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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- TRUONG THANH BAO TRAN AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE ANALYSI

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-

TRUONG THANH BAO TRAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

TO TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES,

HUE UNIVERSITY

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,

Hue University of Foreign Languages

HUE, 2018

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-

TRUONG THANH BAO TRAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE OF APPLYING DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

TO TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION

AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES,

HUE UNIVERSITY

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR: DO THI XUAN DUNG, Ph.D

HUE, 2018

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

-

TRƯƠNG THANH BẢO TRÂN

ĐIỀU TRA VỀ NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ THỰCTẾ ÁP DỤNG PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGÔN

VÀO VIỆC DẠY ĐỌC HIỂU TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP

DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH

MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

TS ĐỖ THỊ XUÂN DUNG

HUẾ, 2018

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled ―An investigation into teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying Discourse Analysis to teaching Reading comprehension at University of Foreign languages, Hue University‖ has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university The thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference or citation is made

Researcher

Trương Thanh Bao Tran

Hue, 2018

ABSTRACT

Discourse Analysis is not a new approach to teaching and learning English all over the world However, in the context of Vietnam, this approach is not widely popular and initially used in teaching and learning English in general, reading comprehension in particular Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to investigate teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying this new approach to teaching reading comprehension at University of Foreign Languages – Hue University The participants of this research were 30 teachers from different

Purposes, and 100 students randomly chosen from those who were taking reading

approaches was employed to collect the data to answer the research questions Questionnaires, interviews and observation were used as research instruments The results reveal that most of the teachers have a quite good understanding of DA knowledge and reflect their positive perceptions towards the roles of DA in and applying it to teaching reading comprehension Besides, the findings also illustrate DA-related strategies used frequently by teachers in real reading comprehension classes Furthermore, it can be drawn from the research results that certain difficulties including time constraint, choosing proper reading materials, different English language proficiency levels among students and other factors which teachers and students as well often encounter in the employment of DA Last but not least, some suggestions for teaching reading skills were thus offered to help teachers exploit DA and apply it in their teaching more effectively

Keywords: Reading, Discourse, Discourse Analysis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper could not have been completed without the encouragement and support from several individuals and groups to whom I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude during the stressful time of writing this paper

First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor, Dr Do Thi Xuan Dung for her valuable guidance and enthusiastic support I never forget With her profound knowledge, she was willing to give me support at any time She kindly read my paper as well as offered invaluable detailed advice More importantly, she has been a great source of inspiration for me to conduct the research in the discourse field Additionally, she helped me to obtain questionnaires from English Department teachers who were studying aboard

Second, my warm thanks go to the teachers and students of departments at Hue University - University of Foreign Languages, English Department in particular They were ready to spend their time answering my questionnaires and interviews, and give me a chance to observe their classes Their help contributes greatly to the completion of this study Specifically, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mrs Thai Ton Phung Diem, Mrs Nguyen Xuan Quynh for their kindness, helpful support and considerable encouragement Besides, I wish to especially thank Mrs Hoang Thi Khanh Tam for helping me with the provision of teachers‘ teaching schedules and information, which is useful for my data collection

Third, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my best friends for giving me helpful advice about life and encourage me to overcome all my personal problems to finish this research

Last but not least, I wish to especially thank my devoted and supportive parents and as well as my caring brothers who always stay by my side Their endless love is my strong motivation to work hard and exert myself to conduct this study

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research rationale 2

1.3 Research aims 3

1.4 Research questions 4

1.5 Research scope 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Research structure 4

CHAPTER 2 6

LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Discourse 6

2.1.1 Definition 6

2.1.2 Discourse Analysis 7

2.1.2.1 Cohesion and Coherence 9

2.1.2.2 Discourse Structure 11

2.1.2.3 Genres 12

2.2 Reading comprehension 13

2.2.1 Definition 13

2.2.2 The aims of teaching Reading 15

2.2.3 Reading Comprehension Modes 15

2.2.4 Types of Reading 16

2.2.4.1 Extensive Reading 16

2.2.4.2 Intensive Reading 17

2.2.5 Reading strategies 18

2.3 Language in use 18

2.4 Language awareness 19

2.5 Review of previous studies 20

2.6 Summary 23

CHAPTER 3 24

METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research Questions 24

3.2 Research Design and Approach 24

3.3 Participants 25

3.3.1 Teachers 25

3.3.2 Students 26

3.4 Instruments of Data Collection 27

3.4.1 Questionnaires 27

3.4.2 Interview 29

3.4.3 Class Observation 29

3.5 Data Collection Procedure 30

3.5.1 Administering the questionnaire 30

3.5.2 Administering interviews 30

3.5.3 Observing Classes 31

3.6 Data Analysis Methods 31

3.7 Summary 32

CHAPTER 4 33

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33

4.1 Teachers' perceptions about applying DA to teaching reading comprehension 33 4.1.1 The reality of teaching reading comprehension at HUFL 35

4.1.2 Teachers‘ perceptions of DA 36

4.1.3 The importance of DA in reading comprehension 41

4.2 Teachers‘ incorporation of DA into teaching Reading comprehension 43

4.2.1 Strategies and activities employed to teach DA in reading class 44

4.2.2 Teachers‘ classroom practices in relation to their perceptions 45 4.3 Potentials of applying discourse analysis knowledge to teaching reading skills 47

4.3.1 The benefits of using DA for teaching Reading comprehension 50

4.3.2 Difficulties in the employment DA to teaching reading comprehension 53

4.4 Suggestions for improving students‘ reading comprehension through an application of DA 56

4.5 Summary 59

CHAPTER 5 60

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 60

5.1 Summary of the key findings 60

5.2 Research Implications 62

5.2.1 Implications for teachers 62

5.2.2 Implications for students 63

5.2.3 Implications for administrators 64

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 65

REFERENCES 66

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1: Teachers‘ and students‘ opinion on difficulties students often face when

they learn reading comprehension 33

Chart 4.2: Teachers‘ and students‘ opinion on teachers‘ frequency of introducing tenets of DA in Reading class 35

Chart 4.3: Teachers‘ realization of some DA components 37

Chart 4.4: Teachers‘ opinion on principles of Grammar Cohesion 40

Chart 4.5: The role of DA in developing students‘ reading skills 41

Chart 4.6: Teachers‘ frequency of employing DA activities in teaching Reading comprehension 44

Chart 4.7: Students‘ opinion on their teachers‘ frequency of employing DA activities in teaching Reading comprehension 45

Chart 4.8: The possibility of improving students‘ Reading comprehension by employing DA 47

Chart 4.9: Teachers‘ agreement on the preeminence of DA over other others conventional approach 48

Chart 4.10: The reasons that distinguish DA approach with others 49

Chart 4.11: Benefits of employing Discourse Structure in teaching Reading comprehension 51

Chart 4.12: Benefits of employing Cohesion and Coherence in teaching Reading comprehension 52

Chart 4 13: Benefits of employing genres in teaching Reading comprehension 53

Chart 4 14: Teachers‘ difficulties in using DA activities in their reading classes 54

Chart 4.15: Students‘ problems when teachers apply DA to teaching Reading comprehension 55

Chart 4.16: DA activities which teachers should implement to enhance students‘ reading comprehension 57 Chart 4.17: Some suggestions for teachers to help students improve their reading comprehension

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Types of Cohesion 9

Table 3.1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents to the questionnaire for teachers 26

Table 3.2 Demographic characteristics of the respondents to the questionnaire for students 27

Table 3.3.1: Groups of items in the questionnaires for teachers 28

Table 3.3.2: Groups of items in the questionnaires for students 28

Table 3.4: Summary of the samples of the classroom observation 31

Table 4.1: Teachers‘ realization on areas of DA which are relevant to teaching Reading comprehension 38

Table 4.2: Teachers' realization of GA-related knowledge 39

Table 4.3: Teachers' identification of roles of DA 42

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: The Concurrent Triangulation Strategy Adapted from Creswell (2003) 32

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter begins with the background that motivated the research Besides, it describes the research rationale, research aims, research questions as well as the scope of the research Finally, the organization of the study is also included in the chapter

1.1 Research background

Reading can be considered one of the four fundamental language skills that an

stated that ―reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as

a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one‘s knowledge of the language‖ In other words, learning this skill can enable students to improve their reading abilities, which is likely to have noticeable impacts on developing and enhancing their English abilities and knowledge in general Reading comprehension is, therefore, an essential skill for learners of English to master in order to ensure success in learning

a second language (Anderson, 2003)

Dubin (1982, p.125) assumed that reading is a complex skill that contains a number of psychological, physical and social elements In practice, it is not an easy skill since most of the learners have many reading issues As a matter of fact, EFL learners are observed to face a significant number of difficulties which prevent them from performing their reading tasks successfully According to Gunning (2002), an inadequate knowledge of text type or text organization is one of the chief reasons for poor performance in reading It is believed that if readers do not know what kind

of the text is, such as letter, narrative, report or review, they will find it hard to follow and understand what the text is about Some think that students cannot understand the rhetorical and functional meaning of sentences, or sentences with specific topics or involving cultural differences, which can cause the difficulties in students‘ learning to read (Wenquan, 2009) Another cause worth mentioning is that

EFL students are asked to read a text and merely answer the questions without being given any knowledge on the reading topic, the purpose, or the organization of the text (Truong, 2017) In fact, a majority of students may have no idea about genres and linguistic features encoded in the reading texts, which can facilitate their reading comprehension As a result, according to Booth & Swart (2004) students do not understand what they have been reading or always struggle with reading Consequently, they lose their motivation for learning reading comprehension, which exerts devastating impacts on their progress in other skills of English

Discourse Analysis (DA) is defined as the study of the relationship between language and its inter-textual, social and intercultural contexts in which it is used The field of discourse analysis is very wide, but in regard to language teaching, according to Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000), it is possible to define five areas: cohesion, coherence, information structure, turn-taking, and critical discourse analysis When it comes to teaching reading skills, DA knowledge is also very helpful in enabling students to understand how people organize language in texts, textual features, and language choices As a result, students can both overcome certain difficulties in reading and experience different ways to read as well as new opportunities to develop high levels of reading comprehension

1.2 Research rationale

DA is not a new approach possibly applied to teaching and learning English all over the world However, in the context of Vietnam, this approach has recently been used and integrated into reading textbooks Therefore, exploring teachers‘ perception and practice of applying this approach to teaching reading comprehension is highly likely to be important simply because thanks to this exploitation, the effectiveness of using DA to teaching reading skills can be evaluated accurately Furthermore, the study of teachers‘ practice can clarify how they exploit knowledge of DA to teach reading comprehension as well as what problems teachers who are teaching reading must face up

There has been some research into the effects of teaching English or teaching reading through DA, Vahidi (2006) examined the influence of rhetorical patterns on reading comprehension; Tarone and Swierzbin (2009) conducted a discourse analysis of six learners of English as a second language from the University of Minnesota Besides, Hashemi and Ghanizadeh (2012) carried out an experimental study to investigate the impact of integrating critical discourse analysis in reading classes In the context of EFL teaching in Vietnam, Truong (2017) did the research

to identify whether knowledge of discourse structure can be applied to teaching reading skills to enhance students‘ reading competence As a matter of fact, the previous researches into this area mainly focus on one tenet of DA or different skills; therefore, the feasibility and benefits of applying of DA‘s tenets in teaching reading to EFL students are still left under-investigated Additionally, investigating teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying DA to teaching reading comprehension has not been actually carried out yet

All things considered, those are the main reasons for the research topic formulation:

“An investigation into teachers’ perceptions and practice of applying Discourse Analysis to teaching Reading comprehension at University of Foreign languages, Hue University” to gain an insight into teachers‘

understanding of DA and identify their real practice in using DA to teach reading comprehension for EFL students Additionally, some implications for teaching reading skills can be offered, which can be useful for teachers to implement DA in their teaching practice effectively

1.3 Research aims

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers‘ perceptions of applying

DA to teaching reading comprehension in relation to their classroom practices The study is specified in the following two objectives:

1 Investigate language teachers‘ perceptions of exploiting DA in their teaching reading comprehension

2 Examine teachers‘ existing classroom practices of applying DA in their reading classes

1.6 Significance of the study

The findings of the study are believed to provide insights into how teachers integrate their perceptions with classroom practice in efforts to improve students‘

results enable teachers to be aware of the benefits of DA activities and recommend

some feasible suggestions to help them and their students overcome the difficulties

in teaching and learning reading comprehension

1.7 Research structure

The dissertation comprises five chapters

Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION, explains the research aim and the

significance of the research It also provides an overview of research questions, the research scope, and the research structure

Chapter 2, LITERATURE REVIEW, begins with definitions of Discourse

and Reading, followed by the previous relevant to the present study

Chapter 3, METHODOLOGY, describes methods of the research,

participants, instruments, and procedure

Chapter 4, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, presents the research results

obtained and discusses the findings

Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS, concludes the

dissertation, giving a summary of the results related to research questions, discussing limitations of the research, and giving recommendations for future research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will focus on the theoretical background of the research Firstly, some definitions and conceptions of discourse analysis are discussed Next, the chapter offers definitions of reading from different points of views, also deals with types of reading and then it presents various strategies that are used in the reading comprehension process Finally, the current chapter ends with previous research on applying DA and teaching reading comprehension

The discourses in which words are embedded are the culturally and historically produced assumptions, values and shared beliefs that cluster around words (Cameron and Kulick, 2003) This means that language use, embedded in discourse, is not separate from the social reality or behavior in which it occurs, but actually co-constitutive of it Discourse, therefore, is both shaped by the world and shaping the world Discourse is shaped by language as well as shaping language It

is shaped by the people who use the language and shaping the language which is used Discourse is shaped, as well, by the discourse that has preceded it and that which might follow it (Paltridge 2006, p 9) They are social constructions, culturally and historically produced as a set of practices that shape people's behavior, including language and thought Therefore, discourse shows how individuals think, how they are enabled, encouraged and normalized into seeing the

world, themselves, problems and possible actions ‗Discourse is more than simply the use of language as a tool for communication‘ (Pettenger 2007, p 10) Discourses form what we can say, do and think; as a result, they determine the social consequences of our actions According to Cameron (2001), discourses offer insights into social life and social relations Analysis and reconsideration of discourse is a conceptually high-level, but highly effective point of action for change because discourse is so pervasive and fundamental Therefore, activities such as the extension that focuses on understanding human behavior in order to facilitate social change should take discourses into account

Regarding approaches to discourse studies, this field may employ a large number of approaches to analysis According to Flowerdew (2013), discourse studies include the following approaches:

 Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis

 Critical Discourse Analysis

2.1.2 Discourse Analysis

The organization of discourse can be considered as one of the central issues of discourse analysis The term organization refers "to the sum of relations which hold between the units of text… and between each unit and the whole" (Goutsos 1997, p 138) and the term discourse refers to verbal communication in its situational and social context When investigating the three levels of discourse organization (cohesion, coherence, and genre), cohesion and coherence are analyzed in the

individual texts These texts belong to a certain genre, which places them into context

Looking at more details, discourse analysis is the study of language-in-use In other words, it is the study of the language in use in the world and the ways in which people use language to communicate, co-operate, help others, and build things like marriage, reputations, and institutions (Gee, 2011) According to Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (1995), "discourse analysis is minimally the study of language

in use that extends beyond sentences boundaries which entails a more cognitive and social perspective on language use" (p 4) In this sense, discourse analysis examines ―how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users‖ (Cook, 1989, p.9) It is a rapidly expanding field, providing insight into problems and processes

of language use and language learning, and is therefore of great importance to language teachers Traditionally, language teaching has concentrated on pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, and while these remain the basis of foreign language knowledge, discourse analysis can draw attention to the skills needed to put this knowledge into action and to achieve successful results in teaching reading comprehension too (Cook, 1990)

In terms of the history of discourse analysis, the theory of this approach has appeared since the 1950s However, not many researchers studied how it could work during a language lesson until the late 1980s Since ―Discourse‖ was written

by Guy Cook in 1989, DA has been an increasingly common subject of research in language teaching (McCarthy, 1991; McCarthy & Ronald, 1994; Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000; Wallace, 2003 et al)

Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000) has defined 5 possible areas that are related

to language teaching are cohesion, coherence, information structure, turn-taking, and critical discourse analysis The first three areas and genre also the main focuses

of this study, are outlined and described in the following sections

2.1.2.1 Cohesion and Coherence

2.1.2.1.a Cohesion

Cohesion, generally speaking, can be considered as ―the means by which texts are linguistically connected‖ (Carter 1998, p.80) Similarly, according to Richard, Platt & Weber 1985:45 (cited in Kuo, 1995, p.48) cohesion refers to "the grammatical and/or lexical relationships between the different elements of a text" Such relationships include within-sentence, inter-sentence, and cross-section lexical

or structural interdependency

Halliday & Hasan (1976) divided cohesion into two major types of cohesive relation, namely grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion (table 2.1) Lexical cohesion, which differs from grammatical cohesion, comprises various types of relationships between two lexical items in different sentences, such as repetition, synonyms and collocation While grammatical cohesion, whose components namely reference, ellipsis, substitution, and conjunctive cohesion, is associated with any syntactic classes of elements, lexical cohesion is not

Table 2.1: Types of Cohesion

Cohesion

Reference Exophoric [situation] Reiteration Repetition

Anaphoric [to preceding text]

2.1.2.1.b Coherence

Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000) define coherence as "the quality that makes a text conform to a consistent worldview based on one's experience and culture or convention" (p.215) They also state that coherence is an interactive process involving the writer, the written text, and the reader Addition to this, coherence ―concerns the ways in which the components of the textual world, i.e the configuration of concepts and relations which underlie the surface text, are mutually accessible and relevant‖ (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981, cited in Hoey, 1991, p 11) In this light, coherence refers to the kind of relationships among elements of a text, which are not based on surface links, but links derived from thematic development, an organization of information, or communicative purpose of the particular discourse Therefore, contextual ties are crucial to the achievement of coherence in a text Clearly, such ties are usually based on shared knowledge between the writer and the reader Additionally, coherence is a matter of putting the selected material in the right order with the right connectives" (Lauer et al 1985, cited in Palmer) There are two main views on coherence One regards it as a property of the text, focusing on the formal criteria that distinguish texts from non-texts The other approach views coherence as a discourse processing concept (Hellman, 1995) The coherence of a text arises from the processes of text production and comprehension (e.g., Sanders & Noordman 2000)

 Cohesion versus Coherence

Coherence has to be clearly distinguished from cohesion Cohesion refers to the overt semantic relations in the text, whereas coherence refers to semantic and pragmatic relations between text parts which are interpretable against the background of specific world knowledge (Beaugrande & Dressler, 1981; Enkvist 1990) It has been widely discussed whether both cohesion and coherence are necessary for the organization of discourse For some researchers, cohesion is a necessary, but not sufficient criterion of coherence (Halliday & Hasan 1976; Halliday, 1985) Others claimed that cohesion is neither necessary, nor sufficient for

the coherence of a text, and a text can be coherent without formal cohesive devices (Hoey, 1991; Hellman, 1995) As there is evidence for the relevance of both cohesion and coherence in text, we take both cohesion and coherence as contributing to discourse organization: cohesion being at the surface level of the text, whereas coherence being an underlying phenomenon in the text Because their role in discourse organization is genre-dependent, in certain genres cohesion,

in other genres coherence might be more dominant in the organization of discourse

2.1.2.2 Discourse Structure

Discourse structures, which are also known as text structures, are defined as

"knowledge structures or basic rhetorical patterns in texts" (Grabe, 2003, p 9) They are the frameworks that writers employ to convey information in an organized and coherent manner As a result, texts are generally organized following certain basic rhetorical patterns (Hoey, 2001; Mohan, 1986; Singer, 1990; Van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983) Moreover, discourse structures have functional purposes and these purposes are recognized by good readers and writers, if only implicitly in some cases These discourse mechanisms extend to the level of genres and larger frames

of discourse that organize textual information for the reader There are recognized conventions and systems that lead a reader to preferred interpretations, assuming a reader is genuinely interested in understanding what the writer had intended Discourse structures are relatively few in number and recur in many combinations However, it is usually possible to identify one or two overarching structures that organize instructional texts, and there usually are two or three discourse structures used to organize subsections of a longer text For expository prose, these structures include a description, sequence, procedure, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, definition classification, problem—solution, and analysis (cf types of narrative patterns for literary, personal, and historical texts) (Martin,

well-1989, 2000; Mohan, 1986) There are a number of possible minor variations in analysing these subsystems, but the general notions are consistent

Additionally, according to Nagy (2007), discourse structure awareness is considered as a type of metalinguistic awareness of the text and often is associated with a set of reading strategies such as identifying main ideas, organizational patterns in texts, and specific genre features of texts, and inferring connections among parts of the text Greater metalinguistic awareness facilitates readers in utilizing strategies effectively and reflects on how the discourse provides support for a specific interpretation of the text information (Grabe, 2009) The propositions such as transitional words, topic sentences, sentence-initial phrases, anaphoric linkages, and various grammatical structures link ideas together, show relationships, indicate transitions from one idea to the next, and build coherence in the texts (Kintsch, 1998; Kintsch & Rawson, 2005; Singer, 1990) Furthermore, the knowledge of this discourse information assists readers to identify specific organizational patterns in texts and construct a coherent understanding of the information allowing them to build a text model of comprehension In brief, text structure enables the reader to understand the author‘s purposes such as whether to inform the reader or persuade the reader Therefore, readers rely on the rhetorical structures of the text to form a text model and background knowledge of text structures to form a situational model

2.1.2.3 Genres

According to (Hammond & Derewianka, 2001), the term "genre" is applied

in different contexts to refer to the convention of certain texts in certain cultures Swales (1990) states that a genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes (p 58) Another definition of a genre is that it is a form of text that uses a particular format and structure (Duke & Purcell-Gates, 2003) This rational shapes the schematic structure

of discourse and influences and constrains the choice of content and style Additionally, exemplars of a genre exhibit different patterns of similarity in terms of structure, style, content and intended audience If all high probability expectations are realized, the exemplary will be viewed as a prototypical by the parent discourse

community The genre names inherited and produced by discourse communities are imported by other constitute valuable ethnographic communication, but typically need further validation (Swales, 1990, p 58)

Regarding the area of TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language), the approaches based on genre have not been a common practice However, ―there have been attempts to classify texts for reading purposes by appealing to a certain pragmatic or communicative function‖ (Baten & Cornu, 1984, p 198), suggesting a classification of texts according to their functional properties Another aspect suggested by Byram (2004), in relation to reading comprehension within TEFL, is the identification of the textual structure It has been considered that the influence of genre on text processing and comprehension, in which it is analyzed how prior knowledge and familiarity with content and language may influence the comprehension of different genres, since it seems to influence the identification of the textual structure by allowing learners to anticipate the kind of information each text may contain (p 15)

This approach involves reading tasks of recognizing, predicting, and recalling patterns at each stratum of graphology, lexicon, grammar, and discourse The methodology that has been developed to teach reading within the genre-based approach, and that this research considers the most appropriate to do so, is known as

―learning to read: Reading to learn‖, moving the learner through a scaffolding interaction cycle of ―prepare, task, and elaborate‖ (Rose, 2004)

2.2 Reading comprehension

2.2.1 Definition

Reading comprehension has been defined in many different ways by many researchers and psychologists Having some similar ideas, Bloomfield (1933), Fries (1954) and some other linguists thought reading is to identify language units from the simple to the complex; reading is a simple and mechanical process of decoding (Kavanagh & Mattingly, 1972 ) Therefore, reading can be seen as an ―interactive‖ process between a reader and a text which leads to automaticity (reading fluency)

In this process, the reader interacts dynamically with the text as he/she tries to elicit the meaning and where various kinds of knowledge are being used: linguistic or systemic knowledge (through bottom-up processing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down processing) However, modern linguists and psychologists hold different opinions on this issue They conducted their research

on reading comprehension and gave it more proper explanations thanks to the development of contemporary linguistics and cognitive science According to modern linguists and psychologists, reading is an active individual who can make a choice and determination Simultaneously, the process of understanding can be made to take place smoothly through various means and techniques According to Silberstein (1987), we need to use visual activities when we are reading, and we can only put the literary signals into our brains with our eyes, but scientific research has discovered that such a visual activity is not like what we think it is We only identify the written forms one by one In contrast, when we are reading, we receive

a group of literary signals and proceed quickly, which some people called

‗CHUNKING‘ ( Dubin & others, 1986) Additionally, our brains participate in this process actively; hence, we call reading comprehension a cognitive process (Ma Zhuanghuan, 2002 ) For its complexities Grabe also argues that "many researchers attempt to understand and explain the fluent reading process by analyzing the process into a set of component skills" (1991, p 379) in reading; consequently, researchers suggested at least six general component skills and knowledge areas:

1 Automatic recognition skills

2 Vocabulary and structural knowledge

3 Formal discourse structure knowledge

4 Content/world background knowledge

5 Synthesis and evaluation skills/strategies

6 Metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring

(cited in Hesham, 2005)

2.2.2 The aims of teaching Reading

It is true that teaching reading plays a vital role in helping students develop a whole range of language learning processes Specifically, according to Hedge (2003), any reading component of an English language course always aims at:

 The ability to read a wide range of texts in English This is the long-range goal most teachers seek to develop through independent readers outside EFL/ESL classroom

 Building a knowledge of the language which will facilitate reading ability

 Building schematic knowledge

 The ability to adapt the reading style according to reading purpose (i.e skimming, scanning)

 Developing an awareness of the structure of written texts in English

 Taking a critical stance on the contents of the texts

(cited in Hesham, 2005, p.147)

