Luận văn hỗ trợ kỹ năng Đọc hiểu cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng anh trường Đại học công nghệ hà nội thông qua việc Điều chỉnh các hoạt Động Đọc của giáo trình new headway pre intermediate

English as a Forcign Language CUP: Cambridge University Press LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1.1, The Vicious Circle ofthe Weak Reader LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1.1: Stops i

VACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDLES,

DANG THI LE NA

SUPPORTING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGII TASK ADAPTATION WITII REFERENCE TO TIIE NEW HEADWAY PRE-INTERMEDIATE COURSEBOOK AT HANOL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

VACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDLES,

DANG THI LE NA

SUPPORTING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGII TASK ADAPTATION WITII REFERENCE TO TIIE NEW HEADWAY PRE-INTERMEDIATE COURSEBOOK AT HANOL

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 1410

Supervisor: Lé Van Canh, MLA

1.1, Overview on Reading, Task and Task Adaptation 3

1.2 The Role of Reading in Voreign Language Leaming 5 1.3, Challenges of Comprehending Reading Texts 6

1.3.3 Cultural and Background Knowledge Problems 7

1.4 Task Adaptation as a Type of Support for the Reading

2.2 Instrumeniation ani Procedures

2.3 The Adaptation of Reading Tasks in the Coursebook Chapter Conclusion

Chapter Three: Data Analysis

Introduction

3.1, Data Analysis of Preliminary Survey 3.2, Data Analysis of Survey Questionnaire 3.3 Data Analysis of Survey for Response to Adaptation

3.4 Reflection Chapter Conclusion

Chapter Four: Major Findings and Suggestions

4.1 Major Findings and Discussions

Appendix 1: Preliminary Survey

Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire

Appendix 3: Worksheets (delivered in class)

Appendix 4: Samples of Adaptod Reading Tasks

Appendix 5: Survey for Response to Adaptation

Appendix 6: Original Reading Sections (init 2, Unit 4, and Unit 7)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LaUL: Llanoi University of Industry

GE: General English

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

ESL: English as a Sccond Language

EFL English as a Forcign Language

CUP: Cambridge University Press

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1.1, The Vicious Circle ofthe Weak Reader

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1.1: Stops in Action Rescarch Cyele

Table 3.1: The Students’ Perception of the Role of Reading Comprehension

‘Table 3.2: ‘The students’ Evaluation of Reading Lessons

Table 3.3: Elements Affecting the Students’ Reading Comprehension

Table 3.4: The Students’ Evaluation of the Role of Reading Matetials

Table 3.5: The Studenls’ Opinions towards the Language in Reading Texts

Table 3.6: The Students’ Opinions towards the Content of Reading Texts

Table 3.7: The Studenls’ Opinions towards [he Reading Tasks

Table 3.8: The Students’ Preferences for Reading Tasks

‘Table 3.9: ‘he Students’ Opinions on 'asks of the Reading Stages Needed Adapting

‘Table 3.10: I'he Students’ Response to the Reading Lesson of Lit 2

‘Table 3.11: The Students’ Response to the Reading Lesson of Linit 4

Table 3.12: The Students’ Response to the Reading Lesson of Unit 7

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Identify the Problem

In Vietnam, English is taught and leamt in a non-native environment so reading is

perhaps the mosh important skill as iL provides sludents with access ly wrillen materials

Teaching and learning English in general and teaching reading in the context of Hanoi

University of Industry is receiving more attention because reading helps students increase knowledge of English through exposure to the fargel language as well as sources of

valuable information It is crucial for them to acquire the skills to read English efficiently

llowever, as a teacher of English at [laUl for nearly 1 years, 1 find that my

students, especially the first-year ones, are quite bored with the reading tasks offered in the

courscbook “New Headway Pre-Intermediate”, the sccond edition Doing reading tasks

sometimes is a burden for them Students often participate in reading lessons inactively and inefficiently

The thet has urged the author to carry out the study with the view to supporting

students’ reading comprehension through task adaptation Hopefully, this study will make conizibulions to improving the leaning of roading in particular and that of English in

general at HaUI

2 Aims of the Study

‘The study was designed to support students’ reading comprehension through the

adaplation of reading tasks in the courscbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate Il aimed Lo

achieve three primary objects:

1 To investigate how interesting and relevant the students find the current reading

materials and reading tasks

2 To identify unsuitable aspects of the reading tasks in the coursebook New Headway Pre-Inlermediate and adapl ther

3.To make some suggestions for supporting students’ reading comprehension

through task adaptation

3 Research Questions

In order to ach

guided the study:

© the above-mentioned aims, the following

arch questions

2 Why do they tel those tasks challenging?

3 In what way are those tasks adapted in order to help them cope with the reading

tasks beller according to the students’ evaluation?

