Luận văn a study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non major students of english at pre intermediate level at the foreign language center at the ministry of agriculture and rural development

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT DUONG TIT LAN TIONG ASTUDY ON THE TECLINIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL FOR NON-MAJOR STUDE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

DUONG TIT LAN TIONG

ASTUDY ON THE TECLINIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL

FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER

AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

NGIIÊN CUU CAC THU THUAT NANG CAO KỸ NANG DỌC CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYEN TIENG ANH TRINH DO B

TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VA PINT

MINOR MA TIIESIS

Field: English methodology Code: 601410

TIÀ NỘI-2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY , TTANOL COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

DUONG TIT LAN TICONG

ASTUDY ON THE TECLINIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL

FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER

AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

NGIIÊÊN CUU CAC THU THUAT NANG CAO KỸ NANG DỌC CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYEN TIENG ANH TRINH DO B

TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VA PINT

STATEMENT

| certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and it hasn’t been submitted to

any other insfilalions or umnversilies

Llano, September, 2013

Student

Duong ‘Thi Lan Luong

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1 would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Quynh

Trang - PhD candidate, for her valuable guidance, encouragement and conslanl support

to the fulfillment of my thesis

Lalso would like to thank my colleagues in the linglish l'aculty of the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development and nonmajor studenis of English at pre-intermediate level at the Moreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for their cooperation during, the rearch

Last but not least, T am indebled to my parents, whose conslant love and care

greatly contributes to the completion of my study

ABSTRACT

English is becoming more and more popular in Vietnam and it has an important

tole in the developing of economy, polities, culture, science leclmology In the

teaching and earning English, reading has always received great attention Civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development take reading into consideration because of their job requirement, However, they slill face a Tol of difficulties in reading It is urgent to carry out “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at

the Foreign language Center at Ihe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”

Reading problems the teachers and leamers experienced are presented and some

suggestions are given However, the findings of the study is somehow limited due to

time limilation and further studies van apply some other methods to cross check

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECT.ARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CLLIAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study - - 1

1.2 Aims oŸ the gtAY, so tt, "——

1.4 Methods of the study

1.5, Scope of the study

CUAPTUR 2: LITERATURL REVIEW

2.2 Definition of reading comprehension - ae)

3.3.1 Classification aecordine, fO ItafiH©r cào cọc 6

3.5 Reading comprehension techniques see:cse:ccssessssssssessssesssseeesussssseeesassnnsseescsasee 10 2.6 Reading purpose of second language learners - vod 2.7 Faotors in teaching and learning reading 12

2.7.2 Students’ role oe svaeesessnssieeaeseeee ¬ 13

2.8 Stages of a reading lesson o cscscccsecsssssssessssseeesssesessseerseeee 14

2.8.1, Pre-reading stage

3.4.1 Data analysis of the students” survey questionnaires «0.00.00 "¬

3.4.1.2 Sluderts” altitude to dhe reading texts in the book More Reading Power 19 3.4.1.3 Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD 00 +

3.4.1.4 Stadenis` attinide to the importance of reading comprehension - 20 3.4.1.5 Stadents” atitude to the benefit oŸ readie coi 21

3.4.1.6 Students’ attitude to the activities in 3 stages of reading ¬ Bh

3.4.1.6.1 Students’ attitude to pre-reading activities - +1 3.4.1.6.1.1 ‘The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers responded

3.4.1.6.1.2 Students’ enjoyment of pre-reading activities 22

3.4.1.6.2 Students’ attitude to while - reading activities 23

3.4.1.6.2.1 Students’ activities to look for speclc informatlơn 23

3.41.62.2 Studems’ activities to look for the main idea of the text - 23 3.4.1.6.2.3 5tudents” aclyvitics wÌieñt 1nccUng TIEW WOIỎS —

