Effects of reciprocal teaching model on 10th grade students reading comprehension skill at vung cao viet bac high school

Effects of reciprocal teaching model on 10th grade students reading comprehension skill at vung cao viet bac high school Effects of reciprocal teaching model on 10th grade students reading comprehension skill at vung cao viet bac high school

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

––––––––––––––––––––––

NGUYEN THI YEN

EFFECTS OF RECIPROCAL TEACHING MODEL

ON 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION SKILL

AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

–––––––––––––––––––

NGUYEN THI YEN

EFFECTS OF RECIPROCAL TEACHING MODEL

ON 10TH GRADE STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION SKILL

AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare that this research report entitled “Effects of Reciprocal Teaching

Bac high school ” has been composed by myself, and describes my own work,

unless otherwise acknowledged in the text I confirm that this work is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master at Thai Nguyen University This work has not been and will not be submitted for any other degree at

any other institution of higher education

Author’s Signature:

Ngu n Thị Yến

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Ngu n Thị Minh Loan, Ph.D

Date: November 2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Loan for her helpful and timely encouragement as well as her insightful comments on my work from the beginning to the end of the study Without these, the thesis could not have been completed

Secondly, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the cooperation from 50 students of 10A16 class at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school who have been willing to participate in the study I am very grateful to all of them for providing detailed information for the analysis of the study

I would also acknowledge my great gratitude to all the lecturers at School of Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University for their valuable lectures, which have contributed to lay the foundation for this thesis

Thirdly, I take this opportunity to show my gratitude to my colleagues and friends for their great help and comments Without their help, this study could not have been fulfilled

Last but not least, I must express my gratitude to my beloved family - my parents, my husband and my sons whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of strength that has helped me to complete this thesis

ABSTRACT

The main objective of this study was to solve the problem of the students‟ low reading comprehension by using Reciprocal Teaching Model (RTM) The researcher then investigated the effectiveness of using RTM to enhance the students' reading comprehension and explored their attitude towards the teaching and learning reading with this model Based on the aims, the researcher conducted the study in 10 weeks with the participation of 50 students of grade 10 at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school The data of the study was gathered through an action research The pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire were chosen to be the data collection instruments to find out the effects of RTM on the students‟ reading comprehension after the intervention In this study, the researcher as the teacher adopted Kemmis and McTaggart‟s action research procedure It was shown through the statistic data that there was a remarkable improvement in the students‟ reading comprehension after the intervention and most of the students had positive attitudes and good behavior towards the model taught by the researcher It was concluded that using RTM was one of the good ways to enhance the students' reading comprehension and it exerted the students' positive attitudes in learning reading Finally, further some implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies were included in this study

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF DIAGRAMS x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Organization of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Reading comprehension 5

2.1.1 Definition of reading comprehension 5

2.1.2 Levels of reading comprehension 6

2.1.3 The current reading models used in English language teaching 8

2.2 Reciprocal Teaching 13

2.2.1 Definition of terms 13

2.2.2 Model of Reciprocal Teaching in teaching and learning reading comprehension 15

2.2.3 The Implementation of Reciprocal Teaching 17

2.3 Attitude in language learning 18

2.3.1 Definition of attitude 18

2.3.2 Importance of attitude in language learning 19

2.4 Previous studies about using Reciprocal teaching model in reading comprehension 20

2.5 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research design 25

3.1.1 Rationale 25

3.1.2 Model of action research 25

3.2 Participants 27

3.3 Data collection instruments 28

3.3.1 Reading Comprehension Test 28

3.3.2 Questionnaire 29

3.4.Teaching materials 30

3.5.Data collection procedure 31

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 40

1 Findings 40

1.1 Findings from the Reading Comprehension Test 40

1.1.1 Findings of the pre-test 40

1.1 2 Findings of the post-test 41

1.1.3 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test 43

1.2 Findings from the questionnaire 45

1.2.1 The students‟ viewpoints toward learning reading through RTM 45

1.2.2 The students‟ feelings toward the using RTM 48

1.2.3 The students‟ learning behaviors after using RTM 50

2 Discussion 51

2.1 Research question 1: To what extent does Reciprocal Teaching Model improve the students' reading comprehension? 51

2.2 Research question 2: What is the students‟ attitudes toward the use of Reciprocal Teaching Model? 53

2.2.1 The viewpoints of students towards the benefits of RTM 54

2.2.2 The feelings of the students towards RTM in their reading comprehension 54

2.2.3 The students‟ learning behaviors after using RTM 55

3 Summary 56

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 57

5.1 Conclusion 57

5.2 Implications 58

5.2.1 For teachers 58

5.2.1 For students 59

5.3 Limitations of the study 59

5.4 Suggestions for future research 60

REFERENCES I APPENDIX 1: Reading comprehension test ……… VII

APPENDIX 2: A Questionnaire on Student‟s Attitudes XI APPENDIX 3: RESULTS OF THE TESTS XVI APPENDIX 4: LESSON PLANS XVIII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

