Luận văn teachers and students' perceptions of effective reading comprehension tasks with reference to tieng anh textbook 12

EPL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic arcas, In Victnam, English is taught and leaned in a nou —native environment so reading is not only

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES:

NGUYEN TOI DONG NIUNG

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF EFFECTIVE READING COMPREITENSION TASKS WITII REFERENCE TO)

‘TIENG ANH TEXTBOOK 12: ASURVEY STUDY AT DAILMO

HIGH SCHOOL

Khão sát quan điểm cữa giáo viên và học sinh về các nhiệm vụ đọc hiển hiệu quá

trong sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh I2 ở Trường THPT Đại Mã

M.A MLNOR THESIS

FEELD: METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410

HANOI - 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAT STUDIES:

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES,

NGUYEN THI HONG NHUNG

[TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF EFFECTIVE [READING COMPREHENSION TASKS WITH REFERENCE TO TIENG ANII TEXTBOOK 12: A SURVEY STUDY AT DAIMO

HIGH SCHOOL

Khao sit quan diem cũa giáo viên và học sinh về các nhiệm vụ dọc hiểu hiệu quả

trong sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 12 ö Trường THPT Đại Mễ

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: MiTHODOLOGY CODE: ø01410

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN BANG, M.A

HANOI - 2010

4, How teachers should cxploit the textbook cẾtctvcly

Sturlenis’ perceptions of effective a

nel of Reading Comprehnsion

6 Teachers’ perceptions of what teachers should do to make the reading lesson effective

‘Yeachers’’ perceptions of the roles of various stages of an effective reading comprehension lesson

8 ‘Teachers’ perceptions of effective classroom reading activities

9, How teachers should exploit the textbook effectively

10 ‘Teachers’ perceptions of effective assessment of Reading Comprehension

2.The scope of the study

3, Aims of the study,

A Resgarch qua:

3, Methods of the study

6, Significance of the study

1.2 The role of reading in foreign language learning

1.3 Good Readers vs Bad Readers

1.4 Approaches to teach reading comprehension

1.5 Rifective reading comnprchension tasks

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1, Setting and background

2.1.1 The school

1.2 Participants

2.3 Data colleotion inszument

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaire

3.1.2, Data analysis of the teachers” survey questionnaire

3.2 Discussion and findings

PART TITREE: CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the major findings

2 Rocorrmendations for Classroom Practice

3 Limitations and recommendations for further study

35

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

2 Rationale

Reading is an essential skill for English as a sccond or forcign language (ESL/RFL) For many, reading is the most important skill to master, With strengthened zeading skills, ESL! EPL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic arcas, In Victnam, English is taught and leaned in a nou —native environment so reading is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place, According to Carrell (19841): - for many students, reading is by far the 1nost importance of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a

foreign language

Reading is one of the mosl important language skills in academic sollings TL is also one of the most complex skills to develop strong second langage (L2) fluency Unlike speaking and writing, the reader is not able to control the message or the language used It

is afso a skill thal, like listening, must be carried out under the real time pressure if it is donc flucntly, However, unlike listening, there arc no opportunities to ask for clarification

of additional information Moreover, the range of vocabulary encountered in reading is much greaier than is lypically used in speaking and lislening sellings (Stmovich, 2009, p 252-258) Given this starting point, it is faixty clear that the development of L2 reading, abilities represents a serious challenge for both the learners and the teachers

Aware of the importance of teaching reading skill, all the teachers of Dai Mo upper-secondary school are trying their best to make the reading lessons effective ‘The teachers themselves always try to find out the best approach to apply in teaching Llowever, the quality of English learning and teaching still romains very low Although a groal number of attempts have been made by the teaching staff in order to improve the situation such as applying various teaching approaches and techniques, adapting textbooks to make the lessons suitable for the students to Icam, their efforts sccm not effective at all The students cannot improve their English competence For all of these reasons, it would be

necessary to have an investigation into teachers‘ and students’ perceptions of effective

reading coroprchension tasks and the mismatch belweon teachers andl stadonts? pereeptions

of effective leaming, It is hoped that this study will reveal issues concerning teaching and Jearning reading comprehension tasks to help teachers have a deep understanding about the reading strategies to make decisions orhow and whal they shonld do to keep their students

auch more involved in the reading process

2 The scope of the study

Having effective reading comprehension lessons is one of the biggest concerns of both the leachors and tho learnors of English In tris sindy, foous is mainly pul on investigating the teachers and students’ perceptions of effective reading comprehension tasks and the mismatch between teachers and students’ perceptions of effective learning

