An exploratory study on the teaching of pre-reading skills to third-year non-English-major students using New Headway Pre-Intermediate textbook at a university in Hanoi

Suggestions of some possible pre-reading activities employed to teach reading texts using the textbook new headway pre-intermediate to the third-year non-English-major students at the HA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG VÂN

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF

PRE-READING SKILLS TO THIRD-YEAR NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS USING NEW HEADWAY PRE-INTERMEDIATE

TEXTBOOK AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

( Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy kĩ năng tiền đọc hiểu theo giáo trình New Headway Pre-intermediate cho sinh viên năm thứ ba không chuyên tiếng

Anh tại một trường đại học ở Hà Nội)

MA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG VÂN

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING OF

PRE-READING SKILLS TO THIRD-YEAR NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS USING NEW HEADWAY PRE-INTERMEDIATE

TEXTBOOK AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

( Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy kĩ năng tiền đọc hiểu theo giáo trình New Headway Pre-intermediate cho sinh viên năm thứ ba không chuyên tiếng

Anh tại một trường đại học ở Hà Nội)

MA MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled:

“An exploratory study on the teaching of pre-reading skills to third-year English-major students using New Headway Pre-Intermediate textbook at a university in Hanoi” is the result of my research for the Degree of Master of Art at University of

non-Languages and International Studies, Ha Noi National University, and the thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution

Ha Noi, January 2014

Student

Lê Thị Hồng Vân

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people, to all of whom I am profoundly indebted

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn,

my supervisor, for his great encouragement, constant guidance and enthusiastic support during all the stages of this study Without his advice and tireless persistence, I would not have been able to finish this paper

My sincere thanks are also sent to my colleagues as well as students at the HAUI who are willing to help me complete the survey questionnaires and classroom observations

Last but not least, I am really grateful to my family and friends for their continual encouragement during the time I conducted the research Especially, I would like to give

my thanks to my boyfriend who is always beside me, takes care of me and willing to help

me solve IT problems

ABSTRACT

In most cases a common problem students experience in reading classes is the feeling that they have inadequate knowledge about the subject they are reading about However, this feeling may be more complex than generally thought The problem may not be the lack of background knowledge, but rather the failure to activate that knowledge Some researchers state that pre-reading activities provide a reader with necessary background to organize activities and to comprehend the material Owing to the obvious awareness of the great importance of pre-reading activities to the teaching and learning of reading, the researcher decided to have a study on this issue Firstly, she will take effort to explore what pre-reading activities are often applied by the teachers to teach third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI using the textbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate Moreover, she would like to present her suggestions of some appropriate pre-reading activities with the hope of helping students have motivation in learning reading and improve their reading skills

ABBREVIATIONS

A Accounting

BA Business Administration

EFL English as a foreign language

ESL English as a second language

ESP English for specific purposes

HAUI Hanoi University of Industry

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study: 2

4 Significance of the study: 3

5 Research methodology 3

5.1 Participants: 3

5.2 Research instruments: 3

6 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 6

1.1 Theoretical background of reading 6

1.1.1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 6

1.1.2 Classification of reading 7

1.2 Teaching and learning reading skills 12

1.2.1 The importance of reading in foreign language learning 12

1.2.2 Factors in teaching and learning reading 13

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20

2.1 The setting of the study 20

2.2 Participants 20

2.2.1 Teachers of English 20

2.2.2 Students 21

2.3 Material 21

2.4 Data collection instrumentation 22

2.4.1 Survey questionnaires 22

2.4.2 Classroom observations 23

2.5 Data analysis methods 24

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 25

3.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaire 25

3.1.1 Students’ general assessments about reading texts in their course book (question 1) 25

3.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities (questions 2, 3, 4) 26 3.1.3 Students’ awareness of teachers’ frequency of using pre-reading activities and supplementary materials in teaching pre-reading (questions 5, 6, 7, 8) 28 3.1.4 Students’ preferences for pre-reading techniques (questions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,

14, 15) 31 3.1.5 Students’ comments on the pre-reading activities in the text book New Headway Pre-intermediate (question 16) 37 3.2 Data analysis of the teachers’ survey questionnaire 38 3.2.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards the reading texts and pre-reading activities in a reading lesson (questions 1, 2) 38 3.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of pre-reading activities in a reading lesson (question 3) 39 3.2.3 Teacher’s focus on their teaching reading texts (question 4) 40 3.2.4 Teachers’ frequency of using activities to start a reading lesson (questions 5, 6) 41 3.2.5 Teachers’ frequency of using other materials in teaching pre-reading (question 7) 44 3.2.6 Teachers’ applying visual aids in teaching pre-reading (questions 8, 9) 45 3.2.7 Teachers’ expectation when providing students with pre-reading activities (question 10) 46 3.2.8 Teachers’ difficulties in carrying out pre-reading activities in a reading lesson (question 11) 47 3.2.9 Teachers’ comments on Pre-reading activities available in the book New Headway Pre-intermediate (question 12) 48 3.2.10 Teachers’ suggestions and recommendations on the Pre-reading activities (question 13) 49 3.3 Data analysis of classroom observations 49 3.4 Discussion of data analysis 51

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS OF SOME POSSIBLE PRE-READING ACTIVITIES EMPLOYED TO TEACH READING TEXTS USING THE TEXTBOOK NEW HEADWAY PRE-

INTERMEDIATE TO THE THIRD-YEAR NON-ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS

AT THE HAUI 53

4.1 Discussion of major findings 53

4.1.1 Teachers’ and students’ awareness of the role of using pre-reading activities to the third-year non-English majors at the HAUI 53

4.1.2 Frequency of using pre-reading activities in reading lessons 53

4.1.3 Students’ preferences for pre-reading activities 54

4.1.4 Teachers’ difficulties in designing and carrying out the pre-reading activities 54 4.1.5 Teachers’ and students’ comments on Pre-reading activities available in the book New Headway Pre-intermediate 55

4.2 Suggestions of some possible pre-reading activities employed to teach reading texts using the textbook new headway pre-intermediate to the third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI 55

