SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN READING COMPREHENSION FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FACULTY, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH ANDMODERN LANGUAGES GRADUATION PAPER B.A Degree in English SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN READING COMPREHENSION FOR STUDENT

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH AND

MODERN LANGUAGES

GRADUATION PAPER

B.A Degree in English

SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN READING COMPREHENSION FOR STUDENTS

OF ENGLISH FACULTY, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Date of birth: 29/09/1988

Hanoi, May 2010

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy - K13U

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied and reproduced by

me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report isoriginally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Date submitted: May 15th, 2010

Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy Lê Phương Thảo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

helps me much in collecting and classifying my knowledge which I have studied Tofinish paper, I have worked under extremely high responsibility I received manysupports from teachers and friends I cannot accomplish this task without tìieừ help.First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to all the teachers ofEnglish faculty, Hanoi open University for teaching me to be a well-educated student.

I have learnt so many tilings from what they taught me They have made favourableconditions for me to study at school during my precious four years here

Secondly, I would like to give special thanks to Ms Le Phuong Thao, mysupervisor, for both her positive response to my ideas for this paper and her advicethat helped me to complete it I would not complete my graduation paper without herenthusiastic instructions and correction

Besides, I also would like to thank my friends and all the students who helped

me implement my study

Finally yet important, I am very thankful to my family and my boyfriend fortheir spữitual and financial supports to help me finish my course in Hanoi OpenUniversity

Hanoi, May 2009Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy

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analyzing documents or a variety of data sources are major factors which affect aperson’s work results and his salary as well Therefore, improving reading skill isvery important for undergraduate students of English in general and English faculty atHanoi open University in particular

Reading is not just pronouncing words but requires understanding However,the first tiling students learning English as a foreign language meet when they arereading is the vocabulary Many students probably consider that tìieừ mam problem inreading is not having a big enough vocabulary Most students who meet an unfamiliarword they cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means If they do not find outthe word’s meaning, they cannot go on reading and comprehending the text Collegematerial contains unfamiliar words and specialized or technical vocabulary thatstudents must learn Also, college textbooks in general are written at a higher levelthan other materials, so some effective strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words inreading comprehension are necessary

In studying process, the author of this paper and other students of Englishfaculty at Hanoi open University have met many difficulties made by unfamiliarwords in reading comprehension Therefore, the author would like to present somereading compehension and unfamiliar word knowledge and propose some effectivesừategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students ofEnglish faculty at Hanoi open University

lế2 Aims of the study:

It is obvious that reading plays an important role in our life No worker canwork well without reading documents and no student can study without readingbooks Yet, we always have trouble with unfamiliar words in reading The objective

of the study is to bring out some strategies which are helpful in dealing withunfamiliar words in reading comprehension for students of English faculty, Hanoiopen University In this study, the author would like to focus on finding whatdifficulties students usually meet when encountering unfamiliar words in reading andfrom that point, the author would like to bring out some effective strategies to helpstudents learning English as a foreign language in general and the students of English

• Proposed effective strategies of dealing with unfamiliar words inreading comprehension based on the result drawn from the survey.

Hopefully, this research will be a good source for students in general,especially the students of English faculty at HOU in particular

1Ệ3 Scope of the study:

English reading comprehension is a wide field for research In the scope of thisstudy, due to the limited time and knowledge, the author mainly focuses ondifficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension and some effectivestrategies for dealing with it The research aimed at English learners, especiallystudents at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University

1Ệ4 Method of the study:

In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the author hasacquired all the literature resources from many sources of data such as the internet,newspapers and linguistic books in the Library of Faculty of English and ModemLanguages, HOU and the Vietnam National Library The author implemented asurvey with subjects who are students of English faculty, Hanoi Open University.Personal observation consulted and discussed by the supervisor in the process ofresearching also contributed much to the completion of this thesis

1Ệ5 Design of the study:

The study is divided into five chapters:

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• Chapter I: Introduction

• Chapter II: Literature Review

• Chapter III: The study

• Chapter IV: The finding and discussion

• Chapter V: Conclusion

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2ềl Reading Comprehension:

2.1.1 Definition of Reading:

Joe Cortina and Janet Elder (2000) defined reading as a form of thinking in

Opening Doors - Understanding college reading: “It is your brain that does the reading, not your eyes Your eyes merely transmit images to the brain for it to interpret” (12,75) To understand this, we consider a blind person reading Braille, a

system of printing for the blind, in this case, the finger - tips transmit input to thebrain Thus, Joe and Janet highly preciate the importance of brain or thinking inreading It also means that meaning resides in the reader’s mind, not in symbolsprinted on a page It is the readers who construct meaning by associating theữknowledge and experience with what is on the printed page Different readers,therefore, with their own knowledge and experience have different understandingabout the written text

