(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) A study on English - Vietnamese liaison interpreting in HIVAIDS programs of non - govermental organizations in Vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- LE THI THUY DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRI

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

LE THI THUY

DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING MATERIALS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS: A NEEDS-BASED APPROACH

PHÁT TRIỂN TÀI LIỆU ĐỌC-VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY

NHU CẦU NGƯỜI HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI - 2009

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

LE THI THUY

DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING MATERIALS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORED UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS: A NEEDS-BASED APPROACH

PHÁT TRIỂN TÀI LIỆU ĐỌC-VIẾT BỔ TRỢ CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG LẤY

NHU CẦU NGƯỜI HỌC LÀM TRUNG TÂM

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Vu Mai Trang, M.A

HANOI - 2009

iv

Tables of contents

Candidate’s declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Tables of contents iv

List of abbreviations vi

List of figures, charts and tables vii

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 3

6 Design of the study (An overview of the rest of the paper) 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Needs analysis 5

1.1.1 Definition of needs 5

1.1.2 The importance of needs analysis 5

1.2 Textbook evaluation and adaptation 6

1.2.1 The Role of Textbooks 6

1.2.2 Textbook evaluation 7

1.2.3 Textbook adaptation 7

1.3 Supplementary materials 8

1.3.1 The importance of supplementary materials 8

1.3.2 Definition of supplementary materials 10

1.3.3 Criteria of developing supplementary reading texts 11

1.4 Reading exercises and reading skills 12

1.4.1 Types of reading exercises 12

1.4.2 Reading skills 13

1.5 Creating activities based on reading texts 14

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1.5.1 Skills integration in EFL teaching and learning 14

1.5.2 Creating writing activities from reading texts 14

1.6 Suitability of the present study in the research area 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 Description of the context 16

2.1.1 The current syllabus for the third-year students 16

2.1.2 The teaching staff 17

2.1.3 The students 17

2.2 Description of the participants 18

2.3 Methods of data collection 18

2.4 Methods of data analysis 20

2.5 Scope of the research 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 21

3.1 Personal evaluation of the coursebook New Headway 21

3.2 The attitudes of students and teachers towards the coursebook New Headway 22

3.3 Students’ preferences for a supplementary material 26

3.4 Teachers’ view on the teaching of reading and writing 30

3.5 Teachers’ view on where to use the supplementary materials 31

3.6 Conclusion 32

CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND WRITING MATERIALS FOR NON – ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS IN HULIS, VNU 33

4.1 Criteria of developing supplementary reading and writing materials 33

4.1.1 Criteria of selecting reading materials 33

4.1.2 Developing procedures 34

4.2 An overview of the developed sample material 34

4.2.1 General descriptions of the material 34

4.2.2 Purposes of the material 35

4.3 Recommendations 35

4.4 The sample of supplementary reading and writing materials for NEMS 37

CONCLUSION 38

REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I

vi

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

VNU Vietnam National University

HULIS Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

NEMS Non – English majored students

ESP English for Specific Purposes

B.A Bachelor of Arts

Chart 1: Overall rating of teachers and students on the course book

Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards the course book’s layout and design

Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards the topics’ sequence

Chart 4a: Students’ attitude towards the reading passages

Chart 4b: Teachers’ attitude towards the reading passages

Chart 5: Course book evaluation average marking – a comparison between teachers and students Chart 6: Respondents’ view on using the course book

Chart 7: Students’ attitude towards the benefits of reading exercises

Chart 8: Students’ preference of reading texts

Chart 9: Favorite types of exercises

Chart 10: Reading skills students would like to develop more

Chart 11a: The frequency of practicing writing exercises

Chart 11b: Students’ preference of writing exercises

Chart 12 Advantages of using a reading text to teach writing

Chart 13: Techniques used to employ reading texts to create writing activities

Tables

Table: An overview of the coursebooks New Headway

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INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

The diversity of needs of English language learners has long been acknowledged (Tarone & Yule, 1989) Researchers also propose that teachers should identify correct learner expectations and attitudes about how languages are learned and also explain the reasoning behind classroom methods, in order to reduce any gap between learner and teacher beliefs (Horwitz, 1985; Wenden, 1986; McCargar, 1993; Kern, 1995; Peacock, 1999) A learning-centered approach to lessons, materials and syllabus design advocates the involvement of learners in contributing to this design Learners should be invited to express their views in their needs for learning the language, their preferred learning styles (Willing, 1988) These views can then inform the material design, and they should take part in assessing the materials once they are applied Therefore, when designing materials for NEMS, it is necessary that the teachers have reliable information about their learner variables so that syllabi, methods of teaching, and methods of testing match learners‟ needs

as closely as possible According to Bachman and Palmer (1996): “needs analysis, or

needs assessment, involves the systematic gathering of specific information about the language needs of learners and the analysis of this information for purpose of language syllabus design” (p.102)

A pilot survey was done by the researcher with the aim of learning about the needs of the non-English majored students (NEMS) shows that while students want to get good marks at final exams (in the format of reading and writing), they also want to enhance their language competence including reading and writing skills For a majority of students coming from such departments as German, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese who had chance to learn English at high school, exercises in the coursebook New Headway bore them and discourage them from practicing their skills They really need something more challenging Students work with the ready-made-text in the coursebook because the text is seen as the main source of providing and acquiring knowledge for both teachers and students Supplementary reading texts are „sometimes‟ or „rarely‟ assigned to the students During the periods of reading skill, they concentrated only on practicing reading exercises

of a unit in the coursebook and dealing with new words appearing in the text The study also indicated that most of the students would like to have a full pack of supplementary reading materials to meet the needs of the students

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Selecting or developing reading materials to enhance reading and writing skills has become a popular activity in English Department, HULIS, VNU However, a library search suggested that there have been very few researches on designing supplementary materials for NEMS in our university, especially those on the integration of reading and writing This fact urged the researcher to do a research on the subject with the hope that the final product (supplementary reading and writing material) would benefit both teachers and NEMS in HULIS, VNU

2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study investigates NEMS‟ learning needs including their attitudes towards the New Headway coursebook, their practice of reading and writing strategies The first aim of this study is to examine some characteristics of the reading texts and exercises in the coursebooks „New Headway‟ (Elementary and Pre-intermediate) The second aim is to find out how well the coursebook matches the needs of students In addition, the research aims

to analyzing students‟ preferences for the choice of topics and types of supplementary reading and writing exercises To help the students to be aware of the importance of integrating reading and writing skills is also an important aim More importantly, the researcher aims to develop a supplementary material to motivate the students and help them to reinforce reading and writing skills