4.2.1 Using visual aids 55

4.2.2 Using games 56

4.2.3 Pre-questioning 56

4.2.4 Brainstorming 56

PART C: CONCLUSION 57

1 Summary of the study 57

2 Summary of main findings: 58

2.1 Research question 1: 58

2.2 Research question 2: 59

3 Limitations of the study 61

4 Recommendations for further study 61

REFERENCES 63 APPENDIX I

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

A special focus is received by reading in many second or foreign language teaching situations There contain a number of reasons for this Firstly, when learning a foreign language students often have reading as one of their most important goals They would like

to able to read for information and pleasure, for their career, and for study purposes In fact, in most EFL situations, the ability to read in a foreign language is all what students ever want to acquire Secondly, written texts serve various pedagogical purposes The process of language acquisition can be enhanced by extensive exposure to linguistically comprehensible written texts Reading texts with good quality also provide good models for writing and provide opportunities to introduce new topics, to stimulate discussion Therefore, students and teachers alike highly value this skill

Reading has always been received a great amount of attention from both teachers and students in the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam

in general and at the Hanoi University of Industry (HAUI) in particular

In most universities in Vietnam, students are taught in non-native English environment That is why they meet many difficulties in learning the four English skills effectively in general and the reading skill in particular

“For many students, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language, particularly in English as a second or foreign language” as Carrel (1981:1) stated This is true to the students at the HAUI, where learners usually have to do exercises and tests including many reading texts Futuremore, after graduating they would probably have to work with many English written materials related to their majors, so reading skill plays an important role in helping them work with those materials It is essential for them

to acquire the ability to read English effectively and efficiently Nevertheless, although teachers and students have taken strenuous efforts, students still often claim to have a lot of difficulties in reading English textbooks or English materials, and therefore, they sometimes find it inefficient when reading them

For third-year university students learning English as a non-major, although they have been learning English for at least several years, it is still often so difficult for them to understand a text or a passage in English, since they usually lack vocabulary, grammar,

reading skills and possess poor background knowledge Besides, the teachers from time to time have to confront with difficulties in dealing with the students’ learning demand and newly introduced sources of materials Additionally, it seems to be clear that teaching methods and teaching techniques in general still have not met the international standard of education It is necessary to explore the areas of students’ difficulty at the HAUI, the causes of their unsuccessful reading comprehension, and the teaching of pre-reading skills

Thus, these reasons have inspired the study of “An exploratory study on the teaching of

pre-reading skills to third-year non-English-major students using New Headway Intermediate textbook at a university in Hanoi.” It is hoped that the study will make some

Pre-contributions to improving the learning of English in general, and the learning of reading

in particular among the third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI The author also hopes that it will be possible to make suggestions for the teachers to have good teaching pre-reading skill method in order to improve the situation of teaching and learning reading at the HAUI

2 Objectives of the study

The study is carried out with two major objectives The first objective is to investigate reading techniques employed by the teachers of English at the HAUI The second objective

pre-is to give suggestions of some possible pre- reading activities that can be applied to teach the text book New Headway Pre-Intermediate to the third-year non-English major students

at the HAUI

In brief, these objectives could be summarized into two research questions as follows: Question 1: What pre-reading activities are often applied to teaching reading for third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI using the textbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate?

Question 2: What possible pre-reading activities are suggested to help improve reading skills for third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI using the textbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate?

3 Scope of the study:

With the desire of improving reading skill for third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI, the teachers can make use of various techniques and a number of things should be done However, in this study, the author only intends to overview a brief of current situation of teaching and learning reading of third-year non-English-major students at the

HAUI, and to suggest some possible activities that can be applied in the Pre-reading stage

so as to help students have motivation in reading lessons as well as help them become good and successful readers

4 Significance of the study:

Once having been completed, the research would provide an exploration of the teaching of pre-reading skills to third-year non-English-major students In addition, the importance of motivation to the reading skills in general and to the pre-reading stage in particular will be highlighted be the study Furthermore, thanks to the useful findings of the study, teachers

of English can be aware of the vital role of the pre-reading activities to the students’ motivation and effectiveness in reading lessons

5.2.2 Classroom observation:

Together with the survey questionnaires , class observation is also “a tool for collecting information without directly questioning on the part of the researcher” (Vajendra & Mallick, 1999:129) It would be employed as a valuable research instrument to examine the targeted population

The observation checklist will be designed based on most of the questions in the survey questionnaires Based on the observation checklist, the direct observation of the two classes of third-year non-English-major students during reading lessons especially in the pre-reading stage will be taken by the researcher as an objective way to see how they are taught pre-reading stage

5.2.3 Data analysis methods

In this study, the questionnaires are designed with both closed and open-ended questions Therefore, the researcher decides to choose quantitative method which is known as the method used the range of mathematical and statistical techniques to analyse closed questions Besides, the qualitative method which is used to analyze unstructured data will

be employed to deal with open-ended questions of the questionnaires and the data from classroom observations

5.2.4 Procedures of data analysis:

After the process of data collection, the information gathered from the survey

questionnaires, and observations will be analyzed and synthesized The data collected from the survey questionnaires is going to be presented in forms of tables The data from observation, then, together with the results from the questionnaire will be synthesized and summarized to find out and draw the teachers’ and students’ awareness of the importance

of the teaching of reading skills in reading lessons, and their attitudes towards reading techniques and their comments and suggestions for these activities in order to achieve the aims of the research which were specified through the research questions

pre-6 Design of the study

The research includes three main parts Part A is the Introduction, which is aimed at

clarifying the rationale, aims, objectives, research questions, scope, research methodology

and design of the research Part B is the Development which contains 4 chapters: Chapter

1 is the Literature Review which presents theoretical background reading and reading

comprehension, the importance of reading in foreign language learning, the factors affecting

teaching and learning reading have been mentioned, and the organization of reading

comprehension text is also mentioned in this chapter Chapter 2 is the Methodology in

which the researcher presents the setting of the study, the participants under the investigation,

the assessment of reading material, and data collection instrumentations including survey questionnaires for teachers and students, and classroom observations Chapter 3 is the

Analysis of the data collected from the questionnaires and classroom observations to state what was found, and to analyze and explain why the results came out as they did, and how they helped to achieve the objectives of the study as well as to answer the two research

questions Chapter 4 presents major findings and the author’s suggestions of some

possible pre-reading activities which can be applied to teach the third-year

non-English-major students at the HAUI using the textbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate Part C is

the Conclusion, which summarizes the study and gives some limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

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

In this chapter, the author will focus on the concepts of reading and reading comprehension The review consists of the definitions of each concept Besides, the classification of reading, the importance of reading in foreign language learning, factors in teaching and learning, organization of reading comprehension text, the importance of pre-reading stage and pre-reading activities in learning readiny are mentioned Finally, the literature review of previous studies relevant to the study will be presented in this chapter

1.1 Theoretical background of reading

1.1.1 Definitions of reading and reading comprehension

1.1.1.1 Definitions of reading

It cannot be denied that reading is basic to all education systems in the world, the most important of the four language skills for EFL learners (Gu, 2003), and it involves to our daily activities more or less However, there has not been so far a common definition of reading because of its different understandings in different aspects Therefore, there exists many definitions of reading of many authors and each of them reflects what it means to the

writer (Good et al 1987)

The first definition of reading the author would like to mention in this part is the one which

is extracted from a general overview of reading “Reading is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader The emphasis is on the reader’s understanding of the printed page based on the individual’s unique background of experiences Reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends; it is the process whereby the printed page stimulates ideas, experiences, and responses that are unique to an individual

In the nutshell, from all the viewpoints above, it is clear that no definition or description may possibly contain all the ideas and features of what reading is Each different definition

of different author reflects different reading meaning as seen from his own opinion Nevertheless, they all have some mutual features, they share the same ideas that the readers read the message that the author would like to send to them not the author’s written word

on the printed page Therefore, the nature of reading takes the concentration of all

1.1.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension

Reading in general and reading comprehension in particular plays a crucial part in teaching and learning a foreign language While reading does not involve any other activities, reading comprehension is the understanding of a written text which means extracting the required information from the text as efficiently as possible (Grellet, 1981: 3)

Moreover, Richard and Thomas (1987:143) state that “reading comprehension is a mental process that in the final analysis, only the reader fully understands Comprehension is what simulates readers to remember their past experience That knowledge is, then, used in trying to get meaning out of print Meaning does not reside in the printed page but rather in the mind of the reader.” Indeed, reading comprehension is the level of understanding of a text/message This understanding comes from the interaction between the words that are written and how they trigger knowledge outside the text/message to the readers

From these ideas above, we can conclude that reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading While the definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing Besides, reading comprehension is so important because without comprehension, reading is nothing more than tracking symbols on a page with your eyes and sounding them out In addition, the words on the page have no meaning They are simply symbols People read for many reasons but understanding is always a part of their purpose Reading comprehension is important because without it reading doesn’t provide the reader with any information

understanding the message they convey, in other words “making sense” of a written text It does not normally involve saying the words we read, not even silently inside our heads.” Another definition of silent reading was presented that “…as an in-classroom reading activity in which students are given a certain amount of time to silently read self-selected material for pleasure or information as a way of cultivating a love of reading without assessment, skills work, monitoring, or instruction from the teacher” (Garan & DeVoogd, 2006; Yoon, 2002) In short, silent reading benefits the user as it provides them a better understanding of whatever they are reading This is largely because the meaning of the text

is more important to silent readers than the word pronunciation in those who read orally The reason for the effectiveness of silent reading is that there are no delays that are linked

to the pronunciation of difficult words Actually, pronunciation greatly limits and reduces the speed at which oral readers read their materials, an issue that does not affect those who silently read Undoubtedly, silent reading is a good technique for reading comprehension which helps students answer the questions following the text well

1.1.2.1.2 Reading aloud

Reading aloud is totally different from silent reading According to Doff (1988:23) reading aloud is “not just to understand a text but to convey the information to some else” He added that “it is not an activity we engage in every often outside the classroom; common examples are reading out parts of a newspaper article to a friend, or reading a notice to other people who cannot see it” Thus, it is clear that “reading aloud involves looking at a text, understanding it and saying it” Having the same opinion Abott and Wingard (1981: 82) stated that “the readers is often merely mouthing meaningless language because of lack

of rehearsal and time to comprehend what he has to read aloud”

It can be concluded that reading aloud just may take students’ attention on pronunciation not their understanding of the text Indeed, when reading aloud the readers just focus on how to pronounce the words correctly but they do not take care of what those words say what Consequently, after reading the text they have no actual understanding of what they have read Besides, in the classroom, only the reading student is active, the other students

do not have to do anything or they will so something else not related to the reading lesson because they have to wait for their turns to read the text This means that it will be a waste

of time and it has a bit valuable in helping students improve their reading skill However, it cannot be denied that reading aloud also have some benefits in some expects Reading

aloud is a wonderful tool to help students learn to read smoothly and build fluency skills, continuity and confidence It will also allow readers to listen back for their voice Furthermore, reading aloud helps improve the readers’ diction and expression, which they will then transfer into their speaking voice and writing voice In short, reading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages

1.1.2.2 According to purpose

It is obvious that different kinds of reading skills meet different purposes Therefore, according to the purposes, there are four main kinds of reading skills: skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading

1.1.2.2.1 Skimming

According to Grellet (1981: 19) skimming was defined that “When skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer.” Sharing the same point of view, Nuttall (1982: 36) stated that “By skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through a text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us”

Indeed, speed reading is a good way to absorb a lot of printed information quickly, but sometimes you just need to get the gist of what is being written about, without all the details That's when knowing how to skim text can be helpful When you skim a page, you take the main ideas from the reading material without reading all the words Readers skim when time is short or when they need to understand the general ideas but not the particulars

of an article or book Moreover, main ideas are usually found in the first sentences of each paragraph and in the first and last paragraphs It is also useful to pay attention to the organisation of the text

