An investigation into the reality of teaching reading comprehension to 11th - Form students at Yen The High school, Bacgiang province = Tìm hiểu về thực tế dạy

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Teachers‟ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook Table 2: Methods used at pre- reading stage Table 3: Methods used at while- reading

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*** -***

ĐANG THI UT

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE REALITY OF TEACHING READING

HIGH SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE

(TÌM HIỂU VỀ THỰC TẾ DẠY ĐỌC HIỂU CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11

TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN THẾ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG)

Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Methodology Code : 60 14 10

HANOI, 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS… i

ABSTRACT .ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… ……….iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……….……… vi

LIST OF TABLES……… vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Statement of the problems… 1

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions……… …2

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Outline of the thesis… …………3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

2.1 Reading and reading comprehension……… …4

2.1.1 Definitions 4

2.1.2 Kinds of reading 5

2.1.2.1 Reading aloud 5

2.1.2.2 Silent reading 6

2.1.2.3 Skimming 6

2.1.2.4 Scanning 6

2.1.2.5 Intensive reading 7

2.1.2.6 Extensive reading 7

2.2 The teaching of reading 7

2.2.1 Factors in teaching and learning reading 7

2.2.1.1 Teacher’s roles in teaching reading……… 7

2.2.1.2 Students’ roles in a reading lesson……… 8

2.2.1.3 The roles of reading texts……… … 8

2.2.2 Stages of teaching a reading lesson 9

2.2.2.1 Pre- reading stage 9

2.2.2.2 While- reading stage 9

2.2.2.3 Post- reading stage 10

2.2 3 Some common teaching methods utilized at three stages of a reading lesson10 2.2.3 1 Pre-reading 10

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2.2.3.2 While-reading .12

2.2.3.3 Post- reading 13

2.3 Attitudes and their impacts in teaching and learning 14

2.4 Previous Studies 15

2.5 Sub-conclusion 16

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Subjects of the study 17

3.2 Reading sections in TIENG ANH 11 textbook 17

3.3 Data collection instrument 18

3.3.1 Questionnaire for teachers 18

3.3.2 Questionnaire for students 18

3.3.3 Classroom observation 18

3.3.4 Post- observation interviews 19

3.4 Procedures 19

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20

4.1 Data analysis 20

4.1.1 Findings from Questionnaire for teachers 20

4.1.2 Findings from Questionnaire for students 25

4.1.3 Findings from classroom observation and post-observation interviews 30

4.2 Major findings 32

CHAPTER V: LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION 36

5.1 Suggestions 36

5.1.1 Reading section adaptation 36

5.1.2 Training different reading skills for students 38

5.2 Conclusion 39

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 39

REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS AT YTHS I APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS AT YTHS V APPENDIX 3: VIETNAMESE VERSION OF QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS VIII APPENDIX 4: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET XI APPENDIX 5: POST-OBSERVATION INTERVIEWS XIII

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

YTHS: Yen The High School

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

VNU- CFL: Vietnam National University, College of Foreign Languages

M.A: Master of Arts

TALO: Text as a Linguistic Object

TAVI: Text as a Vehicle for Information

TASP: Text as a Springboard for Production

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Teachers‟ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook Table 2: Methods used at pre- reading stage

Table 3: Methods used at while- reading stage

Table 4: Methods used at post- reading stage

Table 5: Teachers‟ opinions on the importance of reading text components

Table 6: Problems teachers face with in teaching reading

Table 7: Students‟ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook Table 8: Students‟ preference of teaching methods used by the teachers at pre-reading

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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problems

Being aware of the importance of teaching and learning English in high schools, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recently introduced a new series of English textbooks for grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 These new textbooks have been used in most high schools nationwide This marks a milestone in improving the quality of English teaching and learning The new curriculum defines “English as a compulsory subject” to provide students with an “instrument to access world science and technology as well as world culture” (MOET, 2006) However, a lot of complaints have been made by the teachers from most of high schools in Bac Giang province They said that these new English textbooks were too difficult for their students To deal with this problem, Bac Giang Education and Training Department decided to organize training courses at the beginning of the academic years of 2006, 2007 and 2008 to help and give teachers guidance on methods of teaching the new English textbooks based on the communicative approach Yet, the results were often not satisfactory because it is very difficult for teachers to employ properly the general knowledge of teaching English in communicative approach provided in these training courses in real contexts of teaching at some high schools

Founded in 1966, Yen The High School is one of three high schools in Yen The district, Bac Giang province that have been selected to apply the new textbooks in teaching and learning English It has about 33 classes every year, among which, there are about 10 grade

11 classes As the school is located in the center of a mountainous district, foreign language learning conditions are very limited Most YTHS students come from comparatively poor families and they do not have much time for self- study After school, they have to work on farms and rice paddies to help their parents Few students are able to attend extra- English classes because their parents cannot afford to pay even a small amount required for their children‟s schooling like the fee, a dictionary, a cassette player or English books To make matter worse, nearly half of YTHS students are from ethnic groups such as Tay, Nung Dao, Cao lan and San diu, so their ability to learn English is further limited Considering the teaching conditions, the researcher finds that there is a serious shortage of teaching appliances There is no cassette player for teachers to use