4, Significance of the Study

‘The study was carried out to encourage the students” assessment of reading tasks in

the coursebook The unsuilable tasks were adapted lo be more practical and accessible for

5, Scope of the Study

Materials adaptation is such a broad topic that cannot be wholly discussed within the framework of this paper, therefore, only one specific aspect will be central to the discussion that is reading tasks” adaplation

With the focus on reading tasks only in the cowsebook New Headway Pre- intermediate, the second edition, the study was caried out to adapt those which are inapproprials according lo the sludents’ evaluation to support their reading comprehension

‘The shudy focuses on the first ycar students, non-major English, so the Tesults of the study are not applied for all students at HaU]

6 Methods of the Study

The study in fact is a mind action rescarch carried out with the follawing steps

Hypothesis mainly because they often encountered problems with language,

reading strategies and background knowledge

- Before each new unit the students were surveyed to find out their

opinions about scading tasks in the coming lesson

The author selected some reading tasks that the students assessed

Step 4: to be suitable and suggested different types of adapted tasks

observed the class, recorded the results,

- When the students finished the tasks, the author provided them

with survey questionnaires for tesponse 10 adaptation

= The students found the adapted tasks tess chullonging and

bem achievable They were more comfortable when doing those tasks

and took part in reading lessons more actively

Step 6 ~The aufhor discussed about the effectiveness of adapled tasks lo

Dissernination the sludents

- The author suggested mors adapted activities to leach other

ma “ reading sections basing on the comsebook New Headway Pre-

intermediate to the students

Table 1.1: Steps in Action Research Cycle (Adopted from Figure 1.5, Nunan, 1992:19)

7, Design of the Study

The study titled “Supporting Students’ Reading Comprehension through Task Adaptation with reference lo the New Tleachway Pre-Inlermediate Coursebook at TTanoi

University of Industry” consists of three main parts namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion

In the first part- Introcuction- the reason for the research, aims, significance, scope and trothodology of the study are considered

The second part- Development- contains four chapters

reading comp on, reading (asks and task adaptation

- Chapter Twe not only describes the context of teaching and leaming English at HaUll but also presents the instrumentation of the study as well as the adaptation of tasks

= Chapler Three deals with a comprehensive data analysis

- Chapter Four reports major findings, discussion, and suggestions

‘The last part- Conclusion provides a summary of the study, limitations and

recommendations for follow-up action:

1 Overview on Reading Theories, I'ask and Task Adaptation

1.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension

Attempts to define reading have been numerous, Williams (1984: 2) defines reading simply as “a process whereby one looks at and understands what have been written.” Ur (1996: 38) shares the same view when he defines “reading means reading and understanding.” Or according to Karlin and Kartin (1988: 2)'s view “reading without reading comprehension is meaningless” In these ways of definition, merely reading without understanding docs tol count as reading, The problem in defining is the confusion between ‘understanding’ and ‘comprehending’ It scoms that the two words arc used interchangpatity, For example,

In short, reading comprehension is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, between the readers” existing knowledge and the information suggested

by the text being read The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning, The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to understand or comprehend the meaning of the text

1.2 Role of Reailing in Foreign Language learning,

The role that reading plays in language acquisition continues to be an arca of research in second Ianguage learning In teaching and learning English as a foreign

reading gives learners ac

lo wrilicn materials and facilitates other language skills to help them have good command of English Thus, reading skill is not only an amportant means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place In other words, learners read lo lea The importance of reading skill is acknowledged in Carrels (1981: 1) view, “for many students, reading is by far the most importance of the four skills

in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language” Enhancing

T@arnicrs ding skills is crueial because according 10 Richard (1993: 9), “becoming an

effective and influent reader in another language has a number of important benetits for the

leamer.” Anderson (1999: 1) while regarding the importance of reading writes, “with

strengthened roatting skills, ESI/EFL readers will make groater progress and attain groater development in all academic areas.” Bearing this point in mind, it is a mandatory duty for each ESL teacher to develop learners’ reading comprehension 1m general and developing vital reading skills in particular

1.3 Challenges of Comprehending Reading Tests

Reading in a foreign language is of great importance to academic studies, personal development and professional success However, Teading in a foreign language is mnch more difficult Many scholars agreed that there are three main factors that affect reading comprehension: (I) reading ability, (2) language proficiency, and (3) cultural and background knowledge