To conclude, skimming is known as a helpful technique for reading comprehension which allows students to get the main ideas of the text without focusing on the details Therefore, skimming is a useful reading skill for students, and it is advisable to apply at the first stage

of teaching reading because it can give them a more accurate picture of text to be read later

1.1.2.2.2 Scanning

Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching for a specific piece

of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading purpose That means scanning is selective reading, it helps students to choose the right text and understand it well Nuttall (1982:36) stated that “By scanning we mean glancing rapidly through a text either to search for a specific piece of information (e.g a name, a date) or to get an initial impression of whether the text suitable for a given purpose (e.g whether a book on gardening deals with the cultivation of a particular vegetable)

Indeed, scanning is used when a specific piece of information is required, such as a name, date, symbol, formula, or phrase, is required The reader knows what the item looks like and so, knows when he has located what he was searching for It is assumed then, that very little information is processed into long-term memory or even for immediate understanding because the objective is simply matching

Additionally, according to Grellet (1981) scanning and skimming are both reading techniques that are needed for quick and efficient reading, they should not be selected separately Besides, Davies, F (1995:137) asserted that “it is difficult to drawclear boundaries between the types of reading termed skimming and scanning; in real life, scanning inevitably involves some skimming (and skipping) of large sections of text, and skimming, reciprocally, must embrace some scanning.”

1.1.2.2.3 Extensive reading

Brown (1989) explains that extensive reading is carried out "to achieve a general understanding of a text." Sharing the same idea, Long and Richards (1971, p.216) identify extensive reading as "occurring when students read large amounts of high interest material, usually out of class, concentrating on meaning, "reading for gist" and skipping unknown words." Besides, by “reading for fluency”, it means students have general understanding of the text without understanding every word (Lewis, 1992) Therefore, it is a very good way

for students to widen their knowledge by reading extensively (Nuttall, 1982)

Actually, in extensive reading, reading is in quantity and in order to again a general understanding of what is read It is intended to develop good reading habits To build up knowledge of vocabulary and structure also encourage a like for reading Dalman, M (1978: 115) stated the extensive reading is a fluency activity mainly including global understanding of longer reading text Extensive reading activities are usually done for

one’s pleasure/ enjoyment for example, in daily life our reading objective constantly varies, when planning exercises

Extensive reading is considered to be useful for students’ self-learning Their reading habits and passion for reading are also formed through extensive reading Students can choose what they want to read based on their interests, what materials they like and read for their own purpose for pleasure or entertainment Getting the extensive reading programme off to a good start is also vital The aim is for an initial successful experience

so that students discover they can read in English and that they enjoy it This positive experience should stimulate them to read more, increasing motivation, enjoyment and a desire to read However, it is more effective if students’ extensive reading is followed an instructional program with the help of the reading teacher Indeed, the teacher plays an important role in encouraging and assisting the students with their reading, which the students undertake during and after class

1.1.2.2.4 Intensive reading

In comparison with extensive reading, intensive one which has another name “reading for accuracy” (Brumfit, 1977; Nuttall, 1982) seems more difficult It involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” (Nuttall, 2000:38) In the view of Nuttall(1982: 23) “The aim of intensive reading is

to arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text: not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning is produced The “how” is as important as the “what”…” Intensive Reading occurs when the learner is focused on the language rather than the text For example, the learner may be answering comprehension questions,learning new vocabulary, studying the grammar and expressions in the text,translating the passage, or other tasks that involve the student in looking intensively the text Most often all the students read the same short text that the teacher decided In other words, students read intensively to attain full comprehension context, language patterns of the text, the purpose and attitude of the writer

The advantage of intensive reading is that it focuses the learner on certain aspects of the language However, intensive reading is usually done with difficult texts with many unknown words that require the learner to use a dictionary This means the reading is slow and that there are few opportunities for the learner to learn to read smoothly, because she has to stop every few seconds to work on something she can't understand This slows or

prevents the development of fluent eye movements that are so necessary to improve one's reading skill Intensive reading is the most typically taught method of teaching reading Unfortunately some teachers only know this method and believe that by teaching the vocabulary and grammar that is all the learner needs This is not so, she also needs practice in reading and to be trained in developing reading skills

1.2 Teaching and learning reading skills

1.2.1 The importance of reading in foreign language learning

It is a well-known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away in their minds The only tragedy is that, as time goes on, people have lost their skill and passion to read There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, besides books And that is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power

Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics It helps us to stay in-touch with contemporary writers as well as those from the days of your and makes us sensitive to global issues The teaching and learning of reading are always received much attention in the process of teaching and learning a second or foreign language with the reason that it is considered as one of the most important major skills as what Carrell (1971: 1) stated: “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or foreign language”

Furthermore, reading a foreign language in general, reading English in particular seems to

be pretty necessary to everyone nowadays At current time, human has entered the 21st century, an era of intellectual economy or rather the Internet Peoples' knowledge is increasing at an astonishing speed By the way of reading ,a learner can master these high-tech and cultural knowledge concerning English -speaking countries As reading is the only time-saved way to absorb foreign advanced technology, by reading, we can learn

more and make contributions to the construction of our motherland In that case, reading becomes necessary and urgent

By reading a lot, one can advance their English background knowledge and broaden his or her vision, inspire his thought, build the values, train the creative performance and develop his intelligence If a person master the English reading skills and form a good reading habit, she or he can master English forever

1.2.2 Factors in teaching and learning reading

1.2.2.1 The role of reading texts

According to Billows (1982:55), he thinks that “the role of the textbook is to stand for the distant and hardly accessible delights that lie behind the forbidding barriers of strangeness

of language, the imaginative life of the child as well as its craving for knowledge” Indeed, the textbook plays an important role in helping the readers get over the obstacles of abstraction of language, help them reach the understanding of the familiarity of it, and the desire of mastering it

It is doubtless that reading texts is an essential part in teaching reading In the viewpoint of Grellet (1981:20), he obviously presents this idea “it is obvious that being aware of the function of a passage is vital to its comprehension Therefore, one of the very first things students should be led to do is to find out whether the text aims at convincing the reader, giving him information, asking him for something, etc.” Moreover, reading texts both provides students with a valuable chance of approaching to the phonetics, lexical and grammatical items of the target language and a chance to develop other three language skills

Besides, engaging all students in a themed study or unit is a challenge that teachers can resolve by using materials that match students’ independent or instructional reading levels When students face textbooks that are above their reading levels, teachers can help them access the required information by filling their classrooms with multiple texts that vary in readability level Multiple texts improve students’ application of reading–thinking strategies, build confidence, and develop the motivation to learn Through the use of multiple texts, all students have the opportunity to learn new information and make meaningful contributions to discussions Moreover, varied texts provide multiple perspectives that help students rethink events and issues that impact everyone and deepen their knowledge of literary genres Actually, through the texts, students can broaden their

splendid knowledge in different fields such as science, society, economy, technology, history etc which are very useful for them to improve their other language skills Therefore, the students can get effectiveness in applying what they have learnt from a reading text to different purposes of language study and communication Thus, it is apparent to conclude that the reading texts possess great educational values

1.2.2.2 The role of teacher

It is generally accepted that the teacher plays a major role in determining the effectiveness

of a reading instructional program Duffy-Hester (1999: 492) perhaps stated it best when she noted the role the teacher played in helping children learn to read: “I am convinced that the teacher is more important and has a greater impact than any single, fixed reading program, method, or approach” In addition, it is clear that in a reading class, it is not easy for students to be efficient readers without the teacher’s facilitation and orientation according to Firochiaro’s opinion (1969:23): “in a reading class, a teacher should help the students comprehend printed materials and provide them with the knowledge and the ability to enable them to read other materials out of class”

In the light of Nuttal’s suggestion (1982): “there are two main things that a teacher should always remember in helping students The first is to provide the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities”, we can see that providing students with opportunities to apply their reading skills and strategies in meaningful content areas appears to be extremely important; however, teachers must be sure to use materials that students can handle In addition, students must be willing to read the materials because they find them interesting and at a level where they can succeed

To sum up, reading is an interactive process, which consists of multiple interactions between variables such as the reader’s background, the classroom context, reading materials, developmental levels, teachers’ instructional style, and learning goals Teachers must use a variety of classroom teaching strategies, because no one single method can teach all readers successfully The effective teacher of reading must be flexible enough to meet the individual needs of their learners Effective teachers of reading work hard for their success and know where to put their time and effort

1.2.2.3 The role of students

In the viewpoint of Nuttall (2000:33), several major roles of students in a reading lesson are stated as follow:

- Taking an active part in learning: This is the first and foremost responsibility of the learner They have to be active and take charge of what they do

- Monitoring comprehension: Students need to understand how texts work and what they

do when they read

- Learning text talk: It is clear that a good reader carries on a dialogue with the text Consequently, the students have to learn how to do this An effective way to promote this skill is to talk about texts in class

- Taking risks: Students have to take the risk of making mistakes because a mistake is an opportunity to learn

- Learning not to cheat oneself: Learning to read is learning to give students enormous advantages in life It may lead to better jobs, to personal development, interest and enjoyment Students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat but they are only cheating themselves

Besides, a reading lesson cannot be successful and effective if there lacks students’ or teachers’ participation Therefore, teaching and learning is interdependent because the teacher needs to provide students with the knowledge tools and skills for a global society and students need ways to access the learning for academic achievement

1.2.3 Organization of reading comprehension text

1.2.3.1 Pre-reading stage

The purpose of pre-reading is to activate prior knowledge in an attempt to boost comprehension of the text Simply introducing a book to students it often not enough to spark their interest and engage them in the text Pre-reading strategies allow for discussion and help the reader gain more interest in the subject or text she is about to read Before students read any text, teachers can direct their attention to how a text is organized, teach unfamiliar vocabulary or other concepts, search for the main idea, and provide students with a purpose for reading Most importantly, teachers can use prereading strategies to increase students' interest in a text

Moreover, three strategies are suggested to be used in this stage as follow:

- Establishing a purpose for reading In the pre-read stage, the teacher establishes a purpose

for students’ reading That is, the teacher takes into account the students’ language and

proficiency levels and determines the appropriate tasks for them to complete

- Activating and building background knowledge Reading comprehension research tells us that the students benefit in three main ways from having an introduction to the topic of an informational text before they begin to read First, an introduction helps students to recall any information that they may already know about the topic Second, getting the students

to start to think about the topic should increase their interest in the topic and thereby motivate them to read the text Third, if the introduction activity is conducted in English, it will also review or introduce the relevant vocabulary for that topic

- Previewing the text to build expectations Previewing the text is a useful preparation activity (Dole et al 1991) which enables students to establish their own expectations about what information they will find in the text and the way that information will be organized

while-We can also use series of statements, instructions, and/or questions that leads students through the assigned reading and indicates what information is important, how a paragraph

or section is organized, and what is to be learned These are useful in guiding the students through the text, but considerably more work for the teacher Pattern study guides, which are somewhat more limited in scope, focus the students’ attention on the ways that paragraphs, or even larger units of text, are typically structured to represent relationships between the main idea and subordinate detail, cause and effect, comparison and contrast, problem and solution, and so on The most familiar form of pattern study guides is the traditional outline, by having the students complete an outline or fill in a graphic, teachers can help students to perceive the relative importance of text concepts and how these ideas are related to one another

1.2.3.3 Post-reading stage

Comprehension questions are just one form of activity appropriate for post reading The teacher should also consider vocabulary study and ask students to identify the author’s

purpose, discuss the author’s line of reasoning, examine grammatical structures and steer the students toward a follow up writing exercise The last stage of the reading lesson is intended to review the content; work on bottom-up concerns such as grammar, vocabulary, and discourse features; and consolidate what has been read by relating the new information

to the learners’ knowledge, interests, and opinions

Once the main ideas of the text have been reviewed, work on discrete elements of the passage can be undertaken Exercises could focus on grammar points, vocabulary in context or word roots, or discourse markers Of course we do not need to do all of these exercises with each reading, for it will cause negative results when analyzing the Careful choices should therefore be made depending on the character of the text and the needs of the students

The final segment of the post-reading stage should be devoted to integrating the new information from the text with what the students already know In the context of College English course, the usual means of doing this is through a writing assignment, but other techniques should also be used frequently, including discussions, debates, and role-plays The choice in this case depends on the inclinations of the class, and, to some degree, the need for variety

In conclusion, the teaching reading can be divided into three stages, namely, the reading stage, the while-reading stage and the post-reading stage In each stage a certain amount of activities can be applied Teaching reading in such a way can provide students with the skills and strategies needed to become an efficient, effective, and independent reader and in the mean while, the teaching can also meet the requirement from the students

pre-1.3 The importance of pre-reading stage and pre-reading activities in learning reading

Jecksembievva (1993) studied “Pre-reading activities in EFL/ESL reading textbooks and Turkish preparatory school teachers’ attitudes toward pre-reading activities” and concluded that pre-reading activities contributed to comprehension of the texts; thus, the teacher found the activities to be useful in the classroom setting

Different schema-activating activities should be used in reading classes The aim of using activities is to activate the readers’ background knowledge, to prevent failure, and to support the readers’ interpretation of the text Adra (2000) studied “The role of content

schema related to pre-reading activities” and stated the effectiveness of the activities on readers’ comprehension of the texts These reading activities can promote interaction between the reader and the text, which is, as Widdowson terms it, “authentic” (Wallace, 1992) Moreover, Ur (1996) emphasizes that the aim of pre-reading activities is to provide anticipation and activate reader’s schema The purpose of including these activities is to develop a better awareness of the relationship between the reader’s meaning and the author’s meaning; and to help readers have deep understanding of the teachers’ expectations and views

Indeed, pre-reading stage plays an important role in reading comprehension Besides, it is

no doubt that appropriate pre-reading activities also contribute great importance to the success of the teaching and learning reading at the first stage Owing to the awareness of this, the author decided to choose the pre-reading stage among the three stages of reading comprehension to investigate on her study with the hope of exploring the suitable pre-reading activities which teachers should apply to their teaching to help students have more effective reading lessons

1.4 Literature review of previous studies relevant to the study

There exist some researchers have studies on pre-reading activities For example, Egitimde and Uygulama have a study on “The effects of pre-reading activities on ELT trainee teachers’ comprehension of short stories” This study intended to investigate the effects of pre-reading activities on ELT trainee teachers’ reading comprehension of short stories An exploratory quasi-experimental design was chosen for the study since there were already two intact groups of students in the ELT department where the study was conducted A Previewing/Brainstorming activity was used as the treatment condition vs a Brainstorming only condition The study concludes that Previewing activities contribute immensely to the comprehension of short stories and can be usefully used to help readers digest new stories Another study made by Mai (1999) is aimed at working out the most effective and suitable pre-reading activities for students at secondary and high schools

Moreover, Parviz Ajideh (2006) had a study on “Schema–theory Based Considerations on Pre-reading Activities in ESP Textbooks” This study argues that background knowledge can be provided as a pre-reading activity prior to reading It is suggested that prior to reading the instructor can highlight those lexical elements in a text that seem to be in close relationship with the topic of the text and by making them transparent, the relevant

schemata can be activated in the reader’s mind Finally, the author deals with the question

of pre-reading activities in ESP textbooks written for Iranian students as university books

by SAMT, and have a close look at the pre-reading tasks suggested in one of these textbooks Kei Mihara (2011) studies an issue on “Effects of Pre-Reading Strategies on EFL/ESL Reading Comprehension” This study focuses on two pre-reading strategies: vocabulary pre-teaching and comprehension question presentation The researcher investigates whether their claim is true of Japanese university students The purpose of the study is twofold The first goal is to examine the effects of the two pre-reading strategies; the second is to discuss the relationships between students’ English proficiency and their reading comprehension This study indicates that vocabulary pre-teaching is less effective for Japanese students, although students with higher English proficiency outperformed lowerlevel students regardless of which pre-reading strategy they used

Another study will be reviewed here is “Pre-Reading Activities and Iranian EFL Learner’s Performance in Reading Comprehension” by Massoud Rahimpour (2013) The present study is an attempt to investigate the impact of two different types of pre-reading activities

of 1: glossary of unknown vocabulary items and 2: content related support on EFL learners’ performance on reading comprehension across low proficiency and high proficiency levels Each level consisted of two experimental groups One experimental group received glossary of unknown vocabulary items while the other group received content related support (in written form) with the aim of activating prior knowledge before administering reading comprehension questions The results of the statistical analysis of the data revealed that two types of pre-reading activity and proficiency level shad positive effect on the learners’ reading comprehension The study suggests that appropriate and relevant pre-task activities should be employed at different proficiency levels to facilitate and improve the learners’ reading comprehension

In the previous studies, there are many researchers study on the effects and application of pre-reading activities in teaching reading comprehension with different participants in different teaching and learning conditions In this present study, the author would like to investigate the teaching of pre-reading stage and appropriate pre-reading activities should

be applied to teaching reading lessons to the third-year non-English-major students at the HAUI

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In the Chapter I, the literature review has given as a theoretical basis for the study This chapter would give the setting of the study and describe the method to answer the research questions in detail The participants, the data collection instruments, and the data analysis would be justified

2.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at HAUI At this university, English is taught to major students in formal setting with too stages During the first stage, which consists of the first five terms, the students study general English with four language skills mainly: speaking, listening, reading and writing The materials chosen are International Express Elementary, International Express Pre-Intermediate, New Headway Elementary, New Headway Pre-Intermediate, Talk Time, KET Objective In the second stage, students study ESP such as English in Economics, English in Tourism, English in Chemical Technology, English in Mechanics However, in reality, the four language skills are not taught as separate subjects They are only parts of each unit The students are supposed to have acquired these skills at the first stage

non-English-To work out the problems in teaching and learning reading comprehension in general and

in the pre-reading stage in particular of the teachers and the third year students at their first semester at HAUI, it is important to refer to data gathering through survey questionnaires, survey observation then come up with certain findings on the teaching and learning reading

at the pre-reading stage and the source New Headway Pre-Intermediate textbook as perceived by the third year students and teachers at HAUI

