Nghiên cứu việc điều chỉnh các bài tập tronng sách tiếng anh 12 để dạy đọc hiểu gao tiếp hơn tại các trường thpt tỉnh quảng trị

The research addresses issues of EFL teachers and students' opinions on the difficulties in teaching and learning reading communicatively with "Tieng Anh 12" and teachers' perception on

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Pages Sub cover page

Table of Contents 1

Abstract 4

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5

1.1 Background of the Research 5

1.2 Purposes of the Research 7

1.3 Research Questions 7

1.4 Scope of the Research 8

1.5 Significance of the Research 8

1.6 Overall organization of the research 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Overview 9

2.2 Prior Studies Related to the Research 9

2.3 Theoretical Background 11

2.3.1 The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 11

2.3.1.1 Definitions of CLT 11

2.3.1.2 Some Features of Communicative Language Teaching 12

2.3.1.3 Principles of CLT 13

2.3.1.4 Roles of Teachers and Learners in CLT 14

2.3.2 Communicative Activities 15

2.3.2.1 Definitions of Communicative Activities 15

2.3.2.2 Characteristics of Communicative Activities 16

2.3.2.3 Types of Communicative Activities in EFL Classrooms 17

2.3.3 The Nature of Teaching Reading in EFL 21

2.3.3.1 Definitions of Reading 21

2.3.3.2 Kinds of Reading 22

2.3.3.3 Principles for Teaching Reading 22

2.3.3.4 Teaching Reading in a Communicative Way 23

2.3.4 Textbooks and the Role of Textbooks in a Language Program 24

2.3.4.1 What is a Textbook? 24

2.3.4.2 The Role of Textbook in a Language Program 25

2.3.5 Textbook Adaptation 26

2.3.5.1 What is Textbook Adaptation? 26

2.3.5.2 Why Adapt a Textbook? 27

2.3.5.3 Techniques of Adaptation 29

2.3.5.4 Framework for Adaptation 32

2.4 Summary 33

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34

3.1 Overview 34

3.2 Research Subjects 34

3.3 Research Methods 36

3.4 Instruments of Data Collection 36

3.4.1 Questionnaires 36

3.4.2 Classroom Observation 37

3.4.3 Interviews 37

3.5 Procedures of Collecting Data 38

3.6 Data Analysis 38

3.7 Summary 38

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 39

4.1 Overview 39

4.2 Findings and Discussion 39

4.2.1 Teachers' Difficulties in Teaching Reading Communicatively with Tieng Anh 12 39

4.2.1.1 Teachers' Opinions on the Reading Texts and Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 39

4.2.1.2 Teachers' Opinions on the Teaching Time to Reading Activities 42

4.2.1.3 Problems in EFL Classrooms Constraining Teachers from Teaching Reading Communicatively 43

4.2.1.4 Teachers' Perception on Using Communicative Activities to Promote 46

Communication in Reading Lessons 46

4.2.2 Students' Difficulties in Learning Reading Communicatively with Tieng Anh 12 47

4.2.2.1 Students' General Perception on the Reading Texts and Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 47

4.2.2.2 Students' View on the Time to Finish Reading Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 49

4.2.2.3 Problems Students Face in Reading Lessons 51

4.2.2.4 Students' Frequency of Speaking English in Reading Class 53

4.2.3 Teachers' Perception on the Necessity of Adapting Tieng Anh 12 for Teaching Reading More Communicatively 55

4.2.4 Teachers' Adaptation of Tieng Anh 12 for Teaching Reading More Communicatively 58

4.2.4.1 Frequency of Adapting the Reading Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 58

4.2.4.2 Ways of Adapting the Reading Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 60

4.2.5 Teachers' Difficulties in Adapting Tieng Anh 12 for Teaching Reading More Communicatively 65

4.3 Results from Pilot Teaching of Adapted Reading Lesson Plan 67

4.4 Summary 68

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 70

5.1 Conclusion 70

5.2 Implications 72

5.2.1 For Teachers 72

5.2.2 For Educational Authorities 74

5.3 Limitation 76

5.4 Suggested Further Research 77

REFERENCES 78

APPENDICES

ABSTRACT

This research studies the adaptation of "Tieng Anh 12" for teaching reading more communicatively at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Province The research addresses issues of EFL teachers and students' opinions on the difficulties

in teaching and learning reading communicatively with "Tieng Anh 12" and teachers' perception on what part of the textbook needs adapting The paper also finds out how EFL teachers adapted reading tasks of "Tieng Anh 12" and problems faced by teachers during adapting process

In this research, both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized to collect data of real teaching context, teachers' attitudes towards adapting "Tieng Anh 12" and the practicality of teachers' adaptation The data in this research were collected from 20 EFL teachers and 200 students at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Province via the research instruments such as questionnaires, interviews and class observations

The findings of the research indicates that a majority of EFL teachers and students encountered many difficulties from "Tieng Anh 12" such as long reading tasks and texts, unsuitable and less communicative tasks, difficult tasks and reading passages to students and so on Besides, the finding results reveal that teachers' perception on adapting “Tieng Anh 12” was positive Many problems faced by teachers during their adaptation were also talked about in this project Such troubles

as lack of facilities, limitation of materials, lack of time for preparation and financial problems directly affected teachers' adaptation

The research also conducts a pilot teaching and gets a feasible result Hence, together with the research results, the implications contributed to the improvement

of teaching and learning reading with "Tieng Anh 12" have already been reflected

in the conclusion of this research

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH

Together with the present trend of globalization, the government of Vietnam has been implementing the “open-door policy” to integrate into the world community in many fields such as economics, politics, commerce, education and so

on By the same token, many great changes in the educational system of Vietnam have brought about a lot of chances for Vietnamese people to learn English to meet the urgent demands required by their work This practice requires the English teaching staff of Vietnam to apply Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

approach to promoting language communication for learners

In the article about “Imported” Communicative Language Teaching: Implications for Local Teachers, Doctor Pham Hoa Hiep [37:3] writes:

“In Vietnam, for example, teachers of English recognize that traditional pedagogy, emphasizing the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary rather than communicative competence, does not meet the requirements of English learning

in an era of integration and globalization.”

Being aware of the important role of CLT in enhancing communicative competence for English learners, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)

of Vietnam has compiled various types of textbooks with the communicative approach aiming at helping students to develop their speaking skill Since 2000, the MOET has co-operated with Vietnam’s English Teacher and Trainer Network (VTTN) program sponsored by British Council to help Vietnamese Teachers of English (VTOE) apply CLT to creating more communicative activities in classes The VTTN has held many seminars and workshops to attract VTOE from different provinces with the aim at applying communicative activities to classes and changing teachers' attitudes towards teaching methodologies That is, it needs to shift the traditional methodology to communicative approach in teaching all skills such as

listening, speaking, reading, writing and so on However, this is still a great challenge for many VTOE Currently, the MOET has issued the English textbooks for general education in which the exercises are primarily task-based Besides communicative tasks, some tasks are not very communicative Others are very difficult for students to interact or communicate well during their learning Therefore, it is necessary for VTOE to adapt the current English textbooks to promote communication As Cunningsworth [11] said, even the "best" coursebook requires adaptation Practically, the purpose of the current English textbooks of

MOET is to train students with such skills as reading, listening, speaking and

writing Amongst them, reading is, initially, an important skill that lays the basic

foundation for other skills Thus, it requires VTOE to equip students with the communicative competence right from reading lessons To reach this aim, reading lessons should be adapted to give students more chance to interact and communicate with each other

As a VTOE at Gio Linh upper secondary school in Quang Tri province, the researcher has witnessed that students encountered a lot of difficulties in learning reading with the current English textbooks and they could not communicate well in reading classes The majority of my grade 12 students had few chances to interact or communicate with each other in reading lessons and sometimes they talked in Vietnamese or worse, they did not talk at all (M P Tran, personal communication, September 20th, 2009) This makes the author wonder if teaching reading is actually difficult Why cannot students have a good competence of communication

in English? Are the tasks in the current English textbooks difficult to them in learning reading communicatively? What should VTOE adapt for promoting communication in reading lessons? Personally, adapting these textbooks might be one of the solutions to these problems

Regarding what mentioned above as the matters of prime concern, the

researcher has decided upon the implementation of the research entitled “A Study

on Adaptation of "TIENG ANH 12" for Teaching Reading More Communicatively at Upper Secondary Schools in Quang Tri Province” With

this study it is hoped to find out how high school teachers of English in Quang Tri have adapted the current English textbook for teaching reading and whether their adaptation is effective or not Also, some appropriate solutions and suggestions for VTOE at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province to adapt the textbook

"TIENG ANH 12" for teaching reading more communicatively are expected to be drawn out from this research

1.2 PURPOSES OF THE RESEARCH

From the aforesaid reasons, the specific aims of the research are as follows:

 To find out difficulties that teachers and students meet in teaching reading communicatively with the current English textbook "TIENG ANH 12"

 To find out what need to be adapted in terms of promoting communication

3) How do teachers of English at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri adapt “TIENG ANH 12” for teaching reading more communicatively?

4) What are the difficulties teachers of English at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri encountered in adapting “TIENG ANH 12” for teaching reading more communicatively?

1.4 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

This research focuses on investigating teachers' adaptation of Tieng Anh 12 for teaching reading more communicatively at four upper secondary schools in Quang Tri: Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Gio Linh, and Cua Tung Due to the limitation of time and constraint of the research, this research is only limited to 20 teachers of English chosen

at random and 200 students of grade 12 at 4 schools mentioned earlier

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 12 students through reading lessons Furthermore, after having conducted this research, I myself can develop knowledge, skills and experiences for improving my teaching quality

1.6 OVERALL ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH

The research consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1, the introduction, presents the background of the research including the rationale, the purposes of the research, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research significance and the overall organization of the research

Chapter 2, the literature review, describes fundamental and theoretical concepts which are relevant to the study

Chapter 3, the research methodology, addresses the subjects, methods to implement the study, research instruments to collect data such as questionnaires, class observation sheets and interviews The chapter also presents the data analysis and the procedures for conducting the research

Chapter 4 includes the findings and discussion about the results of the investigation Chapter 5 briefly presents the conclusion of the study, pedagogical implications, limitations, and suggestions for further studies

to the fields of the research such as the Communicative Language Teaching, communicative activities, the nature of teaching reading, textbook, the role of textbook and techniques for adapting a textbook are also mentioned or defined clearly basing on the viewpoints of various researchers around the world The chapter finally concludes by highlighting the necessity of conducting the research

2.2 PRIOR STUDIES RELATED TO THE RESEARCH

So far, there have been many researches related to the fields of textbook

adaptation and teaching reading skill Lee et al.[25] conducted the research on coursebook implementation in Hong Kong The result of the research has raised various difficulties faced by teachers in using Target-Oriented Curriculum English textbooks and it requires adaptation to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning Chunmei Yan [54] researched on English teaching materials of Chinese teachers The study implies a need of institutional support for teachers in material development and reveals some advantages and disadvantages of teaching materials O'Neill [36] pointed out that textbooks can provide the framework for classroom teaching and no textbooks can expect to appeal to all teachers and learners Richards [43] argued that teachers should approach textbooks with expectation that deletion, adaptation, and extension will be usually necessary for the materials to work effectively with their class Dvora et al [12:6-7] conducted a research on

adapting English curriculum The research focused on discovering difficulties that challenge students with disabilities in the schools in the Arap and Druze sectors and suggesting ways of adapting the English curriculum to suit students' needs and abilities and implement it appropriately and effectively Lamie [23:3] implemented

a research on adapting for making the textbook more communicative The scope of the reasearch was in junior and senior high schools in Japan In the research Lamie emphasized that textbook adaptation is essential to encourage communication and interaction between the teacher and the students and the students themselves Apart from the aforementioned researches, Wright [52:3] also researched on adapting materials for distance learning in Canada In the research he mentioned about adapting content, activities, resource materials, assessments and so on With this, teacher's adaptation could help facilitate learning and provide learning quality

Researches on textbook adaptation and reading skill are also paid much attention to in Vietnam Laura et al [24:13] pointed out that our textbooks are full

of reading texts These need not be dull and uncommunicative lessons By adapting tasks, we can make reading lessons a lot more interactive and communicative Phan Thi Thanh Huong [40] carried out a study on adapting the current ESP coursebook for computer science students at Vinh University The major findings in her research indicated some problems in the coursebook that must be adapted to fit the learners' needs and English levels

