Luận văn chiến lược Đọc nhằm cải thiện kỹ năng Đọc hiểu cho sinh viên trường cao Đẳng kinh tế kỹ thuật thái nguyên

Therefore, it is necessary for Vietnamese students to have a good command of English to satisfy the growing roquiroments in a developing country like Vietnam In the process of teaching a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYÊN THỊ LẬP

READING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION OF STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYED COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY

Chiến lược đọc nhằm cải thiện kỹ năng đọc hiểu cửa sinh viên

Trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 1410

HA NOI- 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI LAP

READING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS OF STUDENTS AT THAI

NGUYEN COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND

TECHNOLOGY

Chiến lược đọc nhằm cải thiện kỹ năng đọc hiểu của sinh viên

Trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế - Kỹ thuật Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: DINH HAI YEN, M Ed

HA NOI- 2010

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

Qa

17.1.2.3 Characleristies ofan Tillsctive Reader 7 1.1.2.4, Teaching Reading Comprehension Skill co se ieee

11.1.3 Reading Strategies 9 11.1.3.1, Defining Strategies 9

113.2.2.3 Social/Affective Strategies TH Hiên 31 11.3.3 Discussion and Recommendations 31 I5 n PART 3: CONCLUSION nnnhheeherereerreredesouSS

1 Summary of Previous PArfs - 35

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CFL College of Foreign Language

VNU Vietnam National University

TNCRT Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology

vi

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables

Table 2.1: Background information about the participants

Table 2.2: Questionnaire: Reading strategy coding categories

Charts

Charl 3.1: Tost Results — Metacognitive Strategies

Chart 3.2: Test Results Cognitive Strategies

Chart 3.3: Lest Results Social’ fective Strategies

Charl 3.4: Questionnaire Results: Quostion 1

Charl 3.5: Quastionnaire Results: Question 2

Chart 3.6: Questionnaire Results: Question 3

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the thesis

It is obvious that English language has been widely used in many areas such as politics, economics, tourism, telecommunication, cutttwe, scisnce and technology, and since Vietnam carried out ths open door policy lowards the regioral and global integration, English language has become more and more important Therefore, it is necessary for Vietnamese students to have a good command of English to satisfy the growing roquiroments in a developing country like Vietnam

In the process of teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language

(ESL/EEL), reading is an essential skill Kor many people, reading is the most important

skill to gain the knowtedge and the only moans by which Icamners can access lo further study So with well-developed reading skills, ESL/ EFL readers will have a chance to make greater progress and achieve greater development in all academic areas

Because under Vietnam circumstances, English language is taught and learnt in a nan- native environment, reading is both a means to gain knowledge and a means by which further study takes place, According to Carrell (1984:1): “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a forvign language” This is really true to the students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology (INCE), ‘They find that reading not only gives them a wide range of inleresting information bul also offers them chances Lo enlarge their vocabulary, structures and language expressions which are useful for developing other skills

Nevertheless, students at TNCET often have difficulties in reading lessons because of the lack of appropriate reading strategies which are essential for them — ESL/EVL readers Rescurchers believe thal effective readers arc aware of the stratogies they usc and that they use strategies flexibly and efficiently Therefore, teachers should consider and choose efzctive reading strategies to teach students, and help them develop the given strategies offectively,

In the present process of teaching methods innovation in Vietnam generally, and at TNCRT particularly, equipping students with learning strategies cam help them be more active, take charge of their own learning, and have mare positive learning spirit

For these reasons, it would be necessary to have an investigation into reading strategies and classroom practice ‘'hrough the study, we could recognize usefill reading strategies

kẻ

and how efficiently they are used in an LSIVELL classroom to improve reading comprchension skills of students at TNCET

2, Aims of the thesis

‘The aims of ths study are:

© ‘To investigate the reading strategies and equipping students with these reading

lo improve sludents’ ability of oading in English al TNCET,

* To xamine how efficiently the reading strategies are used in reading classes

3 Signi nce of the thesis

The findings of the thesis will be useful not only to the researcher, but also to the teaching

staff and especially to the students at'TNCHT in leaming reading skills Besides, the study

will make a great contribution lo improve the quality of leaching and learning Engtish al

TNCET Further more, it will offer the theoretical basis for the application of reading techniques in classroom