3.4.1.6.3 Students’ attitude to post - reading activities

3.4.1.7 Students’ difficulties when learning reading 34

3.4.1.8 Students” expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques

to overcome difficulties when learning reading

3.4.1.9 Students’ effort for improving their reading comprehension 26

3.4.2 Data analysis of the teachera” survey questiorinaires - ¬-

3.4.2.1 Teachers’ aims of teaching reading 26

mI

2.Teachers’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power

3.4.2.3 Teachers’ allention {o the language aspects taught al MARD

3.4.2.4, Teachers’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension

3.42.5 Teachers’ alfitude to the benefit of reading

3.4.2.6 Teachers’ difficultics when teaching reading

3.4

‘Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties

CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSLOMs

41 Suggested techniques

4.1.1 Techniques for reading motivation and interest

4.1.1.1 ‘The students are free to choose books of their own interest

41.1.2 The reading should be easy for them

4.1.1.3 Gradually escalating the level of difficulty of the texts

4.1.1.4 Role — playing

4.1.1.5 Diversifying pre-reading techniquey si ievnoeerroee

4.1.1.5.1 Thăng visual aids

4.1.1.53 Pre- questioning "—

4.1.2 Techniques for dealing with voeabulary

4.1.2.1 Techniquss to deal with unkhơwn Words is seo

4.1.2.3 Tectmiques Lo crưich vocsbulary

4.12/2.1, sing Word gam6§ .ecoioioocroes seouneenteetveecee

412

2 Using word lists

4.1.2.2.3 Encouraging students to have extensive reading babit

4.1.2.2.4, Students need to read a lot eee cess ieee ies icsesteenneicsencenane

41.225 The reading material is at an appropriate level

41.2.2.6 Thore is a variely of reading materials on # wide range of topics

4.1.2.2.7 Students are allowed to choose books that interest them

41.2.2.8 Reading is inchvidual and silent

4.1.2.2.9 Teachers advise students to find a repular time and place in the day

for reading so thal il can become part of their daily routine

4,1.2.2.10, Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

LIST OF TABLES FOR STUDENTS

Table 1: Students’ aims of leaming English

‘Table 2 Students’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power

Table 3: Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD

Table 4 Students’ altitude to the importance of reading comprehension

‘Table 5: Students’ attitude to the benefit of reading

Table 6: The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers

responded by the students

Table 7: Students’ cnjoyment of pre-reading activities

‘Table 8: Students’ activities to look for specific information

Table 9 Students’ activities to Took for the main idea of the text

‘Table 10: Students’ activities when meeting new words

Table 11: Students’ post — reading activities

Table 12: Difficulties sturlents face in reading

‘Table 13: Students’ expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques to

overcome difficulties when learning reading

Table 14: Students’ activilies to improve their reading comprehension

FOR TEACHERS

‘Yable 1: ‘leachers’ aims of teaching linglish

Table 2: Teachers’ attitude to the reading text in the book More Reading Power Table 3: Teachers’aticution to the language aspects taught al MARD

Table 1: Teachers’attitude to the importance of reading comprehension

Table 5: Teachers’ attitude to the benefit of reading

Table 6 Difficultics teachers encounter when teaching reading

‘Table

‘Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties

10

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

MARD: the Ministry of Agricultwre and Rural Development

N: number of students/ teachers

11

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

English is the most widely spoken language in the world and it has

become more and more important in the development of science, technology,

politics, culture and intcrnational relations in Vietnam ‘The demand of teaching

and learning English is increasing throughout the country for different purposes Tn a second languape classroom, reading plays a significant role in

building both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills

Hoang et al (2006:191) considers reading the most effective means of improving students’ language competence Carrell (1989) argues that “For many students,

reading is by far the most important of four skills in a second language” Anderson (1999) has the same opiniun: “Reading is an essential skill for English

as a sccond/ foreign ianguage student; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master” This is true for non-major students of English at

pre-intermediats level ut the Foreign Language center at the Ministry of

Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) They are civil servants working

at different departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Raral Development and their job more or less concerns English They learn English with the

enthusiastic help of the teachers coming from the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development However, most of them find effective reading difficult S major obstacles they confront in reading, as Hoang ct al (2005) specifies, are: the habits of word by word reading; overemphasis on

forms rather than meaning; excessive focus on details rather than main ideas;

poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge Despite its importance, it

is urgent to conduct “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language

Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of the thesis is to identify reading problems experienced by teachers and learners at the Foreign Language Center at MARD so that some suggestions for improving their reading skill arc presented Thercfore, the study aims at answering the following research questions:

1, What are the teachers and students’s attitudes towards the teaching and learning of reading skill ?

2 What difficulties do the teachers and students encounter in teaching aud learning reading?

3 What are suggested techniques to improve the students’ reading skill’? 1.3 Significance of the study

The study is carried out for a more effective way to improve reading skills for nou-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD Further more, the findings of the study are haped tu be useful for teachers of English at the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development

to better develop their learners’s reading skill Hopefully, the researcher wish

to provide any other researchers who are interested in the study with reliahle

and useful implications to improve learners’ reading skill

1.4 Methods al the study

The study is carried owt on the basis of qualitative approach: 2 survey questionnaires involving 115 learners and 11 teachers are used to collect data for the study

1.5 Scope of the study

The study pays attention to improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD, but due to dime limitation, ouly a survey is conducted to identity what difficulties the teachers and students encounter, what matters most to them in reading lessons, then some techniques are suggested to help them better in teaching and lcarning reading skill

1.6 Design of the study

The study is composed of the following parts:

13

Chapter 1 (Introduction) provides rationale, aims, significance, scope, methods, and design of the study

Chapter 2 (Literature review) conceptualizes the study’s theoretical background, presents the concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis: definition

of reading and reading comprehension, classification of reading, reading comprehension techniques, reading purpose of sccond language learners, factors in teaching and learning reading, stages in a reading lesson

Chapter 3 (Methodology) includes the participants, teaching material, instrument of data collcction, data coliection and data analysis

Chapter 4: (Suggestions and conclusions) consists of some suggested techniques, a review of the study, the limitations of the study and

recommendation for further research.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a theorctical background to the study with relevant concepts to the thesis as follows:

2.1, Detimtions of reading

Reading is » natural part of human beings’ life, for example we read books, magazines, newspapers, stories, notices, medicine leaflets, Reading has been the subjects uf research far uver a century (Cheng, 1985) However, puinis

of view on the definition of reading are different

Tn Ur's definition, “Reading means reading and understanding” (Ur, P 1996:138) Harmer J (1989: 153) considers reading as a mechanical process that

“eyes receives the message and the brain has to work out the siguificance of the message”, Ruhin, J and Thompson, 1 (1994: 91) defines reading in an other way “Reading is am active information secking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” It can be understood that the readers's knowledge of the language and the world is of important to the success in reading One more satisfying definition is given by Rumelhart (1977)

He states “Reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text” Aebersuld and Field (1997:15) have the same poiat of view: “Reading is what happen when people look at a text and assign meaning

to the written symbol in that text” Sharing the same opinion, Richard and

‘Thomas (1987:9) describe reading as “au understanding between the author and the reader Reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly

or simply knowing what the authur intends; il is the process whereby the printed page stimulates ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”, Allen and Valletta (1977249 consider “Reading is a developmental process” Learucrs read not only to master the sound, the language, the grammar used in the text but also to understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the ability vf reconstructing the

content using their own words According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is

15

“a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs,

as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” Anderson (1999:1) explains reading very neatly “Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning Meaning doesn’t reside un the printed page or occurs in reading, which combines the words on the printed page with the reader’s background knowledge and experiences” Smith (1985:102} has the same opinion that

“Reading understands the author's thuught Tt means that we — the reader — read the author’s mind, not the author's words, Roc, Stood and Burns (1987:2) describes reading in a more extensive way In their opinion, “reading is understanding written language”, “reading is a complex mental process”,

“reading is thinking’

To sum up, it can be seen that no definition can capture all the ideas and features of what reading is Kach linguist’s definition reflects what reading means from his own paint of view What they share is that they try to find out the nature of reading, in which the reader, the text, and the interaction between these 2 factors are emphasized

2.2.Delinition of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension plays a key role in teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in particular, Reading activity

is offen considered a means of communication between the writer and the reader

According to Ree, Stood and Burns (1987:2),“Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of wrilten content means by using knowledge gained from life experience” Reading comprehension can be affected by world knowledge, and those whose knowledge about the reading topic is richer will understand the reading better

