Đánh giá các bài tập đọc hiểu trong sách tiếng Anh 12 dựa trên các bài tập nghĩa đen và nghĩa suy luận

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LÊ THỊ DUNG AN EVALUATION OF READING COMPRE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ DUNG

AN EVALUATION OF READING COMPREHENSION TASKS

IN ENGLISH 12 REGARDING LITERAL AND INFERENTIAL

COMPREHENSION TASKS

ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 12 DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHĨA ĐEN VÀ NGHĨA SUY LUẬN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

LÊ THỊ DUNG

AN EVALUATION OF READING COMPREHENSION TASKS

IN ENGLISH 12 REGARDING LITERAL AND INFERENTIAL

COMPREHENSION TASKS

ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC BÀI TẬP ĐỌC HIỂU TRONG SÁCH TIẾNG ANH 12 DỰA TRÊN CÁC BÀI TẬP NGHĨA ĐEN VÀ NGHĨA SUY LUẬN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: Dr LÊ VĂN CANH

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “An Evaluation of Reading Comprehension Tasks in English 12 regarding Literal and Inferential comprehension Tasks” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL is the result of my work, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution

The research reported in this thesis was approved by Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Signature

Le Thi Dung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to acknowledge my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Van Canh for his enlightening lectures in the Methodology and Materials Development Courses, greatly enthusiastic guidance, encouragement, and constructive comments in-depth along the way with my project Without his support, this thesis would not be able to be completed properly

I am indebted to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi whose instructions have laid the foundation for my work I would also like to express my special thanks to all the staff for their constant assistance while my work was in process

My best friend, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, who, out of friendship and kindness, did everything she could to help me with the thesis, deserve my most special thanks

Finally, I owe a great debt to my family, my relatives especially my husband and daughter who helped me fulfill my job as a wife, a mother, a teacher, a learner and a researcher Once again, my sincere thanks to all

ABSTRACT

Reading comprehension is emphasized in English instruction in upper secondary schools The reading comprehension section in the textbook TIENG ANH 12 presents a reading text which is followed by different comprehension tasks to provide students with reading comprehension practices As a teacher who uses this textbook, I had the feeling that the balance between literal and inferential tasks was problematic This feeling motivated me to conduct this study reported here The

study was designed to seek an answer to the general question: “To what extent does the TIENG ANH 12 adequately prepare students for doing the two tasktypes?” I used the criteria of Barrett‟s taxonomy to identify and evaluate the

reading task types presented in the TIENG ANH 12 with a focus on the adequacy of two major task types: literal and inferential comprehension The results reveal that while the reading comprehension tasks in the textbook cover both these task types, the literal comprehension tasks seemed to dominate.This raises the need for teachers

to supplement inferential comprehension tasks in an attempt to prepare the students better for the examination for the General Secondary Education Diploma as well as the National University Entrance Examination

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 DART Directed Activities Related to Text

2 EFL English as a Foreign Language

3 ELT English Language Teaching

4 ESL English as a Second Language

6 GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

7 MCQs Multiple-Choice Questions

8 MOET Ministry of Education and Training

9 SLA Second Language Acquisition

10 TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in

General Secondary Education Diploma Examination Test of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 17

Table 2.2: Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in

National University Entrance Examination Test of the school year 2011-2012.18

Table 3.1: Description of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 1224 Table 3.2: Types of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 12 27 Table 3.3: Frequency and percentage of evaluated tasks regarding literal and

inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 28

Table 3.4: Frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal meaning in

TIENG ANH 12 29

Table 3.5: Number and total percentage of questions regarding literal meaning in

TIENG ANH 12 according to Barrett‟ taxonomy 30

Table 3.6: Frequency and percentage of questions regarding inferential meaning in

TIENG ANH 12 31

Table 3.7: Number and total percentage of questions regarding inferential

meaning in TIENG ANH 12 according to Barrett‟ taxonomy 33

Table 3.8: Comparison of frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal

meaning and inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 and General Secondary Education Diploma Examination Test 34

Table 3.9: Comparison of frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal

meaning and inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12 and National University Entrance Examination Test 35

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vI PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The Rational 1

1.2 Aims, Objective of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 3

1.6 Structure of the Thesis 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of Reading comprehension 5

1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning 5

1.3 Reading Comprehension Tasks 6

1.4 Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension 7

1.5 Literal and Inferential Dimensions of Reading Comprehension 8

1.6 Textbook Evaluation 9

1.7 Types of Textbook Evaluation 10

1.8 Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks 11

1.9 Criteria for Task Evaluation 12

1.10 Previous Studies on the New set of English Textbooks 12

CHAPTER II: METHDOLOGY 14

2.1 Overview of the National ELT Curriculum 14

2.2 Overview of the Textbook TIENG ANH 12 15

2.3 Overview of the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and National University Entrance Examination Tests 16

