The relationship between first-year Nghe An College students' motivation to read and their use of reading strategies = Mối liên hệ giữa động lực đọc của sinh vi20150227

Activities applied by teachers by frequency Table 4: The necessary reading skill to enhance reading ability in the view of the teachers Table 5: The distribution of the freshmen‟s reason

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of tables and figures vii

List of abbreviations ………viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationales of the study 1

1.2 The aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Methods of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATUREREVIEW 4

2.1 Introduction

2.2 An overview of motivation 4

2.2.1 Definitions of motivation 4

2.2.2 The role of motivation in second language learning 5

2.2.3 Types of motivation 5

2.2.3.1 Integrative vs instrumental motivation 5

2.2.3.2 Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation 6

2.3 An overview of the nature of reading 7

2.3.1 Definitions of reading 7

2.3.2 Types of reading 8

2.3.3 Factors affecting students‟ motivation in the learning enviroment 10

2.3.3.1 Parental influences 10

2.3.3.2 The teacher 10

2.3.3.3 The reading texts 11

2.3.3.4 Feedback 13

2.4 Motivation in reading 13

2.4.1 The importance of motivation in reading 13

2.4.2 The role of the teacher and the students in teaching and learning Reading 13

2.4.2.1 The role of the teacher 13

2.4.2.2 The role of the students 14

2.5 Reading Comprehension Strategies 15

2.5.1 What is a Teaching Strategy? 15

2.5.2 Nature of Reading Comprehension Strategies 15

2.5.2.1 Key Features, Communicative Competence as the Major Goal and Greater Self-Direction for Readers 15

2.5.2.2 Other Features of the Nature of Reading Comprehension Strategies 17

2.6 The relationship between Motivation and the use of reading strategies 18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 19

3.1 Introduction 19

3.2 Setting of the study 19

3.3 Participants 19

3.4 Instruments data collection 20

3.5 Data collection procedures 20

3.5.1 Demographic information 20

3.5 2 Analytical procedures 21

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 23

4.1 Introduction 23

4.2 Findings and discussions 23

4.2.1 Results from teacher‟s survey questionnaire (see Appendix 2) 23

4.2.1.1 Teacher„s personal information 23

4.2.1.2 Teacher‟s opinions towards students‟ motivation 23

4.2.2 Results from students‟ survey motivation 27

4.2.2.1 Types of students‟ motivation in learning reading 27

4.2.2.2 Factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning reading 28

4.2.3 Results of the relationship between motivation and reading strategies: 28

4.3 Recommendations 30

4.3.1 The teachers 30

4.3.1.1 Improving the teacher‟s roles 30

4.3.1.2 “Top ten” principles for teaching reading(Adapting by Ray Williams) 32

4.3.1.3.Basic principles of motivation exist that are applicable to learning in any situation (Adapting by Matthew Weller, Los Angeles Business Journal, March 14, 2005): 34

4.3.2 The students 35

4.3.2.1 The role of reading skill to the students‟ learning English and future career 35

4.3.2.2 The role of reading materials to the motivation for learning reading skill 36

4.3.2.3 The students‟comments on their current reading lessons 36

CHAPTER 5 : CONCLUSION 38

5.1 Conclusions 38

5.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 38

REFERENCES 40

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for teachers

Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for students

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

NJTTC : Nghe An Junior Teachers Training College

SPSS : Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Software for MS Window Release 10.0)

TALO Text a linguistic object

TAVI Text as vehicle for information

PQ4R Preview, Question, Read, Recite, Reflect, and Review

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: Respondents by gender

Figure 2: Respondents by age

Figure 3: Techniques to motivate

Table 1 Teacher‟s opinions on student‟s motivation of the reading stages

Table 2 Problems teachers facing in teaching reading

Table 3 Activities applied by teachers by frequency

Table 4: The necessary reading skill to enhance reading ability in the view of the teachers Table 5: The distribution of the freshmen‟s reasons for learning reading

Table 6: Factors affecting students‟ motivation in reading

Table 7: Relationship between motivation and reading strategies

Table 8: Relationship between motivation and reading strategies

CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

English nowadays has been a language of internationalization so it is taking a very important role in most fields in personal and professional life as well because of its popularity in the world Being a student in the new era She/he has not only opportunities

to approach scientific and technological achievements but also challenges of being backwards due to her/his knowledge, and ability