RTM: Reciprocal Teaching Model

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: One - sample statistics 40

Table 2: Frequency of the pre - test scores 40

Table 3: One - sample statistics 41

Table 4: Frequency of the post - test scores 42

Table 5: Paired Samples Statistics 44

Table 6: Paired Samples Correlations 44

Table 7: Paired Samples Test 44

Table8: The students‟ viewpoints toward learning reading through Reciprocal Teaching model 46

Table 9: The students‟ feeling toward the use of Reciprocal Teaching model 48

Table 10: The students‟ learning behaviors after using Reciprocal Teaching model 50

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Action research model (from Kemmis, Mc Taggart & Retallic, 2004) 26

Figure 2: Results of the pre – test scores 41

Figure 3: Results of the post – test scores 42

Figure 4: Comparision of the pre – test and post – test scores 43

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Reading is one of the four skills which need to be learned beside listening, speaking, and writing Reading has the considerable role in the language teaching to strengthen the skills which are acquired by students in listening, speaking, and writing (Maxom, 2009: 139) Reading skill affects the other skills learning process Besides, students have to be able to achieve reading competencies as urged by the national curriculum The role of reading in success of the language learners and students is undeniable Rivers (1981) finds reading a plausible activity and a significant source of input in classes Chastain (1988) regards reading a suitable source to give large amounts of data to learners The exploratory studies conducted on reading problems of second and foreign language learners in different contexts has revealed that mastering the reading skill has been a cumbersome issue in some contexts

However, students find out reading is the most difficult skills to master They can not understand the content of the English texts well For example, after reading

a text, they do not manage to tell what the text is about Furthermore, they can not answer the questions related to the text correctly This difficulty was caused by some problems Therefore, reading at the secondary and higher school still becomes

a problem for students Alderson (1984) states that when the students are confronted with a reading text, they seem to read with limited understanding Furthermore, students mostly are still experiencing reading difficulties in reading learning process Most problems are lack of vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structures, difficulties in discovering the meaning of words in context and also improper classroom activities Inadequate vocabulary makes them stumble at each sentence, and soon they begin to lose their patience with and interest in reading This is because if students face a difficult text with many unknown words, the students will look for it in a dictionary many times This will make students become bored and lose their interest in reading

Strategies are key to help with reading compression There are a variety of strategies used to teach reading Brown & Palincsar (1984) developed a strategy

called Reciprocal Teaching that taught students to predict, summarize, clarify, and ask questions for sections of a text The use of strategies like summarizing after each paragraph have come to be seen as effective strategies for building students' comprehension The idea is that students will develop stronger reading comprehension skills on their own if the teacher gives them explicit mental tools for unpacking text Reciprocal teaching is an instruction model which is first developed by Palincsar and Brown in 1984 As stated by Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2007: 131), the reciprocal teaching is an instruction that is developed to help students who can decode the language but have difficulty in comprehending the text

At Vung Cao Viet Bac High School, Thai Nguyen Province, a majority of students in grade 10 had difficulty in reading comprehension Based on the observation conducted in the tenth grade of Vung Cao Viet Bac high school, the researcher found that the students‟ reading comprehension was still low It could

be seen in the learning process that the students faced difficulties in comprehending an English text They needed a lot of time to understand texts They also faced difficulties in understanding sentences and finding the meaning of the sentences in a paragraph, which caused difficulties for the students in answering questions following the text As the result, their scores in reading were low The researcher also found that the students‟ reading interest was low Most of them were passive in the reading class Moreover, they were unable to connect the ideas in a passage and had trouble summarizing what was read and connecting what was read to prior knowledge In a word, this lack of adequate reading strategies was an obvious and serious obstacle for many students in learning

English and improving their reading comprehension skill

Based on some problems that had been discussed, it was very important to conduct a study as an effort to improve the students‟ reading comprehension Therefore, the researcher would like to carry out a study on Reciprocal teaching model to improve the 10th grade students‟ reading comprehension skills at Vung

