DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH

DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH DEVELOPING PRE­READING TASKS WITH FIRST­YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH­MAFOR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE, VINH PHUC COLLEGE AN ACTION RESEARCH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAIĐOẠN TRƯỚC KHI ĐỌC VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CỦA TỔ NGOẠI

NGỮ, KHOA XÃ HỘI, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG VĨNH PHÚC)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

VINH PHUC COLLEGE: AN ACTION RESEARCH

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAIĐOẠN TRƯỚC KHI ĐỌC VỚI SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CỦA TỔ NGOẠI

NGỮ, KHOA XÃ HỘI, TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG VĨNH PHÚC)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã, Dr.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Rationale of the study 1 1.2 Aims of the study 2 1.3 Research questions 2 1.4 Significance of the study 2 1.5 Scope of the study 2 1.6 Method of the study 3 1.7 Design of the study 3 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5 2.1 Introduction 5 2.2 Theoretical background of reading……….5

2.2.1 Definitions of reading 5 2.2.2 Types of reading 6 2.3 Teaching and learning reading skills 9 2.3.1 The importance of reading in foreign language learning 9 2.3.2 Stages of a reading lesson 10 2.4 Theoretical background of prereading task……….11

2.4.1 Overview of prereading tasks……… 11

2.4.2 Prereading tasks……….12

2.5 Summary……… 16

CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Introduction………17

3.2.1 The setting of the study 17

APPENDIX C: SAMPLED COPY OF UNIT 5 & FIELD NOTE 2 & LESSON PLAN………60APPENDIX D: SAMPLED COPY OF UNIT 6 & FIELD NOTE 3 & LESSON PLAN………70APPENDIX E: SAMPLED COPY OF UNIT 7 & FIELD NOTE 4 & LESSON PLAN………83APPENDIX F: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I……… 94APPENDIX G: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE II……… 96

I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, andthis thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university orinstitution

Hanoi, January 2016Signature

Vũ Quỳnh Hoa

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am indeed thankful to my supervisor, Dr Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã, whose sympatheticguidance has been the source of inspiration and knowledge for my research I amalso grateful to other teachers of the Department of PostGraduate Studies for theirencouragement and valuable advice

I have profound regards for all the teachers of Englishmajor Division of Vinh PhucCollege and for all of the Englishmajor freshmen of the class 18 who spent theirprecious time on completing my survey questionnaire Without their enthusiasticcooperation, my thesis would not have been completed

My great thanks are also given to my family and my friends who have constantlysupported, inspirited and encouraged me during the process of my study

This action research focused on finding out the primary problem related to usingprereading tasks; hence, the major purpose of the study aimed to develop pre readingtasks for improving students’ reading performance The research was conductedwith firstyear students of Englishmajor Division, Department of Social Science,Vinh Phuc College Data were collected through 4 observed lessons and two sets

of survey questionnaire delivered to 32 freshmen of the class 18 English after thelessons The research findings revealed the problem of ineffective use of prereadingtasks in reading lessons as well as its causes and effects on students’ readingperformance Finally, I also presented suggestions for developing pre reading tasksthat the teachers have used in their reading lessons for improving students’ readingperformance

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AR: Action Research

No: Number of students

Ss: Students

LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Action research procedure

Figure 2: Simple action research model (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2008, p.278) Figure 3: Detailed Action Research Model (Susman, 1983)

Table 1: Students’ assessment on the first lesson

Table 2: Students’ assessment on prereading tasks used in the first lesson

Table 3: Reasons for effectiveness and ineffectiveness of prereading tasks

provided by the students

Table 4: Students’ assessment on exercises and tasks at the while and post reading

stages in the first lesson

Table 5: Students’ comments on techniques for more efficient prereading tasks in

the next lesson

Table 6: Students’ assessment on the first tryout lesson

Table 7: Students’ assessment on prereading tasks used in the first tryout lesson Table 8: Reasons for effectiveness of prereading tasks provided by the students Table 9: Students’ assessment on exercises and tasks at the while and post reading

stages in the first tryout lesson

11

1.1 Rationale

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In colleges, English has been a compulsory subject in the curriculum Attention isgiven to all of the four English skills including reading, listening, speaking andwriting However, reading plays an important role in enriching the student’s generalknowledge and in developing their further study later In highlighting theimportance of reading, Langer (1981, p.153) stated that “reading is the mostimportant activity in any language class, not only as a source of information andpleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’sknowledge of the language.” Moreover, reading helps students learn other skillsbetter Reutzel (1985), for example, acknowledge that anyone who reads more hasvarious vocabularies and receives marks better for grammar and writing tests.Also, Carrell (1984, p.1) confirms that, by far, for numerous students, in English as

a second language, reading plays the most crucial role of the four skills Teachingreading, consequently, has attracted greater attention However, in reading classes, it

is common that students do not absolutely know about topic of the text they arereading about Thus, prereading stage in each reading lesson becomesindispensable for introducing and for arousing interest in the topic; for motivatinglearners by giving a reason for reading and for providing some language preparationfor the text (Williams, 1986, p.37)

