An investigation into the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements

The data were analyzed through SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences to determine the frequency of strategies employed by the learners and Pearson coefficient correlation was

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

HOÀNG THỊ HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING

STRATEGIES AND READING ACHIEVEMENTS (Điều tra về mối quan hệ giữa chiến lược đọc hiểu và kết quả đọc hiểu)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi – 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

HOÀNG THỊ HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING

STRATEGIES AND READING ACHIEVEMENTS (Điều tra về mối quan hệ giữa chiến lược đọc hiểu và kết quả đọc hiểu)

M.A MINOR THESIS (Type I)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Prof Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2019

i

DECLARATION

I, Hoàng Thi Hương, hereby certify that the thesis ―An investigation into the Relationship between Reading Strategies and Reading Achievements" is the result of my own research and efforts I also declare that the material in this paper

has not been submitted for any other purpose before

Hanoi, 2019 Signature

Hoàng Thị Hương

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Prof Hoàng Văn Vân for his great support, guidance and helpful comments Without his precious guidance, this thesis could not have been completed

Besides, I would like to thank all the lecturers and staff of faculty of graduate studies for their lessons and help

Post-I also acknowledge the cooperation of lecturers and third-year students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 They have been always willing to cooperate in every data collection procedure

Last but not least, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family and friends for providing me with support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of fulfilling this thesis

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ABSTRACT

The study was an attempt to find out the frequency of reading strategy use among students at Hanoi Pedagogical University II It also tried to figure out whether there is possible relationship between reading strategies use and reading achievements Seventy-two students participated in the study and reading strategy questionnaires were used to collect the required data The data were analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) to determine the frequency of strategies employed by the learners and Pearson coefficient correlation was used to discover the association between reading strategy use and reading comprehension achievement Independent sample t-test was also employed

to find out how the use of strategies varied according to readers‘ proficiency The results revealed that learners can be categorized as medium strategy users and the use of reading strategies had a strong positive correlation with reading comprehension achievements Also, there are significant differences exist between high-proficiency and low-proficiency in the use of reading strategies

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURE viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 2

1.4 Method of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Scope of the study 3

1.7 Design of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Reading comprehension 5

2.2.1 The concept of reading and reading comprehension 5

2.2.1.1 The concept of reading 5

2.2.1.2 Reading comprehension 5

2.1.2 Models of reading comprehension 7

2.2 Reading strategies 9

v

2.2.1 Definition of reading strategies 9

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies 12

2.3 Previous related studies 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Participants 17

3.2 Settings of the study 17

3.3 Data collection instruments 17

3.3.1 Questionnaires 18

3.3.2 Reading scores 20

3.4 Data collection process 22

3.5 Data analysis procedures 22

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

4.1 Research question 1: What is the frequency of reading strategies used by students when they read English academic materials? 25

4.1.1 The most frequently used strategies 26

4.1.2 The least frequently used strategies 27

4.1.3 Summary 27

4.2 Research question 2: To what extent is there the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements? 28

4.2.1 Correlation between reading strategies use and reading comprehension achievements 28

4.2.2 Correlation between sub-strategies and the reading achievements 29

4.2.3 Summary 30

4.3 Research question 3: Are there any differences between higher-proficiency students and lower-proficiency students in terms of reading strategy use in their academic study? 30

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4.3.1 Differences between high-proficiency and low-proficiency readers in

reading strategies use 31

4.3.2 Differences between high-proficiency and low-proficiency readers in reading sub-strategies use 32

4.3.2.1 Differences in the use of Global reading strategies 33

4.3.2.2 Differences in the use of Problem solving reading strategies 35

4.3.2.3 Differences in the use of Support reading strategies 36

4.4 Summary 37

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 38

5.1 Recapitulation of major findings 38

5.2 Implications 39

5.2.1 For learners 39

5.2.2 For teachers 40

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: I APPENDIX 2: IV APPENDIX 3: VII

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HPU2: Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

GLOB: Global reading strategies

PROB: Problem solving reading strategies

SUP: Support reading strategies

SILL: A strategy Inventory for Language Learning

SORS: Survey of Reading Strategies

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science

EFL: English as a foreign language

VSTEP: Vietnamese Standardised Test of English Proficiency

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Background of participants 17

