A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: . M.A Thesis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT DUONG THI LAN HUONG A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

DUONG THI LAN HUONG

A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL

FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER

AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THỦ THUẬT NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC

CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRÌNH ĐỘ B TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VÀ PTNT

MINOR MA THESIS Field: English methodology Code: 601410

HÀ NỘI-2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY , HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

DUONG THI LAN HUONG

A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL

FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER

AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THỦ THUẬT NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC

CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRÌNH ĐỘ B TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VÀ PTNT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Quynh Trang - PhD candidate, for her valuable guidance, encouragement and constant support

to the fulfillment of my thesis

I also would like to thank my colleagues in the English Faculty of the College of

Management for Agriculture and Rural Development and non-major students of

English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for their cooperation during the rearch

Last but not least, I am indebted to my parents, whose constant love and care greatly contributes to the completion of my study

ABSTRACT

English is becoming more and more popular in Vietnam and it has an important role in the developing of economy, politics, culture, science, technology In the teaching and learning English, reading has always received great attention Civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development take reading into consideration because of their job requirement However, they still face a lot of difficulties in reading It is urgent to carry out “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development” Reading problems the teachers and learners experienced are presented and some suggestions are given However, the findings of the study is somehow limited due to time limitation and further studies can apply some other methods to cross check

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Scope of the study 2

1.6 Design of the study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of reading 4

2.2.Definition of reading comprehension 5

2.3 Classification of reading 6

2.3.1 Classification according to manner 6

2.3.2 Classification according to purpose 8

2.4 Effective reading comprehension 10

2.5 Reading comprehension techniques 10

2.6 Reading purpose of second language learners 12

2.7 Factors in teaching and learning reading 12

2.7.1 Teachers’ role 12

2.7.2 Students’ role 13

2.7.3 The reading texts 13

2.7.4 Reading motivation 13

2.8 Stages of a reading lesson 14

2.8.1 Pre-reading stage 14

2.8.2 While-reading stage 14

2.8.3 Post-reading stage 15

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants 16

3.2 Material 16

3.3 Data collection instrument 18

3.4 Data analysis 19

3.4.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaires 19

3.4.1.1 Students’ aims of learning English 19

3.4.1.2 Students’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power 19

3.4.1.3 Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD 20

3.4.1.4 Students’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension 20

3.4.1.5 Students’ attitude to the benefit of reading 21

3.4.1.6 Students’ attitude to the activities in 3 stages of reading 21

3.4.1.6.1 Students’ attitude to pre-reading activities 21

3.4.1.6.1.1 The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers responded by the students 21

3.4.1.6.1.2 Students’ enjoyment of pre-reading activities 22

3.4.1.6.2 Students’ attitude to while - reading activities 23

3.4.1.6.2.1 Students’ activities to look for specific information 23

3.4.1.6.2.2 Students’ activities to look for the main idea of the text 23

3.4.1.6.2.3 Students’ activities when meeting new words 23

3.4.1.6.3 Students’ attitude to post - reading activities 24

3.4.1.7 Students’ difficulties when learning reading 24

3.4.1.8 Students’ expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques to overcome difficulties when learning reading 25

3.4.1.9 Students’ effort for improving their reading comprehension 26

3.4.2 Data analysis of the teachers’ survey questionnaires 26

3.4.2.1 Teachers’ aims of teaching reading 26

3.4.2.2.Teachers’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power 27

3.4.2.3.Teachers’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD 27

3.4.2.4 Teachers’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension 28

3.4.2.5 Teachers’ attitude to the benefit of reading 28

3.4.2.6 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading 29

3.4.2.7 Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties 29

CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONs 4.1 Suggested techniques 31

4.1.1 Techniques for reading motivation and interest 31

4.1.1.1 The students are free to choose books of their own interest 31

4.1.1.2 The reading should be easy for them 31

4.1.1.3 Gradually escalating the level of difficulty of the texts 31

4.1.1.4 Role – playing 31

4.1.1.5 Diversifying pre-reading techniques 31

4.1.1.5.1 Using visual aids 32

4.1.1.5.2 Brainstorming 32

4.1.1.5.3 Pre - questioning 32

4.1.2 Techniques for dealing with vocabulary 32

4.1.2.1 Techniques to deal with unknown words 32

4.1.2.2 Techniques to enrich vocabulary 33

4.1.2.2.1 Using word games 33

4.1.2.2.2 Using word lists 33

4.1.2.2.3 Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit 33

4.1.2.2.4 Students need to read a lot 33

4.1.2.2.5 The reading material is at an appropriate level 34

4.1.2.2.6 There is a variety of reading materials on a wide range of topics 34

4.1.2.2.7 Students are allowed to choose books that interest them 34

4.1.2.2.8 Reading is individual and silient 34

4.1.2.2.9 Teachers advise students to find a regular time and place in the day

for reading so that it can become part of their daily routine 34

4.1.2.2.10 Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower 34

4.2 Conclusions 34

4.3 Limitations and recommendations for further study 35 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES FOR STUDENTS

Table 1: Students’ aims of learning English

Table 2: Students’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power Table 3: Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD

Table 4: Students’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension

Table 5: Students’ attitude to the benefit of reading

Table 6: The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers

responded by the students

Table 7: Students’ enjoyment of pre-reading activities

Table 8: Students’ activities to look for specific information

Table 9: Students’ activities to look for the main idea of the text

Table 10: Students’ activities when meeting new words

Table 11: Students’ post – reading activities

Table 12: Difficulties students face in reading

Table 13: Students’ expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques to overcome difficulties when learning reading

Table 14: Students’ activities to improve their reading comprehension

FOR TEACHERS

Table 1: Teachers’ aims of teaching English

Table 2: Teachers’ attitude to the reading text in the book More Reading Power Table 3: Teachers’attention to the language aspects taught at MARD

Table 4 : Teachers’attitude to the importance of reading comprehension

Table 5: Teachers’ attitude to the benefit of reading

Table 6: Difficulties teachers encounter when teaching reading

Table 7: Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties

LIST OF ABBREVIATION MARD: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development N: number of students/ teachers

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study

English is the most widely spoken language in the world and it has become more and more important in the development of science, technology, politics, culture and international relations in Vietnam The demand of teaching and learning English is increasing throughout the country for different purposes In a second language classroom, reading plays a significant role in building both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills Hoang et al (2006:191) considers reading the most effective means of improving students’ language competence Carrell (1989) argues that “For many students, reading is by far the most important of four skills in a second language” Anderson (1999) has the same opinion: “Reading is an essential skill for English

as a second/ foreign language student; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master” This is true for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) They are civil servants working

at different departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and their job more or less concerns English They learn English with the enthusiastic help of the teachers coming from the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development However, most of them find effective reading difficult 5 major obstacles they confront in reading, as Hoang et al (2005) specifies, are: the habits of word by word reading; overemphasis on forms rather than meaning; excessive focus on details rather than main ideas; poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge Despite its importance, it

is urgent to conduct “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for

non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”

1.2 Aims of the study

The purpose of the thesis is to identify reading problems experienced by teachers and learners at the Foreign Language Center at MARD so that some suggestions for improving their reading skill are presented Therefore, the study aims at answering the following research questions:

1 What are the teachers and students’s attitudes towards the teaching and learning of reading skill ?

2 What difficulties do the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning reading?

3 What are suggested techniques to improve the students’ reading skill? 1.3 Significance of the study

The study is carried out for a more effective way to improve reading skills for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD Further more, the findings of the study are hoped to be useful for teachers of English at the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development

to better develop their learners’s reading skill Hopefully, the researcher wish

to provide any other researchers who are interested in the study with reliable and useful implications to improve learners’ reading skill

1.4 Methods of the study

The study is carried out on the basis of qualitative approach: 2 survey questionnaires involving 115 learners and 11 teachers are used to collect data for the study

1.5 Scope of the study

The study pays attention to improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD, but due to time limitation, only a survey is conducted to identify what difficulties the teachers and students encounter, what matters most to them in reading lessons, then some techniques are suggested to help them better in teaching and learning reading skill

1.6 Design of the study

The study is composed of the following parts:

Chapter 1 (Introduction) provides rationale, aims, significance, scope, methods, and design of the study

Chapter 2 (Literature review) conceptualizes the study’s theoretical background, presents the concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis: definition

of reading and reading comprehension, classification of reading, reading comprehension techniques, reading purpose of second language learners, factors in teaching and learning reading, stages in a reading lesson

Chapter 3 (Methodology) includes the participants, teaching material, instrument of data collection, data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4: (Suggestions and conclusions) consists of some suggested techniques, a review of the study, the limitations of the study and recommendation for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a theoretical background to the study with relevant concepts to the thesis as follows:

2.1 Definitions of reading

Reading is a natural part of human beings’ life, for example we read books, magazines, newspapers, stories, notices, medicine leaflets Reading has been the subjects of research for over a century (Cheng, 1985) However, points

of view on the definition of reading are different

In Ur’s definition, “Reading means reading and understanding” (Ur, P 1996:138) Harmer J (1989:153) considers reading as a mechanical process that

“eyes receives the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message” Rubin, J and Thompson, I (1994: 91) defines reading in an other way “Reading is an active information seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” It can be understood that the readers’s knowledge of the language and the world is of important to the success in reading One more satisfying definition is given by Rumelhart (1977)

He states “Reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text” Aebersold and Field (1997:15) have the same point of view: “Reading is what happen when people look at a text and assign meaning

to the written symbol in that text” Sharing the same opinion, Richard and Thomas (1987:9) describe reading as “an understanding between the author and the reader 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” Allen and Valletta (1977:249) consider “Reading is a developmental process” Learners read not only to master the sound, the language, the grammar used in the text but also to understand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the ability of reconstructing the content using their own words According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is

“a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs,

as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” Anderson (1999:1) explains reading very neatly “Reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning Meaning doesn’t reside on the printed page or occurs in reading, which combines the words on the printed page with the reader’s background knowledge and experiences” Smith (1985:102) has the same opinion that

“Reading understands the author’s thought It means that we – the reader – read the author’s mind, not the author’s words Roe, Stood and Burns (1987:2) describes reading in a more extensive way In their opinion, “reading is understanding written language”, “reading is a complex mental process”,

“reading is thinking’

To sum up, it can be seen that no definition can capture all the ideas and features of what reading is Each linguist’s definition reflects what reading means from his own point of view What they share is that they try to find out the nature of reading, in which the reader, the text, and the interaction between these 2 factors are emphasized

2.2.Definition of reading comprehension

Reading comprehension plays a key role in teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in particular Reading activity

is often considered a means of communication between the writer and the reader

According to Roe, Stood and Burns (1987:2),“Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience” Reading comprehension can be affected by world knowledge, and those whose knowledge about the reading topic is richer will understand the reading better

Anderson and Pearson (1984:255) state that when readers make a critical evaluation of the text, “they are making connections between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge” Lee and

Vanpatten (1995:191) share the same view “Comprehension, by definition, is the process of relating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory Readers make connections between the information on the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow new information to enter and become a part of their knowledge store”

Richard and Thomas (1987:9) concentrate on the readers’ understanding

of the message basing on each individual’s background knowledge.They point out that “Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the the author and the reader Reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends: it is the process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual”

Grellet (1981:3) points out that “Reading comprehension or understanding written text means extracting the required information from it

as effectively as possible” Similarly, Swan (1975:1) argues that “A student is good at comprehension, we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so

as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding”

In spite of different points of view, it can be drawn to conclusion that reading comprehension is the process in which readers can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand the ideas implied behind these forms

2.3 Classification of reading

2.3.1 Classification according to manner

According to Doff (1988), reading is divided into two main types: reading aloud and silent reading

Reading aloud involves “looking at the text, understanding it and also

saying it” (Doff, 1988:70) Though reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessary information to someone else, very few people are required to read aloud in daily life Reading aloud is unpopular outside the classroom as Doff

(1988: 67) said, “reading aloud is not an activity we engage in very often outside the classroom”

Reading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages Nuttal (1966) sees reading aloud as an important aid for beginners to improve their pronunciation It helps to connect between sounds and spelling of letters and words and also assists the teacher to check students’ pronunciation Moreover,

it is a technique to keep the class under control, since when one student reads aloud, the others are asked to listen in case they may be required to continue the reading

However, Greenwood (1985) criticizes the overemphasis of teaching pronunciation through reading aloud According to him, students may unable

to focus adequately on the text’s meaning when they highly concentrate on pronouncing the words He implies that there are also some negative effects that should be taken into account in the process of teaching and learning that involves reading aloud First, when reading aloud, students only focus on the pronunciation not on the meaning of the text Second, when students take turn

to read a text aloud, only one student is active; the others will do something else, since they do not have to read In addition, it is often a waste of time because students have to wait one after one when reading in turn It can be inferred that there is little value in reading aloud if we want to improve the readers’ reading skills Therefore, teachers should identify the level of their students and decide whether to apply reading aloud or not in teaching reading

to their students

Silent reading is widely used in both real life and classrooms Lewis

(1985: 110) states that silent reading is “the method we normally use with our native language and on the whole quickest and most efficient” Sharing the same idea, Doff (1988:67) defines: “Silent reading involves looking at sentence and understanding the message it conveys, in other words making sense of a written text It does not normally involve saying the words we read nor even silently in our heads” It can be seen that silent reading is an effective skill for

reading comprehension since we can best understand the reading material at our own speed and we can go back to read again if there is something we don’t understand clearly, and the most important is that it isn’t necessary to read what we don’t want When reading silently, we not only obtain the main ideas

in the shortest length of time but also deeply understand the details and can answer the questions as well

For teachers, silent reading is helpful for controlling the class because students concentrate on the text, obtain the meaning and extract what they need as quickly as possible It is useful to develop students’s reading ability, and teachers should often adjust the reading materials and exercises to suit the students’ improvement Therefore, it should be applied in teaching and learning a foreign language

2.3.2 Classification according to purpose

According to purpose, reading is categorized into 4 types: Skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading

Skim read and scan read are necessary techniques for general sense or the gist of a reading text

Nuttal (1982:36) says “By skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text to determine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or

in order to keep ourselves superfically informed about matters that are not of great importance to us”

Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to specific questions”

Hedges, T (2000:195) gives one more definition that “skimming is used

to get a global impression of the content of a text An example would be previewing a long magazine article by reading rapidly, skipping large chunks of information, and focusing on headings and first lines of paragraphs” Skimming appears when we glance at newspapers to get the general news of the

day, at magazines to discover quickly which articles we would like to read in more detail, at businesss and travel brochures to get informed quickly

According to Williams (1986:100), “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” Hedges, T (2000:195) points out that “Scanning involves searching rapidly through a text to find a specific point of information, for example, the relevant times on a timetable, items in a directory, or key points in a academic text” Grellet (1981:19) shares the same view “When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we

do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so” So, scanning is very high speed reading When we scan, we often have a question our mind and we read only the words that answer that question Scanning is widely used in daily life, such as scanning the lists of names in a telephone directory to find a phone number, or scanning what we need in dictionaries, indexes, advertisements, magazines, newspaper articles, labels, reference materials and so on

It can be understood that skimming is a useful reading skill which is often applied at the first stage of reading to give readers an overview of the reading material A reader skims through the text to see what it is about before scanning for specific information he is looking for Though these 2 reading techniques are important for quick and efficient reading, they shouldn’t be selected separately because a text can be best tackled by a combination of strategies Davies, F (1995:137) argues that “It is difficult to draw clear 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”

Intensive reading, in Nuttall’s (2000:38) opinion, “involves approaching the text under the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text” Brown (1990:297) considers intensive reading “a classroom - oriented activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of

a passage” Grellet, F (1981:4) states that “Intensive reading means reading

short texts to extract specific information This is an accuracy activity involving reading for detailed.”

Extensive reading means to read widely and in quantity to obtain a general understanding of a subject including reading longer texts for pleasure

as well as business books Grellet, F (1981:4) defines “Extensive reading means reading longer texts, usually for one’s pleasure This is a fluency activity, mainly involving global understanding” Additionally, according to Nuttal, C.(2000:127), “Getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills” Carrell and Carson (1997: 49,50) state that “Extensive reading generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for general understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than on the language.”

It can be drawn to conclusion that both intensive reading and extensive reading are of great importance because they help to gain knowledge and they should be paid equal attention to

2.4 Effective reading comprehension

Ur (1996:148) considers effective reading comprehension process with the following elements:

- A clear purpose in mind

- An enhanced motivation

- Appropriate reading comprhension strategies based on the purposes and motivation

- Good prediction

- Sufficient background information and vocabulary

- Close attention to the significant bits

- Fairly high speed

2.5 Reading comprehension techniques

Grellet (1990) provides 3 groups of techniques:

2.5.1 Sensitizing

- Infering

Good readers in fact make inferences all the time when they read, which means using using all the information from the text as well as from their own store of knowledge to make guesses about meaning that is not explicitly stated,

so that they will be more willing to depart from literal interpretation when reading

- Understanding relations within sentences

- Linking sentences and ideas

2.5.2 Improving reading speed

Readers in most academic settings and many work situations face a large quantity of reading in English This can be a problem for many English language learners who read so slowly that they often have little time to reflect

on and assimilate what they have read Therefore, it is important for learners to develop reading habits that will allow them to deal with a large amount of reading Furthermore, being able to read faster can make a big difference in extensive reading Simply, learners who can read faster can get through more books in less time In addition, they will also probably enjoy their reading more,

so they are liky to read more

2.5.3 From skimming to scanning

- Predicting

One way to stimulate learners to reflect on what they are reading and to use their imagination is to ask them to make predictions about the book when they are part way through Prediction is a key aspect of the reading process The more quickly and accurately learners can make prediction and confirm, the more fluently they will read

- Previewing

Previewing is a very useful skill that good readers often make use of and

we often preview in daily life, for example we preview:

 The newspaper by reading the headlines - to decide which articles to read

 A letter by looking at the envelop - to decide whether to open it or throw

it away (junk mail)

 A book by reading the front and back covers - to decide if it is interesting and whether to read it

The benefits of previewing as a regular habit help the readder:

- Get a general idea of what the text is about;

- Place it in a general context or within a mental frame work;

- Activate background knowledge about the subject;

- Judge the difficulty of a text and calibrate the approach

Previewing also help learners to gain confidence in their ability to extract information and ideas from a text without reading every word In fact, it is sreally a form of skimming, but compared with skimming, the aim of previewing is more limited Readers preview for information about the title, author, subject area, genre, type of information, level of difficulty and length; whereas when skimming, we look for the main ideas or gist, which requires more processing and comprehension of the text

- Anticipation

Anticipation provides a good way to increase reading comprhension It is

a strategy used before reading to activate students’ prior knowledge

- Skimming

- Scanning

As mentioned from the above section, skimming and scanning are also key components to the reading technique

2.6 Reading purpose of second language learners

In real life, second language learners read in another language for the following purposes:

- To obtain information for some purposes or because we are curious about some topic

- To obtain instructions on how to perform some tasks for our work or daily life

- To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle

- To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business letters

- To know when or where something will take place or what is available

- To know what is happening or has happened

- For enjoyment or excitement

(Rivers and Temperley, cited in Nunan, 1989:34)

2.7 Factors in teaching and learning reading

2.7.1 Teachers’ role

Nuttall (2000:32-33) considers teachers’ role, some of which are choosing reading texts, designing tasks, facilitating reading process and monitoring progress important Teachers’ tasks consist of 6 major principles, namely exploit students’ background knowledge; build a strong vocabulary base; teach for comprehension; teaching reading strategies; encourage students to transform strategies into skill; set criteria to select reading texts (Anderson (2003) and Hedge (2000), cited in To et al , 2006:153-154)

- Learning not to cheat oneself

2.7.3 The reading texts

No one can deny the important role of reading texts in teaching and

learning reading, through which new grammar, phonetic and lexical items

of the target language are introduced So, it is advised that teachers pay attention to language content, vocabulary, grammatical structures, types of reading activities, though “Providing suitable texts is not a simple matter It takes time, effort and some expertise” (Buck, G, 2001)

2.7.4 Reading motivation

Kleinginna (1981: 6) defines motivation as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal-oriented behavior” Reading motivation refers to the desire to read, even when not required to do so Redneck and Lester, (2000: 5) state that: “motivation is one of the most important ingredients in skilled reading” Reading motivation involves seeking out opportunities to read for curiosity, knowledge, and involvement The teachers should aware of their students’ needs, including their motivation for reading to provide suitable techniques to help the students to develop their competence as readers during the reading lessons

2.8 Stages of a reading lesson

How reading activities are organized and sequenced depends on different approaches to language teaching Commonly, a reading lesson are divided into 3 stages: pre-, while-and post-reading (William, 1984; Dubin and Bycina, 1991 cited in To et al., 2006:158) (Hoang et al., 2005) Each stage has its own aims and procedures

2.8.1 Pre-reading stage

In this stage, teachers motivate students to read, activate or build students’background knowledge of the subject According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

- To provide some language preparation for the text

Pre-reading stage often lasts from 5 to 10 minutes To et al (2006:158) suggests some techniques: using pictures, predicting from the titles, guessing and brainstorming to see what learners have already known

2.8.2 While-reading stage

Williams (1984:38) states that while reading stage is the main part of

a reading lesson with specific aims:

- To help understanding of the writer’s purpose

- To help understanding of the text structure

- To clarify text content

The techniques applied in this stage vary widely, ranging from guessing new words, asking questions to note-taking Teachers need to help students fully understand the text while students skim, scan, guess… to understand the text and the writer’s purposes Time allocation for this stage

is nearly two third of the lesson

2.8.3 Post-reading stage

According to Williams (1984:39), “the post-reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interest or views” To et al.(2006) offers some possible techniques, including discussing the main points, retelling and rewriting the stories This stage often takes 10 minutes