At Vinh Phuc College, where I work, teaching reading is extremely essential indeveloping all of the four basic English skills for students As a teacher of Englishhere, I am teaching reading skill to firstyear students of Englishmajor division,Department of SocialScience I realize prereading stage in each lesson hassignificant effects on the students’ reading performance However, using prereaching tasks in each prereading stage is far from satisfactory In other words, prereading tasks I used in each reading lesson had not led to effective performance.These tasks were so not only simple but also ineffective that they could notmotivate students for reading, provide prior knowledge or build necessarybackground for comprehending the text Therefore, I decided to carry out the actionresearch to develop prereading tasks for firstyear students of Englishmajor Division,Department of SocialScience, Vinh Phuc College Based on the findings of thisaction research, some changes and improvements can be applied in my lessons, and

13work more effectively in a reading lesson I hope that the findings of this study will

be shared with other teachers who have experienced similar problems

1.2 Aims of the Study

The main purpose of the study is to develop prereading tasks in reading lessons forEnglishmajor freshmen at Vinh Phuc college Specifically, it aims at:

 finding out the problems the firstyear Englishmajor students at Vinh PhucCollege encountered in prereading tasks

 giving the teacher’s solutions for these problems and emphasizing on theeffects of the intervention on the students

 providing the implications for developing prereading tasks to improvestudents’ reading performances

1.3 Research questions

The above aims of the study can be realized by the following research questions:

1 What problems did the firstyear Englishmajor students at Vinh Phuc Collegeencounter in prereading tasks?

2 What could the teacher do to solve these problems? What were the effects of theintervention on the students?

3 What were the implications for developing prereading tasks to improve students’reading performances?

1.4 Significance of the Study

Theoretical significance of the study:

The study synthesized the problems related to using prereading tasks in readinglessons and their effects on students’ performance Furthermore, the researchsuggested how to effectively develop prereading tasks to improve students’ readingperformance

Practical significance of the study:

The study is expected to improve using prereading tasks in reading lessons at VinhPhuc College Based on some findings of the study, some suggestions of developingeffective prereading tasks are given for teachers and students to enhance students’reading performances

1.5 Scope of the Study

Although there are various factors that influence the students’ reading performance

in reading lessons, I only focus my study on one of these factors – i.e developingprereading tasks effectively to improve students’ reading performance in reading

lessons The study was conducted at course 18 English in 4 lessons Each lessonlasted 4 periods (45minutes/ period)

1 6 Method of the research

The research method I used is the action research The study was carried out withthe process adapted by Tsui (1993) including five concrete steps: identifyingproblems, finding causes of the problem, designing strategies for improvement(plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research, trying out the strategies(action) and evaluating the tryout These steps were grouped into four phases in thefollowing figure

Figure 1: Action research procedureThese steps were described more concretely in the chapter 3 on methodology

1 7 Design of the study

The main body of this thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction: presents the rationale, the aims, the significance, the

scope, the method and the design of the study Herein, the research questions arealso raised

Chapter 2: Theoretical background: provides the definition of related concepts

and reviews the related works that compose the theoretical background of the study

Chapter 3: The Methodolody: presents situation analysis, identifies the research

method and gives detailed descriptions of the data collection tools (survey

questionnaire and classroom observation), methods of analysis as well as theparticipants of the study.

Chapter 4: Findings: presents, analyzes the findings of the research.

Chapter 5: Conclusion: summarizes the discussion of research findings, gives

some teaching implications, and discusses the limitations of the study as well assuggestions for further research

2.2 Theoretical background of reading

Another interesting definition of reading by Harmer (1989) is that reading isconsidered as an exercise with the eyes and the brain The brain works tounderstand the message from the reading text after this message is received by theeyes

A definition of reading is offered by Rubin and Thomson (1994, p.91), “reading is

an active informationseeking process in which readers relate information in the textwhat they already know” From this point of view, both the reader’s knowledge ofthe language and their background knowledge play the significant role for theirreading success

Reading is also defined as the interaction between the reader and the author.According to Smith (1978, p.102), “reading is understands the author’s thought”

He also explained that “it means that wethe readersread the author’s mind not theauthor’s words” In addition, reading is described in a more extensive way: “reading

is understanding written language”, “reading is a complex mental process”,

“reading is thinking” (Roe, Stood and Burns, 1987, p.2)

In short, from these theories above, it is obvious that no definition can likely consist

of all aspects or features of the definition of reading Each linguist’s definition onlyreflects what reading means as seen from his own point of view However, they allfocus on the nature of reading

Oral reading has both advantages and disadvantages According to Natal (1966),oral reading is regarded as an effective method for learners to improve theirpronunciation It helps learners to make the connection between sounds and spelling

of letters and words and also assists the teacher to check learners’ pronunciation.Moreover, it is a technique for him to keep the class under control, since when onestudent reads aloud, the others are asked to listen in case they may be required tocontinue the reading

However, Greenwood (1985) provides some disadvantages of oral reading Thebiggest problem of oral reading is that students may unable to focus adequately onthe text’s meaning when they highly concentrate on pronouncing the words Inother words, when reading aloud, students only focus on the pronunciation instead

of the meaning of the text The second disadvantage is that when students take turn

to read a text aloud, only one student is active; the others do not have to read It can

be inferred that there is little value in reading aloud for improving the readers’reading skills Therefore, the teachers as well as educators should identify the level

In conclusion, silent reading is an effective skill for reading process in general andreading comprehension in particular, since the teacher can check his or her students’understanding easily and can adjust the reading materials and exercises to suit thestudents’ ability Moreover, students also mainly focus on the meaning of the textinstead of pronunciation Therefore, it should be applied in teaching and learning aforeign language.