Table 2: The questionnaire (adopted from Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey, 2002) 20

Table 3: Score converter of VSTEP 21

Table 4: Range of students‘ achievements 21

Table 5: The frequency of reading strategies use (Oxford, 1990) 23

Table 6: Interpreting the correlation coefficient (Cohen, Manion, & Marrison, 2007) 24

Table 7: Students‘ mean frequencies of using all strategies and each category of strategies 25

Table 8: The most frequently and least frequently used strategies 26

Table 9: The least frequently and least frequently used strategies 27

Table 10: Correlation between reading strategies use and reading comprehension achievements 28

Table 11: Correlation between sub-strategies and reading comprehension achievements 29

Table 12: Frequency distribution of reading strategies used by high-proficiency readers low-proficiency readers 31

Table 13: Differences in the use of Global reading strategies 34

Table 14: Differences in the use of Problem solving reading strategies 35

Table 15: Differences in the use of Support reading strategies 36

LIST OF FIGURE Figure: Frequency distribution of sub-strategies 32

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study

Reading is considered as one of the four basic skills in language learning and teaching It is very important not only as a language skill but also as language input for other skills to develop Foreign language reading comprehension is an interactive and complex process ―A text does not carry meaning by itself The reader brings information, knowledge, emotion, experience, and culture - to the printed word.‖ (Brown, 2001, p.299) Since reading comprehension has played an important role in language learning and teaching, the ways to enhance reading comprehension are of great interest of reading research Nevertheless, many learners feel that they cannot comprehend what they read, especially academic materials One major reason for this problem is that learners have not mastered and applied effective reading strategies Many research studies on foreign language reading have empathized the importance of reading strategies on developing language learners‘ reading comprehension skills (Zare & Nooreen, 2011; Brantmeier, 2002; Song, 1998; Carrell, 1989) They argue that strategy use is different in more and less proficient readers, who use the strategies in different ways Moreover, it has been acknowledged that reading strategies can be taught to learners and that reading strategy instruction can benefit all students (Carrell, 1989; Carol, 2002)

Although many researches have been conducted on learning and reading strategies and, few of them have explored the relationship between reading comprehension achievement and use of reading strategies, especially by students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 (HPU2) In Faculty of Foreign Languages at HPU2, reading is considered an essential language skill as well as a compulsory lesson Students are expected to read at a reasonable level of proficiency and comprehension to well at the level expected of them However, many students find reading, especially reading academic texts challenging They feel that their reading

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proficiency is not satisfying after many years of English study at school Therefore, this study attempts to focus on investigating the use of reading strategies by third-year students and which reading strategies are beneficial to English learners‘ reading comprehension proficiency The study also examines whether reading proficiency of students at HPU2 is actually affected by reading strategies use The researcher hopes that the results of the study can help the students develop effective reading strategies as well as improve their reading proficiency It is also expected to help instructors develop appropriate methodologies in teaching English reading

1.2 Aims of the Study

The study aims to

- investigate the frequency of different kinds of reading strategies used by third-year students at HPU2

- study the correlation between the adoption of reading strategies and the

students‘ reading achievements

- find out whether the differences between higher-proficiency students and

lower-proficiency students in terms of reading strategy use or not

1.3 Research Questions

Question 1: What is the frequency of reading strategies used by students at HPU2

when they read English academic materials?

Question 2: To what extent is there the relationship between reading strategies and

reading achievements?

Question 3: Are there any differences between higher-proficiency students and

lower-proficiency students in terms of reading strategy use in their academic study?

3

1.4 Method of the study

The researcher used quantitative method to carry out the study The quantitative data was collected through questionnaires (a survey of reading strategies use) and the reading scores of students at HPU2

1.5 Significance of the study

Reading is an indispensable language skill for students who have to read various academic materials for their study at universities A lot of researches on reading skill which were conducted before played an important role in improving reading comprehension of learners The dissertation is among researches on students‘ reading comprehension skills whose results could help students recognize and understand the reading strategies they are using Besides, the study is hoped to help teachers have a closer look at the relationship between reading strategies and reading proficiency Also, teachers could help students to improve students‘ English reading in academic contexts