To master English, the students need to grasp all four skills that are closely related

to one another: Listening, speaking, reading and writing Among these skills, reading is an important one because it does not only help student develop other language skills, but also

provides them knowledge on the target language According to Byrne,“reading is an important way of expanding the students’ receptive knowledge of the language and in terms of classroom activities, it is an effective way of simulating students to talk and write” As we read, we go back to the time, pass across the oceans and barriers of

language, religions and cultures Through reading, we can escape into the mind of a philosopher, observe with a scientist, stay with scholar, analyze with a critic and live through a novel or a play

Reading is one of the most important skills in learning English Being a teacher of English at Nghe An college, I realized that most of students face many problems in learning reading This is due to the fact that reading lesson is so boring that student often feel tired and stressed Students often experience the lack of reading strategies which are essential for them to overcome the challenges in the classroom so motivation is one of the key factors that determine student ‟success or failure in language learning One of the major concerns of educators and parents is motivating students so that they work at the best of their abilities ( Guthrie, Solomon 1997) The key is to motivate them in such a way that they want to do the task that we are assigning For this reason, I decided on choosing

“The relationship between first –year Nghe An college students’ motivation to read and their use of reading strategies”

1.2 Aims of the study

* To identify types of motivation possessed by the first-year-college students in learning reading

* To investigate some factors affecting students' motivation in learning reading

* The major purpose of this study is to find out whether there is any relationship between motivation and use of reading strategies and which type of motivation will influence students' choice of reading strategies

1.3 The research questions

1 What are the types of motivation possessed by the first -year -students in reading

learning?

2 Is there a relationship between the types of motivation (integrative motivation

and instrumental motivation) and learners' choice of reading strategies?

3 What are the factors affecting students' motivation in learning reading?

1.4 Scope of the study

Motivation is one of the factors that may maintain a strong influence on the way language learners use learning strategies This study, however, is designed to investigate the relationship between students' motivation to read and their use of reading strategies Besides, the sample of the study was drawn from the first –year- students at the Department of English, NGHE AN college

1.5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims mentioned above, data were collected through the survey questionnaire

The quantitative research method is used with the aim of obtaining information on students‟ motivation when they learn reading to find out the relationship between students‟ motivation to read and their use of reading strategies

1.6 Significance of the study

Motivation is one of the key issues in language learning and it has long been believed to have a good impact on success or failure of a language learners.The study is significant for the following reason:

It studies types of motivation which are possessed by most of the students in English Department, Nghe An college

It investigates a relationship between the types of motivation (integrative and instrumental motivation) and learners' choice of reading strategies

It points out some suggestions for the teachers to improve the textbook, and some techniques to help motivate learners

1.7 Design of the study

The study consists of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion

Chapter 1 introduces rationale, aims of the study, the research questions as well as

scope, significance of the study and methods of the study

Chapter 2 deals with an overview of the theoretical background of the research It

is concerned with the issues relevant to the topic of the research motivation and reading strategies, classification of the reading, motivation in reading, the importance of motivation

in reading, factors affecting students‟ motivation in the learning environment, the role of the teacher and the students in teaching and learning, reading comprehension strategies, the relationship between motivation and the use of reading strategies

Chapter 3 presents the method used in the study including situation analysis,

instruments and the procedure of data analysis and shows the detailed results together with

a comprehensive analysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires

Chapter 4 gives some major findings, discussions of finding, and

recommendations to reading motivation activities and techniques employed by the teachers

at NJTTC, strategies for developing reading skill to first -year -students at Nghe An college

Chapter 5, the last chapter of the study, is the conclusion where all the main

contents of the study are summarized and limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are presented

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

A number of cognitive psychological view points offer quite a different perspective

Motivation is one affective component that is influences by instruction Motivation

is a function of students‟ perception of the value of information ( Mc Combs 1996 ) Wittrock (1986) claimed that motivation as the process of initiating, sustaining and directing activity

According to Little wood,W.(1998) pointed out the complex phenomenon of motivation from many different components

In second language learning as in every other field of human learning, motivation

is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how

much energy he devotes to it and how long he perceives It is a complex phenomenon and includes many components the individual drive, need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience and so on (1998: 53)

Mean while, the working committee on motivation in foreign language learning at the North East Conference of 1970 defines Motivation

…a force or incentive within a person, that person’s needs, ideas, organic state and emotions

… the process of providing wits a motive or motives, the stimulation and maintenance of an active interest in foreign languages (North aEast Conference report

1970.34)

2.2.2 The role of motivation in second language learning

Motivation is a key factor is successful language learning Oxford and Shearin

(1996: 121-122) stated that: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often students use second language learning strategies how much students interact wits native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned, how well they

do on curriculum – related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain second language skills often language study is over " therefore motivation is crucial for second language learning

Attitude and motivation have often cited by language learning theorists as well as practicing language teachers to account for varvation in attainment anong individual learning a second lang So, Ramage (1990) pointed out the predictability of motivational and attitudinal factors in the continuation of foreign language study beyond the second years

Accoding to Caroll (1962) motivation decides the amount of time a learner will

spend on the task of language learning She started “the more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language” ( Carol 1962)

Motivation is one affective component that is influenced by instruction Motivation

is a function of student's perceptions of the value of information ( Mc Combs,1996)

To conclude, motivation plays an important role in teaching and baining, the teacher should know strategies to boost students‟ motive and to obtain success in teaching

2.2.3 Types of motivation

2.2.3.1 Integrative vs instrumental motivation

Motivation is an important factor in learning strategies It‟s necessary to identify the types of motivation that help assist in the successful acquisition of a second language

There are 2 types of motivation – integrative motivation and instrumental motivation

* Integrative motivation

According to Gardner,R and Lam bert ,W(1972:82) “ An integrative orientation involves an interest in learning an because of a sincere and personal interest in the people

and culture represented by the other language group”

Integrative motivation is a major factor that promotes the learner to develop that

language to operate socially in that society

Finegan (1999:568) pointed out "integrative motivation typically underlines

successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a native –like pronunciation"

* Instrumental motivation

In contrast to integrative motivation, instrumental motivation is known by the desire to gain something practical or concrete from the study of a foreign language Ellis

(1994) claimed "some functional reason such as to pass an examination, to get a better job

or to get a university place motivate learners to learn an L2 because it opens up

educational and economic opportunities for them (1994:75)

2.2.3.2 Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation

Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic

* Intrinsic motivation:

Intrinsic motivation is what learners bring to the learning motivation

Intrinsic motivation is known that the students wish to complete the task because they are interested refers to :motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake” (Woldkowski,1991) He means that activity itself is our benefit, so we do not need any other kinds of rewards or punishment He states that intrinsic motivation “is the natural tendency to seek out and conquer challenges as we pursue personal interests and exercise capabilities” The factors of support of intrinsic motivation: competence (feeling that you know how to do things), autonomy (being able to perform an activity by yourself without external help) and relatedness ( connection with your social environment like helping the others)

* Extrinsic motivation:

Harmer (2001:51) gives easily understandable definition that extrinsic motivation

“is caused by any number of outside factors such as: the nedd to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel”

Most writers agree that intrinsic and extrinsic interact with each other and play an important role in language learning As a result, learners can be either motivated by internal or external factors depending on the circumstances and conditions under which the activity is performed

Strategies to encourage students‟ motivation

2.3 An overview of the nature of reading

2.3.1 Definitions of reading

No one else reads exactly as we do In some ways, reading is a very personal activity which takes place in all different ways from reading newspapers, magazines, written tests, telephone directory, labels on medicine bottles, notices, ect The ability to read is such a natural part of human beings that they seldom try to define reading However there are still different points of view on the definition of reading

Reading is an important skill for English learners in today's world According to Harmer, it is the eyes and the brain to dominanly partcipate in the reading process The eyes are on messages and the brain then has to identify the meanings of those messages ( Harmer ( 1989:153)) So the speed of reading depends much on the mechanical process of looking and perceiving and it is the reader who decides how fast he wants to read the text

Sharing the same viewpoint on reading, Smith defined that “ reading is to understand author’s thought” (Smith (1985:102))

Carell Devine and Eskey (1983:13) claimed that “reading is a process in that it starts with linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning, which reader constructs There is, thus, an essential interaction between language and thought in reading The writer encodes thought in language and the reader decodes language to thought"

William (1984:2) pointed out that “reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written” It means that “merely reading aloud without understanding doesn’t count as reading”

“Reading is a tool, and its definition is influenced by the reader‟s purpose and the demands of the situation Trying to define reading in terms of one single function is like trying to define a hammer merely as something used for striking nails Hammers also used

to pry out nails, to shape metal, to force things that don‟t quite fit, and even crack nuts Imagination and situation work to define the function of a tool Simply put: reading is comprehending, interpreting, and applying textual material This definition implies that reading involves more than, and extends further than, the printed page The reader brings a great deal of information and perspective presented on the page.” (Manzo and Manzo)

Goodman pointed out that “Reading is a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language users, 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.” (Goodman, 1971:135)

In brief, each person can have a different definition of reading and we can not tell which is better because each of them focuses on one important matter of reading However,

we find that there is a close relationship between reading and understanding Therefore, being a language teacher, we must understand the nature of reading thoroughly to help our students read effectively

In 1948 an investigation on second language and teaching by Agard and Dunkel state:

Reading is an important skill of these foreign students Fortunately it is one in which most of them are well prepared when they come Reading is the skill in whish have had the most of practice and which suffers least from being taught by a teacher whose acquaintance with the foreign language is slight

2.3.2 Types of reading

There are a great deal of ways to classify reading such as the classification according to manners of reading and the classification according to the purposes of reading In this study the two kinds of reading mentioned are intensive reading and extensive reading

* Intensive reading

Intensive reading, usually done in class, is used on shorter texts in order to extract specific information by comprehension tasks-skimming, scanning, and “reading for detail”

Use intensive reading skills to grasp the details of a specific situation In this case, it is important that you understand each word, number or fact

According to Nuttall, Intensive reading “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” (Nuttall,

In doing intensive reading, the actual amount of time spent on reading is very little

as a lot of procedures such as listening to the teacher‟s instructions, reading comprehension questions, writing answers to comprehensive questions, discussing the content of the text, doing pos-reading activities.have to be followed

Reading speed is usually slower than faster as learners have to stop at some moments during their reading in the classroom to look up new words in dictionary, ask the teacher for a definition or analyze the text by reading it word-by word or sentence-by-sentence

Reading in intensive reading approach is not individual as learners are assumed to interact more with the teacher than with the text

What is meant by all the characteristics of intensive reading approach mentioned above is not that intensive reading is bad, only that it is limited in what it tries to do

* Extensive reading

Extensive reading usually takes place outside class and is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books Use extensive reading skills to improve your general knowledge of business procedures Do not worry if you understand each word Extensive reading will vary with student motivation and institutional resource Characterization of extensive reading is to contract it with intensive reading Intensive reading activities in the classroom

on texts which are usually not more than a page or so in the length are intended to train students in the strategies needed for successful reading Meanwhile, extensive reading

shows many opportunities to practice reading strategies and develop different type of knowledge Due to the importance of extensive reading in foreign language learning,

2.3.3 Factors affecting students’ motivation in the learning environment

2.3.3.1 Parental influences

It may be easy to forget that the students‟ motivation to learn in school context is strongly affected by certain people who are not directly involved in the school scene: students‟ parents Educational psychologists have long recognized that various family characteristics and practices are linked with school is generally thought to be motivation Gottfried et al,1994) According to Eccles et al.(1998) four parenting factors have been traditionally identified as significantly shaping student motivation;

* Developmentally appropriate timing of achievement demands/ pressure;

* High confidence in one‟s children‟s abilities;

* A supportive affective family climate;

* Highly motivated role models

Teachers have a very crucial role in the success or failures of each educational

system Galluzzo pointed out “one of the most often- expressed statements about teaching

is that nothing is more central to student learning than the quality of teacher” (Galluzzo,

2005, p142)

Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main necessary elements which create the teaching process In general, the role of the teacher is to provide students with knowledge and the best methods for learning effectively The teacher is a means to an end, that is, an instrument to see that learning takes place Besides this general function, teacher also has specific roles in teaching reading comprehension process Although the success in a reading class in how far the students learn without the teacher‟s help, it does not mean that there is nothing for teacher to do in a reading class In fact, there is a great deal Without help from the teacher, it is difficult for the students to be efficient readers

Firochiaro (1989:23) points out that “in a reading class, a teacher should help the students

comprehend printed materials and provide them with the knowledge and the ability to enable them to read other materials out of class” Obviously, in a reading class, the

teacher acts as a helper, and the students work actively

Nuttal (1982) also states that “there are two main things that a teacher should always remember in helping students The first is to provide the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities”

The teacher sometimes finds it difficult to select suitable reading material, because the first thing they have to do is to select a text which is at the right level of difficulty for the students A text which is too difficult will make them bored Secondly, selecting texts that interest the students is another important point to remember If the text provided is interesting, and the students enjoy reading it, they will be motivated to read more, and vice versa Thirdly, there should be variety in the range and type of exercises A text with many kinds of accompanying exercises probably covers many different skills

Besides, suitable activities the teacher provides can focus the students‟ attention of specific skills necessary for efficient reading Normally, there are three main activities in a reading comprehension text which are called pre-reading stage, while-reading stage, and post-reading stage, the teacher has to make students be aware of what they are going to read and do during the lesson At while-reading stage, the teacher‟s main function is to offer help to students if necessary And at post-reading stage, the teacher is considered as a guide or an adviser to help the students express their own ideas through their understanding

of the text

To sum up, the two main duties of the teacher in helping the students to be efficient readers are to provide suitable reading materials and suitable reading activities To fulfill his role, the teacher should know the reading skill that students need for reading

2.3.3.3 The reading texts

The reading texts play an important role to students‟motivation in reading in terms

of its level of challenge, its topic and content If the students are assigned to read the text beyond their language proficiency level, they become overwhelmed The students would also be frustrated and tired when encountering with a great deal of unknown words, complex sentence structures and so on In the case the topic of the text is not interesting and irrelevant to their experience and knowledge they may stop reading because they can not understand the meaning of the text enough to satisfy their expectations need or

interests It is a challenge for the teacher to select the text or exploit the texts in what ways that improve students‟ interests and motivation in reading

In general, if students enjoy what they read, the reading comprehension is the best achieved Although, it is said that “literature is caught, not taught”, the text must satisfied some criteria that catch up with the readers‟ interests with some relevance to their situation and context In terms of linguistic items, the vocabulary in the reading text must be of appropriate level with suitable density of idioms The complexity of grammar must not be too great Besides, the background of the text must be within the students‟ imaginative grasp

In summary, so far the literature related to the topic of the thesis as the theoretical backgrounds to the study has been reviewed in the chapter It has discusses the concepts and ideas concerning the issue of motivation in general and in SLL in particular, different approaches to motivated learners are also presented Different aspects relating to the learning and teaching of reading are mentioned Especially, the issues of motivation in reading such as the importance of motivation in reading and factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning reading are also considered The following chapter will analyze the situation which foster the need of doing this research and introduce the methodology conducted in the research

Even for initially reluctant learners, appropriate goals and objectives can give direction and the will to work on other words, improve motivation And any success in real communication can motivate But “an ability to communicate effectively in English” is such a huge, ill-defined goal, quite remote for most elementary learners Worthwhile and achievable short-term objectives can give the learners satisfaction and a sense of success as they work towards the main goal of their course

Even the most carefully planned activities will normally motivate learners only if they are related to their interests, needs, and aspiration You should try to find out what these are and plan lessons accordingly For example, teenage learners may want some work on communicating in English via the Internet, or activities using popular songs It is a good idea to consult with you learners about topics and activities, and get them to bring to class materials they are interested in

Topics can be a rich source of motivation in the English language classroom There are topics of personal interest, for example, music, films, cars, computers, the Internet,

pets, and sports If your learners are interested in Britain, the USA, or another speaking country, a coursebook with that country as the main theme can provide a good supply of topics You may also be able to use authentic materials from those countries, for example, magazine and newspaper articles, cassettes of song, and video of television programmes

English-2.3.3.4 Feedback

Feedback is another element which has impact on students‟ motivation Many teachers tend to think that they are authoritative in class and result of which is that they will immediately correct the students‟ errors whenever they are spotted If the students are always provided with such kind of feedback, they might apparently lose interest at some stage and become completely demotivated, Dornyei (1994) suggests that feedback should

be positive and students‟ errors should not be over emphasized

2.4 Motivation in reading

2.4.1 The importance of motivation in reading

Motivation to read independently appears to be a key component of reading success and should be a goal of reading instruction Teachers are not merely responsible for providing instruction in the mechanics of text and reading, they also bear responsibility for instilling in all students a desire to read independently from a variety of sources Although research has provided a wealth of information to inform instruction on themechanics of text, there are few findings from well-designed, experimental research studies to guide educators in motivating students to spend a great deal of time reading widely and independently

2.4.2.The role of the teacher and the students in teaching and learning Reading 2.4.2.1 The role of the teacher

We suggest that is may be of limited value merely to add stratery training as anorther element of the syllabus without considering the implications for teachers Simply adding learner training tasks to the language syllabus may result in little more than yet another curricular activity that learners perform because the teacher tells them to, resulting

in doubtflul long-term gains and not necessarily leading to autonomy

What is needed is a reorientation of teachers‟ roles First, teachers need to become effective mediators Second, they need to be able to take on such roles as advisors, facilitators, consultants, co-communicators, partners and joint problem-solvers Third,

teachers‟ attitudes towards the value of learning strategies is crucial, as this will inform everything that the teacher does and therefore pervade the delivery of the whole curriculum

We propose, therefore, an alternative perspective on the issue of strategy training The successful teacher may not be one who merely provides strategy implications of every language learning task that they give.Teachers would then habitually draw the attention of their learners to the processes they are going through in language learning, help them to develop an awareness of how they go about their learning, and seek, through the process of mediation, to gradually give control to their learners

This of course raises the question of how teachers can be taught to probide strategy training Equipping teachers with produres to follow is not likely to be sufficient It may be more important to help teachers to develop their own metacognitive awareness and to consider the implications of this for their day to-day teaching Such a heightened awareness should better inform teachers of the ways in which their learnes can be helped to develop a knowledge of their learning processes

2.4.2.2 The role of the students

Learners in classrooms characterized by a transmission model of learning are cast

in a relative passive role They are passengers, being carried forward in the learning experience by the teachers In language classroom operating within such a transmission mode, learners, practice patterns provided by teachers, textbooks, and tapes They are thus cast into passive, reproductive roles

In a reading lesson, the students play the role of the readers They need to understand how texts work and what they do when they read It is the fact that the student

is the heart of the reading lesson and the element which determines the success of a reading lesson Moreover, they also have to do other exercises and maybe they have to encounter and solve the difficulties by themselves In addition, the students can be the important element that helps teacher fullil his duties On the other hand, the students are the providers

of feedback to the teacher through their expression and understanding of the reading texts Without the students‟ feedback, the teacher does not know how to make the reading lesson become most effective Moreover, because the student is the heart of a reading lesson, all the teacher‟s activities are to provide the students with as much knowledge as possible If the teacher does not know how much knowledge his students can receive from his

reaching, he can not have appropriate method for his students to study effectively Therefore, the student may negotiate with the teacher find out the suitable method of study

as well as select appropriate reading materials and activities Furthermore, through the students‟ reflections, the teacher may find out his mistakes and draw up his own experience to teach better and perfect himself

2.5 Reading Comprehension Strategies

2.5.1 What is a Teaching Strategy?

“Strategy” in a general sense, refers to a “well-planned series of actions for achieving an aim” (Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman, 1995: 1244) Thus, a

teaching strategy is a conscious plan comprising a wide range of selected skills and

techniques, which is targeted at the achievement of an objective In a way, strategy is implementational since it is connected with how different types of learning and teaching activities are carried out in the classroom Due to this reason, it is not exaggerating to assume that an appropriate teaching strategy is vital to enhance learning as to encourage

students to activate their own learning styles (Dunn & Griggs, 1990)

2.5.2 Nature of Reading Comprehension Strategies

This section presents the nature of reading comprehension strategies which are depicted by key features and other features and subsequently summarizes into a figure at the end of the section

2.5.2.1 Key Features, Communicative Competence as the Major Goal and Greater Self-Direction for Readers

Communicative Competence as the Major Goal

All appropriate reading comprehension strategies are oriented toward the broad goal of communicative competence The development of communicative competence requires realistic interaction between readers and their materials for good understanding Reading comprehension strategies facilitate readers to participate actively in such authentic communication with the authors of the text Such strategies operate in both general and specific ways to encourage the development of communication competence