In Deanne’s view (2000), reading term is defined as follows: “Reading is a

complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing meaning” (6,65) According to

Deanne, reading is a process of getting a message from a written text The writerencodes his thought or ideas as language and the reader decodes the language tounderstand author’s message This can be understood that reading refers to receivingthe writer’s knowledge and thought It is an activity that connects the reader and thewritten material or the writer When reading, obviously, readers interact with thewriter in some ways and this will be influent on the reading effectiveness of readers.Another noticeable definition on reading given by John, L (2002) is that:

“Reading is the motivated and fluent coordination of word recognition andcomprehension” (14,89) In his study, he shows that “Reading is a multifacetedprocess involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation”.Reading is making meaning from print It requires: identifying the words in print(word recognition), constructing an understanding from it (comprehension),coordinating identifying words and making meaning so that reading is automatic and

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accurate (fluency) Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together wordrecognition and comprehension in a fluent manner These three processes arecomplex, and each is important Leipzig, also, gives a considerable idea on reading:

if reading is not pleasurable or fulfilling, readers will not choose to read, and theywill not get the practice they need to become fluent or efficient readers Therefore,reading also means developing and maintaining the motivation to read

In general, reading, like other terms, is defined in many different waysdepend on each person’ view and his/her study purpose Hence, it is not easy to give

a completely exact definition on this term However, a definition can be summarizedbasing on above definitions is that: Reading is a complex process in which written orprinted material is decoded by readers in order to get writer’s message

2.1.2 Definition of Reading Comprehension:

The term “comprehension” is offered in Webster’s College Dictionary (2008)

is “the capcity of the mind to perceive and understand” or “power to grasp ideas ”

from the written text In other words, reading comprehension is a highly interactiveprocess that takes place between a reader and a text Individual readers will bringvariable levels of skills and experiences to these interactions These include languageskills, cognitive resources and world knowledge Any act of reading occurs within aparticular sociocultural and emotional context This consists of elements such as thereaders’ home culture, theữ previous experiences of reading and being read to, theirexpectations that reading should carry meaning, their motivation, their view ofthemselves as a reader, the purpose for reading the text, the cultural value placed onreading and the reading environments the reader experiences

According to Hulstijn (1993), the word comprehension has its roots in Latin:

comprehendere means to seize In the Latin derived language of

French, from which many English words come, the verb comprendre means to

understand Thus, reading comprehension denotes the ability to read words and grasp(seize) the meaning of these individual words as well as to understand the meaning ofthe groups of these words.While many students can read aloud, calling out theindividual words with the coưect pronunciations, some of them do not comprehend

the combined words all mean On the other hand, those who can read aloud orsilently and understand what they have read, have reading comprehension Readingcomprehension, therefore, can be defined as “the level of understanding of awriting”.

Reading comprehension can be known as the result of effective reading aswell as the ability to understand and interact with the written materials in ameaningful way For students, comprehension refers to understanding collegetextbook by reading for ideas Reading comprehension is the crucial link to effectivereading, a sừong factor in our educational and professional lives Readingcomprehension can be known as the heart and goal of reading, since the purpose ofall reading is to gather meaning from the printed page

2ễlễ3 The importance of Reading Comprehension:

One of the mam benefits of reading is that it helps to build our vocabulary.When reading books, magazines, websites, etc we sometimes encounter new words.Even if we do not completely understand the word, we will be able to figure it outthrough association or the use of a dictionary This not only allows our vocabulary togrow but deepens our level of understanding We see and remember new words andare given examples of how they are used, this means that vocabulary is expandedthrough reading process Reading keeps our brain working and keeps us up to datewith language and modem vocabulary and slang It is well - known fact that toomany people today don’t read regularly and they also suffer difficulties from theirlimited vocabulary in communication Each person’ vocabulary is the foundation ofhis ability to think and his ability to share his thought with other people The more

we read the more effectively we use language in daily life

Another great benefit of reading is that it provides us a wonderful time torelax and de-stress for both children and adults Reading can transport people todifferent countries and cultures, or it can take us on a great adventure Readingshould be viewed as a pleasurable activity - as a source of entertaining tales anduseful and interesting factual information If we need a few moments to relax after ahard day, reading is a wonderful way to do so Through books, besides, children canalso learn about people and places from other parts of the world, improve theirunderstanding of and concern for all of humanity Reading can provide children with

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endless hours of fun and entertainment Stories can free up imaginations and open upexciting new words of fantasty or reality They allow children to dream and may givethem a good start on the road to viewing reading as a lifelong source of pleasure

