An investigation into students efl reading strategy use at nguyen van linh high school

133 students in 12th grade reported their use of reading strategies through a 28-item questionnaire adapted from Mokhtari and Sheorey’s 2002 Survey of Reading Strategies SORS in three su

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ EFL READING STRATEGY USE

AT NGUYEN VAN LINH HIGH SCHOOL

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Supervisor: Dr TRAN THI MINH PHUONG

HO CHI MINH City November 2015

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis, entitled “An Investigation into Students’ EFL Reading Strategy Use at Nguyen Van Linh High School”, is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, November, 2015

NGUYEN DU KIM PHUNG

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When doing this research, I am deeply indebted to many wonderful people for all their help Without their support, it would be very difficult for me to complete this study Accordingly, I would like to acknowledge with profound gratitude for the significant contribution they made

Importantly, I am really grateful to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Minh Phuong, for putting a great deal of effort into instructing me how to produce a thorough research She has provided me with detailed comments, useful advice and precious research experience Her supervision kept me on the right track which allowed me to be able to complete my study successfully

I would also like to express my gratitude to a teacher of English and students at Nguyen Van Linh High School for willingly cooperating with me during my data collection The teacher created favorable conditions for me to collect data from her students, and the students were very pleased to answer my questionnaires and interviews

My thanks go to M S Vu Huu Thanh for helping me analyze the data of my study Without his valuable assistance, my research would have been far from being finished

Last but not least, I wish to thank my family for the love and encouragement they gave me while I was doing my thesis

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate students’ EFL reading strategy use at Nguyen Van Linh High School 133 students in 12th grade reported their use of reading strategies through a 28-item questionnaire adapted from Mokhtari and Sheorey’s (2002) Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) in three sub-categories: global strategies (GLOB), problem-solving strategies (PROB), and support strategies (SUP) A reading comprehension test was used

to divide the participants into high, medium and low proficiency groups Eight of them in the high and low proficiency groups further took part in the semi-structured interviews Results showed that the students generally used reading strategies at a moderate-frequency level Among the three sub-categories of reading strategies, they employed PROB strategies the most often, followed by GLOB strategies and SUP strategies The five most used reading strategies were using typographical features to identify key information, guessing the content of the text, reviewing the text to know about its length, organization and main idea, getting back on track when losing concentration, and underlining or circling information in the text The five least used reading strategies were reading aloud, asking questions to have answered in the text, paraphrasing, analyzing and evaluating the information presented in the text, and thinking about the content of the text and reading purposes Moreover, the high proficiency students employed the three sub-categories more frequently than the low proficiency ones However, these differences were only highly significant in the use of problem-solving strategies and support strategies Practical recommendations are given to teachers of English and authorities at Nguyen Van Linh High School

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 1 Rationale of the study 1

1 2 Purposes of the study 3

1 3 Research questions 3

1 4 Significance of the study 3

1 5 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2 1 Learning strategies 5

2 1 1 Definitions of learning strategies 5

2 1 2 Classifications of learning strategies 7

2 2 Reading 12

2 3 Reading strategies 13

2 3 1 Definitions of reading strategies 13

2 3 2 Classifications of reading strategies 14

2 4 Skilled and unskilled readers 17

2 5 Learning strategy use and proficiency 18

2 6 Previous studies 19

2 6 1 Previous studies in different countries 19

2 6 2 Previous studies in Vietnam 26

2 7 Summary of chapter 2 28

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 29

3 1 Context of the study 29

3 2 Participants of the study 30

3 3 Research design 31

3 4 Instruments to collect data 31

3 4 1 Reading comprehension test 31

3 4 2 Questionnaires 32

3 4 2 1 Rationale of questionnaire 32

3 4 2 2 Descriptions of questionnaire 33

3 4 3 Interviews 34

3 4 3 1 Rationale of interview 34

3 4 3 2 Descriptions of interview 34

3 5 Pilot of the study 35

3 5 1 Pilot of questionnaire 35

3 5 2 Pilot of interview 36

3 6 Data collection procedure 37

3 7 Data analysis procedure 38

3 7 1 Questionnaire Data 38

3 7 2 Interview Data 38

3 8 Summary of chapter 3 38

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 39

4 1 Data analysis 39

4 1 1 The students’ EFL reading strategy use 39

4 1 1 1 Frequency of reading strategy group use 39

4 1 1 2 Frequency of individual reading strategy use 42

4 1 1 2 1 Global strategies 43

4 1 1 2 2 Problem-solving strategies 44

4 1 1 2 3 Support strategies 45

4 1 2 The differences in the use of reading strategies between the high and low proficiency students 47

4 1 2 1 Findings from the questionnaires 47

4 1 2 1 1 Differences between high and low proficiency students in using three reading strategy groups 48

4 1 2 1 2 Differences between high and low proficiency students in using the individual reading strategies 49

4 1 2 2 Findings from the interviews 54

4 2 Discussions of the study 57

4 2 1 The students’ EFL reading strategy use 57

4 2 2 The differences in the use of reading strategies between the high and low proficiency students 60

4 3 Summary of chapter 4 62

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 63

5.1 Research questions explicitly answered 63

5 2 Limitations of the study 65

5 3 Recommendations 66

5 4 Suggestions for further research 68

5 5 Summary of chapter 5 69

REFERENCES 70

APPENDICES 79

APPENDIX 1: READING COMPREHENSION TEST 79

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 84

APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE (TRANSLATEDVERSION) 87

APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (ENGLISH VERSION) 90

APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (TRANSLATED VERSION) 91

APPENDIX 6: A SAMPLE INTERVIEW SCRIPT (ENGLISH VERSION) 92

APPENDIX 7: A SAMPLE INTERVIEW SCRIPT (TRANSLATED VERSION) 94

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Stern’s list of 10 strategies of a good language learner 8

Table 2: Naiman’s list of L2 learning strategies 9

Table 3: O’Malley and Chamot L2 learning strategy framework 10

Table 4: Oxford’s learning strategy framework 12

Table 5: Overall frequency of the students’ reading strategy use 45

Table 6: Reading strategies used by the students listed from least to most frequently 46

Table 7: The students’ perceived use of global strategies 48

Table 8: The students’ perceived use of problem-solving strategies 50

Table 9: The students’ perceived use of support strategies 51

Table 10: Independent-Samples T Test results on three reading strategy groups for high and low proficiency students 53

Table 11: Independent-Samples T Test results on individual global strategies for high and low proficiency students 54