Regarding to teaching reading skill, many researchers have also addressed in their researches Cai Ngoc Duy Anh [7] studied the reality of teaching reading at high schools In the research, he mentioned the communicative activities used in teaching reading skill to high school students Pham Thi Ha [38] pointed out some disadvantages of implementing communicative activities at high schools in Quang Binh Province and the requirement for designing communicative activities in reading classes In terms of CLT application, Nguyen Thi Lan Anh [30] studied the difficulties that teachers encountered in teaching grammar communicatively at Quang Binh Junior Teachers’ College The research focused on teaching grammar

at Quang Binh Junior Teachers’ College only Nguyen Van Dinh [31] implemented

a research on designing and using supplementary reading activities for English classes at Kon Tum Gifted High School In the research, he suggested that teachers should utilize various supplimentary reading activities to make the reading lessons more communicative and teachers' adapting activities should be made during teaching process to help fit teaching and learning situation Phan Thi Bao Uyen [39] conducted her research on the use of the new English Textbook 6 In the research, she mentioned the teachers and students' preparation for teaching and learning the new English Textbook 6 and some difficulties that teachers and students faced She also studied on how teachers used and adapted the new English textbook 6 for facilitating complex tasks in the textbook and improving language skills for students Vo Thi Phuong Khanh [50] pointed out some difficulties in using English textbook 8 at some lower secondary schools in Thua Thien Hue She also found out the factors hindering the implementation of CLT when dealing with the new English Textbook 8

From the above-mentioned researches, the researcher found that many researchers have affirmed that textbooks also contain some foibles so adapting textbooks plays a very essential role in teaching process Furthermore, there have been various authors who studied the implementation of CLT in teaching reading at high schools and in teaching grammar at college However, these researchers have not conducted any research on adaptation of "TIENG ANH 12" yet Therefore, the author has decided to conduct the research with the aim of finding some useful solutions and significant suggestions to promote communication in reading lessons and help improve teaching and learning English at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri province

2.3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.3.1 THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT)

2.3.1.1 Definitions of CLT

Until now there have been many researchers pointing out various definitions

of CLT According to Richards and Rodgers (2001) cited in Brown [4:241], CLT is best understood as an approach, rather than a method It is therefore a unified but

broadly based theoretical position about the nature of language and language learning and teaching Additionally, CLT is defined as an approach to the teaching

of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and

the ultimate goal of learning a language It is also referred to as “communicative

approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the “Communicative

Approach”.(The free encyclopedia [10] )

In all, CLT is an approach that aims at helping students to communicate meaningfully in the target language In reality, there are a lot of different definitions

of CLT apart from those mentioned above However, one should not ignore the emphasis on the "interaction" in teaching and learning language skills such as reading, speaking, listening and writing in the light of CLT Furthermore, promoting communication in reading lessons is also a hard work, so it requires the practitioners of CLT to pay much attention to the features of this approach

2.3.1.2 Some Features of Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching is usually characterized as a broad approach which has a clearly defined set of classroom practices and defined features The following ones are Nunan’s [33] five features of CLT classrooms:

 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

 The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning management process

 An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom

Unlike the traditional approach, CLT emphasizes learning to communicate through interaction in the target language and provides students with chances to practice real-life situations, etc In CLT the teacher serves as a facilitator allowing students to be in charge of their own learning Therefore, in the classroom of CLT it requires the teacher to organize the activities of pair work and group work requiring

negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions and so on

In brief, to achieve the success in teaching reading communicatively as well

as other skills, it is very necessary that the teacher grasp the above mentioned features of CLT insightfully

2.3.1.3 Principles of CLT

CLT is a broad approach that focuses on learners' communicative needs, autonomy and negotiation of meaning Its principles are applied to reading, writing, listening and grammar as well as to face-to-face oral communication Freeman [13] pointed out the negotiation in meaning of learners That is, they try to make themselves understood even when their knowledge of the target language is incomplete They learn

to communicate by communicating Actually, CLT also requires the learners' autonomy and learner-centered approach Similarly, Morrow [29] addressed five principles of CLT as follows:

Know what you are doing

The whole is more than the sum of the parts

The processes are as important as the forms

To learn it, do it

Mistakes are not always a mistake

From the above-mentioned principles, it can be found that learners need to have the autonomy in learning They learn the target language by acting through the target language and mistakes during their learning can be tolerated

The fundamental principles of CLT can also be characterized as follows:

- A focus on communication through interaction

- The use of authentic materials

- A focus on the learning process as well as the language itself

- Learners' own experiences can contribute to learning

- A linkage between language learning in the classroom and real-life activities

(Nunan, 1991 as in Butler [6])

2.3.1.4 Roles of Teachers and Learners in CLT

a The Role of Teacher

The role of the teacher in CLT is quite different from that of the traditional teaching method and it is less dominant than in a teacher-centered approach In teaching reading as well as other skills, the teacher can play different roles at different teaching stages

According to Breen and Candlin (1980) as cited in Richards and Rodgers [42], the first role of the teacher is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group The latter is closely related to the objectives of the former and arises from it These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher such as an organizer of resources, a resource himself, a guide within the classroom procedures and activities and so on The third role for teachers is that of researcher and learner Breen and Candlin (1980) as cited in Richards and Rodgers [42] also describe other roles such as a need analyst, a counselor, and a group process manager Truly speaking, in CLT the teacher serves as a facilitator to elicit communication and help students join in the communicative context easily In addition, the teacher acts as a manager or an organizer in classroom so the teacher is considered as an independent participant

A teacher may also serve as a facilitator, a manager, an advisor or a communicator to engage in communicative activity along with the students (Littlewood, 1981 as cited in Freeman [13] Also, according to Prodromou [41], the teacher can act as a friend, a manager, a monitor, a facilitator, a counselor, a reliable informant on the language, a social worker, a model for the students and so on

co-Ultimately, the teacher, in terms of the CLT, can play various roles Of course, the teaching process involves many different stages so it requires the teacher

to be flexible and acts a specific role compatibly with each specific teaching stage

b The Role of Learner

Unlike the teacher-centered approach, the CLT is a learner-centered approach, which focuses on the processes of communication, rather than the mastery of language forms Therefore, students are required to be active, creative and more dominant in language learning Students need to be autonomous when participating in classroom activities They are also required to actively solve the tasks through communication Breen and Candlin (1980) as cited in Richards and Rodgers [42:166] describe the learner's role within the CLT as follows:

The role of learner as negotiator-between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning-emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he gains, and thereby learn in an interdependent way

Similarly, Freeman [12:131] describes learners as communicators They are actively engaged in negotiating meaning-in trying to make themselves understood-even when their knowledge of the target language is incomplete Beyond doubt, CLT requires the autonomy and activeness of the learners Also, Champeau de lopez [8:16] states: “Now, the student is not simply passive receptacle into which the teacher pours knowledge”, but “it is the learner who must assimilate the language and allow it to become part of him”

In brief, in CLT learners play an active role in communicating through the target language Therefore, they should be more autonomous and dominant in language learning

2.3.2 COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

2.3.2.1 Definitions of Communicative Activities

According to Bilash [3], "communicative activities are any activities that

encourage and require a learner to speak with and listen to other learners, as well

as with people in the program and community." Communicative activities have real

purposes: to find information, break down barriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills,

communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson Harmer [16] considered communicative activities as those which encourage students to communicate and give students a purpose involving them in a varied use of

language Nunan [34:10] defined a communicative task is "a piece of classroom

work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form."

In other words, it is a truism that communicative activities are those which appeal learners to interaction and communication in a real way

2.3.2.2 Characteristics of Communicative Activities

In their purest form, communicative activities are depicted by Harmer

[16:42-45] as having the following six characteristics:

- A desire to communicate: Whatever activity the students are involved in, if

it is to be genuinely communicative and if it is really promoting language use, the students should have a desire to communicate

- A communicative purpose: Students must know the reason to exchange

information and they should have a purpose for communicating If they do not want to

be involved in communication, then that communication will probably not be effective

- A focus on language content not language form: In communication,

students must have a purpose to exchange the information If students do have a purpose of this kind then their attention should be centered on the content of what is being said or written, not the language form being used

- A variety of language: In many classroom activities teachers should create

situations in which students will use a number of language patterns Therefore, students will have to deal with a variety of language rather than just one language structure

- No teacher intervention: While the students are engaged in the

communicative activity, the teacher should not intervene By intervention, we mean telling students that they are making mistakes, insisting on accuracy and asking for repetition, etc This would undermine the communicative purpose of the activity The teacher may be of course involved in the activity as a participant

- No materials control: Often students work with materials which force the

use of certain language, or at least restrict the students' choice of what to say and how to say it Therefore, no materials control will create communication for students in the real world

Similarly, Nolasco and Arthur [32:59] introduced six characteristics of communicative activities as follows:

 They involve using language for a purpose

 They create a desire to communicate This means there must be some kind

of “gap” which may be information, opinions, effects or reasons which students seek to bridge

 They encourage students to be creative and contribute their ideas

 They focus on the message and students concentrate on “what” they are saying rather than “how” they are saying it

 The students work independently of the teacher

 The students determine what they want to say or write The activity is not designed to control what students will say

2.3.2.3 Types of Communicative Activities in EFL Classrooms

In any language classroom, communicative activities play an important role in promoting communication and interaction amongst students Studying the implementation of communicative activities in English reading classroom, Gao [14] stated that communicative activities usually fall into four broad categories: (a) the conduct of the English reading class; (b) topics arising from and relevant to the students' personal life; (c) substantive topics which are educationally

extremely-or professionally significant; (d) classroom communicative exercises, i.e small-scale activities that enable students to practice characteristic features of English discourse, especially "pair work", "group discussion", "role play" are frequently used

According to Harmer [16:113], communicative activities are classified as oral communicative activities and the written ones The oral communicative activities are

divided into seven categories: reaching a consensus, relaying instructions,

communication games, problem solving, interpersonal exchange, story construction, and simulation and role play These kinds of activities are described as as follows:

- Reaching a consensus: In this activity, students have to agree with each other

after a certain amount of discussion The task is not complete until they do Consensus activities have been very successful in promoting free and spontaneous use

- Relaying instructions: In this type of activity a group of students has

the necessary information for performance of a task Without showing them these instructions they have to enable another group or groups of students to perform the same task

- Communication games: communication games are based on the principle of

information gap In this type of activity, students are put into situations which are

"game-like" and have to use all and any language they possess to complete the game

- Problem solving: This type of activity encourages students to make a

decision to solve problems or tasks after a considerable amount of discussion

- Interpersonal exchange: In this type of activity, it requires the stimulus

for conversations from students and the productive language they use

- Story construction: This kind of activity aims at giving students only

partial information and then ask them, for example, to use that information as part

of a story which they must complete by asking other students (who have other bits

of information) for other parts of the story

- Simulation and role play: The idea of simulation and role play is to create

the pretence of real-life situation in the classroom Students simulate the real world and practice in real-world English

Besides oral communicative activities as previously mentioned, Harmer [16] also addresses written communicative activities which are divided into six headings:

relaying instructions, exchanging letters, writing games, fluency writing, story construction, and writing reports and advertisements These types of activities are

featured as follows:

- Relaying instructions: In this type of activity one group of students has

information for the performance of a task, and they have to get another group to perform the same task by giving them written instructions

- Exchanging letters: Students write each other letters or messages and then

receive the reply The writing is based on simulation and role play In this type of activity students have a good chance to practice real written communication

- Writing games: In this kind of activity students are put into situations

which are "game-like" and have to use any written language they possess to complete the task as a game

- Fluency writing: The aim of this activity is to get students to write as

much as possible in a definite period of time

- Story construction: This kind of activity aims at giving individual students

partial information which they must "pool" with other students in order to piece together a narrative

- Writing reports and advertisements: After fulfilling a reading task or a

certain discussion, students are encouraged to write and design their own written work

Apart from Harmer's classification of communicative activities, Littlewood

[27:20-49] has classified communicative activities as two main categories which are called "Functional communication activities" and "Social interaction activities"

+ Functional communication activities

The purpose of this type is to help the learners use the language they know to share, to use and to process the information Functional communication activities consist of four main groups as follows:

- Sharing information with restricted cooperation

This type of communicative activity produces the simplest patterns of interaction One learner (or group) possesses information which another learner (or group) must discover To ensure that the interaction lasts long enough to provide sustained practice, the knower is not allowed to cooperate fully He provides information only in response to appropriate cues These are usually questions of a specified kind

- Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation

The aim of this type is to reduce the conventions that restrict the cooperation between learners Here, the information gap is also maintained This therefore may

lead to the fact that more realistic patterns of interaction can emerge, producing a wider variety of communication functions Instead of only asking and answering questions, learners can use language for describing, suggesting, asking for clarification, helping each other and so on

- Sharing and processing information

In this kind of activity learners must not only share information but also discuss

or evaluate this information to solve a problem Consequently, the range of communicative functions that occurs is further widened, unpredictability of interaction

is further increased, and there is more scope for disagreement and negotiation

- Processing information

This type of functional communication activity dispenses completely with the need to share information Students now have access to all the relevant facts The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision

+ Social interaction activities

In social interaction activities, the learners must pay greater attention to the social as well as the functional meanings that language conveys It also means that the activities approximate more closely to the kind of communication situation encountered outside the classroom, where language is not a functional instrument, but also a form of social behavior Social interaction activities fall into two categories below:

- The classroom as a social context

In order for the classroom environment to be communicative, the possibilities of social interaction are based on these four main approaches: (a) using the foreign language for classroom management; (b) using the foreign language as a teaching medium; (c) conversation or discussion sessions; (d) basing dialogues and role-plays on school experience

- Simulation and role-playing

In order to create more varied forms of interaction in the classroom, the teachers have turned increasingly to the field of simulation and, within that field,

especially role-playing To extend the possibilities for communication and interaction in classroom, the following techniques are necessarily used

- Learners are asked to imagine themselves in a situation which could occur outside the classroom

- They are asked to adopt a specific role in this situation In some cases, they may simply have to act themselves In others, they may have to adopt a simulated identity

- They are asked to behave as if the situation really existed, in accordance with their roles

- The learner's focus should be more firmly on the communication of meanings, rather than on the practice of language

- Learners must identify with their roles in the interaction more deeply than during controlled language practice

- Learners must create the interaction themselves, on the basis of their roles and the meanings that arise, rather than perform in ways that have been predetermined by the teacher

2.3.3 THE NATURE OF TEACHING READING IN EFL

2.3.3.1 Definitions of Reading

As a receptive skill, reading is clearly one of the most important skills which normally initiates in teaching process and it cannot separate from the other skills Williams (1984) as cited in McDonough and Shaw [28:102] usefully classifies reading into (a) getting general information from the text; (b) getting specific information from a text; and (c) for pleasure or for interest In fact, reading is a process that readers access to decode the information Nunan [35:68] stated that reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background to build meaning Obviously Nunan emphasizes the goal of reading is comprehension

It cannot be denied that reading is a complex skill which requires its readers

to integrate the background knowledge to decode the information from the text and build meaning, interaction, and communication

2.3.3.2 Kinds of Reading

Like many other researchers and methodologists, Grellet [15], Harmer [17] have the same point of view on categorising reading into four main ways: skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading

According to Grellet [15:4], skimming is quickly running one's eyes over a text to get the gist of it On the contrary, he defines scanning as "quickly going through a text to find a particular piece of information." Grellet describes extensive reading as reading longer texts, usually for one's own pleasure This is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding To intensive reading, he defines as reading shorter texts, to extract specific information This is more accuracy activity involving reading for detail

In reality, the reading purposes constantly vary and therefore, when devising exercises, the teacher should vary the questions and tasks or activities according to the type of text studied and the aim of reading it (Grellet, [15:4])

2.3.3.3 Principles for Teaching Reading

Harmer [17:101] suggested six reading principles as follows:

Principle 1: Encourage students to read as often and as much as possible

The more students read, the better Everything we do should encourage them

to read extensively

Principle 2: Students need to be engaged with what they are reading

Outside the normal lesson time, when students are reading extensively, they should be involved in joyful reading That is, we should try to help them get as much pleasure from it as possible But during lessons, too, we will do our best to ensure that they are engaged with the topic of a reading text and the activities they are asked to do while dealing with it

Principle 3: Encourage students to respond to the content of a text (and explore their feelings about it), not just concentrate on its construction

It is important for students to study reading texts in class in order to find out

such things as the way the language is used, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses But the meaning, the message of the

text, is just as important as this As a result, we must give students a chance to respond to that message in some way It is especially important that they should be allowed to show their feelings about the topic-thus provoking personal engagement with it and the language

Principle 4: Prediction is a major factor in reading

Normally before we start to read the text, our brain will start predicting what

we are going to read if have a look at the headline, the title and so on Therefore, In class, teachers should give students "hints" so that they have a chance to predict what is coming This may help students succeed in reading

Principle 5: Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading texts

Once a decision has been taken about what reading text the students are going

to read, we need to choose good reading tasks-the right kind of questions, appropriate activities before, during and after reading, and useful study exploitation

Principle 6: Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full

Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions, etc it does not make sense, in class, just to get students to read it and then drop it and move on

to something else Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting lesson sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and then activation and using a range of activities to bring the text to the life

2.3.3.4 Teaching Reading in a Communicative Way

In order to teach reading in a communicative way, many researchers have

expounded many ideas which require both teachers and students' efforts

Harmer [17] described six reading principles through which EFL teachers need to facilitate, elicit and encourage students to deal with the reading text to build meaning and communication To gain the objectives, teachers must organize various communicative activities such as predictions, guessing games, communication games and so on Teachers need to create real reading and communicative situations in reading classrooms Widdowson as cited in Nguyen Van Dinh [31:8] states that reading is no longer regarded as a “pure” activity of interpreting the reading passage for information but it is common these days to refer

to reading as a communicative activity

Reading is, of course, just as communicative as any other form of language use so teachers should establish direct communications among students to exploit students' interaction A feature of real reading is that while we may read alone we communicate what we read to others constantly Talking about what we have read is

a rich source of classroom possibilities (Howarth [20:1])

In addition, one of the ways to teach reading communicatively is the necessity of using comprehension questions During the teaching process, teachers should use comprehension questions to ask and at times teachers use support questions to deal with students' mistakes The teachers should also provide opportunities for students to take the initiative in asking questions (Cheng [9:56])

In terms of the CLT, according to Littlewood [26], Richards & Rodgers [42] and Prodromou [41], the language teacher could play many roles such as a facilitator,

an organizer, a monitor, a friend, a counselor and a co-communicator and so on More importantly, in a communicative reading classroom, the teacher should act as activity-organizer, a facilitator rather than a leader or an authority to hold various different communicative activities to help students learn interactively with interests

In sum, to teach reading in a communicative approach, EFL teachers should organize a variety of communicative activities motivating students' learning, bring about opportunities to encourage students in learning reading communicatively, and especially, teachers need to pay much attention to their roles in teaching as well as creating real reading situations to promote students communicate in a real way

2.3.4 TEXTBOOKS AND THE ROLE OF TEXTBOOKS IN A LANGUAGE PROGRAM

2.3.4.1 What is a Textbook?

A textbook is the material for both teachers and students to use in teaching and learning a specific subject A textbook or coursebook (UK English) is a manual of instruction in any branch of study (The free dictionary from http://en.wikipedia.org.)