It is also found that another reading benefit that shows the importance ofreading is that reading can actually help to enhance our brain power Not only isreading a required skill to complete school and then university it is also a neededskill in adult hood The ability to read and learn new things through out our lifekeeps our brain young and health As we read, we stimulate the brain, and there aresome studies that even show that people who read on a regular basis are less likely toend up dealing with problems like Alzheimer’s Disease It is also observed thatchildren and teengagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs The ability

to learn about new subjects and find helpful information on anything from healthproblems to more academic research into science or the arts depends on the ability toread Recent researches has shown that good readers stand out from the rest because

of theữ improved cognitive abilities They can think creatively It improves theữgrasping power It makes them analyse and solve problems better Reading helps aperson be successful in life

Reading on a regular basis can also have the added benefit of improving ourspelling as well The more we read, the more we see the proper spelling and it willhelp us to make sure that we are spelling tilings correctly as well, which is definitelyvery important People who start reading from an early age are observed to havegood language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better.Especially, for children, reading out loud exposes them to proper grammar andphrasing It enhances the development of tìieừ spoken language skills, their ability toexpress themselves verbally, clearly and concisely

After all, there are many great benefits of reading and they all show theimportance of reading today There are so many ways in which reading continues to

be both a vital skill for students to master, and an important source of knowledge andpleasure Reading is like providing the mind with nourishment Knowledge is thefood for the mind and soul Apart from giving us the basic information about the

weak reading comprehension is to promote our reading habbit and skills throughunderstanding main benefits of reading completely.

2ễlễ4 Types of reading and Reading rates:

Scanning type of reading: This type is used to look for some printed materialsquickly or find a particular piece of information such as a name, date, or phonenumber.Take an example, we read a telephone book, we know exactly what we aresearching for (key words and names) We “see” every item on the page, but we don’tnecessarily read the pages We ignore anything we are not looking for Thus, when

we discover the key words being searched for, we will be unable to recall the exactcontent of the page Approximate rate of scanning type of reading is 1,500 wpm(words per minute) or more

Skimming type of reading: Skimming is a reading skill used to get anoverview of the highlights of the material We read the material quickly to gain ageneral impression and it is not necessary to search for a specific item and keywords Skimming method is useful to look at chapter/section headings, summariesand opening paragraphs The two purposes of skimming are: checking relevance oftext and settting the scene for the more concentrated effort that is to follow, if thetext is useful A person who uses skimming type of reading has the reading speed atbetween 800 to 1,000 wpm

Light type of reading: Reading for leisure tends to be light reading Thisrefers to reading at a pace which feels comfortable, reading with understanding, andskimming the boring, iưelevant passages An average light reading speed is 100 -

200 words per minute This form of reading does not generally require detailedconcentration

Word by word type of reading: This type of reading is time consuming anddemands a high level of concentration Some material is not readily understood and

so it requừes a slow, careful and analytical reading People use this type of readingfor unfamiliar words and concepts, scientific formulate It can take up to an hour just

to read a few lines of text

Reading to study type of reading: The aim of the method of reading for study

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is to understand the material some depth The method involves five simple steps:Survey, Question, Read, Recall and Review The first, readers skim through to gain

an overview and not key points Then, they devise questions we hope the text willanswer and read slowly and carefully The forth step is recalling from memory,writing down the main points made by the chapter Final one is reviewing readers’questions, comparing these to their recall and establishing how well the text hasanswered the questions, and filling in any gaps by further reading and note-taking.Obviously, people read for many different purposes There are different styles

of reading for different situations The technique reader chooses will depend on thepurpose for reading For example, he might be reading for enjoyment, information, or

to complete a task If he is exploring or reviewing, he might skim a document If he

is searching for information, he might scan for a particular word To get detailedinformation, he might use a technique such as SQ4R Readers, moreover, need toadjust their reading speed and technique depending on their purposes Our readingspeed should fit OUT purposes for reading We read for many different purposes, andour reasons for reading any particular material affects our reading speed Forexample, we approach to reading a newspaper article or a letter from a friend will bedifferent from our approach to reading and studying a college textbook Readingrates and their uses are shown in this following table (12, 79):

The term “strategy” refers to “a particular plan for achievement of a goal”(18, 257) A lot of reading strategies are adopted by the speed reader to accomplishreader’s goal of fast reading Reading is not only just pronouncing words butrequires understanding Most experienced readers use a variety of strategies tounderstand text Five main strategies suggested to ensure good

reading comprehension are: prediction, questioning, clarifying, imagining and

Table 2.1: Flexible reading

Reading rates

Approximate rate (wpm)

Uses

Rapid reading 300 - 500 For relatively easy material,

when readers want onlyimportant facts or ideas orfor leisure reading

Average reading 200 - 300 For textbooks, complex

magazines and journals andliterature

Studying reading 50-200 For new vocabulary,

complex concepts, technicalmaterial, and retainingdetails (such as legaldocuments, material to bememorized and material ofgreat interest orimportance)

2.1 5 Reading comprehension strategies:

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summarisation

Prediction: Predicting means anticipating or making educated guesses aboutwhat is coming next as reader reads Predicting is a natural part of reading and thefirst step to successful comprehension, but we may not always do it when we arereading college textbooks It could be believed that the ability to predict what a textentails is the first step to successful comprehension A reader obtains the first clues towhat a text is about via its title Together with the opening sentences this can help thereader decide if the text is appropriate to their purpose (in the case of non-fiction) or

to activate a story schema (in the case of fiction) The good reader then actively looksfor cues to enrich their mental model of the text as reading proceeds In turn, thedeveloping representation of the text can be used to set up expectancies at the word,sentence and text levels This will facilitate reading fluency and deepenunderstanding

Questioning and clarifying: An actively engaged reader can use

self-questioning to monitor theừ reading comprehension and to help clarify points thatthey fail to understand Closely related to this is the use of the look back strategy tofind information that is needed to resolve ambiguities A successful comprehenderknows how to generate pertinent questions, and can fall back on theữ mental model

of the text to know where to locate relevant information

Imagining: Imagining refers to the use of mental imagery to enhance textcomprehension by enriching the mental model of a text Many successfulcomprehenders translate the story they are reading into a series of images, almost like

a film that can be replayed during story recall Children who do not do thisspontaneously can be taught to use the strategy to incorporate the details of what theyread around a central theme

Summarisation: The process of summarisation is perhaps most closely allied

to the development of the situation model Summarisation involves the extraction ofthe gist and main themes of what is read (while putting aside the irrelevant details),and integrating the details into a coherent whole Additional processes may includethe evaluation of style and mood and making generalisations Summarisation

with texts.

2ễlễ6 Effective reading and proficient readers:

Effective reading is active and interactive process Effective reading requiresthat readers interact with the material they are reading Reading actively also meansbeing aware of how the material is organized Finally, active reading means thatreaders monitor tìieừ comprehension as they read and that they take steps to correctthe situation when they are not comprehending

Most of people think of reading as a simple, passive process But reading isactually a very complex process that requires a great deal of active participation onthe part of the reader Here are some ideas which experts in the field have said aboutthe reading process:

“What do we read? The message is not something given in advance - or given

at all - but something created by interaction between writers and readers asparticipants in a particular communicative situation” (Roy Haưis in RethinkingWriting, 2000)

“Reading is asking questions of printed text And reading withcomprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions answered” (Frank Smith

in Reading without nonsense, 1997)

“Reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game It involves an interactionbetween thought and language Efficient reading does not result from preciseperception an identification of all elements, but from skill in selecting the fewest,most productive cues necessary to produce guesses which are right the first time.The ability to anticipate that which has not been seen, of course, is vital in reading,just as the ability to anticipate what has not yet been heard is vital in listening”.(Kenneth Goodman in Journal of the Reading Specialist, 1967)

“Literacy practices are almost always fully integrated with, interwoven into,constituted as part of, the very texture of wider practices that involve talk,interaction, values, and beliefs” (James Gee in Social Linguistics and Literacies,1996)

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According to above ideas, reading is a process requừes many complex skillsand a proficient reader is a reader who knows how to use them logically Forexample, proficient readers recognize the purpose for reading, approach the readingwith that purpose in mind, use strategies that have proven successful to them in thepast when reading similar texts for similar purposes, monitor their comprehension ofthe text in light of the purpose for reading, and if needed adjust theữ strategy use.Proficient readers know when unknown words will interfere with achieving theừpurpose for reading, and when they won't When unknown words arise and theừmeaning is needed for comprehension, proficient readers have a number of wordattack strategies available to them that will allow them to point out the meaning ofthe words to the extent that they are needed to achieve the purpose for reading.Reading is also a complex process in that proficient readers give to the text as much

as they take They make meaning from the text by using theữ own prior knowledgeand experiences Proficient readers are constantly making predictions while reading.They are continuously anticipating what will come next Their prior knowledge andexperiences with texts as well as with the world around them allow them to do this It

is this continuous interaction with the text that allows readers to make sense of whatthey are reading

Hussain (2005, p 110) writes that a proficient reader who comprehendsEnglish language has the following capabilities:

• He can read at normal speed

• He is able to understand the lexical and the structural meanings of the words, phrases and sentences

• He can take in complete phrases or groups of words at once and whenreading aloud, use appropriate sounds, juncture, stress and intonationpattern

• He can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading a text

• If he is unable to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, he can find out

it in a dictionary

• He can skip unnecessary information while skimming

• He is able to read silently without moving his lỉpsỄ

• He is able to differentiate between opinion and facts

• He can locate the topic sentence in a paragraph

• He can make a summary of important points

• He can distinguish between various moods of ứie writer

• He can recognize the meanings of various graphic signals such as punctuation marks, etcỄ

This is shown clearly through the following figure:

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Rítprmliii

Meaning And Using

1 ext IA Thinking

High Level Piocesses: Oft#nR«Ịulifts

IdeftUfvi ii(j

Letters

Figure 2.1: Reading activities performed by skilled readers

Proficient reading depends on the ability to recognize words quickly and

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effortlessly A proficient reader is a person who “does not have to interrupt his readingand open the dictionary all” (Deanne Milan)

2ẵ2 Unfamiliar words:

2ễ2ễl Definition of word:

In Webster’s College Dictionary, a word is known as:

“a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their writtenrepresentation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning, is typically seen as thesmallest such unit capable of independent use, is separated from other such units byspaces in writing and is often distinguished phonologically, as by accent or pause”.(18, 412)

A word is the smallest free form or an item that may be uttered in isolationwith semantic or pragmatic content in a language, in contrast to a morpheme, which is

the smallest unit of meaning A word may consist of only one morpheme (e.g car),

but a single morpheme may not able to exist as a free form (e.g the English plural

morpheme -s) Typically, a word will consist of a root or stem, and zero or more

affixes Words can be combined to create other units of language, such as phrases,clauses, and sentences A word consisting of two or more stems joined together form acompound A word combined with an already existing word or part of a word form aportmanteau (Internet source No.)

Another remarkable definition on word which Leonard Bloomfield introducedthe concept of “Minimal Free Forms” in 1962 is that “Words are thought of as thesmallest meaningful unit of speech that can stand by themselves This involesphonemes - units of sound and lexemes - units of meaning” However, he alsoapproves that some written words are not minimal free forms, as they make no sense

by themselves (e.g the and of).

A word in English is a basic central unit in the language It may consist of one

or more morphemes as a morpheme is the smallest unit that has meaning, either lexical

or grammatical

because its members can go together to create a new word with new meaning (e.g new

is an adjective combines with bom - a verb to create a new adjective new - bom) By adding affixes to a member, a new member can be formed For instance, act (Verb) -* active (Adjective) -► actively (Adverb) -* actor (Noun) -► action (Noun).

In contrast, grammatical words is known as Closed system items which consist

of function words such as Articles, Demonstratives, Pronouns, Prepositions andConjunctions This type of word has some features different from Open class items.The number of grammatical words is limited because its members can not go together,

in the other hand, the members of this class exclude each other For example, a car is accepted but a my car is not available As the result, it can never create new members.

Basic knowledge of word is shown clearly in the following diagram:

Morphemes

Words

Diagram 2.1 : Word structure

2.2.2 Definition of unfamiliar words:

Reading in its fullest sense involves weaving together word recognition andcomprehension in a fluent manner However, the fact shows that word

Noun, Verb, Adjective, Pronoun, Article,

Adverb Preposition, Conjunction,

Demonstrative,Interjection

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comprehension is not always easy The first thing students meet when they arereading is the vocabulary Many students probably consider that their main problem

in reading is not having a big enough vocabulary Most students who meet anunfamiliar word cannot interpret are first likely to ask what it means If they do notfind out the word’s meaning, they can not go on reading and comprehending thetext So, what is an unfamiliar word in reading?

A word which is an “unaccustomed” or “unusual” word to readers is called

an unfamiliar word (18, 190) It is unlikely that a student will know every word in atext and even if he thinks he has seen every word before, it is unlikely that he willhas seen a particular word in its present context It is therefore necessary to work outthe meaning of unfamiliar words in context and, perphaps, familiar words in newcontexts

Reading in college refers to reading academic materials with many difficultwords Students cannot read college textbooks, however, without also facing withunfamiliar words An unfamiliar word can be a new word or a familiar word in newcontexts For example:

“Nutrient levels have risen sharply in many parts of the bay, causing algal

blooms and oxygen depletion Levels of heavy metals and toxic organic chemicals

have increased in the water and in the bottom sediment, and some of this toxic

contaminants have been biologically amplified in food webs ”

In above example, “algal blooms”, abundant seaweed-type plant, isconsidered a new word for many students because it is a technical term Studentshardly meet it in other contexts so they cannot figure out its meaning The next word