Within the category of silent reading, the two types of reading named are intensiveand extensive reading Intensive reading is used to teach or practice specific reading

strategies or skills The text is treated as an end in itself Extensive reading on the

other hand, involves reading of large quantities of material, directly and fluently It

is treated as a means to an end It may include reading simply for pleasure or

reading technical, scientific or professional material It can be concluded that theyare two contrasting ways of reading; however, actually, they are complementary andboth are necessary

2.2.2.2.1 Intensive reading

Nuttall (2000, p.38) points out that “intensive reading involves approaching the textunder the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the student to focus on thetext” In other words, intensive reading is described as a classroomoriented activity

in which the teacher guides his students mainly to focus on the text

Another definition of intensive reading provided by Grellet (1981, p.41) is that

“intensive reading means reading short text to extract specific information This is

an accuracy activity in involving reading for detailed” Another author, Brown(1990, p.297) has pointed out that reading “recalls students’ attention togrammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for thepurpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationships, andthe like” From these points of view, we can infer that the objective of intensivereading is to achieve a full understanding of the text not only of what it means but

also of how the meaning is produced Through intensive reading, the reader mustarrive at a profound and detailed understanding of logical arguments, the rhetoricalarrangement, the pattern of the text, the attitude and purposes of the writer In otherwords, intensive reading is reading for accuracy which is essential to the students’comprehension.

2 2.2.2.2 Extensive reading

Grettle (1981, p.4) confirms: “extensive reading means reading longer text, usually

or one’s own pleasure This is a fluency activity mainly involving generalunderstanding” Carrell and Carson (1997, p.4950) share the same view point ofextensive reading with Grettle; they state that “extensive reading generally involvesrapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for generalunderstanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than

on the language” Thus, extensive reading is regarded as a useful activity forstudents’ selflearning In Brown’s view point (2001), extensive reading helpsstudents enrich their language elements because it is one of the key to achievereading ability, linguistic competence, vocabulary, spelling and writing

To summarize, extensive reading is one of the best ways to improve students’reading performance The reason for this is that extensive reading is carried out “toachieve a general understanding of a text” (Brown, 1989, p.31) Basing on thepurposes of reading, extensive reading may involve two specific types ofreading, scanning for key details and skimming for the essential meaning

Firstly, scanning is one of the effective skills commonly used in readingcomprehension There have been numerous definitions of scanning According toBrown (2001, p.308), scanning is defined as “quickly searching for some particularpiece or pieces of information in a text” Also, Williams (1987, p.7) stated that

“scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find aparticular point of information” From these view points, it is inferred that scanning

is very high speed reading for finding a particular piece of information Therefore,scanning is regarded as a useful skill to help the readers to skip over unimportantwords and to focus on searching the details they want In addition to definitions ofscanning, Grellet (1981, p.19) also provides a more detailed one that “whenscanning, we only try to locate information and often we do not even follow thelinearity of passage to do so, and scanning is far more limited since it only meansretrieving what information is relevant to our purpose” In brief, these above authorsall have the same point that scanning is a useful technique for quick and efficient

reading Thus, it can be practiced with the great range of texts such as dictionaries,maps and labels

Secondly, based on the theory of skimming made by Brown (2001, p.304),

“skimming consists of quickly running eyes across the whole text for its gist.Skimming gives readers the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of thepassage, the main topic, or message, or possibly some of the developing orsupporting ideas”, it can be understood that skimming is also one of the specificreading techniques necessary for fast and effective reading Greenwood (1981, p.92)also shares the same view point with Douglas (2001), he indicates that “the readergoes through particular passage such as newspaper article merely to get the gist”.From these two opinions, it can be inferred that skimming is also a skill that enablesreaders to get the main idea of the text without any concern for details In general,skimming is a very useful reading skill for developing students’ readingperformance, also it is advisable to apply at the first stage of teaching reading withthe hope that it can help them to have an overview of what they are reading.Moreover, it will be easier for them to deal with the other tasks that followed

2.3 Teaching and learning reading skills

2.3.1 The importance of reading in foreign language learning

In the process of teaching and learning English as a second foreign language, theteaching and learning of reading are always received much attention, since reading

is considered as one of the most basic and important skills as what Carrell (1984,p.332) indicates: “for many students, reading is by far the most important of thefour macro skills, particularly in English as a second or foreign language” It is alsotrue for teaching and learning reading at Englishmajor Division, Department ofSocialScience, Vinh Phuc College In detail, at our college, teaching and learningreading is also very crucial because reading is not only one of the most importantskills, but it is also remarkable for developing students’ other skills According toRivers and Temperly (1978), reading skill is an integratedlanguage skill Firstly,reading helps students enrich vocabulary and grammatical structures, and improvestudents’ performance in summarizing the reading materials As Richard (1992, p.4)states that “reading may help to increase knowledge of the target language throughexposure to new vocabulary and grammatical structures” Secondly, reading is alsoconcerned for improving listening skill Rivers and Temperly (1978, p.259) pointout that “listen to worthwhile reading or dramatic presentation of what they haveread The aural element adds vividness and life to the reading unit” They alsofurther state that “practice in direct reading of a text which is readily accessible to

the students at their present level of knowledge, while they are simultaneouslylistening to a taped model reading it in meaningful and expressive segments, canhelp students develop useful habits of anticipation and syntactic identification inboth of these skills” Finally, that is integration of reading and speaking skills.Reading materials are regarded as a useful source for oral presentations whenstudents can get information as well as ideas from these materials for discussion andpresentation.

