Skkn cấp tỉnh innovative use of graphic organizers to enhance 12 graders’ reading comprehension at nong cong 1 high school in accordance with the 2025 high school graduation exam sample format (issued on october 18th, 2024)

Rationale for the study In recent years, reading comprehension has remained a significantcomponent of the English curriculum for Grade 12 students in Vietnam,especially in preparation fo

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

In recent years, reading comprehension has remained a significantcomponent of the English curriculum for Grade 12 students in Vietnam,especially in preparation for the National High School GraduationExamination The Ministry of Education and Training released the 2025sample exam format on October 18th, 2024, which reflects updatedorientations in assessing students’ cognitive abilities, including their skills inunderstanding, analyzing, and interpreting written texts However, manystudents - particularly those in rural or less advantaged areas such as NongCong 1 High School - continue to face difficulties in processing dense andabstract reading materials These challenges include limited vocabulary,insufficient background knowledge, and lack of effective strategies to extractand organize key information from texts Consequently, their performance inreading comprehension tasks often falls short of the expected standards

In term of the format of English test for the Vietnamese national highschool graduation exam, reading comprehension is a critical component.Students often face challenges in organizing ideas, identifying main points, anddistinguishing between supporting details and irrelevant information Thesedifficulties are particularly evident in standardized tests, such as the 2025 highschool graduation Exam sample format issued on October 18th, 2024, by theMinistry of Education and Training

To address this issue, this study explores the integration of graphicorganizers - visual tools that help learners map, structure, and visualize textualinformation - as a means of enhancing reading comprehension Obtainingnumerous fruitful effects of Graphic Organizers, visual representations ofinformation, applied in my own previous studies which have been proveneffective in helping students structure their thinking, process information, andvisualize relationships among ideas in a text Integrating graphic organizers intoreading instruction not only enhances students’ comprehension but also nurturescritical thinking and exam strategy skills

Graphic organizers, such as mind maps, cause & effect charts,flowcharts, and main Idea – Detail charts, have been shown to supportcognitive processing by making abstract ideas more concrete and accessible.This initiative aims to investigate the effectiveness of using graphic organizers

in helping 12th graders comprehend and analyze reading passages modeled onthe official 2025 exam format The study also seeks to identify practicalclassroom strategies that can be applied by English teachers to supportstudents’ reading development in an exam-oriented context By implementingthis approach at Nong Cong 1 high school, the initiative aspires to contributenot only to improved student outcomes but also to pedegogical innovation inEnglish language teaching

For all aforementioned reasons, I decided to carry out the entitled study:

“Innovative use of graphic organizers to enhance 12 graders’ reading comprehension at Nong Cong 1 high school in accordance with the 2025 high school graduation exam sample format (issued on October 18 th , 2024)”

with the hope that this approach can be utilized in various other reading textsenhance their reading competence

2 Purpose of the study and research questions

This study is aimed at gaining an insightful look into the application ofgraphic organizers with a view to improving students, reading skill at NongCong 1 high school

The aims are specified in two research questions:

2.1 Does the use of graphic organizers help to develop the readingcomprehension skill for high school students?

2.2 If so, to what extent does the use of graphic organizers affect the students’ reading comprehension levels?

3 Scope of the study

This study was carried out with forty- four 12th students from class called12A11 at Nong Cong 1 high school The research focuses on whether graphicorganizers can improve and how it affects these students’ readingcomprehension in reading lessons

4 Methods of the study

This study using quantitative research method aimed to determinewhether graphic organizers are able to enhance students’ comprehension skills

o r have a positive effect on the ability of students to make sense of what theyread The author used data collection instrument to gather information about thestudents involved, monitor the progress of the students when they used graphicorganizers throughout the research, and determine the effectiveness of thegraphs based on the pre-tests and post-tests

The pre-tests were necessary to assess the reading comprehension leveland skills the students possessed before the intervention of the strategy and used

as a baseline score The post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness

of the strategy used by the students during the research process by comparingthe pre-test scores to the ones taken at the end of the intervention process

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Literature Review

2.1.1 Reading skill

Reading is known as an interactive process that connected the readerwith the text, making comprehension The text displays letters, words,sentences, and paragraphs that express meaning The reader manipulatesknowledge, skills, and strategies to decide what that meaning is Up to nowreading has been described differently by lots of academics

Harmer [2.p153] shares his ideas “reading is an exercise dominated bythe eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has towork out the significance of these messages” Clearly, ideas of reading havebeen diverse in exploiting words and expressions but they all focus on twoactions: studying with eyes and comprehending with brains of which thelatter is more significant The most obvious thing in the latter is that thereaders not only look at and understand the meaning of what is written butalso read authors’ thinking

2.1.2 Reading comprehension

Many studies confirm that the final goal of reading instruction is

comprehension and one of the most important goals of skilled reading isdecoding and understanding written text However, the decoding and the ability

to recognize words in texts are only the beginning stages of reading and reading

comprehension Grellet [1 p3] states that “understanding a written text means

extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” He alsoshows the examples in which a good reader will omit unnecessary informationand find out what he or she is searching for

In another word, reading comprehension can be defined as “a fluent process

of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge

to build meaning Reading becomes meaningless without comprehension sinceonly reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers get the text.Therefore, how to aid students in having efficient reading comprehension methods

is considered to be the most powerful task in teaching reading

2.2 Graphic Organizers:

2.2.1 The definition of graphic organizers

A graphic organizer is a visual frame used to represent knowledge andunderstanding of a subject matter by arranging important aspects of a concept ortopic into logical pattern using labels There are many types of graphicorganizers namely maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, or clusters Each of thesepatterns can be expressed in different layouts but they have similar purposes thatportray the relationship between facts, terms or ideas within a learning task Inreading lessons, graphic organizers can be efficiently used in all lessons forstudents of all ages to check not only students, understanding but also motivateand improve their critical thinking In the words of Krasnic [3 p24] students areable to clear their thoughts and sharpen their thinking by organizing andconnecting key concepts related to what they are reading from the text Thisprocess can help students to enhance their critical thinking, a kind of cognitiveactivity appearing in many of cognitive process of language learning.

2.2.2 The benefit of graphic organizers in teaching reading skill

A graphic organizer is a visual representation of information that helpslearners restructure and retain knowledge more effectively These tools areespecially beneficial in teaching English reading comprehension, as they enhancelearners’ ability to understand, analyze, and interpret texts The advantages ofusing graphic organizers in this context are manifold, ranging from improvedcognitive processing to increased learner engagement

Firstly, graphic organizers facilitate the comprehension process by helpingstudents visualize relationships between ideas Reading comprehension involvesmore than just decoding words; it requires readers to identify main ideas,recognize supporting details, make inferences, and draw conclusions Graphicorganizers such as mind maps, Venn diagrams, and story maps allow students tobreak down complex texts into manageable components By organizing keyinformation visually, learners are better able to see how ideas are connected,which in turn aids memory retention and conceptual clarity

Secondly, these tools cater to diverse learning styles Not all students learn inthe same way - some may be more visually oriented, while others might respondbetter to logical structures Graphic organizers bridge this gap by providing amultisensory approach to learning Visual learners, in particular, benefitimmensely from seeing information laid out graphically, as it helps theminternalize content in a more intuitive and memorable way In addition, kinestheticlearners can be actively involved in constructing these organizers, therebyreinforcing their engagement with the material

Moreover, graphic organizers promote higher-order thinking skills, such asanalysis, synthesis, and evaluation For instance, when students use a cause-and-effect chart to analyze a character’s motivations in a narrative, they are not onlyidentifying factual content but also interpreting and evaluating the text on a deeperlevel This encourages critical thinking, which is a crucial component of academicsuccess in English studies It also aligns well with Bloom’s Taxonomy, whichemphasizes the importance of progressing from basic understanding to complexanalysis and evaluation

Another important benefit is that graphic organizers foster collaborativelearning When used in group activities, they provide a shared framework fordiscussion and problem-solving Students are able to contribute differentperspectives, negotiate meaning, and construct collective understanding of a text.This social interaction enhances both comprehension and communication skills,which are key in language acquisition.

for English language learners (ELLs) For students who may struggle withvocabulary or syntax, having a visual aid to guide their reading can reducecognitive overload and make the content more accessible Teachers can usethese tools to pre-teach vocabulary, preview text structures, or guide post-reading discussions, thereby supporting learners at various proficiency levels

In conclusion, graphic organizers are a powerful instructional strategy inteaching English reading comprehension They support cognitive processing,accommodate diverse learning styles, promote critical thinking, encouragecollaboration, and provide essential scaffolding for language learners When usedeffectively, they not only improve comprehension outcomes but also foster a moreengaging and inclusive learning environment

