Sử dụng tài liệu đọc bổ trợ cho giáo trình Powerbase - Elementary để nâng cao kỹ năng đọc cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh năm thử nhất trường Đại học Kinh

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the topics of the reading texts in Powerbase 20 Table 2: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the exercises types of reading texts in Powerbase 2

-NGUYEN THI NGOC HUAN

using supplementary reading materials for the course book ‘powerbase - elementary’ to improve reading skills for first year non- english MAJOR students at national economics university

(Sử DụNG TàI LIệu Đọc Bổ TRợ cho giáo trình ‘POWERBASE -

ELEMENTARY’ Để NÂNG CAO Kỹ NĂNG Đọc cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng anh năm thứ nhấT tr-ờng đại học kinh tế quốc dâN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

HANOI, 2009

FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: PHAN THỊ VÂN QUYấN, M.A

Hanoi University of languages and international studies

Department of posT - graduate studies

 -NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC HUẤN

using supplementary reading materials for the course book ‘powerbase - elementary’ to improve reading skills for first year non- english major students at national economics university

(Sử DụNG TàI LIệU Đọc Bổ TRợ cho giáo trình ‘POWERBASE - ELEMENTARY’

Để NÂNG CAO Kỹ NĂNG Đọc cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng anh năm

thứ nhất tr-ờng đại học kinh tế quốc dâN)

M.A MINOR THESIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

List of Abbreviation……… iv

List of Tables……… v

List of Charts……… vi

Table of contents……… vii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale……… 1

1.2 Scope of the study……… 2

1.3 Significance of the study……… 2

1.4 Aims of the study……… 2

1.5 Research questions……… 3

1.6 Methodology……… 3

1.7 Design of the study……… 4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of reading……… 5

2.1.1 Definitions of reading……… 5

2.1.2 Reading comprehension……… 6

2.1.3 Reading skills……… 7

2.1.3.1 Definition of reading skills……… 7

2.1.3.2 Types of reading skills……… 7

2.2 Overview of materials in language teaching……… 8

2.2.1 Definition of materials and types of materials in language teaching… 8

2.2.2 Supplementary materials for language teaching……… 9

2.2.3 Materials evaluation and the criteria for reading texts evaluation……… 10

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting appropriate supplementary materials……… 11

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Background to the thesis and statement of the problem……… 13

3.2 The description of the materials……… 14

3.2.1 The course book……… 14

3.2.1.1.Book title……… 14

3.2.1.2.Book objectives……… 14

3.2.1.3.The structure of the course book ……… 14

3.2.2 The supplementary material used for the course book ……… 15

3.3 The subjects……… 16

3.4 Instruments for data collection……… 17

3.5 Data collection procedures……… 18

3.6 Data analysis……… 18

Summary 33

CHAPTER FOUR: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1: Major findings and discussion ……… 34

4.1.1: The evaluation of the current reading materials used at NEU……… 34

4.1.1.1: The evaluation of the reading sections in Powerbase……… 34

4.1.1.2: The evaluations ofthe current supplementary material ……… 35

4.1.2 The teachers’ and students’ expectation ……… 36

4.2 Recommendations……… 37

4.2.1 Suggestions on how to use the course book Powerbase - Elementary…… 37

4.2.1.1 Increasing more time for Reading……… 38

4.2.1.2 Designing more reading activities and exercises/tasks……… 38

4.2.2 Suggestions for selecting supplementary reading materials ……… 39

4.2.2.1 Suggestions for selecting supplementary reading materials ……… 39

4.2.2.2 Suggested adaptation of the current SRM for Powerbase……… 40

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

5.2 Limitations of the study……… 43 5.3 Suggestions for further study……… 43

Appendix 1: Questionnaires for teachers……… III Appendix 2: Questionnaires for students……… VI Appendix 3: Samples of supplementary readings for the themes in Powerbase… XII Appendix 4: Samples of supplementary readings for further readings……… XXI

Appendix 5: The table of the Macro-skills proportion of the Powerbase………… XXXIV

ABBREVIATIONS

NEU: National Economics University

EFL: English as a foreign language

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the topics of the reading texts in Powerbase 20 Table 2: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the exercises types of reading texts in Powerbase 21 Table 3: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the time allocation for reading in Powerbase 22 Table 4: The Ts Ss’ opinions on the length of the reading texts in Powerbase 22

Table 5: The Ts and Ss' opinions on the level of difficulty of the reading texts in Powerbase 23

Table 6: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the topics of the reading texts in the SM for P 25 Table 7: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the types of reading exercises in the SM 26 Table 8: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the time allocation for reading in the SM 27 Table 9: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the length of the reading texts in the SM 28 Table 10: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on the level of difficulty of the reading texts in the SM 29 Table 11: The Ts and Ss’ opinions on a better SRM for Powerbase 31 Table12: The Macro-skills proportion of the course book Powerbase - Elementary XXXIV

Chart 3b: The Ss’ attitudes towards the necessary use of SM for 30

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

2009, the course book Powerbase – Elementary by David Evans is still in use as it is believed

to be suitable for students of elementary level Its most updated contents is said to provide excellent preparation for other English business courses Powerbase is not a four-skill-focused material It is a communicative course book that has been specially written for adults who need English for work, travel and everyday situations with the two main skills: Listening and Speaking In order to help students learn English better and to fulfill the objectives of the course, before each school year begins, the Faculty of Economics Foreign Languages assign teachers of each group design the supplementary materials used along with the course books The supplementary materials not only provide students with more exercises, but they also remedy the shortcomings of the course books The supplementary materials are designed annually, in which the good points are maintained in but the shortcomings are replaced by the better ones The existing supplementary material for Powerbase mainly provides exercises on grammar, vocabulary and reading However, through the supplementary book, many students find it hard to understand the strange, long reading texts with too many new words and new grammatical structures Additionally, students are bored with doing only one type of reading

exercise Many student hope to have more readings, but they do not know where to get appropriate extra reading materials Consequently, they do not get as high marks at reading tests as they expected and they lose their interest in reading Teachers, from time to time, complain that they have to compile other reading materials to meet the students’ needs and to make the reading lessons more interesting

All these reasons have inspired and encouraged me to carry out the study on “Using supplementary reading materials for „Powerbase – Elementary‟ to improve reading skill for first year non-English major students at National Economics University” with the hope to

make some contributions to improving the teaching and learning of reading for first year English major students at NEU

non-1.2 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time and the size of a minor thesis, the researcher has no ambitions

to cover all aspects of reading, such as reading in integration with other skills: speaking, listening, and writing , but only focuses on the use of supplementary reading materials to develop reading skills for first year non-English major students at NEU

1.3 Significance of the study

This study helps first year non-major students at NEU to improve their English proficiency by learning reading and also suggests some ways to improve the teaching of English in general and the teaching of the reading skill in particular at NEU as well as other universities that share the same mandate

1.4 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at exploring the use of supplementary reading materials to improve reading skills for first year non-English major students at NEU, giving recommendations on how to efficiently use the supplementary reading materials designed by Group K50A teachers,

and suggesting some other reading supplementary materials as well The followings will be done to achieve these aims:

_ Find out the teachers’ and students’ evaluations of the current English reading

materials being used in the university for first year non-English major students _ Examine the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards using supplementary

reading to improve students’ reading skills as well as kinds of their preferences for reading materials

_ Give recommendations for designing a more effective supplementary materials for Powerbase - Elementary to motivate first year non-English major students at NEU to read

1.5 Research questions

The study is carried out to answer the following research questions:

1 What are the teachers‟ and students‟ evaluations of the reading sections in the

course book Powerbase – Elementary?

2 What are the teachers‟ and students‟ evaluations of the current supplementary

reading materials?

3 What do teachers and students expect of a supplementary reading material?

1.6 Methods of the study

To collect the data, the methods used in this thesis are document analysis, survey questionnaires and informal interviews

Document analysis here refers to the analysis of the materials such as the course book Powerbase - Elementary and its supplementary reading material designed by the group of K50A teachers at NEU

The survey questionnaires are of great importance in collecting feedback from teachers and students on the materials in use

Informal interviews are also used to seek for more detailed and objective opinions of teachers and students on the materials and their needs

1.7 Design of the study

This study is divided into five chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction presents an overview of the study including rationale, scope,

significance, aims, research questions, research methodology and the design of the study

Chapter II: Literature Review provides the literature review with fundamental aspects

of materials evaluation, materials development, reading skills and supplementary materials This chapter is considered as the basic foundations for the study

Chapter III: Methodology deals with the methodological framework for the study It

covers the setting, the subjects, the instruments and procedures for the data collection and most importantly the data analysis is fully given in this chapter

Chapter IV: Major findings, discussion and recommendations shows the major

findings, discussions of these findings, and offers recommendations on how to use supplementary materials to improve students’ reading skills

Chapter V: Conclusion presents the concluding summary of the study, limitations of

the study as well as suggestions for further research

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of reading

2.1.1 Definitions of reading

Reading is one of the most important parts in teaching and learning foreign language beside listening, speaking and writing It is an individual activity that takes place in all different ways from written texts, newspapers, magazines to notices, advertisements, train schedules, charts and diagrams, etc Each linguist has their own definition of reading depending on their own different view of the reading process, therefore, the definition of reading is various

According to Harmer (1989: 153) reading is defined as a mechanical process in which

“the eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” In his point of view the reading process is dominated by the eyes and the brain Harmer also focuses on the speed of this process “a reading text moves at a speed of the reader” which means that the reader is the one who decides how fast he wants to read the text

Sharing the same point of view on reading, William, E (1990: 2) states that “reading

is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written” Smith (1985: 102) also defines “reading is understanding the author‟s thought” When reading, we have to put

the words into the context to understand the meaning of the message as the meaning of even a word depends on the context in which it appears It means that we – the readers – read the author’s mind not the author’s words

Goodman (1971: 135) sees reading as “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” We learn reading not only to know how to read, to master

the symbols, the sound, the language, the grammar, etc., used in the text but also to understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text, and especially to develop the ability of reconstructing its contents in our own words