According to the English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search, retrieved

on September 24th, 2009, from http://www.allwords.com, a textbook is defined as a

formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools

or colleges

Ur [48] also defined textbook as a book of which the teacher and ,usually,

each student has a copy, and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language course

A textbook is, briefly, the fundamental material to supplement the teacher during his/her teaching and help students to learn a specific subject following the demand of the educational institutions

2.3.4.2 The Role of Textbook in a Language Program

The textbook role in a language program is extremely important Basically it provides the framework of content, skills and ideological information Hence, the educator makes use of the textbook as a fundamental material to help his learners to achieve the knowledge, skills and attitudes So far many researchers have affirmed the important roles of textbook as follows:

Richards [44] affirmed that:

Textbooks are a key component in most language programs In some situations they serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the students take part in In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teacher's instruction For learners, the textbook may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from input provided by the teacher

Obviously, textbooks are very important as they provide the basic sources of knowledge, skills students receive and the ideas on how to plan and teach the lessons that the teacher can employ Regarding a textbook as the backbone of a language-teaching program, Ur [48] and Browder [4] assumed that textbooks provide a framework and fundamental knowledge which helps teachers and learners know where they are going and what is coming next

Apart from the aforesaid roles of textbooks, Haycroft [18] also addressed the benefits of textbooks He stated that one of the advantages of using textbooks is that they psychologically essential for students since their progress and achievement can

be measured concretely when we use them Conversely, Richards [44] also expressed his own opinion on the limitation of textbooks that is textbooks sometimes present inauthentic language since texts, dialogs and other aspects of content tend to be specially written to incorporate teaching points and are often not representative of real language use In other case, textbooks can deskill teachers and the role of teachers can become reduced as they present materials prepared by others Additionally, Johnson & Morrow [22] stated that textbooks tend to equate learning with teaching and most textbooks seem to suggest that learners can all learn the same things in the same way at the same pace

In brief, textbooks have played many important roles in language teaching program such as the key components, the foundation of knowledge, the balance of skills, the core framework of teaching and learning, the supplementing material of teacher's instruction and the source of ideological information Textbooks are very essential for teaching and learning as they provide the basic language inputs that students need to receive and support teachers' instruction However, as mentioned above, textbooks obviously contain some limitations Therefore, knowing how to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a teacher's professional knowledge

Actually, no one could deny the pivotal roles of textbooks in language teaching and learning programs besides their shortcomings Thus, we can confirm that no teaching-learning situation, it seems, is complete until it has relevant textbook (Hutchison & Torres [21])

2.3.5 TEXTBOOK ADAPTATION

2.3.5.1 What is Textbook Adaptation?

Textbook adaptation is the way the teacher re-words the explanation in a textbook (McDonough & Shaw, [28:84] This means that the teacher, by adapting, can rewrite or modify some parts of the textbook to fit a specific teaching situation

Furthermore, in the process of adapting textbook, the teacher can choose

such options as omission, addition, reduction, extension, rewriting or modifying,

replacement, re-ordering, and branching (Maley 1998 cited in Cheng Xiaotang [53] By using the options above, the teacher can make the lesson easier, more interesting and communicative Maley also pointed out that textbook adaptation can

be done at three levels The first level is macro adaptation After comparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus and examination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even the whole units of the book can be omitted and certain contents need to be supplemented The second level is adapting

a unit This could be reordering the activities, combining activities, omitting

activities, replacing, rewriting or supplementing exercise material and so on The

third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally an activity may

be valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in a particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or she needs to adapt it

In a word, textbook adaptation is the way in which the teacher may add,

omit, reduce or extend, reword or modify, replace, reorder and branch in order to

adapt a part or parts of the textbook to each specific teaching situation Depending

on the specific level of adaptation, the teacher can make the lesson congruous with each particular context or the teacher may adapt unsuitable activities to make the lesson communicative and compatible with students' tastes

2.3.5.2 Why Adapt a Textbook?

In an actual fact, textbook cannot cater equally to the requirements of every different classroom situation Furthermore, there are a variety of different learning needs of students in every class And no single textbook can possibly work in all situations (Allwright [1:9]) Therefore, it is essential that the teacher adapt the textbook to adjust to each particular teaching situation The reason of textbook adaptation can also be drawn out from the followings

The foremost reason is that textbooks cannot suit every student's need and they cannot avoid the shortcomings For instance, Richards [44:2] stated that textbooks can deskill teachers He also argued that textbooks sometimes do not

reflect the interests and needs of students and hence may require adaptation Another viewpoint on the foible of textbooks is that Sheldon [45] mentioned the lack of cultural appropriacy of some textbooks This also requires the teacher to adapt the textbook to suit students' learning preferences O'Neill [36] has the same point of view as Allwright He states that textbook can only provide props and framework for classroom teaching, but no textbook can be expected to appeal to all teachers and learners at a particular level Ultimately, although textbooks provide beneficial knowledge and main source of education information, they still have some limitations as aforesaid It is, therefore, necessary for teachers to adapt their textbooks to suit students' learning needs as well as specific teaching situation

The second domain is that the elements in textbooks are sometimes different from those in the classroom McDonough and Shaw [28:83] have already split these elements into two terms namely "Internal" and "External" What the materials offer are called internal factors, which include the choice of topics, skills covered, proficiency level, grading of exercises and so on What the teacher faces and deals with in the classroom are called external factors, which comprise learner characteristics, physical environment, resources, class size and so on These factors will cause difficulties for teaching and learning process Therefore, teacher's textbook adaptation must be done in order to facilitate the learning condition, match them closely to create interaction and communication amongst learners

The third reason is that adapting textbook can help the teacher integrate skills into teaching and hence it will encourage communication for students Moreover, some textbooks may comprise useful and logical knowledge but they may not suit learners' learning styles Therefore, it requires teacher's adaptation to make the teaching and learning situation become more appropriate That is why McDonough and Shaw also suggest that teaching materials may be internally coherent but not totally applicable in context

Lastly, the author wishes to list some other reasons that need the teacher's adaptation to create a congruence in teaching and learning environment The teacher has to adapt the textbook because of the following factors:

 Reading passages contain too much unknown vocabulary

 Comprehension questions are too easy or very difficult

 The amount of material is too great or little to cover in the time allocated

to lessons

 No guidance for teachers on handling group work and role play activities with large class

 Activities or tasks do not suit students' needs or learning preferences

 Activities or tasks are monotonous or uncommunicative, and too much or too little variety in the activities (McDonough and Shaw [28:86])

In brief, every textbook has advantages and shortcomings so it requires the teacher to explore the benefits and adapt the shortcomings to make his or her teaching more successful As aforementioned, the purposes of textbook adaptation

is to maximize the appropriateness of teaching materials in context, to facilitate learning situation, to make the lessons more interesting and communicative and to adjust teaching process to particular learning level compatibly

2.3.5.3 Techniques of Adaptation

Adapting textbook is the work that needs every teacher's professional knowledge, skills and appropriate techniques to regulate teaching and learning stages McDonough and Shaw [28: 88-97] suggested the following techniques to adapt textbooks

Adding

The notion of addition is, on its face, a very obvious and straightforward idea, implying that materials are supplemented by putting more into them, while taking into account the practical effect on time allocation We certainly can add in this simple quantitative way by the technique of "extending" For example, adding a second passage parallel to the one provided is helpful in

reinforcing the key linguistic features-tenses, sentence structure, vocabulary, cohesive device-of the first text

Adding technique by extending is to supply more to the original material This means that the techniques are being applied within methodological framework

of the original materials We can also add in a qualitative way by the technique of

"expanding" Adding technique by expanding is to add to the methodology by moving outside it and developing it in new directions, for instance by putting a different language skill or a new component This can be thought of as a change in the overall system

Deleting or omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposite process to addition, and as such needs no further clarification as a term However, although material is taken out rather than supplemented, as a technique it can be thought of as "the other side of the same coin" The technique is used to omit material or reduce the length of material as subtracting from it For instance, the teacher leaves out lengthy and difficult tasks which are unproductive or inappropriate for a particular group of students

Addition and deletion often work together, of course Material may be taken out and then replaced with something else

Modifying

Modification is, at one level, a very general term in the language applying to any kind of change In order to introduce further possibilities for adaptation, we shall restrict its meaning here to an internal change in the approach or focus of an exercise or other piece of material It is rather important and frequently used procedure which, like all other techniques, can be applied to any aspect of 'content'

Modification can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is

writing, when some of the linguistic content needs modification The second is structuring, which applies to the classroom management The teacher may rewrite

re-material, exercises, to make it more appropriate, more “communicative”, more demanding, more accessible to their students To re-structuring, for many teachers

who are required to follow a coursebook rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class are sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible

In short, modification refers essentially to a "modality change" to a change in the nature or focus of an exercise, a text, or a classroom activity

Simplifying

The technique of simplification is one type of modification, namely a writing" activity Many elements of a language course can be simplified, including the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of material so that it becomes easier to see how different parts fit together For instance, teachers can simplify gap-filling activities by rewriting each filing sentence to make easier for students to understand Teachers can reword or leave out difficult words or expressions, etc Simplification has a number of further implications Firstly, it is possible that any linguistic change, lexical or grammatical, will have a corresponding stylistic effect, and will therefore change the meaning or intention of the original text Secondly, some teaching situations require attention to the simplification of the content when the complexity of the subject-matter is regarded as being too advanced Thirdly, simplification can refer not only to content, but also to the ways in which content is presented We may decide not to make any changes to the original text

In short, there are clear areas of overlap among the various techniques discussed above Relying on teaching and learning situation and internal and external factors, the teacher could adapt their textbooks to make a congruence To demonstrate adapting process, the author wishes to show a framework for adaptation in the next item

2.3.5.4 Framework for Adaptation

McDonough and Shaw [28] suggested a workable framework for adaptation

on which the principles for adaptation are based to fit together

Figure 2.1: Framework for adaptation (McDonough and Shaw [28:96])

' internal' criteria 'External' criteria

Match or Congruence

2.4 SUMMARY

No one can deny the important role of the CLT in teaching any skills The purpose of the CLT is to enhance the communicative competence for learners in language learning and using Especially, reading is an important skill which cannot

be separated from other ones It is initially taught in most of the textbook The success of teaching reading will lead to the great achievement in other skills such as writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary, grammar and so on Therefore, teaching reading communicatively is extremely important Moreover, it will lay the basic foundation for communication in learning other skills However, every textbook can have both useful knowledge and limitation and it requires the adaptation of the teacher in the teaching process Particularly, general English textbooks may contain shortcomings such as difficult tasks or uncommunicative activities, so the teacher should adapt these to make his or her teaching compatible with learning situation and encourage communication in classrooms

or students were identified by their names

Table 3.1: Teacher's Background Information

Currently Teaching English at a High School

As shown in table 3.1, the first group includes 12 male teachers and 8 female ones, aged from 24 to 58 Most of the teachers have BA degree and no one has MA

or Ph.D degree The majority of the teachers (65%) have been teaching for 5 to 10 years 30% of the teachers have been teaching for over ten years and only one teacher (5%) have been teaching for less than 5 years Among the surveyed teachers, 5 teachers (25%) are currently teaching at a high school in a city, 6 teachers (30%) are presently teaching at a high school in a town, 25% of the teachers are presently teaching at a high school in a townlet The rest (20%) are currently teaching at a high school in a rural area Majority of the teachers (75%) have not yet participated in workshops just for adapting textbooks The rest teachers (25%) have taken part in workshops on textbook adaptation

