Effective strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary to improve reading comprehension in the toeic test

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION I

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION

IN THE TOEIC TEST

A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract iv

Abbreviations v

List of charts vi

List of figures vii

List of tables viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1

1.2 The aims of the study 3

1.3 Content and scope of the study 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 The organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading as a process of communication 7

2.2 Essential factors affecting reading comprehension 10

2.2.1 Factors related to the reader 10

2.2.1.1 Vocabulary knowledge 10

2.2.1.2 Grammatical and syntactic knowledge 11

2.2.1.3 Reading strategies / skills 12

2.2.1.4 Socio-cultural knowledge 14

2.2.1.5 Critical reading and thinking 15

2.2.2 Factors related to the text 16

2.2.2.1 The difficulty of topic 17

2.2.2.2 Styles 17

2.2.2.3 Cohesion and coherence 18

2.2.2.4 Organization of the text 19

2.3 The reciprocal relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension 22

2.3.1 The relationship between the writer and the reader 22

2.3.2 How can vocabulary learning improve reading comprehension? 24

2.3.3 How can reading enrich vocabulary? 26

2.4 The vocabulary acquisition 27

2.4.1 Receptive and productive vocabulary 28

2.4.2 On knowing a word 29

2.4.2.1 Written form 30

2.4.2.2 Spoken form 30

2.4.2.3 Word meaning 31

2.4.2.4 Meanings in context 32

2.4.2.5 Parts of speech and grammatical functions 33

2.4.2.6 Collocation 34

2.4.2.7 Vocabulary competence 35

2.5 Strategies in teaching and learning vocabulary 36

2.5.1 Discovery strategies 36

2.5.2 Consolidation strategies 37

2.6 Discovery strategies commonly used in reading classes 37

2.6.1 Teaching and learning from definitions 38

2.6.2 Using actions, objects, pictures or diagrams 38

2.6.3 Using L2-L1 translation 39

2.6.4 CONTEXT ANALYSIS 40

2.6.5 WORD STRUCTURE ANALYSIS 42

2.7 Some characteristics of reading materials in TOEIC tests 44

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 46

3.2 Research design 47

3.3 The characteristics of the subjects 48

3.3.1 The first group of subjects 48

3.3.2 The second group of subjects 49

3.4 Instruments 50

3.4.1 Description of the questionnaires 50

3.4.1.1 The questionnaire for students before experimental teaching 50

3.4.1.2 The questionnaire for students after experimental teaching 51

3.4.1.3 The questionnaire for teachers 52

3.4.2 Observation 54

3.4.3 Discussions with colleagues 54

3.5 Data collection procedure 55

3.6 Assumptions 55

3.7 Teaching settings 56

3.8 Experimental teaching outline 57

3.8.1 The first group of strategies: CONTEXT ANALYSIS 57

3.8.1.1 What are context clues 58

3.8.1.2 Common types of context clues 58

3.8.1.3 Four-step strategy for inferring

word meanings from context 64

3.8.2 The second group of strategies: WORD STRUCTURE ANALYSIS 66

3.8.2.1 Steps in word structure analysis 67

3.8.2.2 Some morphological concepts 67

3.8.2.3 Combination of the two groups of strategies 68

3.8.2.4 Roots 69

3.8.2.5 Prefixes 70

3.8.2.6 Suffixes 71

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Data analysis 73

4.1.1 The importance of reading comprehension 74

4.1.2 The students’ daily practice of reading and their self-assessment of reading ability 74

4.1.3 Factors affecting students’ reading comprehension 75

4.1.4 The reciprocal relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension 77

4.1.5 The students’ practice to enrich vocabulary 78

4.1.6 The students’ habitual strategies in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words 80

4.1.7 The teachers’ strategies in discovering the meaning of unfamiliar words 81

4.1.8 The students’ evaluation of the first group of strategies: context analysis (after experimental teaching) 82

4.1.9 The students’ awareness of the role and contribution of context to the meaning of a word 86

4.1.10 The students’ evaluation of the second group of strategies: word structure analysis (after experimental teaching) 87

4.1.11 The students’ evaluation of how the two groups of strategies contribute to their reading comprehension 89

4.2 Discussion of the findings 90

4.2.1 The role of vocabulary in reading comprehension 90

4.2.2 The reciprocal relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension 91

4.2.3 Effective strategies in discovering the meaning of unfamiliar words 92

4.2.4 Dealing with meanings through context analysis 92

4.2.5 Dealing with meaning through word structure analysis 93

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusion 95

5.2 Implications 97

5.2.1 Preliminary recommendations for teachers 97

5.2.2 What vocabulary items should be taught? 98

5.2.3 How to teach the two groups of discovery strategies? 99

5.2.4 Encouraging the students’ active role 101

5.3 Recommendations for further research 102

BIBLIOGRAPHY 104

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students before experimental teaching 114

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for students after experimental teaching 122

APPENDIX 3: Questionnaire for teachers 130

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES

FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY

TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION

IN THE TOEIC TEST

in terms of the Statement of Requirements for Thesis in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Masters’ Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University of

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, January 15, 2008

TRẦN VĂN DƯƠNG

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Trần Văn Dương, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, and reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, January 15, 2008

TRẦN VĂN DƯƠNG

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Doan Hue Dung, Ph.D., for her encouragement and enthusiastic guidance throughout the research Without her valuable support and careful review of the draft, I would not have finished my thesis