All in all, each linguist has their own definition of reading, but no definition can reveal all the features and ideas of what reading is However, all the definitions focus on the nature of reading, that is, the interaction between readers and authors, in which the readers not only read the author’s words but also understand their thoughts In addition, most linguists share the same idea that reading means comprehending written language and it involves a variety of skills The following parts will deal with reading comprehension and reading skills

2.1.2 Reading comprehension

One of the purposes that motivate people to learn a foreign language is to be able to read to get information in that language Together with writing, speaking and listening, reading is an essential skill that plays a very important role in the process of mastering a

foreign language Karlin and Karlin (1988: 2) state “Reading without reading comprehension

is meaningless” Therefore, understanding what reading comprehension is very necessary and

of great importance to both teachers and learners

According to Grellet (1981: 3), “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” In his sense,

reading comprehension simply means reading and understanding In other words, it should be noted that reading comprehension is not merely decoding-translating written symbols into corresponding sounds, but reading comprehension is a process of negotiating and understanding between the reader and the writer The reader, as he reads, receives information from the author via words, sentences, paragraphs, etc then tries to understand meaning of the texts as well as the inner feelings of the writer Sharing the same point of view, Carrel (1997:

21) indicates that “Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience”

Nuttall (1998: 4) emphasizes the interaction of texts and readers in the reading process

In his point of view, “text is full of meanings like a jug of water, the reader‟s mind soaks it up like sponge” To make the matter simple and easy-going, Nuttall relates reading to communication process and concludes that “reading means getting out of the text as nearly as

possible the message the writer puts into it” He also agrees that “reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader” In this case, reading

comprehension is not just to get the information but also to respond to what is written so as to understand the hidden meanings of the messages sent by the author However, the readers are not always successful in reaching the hidden messages as it depends on the readers’ language proficiency, interest, the cohesion and coherence of the text, as well as the background knowledge of the readers

In short, reading comprehension is the process in which the readers can recognize not only the graphic form but understand the relationship between the writing and the meaning of

a passage “A student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding” (Swan, 1975: 1) This means the student can show his understanding by re-

expressing the content of the text in many ways such as summarizing the text, answering questions, etc Therefore, in teaching reading, it is essential for teachers to find answers to the

three questions: What do the students read? Why do they read? and How do they read? so as

to help students find out the right way to improve their reading comprehension

2.1.3 Reading skills

2.1.3.1 Definition of reading skills

In the first place the terms reading skills and reading strategies are often used interchangeably In addition, reading techniques is sometimes used to refer to mental activities

that help students to achieve success in their reading process

According to Doff (1998: 61) reading skills is defined as “information-processing techniques that are automatic, whether at the level of recognizing grapheme-phoneme correspondence or summarizing a story Skills are applied to a text unconsciously for many reasons including expertise, repeated practice, and compliance with directions, luck, and native use” In his point of view, reading strategies and reading techniques are understood as

the mental operations involved when readers approach a text effectively to make sense of what they read Good readers often apply more strategies to read successfully

2.1.3.2 Types of reading skills

There is a variety of types of reading skills used by both native and non-native

speakers Nuttall (1996: 48-120) in Teaching Reading Skills in a foreign Language gives

several reading skills of which some basic ones are listed as the following:

- Making prediction

- Skimming

- Scanning

- Recognizing implications and making references

- Recognizing text organization

- Guessing the meaning of words based on structural and contextual clues

- Understanding syntax

- Recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices

Whereas William (1984: 79) points out seven important skills of reading listed hereunder:

1 Deducting the meaning of unfamiliar lexical items

2 Recognizing indicators in discourse

3 Extracting salient points to summarize

4 Using basic reference skill

5 Skimming to get general information

6 Scanning to locate specifically required information

7 Transferring information to diagrammatical display

In short, readers should choose the best skills for themselves basing on their purposes

of reading They may vary their speed and their whole manner of reading due to their reading purposes One of the principal characteristics of good readers is flexibility and they are advised to practise the skills regularly to cope with more sophisticated texts and tasks and deal with them effectively Wallace (1993) considers reading strategies as ways of reading which are employed flexibly and selectively and which vary depending on the text-type, and the

context as well as the purpose of reading Therefore, teachers should introduce students to different kinds of texts with different tasks so that they can vary their reading strategies and speed to get success in reading due to their purpose of reading

2.2 Overview of materials in language teaching

2.2.1 Definition of materials and types of materials in language teaching

Materials play an important role in most language teaching programs In theory, Tomlinson (1998: 2) defines that the term language teaching materials is used to refer to

“anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language” In

other words, the materials here can be anything used to widen the learners’ knowledge as well

as their experience of language Materials can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a magazine, a paragraph written

on board or anything that presents or informs about the language being learned

On talking about the material classification, Nunan (1991) categorizes language

teaching materials into two main groups namely commercially developed and developed materials Another classification made by Crawford (2002), also shares the same view but in different names, that is pre-prepared and self-prepared materials Among these types of materials, Powerbase belongs to the former one and Supplementary materials are of

teacher-the later one

2.2.2 Supplementary materials for language teaching

In Materials Development in Language Teaching, Tomlinson describes supplementary materials as “materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening or speaking rather than to the learning of language items” (Tomlinson, 1998: xiii)