2.4 Research Design 19

2.5 Criteria for Classifying Reading Comprehension Tasks 19

2.6 Criteria for Evaluating Two Tasktypes Regarding Literal and Inferential Comprehension Meaning 20

2.7 Instrument 20

2.8 Procedures of the Study 23

CHAPTER C: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24

3.1 Detailed Description of Reading Comprehension Questions in TIENG ANH 12 24

3.2 Evaluated Tasks in TIENG ANH 12 27

3.3 Literal Meaning Comprehension Questions 28

3.4 Inferential Meaning Comprehension Questions 31

3.5 The Comparison of Density of the two Types of Questions in the Tests and Textbook 34

PART III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36

REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX 1: Barrett‟s Taxonomy I APPENDIX 2: National Examination for General Certificate of

Secondary Education II

APPENDIX 3: National University Entrance Examination VI APPENDIX 4: Cấu trúc đề thi ĐH, CĐ THPT môn tiếng Anh XIX

APPENDIX 5: Content Analysis Card XX APPENDIX 6: Supplementary Reading XXI APPENDIX 7: Sample Questions for Inferential Comprehesion Tasks XXV

Reading is one of the four macro linguistic skills that foreign language learners need

to develop, the other three being listening, speaking, and writing “Reading for comprehension is the primary purpose for reading” (Grabe, 2002, p 277) Through reading , learners are exposed to the second language input, which is a pre-requisite for the acquisition of the target language In addition, reading helps students consolidate what they have learned and support their further study According to Carrel (1981:1) “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language.” While reading for comprehension, foreign language learners are expected to use their linguistic knowledge (grammatical knowledge and lexical knowledge) to decode the text literally and to use inferences to interpret the writer‟s unstated assumptions by using their schema and knowledge of the world Inferential reading tasks are also called „reading between the line‟, which is part and parcel of the reading comprehension process Therefore, in any reading comprehension tests, there are always two types of tasks: reading for literal or explicit meaning and reading for inferential or implicit meaning According to Nutall (1996), “Inference is therefore

an essential skill, but a tricky one, because often it is not clear how much the writer expect us to infer” (p 115) My experience as a classroom teacher tells me that inferential tasks are always challenging to the students, and in the test, students tend

to fail to provide correct answers to these tasks

Not few teachers who report that students in their classes are unable to infer the meaning of the reading texts effectively.This implies that students have weak

reasoning abilities, causing them to make incorrect inference while doing the reading comprehension tasks either in the classroom or the test room

In the context of the secondary school in Vietnam, most of the reading comprehension texts are provided in the textbook that is prescribed by the Ministry

of Education and Training I have noticed that the current textbooks have a great deal of improvement as compared with the old series of grammar-based textbooks However, there is a lack of empirical information about whether the textbook sufficiently help the students to do well in the examinations or not While students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge about grammar and vocabulary and skills in reading and writing, this study focuses on the examination of the adequacy

of two types of reading comprehension tasks only: reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning It is true that reading competence in English as a foreign language is composed of several sub-skills like scanning and skimming, reading comprehension tasks can be broadly divided into two above task types I wonder whether the distribution of two task types in the TIENG ANH 12

adequately prepares students for the two important examinations: the National

Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National University Entrance Examination

This is the rationale of this study

1.2 Aims, Objective of the Study

The study aims at examining the extent to which the TIENG ANH 12 prepares the students for two reading comprehension task types: reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning The two task types play an important role in the students‟ competence in reading comprehension that is needed at two examinations: the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National University Entrance Examination

In an attempt to achieve the above aim, the study is designed to achieve the following objectives

1 to identify the adequacy of two reading comprehension tasks: reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning in the TIENG ANH 12

2 to determine whether teachers preparing students for the exams need to supplement more tasks of these types or not

The above question encompasses three sub-questions that this study aims to answer:

1 What reading task types are used in the TIENG ANH 12?

2 What is the distribution of reading task types in TIENG ANH 12?

3 To what extent does the TIENG ANH 12 prepare students for the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and National University Entrance Examination Tests ?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The study limits itself to the evaluation of the adequacy of literal reading tasks and inferential reading tasks in the textbook TIENG ANH 12 for the purpose of preparing the students for the two high-stake examinations only The reason for choosing this particular textbook is obvious It is the last grade before the students take the school-graduation examination and university entrance examination

1.5 Significance of the Study

The study is to evaluate the reading comprehension tasks in TIENGANH 12 The findings of this evaluation will inform classroom teachers of the extent to which the textbook sufficiently prepares the students for the two high-stake examinations in terms of the adequacy of literal reading and inferential reading tasks Therefore, the study will help teachers to make sound decisions on whether it is necessary to add more of either task types or not The study has been also a benefit for the evaluator

herself As Richard (1984) believes that a successful teacher is the one who can evaluate teaching materials and to teach students successfully; therefore, it is a good chance to review major theoretical basis relating to material evaluation Being equipped with the knowledge, teachers have a critical thinking towards the material they are using, namely, they can evaluate it systematically and methodologically This work is also of great use for the writer to gain good and useful insights into the nature of the reading comprehension tasks in the textbook This micro- evaluation will serve as basis for evaluating other tasks such as listening, speaking, and writing tasks

