Using information transfer techniques to exploit reading tiếng anh 12

In order to make the lessons more exciting, creative and effective, to help studentsacquirres language skills of English, new techniques should be applied and one of them is information

Teaching reading skills of English has been so far considered very important

in Vietnamese secondary school classes However, the procedure of teaching areading text in English, especially the steps of exploiting content has not been

very satisfactory since they are limited to only some techniques and thesetechniques are repeatedly used Therefore, practicing the reading skill of English

as a foreign language is a matter of much concern by language teachers In order

to make the lessons more exciting, creative and effective, to help studentsacquirres language skills of English, new techniques should be applied and one

of them is information transfer

This assignment deals with the information - transfer technique that aim tohelp language teachers control the procudure of explaining content of a readingtext and checking students’ understanding efectively, and at the same timeinvolve students in challenging, meaningful and interesting activities of contentexploitation

Examples presented here focus on the textbook of English 12 – newversion

1.2 Aims of the study

Reading is one of the important skills Reading book can help the readers tounderstand about something happens in this era, the past time or even prediction

of the future Reading for defined compression, whether look for detailedinformation or language, must be seen as something easy or difficult to do, itwill be easy to do if it has high reading interest Reading is an important activity

in many languages class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurableactivity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s knowledge ofthe language If a student cannot read and comprehend a written language, theycannot be expected to be good in other content areas which will indispensablyrequire some reading ability

According to Heilman et al., reading comprehension is a process ofmaking sense of written ideas through meaningful interpretation and interactionwith language (1981) Teaching technique mean of achieving the learning goalsthat they achieve depend on how effective and skillful the technique being used

(Nation, 1981) It is certain that every teacher has their own way of teaching

reading comprehension The fact is that the methods for teaching reading havesubjected to substantial changes over time

Information Transfer technique means translating data from one form toanother We move from the reading or listening text to graphic stimuli, or visual

like charts, graphs, diagrams, figures, maps, etc and vice versa (Storla in Thi

and Loan, 2010) Furthermore, Widdowson states that the Information Transfer

technique is the “transformation of instances of discourses from one type intoanother but these instances of discourse can also be derived from a non-verbal

mode of communicating (Widdowson in Thi and Loan, 2010)

In order to help our students acquire the reading skills of English, according

to Nuttle, C, “the focus of interest in the reading lesson is neither language norcontent, but the two together: we want our students to learn how language isused for conveying content, we want them to develop the skills needed to extractthe content from the language that expresses it These are the skills they need inorder to become effective independent readers”

(Nuttle C 1982.31)

Commonly in the context of teaching comprehension in secondary schoolclassroom of English, there are only a few techniques that are being repeatedlyused to study content of a reading text such as:

 Question – answer

 Finding synonyms / antonyms

 Gap – filling

 True – false

Of the four common techniques, the questions – answer technique is themost preferred one Language teachers usually employ these techniques afterdealing with vocabulary and structure study The purpose is to assist student’scomprehension of ideas in reading texts These techniques satisfy the purpose insome ways However, if these techniques are repeatedly used in all reading texts,the procedures become monotonous We will find it difficult to enliven theteaching atmosphere and students are hardly interested in their lessons

I myself sometimes use the summary technique to satisfy this purpose butthrough class observations, this technique turned out to be unsuccessful sincestudents’ writing skills left much to be desired and they find it difficult topractise the summary skill

The information – transfer technique, with most main information in areading text being transferred into its variety of structures (charts, graphs, maps,outlines, tables, etc.) and with pair / groupwork – based interaction, will helpteachers and students deal with the overall image of a paragraph, paragraphs and

of the whole text; make the activities competitive and at the same timeencourage students’ involvement in the lesson The teaching procedure istherefore enriched with challenging, demanding yet exciting activities

We can design a diagrammatic form that summarises main ideas of one ormore than one paragraph, or a whole text for the step of content reproduction,consolidation, or summary With a diagrammatic form presented on a poster,which includes most main ideas of the passage studied, the teacher may model

by reproducing the ideas on the form verbally and then invite students to do thereproduction The reproduction should be divided into parts if the diagrammaticform includes many details

Experience shows that if the diagrammatic form is clear and beautiful andthe reproduction is not so complicated, students may be very willing toparticipate While doing the reproduction, they can use their own grammar,instead of merely sticking to the language in the passage, to connect all thedetails on the form and practise their speaking skill in an effective way This stepshould be introdured in the content study stage, after finishing one or twoactivities in the stage such as a question – answer activity or a true – falseexercise as it aims to strengthen and consolidate students’ understanding of areading text in a global and thorough way.

We may also use information – transfer activity to check or test students’

ability to understand the content of a passage That is why this activity should

be introduced at the end of the content stage The teacher may design adiagrammatic form including most main ideas in a reading text But instead ofproviding all information on the form, we will leave some blanks for students tocomplete We may use the poster sticking on the board or handouts for groups

An overhead transparency can be used instead of a poster, which can make theactivity more challenging and interesting due to the timing control Checkingand giving feedback can be done right after that

2.2 Practical background

The reasons affecting the effectiveness of a reading period in EFLclassrooms lie in the teachers and the students themselves Besides, the readingsection in the book “Tieng Anh 12” also causes difficulties for both teachers andstudents in teaching and learning process

As for the teachers, although they are aware of the fact that teachingreading skill is not easy and the reading section in the textbook is sometimes notappropriate for students’ levels, they do not often adapt given tasks Many of theteachers just follow the requirements of the textbook without making anychanges to any of the tasks In addition, there are many problems the teachers

such as limitation of time for preparation and for curriculum, students’ levels,students’ background knowledge or lack of teaching facilities and teaching aids,etc All of these factors, to some extent, discourage the teachers from spend timecreating effective activities for a reading lesson.

For students, the main problem in learning reading is that they cannotunderstand a reading task themselves without the help of the teachers Their lack

of background knowledge and vocabulary prevents them from completing thegiven tasks These causes make many of the students feel bored with learningreading skill and consider it a very difficult skill to master

The reading section in the book “Tieng Anh 12” itself has someinappropriateness for the success of a reading lesson in particular context ofteaching and learning First, some of the topics are not familiar with thestudents There are still many new words in the tasks And the requirements ofsome reading tasks are out of students’ levels Moreover, many of the readinglessons cannot be completed in a period of 45 minutes

In one word, it is undeniable that there still exist the problems originated fromthe teaching and learning process in reality mentioned above However, theseproblems can be solved to make the reading section easier for both teachers andstudents by applying the techniques of information transfer made by theteachers’ flexibility

2.2.1 Suggested transformations for reading texts in “Tiếng Anh 12”

The followoing activities base on the reading texts of “ Tiếng Anh”

(NXBGD 2008).

Unit 1: HOME LIFE

Teacher hangs on the poster with this diagram or shows it on the overheadtransparency and then asks students to reproduce the text T may use his/ her

grammar to reproduce a small part such as: “My family has 5 people My father

is a biologist and he is very busy However, he still tries to spend as much time

with children as possible He also gives hand with housework such as cleaning house or cooking.”

Teacher may devide the reproduction into 4 parts for easy practice; eachpart talks about one member in family And now is the time for students toreproduce small parts and then the whole text Teacher may provide help andthen let students state their work in front of the class

MY FAMILY

Close – knit supportive

Father: - A biologist -> busy

- Spend time with children

- Give hand with housework (cleaning house, cooking)

Mother: - A nurse -> busy

- Caring woman

- Run the household (get up early, rush to the market, and hurry home todinner …)

2 younger brothers:

- Active and mischivious

- Obedient and hard – working

I: - Eldest child and only daughter

- Final year at the secondary school

(2) _

Physical attractive

Unit 2: CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Americans: Asians: (1) Americans: Asians: (3) _More concerned concerned shares all thoughts _

(5) _

Trust built

on love

Americans: Asians:

(4) obliged to tell wives Americans: Asians: (6) _

If he comes home late equals

 Young Asians not as romantic as Americans

With this kind of diagram, students have to scan the text for the information

6 woman sacrifice more

We also can use this diagram for reproduction activity after complete the

blanks Begin with “Due to cultural diversity, Americans and Asians have

different attitudes toward love and marriage, expressing on four key values The first one is …”

Unit 3: WAYS OF SOCIALISING

Non – verbal communication

Raise hand slightlyNod slightly

Waving: most common

way

Point atWhistle/ clap

Keys:

1 5 to 16 4 one – week break

2 academic year 5 pimary and secondary

3 September to July 6 curriculum

Unit 5: HIGHER EDUCATION

Exciting:

- meeting people

- walking around campus

- go out with friends

- not have to explain to parents

Feel lonelySarah

Unit 6: FUTURE JOBS

INTERVIEW

Before

- find out about the job/ vacancy

- send letter of application and resumes

- bring certificates and letters of recommendation

- jot down qualifications and experience

- be on time, dress neatly and formally

- concentrate

- try to answer

Take part in projects

Make new friends

You

???

During - be clear, polite, and honest

- admit weakness

- show enthusiasm, keenness, best side, and sense ofresponsibility

After - think about comments

UNIT 8: LIFE IN THE FUTURE

-medical system saving devices

Economic

depression Terrorism

Far better

Work Office travelRobots do most Go electronic

car space-shuttle

electricity methane fitted with gas computer

 Never move in straight line

 Be confident that future in our hand

Unit 10: ENDANGERED SPECIES

- many medicines and (5)

Help us, please zzzzzzzz!!!

(3)

Read bits here & there

SWALLOW

Good stories

CHEW & DIGEST: (4)

VARIES

(2) KEEP

FOREVER

Unit 13: THE 22 ND SEA GAMES

VN’s preparation

Intensive programme Strong support

Spirit

solidarity& operation for peace & development

co-Place

My Dinh Station, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

Time

5th to 13th December, 2003

The 22nd Sea Games

Unit 15: WOMEN IN SOCIETY

Goals + accelerate: - economic growth

Equal work oppotunity

Childbearing

homemaking

Now:gained significant rights

Past: limited/ denied

Legal / political rights

Employmentt

Educationn

Intellectual ability

Right to formal education

Right to vote

- social progress

- cultural development+ promote peace & developmentPopulation 575.5 million -> 8.7 % world’s population

2020 - free trade areae established

- ASEAN Vision -> closer economic intergration in region

 improve socio-economic situation

 solve problems among its member countries

2.2.2 Questionnaires

Questionnaires

1 What do you think the aims of the reading lessons are?

b not very important

c not important at all

3 Did you prepare the lessons before the class?

1 Yes, always

2 Yes, sometimes

3 No, never

4 You have difficulties when learning reading skill because of the reasons…

always sometimes never

1 Difficutl topics

2 Lack of vocabulary

3 Long / complicated text

4 Your grammar is not good enough

5 Your partner is not co-operative

6 You have no ideas about the topics.

5 How do you find the following reading activites?

very difficult not very

7 How much can you gain after reading lesson if using the information transfer technique to exploit the text? Tick one or more of the following or you can add your own ideas.

-1, the theme

2, a all the main ideas

b some of the main ideas

3, a all the supporting details

b some of the supporting ideas

c not any of the supporting ideas

Thanks for your help!

2.2.3 Results

Before applying these techniques of information transfer in reading texts in

“Tiếng Anh 12”, (school year 2016- 2017) most students think that, readinglesons seem to be extremely difficult and boring

Grade 12A6 (40 students) in the academic year of 2016 – 2017

Grade 12A7 ( 37 students) in the academic year of 2016 – 2017

good Rather good Average Under average

In the school year 2017 - 2018, I used these information transfer techniques

in my teaching reading lessons, I realized that a numbers of students foundinterested in learning reading increasing day by day I collected students’ ideas

to know what they find about reading texts by some questions in thequestionnaires and had some replied information as below

Most students stated that at first, they often read the text at home beforegoing to class but they still find it hard to summarize the main ideas of thereading text because they lack of vocabulary and because the text is so long ortoo complicated although they can find out the evidences to decide thestatements are true or false and answer questions in the text

With class 12A6– a rather good at English class with 37 students, 27students believe that the reading lessons are very important - containing 73 %,

10 students think they are not very important - containing 23 % and no one findsthey not important at all

20 students in this class always prepare the lesson before class – containing 54

%, 13 students sometimes – containing 35 % and 4 students never prepare thelesson before class – containing 11 %

Through the questionaires, students also said that there are 3 main reasonsthat make the reading texts become difficult They are “lack of vocabulary,long / complicated text and grammar is not good enough” 7 students in thisclass always lack vocabulary when learning reading skill – containing 18,9 %,

23 students sometimes – containing 62,1 % and 7 students never lackvocabulary – containing 19 %