Besides, reading also helps students to approach the target culture It is stated byRichard (1992, p.4) as follows: “reading in the new language is also an importantway to learn about the target culture” In details, reading is regarded as a significantway for students to get knowledge of the target culture as lifestyle, behaviors,thoughts, custom of the native people

In short, “reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as asource of information and pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidatingand extending one’s knowledge of the language” (Rivers, 1981, p.147) In addition,reading also reinforces students’ other language skills and becomes a source ofinteresting knowledge of different culture for students

2.3.2 Stages of a reading lesson

Many linguists all share the same view point that each reading lesson is divided intothree stages which are prereading stage, whilereading stage and postreading stage(William, 1984; Dubin & Bycina, 1991; Phillips, 1985) William (1984) alsoindicates that each of these stages carries its own features and requires differenttechniques and strategies

Firstly, prereading stage is the first core step of the process of each reading lesson

It not only creates motivation towards the reading text, but it also provides studentslanguage preparation for the text before they read In detail, William (1984) liststhree principle purposes of the prereading stage The prereading phase aims tointroduce the topic of the reading text and stimulate students’ interest, to activatebackground knowledge and to provide preliminary vocabulary for the reading.Sharing William’s view point, Doff (1988) suggests several tasks in the prereadingphase The first one is giving a brief introduction to the text This task providesstudents some ideas about the topic of the reading text before reading and createsmotivation with the reading text The second activity is presenting new vocabularyand revising grammatical structures whose aims are to provide vocabulary related tothe text and to review the old and new grammatical structures for better preparationfor the whilereading stage The last task is giving students guiding questions

referring to the general idea of the text to brainstorm about the topic before theyread the text General speaking, the prereading phase is extremely necessary for anexcellent preparation before reading It can arouse students to focus on the topic orthe reading text Furthermore, it also provides students vocabulary and grammaticalstructures to deal with the text

Secondly, the whilereading stage is the main part of a reading lesson with thefollowing specific aims to help understanding of the writer’s purpose, to helpunderstanding of the text structure and to clarify text content (William, 1984, p.38).The techniques applied in this stage widely vary from guessing new words incontexts, asking questions to notetaking Teachers, at the phase, need to encouragestudents to understand the text as well as the author’s purposes conveyed throughthe reading text In conclusion, the whilereading phase plays the important role inthe process of a reading lesson Therefore, the teacher should create variousactivities in the stage for improvement of students’ reading performance

Finally, the postreading phase is regarded as the time for students’ production.What they produce will reflect how well they comprehend the reading text William(1984, p.39) points out that “the postreading stage is aimed at consolidating orreflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ ownknowledge, interests or views” To summarize, this stage is also an essential for areading lesson The teacher, at the phase, need to focus on create activities for theseabove purposes In addition, teacher should not ignore this stage

2.4 Theoretical background of prereading tasks

In this section, I review the theoretical background and various studies related toprereading tasks and present a list of different prereading tasks suggested to conduct

at the prereading stage Hence, this section consists of two main parts, namely, theoverview of prereading tasks and a classification of various leadin tasks for the pre-reading stage

2.4.1 Overview of prereading tasks

According to Ringler and Weber (1984), prereading tasks are defined as enablingones, since they help the readers get the necessary background for understanding thereading materials Another definition of prereading tasks provided by Lazar (1993)

is that prereading tasks are regarded as ones that provide students with backgroundknowledge, arouse their interest in the topic of the reading text and preteachvocabulary In addition, Chen and Graves (1995, p.664) aslo define prereadingtasks “devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’sschemata”

It can not be denied that prereading tasks play a crucial role in not only motivatingstudents through the reading lesson, but also developing students’ readingperformance After their studies about effects of prereading tasks, differentresearchers all provide the same view point that prereading tasks provide andactivate students background information prior to the reading text (Graves &Chen, 1995; Graves & Cooke, 1980; Hudson, 1982; Johnson, 1981, 1982;Langer, 1984; Maghsoudi, 2012; Stevens, 1982; Taglieber & Johnson &Yarbrough, 1988) Furthermore, in Chastain‘s view point (1988), prereading tasksalso arouse students’ interest in the topic and provide them with languagepreparation before reading In addition, Lewis and Hill (1992) emphasize that prereading tasks are used to make it easier for students to comprehend the text andhelp them only focus their attention on the text.

In conclusion, prereading tasks are very necessary with three core purposes,namely, building students’ background information before reading, arousingstudents’ interest in the topic and providing students some language preparation forthe text before reading

2.4.2 Prereading Tasks

Various researchers have focused on the prereading stage such as Bowen (1982),Lewis and Hill (1985), William (1986), Doff (1988), Swaffar (1991), Moore (1992),Wallace (1992), Nuttal (2000) and Chia (2001) In their studies, they have alsoprovided several prereading tasks of the first phase of each reading lesson

2.4.2.1 Giving a brief introduction of the text

It is very essential for teachers to provide an introduction to the topic of aninformative text before students read A good introduction consists of two mainpurposes, namely, establishing a purpose for reading, activating and buildingbackground knowledge For the first aim, teachers should design appropriate tasks

to match students’ interest to the content of the reading text, to motivate students toread the text Furthermore, the second purpose of an introduction to the text building background knowledge It means that the introduction can recall anyinformation students already know about the topic, from their personal experience.Sharing the same view point, Nuttall (2000) also provides several purposes of agood introduction to the text, namely, motivating students to read the text,activating students’ background knowledge about the topic of the text, involvingstudents actively and being usually short Hence, several following prereadingtasks are also suggested for a good introduction to the text before reading