Anderson and Pearson (1984:255) state that when readers make a critical

evaluation of the text, “they are making cunnectivns helween (he new

information on the printed page and their existing knowledge” Lee and

16

Vanpatien (1995:191) share the same view “Comprehension, by definition, is the process of relating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory Readers make connections between the information om the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow new information to enter and become a part of their knowledge store”

Richard and Thomas (1987:9) concentrate on the readers’ understanding

of the message basing on each individual’s background knowledge They point out that “Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the the author and the reader Reading is much more than just pronouncing werds correctly or simply knowing what the author intends: it is the process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”

Grellet (1981:3) points out that “Reading comprehension ar understanding written text means cxtracting the required information from it

as effectively as possible”, Similarly, Swan (1975:1) argues that “A student is yond al comprehension, we mean thal he can read accurately and efficiently, so

as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding”

In spite of different points of view, il can be drawn to conclusion (hai reading comprehension is the process im which readers can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand the ideas implied behind these forms

2.3 Classification of reading

2.3.1 Classilicalion according lo manmer

According to Doff (1988), reading is divided into two main types: reading aloud and silent reading

Reading aloud involves “looking at the text, understanding it and also saying it” (Doff, 1988:70) Thongh reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessary information ta semeane else, very few people are required to read

aloud in daily

fe Reading aloud is unpopular outside the classroom as Doff

12

(1988: 67) said, “reading aloud is not an activity we engage im very often outside the classroom”

Roading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages Nuttal (1966) sees reading aloud as an important aid for beginners to improve their pronunciation Tt helps to connect between sounds and spelling of letlers and words and also assists the teacher to check students’ pronunciation, Morcover,

it is a technique to keep the class under control, since when one student reads aloud, the others are asked 1o listen in case they may be required to continue the reading,

However, Greemvood (1985) criticizes the overemphasis of teaching pronunciation through reading aloud According to him, stadeuts may unable

to focus adequately ou the text's meaning when they highty concentrate on pronouncing the words He implies that there are also some negative effects that should be taken into account in the process of teaching and earning that involves reading aloud First, when reading aloud, students only focus on the pronunciation not on the meaning of the text Second, when students take urn

to read a text aloud, only one student is active; the others will do something else, since they do not have to read In addition, it is often a waste of time becanse students have tu wail one aller one when reading in turn It can be inferred that there is little value in reading aloud if we want to improve the readers’ reading skills Therefore, teachers should identify the level of their students and decide whether to apply reading aloud or not in teaching reading

to their students

Silent reading is widely used in both real life and classruoms Lewis (1985: 110) states that silent reading is “the mcthod we normally usc with our native language and on the whole quickest and most efficient” Sharing the same idea, Doff (1988:67) defines: “Silent reading involves looking at sentence and understanding the message it conveys, in other words making sense of a written text Tt does not normally invalve saying the wards we read nor even silently in our heads” It can be seen that silent reading is an effective skill for

18

reading comprehension since we can best understand the reading material at our own speed and we can go back to read again if there is something we don’t understand clearly, and the most important is that it ism’t necessary to read what we don’t want When reading silently, we uot only obtain the main ideas

in the shortest length of time hut also deeply understand the details and can answer the questions as well

For teachers, silent reading is helpful for controlling the class because

students concentrate on the text, obtain the meaning and extract what they

need as quickly as possible 1¢ is useful to develop students’s reading ability, and teachers should aften adjust the reading materials and exercises to suit the students’ improvement Therefore, it should be applicd in teaching and learning a foreign language

23.2 Classification according lo purpose

According to purpose, reading is categorized into 4 types: Skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading

Skim read and scan read are necessary Lechniques far general sense or the gist of a reading text

Nuttal (1982:36) says “By skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or

in order to keep ourselves superfically informed about matters that are not of

great importance to us”

Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the reading

material quickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer,

but not to find the answer to specific questions”

Ledges, T (2000:195) gives one more definition that “skimming is used

to get a global impression of the content of a text An example would be previewing a long magazine article by rcading rapidly, skipping large chunks of information, and focusing on headings and first lines of paragraphs”

Skimming appears when we glance al newspapers to get the general news af the

19

day, at magazines to discover quickly which articles we would like to read in more detail, at business and travel brochures to get informed quickly

According to Williams (1986:100), “Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching for a specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading purpose” Hedges, T (2000:195) points out that “Scanning involves scarching rapidly through a text to find a specific point of information, for example, the relevant times on 2 timetable, items in a directory, or key points in a academic text” Grellet (1981:19) shares the same view “When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we

do nui even follow the linearity of the passage to do so” So, scanning ix very high speed reading When we scan, we often have a question our mind and we read only the words that answer that question Scanning is widely used in daily life, such as scanning the lists of names in a telephone directory to find a phone number, or seanning what we nced in dictionarics, indexes, advertisements, magazines, newspaper articles, labels, reference materials and so on

Tt can be understond that skimming is a useful reading skill which is often applied at the first stage of reading to give readers an overview of the reading material A reader skims through the text to see what it is about before scanning for specific information he is looking for Though these 2 reading techniques are important for quick and efficient reading, they shouldn't be selected separately because a text can be best tackled by a combination of strategies Davies, F, (1995:137) argues that “It is difficult to draw clear boundaries between the types of reading termed skimming and scanning; in real life, scanning inevitably involves some skimming (and skipping) of large sections of text, and skimming, reciprocally, must embrace some scanning”

Intensive reading, in Nuttall’s (2000:38) opinion, “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to

focus on the text” Brown (1990:297) considers intensive reading “a classroom -

oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of

a passage” Grellet, F (1981:4) states that “Intensive reading means reading

20

short texts to extract specific information This is an accuracy activity involving reading for detailed.”

Extensive reading means to read widely and in quantity to obtain a general understanding of a subject including reading longer texts for pleasure

as well as business hooks Grellet, F (1981:4) defines “Extensive reading means reading longer texts, usually for one’s pleasure ‘This is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding” Additionally, according to Nuttal,

€.(2000:127), “Gelling students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills” Carrell and Carson (1997: 49,50) state that “Extensive reading generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for general understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than on the language.”

Tt can be drawn 0 conclusion that both intensive reading and extensive reading arc of great importance because they hetp to gain knowledge and they should be paid equal attention to

3.4 Effective reading comprehension

Ur (1996:148) considers effective reading comprehension process with the following elements:

- A clear purpose in mind

- An enhanced motivation

- Appropriate reading comprhension strategies based on the purposes and

motivation

- Good prediction

- Sufficient background information and vocabulary

- Close attention to the significant bits

- Fairly high speed

2.5 Reading comprehension techniques

Grellet (1990) provides 3 groups of techniques:

2.5.1, Scnsitizing

- Infering

Good readers in tact make inferences all the time when they read, which means using using all the information from the text as well as from their own store of knowledge to make guesses about mcaning that is not explicitly stated,

so that they will be more willing to depart from literal interpretation when reading

- Understanding relations within sentences

- Linking senlonees and idsas

2.5.2 Lmproving reading speed

Readers in most academic scttings and many work situations face a large quantity of reading in English This can be a problem for many English language learners who read so slowly that they often have little time to reflect

on and assimilate what they have read ‘Therefore, it is important for learners to develop reading habits that will allow them to deal with a large amount of reading Furthermore, being able to read faster can make a big difference in extensive reading, Simply, learners who can read faster can get through more books in less time In addition, they will also prabably enjoy their reading more,

so they are liky to read more

2.5.3 From skimming lo scanning

- Predicting,

One way to stimulate learners to reflect on what they are reading and to use their imagination is to ask them to make predictions about the boak when they are part way through Prediction is a key aspect of the reading process The more quickly and accurately fearners can make prediction and confirm, the more fluently (hey will read

- Previewing

Previewing is a very useful skill that good readers often make use of and

we often preview in daity lifc, for cxample we preview:

© The newspaper hy reading the headlines - to decide which artickes to

read.

e Aletler by Incking al the envelop - to decide whether to open il or thraw

it away (unk mail}

A book by reading the front and back covers - to decide if ï

and whether to read it

interesting

The benefits of previewing as a regular habit help the readder:

- Get a general idea of what the text is about;