1.6 Structure of the Thesis

This thesis is divided as follows:

Part I, The Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims, significance, discusses the scope of the study, method and procedure and outlines the thesis

Part II, which follows, is composed of three chapters Chapter I reviews the literature focusing on the nature of reading comprehension competence in English

as a foreign language, the importance of reading for literal and inferential meanings and the need to evaluate the textbook Chapter II presents the Study including the research methodology including the research design and methods of data collection Chapter III, findings and discussion, states the research results and the author‟s discussion on the results

Part III, the Conclusion, summarizes the key points in the findings regarding the research questions, and recommendations for classroom teachers

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature on issues related to reading comprehension in foreign language and the classification as well as features of most common reading comprehension tasks

1.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension

Comprehension of any written text means understanding the meaning of that text, therefore, a reader comprehends when he reaches his ultimate goal of grasping the meaning of the written material This usually implies assimilating what is presented

on a page with the reader‟s own experience and knowledge (Harris,1948:9) For Norris, without fulfilling this aim of grasping the meaning the whole activity would

be a “ word-by word reading" and should not be called “ reading" ( 1972:190-191) Reading comprehension is clearly defined by Nuttal as part of the communication process to be:

the way by which a reader gets a message from a text and that text full of meaning like jug full of water, and can be poured straight into the reader‟s mind which soaks it up like a sponge

( Nuttal,1982:4 )

In general, reading comprehension consists of two related processes: word recognition (the process of perceiving written symbols from different kinds of texts) and comprehension (the process of making sense of words)

1.2 The Importance of Reading Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning

Reading is an important, if not the most important, skill that students who study foreign language need to acquire As Eskeys (2005) points out that many students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) rarely need to speak the language in their day-to-day lives but may need to read it in order to “assess the wealth of information” (p.563) Of the four language skills, reading has conventionally been

the most emphasized in FL and ESL or EFL situations over the years Bright and Gregor (1970) state that books provide most pupils with the situation in which learning takes place Where there is little reading, there will be little language learning They also state “further education depends on quantity and quality of reading All the important skills, in fact, require quick and efficient imaginative reading” (pp 52-53)

When English is taught in a foreign language environment like in Vietnamese high schools, students have little opportunity to practise it outside the classroom In this context, students are expected to learn how to read in a foreign language in order to learn the language and obtain the information that they find useful for them ”Learning to read and reading to learn” is not an outworn slogan The need for developing the reading skill is more urgent because of the ever-increasing amount

of reading our students are called upon to do From a second language acquisition (SLA) perspective, reading and the reading texts are a source of input of the target language without which acquisition of the second language can hardly happen This

is because reading texts can be used for several different purposes, and this is reflected in the coursebook as follows

- developing reading skills and strategies,

- presenting/ recycling grammar items, extending vocabulary

- providing models for writing,

- giving information of interest to students,

- stimulating oral work (Cunningsworth, 1995:73)

1.3 Reading Comprehension Tasks

Task may be defined as “an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e as a response) (Richards, Platt and Weber, 1986:289) According to Nunan (2001:10), task involves communicative language use in which the communicative task is described as a piece of classroom work

Regarding tasks in reading comprehension, Nunan (2001) describes the reading task

as a 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 A reading task in a classroom consists of a process of three tasks (pre-reading task, while-reading task and post-reading task) Pang, Muaka, Bernbardt and Kamil (2003:6) define reading task as a complex activity for understanding written texts that involves both perception and thought According to Nunan (1999:262), good reading tasks are tasks that :

- typically make use of authentic and challenging texts

- provide students with a rhetorical or topical framework for processing and analyzing the text

- frequently involve an oral reading of the text by the teacher or a student followed by silent reading and rereading of the text

- involve students in direct analysis of the text instead of in direct question answering

- frequently involve the transfer of information from the text to a visual or diagrammatic representation

1.4 Taxonomy of Reading Comprehension

It is necessary to present the levels introduced by some writers to show how reading comprehension is achieved

According to Robinson (1996: 27-33), there are four levels: words perception including word recognition and word meanings, comprehension which includes judgements and emotional responses, and assimilation in which the material comes

to be amalgamated with the reader‟s knowledge and experience

In roughly the same way, Gray (1960: 13-19) indentified four levels: first, the literal level that involves the translation of what the word says; second, the interpretative level which relates materials to their context; third, the significance level which involves implications; forth, the evaluation level which requires the student to react to the material in his own terms

As for Barrett (1974: 93), five–level taxonomy was developed: the literal comprehension which consists of either recognition or recalling; recognition necessitates conceptual thinking such as clarifying, summarizing or synthesizing ideas of the reading material, then inferential comprehension stage in which the reader utilizes his own past experience in order to interpret, and evaluation level that implies the assessment of the reading material, finally appreciation in which the reader is concerned with the literacy techniques and aesthetic impact

After reviewing these taxonomies, it became evident that reading comprehension can be covered by two general taxonomies: literal comprehension and inferential comprehension

1.5 Literal and Inferential Dimensions of Reading Comprehension

Current theories of reading comprehension view reading as an interaction between the reader‟s text-based and knowledge-based processes (Nuttall, 1996) In reading,

“an individual constructs meaning through a transaction with written text that has been created by symbols that represent language The transaction involves the reader‟s acting on or interpreting the text, and the interpretation is influenced by the reader‟s past experiences, language background, and cultural framework, as well as the reader‟s purpose for reading” (Hudelson, 1994, p 130) This means that the reader first engages in the linguistic processing of surface-level textual features This is called text-based procedures (Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011) which involve the surface code (e.g., lexical decoding, word-to-text interpretation, syntactic parsing)

In other words, at this stage, the literal level of reading comprehension, which is generally defined as the reader‟s ability to “gain meaning directly from the print” (Walker, Munro, & Rickards, 1998, p 88 cited in Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011, p 242), essentially captures surface code features and textbase meanings explicitly stated in the text as well as the connecting devices that bind these text constituents locally Literal reading is believed as failing to provide a deep understanding of text content (King, 2007) and has been associated with the performance of unskilled readers, who are thought to be unable to go beyond the information contained in a text

(Walker, et al., 1998 cited in Alptekin & Ercetin, 2011, p 242) By contrast, inferential reading requires the reader to use his or her knowledge structures that are relevant to textual content in order to reason beyond the text for correct interpretation of the information in the text (Nuttall, 1996) “Inference is often used

to reconstruct the writer‟s unstated presuppositions” (Nutall, 1996, p 114) Moreover, Day and Park (2005: 33 ) state that making inferences involves more than a literal understanding Answering inference questions may be difficult because the answers are based on material that is in the text but not explicity stated

An inference involves readers combining literal understanding of the text with their own knowledge and intuitions

In short, on evaluating a learner‟s reading comprehension competence, reading for literal and inferential meaning plays a crucial role Therefore, textbooks are expected to provide adequate task types to develop these important reading skills However, as no textbook can satisfy the learning needs and learning purposes of all the students, they need to be evaluated so that teachers can make appropriate use of the textbook The following section reviews the literature on textbook evaluation

1.6 Textbook Evaluation

A textbook is a teaching material for the teacher and a learning material for the learner Within this study, the terms „textbook‟, „text‟, and „materials‟ are used interchangeably As textbooks are intended for a large body of student population, they may not quite suitable for a particular group of students Therefore, textbooks should be evaluated by teachers or by both teachers and students to decide on suitability of the textbook for that group of students in terms of their learning needs

and learning purposes

Evaluating materials enables teachers to see if teaching material matches the objectives of the language learning program; whether it assists learners to use language effectively for their own purposes; if it accords with learners‟ needs by facilitating their learning processes; or whether it supports learning (Cunningsworth, 1984:5)

A variety of definitions of textbook evaluation are offered by different specialists However, the definition by Worthen and Sanders (1973) is adopted in this study According to Worthen and Sanders (1973: 19 cited in Johnson, 1989: 223 ), “ Evaluation is the determination of the worth of a thing It includes obtaining information for use in judging the worth of a program, product, procerdure, or object, or the potential utility of alternative approaches designed to attain specified objectives”

This definition is adopted because it highlights both the purpose of textbook evaluation and the procedures of carrying out the evaluation

1.7 Types of Textbook Evaluation

Evaluation can be classified into summative evaluation and formative evaluation The former is conducted after the textbook has been used, i.e., post-use evaluation while the latter refers to the type of evaluation conducted while the textbook is being used, i.e., in-use evaluation Another classification is suggested by Ellis (1997:37), according to which materials evaluation is divided into two types: macro-evaluation and micro- evaluation Ellis elaborates that the former is the impressionistic assessment of the effectiveness of the whole set of materials In the latter, however, a particular teaching task chosen by the evaluator is evaluated The task is described in terms of its objectives, the input (the information provided), the conditions (under which the task is conducted), the procedures, the outcomes (the achievement on completion of the task) The aim in this model is to identify the match between task planned and task in use According to him, micro-evaluation can serve as the basis for further macro- evaluation On the other hand, micro-evaluation can be an individual, practical and legitimate way of carrying out an empirical evaluation of teaching materials

“A micro-evaluation of teaching materials is perhaps best carried out in relation to

„task‟" (Ellis, 1997: 37) Tasks within the curriculum or of methodology is described as “Tasks are justify on the grounds that they will help the learners to develop the skills they will need for carrying out real-world communicative tasks

beyond the classroom” (Nunan, 2001:38) And as the important places of retrospective evaluation and tasks are as described, the researcher decides to conduct a retrospective evaluation on reading comprehension tasks as this is the initial and important part of the four language skills It can give the input for the following lessons such as listening, speaking, writing, and language focus and it is one important section in university entrance examination Because the purpose of this study is to evaluate the adequacy of the literal and inferential reading tasks in TIENG ANH 12, the micro-evaluation approach was adopted Procedures of this model of textbook evaluation are presented in the subsequent section

1.8 Models of Micro-Evaluation of Tasks

Ellis (1997:38) recommends the following steps of task evaluation:

Step 1- Choosing a task to evaluate;

Step 2 - Describing the task which requires the specification of the content of

a task in terms of input, procedures, language activities and outcome; (The researcher analyzes the reading tasks)

Step 3- Planning the evaluation;

Step 4 - Collecting the information for the evaluation (before, while and after

the task is used) about how the task was performed; (This work uses while and after evaluation)

Step 5 - Analyzing the information;

Step 6 - Reaching conclusion relating to what has been discovered as result

of the evaluation of the task and making recommendations;

Step 7- Writing the report

This study follows these steps to evaluate the reading tasks in TIENG ANH 12 The tasks that were chosen to be evaluated in this study were reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning After these tasks were chosen, a detailed plan for the evaluation was worked out including the research design, scheduling and decisions on the methods of evaluation Then, data were collected and analyzed

according to the research design Results of the data analysis were reported in this thesis

1.9 Criteria for Task Evaluation

Little John (1998) proposes three criteria for the task evaluation: 1) “what is there”

in the book; 2) “what is required of the users”; 3) “what is implied” based on the distribution of teacher and students Matthews (1991) suggests “the balance of tasks” (enough attention to different types of task) Grant (1991) looks at “enough activities” Nuttall (1996:170-174) highlights three major criteria for evaluating texts for reading These include: suitability of content, exploitability, and readability

1.10 Previous Studies on the New Set of English Textbooks

In Vietnam a number of projects have been carried out to evaluate the new set of English textbooks including the basic and the advanced, among which Nguyen Thuy Minh (2007) is the most typical example Her research “Textbook evaluation: The case of English textbooks currently in use in Vietnam‟s upper secondary schools” gives readers a rather comprehensive evaluation on the new set of textbooks The evaluation was carried under the criteria namely: the teaching of language skills (Reading, listening, speaking and writing), the teaching of language element (grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary) using the checklists provided by Cunningsworth (1995) The researcher has come to some conclusion about the strengths and weakness of the new textbooks The strength is pointed out as the books have brought about the positive changes in the way English was taught at secondary school, making it significantly more communicative and effective The weakness is the challenge for both students in rural, remote areas and for teachers who do not continue to improve their language knowledge, skills and teaching methods

Another evaluation of the whole textbook English 11 taught at Phan Dinh Phung secondary school in Ha Noi - A Case Study by Le Thi Hue found out some useful results She concluded that the textbook English 11 truly followed the objectives

prescribed by MOET for the course Regarding to the suitableness of the textbook

to the students, the reading and speaking section are relatively acceptable but the listening part and language focus need some modification to be more suitable The author believed that interesting, challenging and motivating subjects and contents that were relevant to students needs interest the students

When it comes to reading part in the textbook TIENG ANH 12, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang worked on an analysis of cultural factor in the Textbook English 12 from the perspective of English as an international language This researcher examined cultural content in the textbook and found out that the textbook meets the requirement of the context of English as an international language in terms of cultural content

Although the textbook TIENG ANH 12 for Vietnamese high schools have been

evaluated by some authors, the reading comprehension tasks have not yet evaluated Therefore, I feel a strong need to undertake this evaluation

Summary

This chapter deals with theoretical background of the study in order to give a clear vision about the topic related to the issue of reading comprehension task comprehension evaluation and criteria for evaluating reading comprehension tasks The practical aspect of the thesis is dealt with in the next chapter: Methodology

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

The chapter describes the practical aspects of the study including the employing a tool to collect data, the techniques of gathering and describing the data to achieve the purpose of the study It also briefly describes the Vietnamese English teaching context, in which two important examinations take place annually and involve nationwide population of students and the textbook English 12 which serve as the setting of the study and the sample of the evaluation, respectively

2.1 Overview of the National ELT Curriculum

Before an evaluation of reading comprehension tasks regarding literal and referential comprehension tasks of TIENG ANH 12 was conducted, the national curriculum for ELT in secondary school education and the syllabus for ELT in Vietnam was reviewed This review provides the basis for the evaluation in the sense that the curriculum was used as a reference point for the evaluation

In 2006 MOET issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures” (Hoang, 2011) The aims for ELT at secondary school level for the basic programme are described as enabling students to:

1 “Use English as a means for basic communication relatively proficiently both in spoken and written channels to meet the specific demand related to socio- science and humane

2 Master basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels

of proficiency and ages and the specific demand related to socio- science and humane

3 Acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect to the Vietnamese culture and language” (Hoang, et al., 2011)

English-2.2 Overview of the Textbook TIENG ANH 12

The book is claimed to adopt a theme-based syllabus The methodologies presented

in the book are the “learner-centered approach and the communicative approach

with task-based teaching being the central teaching method” The teaching contents

for each unit are summarized in a book map which is provided on the first page of

each book There are 16 teaching units and six review units in each book Each

teaching unit covers a topic and is structured into five sections: Reading, Speaking,

Listening, Writing and Language Focus Reading skills are dealt with first and

foremost in a unit because the authors expect to use the reading text to provide

language input and ideas for practice of other language skills

The requirement of the MOET on reading skill in TIENG ANH 12 is defined as

follows:

After finishing grade 12, students are able to:

- Use appropriate skills to read a passage of 300-350 words for general, detailed or specific information the theme of which is included in the

textbook

- Distinguish the main ideas and supporting ideas

- Use the main ideas to summarise the text

- Comprehend and judge the author‟s opinions and attitudes

(Tieng Anh 12 - Teacher‟s book, p3)

As far as reading comprehension is concerned, in each unit of TIENG ANH 12, the

reading comprehension often provides three kinds of tasks for students to complete

with each task having its own aim

Tasks 1 aims at developing students‟ word-attack skills In this task, students are

asked to guess the meaning of words and/or phrases using contextual clues

Task 2 intends to help the students to build up different sub-skills of reading

comprehension These sub-skills include:

- evaluating the information in the form of True/False questions

- scanning for specific information

- identifying relevant information to answer comprehension questions

- Multiple – choice questions

percent of the total of questions in the National Examination for General Certificate

of Secondary Education The distribution of two types of reading comprehension tasks is described as follows (see Appendix 2)

According to Barret's taxonomy on reading comprehension tasks, all five questions deal with literal meaning This pattern is repeated in the test of the school year 2012-2013 and 2012-2013 Therefore, a common pattern of distribution of literal and inferential meaning in reading comprehension questions of the tests can be drawn out as stated in the subsequent table:

Table(2.1): Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-2013

Frequency and distribution of literal anf inferential reading comprehension

questions in the National University Entrance Examination Tests differ greatly from

that of the General Secondary Education Diploma Examination Tests The difference is recognized when the 20 reading comprehension questions in National University Entrance Examination Tests of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-

2013 are analysed The actual questions are presented in Appendix 3

Question 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,77, 78, 79 in the former and 40, 41,

42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 63, 64, 65, 68, 69 in the latter are classified as literal meaning questions Meanwhile, questions 66, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 80 in the former and 43, 49,

62, 66, 67, 70, 71 in the latter are labelled as inferential questions To have the right answers to such vocabulary questions as questions 43,66 extracted from test coded

962 students are forced to grasp what the chunk conveys and identify the meaning

of the words in order to fit with the general idea of the whole chunk and then the whole paragraph and the whole reading passage Thus, the level of understanding must not merely be "word-by-word" like 68, 77 extracted from test coded 248, but actually goes beyond the information contained in a text As for questions 66, 72,

73, 74, 75, 76, 80 from the test coded 248 as well as 43, 49, 62, 66, 67, 70, 71 from the test coded 962, the reader has to use his or her knowledge structures that are relevant to textual content in order to reason beyond the text for correct interpretation of the information in the reading passage These inferential questions are more difficult because the answers are based on the material that is in the text but not explicitly stated To get the right answers, students must combine literal understanding of the reading passage with their own knowledge and instuitions

Table (2.2) Frequency of questions regarding literal and inferential meaning in National University Entrance Examination of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-

of this type of questions in the test also suggest that at this level, literal meaning comprehension is expected to be achieved by a majority of high school students Moreover, the aim of the test is to select those students who are advanced in English competence at National University Entrance Examination Test That is the reason why the disparity between literal and inferential meaning is insignificant and the appearance of inferential meaning questions tend to be higher than that of textbook, which creates the rate of 65 and 35 percent in the school year 2011-2012 and 60 and

40 percent in the school year 2012-2013 In fact, students' ability to infer meaning

between lines, use their own experience and knowledge to gain a thorough comprehension of the reading passage is of priority