2.4.2.1.1 Giving prereading questions

Prereading questions are designed to ask students either orally or written on theblackboard for introducing to the reading text Doff (1988, p.61) stated obviouslythat these questions are essential for students because “they give the students areason to read and to lead them to the main points of the text” These questionsfocus on general ideas of the reading text instead of detailed ideas Normally, prereading questions should be designed so that students could easily find out theanswer Students can work in groups or in pairs to discuss these questions, this canmake students feel excited to try their best for finding out the answers Also, this is

an effective way to arouse students’ interest into the topic of the text There areseveral types of prereading questions, namely, yes/no questions, multiplechoicequestions as well as ‘wh’ questions

2.4.2.1.2 Using visual aids

Visual aids consist of photographs, videos, pictures, real objects, flashcards orcharts It is advised that visual aids should be used at the first stage of each readinglesson to introduce the text Visual aids not only provide input for the lesson, butalso keep students’ attention as well as motivate students to read the text However,

to make using visual aids more effective, visual aids should be related to the topic

of the reading and of students’ interests

2 4.2.1.3 Telling a short story

It is advised that the teacher may tell a short story with the topic related to thereading text The story is regarded as a brief introduction to the text In addition,students also feel excited with the content of the text, which relates to the story theteacher has already told Thus, teacher’s story becomes a good introduction to thetext by motivate students to read the text

2.4.2.1.4 Using games

Using games at prereading stage is also regarded as another effective way forintroducing to the text Firstly, games encourage students to sustain their interests.Also, through games, the teacher can create the new contexts where the language isuseful and meaningful

Several games are suggested to be useful for introducing to the text, namely, luckynumber, crossword and hangman

2.4.2.1.5 Discussion about the topic of the text

Discussion about the topic of the text at the prereading is also an appropriate andnecessary technique in order to lead to the reading text Discussion encouragesstudents to think about the topic as well as to increase their interests in the text In

addition, obviously, discussion is very essential not only for the students’interaction with each other but also for improving their speaking performance.

2.4.2.1.6 Brainstorming

Brainstorming is useful for a good introduction to the text Wallace (1992) alsopoints out that brainstorming is considered as one of the most popular prereadingtasks Firstly, this task is designed by giving students key words After that, they areasked to list all words related to key words either orally or written down the paper.Hence, brainstorming can encourage students to remind of their prior backgroundknowledge to the topic of the text Also, this task creates an interesting atmospherefor all students as well as the lesson

2 4.2.2 Providing some language preparation for the text

This task is commonly called as preteaching vocabulary Before reading, teachersprovide some new words and grammatical structures appearing in the text so thatstudents can deal with the text According to Nuttall (1982), at the prereadingphase, to have an efficient way to introducing to the reading text, one of the mostimportant things teachers need to do is preteaching certain key language items inthe reading text, this is better than presenting them as isolated items In brief, preteaching vocabulary is really needful for a better introduction It is not only a goodway for students to study all new words and structures of the same context, but italso gives them language preparation for the text

Before reading, some prereading tasks are suggested for both teachers and students

to preteach vocabulary effectively

2.4.2.2.1 Using definitions or explanation

It is a common way to teach vocabulary Normally, the teacher provides definitions

or explanation of the new words and structures, this not only helps students catchthe meaning of vocabulary but also aids them to study all new words and structures

of the same context as well as arouse their motivation in reading the text It isadvised for the teacher is that he should provide short and direct definition andexplanation of the new words and structures for the best way of preteachingvocabulary before reading

2.4.2.2.2 Using synonyms and antonyms

A new word and structure can also be defined with their synonyms and antonyms.Therefore, synonyms and antonyms become useful clues for recalling students’background knowledge as well as preteaching new and difficult vocabulary of theunfamiliar topic

2 4.2.2.3 Using visual aids

“Visual aids are of great help in stimulating the learning of a foreignlanguage”(Bowen, 1982, p.1) Specially, using visual aids is regarded as one of themost effective strategies for preteaching vocabulary Students feel extremelyexcited with presenting the meaning of vocabulary visually through pictures, realobjects, gestures and facial expressions

Several tasks are suggested for anticipating the content of the text They mayinclude using the title of the text, using questions, reading the introduction andconclusion paragraphs, using key words, phrases and statements from the text,reading the first sentence of each of body paragraphs, skimming the text

2.4.2.3.1 Using the title of the text

Students are asked to work with the title of the text to establish expectations aboutthe content of the text since the title of the text directly relates to the content of thetext

2.4.2.3.2 Using questions

The teacher uses a list of questions to predict the content of the text Thesequestions should be brief and relevant with the topic to help students to formulatehypothesis about the text Sometimes, student can create their own questions aboutinformation they would expect to read from the text

2.4.2.3.3 Reading the introduction and conclusion paragraphs

Reading the introduction and conclusion paragraphs enables students to identify themain ideas to be discussed in the text Normally, the introduction paragraph

introduces topics discussed in the text, while the conclusion one frequently repeatsthe main ideas of the text.