1.3.1 Reading Problems

Ifa reader has a poor reading ability in his first language, he cannot read well ina second language as Bernhardt and Kamil (1995: 17) assume “reading performance in a scvond language is largely shared with reading ability in a first language” Besides, according to Alderson (1984), the reason why leamers who fail to read adequately in English is that they cannot read efficiently in the native language Obviously, reading process in a sccond language is slower than that of the first onc as it depends on lots of factors, For most leamers, their limited reading skills create many problems Very Frequently, students feel difficult to use the appropriate ways to read ‘They just look at every word, road slowly from the beginning to the and Sometimes, they may oncounter new words or unfamiliar topic, cannot concentrate well on the text and finally tial to grasp the general meaning Usually, there are unfamiliar words, new structures and ideas in

reading text If a leamer does not have strategies and skills to make use of lexical, granmnalical, logical, and cultural clues he will read the tex with less comprchension, And poor reading comprehension may result in disinterest in reading He may be trapped in a

(1990: 37) write, “lack of adequate vocabulary as one of the obstacles to text comprehension” (cited in Anderson, 1999: 25) Obviously, low competence in the target

language hinders readers from reading efficiently Dealing with a reading text, leamers may have to face with difficulties of ‘text’ and ‘vocabulary’ The first problem of ‘text? happens when leamers have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topies in a text with lots

of new grammatical structures They do not have any motivation to keep on reading as the text is challenging to understand The second frequent problem is caused by ‘vocabulary’ For any forcign language readers, there is always now vocabulary in reading texts

Vocabulary probloms occur when readers dealing with proverbs, idioms, synonyms,

tots of difficulties, As a resull, they will be umvilling to explore the tex!

1.3.3, Cultural and Background Knowledge l'roblems

Background knowledge includes all experience that a reader brings to a text such as life expericncs, educational cxpericnee, and knowledge of how texts can be organized thetorically Nunan (1989; 33) discusses on the significant role of background knowledge

in reading comprehension through “schema theory’ According to this theory, reading is an

interactive proc:

botweun what a roader alrcudy knows about a given lopio and what th

muy readings passages can only be adequately comprehend if the reader has the relevant cultural knowledge

Stang (1972) thinks that different readers have different levels of comprehension of

the same Lexl because they starl off fromm different, positions In a similar ven of thinking, Osman (1985) finds that readers coming from different cultural backgrounds interpret texts differently because of the differences in the high-level cultural schemata that were activated Whon dealing with a reading laxl, a reader may cnenunter the problem of an unfamiliar topic Comprehension of a culturally unfamiliar text is more difficult because

readers may misinterpret the text according to their own cultural experiences ‘he new

conient of the text prevenis teaders fron comprehending the tex! properly which may make them lose their interest in exploring the text As Carell and Eistarhold (1983: 560) point out “a reader’s failure to activate an appropriate schema during reading results in various degree of non comprehension” (cited in Anderson, 1999: 12)

1.4, Task Adaptation as a Type of Support for the Reading Comprehension Process

The previous sections discuss reading comprehension and its related aspects ‘This

current section is intended for task adaplation

In Breen’s (1987: 26) words, “a language learning task can be regarded as a springboard for learing work Ina broad sense, iis strnctured plan for the provision of opportmities for the tafinement of knowledge and capabilities ontailed in a new language and its use during communication”, (cited in Richards and Rogers, 2001; 223), According

to Prabhu (1987: 17), a task is “an activity which requires leamers to arrive at an outcome

from given information through some process of thought, and which allows teachers to control and regulate that process” The ideas cover sufficient features and functions of tasks in language acquisition Obviously, a task is a practical implementation of teaching objectives to facilitate the process of language acquisition of lamers

To specify a language leaming task, in the context of teaching reading

comprehension Scrivener (2005: 188) recommends a framework of 15 specific reading

tasks such as reordering, listing, responiting, problems solving, proticting, ele Thess arc actually tasks which are aimed to develop students’ various micro-reading skills The

concept of ‘reading comprehension tasks’ in this study is used with reference to this framework

1.4.2 Definition of Adaptation

There are numerous definitions of adaptation given by different scholars Tomlinson (1998: xi) refers to adaplation as “making changes to materials in œrđer to improve them more suitable for a particular type of learner” With regard to adaptation techniques, Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix-xi) point out that adaptation is the action of

employing “one or more of a number of techniqn

personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/situational

content” With an emphasis on the relationship between teachers and materials, Stevick (1972: 83) describes adaptation as bridging a gap: “the Icacher must satisfy the demands of

the textbook, but in ways that will be satisfying to those who lean from it”

In general, adaptation tends to be thought of as a rather formal process in which the

teacher makes decisions about teaching materials that needs changing, and then wrote out a revised version for the class, counting for different factors to make the matcrials more

accessible and practical to the teaching context

1.4.3 The Purpose of Adaptation

No one book can be perfect for a particular teaching-learning context In fact, a

coursebook can never be totally an effective tool for teachers to follow without any adaptation because of ils intrinsic deficiencies such ax linguistic maccuracies, out-of datcdness, tack of authenticity or lack of variety Thus, the author favors Madson and

Bowen’s (1978) and Tice’s (1991) view that is the purpose of adaptation 1s to “compensate for those deficiencies” (cited in McGrath, 2002: 64)

Another purpose of adaptation, as explained by Me Donough and Shaw (1993: 85)

is “to maximize the appropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the

internal characteristics of a coursebook to better suit our particular circumstances.”