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Teachers must read aloud typescript in almost every listening lesson The results of speaking and writing teaching are far worse Rarely can students say or write a complete and grammatically correct sentence in English Instead of developing students‟ communicative ability, teachers sometimes have to change speaking and writing lessons into grammar and vocabulary ones Besides, reading lessons seem to be a burden for teachers and boring to students Within 45 minutes, teachers often cannot help students compete the post-reading sections as most of the time is spent on pre- and while- reading Students complain that there are too many new words and grammatical structures in a long text, which prevents them from understanding the reading passage thoroughly

In such conditions, teaching and learning English in general and teaching reading in particular according to the new curriculum has actually become a great obstacle for both teachers and students at YTHS However, reading has still been the focus of teaching because it is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also the means by which students can obtain more new words and structures used in certain contexts

After looking critically into the reality of teaching and learning reading at YTHS, discussing the topic with colleagues and reflecting on her own teaching experience, the researcher realizes that teaching methods greatly influence the effectiveness of teaching reading skill Limited success of reading lessons may be due to teachers‟ inflexibility, their lack of teaching experience, intensive employment of the grammar- translation method and the lack of training in the communicative approach Also, teachers‟ domination in the language classroom should be blamed for YTHS students are often passive during English lessons and do not have effective skills in learning reading As a result, they fail to get the main ideas as well as the details of each reading passage So

as to have a better understanding of the situation and find solutions to the problems her colleagues and herself face with, the researcher decided to investigate the reality of teaching reading to grade

11 students at YTHS

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions

This study aims:

1 To find out teachers‟ and students‟ comments on the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook

2 To investigate the reality of teaching reading to grade 11 students and their attitudes towards the teaching of reading utilized by teachers

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3 To identify the difficulties that teachers and students have to cope with when dealing with a reading lesson

It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of some benefits to teachers and students at YTHS and some other schools as the reality of teaching reading at YTHS is similar to that of some high schools in mountainous districts in Bac Giang province like Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam, and Tan Yen

In order to achieve the research study‟s aims, the study attempts to answer the following research questions:

1 How do teachers and students respond to the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook?

2 What methods are used by teachers in teaching reading and what are the students‟ attitudes towards these methods?

3 What difficulties do teachers and students meet when dealing with a reading lesson?

1.3 Scope of the study

This is a survey of the problems in teaching the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook at YTHS The study includes an investigation into teaching methods used by teachers and their students‟ attitudes towards these methods Finding out the teachers‟ and students‟ assessment of the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook and identifying their difficulties in reading lessons are another purpose

1.4 Outline of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter One is written to introduce the background to the study and statement of the problems It

also presents the aims, the research questions, the scope and the design of the thesis

Chapter Two presents a review of related literature which provides the theoretical background for

the study It presents the definitions of reading, reading comprehension, factors and stages in teaching a reading lesson Some common methods utilized by teachers in three stages of teaching a reading lesson and the impacts of attitudes in teaching and learning are also mentioned The final and important part of this chapter is some previous studies

Chapter Three states the methodology used in the study Therefore, the information about subjects,

data collection instruments and procedures are presented

Chapter Four discusses the outcome of the data analysis

Chapter Five is the conclusion to the thesis

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CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Reading and reading comprehension

2.1.1 Definitions

What is reading?

Reading is a popular activity of human beings It takes place in every aspect of daily life as well as in scientific areas Therefore, there exist many different points of view on the definition of reading

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 ” Another view on reading is shared by Nuttal (1982:4) “Reading is getting a message from a text” She states “the meaning is not lying in the text waiting to be passively absorbed; on the contrary, the reading is actively involved and often has to work out to get the meaning out” It is clear that she rejects the

views in which reading is regarded as a rather passive and receptive skill

Grellet (1981:3) also says reading is understood as extracting required information from a written text as efficiently as possible Besides, according to Harmer J (1989:190) reading

is “an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” Sharing the same view, Smith (1985:102) points out “reading is understanding the author’s thought” According to the

ideas presented above, reading can be considered as a communicative process in which we- the readers - read the author‟s mind, not the author‟s words Reading, viewed from a

different perspective, is “an active information- seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” (Rubin, J and Thompson, I 1994:91)

With this point of view, the readers‟ knowledge of the language and the knowledge of the world are of great importance to their reading success

What is reading comprehension?

In teaching and learning reading, reading comprehension plays an important role because it

is described as a means of communication between the writer and the reader

“Comprehension, by definition, is the process of relating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory Readers make connection between the new

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information on the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow the new information to enter and become a part of their knowledge store.”