2.2 Participants

2.2.1 Teachers of English

The study was carried out with the participation of 30 full –time teachers of English at HAUI Of the 30 teachers, they all have Diploma Degree in English while 25 of them have M.A Degree in English Teaching Methodology and English Linguistics, and five others are participating in the M.A Degree in English course Most of them have at least three years

of working as a teacher of English at HAUI, therefore, with no doubt, they are experienced and enthusiastic teachers, they are always willing to help their students overcome the difficulties and make progress in learning English

2.2.2 Students

The 100 students under investigation are in the first semester of the third year at HAUI Both male and female students’ ages are from 21 to 22 They come from the two different departments which are Business Administration (50 students), and Accounting (50 students) They are supposed to have equal knowledge of English before entering the HAUI since most of them have learnt English for at least 7 years (from grade 6 to grade 12

at school) They come from different family backgrounds Some of them come from Hanoi and other cities, the rest come from different provinces around the country They have completed their first four terms of the four-year course Their level of English proficiency does not vary a lot At this stage, they are supposed to be at intermediate level of English

2.3 Material

The materials are variedly used to teach learners about languages They can be extracted from a textbook, a newspaper, a magazine, an advertisement, an interview, a story, a novel, etc

At HAUI, the two main kinds of resources of materials in teaching and learning English are general English and ESP materials The using of the textbook New Headway Pre-intermediate by Liz, John Soars & Sylvia Wheeldon is applied to the teaching to students

at the fifth term This book consists of 12 units and at this term the last 6 units (from unit 7

to unit 12), which are covered in 90 periods (each period lasts 45 minutes), are used to teach in the course

This book is designed as a textbook so four skills are at the same time emphasized However, each skill is set in each particular part Therefore, it is easy for both teachers and students to teach and learn For example, each unit consists of the following parts: Grammar spot, vocabulary and speaking, reading and speaking, listening and speaking, everyday English Moreover, in this textbook, the different skills are combined to each other to get the more effective results For the reading texts, they are challenging but accessible reading tasks which build students skills and wider knowledge about varied fields

Being a textbook, New Headway Pre-intermediate provides reading texts of various topics based on the theme of each unit For example, the theme of unit 10 is “Things that changed the world”, and the reading texts in reading part are “The discovery of DNA”, and “The invention of Google”,etc It seems to be easily realized that various topics given in the

reading texts are beneficial for reading comprehension developmentand for enriching further knowledge for learners However, these are not designed for reading skill improvement, so it is difficult for the teachers to foster their students’ reading ability if they do not set task for reading and employ suitable reading techniques

Furthermore, reading texts in this course book are not designed specially for teaching reading so reading activities are not set: no pre-reading activities, no while-reading activities and post-reading activities What are given at the end of the reading texts are some general exercises In addition, all the reading texts are presented in form of a narrative Thus, the chance to get access to varied forms of text presentation of students is limited

2.4 Data collection instrumentation

To achieve the research objectives, the data collection process is a combination of using

survey questionnaires, classroom observations

2.4.1 Survey questionnaires

Survey-questionnaires were chosen because “questionnaires can provide data economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study if well-structured” (Mallick, 1999:24) By designing and delivering a questionnaire, a large amount of information can be gathered from a great number of participants in a short time

2.4.1.1 The questionnaires for the students

The questionnaire consists of 16 questions and was designed to get information concerning:

1 Students’ general assessments about reading texts in their course book (including question 1)

2 Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities (including questions 2 , 3 , 4)

3 Students’ awareness of teachers’ frequency of using pre-reading activities and supplementary materials in teaching pre-reading (including questions 5, 6, 7, 8)

4 Students’ preferences for Pre-reading techniques (including questions 9, 10, 11, 12,

13, 14, 15)

5 Students’ comments on the Pre-reading activities in the text book New Headway Pre-intermediate (including question 16)

2.4.1.2 The questionnaires for the teachers

The questionnaire designed for the teachers consisting of 13 questions aims at finding out:

1 Teachers’ attitudes towards the reading texts and pre-reading activities in a reading lesson (including questions 1 ,2)

2 Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of pre-reading activities in a reading lesson (including question 3)

3 Teacher’s focus on their teaching reading texts (including question 4)

4 Teachers’ frequency of using activities to start a reading lesson (including questions

5, 6)

5 Teachers’ frequency of using other materials in teaching pre-reading (including question 7)

6 Teachers’ applying visual aids in teaching pre-reading (including questions 8, 9)

7 Teachers’ expectation when providing students with pre-reading activities (including question 10)

8 Teachers’ difficulties in carrying out pre-reading activities in a reading lesson ( including question 11)

9 Teachers’ comments on Pre-reading activities available in the book New Headway Pre-intermediate (including question 12)

10 Teachers’ suggestions and recommendations on the Pre-reading activities (including

The author of the study randomly chose 2 classes (BA 5 and A 7) to observe She watched and followed all the procedures and activities the teachers and the students were

performing in the real classroom settings, which permitted the researcher to elicit reliable data In other words, it is a means to check the reliability of the data collected for the survey questionnaires

The observation was carried out twice at two different units and with different teachers in these classes Each lesson lasted 45 minutes; the researcher has set a clear checklist for her observation including the students’ attitudes towards the teachers’ activities, their involvement in the activity and their interaction with each other while doing the tasks She also observed the students’ reactions to Pre-reading activities employed in the lesson as well as their preferences for these techniques

Two reading lessons were chosen to be observed are presented in Units 9 & 10 The reading text in Unit 9 is about Travel addicts The students read about a different topic in Unit 10 which is a discovery and an invention that changed the world The purpose of choosing these units is that the researcher would like to observe how the teacher deal with long reading texts with different types of exercises following the text and what techniques the teachers used at the pre-reading stage to motivate students in reading these texts

