A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL learners reading fluency

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY HOANG THI ANH THESIS: A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL LEARNERS’ READING FLUENCY MAJOR: Teaching English to speakers of ot

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

HOANG THI ANH

THESIS: A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL

LEARNERS’ READING FLUENCY

MAJOR: Teaching English to speakers of other language (TESOL)

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of narrow reading on EFL learners’ reading fluency development The survey was carried out among 70 students at an upper secondary school in Nghe An, Viet Nam Before the treatment all participants did a general English test and 70 students who had similar results were chosen They were divided into two groups(control group and treatment group) and were asked to sit the pre-test before participating in the narrow reading sessions The post-test was designed to see how fast the participants could read and how much they comprehend The collected data were analyzed in terms of reading speed (words per minute) and reading comprehension (percentages) The results showed significant differences between the experimental and control

groups in both aspects The experimental group read with a higher speed, and made bigger gains in comprehension compared with the control group.This suggests that narrow reading has positive impacts on EFL learners' reading fluency Based on the findings, some implications for teaching reading skill were proposed, limitations of the study were pointed out and further research was suggested

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First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen,

my supervisor, who supported and encouraged me whenever I had problem with my research I am truly grateful to her for the valuable support, guidance, and constructive comments she offered during the project time.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to the students of the two classes I worked with in order to gather the data for my study.

I am also indebted to my friends for proofreading the first draft of the thesis.

Last but not least, I would like to express my special heartfelt appreciation

to my parents without whose unceasing sympathies and support my study could not have been accomplished

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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1 EFL: English as Foreign Language

2 ESL: English as Second Language

8 WPM: Word per minute

comprehension for two groups at the post-test

Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of participants’ reading speed for two 45groups at the first reading at the first week

Table 4.8 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the first 45week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the third week

Table 4.16 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the

51 third week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the sixth week.

Table 4.30 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 58 atthe sixth week

Chart 4.1 : The class 10A2 general test result 3 7

Chart 4.3 Pre-test and Post-test reading speed (wpm) of control and

1.1 Rationale

“Reading is an essential skill for ESL or EFL students; and for many skills, reading

is the most important skill to master” (Anderson, 1999) Krashen and Terrell (1989) state that “reading is an important source of comprehensible input and can make a significant contribution to competence in a foreign language.” Reading is considered as

one of the most essential skills which language learners should master, particularlybecause it helps to build a variety of language expression and structures, broadensgeneral knowledge, increases levels of understanding and concentration and leads tolifelong learning and improvement in the first and second language skills

According to West (1941), reading ability is powerful because it transfers from onelanguage to another language Therefore, if a person’s reading speed in his motherlanguage improves, it is likely that his foreign language reading rate will increase as atransfer effect

In the age of increasing global interconnectivity, it is essential for students to gainforeign language proficiency Hence, The Vietnamese Ministry of Education andTraining has put more emphasis on teaching and learning foreign languages, especially

English than ever before Vietnamese students, nowadays, have been aware of theimportance of English and paid more attention to the subject However, many of themstruggle with reading English texts One of the reasons for this is that they lack thenecessary stock of vocabulary and knowledge of grammar rules.

Techniques and methods related to the teaching and learning foreign

language

have also been taken into consideration A considerable number of studies in thefield of second language acquisition have been conducted over past years to examine

as well as help learners to improve reading speed and reading comprehension

This study was carried out to explore the effects on narrow reading onVietnamese learners’ reading fluency development

1.2 The aim of the study

The aim of this research is to demonstrate that reading speed and readingcomprehension of the EFL students will improve with consistent use of the narrowreading method

To be more specific, the study was set out to examine the EFL students’development of reading speed and reading comprehension

1.3 Research questions

The study aimed to seek the answer to the following questions:

1 Will narrow reading help to increase EFL learners’ reading speed?

2 How does narrow reading affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension?

1.4 Scope of the study

In this study, the participants’ reading fluency was measured by looking atreading speed and reading comprehension Reading speed was measured bycalculation the number of words read per minute Reading comprehension wasmeasured by calculating the number of correct answers the participants had Othercriteria of reading fluency was not taken into consideration in this study

1.5 Design of the thesis

This research comprises five chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction - This chapter provides the rationale, the aim of thestudy, the research questions and the scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review - This chapter presents the previous studiesrelated to the topic of the thesis

Chapter 3: Methodology - This chapter describes research methodology of the

study It provides information about the participants, instruments, researchprocedures and data analysis.

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion - This chapter presents the results anddiscussions

Chapter 5: Conclusion - This chapter summarizes the main findings andconclusions, the limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies.Following the chapters are the references and appendices

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a brief review of the literature on the topics that aregenerally related to the research in this thesis Previous studies on the readingprocess, reading fluency, reading comprehension, reading speed, narrow reading andnarrow reading in EFL teaching instruction will be mentioned

2.1 The reading process

According to Anderson (2003), reading is a constant process of guessing,predicting, checking, and asking oneself questions Reading is one of an essentialskill to master in learning English For most learners, reading is the most importantskill to master in order to ensure success in learning English Students tend to make agood progress in other area of language learning if they master reading

Reading is a completely individual activity which takes place in all differentways from newspapers, magazines, written texts, etc Understanding the process of

reading is probably important to understanding of its nature Therefore, “Reading is

an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” (Harmer J, 1989, p 190).