2.2.3 Common types of graphic organizers used in language teaching

Gil-Garcia and Villegas (2003) categorize knowledge graphic organizersinto six types: (1) description or simple listing; (2) time/temporal sequence: (3)definition and example; (4) comparison and contrast; (5) cause and effect; (6) andproblem solution

2.2.4 Types of graphic organizers employed in this study

During my teaching process, four basic graphic organizers namely cause

& effect map, problem & solution map, compare & contrast matrix, and KWLchart will be described The value of these organizers will be discussed andfollowed by their application in English reading lessons at upper secondaryschools in Vietnam

(1) Mind maps (for topic overview)

(2) Flowcharts (for sequence-based texts)

(3) Cause-effect charts

(4) Main Idea–Details chart

2.2.4 The steps of applying graphic organizers

Learners need to be trained to use graphic organizers and guided to use theprompt to command ChatGPT to create proper Graphic Organizers in order tovisualize the content of reading passage for better understanding Therefore, it isthe teacher's job to introduce them gradually and systematically, beginning withsimple mind maps to brainstorm topics and charts to provide a purpose for thetopic learners are going to talk Typically, followed in these stages:

The teacher instructs the graphic organizers, provides students with a copy, and tells them how and when to complete it

The teacher and students co-construct graphic organizers showing importantideas as the content is explored

Teams of students create graphic organizers cooperatively with the teacheracting as a guide with the assistance of ChatGPT

The students instruct graphic organizers independently with the assistance ofChatGPT (if necessary) However, in the early stages, it is a good idea for theteacher to keep a selection of organizers at hand so that learners have a choice andcan experiment with a wider range of designs

2.3 Research context

2.3.1 Setting and Participants

The study was conducted at Nong Cong 1 high school in Thanh Hoa,where all the students have learned English for about 11 years and have threeEnglish classes per week and half of them have one optional lesson every week

Most these students are generally at A2 level They learned English for atleast 5 years at the primary school, four years at lower secondary school, andtwo years at Nong Cong 1 high school but this subject was not carefully takeninto its consideration In their opinion, learning English means learning grammarand structures with common lexical sources Therefore, they are surprised andconfused when they have to encounter the long reading text at B1 level Somestudents can easily adapt to the new ways of learning, but most of them facechallenges

The participants of this study (who were divided into two smaller groupswith twenty for each) of 12A11 class at Nong Cong 1 high school from everycorner of Nong Cong district Thanh Hoa province, by this I mean they are bothfrom town and rural areas All of these students were born in 2007 I myself wasalso the teacher of English in this class which brought about some advantages intime of method implementation I can make sure that almost these students arereally the same in terms of cognition as well as learning motivation They aremore active and confident in participating in class activities This fact hasalready been taken into consideration when I arranged group work Each groupwas purposely formed with both good and weak learners to make sure theirequal contributions for each learning activity

2.3.2 Pilot reading text and reading materials:

The reading materials used in the study consisted of selected texts fromnew English Textbook 12 (learner-centered and communicative approach withtheme-based teaching) published by Education Publishing House and Pearson

In the textbook, there are 10 units with diverse topics related to 4 themes: Ourlives, Our society, Our environment, Our future 5 sections were included in oneunit namely: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture,Looking back and Project There are some samples based on the new Englishtextbook for grade 11 in which such common organizers are appropriatelyapplied It is hoped that English teachers will have a better insight into graphicorganizes and become confident to integrate these effective tools into theirreading classroom practice The study was conducted when the participants were

in the second semester when they already had had knowledge about basicstructures as well as vocabulary in textbook of grade 10 and 11 Therefore, theauthor found that it matched with the objectives of the learning program andstudents’ levels of proficiency

2.3.3 The reality of teaching and learning reading comprehension at Nong Cong 1 high school

It is an irrefutable fact that English language education in Vietnamesehigh schools has recently changed and seen much better results thanks to theadjustment of textbooks and teaching method renovation Particularly, the

textbook Tiếng Anh 12 (English 12), first used at high schools in the school year

of 2024-2025, has attracted both teachers and students by following a

theme-based approaches With the advantages of being exposed to Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng

Anh 11, the teachers and students at Nong Cong 1 high school have been

familiar with these themes However, while teaching, I found that manystudents at Nong Cong 1 high school got rather low scores in reading Wheninterviewed, the students claimed that reading seemed to be a difficult skill forthem The main reason, as investigated, was that the students themselves wereconfused with tremendous information illustrated in rather long reading text.Moreover, their poor lexical source was also an obstacle from comprehension