I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation for the assistance of the authorities at CFS, Nong Lam University, who have created good conditions so that I am able to carry out the experimental teaching successfully

I am also indebted to the teachers and students at CFS, Nong Lam University, for their assistance in collecting the data for this

to overcome difficulties to pursue my studies up to now

Finally, thanks are also due to Mr Lam Van Sy, STh.D and my good friends whose support was a constant source of encouragement and confidence to me

ABSTRACT

One of the most essential components of reading comprehension is vocabulary Readers’ vocabulary knowledge is the best indicator of how well they can understand They cannot well understand a text without knowing what most of the words mean (Anderson and Freebody, 1981; Nagy, 1988; Nation, 2001) Therefore, enriching vocabulary knowledge is

an important part in teaching and learning L2 reading comprehension This study sets out to investigate how the two groups of discovery strategies: context analysis and word structure analysis can help the students improve their reading comprehension in TOEIC tests

Three questionnaires were distributed to Vietnamese students of English at Nong Lam University, Center for Foreign Studies (CFS) and their teachers 206 students and 19 teachers participated in answering the questionnaires In addition, the two groups of strategies were incorporated into reading comprehension classes during the twelve-week experimental teaching at CFS, from March 19 to June 9, 2007

The results of the present study show that the two groups of strategies “context analysis” and “word structure analysis” are really effective to enrich the students’ vocabulary, and as a result, their reading comprehension is greatly improved The strategies are extremely useful for them in taking TOEIC tests, when external sources of help such as using dictionaries or asking other people for help are not allowed

Some pedagogical implications were suggested for teaching vocabulary in reading classes, especially for teaching the two groups of strategies in TOEIC reading comprehension classes

ABBREVIATIONS

CFS Center for Foreign Studies

EFL English as a Foreign Language

Version 1 Questionnaire for students before experimental

teaching Version 2 Questionnaire for students after experimental teachingVersion 3 Questionnaire for teachers

structure analysis to discover the meaning of unknown

words 88

4.7 The students’ evaluation of how word structure analysis

enriches their vocabulary 894.8 How much the two groups of strategies contribute to

the students’ reading comprehension 90

LIST OF TABLES

2.1 A typology of reading

strategies 132.2 What is involved in knowing a

3.3 Schedule for incorporating the two groups of strategies

into the experimental

4.6 The students’ evaluation of the strategies

their teachers have

context

clues 86

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

“Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, standing in a dictionary; how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to

choose and combine them.”

(Nathaniel Hawthorne)

1.1 Background to the study

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading process, since the purpose of all types of reading is to obtain meaning from printed materials If people read words in a passage without acquiring their meanings, they would not be considered successful readers In other words, reading comprehension is the process of understanding and constructing meaning from a piece of text

There are a number of reasons why readers might encounter difficulties in understanding a text Reading comprehension can be affected by different factors, such as the difficulty of the text, the vocabulary items used in the text, and the reader's familiarity with the subject matter, etc Among these factors, vocabulary plays the most essential role Actually, readers cannot understand a text without knowing what most of the words mean As Nagy (1988:1) confirms, “the proportion

of difficult words in a text is the most powerful predictor of the text difficulty, and a reader’s general vocabulary knowledge is the best predictor of how well that reader can understand the text.”

Many researchers have so far proved that vocabulary knowledge strongly correlates with reading comprehension (Nagy, 1988; Schmitt, 2000; Nation, 2001) Increasing vocabulary knowledge is an important factor in the process of teaching and learning L2 reading comprehension Lack of vocabulary knowledge is really a serious obstacle for L2 readers

After several years teaching reading comprehension to EFL students, the researcher of this study realizes that students are strongly aware of the importance of vocabulary in reading, and they often complain about their lack of vocabulary It is their vocabulary shortage that prevents them from reading improvement, and this is especially true for those who are taking TOEIC preparation courses at the Center for Foreign Studies (CFS), Nong Lam University In a near future, they are going to take the test, but they worry about how to deal with a large amount of unfamiliar words in the reading comprehension section

In my experience, vocabulary learning is a never ending process in one’s native language as well as in a foreign language, but it is impossible for teachers to provide specific instruction for all the words their students do not know Therefore, students also need to be able to determine the meaning of the words that are unfamiliar with them They need to develop effective vocabulary-learning strategies However, as Nation (2001) points out, commonly used vocabulary-learning strategies seem to be simple memorization, repetition, and taking notes on vocabulary, etc These mechanical strategies are often favored over more complex strategies requiring active role of the learners, such as context analysis

Moreover, since most vocabulary learning takes place outside the classroom setting and tends to be done by learners alone at home, it would be beneficial if they were given guidance on how to learn on their own Therefore, if we, as teachers, wish our students to continue learning efficiently after class and to be able to cope with unfamiliar words confidently without teacher support, we should then provide them with the strategies to do so Our vocabulary instruction must aim to empower them

to take control of and responsibility for their own learning process Lastly, students are often unaware of strategies other than the ones they usually use Therefore, teachers’ instruction in vocabulary strategies will benefit them by waking up their awareness of different strategies, by showing

them how to use these strategies efficiently, and by widening the range of strategies from which they can choose

The presented situation motivated my current research into how to develop and incorporate vocabulary discovery strategies into a reading comprehension class I strongly believe that when provided with effective strategies, students will become more self-confident and independent in discovering the meaning of unknown words by themselves Such strategies are extremely useful for them in taking TOEIC tests, when external sources of help such as using dictionaries or asking other people for help are not allowed