Table 12: Independent-Samples T Test results on individual problem-solving strategies for high and low proficiency students 56

Table 13: Independent-Samples T Test results on individual support strategies for high and low proficiency students 58

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

FL: Foreign Language

L1: The first language

L2: The second language

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESO: English for Speakers of Other Languages

SEM: Structural Equation Modeling

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language

TOEIC: Test Of English For International Communication

CET-4: College English Test Band-4

GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education

SORS: Survey of Reading Strategies

MARSI: Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory FLRAS: Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences

GLOB: Global strategies

PROB: Problem-solving strategies

S: Strategy

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a background of the research which includes the rationale, purposes of the study, research questions, significance, and structure of the study

1 1 Rationale of the study

Reading is the most emphasized skill in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) (Susser & Robb, 1989) because it has a lot of benefits for the development of learners’ language proficiency.It is also the foundation for learning writing and speaking skills Harmer (1999) states that reading texts provide good models for English writing Students can acquire language knowledge such as vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and learn how build sentences, paragraphs and essays from reading texts In addition, these texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussions and excite imaginative responses, helping students speak and write well Harmer (1999) also assumes that any exposure to English is a good thing for language students because after reading English texts, some of the language, at the very least, sticks in their minds as part of the process

of language acquisition Agreeing on the importance of reading, Soliman (2012) says that

it is a source of learning English and through it students can learn much new information Therefore, it is essential for teachers of English to find an effective way to help their students learn it well

There has been a considerable change in language learning approach from centeredness to learner- centeredness in the late 1960s and early 1970s Instead of solely seeking the right teaching methodology, educational researchers have been making a great deal of effort to find out why some learners thrive in language learning while others

teacher-do not The previous good language learner studies have suggested that one of the most factors that affected learners’ performance was their learning strategies (Rubin, 1975; Oxford, 1990; and Nunan, 1991), which means that skilled learners make effective use of learning strategies while unskilled ones do not Applying to reading, there are many

factors affecting the reading proficiency They are text types, school social environments, students’ intelligence, learning motivation, teaching methods, and so on One of the most important factors is reading strategies The use of reading strategies is regarded as being conductive to successful reading comprehension despite the complex nature of the reading process, which involves both readers’ language ability and reading ability (Aldrson, 1984) Compared with unskilled readers, skilled readers flexibly employ a variety of strategies in their reading process, thus attaining more effective reading comprehension (Pressley, 2006; Cubukcu, 2007; Grabe and Stoller, 2011) Hence, it is important for language learners to recognize the differences in reading strategy use between skilled and unskilled learners so that they can be well aware of how to employ reading strategies effectively

Nguyen Van Linh High School is a government school for students from grade 10

to 12 and operates under Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training In order to transfer from a secondary school to a high school, every student in Vietnam has

to sit in an entrance exam after finishing grade 9 The exam includes 3 core subjects: mathematics, literature and English while the total score is made up of double scores of mathematics and literature together with the score of English The passing score for candidates at Nguyen Van Linh High School are often low, and the practice of teaching and learning at this school shows that the students perform poorly in learning English They generally have little understanding and even are confused with what they read In addition, they do worry about unfamiliar vocabulary, long texts and short time limit because these factors seemingly make their English reading more difficult and complex These problems may be the results of many elements, but to some extent due to the fact that they are not well aware of reading strategies In this way, it is necessary for teachers

of English to introduce reading strategies to the students here and study more about their students’ reading strategy use when reading in English since knowledge about what goes

on in students’ minds during reading is a prerequisite for teachers’ decision-making in

strategy-based instruction For these points, this study is conducted to examine students’ EFL reading strategy use at Nguyen Van Linh High School

1 2 Purposes of the study

In an attempt to help Vietnamese EFL students to be more involved in their own reading process and become more active, constructively responsive readers, this study intended to:

1 examine Nguyen Van Linh High School students’ EFL reading strategy use,

2 explore the differences in the use of reading strategies between the high and low proficiency students

1.3 Research questions

To achieve the above two purposes of the study, the answers to the following research questions are sought:

1 What is Nguyen Van Linh High School students’ EFL reading strategy use?

2 What are the differences in the use of reading strategies between the high and low proficiency students?

1.4 Significance of the study

This study was carried out to achieve expected outcomes both in theory and in practice In theory, it can be a reference for those who are keen on the research field of reading strategies, especially in educational contexts like in Vietnam In practice, this study will help students at Nguyen Van Linh High School assess the extent to which they employed reading strategies and learn about the goals and intentions they hold when coping with reading tasks Such information can increase their awareness of their own comprehension process and help them identify reading skills they already have and highlight ones that need more developing to become a skilled EFL reader Moreover, this

study will also supply teachers of English at Nguyen Van Linh High School with deep and comprehensive insights about their students’ reading strategy use and help them better understand the needs of their students In this way, they can identify their own routes and techniques to meet their students’ needs, which contributes to teaching reading more effectively

1.5 Structure of the study

This thesis consists of six chapters Chapter 1 introduces background information

of the study including the rationale, purposes of the study, research questions, significance, and structure of the study The literature review relevant to the study is discussed in Chapter 2 It provides definitions and classifications of learning strategies, definitions of reading, definitions and classifications of reading strategies, the differences between skilled and unskilled readers, and the relationship between learning strategy use and proficiency Most importantly, empirical studies on reading strategies are critically discussed Chapter 3 is a detailed description of methodology used in the study It provides information about the context of the study, participants, data types, methods of data collection and analytical framework In Chapter 4, the researcher will analyze data collected from questionnaires and interviews, and then discuss findings based on the data Chapter 5 concludes the thesis with main conclusions, limitations of the study, practical recommendations, and suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents the theoretical and empirical background to the study It begins with the theoretical dimensions of learning strategies, reading, reading strategies, and the differences between skilled and unskilled readers The relationship between learning strategy use and proficiency is discussed in this chapter as well Finally, previous empirical research on reading strategy use is reviewed, and gaps in these studies are figured out as reasons for this study

2 1 Learning strategies

2.1.1 Definitions of learning strategies

The definitions of learning strategies are considerable and not exactly the same

Rubin (1975, p.43) first defines learning strategies as “the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge”, while Tarone (1981) regards them as attempts

made by learners to improve their linguistic and sociolinguistic competence on target language However, these two definitions are not very clear and do not mention learners’ consciousness Richards and Schmidt (2010, p.331) notes that learning strategies are