2.4.2.3.4 Using key words, phrases and statements from the text

By focusing on several key words, phrases and statements of the text, students canget vocabulary as well as anticipate information from the reading text The words,phrases and statements chosen should relate directly to the main ideas of the text.Moreover, it is advised for the teacher that he should design relevant tasks withthese words, phrases and statements for students’ efficient anticipation

2.4.2.3.5 Reading the first sentence of each of body paragraphs

The first sentence of each of body paragraphs is the topic sentence of eachparagraph, which also sets up the main idea of the paragraphs Thence, students cansynthesize all of these key ideas from paragraphs in order to build their ownprediction about the content of the text

2.4.2.3.6 Skimming the text

Students are asked to read the text quickly so as to get the gist of the text

In brief, obviously, prereading tasks have had great impact to students’ readingperformance Consequently, developing prereading tasks is extremely essential forimproving students’ reading skills

2 5 Summary

The theoretical issues of prereading tasks have been presented in this chapter.Initially, the chapter provides the theoretical background of reading and of teachingand learning reading skills The next and most important section is that thetheoretical background of prereading tasks in which the overview of prereadingtasks is presented and a classification of prereading tasks is also mentioned

27

3.1 Introduction

CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides a detailed introduction about the methodology includingsituation analysis, participants, data collection instruments, methods of data analysis,research method

3.2 Situation analysis

3.2.1 Setting of the study

The study was conducted at Englishmajor Division, Department of SocialScience,Vinh Phuc College, which is one of the main colleges of the province that trainteachers, secretaries and tour guides The students at the majorEnglish group have

to complete a threeyear course in which English is a major subject Thus, English

is taught in a formal setting with two stages During the first one, which lasts for thefirst two years, students study general English with the four language skills In thesecond one, with the last year, the students have a chance to deal with such subjects

as grammar, phonetics, semantics, lexicology and methodology

The first stage is considered to be important to the student’s development of thefour skills since they have more time and opportunities to practice their skillsbasically and systematically than in the second one, especially for the first yearstudents whose English seems to be upgraded relatively after years at high school.However, class time allocation for the four skills in general and for reading is notalways sufficient Normally, for freshmen, there are only three periods of readingevery week Yet, it is not enough for the students to develop their reading skills aswell as to enrich their background knowledge and vocabulary and structurecapacity

3.2.2 Reading materials

The main course book is used to teach reading skill to firstyear Englishmajorstudents is ‘Insights for Today’ of Lorraine C Smith and Nancy Nici Mare

The course book is designed under a themebased approach with 6 units Each unit

is about a big theme In addition, each theme has two chapters The format of eachchapter is consistent Although each chapter can be done entirely in class, some

Every chapter in the course book consists of many parts The sample of somechapters is put in Appendixes B, C, D, E Below is the introduction of each part of achapter

 Prereading Preparation

This prereading activity is designed to stimulate student interest, activatebackground knowledge, and provide preliminary vocabulary for the readingpassage itself The importance of prereading preparation should not beunderestimated Studies have shown the positive effect of prereadingpreparation in motivating student interest and in enhancing readingcomprehension In fact, prereading discussion has been shown to be moreeffective in improving reading comprehension than prevocabulary exercises.Time should be spent describing and discussing the illustrations as well asdiscussing the prereading questions Furthermore, the students should try torelate the topic to their own experience and to predict what they are going toread about

 The Reading Passage

As the students read the passage for the first time, they should be encouraged

to read ideas In English, ideas are formulated and described in groups of

words, in sentences, and in paragraphs, not in individual works After thestudents read the passage to themselves, the teacher may want to read thepassage aloud to the students At the beginning level, students are very keen

on pronunciation and feel that this practice is helpful to them Moreover,such practice provides the students with an appropriate model forpronunciation and intonation

 FactFinding Exercise

After the first reading, the students will read and respond to the true/ falsestatements If a statement is false, the students will go back to the passage adfind the lines that contain the correct answer They will then rewrite thestatement so that it becomes true This activity can be done individually or ingroups

 Information Recall

Students should be instructed to read each passage carefully a second time topay attention to details After the second reading, they will answer thequestions on specific information in the passage, and compare their answerswith a classmate The pairs of students can then refer back to the passage andcheck their answers

 Reading Analysis

The students will read each question and answer it The first question in thesection always refers to the main ideas There are three possible answers.Two are incorrect because they are too general or too narrow When goingover the exercise, the teacher should discuss with the students why the othertwo answers are incorrect The rest of this exercise requires the students tothink about the meanings of words and phrases, the structure of sentencesand paragraphs, and the relationships among ideas This exercise is veryeffective when done in groups It may also be done individually, but groupwork gives the students an excellent opportunity to discuss possible answers.

 Word Forms

As an introduction to the word form exercises in the book, it is recommendedthat the teacher first review parts of speech, especially verbs, nouns,adjectives, and adverbs Teachers should point out each word forms position

in a sentence Students will develop a sense for which part of speech ismissing in a given sentence Teachers should also point out clues to tenseand number, and whether an idea is affirmative or negative The teacher can

do the example with the students before the exercise or as an assignmentafter the exercise is completed Each section has its own instructions,depending on the particular pattern which is being introduced For example,

in the section containing words which take –tion in the noun form, the

teacher can explain that in this exercise the students will look at the verb and

noun forms of two types of words that use the suffix –tion in their noun form (1) Some words simply add –tion to the verb: suggest, suggestion; if the word ends in –e, the –e is dropped first: produce, production (2) Other words drop the final –e and add –ation: examine, examination This exercise

is very effective when done in pairs After students have a workingknowledge of this type of exercise, it can be assigned for homework

 Vocabulary in Context

This is a fillin exercise designed to review items from the previousexercises The vocabulary has been covered either in the questions or in theReading Analysis section This exercise can be done for homework as areview or in class as group work