4, Scope of the thesis

In teaching and learning a language as an ESL/EFL, there are many factors that influence the learners" success or failure A part from reading, there are also other main skills in language learning including speaking, listening, and writing Ilowever, due ta the limited

scope of a minor thesis, this study only focuses on the investigation of reading

comprehension needs of students at TNCET in the process of teaching methods innovation, the limitation and difficulties of their reading activity, and the application of reading

strategics in classrooms

5 Rescarch methods used im the thesis

To achieve the aims mentioned above, the aulhor would like Lo employ tests and survey questionnaires to investigate how efficiently the reading strategies are used and analyze them through data collection instruments

6 Design of the thesis

There arc three main parts in this thesis: introduction, development, and conclusion

The introduction provides the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, the methods, and the design of the thesis

The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter | presents a review of literature including definitions of reading comprehension

and reading processes, reading comprehension models, teaching comprehension skills, and

reading strategies [t discusses the three reading strategies: cognitive, metacognitive, and

social/afToetiv:

tralegi

teaching SL reading comprehension

Chapter 2 focuses on the methodology employed in this thesis including research

the importance of strategies in learning process; and stratagies in

questions, participants and instruments The instruments consist af Lesis and classroom

observation

Chapter 3 reports the results of tests and classroom observation ‘his chapter discusses in

the three strategies

The conclusion provides a brief summary of main parts being present in the study, the conelusions drawn out and the limitations of the study It also suggests directions for

further stucly.

PART 2; DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature Review

This chapter reviews theories related to reading, reading comprehension, and reading strategies All of these serve as a basis for the aim of the thesis which is to use reading slralegiss to improve reading comprehension skills of students al TNCET

1.1.1.Definitions of reading

‘The act of reading is not easily understood and described In the most general terms we muy say that roading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between reader and the text (Rumelhart 1977)

"rhe process of reading has heen intensively studied, and there have been many different

appro

shes to il, and ihe term “reading? has been given many interpretations

Mitchell has a basic definition of reading:

Reading can be defined loosely as the ability to make sense of written ar printed symbols The reader uses the symbols to guide the recovery of information from his

or her memory and subsequenily uses this information to construct a plausible interpretation of the writer's message

(Mitchell 1982:1) Goodman (197135) defines reading as

a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as hest as he can, a message which has been encoded hy a writer as a graphic display Sunply and clearly, Eddie Williams (1984: 2) defines reading as “a process whereby one

Jooks at and understands what has been written” This definition of reading does not mean

that a reader needs to understand everything in text Reading can be a struggle after understanding, especially where language learners are concerned He emphasizes thal part

of the teacher’s job is therefore to develop within the leaner strategies that will help them inthis struggle

From the ideas above, we can come to the conclusion that reading is a complex process

which involves a triangular interaction between the reader, the writer and the text Reading

js also an imeraction between purpose and marmer of reading, and il is am interaction through reading stralegies (J.A Achersold and M.L Fisld, 1997)

11.1.2 Reading comprehension

1.1.2.1 Definitions

Reading comprehension plays a very important part in teaching and learning reading a foreign language IL is the ability to oblain the information as required in the reading lessons as efficiently as possible Thus, three elements reading text, background knowledge of the reader, and the contextual aspects relevant for the interpretation of the text — are involved in the reading process

Research on ESL/EFL reading comprehension, there are some definitions of reading

comprehension from researchers

Richard and Thomas, (1987:9), stale: “Reading comprehension is hest described as an

understanding beiween the author and the reader”

According to Swam, (1975: 1)

A student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficienily so as io get the maximum information of a iext with the mininian of understanding

In line with Swam, Grellet, (1981:3) accepts that

Reading comprehension or understanding a written fexi means extracting the required information fron: it as effectively as possible

The definitions of reading comprehension above are general ones In order to understand

more about reading comprehension, it is necessary to take a closer look at actual process

that really takes place in the reader’s mind So far, several models of reading have been proposed Lo describe this process The next section is going 1o present Ihese models of readmg and them strengths and weaknesses

IL.1.2.2 Reading comprehension models

In looking for ways to describe the interaction between the reader and the text, researchers have created models that desoribe whal happens when people read According to the researchers, there are three main models of how reading occurs

1.1.2.2 Bottom-up model

With the bottom-up model, reading was viewed as “the process of meaning interpretation”

in which “the language is translated ftom one form of symbolic representation to another” (Nurmn, 1991)

