Thiết chỉnh các nhiệm vụ học tập trong khi đọc để nâng cao khả năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 tại trường THPT Yên Định 1

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------ HA THI HOAI LAM Adapting while-reading tasks in English 10 to improve reading ability of Grade-10 students at Yen Dinh 1 High School Thi

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HA THI HOAI LAM

Adapting while-reading tasks in English 10 to improve

reading ability of Grade-10 students

at Yen Dinh 1 High School

(Thiết chỉnh các nhiệm vụ học tập trong khi đọc để nâng cao khả năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 tại trường THPT Yên Định 1)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

Hanoi – 2011

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

HA THI HOAI LAM

Adapting while-reading tasks in English 10 to improve

reading ability of Grade-10 students

at Yen Dinh 1 High School

(Thiết chỉnh các nhiệm vụ học tập trong khi đọc để nâng cao khả năng đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 tại trường THPT Yên Định 1)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Nguyen Huyen Minh, M.A

Hanoi – 2011

4 Methods of the study

5 Scope of the study

6 Significance of the study

7 Design of the study

PART II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Reading and teaching reading skills

1.1.1 Definition of reading

1.1.2 Types of reading

1.1.2.1 Intensive reading

1.1.2.2 Extensive reading

1.1.3 Characteristics of an effective reader

1.1.4 Teaching reading skills

1.1.4.1 Approaches to teaching reading

1.1.4.2 Common factors in teaching and learning reading

1.1.4.3 Stages of a reading lesson

1.2 Reading tasks

1.2.1 What is a task?

1.2.2 Definition of reading tasks

1.2.3 Features of reading tasks

i

ii iii

iv vii

1.2.4 Components of reading tasks

2.3.1.1 Questionnaire for students

2.3.1.2 Questionnaire for teachers

2.3.2 Class observation

CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Data analysis and discussion of the students’ survey questionnaire

3.1.1 Students’ attitude towards reading skill

3.1.2 Students’ attitude towards while-reading tasks

3.1.3 The frequency of using while-reading techniques designed by teachers

3.1.4 Students’ difficulties when learning reading

3.1.5 Students’ effort for improving reading ability

3.1.6 Students’ preferences for participation in while-reading tasks

3.1.7 Students’ expectation towards teachers’ reading techniques

3.2 Data analysis and discussion of the teachers’ survey questionnaire

3.2.1 Teachers’ attitude towards reading skill

3.2.2 Teachers’ attitude towards while-reading tasks

3.2.3 The frequency of using while-reading techniques

3.2.4 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading

3.2.5 Teachers’ effort for improving reading ability

3.3 Data analysis and discussion of the observation

APPROACHES FOR ADAPTING WHILE-READING TASKS TO IMPROVE READING ABILITY FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS

4.2.2 Training students into strategic readers

4.2.3 Adapting the textbook

PART III CONCLUSION

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

1 List of tables

Table 1 Students’ attitude towards while-reading exercises

Table 2 Problems students face when learning reading

Table 3 Students’ expectation towards teachers’ reading techniques

Table 4 Teachers’ attitude towards while-reading tasks

Table 5 The frequency of using while-reading exercises or activities

Table 6 Problems teachers face when teaching reading

Table 7 Teachers’ activities to help students overcome difficulties

2 List of charts

Chart 1 Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading skill

Chart 2 Students’ attitude towards the benefit of reading

Chart 3 Students’ attitude towards the importance of while-reading tasks

Chart 4 Students’ opinions on while-reading tasks

Chart 5 Students’ reluctance of doing while-reading tasks

Chart 6 The frequency of using while-reading exercises or activities designed by teachers Chart 7 The frequency of limiting the time of doing exercises

Chart 8 Students’ ways of overcoming difficulties

Chart 9 Students’ preferences for participation in while-reading tasks

Chart 10 The frequency of designing while-reading exercises or activities

Chart 11 Time allowance in doing reading exercises

PART I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, the acquisition of English language is a priority for millions of people in Vietnam At high schools, English has become a compulsory subject in the state examination and it is one of three subjects for some universities‟ entrance exam Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for their future life, all students have a desire to integrate into the culture, the civilization, the country, and the people of Great Britain and of other English speaking countries

Having taught English to high school students for over 10 years, the writer of this study realizes that reading is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place because the reading skill offers learners a wide range of interesting information as well as a variety of language expressions and structures, which are of great usefulness for developing other skills

However, students often have some difficulties, especially in the while-reading stage of the three-staged reading lesson: pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading Actually, while-reading tasks occupy most of the time in a reading lesson Completing while-reading tasks means students can understand the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text‟s content in detail Students may lack of vocabulary, grammar, background knowledge or strategies of doing exercises To help students overcome these difficulties, teachers have applied many teaching approaches Unfortunately, the results are not very satisfactory for various reasons This fact has encouraged the author to investigate into teachers‟ and students‟ opinions on while-reading tasks, what they have done with while-reading tasks to improve reading ability and to give some suggested approaches for adapting while-reading tasks The

researcher hopes that the study “Adapting while-reading tasks in English 10 to improve reading ability of Grade-10 students at Yen Dinh 1 High School” will be helpful for the

author and other reading teachers in some way to find appropriate approaches to help their students improve reading ability

2 Aims of the study

The purposes of the study are to investigate while-reading tasks employed by the teachers

at Yen Dinh 1 High School and to give some suggestions for adapting while-reading tasks

to improve reading ability of Grade-10 students at Yen Dinh 1 High School The specific aims of the research are as follows:

 To investigate teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards the while-reading tasks in English 10 textbook

 To find out how teachers help students with the while-reading tasks

 To explore the need to adapt the while-reading tasks to reduce the students‟ difficulties

3 Research questions

1 What are the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards while-reading tasks?

2 To what extent do teachers adapt the while-reading tasks to help the students comprehend the text better?

4 Methods of the study

The study was carried out on the basis of material collection, survey questionnaire and class observation

In the first place, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on the reading skill, reading tasks have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with the due consideration for the teachers‟ and students‟ teaching and learning situations

Secondly, for the practical basis, questionnaires and on-the-spot observations are carried out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for the thesis

5 Scope of the study

Studying tasks and their effects on the second language have been paid attention by many researchers recently This study only investigates adapting while-reading tasks in English

10 to improve reading ability of Grade-10 students at Yen Dinh 1 High School Because of the limited time and within an M.A minor thesis, the researcher tends to identify teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards while-reading tasks, examine approaches and activities used by teachers and students‟ preferences and demands; then suggests some approaches for teachers to adapt while-reading tasks to improve students‟ reading ability

6 Significance of the study

The study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective ways of adapting while-reading tasks Its findings hopefully would help Grade-10 students find out suitable ways to improve their reading ability Regarding teachers, the study would arouse their flexibility in using methods to develop their students‟ reading ability

7 Design of the study

The thesis is divided into three parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion The introduction deals with the rationale, aims, scope, methods, significance and design of the study

The development consists of four chapters Chapter 1, Literature Review, is intended to give some theoretical background related to reading, teaching reading skills and reading tasks Chapter 2 presents the methodology used in the study including situation analysis, participants and data collection instruments Chapter 3 shows an analysis and discussion on the data collected from the questionnaires and on-the-spot observations The last chapter offers some major findings, suggested approaches for adapting while-reading tasks

The conclusion is a review of the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

PART II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Reading and teaching reading skills

1.1.1 Definitions of reading

Reading is a huge topic, potentially beset with myriad difficulties not easily addressed in a book of this length (Dean, 2000:2) Goodman (1971:135) defines reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.”

Ur‟s preliminary definition is “reading means reading and understanding” (1996:138) Harmer (1989:153) defined “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages.”

Moreover, Rubin and Thompson (1994:91) also defined reading as: “an active seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” From this point of view, the readers‟ knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world is of importance to their reading success

information-To sum up, what all the linguists had in common is that reading involves a variety of skills and reading usually means comprehending written language so when understanding breaks down, reading actually has not occurred

1.1.2 Types of reading

Reading is very important to our life However, the reasons for reading differ from one person to another As a result, the ways we read are also different In other words, the purposes of reading determine the ways or the styles of reading Nuttall (2000:38) indicates two main types of reading, namely, intensive and extensive reading For him, these are not just two contrasting ways of reading but an infinitive variety of interrelated and overlapping strategies Actually, intensive and extensive readings are complementary and both are necessary

1.1.2.1 Intensive reading

Intensive reading “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text" (Nuttall, 2000:38) In the view of Brown

(1990:297) intensive reading “is usually a classroom-oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage”

Grellet (1981:4) states that “Intensive reading means reading short texts to extract specific information This is an accuracy activity involving reading for detailed” The objective of intensive reading is to achieve a full understanding of the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced Through intensive reading, the reader must arrive

at a profound and detailed understanding of logical arguments, the rhetorical arrangement, the pattern of the text, the attitude and purposes of the writer and his linguistic means to achieve his purposes In other words, intensive reading might be called reading for accuracy, which is essential to the students‟ comprehension

1.1.2.2 Extensive reading

Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books Use extensive reading skills to improve our general knowledge of business procedures Grellet (1981:4) points out

“Extensive reading means reading longer texts, usually for one‟s pleasure This is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding” What is more, Nuttall (2000:127) argues that “getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills”

Extensive reading is considered to be useful for students‟ self-learning Their reading habit and passion for reading are also formed through extensive reading Students can choose the topics they like and read for their own purpose for pleasure or entertainment However, it

is more effective if students‟ extensive reading is followed an instructional program with the help of the reading teacher

In short, reading is necessary to every learner and undeniably an important skill in comparison with others In addition, it is notable that intensive and extensive reading should not be seen as in being opposition but need to be paid equal attention for the sake of the students For second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive readings are of great importance as they act as a means to gain knowledge

1.1.3 Characteristics of an effective reader

 Being an effective reader is a great desire for everyone, especially for second and foreign language readers However, it is unnecessary to be a genius or have an exceptionally high IQ to read well According to Wassman and Rinsky (1993:5), an

effective reader needs “an understanding of the reading process and an understanding of how to go about reading different types of printed information”

In this way, a second or foreign language learner can practice techniques that will help to succeed in becoming an effective reader Besides, they also point out two necessary ingredients for an effective reader, i.e the willingness to change reading habits that limit the learner‟s reading ability and the willingness to practice

1.1.4 Teaching reading skills

1.1.4.1 Approaches to teaching reading

Reading is one of the most important ways for people to get information, to take pleasure, and to obtain knowledge For many students, reading is the most important of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) to get a high mark in the examinations or to get a better job In English reading teaching, there have been some traditional language learning techniques that have been used for many years, such as Grammar-Translation

Method, Question-and-answer Model and PPP Model Traditional approaches have a

number of advantages However, the focus of traditional teaching is on language form and the class is teacher-centered Students depend too much on the teacher and lack a sense of responsibility for their own learning

Nowadays, many other approaches are being applied in order to make the reading class more effective such as task-based approach, content approach, … According to Willis (1996:24-25) states what task-based approach pursues is to provide abundant input for students and make sure learners set clearly defined goals, which makes the teaching more communicative and provides aims for classroom activities

1.1.4.2 Common factors in teaching and learning reading

1.1.4.2.1 Reading texts

Texts play an important role in teaching and learning reading because they are a means to introduce new lexical, phonetic as well as grammatical items of the target language and they are also means to help students to enrich their background knowledge Thus, the teacher needs to take the following points into consideration (Grellet, 1981: 20) when choosing appropriate authentic texts to suit with different reading activities:

- The language of the text

- The content of the text

- Vocabulary and grammatical structures

- Types of reading activities

To the teacher at the secondary school, the textbook will be the main source of reading materials for his students in the reading class He sometimes can use texts outside the textbook which are both suitable for the students‟ level and interesting enough to attract their attention and encourage them to read

1.1.4.2.2 Teacher’s roles

It is natural that in a reading lesson, the students must work actively and individually It does not mean that the teacher has nothing to do Concerning the roles of the teacher in teaching reading, Harmer (2001:213) states that the teacher needs to create interest in the topic and task He also needs to work as an observer, feedback organizer and prompter

 An observer: While students are reading, the teacher can observe their progress since it will give him valuable information about how well his students are doing individually or collectively, and will tell him whether to give them extra time, or move to organize feedback more quickly than he has anticipated

 A feedback organizer: When the students have completed the given tasks, the teacher can lead a feedback session to check if they have completed the task successfully

or not He may start by having his students compare their answer in pairs or in groups and then ask for their answers When asking students to give answers, it is effective to ask them where in the text they found the information This will help him recognize his students‟ problems if their answers are inappropriate

 A prompter: When students are reading the text, it is also necessary to draw their attention to the language features in that text He may direct his students to certain features of the text construction, clarify ambiguities and make them aware of issues of the text structure which they have not come across previously

Referring to this issue, Moore (1992:5) adds: “The teacher is an environmental engineer who organizes the classroom space to fit their goal and to maximize learning The way the physical space of the classroom is organized can either help or hinder learning”

In this case, it is plausible to create an environment of a communicative classroom where meaningful and useful reading activities are carried out, so that the students can best acquire reading skills and practice other language skills

In general, the teacher must be aware of what they need to do in a reading lesson Playing their roles well will certainly help the teacher lead successful reading lessons It will help students understand the text efficiently, and at the same time improve considerably their reading skills

- Monitoring comprehension: Students need to understand how texts work and what they

do when they read And they must be able to monitor their own comprehension, for instance, be able to recognize that they do not understand a text, find out why and adopt a strategy that will improve the problem

- Learning text talk: It is clear that a good reader carries on a dialogue with the text Consequently, the students have to learn how to do this An effective way to promote this skill is to talk about texts in class

- Taking risks: The students have to take the risk of making mistakes because a mistake is

an opportunity to learn

- Learning not to cheat oneself: learning to read is learning to give the students enormous advantage in life It may lead to better jobs, to personal development, interest and enjoyment Students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat but they are only cheating themselves Nobody else will suffer but they are wasting their opportunities

In summary, students are the key factor to decide the success of a reading lesson Teacher and students are interrelated to each other during the process of teaching and learning reading skills

1.1.4.3 Stages of a reading lesson

A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are pre-reading stage, reading stage and post-reading stage Each of these stages carries its own features and purposes and requires different techniques and strategies (William, 1984:37)

while-1.1.4.3.1 Pre-reading stage

In this early stage, teachers are expected to motivate students to read, especially by activating or building students‟ background knowledge of the subject and familiarizing

them with some of the language needed in coping with the text According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

- To provide some language preparation for the text

Normally, pre-reading phase often lasts from two to ten minutes depending on each lesson Before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to take the objectives of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, the students‟ needs into account

1.1.4.3.2 While-reading stage

While- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson Without this stage, the students will lose the chance to deal with the text to understand the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text‟s content in detail Williams (1984:38) points out the aims of the while- reading stage:

- To help to understand of the writer‟s purpose

- To help to understand of the text structure

- To clarify the text

He also gives the teacher some questions to ask himself in order to deal with the above mentioned aims:

1 What is the function of this text?

2 How is the text organized or developed? (e.g.: a narrative, an explanation with various examples, an argument and counter argument)

3 What content or information is extracted from the text?

4 What may the reader anger or deduce from the text?

5 What language may be learned from the text?

6 What reading styles may be practiced?

It is clear that, question (1) deals with the aims of understanding, the writer‟s purpose, and question (2) helps to recognize the text structure and the rest help to clarify the text content The answers to these questions will be a guide for the teacher in this stage Depending on their answers, the teacher will choose suitable activities for students which focus them on exploiting the meaning of the text, and develop their reading skills

Concerning the while- reading stage‟s activities, in his research, William (1984:39) has a more generating idea: “While- reading work should begin with a general or global

understanding of the text, and then move to smaller unit such as paragraphs, sentences and words”

It is clear that all the activities suggested by Sheils can be included in the two categories mentioned by Williams, i.e reading for general understanding first, and the reading for specific information In the while-reading stage, to direct students to the general understanding of the text, the teacher may ask them to guess the title, to match the heading etc He also may ask students to find out the specific information in the text by answering the questions, to use the information in the text for completing tables or diagrams Furthermore, the students can focus only on individual language item by deducing the meaning of the new lexical items, etc

Mathews, Spratt and Dangerfield (1999:67) suggest a number of reading skills in accordance with activities

Understanding the

relation between

sentences and clauses

1 Jumbled sentences or paragraphs

2 T circles the references devices in a text and SS work out what they refer to

3 T gives students a passage in which the logical connectors are blanked out Students have to read the passage and work out what the connector must be

4 Prediction exercises: Students only read the first line and then predict the next

Recognizing the effect of

style

1 Multiple choice or True/ False questions

2 Discussion on the style of the text

3 Parallel passage in different style

Recognizing the

organization of a text

1 Jumbled paragraphs

2 Discussing the function of particular paragraphs

Making inferences True/ false or discussion questions on possible interpretation of

the text Extensive reading Students read on a self- access basis from a class reading bank Skimming for the gist 1 The text is used simply as spring board for discussion on a

2 Pre- questions focusing on specific information

Reading for detail

1 Information transfer activities

2 Note- taking on the order of events or emotion in a text

3 True/ false questions

4 Jigsaw reading

Indeed, there are various activities the teacher can choose for his students in this stage It is, however, essential to be flexible in this task The selection of any of them depends on the nature of the reading text and the level of the students Besides selecting suitable activities, during the while- reading stage, the teacher should bear in mind his roles of an organizer, observer, assessor and prompter as mentioned in the part, teacher‟s roles

1.1.4.3.3 Post-reading stage

The post-reading stage is the final but not the least important stage of a reading lesson because it is time for students to apply what they have got from the text into real life communication In Williams‟ opinions (1984: 39), the post-reading stage aims at:

1 To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read

2 To relate the text to the learners‟ own knowledge interest or views

In summary, each of the reading stage carries its own aims and activities It is very effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and appropriately for an efficient reading lesson In the while- reading stage, it is necessary to help the students improve and develop sub-reading skills such as skimming, scanning, or reading for details If the students can acquire these skills, it is easier for them to understand efficiently the significance of the text To acquire these skills, students may be instructed to take part in various tasks or activities according to each skill There are numerous tasks or activities in this stage The teacher should be flexible in choosing them for their reading lessons In the

process of reading, asking students to work in pairs or groups is also advisable This may enable students to feel more pleasant in reading, encourage them to work harder to improve and develop effective reading skills

1.2 Reading tasks

1.2.1 What is a task?

In general education, and in other fields such as psychology, there are many different definitions of tasks There is also quite a variety from within the field of second language teaching

Long‟s (1995) definition: A task is a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward Thus, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an airline reservation, borrowing a library book, taking a driving test, typing a letter, weighing a patient, sorting letters, taking

a hotel reservation, writing a check, finding a street destination, and help someone across a road In other words, by task is meant the hundred and one things people do in everyday life, at work, at play, and in between Tasks are the things people will tell you they do if you ask them and they are not applied linguists

Crookes (1993) states that a task is “a piece of work or an activity, usually with a specified objective, undertaken as part of an educational course, at work, or used to elicit data for research.”

Nunan (1989:10) points out that a communicative task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act

in its own right

Although these researchers emphasize the different aspects of the task, the definitions we have looked at share something in common: they all imply that tasks involve realistic language use in which learners focus their attention on meaning rather than linguistic structures and that learning tasks help learners acquire the ability to perform certain communicative functions through a new medium

1.2.2 Definition of reading tasks

In the above part, we have made a list of definitions of task Though these definitions emphasize different aspects of tasks, they have something in common According to these

definitions, the writer gives a definition to a reading task like this: A reading task is a piece

of work based on reading materials and reading comprehension Students do different kinds of activities by using what they are learning and their schemata to achieve a certain reading purpose By doing so, students understand the text, learn and use the new expressions and try to improve their comprehensive ability to use English in real life

1.2.3 Features of Reading Tasks

Skehan made a summary of the general features of a task in his book „A cognitive

Approach To Language Learning’ He thought there are five key characteristics of a task

(1998:95)

1 Meaning is primary

2 There is a communicative problem to be solved

3 There is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities

4 Task completion has some priority

5 The assessment of the task is in terms of outcomes

Similarly we may find that reading tasks have the following characteristics:

1 It usually aims at a reading purpose that may happen both in their study and everyday life

2 The input is mainly in the form of printed or written words

3 Reading comprehension is the basis of a reading task

4 Task completion comes first The teacher has to allow students to try every means to finish the task

5 The quality of the outcome of a reading task is the key factor when we evaluate students' performance during the process of the task completion

1.2.4 Components of Reading Tasks

Nunan (1989:48) suggests that tasks will have six components They are goals, input, activities, teacher‟s role, students‟ role and settings In this study, a reading task consists of goals, reading materials, arrangement and evaluation The writer tries to illustrate the components of a reading task concretely

1.2.4.1 Goal

On the one hand, the beginning of task design should be the goals that are set out in the syllabus or curriculum guidelines On the other hand, we also need to take account of the reading objectives in real everyday life As Nunan (2000:48) said, Goals provide a point of

contact between the tasks and the broader curriculum A reading program can be designed

to provide learners with skills to carry out the hundred and one reading tasks that occur in daily life; from looking up a program in the T.V guide, to reading the sporting page of the afternoon newspaper On the other hand, it might be designed to develop the specialized reading skills needed for studying successfully in a second language Given the importance throughout the world of English as a medium of instruction at the tertiary level, it‟s not surprising that a great deal has been written about these second, specialized reading goals The problem is what the goals of a reading task are? Then it‟s necessary for us to discuss why people who learn English as a second language and read English materials in their daily life Generally speaking, there are three kinds of purposes:

 Reading for information: Most people read in order to get some information they need in their every life For example, when people want to go abroad, they look for the information and read some materials about the country they will go However, a lot of people read news in English to know what happening around the world In English reading classes, students often try to get useful information to do reading tasks

 Reading for study: Both students and some adults also read for their study Study here has meanings As for students study means reading to learn a foreign language

as well as to improve their reading skills and strategies However some adults read

to help research Most scientists have to read books written in English to help them know more about what they are studying

 Reading for fun: Why do many people love reading? The major reason is reading bring happiness We read jokes, stories, novels, poems, or letters from friends etc

to enjoy ourselves in our spare time

1.2.4.2 Reading materials

The input of a reading task is usually printed or written in English In real classes, we often call it reading materials The problem is where we can get the suitable reading materials

Of course, the textbook is a main resource However, in current society, we get information

we need easily in many different ways For example, we may get it from the Internet, a library, magazines, newspapers, popular songs, and students‟ homework and so on A good and convenient way is to make the best use of newspapers and the exercises

In this way, we will do better next time

1.2.5 Types of Reading Tasks

A reading task is a piece of meaning-focused work involving learners in comprehending, producing and interacting in the target language, and that tasks are categorized according

to the goals, input reading materials, activities, arrangement and evaluation

In fact, tasks have different types according to different criteria For example: According to the forms of task completion, there are tasks in class, in groups or solo tasks There are also opened tasks and closed tasks; According to the places where the students finish the tasks,

we have two types of tasks, in-class tasks and after-class tasks; According to the time that

we need to finish a reading task, there are immediate tasks, short-term tasks and long-term tasks; According to the ways to get and transfer information, tasks are usually classified by English educators into three kinds: information gap activities, reasoning gap activities and opinion gap activities (David, 2004:18)

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Situation analysis

2.1.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at Yen Dinh 1 High School, a rural school of Thanh Hoa province The school has 32 classes with 80 teachers of different subjects As other high schools, English is taught here as a compulsory subject There are now 10 teachers of English and over 1500 students ranged from Grade 10 to Grade 12 Most of the students come from villages and a town in the district

Although English has been taught as a compulsory subject at Yen Dinh 1 High School since 1995, the teaching of English, especially teaching English reading for Grade 10 students has met some difficulties First, not all students pay much attention to English About one – tenths of the tenth grade students wish to take university entrance exam in English, so only they are really interested in learning Second, teachers have to teach in the large size classes There are at least 45 students for each class Therefore, teaching English reading is very difficult for teachers Teachers will face with some problems in monitoring work, supporting, giving feedback and paying attention to all students during class time The third is most of the students have poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge They feel nervous and pressured when learning reading parts As a result, they find it difficult to deal with tasks following each reading text The last is the lack of materials Materials for reference and self-study are not available Some facilities needed for teaching and learning such as computers, projectors … are not enough There is a library for teachers However, there are not many books for reference as well as English newspapers

or magazines There are no language labs and library for students, too

According to the current syllabus, there are 3 periods (135 minutes) of English every week Yet, it is not enough for the students to practice and develop their skills as well as to enrich their background knowledge, vocabulary and structure capacity What‟s more, students hardly read books or printed issues in English outside class As a result, these may affect students‟ reading ability in English So, it is advisable for the teachers to employ various approaches to arouse students‟ interest in learning English reading They, then, may improve their reading skill and other language skills

The students under the investigation have just finished the first term of grade-10 school year Lots of them come from comparatively poor families so their learning condition is low After classes, they often help their parents with farming and housework and they have little time for extra-learning and doing homework Reference books, newspapers and printed issues in English are not enough Moreover, some parents do not pay much attention on their children‟s learning They always think that English is not a subject for rural students to study well In addition, their learning environment is not good In English lessons, English is used much by teachers and good students The others are afraid of using

or reluctant to use because they fear to make mistakes, to lose face or to get bad marks They also have no effort and aim to learn Outside class, English seems never to be used

As a result, their English level is very low, especially their reading ability

 Teachers

In Yen Dinh 1 high school, there are totally 10 teachers of English, including the researcher, aged from 27 to 56 Half of them graduated from Hanoi Foreign Languages Teachers‟ Training College The rest graduated from Vinh University The number of female teachers formed the majority (8 female teachers and 2 male teachers) All of them are enthusiastic with their career and had at least 4 years experienced in teaching English However, since graduating from their respective universities, few of them have taken refresher courses to improve their English and their teaching methods These teachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grammar-Translation method, the emphasis of which is on the learning of the rules of the language, not on the acquisition of language skills This is obviously manifested in their teaching methods

2.1.3 Reading materials

The main reading material for Grade-10 students is a new set of textbooks It is designed following communicative approach There are five parts in each unit: reading, speaking,

listening, writing and language focus in which a variety of exercises and tasks were compiled for practice Also, there exist test yourself units of which objectives are to examine how well the students have achieved in the previous units The content of the new textbook is arranged according to themes Each unit mentions one theme relating to everyday life, which is very useful and practical to students‟ needs Those themes will be exploited and practiced from different skills that are allocated in different periods of forty-five minutes Actually, the new textbook is designed with much practical objectives It develops language skills comprehensively in the target language, improves communicative competence of students, and helps students be aware of the learning process, in which linguistic knowledge is the means of learning, not the ultimate target of language mastery Furthermore, it provides students with the fundamental but systematic knowledge of English at a suitable level and enriches students‟ understanding of their own culture and other cultures of English speaking countries

For reading skill, there is always a passage whose topic relates to other three skills It is designed with three steps, they are pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading Pre-reading often gives questions with clear and beautiful pictures to lead in the topic of the text While-reading asks students to scan for specific information and skim for general ideas Post-reading also provides useful activities for students and it helps students wrap things they have learnt form the passage In general, these are more interesting than the old textbook and they are completely suitable for the changing of teaching and learning methods

Seemingly, various topics in the reading texts are beneficial for reading comprehension development However, the reading texts are sometimes challenges for students because some passages have got new structures, and some topics are unfamiliar with students in the rural area, such as: Unit 5 is about Computers, Unit 15 is about cities In fact, many students in the rural area do not know what a computer is, how many parts there are in a computer, what New York are famous for, what places in New York the visitors are attracted to, etc Therefore, it is not easy for English teachers to explain Moreover, some units consist of too many new words and new structures

2.2 Participants

The participants for the survey questionnaires were 135 students selected at random from class 10A1 to class 10A5 and 9 teachers of English These students have learnt the new syllabus since they were in grade 6 When participating in this study, they were in the second term of the school year In researcher‟s observation, their English proficiency and level of motivation were the same

Nine teachers who have been teaching English at Yen Dinh 1 High School at least for 4 years were invited to join the research All of the teachers under the investigation have ever taught grade 10, and some of them were teaching in the academic school year 2010-2011 when the study was carried out The results from these teachers will give an objective view

on how to improve students‟ reading ability

All participants took part in the survey by responding to the two kinds of questionnaires, one for students and one for teachers

2.3 Data collection instruments

The main instrument used to gather information for the study is questionnaires, one for students and one for teachers Added to that, class observation was also employed to supplement the above instrument

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires

Two sets of survey questionnaires were completed with the assistance of 135 grade-10 students and 9 teachers of English The questionnaires were designed in both closed and opened-ended questions According to Bill Gillham, using questionnaires has some advantages: low cost in time and money; easy to get information from a lot of people; respondents can complete the questionnaires when it suits them, analysis of answers to closed questions is straightforward; less pressure for an immediate response, respondents‟ anonymity; lack of interviewer bias, standardization of questions (but true of structured interviews); can provide suggestive data for testing a hypothesis

2.3.1.1 Questionnaire for students

The questionnaire was designed with three parts with 12 questions Part one was to explore the students‟ attitudes towards while-reading tasks Part two aimed at collecting information about students‟ effort and teachers‟ applying activities in teaching and learning while-reading tasks The final part of the questionnaire was made to find out the students‟

expectation towards teaching and learning the while-reading tasks in the material with the hope that the researcher can suggest some approaches to improve their reading ability

2.3.1.2 Questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire (with 7 questions) completed by the teachers covered three main things The first questions are their attitudes towards the role of while-reading tasks Second, what techniques the teachers often employ and difficulties they are facing Finally, the rest of the questionnaire is aimed at finding out the teacher‟s comments on the while-reading tasks available in the reading material and their suggestions to improve it

2.3.2 Class observation

Survey questionnaires were used as the main instrument in this study However, the researcher employed her observation as a means to check the reliability of the data collected from the questionnaire The observation was carried out in several English lessons during the treatment Each lesson lasts 45 minutes During the observation, she checked what she observed with her designed checklist (See appendix 3) In this thesis, the author presented the results of three classes The reason for choosing these classes is also the same as for the objects of the study