 Followup Activities

This section contains various activities appropriate to the information in thepassages Some activities are designed for pair and smallgroup work.Students are encouraged to use the information and vocabulary from thepassages both orally and in writing The teacher may also use these questionsand activities as home or in class assignments The followup activities help

the students interact with the real world because they require the students to

go outside the classroom to interview people or to get specific information.They are not limited to speaking, reading, or learning in the classroom

 Topics for Discussion and Writing

This section provides ideas or questions for the students to discuss or to work

on alone, in pairs, or in small groups It provides the students with theopportunity to write

 Crossword Puzzle

Each chapter contains a crossword puzzle, which contains much of thevocabulary used in that chapter Students can go over the puzzle orally ifpronunciation practice with letters is needed The teacher can have thestudents spell out their answers in addition to pronouncing the word itself.Students invariably enjoy doing crossword puzzles They are an enjoyableway to reinforce the vocabulary presented in the various exercises in eachchapter, and they require the students to pay attention to correct spelling

 CLOZE Quiz

The CLOZE exercises are guided and vary throughout the text In eachCLOZE, certain types of words are missing These words may be articles,prepositions, verbs, pronouns, or quantifiers

 Index of Key Words and Phrases

This section contains words and phrases from all the chapters for easyreference

 Answer Key

The Answer Key provides the answers for the exercises

The course book reveals some drawbacks Firstly, some reading texts have manynew words for students Therefore, if the teacher does not employ appropriatetechniques to guide the students, surely they will find it hard and unwilling to dealwith the text Secondly, some reading texts seem to be unfamiliar to the students’background knowledge or not of their interests As a result, it is best if the teacherapply the techniques that can activate their basic knowledge and increase theirinterests in the lesson as well, especially before the students read the text

3.2.3 Schedule of the course

In the course, the firstyear students under investigation finished 45 periods forreading The textbook consisted of 10 units and each unit lasts 4 periods After theseunits, students have 4 periods for revisions 1 and 2 Finally, there was a test with 1period at the end of the course Details of the schedule of the course are inAppendix A

3 3 Participants

3.3.1 The researcher

As a researcher, I am teaching reading skill to firstyear students of EnglishmajorDivision, Department of SocialScience, Vinh Phuc College I carried out this studyfor my better changes of reading lessons Herein, I worked as the person whodelivered the questionnaire, a classroom observer, a data collector and analyze tocomplete the study

3.3.2 The observed students

The main participants of the study were 32 firstyear students of class 18 English ofEnglishmajor Division, Department of SocialScience, Vinh Phuc College All ofthem are young students entering college after they have finished high school

3.3.3 The researcher’s assistants

The third group of participants was two researcher’s assistants They were twoteachers of Englishmajor Division, Department of SocialScience, Vinh PhucCollege They assisted me to conduct some parts of my research And, they werealso the observers of the four lessons I presented in my implementing stage One ofthem videotaped the lessons and the other kept the notes Then, I updated these notes

by watching the videos after the lessons I need their assistances because of visualdata from class observation

3.4 Data Collection Instruments

Survey questionnaire and classroom observation were selected as the data collectiontools in this study The two sets of survey questionnaire were written in Vietnamese

to avoid the subjects’ misunderstanding of the questions and to save time for theresearcher in explaining the required information Following is the description ofthese instruments

3.4.1 Questionnaire

3.4.1.1 Reasons for choosing questionnaire

According to Richard & J Platt & H Platt (1992, p.23), survey questionnaire isuseful in:

‘…gathering information about affective dimensions of teaching and

learning such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, preferences, etc, and

enables a teacher to collect a large amount of information relatively

quickly’

Another rationale for choosing this data collection tool is that the collected datawould be relatively easy to summarize and report All the participants answered thesame question so that it would not take time to code the data

Survey questionnaire are also useful in providing the students with opportunities toexpress their opinions without fear of being embarrassed or punished In this study,the students were not required to write down their names so that honest answerswere achieved

3.4.1.2 Description of questionnaire

Questionnaire was the first procedure to collect primary data in the study Itconsisted of different types of questions (closedended, openended, multiple choice).Questionnaire 1 was delivered to 32 Englishmajor freshmen of class 18

English to identify the main problem related to the use of prereading tasks inreading lessons while students received questionnaire 2 after the lessons to find outthe changes Both of them were written in Vietnamese in order to adapt tofreshmen’s language level

3.4.2 Classroom observations

Class observation was the second data collection tool The following sectionsdescribe reasons for choosing classroom observation and the detailed procedures toconduct class observation

3.4.2.1 Reasons for choosing classroom observation

Richard & J Platt & H Platt (1992) states that observational methods areprocedures and techniques based on systematic observation of events and are oftenused in studying language use and classroom events This study, with certainobservation tasks in the classroom environment, chooses observational methods asthe inexpensive way to gather the data

Another reason for the researcher’s selection of observational methods is that thecollected data would reflect the real activities in observed classrooms

3.4.2.2 Observation procedure

The classroom observation data were both manually and electronically collected(Nunan & Bailey, 2009) One of my two assistants used the mobile phone tovideotape the classroom interactions for transcribing and coding Another madenotes to record nonverbal activities, class events or the writing on the board,general information about the date, time, number of students, and classsetup My comments or opinions were separated from the description

There were two observation sessions, one for identifying the problem and one forobserving the three tryout lessons.