It is very clear to see how reading comprehension strategies stimulate the

development of communicative competence in general For instance, contextualizing

strategy helps readers to really put themselves into the historical, geographical and social conditions of the reading text As a result, it actually helps readers enhance their

communicative competence Creating self-interest and motivation strategy develops the self-confidence and perseverance needed for readers to involve themselves in the reading process, a requirement for communicative competence Inferring strategy provides increased interaction and more empathetic understanding, two qualities necessary to reach communicative competence

As the reader‟s competence grows, reading comprehension strategies can act in

specific ways to foster particular aspects of that competence: grammatical, sociolinguistic,

discourse, and strategic elements For instance, word elements and predictions based on context strategies help readers to easily recognize the word elements and strengthen their grammatical accuracy Once more, contextualizing strategy helps readers to better their sociolinguistic competence

On the whole, for the illustrations above, it can be commonly noted that reading comprehension strategies are of the major goal to enhance the reader‟s communicative competence

Greater Self-Direction for Readers

Reading comprehension strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for readers Self-direction is extremely important for English learning readers because they will not always have their teachers around to guide them as they use the language outside classroom, Moreover, self-direction is essential to the active development of ability in a

new language

Thanks to conditioning by the culture and educational system, however, many English learning readers (even adults) are passive and accustomed to being spoon-fed They prefer to be told what to do, and they do only what is clearly essential to get a good grade-even if they fail to develop useful skills in the process Attitudes and behaviors like these make reading more difficult and must be changed, or else any effort to train readers

to rely more on themselves and use better strategies is bound to fail Just new strategies will be not very effective to readers unless they begin to want greater responsibility for

their own reading

Reader‟s self-direction is not an “all or nothing” concept, it is often a gradually increasing phenomenon, growing as readers become more comfortable with the idea of their own responsibility Self-directed readers gradually gain greater confidence,

involvement, and proficiency

2.5.2.2 Other Features of the Nature of Reading Comprehension Strategies

Problem Orientation

Reading comprehension strategies are tools They are used because there is a

problem to solve, a task to accomplish, an objective to meet, or a goal to obtain For example, a reader uses contextualizing strategy to fully understand the historical, geographical and social contexts of the text The prediction based on context strategy is applied because some new words appear as hurdles along the reading process Staying alert while reading strategy is used to help the reader relax or gain greater confidence, so that

more benefits can take place

Direct and Indirect Support of reading

Some reading comprehension strategies involve direct reading and use the subject matter, in the case of a new language These are known as direct strategies Other strategies, including increasing reading rate, staying alert while reading, and challenging material strategies, contribute indirectly but powerfully to reading These are known as indirect strategies Direct and indirect reading comprehension strategies are equally important and serve to support each other in many ways

Degree of Observability

Reading comprehension strategies are not always readily observable to the human eyes Many aspects of cooperating, a strategy in which the readers works with someone else to achieve a reading goal, can be observed, but the act of making mental associations,

important memory-related strategies such as PQ4R (Preview, Question, Read, Recite, Reflect, and Review), can not be seen It is often difficult for others to know about the

reader‟s strategies, because some strategies are hard to observe even with the help of video-tape and closed-circuit television Another problem with observing reading comprehension strategies is that many strategies are used (as they should be) elsewhere randomly in informal, naturalistic situation unobservable by other people

Flexibility

Reading comprehension strategies are flexible; they are not always found in predictable sequences or in precise patterns There is a great deal of individuality in the way readers choose, combine, and sequence strategies The way readers read is the subject

of much current research (see the following section discussing factors influencing readers‟ choice of strategies)

However, sometimes readers do combine strategies in a predictable way For instance, readers often preview the material by skimming or scanning, then they read it more closely while using questioning, contextualizing, and summarizing to better their understanding of the material In addition, some reading comprehension strategies contain

within themselves an internal sequence of steps

2.6 The relationship between Motivation and the use of reading strategies

This study investigates the relationship between motivation and the use of reading strategies Motivation is an important factor in learning strategies It„s necessary to identify the type of motivation that assist in the successful acquisition of a second language There are two kinds of motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation Integrative motivation is a key motivation that promotes the learner to develop that language to operate socially in that society