1.2 The aims of the study

Based on the achievements of previous studies as well as the experiences of colleagues and the researcher himself in teaching English vocabulary to Vietnamese learners of English at CFS, Nong Lam University, this study aims:

1) To investigate the reciprocal relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension;

2) To systematize and incorporate the two groups of discovery strategies “context analysis” and “word structure analysis” into a reading comprehension class to help students improve their reading comprehension; and

3) To suggest some implications for teaching and learning vocabulary in a TOEIC reading comprehension class

1.3 Content and scope of the study

The study mainly deals with the students in TOEIC preparation courses at CFS, Nong Lam University Therefore, the results of this study

just aim to be applied in this setting In other words, this study might not

be generalized to all other circumstances

Due to the time limit, the study does not cover all learning strategies, but just focuses on the two groups of discovery strategies: context analysis and word structure analysis, through which,

vocabulary-as the researcher believes, students can improve their reading comprehension ability when taking the TOEIC test

1.4 Significance of the study

1.4.1 Scientific significance

When reviewing different techniques and strategies in teaching vocabulary, the study proves that knowing a word is knowing not only its meaning, but many other aspects as well, including: pronunciation [phonetic aspects], spelling, part of speech, word-structure (prefixes, roots and suffixes) [morphological and syntactic properties], multiple meanings [semantic aspects], the context in which it can be used [pragmatic aspects] Therefore, when teaching a new vocabulary item, teachers should be strongly aware of the complexity of the matter

This study focuses on vocabulary in reading, so vocabulary is mainly considered here in morphological, syntactic and pragmatic aspects However, what it means to know a word is much more deepened than in some traditional approaches which focus on vocabulary in isolation The nature of word knowledge, the components and different types of word knowledge (active and passive, receptive and productive) are taken into consideration to draw out beneficial suggestions for teachers as well as learners of English

Actually, the two groups of strategies: discovering word meaning through context analysis and word structure analysis are not entirely new, but they are renewed by the ways they are developed and applied in a specific teaching and learning condition: TOEIC oriented syllabus

1.4.2 Practical significance

Experienced teachers understand that vocabulary is one of the most essential components of language acquisition No matter how well students learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication cannot happen in any meaningful way So, the more vocabulary items students know, the better they are able to comprehend Good vocabulary knowledge opens students up to a wider range of reading materials A rich vocabulary instruction also helps them to improve their communication ability not only in reading, but also in speaking, listening, and writing

In order to be skilled in using context analysis and word structure analysis, students need to improve their linguistic knowledge as well as their ability in critical reading and thinking; as a result, they are initially directed to textual analysis, a high level of reading Certainly, textual analysis requires much more, such as semiotics, rhetorical analysis, ideological analysis, and psychoanalytic approaches, etc These types of analysis seek to get beneath the surface (denotative) meanings and examine more implicit (connotative) social meanings Anyhow, through this very beginning step in analyzing the structural characteristics of text,

as coherence, text organization, concept load or density, etc students can get deeper comprehension In short, the two groups of strategies contribute not only to vocabulary enrichment but also to reading comprehension in a very deep level

1.5 The organization of the study

The study is organized in five chapters Chapter 1 is an introduction

to the study It presents the background to the study, the purpose of the study, the significance and organization of the study Chapter 2 provides

a literature review of the role of vocabulary in reading comprehension, the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension, the nature

of vocabulary acquisition and a background of vocabulary teaching and learning, especially the two concepts “context analysis” and “word-structure analysis.” Additionally, some characteristics of reading materials

in TOEIC tests are taken into consideration Chapter 3 describes the design and the methodology used in this study It involves the characteristics of the subjects, the instruments, the experimental teaching, and data collection procedure Chapter 4 consists of the data analysis and discussion of the findings Chapter 5 presents the conclusions, and offers some teaching implications as well as recommendations for further research

Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the findings from previous studies which seem most relevant and useful for the study will be discussed to create a theoretical framework for the experimental teaching

2.1 Reading as a process of communication

It is not easy to give an overview of the nature of reading because there are so many aspects to consider A lot of challenging questions can

be raised such as what reading is; how it is acquired and taught; how reading in a second language differs from reading in a first language; how reading relates to other cognitive and perceptual abilities, etc (Alderson, 2000)

Harmer (1992) classified the four skills of language into two categories: productive skills (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (listening and reading) He then emphasizes that whenever communication takes place, there is necessarily a speaker (and/or writer) and a listener (and/or reader) Therefore, not only listening and speaking but also reading and writing are considered as a communication process Figure 2.1 gives us a very simple model of the communication

Figure 2.1: The communication process (Nuttall, 1996:4)

On the left is the writer or encoder The encoder has a message in mind which he/she wants somebody else to share To do so, he/she must first put it into words (encoding it) Once encoded, it is available outside her mind as a written or spoken text The text is accessible to the mind of

encoding decoding

the person who reads or hears it, and who may then decode the message

it contains After decoded, the message enters the mind of the decoder and communication is achieved (Nuttall, 1996; Harmer, 1992)

Up to the present time, research on reading process has been mainly based on either of the two approaches: the bottom-up approach and the top-down approach

Bottom-up approaches make use of information that is available

in the data (the words, sentences, etc.) When using this approach, the reader understands a text mainly by analyzing the words and sentences in the text itself In other words, the reader begins with the printed words, recognizes words and decodes their meanings This approach was typically associated with behaviorism in the 1940s and 1950s, and in this traditional view, readers are passive decoders of sequential graphic-phonemic-syntactic-semantic systems (Long & Richards, 1987; Alderson, 2000).

