Some tips about teaching skills to do reading comprehension test for student at trieu son no2

TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS Each reading passage is often followed by 5 questions of reading comprehension and vocabulary.. - For directly and indirectly answered d

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A.INTRODUCTION PAGE

I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH 2

II TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

1 Questions about the ideas of the passage 5

IV RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING 18

A INTRODUCTION

I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH

The introduction of the new textbook “English 11” into teaching at Trieu Son 2 High School in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and learning from the traditional approach-grammar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar rules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on communication ability Nonetheless, the teachers of English at Trieu Son 2 High School find it difficult to teach reading successfully because of the class size, the students’ language level, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLT Moreover, the majority of the teachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grammar-Translation method, which impedes them from teaching reading comprehension successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach

As a teacher of English at Trieu Son No2 High School in Thanh Hoa, I often receive similar questions from many students For example, “I can understand new words and sentence structures well, but I feel embarrassed to understand whole the sentence in English” or “What should I do to do reading comprehension well?”

In my reality of teaching, there are a lot of students who have perfect knowledge

of grammar that works wonderfully for speaking and writing but cannot do the reading fluently On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiet and lazy during doing lessons It is very difficult to make them participate in reding activities” Therefore, the idea of doing something useful for my colleagues and students has urged me to conduct the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching

sreading By doing the study, I can know more about the challenges in teaching and learning reading skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching reading at Trieu Son 2 High School

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “ Some tps about teaching skills to do reading comprehension tests for students at Trieu Son No2 High school” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching

and learning reading skills for Grade 10, 11 and 12 at Trieu son 2 High School

II AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

With the above mentioned reasons in mind, I have the specific aims as follows:

1 To help students improve the skills of doing reading comprehension tests.

2 To encourage students to confidently cope with this type of tests so as to

complete the tests at best they can

3 To encourage students to get full mark on this part of test

III SOURCE OF THE STUDY:

The materials that have been greatly valuable to my study are from the book of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, University of Science - Toefl, Preparation Course, Reading Comprehension Besides, the examples to illustrate

my thesis are all in the textbooks - Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11, Tiếng Anh 12 – Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục, and from the latest one-period tests as well as the first and second semester tests

B MAIN CONTENT

I SITUATION JUDGMENT

As regards the teaching of reading, I do not totally deny the energies the teachers

in explaining the text However, in discussion with the teachers in our school, I feel that our investment of energies in teaching the reading part is meaningless It

is because most students learn in advance from the Instruction Books the content

of the text in Vietnamese, not in English, while teachers take no notice of that Little by little, students get a habit of being unable to read the English passages by themselves They always expect their teachers to translate the passages into Vietnamese, or choose the options with no intention As for teachers, after asking students, especially good students, to translate the text, or doing it for the worse students, teachers let students do the tasks without giving any explanation Consequently, students get confused and do not know what they need to find from the text and how to choose the answers In the end, students refuse to read the passage or read them without intention, then choose the answers randomly and never know whether their answers are right or not As a result, students put no efforts into the part of Reading Comprehension I always see that the greatest problem students face in any English paper is Reading Comprehension Students either spend much time on it without knowing for sure the answers or do

it without intention As for me, I would like to present in this paper some following skills to help my colleagues teach students how to get over this problem

so that the latter can do this part more easily and exactly I hope that my topic

“Some tips about teaching skills to do Reading comprehension tests

at Trieu Son No2 High school” can result in effective ways in teaching students

how to complete their tests perfectly

II TEACHING SKILLS TO DO READING COMPREHENSION TESTS

Each reading passage is often followed by 5 questions of reading comprehension and vocabulary Topics of the reading passage are varied, but they are often informational subjects such as history, literature, art, architecture, geology, geography, and astronomy Time is definitely a factor in the Reading Comprehension Some students, especially average students, note that they are unable to finish all the questions in this section Others cannot understand what the passage is about answers

- For main ideas questions, look at the first line of each paragraph

- For directly and indirectly answered detail questions, choose a key word in the question, and skim for that key word (or a related idea) in order in the passage

- For vocabulary questions, the questions will tell you where the word is located in the passage

- For overall review questions, the answers are found anywhere in the passage

The following skills will help students to implement these strategies

in the Reading passage of the test

1 Questions about the ideas of the passage

It is very common for reading passages of the test to have questions about the overall ideas in the passage The most common type of question asks about the main idea, topic, title, or subject

Skill 1 Answer main idea questions correctly.