‘The study is conducted in only one high school of Dai Mo upper-secondary school on 182

students in four classes in twelfth grade and 7 tcachers in the school

3 Aims of the study

‘The study aims to investigate three things:

1) Teachers’ and students' perceptions of effective reading comprehension tasks

2) Didirences between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of affective reading tasks

3) To give some recommendations for the improvement of the reading lessons,

4 Research questions:

‘This study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1 What reatting tasks are porevived as cffactive by the students?

2 What reading tasks are perceived as effective by the teachers?

3 Are there any differences between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of effective reading tasks?

5 Methods of the study

In order to find out the answers to the above research questions, a survey research was adopted for this study

6 Significance of the stuily

Resulls of the study will help the toachers and students have a more comprohensiva ook at the present situation of teaching and leaming English reading comprehension tasks

‘And then, teachers will have appropriate and interesting ways to make the reading lessons more effective

7 Design of the study

The study is organized around three parts

Part one: - Tntroduetion —yrovides rationale for the study, slales what the study is aimed al and whal spocific lasks it resolves, spocifics the sec

and sketches the general structure of the study,

2 of the sludy,

Part twa: - Development — consists of three elupters

Chapter 1: - Literaure Review — mentions the theoretical background of ths topic with a definition of reading, an overview of the rolos of roading in foreign language leaming, good readers vs, bad readers, approaches to teaching reading comprehension, effective reading comprehension tasks and teaching procedures

Chapter 2: - 7he sưáy — provides information about the study This inchides the iting of the study, the participants and the research instruments used for this study

Chapter 3: - Data analysis and findings — gives the discription of the students and teachers survey questionnaie, This chapter also gives the discussion of the results and suggestions for teachers and students at Dai Mo Lipper- sacondary school and provides some suggestions for further sludy

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I; LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of the theoretical background of the research

1.1 Definition of Reading

Reading is defined as being composed of four elements: the text the reader, fuoncy and reading stralegics Reading can be soon as an “interactive” process bebween a reader and a text, which leads to automaticity or (reading fluency) In this process, the reader interacts dynamically with the text as s/he tries to elicit the meaning and where various kinds of knowledge are baing used: linguistic or systemic knowledge (through ottom-up processing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down processing)

Since reading is a complex process, Grabe argues that “many researchers attempt to

understand and explain the fuenl reading process by analyzing the pracess inlo a set of component skills” (Grabe: 1991, p 379) According to Anderson (1999: 1), “Reading is an active, finent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building

1, Automatic recognition skills

2 Vocabulary and structural knowledgs

3 Formal discourse structure knowledge

4, Content/world background knowledge

5 Synthesis and ovatuation skitts/stratogios

6 Metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring

1.2 The role of reading in foreign language lcarning

In a second language classroom, reading plays a significant rele in building both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills Reading may contnbufe significantly fo competence in a second Tanguage There is a good reason, in facl, to hypothesize that reading makes a contribution to overall competence, to all four skills

(Krashan & Terrel, 1983:131)

Hoang et al (2006: 191) even consider reading as the most effective means of

improving students" Tanguage competence Tispecially, when there is a lack of 1.2 environment, reading is even more significant since it helps enlarge students’ background knowledge and vocabulary as well as supports other skills (Pham, 2005 cited in Hoang et

al, 2005515) Since reading benefits grammatical knowledge and vocabulary development, overall competence in the second or foreign language increases through reading comprehension

Hedge (2003) states that any reading component of an English language course may include a set of leaming goals for

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

* building a knowledge of language which will facilitate reading ability

* building schematic knowledge

* the ability to adapt the reading style according to reading purpose (ie skimming, scanning}

® developing an awareness of the structures of written texts in English

s taking a cnitical stance to the contents of the texts

‘The achievement of these leaming goals is the measure of the effectiveness of a

zeading comprehension program However, the cxtent to which these lcaming goals

depends on many variables such as reader variables and text variables Leamer variables include studens* interest level in th , purpose for teading the texl, knowledge of the

topic, foreign language abilities, awareness of the reading process, and level of willingness

to take risks Text variables are text type, structure, syntax, and vocabulary (Hosenfeld, 1979) Therefore, comprehension is dependent on the interaction of the teadler variables

and text variables

1.3 Good Readers vs Ball Readers

‘The reading comprehension literature classifies readers into good (effective) readers and bad (inoffeetive) readers, Tis commonly agrocd that, Ibe good readers have strong motivation for reading and approptiate reading, strategies To these readers, reading

is enjoyable, However, students’ motivation to read is determined by how well they feel they read This implies that if the reading texts are carefiilly selected and therefore contribute to motivation, the process of language Icaming will be grcatly helped In addition to strong motivation, a good reader does not examine every word in a linear fashion, but rather samples various linguistic cues (graphic, syntactic and semanlic), and uses knowledge of the world to arzive at a hypothesis about the meaning of the text The reader then tests this hypothesis m various ways (reading on, rereading) Put it another way, a good reader is active in the process of constructing [he meaning of the teading lext Goodman (1967) describes a good reader briefly as the one who uses many sources af

information,

By contrast, bad or inefictive readers tend to struggle with the text, They too frequently read a foreign language text with a pamnstaking dedication to deciphering every word in a lincar fashion, frequently

reading the text, The result is at best a highly imperfect translation, at worst fiustration and incomprehension (Revell & Sweeney, 1993) This is because these readers employ

spending more lime looking up in a dictionary than

inefficient stralegies, which are quile contrary ta Lhe natural reading process

1.4 Approaches to teaching reading comprehension

() Bottom — up approach:

According fo the botiom — up model, reading is viewed as “the process of meaning interpretation” in which “the language 1s translated fiom one form of symbolic representation to another” (Niman, 1991) It was also understood as the process of recognizing the printed Iollcrs and words and building up a meaning from the smaliesh textual units at the bottom (letter and words) to layger units at the top (pluases, clauses, infersentential linkages) (Rivers 1964, 1968, Plaister 1968; Yori 1971) In other wards, in

the batlom — up model, the reader begins with the wrillen lext (the bottom) and constructs

smeaning, fiom letters, words, phrases and sentences found within, and then processes the text in a linear fashion Clearly, in the view of this driven model, the reader seems to play a relatively passive role because the basis of bottom — up processing is the linguistic Knowledge of the reader Samuel and Kamil (188: 31) pointed out the shortcomings of

these models as follows:

Because of the lack of feedback loops in the early bottom — up models, it was

difficnilt to acconnt for sentence — context effects and the role of prior kmowledpe

of Lexl topic as facilitaling variables in word recognition and comprehension

Due to this limitation, the bottom up view of reading tell into disfaver

Gi) Top — down approach

In this model, reading is seen as the process in which readers move from the top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself This approach emphasizes tha reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form, the interaction between the

reader and the text rather than the graphic forms of the printed pages ithe reader proves his active tole in the reading process by bringing to the interaction his’ her available

knowledge of the subject, knowledge of and expectations about how language works,

on the printed page with the reader's background knowledge and experiences

Apparently, the strong points of top — down models outmumbsr these of the bottom

up asthe reader the center of the reading process proves his active role However, for some researchers, these models still reveal certain shortcomings Stanovich (1988) stated that “ the generation of hypotheses would actually be more time — consuming than decoding” and Eskey (1988; 93) belicved that “in making the perfectly valid point that Guent reading is primarily a cognitive process, they (N.B: researchers who approved top- down models) land lo deemphasize the perceplual and decoding dimensions of that

process”,

Dus to limitations of both bottom — up and lop — down models, a new and more insightfnl reading prov

as boon proposed under the name of interactive model

(ill) Interactive approach:

Interactive theorists appreciate the role of prior knowledge and prediction, and at the same time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words

of the text

According to Hayes et al (1991: 7) “in interactive models, different processes are

thought to be responsible for providing information that is shared with olher processes Thơ

information obtained from each type of processing is combinsd to determine the most

appropriate interpretation of the printed pags

‘Yo sum up, the arrival and popularity of interactive models show that interactive models can maximize the strengths and miminrizes the weaknesses of both boltom — up and

top down models

Most forcign language reading spocialisis view reading as interactive The reader inferacts with the text to create meaning as the reader's mental processes work together at different levels (Bernhardt, 1986: Carrell, Devine & Eskey, 1988; Rumelhart, 1977)

One important part of interactive process theory emphasizes "schemata," the reader's preexisting concepts about the world and about the text to be read Into this framework, the reader fits what he or she finds in any passage If the new textual information docs not fit into a reader's schemata, the readcr misunderstands the new material, ignores the new material, or revises the schemata to match the facts within the

content (Carrell, Devine & Lskey, 1988)

Formal schemata define reader expectations about how pieces of textual information will relate to each other and in what order details will appear (Carrell, 1987) For example, in a detective story, a rcader could expect the following chain of events: a crime occurs, possible suspects are identified, evidence is uncovered, and the perpetrator is apprehended

20

1.5, Effective reading comprehension tasks

(i) What is meant by “effective readers”?

Effective readers are those who are able to read fluently and strategically They know how lo identify key information from the reading texl and know how to vary thair reading speed depending on their reading purposes (see Grabe & Stoller 2001) This means

that effective readers are strategic reac

of reading comprehension instruction, which is discussed in the subsequent section

Gi) Teaching strategies to achieve etfectiveness in a reading comprehension lesson

Learners of a foreign language, especially at elementary and intermediate levels, are rarely efficient readers in the foreign language This has to do not only with deficiencies in Tinguistic knowledge, but also with the stralcgics cmployed in rzading Thus, mosi researches on reading now focus on the effective reading strategies that increase students’

comprehension Guthrie et al (1996) argues that most researchers study a single cognitive

strategy, Tather than conducting @ longelrm study of multiple strategies Besides, few studies have addressed the issues related to “motivation” and “engagement” As Guthrie

puts it

Engaged reading is based on motivational and cognitive characteristics of the

reader who is intzinsically molivaled, builds knowledge, uses cognilive straegies,

and interacts vocially 1o leam from tod These cngagemen! processes can be

observed in student's cognitive effort, perseverance, and self-direction in reading

(Ibid, p 104)

We must develop learners” roarling stralogies in tha ways, which refleat the reading process in the native language This requires that we focus on meaning and on solving, relevant problems, and not solely on interpreting individual words one after another Smith (1978:1267) cmphasizes the procminence of meaning and the essentially impticit nature of questions that we constantly ask in order to build up a general pattem of comprehension

content in reading instruction increases motivation for reading and text comprehension.”

“The second motivation-supporting practice showed that students who were provided choice

of Loxl performed highcr om reading tasks than those with no choice Ths third practies was

to use interesting texts This conforms to Hedge’s proposal that in selecting task texts,

teachers should seek interesting texts and consider variety of topics, Readers’ interest can

be revealed by setting “a reading interest questionnaire” where students check the fields that suit their interest, i.c, short stozivs, thrillers, scicnee fiction, ote Since “cach learner will have different strengths to build on and different weaknesses to overcome” (Hedge,

2003, yp 205), there is no one defined reading methodology Tn Ihe functional approach ta reading, Moorman & Ram (1994, p, 646) focus on science fiction genre since “stories offer

amany opportunities for creative reading”

Carrell of al (1989, p 647) condncted a sindy on two metacugnitive stratcgics, semantic mapping (SM) and the expetience-text-relationship (ETR) method, to study their affect on second language reading In semantic mapping, categories and associations are displayed visually in a diagram, These anthors wenl ơn to argue that besides “heing effective for vocabulary development, semantic mopping has proved to be a good alternative to traditional pre-reading and post-reading tasks” (ihid, p.651) In fact, most contemporary reading tasks include pre-reading tasks Therefore, I belicve pro-rcading tasks can be followed by SM strategy since the former aim at increasing learners’ motivation While semantic mapping is used as a tool to assess students’ schema, the cxporiencs text-aclationship (RETR) method omphasizes comprehension, ic., roading for

iueaning This method is based on discussion aiming at linking what the reader already

knows to what s/he will encounter in the text It has essentially three simple steps: experience, texl, and relationship, In the experience slep, the tcacher leads the students lo

students draw relationships bolwoon the content of the toxt (as developed in the zext stop), and their outside experience and knowledge (as discussed in the experience step) In all three steps the teacher is attempting to model and to guide the students systematically

through the ongnitive processes related Lo un

Carrell et al (1989, pp 665-668) conclude that

slanding a wrillen lexL From the results

_amelacognitive siralegy (raining docs enhance L2 reading when compared 10

nonstrategy training, as in the control group [and that] while there are similarities

‘between the two mathods in their enhancement of second language reading on some

micasures, on olher measures there are differences between (hun Finally, our results

show thot there are significant interactions between students’ learning styles and the

effectiveness of training in the two different strategies

Hedge (2003) slaics that although such small-scale studics 1 substantiation by

“further experimental work”, thoy have “contributed to ELT methodology in raising awareness about the characteristics of effective language leaming”

(iii) Recognizing and implementing effective foreign language reading strategies

When foreign language (sachers recognize thal each reader brings lo the reading process a unique set of past experiences, emotional and mental processes, level of cognitive development, and interest level in the topic, they also recognize that not all teaching strategies will be effective for all students When isolating the most effective leaching stratcgics io usc with a group of siudents, the forcign language teachers must also

23

consider those reader strategies that are not necessarily related to content schemata, Such

reader strategies include the following:

- guessing word meanings,

~ becomming aware of the reading proce

newspaper article abont the techniculitis involved in negotiating a disarmament treaty In

discussion of these thraz slages regarding the goal and common tasks for cach slags

24

"Pre-reading" is the first stage of a reading comprehension lesson, in which tasks arc introduced to students with reference lo a particular text, Whilz the main motivation of the pre-reading stage is to increase the students’ interest in the reading process, the goals of this stage are to elicit or provide appropriate background knowledge, and activate necessary schemata, Pre-reading tasks help the students to approach the text in a more imeaningful and purposeful manner as the discussion compels tham to think about the situation or points raised in a text The pre-reading phase helps students define selection

criteria for the contral theme of a story or tho major argument of an ossay, Prooading tasks inelude: discussing author or text type, brainstouming, reviewing familiar stories, considering illustrations and titles, skimming and scanning (for structure, main points, and future directions}

"While -reading" tasks help students develop reading strategies, improve their conzot of the forcign language, and decode problematic texl passages Helping students ta employ strategies while reading can be difficult because individual students control and need different strategies, Nevertheless, the teacher can pinpoint valuable strategies, explain which stratcgics individuals most need to practice, and offer concrete cxoroiszs in the form

of "guided reading" task sheets Such practice exercises might include guessing word

meanings by using context clues, word formation cines, or cognate practice: considering syntax and sentence structure by noting the grammatical functions of unknown words, analyzing reference words, and predicting text content, reading for specific pieces of information; and leaming to use the dictionary effectively

"Post-teading" exercises first check students’ comprehension and then lead students

to a decper analysis of the text, when warranted, Because the goals of most raal world

xeading are not to memorize an author's point of view or to summarize text content, but

rather to see into another mind, or to mesh new information into what one already knows, forcign language reading must go beyond detail-cticiting comprehension diills lo help students recognize that diffrent strategies are appropriate with different text types For

example, scanning is an appropriate strategy to use with newspaper advertisements

whereas predicting and following text cohesion are effective strategies to nse with short