Specifically, this minor thesis would aim to develop a supplementary reading and writing skills to enhance these skills By that, the study would have to answer the following questions:

1 What are students‟ views on the New Headway coursebooks?

2 To what extent does the New Headway coursebooks satisfy students‟ needs?

3 What are students‟ preferences for a supplementary Reading and Writing material?

3 Significance of the study

The findings of this research will provide teachers with insightful information on learners‟ needs and preferences as an input to materials design, focusing on reading and writing skills input to materials planning The study demonstrates the importance of a good understanding of learner variables at multi-faculty in HULIS Although the actual needs of English might vary among different multi-faculty universities, the applied process of questionnaire design, validation and data analysis can serve as a model or example for

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other NEMS in HULIS or in other universities in VNU Hopefully, the developed material would be a reference for both teachers and NEMS to use when teaching and learning the coursebooks New Headway (Elementary/ Pre-intermediate)

4 Scope of the study

The researcher has no ambition to touch upon every aspect of teaching both reading and writing skills but focuses mainly on selecting reading texts and creating writing activities based on reading texts In other words, the study is only aimed at guiding students to different kinds of writing exercises in which they can use reading texts as the springboard to generate ideas Therefore, more attention is given to reading exercises Writing, in this paper, is considered nearly like post-reading stage

Additionally, due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time and knowledge, the material designed will be applied to third year students learning in session two, including 10 units for 15 weeks, focusing on the integration of reading and writing, designing the supplementary the materials for developing listening and speaking skills will be the future research

5 Methods of the study

According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), the best methodology for studying the needs of any particular group of students is to use such methods as questionnaires, follow-up interviews, and collection of authentic texts Therefore, in order to find out answers to the above-mentioned questions, survey questionnaires - a typical time-saving and information- reliable method of quantitative approach will be exploited to collect opinions about the coursebook and teachers and students‟ attitudes towards the reading passages in New Headway coursebooks taught in the second session Through questionnaires, quantities data, truth value of persuasive statistics concerning the investigated issues, could be obtained

In addition, information from other sources such as the Internet, journals, and books was collected, summarized, analyzed and synthesized Collecting information and analyzing data from other sources also equip the researcher with background knowledge and literature of the investigated issue

In summary, through analyzing the information and data collected, the researcher have flexibly taken advantages of all the above mentioned methods as a source of evidence

to enhance the persuasive value of the study

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6 An overview of the rest of the paper

The paper includes four chapters altogether:

Chapter 1 - Literature Review reviews theoretical background on which the whole study is

based, including the theoretical issues of supplementary reading and writing materials

Chapter 2 – Methodology describes in detail the methods and procedures the researcher

uses in conducting this research

Chapter 3 – Data analysis and findings presents the results and discusses the findings as

well as possible interferences from such findings

Chapter 4 – provides some criteria for developing supplementary reading and writing

exercises for NEMS with Recommendations giving pedagogical suggestions for teachers

and students when and how to use this material

we should be able to identify those notions and functions that will be most valuable to teach

Another definition comes from goal-oriented perspective, needs can be defined as what students should be able to do at the end of their language course or “what the user-institution or society at large regards as necessary or desirable to be learnt from a program

of language instruction” (Mountford, 1981: 27)

In this thesis, the definition of Brindley (1984: 28) would be employed According

to him, needs refer to wants, desires, demands, expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements From this point of view, needs of students may be in a great harmony or in opposition to the requirements of course designers

He also stated that when analyzing needs, it is also important to bear in mind and combine two types of needs: subjective needs and objective needs

Objective needs are those which can be diagnosed by teachers on the basis of the analysis of personal data about learners along with information about their language proficiency and patterns of language use … subjective needs which are often „wants‟, desires‟, „expectations‟ or other psychological manifestations of a lack) cannot be diagnosed as easily (Brindley, 1984:31)

1.1.2 The importance of needs analysis

According to Nunan (1988), needs analysis is considered as the initial process for the specification of behavioral objectives It is from these objectives that detailed aspects

of the syllabus such as functions, topics, lexis and structures derived

A needs analysis is usually seen as being most beneficial for an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, “an approach to language teaching which aims to meet the needs of particular learners” (Hutchinson & Water, 1987: 21)

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In order to meet the various needs of particular learners, it is very important for designers to analyze their learners‟ needs so as to design appropriate courses for them to motivate them and help them learn English faster and more effectively Therefore, needs

analysis is of great importance to the effectiveness of teaching and learning process

Recently, a major trend in language syllabus design as well as materials development is the use of information from and about learners

1.2 Textbook evaluation and adaptation

Thanks to the rapid ELT development in the world, more and more textbooks have made their way to Vietnam markets Although most classroom teachers will not be involved in producing textbooks, all teachers have the responsibility for textbook evaluation, selection and adaptation Due to space limitation, in this study, we will focus on the role of textbooks, and how to evaluate textbooks as well as how to adapt a textbook

According to McGrath (2002), the term „coursebook‟ refers to a textbook on which a course is based, hence, the terms „coursebook‟ and „textbook‟ in this minor thesis will be

used interchangeably by the researcher

1.2.1 The Role of Textbooks

The significant role of textbooks in language teaching and learning process is undeniable In any ESL program, a basic structure or syllabus needs to be formed to enable the whole process of learning and teaching to work A textbook seems to provide such basis It may serve as a language input source for learners By that, they can expose to the authentic language Also, a textbook can be used as a foundation on which teachers; especially inexperienced ones build their lesson plans and give their instructions in the class For most of second language learners, besides the input they receive from their teachers, textbooks serve as a main source of contact with the target language Therefore, textbooks can be said to be the key component in most language programs As Hutchinson

and Torres (1994: 315) suggest:

"The textbook is an almost universal element of [English language] teaching Millions of copies are sold every year, and numerous aid projects have been set up to produce them in [various] countries…No teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook "

In this case, „relevant textbook‟ is understood by the researcher as such that a textbook can meet teachers and learners‟ needs as well as the context of teaching and learning Especially as for non-English majored students, they rarely have a chance to

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practise English outside their classrooms and even fewer opportunities to interact with native speakers Without these opportunities, learners receive less input and produce less output, which affects their learning Therefore, the classroom becomes the unique environment in which students are exposed to the target language Similarly, the textbook

is the only source that provides them with both linguistic and pragmatic knowledge