1.6 Scope of the study

This research placed the main focus on the frequency of reading strategies used by third-year students In addition, it is noteworthy that the samples of the study were restricted to third-year students of English major at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at HPU2

1.7 Design of the thesis

The research consists of five chapters which are

Chapter 1: Introduction presents basic information such as the reason for

choosing the topic, the aims, the questions, the method, the scope, as well as the organization of the study

Chapter 1: Literature review offers an overview of fundamental theories on

reading, reading strategies and other researches of the same area

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Chapter 3: Methodology will present participants, data collection, data collection

procedure as well as data analysis procedures

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion provides the results of the study and discusses

the findings

Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the main contents of the study, points out

some limitations and makes recommendations for further study

5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides some theories related to reading comprehension and reading strategies Some views and previous researches on the relationship between reading strategies and reading comprehension are also examined

2.1 Reading comprehension

2.2.1 The concept of reading and reading comprehension

2.2.1.1 The concept of reading

Reading is an essential skill that plays an important role in acquiring the second language as well as in life

Reading is understood and defined in various ways by many linguists and researchers According to Grabe (1991), reading is an essential skill and probably the most important skill for second language learners to master in academic contexts Reading is an indispensable skill for learners in English as a foreign language (EFL) context By using knowledge and interacting with text, readers construct meaning of the text This means that readers take part in a conversation with the authors through the text They have purposes for their reading and adjust their reading to each purpose and for each reading task In the same way, Nuttall (1996, p.3) defined reading is ―the transfer of a message from writer to reader‖ Goodman (1988) says that reading is a receptive language process as well as a psychological process, which begins with decoding the linguistic surface of information and ends with readers‘ own construction of the information In this sense, reading can be viewed as the interaction between language structure and human thinking On the basis of reviewing on reading, it can be seen that reading refers to reading with meaning, which is reading comprehension

2.2.1.2 Reading comprehension

While reading, readers try to understand what the writer is attempting to communicate Reading comprehension is not only a process of understanding

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words, phrases and sentences it is also a cognitive ability that a person is able to use when interacting with the written text Therefore, reading comprehension can be defined as the ability to understand a text, to analyze the information, and to interpret correctly what the writer is stating In order to interpret the texts, it is necessary for readers to use their existing background knowledge to make predictions about the content of the texts they are reading Moreover, to be able to comprehend what is read, a person needs to be familiar with text structure and topic, aware of reading strategies, how to use these strategies in the processing of material and word recognition (Pang, 2008) Sadeghi (2007) looked at reading comprehension as related to two main factors, internal and external factors Internal factors, related to the reader, were things such as cognitive abilities and strategies, background knowledge, and affective characteristics External factors were identified as text modality, text characteristics, time and place of reading and others

Reading comprehension, according to Nunan (2003), is a fluent process that combines information from the text with existing information to reach a meaning Hudson (1996) stated that reading and understanding involves the interaction of several processes covering knowledge and ability, decoding, sentence structure, and other cognitive processes Veeravagu (2010, p.206) defined reading comprehension

as ―a thinking process by which a reader selects facts, information, or ideas from printed materials; determines the meanings the author intended to transmit; decide how they relate to previous knowledge; and judge their appropriateness and worth for meeting the learner‘s own objectives‖ Similarly, Janzen and Stoller (1998) identified ten processes of reading comprehension ―identifying a purpose for reading, previewing, predicting, asking questions, checking predictions or finding

an answer to the questions, connecting the text to prior knowledge, summarizing, connecting one part of the text to another, and recognizing text structure‖

Though there are many different views of reading and reading comprehension, linguists focus on the interacting and understanding of the meaning

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of texts, authors, and readers when referring to reading comprehension Reading comprehension is more than letter recognition or reading words, but involves determining meaning and context A common description of reading comprehension states that comprehension is the process of making connections between the new information in the text and the known information in the reader‘s head It can be understood that there are strategies that readers use to make the connections between the text and their own background knowledge Therefore, it is necessary for instructors to help learners become aware of and employ these strategies in their own reading

2.1.2 Models of reading comprehension

Reading models describe the process of reading, how readers interact with the text and construct the meaning of the text Three general models of reading processes are proposed by researchers namely bottom-up, top-down and interactive model, which are constructed to describe the whole reading process

