An investigation into factors causing the 10th students’ anxiety in english reading comprehension classes at tam đảo high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRIỆU THỊ HOÀI THU AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE 10 TH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRIỆU THỊ HOÀI THU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE 10 TH STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION CLASSES AT

TAM ĐẢO HIGH SCHOOL

(Tìm hiểu về các yếu tố gây ra sự lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 trong các giờ học

đọc hiểu tiếng Anh ở trường THPT Tam Đảo)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRIỆU THỊ HOÀI THU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO FACTORS CAUSING THE 10 TH STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION CLASSES AT

TAM ĐẢO HIGH SCHOOL

(Tìm hiểu về các yếu tố gây ra sự lo lắng của học sinh lớp 10 trong các giờ học

đọc hiểu tiếng Anh ở trường THPT Tam Đảo)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng

HANOI - 2016

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I certificate that this combined thesis entitled “An investigation into factors causing the 10th students‟ anxiety in English reading comprehension classes at Tam Đảo high school” is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledge and that this combined thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other universities or institutions

Hanoi, 2016

Triệu Thị Hoài Thu

My heartfelt gratitude is also to the English teachers and students of Tam Dao high school for their tremendous supports in the collection of data and information for my study

Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks to my beloved parents,

my husband, my sisters who continually gave me a lot of support and encouragement for the fulfillment of this challenging work

Last but not least, I wish to express my acknowledgment to other individuals who have indirectly contributed to the completion of this thesis

To all these people I only hope that the achievement of my thesis will be favorable enough to satisfy their expectation

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study aimed at finding the sources of the students‟ English reading anxiety at Tam Dao high school, Vinh Phuc The study has been conducted in the form of survey research with the informants of 70 students in grade 10 were taken as the subjects The main instruments employed for the data collection were survey questionnaires for the students of the school Besides, to back up the validity of the collected data from questionnaires, semi-structured interviews were conducted to 5 randomly selected students who have already done the survey questionnaires The results of this study have shown that the 10th form students often have anxiety with the reading text factors, the personal factors and time constraint As a result of the study, some suggestions for dealing with reading anxiety were proposed to reduce their reading anxiety and helps students to obtain desirable results in learning reading Finally, it is hoped that the results of this study could be of much benefit for developing teaching and learning reading English at Tam Dao high school, Vinh Phuc

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL : English foreign language ESL : English second language L2 : Second language

FL : Foreign language FLRA : Foreign language anxiety

LA : Language anxiety

RA : Reading anxiety

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: Students' attitude towards the importance of reading 22

Chart 2: Students‟ interest in English reading lessons 23

Chart 3: Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ teaching method 29

Table 1: Anxiety caused by reading text factors 23

Table 2: Anxiety caused by personal factors 25

Table 3: Anxiety caused by time constraint 28

Table 4 Teaching methods in helping students overcome anxiety in reading 30

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE‟S STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methodology 2

6 Significance of the study 2

7 Organization of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1:LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Reading 4