Maximizing the appropnacy of teaching materials by different techniques to make them

more relevant, accessible and useful for leamers is important because it can stimulate

motivation, and increased motivation is, in tum, likely to lead to a classroom atmosphere

more conductive to leaming

Conceming the role of motivation in language leaming, McGrath (2002: 67) acknowledges that one of the practical reasons for adaptation is “to maintain

leamers’ interests by varying what might be a rather repetitive diet” Maintaining students”

motivation is important because motivation directly affects the extent of students? involvement and performance in language leaming,

1.4.4, Categories of Adaptation

There are a number of lechniques for adaptation depending on teacher” purposes and teaching context Within the scope of this research, some fequently-used ones will be discussed with reference to the discussion of McGrath (2002) and McDonough and Shaw (1993) that ‘adaptation’ refers to some tochniques of change and addition

Regarding to techniques for adaptation, McGrath (2002: 64-67) divides them mto two categories: adaptation as addition and adaptation as change ‘The former includes 3

forms of adaptation such as oxIsmmporisatiơn, extension, and exploitation, The laler presents

a principled approach to adaptation and foci and forms of change Sharing the same concems, McDonough and Shaw (1993: 36) developed “extemal criteria” and “intemal criteria” for adaptation According to these authors, both extemal criteria and internal ciiteria when considered togcthcr would determine how the task could be localized, personalized, individualized ‘Then the teacher makes decision on whether to add, to delete,

lo modify, to simplifying or to reorder the tasks regarding the language practice, texts, skills, etc The limitation of this framework is that the adaptation techniques are limited just to 5 different techniques ‘This does not reflect fully the complexity of the classroom and the diversity of coursebook in use

Chapter Conclusion

To conclude, this chapter has presented a brief review of related knowledge which will be the theoretical foundation for the interpretation of data and suggestions in the next

chaplers

2.1.1 Setting of the Study

The study was conducted at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUD, The unversity was officially established in December 2005 on the basis of Lanai Industrial College one

of the Teading vocational colleges in Vietnam where thousands of skilled workers and cngincers are trained every year

At HaUl, English is taught as a compulsory subject and a pre-requisite for

graduation because il is considered lo be useful both for students” sludies and their future jobs, English traming program is divided into two courses: General English and English for

Specific Purposes Of the total 5 semesters, the first 4 terms are designed as a Gi course to

help studemts acquirs English al pro-intermediats level During this stage, students study 60 periods of English in each semester However, there is only two periods of reading a week Totally, there are 20 periods of reading a semester The last semester is devoted to

introduce ESP content with a focus on reading and translating documents relating to

students’ majors

2.1.2 The Learners

The study was carried out with the participation of 98 students of two English classes from Automation & Tlectronics, and Flecirical Engineering Departments Tn general, the students are at the age of 18-22, They are mostly male students They come fom different provinces of Vietnam ‘The majatity of them are from the countryside Same

of than have never studisd English bofors but there are lots of sindonts who havs learnt English since they were at grade 6, At the beginning of the first term, the students were grouped according to their English placement test results, ‘I'he results showed that most of them were at beginner’s level In fact, English is not their major, so they do not pay much

attention to study English At the time of the study, the students were in the second term of their first year

2.1.3, Reading Materials

The New Ieadway series, the second edition (Vew Headway Beginner, New Headway Elementary quả New Headway Pre-intermediate) by John aud Liz Soars

published by OUP are used as the main coursebooks providing students with thorough

coverage of basic grammatical and lexical items and language skills

The New Headway Pro-Inlermediate is used for the Grst students, who have

finished the New Headway Elementary Since last year, the cousebook New Headway Pre-Intermediate has been divided into 2 stages of leaming called English credit 2 and 3 Fach stage covers 7 uniis Readig lessons in the eourscbook follow throe slagos pre- reading, while-reading and post-reading, The reading texts are long with a great deal of new words and grammatical structwes, requiring good reading ztrategies

2.2 Instrumentation and Procedures

This mini action rescarch was conducted based on the data collected from ‘stedent- based evaliation” and ‘response-based evaluation’ (illis, 1997; 39-40), The former regarded the studenls’ allitudes lo the reading tasks lo check whether they are enjoyable ar useful Therefore, the data was practical and reliable, The later required the teacher to examine the actual outcomes (both the products and processes of the tasks) to see whether they matched with Ihe students? motivation and teaching objectives Although response- based evaluations were time-consuming and quite demanding, they did provide valuable information regarding whether the task was achieving what was intended to achieve

Questionnaires were utilized as the main data collection instruments and class obscrvation was functioned as a supplomeriary soures of information, Because all the informants gave answers to the same questions, the data collected ftom the questionnaires was quite casy to summarize, analyze and report Besides, the informants had chance of presenting their ideas in a fice way without having to provide personal information As a result, the researcher had more uniform and accurate data

To avoid misunderstanding and ensure the accuracy of the dala, both types of questiormaires were written in Vietnamese and distributed with the author's clear

explanation.