Top-down approaches, on the other hand, make use of the reader’s previous knowledge, his or her expectations, experience, scripts, and schemes1 in reading the text From this point of view, top-down approaches emphasize the importance of the knowledge2 that a reader brings to text and his/her contribution (Long & Richards, 1997; Richards, Platt and Platt, 1992; Alderson, 2000)

Recently, researchers have believed that neither the bottom-up nor the top-down approach is an adequate description of reading process The more adequate models are interactive models, in which every component in the reading process can interact with any other component,

1 The term “scheme” or “schema” refers to the underlying structure that accounts for the organization of a text or discourse “Different kinds of texts and discourse (stories, descriptions, letters, reports, poems, etc.) are distinguished by the ways in which the topic, proposition, and other information are linked together to form a unit.” [Note that the plural of scheme is schemes, but the plural of schema is either schemes or schemata.] (Richards, Platt and Platt, 1992:323)

2 This previously acquired knowledge is called the reader’s background knowledge, and the role of background knowledge has been formalized as schema theory According to the schema theory, comprehending a text is an interactive process between the reader’s background knowledge and the text (Long & Richards, 1987)

for example, the reader’s knowledge (linguistic knowledge as well as background knowledge) interacts with visual input (what the reader sees

in the text) Readers are not passive identifiers of letters and words but active constructors of their own knowledge Researchers also think that in practice a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, at first adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer means This model has become known as interactive reading (Nuttall, 1996; Alderson, 2000)

Far from being a “passive” skill, reading is, in fact, “an active process

in which readers relate what is conveyed in the text and what they already know.” Knowledge of the language allows readers to identify the printed words and sentences Knowledge of the world allows them to comprehend these words and sentences Therefore, when they read, they do something with what they have just seen (Harmer, 1992:188) The basic principle underlying the schema theory is that texts themselves do not carry meaning Rather they provide signposts, or clues

to be utilized by readers in reconstructing the original meanings of writers Therefore, reading comprehension is an interactive process between the reader and the text “The reader is required to fit the clues provided in the text to his or her own background knowledge.” (Nunan, 1999:157)

In short, different people use the term reading in different ways However, reading is always a communication process, a process of interaction between the reader and the writer through the medium of text

2.2 Essential factors affecting reading comprehension

So many variables are proved to influence the process of reading comprehension, and they are usually categorized in different ways According to Alderson (2000), those variables can be divided into two main groups (1) factors related to the reader and (2) factors related to the text

2.2.1 Factors related to the reader

All readers bring to their reading process different levels of competences in background knowledge, subject/topic knowledge, linguistic knowledge, socio-cultural knowledge, reading strategies, etc (Alderson, 2000; RAND, 2002; Lehr, & Osborn, 2005) They contribute to the reading process at different levels: from basic skills such as word recognition to higher processes such as analyzing the text In this section,

we just focus on some crucial aspects

2.2.1.1 Vocabulary knowledge

For many years, vocabulary teaching and learning has been neglected The emphasis of language acquisition has been on grammatical knowledge rather than vocabulary Vocabulary was just something necessary to hang on grammatical structures Recently, vocabulary has however assumed its right place, as a fundamental factor

of language development (Harmer, 1991)

According to many researchers, vocabulary provides the vital organs and the flesh of language It is obvious that grammatical structures are important However, when vocabulary is used correctly, it may cancel out structural inaccuracy For example, a student who says “Yesterday, I have seen him yesterday” is making a very serious mistake in using English tenses, but he or she will still be understood thanks to the word

“yesterday.” (Nuttall, 1996; Harmer, 1991)

Grammatical knowledge allows us to generate sentences or utterances; however, we must have something to say at the same time;

we must have the ideas that we wish to express, and we need to have a store of vocabulary that we can select from when we wish to express these ideas For example, if we want to describe our feeling at the moment, we must find out a proper word which can reflect the complexity

of our feeling

Many of methodologists and linguists have used vocabulary tests to estimate the relationship between the prior vocabulary and reading comprehension, and the results showed that the correlation between vocabulary and reading ability was very high Clearly, vocabulary plays a very important role in reading comprehension (Alderson, 2000)

Vocabulary is crucial to comprehension It can be pointed out that good readers usually have a rich vocabulary, and similarly, a rich vocabulary is one of the key elements that ensure reading proficiency In order to understand a text, readers need to know the meanings of individual words They construct an understanding of the text by assembling and making sense of the words in it Therefore, “lack of adequate vocabulary knowledge is already an obvious and serious obstacle for reading comprehension process” (Nagy, 1988:1)

2.2.1.2 Grammatical and syntactic knowledge

There is a range of research that argues for a strong relation between syntax and reading Schmitt (1997) believes that grammar knowledge is one of the central factors to fluent reading comprehension abilities Alderson (2000) also confirms the correlations between grammar and reading ability In L2 setting, research on syntactic processing and word integration process shows that there are “significant relations between syntactic analyzing abilities and reading comprehension abilities” (Grabe, 2005:130) For example, “long sentences and difficult syntax can block comprehension even when vocabulary is familiar” (Nuttal, 1996:78)

In order to indicate the role of grammar in reading comprehension, Grabe (2005:131-132) argues that when a reader “begins to look at a text, visual word recognition processes are engaged,” and at the same time the extraction of syntactic information begins “Syntactic parsing builds the phrasal and clausal units that support the construction of semantic propositions.” It also supports disambiguity process Briefly,

“when words are recognized and syntax is being parsing, the meaning of clauses and sentences is being constructed.”

About the contribution of grammar to reading comprehension, Grabe (2005) points out: (1) Grammatical word order constrains alternative meaning potential; (2) Grammatical structure identifies parts-of-speech categories for words, the semantic role of noun phrases in relation to the verb, and other units for processing; (3) Grammatical structure distinguishes main from subordinate information; (4) Grammatical information helps us identify major referents in the text (via demonstrative determiners, relative clauses, etc.)

2.2.1.3 Reading strategies / skills

Abilities to process information are extremely important for comprehension “Researchers have long been concerned that readers may have relevant knowledge but may not have learned skills to process text.” (Alderson, 2000:48) In order to make sense out of printed materials, readers must learn basic reading skills They must be able to skim a text to get its general idea, and scan things they read to locate facts or specific information (Gebhard, 1996) Furthermore, they must learn other metacognitive skills such as recognizing the more important information in the text; adjusting reading rate; previewing; using context to resolve any misunderstanding; formulating questions about information (Alderson, 2000)

A number of studies have tried to establish a catalogue of reading skills and their relationships with one another, but the issues remain controversial However, most experts agree that we can at least identify certain strategies readers usually use when reading different types of text

In his work, Nunan (1999) quotes a list of reading strategies developed by the teachers in the ELTU at Chinese University (Table 2.1)

He believes that by choosing the best strategies for different texts and

different purposes, second language readers can significantly increase both their reading speed as well as their comprehension

Obviously, reading comprehension can be improved through practice, and the best way to improve reading abilities is to read and read Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to develop strategies related to practice rather than theoretical ones (Nuttall, 1996) Those strategies are interrelated Reading process never exclusively involves one of them (Alderson, 2000)

Strategies Comment

1 Having a purpose It is important for students to have a clear purpose and to keep

in mind what they want to gain from the text

2 Previewing Conducting a quick survey of the text to identify the topic, the

main idea, and the organization of the text

3 Skimming Looking quickly through the text to get a general idea of what it

is about

4 Scanning Looking quickly through the text in order to locate specific

information

5 Clustering Reading clusters of words as a unit

6 Avoiding bad habits Avoiding bad habits such as reading word-by-word

7 Predicting Anticipating what is to come

8 Reading actively Asking questions and then reading for answers

9 Inferring Identifying ideas that are not explicitly stated

10 Identifying genres Identifying the overall organizational pattern of a text

Using what one already knows to understand new ideas

17 Identifying style and its

19 Integrating information Tracking ideas that are developed across the text through

techniques such as highlighting and note taking

20 Reviewing Looking back over a text and summarizing it

21 Reading to present Understanding the text fully and then presenting it to others

Table 2.1: A typology of reading strategies (Nunan, 1999:265-266)

2.2.1.4 Socio-cultural knowledge

One of the earliest studies investigating the influence of cultural background is that by Steffensen (1981) who compared the comprehension of the readers who come from two different cultural backgrounds, one group from North America and the other from India Both groups were required to read two texts, one describing a North American wedding, and the other describing an Indian wedding The results showed that North American readers got higher level of comprehension on the passage describing a North American wedding, and the Indian readers did better on the passage concerning an Indian wedding (Nunan, 1999)

socio-To a certain extent, reading is really a cultural and social activity, besides being a cognitive one Therefore, “different reading abilities among students often reflect the varying social and cultural environments

in which they live and learn to read.” (Lehr & Osborn, 2005:9) The same idea is held by Catherine Snow, (RAND, 2002:20) who suggests that

“reader variability is a product of the fact that children come from and learn to read in varying socio-cultural contexts.”

Researchers who investigated students’ reading comprehension from a given socio-cultural perspective showed that “when students read culturally familiar material, they read it faster, recalled it more accurately, and made fewer comprehension errors” (RAND, 2002:78)

Many other researchers have proved that people who live in the same social-cultural context are found to share a common cultural knowledge In contrast, people who live in different social-cultural contexts usually have different experiences and ways of thinking, and do not share the same cultural knowledge which is crucial to text

understanding (Alderson, 2000; RAND, 2002) This explains why readers who are familiar with the cultural setting in a text are more successful than those who are not familiar

2.2.1.5 Critical reading and thinking

What is critical thinking? – When we use the word critical, we often mean “negative and fault-finding.” However, critical also means “involving

or exercising thoughtful judgment or observation.” In this sense, critical thinking means thinking clearly and intelligently (Bassham, Irwin, Nardone and Wallace, 2005:1)

What is critical reading? – We sometimes read just for pleasure or entertainment; sometimes we read just to get information “Critical reading” does not mean looking for mistakes and weaknesses It means analyzing, evaluating and judging what we read, working out what is good and what is not, and why Therefore, critical reading depends on critical thinking (Meagher, 1997; Goatly, 2000; Bassham, 2005)