1.1.1 Definition of reading? 4

1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension 5

1.1.3 The importance of reading 5

1.2 Types of reading 6

1.2.1 Skimming 6

1.2.2 Scanning 7

1.2.3 Extensive reading 8

1.2.4 Intensive reading 9

1.3 Stages of a reading lesson 10

1.3.1 Pre-reading 10

1.3.2 While-reading 10

1.3.3 Post- reading 11

1.4 Anxiety 11

1.4.1 Definition of anxiety 11

1.4.2 Foreign language reading anxiety 13

1.5 Previous studies on the effect of anxiety on students‟ reading comprehension 14

1.6 Summary 16

CHAPTER 2:METHODOLOGY 17

2.1 Research method 17

2.1.1 The nature of qualitative research 17

2.1.2 Selection of survey research as research strategy 17

2.2 The context of the study 18

2.2.1 An introduction of Tam Dao high school 18

2.2.2 The teaching material and reading tasks in teaching reading 18

2.3 Participants 19

2.4 Instruments 19

2.4.1 Questionnaire 19

2.4.2 Semi-structured interview 20

2.5 Data collection procedure 20

2.6 Data analysis procedure 21

2.7 Summary 21

CHAPTER 3:DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 22

3.1 Students' attitude towards the importance of reading 22

3.2 Students‟ interest in English reading lessons 22

3.3 Reading anxiety caused by each reading factors 23

3.3.1 Anxiety caused by reading text factors 23

3.3.2 Anxiety caused by personal factors 25

3.3.3 Anxiety caused by time constraint 28

3.4 Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ teaching method 29

3.5 Teaching methods in helping students overcome anxiety in reading 30

3.6 Discussion 31

3.7 Summary 33

CHAPTER 4:SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 34

4.1 Raise students‟ self - awareness of anxiety 34

4.2 Increase student‟s self-confidence 34

4.3 Improve students‟ background knowledge 35

4.4 Apply appropriate reading strategies 35

4.5 Develop supplementary reading materials 36

4.6 Create a pleasant and comfortable classroom atmosphere 36

4.7 Summary 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

1 Summary of the study 38

2 Limitations of the study 39

3 Recommendations for the further study 39

REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

It is indisputable that English plays an important role in teaching and learning as a foreign language However, to master English, learners need to grasp a lot of different skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Among these skills, reading is the most crucial skill that not only develops other skills such as speaking, listening and writing but also expands the students‟ knowledge of the language However, according to (Saito, Horwitz, & Garza, 1999), “reading is an important source of input; however, it is also an anxiety provoking activity” Therefore, it can be undeniable that it is a difficult or a challenge to improve and develop reading skills for both teachers and students

In fact, in reading lessons in Tam Dao high school, teachers always try to effectively transmit how to understand and exploit the reading text for students However, most of students share that they find that learning foreign language reading as English is affected by the personal factors, especially anxiety Therefore, the effectiveness of students‟ reading comprehension is not as expected and they have little attention or motivation in reading lessons

While a certain amount of research has been conducted to investigate foreign language anxiety and its effect on learn a foreign language, little has been done on anxiety in learning four skills, especially reading alone in Vietnam As a teacher of English in this school, I recognize the importance of reading, it is strongly desirable for me to propose “An investigation into factors causing the 10th students‟ anxiety

in English reading comprehension classes at Tam Đảo high school” to be the subject

of this thesis

2 Aims of the study

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of students‟ anxiety on reading comprehension and then suggests some solutions to reduce their reading anxiety

4 Scope of the study

This study focuses on students‟ anxiety on reading comprehension Due to the limitation of page numbers of the minor thesis, the research only involves the

10th form students at Tam Dao high school

5 Methodology

To achieve the aims of the study, qualitative method is employed The data was collected by means of survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews After the data is collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn, and some suggestions will be made in the thesis

6 Significance of the study

This study investigates the causes of anxiety on students‟ reading comprehension It could be of some help to teachers and students at Tam Dao high school to improve both teachers and students‟ awareness of causes of reading comprehension anxiety By doing this research, the researcher wishes to help the

10th form students to reduce their reading anxiety through the suggested solutions

7 Organization of the study

The research consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A: Introduction presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, methods, scope, significance and organization of the study

Part B: Development consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1 Literature review gives the concepts of reading, reading comprehension, its importance, types of reading and stages of a reading lesson Next, the concepts of anxiety, foreign language reading anxiety and the previous studies on anxiety in reading comprehension are presented

Chapter 2 Methodology includes the research method, the context, participants, instruments and research procedure with the following main steps: conducting survey questionnaires and interview collecting data and analyzing data, and giving out conclusions from findings

Chapter 3 Analyses were given on students‟ attitude and interests on reading, their sources of anxiety, their opinions of teachers‟ teaching methods and how to cope with their anxiety chapter also focuses on data collections - findings and discussion

Chapter 4 Some suggested solutions of the study for improving reading skills

to the students at Tam Dao high school are proposed

Part C: Conclusion is the last part which offered a summary, some limitations and suggestions for further studies

Reading is the most crucial aspect of any teaching program and for the

teachers to decide what they will teach in the classroom This definition of reading has been generally shared by other researchers

It is simply stated as “a psycholinguistic guessing game” and involves “an interaction between thought and language” (Goodman, 1976) He proposes that reading is not primarily a process of identifying all elements in a letter-by-letter, word-by-word manner, but the ability to guess which are right the first time based

on cues

Reading is generally defined as the interaction between the reader and the text Aebersold and Field (1997, p.15) points out “Reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbol in that text” Therefore, it is a process of negotiating understanding between the reader and the author

For the notion of reading, Harmer (1991) defines “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eye receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” (p.90) From this point of view, the relationship of reading and understanding is concretely concerned

According to Grabe (1991, p 379), reading is such a “complex” process and

“many researchers attempt to understand and explain the fluent reading process by analyzing the process into a set of component skills” Therefore, they propose at least six general component skills and knowledge areas:

1 Automatic recognition skills

2 Vocabulary and structural knowledge

3 Formal discourse structure knowledge

4 Content/ world background knowledge

5 Synthesis and evaluation skills/strategies

6 Metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring

From those above opinions, reading is considered a process in which a reader looks at and achieves the comprehension what has been written out

1.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning reading foreign language It is defined as a complex process when the readers apply their ability to read and comprehend a text Many definitions of reading comprehension are given from the researchers

Grellet (1981, p.3) points out the nature of reading comprehension that

“Reading comprehension or understanding written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” It can be understood that the readers not only decode the meaning of word combination but also work in the text actively

When studying the reading comprehension, Snow (2003, p.1) defines reading comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning In other words, extracting and constructing are a process in reading comprehension to get the meaning and the information of the text

In addition, Linse (2005, p.71) mentions that reading comprehension refers

to reading for meaning, understanding, and entertainment He adds that there are two main reasons that people read: “the first is for pleasure and the second is for information”

To sum up, in reading comprehension, the readers must understand what is conveyed in the text

1.1.3 The importance of reading

Reading has a significant role in the development of the readers‟ overall communicative competence and in the second language classroom as well

Anderson (1999) discuses “the more exposure a student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase.” (p 3)

Hedge (2003) points out that any reading component of an English language course may include a set of learning goals for

- The ability to read a wide range of texts in English This is the long-range goal most teachers seek to develop through independent readers outside EFL/ESL classroom

- Building a knowledge of language which will facilitate reading ability

- Building schematic knowledge

- The ability to adapt the reading style according to reading purpose (i.e skimming, scanning)

- Developing an awareness of the structure of written texts in English

- Taking a critical stance to the contents of the texts

Reading is a crucial skill for second language learners; besides the nature of reading, the main reading approaches are also necessary for teachers who want to improve their reading lessons The next part is going to show the approaches‟ strengths and weaknesses

an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.”

Below are some suggestions that may help teachers to set up skimming activities:

 Students must locate facts that are expressed in sentences, not single words

 Although speed is essential and the teacher often sets a time limit to the activity, skimming should not be done competitively Students should be encouraged individually to better themselves

 To improve skimming, readers should read more and more rapidly, to form appropriate questions and predictions and then read quickly

 Pugh (1978) as cited in (Macleod, n.d.) suggests that to assess skimming, after the students have read and completed the assigned questions, further questions may be asked, "beyond the scope of the purpose originally set" (p.70) If students can answer these questions correctly, it indicates they have read the text too closely

1.2.2 Scanning

Scanning is rapid reading assisted by key words to locate specific information or to get information that answer a special question Grellet (1981, p.19) states that “When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what are looking for, whether it be a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information”

Some activities are suggested for scanning as follows:

 Activities may include exercises that are devised by the teacher in which students scan for a single word or specific text

 Activities may include exercises that are often carried on as a competition

so students will work quickly

 Students use skills of prediction and anticipation Students may do any of the following:

- Make predictions and guesses

- Use titles and tables of contents to get an idea of what a passage is about

- Activate prior knowledge about the topic of the passage by answering some questions or performing a quiz

- Anticipate what they want to learn about the top

- Use titles, pictures, and prior knowledge to anticipate the contents of the text

- Use key words, which may have been given to them by the teacher, that do not appear in the text, that allude to the main idea

1.2.3 Extensive reading

Extensive reading is an activity of reading any topic of interest for pleasure

As defined by Susser and Robb (1990), they see extensive reading as a language teaching or learning procedure is that it is reading (a) of large quantities of material

or long texts; (b) for global or general understanding; (c) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Moreover, because (d) reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, (e) the books are not discussed

in class This definition appears to have a summary of the general characteristics of extensive reading

In a simpler way, “extensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word” (Lewis and Hill, 1985, p.109)

For extensive reading, the students can read what they are interested in without paying attention to the content of the long texts or understanding the whole meaning of the words It is because its purpose is for pleasure and information outside their classroom and at each student‟ level and interest

The basic principles of extensive reading are given by Day and Bamford (2002) as follows:

 The reading material is easy

 A variety of material on a wide range of topics is available

 Learners choose what they want to read

 Learners read as much as possible

 Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

 The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding

 Reading is individual and silent

 Reading is its own reward

 The teacher orients and guides the students

 The teacher is a role model of a reader

In short, this kind of reading is necessary for the students because it is probable to read outside the class and gain more knowledge of their favorite topics Moreover, its purpose is to entertain and interest and suitable to the students‟ level

of proficiency

1.2.4 Intensive reading

Intensive reading is the type of reading that the students read for details and extract special information on particular topics Bruce (2004, p.176) believes that intensive reading is fundamentally translation as “the reader may pause to look up words in a dictionary, radically slowing the reading rate The reader may also mentally or even physically translate the sentence into the reader‟s first language by writing down the translation of words, or speaking the translated sentence aloud” In fact, beneficial to language learners as it helps them understand vocabulary by deducing the meaning of words in context In intensive reading, the reading materials are selected from the instructor, not the reader According to Paran (2003,

p 40) as cited in Loucky (2005), intensive reading is needed for four main reasons:

to help learners comprehend written texts, to become more aware of text organization to better comprehend, to learn how to use and monitor effective reading strategies, and to develop literacy skills necessary to generate productive expressions in L2 What is needed; therefore, is a well balanced reading program in English which includes the following:

• Vocabulary development activities;

• Intensive classroom reading and

• Extensive out-of class free reading activities.

1.3 Stages of a reading lesson

1.3.1 Pre-reading

Pre-reading stage is of great paramount importance as it leads students to the reading passage they are going to read, stimulate students‟ interest and provides them with the purpose of reading As noted by Williams (1984, p.37), what the pre- reading phrase tries to do is:

1 To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

2 To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

3 To provide some language preparation for the text

Besides, activating and building background knowledge can arouse students‟ interest on the topic from their personal experience such as cultural factors Gebhard (1987, p.21) explains that “providing background information on a reading lesson is another way teachers can facilitate successful reading comprehension Providing information about a reading selection before students read provides them with the opportunity to gain new language, as well as recall their already existing knowledge, which they can take with them into their reading experience, and this knowledge facilitates successful comprehension”

1.3.2 While-reading

While-reading is the most significant part of a reading comprehension lesson The aims of the while - reading stage are to understand the writer‟s purpose, the text structure and clarify the text (Williams, 1984, p.38) He also points out the activities of this stage should “begin with a general or global understanding of the text, and then move to smaller unit such as paragraphs, sentences and words” (p.39) According to Deyuan & Yufen (2006), we can also use series of statements, instructions, and/or questions that lead students through the assigned reading and indicates what information is important, how a paragraph or section is organized, and what is to be learned The teacher should be flexible in the selection of the tasks

that depends on the nature of the reading text and the students‟ level In this stage, teachers should help their students comprehend the text carefully by giving students some appropriate strategies as skimming, scanning, predicting, reading aloud or silent reading to apply the most effectively on each task

1.3.3 Post- reading

Post-reading activities in this stage are done after reading is completed According to William (1984, p 39), the purpose of post reading activities is:

1 To consolidate or reflect upon what has been read

2 To relate the text to the learners‟ own knowledge interest or views

This means that for the first purpose, the important things should be concentrated by the students as one‟s opinion, the specific phrase in the reading text

or the main ideas of the text The next purpose is related to students‟ background knowledge based on their interested selected topics so that they can express their own opinion toward the text In addition, post-reading activities is also to check the students‟ understanding of the text by giving some questions to discuss in pairs or in groups

The selection of activities relies on the teacher‟s flexibility to choose them suitably for their reading lessons Some suggested techniques are given as summarizing, discussing the main points and retelling

In conclusion, teaching reading according to such three stages as: reading, while-reading and post-reading helps learners to access the reading text effectively It also provides them with the skills and strategies to do numerous types

pre-of activities in these stages

performing successfully in foreign language learning, especially in classroom situations, particularly stressful (p.125)

Anxiety is classified into trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation-specific anxiety Trait anxiety, as Scovel (1978) noted, refers to “a more permanent predisposition to be anxious” while state and situation-specific anxiety are usually experienced in relation to some particular event or situation (Brown, 2001) Language anxiety, the research target of this paper, belongs to the last category, which refers to the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993)

Anxiety have negative influences, both pervasive and subtle as MacIntyre & Gardner (1994a) suggest that language anxiety occurs at each of the three principal stages of cognitive processing: input, processing and output

Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope (1986) found out three main causes of students‟ anxiety i.e communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation

An example cited from their finding is that “people have trouble speaking in groups are likely to experience greater difficulty speaking foreign language class where they have little control of the communicative situation and their performance

is constantly monitored” (p.127)

Indeed, language anxiety may be part of a culture-based syndrome (Jones, 2001) Culture is as a causal factor in language anxiety as „fear of social relations‟ Loss of face that one has in such social interactions reflects badly on one‟s family and social group

According to Young (1991), teachers can start with finding out what students are anxious about Then, teachers can help them ease some of their irrational fears and teach them strategies such as self-talks and doing relaxation exercises to deal with fears

1.4.2 Foreign language reading anxiety

There are numerous explanations on sources of reading anxiety given by different researchers as (Saito et al., 1999), (Brantmeier, 2005), Kuru-Gönen (2009) and (Al-Shboul et al., 2013)

Saito et al, (1999) are the first researchers studied about foreign language reading anxiety; they constructed foreign language reading anxiety scale (FLRAS)

to investigate reading anxiety of American students in Russian, French and Japanese The finding pointed out two sources of foreign language reading anxiety

as unfamiliar writing scripts and unfamiliar cultural background

Reading task type is also a source of foreign language reading anxiety (Brantmeier, 2005) He investigated students‟ anxiety level about reading and four reading comprehension tasks: multiple choice questions, written recall of reading passage, orally answering questions and reading aloud The study found that students were more anxious about the post L2 reading oral and written tasks than the reading itself However, “anxiety about oral tasks may be a factor involved in the L2 reading process” because “different assessment tasks (oral and written) may require different types of reading, and consequently may invoke different types of anxiety”

In a study with learners of English, Kuru Gönen (2009) identified personal factors, the reading text, and the reading course as the three main sources for FL reading anxiety Personality factors included inappropriate strategy use, fear of comprehension, lack of motivation, lack of self-confidence, negative background experiences, and high expectations The subcategories of the reading text were topics, unknown vocabulary, complex linguistic structures, unknown cultural content, and text format The last main category, the reading course, included course book, compulsory reading, teacher, and evaluation

Al-Shboul et al., (2013) also found that there were two aspects of foreign language reading anxiety such as personal factor and text feature In the former concept, two main sources of reading anxiety identified: afraid of making errors and

worry about reading effects On the other hand, there were three main sources of foreign language reading anxiety in the latter concept, which are: unknown vocabulary, unfamiliar topic, and unfamiliar culture

1.5 Previous studies on the effect of anxiety on students’ reading comprehension

To date, only a few studies have addressed affect and L2 reading Wu (2011) studied 91 university students to investigate the relationship between language anxiety (LA) and reading anxiety (RA), and if students‟ reading comprehension performance differs across different levels of LA and RA The results found out students with LA tend to have RA The teachers should help students to improve students‟ reading comprehension performance as well as create a low anxiety classroom environment

A significant research aiming at finding out EFL learners‟ reading strategies use in relation to reading anxiety and gender was done by Lien (2011) She conducted a research for 108 freshmen after taking part in the supplementary requirement in the Applied English Department as English majors at a university in northern Taiwan The result of the research revealed that a negative correlation between reading anxiety and reading strategies Furthermore, it found that less anxious readers had a tendency to monitor their own reading by general reading strategies such as guessing; in contrast, high anxious learners employed basic support mechanism such as translation to grasp a text

Jafarigohar (2012) conducted a study on the correlation between the construct of foreign language reading anxiety and reading comprehension skill among Iranian distance EFL learners with age and gender serving as moderator The data for the study include Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire The findings showed that there was a negative relationship between FLRA and reading comprehension; furthermore, no such relationship was found between foreign language reading anxiety and finally compared to males, females suffered more from anxiety

Cabansag (2013) investigated the relationship between language and reading anxiety and reading comprehension performance of AB English students A total of

65 AB students from Isabela State University took part in the study as subjects He used two measures of anxiety, and two reading comprehension tests as the main instruments The results revealed that RA and LA were related to Reading Performance The study identified a general direction of higher anxiety relating to lower reading comprehension performance and vice versa although reading comprehension performance did not differ significantly with the students in different levels of LA and RA Furthermore, no difference was found in LA and RA based on gender

Um, Tubsree & Surasin (2014) used two survey questionnaires and a structured interview to find out the levels of English reading anxiety of third year EFL students at the Institute of Foreign Languages and how they were related to gender and reading comprehension, and to explore the sources of their English reading anxiety The findings revealed that they had a low level of English reading anxiety and this is not different between males and females In addition, the sources

semi-of English reading anxiety was found such as linguistic features semi-of texts, environment, personal traits of readers, physical look of texts, time constraint and teachers

The last study mentioned here was carried out by Shao (2014) He investigated the causes of Chinese college students having English reading anxiety The subjects were 265 students including 136 boys and 129 girls Through the questionnaires and interviews, the results demonstrated that five sources were found

as lack of cultural knowledge of English-speaking countries, lack of confidence in reading English, lack of necessary reading skills, lack of English linguistic knowledge and lack of interest in reading English Therefore, some measures were suggested to alleviate student‟s anxiety in learning reading

To sum up, there are many studies involved in the relationship between language anxiety, reading anxiety and reading comprehension After that, they also

made out whether foreign language anxiety impact on gender However, there is little research in anxiety in English reading lessons at high school This is the gap that the current thesis study tries to bridge By doing research through questionnaires and interviews, this study hopes to supplement further evidence for the research on this topic

1.6 Summary

In summary, the chapter has so far presented the issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study It has discussed the theory of reading, reading comprehension and its importance as well as stages of reading also reviewed The most important issues including the definitions of anxiety and foreign language reading anxiety have been given Basing on this review and realization of the effect

of anxiety on reading comprehension, we will be carrying out a survey research on alleviating to the 10th form students at my school The following chapter will display the methodology and findings of the research under the light of the above-mentioned theories

CHAPTER 2:

METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research method

2.1.1 The nature of qualitative research

I chose qualitative research method for this study because of the following significant features According to Bricki and Green (2007), “qualitative research is characterized by its aims, which relate to understanding some aspect of social life, and its methods which generate words, rather than numbers, as data for analysis” In line with this, Creswell (2009, p.4) argues that “qualitative research is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social

or human problem” Qualitative research is „more concerned with developing concepts, understanding phenomena and theoretical propositions that are relevant to other settings and other groups of individuals‟ (Draper, 2004, p.645) In contrast, the quantitative research only gathers statistical data, representative for a wider part

of the population, to confirm or to contradict a theory In addition, an outstanding feature of qualitative research is represented by the type of questions that are raised during the research Qualitative research aims to answer questions such as “what”,

“why” and “how” of social phenomena While quantitative research, on the other hand, quantitative research only focuses on “how much” or “how many”, in order to measure things (Draper, 2004)

2.1.2 Selection of survey research as research strategy

“The survey approach is a research strategy, not a method” (Denscombe, 2003) The distinction of this approach is “its combination of a commitment to a breadth of study, a focus on the snapshot at a given point in time and a

dependence on empirical data” According to Cohen et al., (2007), surveys are

mainly used to “gather data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions, or identifying standards against which existing conditions can be compared, or determining the relationships that exist between specific events”

Kelly et al., (2003) define survey as “used in a variety of ways, but generally refers to the selection of a relatively large sample of people from a pre-determined population, followed by the collection of a relatively small amount of data from those individuals” From that, the researcher makes some inference about the wider population

The use of survey research is to investigate the students‟ anxiety in reading lessons at Tam Dao high school seems to be appropriate because it can be useful in identifying important aspects of students‟ experience and attitude when reading and

doing the reading tasks

2.2 The context of the study

2.2.1 An introduction of Tam Dao high school

The study was conducted at Tam Dao high school- a mountainous school established in 2000 in Vinh Phuc province

The school has 27 classes with 60 teachers of different subjects English is taught here as a compulsory subjects by 6 teachers aged from 24 to 40 There are approximately 1000 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12 come from the villages in the district Although most students are aware of the importance of English, only English-major students have real interests in learning English

2.2.2 The teaching material and reading tasks in teaching reading

The course books used to teach reading skills to the grade 10th non English

major students of Tam Dao High School is English 10 by MOET

For reading, with the fund of 20 periods‟ work class allocated through two semesters with the aim of improving reading skills and motivating students to engage in daily, meaningful reading tasks in English class and/or at home

According to the content of the coursebook, reading is divided into 15 units with different tasks The topics for reading are familiar with our daily life: school, entertainment, life, technology, and excursion, aiming at expand their knowledge as well as improve their vocabulary and structures to support for the other skills In general, reading tasks in the coursebook are suitable for the students at Tam Dao high school

The questionnaire for the students consists of three main parts:

- Firstly, students gave their personal information about age, years of learning English and attitudes toward reading skill

- Secondly, the subjects were asked to identify their problems that increase their anxiety in reading classes by responding to each item on a five-point likert response scale of frequency (never, rarely, sometimes, often and always) The data obtained from the questionnaire was tabulated, presented and frequencies and percentages were calculated

- Thirdly, students were asked to find out their opinion on teachers‟ teaching method and how to cope with their reading anxiety

2.4.2 Semi-structured interview

Interview is another method used to collect data during this research According to Nunan (1992), in a research interview, “the agenda is totally predetermined order and the types of interview one chooses will be determined by the nature of the research and the degree of control the interviewer wishes to exert” (p.149) Denscombe (2007) gives reasons for using interviews as “when the researcher needs to gain insights into things like people‟s opinions, feelings, emotions and experiences, then interviews will almost certainly provide a more suitable method” Therefore, I thought that using an interview that might provide

me with in-depth data regarding the effect of students‟ anxiety in reading lessons I had intended to conduct a semi-structured interview with 5 randomly selected students who have taken part in the survey questionnaire In order to assure the validity of the information were conducted in Vietnamese Four items for the interview prepared in advance are the open questions to let the interviewee to freely express their own ideas, thoughts and feelings There are four parts of the interview:

- Firstly, one general question related to subjects‟ experience of anxiety towards reading

- Secondly, the subjects were asked to give the main sources cause students‟ anxiety in reading lessons

- Thirdly, students‟ opinions of teacher‟s teaching method in reading classes were required

- Lastly, some suggested solutions that teachers should do to overcome the students‟ anxiety

2.5 Data collection procedure

First of all, the questionnaires were delivered to seventy students at the end

of the second semester of the year (in May) A brief explanation of the purpose of the study was given The questionnaires were administered by the researcher during reading class The students were informed that their responses to the questionnaires would be kept confidential The completed questionnaires were collected right after

the participants completed them About 10 minutes were taken by the participants to answer the questions

Next, the interviews were conducted after the questionnaire It lasted around

40 minutes and all the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese in order for the participants to fully articulate their views without being constrained by the use of English or it helped them to avoid getting confused in understanding the English interviewing questions and giving answers to the asked questions They were then translated and analyzed by the researcher to uncover the emerging themes The full transcript of the interviews is given in Appendix 3

2.6 Data analysis procedure

The procedures of collecting data took me only a month but it took me about two months to analyze the data The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical analysis to investigate the sources of the students‟ anxiety in learning reading comprehension at Tam Dao High School The high frequency and low frequency terms will be used in the data analysis procedure The former term refers to always and often and the later one refers to sometimes, rarely and never The questions in the questionnaire will be analyzed one by one by counting its percentage The qualitative data from the interviews were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents

2.7 Summary

This chapter presents the research method, the context of the study, the research methodology and a description of the instruments for data collection Given the aims and objectives of the study as stated in chapter 1, the researcher decide to use mixed instruments in qualitative method with the hope that they get a provision of reliable and valid data for analysis in the following chapter

CHAPTER 3:

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Students' attitude towards the importance of reading

Four questions in the questionnaires are to investigate the student‟s anxiety

in learning reading English The first question is to find out the students‟ attitude towards learning reading English

Chart 1: Students' attitude towards the importance of reading

As can be seen from Chart 1, the largest numbers of the students in the survey consider the importance of learning English reading comprehension in other ways 77% of them find reading very important and important (28% and 49%, respectively) To them, reading is essential in their learning English However, a certain number of students (23 %) do not highly appreciate the important role of reading The reasons for this can be the fact that they rank it under other skills in learning English such as speaking, listening, writing and

grammar

3.2 Students’ interest in English reading lessons

The next question aims at finding the students‟ interest in English reading lessons It is interesting to find that the students learn reading English for different levels of interest

32.9

45.7

5.7 0

10 20 30 40 50

Chart 2: Students’ interest in English reading lessons

As can be seen from Chart 2, only 15.7% of students spend most of their time on reading English whereas 32.9 % on level of interest On the other hand, 45.7 % admit that they are little interested and a small number of students 5.7% are not interested at all This could reflect the fact that not many of them show interest

in reading lessons

3.3 Reading anxiety caused by each reading factors

3.3.1 Anxiety caused by reading text factors

Table 1: Anxiety caused by reading text factors Items Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

2 I am nervous when I am

reading a text when I am not

familiar with the topic

11.4% 15.7% 22.9% 32.9% 17.1%

4 I start to panic when I have to

read lengthy texts 4.3% 8.6% 21.4% 31.4% 34.3%

5 I find it difficult to understand

the meaning of the unfamiliar

words

8.6% 10% 21.4% 25.7% 34.3%

11 I get upset whenever I

encounter unknown grammar in

reading texts

2.9% 8.6% 21.4% 20% 47.1%

Table 1 shows factors related to linguistic features of text that could make students anxious The first question (item 2) asked to know whether reading the student did not know interfered with their reading comprehension 50% of the students responded that they found the topics suitable with their level because they are rather varied, familiar and interesting However, some students shared that:

The small units of some topics are mixed with those of others, so it is not easy to link general knowledge together

Consequently, it is difficult to activate their students‟ existing knowledge

because prior knowledge makes it easier to read the texts

In term of the length of text, 65.7% of the students responded that they always or often felt in a panic to read the lengthy text (item 4) Explaining why students felt frustrated to read such the format of a text, some students said in the interview:

I like to read the short text because they are easy to understand

I cannot understand the whole reading text without preparation at home

Lack of linguistic knowledge including unknown vocabulary and unknown grammar is another source of anxiety from the students‟ questionnaire and interviews This factor belongs to bottom-up processing strategy where students analyzed words and sentences structure to enhance their comprehension of the text

A total of 81.4 % of the students revealed that encountering too many words hindered their text comprehension (item 5) 88.5% of the students had difficulty in comprehending complicated grammatical structures (item 11)

I personally feel frustrated and difficult in reading when I do not know the meaning of a word

When I encounter some unknown vocabulary, I try to translate them If I failed in doing so, I didn’t want to continue reading

I am unable to understand every word that makes me confused to understand the text and do the tasks

I often ignore unknown structures in the reading text, so I cannot understand what the author says

…Because too many structures need memorizing…

Congruent with the finding, Al-Shboul et al., (2013, p.107) showed that

“Students are anxious about the difficult words they encounter, the number of new words as well as the contextual surrounding words of unknown words if they are strange as well, the meanings of the individual words and the translation

of the text.”

3.3.2 Anxiety caused by personal factors

Table 2: Anxiety caused by personal factors Items Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

1 I am not content with my

current level of English reading

comprehension ability

0% 7.1% 22.9% 34.3% 35.7%

3 I become worry because I lack

background knowledge and

vocabulary related to the topic

8.6% 12.9% 24.2% 21.4% 32.9%

6 When I read, I may become

anxious for I cannot grasp the

general ideas of the text

8.6% 15.7% 18.6% 30% 27.1%

7 In reading classes, I often feel

so nervous that I may forget the

meanings of some words which

I‟ve learnt

2.9% 11.4% 20% 34.3% 31.4%

8 When reading a text, even if I

know the meaning of each word in

a sentence, I still cannot

comprehend the sentence

5.7% 11.4% 28.6% 18.6% 35.7%

9 Although I am prepared well, I

still feel very worried about

making mistakes in English

reading classes

1.4% 8.6% 24.3% 28.6% 37.1%

12 I become anxious when I have

to do after-reading tasks 5.7% 11.4% 24.3% 25.7% 32.9%