(Lee and Vanpatten, 1995:191)

Anderson and Pearson (1984:255) also shared the same point of view They argue that when students make a critical evaluation of the ideas conveyed in the text, they are making connection between new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge These two ideas show that reading comprehension is a process in which the reader can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms Moreover, this process is greatly affected by the reader‟s background knowledge and his language competence

From the above points of view on reading and reading comprehension, we can draw a conclusion that reading is a complex process which involves not only the reader and the

writer but also the text itself Reading comprehension, according to Nuttal (2000:4), is “the process of encoding and decoding between the encoder who has messages in his mind encodes them into words and the decoder who needs to receive these messages decodes those words into his mind”

In short, reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is Therefore, to become a good reader, it is necessary for him to possess rich knowledge of the world and knowledge of language, especially the topic mentioned in the reading text

2.1.2 Kinds of reading

We read different texts in different ways, depending on our manner and our purpose

Reading, according to manner, is classified into reading aloud and silent reading

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focused on pronunciation, not understanding the text Next, it is an unnatural activity; most people do not read aloud in real life Finally, students usually read slowly, it takes up a lot

of class time

2.1.2.2 Silent reading

Silent reading is the activity we often use in real life, for example reading books,

newspapers, texts, road signs etc Silent reading, as mentioned by Doff (1988:67) “involves looking at sentences and understanding the message it conveys” It has become more and

more preferable because it is comprehension and its focus is on the meaning of the text Learners do not need to read all the words in the text and they can read at their own speed

If they do not understand a sentence, they can go back and read it again Reading aloud tends to reduce the speed of reading and formation of correct reading habits Silent reading helps one to develop speed and comprehension Good silent reading skills prepare students for library reading on their own It is also an effective skill for teaching and learning reading comprehension

According to purposes, reading is categorized into skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading

2.1.2.3 Skimming

Skimming is frequently used in teaching reading comprehension “When skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to a specific question” (Grellet, F.(1981:19)) Hedge, T (2000:195) explains “skim reading is used to get a global impression of the content of the text An example would be previewing a long magazine article by reading rapidly, skipping large chunks of information and focusing on headings and first lines of paragraphs”

2.1.2.4 Scanning

Scanning is a useful reading skill we apply when we want to find the answer to a specific

question Hedge, T (2000:195) argues that “scanning involves searching rapidly through a text to find a specific point of information, for example, the relevant times on a timetable, items in a directory or key points in an academic text” Scanning occurs when a reader

looks quickly through the text searching for a specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading purpose

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2.1.2.5 Intensive reading

According to Grellet (1981:4), intensive reading means “reading shorter text to extract specific information” This is more an accuracy activity involving reading for details Intensive reading “is usually a classroom- oriented activity in which students focus on linguistic or semantic details of a passage” (Brown 1990:297) To make intensive reading

profitable, careful treatment of vocabulary and grammar may be made Hedge (1985:68)

also emphasizes that “intensive reading lessons provide students with training in the strategies and skills they need to become successful readers”

of great importance to students‟ self-study Through extensive reading, their reading habit and passion can be formed And it is more effective if students‟ extensive reading is followed by an instructional program with the help of a reading teacher For example, the teacher should give her students lists of graded books for purpose Articles, reports, books bearing on the subjects of the curriculum may also be suggested for reference

To summarize, in teaching and learning a foreign language, reading plays an important role compared to other skills: listening, speaking and writing It is a useful skill to help students obtain their knowledge Readers, according to their manner or purpose, can choose different kinds of reading including reading aloud, silent reading, skimming, scanning, intensive reading or extensive reading

2.2 The teaching of reading

2.2.1 Factors in teaching and learning reading

2.2.1.1 Teacher’s roles in teaching reading

The teacher is a person who applies methods in teaching reading Therefore, no one can deny the vital role of the teacher in a reading lesson Mahon (1986:98_99) says that the teacher is the most important element in a reading class, for her attitude influences students and their performance Nuttal (2000:32_33) specifies some roles of the teacher as choosing

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reading texts, designing tasks, facilitating reading process and monitoring process What is more, the teacher is responsible for exploiting students‟ knowledge; building a strong vocabulary base; teaching for comprehension; teaching strategies; encouraging students to transform strategies into skills and finally setting criteria to select reading texts (Anderson

2003 and Hedge 2003 cited in To et al., 2006:153-154) To sum up, the teacher, by using appropriate techniques, can make students get involved in learning It becomes the responsibility of the teacher to train students to determine their own goals and strategies for

a particular reading

2.2.1.2 Students’ roles in a reading lesson

Nuttal (2000:33) points out several main roles for the students in a reading lesson First, students must take an active part in learning: this is the first and foremost responsibility of the learner They have to be active and take charge of what they do Second, students monitor comprehension: they need to understand how texts work and what they do when they read And they must be able to monitor their own comprehension by recognizing that they do not understand a text and finding out why and adopting a strategy that will improve the problem Next, students learn text talk: good readers have to know how to carry on a dialogue with the text They can promote this skill by learning to talk about the texts in class; they have to make the most of the opportunity by joining in the activities the teachers plan for this purpose Then, students have to take the risk of making mistakes because a mistake is an opportunity to learn Finally, they learn not to cheat themselves: learning to read is learning to give students enormous advantages in life It may lead to a better job, 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

2.2.1.3 The roles of reading texts

Teaching and learning reading will not be carried out without reading texts They are a means to introduce new lexical and grammatical items as well as phonetic of the target language Through reading texts, students can enrich their background knowledge Reading texts are often accompanied with reading tasks which act as guide for teachers and students to deal with the reading process TALO, TAVI, TASP, in literature language teaching are three acronyms that have been used to describe texts A TALO (text as a linguistic object) is used for language work especially grammar or vocabulary A TAVI