The bottom-up model, according to Gough (1972), is a process in which small chunks of texts are decoded, analyzed and added together to gradually construct meaning In bottom-up models, the readers decode the text letter by letter, word by word, and sentence by sentence (Grabe, 2009) The readers decode the text

by focusing on the identification of the letters, noticing the combination of the letters, recognition of the words, establishing sentences According to Paran (1996), bottom-up model assumes that the reader recognizes every letter, organizes the perceived letter into words, and finally classifies the words into phrases, clauses, and sentences The main characteristic of this model is focusing on the function of the text itself The readers identify letters first and make these words meaningful on the lexical level If readers are capable to master these skills, they will comprehend the text as they read On the other hand, the main disadvantage of this model is overemphasizing on features of the language, such as words and structures If students focus too much on every single word, their understanding of the overall

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meaning will be limited Meaning can only be constructed separately at word or sentence level, which hinders the process of achieving overall meaning (Nuttall, 1996) Therefore, meanings of words are stored in short-term memory The reading speed is also significantly reduced when readers have to focus on every single word and try to understand every single detail The bottom-up model separates the text into isolated parts, which prevents the reader from getting a complete meaning and

it is impossible for the reader to interact with the writer

In contrast, the top-down model tends to not focus on word recognition and decoding in the reading process Readers make predictions about the text according

to their background knowledge or experience, and read the text for confirmation of these predictions in this approach Also, readers are supposed to use meaning and cues to identify unfamiliar words, and then they are able to comprehend a passage even if they do not recognize each word The readers do not interpret a text by identifying and decoding every letter and word in the text Instead, they predict the meaning by taking advantage of their background knowledge Then readers can successfully decode a passage even if they do not know the meaning of the new words within the text In the model, the skills such as skimming, scanning, predicting, finding hints, and contextual guessing are used, while in bottom-up processing, surface meaning, translation and using of dictionary are emphasized Grabe (1988) states in this model, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the background knowledge

of the reader that is used in the act of reading However, the top-down model of reading has some drawbacks Firstly, it is hard for readers who are lack of background knowledge to do reading comprehension without paying much attention

to the words and sentences in the text In addition, readers pay less attention to letters or words in the text, then comprehension will become a guessing game In the words of Goodman (1967), reading is a ―psycholinguistic guessing game.‖

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Another effective model is proposed which combines these two models into one called the interactive model ―In practice, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another now adopting a top-down approach to predict probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says‖ (Nuttall, 1996, p.17) The interactive model, according to Alyousef (2005), is referred to reading as an ‗interactive‘ process between a reader and a text and emphasizes on automaticity or reading fluency In this model, the readers interact with the text in order to extend the meaning and use different types of knowledge such as linguistic or universal knowledge (through bottom-up processing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down processing) In the interactive model, readers are encouraged not only to use lexical, syntactic, semantic and common knowledge but also to use both careful reading skills and reading strategies to complete reading tasks or interpret the meaning of the text Also, readers are not passive information receivers, but they are active information searchers Therefore, the interactive reading model quickly becomes central and is widely put into practice in learning and teaching English reading skill

The three reading models help us have a further understanding of the nature

of reading and also provide us with a theoretical basis and guidance for learning and teaching reading In the bottom-up model, readers access the text through decoding letters and words, analyzing sentence structures; while top-down help readers draw

an overview of the text based on their background knowledge and past experiences The interactive model helps readers make a connection between both models (the bottom up and top down model) and recognize the interaction of both models simultaneously throughout the reading process

2.2 Reading strategies

2.2.1 Definition of reading strategies

Reading strategies are necessary for students when they want to improve their reading skills Reading strategies are often taught by teachers or used by

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students in various ways Farrell (2001) stated that students can benefit from learning reading strategies and that these strategies can be taught Yang (2006) determined that the procession and utilization of comprehension monitoring strategies provide readers greater help in the comprehension of material Most individuals have personal strategies that they develop as ways to understand what they read