Instrument motivation is normally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language acquisition, when there is little or

no social integration of the learner into a society using the target language

Students have been found varying considerably in both the overall frequency with which they employ reading strategies and particular types of reading strategies they use Some factors have been found to affect the choice of reading strategies The major purpose

of this section is to find out where there is any relationship between motivation and choice

of reading strategies, and which type of motivation will influence students‟choice of reading strategies

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

In the chapter, the two main parts in focus will be methodology, data analysis and discussion of the

3.2 Setting of the study

The study was carried out at Foreign languages Department, Nghe An Junior Teachers‟ Training College, which trained teachers for junior schools The students had to take a three –year course in which English was their major subject In the first two years, they studied general English with four language skills listening, reading, speaking and writing In the last year, they engaged in studying subjects of the Target Linguistic Knowledge and Culture as well as subjects related to professional knowledge

The first year stage was very important in forming the students‟ learning habits and strategies especially in arousing their positive attitude toward the target language as well as maintaining their motivation in learning Motivation, which helps students to maintain their language ability after living the classroom (Gardener etal.1985) is one of the most crucial factors that affect language learners‟ strategy use Maclntyre‟s (1994) model of strategy use indicates that motivation has an important effect on the combination of situation, desire to learn the language, and previous success in language learning, triggers the use of language learning strategies Students needed to have various opportunities to practice their skills basically and systematically in an encouraging learning environment It was very necessary for the teachers to improve the situation by employing various techniques to activate students‟ knowledge, arousing their interest in reading

3.3 Participants

The total numbers of the freshmen of English at NJTTC were 119 students generally aged from 18 to 21 the majority were female (94 female students and 25 male students) They came from different rural districts of Nghe An province Most of them entered this college as their wish of becoming teachers at junior schools, however, some of them regarded it as their wish of becoming teachers at junior school,

The students under the investigation had learned English for at least three years at upper secondary school and had just finished their first term of the first year at the Foreign Language department, NJTTC at the time the study was carried out Of the 10 teachers, all

of them have to least 5 years‟ experience of teaching English They all have B.A degree in English and six of them have M.A degree

3.4 Instruments data collection

To obtain the information for the study, the researcher used two instruments

* Instrument one: A questionnaire completed by the student

Two main parts were focused in the questionnaire The first part was about the student‟ demographic information which included the students‟ geneder, age, the number

of years they had been learning English The second part was designed to elicit the students‟ opinions about the reading subject It consisted of 18 statements of motivation, six of which are instrumental motivation and the rest are integrated motivation

* Instrument two: A questionnaire completed by the teachers

The survey questionnaire completed by the teachers included 8 questions These questions was mainly about what they had done to motivate their students to read The first part in the survey was about demographic information, which contained the teacher‟s gender, age, the number of year they had been teaching English and reading The second parts with the questions about teachers‟s opinion on students‟ motivation in reading activities and techniques they had been using to motivation the students, their comment about reading strategies

3.5 Data collection procedures

3.5.1 Demographic information

The total number of the freshmen under the investigation of this case study was

106, of whom 89 were females (about 84.5%) and 17 were males (about 15.5%) The number indicated a general trend of the female youth who would like to be teachers as their career, and not those of males However, this ratio did not influence their motivation in learning language in general and in reading in particular Most of the freshmen were at the age of 18 (46 students, about 43% of the sample size) Those were students who had just left upper secondary school and entered this college as their hope Thirty- three students (about 31%) were aged 19 and 27 students were aged 20 (about 26%) Those freshmen belonging to the age groups 20 and 21 years (over a half of the sample size) had failed in the previous entrance examination to universities and colleges The information about the subjects‟ gender and age was presented in figure 1 and figure 2

84.5

Male Female

Figure 1: Respondents by gender

051015202530354045

20year s19year s18year s

Figure 2: Respondents by age

As can be seen from the figure 2, the age of most student subjects was around twenty and the range age was not much of difference It could be assumed that most the student subjects did not own any problem with the age for language acquisition However, the fact that, the student subjects came from different local places of the province, so their English learning experience varied somehow

3.5.2 Analytical procedures

Students have been found varying considerably in both the overall frequency with which they employ reading strategies and the particular types of reading strategies they use Some factors have been found to effect the choice of reading strategies Now it‟s turn

to focus on the relationship between motivation and the use of reading strategies The