2.5 Data analysis methods

In this study, the questionnaires are designed with both closed and open-ended questions Therefore, the researcher decides to choose quantitative method which is known as the method used the range of mathematical and statistical techniques to analyse closed questions Besides, the qualitative method which is used to analyze unstructured data will

be employed to deal with open-ended questions of the questionnaires and the data from classroom observations

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

In this part, the researcher will present the treatment of all data collected from the survey questionnaires conducted on 100 third-year non-English-major students and 30 teachers of English at the HAUI as well as from the author’s observations in two classes

3.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaire

3.1.1 Students’ general assessments about reading texts in their course book (question 1)

Chart 1a: Students’ general assessments about reading texts in their course book

According to the illustration of question 1 in chart 1a, we can clearly see that most students, which account for 40% and 30%, find the texts used in the course book New Headway Pre-Intermediate suitable and interesting respectively Indeed, thanks to learning

reading, particularly learning reading through the course book New Headway

Pre-Intermediate, the students are able to enrich the background knowledge, improve their reading skill, enlarge their source of vocabulary, grammar structures, and get pleasure and information as well 15 of them who make up 15% in total say that the texts are difficult because there are a number of new and unfamiliar words which they do not know in the texts Only 5% say that the texts are easy to them The rest 10 students claim that they feel boring about the texts in the course book

3.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities (questions 2, 3, 4)

Chart 2a: Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities

Question 2 (chart 2a) is designed with the aim of exploring how the students prepare their reading lessons before going to class It is happy that the researcher received the positive result that most of them (45%) say they prepare carefully their reading lessons before school 20% even confirm that they make careful preparations for the reading lessons before they go to the class However, 23% of them admit that they do not prepare carefully their lessons Disappointingly, the rest report that they go to the class without any preparations for their lessons, which account for 12% Consequently, this surely affects to their results on reading lessons

Chart 2b: Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities

When designing question 3, the author aimed at finding out what teachers often do before asking students to read the text Form the chart 1c above, the biggest portion (40%) of

students, state that their teachers often design some pre-reading activities for students Ranking the second, 30% of students say that their teachers often give the meanings of new words and structures in the text 22 of 100 students claim that their teachers introduce briefly the reading text before asking them to read the text There are only 8% of students make sure that their teachers do nothing and ask them to do the reading lesson at once This is maybe because of the teachers’ other purposes or time limit

Chart 2c: Students’ attitudes towards pre-reading activities

It can easily be seen from chart 2c that most of students realize the beneficial role of reading activities Therefore, it is easy to understand why the the biggest population of the students (49%) thinks these activities play a very important role in motivating them to read Moreover, 24% of them even think that these activities are of extreme importance However, 22% of them do not highly appreciate the positive effects of application of their teachers’ employment of pre-reading activities Only 5% suppose that these activities are not important at all The suitable explanation for this is maybe that their teacher’ activities

pre-do not meet students’ interests or not appropriate for their levels of language proficiency

3.1.3 Students’ awareness of teachers’ frequency of using pre-reading activities and supplementary materials in teaching pre-reading (questions 5, 6, 7, 8)

Chart 3a: Students’ answers on teachers’ frequency of using supplementary materials in

teaching pre-reading

When being asked about teachers’ frequency of using supplementary materials in teaching pre-reading (chart 3a), a large number of students (39%) state that their teachers sometimes use other materials in their teaching pre-reading 25% of them agree that their teachers apply supplementary materials in their teaching Only 14% of students happily reply that their teachers always employ other material beyond the textbook However, 18% sadly say that they are rarely taught with other reading materials by their teachers Even 4% insist that their teachers never use other materials It is understandable for these teachers’ not choosing other materials that the limited time of a period prevents them from adding any other materials outside the reading texts in the course book

Chart 3b: Students’ frequency of reading supplementary materials

Corresponding to the teachers’ frequency of using supplementary materials, the students’ frequency of reading materials nearly results in the same Specifically, 46% of students sometimes read the supplementary materials provided by their teachers 23% admit that they usually read them Just only 7% of total students claim that they always read every other materials employed by their teachers Other 16% of students do not take much notice

of those materials The rest portion of 8% even takes no advantage of the added materials because they are not hesitative to concede that they never read the other materials despite

of the teachers’ requests

Chart 3c: Students’ answers on teachers’ frequency of using pre-reading activities in

teaching pre-reading

From the data shown in chart 3c above according to question 7, we can realize that the majority of teachers (54%) sometimes apply the pre-reading activities in teaching pre-reading 25 of them which account for 25% use these activities more often Only a small number of teachers use pre-reading activities in their reading lesson teaching all the time 8% and 3 % of them say that they rarely and never employ these activities with their honesty in turn It can be expounded that these teachers maybe face up to time constraint or

do not recognize the necessity, importance, and effectiveness of pre-reading activities

The below chart is used to reply to the question of how often teachers introduce visual aids

as a pre-reading technique at the pre-reading stage

Chart 3d: Students’ answers on teachers’ frequency of using visual aids as a pre-reading

technique at the pre-reading stage

It appears obviously that the largest population (36%) of students confirms that teachers occasionally employ visual aids to teach them before asking them to read 21% say that they are usually introduced the application of visuals at the pre-reading stage, and even 6% report that their teachers always use visuals to helping them learn the reading texts However, 20% have negative answers that their teachers hardly apply visual aids to teach them at the first stage of learning reading lesson It is unhappily concluded that 17% of the teachers have not seen the big advantages of using visuals aids

3.1.4 Students’ preferences for pre-reading techniques (questions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,

15)

When designing question 9 (Which of the following pre-reading activities does your

teacher often use in a reading lesson?), the author would like to examine which pre-reading

activities teachers use most often

Chart 4a: Teachers’ frequency of using pre-reading activities in a reading lesson

According to the results presented in the chart above, most teachers prefer to employ

three activities: pre-teaching new vocabulary and grammatical structures, giving a short

introduction to topic of the text, reviewing vocabulary and grammatical structures