“amplified” is probably a familiar word means “to enlarge by addition ordiscussion” But in this context, its meaning is “increased, made greater” Ittherefore is also considered an unfamiliar word which students cannot identify theexact meaning of word

For these reasons, unfamiliar words can cause frequent interruptions instudents’ reading concentration If there are too many unfamiliar words in the text, thiscan be a substantial stumbling block for further progress in reading any text

2.2.3 Difficulties made by unfamiliar words in reading comprehension:

In college or university, studying requữes certain reading comprehension skills

so that college students may be able to ready fluently textbooks, specialist documents

or other academic papers Even reading comprehension is also one of the mostimportant skills required in tests and examinations Yet, the fact that readingcomprehension is not easy and comfortable for students due to unfamiliar words in thepage

Whenever students encounter the unfamiliar words, their reading is certainlyinterrupted Most of them feel confused and worried because of these words.Generally, their reading habit is reading word-by-word They can comprehend thesentence only when every word of the context is familiar with them Understandingindividual words is vital for them to understand the whole sentence Students who isnot available to understand such sentences definitely struggle with the whole text’smeaning

Moreover, the first reaction of encountering an unfamiliar word in readingcomprehension is that students immediately stop to ask other people (friends, teachers

or nearby people) for helping or look it up in the dictionary This, of course, makestheir reading speed slow This means students do not save their time when reading ornot gain their reading goal Slow reading speed also affect on finishing students’ scores

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2ẵ3 Some strategies for dealing with unfamiliar words in reading

comprehension:

2.3.1 Ignoring the unfamiliar words:

When students first meet unfamiliar words in reading, they should ignore them

by using skimming and scanning skills if the unfamiliar words don’t affect tìieừreading These two skills are useful for students to understand the general of a sentence

or a passage as a whole without knowing what every word means

2.3ếlếl Skimming skill:

Skimming is used to gain a quick overview in order to identify the main idea orgeneral information of a text, students just past over the text lightly and hastily Whenstudents are skimming, their eyes begin to slide down a column of words, names,figures, or phrases they do not actually read each entry A word, name, figure or phrasestudents should look for can:

• Appear as a title, subtitle, heading or subheading

• Appear in bold print, italics or color

• Be repeated throughout the paragraph

• Appear once at the beginning and is then referred to throughout the

paragraph by pronouns or by other words

It is clear that a paragraph does not have all of these clues, but all paragraphshave at least one of them The following example illustrates looking for a word, name,

or phrase in the paragraph that appears in special print:

“The explosive growth of the World Wide Web is due largely to the

development of graphical browsers, software that allows you to move easily among the

millions of Web sites By far the most popular browsers is Netscape, which isemployed at most colleges and universities, through it is facing a stiff

challenge from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Commercial on-line services such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online offer their own browsers.” (14,93)

The word in italics indicates the topic: browsers The entire paragraph

of the four clues described above will always help students determine the topic ofparagraph Determining the topic is the starting point in comprehending as studentsread It is also a key to reading comprehension without understanding every wordappears in context.

Furthermore, they should consider reading the first or last sentence of eachparagraph is useful when they are seeking the general idea rather thanunderstanding individual words (19, 34) because the first sentence or last one ofeach paragraph is often where the introduction or the summary is located Thefollowing excerpt is from a health textbook:

“Bulimia, a disorder characterized by eating followed by vomiting, mayoccur with anorexia nervosa or as a separate illness with different psychologicalroots According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, the symptoms ofbulimia are found in 40 to 50 percent of people with anorexia nervosa As withanorexia, the majority of bulimia victims are women, typically in their earlytwenties, college-educated, single, and white Unlike those with anorexia, thevictims of bulimia tend to be of nearly normal weight and have healthy, outgoingpersonalities The greatest difference is that a person with anorexia turns away fromfood while a person with bulimia is obsessively drawn to it It is obvious that thereare important similarities and differences between the eatine disorders bulimia andanorexia ” (14,129)

The topic of paragraph which is bulimia and anorexia is located at the last

sentence As students read the paragraph, they must ask themselves, “What is the

most important point the authors want me to understand about bulimia and

anorexia?’ In spite of lots of unfamiliar technical words, students can find out the

answer to this question, the last sentence, is the stated main idea sentence Thissentence contains the topic and it is a general statement that tells about the author’s

most important point - bulimia and anorexia.