25

stories By disoussing in groups what they have understood, students focus on information they did not comprshend, or did nol comprehend correctly Discussions of this nature can Jead the student directly to text analysis as class discussion proceeds from determining facts to exploring deeper ramifications of the texts,

The three above-mentioned stages have different purposes, but they together make

4 coherent reading comprehansion lesson The pre-reading stage is aimed al activating the students’ background knowledge relevant to the information in the reading text, thereby hefping students to use their existing knowledge in order to comprehend the new information in the reading text, Also, in this stage, the teacher helps thz siudenls to deat

with possible linguistic difticulties or challenges such as vocabulary and grammar The whileteading stage focuses more on the developing students’ sub-skills of reading competence through doing various reading tasks By doing these tasks, students’ reading strategies are also developed, The postercading stage is where linguistic skills arc integrated Integrative tasks use text language and ideas in foreign language listening, speaking, and/or writing, Integrative skills exercises include such tasks as students reacting

to texts with summarics, now endings, or pastiches; rconacting text; dramatizing inferviews

‘based on the text, carefully listening for key words or phrases in authentic video or audio tapes; and creating role-play situations or simulations of cultural experiences, Also, in this stage, students’ Linguistic competence will be devcloped in this stage, For cxample, the teacher can focus on helping students with problematic vocabulary or grammar

This chapter reviews some theoretical issues of teaching reading approaches The role of reading in foreign language learning and approaches of teaching reading have been aborted Also, teaching suatogiss lo achieve effactiveness in a toading comprehcusion lesson, recognizing and implementing effective second language reading strategies and teaching procedures are presented in this chapter ‘he next one presents the study

26

This chapter provides infoumation about the study This includes the sctting of the study, the participants and the research instruments used for this study

2.1, Setting and background

2.1.1 The school

Dai Mo is a nearly 7-ycar-old high school, located in Dai Mo commune - Tu Lica

district, where students come from different communes nearby It was set up in 2003 with

10 classes, and widened ils number of classes up lo over 25 up lo now Rach of dass has from 40 to 50 students, Besides, facilities are brought into question The class is not

equipped with tapes, cassette players, speakers, ‘I'Vs, CDs or overhead projectors except

for a board, chalks, piclures or other vismal aids designed by teachers thomaclves A smodem classroom for language teaching and learning, has not been equipped with teaching aids devices such as OHP's, intemet, atc, Students only have a chance to use these devices when the teachers present model lessons on special occasions like Vietnamese ‘Teacher's

Day

2.1.2 Participants

The process of data collection involved the participation of both teachers of English

and grade 12" students as follows:

(@ Teachers of English

In Dai Mo Iligh School, there are totally 7 teachers of English, including the rescarchcr, aged from 28 to 41 Two of thom arc studying for an M.A degree and the three

others hold a B.A TEFL degree ‘he two others had in-service TELT training courses

‘the number of female teachers formed the majority (5 female teachers and 2 male lonchen) Some of them, however, aro middle-aged which prsverls thom from learning

new things to some extent ‘These teachers are not very happy to attend training programs

to gel the ideas about the t2 thook and new teaching methodotogies The participants of this study were members of this team,

Gi) Grade 12” students

‘The subjects of the study were 182 students coming from four different classes at Dai Mo High School, All of thom were born in 1992 and they are both male and fomats and live around the school All of them basically are begimmers of English despite finishing, the English program for the secondary system Most of them are not good at using Janguags skilts and hey do wot have a good English learning and speaking cnvironment Only in the classroom can they Ieam and use the language They do not have other places

to practice the knowledge they have leamt trom sehool and have no chance to expose to the target language In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation make thom not interested in Ieaming English Although most of them have aleady learnt English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of English is still poor and Himited Tlardly van they say 4 complete sentence in

the target language

2.2 Data collection instrument

For a collection of sufficient, reliable and valid data for the study, two sets of survey questionnaires were administered to 182 students and 7 teachers of English at Dai Mo Lligh School, The qnestionnair2 was composed of 20 elosed iterns and 3 operrended items The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese (see appendix A & B) to make sure that the teachers and students understand the questions accurately Questions were developed on

the basis of the information rclated to effective reading comprehension in the literature