Thus the speed of reading depends much on mechanical process of looking andperceiving and it is the reader who decides how fast he wants to read the text

2.1.1 The definitions of reading

So far, the term reading has been defined quite differently according to its

various aspects such as criteria, features and functions For many learners, reading is

a very essential skill, particularly in English as a second language Concerning the

role of reading, Carrell (1988, p.1) states that “Without solid reading proficiency, second language learners can not perform at levels they must in order to succeed" Anderson, (1999) also confirms that “The more exposure a student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase” Reading plays such a significant part in the success of second language

learning and it is essential to understand what reading really is However, the act ofreading is neither completely understood nor easily described In a general term,

reading is defined as “An active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning" (Anderson, 1999, p.1) This definition of

reading has been generally shared by other researchers

According to Aebersold and Field (1997), “reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbol in that text The text and the reader are the two physical entities necessary for the reading process to start It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual meaning" (p.15) These interactions, in their opinion, are the interactions

between purpose and manner of reading and through reading strategies and schema.Purpose determines how people read a text People may read the text to understand it(reading for full comprehension), or simply to get the general idea (skimming), tofind the part that contains the information they need (scanning) Readers also usesome mental activities that are often referred to as reading strategies to constructmeaning from a text In addition, readers base on their previous knowledge that theybring to the text to assist their reading comprehension This prior knowledge isknown as schema Research in reading has shown that schema plays an importantrole in helping the reader to comprehend a text

Moreover, Rubin, J and Thompson, I (1994, p 91) offer another definition of

reading: “Reading is an active information-seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” From this point of view, the

reader’s knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world is of importance to

their reading success Goodman (1971, p 135) states that reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader- a language user, reconstructs, as best

as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display" For

Goodman, this act of reconstruction is considered as cyclical process of sampling,predicting, testing and confirming

Walker (1992, p 37) defined reading as an active, problem solving process thatinvolves predicting or guessing what the author says, based on expectations aboutstory events He believes that reading involves recalling an individual’s life

experience and trying to understand what is written He also confirms that reading iscomprehending and developing of human learning In other words, reading is morethan just receiving meaning in a literal sense.

From a cognitive attitude, Smith (1985, p 102) defines reading that “Reading

is to understand author’s thought” This means that the meaning of the text depends

on the context in which appears The more the reader conceive the author’s thought,the more he is aware of the writer’s intention

Taking an interactive attitude, Nutall (1982, p 4) expresses “Reading meansgetting out of the text as nearly as possible the message the writer puts into it” Healso emphasizes the interaction between texts and readers in the reading process In

his opinion, “Text is full of meaning like a jug of water, the reader’s mind soaks it up like sponge”.

2.1.2 The role of reading in learning

Reading plays an inevitably important role in comprehending a text and using

the foreign language appropriately and fluently “A person’s future opportunities for success and prosperity will be even more entwined with skill reading abilities It is therefore an important societal responsibility to offer every person the opportunity to become a skilled reader, and in many cases, this means becoming a skilled L2 readef" (Grabe, 2009, p 6).

It is possible for us to claim that reading has a very important role to play inlanguage learning as it can bring benefits to learners William (1984, p 13) suggeststhree advantages of reading to learners: First, learners can have further practice in thelanguage that they have learnt This means that learners will have many opportunities

to gain further knowledge of the target language Second, learners can practicelanguage in order to reuse it in other skills such as speaking and writing Learnerscan not understand anything if they can not read Third, learners can learn how to getbenefit from the texts to extract the information they need The more comprehensionlearners conceive, the more major intelligence they receive

Reading has a large number of major benefits that help learners study language

faster and more successfully Reading is one of the most essential skills for languagelearners When learners’ reading skill improve, their listening, speaking, and writingalso advance There are some specific reasons why learners are encouraged topractice reading In the first place, the constant repetition of words and patterns inreading helps you learn and remember vocabulary and grammar structures Readingplays an important part in providing vocabulary and structure types Learners canunderstand the usage of structures better when they catch the meaning of sentences.Secondly, reading is something readers can do their own Learners can spend asmuch time as they wish on reading by themselves Language learners are able topractice reading skill whenever they want The skill does not extremely depend onothers.

2.2 The reading fluency

Reading fluency is a topic that has received considerable attention in recentyears As a result of the renewed interest in this topic, the lack of agreement on whatreading fluency actually is has been brought to the forefront Reading fluency isoften defined as accurate reading of connected text at a conversational rate withappropriate prosody (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001; Hudson, Lane, & Pullen,2005; National Reading Panel, 2000) and is often measured as a combination of rateand accuracy - the number of correct words read aloud in one minute (Fuchs, Fuchs,

& Maxwell, 1988; Shinn, Good, Knutson, Tilly, & Collins, 1992; Torgesen, Rashotte,

& Alexander, 2001) Daane, Campbell, Grigg, Goodman, and Oranje (2005) definefluency “in terms of phrasing, adherence to the author’s syntax, and expressiveness”

in other words, prosody Taking a slightly different stance, Samuels (2006, p 39)

defined reading fluency as “decoding and comprehending at the same time” and

suggested that rate, accuracy, and prosody are indicators that this is happening

The variability in these definitions reminds us that reading fluency is acomplex, multifaceted construct In theory, because reading fluency is typicallyassessed while students are reading meaningful text, one’s definition of fluency

might easily encompass all that is important about “proficient reading": it is accurate

and efficient, it occurs with reasonable speed that varies with the text, and it involvesgood comprehension of the meaning of the text The definitions outlined above differ

in the extent to which they emphasize one or more of the dimensions of what istypically meant by proficient reading of text The definition offered by Daane et al.(2005) emphasizes comprehension as the most important part of the definition ofreading fluency (because prosody of oral reading reflects comprehension), while theoperational definition often used in studies of oral reading fluency (Fuchs et al.,1988) emphasizes accuracy and rate of reading Samuel’s definition (2006) isactually theoretically driven, as his earlier work (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974) impliesthat decoding and comprehension are most able to occur together when parts of bothspeed and comprehension are most able to occur together when parts of bothprocesses operate “automatically.” Rate is one dimension of automaticity; suggestingthat decoding and comprehension must occur together in fluent reading is to implythat decoding, or word identification, is occurring at a reasonable rate

When thinking about the components of a definition of reading fluency, we are reminded of this statement by Wolf and Katzir-Cohen (2001, p 220):

The unsettling conclusion is that reading fluency involves every process and sub skill involved in reading Unlike reading accuracy, which can be executed without utilizing some important reading components like semantic processes, we argue that fluency is influenced by the development of rapid rates ofprocessing in all the components of reading.

Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp and Jenkins (2001) add to this emphasis on complexity:

Oral reading fluency represents a complicated, multifaceted performance that entails, for example, a reader’s perceptual skill at automatically translating letters into coherent sound representations, unitizing those sound components into recognizable wholes, and automatically accessing lexical representations, processing meaningful connections within and between sentences, relating text meaning to prior information, and making inferences

to supply missing information (p, 239-240)

These researchers, along with Adams (1990), Ehri (1998), Laberge and Samuels(1974), were among the first to unpack reading fluency by examining the variousprocesses, skills, and knowledge needed to read fluently It is gainful in their efforts

to discern the multifaceted nature of the construct in order to better understand how

to assess and teach reading fluency

2.2.1 The indicators of reading fluency

Though researchers approach reading fluency from different perspectives, aconsensus on the indicators of reading fluency has been established There is popularagreement that automaticity, accuracy, and reading speed (for silent reading) orprosody (for oral reading) are the three fundamental indicators (Grabe, 2004b; Harris

& Hodges, 1995; Kuhn & Stahl, 2003; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974b; Rasinski, et al.,2006; Richards, 2000; Tompkins, 2003; Worthy & Broaddus, 20012002)

Automaticity is defined as fast, accurate and effortless word identification atthe single word level The speed and accuracy at which single words are identified isthe best predictor of comprehension Fluency, on the other hand, involves not onlyautomatic word identification but also the application of appropriate prosodicfeatures (rhythm, intonation, and phrasing) at the phrase, sentence, and text levels.Wood, Flowers, and Grigorenko (2001) emphasize that fluency also involvesanticipation of what will come next in the text and that speeded practice alone is notsufficient Anticipation facilitates reaction time and is particularly important forcomprehension

2.2.2 Assessing reading fluency development

The ability to measure students’ level of achievement in fluency and monitortheir progress is key to successful fluency teaching Teachers need to be able togauge the effectiveness of their instruction in fluency; to do this, they need ways toassess student fluency validly and efficiently Although the theories of readingfluency indicators have won general acceptance, there is still much controversyrelating to how to assess fluency development

A Past research has used a technique in which a phrase extracted from a book

was exposed to students for a limited period of time and then students had to say thephrase (Huey, 1968) Another method involves small passages from an original story

to measure children’s oral fluency The passages were read aloud by the teacher andthe students relayed these back to their teacher to record The method of repeatingwas afterwards put onto computers so that students could test themselves by firsthaving the computer determine their zone of reading ability; second, selecting thegraded passages which increase in difficulty; third, listening to a model readingalready made and saved on the computer, then silently reading the passage theychose The computer sets the target and calculates if the student has reached it or not(LaBerge & Samuels, 1974b) Several studies also applied the curriculum-basedmeasurement (Deno, 1985) to assess L1 oral reading fluency This is a generaloutcomes measure of a student’s performance in reading, writing, and spelling Inreading, accuracy is determined by dividing the number of words read correctly perminute by the total number of words read and comparing the students’ performanceagainst the target rate norms Meanwhile the rate is measured by calculating the totalnumber of words read correctly per minute and comparing the students’ performanceagainst the target rate norms

Recent developments in teaching and learning the reading skill haveheightened the need for measuring silent reading fluency As a result, researchershave attempted to formulate methods to measure reading rate and comprehensionboth for L1 silent reading (Juel & Holmes, 1981; Mead, 1917; Vacca & Vacca, 1999)and L2/FL silent reading (Bismoko & Nation, 1972; 1974; Chung & Nation, 2006;Cramer, 1975; Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2008) Regarding reading speed, which isconventionally measured by the words per minute calculation, the one-minutereading probe and the entire text method have been used in both L1 reading research(Harris & Sipay, 1985; Ream, 1977; Rial, 1977) and L2/FL reading research(Iwahori, 2008; Lai, 1993; Taguchi, et al., 2004) Particularly in L2/FL research, thethree-minute probe and the ten-second interval method have been used (Bell, 2001;Macalister, 2008; Millett, 2005b, 2005d; Millett, et al., 2007; Nuttall, 1982; Sheu,

2003) With respect to comprehension assessment, the most popular methods tomeasure comprehension are true-false questions, multiple choice questions, shortanswer questions, recall tests and participant self-reports (Alderson, 1990; Gorsuch

& Taguchi, 2008; Iwahori, 2008; Lai, 1993; Paretz & Shoham, 1990; Taguchi, et al.,2006) Typically, in a speed reading course, the learners are asked to keep a graph oftheir speed in words read per minute and a graph of their comprehension score on theaccompanying questions In this way, the teacher can see students’ progress inreading speed and at the same time be informed about their comprehension level(Macalister, 2008; Millett, et al., 2007; Quinn & Nation, 1974)

2.2.3 First and second language reading fluency

A number of studies have been carried out on first and second languagereading fluency According to West (1941), reading ability transfers from onelanguage to another language Therefore, if people’s reading speeds in L1 improve, it

is likely that their L2 reading rate will increase as a transfer effect or L1 reading is adominant variable in L2 reading performance (Bossers, 1992; Brisbois, 1995;Carrell, 1991; Hacquebord, 1999; Roller, 1988) Researchers have also proposed theshort-circuit hypothesis, also known as the language threshold hypothesis, whichholds that learners have to reach a certain level in L2 knowledge in order to transfertheir L1 reading ability to L2 reading (Clarke, 1979; Clarke, 1980) or attempted todetermine the link between word recognition and comprehension in L2 reading(Levy, Abello, & Kysynchuk, 1997) Besides, past research also found that not onlyL1 strategies transfer to reading L2 texts (Seng & Hashim, 2006), but also attitudesgain more confidence in L2 reading (Yamashita, 2004)

There, recently, has been an emerging body of literature on the relationshipbetween L1 reading and L2 reading development Some of those studies reported arelationship between L1 reading and L2 reading in which L2 knowledge accountedfor more than 30% of the variance in L2 reading performance whereas L1 readingability accounted only for just over 10% of the variance in L2 reading scores(Bernhardt & Kamil, 1995)

2.3 Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learningreading a foreign language It has the nature of communication, in which readingactivity acts as a means of communication between the writer and the reader

Reading comprehension can be affected by word knowledge, with manydemonstrations that readers who process rich prior knowledge about the topic ofreading of understand the reading better than others with low prior knowledge

2.3.1 Comprehension and reading comprehension

According to interactive model of reading, comprehension is built up orconstructed from knowledge sources which interact with each other on the inputfrom the written page Anderson and Pearson (1984, p 225) argue that when students

make a critical evaluation of the ideas conveyed in the text: “they are making connection between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge.”

Numerous studies have explored the nature of comprehension in reading Smith(1978) considers it as a state of having questions answered in which readers have tofind a configuration of hypotheses which offer a coherent account for the variousaspects of the text (Rumelhart, 1977) Calfee and Curley (1984) show that readersmodify the organizational structure of the texts for their own purposes in order tocomprehend a text While reading, they keep making predictions or questions based

on their theories about the world, and if the questions are answered while or afterreading, comprehension is achieved (Smith, 1978)

Lee and Vanpatten (1995, p 191) indicate that comprehension is the process ofrelating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory.Readers make connections between the new information on the printed page andtheir existing knowledge They must allow the new information to enter and become

a part of their knowledge store

If reading is simple mechanical movements of the eyes, readingcomprehension includes mechanical and mental activities In teaching reading, it is

necessary for both teachers and students to have a deep understanding about thedefinition of reading comprehension The students who study reading shouldevaluate continually what they are learning about the definition of readingcomprehension Many people have done some researches to define what readingcomprehension is.

Reading comprehension takes a very important part teaching and learningreading a language as well as a foreign language According to Durkin (1993)

reading comprehension is “intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed through interactions between text and reader.” It is the capacity to get information

from the text as efficiency as possible This agrees with Grellet (1981, p 34)’s

definition, which says that “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” From

this point of view, Grellet focuses on readers’ ability of understanding the meaning of

a written text based on the individual’s background knowledge Alon similar lines,

Swan (1975, p 1) states that “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiency, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding.” This means that the student can excess his

awareness by re-expressing the content of the text in many ways such assummarizing the text, answering question, etc After reading, readers can master thegrammatical structures, word pronunciation, understand the context of the texts anduse it in real life as effective as possible

Richards and Rodgers (1986, p 7) assert reading comprehension is “theunderstanding between the author and the reader” This means that during thereading process, readers on the way to explore what the author implies and to raisemeaning for themselves at the same time in their own language, their thinking andthe own view of the world depended on their background knowledge It is not easy tounderstand the author’s meaning fully if there is no good interaction between theauthor and reader about language and thought Therefore, the reader is as active insearching for meaning as is the writer in forming written language Although

linguists defined reading comprehension in different ways, they all agree with theidea that without comprehension reading is meaningless.

Reading comprehension plays a very important part in teaching and learning aforeign language in general and teaching reading in particular However, the reasonsfor reading differ from one person to another As a result, the ways we read are alsodifferent In other words, the purposes of reading determine the ways or the styles ofreading

2.3.2 Factors involved in reading comprehension

Researchers have proposed various factors affecting reading According toAebersold and Field (1997, p 23), there are some following factors involved inreading comprehension Firstly, cognitive development and cognitive styleorientation at the time of beginning second language or foreign language study.Secondly, language proficiency in the first language Thirdly, precognitiveknowledge of L1 structure, grammar, and syntax Fourthly, degree of differencebetween the L1 and L2/ FL that includes writing systems, rhetorical structures,appropriate strategies Fifthly, cultural orientation which includes attitudes towardtext and purpose for reading; types of reading skills and strategies used orappropriate in the L2/ FL; belief about the reading process (use of inference,memorization, nature of comprehension); knowledge of text types in the L1 (formalschemata); background knowledge (content schemata)

Language proficiency in L2 and background knowledge are two factors whichaffect RC the most because if readers apply their background knowledge to texts inorder to read and understand them If readers possess good at language capability, itwill be much more convenient for them to apprehend and acquire L2 purposes theyare studying Therefore, to help students able to read texts or materials in theirlearning programmer perfectly, it is advisable for teachers to identify the students’level of language proficiency and how they understand the required texts This meansteachers should choose suitable texts to ask learners to read carefully Furthermore,teachers should be aware of the rest factors affecting reading skills to help the

students to the maximum Especially, teachers should motivate their students byproviding them with as many reading strategies as possible and know how to focusthem on appropriate texts when practicing and try to decline the difference as well asthe difficulty between target and native language.

Reading comprehension is a cognitive process that requires myriad, skills andstrategies It involves various factors such as background knowledge, vocabulary andfluency, attention and motivation, and quality of reading material that must worktogether

Firstly, background knowledge plays an essential role in RC Students effort toapprehend a text, students depend on their background knowledge to link what theyhave already known to the meaning of the text they are reading The influential role

of background knowledge on RC is actually unveiled as early as children’s beginningyears Bauer and Fivush (1992; in Pressley, 2000, p 549) determine that even veryyoung children develop schematic representation for repeated events in their livessuch as having dinner at home or at a restaurant, celebrating birthday, making cakes,etc Such knowledge enables them to draw inferences from bedtime stories relying

on information accumulated in their schemata Therefore, the more abundant theknowledge a child acquires form outside world through experiences and from stories

or newspapers, the larger his schematic knowledge tends to be, and the moresuccessful will be his processing of text when he reads

Secondly, the decoding and word recognition speed are two cognitive factorsthat can affect RC at which readers decodes and recognizes words Decoding refers

to the readers’ ability to make sense of letter-sound relationships, including properword pronunciation and noticing common letter combinations, in order to quicklyrecognize familiar words According to Pressley (2000), if the reader is not able todecode, his comprehension will be impaired skilled decoders do not sound unfamiliarword letter by letter, they are rather able to recognize suffixes, prefixes, Lation orGreek roots, ect Decoding is a set of fundamental skills that underlies all successfulreading Readers who experience difficulty with decoding and recognizing words

read at a much slower pace and find it more difficult to apprehend the meaning ofreading passages than their peers without decoding difficulties.

Thirdly, vocabulary can also have an impact on reading comprehension

Experiments have found out that “a more expensive vocabulary promotes comprehension skills” (Pressley, 2000, p 548) However, as skilled decoding has a

tendency to affect RC, it also relies much on understanding This means, the morefluency letters are linked to their sounds, the less conscious effort is required for this,and the more capacity is left over for comprehension of words Readers use decodingskills to figure out the pronunciation

Meaning of words they have not seen before, but this process takes far moretime than recognition of a familiar word: individuals with a wider vocabulary caninterpret the meaning of reading passages faster and more thoroughly thanindividuals who must guess at the meanings of unfamiliar words based on contextclues

Fourthly, fluency of reading allows students to retain information withaccuracy, expression and increased speed The capacity to read fluently developthrough reading practice As learners become fluent readers, they will spend less timetrying to decipher the meaning of words and more time considering the overallmeaning of the sentences Over time, fluent readers will strengthen their ability toinsightfully respond to a text

Fifthly, reader’s attention and motivation are integral to readingcomprehension A reader whose attention is only partly on the reading passage mayread the same paragraph several times without understanding what he is reading.Readers who lack motivation to penetrate the text may do the bare minimum ofreading and understanding necessary for their assignment or class discussion withoutfully absorbing or interpreting the meaning of what they have read

Finally, the quality of writing can also affect reading comprehension Text that

is poorly organized and difficult to understand can slow reading speed andsignificantly hinder RC Poor quality writing may slow decoding comprehension

Poor quality reading material can also cause the readers to lose motivation whilereading, which negatively affects the reader’s comprehension of the text.

2.3.3 Assessing reading comprehension

Accurate assessment of reading comprehension is necessary to know if thisgoal is being met, to identify learners who needs remediation, and to help plan futureinstrument

Reading comprehension can be assessed by means of different procedures,however, none of which can be elected as the best process or the most suitable one.This is because no procedure is able to encompass all testing purposes (Alderson,

2000, p 203) According to Alderson (2000, p 205-206), testers can use manytypologies to measure learners’ reading: multiple choice questions, short-answerquestions, sentence completion, completing summaries and tables, identifyingwriter’s views and attitudes by yes/ no questions, matching lists and matchingphrases The following is a brief discussion of what each assessment method entailsaccording to Alderson (2000)

As stated by Alderson (2000), multiple-choice technique is one of the mostpopular methods for assessing test taker’s passage understanding In fact, it is themost spread way to test reading with two, three, four or more alternatives Thistechnique can be used frequently in reading textbooks because of its common usage.According to Hughes (2003), the test taker supplies indication of reading success byselecting one out of a number of choices Alderson (2000) also said that thistechnique enables test constructors to check the selection of probable responds tocomprehension questions and in some degree to check the test taker’s thinking stepwhen they answer Multiple choice questions technique is a well known procedurefor assessing reader’s text processing abilities To answer multiple choice questiontechnique, students can only make resource to their past experience, knowledge andlogical thinking

Additionally, the cloze procedure was widely used during the 1970’s as anassessment tool of both language and reading abilities Aitken (1977) defines cloze

test as “a type of fill-in-the blank test” which is designed by randomly removingwords from a prose passage and replacing them with gaps In other words, itresembles “fill in the blank” exercises Its construction is similar with lose test insome aspects It is also defined by Alderson (2000) as a test which is not designedaccording to pseudo-random procedure and in which the number of words which isbetween deleted words is maximally five or six Furthermore, Weir (2005) explainsthis assessing technique as a test in which content words are removed from thepassage and test takers have to find the correct word for every gap.

Alderson (2000, p 215) notes that matching technique can be defined as a test

in which “two sets of stimuli” have to be paired against each other He exemplifies

this technique with “matching headings for paragraphs to their corresponding paragraph and titles of books against extracts from each book” In this type of tests,

students are required to match a number of items that combines well with someothers For instance, to link titles or main ideas with their relevant paragraph.Specially, more items than needed for the matching activity to make sure thatlearners’ choices are made after alternative processing (Alderson, 2000, p 219).Ordering task is explained by Alderson (2000) that is a mixed group of words,sentences, paragraphs or passages is provided to the test takers and these words orphrases, etc are placed into the correct order by the test takers Comprehending textcompletely is significant to order the items correctly He points out that even ifordering tasks are charming in the aspect of tester because of accessing the ability tofind cohesion, complete passage, or grammar Ordering task is one of the hardesttests to design and establish

Alderson (2000, p 222) considers true/ false question as a test in which the testtakers are given with an explanation which is relevant with a target passage and they

have to show “whether this is true or false, or whether the text agrees or disagrees with the statement" Alderson also points out that the technique in common since it is

constructed easily Infect, this is an easy test to create True/ false questionstechnique involves students in selecting one item out of two to provide answers to

questions This method is criticized for its high probability of providing rightanswers only by guessing at them.

Another assessment of RC is short answer test Alderson (2000) defines shortanswer test is a test in which the students are clearly asked a question which enforces

a short answer including a few words Weir (2005) states that this techniquegenerally necessitates the test takers to write down responds and these respondsshould be written with a limited number of words This technique allows for theconstruction of how well readers have comprehend script better than multiple choicequestions technique do The favorable way to finish this is obviously to pilot thembefore the actual use

2.4 Reading speed

2.4.1 The nature of reading speed

Reading speed is the rate at which something is read, often expressed in terms

of words per minute Reading speed is usually determined by the purpose of reading.Dechant and Smith (1961, p 222) stated that a complete definition of readingspeed should entail reading rate in combination with comprehension The purpose ofreading is to apprehend what we read How well we comprehend what we read isdetermined by our reading speed, the breadth of our vocabulary, and our degree offamiliarity with the subject matter Reading rate is used to describe the process of

reading in meaningful groups of words labeled “chunks” (Eskey, 2005, p 568) When it is defined as the “ability to decode so many words per minute'’" Sharing the same idea, Nelson (1948, p 100) conceives reading speeds as “the capacity with which meanings are accurately grasped" According to him, speed at which one

understands meaning correctly is very essential since it represents an importantmeasure of a reader’s reading competence

2.4.2 The importance of reading speed in EFL

Reading engages the eyes, ears, mouth, and brain Speed reading also engagesthese senses even more than normal reading because you use your senses and brainpower even more efficiently

Reading speed plays an important part in reading learning Its significancedepends on its task in determining the extent of readers’ fluency According to Fraser

(2007, p 372-373), “the ability to read a text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly and automatically with little attention to mechanics if reading such as decoding"" EFL

learners often have difficulty in slow reading which tends to cause embarrassment.Cohen (1979; in Devine 1988, p 264) finds out that EFL readers have atendency to spend six times longer than natives to read a text Eskey and Grabe(1988, p 233) affirm that the reading slowness stems primarily from a word by worddeciphering which overload their short term memory and intervenes with theirreading comprehension

Reading speed has been illustrated as a major variable in reading performance.Eskey (1979; in Carrell, 1988, p 1) articulates that reading rate should not beoverlooked, when students attain advanced levels of proficiency, they have to be able

to read at a moderate rate and express good comprehension as well However,reading speed has been ignored by both researchers and teachers (Carver, 2000) It israrely measured either to assess reading development or to identify its problems

He arrests that the rate at which individuals read with accurate comprehension is amain factor which extremely influences readers’ achievement

Rasinsky (2000, p 146) was faced with the discussion that reading speed is norvery considerable as long as the learners are able to elicit meaning from the writtenmaterial or as they are able to be aware of what is being read Though he stronglyagrees that understanding is the end-product of reading, he emphasizes the fact thatreading rate should be noticed Because of the importance of reading speed, both theteachers and students should pay attention to improve their reading rate in order toget efficient understanding

2.4.3 Factors hindering reading speed

Researcher believe that there are several factors that tend to affect readers’speed First, vocalization, means pronouncing the words to oneself when he reads, is

a factor that may affect our speed Reading aloud is much slower than silent reading

because readers’ eyes move faster than ones’ tongue and vocalization takes almost slong as reading aloud When readers vocalize, they tend to read word by wordinstead of reading through chunks This habit is simply eliminated through consciouseffort Otherwise, asking students to put a pencil in their mouths as the read will

solve the problem because “ this will inhibit the physical action of the lips” (Cramer,

1998, p 9)

Another factor which may slow down reading speed is pointing at words withsomething such as a finger, a pencil or a ruler to pay attention to the word whenreading This process reduces readers’ speed into a word-by-word reading According

to Badrawi (1992, p 19), although fingers can be used to read faster over a page, it is

a common habit in FL mainly when L2 writing system is different from L1.Encouraging students to fold their hand helps them to get rid of this habit

Additionally, regressive eye movement is one of the criticized habit whicheffects reading speed When readers move their eyes back to check previous wordsinstead of sweeping steadily forward This slows reading down Even though makingregression is a sign of active reading where readers go back to check their predictions

or to confirm their understanding of a text, excessive regressions lead to a very lowreading (Badrawi, 1992, p 19)

2.4.4 Measuring reading speed

It is important for readers to monitor reading speed because measuring readingspeed give a reader a better idea of where he (she) is as a reader However, mostreaders have never measured their reading speed And even this is done, readers donot always measure the reading speed accurately Various types of material thatreaders normally read should be considered when a reader is trying to measure thereading speed accurately since someone’s reading speed fluctuates bases on the type

To measure the reader’s average speed, choosing a page of a book and how long does

it take him to read the page Then divide the number of words by the minutes taken.Reader’s average speed is measured in words per minute

A good reading speed measure should take into account the comprehension ofthe text, which is measured by the processing speed In order to measure how muchthe reader understand the text he reads, he needs to answer questions after have themeasurement of the average speed

Reader’s memorizing speed is the amount of words he can read andcomprehend per minute This number is obtained by multiplying reader’s averagespeed and processing speed (in percentage)

2.5 Narrow reading

The case for narrow reading is based on the idea that the acquisition of bothstructure and vocabulary comes from much exposure to a comprehensible context inwhich learners acquire new structures and words when they understand the main idea

of the context Narrow reading has some processes First, since every writer has theirown expressions and a distinctive style, and each topic has its own vocabulary anddiscourse, narrow reading familiarizes learners with various styles and vocabularywords Second, background knowledge is a tremendous facilitator of comprehension

in reading activity Narrow readers gain more contextual knowledge when they read:The more one person read in one area, the more the person learn about the certainarea, and the easier one finds subsequent reading in the area (and the more oneacquires of the language) (Krashen, 2004)

2.5.1 Definition of narrow reading

Narrow reading, a term first coined by Krashen over thirty years ago, can bedefined as “reading in only one genre, one subject matter, or the work from one

author”(Cho et al, 2005) In the present study, it particularly refers to reading a

serious of thematically related texts Narrow reading has the advantage of providingthe increase of the reader ability in reading text with a familiar context which hasfamiliar background knowledge that helps the reading text more understandable

Another advantage of using narrow reading, students will find several words whichare the same word for many times Students get more exposure by learning the newvocabulary words for so many times then, it encourages them to find the meaning ofthe words by guessing from the context (Cho, Ahn, & Krashen, 2000).