1.2.2 Textbook evaluation

It is the fact that not all the textbooks satisfy students‟ needs or every context of teaching and learning It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate a coursebook McGrath (2002: 59) mentioned that four evaluative processes are subsequently involved selection, rejection, adding, and changing

1 Selection – of coursebook material that will be used unchanged

2 Rejection – complete (e.g omitting a whole activity or even a whole lesson) or

partial (e.g cutting one or more stages within an activity)

3 Adding – in the form of extension or exploitation of the existing material, this

can be regarded as adaptation; where new materials are introduced, this will be termed supplementation

4 Changing – i.e more radical forms of adaptation, such as modifications to

produces or changes in context/content (replacement)

Textbook evaluation is aimed to examining how well a textbook matches the needs of

a language program and students McGrath (2002) suggested that an ideal systematic textbook evaluation would be a longitudinal one, which includes „pre-use‟ evaluation,

„whilst-use‟ evaluation and „post-use‟ evaluation In this paper, the researcher is going to employ the second kind to elicit ideas from students to find out to what extent the textbook satisfies the students‟ needs

1.2.3 Textbook adaptation

Despite the fact that textbook writers have made great effort to meet the needs of the

intended users, when actually used in a particular classroom, they are still in need of being adapted to satisfy the needs of specific students with different learning styles in different teaching and learning contexts

Teachers can adapt textbooks at three levels The first one is Macro adaptation, which

is ideally done before the language program begins After comparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus or examination, the teacher may find that

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certain areas or even whole units of the book can be omitted, and certain contents need to

be supplemented Macro adaptation is very important because it helps the teacher to avoid waste of time It also helps the teacher to see in advance what he or she needs to supplement so that he or she can keep an eye on materials that could be used

The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit This could be reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting or supplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohesive It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit

The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally an activit y a teacher regards as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in a particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it

(Evaluating and Adapting Textbooks, retrieved from:

http://zy.swust.net.cn/06/1/zxyyjcjf/unit%2014%20evaluating%20and%20adapting%20text books.htm)

However, one thing in common the three levels share is that adaptation involves supplementation, that is, teachers add materials from other resources to textbooks they are using Taking the above options and levels of adaptation, the researcher chose to adapt the New Headway coursebooks by developing a supplementary material

The researcher agrees with O‟ Neil (1993) on the view that the coursebooks cannot adequately fulfill the needs of all students who have different background knowledge, learning styles and motivations Over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear that teachers are strongly recommended to take into account such factors as anthropological and socio-cultural factors which influence the conditions under which English is taught On the other hand, Alptekin (1993) argues that “writers write materials

in line with their own culture rather than that of the learners” Hence, bridging the gap of their individual learners‟ cultural background should be emphasized, which can be done by adapting and producing materials

1.3 Supplementary materials

1.3.1 The importance of supplementary material

As discussed above, much of the language teaching could not take place without textbooks No textbook, however, is perfect According McGrath (2002), a single coursebook cannot meet all the needs of a specific class of learners, even when the

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coursebook has been carefully designed to cater for the needs of learners in that context

Supplementation, according to him, means no more than „adding something new‟ This

definition seems to be fit in such a context that teachers are making an attempt to bridge the gap between a coursebook and the demands of a public examination, or a coursebook and students‟ needs According to him, we can supplement a coursebook by devising our own material He argues that „suitable supplementary materials is not available‟, which means supplementary material has to meet the same criteria as coursebook material, but these are likely to be more strictly applied The researcher, however, believes that in addition to the core material (textbooks), supplementary material should be flexible so that teachers can personalize to make it a better teaching resource or individualize it for a particular group of learners A supplementary material can meet the requirements of specific students in a particular context Therefore, there still exist suitable materials

It is the teachers that design supplementary materials as they “know their own students and will be able to „tune‟ the material to suit their level, their aptitude, their interests, their needs, and personalize so that it seems even more meaningful” (McGrath,

2002, p 84) Similarly, Block‟s argument (1991, cited in McGrath, 2002) that teachers should prepare their own material derives from his dissatisfaction with published material

He claimed that teacher-prepared material is likely to be more-up-to-date and more relevant to students‟ needs and interests than equivalent coursebook material Therefore, it

is necessary to base on an analysis of learner needs When designing this material, the researcher applied the model of Jolly and Bolitho (1998, cited in McGrath, 2002, p 90) illustrating steps in material design It is a clear and teacher-friendly framework that helps the researcher follow steps easily, especially when the research adopts needs-based approach Being aware that developing any material derives from the aim of enhancing the teaching and learning process, the needs of teachers or students should be identified in terms of attitudes, learning styles, expectations, motivations, and preferences in their learning a second language The facing problems are also explored to provide necessar y information for teachers To bridge the gap of a particular teaching and learning context, contextual and pedagogical realization is included in the model When designing a material, it is essential to take into account its layout and format, which is also mentioned

in the model Although it did meet common requirements of developing a material, the model only provided a basic scheme on which the material designers can base to build

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their specific model and to make it more detailed

IDENTIFICATION by teachers or learner(s) of a need to fulfill or a problem to solve by the creation of materials

EXPLORATION of the area of need/problem in terms of what language, what meanings, what functions, what skills etc.?

CONTEXTUAL REALISATION of the proposed new materials by the finding of suitable ideas, contexts or texts with which to work

PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION of materials by the finding of appropriate exercises and activities AND the writing of appropriate instructions for use

PHYSICAL PRODUCTION of materials, involving consideration of layout, type, size, visuals, reproduction, tape length etc

Figure: A framework for material writing

1.3.2 Definition of supplementary materials

According to To & Nguyen (2006), “Supplementary materials are materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course.”