“intentional or potentially intentional behaviors carried out with the goal of learning to better help them understand, learn and remember new information” Having the same

idea, Cohen (1998) defines learning strategies as processes that learners chose consciously to serve for their learning and using target language and emphasizes that the element of choice plays an important role in giving a strategy its character Scarcella and

Oxford (1992, p 63) also describe learning strategies as “specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques – such as seeking out conversations partners, or giving oneself encouragement to tackle a difficult language task – used by students to enhance their own learning” These authors suggest that when processing new information or doing tasks,

learners either consciously or subconsciously apply learning strategies

All of the listed definitions show that learning strategies are the activities performed out of learners’ behaviors which are observable, but some studies reports that learning strategies are not always explicitly displayed O’malley and Chamot (1990) and Cohen (2011b) describe learning strategies as thoughts or behaviors consciously employed by learners to assist them in comprehending, learning and retaining new information In other words, learning strategies can be identified sometimes by observing and sometimes by reporting Some researchers have also replaced the specific words

“behaviors and thoughts” with more general words such as “methods” (Bialystok, 1978,

p 71) and “approaches” (O’malley and Chamot, 1994, p.7) in order to overcome the problematic issue of the interrelationship between observable behaviors and mental thoughts

A given strategy is not good nor bad until the context of its use is thoroughly considered According to Oxford (2003), a strategy is useful if it relates well to the task, fits the particular student’s learning style preferences, is employed effectively and linked with other relevant strategies by the student Strategies that meet these requirements

“make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990, p.8) This definition of learning

strategies mentions not only learners’ actions but also their emotions, so it is considered

as a comprehensive one and quoted by many researchers (Lee, 2010; Ketabi et al., 2012; Oxford, 2003; Gong et al, 2011; Nguyen, 2007) Sharing the same viewpoint with Oxford

(1990), Weinstein and Hume (1998, p.12) states that “learning strategies are any thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, or emotions a learner involved in during learning to facilitate the acquisition, integration, storage in memory, or availability for future use of new knowledge and skills”

2 1 2 Classifications of learning strategies

Different models have been suggested to categorize and create a hierarchy of strategies on the basis of how they relate to students and tasks, and how they are employed in the learning process This section reviews some major models including Stern’s (1975) list of 10 strategies of a good language learner, Naiman et al.’s (1978) list

of second language (L2) learning strategies, Rubin’s (1981) classification of direct and indirect strategies, O’Malley and Chamot’s (1990) three-category strategy taxonomy, and Oxford’s (1990) six-category strategy model

Stern (1975, as cited in Naiman et al., 1978) proposes a list of 10 strategies of a good language learner deriving from three main sources of problems that beginning language learners face: (1) the difference between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2); (2) the code-communication dilemma; and (3) the choice between rational and intuitive learning

Table 1: Stern’s list of 10 strategies of a good language learner (Stern, 1975, cited from Naiman, 1978, pp 4-5)

Planning Strategy A personal learning style or positive learning strategy

Active Strategy An active approach to learning tasks

Empathetic Strategy A tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language

and its speakers

Formal Strategy Technical know-how of how to tackle a language

Experimental Strategy A methodological but flexible approach, developing the

new language into an ordered system and constantly revising it

Semantic Strategy Constant searching for meaning

Practice Strategy Willingness to practice

Communication Strategy Willingness to use the language in real communication

Monitoring Strategy Self-monitoring and critical sensitivity to language use

Internalization Strategy Developing L2 more and more as a separate reference

system and learning to think in it

The above table describes each of the ten strategies which are considered as the foundation for several other models suggested later However, Stern himself regards this list as “highly speculative”; therefore, it needs to be confirmed and modified

Naiman et al (1978) puts forward an alternative classification model which contains five major groups and several sub-groups of learning strategies The major categorization consists of active task approach, realization of language as a system, realization of language as a means of communication and interaction, management of affective demands and monitoring of L2 performance The following table clearly illustrates Naiman et al.’s (1978) classification of L2 learning strategies

Table 2: Naiman et al ’s list of L2 learning strategies (1978, pp 31-33)

Learning Strategies Descriptions

Active task approach Responds positively to learning opportunity or seeks and

exploits learning environment Adds related language learning activities to regular classroom program

Realization of language as a system Analyzes relevant problems

Makes comparisons between L1/L2 Make uses of the fact that language is a system Realization of language as a means of communication

and interaction

Emphasizes fluency over accuracy Seeks communicative situations with L2 speakers Management of affective demands Finds socio-cultural meanings

Monitoring L2 performance Copes with affective demands in learning

Constantly revises L2 system by testing inferences and asking L2 native speakers for feedback

After synthesizing all results from her observations and students’ self-reports, Rubin (1981) proposes a classification scheme in which learning strategies are divided into two main categories The first category includes 6 types of strategies contributing

“directly to learning”: clarification/ verification, monitoring, memorization, guessing/ inductive inferencing, deductive reasoning and practice The other category consists of 2 types of strategies contributing “indirectly to learning”: creating opportunities for practice and using production tricks However, Rubin includes communication strategies in production tricks, which causes controversy among scholars because learning strategies and communication strategies are considered disparate Moreover, Rubin just mentions cognitive functions when classifying learning strategies, but ignores metacognitive, social

or affective functions

In O’Mally and Chamot’s framework (1990), language learning strategies are divided into three main categories: (1) metacognitive strategies; (2) cognitive strategies; and (3) social/affective strategies The following table presents the classification and the definition of each language learning strategy they proposed

Table 3: O’Malley and Chamot L2 learning strategy framework (1990, p.45)

Advance organizers Previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be learned, often by

skimming the text for the organizing principle

Directed attention Deciding in advance to attend in general to a learning task and to ignore the irrelevant

distracters

Functional planning Planning for and rehearsing linguistic components necessary for an upcoming task Selective attention Deciding in advance to attend to specific aspects of input, often by scanning for key

words, concepts and/or linguistic markers

Self-management Understanding the conditions that help one’s learning and arranging for the presence of

those conditions

Monitoring

Self-monitoring Checking one’s comprehension during listening or reading or checking the accuracy

and/or appropriateness of one’s oral or written production while it is taking place

Evaluating

Self-evaluation Checking the outcomes of one’s own language against a standard after it has been

completed

CB Cognitive Interacting with the material to be learned, manipulating over the material

mentally or physically, or applying specific techniques to a learning task

Resourcing Using target language reference such as dictionaries, encyclopedias or textbooks

Repetition Imitating a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal

Grouping Classifying words, terminology or concepts according to their attributes or meaning Deduction Applying rules to understand or produce the L2 or making up rules based on language