Meagher (1997:vii) confirms that understanding what we read usually involves more than what the author actually says “Sometime it is necessary to go beyond the context, even beyond the words on the page,

to understand what an author means, suggests, or tries to accomplish.” Therefore, inferential and interpretive skills are very important These skills enable the reader to figure out the implied meanings, intention, and attitude of an author

It is commonplace in theories of reading to distinguish different levels

of understanding of a text Some tend to distinguish between a literal understanding of the text and an understanding of meanings that are not directly stated in it Others make a distinction between reading “the lines”, reading “between the lines”, and reading “beyond the lines.” The first refers to the literal meaning of the text, the second to inferred meanings, and the third to readers’ critical evaluations of the text (Alderson, 2000:7-8)

It is not possible to read without thinking, so critical discourse analysis is “a useful instrument for teaching the necessary thinking and communication skills, namely predicting, acknowledging, comparing, evaluating, decision-making and communicating” (Bartu, 2001:608)

2.2.2 Factors related to the text

A number of factors facilitate the reading process or make it difficult, such as text topic and content; text type and genre; the difficulty of topic; text organization; coherence and cohesion; linguistic aspects such as syntactic structures; vocabulary, etc All these textual features strongly affect comprehension

2.2.2.1 The difficulty of topic

What readers know affects what they understand from the text; similarly, the text content affects how readers process it For example, it

is assumed that texts with abstract ideas will be harder to understand than texts describing real objects, events or activities “The more concrete, imaginable and interesting, the more readable the text is” – Texts related to familiar settings, dealing with everyday topics, are probably easier to process than those that do not have such features (Alderson, 2000:61-62)

“The characteristics of various genres and subject matters create varying challenges for readers” (RAND, 2002:24) For example, legal texts are very difficult to follow because they are strictly written to avoid all possible ambiguities and different interpretations Non-scientific texts in social sciences and humanities will be easier to process than scientific ones

2.2.2.2 Styles

Usually, certain topics are associated with certain types of text For example, descriptions of how things work are more likely to be found in expository texts than in narrative texts It could be said that the content of

the text sometimes causes less difficulty than the way in which it is written: its style.3

It is usually assumed that literary texts are harder to process than non-literary texts Usually students are not interested in reading poetry because they find poems hard to understand However, the true reason is simply because they are less familiar with poetic conventions than they are with those of prose Thus, text styles also affect much the reading process (Cook, 1994; Alderson, 2000; RAND, 2002)

2.2.2.3 Cohesion and coherence

Cohesion refers to “the grammatical and/or lexical relationships between the different elements of a text This may be the relationship between different sentences or between different parts of a sentence.” (Richards, Platt, and Platt, 1992:62) Meanwhile, coherence is an important characteristic of a good text, e.g a text where ideas are arranged logically “The ideas and sentences are in an order that makes sense to the reader If the ideas are logically arranged, the reader can easily follow the progression of idea He or she can quickly understand the main idea and follow the writer’s thinking.” (Ruetten, 2002:16)

Recently, many researchers have been interested in considering text

as a unit of language beyond the sentence level A number of different approaches have been taken in investigating texts and determining what constitutes a coherent text as opposed to a sequence of sentences which would not be considered a text Out of the textual analysis techniques, the most influential has been the approach of Michael Halliday and Rugaiya Hasan (1976), known as cohesion theory (Carrell, 1982)

According to Williams (1983:35), “textual cohesion is a semantic concept It is concerned with semantic relations within a text; therefore,

3 “Style” is usually defined as the features that make one text different from another “It varies from casual to formal according to the type of situation, the person or persons addressed, the location, the topic discussed Style can also refer to a particular person’s use of speech or writing at all times or to a way of speaking or writing at a particular period of time.” (Richards, Platt and Platt 1992:360)

the reader’s ability to interpret a particular textual element depends on his ability to interpret another element.” The elements are tied to one another,

so we have the concept of cohesive ties4 referring to the component elements of cohesion Cohesion is one of the major features that enable a fluent reader to distinguish a text from a random string of discrete sentences

Many researchers have investigated the important role played by cohesive ties that the reader should be aware of Williams (1983) investigated five categories of tie: lexical cohesion, reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction These cohesive ties contribute to a well-written text, and as a result, such a text is much easy to understand because it has a smooth flow, i.e one sentence leads smoothly to the next sentence; all the sentences are well connected (Ruetten, 2002)

Text coherence can facilitates comprehension even when the content is relatively unfamiliar, and it enables readers with relevant background knowledge to understand the text better The effects of cohesion on understanding are not very strong; however, it interacts with the text topic to create a particular effect on comprehension (Alderson, 2000)

2.2.2.4 Organization of the text

One thing that distinguishes the type of a given text from another is the way the text is organized “Text organization – how the paragraph relate to each other, how the relationships between ideas are signaled or not signaled – has long been an object of study.” Therefore, “researchers have been concerned to show how different organizations might lead to different outcomes or processes of reading” (Alderson, 2000:67)

4 For Halliday and Hasan, “the organization of text (i.e texture) is made up (in large part) of relationships amongst items in the text, which they refer to as cohesive ties.” These cohesive ties are various in kind and are divided into five classes according to a group of criteria The five classes are: conjunction, reference, substitution, ellipsis, and lexical cohesion (Hoey, 1991:4-5)