3.5 Methods of Data Analysis

As the study involved questionnaire, observation, both quantitative andqualitative analysis procedures were employed Each analysis procedureinvolved similar steps including preparing the data, exploring the data,analyzing the data, representing the analysis, interpreting the analysis, andvalidating the data and interpretation (J W Creswell & Clark, 2011) Thissection will describe the essential quantitative procedure to analyzequestionnaire data and the qualitative procedure to analyze class observations

3.6 Research Method – Action research (AR)

3.6.1 Definitions of AR

The concept of AR is based on theoretical perspectives of different researchers such

as Dewey (1945), Collier (1945), Lewin (1946) and Habermas (1962) Kurt Lewin(1946) is considered as the "father" of AR He wrote: “The research needed forsocial practice can best be characterized as research for social management or socialengineering It is a type of actionresearch, a comparative research on the conditionsand effects of various forms of social action, and research leading to social action.Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice”(Lewin 1946, cited inLewin, 1948, p.2023) Thus, the main difference of action research is that it creates acertain social action and AR also assesses on the social impact of such action

Until now, AR is known by many other names, including participatory research,collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextual actionresearch, but all are variations on a theme Burns has also defined this kind ofresearch: “AR involves a selfreflective, systematic and critical approach to enquiry

by participants who are at the same time members of the research community Theaim is to identify problematic situations or issues considered by participants to beworthy of investigation in order to bring about critically informed changes inpractice Action research is underpinned by democratic principles in that theownership of change is invested in those who conduct the research” (Burns, cited inCornwell, 1999, p.5)

AR is also regarded as one of the most typical researches conducted in currenteducational circles (Ferrance, 2000) As defined by Mills (2003, p.5), educationalaction research, is:

“…any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers,

principals, school counselors, or other stakeholders in the

teaching/learning environment to gather information about how their

particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their

students learn This information is gathered with the goals of gaining

insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in

the school environment (and on educational practices in general), and

improving student outcomes and the lives of those involved…”

Thus, an AR basically aims at teachers’ professional development and students’learning progress ‘It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques,and strategies’ (Ferrance, 2000, p.3) And it can be carried out by an educator(individual AR), a group of teachers (collaborative AR), a staff of teachers at acertain school (schoolwide AR), or a system of concerned people in a specific area(districtwide AR)

This study is an individual AR in the way that it is the work of the researcher byherself with an expectation of developing prereading tasks to improving firstyearstudents’ reading performance in reading lessons at Englishmajor Division,Department of SocialScience, Vinh Phuc College

3.6.2 Action research model

As evidently introduced by Mills (2003), there have been a large number of actionresearch models for researcher to follow such as models of Lewin (1952), Susman(1983), Kemmis & McTaggart (1988), Tsui (1993), Calhoun (1994), Wells (1994),Stringer (1996) , Creswell (2002) and Kemmis & McTaggart (2008) Among thesedifferent models, Kemmis & McTaggart (2008) have developed a simple model ofthe cyclical nature of the typical action research process (Figure 2) Each cycle hasfour steps: plan, act, observe, reflect

Figure 2: Simple action research model (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2008, p.278)

Gerald Susman (1983) gives a somewhat more elaborate listing He distinguishesfive phases to be conducted within each research cycle (Figure 3) Initially, aproblem is identified and data is collected for a more detailed diagnosis This isfollowed by a collective postulation of several possible solutions, from which asingle plan of action emerges and is implemented Data on the results of theintervention are collected and analyzed, and the findings are interpreted in light ofhow successful the action has been At this point, the problem is reassessed andthe process begins another cycle This process continues until the problem isresolved

Figure 3: Detailed Action Research Model (Susman, 1983)

In an attempt to find out an appropriate AR procedure to follow, I found that the ARmodel adapted by Tsui (1993) is very specific and feasible for me as well as otherteachers to implement action research Therefore, I could carry out my research inthe best way

Also basing on the above introduced basic process, Tsui (1993) adjusted an ARmodel consisting of five concrete steps The first step is carried out to identifyproblems by reviewing an audio or a videotaped lesson and the transcription of asegment of the lesson that illustrates the problem before conducting a survey to hearfrom your students In the second step, the researcher tries to find causes of theproblem by consulting with your colleagues, trainers and reading professionalbooks/ journals for ideas and suggestions After getting reasons for the problem,strategies are designed for improvement and a proposal for action research is alsowritten out Next, the researcher conducts tryout lessons with designed strategies

The last step aims to evaluate these tryout lessons by reviewing a lesson illustratingthe changes, reflecting on the reasons for those changes and carrying out a survey toget information from students

To be more suitable with my research, I adapted this model concluding thefollowing five steps Firstly, the problems were identified by reviewing videotapedlessons, using a field note of lessons to illustrate the problem and conducting asurvey to get more information from students after the above lessons Secondly, Ifound out causes of the problems by basing on one of results from the above survey.Thirdly, I designed strategies for improvement Fourthly, I tried out the strategies.Finally, the tryout lessons were evaluated by reviewing lessons that illustrated thechanges, reflecting on the reasons for those changes and carrying out a survey to getinformation from students In detail, the action research procedure was describedconcretely in the chapter 4

3 7 Summary

In short, the chapter has totally presented five core parts of the study, namely,situation analysis, participants, data collection instruments, methods of dataanalysis, research method Hence, in the following chapter, it’s extremely facile forthe researcher to provide major research findings and discussion