In our teaching place, most language teaching course books probably need to be used with supplementary materials To some extent, it is for the purpose of tailoring them to the needs of a particular class to help learners master the foreign language According to Ur (1991) there are packages of supplementary materials such as computers, simplified readers,

overhead projectors, posters, pictures, or games, etc Each type, obviously, has certain contributions to language teaching and its own good points as well as drawbacks based on the use of teachers and learners in learning a certain foreign language

2.2.3 Materials evaluation and the criteria for reading texts evaluation

Every language teacher needs to have the ability to evaluate their teaching materials, both the course books and the supplementary materials - if they are available Materials evaluation is defined differently by different linguists such as Worthen and Sanders (1973: 19), Popham (1975: 8) and Brown (1995: 218) However, the definition by Brown seems to

be a comprehensive one and suitable for the purposes of the study:

“Evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvement of a curriculum, and assess its effectiveness and efficiency, as well

as the participants‟ attitudes within the context of the particular institutions involved”

(Brown, 1995: 218) Materials are evaluated based on different criteria Cunningsworth (1984: 5-6) sets out the four principles of materials evaluation, which are widely applied by teachers and learners

in their own teaching and learning contexts They are:

_ Relate the teaching materials to your aims and objectives

_ Be aware of what language is for and select teaching materials, which help equip your students to use language effectively for their own purposes

_ Keep your students’ learning needs in their mind

_ Consider the relationship between language, the learning process and the learner

The main concern of this study is reading materials Therefore, the author would like to

introduce the criteria for reading texts evaluation made by Williams, D (ELT Journal

Volume 37/3 July 1983) as follows:

_ Offer exercises for understanding of plain sense and implied meaning

_ Relate reading passages to the readers’ background

_ Select passages within the vocabulary range of the pupils

_ Select passages reflecting a variety of styles of contemporary English

To sum up, it is necessary for EFL teachers to get acquainted with the principles of materials evaluation in order to find out whether the materials are consistent with the objectives of the curriculum or not Therefore, they can be decisive in choosing the appropriate supplementary reading materials using along with the course books

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting appropriate supplementary materials

In recent years, the use of supplementary materials has been of great importance to the success of language learning However, it is not always true that all language teachers choose the right and suitable ones from the first place Language teachers need to be instructed beforehand and they should bear in their mind the criteria for selecting the most appropriate materials According to Nuttall (1996: 170), whenever we choose a text as supplementary

material, we need to consider the three main criteria, namely, the suitability of the content, exploitability and readability

Suitability of the content, as the author’s explanation, is concerned with the text’s

ability to address students’ needs and interests A text with interesting content will make the learners’ task far more rewarding and the classroom will become more effective Sharing the same idea, William (1984) also confirms that students’ motivation for reading increase when they read what they are interested in and that this results in reading improvement

Exploitability -means facilitation of learning- is arguably the most important criterion

after interest A text is designed for both the purpose of entertainment and reading practice as well It should not only interest the readers, but also help them develop their language competence Therefore, when you exploit a text, you can make use of it to develop the students’ competence as readers A text that you cannot exploit is of no use for teaching even

if it interests the students

Readability is used to refer to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty That

means, the text chosen must be suitable with students’ proficiency levels of that language in terms of vocabulary, syntax, and style In order to choose the texts that are readable, teachers must know their students’ language proficiency so as to find out the right material for the right level

In short, EFL teachers are encouraged to use supplementary materials in their teaching language to help students learn that language better In order to find out the right and the most appropriate supplementary materials, they not only get acquainted with the principles of materials evaluation, but also bear in their mind the three main criteria that influence the choice of texts: the suitability of the content, the exploitability and the readability of the texts

It can be drawn that the limitations lying in each of these models are unavoidable, but all of them make important contributions to the background knowledge about reading and materials in language teaching

In the next chapter, the researcher would like to bring about the main part of the study which includes the methodology employed in the study, the instruments and procedures of data collection Data from the two sets of survey questionnaire will also be thoroughly analysed

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Background to the thesis and statement of the problem: The English teaching and the current materials in use at NEU

English has always been regarded as an important and popular subject chosen to learn

by most students at National Economics University (NEU) among other foreign languages that students have to learn at the university are Chinese and French The Faculty of Economics Foreign Languages are in charge of setting the syllabus, choosing teaching materials and supplementary materials There are major English and non-English major for students at NEU,

of which the subjectives of the study are the first year non-English major students They are to learn English in their first two years in four semesters with the total of 18 credits (4 credits in each of the first three semesters and 6 credits in the fourth semester)

When all non-English major students enter the university, they have to take an English placement test Based on the result of the test, students are categorized into two groups, group

A and group B Group A – for elementary level of English - includes all students who have from 0 to 29 correct answers of the total 50 questions Group B – for pre-intermediate level of English – is for all students who have from 30 to 50 correct answers Group A students are to

study the course book called Powerbase – Elementary by David Evans while group B students study a different course book namely Business Basics by David Grant and Robert McLarty Two years ago the series of Powerbase are chosen to be the main course books for all non-

English major students at NEU from Elementary to Pre-intermediate level However, the course book for the Pre-intermediate level has been changed by another popular course book

called Business Basics to provide students with more situations and vocabularies related to business and their real working life in the future The course book Powerbase – Elementary is

still used for the group A students as it is said to be one of the most updated materials to meet the demand of teaching and learning English at NEU