Supplementary materials are materials used to complement the work done in class

(“Teacher‟s Manual,” 2006)

From the concepts of supplementary materials mentioned above, supplementary reading materials are understood as materials catering for reading activity These materials are provided by the textbook‟s authors, the teacher or the students themselves to aim at reinforcing and developing reading skills that have been learnt in class

Lam (2004) claimed that supplementary reading texts should have the same topic as those in the textbook Nevertheless, “Textbook and learning materials” (2000) suggested that supplementary materials expand upon the information in the textbook They may range from “chalk and blackboards to educational television and interactive computerized lessons” It means that supplementary materials can be further or out of what have been taught in class

Lam (2004) also added that the language, styles and types of supplementary reading exercises are more diverse, and these exercises can be done in class or at home

Supplementary reading materials are recognized necessary because they have a lot

of benefits First, they provided students more opportunities to reinforce reading skills

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Developing any skill always needs a progress, and a variety of materials on a wide range of topic can encourage reading for different reasons and in different ways Within limited time in class, it is hard for one to have good reading skills Therefore, he/she should spend time on supplementary readings at home In fact, if the reading texts and exercises are of students‟ interests, they would motivate them in reading, and since supplementary reading exercises are often done at home, they would enhance learner independence and autonomy Second, as mentioned in the previous part, supplementary readings which contain various contents would widen their background knowledge Third, supplementary reading materials itself is a large language input such as vocabulary, structures and expressions that will support students in developing other skills

1.3.3 Criteria of developing supplementary reading texts

There have been a number of criteria for collectors to consider when selecting a supplementary text However, in the researcher‟s opinion, such things should be given priority to as: the target students‟ interests, the length and level of difficulty of the reading text

Students’ interests

Commonly, supplementary readings are recommended to have the same topics or grammatical focus as main readings However, interest is the first criterion to select a reading text (Anderson, 2003 and Hedge, 2000) Reading activity would bring little or no effect if students had to read a text that they were not interested in According to Jones (2004), in such situation, reading would be not far from a „struggle‟ and students would find ways to avoid reading it

Length of the reading text

Besides, another criterion for selecting texts is appropriate length They should not

be too long Reading a text in a second language is demanding itself, so a lengthy text would discourage students to read (Rees, 2006) On the other hand, according to many researchers, too short texts are not always good ones because they may have been beforehand modified or shortened As a result, they would be inefficient in language and information content

Level of difficulty of the reading text

To begin with, a good text, as Rees (2006) suggested, is supposed to contain a useful lexical set, some good grammar exponents, interesting syntax and sentence style

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Nevertheless, the texts‟ content should be in an appropriate level to target students

“Teacher‟s Manual” (2006) advised that reading materials should be within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar

Additionally, it is widely suggested that the texts should be written in standard English They should not have a lot of technical language or culturally specific, slang or informal language that the students may not be familiar with The texts should also not contain many words of old-fashioned style and local dialects

To sum up, considering such main criteria of reading texts before assigning to students is one essential thing for a teacher to do If the texts are guaranteed with those criteria, the teacher has gone half way to the success in developing reading skills for the

students This phenomenon is called „Matthew Effect‟: “Successful reading experiences

lead to greater skills levels in reading, which lead to more reading.”(cited in Rasinski &

Padak, 2006)

1.4 Reading exercises and reading skills

1.4.1 Types of reading exercises

There are many types of reading exercises, but the most common types are:

True/False: Statements are given and basing on the text, the student has to decide whether

it is true or false This type of exercises is often used to check comprehension

Comprehension questions: The student has to answer questions after reading to prove

how much they comprehend the text These questions may attach to the content of the passage or may be open-ended ones

Gap-filling (Cloze reading)/ Table-filling: A sentence, dialogue, paragraph or table

containing a blank or multiple blanks The student has to fill in exactly the correct word(s)

in the blank spaces A hint may be sometimes included such as a root verb that need to be changed, or the first letter of the word This type of exercises usually checks vocabulary or key words in the reading passage

Matching exercises: The candidate must link items from the first column to items in the

second This could be individual words, words and definitions, parts of sentences, pictures

to words (paragraph) or subheadings and paragraphs Because students can get the right answers without knowing the words, if she/he has most of the answers correct, she/he knows the last one left must be right, these exercises often have more words than necessary

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Rearranging facts (Unscramble): is „a reordering task‟ in which the student has to

arrange the scrambled facts presented in the reading passage (Tschichold, 1997)

Multiple - choice: The student is given a number of possible answers and he/she has to

choose the correct one Correct answers may best complete a sentence, give the same meaning as a sentence or indicate if a sentence is true

Find words in the text: An explanation is given and the student has to find in the text the

word that is closest to that explanation

1.4.2 Reading skills

In classifying and defining reading skills, the researcher adapts from the online English dictionary Macmillan (2002), which shows a most clearly and easily understood list of important skills: skimming, scanning, identifying key words, guessing meaning, identifying the topic sentence, summarizing, and reading for gist In this minor thesis, the following popular reading skills will be taken into account in designing supplementary reading exercises:

Skimming: Williams (1986) claimed that the purpose of skimming is simply to see what a

text is about In other words, Grellet (1981) defined skimming as running one‟s eyes over a text to get the gist of it In brief, skimming is looking for the main ideas of a text and

paying little attention to the details

Scanning: From the view of Williams (1986), scanning occurs when a reader go through

a text very quickly to find a particular point of information In other words, scanning is retrieving details in the text that are relevant to one‟s purposes

Identifying key words: This skill is applied when students underline the key words in a

text, or complete a table with key words from the text

Guessing meaning: Students read a passage which contains new words and phrases They

try to guess the meaning of the new words and phrases by their context

Identifying the topic sentence: Students find the sentence in a paragraph which gives the

idea of what the paragraph is about

Summarizing: Summarizing is an example of integrating skills Students read a text and

identify the main points, then use those main points to write a summary (a much shorter

version of the text) containing only the essential information

Reading for gist: This skill is used when reading a passage to get a general idea of what it

is about, but not worrying about understanding the complete content or every specific idea

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1.5 Creating activities based on reading texts

1.5.1 Skills integration in EFL teaching and learning

According to Oxford (1990), integrating skills is the application of an integrating approach for the development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four skills in the acquisition of knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a coherent way, and practiced together, with a distinction of the importance of once upon the other

The integrated-skill approach, as contrasted with the purely segregated approach, not only helps learners gain a true picture of the richness and complexity of the English language as employed for communication but also turns English into a real means of interaction and sharing among people In addition, integrating the language skills help to promote the learning of real content, not just the dissection of language forms (Scarcella

et al, 1992)

1.5.2 Creating writing activities from reading texts

The importance of skills integration in EFL teaching and learning can not be denied The question of why and how writing activities can be created based on the reading text is linked to the connection between two skills: Reading and Writing Butler and Turbill (1984) agreed that reading and writing are similar and mutually supportive language processes Both skills rely on the reader‟s or writer‟s background knowledge to construct meaning and both make use of cuing systems (graphic, semantic, syntactic) to allow the reader or writer to predict and confirm meaning In his influential study about the relationship between reading and writing, Stotsky (1983) pointed out one conclusion that

“reading experiences have as great an effect on writing as direct instruction in grammar

“ today the idea of integrating writing and reading instruction is gaining increased acceptance because research has indicated its theoretical validity and teachers have discovered its pedagogical effectiveness

We can find a list of authentic writing activities such as guided writing, writing letters, writing descriptions, reporting experience, writing a narrative based on a picture or

a series of pictures, describe an occasion when you were disappointed (afraid, surprised, etc.) In this paper, the researcher focuses on certain types of writing activities based on reading texts from which students can have chances to improve their language proficiency and approach the communicative target language more easily

1.6 Suitability of the present study in the research area

So far, as a brief description of aspects of the role of textbooks, supplementary material, teaching integrated skills writing activities, along with related issues, has been presented and discussed, there comes the need to clarify how the present study fits into the area of investigation

Firstly, the researcher found it necessary to utilize texts to improve the teaching and learning integrated skills for NEMSs Therefore, this paper could be of use as it puts the emphasis on the prospects of designing supplementary materials to integrate reading and writing skills for NEMS It would make possible suggestions in details on how teachers can exploit reading texts to promote their teaching writing

Secondly, from the real context of teaching, the researcher has found the necessity

of adapting textbook by designing supplementary materials since up to now, this field has not been touched upon Therefore, the present paper, aiming at finding the needs of NEMS,

is by all means necessary

In short, this research is supposed to fill up one among the existing gaps in the research field By this, it means that this research would improve the context of learning and teaching reading and writing skills among teachers of Second Foreign Language Division and NEMS in HULIS The research is presented with further information in the following sections

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Description of the context

As the study was conducted at HULIS, the researcher found it necessary to give a brief description of teaching and learning context, including the coursebook being used, the teachers as well as non-English majored students

2.1.1 The current syllabus for the third-year students

It is noticeable that these students are following credited syllabus There are four modules for NEMSs and they start module 1 in their fourth semester, and finish it in their seventh semester Being in charge of the second module, the researcher aimed to design a complete pack of supplementary material to aid the teaching Among four modules, therefore, the second module with four credits was chosen The second module covers ten units – from unit 11 in Headway Elementary to unit 6 in Headway Pre-Intermediate In each module, there are three main types of tests: Progress test 1 (in the format of reading and writing) accounts for 10 percent of the total mark whereas progress test 2 checks speaking and listening skills (20 percent of the total mark) The third test, the end-of-term test, makes up of 50 percent of the whole assessment, has reading and writing format Designing learner-friendly exercises to help the students perform well in the tests is also one aim of this study

In terms of the materials, a series of New Headway, formally used as the coursebook by NEMS, HULIS for two years are considered more up-to-date than Lifelines coursebooks, which were used by HULIS This material, written by John and Liz Soars, has been quite successful and popular to learners of English all over the world Also they are widely used in many English courses for the following reasons:

- According to the authors, Headway has been designed for adult and young adult who would like to use English both for fluency and accuracy and all the four skills are developed systemically (Soars and Soars, 1993) which makes this book appropriate for all kind of learners

- The book concentrates on traditional approaches such as a clear focus on grammar with in-depth analysis and clarification, through many exercises and reading material, yet it employs the “communicative approaches” since students are required to work out rules individually

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- The textbooks have been written to satisfy the needs of all kinds of learners from different countries or backgrounds, they are not merely used for a particular national group and reflect upon their personal opinions

- Student needs and interests present good reasons for choosing the greatly popular Headway series, which is for students who want to make use of English accurately and fluently, and to communicate with ease in both social and everyday situations (Soars & Soars, 1996).|

Each of the main units is based around a theme and has a main structural focus recycled and developed through the unit The contents of this module are presented in Appendices

2.1.2 The teaching staff

Division of Second Foreign Language consists of eleven teachers, among whom seven teachers have got BA Degree in language teaching The context of teaching and learning English for NEMS, HULIS requires some adaptation and adjustment of teachers Most of them try to integrate the four skills by employing communicative approach whereas some elderly teachers are reluctant to it These teachers are used to grammar-translation methods and form-focused instructions During the periods of reading skill, they concentrated only on practicing reading exercises of a unit in the coursebook and dealing with new words appearing in the text Students mainly work with the ready-made texts in the coursebook Writing activities are hardly introduced to students; therefore, there does not exist the so-called integration approach In addition, the format of final test which focuses on checking reading and writing skills drives the students‟ attention to these two skills Although what is taught is different from one class to another, depending on both the teachers and the students‟ level of proficiency and their needs, the situation at HULIS raises a necessity of designing a supplementary material to meet their needs

2.1.3 The students

Actually NEMS at HULIS can be divided into two groups:

The first is those who took an English test in their entrance examination; the second

is those who did not The first group consists of students studying Japanese, Korean, German, and some Russian, Chinese students By the time they leave high school, most of them have studied English for at least seven years; however, they traditionally concentrated on reading skills, vocabulary and grammatical structures

18

The second one includes students from French department, and the others from Russian and Chinese department Generally students from group 1 are better at English than those from group 2; therefore, since academic year 2008-2009, two programs have been offered to students aiming at these two different groups The first program is General English (GE), the focus of which is basics of English grammar, structures and vocabulary The second program is Advanced English which aims at developing students‟ communication skills in English; therefore, all the four skills would be well developed No sooner had the second program been introduced, the demand for better reading exercises arose for both groups

2.2 Description of the participants

In this study students at HULIS in their third-year and teachers of English were defined as the participants

150 third-year students were selected randomly Their ages ranged from 20 to 22 They have just started their third module, so they could have the best view of module 2 With regard to teacher population, there were only 11 teachers including the researcher They were between 24 and 50 years old and their experience of teaching quite varied, ranging from 2 years to 28 years

2.3 Methods of data collection

As having been mentioned above, in this research, questionnaires were used to get the sufficient data

Questionnaires have been considered “a vital tool in the collection of data it can

provide data economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Gajendra, 1999: 117) In this particular research, the researcher will use two sets of

questionnaires: one for teachers and the other for students Both questionnaires are divided into two main parts:

The first one, which is a checklist, aims to finding out the attitudes of teachers and students towards the coursebook New Headway (questions 1, 2, 3, 6) Then their viewpoints on the strengths and weaknesses (question 4, 5) are covered Each question in this checklist is based on either recent research or previously developed checklists (Sheldon 1988, McDonough and Shaw 1993, Cunningsworth 1995, Miekley 2005) The checklist is built in such a way that it can meet the needs of this research

In the second part, while students‟ preferences for a supplementary material are shown from question 7 to 12, the teachers‟ views on teaching reading and writing are

In each set of questionnaires, the following categories will be covered:

- Teachers and students‟ evaluation on the New Headway coursebooks (the first six

questions in both questionnaires)

- The students‟ preferences for supplementary material:

+ Students‟ favorite topics

+ Students‟ favorite types of text

+ Students‟ favorite types of reading and writing exercises

150 questionnaires were handed out randomly to NEMSs who have just started their third module The reason for choosing students in their third module is that they have just been through the second module Among all NEMSs, students in module 3 have the best view of module 2 in general, and reading passages in Headway textbook in particular

To some extent, they understand quite well the strong points and weak ones of the coursebook To achieve the highest possible response rates, the questionnaire was given to the students in the class time The researcher chose randomly students from different faculties with a view to accessing a large number of students from different levels, so the non-response bias can be reduced As the questionnaires were delivered to students during the short break, the researcher got back the exact number (150 questionnaires)

Also, the questionnaires were given to 10 teachers who are teaching English to NEMSs All of them were so willing to finish Survey questionnaires were used to collect opinions about the coursebook The aim of the questionnaires is to find out the attitudes of teachers and students towards the topics, reading passages and types of exercise in New Headway coursebook taught in the second module

The steps of constructing the questionnaires were performed as follows:

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1 Translate the questionnaires into Vietnamese

2 Pilot the questionnaires

3 Revise the questionnaires

4 Deliver the questionnaires

2.4 Methods of data analysis

Data analysis is “Moving away from the action components of the cycle, where the

main focus is on planning and acting, to the research aspects, where the focus changes to more systematic observing and reflecting” (Burnes, 1999: 153) As having been stated

before, the data for this research was collected from questionnaires

In analyzing the data collected from the questionnaires, the researcher worked with both sets of questionnaires at the same time The data were coded into charts of different categories such as the attitudes of students and teachers towards the coursebook New Headway, students‟ preferences for the supplementary reading and writing material, teachers‟ viewpoints on teaching integrated reading and writing as well as their opinion on where to use supplementary material Obviously, clear identification of the main areas/ categories to focus on at data collection stage will make the analysis process convenient and less time-consuming

Based on the opinions and contributions of those who have been involved in the learning and teaching English as a second foreign language, new reading passages which are hoped to satisfy students‟ interest and to improve their reading skills are designed and developed

2.5 Scope of the research

Due to the limited time, the survey of student-needs and interests was not carried out among all NEMSs at HULIS to get their opinions about the reading passages in the textbook New Headway Besides, the suggested reading materials provided are unlikely to satisfy each of every student, but they are hoped to meet the majority of teachers and students

21

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Personal evaluation of the coursebook New Headway

reading texts

Types of reading exercises

Level of difficulty

Reading skills

Unit 13 How

terribly clever! Feelings Telling a story Short answer Ele-

scanning skimming

Matching Short answer Pre-inter

scanning skimming Unit 2

The way we live Lifestyles

Studying and living abroad Short answer Pre-inter

scanning skimming Unit 3

It all went

wrong

Experiences and stories Story

Short answer True/False Pre-inter

scanning skimming Unit 4

Let’s go

shopping

Shopping The best shopping

street in the world Short answer Pre-inter

scanning skimming Unit 5

What do you

want to do?

Hopes and ambitions Teenage life styles

True/False Short answer Pre-inter

scanning skimming Unit 6

Tell me!

What’s it like?

Places and people Famous people Short answer Pre-inter

scanning skimming

Table: An overview of the coursebooks New Headway

22

The researcher‟s evaluation on the currently used coursebook would be built on the current context of teaching and the contents of New Headway Basing on the criteria in the checklist of the questionnaires, the researcher expresses opinions abut the coursebook

Looking through the table, we can find that the topics in the textbook are alright but the information contained in many reading texts is out of date For instance, in unit 2 the situation of studying and living abroad is now, to some extent, different from the time

when this coursebook was published; or the topic of unit 5 is “teenage life styles”, which

may be out of date in modern times In addition, types of exercises as well as reading skills

are not varied Most of them are Short answer exercises and the students do not have to

exercise much power of judgment and appreciation For example, in unit 1 (page 10),

students are asked to read the text „People – the great communicators‟ to answer the four

questions The same requirement can be seen in unit 2 (page 18)

Considering the reading and writing integration of the coursebook, the researcher found that the coursebook provided discussion and sometimes writing activities as post-reading activities However, they repeated from one unit to another and could lead to boredom in the teachers as well as the students

With regard to reading skills, there is a limitation of skills (only skimming and scanning) whereas the students should practice more reading skills, including skimming, scanning, identifying key words, guessing meaning, identifying topic sentence, summarizing, reading for gist

In short, from the researcher‟s point of view, there are some problems with the coursebook being used, which need to be taken into consideration so that the shortcomings can be remedied Basing on the results of the study in the next parts as well as some personal evaluation on the coursebook, a supplementary material would be developed

3.2 The attitudes of students and teachers towards the coursebook New Headway

 Question 1: What is your overall rating of the coursebook New Headway?

When being asked to have an overall rating on the coursebook, the result showed that the students and teachers share the same view There is little difference in their views

on the same criterion

As can be seen from the chart, no one thinks that the coursebook is excellent 7 teachers (70%) accept the coursebook and 102 students (68 percent) Although 20 percent

of teachers (2) and 15 percent of students (10) underestimate the coursebook, both of them

23

have a favorable attitude towards this coursebook It can be inferred that they all, to some extent, satisfy with the given coursebook However, like any other coursebooks, once used, they are doubtless to have weaknesses The users in this research gave a positive response

to the use of the coursebook New Headway However, it is in need of adaptation as to meet the needs of this particular group of students

10 15

70 60

20 15 0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Teachers Students

Chart 1: Overall rating of teachers and students on the coursebook

 Question 2: How well did the coursebook meet the following objectives?

a Layout and design

The students‟ view on layout and design can be illustrated in the above chart They find the coursebook appropriate and clear In the researcher‟s opinion, it is the illustrations of the reading passages that make the reading texts more attractive and appealing to students This strong point is once again emphasized by the students when they list some strong points of this coursebook Thus it will be taken into consideration by the researcher when

developing the supplementary material

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Layout and design

very poor poor satisfactory good very good

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1: the sequence is very good 2: the sequence is good 3: the sequence is satisfactory 4: the sequence is poor 5: the sequence is very poor

Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards the coursebook’s layout and design

b The sequence of topics

Here is the topics‟ sequence introduced in module two:

Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards the topics’ sequence

Therefore, those topics are still used as the core ones in the supplementary reading materials Another reason to keep the topic unchanged is that the output is hoped to support the textbook used in class, not totally replace it By doing so, the module will be viewed as

a form of variety and unity

c The reading passages

As can be seen from the chart below, most students think that the reading topics in

module two are acceptable or in other words, they feel quite satisfied with them The length of reading passages is appropriate as nearly 40 percent and 20 percent of students think that it is satisfactory and good respectively The situation is the same with level of difficulty However, that is not the case of reading passages‟ content 75 percent of students show their dissatisfaction in this aspect

16

40 32

1 2 3 4 5

18

48 34 17 5 20 45

1 2 0 12 0

20 40 60 80 100

Ve

ry p o r Po

Ve

ry g o d

Chart 4a: Students’ attitude towards the reading passages

In compared with Chart 3b, obviously the answer „satisfactory‟ seems to be favored

by teachers Such aspects as topics, length and level of difficulty of reading passages meet

the need of the teachers (80, 70, and 100 respectively) Surprisingly, both the teachers and

students are not satisfied with the content of the topics as 6 out of 10 teachers claim that

the content of topics is very poor or poor It is due to the fact that the coursebook New

Headway was published long time ago of which the content is no longer informative

0 10

0 0 10 50

10 0

80

40 70 100

10 0 20

0 0 0 0 0 0

20 40 60 80 100

Ve

ry p o r Po

Ve

ry g o d

Topics

Content

Length

Level of difficulty

Chart 4b: Teachers’ attitude towards the reading passages

 Question 3: How do you specifically evaluate the coursebook?

After collecting and analyzing the data of question 3, the chart above is drawn to

summarize the satisfaction level of both teachers and students It reveals some conclusions

The level of satisfaction of teachers is, on average, higher than that of students After all,

however, all of the participants would decide to use the coursebook again (see Chart 3c)

Thanks to this agreement of students and teachers, the material is hoped to be designed in a

smooth way

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0 2 4 6 8 10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Teachers Students

Chart 5: Coursebook evaluation average marking – a comparison between teachers and students

87

13 0

50 100

Favourable Unfavourable

Chart 6: Respondents’ view on using the coursebook

3.3 Students’ preferences for a supplementary material

a Students‟ belief in the benefit of reading exercises:

40

20 10

14 15.3 0.7

enrich vocabulary learn m ore structures read faster and deeper broaden background know ledge enjoy learning m orenothing nothing

Chart 7: Students’ attitude towards the benefits of reading exercises

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In general, the majority of students are aware of the importance of reading exercises in English learning 60 students (40%) think reading exercise help them to enrich vocabulary; 30 students (20%) claim that they can learn more structures through reading passages; only 15 students (10%) students appraise the effect of reading exercises on their reading ability – that is doing exercises help them read faster and deeper; 21 (14%) put their trust in the information from the reading passages as they say their background knowledge will be broadened; as many as 23 students (15.3%) believe that reading makes them enjoy learning English more; and there is 1 student (0.7%) complains that he/she can learn or gain nothing from reading passages or exercises

b Favourite types of text

In the questionnaires, types of reading texts are given for students to choose It comes with no surprise that short stories are the type that students love to read the most This type is obviously very interesting; however, in the current situation of English as a non-majored learning and teaching, this type is still exploited limitedly This is mostly due

to the fact that the length of this type is not suitable for a non-English majored student– the text ranges from 150 – 450 words

Favorite types of text

Chart 8: Students’ preference of reading texts

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c Favorite types of reading and writing exercises

According to the survey, Fill-in exercise is believed to be the most difficult type Ranked second is Vocabulary followed by Summarizing the text Multiple choice, Cloze

reading, Matching, Short answer and True or false exercise are ranked the forth, fifth,

sixth, seventh and eighth respectively

Students stated in the survey that they prefer Multiple choice exercises more than any other types In the second, third and forth place is True or false, Vocabulary and

Matching respectively Short answer, Fill-in, Cloze reading and Summarizing are not their

favourite; they are ranked number five, six, seven, eighth respectively

69 4

30

7 51 0

50 100

fil n

vo ca

bu la ry

su m

ar iz

in g

m tip le

ho ic e

cl oz

e

ad in g

m

ch in g

sh or

t a ns

w er

tr ue /fa ls e

Types of exercises

Chart 9: Favorite types of exercises

c Students‟ preferences for reading skills developed

According to the survey, three skills that most students wish to develop is skimming, understanding sentence/ paragraph structure and scanning:

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

skimming scanning making inferences interpreting figures of speech and idioms

summarizing for synthesizing materials

recognizing the author's purpose/points of views understanding the sentence/paragraph strucutre guessing new words

Chart 10: Reading skills students would like to develop more

d Students‟ preferences for writing skills developed

As can be seen from the chart below, the types of writing exercise are quite various,

among which, rewriting the sentences without changing the original meaning is the most

frequently-practised type by NEMS This is a guided writing type which can develop students‟ flexibility in using structures, as well as be used as check tool of students‟

comprehension In contrast, summarizing a reading text has never been focused on This is

a quite synthesizing and difficult type of writing exercise; therefore, it should have been practiced

1: rewriting the sentences without changing the original meaning

2: reordering the given words to make a complete sentence

3 using suggested words to make a complete sentence 4: summarizing a reading text

5: writing formal and informal letters 6: writing on the given topic

Chart 11a: The frequency of practicing writing exercises

It is understandable that most students wish to practice the type writing on the given

topic (paragraphs, essays) more This type of exercise is free writing and quite

personalized one Students can write based on their own experience, use their own way and vocabulary to express their ideas However, teachers should be ready to provide students help with idea organization, expressions and use of vocabulary Therefore, although it is a free type, it is better if teachers can give some guidelines, or provide students sample paragraphs or essays before hand

1:rewriting the sentences without changing the original meaning

2: reordering the given words to make a complete sentence

3: using suggested words to make a complete sentence 4: summarizing a reading text

5: writing formal and informal letters 6: writing on the given topic

Chart 11b: Students’ preference of writing exercises

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3.4 Teachers’ view on the teaching of reading and writing

All teachers agree that it is essential to combine reading and writing skills, that reading and writing skill must be integrated in English teaching and learning To clarify their point, they provide some advantages of using reading materials in teaching and practicing writing skill They believe that reading passages cannot only provide students with common vocabulary and structures (10), but also help them get used to styles and formats of different writing styles (10) to lead them to more communicative writing activities (4)

10

4

10

1 2 3

Chart 12 Advantages of using a reading text to teach writing

Besides, one hundred percents of the teachers also agree with all of the activities suggested to exploit reading passages in teaching writing They think that reading passages should be used as a source of vocabulary and structures of such types of exercises as

rewriting the sentences without changing the original meaning, reordering the given words

to make a complete sentence, and using suggested words to make a complete sentence

Besides, they also recommend that students should be asked to summarize reading texts, and writing formal and informal letters in addition to frequently-practiced types like

writing on the given topic (paragraphs, essays.)