To have a deep understanding of reading strategies, it is necessary to make clear the terms ―strategy‖ and ―learning strategy‖ ―Strategy‖ is defined as a plan or method that is designed to reach a goal According to Brown (2007) strategies are defined as the specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes of operation for achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating certain information Learning strategies can be defined in various ways An early definition by O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) stated that learning strategies are ―the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information‖ (O‘Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.1) Another definition given by Oxford (1990) ―Learning strategies can be defined as conscious ―steps taken by students to enhance their own learning‖ Oxford (2003) expands and defines learning strategies as ―specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations‖ (Oxford, 2003, p.9) It can be understood that learning strategies are taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more effective

Reading strategies are defined differently by researchers Davies (1995) defined reading strategy as a physical or mental process used consciously or unconsciously in order to facilitate text comprehension and learning Similarly, Abbott (2006) stated that reading strategies are ―the mental operations or comprehension processes that readers select and apply in order to make sense of what they read.‖ (Abbott, 2006, p.637) According to Garner (1987), reading

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strategies are defined as ―Generally deliberate, playful activities undertaken by active learners, many times to remedy perceived cognitive failure‖ (Garner, 1987, p.50) Carrell (1998) stated that ―Reading strategies are of interest not only for what they reveal about the ways readers manage interactions with written text but also for how the use of strategies is related to effective comprehension‖ (Carrell, 1998, p.97) Another definition suggested by (Baker & Boonkit, 2004) is that reading strategies are ―techniques and methods readers use to make their reading successful‖ Also, Yang (2006) stated that reading strategies include things such as predicting content, posing questions, recognizing text structure, integrating information, reflecting, monitoring comprehension, utilizing general knowledge, and reacting to the text According to Baker and Brown (1984), reading strategies contain cognitive and metacognitive strategies in reading Cognitive strategies are conscious ways in dealing with learning, such as resourcing, deduction, grouping, note-taking, translation, and elaboration Metacognitive strategies are used to monitor or regulate cognitive strategies, which include checking the outcome of any attempt to solve a problem, planning one‘s next move, monitoring the effectiveness

of any attempted action, revising, and evaluating one‘s strategies for learning Additionally, Barnett (2002) has used the term reading strategy to refer to the cognitive operations when readers approach a text in order to make sense of what they read In this sense, reading strategies can be understood as the comprehension processes that are used by readers to make sense of the reading text

From another perspective, Janzen (2003) defined reading strategies as plans and behaviors for solving problems when faced in constructing meaning He believes that these strategies range from bottom-up strategies to top-down strategies Bottom-up strategies are defined as making use of information such as understanding the text by analyzing the words and sentences in the text itself or looking up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary Top-down strategies make use of previous knowledge such as connecting what is being read to readers‘ background knowledge

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From the various opinions of linguists, it can be concluded that reading strategies are actions and techniques that help readers to comprehend the written and achieve reading tasks It is important to note that there are many types of reading strategies and they are used in many different ways according to contexts and learners Therefore, finding out which reading strategies are employed effectively in improving reading skill is essential for both teachers and learners Also, it is important for teachers to determine which strategies should be included in the syllabus when teaching reading comprehension skill

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies

Reading strategies are categorized in many ways by various researchers Some researchers classified reading strategies according to the time namely before, during, or after reading Before-reading or pre-reading strategy is used to activate prior knowledge of the readers in relevance to the reading text During reading strategies are used to identify main idea, make reference and cross-reference whereas, after reading, or post-reading, strategies are used to review the text content Some others categorize these strategies as either global or local according

to the part of the text on which they focus Block (1986) classified reading strategies

as general strategies (comprehension-gathering and comprehension-monitoring) and local strategies (understanding specific language units) Meanwhile, Anderson (1991, p.463) proposed a detailed classification of reading strategies including five major groups: supervising strategies, support strategies, paraphrase strategies, coherence strategies, and test-taking strategies O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) used three categories to classify the types of strategies in their framework: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social/affective strategies Metacognitive strategies involve learning and controlling learning through planning, monitoring and evaluating the learning activity Cognitive strategies involve the manipulation

or transformation of the material to be learned, such as resourcing, repetition, grouping, deduction, imagery, auditory representation, keyword method,

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elaboration, transfer, note taking, summarizing, and translation Social/affective strategies mainly involve the learner in communicative interaction with another person