13,

In order that the participants were not under pressure of time, the time for

responding lo a survey questionaire is 15 mrinufes before and after each reading tesson in class

The instrument and procedures used to gather the information for the study will be described as follows

2.2.1 Instrument 1: Preliminary Survey

‘The Preliminary Survey Questionnaire (see Appendix 1) was delivered to the

students at the beginning of the sccond term of their first your, aller they have finished the coursebook New Headway Elementary It was designed with a mixture of closed and open

questions with two parts Part one consists of 4 questions seeking information about

students’ sex, major, homeland, tine of learning Fnglish and English result, of the previous semester, Part two includes four questions focusing on finding the students’ general attitudes towards: the role of reading comprehension (Question 1), reading lessons (Question 2), elements affecting reading comprehension (Question 2), and the role of reading materials to their intorests (Question 4)

2.2.2, Instrument 2: Survey Questionnaire

This questionnaire (see Appendix 2) was designed with five open and closed questions IL was administered before each new reading lesson to obtain the students’ evaluative opinions of reading texts in terms of content, language, and reading tasks in each unit

2.2.3 Instrument 3: Class Observation Sheets

‘The class observation sheets were used to record students’ performance in classroom This was a uscful mcans to measure sludents’ altitudes, behavior and

interaction when adapted tasks were employed

2.2.4, Instrument 4: Survey for Response ta Adaptation

In order to measure the effectiveness of the adapted tasks, the Survey for Response

lo Adaplation (sce Appendix 5) was delivered to the students afer finishing reading lessons with adapted tasks, The follow-up questionnaire consists of 7 items The students

were asked to self- rate the usefulness of the adapted tasks in reading lesson

2.3 The Adaptation of Reading Tasks in the Courselok

There are various techniques for adapling tasks depending on teacher's purposes and tcaching context, Basinys on the findings from the students? evaluation of roading tasks,

some common adapting techniques were employed such as ‘replacing’, ‘adding’,

‘modifying’, and ‘simpli fying! to make the challenging and unsuitable lasks of unit 2, umil 4 and unit 7 more accessible to the students at the teaching context of HaUT

Samples of Adaptation

1 Replacing

*Sample 1.1: Unit 2- (see Appendix 4, sample 1.1)

Rationale for Adaptation:

As jigsaw reading tasks, the while-reading tasks (task 2, task 3, and task 4, see Appendix 6, Unit 2) aim at developing group-work practice with the madel of 3 groups

reading about one of three characters in the text respectively then retelling other groups

about the character he/she has read As a matter of fact, the class size sometimes hinders teachers from carrying out group-work effectively It is hard to accomplish the task well with 49 students im class Furlhermore, the students’ language proficiency was nol

adequate enough to deal with the tasks Regarding the students’ opinions that the tasks

were complicated, the author replaced the original tasks by the adapted version

Adapted Version

+ Type of activity: individual and pair work

- Aims: to help the students practice and facilitate skimming and scanning skills by

finding details in the reading text

- Task: while-reading task, completing the giver table with details

- Preparation: make one copy of the worksheet for each student

- ‘Time: 15 minutes

- Procedure:

+ After finishing pre-rcading task (task 1) in the courscbook, the teacher asked the

students to work individually first to read through the text, then fill in the table with specific details from the lex Al the same time, reminded ther of combining scanning and skimming skills to fill in the table

+ The students exchanged their work with a partner

| The teacher checked the answers with the whole class

2 Adding

*Sample 2.1: Unit 4-(sce Appendix 4, sample 2.1)

Rationale far Adaptation:

The reading section of Unit 4 (sce Appendix 6) was regarded a diffeull ane

according to the students’ assessments because the text itself contains a great deal of

complicated words, phrases and new grammatical structures ‘hus, the adapted version of task | in the coursebook was added

Adapted Version:

- Type of activity: individual work

- Aims: lo provide the stndents wilh essential vocabulary m the lext with the

emphasis on parts of speech and collocations

- Task: pre-reading task, matching two groups of items

- Preparation: prepare one copy of the worksheet for each student

~ Time: 12 minntes

- Procedure:

| After finishing the first pre-reading task, the teacher asked the students to look through the second pre-tzading task and drilled the pronunciation

+ The teacher reminded the students of some learnt words in the table In fact, most

of them were rarely-used that the students felt not easy to recall ‘hen, the teacher used some techniques of teaching vocabulary to make sure that the students know the meaning

of words in onc column

+ The teacher reminded the students of not looking at the text, and encouraged

them to do the matching ‘Ihe students exchanged their answers in pairs

+ The teacher clicited answers from the students then checked the answers with the whole class

*Sample 2.2: Unit 7- (sce Appendix 4, sample 2.2)

Rationale far Adaptation:

As a long text in the formal of an interview, the reading text of Unit 7 (sec

Appendix 6) offers lots of ambiguous words that need clarifying in context Concerning the ideas of the students about vocabulary of the reading text, the author wanted to bring a new

air into vocabulary teaching by adding the adapted version

Adapted Version:

+ Type of activity: pir work

Aims: to enhanee the students’ ability of guessing meanings of words in context

- Vask: pre-reading task, guessing the meaning of word in context

Proparation: make one copy of the worksheet for cach student

Time: 10 minutes

- Procedure:

+After raising the topic about famous people in the task 1 and 2 in the coursebook, the leacher asked the students to took al the worksheet

+ The teacher went through the pronunciation of these words Most of the words

were not new to the students but it was not easy to understand them in these certain

*Sample 3.1: Unit 4-(sce Appendix 4, sample 3.1)

Rationale far Adaptation:

Task L of unit 4 (see Appendix 6) is really cullure-bound To fulfil the task

effectively, the students must have broad background knowledge because it requires them

to match the names of some famous shopping centers in the world with their well-known products Il is not suitable for the students because most of them come from remols

villages and towns of Vietnam According to the survey, the students felt unfamiliar with

the content and the text itself, regardless of task 1 in the coursebook It is essential to think

- Type of activity: group work

- Aims: to help students practice discussing about a practical and familiar topic

‘shopping’ with the given prompt to arouse interest for the new lesson

- Task: pre-reading task, discussing on the same topic of the text with prompt

+ Preparation: make one copy of the worksheet for each student

discussion which is quite easy lo follow, Bul in case of unit 7, the post-reading lask (lask 7,

see Appendix 6) seems impractical for students Moreover, the students are not really proficient enough to tackle this adequately, since they have learnt the language structures but not fluent in their use Besides, due to the time limitation, the post reading task should

immediately follow the twe previous oncs so the adapted version was simplified

Adapted Version

+ Type ofactivity: pair work

- Aims: to create a chance for the students to make use of structures and

vocabulary from the text to talk about a familiar topic + Task: post reading lask, discussing on same lopic of the lex wilh prommpls

+ Preparation: make one copy of the worksheel for cach student

- Time: 10 minutes

- Procedure:

+ The leacher asked [he sludents to work in pairs and tell @ partner about a famous person he/she has ever met or a favorite singer/footballer/actot/actress with the given prompts:

Who ws shethe? What does she‘he do?

Where is shethe from?

How ald is she?

Why do you like him/her?

+ The teacher went round the class, offered help and observed the class’

performance

| The teacher called some students to talk about their favorite people

4 Modifying

*Sample 4.1: Unit 4 (see Appendix 4, sample 4.1)

Rationale for Adaptation:

The reading seclion of uml 4 offers a commen while-reading task of the

coursebook-answering comprehension questions (task 4, see Appendix 6) Sometimes, the

process is rather monotonous and students get bored with this repetitive task type For

some lexts, the students can answer by ‘“ifing’ the information straight from the tex!

Actually, the questions of this task are not easy to deal with Additionally, with such a difficult text of Unit 4, the author was convinced by Nuttal (1996: 192)’s idea, “the more

difficult the text, the casicr you should make the tasks” Thus, the questions can bg modified to help students feel comfortable to do In terms of format, the adapted task could attract students’ interest then the effect would be better than answering comprehension questions

Adapted version:

~ ‘Type of activity: individual work and pair work + Aims: to check the students’ understanding boul the text, fo practice inferring skill

- Task: while-reading task, deciding whether the given statements are True or False

- Preparation: make one copy of the worksheet for each student + Time: 1S minutes

+ Proccdurs + After completing the task 3 in the coursebook, the teacher introduced the adapted version of task 4 with explanation of how to do

+ Asked students to work individually to read the whole text one more time and decide whether each given statement was true or false

| The teacher went round the class and observed the students” performance

+ The teacher clicited answers then checked with the whole class

Chapter Conclusion

In general, this chapter has presented the subjects, instrumentation and procedures

appticd in the study The analysis of the data will be dealt with in the noxt chapter

3.1 Data analysis of Preliminary Survey (see Appendix 1)

3.1.1 Personal Information of the Students Taking Parts im the Survey

According to the statistics, more than two thirds (78%) of the students participating

in the surveys are male The majority (80.1%) of them come fiom the countryside whereas 19.8% are from cities, Only 9% of the students has been learning English for less than 3

‘years, in contrast, 93.9% has spent more than 4 years of leaming this subject However, one third of then gol mark 5, only 8 students got mark 8, nane of them had mark 9, and the rest got mark 6 of 7 as the final subject result of the previous tenn

3.1.2 The Students’ Perecption of Reading Comprehension in general

3.1.2.1, Lhe Students’ Perception of the Role of Reading Comprehension in Learning English (Question 1)

Table 3.1: The Students’ Perception of the Role of Reading Comiprehension

As can be seen from the lable, most of the respondents were fully aware of the significant role of reading comprehension in learning English Nearly half (47.2%) of the students’ population regarded reading comprehension as being important in English learning, Resides, more than balf of sludents (52.8%) thought that reading cormprebension

is not really important for their English study No one devaluated the importance of reading comprehension,

3.1.2.2, The Students’ Evaluation of Reading Lessons in terms of their Interests

(Question 2)

Table 3.2: ‘The Students’ Evaluation of Reading Lessons

The table indicates that only 34.2% of the students said they wera inlorssted in reading lessons, In contrast, the majority (55.8%) of the respondents admitted that they were fed up with the lessons,

3.1.2.3 The Students’ l'erception of Elements Affecting their Reading

Votumm of vocabulary and now grammatical struetizas in ronding texts — 71.3

Table 3.3: Elements Affecting the Students’ Reading Comprehension

From ths statistics, three main factors causing the students’ difficulties in reading comprehension are the volun of vocabulary and new grammatical structures in reading texts, the students’ lack of background knowledge and reading strategies ‘The most influential factor belonged to the students” Himmited capacity of vocabulary and grammatical structure, The lack of reading strategies also caused difficulties for 65.7% of the students while reading However, neatly half (45.1%) of the respondents had problems with background knowledge ‘The subjective factor “uninterested in topics’ was not really serious because just 12% of the respondents did nol, like topies of the reading lexis Besides, there were other factors which also caused difficulties for the students when reading such as the lack of preparation for reading texts and tasks the nature of texts and task, and inappropriate rcading strategies

Table 3.4: The Students’ -valuation of the Role of Reading Materials

The results in the table đemons

important role of reading materials in reading comprehension However, just few of the students did not recognize the importance of reading materials

3.2, Data Analysis of Survey Questionnaire (see Appendix 2)

This Survey Questionnaire was delivered to the students before each new unit in the coursebook to thoroughly check their opinions lowards characteristics of reading tasks with detailed questions about content, language of reading texts, and task types From the gathered data, most of the students shared the same ideas that reading sections of unit 2,

unit 4 and unit 7 contains irrelevant points that need adapting ‘These points were shown as

structures in this lesson

The lessons contains new grammatical simelures 35 23 2

'The voeabulary in the lesson is relevant to my English | 70 37 60

contrast, unfamiliar vocabulary in reading texts of unit 4 and unit 7 affected reading

‘The content of the lesson is undersiandable §I m 38

‘because it is familiar

Tt is difficult to understand the lesson 19 79 12

because the content is too unfamiliar

The content of the lesson is not interesting 21 17 13

‘The content of the lesson is interesting but 19 83 8?

difficult to understand

Table 3.6: The Students’ Opinions towards the Content of Reading Tests

With regard to content of reading texts, for Unit 2, the majority (81%) of the

sludenis did not have any difficutties in understanding Ihe text Towever, for unil 4, the unfamiliar content of the text prevented 79% of the students fiom understanding Furthermore, the highest percentage (83%) of the respondents belonged to those who said that the content of the text was difficult to comprehond though it was interesting, Similarly, for unit 7, the majority (87%) of the students shared the same idea that the text was interesting but difficult to understand,

3.2.3 In terms of Reading Tasks

3.2.3.1, Reading Tasks in general

a, The reading tasks are suitable tomy Englishlevel 14 12 3g

b The reading tasks are not difficult buf they are not 30 14 12

useful 10 my English study

c The arrangement of reading tasks is not suitable 38 12 14

The reading lasks are too diffieuH for me lo do 32 72 14

c The roading tasks are complicatcd, they need 26 §I 12

the 3 units were suitable to their English level accounted for small percentages (14%, 12%,

Conceming task level, for unit 2, 76% of the students found the reading tasks of really hard that needed adapting Besides, 32% of them affirmed that the tasks were too difficult to complote, Espocially, for unil 4, the majority (81%) of the respondents claimed that the tasks were really complicated that need adapting Prominently, for unit?, 42% of the students thought that some mote tasks should be supplemented although the students did not found reading tasks difficult

3.2.3.2, Preferred Reading Tasks

¢ Decide whether the given statements are tme or false 30 31 21

i Malch the text with appropriate lepics/ main ideas 6 10 3

Table 3.8: The Siudents' Preferences for Reading Tasks

‘As can be seen from the table above, the majority of the students favored multiple choice questions the most Generally, for all three units, they preferred other kinds of

reading tasks such as deciding whether the given statements are true or false, guessing the meaning of word in conlext, finding specific delails in the texl, completing elrarts/tables, and matching two groups of items Only few of the students (0%-3%) were fond of answering comprehension question and matching headlines with reading sections,

3.2.4, In terms of Tasks of Reading Stages needed Adapting

Table 3.9: The Students’ Opinions on Tasks of the Reading Stages Needed Adapting

The table clearly shows that the students

For unit 7, the students favored the while-reading tasks

3.2.5 The Students’ Suggestions for the Teacher's Adaptation of Reading Task

Through the findings of the las! question (question 5) in the Survey Questionnairs (see Appendix 2) about the students’ suggestions for the teacher’s adaptation of reading, tasks, the most highly-agreed idea was that reading tasks should be of different types which can help them to practice essential reading sub-skills and strategies to tackle reading tasks effectively nol just answering comprehension questions They preferred some tasks that allow them to work in pair or group to develop other language skills

3.3 Data Analysis of Survey Questionnaire for Response to Adaptation (see App 5)

The cvaluation of the adapted reading tasks" ¢ffealivenc

ơn ? items to find out the students’ feedback on different criteria, The collected data revealed the small percentages (from 4.2% to 8%) of the students who neither liked the

s via pilot leaching based

adapted tasks ner participated in the lessons In fact, these students rarcly paid attention to

English learning and teaching whether the lesson was coursebook-based or adapted

3.3.1, Data Analysis of Response to Task Adaptation of Unit 2- Delivered on March

12" 2610- CNurnber of informants: 98)

because the teacher goes too

far from the course book

©) 1.1.1 like the lesson because 81.7 | 13 53 |- “The reading tasks are all the tasks are well- quite hard for low English

LZ I really enjoyed today’s 80 | 147 - “The adapted task is lesson because the tasks are useful because it requires new and interesting, high concentration.”

1.3 Tleamt a lot because the 73.5 | 185 8

tasks are suitable to my level

14.1 acquired social and 703 | 155 52

cultural Knowledge through

the reading lesson

1.5 Through today’s lesson, 1 72.5 | 217 5.8 |- “The text contains too can expand my vocabulary as much new and difficult-to-

structures, teacher should explain more in detail.”

1.6.1 find today’s lesson 78 14 8 | “There are stills words useful boepuse 1 could practice that 1 could — nol

1.7 I don’t like today’s lesson 78 | 842 8

Table 3.10: The Students’ Response to the Reading Lesson of Unit 2

According to the slatistics,

the adapted reading tasks of unit 2 really caught the

students’ attention 80% of the respondents were interested in the lesson with adapted task

‘The majority (81.7%) of the students thought that the tasks were well-connected More

than two thirds of the respondenis (73.54) were in faver of the stalement [hal the tasks

were suitable to their Lnglish leval In addition, the results also revealed their satisfaction with thi

ssơn (78%) because they could practise useful reading skills

3.3.2 Data Analysis of Response to Task Adaptation of Unit 4- Delivered on March

well-connected

today’s lesson because the

tasks ae new and

interesting,

because the reading tasks matching task is

14 L acquire social and} 86.8 | 132 0

cultural knowledge through

the reading lesson

15 Through today’s | 78 141 7.9 | - “There are still some

grammar

we in

14 | find today’s lesson | 81.5 138

useful because [could

practice useful reading

1.7 I don’t like today’s | 5.3

lesson because the teacher

gocs too far from the course

Table 3.11: The Students’ Response to the Reading Lesson of Unit +

In combination with the original tasks of unit 4, the adapted tasks received different

feedback from the respondents The findings indicated thal, more than hal (50.6%) of the

students enjoyed the lesson Besides, 53% of them found satisfied with the things they

leamt from the lesson It is pleasant to realize that 81.5% of the respondents supported the idea thal the reading lesson was useful 10 tham because they coutd practice some essential reading skills

3.3.3 Data Analysis of Response to Task Adaptation of Unit 7-Delivered on April 28"

11 Tlike the lesson because all | 83 1 0

the tasks ars well-connected

12 1reallyenjoyedtodays 526 | 432 42 |-*Thepostreading Tesson because the lasks ure new lask is good.”

and interesting,

13 _ Meamta lot because the 552 | 398 5 [-'Ineedmore

tasks are suitable to my level detailed vocabulary

and stricture

explanation.”

14 Tacquire social and cultwal |" 65.7 | 343 0

knowledge through the reading

lesson

1.5 ‘Through today’s lesson, T 87 13 0 | -°Treally appreciate

the technique of