Urquhart (1984) explored the effects of chronological and spatial ordering in text, and showed that for both native and non-native readers

of English, texts organized according to the sequence of events could be read faster and were easier to understand than texts whose temporal sequence was disturbed He also showed that texts with a consistent spatial organization, e.g descriptions of objects that followed a clear and logical sequence, from outside to inside, or from left to right, were easier

to understand (Alderson, 2000)

Knowing how texts are organized (as well as knowing how information is signaled, and how changes of content might be marked) has been thought to be of importance in the process of reading For example, if a reader knows where to look for the main idea in a paragraph, and is able to identify how supporting ideas are marked, he or she will find it easier to process information (Hoey, 1991; Alderson, 2000) According to Meagher (1997), it is important for readers to keep in mind that writers do not put ideas in a random order, but deliberately organize them for clarity and intended effect Therefore, in order to process a text more effectively, readers are supposed to (1) understand the transitions used to connect the ideas to one another and (2) recognize patterns of organization of a text

Transitions are words and phrases used by writers to indicate specific relationships between ideas and to create the coherence in a passage Knowing the meanings and functions of transitions will help the reader to understand how ideas are related to one another in sentences, paragraphs, and longer passages

The pattern of organization of a passage is the principal method an author uses to develop ideas Actually, just as transitions reflect how ideas are related to one another in sentences, they also reflect how supporting ideas are organized In order to determine the organizational pattern of a passage, the reader should follow these steps: (1) First, looking for a statement of the main idea which may include some wording

that suggests the pattern; (2) then looking for the major supporting details and for transitional phrases that introduce them The following figure will show us the most common patterns

Figure 2.2: Patterns of Organization (Meagher, 1997:83)

Different authors often create written texts for different purposes and they use a variety of text structures to support and enhance their purpose Sometimes, for example, an author uses a sequential ordering of events that relies on characters, settings, and actions to organize what he or she wants to convey Other times, he or she may use a cause-effect pattern that tends to highlight the causal relationships between ideas and concepts These different structures greatly influence comprehension Readers who know and understand how different texts are structured can make use of this knowledge for good comprehension Although many people often acquire this knowledge through repeated exposure to different types of texts, there is powerful evidence that high level readers can be trained to recognize these structures, and consequently this instruction will improve their comprehension

Definition and Example –

Classification through Example

Comparison / Contrast

Analogy

2.3 The reciprocal relationship between vocabulary and

reading comprehension

Many studies show that there is a strong connection between vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension, and that the larger the reader’s vocabulary (either spoken or written) is, the easier it is for him or her to make sense of the text (National Reading Panel, 2000)

According to Hsueh-chao and Nation (2000:403), “the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is complex and dynamic One way of looking at it is to divide it up into two major directions of effect”: (1) the effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension and (2) the effect of reading comprehension on vocabulary knowledge or growth However, before investigating the two dimensions, we should look at a very basic factor: the interaction between the writer and the reader

2.3.1 The relationship between the writer and the reader

Usually we are accustomed to thinking that “meaning is somehow located in the text, waiting for us to discover.” It is only partly true Actually, readers themselves contribute to the meaning they derive from the text (Nuttall, 1996:18)

There are many questions about the role of readers in reading process For example, “if different readers understand a text differently, whose meaning is the “real” meaning? Do we have to ask the writer what she meant?” (Nuttall, 1996:18) Many studies have been concerned about these questions However, it is not easy to answer them once for all

According to Hoey (2001:13), a text can be defined as “a place of purposeful interaction between writers ans readers.” The writer has a purpose in communicating to the readers, so he/she produces a text to achieve that purpose The readers also have a purpose in reading the text Accordingly, if the writer is to fulfil his/her own needs, he/she must meet the readers’ needs too The readers’ needs can be formulated as

questions that they want to answer Therefore, the writer should remember that readers can drop the text at any time if it does not meet their needs

Hoey (2001) also confirms that it can be useful to see texts as the product of an interaction not between two participants but amongst four: the author, the writer, the audience and the reader (1) The author gives the text authority, and takes responsibility for what the text attempts to convey The author can be an individual or an organization, and in most

of the cases, the author and the writer are the same person (2) The writer composes the text and is responsible for the language of the text

As mentioned, the author is usually the writer, that is why the two terms are usually confused (3) The audience of a text is the intended readership Ultimately the audience is always a figment of the writer’s imagination since no writer can ever get inside someone else’s mind to know exactly what he/she wants and needs to learn Therefore, the audience is just an ideal reader, the reader that the writer had in mind when writing the text (4) The reader is the person who actually encounters and processes the text

The interactions amongst author, writer, audience and reader are complex The author has a purpose in communicating to the audience and authorises the writer to produce a text that will achieve that purpose The writer composes a text for an audience that may or may not match the description of the actual readers The reader also has a purpose in reading the text It is usually said that the reader and the writer are like dancers following each other’s steps

2.3.2 How can vocabulary learning improve reading comprehension?

Recently experts have conducted lots studies on the relationship between vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, such as “how many words we need to know in order to read effectively in a foreign

language; the rate of vocabulary uptake from reading; the number of meetings it takes to learn a word, etc.” Researchers have come to conclude that vocabulary knowledge correlates strongly with reading comprehension (Waring & Nation, 2004:11)

The National Reading Panel reviewed 45 studies on the teaching of vocabulary (and several past reviews of vocabulary research) and concluded that “such an instruction did result in improved reading achievement as measured by reading comprehension tests” (Shanahan, 2006:24) Knowledge of word meanings and the ability to access that knowledge efficiently are recognized as important factors in reading and listening comprehension (Chall, 1983, as cited in Curtis and Longo, 2001)