According to Carven, balion-up model describes teading as being a lincar process from graphic symbols to meaning responses, and the readers check words individually, and

sound them out phonetically With this type of reading, the readers passively perceive

input which progresses ftom the lowest level of reading — the interpretation of symbols — to

phonological represeniation, and understanding of words serially from left lo right

Gough specifically assumes that the reader is not a guesser However, many researchers have shown his bottom-up explanations are not adequate

Having the same opinion with Rumelhart, Samuel and Kamil (1988: 31) pointed out the

shortcomings of these models as follows:

3s of roading can nat be a simple Hncar progression from lower proc

$s upwards

Because of the lack of feedback loops in the early bottom-up models, it was difficult to

uccount for sentence — context effects and the role of prior kowledue of text topic as Jacilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension

Due to this limitation, the botlorn-up model of reading felt into disfavor

‘Top-down theory argues that readers bring a great deal of knowledge, expectations, assumplions, amd questions to the text ard, given a basic understanding of vocabulary, they contanue to read as long as the text confirms their expectations (Goodman, 1967) Goodman also suggests that reading is driven by hypotheses — the readers follow a cyclical procedure of sampling the text, predicting what will come next, testing predictions, and adjusting of confirming them (Goodman, 1975),

In this modsl, the reader, fir fromm being a passive roooiver, plays an active parl in ths

infcrprotation, using background knowledges ta form inferences, and only decoding symbols when it is necessary tor comprehension

Laving the same ideas with Goodman, Smith (1998) assumes that “Readers can go straight

powerful effsel on comprehension, bul assumes thal it is false to imply the generation of hypotheses conceming subsequent words in a text is quicker than processing the words according to purely visual information

Due to limitations of both bottom-up and top-down models, a new and mare insightful

reading process has been proposed under the name of interactive model

LL1.2.2.3 Interactive model:

Inleractive theorists appreciate both the role of knowledge and the prediction, and al the

same time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words

of the text According to Grabe (1988), the expression “interactive” is sometimes

inlerprelered to refer in the interaction between the lexi and the reader, and sometimes to

the interaction between top-down and bottom-up reading processes

According to Hayes (1991:7),

dn interactive models, different processes are thought to be responsible far providing wiformation that is shared with other processes The wiformation

obtained from each type of processing is combined to determine the most

appropriate interpretation af the printed pages

With the strong points ofthe interactive model, the reading teachers can develop it in their

reading classrooms ‘Ihe teachers also need to develop the ability to take the advantages of these models and therefore can anticipate the types of processes and polenlial problems thal the students will expericnee

1.1.2.3 Characteristics of an effective reader

‘This concept from Liddie Williams (1984) will begin with characteristics of an effective

reader

The effective reader knows the language of the text he iy reading He knows the

content words and what they mean ‘through perhaps not all of them) He also knows the syntax (or grammar) of the language, that is te sav the operation and effect of structural words, or word form, or word order He may net be able tv talk

abour or explain these issues but he can use this knowledge to help hin read the

as organize properly for reading and study, improve the concentration, and maintain confidence

TL1.2.4, Teaching reading comprehension skills

According to Day and Bamford (1998:124-141), there are at least four distinctive approaches to the teaching FL/SL reading around the world ‘These are given below

+ Grammar — translation: Under this approach, students may be taught to Toad texts written

in a foreign language by translating them into a native language, As a result, meaning 1s taken at the sentence level with less attention paid to the meaning of the text as a whole and meaning is constructed via the native language, not directly from the forcign language

- Comprehension questions and language work: ‘This approach focuses on teaching a laxthook, containing short passages (hal demonstrate the use of [orsign language words or points of grammar These texts, short enough to cncourags students to read them word by word, are followed by comprehension questions and exercises

- Skills and strategies: In this approach, the teacher has to prepare for students to read one

or two = page passage fo

a lextbook by providing or aclivaling any background Imowledge needed for comprehension This preparation may include pre-teaching vocabulary that appears in the reading passage Then students read the passage silently while keeping in mind lwo or three while reading questions

- Extensive Reading This appreach’s goal is for students to become willing and able

readers in a second a foreign language Students individually read books and other imalzvials af their own speced sainly for hornewark

The four reading teaching approaches with the characteristics above should be used flexibly in each case of reading classrooms ‘I'he teachers also need to distinguish and develop the abilily lo take the advantages of these and therefore can use Ihem efficizntly to help students in their reading comprehension

IL.1.3 Reading strategies

IL.1.3.1 Defining stratepies

The study of Icarning strategics has been contributed for over the last two decades

According to R.tllis, 1994, the study of learning strategies has seen an ‘explosion of activity’ There have been many contributions ftom well-known researchers such as Tarone (1981), Weinstein and Mayer (1986), Rubin (1987), O’Malley and Chamet (1990), Oxford (1990) and Cohen (1998) ‘Their studies have helped figure out a comprehensive overview of learning strategies

Concemmg the definition of learning strategies, there have been some considerable differences, Rubin (1987:23) gave a general definition of learning strategies:

Learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the

language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly

According to Oxford (1990: 5)

Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner ta make learning

easier, faster, more enjovable, more self directed, more effective and more

transferable to new situation

These definitions are judged as quile cornprehensive because they cover bath cognitive and affective aspects of learning strategies

The definition that has been widely accepted to date was proposed by O’Malley and Chamot (1990) They assumed that learning strategies are “the special thoughts or

Language Learning Strategies have been classified by many scholars, But the framework that has been most widely welcomed and usefil is the framework of O’ Malley and Chamot (1990) In O'Malley and Chamol’s framework, Ihree major types of stralogics memed as metacognitive, cognitive, and sociaVafiective are distinguished m accordance with the information processing model, on which their research is based The three categories of

be used as melacagnilive stralegies for language reading comprehension tasks are

1, Planning: previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be leamt, often by skimming the text for the organizing principle

2 Monitoring: Checking one’s comprehension during listening or tearing checking the accuracy and/ or appropriateness of one’s oral or written production while it is taking place

3, Self-evaluation; Checking the outcomes of one’s own language against a standard after

it has been completed

and Chamot (1990:119), the cognitive learning strategics arc identified in fourteen

categories However, those cognitive strategies may be limited in application to the

1L.1.3.1.3 Social’ Affective strategies

Finally social’ affective strategies are referred to as “a broad grouping thal imvolves either interaction with another person or ideational control over affect” (1990; 45) The social’ affective strategies and their definitions are as follow

1 Questioning for clarification: Pliciting from a teacher or peer addilional explanations repluasmig, examples or verification

2 Cooperation; Working together with one or more pears to solve a problem, pool information, check a learning task, model a language activity, or get feedback on oral or writlen performance

3, Selftalk: Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make one feel competent to

do the learning task

Generally, the given affective stratogics are considered applicable to a wide varicty of tasks However, they would be used in listening comprehension task rather than in reading comprehension one

1.1.3.2 The importance of strategies in the learning process

In the field of second language acquisition research, focus has been shifted away from finding teaching methodologies to investigating why some learners are very successful in

12

their language learning while others are not successful though they have made much effort learning the language Many researchers such as O’Mallcy and Chamat (1990), Numan (1991), Rubin and Thompson (1994) and Cohen (1998) have shown that one of the most important factors that distinguish successfill learners ftom unsuccessfil ones is their learning stralegigs In other words, successful Tearners do use some effective leaming strategies to deal with problems that emerge during their learning provess while unsuccessful ones employ inappropriate or ineffective strategies resulting in their faihure in their language learning

Therefore, knowledge of strategies is very important because if'a learner is conscious of the processes underlying the leaming, he/she will be more efifective in language learning

The fact showed thal loarncrs who arc taught learning slrafogics are more highly motivated than those who are not, However, not all learners automatically know which strategies work best for them, On the other hand, leaming strategies in Viemam in general and in TNCET in particular have also become a topic of interest in recent years when the concepts of “sclf-lcaming”, “life-long Icaming”, and “tcaching methods innovation” have been familiar to the ears of both teachers and students, Kor these reasons, explicit strategy training and experimenting with different, slrategies can lead to more effective teaming

Oxford (1990:1) assumes that strategies are important for two reasons, In the first one, strategies “are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing commmunicalive competence” The second one is thal learners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have greater self-confidence and leam more ettectively According to Oxtord, language learning strategies:

- contritnite to the main goal, communicative competence

~ illow learners to become more sclf-dircoled

- expand the role of teachers

- support learning both directly and indirectly

1.3.3 Strategies in teaching second language reading comprehension

Much attention has been paid to the study of reading in general and reading strategies in particular The cuxvent explosion of research in second language reading has begun lo focus on roasler’s stralogics Roarling stratogies arc of inforest for whal they reveal about

the way readers manage their interaction with written text and how these strategies are

related to text comprehension Research in second language reading suggests that learners

Many researchers have similarities in categorizing reading strategies For example, Anderson (1999), Brantmeier (2002), Almasi (2003) and Sugitin (1999) emphasized the tole of prior knowledge in reading, Brantmeicr (2002) and Brown (1990) introduced skimming, scanning and guessing as effective strategies in reading However, there have been some differences in their classification

According lo C.R Adler (2004), cornprchension strategies are conscious plans — scts of steps that good readers use to make sense of text He gives seven strategies to have a finn scientific basis for improving text comprehension: monitoring comprehension, metacognition, graphic and semantic organizers, answering questions generating questions, recognizing story structure, and summarizing

Brantmeier (2002) summarizes reading strategies as follow: “Lhe strategies may involve skimming, scamming, guessing, recognizing cognales and word Gunilies, reading for meaning, predicting, activating general knowledge, making inferences, following references, and separating main ideas from supporting ideas” (2002: 1)

Furthermore, reading strategies can consist of evaluating content, such as agreeing, making

an association with prior knowledge or experiance, asking and answering questions, looking af the key words, using sentence structure analysis such as determining the subject, verb or object of the sentences, skipping and rereading (Almasi, 2003; Sugirim, 1999) H is

provided in section [1.1.3.1

This chapter has reviewed related theories on reading, and reading comprehension in general, and reading strategies in particular, Some of the main points can be summarized as follows

In the first two parts of thus chapter, some important definitions of reading and reading comprehension have been reviewed Reading is considered to he a complex process which involves a triangular interaction between the reader, the write, and ths text It is highly agreed with JA Acbersold and MLL Ficld’s point of view that reading is an interaction between purpose and manner of reading, and it is an interaction through reading strategies Concerning reading comprehension definitions, some researchers sae reading comprehension as an understanding between the author and the reader, and extracting the required information from a text as effectively as possible ‘hese researchers view reading based on the Ibres reading models namely bollom-up, top-down, and interactive ones The interactive model, which most researchers curently endorse, assumes that both top-down and bottom-up processes occur in reading, either alternative or at the same time dependmg

on the type of text as well as the reader’s background knowledge, language proficiency,

motivation, and stralegy usc

It has also been mentioned that characteristics of an etfective reader and teaching readme comprehension skills in this part Wassaman and Rinsky (1993) assume that an effective reader necds an understanding of the reading process and how to go about reading đifforent types He/She is willing to change reading habits and practice, improve the concentration and maintain confidence Tn order to help students to be more effective in reading, Day and Bamford (1998) give the four roading Icacking approachas which should be used in cack case of reading classrooms

in the learning proc

inchuling metacognitive, cognitive, and social’ affective stratsgiss The detailed siratogios op

and classification of learning strategies in part 1.1.3.1 and appendix 1 is going to be adopted for the investigation of reading strategies for this study

The next clupler is study on reading strategies usod by TNCET sludsnis, which will be

conducted n the light of the theories discussed above.

16

Chapter The previous chapter ‘has pre

11.2.4 Research questions:

"This study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1 What ars offoctive roading strategies thal help studenls iinprove their ability of reading comprehension in Enghsh at TNCET?

2 How efficiently the reading strategies are used in reading classes?

11.2.2 Participants and setting of the study

T1.2.2.1 Participants

‘rhe participants in this study are 30 first-year non-linglish majors specializing in

Economics and Business Management at TNCET Of them thers are twenty-two females

and cight males, who mostly come from the countryside and mountainous arca, Only two students are twenty years old and the other twenty-cight students are nineteen years old, All of them spent, between 3 — 10 years learning English (lwo students learnt Tinglish for 3 years, twenty-one students learnt English for 7 years, and seven students left learnt English for 10 years) ‘Their English proficiency levels were generally reported to be at pre- infermediate, Table 2.1 summarizes the background information about the participants such as the genders, apes, number of years leaming English and their self-assessed

profieieey

Total Gender ‘Age Number of years English

number of (years) learning English | Proficiency participants | Male | Kemal) 19 | 20 | 3 7 10 Pre-

e years | years | years | intermediate

30 7 33 | 28 | 2 2 20 | 8 30

‘Table 2.1.Background information about the participants

These studenis belong to he Deparhent of Economics and Business Management, They had high scores in the entrance exam to college, which means they are excellent in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry At TNCET the English course, which is designed