Mokhtari and Reichard (2000) divided reading strategies into three subgroups: global strategies (orienting towards a global analysis of the texts), problem-solving strategies (aiming at solving problems when the text becomes difficult), and support strategies (using reference materials, note-taking and other practical strategies) They provided a reading strategy questionnaire called MARSI (Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory) to measure learners‘ strategy use while reading academic materials Based on MARSI, Sheorey and Mokhtari (2001) adjusted MARSI into a new version of survey called SORS (Survey of Reading Strategies) with three categories of reading strategies: Global reading strategies (GLOB), problem-solving strategies (PROB) and support strategies (SUP) This will be selected as the classification framework in this paper Specifically, they defined them as follows

Global reading strategies (GLOB) are intentional, carefully planned techniques by

which learners monitor or manage their reading Such strategies include having a purpose in mind, previewing the text as to its length and organization, or using typographical aids and tables and figures This definition is quite similar to the opinions of O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) on metacognitive strategies that are focused on the learner‘s interaction with the text and include such strategies as monitoring and evaluating

Problem-solving strategies (PROB) are the actions and procedures which readers

use while working directly with the text It involved using strategies when reading difficult parts of the text These are localized, focused techniques used when problems develop in understanding textual information For instance, readers adjust the speed of reading when the material becomes difficult or easy, guess the meaning

of unknown words, and re-read the text for improved comprehension Likewise,

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O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) also argued in their cognitive strategies which are those that operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning such as summarizing and repeating information (rereading)

Support strategies (SUP) refer to the use of basic support mechanisms intended to

aid the reader in comprehending the text such as using a dictionary, taking notes, or underlining or highlighting the text to better comprehend it

2.3 Previous related studies

There are some researches related to the relationship between reading strategies use and reading comprehension achievement The participants with different ages and backgrounds together with a variety of research methods gave various results

Molla (2015) investigated the relationship between reading strategy use and reading comprehension among Ethiopian EFL Learners A strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) that was developed by Oxford (1990) and a reading comprehension test (Two reading comprehension passages that are part of TOEFL) were used to collect the data Also, Pearson coefficient correlation was applied to discover the association between reading strategy use and reading comprehension achievement The majority of the students were not aware of using a number of reading strategies They were low users and rarely used reading strategies while reading English texts The analysis of the correlation showed that nearly all of the reading strategy types had not been correlated with the students‘ reading comprehension level This might have been caused by the students‘ insufficient knowledge of what reading strategies to use, how and when to use them

Sun Ling (2011) carried out an ―Investigating Chinese English Majors‘ Use

of Reading Strategies The research aims to study the relationship between the use

of reading strategies and the students‘ reading achievements The reading comprehension part of TEM 4 (Test for English Majors—Band 4) (2006), a national

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test designed for undergraduates of English majors, and two questionnaires are adopted in this study to collect data from the investigated students The questionnaire on reading strategies extracted from Phakiti (2003) was used in this thesis The major findings of this study were revealed Firstly, students used reading strategies at medium level when doing reading comprehension tests Secondly, it can be concluded that both metacognitive and cognitive reading strategies significantly correlate with reading achievements Besides, the result revealed that there are differences in the application of reading strategies between high-proficiency readers and low-proficiency readers

Zare-ee (2007) conducted a study on the relationship between cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and EFL reading achievement at Kashan University, Iran The data was collected through reading comprehension achievement scores, cognitive and metacognitive questionnaire and interview The result of the study indicated that there was a significant correlation between reading achievement and the use of meta-cognitive strategies, while the correlation between reading achievement and the use of cognitive strategies is insignificant This study also found out that the students with higher level reading proficiency used metacognitive strategies more often than the less successful readers

Phakiti (2003) also carried out an investigation on the relationship of takers‘ use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies to the EFL (English as a foreign language) reading test performance at a Thai university Both quantitative and qualitative data analyses were employed in the study Multiple-choice reading comprehension achievement test, a cognitive–metacognitive questionnaire, and retrospective interviews were used to collect data The results suggested that the use

test-of cognitive and metacognitive strategies had a positive impact on the learners‘ reading test performance Highly successful test-takers were reported significantly higher metacognitive strategy use than the moderately successful ones and the unsuccessful test takers