Students may be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, or main idea These questions are all really asking what primary point that the author is trying to get across in the passage, and it is not difficult to find the main idea by studying the topic sentence, which is most probably found at the beginning of a paragraph If the passage consists of only one paragraph, students should study the beginning of that paragraph to determine the main idea If a passage consists of more than one paragraph, students study the beginning to determine the main idea Example 1 In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2015-2016, Code AV , the Reading comprehension is that:

The Asian Beach Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in 2008 in Bali, Indonesia This Games will be composed of sports with strong television appeal such as windsurfing, kite boarding, swimming, beach volleyball, beach handball, beach soccer, and dragon boat racing The Asian Indoor Games is a multi – sport event held every two years among athletes representing countries from Asia The Games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia The first Games were held in Bangkok, Thailand This Games will be composed by sports with TV broadcasting potential and not included in the Asian Games and Winter Asia Games Programs and are not Olympic sports The sports program will comprise from six to eight exciting sports with strong television appeal, including electronic

sports, extreme sports, aerobics, acrobatics, indoor athletics, dance sports, inline hockey, fin swimming, and 25 meters short course swimming (2)

Question 27 The passage is about ………

A The Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games

B The Olympic Council of Asia

C The Asian Games and Winter Asian Games Programs

D The Asian Indoor Games and Winter Asian Games Programs

In the above given passage, there are four paragraphs Students should be sure to read the first sentence of each paragraph to determine the subject, title, or main idea In Example 1, the first sentence of the first paragraph of this passage discusses the Asian Beach Games, and the second paragraph begins with

“this Games”, which means that it is about the Asian Beach Games The first sentence of the third paragraph tells of the Asian Indoor Games, about which the fourth paragraph tells, also beginning with “this Games” So the whole passage discusses the two kinds of games: the Asian Beach Games and the Asian Indoor Games Therefore, the best choice is answer A

The following outlines the key information that students should remember about main idea questions:

MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS

What is the topic of the passage?

What is the subject of the passage?

What is the main idea of the passage?

What is the author’s main point in the passage?

With what is the author primarily concerned?

Which of the following would be the best title?

WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER

The answer to this type of question can generally be determined by looking at the first sentence of each paragraph

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

Read the first line of each paragraph

Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines

Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the passage to check that you really have found the topic sentence(s)

Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

2 Directly answered questions

Skill 2 Answer stated detail questions correctly.

A stated detail question asks about one piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole The answers to these questions are generally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often a restatement of what is given

in the passage This means that the correct answer often expresses the same idea as what is written in the passage, but the words are not exactly the same

Example 2: In English 10, page 45 and 46, Unit 4 “Special Education”, Part Reading, the second paragraph:

At first, there was a lot of opposition from the parents of the disabled children They used to believe that their children could not learn anything at all In the first week, only five children attended the class Gradually more children arrived Their parents realized that the young teacher was making great efforts to help their poor kids (1)

Question 2: At first the parents were the idea of sending their children to the special class

A interested in B opposed to C satisfied with D worried about

Since in the first sentence of the paragraph, there is the noun “opposition”, we can see from the four answers the verb “opposed” in the answer B, they are in a

family So the answer B is the best one

The following outlines the key information that students should remember

about stated detail questions:

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION

According to the passage, …It is stated in the passage …

The passage indicates that …

The author mentions that …

Which of the following is true …?

WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER

The answers to these questions are found in order in the passage

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

Choose a key word in the question

Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key word or idea

Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully.

Look for the answer that restates an idea in the passage

Eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

Skill 3 Find “unstated” details.