However, teachers are divided when they come to questions 5 “If you were

supposed to employ reading texts to create writing activities for your students in class, which techniques below would you choose?” Five teachers (50%) believe that with free

writing activities, that is writing on the given topic (paragraphs, essays), only topics

should be given because they consider related reading passages the best suggestion and guidance in terms of vocabulary, structures and formats Two teachers (20%) think it is still necessary to provide students with guided questions so that they can not only direct but also control students‟ writing Finally, three teachers (30%) would like to exploit the

1 Reading texts provide students with vocabulary, grammar structures, and ideas for them to write

2 To some extent, reading texts will help orient the styles and organization of students‟ writing

3 Students‟ language ability is improved to lead students in more communicative writing activities

Chart 13: Techniques used to employ reading texts to create writing activities

3.5 Teachers’ view on where to use the supplementary material

Finally, the results of Question 6 as to whether supplementary exercises should be done at home or in class, or either at home or in class are noteworthy It comes as no surprise that all the teachers think they should be flexible in adapting reading and writing activities in their class The teachers cite reasons for their choices

On the one hand, supplementary exercises, when used in class, are aimed to help students distribute and manage time for a test Working under pressure would give them more motivation to complete the tasks In addition, teachers can give more instructions and guidance to their students Also, they can make sure that students work on what is required Thus, the chosen exercises should not be too complicated and time-consuming Obviously, working on supplementary exercises in class brings more benefits in improving reading and writing skills and increasing reading speed for these types of students

On the other hand, supplementary exercises can be exploited as students‟ homework to help them explore untaught knowledge in class All the teachers agree on the idea that some times the exercises being practiced at home give students more time to write and revise or search information In their opinion, individual work means more concentration, so by practicing at home, supplementary material would help improve students‟ autonomy in learning During module 2, English as a non-major accounts for only three credits; therefore, there is not enough time to cover all the four skills and grammar Teachers should be very selective in choosing in-class activities to meet their

1 Give students several topics based on the reading text and ask them to choose one of these topics to write themselves

2 Give students some guiding questions related to the specific topic to elicit ideas from them

3 Ask them to draw ideas, structures which might be useful for their writing, from the reading text then add their own ideas

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objectives As a result, they all believe that reading exercises can be done either in class or

at home depending on the target of each lesson

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

whole textbook, we find that most of exercises are just short-answer or true-false

exercises, which discourage students from enhancing other reading and writing skills Looking through the table, we can find that the topics in the textbook are alright but the content of many reading texts are out of date In addition, types of exercises are not varied, even boring and cannot motivate these students The strong points and weak points of the book, together with the results of the study become the factual basis for this kind of

supplementary material, which the researcher would describe in the next chapter

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CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY READING AND

WRITING MATERIALS FOR NEMS IN HULIS, VNU 4.1 Criteria of developing supplementary reading and writing materials

4.1.1 Criteria of selecting reading materials

In order to design supplementary reading and writing exercises the researcher needs

to, first and foremost, have a wise selection of reading texts then based on which writing activities are created Considering the theoretical criteria and the factual preferences of the target students, the researcher takes the following criteria into consideration:

 The students’ interest (topics and types of exercises)

The study reveals that the reading texts should have the same topics with those in the textbook, namely:

 Fashion (Unit 11 – Ele)

 Achievements (Unit 12 – Ele)

 Feelings (Unit 13 – Ele)

 Experiences (Unit 14 – Ele)

 Personal information (Unit 1– pre-inter)

 Lifestyles (Unit 2 – Pre-inter)

 Stories (Unit 3 – Pre-inter)

 Shopping (Unit 4- Pre-inter)

 Hopes and ambitions (Unit 5 – Pre-inter)

 Places (Unit 6 – Pre-inter) The most frequent exercise types within the students‟ preferences include Multiple

choice, True or false, Vocabulary and Matching However, occasionally, other types of

exercises and some practice tests were additionally offered so that the students would

prepare and practice for tests and exams such as Short answer, Fill-in, Cloze reading and

Summarizing

 Level of difficulty of the selected reading texts and exercises

Derived from the fact that in session 2 the students‟ level range from elementary (the first four units) to pre-intermediate (next six units), reading texts must be varied and appropriate The researcher managed to select the texts that generally contained grammatical items and related vocabulary the students have learnt The texts are almost selected from newly published books with the publication years ranging from 1997 to 2006 and written by native writers, so the language is guaranteed to be standard and modern

 Length of the selected reading texts

Although the length of the reading texts depends on the objective of each unit, the researcher believes that the length of the reading texts is satisfactory to be exploited by the

34

teachers and students It is widely suggested that texts between 500 and 1,500 words should be used, (similar to the length of texts in the coursebook) However, longer texts can still be made use of to make jigsaw reading exercises while shorter texts can be used as cloze exercises

4.1.2 Developing procedures

The complete selection of reading texts underwent five steps (the model of Jolly and Bolitho, 1998)

IDENTIFICATION by teachers or learner(s) of a need to fulfill or a problem to solve by the creation of materials

EXPLORATION of the area of need/problem in terms of what language, what meanings, what functions, what skills etc.?

CONTEXTUAL REALISATION of the proposed new materials by the finding of suitable ideas, contexts or texts with which to work

PEDAGOGICAL REALISATION of materials by the finding of appropriate exercises and activities AND the writing of appropriate instructions for use

PHYSICAL PRODUCTION of materials, involving consideration of layout, type, size, visuals, reproduction, tape length etc

First, students‟ needs were identified to explore their problems, needs, expectations Due to the fact that the context of teaching or the situation in which the material would be put into practice was certain, the researcher paid much attention to the step of finding appropriate exercises and activities by gathering books of which levels from elementary to pre-intermediate These books came from different sources such as bookstores, libraries, and the internet Then in these books, the researcher selects the suitable texts that have the appropriate topics and length After selecting texts, supplementary exercises are chosen if suitable or redesigned if necessary For each text, a number of reading exercises is developed and ordered according to the level of difficulty Based on these reading texts, writing exercises and activities are then designed Varied reading and writing skills were used suitably The layout, visuals, illustrations, etc were considered as the final step of the procedures

4.2 An overview of the developed sample material

4.2.1 General descriptions of the material