To the second group, the information was provided in the following table

Table 3 2: Students' Background Information

Currently Learning English at a

learning English from 7 to 10 years The number is different due to the difference of learning conditions among city, town, township and rural area To get the findings, the author randomly chose 50 students learning in the city, 50 students learning in the town, 50 students learning in the townlet and 50 students learning in the rural area

3.3 RESEARCH METHODS

The quantitative and qualitative methods are both used for conducting this research As described above, the research required the choice of descriptive statistics as the main research methodology and questionnaires for both teachers and students as the main instruments to collect data Furthermore, classroom observations and the informal in-depth interviews with teachers and students were used as supporting instruments to get extra information

3.4 INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

3.4.1 Questionnaires

In order to collect the data for the research, two questionnaires (one for teachers and one for students) were administered to the participants Both questionnaires were designed in a mixture of close and open questions to ensure the validity of the data collected The questionnaire for students was both in English and Vietnamese with similar forms and contents Only Vietnamese version was used to help students understand easily so that they could supply reliable answers (See Appendices 1, 2 and 3) Additionally, to make the research more qualitative, at the end of some questions, there is an open space reserved for the respondents to express their further choice, write down their explanations, give other suggestions

or specify other reasons

The questionnaire for teachers was used to collect the information related to the difficulties that teachers faced in teaching reading communicatively with Tieng Anh 12 and the obstacles happened in the process of adapting this English textbook The questionnaire for students was used to collect the information related to the reality of learning reading with Tieng Anh 12 and the difficulties in reading lessons

3.4.2 Classroom Observation

The class observation is used to confirm the reliability of the results collected from the questionnaires Therefore, the class observation was carried out in English classes at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri as previously mentioned All class observation aimed at checking, clarifying the information collected from the two questionnaires and exploring the reality of using and adapting Tieng Anh 12 for teaching and learning reading at upper secondary schools in Quang Tri Every class observation was facilitated with the help of an observation sheet (See Appendix 7) During the observation, the researcher carefully took notes and focused on how and what teachers adapted Especially, the author paid much attention to communicative activities used, students' interaction, teachers and students' roles and communicativeness of the adapted tasks

3.4.3 Interviews

The interviews will help reaffirm the consequence from the questionnaire and observation In addition, the interviews can help explore participants’ information fully and directly Therefore, besides observing and using questionnaires, the researcher will interview both teachers and students in order to collect insightful information about the reality of using and adapting Tieng Anh 12 for teaching and learning reading more communicatively

+ Teachers' interviews:

An interview checklist of 14 questions was designed for 5 randomly-chosen teachers of English The informal in-depth interviews conducted at the teachers' convenience after each observed reading lesson With this, the teachers were willing

to share the points of views, ideas and teaching experiences

+ Students' interviews:

Interviews for students were carried out with two stages First, an interview checklist of 8 questions was used to ask 10 randomly chosen students about the difficulties they encountered during learning reading communicatively with Tieng Anh

12 The informal in-depth interviews also conducted right after each observed reading lesson or in the break time The purpose of the interview was to find out the obstacles that undermined students' communication and interaction in reading lessons

At the second stage, a randomly-chosen group of students was interviewed after the researcher had conducted the pilot teaching with adapted reading lessons from Tieng Anh 12 The purpose of this interview was to explore students' expectation and attitudes towards adapting Tieng Anh 12 for teaching reading more communicatively This was also the expecting result that the researcher had harbored the dream of implementing this research

3.5 PROCEDURES OF COLLECTING DATA

Questionnaires, interviews and class observation are the instruments to

collect the data for the research Firstly the questionnaires were distributed to 20 teachers of English and 200 students of grade 12 at high schools in Quang Tri Province Within one week, the researcher analyzed the data from the questionnaires collected Secondly, to check the information from the responses of the research subjects, the researcher continued the study with the class observation

to gather practical information from EFL classrooms The third step was the interviews with teachers and students The interviews could be carried out right after class observation or break-intervals so that the researcher could grasp the information conveniently All interviews were implemented in Vietnamese to help the interviewees express full meaning, and kept in written notes

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

The data of this research were collected from questionnaires, class observations and interviews so both quantitative and qualitative methods were used

to analyze the findings of the research

The data collected from the questionnaires will be quantitatively analyzed and the result will be presented in tables and charts with numbers and percentage

The data from the class observation and interviews will be used for the qualitative analysis to verify the reliability of the quantitative results

3.7 SUMMARY

In brief, with the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods through 220 questionnaires, 10 pilot interviews and 15 in-depth interviews of both EFL teachers and high school students in Quang Tri, the researcher devised a very careful plan to collect and analyze the data elaborately so that the research results can be highly appreciated

4.2 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.2.1 Teachers' Difficulties in Teaching Reading Communicatively with Tieng Anh 12

4.2.1.1 Teachers' Opinions on the Reading Texts and Tasks of Tieng Anh 12

The following table describes the overall teachers' opinion on the reading texts of Tieng Anh 12

Table 4.1: Teachers' Opinions on the Reading Texts of Tieng Anh 12

(20)

Percentage (%)

As seen from Table 4.1, no teachers asserted that the reading texts were easy

to their students In contrast, having experienced from teaching, 80% of the teachers said that the reading texts were difficult to their students An interviewee also has the same idea:

"Generally speaking, some reading texts in such units as unit 7, unit 9, unit 14

and unit 16 are difficult to my students and they don't have enough language knowledge to understand the content of the reading passages"

(Teacher Interview, April 10, 2010)

Additionally, 20% of the teachers thought that the reading texts were somewhat difficult to their students whereas no teachers agreed that the reading texts were too difficult to their students It can be inferred that students have some difficulties from the reading texts Therefore, they also have some constraints in understanding the texts and communicating in reading lessons

It is obvious that the reading texts were generally difficult for students to have

a complete comprehension As a result, students could not communicate well in reading lessons From this practice, teachers have faced difficulties in teaching reading communicatively Besides these difficulties, the participants also shared some constraints that they encountered from the reading tasks of Tieng Anh 12 The investigated teachers expressed two groups of evaluation at the communicative level of the reading tasks as shown in the table below

Table 4.2: Teachers' Evaluations on the Reading Tasks of Tieng Anh 12 Teachers' Evaluations on the Communicative

Level of Reading Tasks

Number (20)

Percentage (%)