Given the aforementioned discussion, the textbook is expected to prepare students for both of the two types of tests Does the textbook meet the expectations of teachers and students? The answer is reached after we examine the reading comprehension tasks used in the textbook TIENG ANH 12 The process of the study and its results are demonstrated in the subsequent sections and chapters

2.4 Research Design

The researcher used the descriptive analytical method of research to carry out the study According to Brown and Rodgers (2002:117 ) descriptive research is to describe “group characteristics or behaviours in numerical terms” They maintain that “ the descriptive statistics is used to analyze descriptive research data, usually

in terms of central tendency and dispersion"

The researcher conducted this method due to its relevance for investigating the extent to which the reading comprehension tasks in TIENG ANH 12 regarding literal and referential comprehension tasks match the suggested criteria used in the analysis

As stated earlier, the research procedure follows the seven-step procedure for micro-evaluation, i.e., task evaluation suggested by Ellis (1997)

2.5 Criteria for Classifying Reading Comprehersion Tasks

Barrett‟s (1968) reading taxonomy was used to classify two task types in TIENG ANH 12 ( see Appendix 1 for this Taxonomy)

According to Barrett (1968), literal comprehension focuses on ideas and information which are explicitly stated in the selection Purposes of reading and questions designed to elicit responses at this level may range from simple to complex A simple task in literal comprehension may be the recognition or recall or

a single fact or incident A more complex task might be the recognition or recall or

a series of facts or the sequencing of incidents in a reading selection In contrast, inferential comprehension is demonstrated by students when he or she uses the

ideas and information explicitly stated in the selection, his or her intuition, and his

or her personal experience as a basis for conjectures and hypotheses Inferences drawn by the students may be either convergent or divergent in nature and the students may be asked to verbalise the rationale underlying his or her inferences In general, then, inferential comprehension is stimulated by purposes for reading and questions which demand thinking and imagination that go beyond the printed page Personal experience is interpreted to include formal learning experiences, as well as those things the reader has personally experienced in the first hand situation Prior knowledge, regardless of where this knowledge came from, is an integral part of inference

2.6 Criteria for Evaluating Two Task types Regarding Literal and Referential Comprehension Meaning

In order to identify the adequacy of the two reading comprehension tasks: reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning, the evaluation reported in this thesis was based on the analysis of the structure and the distribution of reading

comprehension tasks in two important examinations: the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National University Entrance

Examination Specific criteria for evaluation of the study are as follows:

The research questions and specific criteria in analysis card of the study are based

on these criteria

2.7 Instrument

The researcher used only one main tool: content analysis Given the aim of the study which is to examine the balance and adequacy of two reading comprehension task types, i.e., reading for literal meaning and reading for inferential meaning within the TIENG ANH 12, this method of data collection is appropriate Details of this method are presented below

The Content Analysis

Content analysis is used as the research design for this study While and Marsh (2006) define content analysis as a systematic, rigorous approach to analyze

documents obtained or generated in the course of the research and it is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts to the contexts of their use Content analysis is an appropriate research method to use when manipulating large quantities of textual information to systematically identify certain characteristics or properties To achieve the purposes of the study, a content analysis card is used for collecting, describing and analyzing data regarding the content of literal and referential comprehension tasks in TIENG ANH 12 in the light

of the suggested criteria in the analysis card (see Appendix 5)

2.7.1 Description of the Content Analysis Card

Purpose of the Analysis:

In this study, the analysis aims at identifying to what extent the reading

comprehension tasks regarding literal and referential comprehension tasks in TIENG ANH 12 match the suggested criteria for two types of tasks, reading for literal meaning and inferential meaning, of the two important examinations: the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National University Entrance Examination of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-

2013

Sample of the Analysis:

All the 44 tasks with 161 questions of 16 reading texts in TIENG ANH 12 and two types of tasks, reading for literal meaning and inferential meaning, of the two important examinations: the National Examination for General Certificate of Secondary Education and the National University Entrance Examination of the school year 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 The classification of the reading tasks for literal meaning and reading tasks for inferential meaning was based on Barrett‟s (1968) and Nuttal‟s (1996) definitions as presented above

Units of Analysis:

The researcher considers each question in reading comprehension tasks as a unit for analyzing literal and referential comprehension tasks

Coding scheme

Throughout this study, two main coding schemes were used to label the main domains of the content analysis card The process of creating the coding scheme was as follows:

- The first domain was designed to locate the questions regarding literal meaning

This domain was labelled as L

- The second domain was designed to locate the questions regarding to referential

meaning This domain was labelled as I

2.7.2 Applying the Analysis Card

After developing the content analysis card, I asked another colleague researcher at a high school in the province to conduct the analysis with me The colleague is an M.A holder who has been teaching English for 17 years In the first meeting, I provided her with detailed background about the study, the criteria for evaluating She agreed on the criteria of the analysis card We worked together on Reading Part

of Unit three to check if any criterion needed modifying However, we both decided that the analysis card could be used for further analysis We also decided to conduct analysis individually and check the results after ten days

In the second meeting, we checked the results and discovered a strong correlation between the two This correlation helped to consolidate the reliability of the analysis card

We used a tick (√) to indicate the presence of the criterion in the activity analyzed

2.8 Procedures of the Study

- Constructing the criteria for analysis through reviewing related literature

- Applying the analysis card with the help of a colleague

- Analyzing the collected data in the form of frequencies and percentages

- Giving interpretations and subjective and in-depth discussion

- Presenting recommendations and suggestions

CHAPER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Introduction

In this chapter, the essential part of the thesis: findings analysis and discussion will

be presented, namely, the results of the study, the researcher‟s analysis of the findings and her discussion on the results are stated Answers to the research questions are found though descriptive statistics displayed in tables in form of frequencies and percentages

3.1 Detailed Description of Reading Comprehension Questions in TIENG ANH

12

As stated in the previous chapter, the authors of TIENG ANH 12 aim to develop

such essential reading skills in students as Summarising main idea, Scanning for specific information, Scanning for specific details, Reading for specific information, Vocabulary comprehension matching, Deciding on True or False statements, Arranging the sequence of an event, Note taking, Finding supporting evidence, Giving Vietnamese equivalents to words & phrases, Gap filling, Guessing words' meaning from context A detailed description of the question types

of the textbook is presented in table ( 3.1 ) below

Table (3.1) Description of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 12

Unit

Task Types of questions

Total of questions

Literal question

s

Inferenti

al questions

Unit 2 Task 1 Guess meaning from context 5 5

Unit 3

Task 1 Give the Vietnamese

equivalent

not analysed

Task 3 Answer the questions 5 4 1 Unit 4

Task 1 Guess meaning from context 6 6

Unit 5

Task 1 Use the right forms of the

words

not analysed Task 2 Arrange the sequence of an

event

Unit 6 Task 1 Guess meaning from context 4 4

Unit 7

Task 1 Give the Vietnamese

equivalent

not analysed

Unit 8

Task 1 Guess meaning from context 6 6

Unit 9

Task 1 Give the Vietnamese

equivalent

not analysed

Unit 10

analysed

Task 3 Finding supporting evidence 3 3

Unit 11

Unit 12

analysed

Unit 13 Task 1 Give the Vietnamese

equivalent

not analysed

Unit 14

Task 1 Use the right forms of the

words

not analysed

Unit 15

Task 1 Give the Vietnamese

equivalent

not analysed

Unit 16

Task 1 Use the right forms of the

words

not analysed

The most common types of comprehension questions in the textbook are

answering comprehension questions With this kind of questions, students use

scanning skill to locate needed information in texts to reach answers Therefore, most of the comprehension questions in the tasks require students' ability to “gain meaning directly from the print" Other types of questions in the textbook are Deciding on True/False statements, Finding supporting evidence, Note taking and

so on Following the purpose of the textbook designers, almost all these kinds of questions also deal with literal meaning, which means that they are inclined to test

students ability to grasp the explicit meaning in the reading passages The total of questions and their functions are presented in the table below

Table (3.2) Types of reading comprehension questions in TIENG ANH 12

3.2 Evaluated tasks in TIENG ANH 12

Table (3.3) Frequency and percentage of evaluated tasks regarding literal and inferential meaning in TIENG ANH 12

Out of 44 tasks, 10 tasks are not analysed as they deal with translation and dictionary skills which, according to Barrett's taxonomy, do not belong to comprehension questions of any analysed kinds In other words, they do not fit with the criteria of the taxonomy Task 1- page 32 of unit 3 “ ways of socialising” is

a typical example where the requirement does not relate to taxonomy In this task, it

is highly likely that students can complete the task in an easy way without basing on the text It is obvious that most students can use Vietnamese- English dictionary to translate from English to the Vietnamese equivalents meaning of some words “ verbal, non-verbal, impolite, rude… ect” quickly instead of reading comprehension all the text Another example illustrating clearly this point is shown in task 1- page

54 of Unit 5” Higher Education” This task requires students to complete the sentences by using the right forms of the words in the box; however, it is easy for students to finish this task without concerning about the context Actually, when students analyse and understand the set of grammar structure of the task as well as check the dictionary, they still do the task well Therefore the researcher has decided to analyse and evaluate only 34 tasks which fall into two levels of reading comprehension which, based on Barrett‟s taxomony, are referred to literal and inferential

3.3 Literal Meaning Comprehension Questions

Table (3.4) Frequency and percentage of questions regarding literal meaning in TIENG ANH 12

Frequency Percentage (%)

Out of 161 questions analysed, 141 questions are designed with view to developing capacity of understanding explicit meaning of reading passages This means that 87.6% is allocated for questions regarding literal reading comprehension As analysed above, literal meaning questions are mainly asking and answering