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(text as a vehicle for information) has a different focus Information within the text is seen more important than the language Students should understand the overall meaning of a text instead of the finer points of detail And a TASP (text as a springboard for production) means using a text as a springboard for another task- usually a reading or writing task Different text types require different teaching methods For example, grammar- translation and Audiolingualism methods are often used with TALO and communicative approach fits well with TAVI and TASP Besides, when teaching reading and designing reading tasks, the teacher should take the points that Grellet (1981:20) suggests into consideration: language of the text; the content of the text and its vocabulary and grammatical structures

2.2.2 Stages of teaching a reading lesson

In the light of the recent and widely accepted communicative approach, it is common practice that a reading lesson consists of three stages: pre- reading, while- reading and post- reading Each stage, of course, has its own characteristics and time allocation that will be discussed in details as follows:

2.2.2.1 Pre- reading stage

Various things should be done before reading a text, which makes it easier for students to understand the text and help them focus attention on it as they read Williams (1984:37) suggests three purposes of the pre- reading stage Firstly, it aims at introducing and arousing interest in the topic Secondly, it supports to promote the learners by giving a reason for reading The last aim is to provide some language preparation for the text Normally, pre- reading phase lasts from two to ten minutes depending on each lesson Pre- reading activities may include presenting some of new words in the text, giving a brief introduction to the text and giving guiding questions Such techniques as using pictures, predicting from the titles, guessing and brainstorming can also be applied to see what students have already know

2.2.2.2 While- reading stage

According to Williams (1984:38), while- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson The first aim of this stage is to help understanding the writer‟s purpose The second is to help understanding the text structure and the last aim is to clarify the text content Teachers, at the while- reading stage, need to help their students comprehend the text thoroughly while students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc to understand the text as well as the writer‟s purposes conveyed through the reading text And time allocation for this stage is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson

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2.2.2.3 Post- reading stage

This is the final phase in a reading lesson and it is the time for students‟ production “The post- reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests or views” (Williams 1984:39)

Teachers can apply such activities as discussion of questions, reproducing the text, playing, gap- filling and giving personal ideas on the theme of the text in this stage It normally takes ten or fifteen minutes to complete all activities at this stage

role-In conclusion, the three stages mentioned above are essential for teaching a reading lesson However, it is not necessary to follow all these steps mechanically on every occasion In some cases, teachers are able to adapt these stages and time allocation in order to suit their students‟ level, interest, the situation and the reading text

2.2.3 Some common teaching methods utilized at three stages of a reading lesson 2.2.3.1 Pre-reading

Various teaching methods can be employed at pre-reading stage in order to introduce and arouse students‟ interest in the topic as well as provide them with some language preparation for the text Followings are the ones frequently used by high school teachers:

Giving a brief introduction to the text

This means that the teacher gives a brief (two or three sentences) introduction to the content of the text Needless to say, introducing the text briefly is beneficial to the readers because it can recall any information that they may already know about the topic, increase their interest in the topic and thereby motivate them to read the text In addition, if the text

is introduced, it will also review or introduce the relevant vocabulary for that topic Nuttall (2000: 157) points out that a good introduction should have the following qualities First, it makes students want to read the text Second, it helps the students relate the text to their own experience, aims and interest Next, it involves the students actively but does not tell them anything they can find out by reading the text Finally, it is usually short

Pre- teaching new vocabulary and grammatical structures

The teacher sometimes needs to pre-teach certain new or difficult words and grammatical structures appearing in the reading text as these words and structures may make it difficult for the students to understand the text However, it is unnecessary to present all the new words in a text since the students can guess the meaning from the context- an important skill when dealing with reading According to Nutall (1998), when introducing the text, the

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teacher needs to present key language items in the context of the introduction as it is more effective than presenting them as isolated items To present the new items in the text, the teacher can use visual aids, language games, synonyms, antonyms and definition or explanation

Using a brainstorming web

It is a kind of group work activity Each group must take a brainstorming web and write the title of the article in the center Then a group leader must be appointed so as to complete the following duties: make sure everyone speaks English only; make sure everyone contributes (speaks); be the writer for the group in filling the brainstorming web

Asking pre-reading questions

Pre-reading questions or guiding questions are comprehension questions raised orally or given on the board before students read the text It is evident that these questions are necessary to the students because “they give students a reason to read and lead them to the main points of the text” (Doff, 1998:61) Guiding questions should be concerned with general meaning or with the most important points of a text and not focus on minor details More importantly, pre-reading questions should be fairly easy to answer and not too long When these questions are given, students need to make use of their guessing ability to answer It is one way of motivating them to read the text and making the reading more purposeful Pre-reading questions can be multiple-choice, yes/no or “wh” questions

Predicting the content of the text

It is good for students to make a prediction about the content of the text before being asked

to read the passage It stands to reason that prediction assists the students to activate their background knowledge relevant to the topic and give them reason for reading Consequently, the students‟ motivation is created The teacher can make the students anticipate the content by posing questions, setting the tasks, using the title or pictures available in the text and using key words and phrases from the text

Pair or group discussion

Discussion in pairs and in groups before reading a passage is useful for the students as it encourages them to think about the topic and to increase their interest in the text To do this, the class should be divided into pairs or groups of three or four based on the difficulty level of the text The group can be of mixed ability with both the active and the shy Obviously, having a short discussion is of great use not only for the students‟ interaction with each other but also for their improvement in speaking skill Moreover, discussion may

be taken when the students are equipped with guiding questions or discussing points

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2.2.3.2 While-reading

Reading aloud

Reading aloud at while reading stage is traditional method The teacher can read aloud the text herself as a model for the students or ask them to read aloud the text A person who reads aloud and comprehends the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways Students whose language skills are limited are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling: simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it, and it is boring for other students to listen to There are two ways to use reading aloud productively in the language classroom First, the teacher reads aloud to the students as they follow along silently S/he has the ability to use inflection and tone to help them hear what the text is saying Following along as the teacher reads will help students move from word-by-word reading to reading in phrases and thought units, as they do in their first language Second, use the "read and look up" technique With this technique, a student reads a phrase or sentence silently as many times

as necessary, then looks up (away from the text) and tells the teacher what the phrase or sentence says This encourages students to read for ideas, rather than for word recognition

Translation

Teachers can ask their students to translate the text into Vietnamese at while-reading stage This method can help students understand the text thoroughly It makes extensive use of the students‟ knowledge of the mother tongue English is taught with the help of the mother tongue Words, phrases and sentences are freely translated into Vietnamese This can help make both teachers and students feel at home and comfortable However, it takes too much time, especially with a very long and difficult text and it cannot develop students‟ reading skills like guessing, skimming and scanning

Using comprehension questions

These are the questions related to the main ideas or the details of the reading passage to check students‟ comprehension Students work individually or in pairs, in groups to answer the questions from the teacher or from the textbook Students are encouraged to check and compare the answers with each other before the teacher gives feedback Comprehension

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questions can show the teacher how well students have understood the text and what needs

to be more fully explained These questions focus the students‟ attention on the main points and lead them to think about the meaning of the text There are two ways of using comprehension questions The teacher can ask the students to read the text intensively first and then answer the questions or the teacher asks students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer In everyday reading situations, readers have a purpose for reading before they start That is, they know what comprehension questions they are going to need to answer before they begin reading To make reading assessment in the language classroom more like reading outside of the classroom, therefore, the teacher should allow

students to review the comprehension questions before they begin to read the passage

2.2.3.3 Post- reading

After the students have understood the text completely, the teacher can use the following methods at post- reading stage to help students consolidate their reading and further practice

Summarizing the reading text

It is common practice for the teacher to ask students to summarize the text This method is good for students as it helps them to remember better the main content of the reading

passage and generalize the whole reading process

Using discussion

The teacher can give students some questions related to the reading text and students work

in pairs or in groups to have discussion Through this activity, students can understand more about the topic and the content of the text

Giving personal ideas on the theme of the text

The teacher is able to ask the students to find more about the topic on their own This assists students to relate all their existing knowledge about the topic to the content of the text and share it with the whole class This method is especially useful in the cases that students are really interested in expressing their own background knowledge

Using word games

This method can be used at the post-reading stage for students‟ vocabulary consolidation The teacher should design the word games based on the new vocabulary and grammatical structures in the reading text Students are encouraged to take part in the word games voluntarily; therefore they will become more confident and active Though it often takes

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much time to design and to perform this kind of task, it is an effective way to revise vocabulary Moreover, through using word games, the interaction among students in the classroom can be promoted; they are brought closer to each other And a better studying environment can be created This is a very important factor to help bring good learning results

Apart from the above methods, the teacher can use other tasks like gap-filling, multiple- choice questions, role-playing and translating

2.3 Attitudes and their impacts in teaching and learning

 Definitions of attitudes

Numerous definitions of attitudes have been made by researchers Allport (1954) defines that an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‟s response to all objects and situations with which it is related Gardner (1985:10) considers attitudes as components of motivation which refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning and language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language According to him, the motivation to learn a foreign language is determined by basic predisposition and personality characteristics such as the learners‟ attitudes towards foreign people in general, and the target group and language in particular, motives for learning and generalized attitudes

 The impacts of attitudes in learning and teaching

Gardner and Lamber (1972) point out “success in mastering a foreign language would depend not only on intellectual capacity and language aptitude, but on one‟s attitudes towards representatives of that language as well” Attitudes influence learning: positive attitudes are likely to result in students‟ motivation, which leads to better learning; and the students‟ learning will suffer from negative attitudes (Edwards, 1982 cited in Gibb, 1998) Slopsky (1989:211) claims that attitudes “influence the development of motivation and have more specific effects, so attitudes appear to carry into particular motivation” Obviously, the more motivation a learner has, the more time s/he will spend learning an aspect of the language

Similarly, the approach that teachers use in the classroom depends on their attitudes towards it Doukas (1996) assumes that teachers‟ educational attitudes and theories, although unconsciously held, have an effect on their classroom behavior, influence what students actually learn and are a potent determinant of teachers‟ teaching style He also

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emphasizes that teacher‟ attitudes are seen to play crucial role in determining the implementation of an approach If teachers hold positive attitudes to a theory of teaching, they are considered being good for both language learning and teaching They will be

better and help students‟ learning very much

2.4 Previous Studies

There have been many studies on teaching English in general and teaching reading in particular Follows are some of the studies focusing on reading activities and the teaching

of reading that the researcher has found and used as the models for her study

Dao Thu Huong (2007) carried out a study on “How to improve reading comprehension of the 10th –form students at Le Hong Phong High School” The findings from her questionnaires for the teachers and students show that most of the teachers and students are aware of the important role of reading Their results of teaching and learning reading, however, still far from the goal of learning English set by the MOET for some reasons which are the lack of students‟ motivation, the students‟ poor background knowledge, their inadequate reading strategies and teachers‟ old- fashioned method From these findings, the author suggested some techniques to improve the teaching and learning of reading at

Le Hong Phong High School

Tran Thi Ha (2003) conducted an investigation into the methods for developing reading skills to final year army officer trainees of English at the Military Academy of Science She found out some problems in teaching and learning texts in Effective Reading at the Military Academy of Science, and then she suggested methods, which are thought to be appropriate for reading teaching skills to final year students at the Military Academy of Science.In order to investigate the reality of teaching and learning reading at National Economics University, Nguyen Thi Huyen (2006) carried out a survey research among 10 teachers and 120 second- year students at this university The results from the questionnaires and the classroom observation revealed that the teaching and learning reading English at National Economic University are not effective The students are not equipped with necessary skills to become successful readers Inefficient teaching methods utilized by teachers are considered to be the main cause This thesis also comes up with several suggestions to train students to become efficient readers

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2.5 Sub-conclusion

It is clearly acknowledged that reading teaching methods have great influence on students‟ learning Suitable methods can help readers to achieve success in learning reading In this chapter, different aspects related to reading and teaching reading were presented, including the definitions of reading, kinds of reading, factors in teaching and learning reading and stages of a reading lesson What is more important is that some common teaching methods utilized at three stages of a reading lesson, attitudes as well as their impacts in teaching and learning were mentioned Finally, some previous studies used as the models for this study were presented This literature review will serve as theoretical basic for the study which will be presented in the next chapters

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CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the research methodology including the description of the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures

3.1 Subjects of the study: There are two groups of subjects in this study:

 English teachers

YTHS has totally 8 English teachers (2 males and 6 females) including the researcher, aged from 25 to 52 Only two of them graduated from VNU,CFL, two others were trained in Thai Nguyen College of Education The eldest one used to be a teacher of Russian and the rest attended in- service ELT training courses None of them has master degree All of them have ever taught TIENG ANH 11 textbook and four are teaching grade 11 (2009-2010)

 The grade 11 students

The second group of subject is 124 grade 11 students chosen randomly from classes: 11A1, 11A2, 11A4 and 11A8 (2009-2010) at YTHS They are all at the age of 16 or 17 They have learned English for four years at different secondary schools in Yen The and Tan Yen districts Only a few of these students intend to take entrance exam to university with English

3.2 Reading sections in TIENG ANH 11 textbook

Like TIENG ANH 10, every unit in TIENG ANH 11 begins with a reading section, which

is aimed at developing students‟ reading skills, getting them accustomed to the topic and providing language input so that they can speak, listen and write better in the following lessons The length of each reading passage is 240 - 270 words The reading parts are presented with various colored pictures to raise students‟ interests in the reading topic A reading lesson is taught in three stages: Before you read, while you read and after you read

“Before you read” helps students get involved in the topic and content of the reading passage, presents some new vocabulary required for their comprehension “While you read” consists of two or three tasks that require students to read for main ideas or details, finally grasp the content of the text “After you read” focuses on consolidating students‟ comprehension by such activities as summarizing, retelling the reading passage

3.3 Data collection instruments

In order to collect reliable and valid data, three different instruments: teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire, classroom observation and teacher post- observation interviews were used in this study The questionnaires were designed with references to Wajryb (1992), Dao Thu Huong (2007), Nguyen Thi Huyen (2006) and Tran Thi Ha (2003)

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3.3.1 Questionnaire for Teachers

Questionnaire for teachers (see appendix 1) composed of 5 closed questions was delivered

to 8 teachers of English at YTHS Question 1 was used to find out teachers‟ assessment of the reading section relating reading topics, length of the texts, difficulty level of language knowledge and reading tasks, and visual aids Question 2 was designed to investigate what reading teaching methods utilized by teachers in reading lessons It was divided into 3 stages of teaching reading including 10 items teaching methods in pre- reading, 5 items in while- reading and 4 items in post- reading Question 3 was to get information on teachers‟ opinions towards the importance of reading components Question 4 aimed to find

teachers‟ difficulties in teaching reading

3.3.2 Questionnaire for students

In order to investigate the students‟ assessment of the reading section, their attitudes towards the teaching methods utilized by teachers and their difficulties in reading lessons, the questionnaire for students was designed (see appendix 2) It has three questions Question 1 is to investigate the students‟ assessment of the reading section Question 2 asks students to rate their preference towards teaching methods used by teachers using a scale of 1 to 3 (1 being most favorite, 2 being next favorite and 3 being least favorite) And question 3 aims to identify the students‟ difficulties in reading lessons This questionnaire

was administered to 124 grade 11 students at YTHS

3.3.3 Classroom observation

According to Wajryb (1992), classroom observation is a means of collecting data about what is going on in the classroom, a complex arena with many processes co-occurring and overlapping The researcher has chosen classroom observation to collect on what reading teaching methods used by teachers and how often these teaching methods were used The information from teacher questionnaire was used as the framework for classroom observation (See appendix 4) Classroom observation would provide the researcher information on the students‟ attitudes towards teaching methods and if there was congruence between what teachers‟ self- reported information and what they actually did

in the classroom Observations of reading lessons delivered by 4 different teachers were done in classes 11A1, 11A2, 11A4 and 11 A8, two 45-minute periods for each class in 5 weeks from February 22 to March 27, 2009, which makes a total of 8 reading periods Due

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to the lack of audio recording and camera, the researcher had to take notes during the observations The classroom observation sheet (see appendix 4) helps the researcher to follow the procedures of the reading lessons

3.3.4 Post- observation interviews

The post-observation interviews were conducted to further investigate the rationale behind the teachers‟ delivery of reading tasks in the classroom Four interviews with the 4 teachers, whose lessons had been observed, were conducted informally at different time in the staff meeting room Each interview lasted about 25 to 30 minutes and was conducted in

Vietnamese so that the teachers could express their ideas more freely

3.4 Procedures

As mentioned in 3.3., three different data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaires for teachers and students, classroom observation and teacher post- observation interviews First, two survey questionnaires were administered to 8 teachers of English and 124 grade 11 students on the first week of the second term (details of these questionnaires were given in 3.3.1 and 3.3.2) All the subject students were asked to get together in the school‟s meeting room to complete the questionnaires The researcher asked the teachers who taught each class to collect the questionnaires the following day The questionnaire for students was translated into Vietnamese to ensure the students‟ thorough understanding of the questions and to save time After the data from teacher questionnaire had been collected and analyzed, the researcher started conducting classroom observations

on the second week of the second term I first informed the 4 teachers of my research purpose and obtained their permission to observe their lessons Then I worked out an observational schedule with each teacher; then finally- arrangements were confirmed After the 8 reading periods had been observed, the 4 teachers were invited to interviews

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CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter consists of two main parts: the first part is data analysis; the second one discusses the outcomes of the data analysis

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Findings from Questionnaire for teachers

 Teachers’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook

Data from the teachers‟ questionnaire shows that teachers highly appreciate the reading topics and visual aids provided in the new textbook in term of diversity and closeness to real situation (see table 1)

Reading topics are closed to real situation 3

The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading

texts is too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas 8 The reading tasks designed are too difficult for grade 11 students and

Various visual aids (pictures, charts…) are provided in reading sections

to raise students‟ interests in the topic 8

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 Methods utilized by teachers in three stages of the reading lesson

 Pre-reading stage

teachers

2 Presenting and explaining new words in the reading text 8

3 Making students predict the con tent of the text 4

4 Presenting and explaining new grammatical structures in the reading text 7

5 Asking students to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topic 3

6 Asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text 6

7 Using group discussion about topic of the text 2

8 Using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text 3

9 Making students brainstorm words, structures or ideas related to the topic of the text 2

Table 2: Methods used at pre- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 2 summarizes the information about methods used by teachers in the pre- reading

stage These methods are divided into two groups namely the traditional method and the

„new‟ one Traditional methods are giving a brief introduction, presenting and explaining

new words and new grammatical structures in the reading texts The other category- „new‟

method is composed of predicting about the texts such as making students predict the

content of the text, asking them to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topics,

asking lead-in questions, making students brainstorm related words, structures and ideas

and using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text As can be seen in the table, seven

out of eight teachers answered that they most frequently used the traditional methods at the

first stage, only four out of eight teachers used the „new‟ ones Using visual aids were

employed by three teachers because of the fact that this method takes time to prepare

Obviously, the teachers at YTHS seem to focus more on providing their students with as

many new words and structures as possible so that their students can understand the

reading text better while spend less time preparing students to activate their background

knowledge about the topic during the first stage of a reading lesson

Formatted Table Formatted: Centered

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 While- reading stage

teachers

2 Asking students to read aloud the reading text 4

3 Asking students to translate the reading text into Vietnamese 4

4 Asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions 7

5 Asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find

the answer

3

Table 3: Methods used at while- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 3 presents the information about methods reported by teachers at while- reading stage These

methods and „new‟ one Teacher reading aloud, asking students to read aloud the reading text,

asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions belong to the

to find the answer is the „new‟ one As shown in table 3, the teachers seem to prefer the grammar-

translation methods in their teaching For example, seven out of eight teachers had the

of them still asked their students to read aloud the reading text and translate it into

pronunciation and meaning of individual words, but not encourage them much to speed up

to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer

 Post- reading stage

N Teaching methods used at post- reading strategies N of teachers

3 Asking students to find out more about the topic on their own 2

4 Asking students to translate it into Vietnamese 4

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time 6

Table 4: Methods used at post- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 4 presents the information about methods that teachers used in the post- reading stage The

traditional methods are asking students to summarize the text and asking students to translate it into

Vietnamese The „new‟ methods are asking students to have discussion and asking students to find

out more about the topic on their own As can be seen in table 4, six out of eight teachers reported that

they did nothing at the post- reading stage because of time constraints Obviously, 45 minutes were

spent on pre- and while- reading activities As shown in table 1, the reading tasks are too difficult for

students and take too much time to complete The result from table 4 shows that if the teachers had

enough time to deal with the post-reading activities, six out of eight teachers asked students to