- Place it in a general context or within a mental frame work;

- Activate background knowledge about the subject;

- Judge the difficulty of a text and calibrate the approach

Previewing also help learners to gain confidence in their ability to extract information and ideas from a text without reading every word In fact, it is sreally a form of skimming, but compared with skimming, the aim of

- Anticipation

Anticipation provides a good way to increase reading comprhension It is

a strategy used before reading o activate students’ prior knowledge

- Skimming

- Scanning

As mentioned from the above section, skimming and scanning are also key components to the reading technique

2.6, Reading purpose of second language learners

In real life, second language Icarners read in another Imguage for the following purposes:

- To obtain information for some purposes or because we are curious about some topic

- To obtain instructions on how to perform some tasks for our work or daily

life

33

- Yo act in a play, play a game, doa puzzle

- To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business

Ictters

- To know when or where something will take place or what is available

- To know what is happening or has happened

- For enjoyment or excitement

{Rivers and Temperley, cited in Nunan, 1989:34)

2.7 Factors in teaching and learning reading

2.7.1 Teachers’ role

Nuttall (2000:32-33) considers teachers’ role, some of which are

choosing reading texts, designing tasks, facilitating reading process and

monitoring progress important Teachers’ tasks consist of 6 major

pninciples, namely exploit sindents’ background knowledge, build a strong vocabulary base; teach for comprehension; teaching reading strategies:

encourage students to transform stralegies into skill; sel crileria to select reading, texts (Anderson (2003) and Hedge (2000), cited in To ct al ,

2006: 153-154)

2.7.2 Students’ role

Nuttall (2000:33) mentions several main roles for the students in a

reading lesson, such as

- Taking an active part in learning

- Monitoring comprehension

- Learning text talk

- Taking risk

- Learning not to cheat oneself

2.7.3 The reading texts

No one can deny the important role of reading texts in teaching and

14

learning reading, through which new grammar, phonetic and lexical items

of the largel language are introduced So, il is advised that teachers pay

attention to language content, vocabulary, grammatical structures, types of

reading aclivilies, Ihougl

takes time, effort and some expertise” (Buck, G, 2001)

“Providing suitable texts is nola simple maLler Tt

2.7.4, Reading motivation

Kicinginna (1981: 6) defines motivation as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior” Reading motivation refers to the desire to read, even when not required to do so Redneck and Lester, (2600: 5) state that: “motivation is one of the most important ingredients in skilled reading” Reading motivation involves seeking out opportunities to read for curiosity, knowledge, and involvement The teachers should aware of their students’ needs, including their motivation for reading to provide suitable techniques to help the students Lo develop their competence as readers during the reading lessons

2.8, Stages of a reading lesson

llow reading activities are organized and sequenced depends on different approaches lo language icaching Commonly, a reading lesson are divided into 3 stages: pre-, while-and post-reading (William, 1984, Dubin and Bycina, 1991 cited in To et al., 2006:158) (Toang et al., 2005) Each

stage has its own aims and procedures

2.8.1, Pre-reading stage

In this stage, teachers motivate students to read, activate or build

students’background knowledge of the subject According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- To introduce and arouse imlerest in the Lopic

- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

- To provide some language preparation for the lex

35

Pre-reading stage often lasts from 5 to 10 minutes To et al (2006:158) suggests some techniques: using pictures, predicting from the titles, guessing and brainstorming to see what learners have already known

2.8.2 While-reading stage

Williams (1984:38) states that while reading stage is the main part of

aTeading lesson with specific aims:

- To help understanding of the writer’s purpose

- To help understanding of the text structure

- To clarify text content

The techniques applied in this stage vary widely, ranging from

guessing new words, asking questions to note-taking Teachers need to help students fully understand the text while students skim, scan, guess to underslanid the text and the writor’s purposes Time allocation for this stage

is nearly two third of the lesson

2.8.3 Post-reading stage

According to Williams (1984:39), “the post-reading stage is aimed at

consolidating or reflecLmg upon what has been read and relating the text lo the learners’ own knowledge, interest or views” To et al.(2006) offers same possible techniques, including discussing the main points, retelling and rewriting the slories This slage oflen lakes 10 minutes