some Reading lessons of the textbook English 10, something wrong was found as following: - The shape of the reading lessons often has no pre -reading activity - The suggested activities are not very plentiful - The orders of the tasks are not very proper - Some tasks are over students’ ability 4.1.2 Results of questionnaires 4.1.2.1 Questionnaire for students Table 4.1.1 The students’ habit of reading. .. reading? the tasks Table 4.2.9 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading Question 15 Answers What are your difficulties - The students are weak in reading comprehension in teaching reading? - They have not enough skills for reading comprehension - The students do not prepare for the lesson Table 4.2.10 Teachers’ solutions to common problems in reading classes Question 16 Answers What can you do to solve... applied to find out the reasons why the students were not very good at reading Question (15) was employed to know the difficulties of the teachers in teaching reading Question (16) was used to seek the teachers’ solutions to the problems in reading lessons Question (17) was designed to seek the teachers’ solutions to improve the students’ reading skill 3.5.3 Observation (See Appendix 3) Based on problems . received skills - reading and listening, and productive skills - speaking and writing. These four skills are integrated in a lesson to improve all these skills. problems in reading classes. The teachers can get certain suggestions to teach English reading more successfully or improve students’ reading skills because