Narrow reading gives a beneficial effect for the students when reading areading context The teacher gives a reading topic which is familiar for the students

or the topic of the reading passage has become the main issue for some times Ithelps the students to get the background knowledge from the reading passage Then,

it helps the students to enjoy the reading activity The students will read differentversions of the same topic for some times In reading one topic in a one certain areahelps the students to dig more information about the style of the reading passage andmake the students easier to read the next reading passage It helps the students tounderstand the reading passage The other thing that must be considered in usingnarrow reading is that it may motivate the students to read, they read the textscarefully to get the meaning and the message of the texts (Krashen, 2004)

2.5.2 Narrow reading in EFL teaching

The narrow reading approach has been claimed to be one of the main ways toacquire vocabulary incidentally (Krashen, 1989) Vocabulary is a fundamental part oflanguage learning and a significant means of communication In English as a secondlanguage (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL), learning vocabulary itemsplays a key role in all language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing)

Schmitt (2000, p 55) argued that vocabulary knowledge “is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language” Vocabulary

is the words used in a language or a text Vocabulary plays an important role for thelearners in studying English If the learners do not know a certain vocabulary, thenthey will have difficulties to understand a certain sentence or word Vocabulary isvery important to communicate, especially to understand someone’s language

Biemiller (2001) states that “reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge are strongly correlated" Students have read to understand the meanings of new words

like understanding words from context Limited vocabulary prevents the studentsfrom understanding the text Poor readers often read less, because reading is difficultand frustrating for them This means they don’t read enough to improve theirvocabulary, which could, in turn, help them comprehend more Learners need tolearn vocabulary, especially if they want to communicate or interact with otherpeople Beside that it is also important to understand text in English In the process

of acquiring vocabulary will include the process in learning vocabulary, below theexplanation about learning vocabulary

Carter and McCarthy (1988) state that “there are three kinds of words that people should learn." They are sight words, which are learnt automatically, personal

words, which come from students’ experience, and basal words, which go along withthe text that students read Narrow reading, hence, fits into the intention of acquiringbasal words in relation to vocabulary teaching, Baker (1989) mentions two types ofvocabulary instructions They are direct vocabulary instruction and indirectvocabulary instruction The direct vocabulary instruction occurs when the studentsleam or taught both individual word and word learning strategies explicitly ordirectly On the other hand, the indirect vocabulary instruction occurs when thestudents learn vocabulary when they hear or see the words in many differentcontexts For example, they learn new vocabulary when they talk with other people,hear from the electronic media, or read an article which contains new vocabularywords It is important for the students to acquire vocabulary not only in the directteaching which the students learn directly from the teacher’s explanation in theclassroom The students need to improve their vocabulary by learning from thecontext of the reading passage

According to Waring (2001), traditionally, vocabulary instruction has focused

on having students look up word meaning and memorize them Students who simplymemorize new word meaning frequently have trouble applying the information indefinitions and often make mistakes about the meaning To know a word meaning,students need to see it in context and learn how its meaning relates to the words

around it (Waring, 2001) Most of the words acquired through incidental reading arelearned through context Students learn from context by making connection betweenthe new words and the context in which they appear (Nation, 1990) They also learnwords through repeated exposure, gaining more comprehension of a word’s meaningand function by seeing it several times in different contexts The researcher like

Krashen also shows that “teaching students how to identify and use contextual clues

is an effective technique for increasing vocabulary acquisition.” When students are

given several sentences that use a word in different ways, they begin to see how aword’s meaning can change and shift depending on its context For example,

consider the changes in the word got, as it appears in the following sentences:

John got a cold

John got rich

John got a note from Jenny

John got into trouble

Although in most of these examples got convey the idea of receiving, the meaning is

slightly different for each one Students need to see the word in different contexts inorder to learn them thoroughly

Students get benefits from seeing the same words for several times Wordmeanings are accumulated gradually According to Andrew (2001), a word that isencountered has about 10 percents chance of being learned from context Whenstudents see a word repeatedly, they gather more and more information about it untilthey acquire an idea of what it means Andrew (2001) has summarized the fourstages of word knowledge as follows:

1 I never saw it before

2 I’ve heard about it, but I don’t know what it means

3 I recognize it in context - it has something to do with

4 I know it

The more exposure students have to a word, the more likely it is that theywould be able to define, comprehend, and remember it Good vocabulary instructionbuilds repetition into the learning process, so that students can learn words morequickly Using and applying several examples of a word in different context reinforceword knowledge Students will encounter new vocabulary words (unfamiliar words)multiple times in multiple and varied contexts during the reading processes.Arguably, this results resulted the “incidental learning” when students learn the newvocabulary words (Garder, 2008) It shows that students get helped from the multipleexposure during they read various texts with one certain topic or a certain author If

so, the theory of multiple exposures in different contexts is very suitable with thetheory of narrow reading The readers will have the same experience when they readseveral texts with the same topic and they will get the multiple exposures inacquiring the new vocabulary words

This chapter presents information about the research methodology on narrow which research questions, participants materials were used, and procedure

3.1 Research question

The study aimed to seek the answer to the following questions:

1 Will narrow reading help to increase EFL learners’ reading speed?

2 How does narrow reading affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension?

3.2 Participants

To collect data for the research, a study was carried out among EFL students

at a high school in Nghe An province The school is situated in a mountainous area,and thus students have a lot of difficulties learning a foreign language Though theyhave been learning English for at least four years at secondary school withapproximately three hours a week, they hardly had chance to communicate withforeigners The English curriculum for these students is nation wide used At the time

of experiment, the participants were following an English program that consisted ofreading, speaking, listening, writing and grammar lessons This program occupied

roughly five periods of 45 minutes a week.

The participants had passed the general test which aimed to divide thestudents into two groups so that the groups had similar English background Group Awas the experimental group which trained with the narrow reading and group B wasthe control group, which did not do any narrow reading

3.3 Materials

The instruments study includes three tests: a general test, the pre-test and the post-test The general test is a standardized test designed for English language learners This test aimed at measuring the participants’English knowledge to make sure the control group and experimental group were at similar levels

The pre-test and the post-test were designed in such a way that they containedsimilar numbers of words and the topic were femiliar with the participants The testswere used to evaluate students’ reading comprehension and reading speed.