() The questionnaire for students

The questionnaire was designed lo gel infortnation conesring:

How teachers should exploit the textbook effectively

Perceptions of effective assessment of Reading Comprehension

= Students’ ovaluation of the reading lessons

Students’ recommendations for the improvement of the reading lessons

(ii) The questionnaire for teachers

Questionnaire designed for the teachers aims at finding out:

1 Teachers’ perceptions of what teachers should do to make the reading lessons effective

2 Teachers” perceptions of the Toles of various stages of an effective reading

comprehension lesson

3 ‘Teachers’ perceptions of effective classroom reading tasks

Tow teachers should exptoit the textbook effectively

ptions of cl

ive assessment of Reading Comprchension Teachers’ evaluation of the reading lessons

7 ‘Teachers’ recommendations for the improvement of reading lessons

In short, this chapter has presented the information about the study This includes

‘the seiting of the study, the participants and the the research instruments used for this study The next chapter presents the data analysis and findings

29

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaire

@® Students’ perceptions of what teachers should do to make the reading lessons

Strongly | Agree No | Disagree | Strongly

SI Teachers must teach all the new words in

S7 Teachers must help students understand

comprehend the whole text

‘S2 Teachers needn't teach all the new words

bout tudente can understand the main ideas 20 4 8 38 5

of the Lex

53 Teachers need to activate studcats*

understand sore

86, Students should be Tet to read and get the

‘Table 1: Students perceptions of what teachers should do to make the reading lessons «ffeclive

3ũ

‘Table 1 shows the students’ perceptions of what teachers should do to make the

reading lessons effective, Students had the belief that they necded to be taught every word

in order to comprehend the whole text However, only half of them agreed that they needed

to understand every single sentence in order to comprehend the whole text and the other half disagreed with this slalersent, More than half of them agreed that teachers didn’t need

to teach all the new words but students could still understand the main ideas of the text (statement 2) Most of them (91%) thought that teachers need to activate students”

Slé The pre-reading taskE are the most

SIT The whilereading tasks are the miost

8 30 40 22, a

imporrant part in the reading lesson,

SIR The postreading tasks are the most

11 26 38 23 2

important part in the reading lesson

S19 The main taske in the while-reading stage

are to read and answer all he questions on the | 19 16 | 38 a 3

Table 2: Students’ perceptions of the roles of various stages of a effective reading comprehension lesson

Table 2 shows the statistical results of students’ perceptions of the roles of various stages of an cfiective reading comprchension lesson As can be sccn clearly from the table

2 that one third of the students had no idea (they chose “no ideas” category) When being asked about the level of the importance of the reading tasks (pre-reading tasks, while

31

reading tasks and post-reading tasks), 48°

important part in the reading lesson, while 38% said that the while-rcading tasks were the zmosi important part in the reading lesson, and 37% maintained that the post-teading tasks About one fourth of the students disagreed that the main tasks in the while-zeading part

showed that the pre-reading tasks were the most

were lo read and answer all the questions on the reading text while half of them (48%)

agreed with this statement

Students’ perceptions of effective dassroom reading Lasks

Strongly [Agree No | Dingœ Slrongly

0 | 0U 00 | oe G0 S12, Students are required to read and complete all

the tasks in the textbook

B15, Teachers dhould not finish af roading and

discourse of the text

S13 All the skills such a3 speaking, listening aud

vling should be integrated when teaching | 37 48 6 6 3

reading skill,

54 Translalion is required to help sindenls

comprehend the lesson

S10, Teachers shouldn't ask sudents to read the

SIL, Reading aloud the uxt is needed 3 = 46 a "

able 3: Shudents’ perceptions of effective clasrroom reading lasks