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From the findings of the previous studies, it can be seen that there are different findings of the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements However, most of them pay attention to the cognitive and metacognitive strategies The researchers developed different questionnaires such as the questionnaire of Purpura‘s (1999), the questionnaire developed by Oxford (1990), and cognitive–metacognitive questionnaire to collect information on learners‘ reading strategies use Moreover, there has not been any research on the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements carried out in the current research population Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements among third-year students at HPU2 by using the questionnaire (SORS) adopted from Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey (2002)

Total

number of

participants

Gender English reading proficiency

participants

proficiency participants

Table 1: Background of participants

3.2 Settings of the study

The study was conducted when the participants finished the first semester of the third year They received their reading results of the first semester and indicated how well they performed in this semester

3.3 Data collection instruments

To obtain information about students‘ strategies use, the questionnaire was employed in the study Reading scores of students were also used to find out the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements

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3.3.1 Questionnaires

A Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaire developed by Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey in 2002 was adopted in this research The SORS is intended to measure the type and the frequency of reading strategies used by adolescent and adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students while they read academic material in English The SORS was field-tested by Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey on a population of ESL students at two universities in the United States (N=147) and found that the instrument was valid and reliable (the internal reliability = 89) to be used to measure the use of reading strategies among non-native students of English

There are 30 items in the questionnaire (see Appendix 2) with three

categories, namely: Global reading strategies (13 items), Problem solving strategies (8 items), and Support reading strategies (9 items) The questionnaire

is translated into Vietnamese (see Appendix 1) for participants to understand the questionnaire thoroughly The participants were asked to read each statement and rate their frequency of using the corresponding strategy on a five-point Likert scale

ranging from 1 (I never or almost never do this) to 5 (I always or almost always do

this) The detailed items are shown in Table 2

Strategy categories Items in the questionnaire

Global reading strategies

Item 1: I have a purpose in mind when I read Item 3: I think about what I know to help me understand what I read

Item 4: I take an overall view of the text to see what it is about before reading it

Item 6: I think about whether the content of the text fits my reading purpose

Item 8: I review the text first by noting its

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characteristics like length and organization

Item 12: When reading, I decide what to read closely and what to ignore

Item 15: I use tables, figures, and pictures in text

Item 24: I try to guess what the content of the text

is about when I read

Item 27: I check to see if my guesses about the text are right or wrong

Problem solving strategies

Item 7: I read slowly and carefully to make sure I understand what I am reading

Item 9: I try to get back on track when I lose concentration

Item 11: I adjust my reading speed according to what I am reading

Item 14: When text becomes difficult, I pay closer attention to what I am reading

Item 16: I stop from time to time and think about what I am reading

Item 19: I try to picture or visualize information to help remember what I read

Support reading strategies

Item 2: I take notes while reading to help me understand what I read

Item 5: When text becomes difficult, I read aloud

to help me understand what I read

Item 10: I underline or circle information in the text to help me remember it

Item 13: I use reference materials (e.g a dictionary) to help me understand what I read Item 18: I paraphrase (restate ideas in my own words) to better understand what I read

Item 22: I go back and forth in the text to find relationships among ideas in it

Item 26: I ask myself questions I like to have answered in the text

Item 29: When reading, I translate from English into my native language

Item 30: When reading, I think about information

in both English and my mother tongue

Table 2: The questionnaire (adopted from Kouider Mokhtari and Ravi Sheorey,

2002)

3.3.2 Reading scores

Analysis of reading scores

The researcher used the first semester scores on reading skill of the year students at HPU2 to analysis The reading comprehension test is designed

third-21

based on the format of VSTEP reading test The reading test consists of 40 items in multiple choice questions with four answer choices There are four passages, each with ten multiple choice questions After finishing the third year, students at HPU2 are supposed to demonstrate a C1 level of proficiency equivalent to level 5 Reading scores are converted to band scores on a 0–10 scale The results are reported on a six-level numerical scale used as a local adaptation of the CEFR, CEFR-VN, with 3 being equivalent to B1, 4 to B2, and 5 to C1

CEFR ( Common European

Table 3: Score converter of VSTEP

Based on the students‘ scores, qualification is used to see whether students belong to high, intermediate or low group The third-year students at HPU2 are expected to reach C1 level of English proficiency after they finish the second semester Therefore, the students who scored 8 were categorized as high-proficiency readers