Three last aforementioned goals are also elements which DA in general and three DA-related tenets namely Discourse structures, Genres, and Cohesion and Coherence, often focus on in order to help students boost their reading comprehension

2.2.3 Reading Comprehension Modes

Bottom-up (micro) Processing: ‗Bottom-up process supposed that readers firstly have literary information in mind when they transfer these signals to semantic information, namely, the reading process is one of identification from the simple units, such as alphabets, words, and sentences to more complicated language units In other words, a bottom-up approach to reading is known as a skills-based approach (Alderson, 2000; Winch et al., 2006) According to Carell (1988, p 101), the bottom-up processing approach is defined as "decoding individual linguistic units"

Top-down (macro) Processing: The ‗top-down' process followers thought that reading mainly depended on the pre-existent knowledge in readers' minds,

including linguistic and non-linguistic factors Reading process starts with the readers' inference and anticipation of the text (Vacca et al, 1987) Therefore, this mode was also called a knowledge-based one Kang (2007) states that a reader in the top-down processing model first brings its personal and cultural background and experiences to the text Rajabi (2009) further mentions that the top-down as a strategic model includes macro reading strategies such as previewing, predicting, guessing and inferences

Interactive Processing: ‗Interactive‘ refers to the inter-functions occurred between the text and the reader and also between the visual information and the pre-existent knowledge, namely, a combination of the above two modes In fact,

‗Interactive‘ process discovered that the meaning of a text is not self-evident but is created by the reader and the text together Furthermore, the interactive process described reading a two-way one, once which stops or is replaced by a one-way process, our reading comprehension will be hindered

2.2.4 Types of Reading

2.2.4.1 Extensive Reading

The definitions of the term ―extensive reading‖ have been conflicted (Hedge,

2003, p.202) Some utilize it to refer to describe ―skimming and scanning activities," others associate to the quantity of material Hafiz and Tudor claim that:

The pedagogical value attributed to extensive reading is based on the assumption that exposing learners to large quantities of meaningful and interesting L2 material will, in the long run, produce a beneficial effect on the learners' command of the L2 (1989, p 5)

According to Hedge, extensive reading varies according to students‘ motivation and school resources A well-motivated and trained teacher will be able

to choose suitable handouts or activities books for the students Hedge (2003) also states that extensive reading should be built into an EFL/ ESL programs provided the selected texts are "authentic" not written for language learners and published in the original language" (p.218) – and "graded" because it facilitates students in

developing reading ability Furthermore, extensive reading enables learners to gain their independence by reading either in class or at home, thanks to sustained silent reading This activity can be also useful for learners to become more independent of choosing what they are interested in In short, extensive reading is a pedagogical tool for building learners‘ language competence With this type of reading, they become more independent in their studies, make good progress in their reading

ability, gain cultural knowledge and strengthen confidence (Hedge, p.204-205)

2.2.4.2 Intensive Reading

Unlike Extensive Reading, Intensive Reading is most commonly associated with a line-by-line, or grammar-translation approach to learning to read in a foreign language (Palmer, 1964) According to Brown (1989), intensive reading "calls attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, and the like." He draws an analogy to intensive reading as a "zoom lens" strategy Long and Richards (1987) state that it is a "detailed in-class" analysis, led by the teacher, of vocabulary and grammar points, in a short passage." Intensive Reading, which is sometimes considered as "Narrow Reading", may involve students reading selections by the same author or several texts about the same topic When this occurs, content and grammatical structures repeat themselves and students take a large number of opportunities to get deep insight into the meanings of the text The success of "Narrow Reading" on improving reading comprehension is based on the premise that the more familiar the reader is with the text, either due to the subject matter or having read other works by the same author, the more comprehension is promoted In other words, Nation states ―intensive reading involves the detailed reading of texts with the two goals of understanding the text and learning language features through a deliberate focus on these items‖ (p 20)

―strategies‖ if cognitive activities happen consciously; if they happen unconsciously, he calls them ―skills‖ (p.533) Williams and Morgan (1989) agree with Ellis‘ opinion when they state that a skill is an automatic and sub-conscious ability while a strategy is a conscious process used for problem-solving purposes

We, therefore, can conclude that the students utilize the skills that they acquire in ordinary conditions automatically and when they face a problem in a text, strategies are applied According to Cohen (1990), the main reason for employing reading comprehension strategies is to ensure that the text is understood easily and correctly (p.83) Furthermore, reading comprehension strategies enable students to understand the general content and the structure of the text, participate in the reading process actively, establish connections between the content of the material and personal experience and keep the gist of the text in long-term memory and recall it easily

2.3 Language in use

According to Brown & Yule (1983), basically, analysis of discourse is the analysis of language in use In this light, the concept ‗language in use‖ related to discourse analysis plays a crucial role in language teaching and supply a firm ground for process-oriented teaching In other words, it helps language teachers understand how discourse analysis could be applied in different teaching situations

Cook (1989) also views discourse analysis as the examination of ―how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users.‖ Cook (1989, p.75) bases

on Harri‘s (1952) idea when he points out that due to the lack of the social knowledge which is vital to making text into discourse, language learners are

―social outsiders‖ Therefore, he states that to become members of a discourse community, learners need to be equipped more (i.e., teaching facts inside language) than just the formal approach to language Similarly, understanding lexis and processing grammar are not enough for learners to comprehend the text accurately

Additionally, following the Carrell and Eisterhold‘s (1983) schema-theoretic view of reading (later it is called "taken for granted"), Cook also includes

―knowledge schemata‖ in the context in order to predict the contents of the particular situation

Furthermore, Guy Cook (1989, p.81) argues that doing discourse analysis enable students in adopting a top-down approach to reading, which is assumed as being natural for L1 speakers He supposes that L2 students who tend to set a discourse in its textual and social context may postpone or neglect with unknown words if they explore the general ideas of the text

2.4 Language awareness

An interactive approach to teaching EFL, in which the interdependence of higher-order operations of language (i.e cultural and ideological meanings) and lower-order forms of language makes a valuable contribution to patterning the meaning, is adopted by McCathy and Carter (1991, p.168; 1994, p.38) In particular, the readers need to pay attention to the role of single words and cohesive devices in comprehending a text Therefore, discourse analyst should be partial to both the macro-level of a discourse and micro-level

The fact that written discourse is dependent on their immediate context is indicated by McCathy and Carter (1991, p.149; 1994, p.115) Discourse analysis, therefore, consists of the concept of intertextuality In other words, what others texts

the reading text refers to should be cared by both language teachers and learners in teaching EFL reading context because it may be vital to its understanding

In terms of a schema-theoretic view of reading, McCathy (1991, p.169) divide schemata being essential to understanding the reading text into content schemata (i.e background knowledge of the content area of a text) and formal schemata (i.e background knowledge of the formal, rhetorical organizational structures) The former is substituted by cultural frames which become a parameter

of language awareness, namely socio-cultural meaning while form and function are other parameters of language awareness in terms of formal schemata Teachers should encourage students to focus on language as a system and examining what language does in the given context with a view to increasing students‘ language awareness

In short, according to McCarthy and Carter discourse analysis can be a useful way in which it is incorporated with the interactive approach to EFL reading They also emphasize that a text does not exist in a vacuum but refers to other texts which are crucial for its understanding

2.5 Review of previous studies

There have been a large number of research studies carried out on Discourse Analysis and practice of applying Discourse Analysis knowledge to teaching English skills This chapter presents an overview of some related studies which have been conducted over the last decade in Vietnam and other countries

Vahidi (2006) investigated reading comprehension from the discourse point

of view on 155 students at the university level measured by multiple-choice questions She examined the comprehension of academic/expository text and discourse knowledge of paragraph structure It was the interaction between textual competence, including textual cohesion or rhetorical organization, and the text that could lead to discourse comprehension Her findings indicated that there was a relationship between the knowledge of text integration and text comprehension The findings also showed that the readers need to have sufficient knowledge of

discourse pattern to use clues for coherence and to concentrate on markers Nevertheless, with respect to the other group, no significant differences between the experimental group and the control one was found

Besides, regarding other tenets of discourse analysis, Hashemi and Ghanizadeh (2012) conducted an experimental study to investigate the impact of integrating critical discourse analysis in EFL reading classes In this study, 53 students at a university in Mashhad, Iran was selected as subjects of the study This group of participants had quite similar skills in terms of both their level of proficiency in English and their critical thinking abilities The results of the study indicated that critical discourse analysis had a noteworthy impact on students' construal of "unstated assumptions or presuppositions" In brief, the researchers claim that these critical skills can be transferable to other social environments and contexts to scaffold language learning However, they initially requires guidance and instruction on the part of teachers to help learners reach their full potentials

Furthermore, Samuel (2014) did the research on the effect of rhetorical patterns on Iranian high school students' reading comprehension There were 85 female students participating in this study This study used one expository text with two rhetorically different patterns With a between-subjects design, the subjects were divided into two groups One group of students read the descriptive text while the other group read the causative text The participants‘ reading comprehension was measured by recall protocol and cloze test The results of the statistical analysis indicated that the subjects who read the causative text had a great ability to perform better than the subjects who read the descriptive text This suggested that rhetorical pattern offers a guarantee for Iranian high school students that their comprehension will improve However, as already mentioned, in Iran no schemata of rhetorical patterns there is in the native language so the grammar-translation method is the dominant teaching English one in most of the language classes Therefore, reading teachers just can help students improve their reading comprehension on condition that instruction rhetorical patterns are emphasized

Most recently, Chang (2017) carried out the research investigating into the roles of DA in English reading teaching This study aimed at proposing and addressing the issues existing in teaching English readings skills It focused on the application of DA theory including schema theory, genre analysis and six-step teaching approach in English reading to improve students‘ reading ability and the effects of English reading teaching

Additionally, Yanwei (2017) conducted the paper which aimed to identify the ideal focus of discourse-based English reading teaching and to uncover pedagogical differences between English majors and non-English majors in Chinese universities The research findings revealed that Chinese students had a good sense

of discourse in general, and the main difference between English majors and English majors was that English majors were more inclined to grasp the main idea

non-by analyzing the structure of discourse The pedagogical implication was that if discourse-based reading teaching is applied for non-English major students, it should focus more on reading strategies related to the structure of discourse

Furthermore, in Vietnam Truong (2017) conducted the study to further prove the causal relationships between raising students‘ Awareness of Discourse Structure and reading comprehension development The research was conducted in reading classes for second-year English majors at HUFL The results of the study indicated that learners could develop better attitudes towards reading and more importantly, enhance their use of reading strategies thanks to their awareness of Discourse Structure The most important limitation was the small scale of the study, which was carried out on a rather small scale Besides, this research is like the aforementioned studies which just focus on one single tenet of DA

In brief, those aforementioned studies investigated into applying discourse analysis‘ different tenets to English teaching process However, they just focused on the effectiveness of the single tenet on English skills Besides, teachers‘ perceptions about DA and their applying of DA to teaching English in general and Reading comprehension, in particular, have not got much attention from the researchers

Therefore, conducting the research on teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying discourse analysis to teaching reading comprehension is essential In this light, the current study sets out in order to supply an overall picture of Vietnamese university teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying this approach The research conducted aims at highlighting the benefits of using DA and defining practical problems deterring the exploitation of DA, from which suggestions are proposed for combating the problems and the effective implementation of DA

2.6 Summary

This chapter presents the basic knowledge with a view to outlining the general background to this research Firstly, different definitions of discourse and discourse analysis with its approaches are presented Next, it discusses some definitions of reading comprehension and reading-related components such as Reading Comprehension Modes, types of reading, reading strategies Besides, Language in use and Language awareness are emphasized in this section Finally, previous studies which focus on applying DA to teaching English skills are also mentioned

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology used for the purposes of the research Further, the methodology employed to conduct this research is explained The overall design of data collection, instruments used as well as data analysis are clarified in this chapter To seek the answer to the two research questions raised in Chapter I, both qualitative and quantitative method of educational research were used

3.1 Research Questions

With a view to discovering teachers‘ perceptions and practice of applying discourse analysis to teaching reading comprehension in HUFL, this research attempts to solve the two following questions:

1/ What are teachers' perceptions towards applying DA to teaching Reading comprehension?

2/ What are teachers‘ existing classroom practices of applying DA to teaching Reading comprehension?

3.2 Research Design and Approach

Regarding research design, a complementary combination of both quantitative methods and qualitative methods was used so as to maximize the advantages of the quantitative and qualitative methods while offsetting the drawbacks of each (Creswell, 2003, p 217)

On the one hand, quantitative methods with the tool of two sets of questionnaires (one for teachers, and the other for students) and a set of class observation sheets facilitate the search for a large amount of data mainly based on statistics On the other hand, interviews as a tool of qualitative method approach were conducted in order to collect in-depth information from individual participants Consequently, the validity and reliability of the study were also enhanced

In short, the mixed methods approach applied in the study assured both the depth of the data gathered and the generalizations of the various data

3.3 Participants

3.3.1 Teachers

30 teachers who have been teaching Reading comprehension from different Departments of HUFL, mainly ESP and English Department, were asked to complete the questionnaire regarding their personal opinions about DA knowledge, students‘ difficulties in learning reading comprehension, teachers‘ DA applying to teaching reading comprehension and their suggestions to promote their students‘ reading comprehension by using DA The demographic characteristics of those participants are displayed in Table 3.1 As shown in the table, the respondents to the questionnaire for teachers are all female (100%) Besides, the largest group was formed by the respondents having 10 to 20 years of teaching experience (70%), while those who have less than 10 years of teaching experience come next with 20% and the rest with more than 20 years of teaching experience form the smallest group of respondents (10%) With respect to working place, a half of participants teaching English in English Department This figure is followed by teachers from ESP and other Departments of HUFL, 30 % and 20 % respectively It is shown that the respondents to the questionnaire for teachers are various in terms of age, and most of them are experienced in teaching English

5 participants out of the 30 respondents described above were chosen for an interview The interviewees‘ background varies in teaching experience because it is believed that diverse background might lead to different perceptions and practice of using DA in teaching reading comprehension Those participants were also asked for permission for class observation so as to examine their practice of employing

DA in teaching reading comprehension

Table 3.1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents to the questionnaire

for teachers

Number of teachers

to find out students‘ difficulties in learning reading comprehension

Table 3.2 demonstrates the demographic characteristics of respondents to student questionnaire As can be seen in the table, the number of female participants

is nearly triple that of the males (78% and 22% respectively), so there are large gender gaps among participants This is a practical reality of Universities of Foreign Languages where there is a greater number of females than males In terms of students‘ academic year, the figures for the students who are first-year and second-

year are the same at 35 % for each group The rest are third-year with 30 %, this number is slightly less than that of younger students

Table 3.2 Demographic characteristics of the respondents to the questionnaire

for students

Number of students

3.4 Instruments of Data Collection

3.4.1 Questionnaires

A questionnaire is an instrument for collecting data, and almost always involves asking a given subject to respond to a set of oral or written questions It has long been regarded as a typical quantitative research method Dörnyei (2007, p.24) states that quantitative research primarily relies on numerical data that is then analyzed by statistical approaches Clearly, the quantitative method provides accurate measurement and reliable data that can be replicated and generalized to other contexts (Dörnyei, 2007, p.34)

In this research, the questionnaires which include two sets (see Appendix A and Appendix B and C) were given to two different groups of participants: 30 teachers and 100 students Both of the questionnaires comprise two sections: section

A gaining background information of the participant, and section B seeking the