Some strategies used to teach reading skill to 10th grade students at ham romg high school

Many students make mistakes and find it difficult with reading texts, reading tasks and reading exercises, so how to read effectively is a big question.. Being a teacher of English, I fi

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

It is undeniable that English is an international language, which plays an important part in social life It links people all over the world in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, education, and so on It also helps people to approach the endless knowledge of human beings Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity in every country

In Vietnam, English is one of the foreign languages, which is compulsory from primary to university In secondary school, Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing are four main skills which students have to learn when they learn English Reading seems one of the most difficult skills Many students make mistakes and find it difficult with reading texts, reading tasks and reading exercises, so how to read effectively is a big question Being a teacher of English,

I find it necessary, meaningful, and practical to do a research named “Some strategies used to teach Reading Skill to grade 10 students at Ham Rong High school” I hope that this research can give benefits to teachers, students

and people concerned about this field

1.2 Hypothesis

The grade 10 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school may use a variety of strategies to do reading comprehension and do reading tasks more actively and exactly

1.3 Research questions

In the study, some following questions will be answered:

1 What is the present English teaching and learning situation of the grade

10 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school?

2 What are strategies that students often use when they learn reading?

1.4 Objectives of the study

This study is aimed to identify present English teaching and learning situation of the grade 10 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school And then, some of their reading strategies and vocabulary strategies are given In addition, some suggestions which could be useful for students’ and teachers’ reading comprehension at this school will also be given

1.5 Methods of the study

The major method is used in this study is quantitative one That is all considerations, comments, remarks, assumptions, suggestions and conclusions given in the study are largely based on the data analysis Data collections for analysis in the study come from the following methods: Theoretical study; Questionnaire for students; Teacher interview; Class observation

1.6 Scope of the study

There are many kinds of reading; hence, there are many different kinds of strategies but for the limitation of time, conditions, and materials, this study only focuses on reading comprehension strategies of the grade 10 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school, not every kind of reading strategies and on a large population In addition, this research is also carried out on some teachers

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of English in that school which can help to find out English reading strategies used by the grade 10students in that school more easily and exactly

1.7 Overview of the study

The study includes three main following parts

Part 1 (Introduction) includes Rationale, Hypothesis, Research questions,

Objectives of the study, Methods of the study, Scope of the study and Overview

of the study

Part 2 (Development) is composed of three main sections

Section 1 is Literature review which will discuss theoretical background related

to the purposes of the study

Section 2 will present Data collection and analysis

Section 3 is Major findings and suggestions of the study

Part 3 is the Conclusion and the weakness of the study as well as some

suggestions for further study

2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.1 Introduction

In this chapter, some general theories related to reading strategies and vocabulary strategies such as theoretical background of learning strategies, reading, reading strategies and vocabulary strategies will be given

2.2.2 Theoretical background of learning strategies

Successful second language learners are usually people who know how to manipulate strategy levels in their day to day encounters with the language Although research on learning strategies is increasingly popular, there is no agreement regarding the definition of learning strategies Up to now, there have been many different definitions of learning strategies First, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) (in O’Malley and Chamot, 1990) defined learning strategies facilitation “as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner The goal of strategy use is to “affect the learners’ motivational or affective state, on the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge”

According to O’Malley and Chamot (1990), “learning strategies are special ways of passing information that enhance comprehension, learning or retention of the information” or in their other words, learning strategies are “the special thoughts of behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information”

Wenden, A and Rubin, J (1987) claimed that learning strategies were composed of the following components:

- They are specific actions or technique

- They can be observable/behavioral or non- observable/mental

- They are problem-oriented

- They can contribute directly or indirectly to learning

- They may be consciously employed and became automatized

- They are changeable

Obviously, there is not yet a comprehensive definition of learning

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strategies Each researcher defines learning strategies from a different perspective: cognitive, meta cognitive, communication, social-affective This shows the complexity of defining learning strategies Probably, because of its complexity, researchers worked out taxonomy of learning strategies instead of defining them

2.2.3 Theoretical background of reading

2.2.3.1 Definition of reading and reading comprehension

Language is a process of communication between someone who has something to express and someone who receives the message Speakers and writers attempt to communicate idea while listeners and readers try to get the appropriate meanings, while receptive cannot be called passive because the listener or the reader must create his own meaning by using his past experience and ideas he has gained before to understand a message

What happens in the communication process is the writer or the speaker (the encoder has message in his mind, which he wants somebody else to share

It may be an idea, a fact, a feeling, an agreement…To make this possible, he must put it into words: he must encodes it Then, it is available outside his mind

as a text The text is accessible to the mind of another person who hears it or reads it: who decodes the message it contains When it is decoded, the message enters the mind of the decoder and communication is achieved Therefore, reading plays the role as a half of the communication process It is said that reading is a process through which the reader draws out the full amount of information and understands what the writer wants to say through the message William, E (1990) (qtd in Grellet, F, 1990).stated that reading “is a process

whereby one looks at and understand what has been written” “Reading and reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible While reading,

readers do not only bring their knowledge about the language but also the knowledge about the text, which is considered to be specifically important Readers build up expectations, make predictions about what is to come and the extent to which their predictions are accurate is one of the factors that influence their reading This process, therefore, has three elements involved: the text that

is read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspect relevant to interpret the text

2.2.3.2 Classification of reading

3.2.1 Reading aloud

The word “reading aloud” has a number of common interpretations It may mean reading aloud a very complex skill, which involves understanding the black marks first and then the production of the right noise Very few people are required to read aloud as a material of daily routine except for radio newscasters, clergymen, perhaps actors and that is all To the huge majority, the importance of reading aloud is minimal

3.2.2 Silent reading

Reading may also mean silent reading and this is the interpretation, which is most likely for the term This is, perhaps, the nearest approach to the essence of reading It is obviously that by far the greatest amount of reading

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that is done in the world is silent unless there are special circumstances (such as reading to someone who has lost the spectacles) and a reading room is always a silent room However, the nature of silent reading skill is far from uniform

It varies according to the use to which it is being put They might be the survey materials, to gain superficial comprehension, to study the content of what is read in some detail or to study the language in which the material is written

3.2.3 Classification according to the purpose of reading

People, generally, do not read unless they have a reason (or a purpose) for reading They read an article, a passage, an advertisement and a story because they think they are interested in the issues mentioned in these things or

at least these texts interest them That is, people always have a need of some kind that can be satisfied through reading Furthermore, in the case of the effective reader, his reason for reading also determines his type of reading and the relevant reading skills to be used because the purpose could be a very general one like reading a novel for pleasure or escape Therefore, it could be specific like looking up a telephone directory for somebody’s number or address and he or she can not be in the same way

It is now recognized that one text may be read on a variety of styles and that reader will have different purposes at each stage of the reading process and will apply the appropriate strategies (Hedge T, 2000)

3.2.4 Extensive reading

Extensive reading means the readers have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word The object of this kind of reading is to cover the greatest possible amount of text in the shortest possible time With this, the readers can choose the reading materials Only after a glance at the reading passage, they know whether they should go onto it or not

Depending on the purpose of reading, people may be skimming or scanning as they are reading extensively

3.2.5 Skimming

Sometimes, the readers need to get the general idea or gist of a text The way to do this is not by reading every word Skimming is the sort of reading which would be appropriate if the readers’ tutor asked them to read several books

or articles When the readers are skimming, they go through the passage quickly, jumping over parts of it in order to get the general idea of what is about People skim to get the gist of the text but not to find the answer to particular questions According to Wood, J (1990) in “Teaching English as an International language”, skimming occurs in the following:

- When the readers look at the content of the book, or at the chapter headings, sub headlines This is sometimes called previewing Another example is when the reader glances quickly through a newspaper to see what are main items of the day This will often mean just glancing at the headlines

- When the reader goes through a particular passage such as newspaper article merely to get the “gist”

3.2.6 Scanning

It is said that the readers skim material to get the general picture To find out precise information they will need the practice the technique of scanning

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The term “scanning” is often used for reading to find specific answers They use the result of the skimming to find relevant sections, and then look quickly through those sections looking for key words that are relevant to the question

It will help the readers read and find information and quotes faster

Techniques when scanning that you should know what you are looking for and looking for it as rapidly as you can Do not worry about all the “good information” you are passing over and discarding on the way One practical technique to follow in scanning is to fix your question in mind and then run your eyes as fast as possible down the pages or columns of the print until you find the answer The key to this technique is keeping the question fixed in your mind Make use of heading, indentations and italicized words These will often give you clues about where the information you are seeking is located

3.2.7 Intensive reading

“Intensive reading means reading short texts to extract specific information, this is

an accuracy activity involving reading for details” (Grellet, F, 1990) In contrast to extensive reading, intensive reading is to understand a text in detail To this kind of reading, readers are required a very deep understanding of the black marks on the paper with short texts As reading intensively, people have in their mind the purpose of achieving full understanding of the logical argument, the rhetorical arrangement or patterns of the text, its symbolic, emotional and social over stones, of the attitudes and purposes of the author and the linguistic means that they employ to achieve their ends Through intensive reading, the readers must arrive at a profound and really detailed understanding, not only what it means but also of how the meaning is produced The question “how” here is as important as the question “what”

The main conclusion to be drawn from all of these is that there are different styles of reading and that they are determined, not by the text but by the readers’ reasons for reading However, to understand a text, these types of reading are not used isolated The effective reader is the one who is able to adapt his style to his purposes and does not read everything slowly and intensively, which is also the necessarily achieved goal of any teaching reading program

2.2.4 Theoretical background of reading strategies

4.1 Definition of reading strategies

There are many different definitions of reading strategies it is stated reading strategy as methods used in reading to determine the meaning of a text

On this website also gave other definition of reading strategy as the varied processes a reader uses to make meaning from written language It can be seen that, reading strategy is the ways that help readers read better

4.2 Types of reading strategies

For most second language, learners who are already literate in a previous language, reading comprehension is primary a matter of developing appropriate, efficient comprehension According to Brown, H D (1994), there are ten strategies for reading comprehension

1 Identify the purpose in reading

2 Use grapheme rules and patterns to aids in bottom-up decoding

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(especially for beginning level learners).

3 Use efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension (for intermediate to advanced levels)

4 Skim the text for main ideas

5 Scan the text for specific information

6 Use semantic mapping or clustering

7 Guess when you are not certain

8 Analyze vocabulary

9 Distinguish between literal and implied meanings

10 Capitalize on discourse markers to process relationships

As above, Brown, H D (1994) stated that there are ten useful strategies for readers, but he also gave other strategies which many bring benefit for

them Therefore, he showed the SQ3R strategies as following:

SURVEY: skim the text for an overview of main ideas

QUESTION: the readers ask questions about what he or she wishes to get out of the text READ: read the text while looking for answers to the previously formulated questions RECITE: reprocess the salient points of the text through oral or written language

REVIEW: assess the importance of what one has just read and incorporate it into long-term association

First, it is SURVEYING It means readers have to look at pictures, photos, maps, bold prints, captions, and headings to help them for an idea of the topic and purpose of the written texts

QUESTIONING is the second technique The readers pretend they are interviewing the author of the written text Based up on what they surveyed, what questions do they want to ask the author, they write their questions neat to the pictures, photos, maps, bold prints, captions, and headings

The third technique is READING They have to read the text, use a pencil or pen to mark the text, and underline words or ideas that they think are important

One more strategy is RESPONDING As the readers reads, they try to find the answers to the questions they asked Remembering that as they read, they can ask more questions, be sure to write the answers in the margin

REVIEWING is the fourth strategy When the readers finish reading, review the written text and answer some following questions: Can you answer the questions that you asked? Do you understand everything about the written text?

The last technique is REFLECTING The readers close the text, think about what they have read, discuss the main points with someone and answer these questions: Do you agree or disagree with the author(s)? What surprised you about the written text? What do you find to be confusing? What did you learn?

2.2.4.2 Types of vocabulary strategies

Pyles, T and Alges, J (1970) stated “when most of us think about language we think first about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus

of language It is words that sounds and meanings interlink to allow us to

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communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” It indicates that vocabulary

is essential for learning a language

According to Schimitt, N (1997), there are five following vocabulary

strategies:

4.3.1 Determination strategies: are used when reader are faced with

discovering a new word’s meaning without resource to other person’s expertise They can have the meaning of new words from many techniques: guessing from their structural knowledge of the language, guessing from cognate, guessing from context, using reference material, and word lists and flash cards

4.3.2 Social strategies: are used for both discover the words meaning

and consolidate a word once it has been encountered They can be defined as those are used to understand to word by asking some one who knows it

4.3.3.Memory strategies: are approaches which related new material to

existing knowledge using some form of imagery or grouping The strategies can be listed as followed: picture/ imagery, related words, unrelated words, grouping, word’s orthographical, words’ affixes, roots and word class

4.3.4.Cognitive strategies: this group includes repetition and mechanical

means of learning vocabulary such as: verbal and written repetition, word lists and flash cards, study aid using and vocabulary notebook

4.3.5 Meta - cognitive strategies: the readers use them to control and

evaluate their own learning by having a conscious overview of the leafing

process The readers can employ such strategy as: using English-language

media, skipping or passing new words, continuing to study over time and

testing themselves with word test and using spaced word practice can be

considered as organized activities by the readers themselves

2.2.5 Summary

Section 1 has presented the relevant literature, which has helped to for the theoretical framework for the study Different aspects related to learning strategies, reading and reading strategies as well as vocabulary and vocabulary strategies have been discussed

Through what has been mention in this chapter, it is important to reconfirm that when reading comprehension, reading strategies and vocabulary strategies are necessary for any reader to acquire the language

The next section will be a closer look into the present context of teaching and learning English reading for the grade 10 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school, with a view to working out strategies students use when reading comprehension

2.2: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

2.2.1 Introduction

This chapter includes three parts The first one concentrates on the setting of the study, in which participants and learning program will be given The second part will present the data collection and the last part is analysis on the data collected from questionnaire, interview and class observation

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2.2.2 The setting of the study

2.1 Participants

A survey about reading strategies was conducted at Ham Rong upper secondary school As a result, the participants of the study are the teachers and students who are teaching and learning English at this school The teachers have spent from 10 to 15 years teaching English Besides, 10 form students in this school are also very important participants They have learnt English for 7 years

2.2.2.2 Textbook

“Tieng Anh 10” which was the new textbook published in 2006 by the Ministry of Education and Training Publisher Press consists of 16 units for two terms The topics are very various Each unit has a reading lesson It may contain one, two or three tasks which students have to finish within a reading lesson

2.2.2.3.Data collection

2.3.1 Questionnaire for students

To some extent, using survey questionnaire brings many benefits It helps the researcher collect and analysis data quite easily Therefore, a

questionnaire was delivered students to find out what strategies students use when they reading and how effective those strategies are

The questionnaire used for students consists of 14 questions belonging to three parts and was delivered randomly for 100 students at Ham Rong upper secondary school at the end of an extracurricular activity At first, the students’ general idea about reading texts and reading tasks will be found out in part 1 Part 2 will reveal their reading strategies and the students’ vocabulary strategies will be discovered in the last part

2.3.2 Class observation

The author of the study randomly selected three classes (10A8, 10A9, 10A10) of Ham Rong upper secondary to observe All activities, which the students and teachers were performing in real reading lesson, were watched and recorded These enable the researcher to get reliable data The classroom observations were carried out in three stages: pre-reading, while reading and post reading, and three times for three different units in these classes

For each class, the researcher observed in a 45 minute lesson The reading lessons chosen to be observed were in Unit 11 - National Parks, Unit

12 - Music and Unit 13 - Film and Cinema All of them were considered as long texts and consisted of more new words than the previous lessons The author would like to observe how students faced to the exercises after reading texts

2.3.3 Teachers interview

As mentioned above, there were two teachers of English who have taught

10 form were invited for a fifteen minutes interview Each of them was asked many questions related to the topics, the content of reading texts, the exercises, the English learning results of students, the ways their students using in reading comprehension, etc The purpose of the interview was to get information by talking directly to the subjects

2.2.3 Data analysis

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0%

15%

75%

Very difficult

No comment Easy 14% 0% 6%

80%

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

The number of new words is suitable.

There is only a few of new words There are no new words.

I do not care about the number of new words in reading texts.

2.2.3.1 Data analysis from questionnaire for students

Students’ attitude toward reading texts and reading tasks

Question 1: How do you find the topics of the reading texts?

Chart 1: Students’ attitude towards the topics of the reading texts

According to chart 1, it can be clearly seen that most of students thought

that the topics of the reading texts were very interesting Many of them said

that those topics helped them understand more about society and widened their

knowledge (75 %) No one thought that they are boring Only 15 % of students

considered them normal while other 10 out of the students had no comment on

the reading texts

Question 2: How do you find reading tasks?

Chart 2: Students’ attitude towards the level of difficulty of reading tasks

As can be seen from chart 2 that, more than 80 % of students found the reading

tasks were very difficult, especially, they could not do well most of the Tasks 1 after

every reading text No one thought the tasks to be easy, there were 10% of the students

considering they were normal while 8 % of them had no comment

Question 3: How do you think about the number of new words in reading texts?

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Very intersting Normal Very boring

No comment

0 0 2

ABCDE

Chart 3: Students’ attitude towards the number of new words in reading texts

Among 100 students participated in this study, more than 90 % of them thought that there were too many new words in reading texts Whereas, 2 students did not care much about the number of new words in reading texts, there were six students in number asked saying that they were suitable (6 %) No one found there were a few or no new words in the reading texts

3.2 Students’ reading strategies

Question 4: What do you do before Reading?

A Observe pictures or headings to predict the content of the reading texts 82 %

B Make questions yourself which you think they are related to the reading text 0 %

Table 1: Students’ strategies before reading

It can be clearly stated from Table 1 that almost students (82 %) were

interested in observing pictures or headings (if there are) to predict the content

of the reading texts It was an easy way to guess the content of the texts The

second rank was for discussing with friends (55 %) It helped them share ideas, thoughts, feeling and whatever they thought about the topic There were only 12 students (12 %) read the requirements of the reading tasks Surprisingly, no one

made questions themselves or investigated the purposes of reading texts before

reading

Question 5: What kind of Reading do you use in Reading the texts?

Chart 5: Students’ types of reading

The data depicted in the Pie Chart above reveal students’ types of reading There are 58 % of students using reading aloud while 42 % of them use silent one It can be explained that they preferred practicing reading texts rather than focusing on the content of the texts

Question 6: Do you often underline new words in the Reading texts?

A Underline words you think they are important in reading texts 32 %

B Underline all new words in reading texts 53 %

C Underline the signal words: however, but, therefore, ect. 0 %

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