An investigation into classroom interaction in teaching the english reading skill to 10th grade students at some upper secondary schools in quang tri province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- PHAM THI TUYET VAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN TEACHING THE ENGLISH READING SKILL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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PHAM THI TUYET VAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN TEACHING THE ENGLISH READING SKILL TO 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT SOME UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS

IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE

SYNOPSIS

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

HUE, 2013

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-

PHAM THI TUYET VAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN TEACHING THE ENGLISH READING SKILL TO 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT SOME UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOLS

IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE

SYNOPSIS

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI QUYNH HOA, D.Ed

HUE, 2013

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

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PHẠM THỊ TUYẾT VÂN

KHẢO SÁT SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC TRONG LỚP HỌC ĐỐI

VỚI VIỆC DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH

CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI MỘT SỐ

TRƯỜNG PHỔ THÔNG Ở TỈNH QUẢNG TRỊ

TÓM TẮT LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP

DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH

HOA

Huế, 2013

ABSTRACT

This thesis aims to investigate effective ways to improve students’ learning of reading skill in English classes through classroom interactions at Quang Tri upper secondary schools Firstly, it defines the importance of classroom interactions Secondly, it seeks to answer which interaction patterns can be observed in language classroom Thirdly, it studies how these interactions affect the learners’ participations and learning outcomes The participants of this study include 20 teachers and 100 students from the 10th classes at Trung Vuong and Quang Tri upper secondary schools The data are collected

by means of questionnaires, class observations and interviews and then statistically analyzed by means of charts and tables

These findings of the research show that both teachers and students are aware of the importance of classroom interactions The teachers used many types of activities to encourage students to learn and interact with them so that they have more chance to develop the reading skill However, there is a mismatch between the teachers’ belief and their students’ perceptions of effect of the interaction modes the teachers think popular they create inside their classrooms From the findings, there are three types of classroom interaction including teacher- student, student- student and student- content The survey shows that the teacher- student and student- student interaction modes are frequently used in teaching and learning English reading skill at Quang Tri upper secondary schools Finally,

some implications and suggestions are made with the hope that teachers will improve the students’ English through promoting classroom interactions

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

For non- native English speakers, English reading has been considered as one of the necessary skills that they need to achieve I have discovered that students at some upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province have encountered some difficulties in English reading due to some factors In reality although many students spend

a lot of time and energy learning English, they still fail to use English

to communicate effectively Classroom interaction can be seen as an effective way for students to learn the reading skill It is where students and teacher exchange their knowledge and lessons related problems Through interaction students have more chance to practice the reading skill Today with the popularity of CLT in Viet Nam, English learners had access to a more interactive learning environment

On the other hand, not many students realize the importance of interaction in their learning and of implementing those strategies efficiently Therefore, I am motivated to choose the topic “An investigation into classroom interaction in teaching the English reading skill to 10th grade students at some upper secondary schools

in Quang Tri province” for my thesis and I hope to increase the students’ awareness of the importance of English classroom interaction and improve the students reading abilities reading comprehension

1.2 Aims and objectives

This thesis has been carried out to investigate classroom in interaction in teaching the English reading skill

to the 10th grade students at some upper secondary schools in

Quang Tri province so as to give some suggestions for

improving their reading skill

1.3 Research questions

1 Which types of classroom interaction are used in teaching the English reading skill to 10th grade students at some upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province?

2 How do these interactions affect the learners' participation and their learning outcomes?

3 What suggestions can be made to improve the teaching and learning of the reading skill via classroom interaction?

1.4 Scope of the research

This research focuses on investigating classroom interaction in teaching the English reading skill more communicatively to grade

10th grade students at some upper secondary schools in Quang Tri

province namely: Trung Vuong and Gio Linh

1.5 Significance of the research

The result of this research will bring about some possible solutions, meaningful suggestions and pedagogical implications

which are very beneficial for teachers to overcome difficulties mentioned previously and improve English language communication for grade 10 students through the reading skill

1.6 Structure of the thesis

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical background Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

Chapter 5: Conclusions and implications

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW AND

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Previous studies related to the topic

There are many researchers have considerably contributed to the improvement of teaching and learning English reading skill to some extent However, the issue of applying the classroom interaction with four skills especially the reading skill has not paid much attention to Therefore, I find it necessary to conduct this research

2.2 Interaction

2.2.1 Interaction as a general term

2.2.2 Interaction as a key term in EFL

2.3 Teaching and learning activities promoting interaction 2.4 Types of classroom interaction

2.4.1 Teacher – Student interaction

2.4.1.1 Teacher- Student interaction

2.4.1.2 Teacher- Students interaction

2.4.2 Student- student interaction

2.4.2.1 Student- Students interaction

2.4.2.1 Student- Student interaction

2.4.3 Student- content interaction

2.5 Definition of the reading skill

Though these opinions are not exactly the same, what comes

up as a common point is that reading skill is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms The second definition helps to make the definition by Nunan clear and complete The researcher finds it good to combine Nunans (2003, p.68) and Grabes (1991, p.378) ideas in defining reading to include in the research That is, the thesis will be based on the two above- mentioned definitions whenever the concept is dealt with I will base

on the definition reading of William which states that reading was a process where by ones look at and understands what has been written and the reader is not simply a passive object fed with letters, words

and sentences, but it is actively working on the text, and is able to arrive at understanding without looking at every letter and word

