An action research project on the effectiveness of using authentic materials on the internet to improve 12th form students extensive reading at b phu ly high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY VÂN AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY VÂN

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS ON THE INTERNET TO IMPROVE 12th FORM STUDENTS' EXTENSIVE READING AT B PHU LY HIGH SCHOOL ( Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả việc sử dụng tư liệu nguyên gốc trên Internet để nâng cao kĩ năng đọc mở rộng của học sinh lớp 12 trường THPT B Phủ Lý, Hà Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

HANOI, 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY VÂN

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS ON THE INTERNET TO IMPROVE 12th FORM STUDENTS' EXTENSIVE READING AT B PHU LY HIGH SCHOOL ( Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả việc sử dụng tư liệu nguyên gốc trên Internet để nâng cao kĩ năng đọc mở rộng của học sinh lớp 12 trường THPT B Phủ Lý, Hà Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: PROF DR HOÀNG VĂN VÂN

HANOI, 2016

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An action research project on the effectiveness of using authentic materials on the Internet to improve 12th form students' extensive reading at B Phu Ly High School” submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is my own study, and that it has not been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions Where other sources of information have been used, they have been identified and acknowledged

Post-Signature

Nguyen Thi Thuy Van

I would also like to acknowledge a particular debt to Assoc Prof Le Van Canh for his valuable advice and patient guidance though he is not my supervisor

My sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues at B Phu Ly High School for all their help, supports and encouragement when I encountered difficulties

I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to classes 12A2 and 12A3 at B Phu

Ly High School for their enthusiastic participation in the experiment

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my friends who were willing to help me during the course In particular, I find myself indebted to my family especially my husband for their love, care and tolerance during the process of writing this thesis

Extensive reading is believed to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary and structures, and to encourage a liking for reading Materials for extensive reading are available everywhere but Internet-based materials seem to be the most suitable for high school students because the World Wide Web now is easily accessible with an endless supply of authentic materials in the target language where students can start on their own The use of authentic materials in extensive reading is appropriate since they relate directly to the real world Other aspects which prove positive when using authentic materials are that they are highly motivating, giving a sense of achievement when understood and encourage further reading However, there has been insufficient research to explore the effects of extensive reading that utilizes authentic materials Thus, this study is conducted, adapting action research approach, to investigate the impact of authentic materials as the main source of extensive reading and students' attitudes toward these materials The findings indicate a positive effect of authentic materials on students’ language competence and favorable opinions from students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study and research questions 2

3 Hypothesis: 2

4 Scope of the study 2

6 Method of the study 3

7 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Extensive reading 5

1.1.1 Reading 5

1.1.2 Extensive reading 6

1.1.3 The roles of extensive reading in language education 7

1.2 Authentic materials 9

1.2.1 Definition 9

1.2.2 The use of online authentic materials in improving extensive reading comprehension 9

1.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials 11

1.3 Attitude 13

1.3.1 Definition 13

1.3.2 The effects of attitude in second language learning 15

1.4 Some related studies 16

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Research context 18

2.3 Research approach 19

2.3.1 An overview of action research 19

2.3.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 20

2.4 Description of the research 21

2.4.1 Population 21

2.4.2 Data collection instruments 22

2.4.3 The action procedures 23

2.4.4 Data collection procedures 26

2.4.5 Data analysis procedure 27

2.5 Summary 28

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 29

3.1 Initial data 29

3.2 Research question 1 30

3.3 Research question 2 32

3.3.1 Students’ attitudes towards authentic materials 32

3.3.2 Students’ suggestions for future program 36

3.3.3 Conclusion 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusion 39

2 Implications 40

3 Limitations of the study 41

REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX I: PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ANCOVA: Analysis of Covariance

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESP: English for Special Purposes

GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education

L2: Second Language

SPSS: Statistical Packages for Social Sciences

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Advantages & Disadvantages of Authentic Materials

Table 2: Range of students' attitudes to target language

Table 3: An overview of an extensive reading program:

Table 4: The levels of students’ interest in reading lessons, their needs and their

attitudes toward reading skills

Table 5: Significant difference between the pretest mean scores of the students

taught using traditional method and that of those using authentic materials

in the teaching of extensive reading

Table 6: Significant difference between the post-test mean scores of the students

taught using traditional method and that of those using authentic materials

in the teaching of extensive reading

Table 7: Significant effect of authentic materials in the teaching of extensive

reading

Table 8: Students’ attitudes towards authentic material program

Table 9: Students’ suggestions for future program

Table 10: Summary of the Research Findings

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This is a study on the influence of authentic materials on learning reading skills

This chapter starts with the rationale of the study Then the aims, hypothesis, scope,

significance and method of the study will be presented

1 Rationale of the study

Reading is an activity that can be considered as a crucial aspect of one's language ability because this skill helps to develop other language skills and provides knowledge on the target language However, many students experience difficulties in comprehending the reading texts These difficulties appear because the students have low motivation and possess limited vocabulary Students today have become more passive and reluctant in regard to reading, doing no more than what is required Educators are concerned about students' disinterest and therefore, are endeavoring to find ways and sources to encourage students to read Textbooks are widely adopted in classroom teaching but perhaps because textbook materials often break down language to discrete linguistic points, it may be too formulaic for students Additionally, textbooks are never enough, especially for those who are going to take the 2 in 1 GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams

in which English is a compulsory subject Moreover, time for reading lesson at high school is limited There are three English lessons every week and in five or six lessons, there is only one for reading which means there is not enough time for reading - the most important language skill That is the reason why teachers have to find ways to enhance students to read more That means students have to read extensively

Additionally, most of the coursebooks used in language classrooms are perceived as traditional materials because they serve a pre-planned goal, so texts are simplified and exercises are adapted, which sometimes seems impractical to learners Therefore, a new concept, "authentic materials" has been established Most linguists agree that in language teaching, the use of authentic materials is quite useful to the learning process because as Baddock (1981) stated, learners find

genuine materials or realia more motivating and interesting since one day they will use their surviving English in the foreign culture Morton (1999) also claimed that authentic materials make students familiar with "real" English and they are also supposed to motivate students Nunan (1998) argued that the outside world should

be reflected through the materials and this authenticity ought to be related to the source of the materials, student activities and tasks In other words, these materials should include the language and its sociocultural context in which the language is used together

From this suggestion and above initial problems, the author decided to do an

action research project on the effectiveness of using authentic materials on the

Internet to improve 12 th form students' extensive reading at B Phu Ly High School

2 Aims of the study and research questions

In conducting this study, the researcher expects to discover the effects of using authentic materials in the teaching of extensive reading to 12th graders at B Phu Ly High School It is hoped to improve students' extensive reading as well as their language proficiency In addition, this paper will be carried out to find out students' attitudes towards the use of authentic materials in extensive reading activity Specifically, two main research questions will be addressed:

- To what extent do authentic materials help to improve EFL high school students' extensive reading ability?

- What are the students' attitudes towards authentic reading materials?

3 Hypothesis:

A hypothesis in this study is that using authentic materials will help EFL high school students improve their extensive reading ability and these students will take positive attitudes towards these materials

4 Scope of the study

The study was conducted on 90 volunteer students from classes 12A2 and 12A3

at B Phu Ly High School during the first semester and restricted to the first semester

of 2015-2016 The study concentrates on whether authentic materials fits the needs

of enhancing 12th form students’ extensive reading skill As a result, the teachers at

B Phu Ly High School are persuaded to adopt this kind of materials in their teaching not only reading but other language skills

5 Significance of the study

Once completed, the study will provide an insight into the effects of using authentic materials on EFL high school students' extensive reading achievement as well as their attitudes towards using these materials What will be achieved in this research may help teachers consider utilizing authentic materials to improve students' reading comprehension Moreover, this study will be much beneficial to students who wonder how to develop their reading skills as well as their language proficiency

6 Method of the study

This study is conducted as an action research because action research is the best choice for the purpose of improving the current state of affairs within educational context in which the research is carried out In order to get data, a combination of different instruments, namely pretest and posttest, and questionnaire, is used The data collected through the questionnaire and the two tests will be analyzed by quantitative method, using an ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance) through SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Science)

7 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A – Introduction: presents the rationale, aim, scope, significance and

method of the study

Part B – Development: comprises three chapters:

- Chapter 1: Theoretical Background and Literature Review covers the

overview of the literature which includes relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning extensive reading skill and the use of authentic materials in language teaching

- Chapter 2: Research Method continues with the research method including

the participants of the study, the instrumentation, the methods and procedures of data collection and data analysis

- Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion demonstrates the findings accompanied

by data analysis and discussion

Part C: Conclusion: recapitulates the major findings of the study and

represents further recommendations for the implementation of authentic materials

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a review of literature in theory and practice on authentic materials and the teaching of reading is provided First, the definition and role of reading, especially extensive reading, in language teaching are introduced Second, authentic materials and their use in EFL classrooms are presented Next, the definition and effect of attitude on language learning are discussed Following this, the studies related to the subject conducted are reviewed

1.1 Extensive reading

1.1.1 Reading

According to Alderson et al (1987), "The majority of scholars in the field now agree on the nature of reading: Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts It is a complex skill requiring coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information"

Alderson (2000) defines reading as " an enjoyable, intense, private activity, from which much pleasure can be derived, and in which one can become totally absorbed" Reading means different things to different people, for some it is recognizing written words, while for others it is an opportunity to teach pronunciation and practice speaking However, reading always has a purpose It is something that we do everyday, it is an integral part of our daily lives, taken very much for granted and generally assumed to be something that everyone can do The reason for reading depends very much on the purpose for reading Reading can have three main purposes: for survival, for learning or for pleasure Reading for survival

is considered to be in response to our environment, to find out information and can include street signs, advertising and timetables It depends much on the day-to-day needs of the readers and often involves an immediate response to a situation In contrast, reading for learning is considered to be the type of reading done in the classroom and is goal oriented While reading for pleasure is something that does not have to be done

Therefore, different scholars of different approaches provide different definitions of reading However, "In spite of the constant shift in focus throughout the history of reading research, it has been generally recognized that reading is a very complicated process involving a variety of factors that interact with one another" (Kim, 2002) Due to this complex nature of reading and the fact that it is one of the most important language skills, most scholars in language methodology agree that there is a need for incorporating multimedia into reading instruction Learners should be provided with sufficient scaffolding to be able to achieve more effective reading comprehension

1.1.2 Extensive reading

The term "extensive reading" was originally coined by Palmer (1917) to distinguish it from "intensive reading" The characteristics of extensive reading include the relatively fast reading of a large amount of longer, easy-to-understand material, with the reading done mostly outside the classroom and at each student's own pace and level There are few, if any, follow-up exercises, because the aim is for overall understanding rather than word-by-word decoding or grammar analysis And instead of an inflexible curriculum, with extensive reading, the material is generally chose by the students themselves, who can thereby enjoy some small measure of responsibility for decisions affecting their learning a basic tenet of communicative teaching (Thompson, 1996)

Therefore, what does extensive reading entail? Successful extensive reading

requires the following (adapted from Maley's list, 2009):

1 Reading often and in a large quantity

2 Reading in a wide variety of topics and genres

3 Reading content that is interesting and compelling

4 Reading books students themselves select

5 Reading for pleasure and information

6 Reading is its own reward

7 Reading at levels appropriate for the readers

8 Reading speed is fast, not slow

(Berardo, 2006) From all the above characteristics of extensive reading, a conclusion can be drawn that: "Extensive reading is reading of a large quantity of material or long texts, for global or general understanding; with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Further, because reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, the books are not discussed in class" (Bramfort et al, 1991)

1.1.3 The roles of extensive reading in language education

Various studies already exist in support of extensive reading Bell (1998) stated that extensive reading provides substantial linguistic input which is needed for language acquisition and thus helps develop learners' linguistic competence Many researchers point out the importance of extensive reading, the positive effects of extensive reading in students' reading comprehension They suggest that one of the best ways to help students increase their language proficiency is to encourage them

to read extensively Through experiencing language in context, extensive reading is

a very effective way of reinforcing, confirming and deepening knowledge of vocabulary, structures, and of developing an implicit understanding of when and how words are used (Nation, 1997 and Cady, 1997 cited in Mutoh, Bamford and Helgesen, 1998) And motivation is stimulated by combining the pleasure of "a good read" with the satisfaction of accomplishing a meaningful task in the target language It is also a widely held belief among supporters of extensive reading that,

by eliminating follow-up testing and exhorting students to aim for general understanding rather than detailed comprehension, they gradually learn to read without word-by-word decoding at the sentence level Carrell (1998) stated that the goal is to turn "learning to read into reading to learn"

Strong (1996) also stated that "extensive reading of literature can encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward reading"

Bell (2011) has clearly identified the role of extensive reading in language education as follows:

It can provide "comprehensible input"

It can enhance learners' general language competence

It increases the students' exposure to the language

It can increase knowledge of vocabulary

It can lead to improvement in writing

It can motivate learners to read

It can consolidate previously learned language

It helps to build confidence with extended text

It encourages the exploitation of textual redundancy

It facilitates the promotion of prediction skills

The benefits of extensive reading, therefore, extend beyond the acquisition of reading fluency Krashen (2004) claimed that "Reading is good for you Reading

is the only way, the only way we become good readers, develop a good writing style,

an adequate vocabulary, advanced grammar, and the only way we become good spellers."

According to Krashen, "What makes it [extensive reading] far more compelling

is that extensive reading not only develops reading skill but also benefits a whole range of other language skills, boosts confidence and motivation and improve overall attitude Reading in this sense has to be seen holistically as a crucial part of students' total development, not as some separate skill."

Davis (1994) also suggested that any classroom would be the poorer for the lack

of an extensive reading programme and would be "unable to promote its students' language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a programme were present"

To sum up, many studies have shown that extensive reading has positive effects not only on students' reading comprehension skill but also on a variety of language skills and language development It has been claimed that free voluntary reading or

sustained independent reading results in better reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development

1.2 Authentic materials

1.2.1 Definition

Authentic materials have been defined as " real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes" (Wallace, 1992) Gilmore (2007) and Morrow (1977) both claimed that authentic materials contain "real language, produced by a real speaker for a real audience and designed to convey a real message of some sort" They are

" materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the language community." (Peacock, 1997), in contrast to non-authentic texts that are especially designed for language learning purposes

Therefore, authentic materials are any texts written by native speakers for native speakers of certain language and will be used by the speakers of the language in communication circumstances outside language classroom Thus, most everyday objects in target language whether spoken or written such as magazines, newspapers, tourism brochures, advertisements, menus, recipes can be included as authentic materials, but for developing reading, one of the most useful sources is the Internet with large amounts of varied materials being easily accessible

1.2.2 The use of online authentic materials in improving extensive reading comprehension

After a careful review of literature, the researcher finds that the use of authentic material has been strongly debated because of its complexity in vocabulary and structures especially for lower-level learners However, Gilmore (2007) pointed out that authentic materials have been used for language learning for several decades and have regained their popularity due to the rise of the communicative approach The goal of the communicative approach is to develop language competence for communication in real life Textbooks are often written with classroom dialogue practices that are artificial, thus presenting a gap from real life language In contrast,

authentic materials are believed to generate greater interest among teachers, students and even publishers than do traditionally structured materials

Floris (2008) claimed the necessity for incorporating authentic materials in the course design because they are more motivating and engaging, and relevant to students' lives Other researchers stated that authentic materials provide opportunities for language use in a more relevant and communicative way (Sánchez, Pérez, and Gómes, 2010) Huang (2005) pointed out the importance of authentic materials because when at an adequate level, they elevate learners' sensitivity to and competence in the language Littlewood (1992) brought attention to several considerations in the adoption of authentic materials: learners' needs, their interest

in topics, language situations and functions students would find useful Nunan (1992) also suggested giving students their own choice of materials and the incorporation of student-produced materials as another component of authentic texts The wide variety of authentic materials ranges from literature, CDs, DVDs, news, movies, songs, TV programs, even to brochures and menus but the utilization

of authentic materials from online resources is particularly valuable and easily accessible Internet technology is a "medium of global communication and a source

of limitless authentic materials" (Warschauer, 1996) Whereas newspapers and any other printed materials date very quickly, the Internet is continuously updated, more visually stimulating as well as being interactive, therefore promoting a more active approach to reading rather than a passive one From a more practical point of view, the Internet is a modern day reality, most students use it and for teachers there is easier access to endless amount of many different types of materials From an even more economical viewpoint, looking for materials costs almost nothing, only time,

by having unlimited access in the work place Additionally, online authentic materials enable students to interact with the real language and content rather than the form Learners feel that they are learning a target language as it is used outside the classroom

1.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of using authentic materials

While since the late 1970's authentic materials have been regarded as being superior to simplified textbook materials, there have still been some arguments about their use and effectiveness

On one hand, there are some advantages of utilizing authentic materials They

are: original, interesting, motivating and useful (Peacock, 1997) The term original

relates to authenticity Authenticity means that nothing of the original text is changed and also that its presentation and layout are retained (Grellet, 1996) Authentic materials are often regarded as more interesting than the textbook materials because they can be up to date and related to everyday issues and activities The use of authentic materials can motivate the students because there are three layers of learning which are: language learning (the structure and vocabulary), cultural insight, and practical application (Speller, 2002) Authentic materials are useful because they help students to break the gap between the language classroom and the real life situation They introduce students to the culture that surrounds them and provide them the opportunities to see where different grammatical structures and types of discourse are used Horwitz (2008), stated that when there is an aim of intensive reading both authentic and constructed materials are advised to be used while for extensive reading, authentic materials are preferred

Along with the advantages, the use of authentic materials also brings some disadvantages The grammar and vocabulary in authentic materials may be too difficult for foreign language learners because authentic materials are used for communicating and informing in the society, thus they might use some abbreviations, slangs or informal words Besides, the content of the text is sometimes not appropriate for the students Berardo (2006) gave a table of advantages and disadvantages of authentic materials as follows:

Table 1: Advantages & Disadvantages of Authentic Materials

Authentic Materials

- "Real" language exposure with language

change/variation being reflected

- Students are informed about what is

happening in the world

incidental/improper English and become

outdated very quickly

- The same piece of material can be used for

different tasks

- Ideal for teaching/practicing

mini-skills-skimming/scanning

- Contain a wide variety of text types,

language styles not easily found in

conventional teaching materials

- Encourage reading for pleasure, likely to

contain topics of interest

- Often too cultural biased, difficult

to understand outside the language community

- Vocabulary might not be relevant

to the student's immediate needs

- Too many structures are mixed so lower levels have problems decoding the texts

- Special preparation is necessary, can be time consuming

- Can become outdated easily, e.g news stories, articles

(Berardo, 2006)

In order to avoid these disadvantages, the teacher should be selective in choosing the materials before delivering them to the students Teacher should consider the suitability and the readability of the text In addition, in teaching and learning process, the teacher should guide the students in understanding the text and also in finding the difficult words Berardo (2006) suggests teachers consider 4 important factors in choosing authentic reading materials:

Suitability of content:

Does the text interest the student?

Is it relevant to the student's needs?

Does it represent the type of material that the student will use outside the classroom?

Exploitability:

Can the text be exploited for teaching purpose?

For what purpose should the text be exploited?

What skills/strategies can be developed by exploiting the text?

Readability:

Is the text too easy/difficult for the student?

Is it structurally too demanding/complex?

How much vocabulary does it contain?

Presentation:

Does it "look" authentic?

Is it "attractive"?

Does it grab the student's attention?

Does it make him want to read more?

All these studies and research on the use of authentic materials indicate that the use of authentic materials in language teaching has generally been effective Nevertheless, there are some limitations and drawbacks in employing them with EFL learners

1.3 Attitude

1.3.1 Definition

According to Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English, attitude is "a

way of feeling or thinking about someone or something, especially, as this influences one’s behavior"

Language attitudes, however, are different from other general attitudes in the sense that they are specifically about language We normally believe that language attitudes are concerned with attitudes with regard to the language itself – its variety, its sound system, its semantic quality and so on and so forth In fact the term language attitude as it is applied by sociolinguists today, includes the outlook and

stance towards speakers of a particular language as also a variety of behavior concerning language

Ellis (2000) mentioned that positive attitudes towards the L2 and its speakers can be expected to enhance learning while negative attitudes impede it Therefore, learner attitudes have an impact on the level of L2 proficiency achieved by individual learners who are themselves influenced by this success Thus, learners with positive attitudes, who experience success, will have these attitudes reinforced Similarly, learners’ negative attitudes may be strengthened by lack of success (Ellis 2002)

Baker (1988) suggested that attitudes are complex constructs; there may be both positive and negative feelings attached to a language situation According to Lambert (1967), attitudes consist of three components - the cognitive, affective and conative (related to action) components The cognitive component refers to an individual’s belief structure, the affective to emotional reactions and the conative component includes the tendency to behave in a certain way towards the attitude According to Allport (1995), "an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting as directive or dynamic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is related." Ajzan (1998) stated that attitude is "a disposition to respond favourably or unfavourably to an object, person, institution, or event."

Wenden (1991) as cited in Atez & Munir (2009) gave a broader definition of the concept "attitude" He claimed that the term "attitudes" includes three components namely, cognitive, affective, and behavioural A cognitive component

is comprised of the beliefs and ideas or opinions about the object of the attitude The affective one is made up of the feeling and emotions that one has towards an object, "likes" or "dislikes", "with" or "against" Finally, the behavioural component refers to one's consisting actions or behavioural intentions towards the object

To sum up, attitude is a mental and neural state, expressing the individual's responses to an object, a person, a thing or an event

1.3.2 The effects of attitude in second language learning

The concept of learners' attitude has been the focus of attention in explanation and investigation of human behavior offered by social psychologists Attitude is usually defined as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing such as an idea, object, person, or situation A large number

of studies have investigated the relationship between attitude and proficiency in the language (Bachman, 1990; Coleman, Strafield, and Hagan, 2003) Gardner (1985) believed that attitude and other affective variables are as important as aptitude for language achievement

According to Ismet (2005), attitude is one of "the determinants of success in EFL learning" Depending on the learners' attitudes, learning language can be a source of enrichment or a source of resentment Positive attitudes towards L2 is beneficial to L2 learners because positive attitudes help to create motivation to achieve success in acquiring that language (Holmes, 1992); whereas, negative attitudes towards the foreign language and group which often comes from stereotypes, can impede the learning of that language (Brown, 2000)

Gardner's socio-educational model strengthens the interrelationship between success and attitude His theory is based on the idea that L2 learning is "acquiring symbolic elements of a different ethnolinguistic community" (Gardner, 1979) The proponents of the model believe that the relationship between learners' attitudes and their proficiency is an indirect one, unlike that between integrative motivation and proficiency which is described as more direct and, therefore, stronger

Discussing the students' attitudes to the L2 learning, Stern (1992) gives the below figure:

Table 2: Range of students' attitudes to target language

- Feels good and

confident about L2

accepts L2

differences and difficulties

- Has no marked sense of discomfort

aspects of L2

odd, annoying, confusing, and ugly

- Rejects L2

(Stern, 1992)

In sum, from these studies into the learners' attitudes towards L2 learning, it can

be concluded that learners' attitudes play a significant role in enabling learners effectively Having positive or negative attitudes towards a certain language can exert considerable influence upon their performance on the language itself Consequently, L2 teachers need to take learners' attitudes into consideration Teachers should be aware of a positive correlation between language learners' attitude and language proficiency This awareness can help language teachers make decision about their teaching, and this decision making can call for some teaching implications which refer to teaching practice orientation to learners' attitudes

1.4 Some related studies

Recently, authentic materials have been paid more and more attention by several researchers

Berardo (2006) in “The use of authentic materials in the teaching of reading”, investigated if authentic materials were effective He found out that students benefited from the exposure to real context and students were highly motivated giving a sense of achievement when understood and encouraged further reading

In another study “A review on the effectiveness of using authentic materials in ESP courses”, Baghban and Pandian (2011) stated that authentic materials, being part of the real world, can serve as excellent resources for introducing language in

its real form to ESP learners whose final goal in taking ESP course is to communicate properly in real-world contexts

In his research “Difficulties faced by Iraqi teachers of English in using authentic materials in the foreign language classrooms”, Huessien (2012) also concluded that authentic materials work as a motivating feature and as a link between students’ general knowledge of language and their professional language needs

Guo (2012)’s study “Using authentic materials for extensive reading to promote English proficiency” demonstrated a measurable positive effect of authentic texts on students’ language acquisition He supported the use of authentic materials because they expose students to English usage as it is used in real life, thus many students may find them more interesting and relevant if they are at the right comprehension level

At high school level, Hatimah et al (2013) confirmed in their study “The effects

of using authentic materials on the 10th grade students’ reading comprehension achievement” that authentic material was an appropriate material for teaching reading comprehension They claimed that the use of authentic materials had a significant effect on the 10th grade students’ reading comprehension achievement All these studies and research on the use of authentic materials indicate that authentic material can be an appropriate material for teaching a language, especially

in the teaching of reading comprehension

In summary, this review of literature provides a theoretical background for the

study, which will be the ground for the rationale of the study and the research questions It is expected that the results will contribute to the theory and practice as regards with the authentic material use in language teaching, especially in the teaching of reading, and its impact on students' achievement

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides background information about action research, the current situation of teaching and learning reading at B Phu Ly High School and a description of the methodology employed to collect data for the study

2.1 Research context

It is clear that English language education in Vietnamese high schools has recently changed and got much better results thanks to the adjustment of textbooks

and teaching methods Particularly, the textbook series - Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh

11, Tiếng Anh 12 (English 10, English 11, and English 12) - introduced intoschools

since 2005 has attracted both teachers and students by introducing a theme-based and task-based approaches However, while teaching, the author found that many students at B Phu Ly high school got rather low scores in reading questions When interviewed, the students claimed that reading seemed to be a difficult skill for them The main reason, as investigated, is that students depend totally on reading texts in textbooks which are their major source of reading They do not often do extensive reading to improve their reading skills In addition, teachers, in almost cases, never used any reading materials rather than those in the textbooks due to time limitation

as they stated These reasons constitute the motivation for this study

The study was conducted at B Phu Ly High School in Ha Nam, where all the students have learned English for about 9 years and have three English classes per week and half of them have one optional lesson every week The textbook series

English 10 to English 12 is taught and the students have to take the entrance exam

including English as a compulsory subject The physical condition of the school can provide a supportive environment for language teaching and learning with favorable facilities such as rooms equipped with overhead projector, screen, loud speakers,

CD and CD player

2.2 Research questions

As previously mentioned in the Introduction part, this study aims to deal with these two research questions:

- To what extent do authentic materials help to improve EFL high school students' extensive reading ability?

- What are the students' attitudes towards authentic reading materials?

2.3 Research approach

2.3.1 An overview of action research

The term “action research” refers to two dimensions of activity: the word

“research” in “action research” refers to a systematic approach to carrying out investigations and collecting information that is designed to illuminate an issue or problem and to improve classroom practice, meanwhile the word “action” refers

to taking practical action to resolve classroom problems (Richards, 2005) Therefore, action research achieves both action (change or improve) and research (understanding)

According to Cohen and Manion (2007), action research is “small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention.”

Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988) identify three characteristics of an action research, which are: “carried out by practitioners”, “collaborative” and “aimed at changing things”

Tsui (1993) suggested 5 steps in conducting action research: Identifying problems; Finding causes of the problem; Designing strategies for improvement (plan for action) and writing a proposal for action research; Trying out the strategies (action) and keeping a diary of what happened in the class; and Evaluating the try-out Whereas Nunan (1992) defines the framework of a research as consisting of seven steps as follows:

- Step 1: Initiation (Identify the problem)

- Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Collect data through a variety of means)

- Step 3: Hypothesis (Develop research questions)

- Step 4: Intervention (Devise strategies and innovation to be implemented)

- Step 5: Evaluation (Collect data again and analyze it to work out the findings)

- Step 6: Dissemination (Report the result by running workshops or issuing a paper)

- Step 7: Follow-up (Find alternative methods to solve the same problem)

Different from Tsui, Nunan (1992) suggested that teachers should observe and make notes on what their learners said and did in class, and then, based on these observations, identified positive ways to bring about this change

A necessary component of action research is collaboration among different people They are teachers, their colleagues and students, who should be willing to talk with each other about the problems and find out the solutions together, as well

as help each other in implementing classroom–centered action research projects It also needs the collaborative efforts of students who participate in the action research project Students’ collaboration plays an important role in the success of the action research project

In this study, the researcher followed Nunan's action research model and students' pretest and posttest scores from the two groups of students were calculated

by using ANCOVA through SPSS

2.3.2 Rationale for the use of an action research

Cohen and Manion (2007) state that the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within educational context in which the research is carried out Koshy (2005) also maintains that action research is a powerful and useful model for practitioner research because research can be set within a specific context or situation and researchers can be participants - they do not have to

be distant and detached from the situation

Teachers in general and teachers of English in particular actually carry out action research for most of their time Whenever s/he identifies a problem which is happening in the class, it is his/her task to find ways to solve that problem Therefore, action research is inevitably a very common practice

This research was carried out by me, a practitioner, a teacher of English The inspiration for the research was the recognition and observation of a real

problem in the classes that my colleagues and I taught in the past few school years Most of the students appeared to poorly participate in reading lessons Many of them are passive and unenthusiastic because they may lack background knowledge about and vocabulary related to the topic of the reading texts This research was conducted with a desire to improve students' reading comprehension skills through using authentic materials for extensive reading This possible improvement would help them have inspiration of engaging more into the lessons in class With this view, this research meets the definition of action research as aiming at changing things for the better This is also an action study because it was conducted in the real context of my classroom, aimed at professional development through changing my methods of teaching to raise students’ extensive reading ability

2.4 Description of the research

2.4.1 Population

The researcher, who is also a teacher, recruited around 90 students from class 12A2 and 12A3 at B Phu Ly high school during the first semester of the school year 2015-2016 The participants of the research were selected on the basis of simple random sampling Using simple random sampling method, the researcher ensured that the students of the sample have characteristics similar to the population as a whole

The students participating in the study are non-English major students at the age

of 17 and all of them had studied English formally for 9 years (from grade 3 to grade 11) These students were evenly assigned to these 2 classes based on their entrance exam scores when they entered the school; therefore, they should have been at a similar level as they started high school However, the entrance exam took place more than 2 years ago; thus, a pretest was designed to determine if the students from the 2 classes are still at a similar level The 2 classes were randomly assigned to be an experimental group and a control group All students received the same classroom instruction, with the only difference being that the experimental group was given supplementary materials related to the course topics for extensive

reading outside of class whereas the control group was asked to follow the reading exercises given in students’ workbook That means they were taught with traditional method

The treatment for the intervention was a set of 10 online reading texts (250-300 words in length) related to the course topics given to students in the experimental group over a period of 10 weeks As Tran (2007) suggests, teachers can select materials that are at a suitable level and can be read at a manageable time to help students with their reading skills Of course students can choose the reading materials that they feel comfortable with, but for the study purpose and convenience, the instructor selected readings for the students in the experimental group

2.4.2 Data collection instruments

In order to ensure the validity of this study, a number of different instruments were implemented, which are both qualitative and quantitative All of these instruments were finished in class

2.4.2.1 Multiple-choice reading tests

The main instrument for this study was 2 reading tests The pretest was delivered in week 4 of the first semester and the post-test was conducted in week 15

of the same semester These 2 multiple-choice tests were similar to the reading section in a GCSE exam test, that is, students were required to read the passages and circle the correct answers to the questions or choose the words to fill in the blanks

of the passages The tests in this study were taken from test samples for the entrance exams into Vietnam National University The time allowance for each test was 40 minutes, and the test consisted of 30 items and was designed to test such specific reading skills as: skimming for general information; scanning for specific information; understanding the main ideas

2.4.2.2 Questionnaires

In second language research, questionnaires are used mostly to collect data on phenomena which are not easily observed, such as attitudes, motivation, and self-concepts They are also used to collect data on the process involved in using

language and to obtain background knowledge about the research subjects, such as age, previous background in language learning…

In this study, the questionnaires were to get the information on their attitudes toward using authentic materials for extensive reading, and their suggestions for future programs after this research

Questionnaires in this study include a Pre-questionnaire that was distributed to all participants at the start of the investigation and a Post-questionnaire that was delivered upon finishing the intervention These questionnaires were designed in hope that the researcher would receive practical and situational information that she was looking for

The Pre-questionnaire (see Appendix I) consists of 4 items which was designed

to elicit information concerning the participants’ background information and knowledge of English, the level of students’ interest, their needs and expectations in reading lessons

The post-questionnaire (See Appendix II) on extensive reading with online authentic materials was conducted and administered to experimental group students when they were close to the end of the first semester It contained 15 questions, among which 10 aimed at investigating students’ attitudes toward authentic materials, and 5 at finding out students’ suggestions for future programs All of the questions were written in Vietnamese to make sure that they could fully understand the

questions The results from the questionnaire could help the researcher better

understand students' thoughts and attitudes towards the outside extensive reading

using authentic materials

2.4.3 The action procedures

The action was conducted during 10 weeks of the first semester of school year

2015-2016 from October 12th to December 19th, 2015 Adapting steps in Nunan (1992)’s action research cycle, the action was developed in four main steps as follows:

Step1: Problem identification

During the teaching process in the school-years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 for the 12th form students, the researcher discovered that her students seemed to be weak at reading comprehension skills They were not keen on doing reading activities in class and the students' scores in GCSE exams were quite low, especially for reading questions The researcher discussed her concern with her colleagues and they admitted that their students have the same problems Moreover, the time for reading lessons is not enough, which means students have to read extensively to improve their reading skills as well as their language competences This urged the teacher to find a better way to work with her new classes in the school-year 2015-

2016

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

After observing and analyzing the results from many tests, especially the fact that only 12.1% of the students got mark 5+ in the GCSE exam at the end of the 2014-2015 schoolyear, the researcher found that, in general, the students’ English competence is rather low Meanwhile, interviews with students showed that almost all of them found reading questions most difficult and challenging

Therefore, the researcher raised two questions for exploration: “Can authentic materials help to improve EFL high school students' extensive reading ability?”,

“What are the students' attitudes towards authentic reading materials?”

To answer these questions, a pre-questionnaire was conducted The collected data were analyzed to point out some possible reasons for the students’ poor reading skills, their interest and expectation of the reading lessons; from which the teacher had belief that authentic material approach would be used to raise students’ interest

so that the problem would be solved That was the reason why the researcher decided to introduce authentic reading materials to her students

Step 3: Intervention

To solve the problem, the teacher decided to use authentic materials for students’ extensive reading This step of intervention was carried out as follows:

The researcher, who is also a teacher, asked the headmistress of B Phu Ly High School for permission to recruit around 90 students from class 12A2 and 12A3 at B Phu Ly high school during the first semester of the school year 2015-2016

Firstly, the students of both groups had a pretest on reading including 30 multiple-choice questions in comprehension reading exercises and close tests The pretests were marked according to the answer key and saved

Then a detailed course for the experimental group (See Appendix III) was prepared based on online authentic materials A variety of activities and exercises were prepared based on the selected authentic texts While the experimental group was learning to read extensively with authentic materials, the control group was following traditional materials which were included in the reading exercises in the

Students’ Workbook “English 12”

The teacher and the students in experimental group had one meeting every week

at the period for optional lessons, which was on Fridays During these meetings, the teacher gave the students hand-outs of printed online reading texts from www.newsinlevels.com/#, and asked them to read these texts extensively and answer the questions below these texts Students in the experimental group were also encouraged to watch the videos on www.newsinlevels.com/# by themselves and do more activities given following each video By doing so, they can improve all the four language skills, not only reading

Finally, after a period of 10 weeks, the students of both groups took the posttest

so that the researcher could see if there were any differences in the two groups’ results

Table 3: An overview of an extensive reading program:

1 Girl is saved Everyday life Write a summary of the text

2 Ronaldo wins another

4 Smog in Beijing Environmental

Population Discuss the equality between men

and women in modern society

6 Attacks in Paris World Peace Write a paragraph of about 150

words about your ideal world

7 The rich are helping

9 Old wreck is found Discovery Write a summary of the text

10 Joke about a clever

2.4.4 Data collection procedures

2.4.4.1 Planning

The researcher prepared data collection instruments which consisted of the questionnaires and tests The researcher worked with the participants on the program, explained their main tasks, arranging schedule for all the participants In this step, overall learning goals and objectives were set in line with the students’ needs and expectations which were analyzed from the pre-questionnaire The

researcher had to anticipate what problems might happen to the experimental group and found ways to solve these problems beforehand Before intervening, the teacher had to reflect on the events what had happened and then plan a revisited step After planning steps with sufficient preparations in terms of materials, expected outcomes, methods and problems predictions, the action was conducted where students took part in the learning activities, played the role of active learners; while the teacher played the role of a guider, a facilitator and an advisor who also observed, gave feedbacks and provided necessary involvement and adjustment

The posttest was conducted after the intervention course (at the fifteenth week

of the first semester) and followed the same procedure as with the pre-test

2.4.4.5 Post-questionnaire

After the course, the post-questionnaire was administrated to the experimental group to get the students’ attitudes toward using authentic materials for extensive reading and their suggestions and expectations for future programs

2.4.5 Data analysis procedure

After 10 weeks, the researcher analyzed the data collected and evaluated the results achieved, then changes to improve the next cycle were made, in which good points would be made full use of, and weak points would be gradually eliminated Initially, the raw data were classified according to the two research questions Specifically, the data from the pretest and posttest were computed and analyzed

using ANCOVA through SPSS, and used to answer the first research question The answer for the second research question was found through the analysis of the data from the post-questionnaire, which were summarized into tables to facilitate the synthesis and comparison of data The percentage of participants’ responses for each question was used to analyze and compare the numeric figures

2.5 Summary

This chapter has presented in some detail the methodological framework of the study including the justification for the use of action research design in this study, the research questions, the pre-test and post-test and questionnaires used as tools of collecting data, the participants of the study, the process of data collection and data analysis applied to seek the answers for the two research questions

In the next chapter, there will be a presentation of the findings of the study and

a discussion of the two research questions raised in this study