In order to fulfill their reading activities required in the textbook as well as inthe mock tests for national graduation exam, the teacher was often obliged toprovide students with vocabulary and a guide to translation into Vietnamese,which is impossible in the exams In fact, the students in my school have beenfacing numerous challenges in exploring the main idea of reading texts as well

as the strategies to invent the related ideas They are unaware of utilizing thestrategies they have acquired in the lesson effectively to create a comprehensionprocess Some get tired of doing reading tasks In addition, most of them havedifficulty using background knowledge to decode the information In addition tothis, they are not experienced enough to categorize the information in readingtext effectively for better comprehension

2.4 Stages of the study

The study was conducted during 10 weeks from October 21st 2004 (afterthe mock test was announced by Ministry of Education and training) toDecember 29th, 2024 in 12A11 class in school year 2024- 2025 This class wasdivided into 2 groups with 3 periods of English per week and one period for.Group A - the control group, and group B - the experimental group Adapting

steps in Nunan [4; p.18], a study of action research cycle was carried out in fourmain steps as follows:

Step1: Problem identification

During the first week of teaching process (the third week of October,2024), I discovered that my students seemed to be confused about the newformat of English mock test announced on October 18th, 2024 They weredemotivated to carry on their study for their national graduation exam because

of unfamiliar task type in this test In addition to this, the content and physicalbody of the mock test made them rather nervous because all of them had notbeen exposed to this type of question Knowing this, I discussed the concernwith my colleagues and they admitted that their students have the sameproblems Therefore, the steps for exploring the effectiveness of graphicorganizers to illustrate key points of reading texts were conducted, which meansstudents have to get engaged to prepare for their comprehension This urged me,

as a teacher, to find a better way to work with my classes in the school-year2024- 2025 in order to facilitate their language acquisition and motivate them toget engrossed in their reading texts extracted from a variety of mock tests for theNational Graduation exam

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

After observing and analyzing the results from some tests, especially thefact that only a small number of students got mark 5+ in the reading tests in thefirst week of learning while others were afraid of dealing with readingcomprehension questions, I found that, in general, the students’ Englishcompetence is rather low Meanwhile, interviews with students showed thatalmost all of them found reading comprehension rather boring and challenging

Therefore, I myself raised the question for exploration: “can graphic

organizer be used as an effective technique to facilitate the students’ reading comprehension?”

To answer the question, a pre-questionnaire was conducted The collecteddata were analyzed to point out some possible reasons for the students’ poorreading comprehension, their interest and expectation of raeding lessons; fromwhich I had belief that graphic organizers could facilitate my students to practicereading English regularly so that the problem would be solved

Step 3: Intervention

Firstly, the students of both groups had a pretest on readingcomprehension so that I could evaluate the participants’ performance The pre-test was administered to both experiment and control groups to ascertain thestandard of the students in reading comprehension The pre-test scores of bothgroups were recorded The test material was designed based on the scope of thestudy It was made up of 2 passages, totaling 20 questions which can beclassified into four new types of reading questions – (1) summarizing the idea;(2) sentence inserting (3) understanding opposite meaning in context, and (4)paraphrasing Out of 20 questions, there were 5 main idea questions, 4summarizing questions, 4 vocabulary questions, and 2 inference questions

Each question was worth 1 mark and the sum total of the test was 20 calculatedover 100 marks.

Then a schedule was worked out (See Table 1) and a detailed lesson planfor the experimental group was prepared (See Appendix 2, Appendix 3,Appendix 4, Appendix 5) to apply in all 4 reading lessons extracted from mocktests A variety of graphic organizers were prepared based on the informationneeded to present in each reading test topic While the experimental group wasexposed to prepared graphic organizers during implementation time, the controlgroup was followed ordered process of doing reading activities withoutinterference

Table 1: Overview types of graphic organizers applied in this study

Organizers applied

Flow charts

15, 16,

17

ModernParenting

explore the reasons why modern parenting has become more complex

Main Idea andDetails Charts

Intervention 1: Using Cause and Effect chart to explore the main the reading passage about Endangered language

(extracted from the Graduation Exam sample format)

Procedures:

- Copy the cause & effect map template for students

- List the topic or problem explored in the center of the organizer

- Discuss the causes and effects with students

- Record what makes the problem happen in the Causes section

- Record what happens because of these causes and list them in the Effectssection

Outcome 1:

Outcome 2: