A study on using narrow reading to improve efl learners reading fluency

NGHE AN, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY HOANG THI ANH THESIS: A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL LEARNERS’ READING FLUENCY MAJOR: Teaching Englis

NGHE AN, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

HOANG THI ANH

A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL LEARNERS ’READING FLUENCY

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

NGHE AN, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

HOANG THI ANH

THESIS: A STUDY ON USING NARROW READING TO IMPROVE EFL

LEARNERS’ READING FLUENCY

MAJOR: Teaching English to speakers of other language (TESOL)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen,

my supervisor, who supported and encouraged me whenever I had problem with my research I am truly grateful to her for the valuable support, guidance, and constructive comments she offered during the project time

I wish to express my sincere thanks to the students of the two classes I worked with in order to gather the data for my study

I am also indebted to my friends for proofreading the first draft of the thesis Last but not least, I would like to express my special heartfelt appreciation to

my parents without whose unceasing sympathies and support my study could not have been accomplished.

4.2.2 The effects of narrow reading on EFL learners' reading comprehension 60

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

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1 EFL: English as Foreign Language

2 ESL: English as Second Language

LIST OF TABLES

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Table 4.2 The general test result of the two groups after the participants were 38 divided

measured by words per minute for two groups at the pre-test

comprehension measured by words per minute for two groups at the pre-test

Table 4.5 Means and standard deviations of participants’ reading speed for two 41 groups at the post-test

comprehension for two groups at the post-test

Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of participants’ reading speed for two 45 groups at the first reading at the first week

Table 4.8 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the first 45 week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the first week

Table 4.10 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 47 at the first week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the second week

Table 4.12 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the 48 second week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the second week

Table 4.14 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 49 at the second week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the third week

Table 4.16 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the 51 third week

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comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the third week

Table 4.18 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 52 at the third week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the fourth week

Table 4.20 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the 53 fourth week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the fourth week

Table 4.22 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 54 at the fourth week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the fifth week

Table 4.24 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the fifth 55 week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the fifth week

Table 4.26 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 56 at the fifth week

measured by words per minute for two groups at the sixth week

Table 4.28 Reading speed of Treatment group for four reading times at the 57 sixth week

comprehension for two groups at the first reading at the sixth week

Table 4.30 Reading comprehension of Treatment group for four reading times 58 at the sixth week

LIST OF CHARTS

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Chart 4.3 Pre-test and Post-test reading speed (wpm) of control and treatment 42 group

Chart 4.4 Pre-test and Post-test reading comprehension (%) of control and 44 treatment group

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

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Recognizing letters and words is an important first step in learning to read However, it is only a first step; it is vital that students comprehend, or understand, what they are reading They must be able to get the meaning of the text: What is the author telling the reader? That being said, reading comprehension is an essential skill for success in school and in the real world It is also worthy to note that readers find it more difficult to read in another language

1.1 Rationale

“Reading is an essential skill for ESL or EFL students; and for many skills, reading

is the most important skill to master” (Anderson, 1999) Krashen and Terrell (1989)

state that “reading is an important source of comprehensible input and can make a

significant contribution to competence in a foreign language.” Reading is considered as

one of the most essential skills which language learners should master, particularly because it helps to build a variety of language expression and structures, broadens general knowledge, increases levels of understanding and concentration and leads to lifelong learning and improvement in the first and second language skills

According to West (1941), reading ability is powerful because it transfers from one language to another language Therefore, if a person’s reading speed in his mother language improves, it is likely that his foreign language reading rate will increase as a transfer effect

In the age of increasing global interconnectivity, it is essential for students to gain foreign language proficiency Hence, The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has put more emphasis on teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English than ever before Vietnamese students, nowadays, have been aware of the importance of English and paid more attention to the subject However, many of them struggle with reading English texts One of the reasons for this is that they lack the necessary stock of vocabulary and knowledge of grammar rules

Techniques and methods related to the teaching and learning foreign language

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have also been taken into consideration A considerable number of studies in the field of second language acquisition have been conducted over past years to examine

as well as help learners to improve reading speed and reading comprehension

This study was carried out to explore the effects on narrow reading on Vietnamese learners’ reading fluency development

1.2 The aim of the study

The aim of this research is to demonstrate that reading speed and reading comprehension of the EFL students will improve with consistent use of the narrow reading method

To be more specific, the study was set out to examine the EFL students’ development of reading speed and reading comprehension

1.3 Research questions

The study aimed to seek the answer to the following questions:

1 Will narrow reading help to increase EFL learners’ reading speed?

2 How does narrow reading affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension?

1.4 Scope of the study

In this study, the participants’ reading fluency was measured by looking at reading speed and reading comprehension Reading speed was measured by calculation the number of words read per minute Reading comprehension was measured by calculating the number of correct answers the participants had Other criteria of reading fluency was not taken into consideration in this study

1.5 Design of the thesis

This research comprises five chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction - This chapter provides the rationale, the aim of the study, the research questions and the scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review - This chapter presents the previous studies related to the topic of the thesis

Chapter 3: Methodology - This chapter describes research methodology of the

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This chapter presents a brief review of the literature on the topics that are generally related to the research in this thesis Previous studies on the reading process, reading fluency, reading comprehension, reading speed, narrow reading and narrow reading in EFL teaching instruction will be mentioned

2.1 The reading process

According to Anderson (2003), reading is a constant process of guessing, predicting, checking, and asking oneself questions Reading is one of an essential skill to master in learning English For most learners, reading is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success in learning English Students tend to make a good progress in other area of language learning if they master reading

Reading is a completely individual activity which takes place in all different ways from newspapers, magazines, written texts, etc Understanding the process of

reading is probably important to understanding of its nature Therefore, “Reading is

an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” (Harmer J, 1989, p 190)

Thus the speed of reading depends much on mechanical process of looking and perceiving and it is the reader who decides how fast he wants to read the text

2.1.1 The definitions of reading

So far, the term reading has been defined quite differently according to its

various aspects such as criteria, features and functions For many learners, reading is

a very essential skill, particularly in English as a second language Concerning the

role of reading, Carrell (1988, p.1) states that “Without solid reading proficiency,

second language learners can not perform at levels they must in order to succeed"

Anderson, (1999) also confirms that “The more exposure a student has to language

through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase” Reading plays such a significant part in the success of second language

learning and it is essential to understand what reading really is However, the act of reading is neither completely understood nor easily described In a general term,

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reading is defined as “An active, fluent process which involves the reader and the

reading material in building meaning" (Anderson, 1999, p.1) This definition of

reading has been generally shared by other researchers

According to Aebersold and Field (1997), “reading is what happens when

people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbol in that text The text and the reader are the two physical entities necessary for the reading process to start It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual meaning" (p.15) These interactions, in their opinion, are the interactions

between purpose and manner of reading and through reading strategies and schema Purpose determines how people read a text People may read the text to understand it (reading for full comprehension), or simply to get the general idea (skimming), to find the part that contains the information they need (scanning) Readers also use some mental activities that are often referred to as reading strategies to construct meaning from a text In addition, readers base on their previous knowledge that they bring to the text to assist their reading comprehension This prior knowledge is known as schema Research in reading has shown that schema plays an important role in helping the reader to comprehend a text

Moreover, Rubin, J and Thompson, I (1994, p 91) offer another definition of

reading: “Reading is an active information-seeking process in which readers relate

information in the text to what they already know” From this point of view, the

reader’s knowledge of the language and knowledge of the world is of importance to

their reading success Goodman (1971, p 135) states that 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" For

Goodman, this act of reconstruction is considered as cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming

Walker (1992, p 37) defined reading as an active, problem solving process that involves predicting or guessing what the author says, based on expectations about story events He believes that reading involves recalling an individual’s life

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experience and trying to understand what is written He also confirms that reading is comprehending and developing of human learning In other words, reading is more than just receiving meaning in a literal sense

From a cognitive attitude, Smith (1985, p 102) defines reading that “Reading

is to understand author’s thought” This means that the meaning of the text depends

on the context in which appears The more the reader conceive the author’s thought, the more he is aware of the writer’s intention

Taking an interactive attitude, Nutall (1982, p 4) expresses “Reading means getting out of the text as nearly as possible the message the writer puts into it” He also emphasizes the interaction between texts and readers in the reading process In

his opinion, “Text is full of meaning like a jug of water, the reader’s mind soaks it up

like sponge”

2.1.2 The role of reading in learning

Reading plays an inevitably important role in comprehending a text and using

the foreign language appropriately and fluently “A person’s future opportunities for

success and prosperity will be even more entwined with skill reading abilities It is therefore an important societal responsibility to offer every person the opportunity to become a skilled reader, and in many cases, this means becoming a skilled L2 readef" (Grabe, 2009, p 6)

It is possible for us to claim that reading has a very important role to play in language learning as it can bring benefits to learners William (1984, p 13) suggests three advantages of reading to learners: First, learners can have further practice in the language that they have learnt This means that learners will have many opportunities

to gain further knowledge of the target language Second, learners can practice language in order to reuse it in other skills such as speaking and writing Learners can not understand anything if they can not read Third, learners can learn how to get benefit from the texts to extract the information they need The more comprehension learners conceive, the more major intelligence they receive

Reading has a large number of major benefits that help learners study language

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faster and more successfully Reading is one of the most essential skills for language learners When learners’ reading skill improve, their listening, speaking, and writing also advance There are some specific reasons why learners are encouraged to practice reading In the first place, the constant repetition of words and patterns in reading helps you learn and remember vocabulary and grammar structures Reading plays an important part in providing vocabulary and structure types Learners can understand the usage of structures better when they catch the meaning of sentences Secondly, reading is something readers can do their own Learners can spend as much time as they wish on reading by themselves Language learners are able to practice reading skill whenever they want The skill does not extremely depend on others

2.2 The reading fluency

Reading fluency is a topic that has received considerable attention in recent years As a result of the renewed interest in this topic, the lack of agreement on what reading fluency actually is has been brought to the forefront Reading fluency is often defined as accurate reading of connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001; Hudson, Lane, & Pullen, 2005; National Reading Panel, 2000) and is often measured as a combination of rate and accuracy - the number of correct words read aloud in one minute (Fuchs, Fuchs,

& Maxwell, 1988; Shinn, Good, Knutson, Tilly, & Collins, 1992; Torgesen, Rashotte, & Alexander, 2001) Daane, Campbell, Grigg, Goodman, and Oranje (2005) define fluency “in terms of phrasing, adherence to the author’s syntax, and expressiveness” in other words, prosody Taking a slightly different stance, Samuels

(2006, p 39) defined reading fluency as “decoding and comprehending at the same

time” and suggested that rate, accuracy, and prosody are indicators that this is

happening

The variability in these definitions reminds us that reading fluency is a complex, multifaceted construct In theory, because reading fluency is typically assessed while students are reading meaningful text, one’s definition of fluency

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might easily encompass all that is important about “proficient reading": it is accurate

and efficient, it occurs with reasonable speed that varies with the text, and it involves good comprehension of the meaning of the text The definitions outlined above differ

in the extent to which they emphasize one or more of the dimensions of what is typically meant by proficient reading of text The definition offered by Daane et al (2005) emphasizes comprehension as the most important part of the definition of reading fluency (because prosody of oral reading reflects comprehension), while the operational definition often used in studies of oral reading fluency (Fuchs et al., 1988) emphasizes accuracy and rate of reading Samuel’s definition (2006) is actually theoretically driven, as his earlier work (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974) implies that decoding and comprehension are most able to occur together when parts of both speed and comprehension are most able to occur together when parts of both processes operate “automatically.” Rate is one dimension of automaticity; suggesting that decoding and comprehension must occur together in fluent reading is to imply that decoding, or word identification, is occurring at a reasonable rate

When thinking about the components of a definition of reading fluency, we are reminded of this statement by Wolf and Katzir-Cohen (2001, p 220):

The unsettling conclusion is that reading fluency involves every process and sub skill involved in reading Unlike reading accuracy, which can be executed without utilizing some important reading components like semantic processes, we argue that fluency is influenced by the development of rapid rates ofprocessing in all the components of reading

Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp and Jenkins (2001) add to this emphasis on complexity:

Oral reading fluency represents a complicated, multifaceted performance that entails, for example, a reader’s perceptual skill at automatically translating letters into coherent sound representations, unitizing those sound components into recognizable wholes, and automatically accessing lexical representations, processing meaningful connections within and between sentences, relating text meaning to prior information, and making inferences

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to supply missing information (p, 239-240)

These researchers, along with Adams (1990), Ehri (1998), Laberge and Samuels (1974), were among the first to unpack reading fluency by examining the various processes, skills, and knowledge needed to read fluently It is gainful in their efforts

to discern the multifaceted nature of the construct in order to better understand how

to assess and teach reading fluency

2.2.1 The indicators of reading fluency

Though researchers approach reading fluency from different perspectives, a consensus on the indicators of reading fluency has been established There is popular agreement that automaticity, accuracy, and reading speed (for silent reading) or prosody (for oral reading) are the three fundamental indicators (Grabe, 2004b; Harris

& Hodges, 1995; Kuhn & Stahl, 2003; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974b; Rasinski, et al., 2006; Richards, 2000; Tompkins, 2003; Worthy & Broaddus, 20012002)

Automaticity is defined as fast, accurate and effortless word identification at the single word level The speed and accuracy at which single words are identified is the best predictor of comprehension Fluency, on the other hand, involves not only automatic word identification but also the application of appropriate prosodic features (rhythm, intonation, and phrasing) at the phrase, sentence, and text levels Wood, Flowers, and Grigorenko (2001) emphasize that fluency also involves anticipation of what will come next in the text and that speeded practice alone is not sufficient Anticipation facilitates reaction time and is particularly important for comprehension

2.2.2 Assessing reading fluency development

The ability to measure students’ level of achievement in fluency and monitor their progress is key to successful fluency teaching Teachers need to be able to gauge the effectiveness of their instruction in fluency; to do this, they need ways to assess student fluency validly and efficiently Although the theories of reading fluency indicators have won general acceptance, there is still much controversy relating to how to assess fluency development

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A Past research has used a technique in which a phrase extracted from a book was exposed to students for a limited period of time and then students had to say the phrase (Huey, 1968) Another method involves small passages from an original story

to measure children’s oral fluency The passages were read aloud by the teacher and the students relayed these back to their teacher to record The method of repeating was afterwards put onto computers so that students could test themselves by first having the computer determine their zone of reading ability; second, selecting the graded passages which increase in difficulty; third, listening to a model reading already made and saved on the computer, then silently reading the passage they chose The computer sets the target and calculates if the student has reached it or not (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974b) Several studies also applied the curriculum-based measurement (Deno, 1985) to assess L1 oral reading fluency This is a general outcomes measure of a student’s performance in reading, writing, and spelling In reading, accuracy is determined by dividing the number of words read correctly per minute by the total number of words read and comparing the students’ performance against the target rate norms Meanwhile the rate is measured by calculating the total number of words read correctly per minute and comparing the students’ performance against the target rate norms

Recent developments in teaching and learning the reading skill have heightened the need for measuring silent reading fluency As a result, researchers have attempted to formulate methods to measure reading rate and comprehension both for L1 silent reading (Juel & Holmes, 1981; Mead, 1917; Vacca & Vacca, 1999) and L2/FL silent reading (Bismoko & Nation, 1972; 1974; Chung & Nation, 2006; Cramer, 1975; Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2008) Regarding reading speed, which is conventionally measured by the words per minute calculation, the one-minute reading probe and the entire text method have been used in both L1 reading research (Harris & Sipay, 1985; Ream, 1977; Rial, 1977) and L2/FL reading research (Iwahori, 2008; Lai, 1993; Taguchi, et al., 2004) Particularly in L2/FL research, the three-minute probe and the ten-second interval method have been used (Bell, 2001;

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Macalister, 2008; Millett, 2005b, 2005d; Millett, et al., 2007; Nuttall, 1982; Sheu, 2003) With respect to comprehension assessment, the most popular methods to measure comprehension are true-false questions, multiple choice questions, short answer questions, recall tests and participant self-reports (Alderson, 1990; Gorsuch

& Taguchi, 2008; Iwahori, 2008; Lai, 1993; Paretz & Shoham, 1990; Taguchi, et al., 2006) Typically, in a speed reading course, the learners are asked to keep a graph of their speed in words read per minute and a graph of their comprehension score on the accompanying questions In this way, the teacher can see students’ progress in reading speed and at the same time be informed about their comprehension level (Macalister, 2008; Millett, et al., 2007; Quinn & Nation, 1974)

2.2.3 First and second language reading fluency

A number of studies have been carried out on first and second language reading fluency According to West (1941), reading ability transfers from one language to another language Therefore, if people’s reading speeds in L1 improve, it

is likely that their L2 reading rate will increase as a transfer effect or L1 reading is a dominant variable in L2 reading performance (Bossers, 1992; Brisbois, 1995; Carrell, 1991; Hacquebord, 1999; Roller, 1988) Researchers have also proposed the short-circuit hypothesis, also known as the language threshold hypothesis, which holds that learners have to reach a certain level in L2 knowledge in order to transfer their L1 reading ability to L2 reading (Clarke, 1979; Clarke, 1980) or attempted to determine the link between word recognition and comprehension in L2 reading (Levy, Abello, & Kysynchuk, 1997) Besides, past research also found that not only L1 strategies transfer to reading L2 texts (Seng & Hashim, 2006), but also attitudes gain more confidence in L2 reading (Yamashita, 2004)

There, recently, has been an emerging body of literature on the relationship between L1 reading and L2 reading development Some of those studies reported a relationship between L1 reading and L2 reading in which L2 knowledge accounted for more than 30% of the variance in L2 reading performance whereas L1 reading ability accounted only for just over 10% of the variance in L2 reading scores

Reading comprehension can be affected by word knowledge, with many demonstrations that readers who process rich prior knowledge about the topic of reading of understand the reading better than others with low prior knowledge

2.3.1 Comprehension and reading comprehension

According to interactive model of reading, comprehension is built up or constructed from knowledge sources which interact with each other on the input from the written page Anderson and Pearson (1984, p 225) argue that when

students make a critical evaluation of the ideas conveyed in the text: “they are

making connection between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge.”

Numerous studies have explored the nature of comprehension in reading Smith (1978) considers it as a state of having questions answered in which readers have to find a configuration of hypotheses which offer a coherent account for the various aspects of the text (Rumelhart, 1977) Calfee and Curley (1984) show that readers modify the organizational structure of the texts for their own purposes in order to comprehend a text While reading, they keep making predictions or questions based

on their theories about the world, and if the questions are answered while or after reading, comprehension is achieved (Smith, 1978)

Lee and Vanpatten (1995, p 191) indicate that comprehension is the process of relating new or incoming information to information already stored in memory Readers make connections between the new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow the new information to enter and become

a part of their knowledge store

If reading is simple mechanical movements of the eyes, reading

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comprehension includes mechanical and mental activities In teaching reading, it is necessary for both teachers and students to have a deep understanding about the definition of reading comprehension The students who study reading should evaluate continually what they are learning about the definition of reading comprehension Many people have done some researches to define what reading comprehension is

Reading comprehension takes a very important part teaching and learning reading a language as well as a foreign language According to Durkin (1993)

reading comprehension is “intentional thinking during which meaning is constructed

through interactions between text and reader.” It is the capacity to get information

from the text as efficiency as possible This agrees with Grellet (1981, p 34)’s

definition, which says that “reading comprehension or understanding a written text

means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” From

this point of view, Grellet focuses on readers’ ability of understanding the meaning

of a written text based on the individual’s background knowledge Alon similar lines,

Swan (1975, p 1) states that “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he

can read accurately and efficiency, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding.” This means that the student can excess his

awareness by re-expressing the content of the text in many ways such as summarizing the text, answering question, etc After reading, readers can master the grammatical structures, word pronunciation, understand the context of the texts and use it in real life as effective as possible

Richards and Rodgers (1986, p 7) assert reading comprehension is “the understanding between the author and the reader” This means that during the reading process, readers on the way to explore what the author implies and to raise meaning for themselves at the same time in their own language, their thinking and the own view of the world depended on their background knowledge It is not easy to understand the author’s meaning fully if there is no good interaction between the author and reader about language and thought Therefore, the reader is as active in

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searching for meaning as is the writer in forming written language Although linguists defined reading comprehension in different ways, they all agree with the idea that without comprehension reading is meaningless

Reading comprehension plays a very important part in teaching and learning a foreign language in general and teaching reading in particular However, the reasons for reading differ from one person to another As a result, the ways we read are also different In other words, the purposes of reading determine the ways or the styles of reading

2.3.2 Factors involved in reading comprehension

Researchers have proposed various factors affecting reading According to Aebersold and Field (1997, p 23), there are some following factors involved in reading comprehension Firstly, cognitive development and cognitive style orientation at the time of beginning second language or foreign language study Secondly, language proficiency in the first language Thirdly, precognitive knowledge of L1 structure, grammar, and syntax Fourthly, degree of difference between the L1 and L2/ FL that includes writing systems, rhetorical structures, appropriate strategies Fifthly, cultural orientation which includes attitudes toward text and purpose for reading; types of reading skills and strategies used or appropriate in the L2/ FL; belief about the reading process (use of inference, memorization, nature of comprehension); knowledge of text types in the L1 (formal schemata); background knowledge (content schemata)

Language proficiency in L2 and background knowledge are two factors which affect RC the most because if readers apply their background knowledge to texts in order to read and understand them If readers possess good at language capability, it will be much more convenient for them to apprehend and acquire L2 purposes they are studying Therefore, to help students able to read texts or materials in their learning programmer perfectly, it is advisable for teachers to identify the students’ level of language proficiency and how they understand the required texts This means teachers should choose suitable texts to ask learners to read carefully

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Furthermore, teachers should be aware of the rest factors affecting reading skills to help the students to the maximum Especially, teachers should motivate their students by providing them with as many reading strategies as possible and know how to focus them on appropriate texts when practicing and try to decline the difference as well as the difficulty between target and native language

Reading comprehension is a cognitive process that requires myriad, skills and strategies It involves various factors such as background knowledge, vocabulary and fluency, attention and motivation, and quality of reading material that must work together

Firstly, background knowledge plays an essential role in RC Students effort to apprehend a text, students depend on their background knowledge to link what they have already known to the meaning of the text they are reading The influential role

of background knowledge on RC is actually unveiled as early as children’s beginning years Bauer and Fivush (1992; in Pressley, 2000, p 549) determine that even very young children develop schematic representation for repeated events in their lives such as having dinner at home or at a restaurant, celebrating birthday, making cakes, etc Such knowledge enables them to draw inferences from bedtime stories relying on information accumulated in their schemata Therefore, the more abundant the knowledge a child acquires form outside world through experiences and from stories or newspapers, the larger his schematic knowledge tends to be, and the more successful will be his processing of text when he reads

Secondly, the decoding and word recognition speed are two cognitive factors that can affect RC at which readers decodes and recognizes words Decoding refers

to the readers’ ability to make sense of letter-sound relationships, including proper word pronunciation and noticing common letter combinations, in order to quickly recognize familiar words According to Pressley (2000), if the reader is not able to decode, his comprehension will be impaired skilled decoders do not sound unfamiliar word letter by letter, they are rather able to recognize suffixes, prefixes, Lation or Greek roots, ect Decoding is a set of fundamental skills that underlies all

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successful reading Readers who experience difficulty with decoding and recognizing words read at a much slower pace and find it more difficult to apprehend the meaning of reading passages than their peers without decoding difficulties

Thirdly, vocabulary can also have an impact on reading comprehension

Experiments have found out that “a more expensive vocabulary promotes

comprehension skills” (Pressley, 2000, p 548) However, as skilled decoding has a

tendency to affect RC, it also relies much on understanding This means, the more fluency letters are linked to their sounds, the less conscious effort is required for this, and the more capacity is left over for comprehension of words Readers use decoding skills to figure out the pronunciation

Meaning of words they have not seen before, but this process takes far more time than recognition of a familiar word: individuals with a wider vocabulary can interpret the meaning of reading passages faster and more thoroughly than individuals who must guess at the meanings of unfamiliar words based on context clues

Fourthly, fluency of reading allows students to retain information with accuracy, expression and increased speed The capacity to read fluently develop through reading practice As learners become fluent readers, they will spend less time trying to decipher the meaning of words and more time considering the overall meaning of the sentences Over time, fluent readers will strengthen their ability to insightfully respond to a text

Fifthly, reader’s attention and motivation are integral to reading comprehension A reader whose attention is only partly on the reading passage may read the same paragraph several times without understanding what he is reading Readers who lack motivation to penetrate the text may do the bare minimum of reading and understanding necessary for their assignment or class discussion without fully absorbing or interpreting the meaning of what they have read

Finally, the quality of writing can also affect reading comprehension Text that

is poorly organized and difficult to understand can slow reading speed and

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significantly hinder RC Poor quality writing may slow decoding comprehension Poor quality reading material can also cause the readers to lose motivation while reading, which negatively affects the reader’s comprehension of the text

2.3.3 Assessing reading comprehension

Accurate assessment of reading comprehension is necessary to know if this goal is being met, to identify learners who needs remediation, and to help plan future instrument

Reading comprehension can be assessed by means of different procedures, however, none of which can be elected as the best process or the most suitable one This is because no procedure is able to encompass all testing purposes (Alderson,

2000, p 203) According to Alderson (2000, p 205-206), testers can use many typologies to measure learners’ reading: multiple choice questions, short-answer questions, sentence completion, completing summaries and tables, identifying writer’s views and attitudes by yes/ no questions, matching lists and matching phrases The following is a brief discussion of what each assessment method entails according to Alderson (2000)

As stated by Alderson (2000), multiple-choice technique is one of the most popular methods for assessing test taker’s passage understanding In fact, it is the most spread way to test reading with two, three, four or more alternatives This technique can be used frequently in reading textbooks because of its common usage According to Hughes (2003), the test taker supplies indication of reading success by selecting one out of a number of choices Alderson (2000) also said that this technique enables test constructors to check the selection of probable responds to comprehension questions and in some degree to check the test taker’s thinking step when they answer Multiple choice questions technique is a well known procedure for assessing reader’s text processing abilities To answer multiple choice question technique, students can only make resource to their past experience, knowledge and logical thinking

Additionally, the cloze procedure was widely used during the 1970’s as an

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assessment tool of both language and reading abilities Aitken (1977) defines cloze test as “a type of fill-in-the blank test” which is designed by randomly removing words from a prose passage and replacing them with gaps In other words, it resembles “fill in the blank” exercises Its construction is similar with lose test in some aspects It is also defined by Alderson (2000) as a test which is not designed according to pseudo-random procedure and in which the number of words which is between deleted words is maximally five or six Furthermore, Weir (2005) explains this assessing technique as a test in which content words are removed from the passage and test takers have to find the correct word for every gap

Alderson (2000, p 215) notes that matching technique can be defined as a test

in which “two sets of stimuli” have to be paired against each other He exemplifies

this technique with “matching headings for paragraphs to their corresponding

paragraph and titles of books against extracts from each book” In this type of tests,

students are required to match a number of items that combines well with some others For instance, to link titles or main ideas with their relevant paragraph Specially, more items than needed for the matching activity to make sure that learners’ choices are made after alternative processing (Alderson, 2000, p 219) Ordering task is explained by Alderson (2000) that is a mixed group of words, sentences, paragraphs or passages is provided to the test takers and these words or phrases, etc are placed into the correct order by the test takers Comprehending text completely is significant to order the items correctly He points out that even if ordering tasks are charming in the aspect of tester because of accessing the ability to find cohesion, complete passage, or grammar Ordering task is one of the hardest tests to design and establish

Alderson (2000, p 222) considers true/ false question as a test in which the test takers are given with an explanation which is relevant with a target passage and they

have to show “whether this is true or false, or whether the text agrees or disagrees

with the statement" Alderson also points out that the technique in common since it is

constructed easily Infect, this is an easy test to create True/ false questions

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technique involves students in selecting one item out of two to provide answers to questions This method is criticized for its high probability of providing right answers only by guessing at them

Another assessment of RC is short answer test Alderson (2000) defines short answer test is a test in which the students are clearly asked a question which enforces

a short answer including a few words Weir (2005) states that this technique generally necessitates the test takers to write down responds and these responds should be written with a limited number of words This technique allows for the construction of how well readers have comprehend script better than multiple choice questions technique do The favorable way to finish this is obviously to pilot them before the actual use

2.4 Reading speed

2.4.1 The nature of reading speed

Reading speed is the rate at which something is read, often expressed in terms

of words per minute Reading speed is usually determined by the purpose of reading Dechant and Smith (1961, p 222) stated that a complete definition of reading speed should entail reading rate in combination with comprehension The purpose of reading is to apprehend what we read How well we comprehend what we read is determined by our reading speed, the breadth of our vocabulary, and our degree of familiarity with the subject matter Reading rate is used to describe the process of

reading in meaningful groups of words labeled “chunks” (Eskey, 2005, p 568) When it is defined as the “ability to decode so many words per minute'’" Sharing the same idea, Nelson (1948, p 100) conceives reading speeds as “the capacity with

which meanings are accurately grasped" According to him, speed at which one

understands meaning correctly is very essential since it represents an important measure of a reader’s reading competence

2.4.2 The importance of reading speed in EFL

Reading engages the eyes, ears, mouth, and brain Speed reading also engages these senses even more than normal reading because you use your senses and brain

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power even more efficiently

Reading speed plays an important part in reading learning Its significance depends on its task in determining the extent of readers’ fluency According to Fraser

(2007, p 372-373), “the ability to read a text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly and

automatically with little attention to mechanics if reading such as decoding"" EFL

learners often have difficulty in slow reading which tends to cause embarrassment Cohen (1979; in Devine 1988, p 264) finds out that EFL readers have a tendency to spend six times longer than natives to read a text Eskey and Grabe (1988, p 233) affirm that the reading slowness stems primarily from a word by word deciphering which overload their short term memory and intervenes with their reading comprehension

Reading speed has been illustrated as a major variable in reading performance Eskey (1979; in Carrell, 1988, p 1) articulates that reading rate should not be overlooked, when students attain advanced levels of proficiency, they have to be able

to read at a moderate rate and express good comprehension as well However, reading speed has been ignored by both researchers and teachers (Carver, 2000) It is rarely measured either to assess reading development or to identify its problems

He arrests that the rate at which individuals read with accurate comprehension is a main factor which extremely influences readers’ achievement

Rasinsky (2000, p 146) was faced with the discussion that reading speed is nor very considerable as long as the learners are able to elicit meaning from the written material or as they are able to be aware of what is being read Though he strongly agrees that understanding is the end-product of reading, he emphasizes the fact that reading rate should be noticed Because of the importance of reading speed, both the teachers and students should pay attention to improve their reading rate in order to get efficient understanding

2.4.3 Factors hindering reading speed

Researcher believe that there are several factors that tend to affect readers’ speed First, vocalization, means pronouncing the words to oneself when he reads, is

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a factor that may affect our speed Reading aloud is much slower than silent reading because readers’ eyes move faster than ones’ tongue and vocalization takes almost s long as reading aloud When readers vocalize, they tend to read word by word instead of reading through chunks This habit is simply eliminated through conscious effort Otherwise, asking students to put a pencil in their mouths as the read will

solve the problem because “ this will inhibit the physical action of the lips” (Cramer,

1998, p 9)

Another factor which may slow down reading speed is pointing at words with something such as a finger, a pencil or a ruler to pay attention to the word when reading This process reduces readers’ speed into a word-by-word reading According to Badrawi (1992, p 19), although fingers can be used to read faster over

a page, it is a common habit in FL mainly when L2 writing system is different from L1 Encouraging students to fold their hand helps them to get rid of this habit

Additionally, regressive eye movement is one of the criticized habit which effects reading speed When readers move their eyes back to check previous words instead of sweeping steadily forward This slows reading down Even though making regression is a sign of active reading where readers go back to check their predictions or to confirm their understanding of a text, excessive regressions lead to

a very low reading (Badrawi, 1992, p 19)

2.4.4 Measuring reading speed

It is important for readers to monitor reading speed because measuring reading speed give a reader a better idea of where he (she) is as a reader However, most readers have never measured their reading speed And even this is done, readers do not always measure the reading speed accurately Various types of material that readers normally read should be considered when a reader is trying to measure the reading speed accurately since someone’s reading speed fluctuates bases on the type

of material he is reading

When measuring reading speed, it should be concentrated on three measures, all three required to evaluate how readers’ speed reading is progressing

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Average speed measure the number of words the reader can read in a minute

To measure the reader’s average speed, choosing a page of a book and how long does it take him to read the page Then divide the number of words by the minutes taken Reader’s average speed is measured in words per minute

A good reading speed measure should take into account the comprehension of the text, which is measured by the processing speed In order to measure how much the reader understand the text he reads, he needs to answer questions after have the measurement of the average speed

Reader’s memorizing speed is the amount of words he can read and comprehend per minute This number is obtained by multiplying reader’s average speed and processing speed (in percentage)

2.5 Narrow reading

The case for narrow reading is based on the idea that the acquisition of both structure and vocabulary comes from much exposure to a comprehensible context in which learners acquire new structures and words when they understand the main idea

of the context Narrow reading has some processes First, since every writer has their own expressions and a distinctive style, and each topic has its own

vocabulary and discourse, narrow reading familiarizes learners with various styles and vocabulary words Second, background knowledge is a tremendous facilitator of comprehension in reading activity Narrow readers gain more contextual knowledge when they read: The more one person read in one area, the more the person learn about the certain area, and the easier one finds subsequent reading in the area (and the more one acquires of the language) (Krashen, 2004)

2.5.1 Definition of narrow reading

Narrow reading, a term first coined by Krashen over thirty years ago, can be defined as “reading in only one genre, one subject matter, or the work from one

author”(Cho et al, 2005) In the present study, it particularly refers to reading a

serious of thematically related texts Narrow reading has the advantage of providing the increase of the reader ability in reading text with a familiar context which has

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familiar background knowledge that helps the reading text more understandable Another advantage of using narrow reading, students will find several words which are the same word for many times Students get more exposure by learning the new vocabulary words for so many times then, it encourages them to find the meaning of the words by guessing from the context (Cho, Ahn, & Krashen, 2000)

Narrow reading gives a beneficial effect for the students when reading a reading context The teacher gives a reading topic which is familiar for the students

or the topic of the reading passage has become the main issue for some times It helps the students to get the background knowledge from the reading passage Then,

it helps the students to enjoy the reading activity The students will read different versions of the same topic for some times In reading one topic in a one certain area helps the students to dig more information about the style of the reading passage and make the students easier to read the next reading passage It helps the students to understand the reading passage The other thing that must be considered in using narrow reading is that it may motivate the students to read, they read the texts carefully to get the meaning and the message of the texts (Krashen, 2004)

2.5.2 Narrow reading in EFL teaching

The narrow reading approach has been claimed to be one of the main ways to acquire vocabulary incidentally (Krashen, 1989) Vocabulary is a fundamental part

of language learning and a significant means of communication In English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL), learning vocabulary items plays a key role in all language skills (listening, speaking, reading,

and writing) Schmitt (2000, p 55) argued that vocabulary knowledge “is central to

communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language”

Vocabulary is the words used in a language or a text Vocabulary plays an important role for the learners in studying English If the learners do not know a certain vocabulary, then they will have difficulties to understand a certain sentence or word Vocabulary is very important to communicate, especially to understand someone’s

language Biemiller (2001) states that “reading comprehension and vocabulary

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knowledge are strongly correlated" Students have read to understand the meanings

of new words like understanding words from context Limited vocabulary prevents the students from understanding the text Poor readers often read less, because reading is difficult and frustrating for them This means they don’t read enough to improve their vocabulary, which could, in turn, help them comprehend more Learners need to learn vocabulary, especially if they want to communicate or interact with other people Beside that it is also important to understand text in English In the process of acquiring vocabulary will include the process in learning vocabulary, below the explanation about learning vocabulary

Carter and McCarthy (1988) state that “there are three kinds of words that

people should learn." They are sight words, which are learnt automatically, personal

words, which come from students’ experience, and basal words, which go along with the text that students read Narrow reading, hence, fits into the intention of acquiring basal words in relation to vocabulary teaching, Baker (1989) mentions two types of vocabulary instructions They are direct vocabulary instruction and indirect vocabulary instruction The direct vocabulary instruction occurs when the students leam or taught both individual word and word learning strategies explicitly or directly On the other hand, the indirect vocabulary instruction occurs when the students learn vocabulary when they hear or see the words in many different contexts For example, they learn new vocabulary when they talk with other people, hear from the electronic media, or read an article which contains new vocabulary words It is important for the students to acquire vocabulary not only in the direct teaching which the students learn directly from the teacher’s explanation in the classroom The students need to improve their vocabulary by learning from the context of the reading passage

According to Waring (2001), traditionally, vocabulary instruction has focused

on having students look up word meaning and memorize them Students who simply memorize new word meaning frequently have trouble applying the information in definitions and often make mistakes about the meaning To know a word meaning,

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students need to see it in context and learn how its meaning relates to the words around it (Waring, 2001) Most of the words acquired through incidental reading are learned through context Students learn from context by making connection between the new words and the context in which they appear (Nation, 1990) They also learn words through repeated exposure, gaining more comprehension of a word’s meaning and function by seeing it several times in different contexts The researcher like

Krashen also shows that “teaching students how to identify and use contextual clues

is an effective technique for increasing vocabulary acquisition.” When students are

given several sentences that use a word in different ways, they begin to see how a word’s meaning can change and shift depending on its context For example,

consider the changes in the word got, as it appears in the following sentences:

John got a cold

John got rich

John got a note from Jenny

John got into trouble

Although in most of these examples got convey the idea of receiving, the meaning is

slightly different for each one Students need to see the word in different contexts in order to learn them thoroughly

Students get benefits from seeing the same words for several times Word meanings are accumulated gradually According to Andrew (2001), a word that is encountered has about 10 percents chance of being learned from context When students see a word repeatedly, they gather more and more information about it until they acquire an idea of what it means Andrew (2001) has summarized the four stages of word knowledge as follows:

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The more exposure students have to a word, the more likely it is that they would be able to define, comprehend, and remember it Good vocabulary instruction builds repetition into the learning process, so that students can learn words more quickly Using and applying several examples of a word in different context reinforce word knowledge Students will encounter new vocabulary words (unfamiliar words) multiple times in multiple and varied contexts during the reading processes Arguably, this results resulted the “incidental learning” when students learn the new vocabulary words (Garder, 2008) It shows that students get helped from the multiple exposure during they read various texts with one certain topic or a certain author If so, the theory of multiple exposures in different contexts is very suitable with the theory of narrow reading The readers will have the same experience when they read several texts with the same topic and they will get the multiple exposures in acquiring the new vocabulary words

The study aimed to seek the answer to the following questions:

1 Will narrow reading help to increase EFL learners’ reading speed?

2 How does narrow reading affect EFL learners’ reading comprehension?

3.2 Participants

To collect data for the research, a study was carried out among EFL students

at a high school in Nghe An province The school is situated in a mountainous area, and thus students have a lot of difficulties learning a foreign language Though they have been learning English for at least four years at secondary school with approximately three hours a week, they hardly had chance to communicate with foreigners The English curriculum for these students is nation wide used At the time of experiment, the participants were following an English program that consisted of reading, speaking, listening, writing and grammar lessons This program occupied roughly five periods of 45 minutes a week

The participants had passed the general test which aimed to divide the students into two groups so that the groups had similar English background Group

A was the experimental group which trained with the narrow reading and group B was the control group, which did not do any narrow reading

3.3 Materials

The instruments study includes three tests: a general test, the pre-test and the post-test The general test is a standardized test designed for English language learners This test aimed at measuring the participants’ English knowledge to make sure the control group and experimental group were at similar levels

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The pre-test and the post-test were designed in such a way that they contained similar numbers of words and the topic were femiliar with the participants The tests were used to evaluate students’ reading comprehension and reading speed

During the treatment, six reading texts taken from the English 10 textbook were used The lesson plans were similar, except for the narrow reading that the treatment group did

The first text is from unit 8 named “The story of my village” Three other reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment

to assess students reading comprehension The second text is from unit 9 named

“Undersea World” Three other reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts was about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The third text

is from unit 10 named “Conservation” Three other narrow reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The fourth text is from unit 11 named “National Park” Three other narrow reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The fifth text is from unit 12 named “Music” Three other narrow reading texts about the same topic were taken from the Internet Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension The last text is from unit 13 named “Film and Cinema” Three other narrow reading texts taken from the Internet for treatment group Each of texts contained about 250 words and was accompanied by one comprehension assignment to assess students reading comprehension