Students will sometimes be asked to find an answer that is not stated or not mentioned or not true in the passage This type of question really means that three

of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the passage, while one answer is not The actual job is to find the three correct answers and then choose the letter of the one remaining answer The teacher asks students to notice that there are two kinds of answers to this type of question:

There are three true answers and one answer that is not discussed in the passage There are three true answers and one that is false according to the passage

Example 3: In English 12, page 163 and 164, Unit 15 “Woman in Society”, Part Reading, the last paragraph:

Today, although their status varies in different countries, women in most parts of the world have gained significant legal rights The most important of these are: the right to have equal work opportunities and pay to men, the right to vote, and the right to formal education (1)

Question 5: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the last paragraph as one

of women’s legal rights today?

A the right to hold property B the right to equal pay

C equal employment opportunity rights D the right to vote

The question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned, so three of the answers are listed in the passage and one is not Since the right to equal pay, equal

employment opportunity rights, the right to vote, are listed in the passage, answers

B, C, and D are incorrect However, the right to hold property is not listed in the passage, so answer D is the best answer to this question

The following outlines the key information that students should remember

about “unstated” detail questions

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION

Which of the following is not stated …?

Which of the following is not mentioned …?

Which of the following is not discussed …?

All of the following are true except …?

WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER

The answers to these questions are found in order in the passage

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

Choose a key word in the question

Scan in the appropriate place in the passage for the key word (or related idea) Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully

Look for answers that are definitely true according to the passage Eliminate those answers

Choose the answer that is not true or not discussed in the passage

Skill 4 Find pronoun referents.

In the Reading comprehension of the test, you will sometimes be asked to determine which noun a pronoun refers to In this type of question it is important to understand that a noun is generally used first in a passage, and the pronoun that refers to it comes after Whenever you are asked which noun a pronoun refers to, you should look before the pronoun to find the noun

Example 4: In the Second Semester Test, Grade 12, year 2016-2017, Code AV

the Reading comprehension is that: Arctic Ice May Disappear in a Decade

A new report on global warming predicts the frozen Arctic Ocean will soon be like a normal sea in the summers There are shocking changes happening in the polar environment and its fragile eco-systems For millions of years, the sea around the North Pole has been frozen all year round Recent research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Catlin Atlantic Survey show things are changing fast They predict that within a decade, the Arctic will be largely ice-free

in the summer They base their prediction on the rate at which the sea ice is currently thinning The lead researcher, professor Peter Wadhams said, “The area

is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone.” An ice-free Arctic will have consequences for the whole world’s weather patterns

The Arctic sea ice is a key part of the Earth’s climate system Experts call it

Earth’s “refrigerator” They said that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer Scientists are still unclear exactly what changes there will be to our

weather Forecasters predict an increase in all kinds of disasters and extreme

weather events These include massive flooding, much more dangerous hurricanes

and the spread of the world’s deserts These new findings provide an urgent call for world leaders to act The timing of the WWF report is a reminder to those attending the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December Rich countries will face pressure to agree to reduce their carbon emissions by40 per cent by 2020.(3) Question: 33 What does the word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A the Arctic sea ice B climate system

C refrigerator D the Earth

To answer this question, students should look before the pronoun it for singular nouns that pronoun could refer to An ice sea Arctic, the Arctic sea ice, the Earth’s climate system come before the pronoun, so they are possible answers Then students should try the three possible answers in the sentence in place of the pronoun From the following sentence students should notice that as it disappears, the world will become a lot warmer, so the best answer to this question is answer A

The following outlines the key information that students should remember

about pronoun referents

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE QUESTION

The pronoun “…” in line X refers to which of the following?

WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER

The line where the pronoun is located is generally given in

the question The noun that the pronoun refers to is generally

found before the pronoun

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

Find the pronoun in the passage (The line where the pronoun can be found is generally stated in the question.)

Look for nouns that come before the pronoun

Read the part of the passage before the pronoun carefully

Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices

3 Indirectly answer questions

Some questions of the Reading Comprehension section of the test will require answers that are not directly stated in the passage To answer these questions

correctly, you will have to draw conclusions from information that is given in the passage Two common types of indirectly answer questions are: