An investigation into the relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HPU2: Hanoi Pedagogical University 2GLOB: Global reading strategies PROB: Problem solving reading strategies SUP: Support reading strategies SILL: A strategy Invent

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

I, Hoàng Thi Hương, hereby certify that the thesis ―An investigation into the Relationship between Reading Strategies and Reading Achievements" is theresult of my own research and efforts I also declare that the material in this paperhas not been submitted for any other purpose before

Hanoi, 2019Signature

Hoàng Thị Hương

First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude andappreciation to my supervisor Prof Hoàng Văn Vân for his great support, guidanceand helpful comments Without his precious guidance, this thesis could not havebeen 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 atHanoi Pedagogical University 2 They have been always willing to cooperate inevery data collection procedure

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

The study was an attempt to find out the frequency of reading strategy useamong students at Hanoi Pedagogical University II It also tried to figure outwhether there is possible relationship between reading strategies use and readingachievements Seventy-two students participated in the study and reading strategyquestionnaires were used to collect the required data The data were analyzedthrough SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) to determine thefrequency of strategies employed by the learners and Pearson coefficient correlationwas used to discover the association between reading strategy use and readingcomprehension achievement Independent sample t-test was also employed to findout how the use of strategies varied according to readers‘ proficiency The resultsrevealed that learners can be categorized as medium strategy users and the use ofreading strategies had a strong positive correlation with reading comprehensionachievements Also, there are significant differences exist between high-proficiencyand low-proficiency in the use of reading strategies

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study

Reading is considered as one of the four basic skills in language learning andteaching It is very important not only as a language skill but also as language inputfor other skills to develop Foreign language reading comprehension is aninteractive and complex process ―A text does not carry meaning by itself Thereader brings information, knowledge, emotion, experience, and culture - to theprinted word.‖ (Brown, 2001, p.299) Since reading comprehension has played animportant role in language learning and teaching, the ways to enhance readingcomprehension are of great interest of reading research Nevertheless, many learnersfeel that they cannot comprehend what they read, especially academic materials.One major reason for this problem is that learners have not mastered and appliedeffective reading strategies Many research studies on foreign language reading haveempathized 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 lessproficient readers, who use the strategies in different ways Moreover, it has beenacknowledged that reading strategies can be taught to learners and that readingstrategy instruction can benefit all students (Carrell, 1989; Carol, 2002)

Although many researches have been conducted on learning and readingstrategies and, few of them have explored the relationship between readingcomprehension achievement and use of reading strategies, especially by students atHanoi 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 andcomprehension to well at the level expected of them However, many students findreading, especially reading academic texts challenging They feel that their reading

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

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?

1.4 Method of the study

The researcher used quantitative method to carry out the study Thequantitative data was collected through questionnaires (a survey of readingstrategies 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 readvarious academic materials for their study at universities A lot of researches onreading skill which were conducted before played an important role in improvingreading comprehension of learners The dissertation is among researches onstudents‘ reading comprehension skills whose results could help students recognizeand understand the reading strategies they are using Besides, the study is hoped tohelp teachers have a closer look at the relationship between reading strategies andreading proficiency Also, teachers could help students to improve students‘ Englishreading in academic contexts

1.6 Scope of the study

This research placed the main focus on the frequency of reading strategiesused by third-year students In addition, it is noteworthy that the samples of thestudy were restricted to third-year students of English major at the Faculty ofForeign 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 theorganization of the study

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

reading, reading strategies and other researches of the same area

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

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides some theories related to reading comprehension andreading strategies Some views and previous researches on the relationship betweenreading 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 thesecond language as well as in life

Reading is understood and defined in various ways by many linguists andresearchers According to Grabe (1991), reading is an essential skill and probablythe most important skill for second language learners to master in academiccontexts Reading is an indispensable skill for learners in English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) context By using knowledge and interacting with text, readersconstruct meaning of the text This means that readers take part in a conversationwith the authors through the text They have purposes for their reading and adjusttheir 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 apsychological process, which begins with decoding the linguistic surface ofinformation and ends with readers‘ own construction of the information In thissense, reading can be viewed as the interaction between language structure andhuman thinking On the basis of reviewing on reading, it can be seen that readingrefers 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 tocommunicate Reading comprehension is not only a process of understanding

words, phrases and sentences it is also a cognitive ability that a person is able to usewhen interacting with the written text Therefore, reading comprehension can bedefined as the ability to understand a text, to analyze the information, and tointerpret correctly what the writer is stating In order to interpret the texts, it isnecessary for readers to use their existing background knowledge to makepredictions about the content of the texts they are reading Moreover, to be able tocomprehend 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 materialand word recognition (Pang, 2008) Sadeghi (2007) looked at readingcomprehension as related to two main factors, internal and external factors Internalfactors, related to the reader, were things such as cognitive abilities and strategies,background knowledge, and affective characteristics External factors wereidentified as text modality, text characteristics, time and place of reading and others.

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

as ―a thinking process by which a reader selects facts, information, or ideas fromprinted materials; determines the meanings the author intended to transmit; decidehow they relate to previous knowledge; and judge their appropriateness and worthfor meeting the learner‘s own objectives‖ Similarly, Janzen and Stoller (1998)identified ten processes of reading comprehension ―identifying a purpose forreading, 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 readingcomprehension, linguists focus on the interacting and understanding of the meaning

of texts, authors, and readers when referring to reading comprehension Readingcomprehension is more than letter recognition or reading words, but involvesdetermining meaning and context A common description of reading comprehensionstates that comprehension is the process of making connections between the newinformation in the text and the known information in the reader‘s head It can beunderstood that there are strategies that readers use to make the connectionsbetween the text and their own background knowledge Therefore, it is necessaryfor instructors to help learners become aware of and employ these strategies in theirown reading.

2.1.2 Models of reading comprehension

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

The bottom-up model, according to Gough (1972), is a process in whichsmall chunks of texts are decoded, analyzed and added together to graduallyconstruct 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 theletters, recognition of the words, establishing sentences According to Paran (1996),bottom-up model assumes that the reader recognizes every letter, organizes theperceived letter into words, and finally classifies the words into phrases, clauses,and sentences The main characteristic of this model is focusing on the function ofthe text itself The readers identify letters first and make these words meaningful onthe lexical level If readers are capable to master these skills, they will comprehendthe text as they read On the other hand, the main disadvantage of this model isoveremphasizing on features of the language, such as words and structures Ifstudents focus too much on every single word, their understanding of the overall

meaning will be limited Meaning can only be constructed separately at word orsentence level, which hinders the process of achieving overall meaning (Nuttall,1996) Therefore, meanings of words are stored in short-term memory The readingspeed is also significantly reduced when readers have to focus on every single wordand try to understand every single detail The bottom-up model separates the textinto 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 anddecoding in the reading process Readers make predictions about the text according

to their background knowledge or experience, and read the text for confirmation ofthese predictions in this approach Also, readers are supposed to use meaning andcues to identify unfamiliar words, and then they are able to comprehend a passageeven if they do not recognize each word The readers do not interpret a text byidentifying and decoding every letter and word in the text Instead, they predict themeaning by taking advantage of their background knowledge Then readers cansuccessfully decode a passage even if they do not know the meaning of the newwords within the text In the model, the skills such as skimming, scanning,predicting, finding hints, and contextual guessing are used, while in bottom-upprocessing, surface meaning, translation and using of dictionary are emphasized.Grabe (1988) states in this model, reading is not just extracting meaning from a textbut 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 ofreading has some drawbacks Firstly, it is hard for readers who are lack ofbackground knowledge to do reading comprehension without paying much attention

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

Another effective model is proposed which combines these two models intoone called the interactive model ―In practice, a reader continually shifts from onefocus 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 thewriter 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 textand emphasizes on automaticity or reading fluency In this model, the readersinteract with the text in order to extend the meaning and use different types ofknowledge such as linguistic or universal knowledge (through bottom-upprocessing) as well as schematic knowledge (through top-down processing) In theinteractive model, readers are encouraged not only to use lexical, syntactic,semantic and common knowledge but also to use both careful reading skills andreading strategies to complete reading tasks or interpret the meaning of the text.Also, readers are not passive information receivers, but they are active informationsearchers Therefore, the interactive reading model quickly becomes central and iswidely 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 andteaching reading In the bottom-up model, readers access the text through decodingletters 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 (thebottom up and top down model) and recognize the interaction of both modelssimultaneously 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 improvetheir reading skills Reading strategies are often taught by teachers or used by

students in various ways Farrell (2001) stated that students can benefit fromlearning reading strategies and that these strategies can be taught Yang (2006)determined that the procession and utilization of comprehension monitoringstrategies provide readers greater help in the comprehension of material Mostindividuals have personal strategies that they develop as ways to understand whatthey read.

To have a deep understanding of reading strategies, it is necessary to makeclear 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) strategiesare defined as the specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes ofoperation for achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling andmanipulating certain information Learning strategies can be defined in variousways An early definition by O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) stated that learningstrategies are ―the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help themcomprehend, learn, or retain new information‖ (O‘Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.1).Another definition given by Oxford (1990) ―Learning strategies can be defined asconscious ―steps taken by students to enhance their own learning‖ Oxford (2003)expands and defines learning strategies as ―specific actions taken by the learner tomake learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, andmore transferable to new situations‖ (Oxford, 2003, p.9) It can be understood thatlearning strategies are taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, moreenjoyable, 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 orunconsciously in order to facilitate text comprehension and learning Similarly,Abbott (2006) stated that reading strategies are ―the mental operations orcomprehension processes that readers select and apply in order to make sense ofwhat they read.‖ (Abbott, 2006, p.637) According to Garner (1987), reading

strategies are defined as ―Generally deliberate, playful activities undertaken byactive learners, many times to remedy perceived cognitive failure‖ (Garner, 1987,p.50) Carrell (1998) stated that ―Reading strategies are of interest not only forwhat they reveal about the ways readers manage interactions with written text butalso for how the use of strategies is related to effective comprehension‖ (Carrell,

1998, p.97) Another definition suggested by (Baker & Boonkit, 2004) is thatreading strategies are ―techniques and methods readers use to make their readingsuccessful‖ Also, Yang (2006) stated that reading strategies include things such aspredicting content, posing questions, recognizing text structure, integratinginformation, reflecting, monitoring comprehension, utilizing general knowledge,and reacting to the text According to Baker and Brown (1984), reading strategiescontain cognitive and metacognitive strategies in reading Cognitive strategies areconscious ways in dealing with learning, such as resourcing, deduction, grouping,note-taking, translation, and elaboration Metacognitive strategies are used tomonitor or regulate cognitive strategies, which include checking the outcome of anyattempt 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 thecognitive operations when readers approach a text in order to make sense of whatthey read In this sense, reading strategies can be understood as the comprehensionprocesses that are used by readers to make sense of the reading text

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

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

2.2.2 Classification of reading strategies

Reading strategies are categorized in many ways by various researchers Someresearchers classified reading strategies according to the time namely before, during, orafter reading Before-reading or pre-reading strategy is used to activate priorknowledge of the readers in relevance to the reading text During reading strategies areused 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 categorizethese strategies as either global or local according to the part of the text on which theyfocus Block (1986) classified reading strategies as general strategies (comprehension-gathering and comprehension-monitoring) and local strategies (understanding specificlanguage units) Meanwhile, Anderson (1991, p.463) proposed a detailed classification

of reading strategies including five major groups: supervising strategies, supportstrategies, paraphrase strategies, coherence strategies, and test-taking strategies.O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) used three categories to classify the types of strategies intheir framework: metacognitive

strategies, cognitive strategies, and social/affective strategies Metacognitivestrategies involve learning and controlling learning through planning, monitoringand 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,

elaboration, transfer, note taking, summarizing, and translation Social/affectivestrategies mainly involve the learner in communicative interaction with anotherperson.

Mokhtari and Reichard (2000) divided reading strategies into threesubgroups: global strategies (orienting towards a global analysis of the texts),problem-solving strategies (aiming at solving problems when the text becomesdifficult), and support strategies (using reference materials, note-taking and otherpractical 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 andMokhtari (2001) adjusted MARSI into a new version of survey called SORS(Survey of Reading Strategies) with three categories of reading strategies: Globalreading strategies (GLOB), problem-solving strategies (PROB) and supportstrategies (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 apurpose in mind, previewing the text as to its length and organization, or usingtypographical aids and tables and figures This definition is quite similar to theopinions of O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) on metacognitive strategies that arefocused on the learner‘s interaction with the text and include such strategies asmonitoring 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 readingdifficult parts of the text These are localized, focused techniques used whenproblems develop in understanding textual information For instance, readers adjustthe 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,

O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) also argued in their cognitive strategies which arethose that operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways thatenhance 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, orunderlining or highlighting the text to better comprehend it

2.3 Previous related studies

There are some researches related to the relationship between readingstrategies use and reading comprehension achievement The participants withdifferent ages and backgrounds together with a variety of research methods gavevarious results

Molla (2015) investigated the relationship between reading strategy use andreading comprehension among Ethiopian EFL Learners A strategy Inventory forLanguage Learning (SILL) that was developed by Oxford (1990) and a readingcomprehension test (Two reading comprehension passages that are part of TOEFL)were used to collect the data Also, Pearson coefficient correlation was applied todiscover the association between reading strategy use and reading comprehensionachievement The majority of the students were not aware of using a number ofreading strategies They were low users and rarely used reading strategies whilereading English texts The analysis of the correlation showed that nearly all of thereading strategy types had not been correlated with the students‘ readingcomprehension level This might have been caused by the students‘ insufficientknowledge 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 readingcomprehension part of TEM 4 (Test for English Majors—Band 4) (2006), a national

test designed for undergraduates of English majors, and two questionnaires areadopted in this study to collect data from the investigated students Thequestionnaire on reading strategies extracted from Phakiti (2003) was used in thisthesis The major findings of this study were revealed Firstly, students used readingstrategies at medium level when doing reading comprehension tests Secondly, itcan be concluded that both metacognitive and cognitive reading strategiessignificantly correlate with reading achievements Besides, the result revealed thatthere 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 andmetacognitive 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 studyindicated that there was a significant correlation between reading achievement andthe use of meta-cognitive strategies, while the correlation between readingachievement and the use of cognitive strategies is insignificant This study alsofound out that the students with higher level reading proficiency used metacognitivestrategies 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 aforeign language) reading test performance at a Thai university Both quantitativeand qualitative data analyses were employed in the study Multiple-choice readingcomprehension achievement test, a cognitive–metacognitive questionnaire, andretrospective 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 significantlyhigher metacognitive strategy use than the moderately successful ones and theunsuccessful test takers

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

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter aims to describe the methodological issues in whichparticipants, data collection, data collection procedure as well as data analysisprocedures of the study are discussed

3.1 Participants

Seventy-two third-year students in Faculty of Foreign Languages at HPU2participated in the study and they have spent more than 10 years learning English.These participants have just finished the first semester of third-year at HPU2 andthey got their final test scores on reading skills in the first semester Table 1 belowsummarizes the background information of participants

participants

Table 1: Background of participants

3.2 Settings of the study

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

3.3 Data collection instruments

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

3.3.1 Questionnaires

A Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaire developed by KouiderMokhtari and Ravi Sheorey in 2002 was adopted in this research The SORS isintended to measure the type and the frequency of reading strategies used byadolescent and adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students while they readacademic material in English The SORS was field-tested by Kouider Mokhtari andRavi Sheorey on a population of ESL students at two universities in the UnitedStates (N=147) and found that the instrument was valid and reliable (the internalreliability = 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 thequestionnaire thoroughly The participants were asked to read each statement andrate 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.

Item 1: I have a purpose in mind when I read Item3: 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

Global reading strategies

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

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

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

Problem solving strategies

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 tohelp remember what I read

Item 25: When text becomes difficult, I re-read it

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

Support reading strategies

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-based on the format of VSTEP reading test The reading test consists of 40 items inmultiple choice questions with four answer choices There are four passages, eachwith ten multiple choice questions After finishing the third year, students at HPU2are supposed to demonstrate a C1 level of proficiency equivalent to level 5 Readingscores are converted to band scores on a 0–10 scale The results are reported on asix-level numerical scale used as a local adaptation of the CEFR, CEFR-VN, with 3being equivalent to B1, 4 to B2, and 5 to C1.

Table 3: Score converter of VSTEP

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

3.4 Data collection process

The data collection process went through three steps Firstly, participantswere asked to fill out a Background Information Sheet (see Appendix 1) includingdemographic details like gender, age They were also asked to self-report thenumber of years they have been learning English and their first-semester scores onthe Reading Skill Secondly, they were asked to complete the Reading StrategyQuestionnaire with 30 questions Participants read each item and chose the numberindicating their frequency of strategy use on a five-point Likert scale (1 as almostnever to 5 as almost always) by ticking a box

3.5 Data analysis procedures

The researcher used correlation statistics to look for the relationship

between two or more variables According to Creswell (2010, p.338) ―In

correlational research designs, investigators use the correlation statistical test to describe and measure the degree of association (or relationship) between two or more variables or sets of scores‖ In short, a correlational study is a quantitative method in which there are two or more quantitative variables and determine if there

is a relationship between the two variables In this study, the researcher measured the use of reading strategies by using the SORS Then the correlation between variables (reading strategies and reading achievements) was analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science)

To answer Research Question 1 (What is the frequency of reading strategies

used by students when they read English academic materials?), I used SPSS

(Statistical Package for Social Science) version 20 to calculate the mean frequencies

of students using all strategies and each category of strategies; Global reading strategies, Problem solving strategies, and Support reading strategies by level

of use; and the five most/least popular strategies used by the third-year students ofHPU2 were also analyzed The level of use was rated based on the scale of SILL

(Oxford, 1990), which categorized a score of 1.0 – 2.4 as low; 2.5 – 3.4 as mediumand 3.5 – 5.0 as high Table 5 below shows the frequency of reading strategies use.

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

In order to answer Research Question 2 (To what extent is there the

relationship between reading strategies and reading achievements?), Pearson

product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to measure the linearrelationship between the frequencies of strategy use and the reading scores ofstudents Correlation coefficient formulas are used to find how strong a relationship

is between data Correlation analysis allows researchers to look at two variables andevaluate the strength and direction of their relationship or association with eachother (Dörnyei, 2007, p.223) The Pearson correlation coefficient, r, can take arange of values from -1 to 1 If r = -1 indicates a perfect negative linear relationshipbetween variables Negative correlation means when an increase in a variable leads

to a decrease in another and vice versa If r =0 indicates no linear relationshipbetween variables If r = 1 indicates a perfect positive linear relationship betweenvariables Positive correlation means when an increase in one variable leads to anincrease in the other and a decrease in one leads to a decrease in the other Theinterpreting of the correlation coefficient is shown in Table 6

Interval coefficient Level of correlation

Table 6: Interpreting the correlation coefficient (Cohen, Manion, &

Marrison, 2007)

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?) was clarified by using independent t-test to identify the

differences between the mean frequencies of strategies used by two independentgroups: high-proficiency readers (19 students scoring 8.0–10) and low-proficiencyreaders (22 students scoring 5.0–6.0) The intermediate group (students scoring 6.5–7.5) was excluded in order to identify exactly where significant differences laybetween high-proficiency readers and low-proficiency ones ―Independent-samples t-tests are for research designs where we are comparing the results ofgroups that are independent of each other‖ (Dörnyei, 2007, p.215) Independent t-test is used to test whether the difference between two sets of scores is big enough

to reach statistical significance If the t-value is greater than the significance level(normally 0.05), we can assume the difference between the mean of twoindependent groups would not be statistically significantly different Otherwise, thetwo samples are considered to have different variances if the t-value is under thesignificance level (0.05) In other words, there are differences between higher-proficiency students and lower-proficiency students in terms of reading strategy use

in their academic study The scores of the students‘ reading comprehension tests areranked from highest to lowest in the SPSS and the responses of students to all thestatements in the questionnaire are correspondently put into the SPSS