(SKKN HAY NHẤT) some skills to help students to do reading comprehension tests better at trieu son upper secondary school no2

Iadvise that students should carefully read each sentence and calmly read thewhole passage in order to analyze the meaning of the sentences.Because ofthe necessities, I have decided to c

PART a: introduction

1 THE REASON FOR THE STUDY

The thoughts for this study comes from my own year-to-year efforts to teachstudents to do the Reading comprehension tests in Grades 10, 11, 12 at trieuson upper secondary school No2.I think that the majority of students alwaysfind it difficult to do this kind of tests At first sight, they do not figure outthe content of the passage, but they are not patient enough to read the passage

to the end under the pressure of time during the test Also, this part accountsfor a small percentage in the whole test As a result, students usually put thispart aside and return to it at the end of the test time At that time, students willmake ticks on this part without intention On the other hand, teachers rarelyshow or sometimes refuse to teach students how to do the ReadingComprehension test due to the seemingly unsuccessful results despite theirunfailing endeavor to improve students’ reading Although there have beenplenty of descriptions of what teachers have done or what materials have beenpresented, there have still been few practical results of how or / and what ourstudents learn

I am assumed that the part in which students usually make the most errors isReading Comprehension because students have a small number ofvocabulary I think that in a passage of English, students often do not masterall the vocabulary, so they cannot understand the meaning of the passage Iadvise that students should carefully read each sentence and calmly read thewhole passage in order to analyze the meaning of the sentences.Because ofthe necessities, I have decided to choose “SOME SKILLs to help

student TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS better” at trieu son upper secondary school No2 as my topic of the study.

2 AIMs OF THE STUDY: With the above mentioned reasons in

mind, I have the specific aims as follows:

2.1 To help students improve the skills of doing reading comprehension tests

2.2 To encourage students to confidently cope with this type of tests so as tocomplete the tests at best they can

2.3 To encourage students to get full mark on this part of test

3 the tasks of the study

3.1 to study the logical base of some skills to help student to do reading comprehension tests

3.2 to study the practical base of teaching student to do reading comprhenion tests

3.3 so that we can compare them with the results after applying the new methods

3.4 as the result, we will have some useful lessons after studying

4 The objects and areas of the study.

Because of the limit of time, so in this topic I only apply “SOME SKILLs

to help students TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS better ” at trieu son upper secondary school No2.

5 The methods of the study: In order to carry out this experience

initiative, with the help of both the teachers and the students at trieu son upper secondary school No2 I have used some methods below

5.1 Reading some related documentaries

5.2 Using logical and analysed methods of the problems

5.3 Using methodology

PART B: contents

1 logical base : The importance of reading skill at trieu son upper secondary school no2.

As regards the teaching of reading, I do not totally deny the energies theteachers in explaining the text However, in discussion with the teachers inour school, I feel that our investment of energies in teaching the reading part

is meaningless It is because most students learn in advance from theInstruction Books the content of the text in Vietnamese, not in English, whileteachers take no notice of that Little by little, students get a habit of beingunable to read the English passages by themselves They always expect theirteachers to translate the passages into Vietnamese, or choose the optionswithout intention

As for teachers, after asking students, especially good students, to translatethe text, or doing it for the worse students, teachers let students do the taskswithout giving any explanation As a result , students get confused and do notknow what they want to find from the text and how to choose the answers Inthe end, students refuse to read the passage or read them without intention,then choose the answers at random and never know whether their answers areright or not As a result, students put no efforts into the part of ReadingComprehension

I always see that the greatest problem students face in any English paper isReading Comprehension Students either spend much time on it withoutknowing for sure the answers or do it without intention As for me, I wouldlike to present in this paper some following skills to help my colleagues teachstudents how to get over this problem so that the latter can do this part moreeasily and exactly I hope that my topic “SOME SKILLs to help

students TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

better” can result in effective ways in teaching students how to complete

their tests perfectly

2 The status of teaching reading skill at trieu son upper secondary school No2

Although English has become a main subject at school, the motivation of itsuseful benefit hasn’t been concerned about very much The vital reasons arethe lacks of materials and facialities of teaching, furthermore, the qualitiy ofteaching or learnig is not appreciated, in other way, It has not apealed to thepassinate interest of the students This is clearly shown in many teachingperiods, students always ignored to read the long passages owing to the newwords ( complex words) , structures or contex of the reading passages, somost of the students are bad at reading skill, in other word, they are not good

at doing the reading comprehension tests

This study has been used in the school year 2013 – 2014 at classes 10C1,10C5, 10C7, 12A5, and 12a9, and the result is as follows:

Before the study:

For these above reasons, I think that my topic “SOME SKILLs to

help students TO DO READING COMPREHENSION

TESTS better” can result in effective ways in teaching students how to

complete their tests well

3 The methods to carry out some skills to help students TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS better:

Each reading passage is often followed by 5 questions of readingcomprehension and vocabulary Topics of the reading passage are varied, butthey are often informational subjects such as history, literature, art,architecture, geology, geography Time is definitely a factor in the ReadingComprehension.

Some students, especially average students, note that they are unable to finishall the questions in this section Others cannot understand what the passage isabout, so they do without intention and don’t know surely if their answer istrue Therefore, they need to make the most efficient use of their time in thissection to get the highest score The following method is the best way ofattacking a reading passage to get the most questions correct in a limitedamount of time

STRATEGIES FOR THE READING COMPREHENSION

QUESTIONS

1 Skim the reading passage to determine the main idea and the overallorganizations of ideas in the passage You do not need to understandevery detail in each passage to answer the questions correctly It istherefore a waste of time to read the passage with the intent ofunderstanding every single detail before you try to answer thequestions

2 Look ahead at the questions to determine what types of questions youmust answer Each type of question is answered in a different way

3 Find the section of the passage that deals with each question Thequestion – type tells you exactly where to look in the passage to findcorrect answers

3.1 For main ideas questions, look at the first line of each paragraph

3.2 For directly and indirectly answered detail questions, choose a keyword in the question, and skim for that key word (or a related idea) inorder in the passage.

3.3 For vocabulary questions, the questions will tell you where theword is located in the passage

3.4 For overall review questions, the answers are found anywhere inthe passage

4 Read the part of the passage that contains the answers carefully Theanswer will probably be in the same sentence (or one sentence before

or after) the key word or idea

5. Choose the best answer to each question from the four answer choiceslisted in the textbook The best answer can be chosen according towhat is given in the appropriate section of the passage, eliminatedefinitely wrong answers, and mark the best guess on the answer sheet

The following skills will help students to implement these strategies in theReading passage of the test

3.1 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE IDEAS OF THE PASSAGE.

It is very common for reading passages of the test to have questions about theoverall ideas in the passage The most common type of question asks aboutthe main idea, topic, title, or subject

Skill 1 Answer main idea questions correctly.

Students may be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, ormain idea These questions are all really asking what primary point that theauthor is trying to get across in the passage, and it is not difficult to find themain idea by studying the topic sentence, which is most probably found at thebeginning of a paragraph

If the passage consists of only one paragraph, students should study thebeginning of that paragraph to determine the main idea If a passage consists

of more than one paragraph, students study the beginning to determine themain idea

Example 1 In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2013 -2014, Code

AV 121, the Reading comprehension is that:

The Asian Beach Games is a multi – sport event held every two years amongathletes representing countries from Asia The games are regulated by theOlympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in 2008 in Bali,Indonesia

This Games will be composed of sports with strong television appeal such aswindsurfing, kite boarding, swimming, beach volleyball, beach handball,beach soccer, and dragon boat racing

The Asian Indoor Games is a multi – sport event held every two years amongathletes representing countries from Asia The Games are regulated by theOlympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand

This Games will be composed by sports with TV broadcasting potential andnot included in the Asian Games and Winter Asia Games Programs and arenot Olympic sports The sports program will comprise from six to eightexciting sports with strong television appeal, including electronic sports,extreme sports, aerobics, acrobatics, indoor athletics, dance sports, inlinehockey, fin swimming, and 25 meters short course swimming

Question 27 The passage is about ………

A The Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games

B The Olympic Council of Asia

C The Asian Games and Winter Asian Games Programs

D The Asian Indoor Games and Winter Asian Games Programs.

In the above given passage, there are four paragraphs Students should be sure

to read the first sentence of each paragraph to determine the subject, title, ormain idea In Example 1, the first sentence of the first paragraph of this

passage discusses the Asian Beach Games, and the second paragraph begins with “this Games”, which means that it is about the Asian Beach Games The first sentence of the third paragraph tells of the Asian Indoor Games, about which the fourth paragraph tells, also beginning with “this Games” So the whole passage discusses the two kinds of games: the Asian Beach Games and

the Asian Indoor Games Therefore, the best choice is answer A.

The following chart outlines the key information that students shouldremember about main idea questions:

MAIN IDEA QUESTIONSHOW TO IDENTIFY

THE QUESTIONS

What is the topic of the passage?

What is the subject of the passage?

What is the main idea of the passage?

What is the author’s main point in the

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

1 Read the first line of each paragraph

2 Look for a common theme or idea in

the first lines.

3 Pass your eyes quickly over the rest ofthe passage to check that you reallyhave found the topic sentence(s)

4 Eliminate any definitely wronganswers and choose the best answerfrom the remaining choices

3.2 DIRECTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS.

Skill 2 Answer mentioned detail questions correctly.

A stated detail question asks about one piece of information in the passagerather than the passage as a whole The answers to these questions aregenerally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often arestatement of what is given in the passage This means that the correctanswer often expresses the same idea as what is written in the passage, but thewords are not exactly the same

Example 2: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit 4 “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph:

At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabledchildren They used to believe that their children could not learn anything

at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Graduallymore children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher wasmaking great efforts to help their poor kids

Question 2: At first the parents were the idea of sending

their children to the special class

A interested in B opposed to

C satisfied with D worried about

Since in the first sentence of the paragraph, there is the noun “opposition”,

we can see from the four answers the verb “opposed” in the answer B, they

are in a family So the answer B is the best one

The following chart outlines the key information that students shouldremember about stated detail questions:

MENTIONED DETAIL QUESTIONS

HOW TO IDENTIFYTHE QUESTION

According to the passage, …

It is stated in the passage … The passage indicates that … The author mentions that … Which of the following is true …?

WHERE TO FINDTHE ANSWER

The answers to these questions are found in order

in the passageHOW TO ANSWER

THE QUESTION

1 Choose a key word in the question

2 Skim in the appropriate part of the passagefor the key word or idea

3 Read the sentence that contains the keyword or idea carefully

4 Look for the answer that restates an idea inthe passage

5 Eliminate the definitely wrong answers andchoose the best answer from the remainingchoices

Skill 3 Find “not mentioned ” details.

Students will sometimes be asked to find an answer that is not stated or not

mentioned or not true in the passage This type of question really means that

three of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the passage, while one

answer is not The actual job is to find the three correct answers and then

choose the letter of the one remaining answer The teacher asks students tonotice that there are two kinds of answers to this type of question:

1) There are three true answers and one answer that is not discussed in thepassage

2) There are three true answers and one that is false according to thepassage

Example 3: In English 12, page 163 and 164, Unit 15 “Woman in Society”, Part Reading, the last paragraph:

Today, although their status varies in different countries, women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights The most important

of these are: the right to have equal work opportunities and pay to men, the right to vote, and the right to formal education

Question 5: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the last

paragraph as one of women’s legal rights today?

A the right to hold property

B the right to equal pay

C equal employment opportunity rights

D the right to vote

The question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned, so three of the answers are listed in the passage and one is not Since the right to equal pay,

equal employment opportunity rights, the right to vote, are listed in the

passage, answers B, C, and D are incorrect However, the right to hold

property is not listed in the passage, so answer D is the best answer to this

question

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about

“unstated” detail questions:

“not mentioned” DETAIL QUESTIONS

HOW TO IDENTIFYTHE QUESTION

Which of the following is not stated …?

Which of the following is not mentioned …?

Which of the following is not discussed …?

All of the following are true except …?

WHERE TO FINDTHE ANSWER

The answers to these questions are found inorder in the passage

HOW TO ANSWERTHE QUESTION

1 Choose a key word in the question

2 Scan in the appropriate place in thepassage for the key word (or relatedidea)

3 Read the sentence that contains the keyword or idea carefully

4 Look for answers that are definitelytrue according to the passage

Eliminate those answers

5 Choose the answer that is not true ornot discussed in the passage

Skill 4 Find pronoun referents.

In the Reading comprehension of the test, you will sometimes be asked todetermine which noun a pronoun refers to In this type of question it isimportant to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, andthe pronoun that refers to it comes after Whenever you are asked which noun

a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun

Example 4:

Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade

A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon

be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening

in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For millions of years,

the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show

things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter

Wadhams said, “The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.”

An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system

Experts call it Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world

will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reducetheir carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020

Question: 33 What does the word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A the Arctic sea ice

B climate system

C refrigerator

D the Earth

To answer this question, students should look before the pronoun it for

singular nouns that pronoun could refer to An ice sea Arctic, the Arctic sea

ice, the Earth’s climate system come before the pronoun, so they are possible

answers Then students should try the three possible answers in the sentence

in place of the pronoun From the following sentence students should notice

that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer , so the best answer

to this question is answer A

The following chart outlines the key information that students should remember about pronoun referents:

PRONOUN REFERENTS

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION

The pronoun “…” in line N refers to which of the following?

WHERE TO FINDTHE ANSWER

The line where the pronoun is located is generallygiven in the question The noun that the pronounrefers to is generally found before the pronoun

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

1 Find the pronoun in the passage (The linewhere the pronoun can be found is generallystated in the question.)

2 Look for nouns that come before the pronoun.

3 Read the part of the passage before the pronoun

carefully

4 Eliminate any definitely wrong answers andchoose the best answer from the remainingchoices

3.3 INDIRECTLY ANSWER QUESTIONS.

Some questions of the Reading Comprehension section of the test will requireanswers that are not directly stated in the passage To answer these questionscorrectly, you will have to draw conclusions from information that is given inthe passage Two common types of indirectly answer questions are:

(1) implied detail questions and (2) transition questions

Skill 5 Answer implied detail questions correctly.

You will sometimes be asked to answer a question by drawing a conclusionfrom a specific detail are details in the passage Questions of this type contain