The following part comes with the description of the course book and the supplementary material being used for first year non-English major students at NEU

3.2 The description of the materials

3.2.1 The course book

3.2.1.1 Book title: Powerbase - Elementary by David Evans, Longman 2002

3.2.1.2 Book objectives: According to Evans (in the introduction page for Powerbase -

Elementary in www.longman.com/powerbase), this short course book has been specially written for adults who need English for work, travel and everyday situations It provides excellent preparation for other Business English Courses With Powerbase, learners can:

- Start speaking immediately with clear, structured speaking in everyday lessons

- Revise basic grammar and learn to speak confidently about the past, present and future

- Learn the survival phrases and key words needed in their working life

- Practise essential listening and pronunciation skills

3.2.1.3.The structure of the course book:

The ten units of the course book are all divided into four double-page spreads, each of which makes up a free-standing lesson which can be further divided if time is short At the end

of every two units, a Review spread tests and consolidates the learners’ knowledge and

understanding about the grammar, vocabulary as well as real world situations learnt in the two units

Each unit consists of four main sections:

Introduction: A double-page spread introducing language related to the theme of the

unit A typical spread introduces the language and then provides activities for development and practice

Grammar: The main grammar points at elementary level are introduced and practised

in a context that continues the theme of each unit A grammar reference section at the back of the Course book provides learners with additional support

Working life: Key functional language is introduced in a work-related situation, and

learners are given practical situations in which they can practise and personalise what they have learnt

Real world: This double-page spread extends the theme of the module, with a subject

often, but not always, associated with the working world Topics covered include telephoning, computer language, leisure interests and hotels

The course book Powerbase is accompanied by 2 cassettes or CDs containing exercises

to develop learners’ pronunciation and listening skills, Powerbase Study Book provides

students with exercises of various types for students to practice in grammar, reading, writing

and listening comprehension, Powerbase Teacher‟s book provides teachers with suggestions

for teaching methods, classroom activities and key to exercises in the Study book Additionally, at the end of the Teacher’s book there is an exit test with answers

3.2.2 The supplementary material used for the course book Powerbase – Elementary

Due to the fact that the course book mainly focuses on Listening and Speaking skills, whereas the mid-term tests focus on Listening and Reading skills, a supplementary material is needed to help students have more exercises to practise reading skills The supplementary material designed by teachers of group A contains 10 units corresponding to the ten units in the course book It aims at reinforcing the knowledge that students have learnt in their course book However, the format of each unit in the supplementary material is familiarized with the Toeic format as this is also the format of the reading mid-term tests Each unit contains three sections: grammar, vocabulary and reading

- Grammar patterns section provides students with exercises based on the format of Toeic grammar questions It allows students to practise their understanding of the

grammar points presented in the Powerbase – Elementary

- Vocabulary items tested in this section are key words taken from the course book They offer students to have chance to revise and enrich their vocabulary Also, this section serves as a means to provide students with useful vocabulary to facilitate their reading comprehension

- Reading materials are selected from different Toeic sources They are of typical types which are commonly found in the Toeic All materials are processed to fit the need of beginning level students at NEU

In short, the supplementary material of the course book Powerbase is used with the hope that it can, to some extend, lend itself to the success of the students in the course, especially in the mid-term test and the end-of-term test However, all the exercises in the supplementary material are multiple choice ones and reading exercises are extracted from some Toeic tests for beginners To some extend, these reading exercises are useful as they help students to familiarize with the format of the mid-term tests and with the various types of

texts such as letters, e-mails, notices, faxes, advertisements, memos, posters, articles, etc In

the course book Powerbase, although reading accounts for a small proportion, reading tasks

are more diversified than in the supplementary book with multiple choice, answering questions, true/false, matching, etc In the supplementary material, however, there is only one type of reading exercise: Multiple choice In addition, the topics of the reading texts are not

related to the ones in the course book Consequently, with only one type of reading exercises, long and difficult texts and unrelated reading topics, the supplementary material makes many students get bored with reading lessons They complain about the difficulty of the reading texts as well as fewer chances to practise various reading skills Some students even admit that though their results of the two mid-term reading tests are good, they find it hard to read English comprehensively in their study and real life situations

With the hope to improve students’ reading skills, this study was an attempt to find a way of developing a more effective and appropriate supplementary reading material

3.3 The subjects

The study was carried out with the participation of 20 (out of 28) group A teachers and

124 (out of 136) first year non-English major students

Among the teachers, 3 have been abroad for further study, 6 have M.A degree in Education or Linguistics and 3 are taking M.A course Most of the teachers have at least four

years’ teaching experience, especially 5 teachers have been in teaching career for over 15 years

Of the total number of 136 students in the three classes under investigation namely K50A7, K50A37 and K50A39, 12 students were absent on the day of questionnaire delivery; therefore the total number of the students who took part in the survey was 124 They include both male and female students (but the female outnumber the male), ranging from the age of

18 to 23 All of them have learnt English at high school and nearly complete their first year at the university However, students’ result at the English placement test is not so good, from 0

to 29 correct answers of the total 50, therefore, their level of English proficiency is not so high and they are categorized of the elementary level

3.4 Instruments for data collection

The main means of data collection in this study is questionnaire which Hammer (1986) states as a relatively popular means of collecting data Questionnaire enables the researcher the need data in quantitative form and helps all informants have the chance to express their attitudes toward to the questions surveyed Consequently, the researcher can have more uniform and accurate data from the survey

To obtain data for the study, two written questionnaires were administered to the subjects One was for the teachers and the other was for the students The questionnaires were designed with a mixture of closed and open-ended questions All the questions were simple and concise as they were for the students of elementary level It consisted of 6 questions divided into 3 parts basing on the three research questions The first part includes the first two questions that dealt with the teachers and students’ evaluations of the current reading section

in the course book Powerbase - Elementary The next two questions are for their evaluations

of the reading texts in supplementary material used for the course book in developing reading skills The teachers and students’ preferences for other reading materials used for Powerbase were the focus of the last two questions Respondents could be free to express their thoughts about the items raised in the survey questionnaires

3.5 Data collection procedures

The data were collected on May 28th, 2009 Firstly, the author observed her own classes (K50A7, K50A37 and K50A39) to see how the reading lessons go on in these classes, especially how, why and when to use supplementary reading materials to see students’

attitudes towards these activities

Secondly, another source of data collection was from informal interviews with both teachers and students in order to find out their feelings in learning reading with the aid of supplementary material for Powerbase

Later was the two sets of survey questionnaires administered to teachers and students at NEU For the teachers, the questionnaire was delivered to 20 teachers of English in Group K50A on the day of Group K50A year-end summation meeting, when all of them have finished their teaching, so they could have more accurate evaluations of the materials they have taught during the school year The author was always ready to answer any questions raised by the teachers and collected the questionnaire right after they were completed

Owing to the fact that first year non-English major students at NEU are of elementary level, the questionnaire given to them are in Vietnamese to ensure that all the respondents understand the content of each question well enough to give their own answer When the students received the questionnaire, the author went over the students in each class to explain carefully the aim of the survey and explained question by question to make sure that they all fully and clearly understood the questions before giving their final answers

3.6 Data analysis

3.6.1 What are the teachers’ and students’ evaluations of the reading sections

in the course book Powerbase – Elementary?

Question 1: What is the teachers and students‟ general impression on the reading texts in the

course book Powerbase?

‘others’ space, none of the students give any further comment on the reading texts in the

course book, but 10% of the teachers state reading accounts for a small proportion in comparison with other three skills, and that reading is often followed by listening with only

one popular way of reading is listen and choose the correct given words then read the passages aloud Besides, the reading texts are too short with only some general types of

exercises such as gap-filling; questions answering; multiple choice questions; True/False

In short, it can be drawn from the data above that the reading texts in the course book generally creates some problems for both teachers and students in teaching, learning and developing reading skills The details of the problem is clarified in the next question with the specific information about the topics, types of exercises, time allocation for reading, the length and the level of difficulty of the reading texts in Powerbase

Question 2: How do the teachers and students find the reading texts in Powerbase -

Elementary?

a Topics:

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Table 1: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the topics of the reading texts in Powerbase

The table shows that the teachers and the students generally share the same point of view

in giving their opinion about the topics of the reading in Powerbase Although nearly half of the teachers and students agree that all the topics in the course book are familiar (as they are about the common things in life), they still emphasize the boredom of these topics 40% of the teachers and 38% of the students find that the topics are boring as they are only focus on some popular topics related to real life more than to business As they are studying at NEU, they

hope to have more reading topics on business in order that they can not only improve their English, but they can also enrich their knowledge in business On the contrary 30% of the teachers and 21% of the students find these reading topics are interesting as they think that although the reading skill is not focused in the course book, the reading texts appear to be interesting They are mainly about the common things and some famous people in real life None of the teachers find the topics unfamiliar, while 5 out of the 124 students (4%) think that the topics are unfamiliar

To sum up, the teachers and the students have slightly different opinions on the topics of the reading texts in Powerbase

b Exercises:

Number Percentage Number Percentage

D Suitable for students of elementary level 17 85% 76 61.29%

E Unsuitable for students of elementary level 0 0% 4 3.2%

Table 2: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the exercises types of reading texts in

Powerbase

As illustrated in the table 2, most of the respondents find that the exercises in the course book are of only some general types 85% of the teachers and 61.29% of the students agree that they are suitable for students of elementary level None of the teachers but 3.2% of the students state that these reading exercises are unsuitable Only 1 out of 20 teachers (5%) thinks that the exercises are of various types, whereas 12 out of 124 students (9.67%) agree with this point of view None of the teachers and students agree that there is only one type of reading exercises in Powerbase

c Time allocation for reading in Powerbase

Time allocation for

reading in Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Table 3: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the time allocation for reading in Powerbase

The above table shows the biggest percentage of the teachers (95%) have the opinion that the time allocation for reading in Powerbase is not sufficient enough Similarly, a considerable number of students (79, 03%) do not find the time allocation for reading is suitable enough for them to learn reading Whereas, 19.35% of the students and 5% of the teachers think that the time for reading is suitable, and even 1.6% of the students state that the time is too much for reading