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summarize the text As for them, it was a good way to help the student‟s gain better understanding

and memorizing the text And 4 out of them asked students to translate it into Vietnamese It is not a

good way to teach reading Only two out of eight teachers controlled the class by asking students to

find out more about the topic on their own and three out of them asked students to discuss It cannot

be denied that the teachers used traditional methods much more often than the „new‟ ones

 Teachers’ perceptions towards the importance of reading components

(1- not important at all, 2- not really, 3- so so, 4- important, 5- very important)

Table 5: Teachers’ opinions on the importance of reading text components (N= 8)

As can be seen in table 5, the majority of the teachers (6 out of 8 teachers) realized that

main ideas and topics of the reading passage are very important in reading lessons, but they

paid less attention to the detailed content of the text while teaching reading (Only 2 out of

eight teachers admitted that detailed content of the text was very important) Five out of

eight teachers reported that new structures and vocabulary are important to students‟

understanding of the text Clearly, teachers‟ perception of the importance of reading text

components partly affects their teaching methods They focused much on presenting and

explaining new words and grammatical structures at pre-reading stage

 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading

teachers

2 Students‟ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge 7

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3 Time limitation 4

4 Students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures 8

5 Students‟ lack of appropriate reading strategies 8

Table 6: Problems teachers face with when teaching reading (N= 8)

Table 6 indicates the problems the teachers have to face with when teaching a reading lesson All the

teachers at YTHS agreed that the students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures and lack of

appropriate reading strategies caused difficulty Apart from vocabulary and grammatical structures,

appropriate reading strategies play a very important role in reading since they help students finish

their reading tasks in time without reading all the words written in the text Seven out of eight teachers

responded that their students‟ background knowledge and world knowledge were poor It cannot be

denied that students‟ background knowledge and world knowledge greatly affect their reading

comprehension Readers who possesses rich prior knowledge about the topic of a reading often

understand the reading better than their classmates with low prior knowledge Ethnic group students

in remote and mountainous areas like those in Yen The district have little chance to have access to

mass media, therefore their background knowledge of many fields is quite limited Only three out of

eight teachers agreed that students‟ lack of motivation cause difficulties for their reading teaching

Half of the subject teachers stated that they could not teach reading effectively because time is

limited They often had no time for post- reading activities Clearly, the biggest problems in teaching

reading lessons mainly come from the students‟ poor English proficiency These students might not

pay enough attention to learning English at secondary schools

4.1.2 Findings from Questionnaire for students

 Students’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook

(N=124 students)

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0 pt

Formatted Table

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2 The length of reading texts is…

a Suitable to grade 11th students‟ level

b Too long

c Too short

3 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the

reading texts is…

a Suitable to grade 11th students‟ level

b Too difficult for majority of students in mountainous areas

c Easy

4 The reading tasks designed are …

a Too difficult for grade 11th students

b Various and suitable to most of the grade 11th students

c Take too much time

5 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in

reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you

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0 pt

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Line spacing: 1,5 lines

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2 The length of reading texts is…

a.Suitable to grade 11th students‟ level

b.Too long

c.Too short

3 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the

reading texts is…

a.Suitable to grade 11th students‟ level

b.Too difficult for majority of students in mountainous areas

c.Easy

4 The reading tasks designed are …

a.Too difficult for grade 11th students

b.Various and suitable to most of the grade 11th students

c.Take too much time

5 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in

reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you

When asked to give comments on the reading section in the new textbook, 85% of the

respondents answered that various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) provided in

reading sections raised their‟ interests in the reading topic They also had positive attitudes

towards the reading topics (34% of respondents considered reading topics various and 27%

said they were close to real situations) However, the reading texts were seen too long by

70% of the respondents; 74% reported that the language knowledge (vocabulary and

structures) in the reading texts was too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous

areas It is clear that due to the lack of vocabulary and new structures, the students find it

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very difficult to deal with a long reading text full of new words Also, because of the lack

of appropriate reading strategies, 65% of the students stated that the while-reading tasks

took too much time This is the reason why many teachers cannot complete the

post-reading activities as being planned The above results indicate that the teachers of English

at YTHS need to be very flexible when employing the new textbook They can remove

some too difficult tasks and focus on the suitable ones

 Students’ attitudes towards the teaching methods utilized by teachers

The data collected from the student questionnaire shows students‟ attitudes towards

teaching used by teachers in the three teaching stages of the reading lesson

 Students’ attitudes towards pre- reading methods utilized by teachers

Pre-reading Most favorite Next favorite Least favorite

1 Giving a brief introduction 30%

2 Presenting and explaining new

words in the reading text

35 % (44 students)

50 % (62 students)

15 % (18 students)

3 Making students predict the

con tent of the text

20 % (24 students)

32 % (40 students)

48 % (60 students)

4 Presenting and explaining new

grammatical structures in the

reading text

44 % ( 54 students)

44%

(54 students)

12%

(14 students)

5 Asking students to survey the

reading text‟s title and heading

for the topic

6 Asking lead-in questions to

elicit discussion about the

reading topic of the text

7 Using group discussion about

topic of the text

24 % (28 students)

34% (42 students)

42%

(52 students)

8 Using visual aids to introduce

the topic of the text

68 % (86 students)

23%

(30 students)

9%

(12 students)

9 Making students brainstorm

words, structures or ideas

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