2.5.1 Stages of teaching reading

2.5.1.1 Pre-reading stage

2.5.12 While-reading stage

2.5.1.3 Post-reading stage

2.5.2 Reading in second language learning and teaching

2.5.2.1 The importance of teaching reading in the L2 classroom 2.5.2.2 Reading purposes of second language learners

(Rivers and Temperley 1978, cited in Nunan, 1989:34)

2.5.3 Students and teachers’ roles in studying and teaching the reading skill

2.5.3.1 Students’ roles in studying the reading skill

2.5.3.2 Teachers’ roles in teaching the reading skill

2.6 Summary

This chapter so far has presented the relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study It has talked about different aspects related to the reading skills and reading activities What is more, the importance of teaching reading in the second language classroom and factors in teaching and learning reading have been reviewed

CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research methods

The research method has to be chosen suitably to clarify the aims of the research and solve the research questions; this study utilized the combination of appropriately qualitative and quantitative approaches

3.2 Participants

The research was carried out to examine the teachers’ and students’ interactions in class at some upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province; and therefore, the participants of the study involved both EFL teachers and students

3.2.1 Teachers

3.2.2 Students

3.3 Instruments for data collection

In this study, two mains tool, namely questionnaires and interviews, have been utilized to collect data about students’ perceptions and practices in learning reading texts

3.3.1 Questionnaire design

Questionnaires are considered as instruments to gather information on a large scale As usual, a questionnaire includes open- ended and close- ended questions Thus in this study, the connection

of open- ended and close- ended questions is most suitable

3.7 Summary

The chapter presented the issues related to the study’s methodology The chapter continued with the description of the data collection: instruments and procedures and ended with the explanation about how data were analyzed

CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 The importance of classroom interaction in teaching English reading skill

4.2.1 Students’ perception of interaction

Table 1: Students’ perception of interaction

Interaction Number of students Percentage

4.2.2 Teachers’ perception of interaction

Table 2: Teachers’ perception of interaction

Interaction Number of teachers Percentage

if they want to create interaction in classroom they have to carefully prepare the lesson and lesson plan in which many activities are included to encourage students to participate

4.3 Interaction patterns in the reading classes at some upper secondary in Quang Tri province

4.3.1 Teacher- student interaction

4.3.3 Student- student interaction

4.3.2 Student- content interaction

Chart 4.1: Common interaction patterns 4.3.5 Teachers’ and students’ perception of interaction patterns in reading classroom

4.3.5.1 Teachers’ perception of interaction patterns in reading classroom

Table 3: Teacher’s perception of interaction patters in reading

classroom

Option Number of teachers Percentage

decided to consider the reality of how upper secondary school teacher

of English organize activities to promote interaction

4.4 Kinds of activities are used to promote interaction in the reading

4.5 Difference kinds of activities used by teachers to interact

with students in teaching and studying the reading skill

Table 6: Teachers’ choices of types of activities from

questionnaire Activities Percentage

b Multiple choice 100

4.6 Interaction’s effect on learning and types of interaction in

classroom

Students can improve their learning through using interaction

in classes “Interaction is a process designed to assist learners is acquiring and restricting knowledge by mediating an investment of effort and the allocation of cognitive resources” (Gavora & Hannafin,1993,p.18) The data from the questionnaire show that to most the teachers who employ meaningful interaction, the target of teaching is more easily fulfilled, and students are able to develop their reading skills, especially communicative competence

Table 7: Interaction types in reading skill

Types of interactions Perception

teacher- students motivate students’ learning Students can work in the activity including wh- questions, true- false statement, multiple choices or matching Students were asked to work in pairs or in groups Members of different groups can compare and discuss group

4.7 Summary

This chapter describes classroom interaction which plays an important role to bring about in effectiveness of learning and teaching This chapter, it is shown clearly that there are two different perceptions of interaction including students’ perception and teacher’s perception That is how many types of interaction are frequently used to promote students’ learning in class These kinds of activities aim at focusing on interaction to help students enhance their communicative competence

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Conclusions

This piece of research was conducted with an attempt to investigate potential types of classroom interaction in teaching the English reading skill, factors that affect the learners’ participation and learning outcomes and look for suggestions on how to improve the learning and teaching of reading skill These two groups of subjects were asked to give suggestions for better interaction between students and teachers, from students to students and from student and content

in reading classes The study, therefore, sought the answers to the following the research questions

Classroom interaction plays a very important role in helping students to learn English language It helps students develop not only the English fluency but then accuracy as well Both teachers and students are aware of the important classroom interaction The teachers also used many types of activities to encourage students to learn and to interact with teacher and with classmate together so that they have more chance to develop reading skill, especially communicate competence However, there is a mismatch between the teachers’ belief and their students’ perception of the effect of the interaction modes the teachers think they create inside their classroom This is an important finding The learners’ and teachers’ awareness of the impact

of interaction is not enough It is equally important that the teachers should be fully informed of the real effect of the meaningful interaction they create and encourage

The findings in chapter 4, clearly show that there are three interaction patterns including teacher- student, student- student and student- content which used to promote students’ learning as well as communicative skills However, the survey shows that teacher- student and student- student interactions modes are frequently used in teaching and learning in classes at Trung Vuong and Gio Linh upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province Most of the teachers realize the importance of interaction and the role of learners in CLT