In short, most teachers and students still do hope to have more time for reading so that they can have more chances to improve and develop their reading skills

d The length of the reading texts in Powerbase

The length of the reading

texts in Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Table 4: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the length of the reading texts in Powerbase

As can be seen from the table 4, both the teachers and the students generally share the same points of view on the length of the reading texts in Powerbase 90% of the teachers and 82.3% of the students think that the length of the reading texts is suitable for students of

elementary level However, different views are also presented None of the teachers but 3.2%

of the students find the reading texts in Powerbase too long, whereas 10% of the teachers and 14.5% of the students think these reading texts are too short

e Level of difficulty of the reading texts in Powerbase:

Level of difficulty of the

reading texts in Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

All in all, the reading in the course book Powerbase - Elementary has been evaluated in terms of topics, exercises, time allocation for reading, the length and the difficulty of the reading texts; generally, most of the teachers and the students share the same points of view that these reading texts are suitable for students of elementary level However, students still cannot develop their reading skills due to the insufficiency of time for reading, uninteresting reading topics and only some basic types of reading exercises

In order to help students learn English better, especially to improve their reading skill, the teachers of Group A were assigned to design a supplementary material used for Powerbase Following is the evaluation of both teachers and students on this supplementary material - focused on reading only

3.6.2 What are the teachers’ and students’ evaluation of the current supplementary

reading materials?

Question 3: What is the teachers and the students‟ general impression on the reading texts in

the supplementary materials for Powerbase?

Chart 2b: The perception of the students about the reading texts in the SM

The illustration in chart 2a and 2b reveals that although teachers and students mainly share the same points of view in the first two options by expressing the fact that the reading texts in the supplementary material are either interesting (with 20% for the teachers and 16% for the students) or boring (with 30% for the teachers and 34% for the students), they show different opinions in the next three options Only 10% of the teachers find the texts in the supplementary material difficult, while 37% of the students choose this option Their opinions

are still different in the fourth option with 25% of the teachers but only 8% of the students state that the material is relevant Besides the four mentioned criteria, 3 teachers (15%) and 6 students (5%) express their opinions of the reading texts such as the reading texts in the supplementary material are too long with too many new words, or the topics are unrelated to the ones in the course book, etc

The detail of the reading texts in the supplementary material, is clearly clarified in the following question

Question 4: What do you think about the reading texts in the SM for Powerbase?

a Topics:

Number Percentage Number Percentage

A Totally related to the topics of the

B Totally unrelated to the topics of the

C Only some of them are related to the

topics of the reading texts in Powerbase 5 25% 32 19.3%

Table 6: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the topics of the reading texts in the

supplementary material for Powerbase

One thing should be pointed out from the number in the table is that more than 60% of the teachers and the students find that the topics of the reading texts in the supplementary material are totally unrelated to the ones in Powerbase To show the agreement, none of the teachers realize any relation between the topics in the course book and the ones in the supplementary material, but 10.5% of the students state that the topics are totally related to the ones in Powerbase However, 25% of the teachers see that there are still some topics related to the ones in Powerbase, and 19.3% of the students share this view Surprisingly, 6.5% of the

students compared to 5% of the teachers give their opinions in the ‘others’ box Both these

teachers and students find that a lot of the reading topics in the supplementary material are about the other things not the ones like in the course book Some students even feel confused when they deal with these texts and they suggest that the topics should be selected similarly with the ones they have learnt from the course book so as to help them enrich their knowledge, their vocabulary, etc In addition, students are of elementary level, so they hope to read some things more interesting that attract them right from the title but the reading must be familiar and within their range of background knowledge

b Exercises:

Number Percentage Number Percentage

A Of the same types as the exercises

of them think they are totally different Besides, in the ‘others’ place, 2 out of 20 teachers and

7 out of 124 students express their valuable opinions Specifically, 1 teacher and 5 students say that the reading is too boring with only one type of exercises and the rest admit that students cannot develop their reading skills perfectly due to the monotonous type of reading

exercises

c Time allocation for reading in the supplementary material for Powerbase:

Time allocation for reading

in the SM for Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Table 8: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the time allocation for reading in the

supplementary material

The figures in Table 8 reveal that the students’ answers are in great harmony with the teachers’ As much as 70% of the teachers and 72.6% of the students find that the time allocation for reading in the supplementary material for Powerbase is suitable In the supplementary material there are two reading passages in every unit However, there are 7 out

of 20 teachers and 32 out of 124 students do not share the same point of view According to them, the time for reading in the supplementary material is not sufficient enough That means, they still have desire for more reading texts in this book As for them, the reading accounts for

a small part in Powerbase in comparison with other skills, so they hope to have more reading texts and more time for reading in the supplementary material For most students, reading is an important skill that can help them much in learning other skills as well as in mastering English, therefore during the teaching process, a lot of students ask the author to give them more reading texts with various types of exercises in class Although sometimes, we do not have enough time, the students often do the reading at home with the restricted time set above

the reading texts by the teacher Disappointingly, 2 students find that there is too much time for reading in this book

In short, both the teachers and students still share the same point of view in the time allocation for reading in the supplementary material for Powerbase Although many teachers and students think the time is suitable, some of them still hope to have more time for reading

in this book so as to enhance their reading ability

d The length of the reading texts in the supplementary material for Powerbase:

The length of the reading texts in

the SM for Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

It can be inferred that a lot of teachers see the texts have suitable length; however, many students complain the texts are too long with too many new words and structures which cause them lots of difficulties to read comprehensively The details of the students’ answers on the level of difficulty is presented in the table below

e Level of difficulty of the reading texts in the supplementary material for Powerbase:

Level of difficulty of the reading

texts in the SM for Powerbase

Teachers’ choice Students’ choice

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Table 10: The teachers and students‟ opinions on the level of difficulty of the reading texts in

the supplementary material for Powerbase

The illustration in the Table 10 clearly indicates the differences in expressing their opinions of the teachers and the students Once again, the teachers who select the reading emphasize that all the reading texts in the SM for Powerbase are suitable for students of elementary level They may cause no difficulty for students in doing these reading tasks as for them, the texts are from the Toeic books for beginners or starters 90% of the teachers show their agreement, whereas only 25% of the students is for this option Many students find these texts too difficult with too many new words and structures In the real teaching observation, some students express that each text should have the glossary of the new words related so that they can help them to choose the correct answer for the reading exercises

In conclusion, the lack of time for the reading in Powerbase is clearly recognised by teachers; therefore, the teachers are to design a very useful supplementary material with the hope to help students improve and enrich their grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension However, when compared these two books, besides the agreement on the topics and types of reading exercises, the teachers and students have different views on the reading texts in SM Generally, the teachers find these reading texts are suitable, whereas, the students who are to learn the book show their opposite opinions Their disagreement is clearly shown in the length and the level of difficulty of the reading texts, that is, the texts are fairly long and contain a lot of new words Especially, with only one type of exercises, these reading texts can not help them develop their reading skills Their desire for another suitable supplementary reading material will be analysed in the next research question

3.6.3 What do teachers’ and students expect of a supplementary reading material? Question 5: Do the teachers and students think it is necessary to use supplementary materials

for the improvement of reading skill?

100%

0%

Yes 100%

No 0%

Chart 3a: The teachers‟ attitudes

towards the necessary use of SM for the improvement of reading skill

2.42%

97.58%

Yes 97.58%

No 2.42%

Chart 3b: The students‟ attitudes

towards the necessary use of SM for the improvement of reading skill

In answering the question “Do you think it is necessary to use supplementary materials for the improvement of reading skill?”, 100% of the teachers and the majority of the students

(97.58%) answer ‘Yes’ Only 3 out of 124 students say ‘No’ Obviously, all the teachers and

most of the students participated in the survey show their positive attitudes towards the necessary use of supplementary material for the improvement of reading skill According to them the combination between the current reading materials with supplementary reading materials is very necessary for them to have more chances to practise their reading skills, enrich their knowledge, and develop their reading comprehension, etc in order to achieve the objectives of the course Both teachers and students still expect to have a more suitable SM for reading Their desire is clearly seen in the answers to the following question

Question 6: In your own opinion, an ideal supplementary reading material for Powerbase

should meet which of the following requirements?

Requirements for an ideal supplementary

reading material for Powerbase

Teachers’ choices Students’ choices

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Reading passages are related to the readers’

The reading topics are the same as the ones in

There are reading exercises which are similar

to those that appear in the reading tests 4 20% 71 57.26% Reading exercises are more difficult than the

Reading passages are within the vocabulary

Reading texts are of suitable length for

suitable length More than a half of the students (57.26%) think the reading exercises should

be similar to the ones appeared in the reading tests, but only 20% of the teachers agree with this view In addition, 39.52% of the students compared with only 10% of the teachers expect

to see the reading texts with glossary Only 5% of the teachers hope to have the same topics like the ones in Powerbase, but 15.32% of the students find having the same topics in the supplementary material is necessary Furthermore, the time set for each reading task seem to

be not very important as few teachers (5%) and students (3.22%) care for this requirement Besides the given requirements, 3 teachers (15%) and 2 students (1.6%) add that the reading

texts should have more interesting and realistic topics about business, students‟ life, education, and love; and one teacher states that the reading must serve to develop students’ reading skills

She says the reading texts should be ranged from easy to difficult so that students can understand the basic rules of reading comprehension If the students begin with the difficult readings, they will find it hard to learn reading and often get bored with reading lessons Sharing the same point of view the other two teachers agree that the type of the reading texts is also an important factor because it affects the students’ reading motivation

In short, both teachers and students still do hope to have a more suitable supplementary reading material for Powerbase Apart from topics, time setting, and level of difficulty of the reading texts, a future supplementary reading material should be related to the readers’ background, within their vocabulary range with various types of exercises and have suitable length so as to interest readers and nurture their reading skills

Summary

This chapter has presented the background of the study, the instruments and procedures of data collection In order to get the data for the research, two sets of questionnaire have been designed and delivered to the teachers and the students of group K50A at NEU The information from these two sets of questionnaire is processed thoroughly Firstly, it deals with the teachers and students’ evaluation of the reading sections in the course