2.3ếlế2 Scanning skill:

While skimming skill is used to know general information, scanning is thespecial technique students should use to find detailed information withoutunderstanding every word’s meaning Skimming refers to the process of quicklysearching reading material in order to locate specific bits of information

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Scanning involves moving reader’s eyes quickly down the page seekingspecific words and phrases Reader does not actually read but move the eyes across thepage and by using vertical section of the recognition span is able to cover three or fourlines of print at a movement When reader reaches the information he needs, he reads itthoroughly

Reader probably scan when he searches for a phone number in a telephonebook, goes through the TV guide looking for a program to watch or looks up anunknown word in the dictionary If reader searches for a date, he should move his eyesdown the page looking for numbers If reader looks for a person’s name, he should usethe inevitable capital letter as an aid In other situations, using quotation marks,hyphens, or italics is also helpful

To sum up, when first meeting unfamiliar wors in reading, students should bekeep calm and decide whether they need to understand the exact meaning of theunfamiliar words in order to understand the general sense of the sentence or passage Ifnot, they had better use skimming and scanning skills to identify the neccessaryinformation It is clear that, when students use these two skills, they would not onlyaccelerates your reading speed and flexibility, but also be more confident in readingactivity

2.3.2 Recalling the word’s meaning by pronunciation:

When readers encounter an unfamiliar word or a familiar word withoutremembering its meaning in reading, they should first sound it out or decode the word

Reading decoding skills are critical component in the ability to read In Reading in a

foreign language (Alderson, J.C., 1984), reading decoding skills is defined as “the ability to make sense of printed words This involves recalling and recognizing the spoken word that is represented by the printed word ” In

other words, reading decoding skills is the ability to understand that a printed wordrepresents the spoken word, and that this printed word is made of a sequence ofphonemes

Barnett, M (1988) give the definition: “Decoding skill is the ability to apply

gives students the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure outwords they haven't seen before.

In English, there is a good deal of regularity between the letters and thesounds (phonemes), but there are also quite a few exceptions There are very fewletters in English that always correspond to a single sound, and there is no onesound that always corresponds to a single letter English, it is said, has a “deeporthography”, which basically just means that there are a lot of words that are notspelled the way they sound (e.g “colonel” or “choir”) This is illustrated by thefollowing table that shows the one-to-many relationship that exists between lettersand sounds (phonemes):

Table 2ề2: Letter-sound relationships

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AUTHORITY, CHURCH, BUSY, DIALOGUE

WHOLE, TWO

Letter

Clusters

DINOSAUR, BEAUTY, GAUGE

HEART, BEAR, BUREAU, BEAUTY

ENOUGH

attach meaning Here is 3-step method for recalling the word’s meaning by decodingthe word:

• Start with the first letter, and say each letter-sound out loud

• Apply knowledge of letter - sound relationships, devide the word into

syllables and try to say the word

• Try to use simple phonics to say the word in a couple of ways If the worddoes not “sound right”, or it is hard or awkward to say, change the accent orthe pronunciation (or both) slightly until it does sound right to speaker’s ears.After this 3-step method, readers might recognize and recall the meaning of theword when they hear it

2.3.3 Guessing the word’s meaning:

Guessing the word’s meaning is also an useful advice for students when facingwith the unfamiliar word Most of students lack vocabulary, which makes them findreading difficult As a result, they often fail in giving a correct word’s meaning(Huckins et al., 1993, p.101) One way to overcome this problem is to guess There aretwo most popular ways to guess the word’s meaning, they are: analyzing structuralinformation and making use of clue context

2.3Ệ3Ệ1 Analyzing structural formation:

The ability to use structural formation to assign meaning to a word is one of themost useful word attack skills Two kinds of formation are relevant: the grammaticalfunction of the word: its place in the sentence and the morphology of the word: itsinternal structure

The grammar function of the word:

By looking at the position of a word in a sentence, students can establish at leastits grammatical category (whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc) This tells us thekind of meaning to look for and is thus a first step on the road to understanding It isuseful for students to be able to label the gramatical categories In any case, it ensuresthat inappropriate meanings can be dismissed and, when an appropriate meaning isestablished, it can be slotted sừaight into its place

Different words, depending on where they are in the sentence, or what endings

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we attach to them, perform different functions in a sentence Simplified for the purpose

of the grammar, these functions are:

• Subjects: The subject is the “doer” or “actor” (eg My mother cooks dinner.)

• Verbs: The verb is the action being done (eg I finished my homework.)

• Dừect Objects: The direct object is the receiver of the action, (eg She bought

anew bike)

• Indữect Objects: The indirect object is the secondary receiver of the action,

(eg He gives me a book or He gives a book to me)

• Modifiers: Modifiers describe subjects, verbs and objects Adjectives

describe subjects and objects; adverbs describe verbs, (eg With his old

sword, Peter quickly killed the king In this sentence, “old” is an adjective

that modifies “sword” describe the condition of the sword, and “quickly ” is

an adverb that modifiers “killed” explains how the killing was done.) An

adjectives describe subjects and objects; adverbs describe verbs andadfectives

The morphology of the word (Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes)

Although grammar function of the word should be reader’s effective strategy indetermining the meaning of unknown words, examining the structure of words can also

be extremely helpful The morphology or internal structure of a word may also offervaluable clues to its meaning (1,33) In English, this involves the study of affixationand bases i.e roots Students need to know which affixes and suffixes can combinewith the bases, which affixes can co-occur, what changes in spelling or pronunciation

occur when affixes or suffixes are added, and so on “An analytical approach to

morphology pays big dividends in enabling students to work out the meaning of new words ” (15,99) Many English words are made up of component parts that have

meanings of theữ own A knowledge of these word parts and their meanings willenable students to define many English words

Word parts, or combining forms, are generally divided into three categories:

• Root: base word that has a meaning of its own

• Prefix: a word part attached to the beginning of a root that adds its meaning to the meaning of the root

• Suffix: a word part attached to the end of a root word and also carries its own meaning

Prefixes and suffixes are also called “affixes” since they are “fixed” (attached orjoined) to a root or base word Words may consist of:

• Root only (such as graph)

• Prefix and root ( such as telegraph)

• Root and suffix (such as graphic)

• Prefix, root and suffix (such as telegraphic)

Roots are powerful vocabulary - building tools because whole “families” ofwords in English come from the same root For example, if students know that the root

aud means to hear, then they will understand the connection between audience (people

who come to hear something or someone), auditorium (a place where people come to hear something), audit (enrolling in course just to hear about a subject, rather than taking it for credit), auditory (pertaining to hearing, as in auditory learner), and

audiologist (a person trained to evaluate hearing) Knowing the meaning of a word’s

root also makes it easier to remember the meaning of the word

Prefixes change meaning of a root by adding their meaning to the meaning of

the root For example, adding the prefix “tele” {distant or far) to the root word “scope”

{to see) creates the word “telescope” a device that lets you see tilings that are far

away

However, that although a word may begin with the same letters as a prefix, it

does not necessarily contain that prefix The words: malt, mall, male, and mallard (a type of duck), for example, have no connection with prefix “mal” (wrong/ bad) as in words such as: malnourished or maladjusted.

Suffixes are word parts that are attached to the end of a root word Suffixes, on

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the other hand, modify the meaning of a word and frequently determine its functionwithin a sentence Other suffixes change a words’s part of speech or inflection For

example, consider these forms of the word predict: prediction, predictability,

predictor (nouns); predictable (adjective); predictably (adverb).

Suffixes are not as helpful as roots or prefixes in determining the meaning ofunfamiliar words because many suffixes have similar or even the same meanings.Also, some roots change tìieừ spelling before a suffix is added For instance, when

suffixes are added to happy, the y becomes an i: happier, happiness, happily Some

common roots, prefixes and suffixes are introduced sufficiently in Appendix 4, 5 ofthis paper

Obviously, understanding the meaning of various word parts can help readersdetermine the meaning of many unfamiliar words, especially in context Students canfigure out meaning of an un familiar word more quickly and logically by learning itsroots One root can be the foundation of many words, so studying a root meansstudying a lot of words at the same time

2.3ế3ẳ2 Making use of context clues:

Writers want you to understand what they have written When they use wordsthat they think might be unfamiliar to their readers, they often help the readers byoffering various clues in the rest of the sentence so that the reader can deduce (reason

out) the meaning of the word Such clues are called context clues The word context

refers to the sentence and the paragraph in which the word appears In this case, itrefers to the rest of the sentence and the paragraph in which the unknown wordappears Using context clues means that reader reason out the meaning of anunfamiliar word from clues provided by the surrounding words and sentences

Kinds of context clue:

The most common types of context clues are summarized in the table below.The table not only explains what to look for when readers encounter each type ofcontext clue but also presents example sentences that illustrate it

Table 2.3 : Kinds of context clues

Example Type of clue What to look for

The psychological term

interiority is defined as a

tendency toward looking

within during middle age

Definition Clue Phrases that introduce a

definition, such as: is

defined as, is called, is, is known as, that is, refers

to, means, the term ; a

term that is in bold print,

italic, or color; or certain

punctuation marks that set off a definition or a term

The garden was redolent,

or fragant,

with the scent of roses

Synonym Clue Phrases that introduce

synonyms, such as: in

other words, or, that is to say, also known as, by this

we mean, that is.

I did the physical Contrast Clue Words and phrases that