Elaboration Relating the new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of new

information to each other or making meaningful personal associations with the new information

Transfer Using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist comprehension or

production

Inferencing Using available information to guess meanings of new items, predict outcomes or fill in

the missing information

Note taking Writing down keywords or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic, or numerical form

while listening or reading

Summarizing Making a mental, oral, or written summary of new information gain through linguistic

skills

Recombination Constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language sequence by combining known

element in a new way

Translation Using the first language as a base for understanding and/or producing the L2

SC Social/Affective Involve interacting with other people or ideational control over affect

Questioning for

clarification

Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanations, rephrasing, examples or verification

Cooperation Working together with one or more peers to solve a problem, pool information, check a

learning task, model a language activity or get feedback on oral or written performance

In this framework, metacognitive strategies involve “thinking about the learning process, planning for learning, monitoring of comprehension and production while it is taking place and self-evaluation after the learning activity has been completed” Cognitive strategies are more “directly related to individual learning tasks” and “entail direct manipulation or transformation of the learning materials” Social/affective strategies involve “either learner’s interactions with other people or learner’s ideational control over affect” (O’Mally and Chamot’s framework, 1990, p.8) This classification

overcomes the weaknesses in that of Rubin (1981) because it successfully describes all cognitive, metacognitive and affective/social aspects of language learning Nevertheless, its subcategories still lack “conclusiveness” (Yuhua, 2005, p.15)

Based on earlier research into learning strategies, Oxford (1990) develops a new language learning strategy system, which includes two main classifications: direct strategies and indirect strategies The former are divided into memory, cognitive and compensatory strategies because they directly involve processing or using the language that is being learned Memory strategies entail the mental processes for storing new information in the memory and for retrieving them when needed Cognitive strategies entail conscious ways of handling the target language Compensation strategies enable learners to use the language either in speaking or writing despite knowledge gaps

The latter consists of metacognitive, affective and social strategies because they do not involve the language itself, but allow learners to manage themself with regard to the following: planning, organizing, monitoring, evaluating, maintaining motivation,

lowering anxiety, and learning with others Metacognitive strategies enable learners to control their own cognition They are strategies which entail overviewing and linking with material already known, paying attention, delaying speech production, organizing, setting goals and objectives, planning for a language task, looking for practice opportunities, self-monitoring and self-evaluating Affective strategies assist students to manage their emotions, motivation, and attitudes associated with learning They can be achieved through lowering anxiety, encouraging oneself, and taking emotional temperature Social strategies facilitate language learning through interactions with others These strategies are divided into three sets, namely as asking questions, cooperating, and empathizing with others

Table 4: Oxford’s learning strategy framework (1990, p.17)

Strategy group Strategy sub-group Direct Memory strategies Creating mental linkage

Applying images and sounds Reviewing well

Employing action Cognitive strategies Practicing

Receiving and sending messages Analyzing and reasoning Creating structure for input and output Compensation strategies Guessing intelligently

Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing

Indirect Metacognitive strategies Centering your learning

Arranging and planning Evaluating your learning Affective strategies Lowing your anxiety

Encouraging yourself Taking your emotional temperature Social strategies Asking questions

Cooperating with others Empathizing with others

2 2 Reading

Reading is one of the receptive skills which is very important in language teaching and learning The importance of reading for second language acquisition has been widely acknowledged (Day & Bamford, 1998, 2002; Grabe, 2004) Since reading is an important skill in language learning, it is necessary to define it

According to Stauffer (1969, p.5), reading means “getting information from the printed page” It can be understood from this definition that one of the reason for reading

is to get some information out of the text in order to find out something or in order to do something with the information you get Therefore, it is necessary to read selectively

depending on the purpose Grellet (1981, p.3) also defines reading as “the process of extracting the required information from a written text as efficiently as possible”, while Grabe and Stoller (2002, p.5) view reading as “an ability to derive understanding from written text” Compared to these authors, Anderson (1991) describes reading more concretely as “an active and fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning” (p.1)

Goodman (1967) states that reading is a “psycholinguistic guessing game” that

connects both language and thoughts together In order to be able to comprehend reading texts, learners have to make good use of graphic, semantic, and syntactic cues to guess what in these texts, and then confirm these guesses by using their prior knowledge In addition, reading is the kind of process in which one needs to not only understand its direct meaning, but also comprehend its implied ideas As Tierney (2005) states,

“learning to read is not only learning to recognize words; it is also learning to make sense of texts” (p.51) Through the active reader-text interaction, the reader obtains a

comprehension product by activating a set of cognitive and metacognitive processes (Meneghetti, Carretti and De Beni, 2006) Thus, reading comprehension requires the usage of prior knowledge, the association of readers’ own knowledge with the messages expressed in the text, the ongoing monitoring and regulation of comprehension according

to the goals of reading, accomplished by the use of appropriate and effective strategies (Alexander & Jetton, 2000)

2 3 Reading strategies

2 3 1 Definitions of reading strategies

The readers’ involvement in the text is very important as they should develop, modify and even reflect on all or some of the ideas displayed in the text Guthrie and

Wigfield (1999, p 199) highlight that “a person is unlikely to comprehend a text by accident If the person is not aware of the text, not attending to it, not choosing to make meaning from it, or not giving cognitive effort to knowledge construction, little comprehension occurs” Readers need to employ a wide range of strategies while they

are engaged in comprehending texts (Paris, Wasik, & Turner, 1991), since reading

comprehension “involves conscious and unconscious use of various strategies, including problem solving strategies to build a model of meaning” (Johnston, 1983, as cited in

Anastasiou and Griva, 2009, p 283)

Reading researchers have suggested various definitions of the term reading strategy Paris, Wasik and Turner (1996, p 610) provided a broad definition of reading

strategies as “tactics that readers use to engage and comprehend text”, while Afferbach, Pearson and Paris (2008, p 15) note that reading strategies are “deliberate, goal-directed attempts to control and modify the readers’ efforts to decode text, understand word, and construct meanings out of text” According to Singhal (2001), reading strategies indicate

how readers conceive of a task, how they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they do not understand Including the notion of intention and consciousness in her definition of reading strategies, Oranpattanachai (2004) defines reading strategies as a deliberate action, consciously taken by the readers to enhance their reading comprehension Similarly, Pritchard (1990) defines this term as a deliberate action that readers take voluntarily to develop an understanding of what they read Garner (1987, as cited in Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002) also says that reading strategies are generally

deliberate, planned activities undertaken by active learners, many times to remedy perceived cognitive failure

In short, reading strategies have the following characteristics: (1) deliberate, conscious plans, techniques and skills; (2) aiming to enhance reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failures; and (3) behavioral and mental They are of interest for what they reveal about the way readers manage their interaction with the written text and how these strategies are related to text comprehension (Carrell, 1989)

2 3 2Classifications of reading strategies

Different classifications were posited and a variety of types of reading strategies were identified Paris, Wasik and Turner (1996) identify strategies according to the different stages of the reading process and divided them into pre-reading, while-reading and after-reading strategies They find that good readers use certain strategies before they began reading such as establishing a good physical environment, setting reading purposes, accessing prior knowledge, skimming for general ideas, reviewing instructions and predicting what might be read, etc While they are reading, good readers use some strategies to facilitate and aid their reading comprehension For example, they check their comprehension, identify the text’s main idea, make inferences, look for discourse markers, monitor vocabulary knowledge, compare what is read with what is known, evaluate the value of what is being learned, reread text or skip ahead The reading process does not end when the readers reach the end of the text Rather, Paris, Wasik and Turner (1996) point out that good readers continue to appreciate the text and writer, revisit pre-reading expectations, review notes, reflect on text understanding, consolidate and integrate information, review information, elaborate and evaluate, determine what additional information is needed, apply new information to the task at hand, relate the text to own experience, or critique the text It is pertinent to note that the classification of reading strategies suggested by Paris, Wasik and Turner (1996) provides a perspective for reading researchers to identify reading strategies based on the time and stage However,

the literature on reading strategy use indicates that there are cases when the same strategy

is used at different stages This complex nature of effective strategy use continues to be discussed in many reading research studies (Paris, Wasik and Turner, 1996; Mokhtari and Reichard, 2002; Vandergrift and Goh, 2012)

The classification of learning strategies also had influence on the categorization of reading strategies O’Malley and Chamot (1990) suggest that learning strategies can be categorized into three main types: metacognitive, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies In this study, the researcher will focus on the cognitive and metacognitive strategies Cognitive strategies are specific and localized, involving manipulating the material to be learned or applying a specific technique to the learning task In contrast, metacognitive strategies are more general and globalized They oversee, direct and regulate the learning process by thinking about the learning process, planning, monitoring and evaluating learning When applied in reading, cognitive reading strategies address specific reading activities They are employed to manipulate the reading material,

to process the incoming information or to perform specific tasks Some examples include the following reading abilities: using prior knowledge to help comprehension, adjusting one’s speed of reading when the material becomes difficult or easy, reading aloud when text gets hard, trying to stay focus on reading, pausing and thinking about reading, rereading for better understanding, and guessing the meaning of unknown words (Sheorey and Mokhtari, 2001) In contrast to cognitive strategies, metacognitive reading strategies are used to regulate the execution of the aforementioned strategies They are employed with a purpose to understand and regulate the task performance for a better and successful cognitive processing result by focusing on the planning, monitoring and regulating of the cognitive activities of reading process Examples of metacognitive reading strategies include understanding the conditions under which one learns best, analyzing the problem at hand, identifying which important aspects of a message to apply

to the task at hand, separating important information from less important information, detecting how to strategically proceed, monitoring to track attention and comprehension,

internal checking to determine success of achieving goals and revising, modifying, or terminating activities strategically, etc (Hudson, 2007)

Deeply reviewing previous research findings, Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) divide reading strategies into three categories in their effort to develop their inventories to measure the reader’s metacognitive awareness and perceived use of reading strategies Their categorization of reading strategies are based on the functions that the strategies play in reading, including global reading strategies, problem solving strategies and support strategies Global reading strategies refer to the techniques that readers use to monitor or manage their reading and contain 13 items including setting a reading purpose, previewing the text, making predictions or skimming with typographical aids, etc Problem solving strategies contain 8 items that are used to solve problems when reading difficult text Examples of these strategies include adjusting reading speed, guessing the meaning of unknown words, checking for comprehension and rereading the text for better understanding, etc Support strategies contain 9 items and primarily involve use of outside aiding techniques of reading and learning to help the reader while comprehending the text Examples of these strategies are using a dictionary, taking notes, underlining, highlighting, summarizing, etc Unlike the work done by Paris, Wasik and Turner (1996), Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) do not consider the time that reading strategies are used Instead, they emphasize more on the purposes to use the strategies and the functions that the strategies play in the reading process Their categorization is preferred by researchers who want to focus on the use frequency of the identified reading strategies and is also used in this study

After reviewing a lot of studies, Zhang and Wu (2009, p 39) conclude that

“strategies themselves are not inherently good or bad, but they have the potential to be used effectively or ineffectively in different contexts Readers’ use of reading strategies is informed by their metacognitive awareness of the strategies and how these strategies can

be maximized for optimal effects in solving comprehension problems” That is the reason

why the function of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies should be explored

2 4 Skilled and unskilled readers

Paris and Jacobs (1984) (as cited in Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002, p 249) offer an illustration of the differences between skilled and unskilled readers:

Skilled readers often engage in deliberate activities that require planned thinking, flexible strategies, and periodic self-monitoring They think about topic, look forward and backward in the passage, and check their own understanding as they read Beginning readers or poor readers do not recruit and use these skills Indeed, novice readers often seem oblivious to these strategies and the need to use them (P 2083)

Snow et al (1998, p 62) says that skilled readers differ from unskilled readers in

“their use of general world knowledge to comprehend text literally as well as to draw valid inferences from texts, in their comprehension of words, and in their use of comprehension monitoring and repair strategies” Pressley and Afflerbach (1995) figure out that skilled readers handle the reading task with some general tendencies For instance, they tend to be aware of what they are reading; they seem to know why they are reading; and they have a set of tentative plans or strategies for solving potential problems and for monitoring their comprehension of the text

In contrast, unskilled readers are quite limited in their metacognitive knowledge about reading (Paris & Winograd, 1990) They relatively little monitor their own memory, comprehension, and other cognitive tasks (Markman, 1979) and tend to focus

on reading as a decoding process rather than a meaning-getting process (Baker & Brown, 1984) Moreover, they are less likely than skilled readers to detect and resolve contradictions in understanding text (Snow et al., 1998) Finally, they cannot realize that they do not understand the text (Garner & Reis, 1981) and therefore fail to control their reading processes (Wagner & Sternberg, 1987)

Alderson (1984) and Cziko (1978) also suggest that high levels of overall competence in the target language often lead to improvement in reading ability in that language On the other hand, other researchers (e g Carrell, 1989) provide evidence that

proficient L2 readers can compensate for a lack of English proficiency by increasing awareness and usage of reading strategies while reading to enhance comprehension

2.5 Learning strategy use and proficiency

Proficiency is seen as both effects and outcomes of learning strategy use (Oxford

& Nykios, 1989) It can be understood that the appropriate use of strategies improves learners’ proficiency or outcomes, and vice versa, learners’ proficiency partly affects their application of learning strategies This bi-directional relationship makes this factor

to become the heart of strategy research with the overwhelming great studies implemented so far (Mullins, 1992; O’Mara & Lett, 1990; Magogwe & Oliver, 2007; Khalil, 2005)

This research still conducted on this factor, but only focuses on the latter direction

to investigate what high and low proficiency students differed in terms of strategy use when reading English The reason for this lies on the belief that if low level students are taught learning strategies taken by high level ones, their language performance will, to some extent, be improved (Griffiths & Parr, 2001; Oxford & Cohen, 1992; Chamot, 1994) Most importantly, no similar study was conducted at Nguyen Van Linh High School up to the present Therefore, the researcher decided to involve the factor of proficiency in this investigation

It is worthy nothing that the repertoire of proficiency measurements was quite wide – ranging from standardized tests like Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), language achievement tests, language course grades, placement examinations, teachers’ judgments about their students, duration of study, and self-ratings (Radwan, 2011) The current study looked proficiency at language achievement tests

2 6 Previous studies

2 6 1 Previous studies in different countries

Recent studies recognize the role of metacognitive awareness in reading comprehension In their study, Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) examined differences in the reported use of reading strategies of native and non-native English speakers when reading academic materials Participants were 302 college students (150 native-English-speaking

US and 152 ESL students), who completed a survey of reading strategies aimed at discerning the strategies readers report using when coping with academic reading tasks Results of the study revealed, first, that both US and ESL students display awareness of almost all of the strategies included in the survey Secondly, both groups attribute the same order of importance to categories of reading strategies in the survey, regardless of their reading ability or gender: cognitive strategies (the deliberate actions readers take when comprehension problems develop), followed by metacognitive strategies (advanced planning and comprehension monitoring techniques), and support strategies (the tools readers seek out to aid comprehension) Thirdly, both ESL and US high-reading ability students show comparable degrees of higher reported usage for cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies than lower-reading-ability students in the respective groups, and while the US high-reading-ability students seem to consider support reading strategies to be relatively more valuable than low-reading-ability US students, ESL students attribute high value to support reading strategies, regardless of their reading ability level This study also shows that, in the US group, the females report significantly higher frequency of strategy usage; this gender effect is not reflected in the ESL sample These authors conclude that it is important for all readers, native and non-native, to be aware of the significant strategies proficient reading requires Teacher can play a key role

in increasing students’ awareness of such strategies and in helping them become active readers

Aivazoglou and Griva (2014) conducted a study with the purpose to assess primary school students’ awareness in Greek as first language and EFL strategy use and investigate the relations between the reported reading strategies use in first (L1) and foreign language (FL) The sample (455 students attending the fifth and sixth grades of primary schools in Nothern Greece) was first categorized into skilled and less skilled L1 and EFL readers through screening reading comprehension tests, one in L1 and one in

FL, before filling in the reading strategy questionnaires The findings revealed participants’ preference for “problem solving” strategies, while “global strategies” and

“support strategies” coming next Girls were proved to be more aware of their reading strategies use with the boys reporting a more frequent use in both languages Also, skilled readers were found to use reading strategies more effectively, and appeared to be more flexible in transferring strategies from L1 to FL compared to less-skilled readers

Li and Kaur (2014) investigated the reading strategies used by 290 Chinese EFL second year undergraduates and examined the relationship between their reading strategy use and reading test performance The participants reported their use of reading strategies through the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Mokhtari & Sheorey, 2002) in three categories: global reading strategies, problem-solving strategies and support reading strategies Students reading test performance was measured by using the national College English Test Band-4 (CET-4) Results showed that used overall reading strategies at a medium frequency level They used problem-solving strategies most frequently (at a high level), followed by global reading strategies (at a medium level) The least frequently used were support reading strategies (at a medium level) The most frequently used individual strategies were re-reading, regaining concentration and guessing the content of the text The least frequently used strategies included reading aloud, questioning, paraphrasing, and translating There was no significant relationship between students

‘overall reading strategy use and their general reading test performance

In contrast to the finding in Li and Kaur’s study (2014), a positive relationship between students’ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and their reading test

performance was found in Phakiti’s study (2003) The 384 students enrolled in a fundamental English course at a Thai university took an 85-item, multiple-choice reading comprehension achievement test, followed by a cognitive-metacognitive questionnaire on how they thought while completing the test Eight of these students (4 highly successful and 4 unsuccessful) were selected for retrospective interviews The results suggested that (1) the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies had a positive relationship to the reading test performance; (2) highly successful test-takers reported significantly higher metacognitive use than the moderately successful ones who in turn reported higher use of these strategies than the unsuccessful test-takers

Sahan (2012) also conducted a study that determined what reading comprehension strategies the first year students utilized, and how frequently they made use of reading comprehension strategies in reading comprehension The sample of the study was made

up of 28 first year students who study at Erciyes University, Faculty of Education, English Language Teaching Department In order to identify the students’ reading comprehension strategies profiles, they were given a reading comprehension text of 16 items measuring their reading comprehension While reading the text, each student was ensured that they expressed their thoughts about the text aloud to reveal his reading strategies According to the responses obtained from the students, it was found that the most frequently used strategies are “general comprehension strategies”, and that the least frequently used strategies are “asking questions about text content”, “coping with difficult parts”, and “identifying the significance of information”

Martinez (2008) did a study to investigate the reported strategy use of English for Specific Purposes university students Specifically, the author analyzed Spanish university ESP students’ reported strategy use and differences, if any, between male and female students in their perceived use of reading strategies while reading academic materials The participants in this study were 157 non-native-English speaking Spanish students from the Faculty of Chemistry and the Technical School of Engineering at the University of Oviedo The students’ metacognitive awareness of reading strategies was

assessed through the use of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002), which was designed for measuring adolescent and adult students’ awareness and use of reading strategies while academic or school-related materials The results revealed that there was a moderate to high overall use of reading strategies and that students showed higher reported use for problem-solving and global reading strategies Moreover, female students reported significantly higher frequency of strategy use and tended to use support reading strategies more than men

Jafari and Shokrpour (2012) undertook a study to investigate the reading strategies

of Iranian English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students when they read authentic expository texts in English 81 male and female university sophomore students studying environmental health, occupational health and safety, and midwifery at Shiraz University

of Medical Sciences participated in the study The Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) (Mokhtari & Sheorey, 2002) was used in this study This survey classifies reading strategies into three categories: global, problem solving, and support strategies The findings showed that the participants are moderatelyaware of reading strategies and the most frequently used strategies were support strategies, followed by global strategies, and then problem solving strategies The Iranian ESP students used the reading strategies differently according to their academic majors

Zhang, Gu and Hu (2007) did a study on the reading strategies used by Singaporean primary school pupils from a cognitive perspective, which is part of a larger study that aims to investigate these pupils’ language learning strategies The participants were 18 primary four to six pupils from three neighborhood primary schools The data were collected from high- and low-proficiency pupils at each of the three grades in each school, who read two texts at each level These pupils were asked to read and reported what they were thinking about while reading The think-aloud protocols were recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed Results suggested that participants’ flexible and appropriate use of reading strategies varied according to language proficiency and the

grade level, with the high-proficiency group outperforming its lower-proficiency counterpart and the high-graders outnumbering the lower graders in terms of the number

of strategies that they use

Anastasiou and Griva (2009)’s study was designed to explore the primary school students’ awareness of reading strategies and to identify possible differences between poor and good readers, in terms of frequency and efficiency Moreover, it aimed at exploring the relation between reading strategy awareness and reading comprehension Eighteen poor readers and eighteen good readers, aged between 11 and 12, which were selected from a total of 201 sixth grade students, participated in the study The study was conducted by using retrospective interviews as the basic instrument, in combination with reading test scores Both groups used a variety of cognitive strategies, though it was revealed that poor readers were less aware of the more sophisticated cognitive strategies and reported a limited number of metacognitive strategies in comparison with good readers

Zhang and Wu (2009) carried out a study that assesses metacognitive awareness and reading-strategy use of Chinese senior high school students who are learning English

as a foreign language A total of 270 students responded to a 28-item survey of reading strategies The strategies were classified into 3 categories: global, problem-solving, and support The results showed that the students reported using the 3 categories of strategies

at a high-frequency level The most frequently used category of the reading strategies was problem-solving strategies, followed by global strategies and then support strategies The high-proficiency group outperformed the intermediate group and the low- proficiency group in 2 categories of reading strategies: global and problem-solving; but no statistically significant difference was found among the 3 proficiency groups in using support strategies

Li (2010) conducted a study to investigate the students’ awareness of reading strategy use at the senior middle school level Four standard Grade Three classes were

chosen randomly from Ji’an County Senior Middle School in Jiang Xi Province 180 students completed a 30-item Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) There are four major findings in this study First, the students show medium strategy use while reading Second, of all the three strategy sub-categories, Problem Solving Reading Strategies are the students’ favorite, followed

by Global Reading Strategies and then Support Reading Strategies, irrespective of their reading ability or gender Third, females show greater awareness of reading strategies use

in all three sub-categories as well as 24 individual reading strategies than males Finally, the high-proficiency students show more frequent use in all the three sub-categories and

27 individual reading strategies than low- proficiency students

Ozek and Civelek (2006) made a study that aimed to find out which reading strategies were generally used by English Language Teaching (ELT) students while reading a text, and which reading strategies were needed to be developed to understand the text better, and therefore, to continue academic studies successfully The population

of this study was composed of the first and fourth year students in ELT Department at Dicle University Two different methods were used to collect data In the first part, a self-report questionnaire consisting of 25 items was administered to 185 students In the second part, Think-Aloud Protocol was conducted with 23 subjects Reading strategies were evaluated under three headings: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading in both parts The results of Think-Aloud Protocol analysis revealed that the students used only one strategy namely, “relating the title to the text content” in the pre-reading phase

As for the while-reading phase, the most effectively employed strategies were: using the dictionary parsimoniously, guessing the meaning of a word from the context, skipping some unknown words, thinking-aloud during reading, and assimilating the text with the background knowledge However, none of the post-reading strategies were found to be used by the participants The data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed statistically The results of the analysis indicated that there were some significant

differences on the effective use of cognitive reading strategies with regard to students’ gender, age, and proficiency in reading, school source, and duration in learning English

Hsu (2006) carried out a study to investigate what learning strategies are adopted

by technical college students in English reading comprehension The subjects were 41 four-year technical college students in Department of Applied Foreign Languages at Nanya Institute of Technology They were asked to answer a 55-item questionnaire that was divided into four groups: students’ background, cognitive strategy, metacognitive strategy, and social/affective strategy Statistic analysis methods, such as descriptive statistics, T-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson product-moment correlation analysis were adopted Results showed that the most often used category is metacognitive strategy category The second one is social/affective strategy category Females use cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies more often than males do However, there is no significant difference between male and female students in terms of overall strategy use The subjects with living abroad experience are more familiar with reading strategy use There were differences in both the type and frequency of reading strategy use for different proficient students The effective learners tend to use specific kinds of strategies and use strategies more frequently than ineffective learners do All of the cognitive strategy use, metacognitive strategy use, and social/affective strategy use of technical students are significantly correlated to each other

Oranpattanachai (2010) investigated the effect of reading proficiency on the reading processes of Thai pre-engineering students at a college in Thailand The participants of the study consisted of 90 Thai pre-engineering students They were categorized into 2 groups, the high and the low proficiency readers, according to their reading scores and their English grades The metacognitive reading strategy awareness questionnaire was employed to investigate their perceived use of reading strategies while reading The results showed that the high and the low proficiency readers shared both differences and similarities in their reading processes The differences in their reading processes were divided into 2 aspects: the frequency of perceived strategy use and the

frequency of perceived top-down strategy use The high proficiency readers employed perceived strategies and top-down strategies significantly more frequently than the low proficiency readers The similarities in their reading processes were also divided into two aspects: the rank ordering of perceived strategy use and the style of text processing Regarding the rank ordering of perceived strategy use, the three most frequently used strategies for these two groups of readers were the same: 1) dictionary use 2) recognizing when not understanding 3) writing down the unknown vocabulary meanings in the dictionary in the text read In terms of the style of text processing, both high and low proficiency readers employed top-down strategies significantly more frequently than the bottom-up strategies

However, the differences between high and low proficiency readers cannot be found in Shikano’s (2013) study This author made an exploratory quantitative survey on the metacognitive awareness of reading strategies use in English, reported by sixty Japanese university students It explored on the participants’ reported use of reading strategies and their comprehension monitoring, by using the instrument of Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) (Mokhtari & Reichard, 2002) having subscales of global strategies, problem-solving strategies, and support strategies The statistical descriptions of the overall tendency revealed that the participants of this study were moderate to high users of the MARSI reading strategies They tended to use problem-solving strategies more often than global and support strategies, whereas the overall use showed no significant differences between high and low proficiency readers

2 6 2 Previous studies in Vietnam

A number of studies in this field have also been found in Vietnamese context Nguyen (2006) examined the differences when high and low proficiency second year students majored in Bridge and Road at Ha Noi University of Transport and Communications employed the strategies in their English reading 22 participants (3 females and 19 males) were ranked into high and low proficiency groups after taking

three reading tests from Longman Preparation Series for the TOEIC by Ligh Lough Heed, Thoughts and Notion by Linda Lee and Barbara Bushly, and Cambridge First Certificate Examination by University of Cambridge The author used questionnaires, think-aloud protocol and interviews to collect data for this study The findings showed that high proficiency students involved the metacognitive and cognitive strategies in their English reading more frequently than their low proficiency ones Meanwhile, both groups

of students made the equal use of social strategies

Nguyen (2010) undertook a study on 254 non-major English sophomores from eight departments in An Giang University She aimed to investigate the types and the frequency of strategies these students employed when they read English, and then examining the differences in strategy use between high and low proficiency students divided based on their results of Key English Test 2 and Preliminary English Test 4 by University of Cambridge ESOL Examination This study combined Oxford (1990)’s SILL and interviews to collect data The findings revealed that these participants generally had medium level of strategy use and that high and low proficiency students did not indicate any differences in using social strategies

Nguyen (2013) conducted a study to explore students’ reading comprehension strategies and find out the differences in strategy use by successful and less successful readers Two cases from the fast-track division at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education at the University of Languages and International Studies-Vietnam National University in Hanoi were selected for in-depth investigation The two main instruments of data collection were think-aloud protocols and documents with the former

as the main instrument The findings revealed that the successful reader took an interactive approach to the text while the counterpart approached it mostly from bottom-

up The successful reader was found to employ higher frequency of both metacognitive and cognitive strategy than the less one More notably, active combination of cognitive strategies and interactive relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies were seen almost all the time in the successful reader while absent the less one

The first conclusion to be drawn from the research literature on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies just reviewed indicates the need to increase our understanding of readers’ metacognitive knowledge about reading and reading strategies

to develop them into active, constructively responsive readers The studies analyzed tend

to conclude that it is important for all readers to be aware of the significant strategies proficient reading requires They also reveal that in general students display some awareness of reading strategies without much difference among native and non-native students in the types of strategies reported to have been usedmore often, and that females report significantly higher frequency of strategy use Moreover, different findings concerning reading strategy use between high and low proficiency students suggested the necessity for further studies to provide insights into this comparison in different research contexts and among different participants Therefore, the present study was conducted to elicit empirical data about Vietnamese high school students in the Vietnamese EFL context

2 7 Summary of chapter 2

This chapter provided a critical and relevant literature overview of different aspects of reading strategies which can serve as a theoretical framework used to conduct this study The dimensions of learning strategies including their definitions and classifications were initially mentioned, followed by definitions of reading, definitions and classifications of reading strategies, the differences between skilled and unskilled readers, and the relationship between learning strategy use and proficiency The last and most important thing of this chapter is that it provided discussion of the previous empirical studies on reading strategies from which research gaps were figured out as the reasons for this study

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology used in the study It includes the research site, participants, data types and methods of their collection, and analytical framework

3.1 Context of the study

Nguyen Van Linh High school was established in 2010 in district 8 It is a rather new state school in Ho Chi Minh City Every year, the school welcomes approximately

400 students mainly coming from district 8 In order to transfer from a secondary school

to a high school, every student in Vietnam has to sit in an entrance exam after finishing grade 9 The exam includes 3 core subjects: mathematics, literature and English while the total score is made up of double scores of mathematics and literature together with the score of English Because of its young age, the passing score for entering Nguyen Van Linh High School is usually much lower than other schools in Ho Chi Minh City In

2012, the school accepted students whose scores were at least 19 points, just higher than two schools in Nha Be district With such a low passing score, students at this school are assumed as low-qualified students

At school, students are randomly divided into classes with 35 to 45 students per class and taught all subjects under the National Curriculum Besides general knowledge, students need to successfully pass the national examination to get the General Certificate

of Secondary Education (GCSE) Among the four essential subjects, English is one of the obligatory one Therefore, students are taught six forty-five-minute lessons per week, instead of three lessons In extra classes of English, students are primarily asked to do exercises on grammar, vocabulary and writing Doubling the time of teaching English from the beginning year, the school hopes to improve its students’ proficiency in English, especially the results in the National Exam in the final year

3 2 Participants of the study

The investigation was conducted with Year 12 students for two reasons First of all, their proficiency of English could be demonstrated quite clearly after three years of studying English at Nguyen Van Linh High School Secondly, they were able to obtain a concept or at least somehow related to reading strategies when they were at Year 12

The number of Year 12 students at Nguyen Van Linh High School at the time of research was around 400 According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1996, p 93), there are two main types of sampling methods in educational research: random and nonrandom However, it was infeasible and impossible for the researcher to use the entire population

as the sample or to select the sample randomly at the school because there were only one teacher of English having time to help her deliver the questionnaire to their students at that time Therefore, convenience sampling, one of the nonrandom sampling methods, was applied to select the sample for the study A convenience sample is a group of individuals who are available for the study (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1996, p.99) This should

be consider as one of the limitations of the study

This study dealt with three classes which consisted of 133 students All participants in this study were at the age from 18 to 19, and had spent almost seven years learning English at secondary and high schools For the purpose of the study, the selected students were then divided into three groups of high, medium and low English proficiency There were several criteria for students’ proficiency ranking such as grade, TOEFL scores, self-rating (Radwan, 2011) This study used the students’ English scores

of a reading comprehension test The result was that there were 29, 37 and 67 students in high, medium and low proficiency groups respectively However, the study just aimed to compare the use of reading strategies between the high and low proficiency students

The interview would be used to get deep insights into the students’ reading strategy use that was mentioned in the questionnaire Hence, eight students among the questionnaire participants were recruited as the interviewees based on their willingness