skkn APPLYING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS IN TEACHING READING NEW TEXTBOOK – tiếng anh 10

Types of graphic organizers employed in the study 7 6.1 Data analysis and discussion of the students’ survey questionnaire 12 6.1.1 Students’ attitude towards reading skill 12 6.1.2 S

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 Types of graphic organizers employed in the study 7

6.1 Data analysis and discussion of the students’ survey

questionnaire

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6.1.1 Students’ attitude towards reading skill 12

6.1.2 Students’ difficulties when learning reading 13

References Appendices

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

I Reasons for the study

Reading is an essential skill for English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) For many, reading is the most important skill to master With strengthened reading skills, ESL/ EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic areas In Vietnam, English is taught and learned in a non – native environment so reading is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place According to Carrell (1984:1): ―for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language This is also true to the students at Ha Huy Tap High School since the reading skill offers them a wide range of interesting information as well as a variety of language expressions and structures which are of great usefulness for developing other language skills When dealing with a reading lesson, students find it hard to overcome some challenges in the classroom In addition to that, teachers are facing to their own problem as well when a new text book are introduced It means that most of their previous traditional methods should be changed to adjust to their new teaching object and new textbook

One of the effective solutions to help both of them is using graphic organizers Graphic organizers actually have the power and potential to enhance the learning ability of students in all age groups Use of graphic organizers as visual tools for visual learners of comprehension will make comprehending a reading text easy and fun for students Through the use of graphic organizers, students are able to gain a better understanding of the underlying concepts that can be found within what is being read, allowing them to isolate text that is not important to their learning This will also enable teachers to determine main ideas so that they can help students entire stories from their reading

It is hoped that this study will provide classroom English teachers as well

as their students with an in – depth understanding about how and what they

should with do with graphic organizers in reasearch entitled “APPLYING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS IN TEACHING READING NEW TEXTBOOK – TIENG ANH 10” to keep the students much more involved in the reading process

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II Aims of the study

This study is aimed at giving out a brief overview on graphic organizers, gaining an insightful look into the application of graphic organizers with a view to motivate students’ reading at Ha Huy Tap high school

III Methods of the study

The study was carried out on the basis of material collection, survey questionnaire and class observation, aimed to determine whether graphic organizers are able to enhance students’ motivation o r have a positive affect on the ability

of students to make sense of what they read The author used data collection instrument to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students when they used graphic organizers throughout the research, and determine the effectiveness of the graphs based on survey questionnaire and class observation

IV Scope of the study

In general, reading lessons are not so exciting as students expect or many of them do not want to answer comprehension questions according to their favorite learning styles Therefore, within this study, my purpose is to carry the research on using grapic organizers to motivate and enhance student thinking skills through the reading text by using images or visual illustrations instead of responding the

questions given in the textbook

V New features in the study’s result

In my innovation, there are a lots of interesting graphic organizers which have high effectiveness and wide application And these available activities, which were suitably adapted for all levels of students, can help create environment for students

to develop student’s reading skill and for teachers to use flexibly in their teaching

Part II CONTENT

I THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND

1 The importance of reading skill

Reading is a very important language learning skill It helps students improve all parts of the English language – vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and writing Improve and use their reading skills and they will improve all English skills

2 Stages of reading

A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are

pre-reading stage, while- pre-reading stage and post-pre-reading stage Each of these stages carries its own features and purposes and requires different techniques and strategies (William, 1984:37)

A reading lesson can be divided into three stages which are pre-reading stage, while-reading stage and post-reading stage Each of these stages carries its own features and purposes and requires different techniques and strategies (William, 1984:37)

2.1 Pre-Reading

Pre-reading stage has been considered as an effective learning tool to better comprehend reading texts and to avoid possible failure in understanding and extracting information during the reading processes They are commonly used to prepare students to understand what they are about to read Many studies have found pre-reading activities as facilitative for comprehension of texts as it links the learner's prior knowledge with understanding the text in hand It is claimed that such pre- reading activities are challenging and motivating in the sense that they challenge students to recall their previous knowledge Ringler, L H., & Weber, C K (1984)

called pre-reading activities enabling activities as they elicit prior knowledge,

provide background and focus attention They pointed out that such experiences involve understanding the purposes for reading and building the necessary knowledge needed for dealing with the content and the structure of the material

In this early stage, teachers are expected to motivate students to read, especially

by activating or building students‟ background knowledge of the subject and familiarizing them with some of the language needed in coping with the text According to Williams (1984:37), the purposes of the pre-reading stage are:

- To introduce and arouse interest in the topic

- To motivate learners by giving a reason for reading

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- To provide some language preparation for the text

Normally, pre-reading phase often lasts from two to ten minutes depending on each lesson Before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to take the objectives of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, the students‟ needs into account

2.2 While-Reading

While- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson Without this stage, the students will lose the chance to deal with the text to understand the writer‟s purpose and clarify the text’s content in detail Williams (1984:38) points out the aims of the while- reading stage:

- To help to understand of the writer‟s purpose

- To help to understand of the text structure

- To clarify the text

He also gives the teacher some questions to ask himself in order to deal with the above mentioned aims:

1 What is the function of this text?

2 How is the text organized or developed? (e.g.: a narrative, an explanation with various examples, an argument and counter argument)

3 What content or information is extracted from the text?

4 What may the reader anger or deduce from the text?

5 What language may be learned from the text?

6 What reading styles may be practiced?

It is clear that, question (1) deals with the aims of understanding, the writer’s purpose, and question (2) helps to recognize the text structure and the rest help to clarify the text content The answers to these questions will be a guide for the teacher in this stage Depending on their answers, the teacher will choose suitable activities for students which focus them on exploiting the meaning of the text, and develop their reading skills Concerning the while- reading stage‟s activities, in his research, William (1984:39) has a more generating idea: “While- reading work should begin with a general or global understanding of the text, then move eto te smaller units such as paragraphs, sentences and words

2.3 Post-reading

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The post reading stage is the final but not the least important stageof a reading lesson because it is the time for students to apply what theyhave got from the text into real life communication In William’s opinion( 1984: 39) , the post reading stage aims at:

- to consolidate or reflect uopn what has been read

- to relate the text to the learner’s own knowledge interest or views

In summary, each of the reading stage carries its own aims and activities It is very effective if these three stages are combined flexibly and appropriately for an efficient reading lesson In the while- reading stage, it is neccesary to help students improve and develope sub- reading skills such as skimming, scanning or reading for details

If the students can acquire these skills, it is easier for them to understand efficiently the significance of the text To acquire these skills, students may be instructed to take part in various tasks or activities acording to each skill There are numerous tasks or activities in this stage The teacher should be flexible in choosing them for their reading lessons

3 What are graphic organizers?

A graphic organizer is a visual frame used to represent knowledge and understanding of a subject matter by arranging important aspects of a concept or topic into logical pattern using labels There are many types of graphic organizers namely maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, or clusters Each of these patterns can be expressed in different layouts but they have similar purposes that portray the relationship between facts, terms or ideas within a learning task In reading lessons, graphic organizers can be efficiently used in all lessons for students of all ages to check not only students, understanding but also motivate and improve their critical thinking In the words of Krasnic [6; p.24] students are able to clear their thoughts and sharpen their thinking by organizing and connecting key concepts related to what they are reading from the text This process can help students to enhance their critical thinking, a kind of cognitive activity appearing in many of cognitive process of language learning

4 Types of graphic organizers employed in the study

During my teaching process, four basic graphic organizers namely cause & effect map, problem & solution map, compare & contrast matrix, and KWL chart will be described The value of these organizers will be discussed and followed by their application in English reading lessons at upper secondary schools in Vietnam

4.1 Cause & effect map

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A cause and effect map is one of the effective organizers used to show relationships of all factors (causes) that lead to the given situation (effect) It is usually preceded by cause and effect analysis The teacher uses this organizer to help students realize that there are many causes that contribute an effect It also graphically displays the connections of the causes to the effect to each other Students can do this task individually, in pairs or in groups and then share what the information

in the diagram with the others

4.2 Problem & solution map

The critical thinking necessary to problem-solve by posting and evaluating solutions is an important skill the students need throughout their lives Being able to write clearly and persuasively about proposed solutions is as important as being able

to think clearly and logically in formulating solutions This reading guide helps students organize and write about problems and proposed solutions This activity is also applied into a writing class where students are aware of the relevant problem and discuss reliable methods Students can do this task individually and then share what the information in the diagram with their partner or their group members

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4.3 Compare & contrast matrix

The compare and contrast matrix has a wide variety of classroom applications English teachers can use it as a means of comparing different historical events, geographical regions, cultural and traditional differences or political systems Students are able to clearly see similarities and differences between more than one

by using this type of graphic organizer This reading activity can be done in the whole

class, in groups or individually

4.4 KWL chart

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A K-W-L [7; p.1] chart helps students understand what they know (K), what they want to know (W), and what they learned (L) when reading or researching a

topic This is an effective visual tool to improve students by tapping their prior

knowledge and letting them set their own purposes for learning By analyzing the L

column, both the teacher and students can evaluate students’ grasp of knowledge or content Then the teacher can make plans to enrich concepts or to remedy

misconceptions

KWL

What I Know

What I want

to know

What I learnt

4.5 Network tree

Graphic organizer can help students organize facts and information related to the reading text A network tree is a type of graphic organizer that show connections

A network tree is made up of a series of oval of two or three different sizes connected

by many branches to show how facts and information develop from a main idea or a topic Also, this organizer is often used to indicate a work cooperation, a hierarchy

or branding procedure The main type of question for this organizer are: what is the superordinate category? What are the subordinate categories? How are they related? How many levels are there? Students can do it themselves , in pairs or on groups and then share what they have done with others

5.1.2 Teachers

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Three teachers who have been teaching English at Ha Huy Tap High School were invited to join the research All of the teachers under the investigation have ever taught grade 10, and all of them were teaching in the academic school year 2019-

2020 when the study was carried out The problem was that this was the first time they had ever taught with the new textbook and they had had little chance to be formally trained how to deal with it before or to access to the new cirriculum beforehand As a result, they were confused about detailing their teaching activities In addition to that, there was difficulty in finding the teaching materials

or references to support for the designing their lessons apart from the textbooks and the teacher’s books The results from these teachers will give an objective view on how to improve students’ reading ability and how their teaching will be better

All participants took part in the survey by responding to the two kinds of questionnaires, one for students and one for teachers

5.2 Textbook and Reading materials

The reading materials used in the study consisted of selected texts from new English Textbook 10 (learner-centered and communicative approach with theme-based teaching) published by Education Publishing House and Pearson In the textbook, there are 10 units with diverse topics related to 4 themes: Our lives, Our society, Our environment, Our future Five sections were included in one unit namely: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project There are some samples based on the new English textbook for grade 10 in which such common organizers are appropriately applied It is hoped that English teachers will have a better insight into graphic organizes and become confident to integrate these effective tools into their reading classroom practice The study was conducted when the participants were in the second semester when they had already had knowledge about basic structures as well as vocabulary in textbook

of grade 10 Therefore, the author found that it matched with the objectives of the learning program and students’ levels of proficiency

6 Data analysis and discussion

6.1 Data analysis and discussion of the students’ survey questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed with three parts with 12 questions Part one was to explore the students’ attitudes towards reading tasks Part two aimed at collecting information about students’ difficulties when learning reading and students’ expectation towards teachers’ reading techniques

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6.1.1 Students’ attitude towards reading skill

As shown in chart 1, most of the students in the survey have positive attitude towards reading 25 % of them find reading skill very important and 62,5% rather important Only a small number of them undervalue reading lessons (about 6 %) In fact, many students think that their major purpose of learning English is to pass all compulsory exams and reading account for 40% in the national exam so reading is very necessary for them In addition to that, they can learn vocabulary, grammar easily from reading passages However, a certain number of students (6 %) do not highly appreciate the

it as a result of its difficulty and bore More than 48% of them think the reading tasks

in the text book are difficult and 31,7% find them difficult It is clear that those two factors are also the main reasons that make the students reluctant to do the reading

tasks

Chart 1 Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading skill and their evaluation of the reading tasks

6.1.2 Students’ difficulties when learning reading

Chart 2 represents problems which students are facing when dealing with reading tasks Actually, there are several elements that can be counted on The most difficult problem is the limited capacity of vocabulary and grammatical structures 48,8% students in the survey assumed that if they experienced lots of new or difficult vocabulary and grammatical structures from the text, their capacity of reading would surely be decreased The next one (14,7%) is the lack of appropriate reading strategies It is obvious that students cannot do reading tasks easily if they do not

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have appropriate reading strategies Therefore, it is very important for teachers to suggest their students essential reading strategies needed for each kind of reading tasks 23.4% students blamed on the lack of background knowledge to the topic of the reading text 12,2% students thought that they did not have enough time for their reading

From the above respondents, it could be safe to conclude that the biggest problem is the limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures Reading strategies are found to be a less challenge than vocabulary and grammatical structures In the area

of background knowledge, students find that they do not know anything in some aspects Therefore, they have many difficulties when reading a strange topic Some possible explanation considered by the researcher is that grade-10 students have very limited vocabulary, focus much on new words, lack of suitable techniques and are too dependent on teachers or dictionaries

Chart 2 Problems students face when learning reading

6.2 Data analysis and discussion of the teachers’ survey questionnaire

The questionaire (with 7 questions) completed by the teachers covered three main things The first questions are what difficulties they are facing and then their suggestions to improve it

48.8%

24.3%

12.2%

14.7%

Students’ limitation of vocabulary & grammatical structures

Students’ lack of background knowledge

Time limitation

Students’ lack of appropriate reading techniques

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Obviously, all of the teachers have positive attitude toward reading skill They know how important and beneficial reading skill is to their students However, at least one among three of them think that the reading task in the new textbook is repeated boringly and sometimes difficult to students Three of them admitted having adapting some reading tasks in oder to motivate their students or simplify the tasks but they met a lot of challenges for not being trained beforehand with the new textbook Beside some problems coming from their students like their limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, or lack of reading strategies, they themselves had to make great effort to help their students overcome difficulties in reading tasks

In short, the data analysis of the questionnaires at Ha Huy Tap High school has provided primary important information concerning the students‟ difficulties, what they do in as well as what they would like their teachers to do to help them read more effectively Having studied the above points, we realized that there were some major problems faced the students These problems will be discussed

in the next section – the findings of the study

II SOLUTION

In reading lessons, graphic organizers can be efficiently used in all lessons for students of all ages to check not only students, understanding but also motivate and make their lessons more interesting

Sample 1: Unit 3- Tiếng Anh 10- Student book 1, p.29- Education

Publishing House and Pearson

Objectives: By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

- State the history and development of Idol program

Stage: Pre-reading / While-reading

Time allowed: 10 minutes

Procedure:

- ask students to work in groups and help students brainstorm the ideas with

the questions “ What do you know about the Idol ?”

- write the information the students brainstorm about the topic in the K

(know) column

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- record the questions the students have about the topic in the W (want to know)

column This establishes a purpose for reading or researching

- ask students to read, research, and discuss the topic

- place the new information in the L (learned) column

- discus with students whether they can now confirm or deny any statements listed

in the K column

K

What (I) we know

W What (I) we want to

know

L What (I) we learned

Expected answer:

K

What (I) we know

W What (I) we want to

know

L What (I) we learned

- The Idol format

came from the

- When did American Idol begin?

- When will American Idol end?

- Pop Idol, created by the British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, is a music competition which began on British ITV on October 6, 2001 to select the best new young pop singer in the UK based on viewer voting and participation

-Vietnam Idol is part of the Idol franchised of the original

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voted by the

audience and TV

viewers

- The first season of

Vietnam Idol aired

-American Idol began in 2002 and will end its 15-year run after the upcoming season, finishing in 2016

Sample 2: Unit 9- Tiếng Anh 10- Student book 2, p.41- Education

Publishing House and Pearson

Objectives: By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

- List out the causes and effects of four types of polution

- Recognize their duty of protecting the environment

Stage: While-reading

Time allowed: 10 minutes

Procedure:

- Divide students into 4 groups

- Deliver the cause & effect map template for students

Group 1: air pollution

Group 2: noise pollution

Group 3: water pollution

Group 4: soil pollution

- Ask students to list the topic or problem explored in the center of the organizer

- Each group discuss the causes and effects of one type of polution