During the treatment, six reading texts taken from the English 10 textbookwere used The lesson plans were similar, except for the narrow reading that thetreatment group did

The first text is from unit 8 named “The story of my village” Three otherreading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of textscontained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment

to assess students reading comprehension The second text is from unit 9 named

“Undersea World” Three other reading texts about the same topic were taken fromthe Internet Each of texts was about 250 words and was accompanied by onecomprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The third text

is from unit 10 named “Conservation” Three other narrow reading texts about thesame topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 wordsand was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students readingcomprehension The fourth text is from unit 11 named “National Park” Three othernarrow reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each oftexts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehensionassignment to assess students reading comprehension The fifth text is from unit 12named “Music” Three other narrow reading texts about the same topic were takenfrom the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied byone comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The lasttext is from unit 13 named “Film and Cinema” Three other narrow reading textstaken from the Internet for treatment group Each of texts contained about 250 wordsand was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students readingcomprehension

3.4 Procedures

Before the treatment seventy participants had to do an English general test (seeAppendix A) The test was done during 60 minutes The students were asked toanswer 35 multiple choice questions and do a writing task The results of the Englishgeneral test were used as a criteria to divide the 70 students in to two groups namedcontrol group and treatment group

The pre-test (see Appendix B) was given to the both groups The test included

a reading passage which had 367 words and was collected from Cambridge tests.This was an A2 Cambridge test that was predicted to be suitable for the 10 graders atthe school The researchers requested the participants to time their own reading of apassage with a stopwatch, answer the comprehension questions, and mark time ontheir time chart The purpose of this test was to assess the readers’ readingcomprehension and reading speed

The treatment was conducted for six weeks Six reading lessons were delivered

to both groups as other usual English reading period For each of the lessons, theparticipants of the two groups had 30 minutes to learn the reading lessons as usualand 15 minutes to reread the text and then do other activities in order to measuretheir reading speed as well as reading comprehension Eighteen narrow reading textswere used for the treatment group Each of the reading lessons treatment group wereasked to read additional texts and time their reading as the way they do in class.Besides, the participants of treatment group had to do all the reading tasksaccompanying the narrow reading texts For the control group, after the readinglesson in class was finished, the participants were asked to reread the reading text orfind other reading texts by themselves

During the treatment, the control group or treatment group spent time in classand were asked to spend equal time at home The data was collected every week.After the treatment all the participants of the two groups did the post-test (seeAppendix E) The test procedure was the same as the pre-test An English passage

was given to both control and treatment groups who had to time their readingsthemselves The passage consisted of 361 words and also was chosen from theCambridge test The researchers asked the participants to read the passage and timetheir readings with a stopwatch and mark the time on their time chart.

The researcher followed these steps when administering the test First, therecord sheets were handed over to all participants Then, the reading passage wasplaced face down to make sure no one could cheat After that, the teacher and thestudents turned over the test and read When finishing their reading, the studentsrecorded their time and the researcher collected the texts and then gavecomprehension questions to the members Allowing the students took 15 minutes toanswer Finally, the students returned the question sheets to the teacher

This chapter presents the results and discussions developed after the impacts

analyzed

4.1 Results

4.1.1 General English test results

Before the treatment, there was a general test The general test was designed

by Cambridge with A2 level The test was chosen carefully which was suitable withstudents’ knowledge in the school where the research was carried out There were 35multiple choice questions and a writing task If a student had one right multiplechoice he (she) got 0.25 mark, this meant the total of the multiple choice was 8.75mark The rest, the writing task, had a total mark was 1.25 The total the researchergave students for this test was 10 This test aimed at measuring the level ofparticipants to divide them in to two groups so that they were the same level Theresult has presented as the following table:

Table 4.1 The general test result of two classes

Class 10 A2

Class 10 A3

Following are the charts presented the results of the two classes

Chart 4.1 : The class A2 general test

result

Chart 4.2 : The class A3 general test

result

As presented in chart 4.1 and 4.2, there was a background difference betweenthe participants of the two classes Therefore, it is necessary for the researcher todivide all of the students in to two groups so that they have common background.

The table 4.2 shows the similarities between control group and treatmentgroup after the participants were divided all the participants

From the table 4.2, it shows that the marks which the participants got wereranked from five to ten The number of students of both groups getting from five tosix was ten, from six to eight was nineteen and from eight to ten was six Thismeans students in control group and treatment group are at the same background,which make the study more reliable

4.1.2 Pre-test and post test result

There is no doubt that involving exercise that enhance reading speed in anEFL reading course may have some special benefits of reading speed andcomprehension (Champeau de Lopez, 1993,p 1) With the same point of view,Nuttall (1982, p 33) affirms the tight connection between these two elements:reading speed and comprehension She regards that the slower one read, the poorerhis understanding tends to be

4.1.2.1Pre-test results

For the Pre-test, each student was given a text (see Appendix B) which was

367 words The test was selected from Cambridge English Test The main aim ofthe Pre-test was to measure the students’ reading speed and reading comprehension

Table 4.2 The general test result of two groups after the participants were divided

Regarding reading speed

The object of this section was meant to find out the outcome of reading speedbetween two groups The 70 students were pre-tested and the researcher asked them

to read the text at their ordinary and comfortable speed When both Control groupand Treatment group finished reading, they had to time their reading speedindividually Reading speed was calculated by dividing the total number of words inthe text by the time they have taken to read it (See Appendix C)

The participants’ results were divided into two groups according to their readingspeed

As can be seen from Table 4.3, the reading speeds of both groups werecomparable at the Pre-test In the total number of words read in one minute, thecontrol group scored 64 words per minute; whereas the treatment group scored 65words per minute These results indicated that the average reading speed of bothgroups prior the beginning of the experiment The difference in the average readingspeed with control group was rather lower than the treatment group It can be easilyseen that the average reading rate of all two groups was not considerable at thePretest

Regarding reading comprehension

There have been a wide range of testing reading comprehension such asquestion answering, multiple choice, true/ false statement, etc To assess theparticipants’ reading comprehension, the researcher chose multiple choice question

Table 4.3 Means and standard deviations of participants ’ reading speed measured by words per minute (wpm) for two groups.