According to Nagy (1988:1), “increasing vocabulary knowledge is a basic part of the process of education Lack of adequate vocabulary knowledge is already an obvious and serious obstacle for many students.” The strong relationship between vocabulary and comprehension invites a simplistic response: if we teach students more words, they will understand the text better However, not any vocabulary instruction increases reading comprehension According to several studies, many widely used methods fail to increase comprehension

Vocabulary knowledge contributes significantly to achievement in formal and informal speaking and writing (language output) This is obvious Most theorists and researchers in education have assumed that vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension are closely related, and numerous studies have shown the strong correlation between these two (Baker, 1995; Nagy, 1998; Nelson-Herber, 1986)

Marcella Hu Hsueh-chao and Paul Nation (2000:404) mention two viewpoints on the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension:

(1) The “instrumentalist view” sees vocabulary as being a major causative factor in comprehension Good vocabulary knowledge supports good comprehension Diagrammatically, this viewpoint can be represented as follows:

(2) The “knowledge view” sees vocabulary as an indicator of good world knowledge This world knowledge supports reading comprehension because the reader must bring as much information to the text as he/she expects to get from it For example, it is difficult to read about astrophysics if you know nothing about it Diagrammatically, the knowledge view can be represented as follows:

More and more research studies have found that one of the most essential components of reading fluency and comprehension is a strong vocabulary According to Anderson and Freebody (1981), a reader’s general vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of how well he/she can understand a text In other words, readers cannot understand much of what they read without knowing what most of the words mean Research also has showed that by providing students with a wide range

of reading is crucial to achieving necessary vocabulary growth

2.3.3 How can reading enrich vocabulary?

During the recent decades, a number of studies have confirmed the widespread assumption that second language learners can acquire vocabulary through reading Their findings also prove that vocabulary acquisition is a time-consuming process Here, the question is how and how much vocabulary growth occurs by reading (Grabe, 1991)

Vocabulary knowledge Reading comprehension

Knowledge and experience Reading comprehension

Vocabulary knowledge

Firstly, each word form is usually counted as a single word though in reality, it may represent a number of distinct meanings, some of which depend strongly on the context (Grabe, 1991) Therefore, word meanings are not learned from a single context or single encounter, but from repeated encounters and in different contexts where they are used This can be carried out through reading comprehension

Secondly, the most basic question is whether learners can learn new words from their reading Many researchers have confirm that they can, and millions of learners who have learned English from textbooks and extensive reading can attest it (Waring & Nation, 2004:13)

The opportunity to meet repeatedly the same unknown vocabulary while reading is very important In a case study on vocabulary acquisition from extensive reading,5 Pigada and Schmitt (2006) conclude that extensive reading appears to lead to substantial vocabulary learning, but

it does not cover all types of word knowledge and that even when only vocabulary is concerned, various aspects of word knowledge should be treated differently These authors also confirm that when teachers try to decide which type of learning is more effective, they should first consider which language feature they want to focus on Actually, their conclusion is not entirely new because in a previous study, Zimmerman (1997) already states that word knowledge involves a range of skills and word learning is facilitated by approaches that provide varied experiences, since no single approach can address all of these skills

From the findings of those studies, we can see that reading process helps readers enrich their vocabulary knowledge, but it must be clarified that their vocabulary enrichment mainly occurs in the field of orthography and meaning In fact, vocabulary acquisition requires more than such

5 Reading activities are sometimes classified as extensive and intensive “Extensive reading means reading in quantity and in order to gain a general understanding of what is read It is intended to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure, and to encourage a liking for reading Intensive reading is generally at a lower speed, and requires a higher degree of understanding than extensive reading.” (Richards, Platt and Platt 1992:133)

things However, researchers have confirmed that in spite of these limitations, reading actually helps learners improve their vocabulary knowledge as well as their vocabulary skills (Grabe, 1991; Nation, 2001)

2.4 The vocabulary acquisition

Learning L2 vocabulary is a complex process which involves not only

an understanding of how a word looks on the page but also how it is spelled and how it sounds, and many other features such as grammatical status, appropriate register, what the word collocates with, how frequently the word is used and what it means (Schmitt, 2000; Nation, 2001)

According to Schmitt (2000:116), “there are so many different variables that affect second language vocabulary acquisition, such as L1, age, amount of exposure, motivation, and culture, that it is very difficult to formulate a theory of acquisition that can account for them all.”

2.4.1 Receptive and productive vocabulary

The receptive/productive distinction depends on its resemblance to the distinction between the “receptive” skills of listening and reading and the “productive” skills of speaking and writing Receptive carries the idea that we receive language input from other people through listening and reading and try to comprehend it Productive refers to the idea that we produce language forms by speaking and writing to convey message to other people The terms “passive” (for listening and reading) and “active” (for speaking and writing) are sometimes used as synonyms for receptive and productive Actually, these terms are not appropriate, “because there are productive features in receptive skills, e.g when listening and reading

we produce meaning.” Therefore, listening and reading are not simply passive processes but active ones (Nation, 2001:24)

Pikulski and Templetion (2004) have raised the question “vocabulary

or vocabularies?” According to them, the term expressive vocabulary can

be used to refer to vocabulary in speaking and writing; receptive vocabulary to vocabulary in listening and reading; similarly, spoken