Cao Viet Bac High School

1.2 Aims of the study

This study was designed to examine the effects of Reciprocal Teaching Model on the 10th grade students‟ reading comprehension Based on the aim above,

this study addressed the following research questions:

1 To what extent does Reciprocal Teaching Model improve the students' reading comprehension?

2 What is the students’ attitudes toward the use of Reciprocal Teaching Model?

1.3 Scope of the study

The study was conducted with the participation of 50 students in grade 10 at Vung Cao Viet Bac High School in Thai Nguyen Province Four specific strategies proposed by Brown & Palincsar (1984) namely: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing were used in the study

1.4 Significance of the study

This study was significant for several reasons Firstly, it expanded the limited research into the Reciprocal Teaching model for Vietnamese learners, particularly for students at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school Secondly, the study had many important implications for training high school students in the strategy use Finally, the findings of the research was a useful reference for other teachers who had made efforts enhancing students‟ reading comprehension skill

1.5 Organization of the study

This thesis consists of five chapters Chapter I, Introduction, presents the

background to the study, states the aim of the study, lists the research questions, the

significance, the scope and the design of the study Chapter II, Literature review,

provides some issues relating to Reciprocal Teaching model This chapter contains two sections: an overview of reading comprehension, models of teaching reading comprehension, the problem of reading comprehension; and an overview of Reciprocal Teaching Model in terms of rationale, training models, the

implementation and the previous studies on RTM Chapter III, Methodology,

provides a detailed description of the research methods including: research question,

data collection instruments, subjects, procedures, and data analysis of the study

Chapter IV, Results and Discussion reports and discusses the results of the study Finally, Chapter V, Implications and Conclusion offers some implications for

training RTM for students at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school, points out limitations, recommends directions for future research, and makes a final conclusion

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses the theory and research into the areas that form the underpinnings for this study The chapter is divided into four sections The first section provides an overview of reading comprehension in terms of definition of reading comprehension, levels of reading comprehension and the current reading models The second section presents Reciprocal Teaching Model in terms of definition of terms, model of Reciprocal teaching in learning reading comprehension, and the implementation of Reciprocal teaching The third section is mainly about attitude in language teaching The last section proposes previous studies about using Reciprocal Teaching model in reading comprehension

2.1 Reading comprehension

2.1.1 Definition of reading comprehension

There are many definitions of reading comprehension According to Smith and Robinson (1980), reading comprehension means the understanding, evaluating utilizing of information and gained through the interaction between reader and author Reading comprehension means understanding what has or have been read Reading is a complex process in which the reader uses mental content to contain the meaning from written materials it means that the reader is supposed to recognize the meaning of printed words (Smith:1980:27) It can be said that reading comprehension is the capability to understand or grasp it ideas of one passage Reading comprehension refers to reading with comprehension Reading comprehension is a complex process which comprises the successful or unsuccessful use of many abilities

Reading comprehension can be defined as the ability to understand a text, to analyze the information, and to interpret correctly what the writer is stating According to Grabe and Stoller (2002:17), “no one process defines reading comprehension by itself, but together they provide a fairly accurate account of the processes required for fluent reading.” In a similar earlier work, Janzen and Stoller (1998) identified ten processes or strategies of reading comprehension as being the following: “identifying a purpose for reading, previewing, predicting, asking

questions, checking predictions or finding and answer to the questions, connecting the text to prior knowledge, summarizing, connecting one part of the text to another, and recognizing text structure”

According to Veeravagu, et al (2010:206) reading comprehension is defined

as “a thinking process by which a reader selects facts, information, or ideas from printed materials; determines the meanings the author intended to transmit; decide how they relate to previous knowledge; and judge their appropriateness and worth for meeting the learner‟s own objectives”

Harris and Hodges (1995, p 39) states that reading comprehension is the construction of the meaning of a written or spoken communication through a reciprocal, holistic interchange of ideas between the interpreter and the message The presumption here is that meaning resides in the intentional problem-solving, thinking processes of the interpreter, that the content of the meaning is influenced by that person‟s prior knowledge and experience

In this study, the researcher used the definition of Harris & Hodges (1995) because of the following reasons Firstly, the researcher realised that this definition offers the most comprehensive and instructionally useful definition of reading comprehension Secondly, noteworthy in this definition is the meaning construction Reading comprehension is not simply the recall of information encountered in text Reciprocal implies that that the reader brings something to reading comprehension–

it is not just the information in the text; the information that the reader already possesses also influences the construction of meaning Besides, problem-solving, thinking processes suggest that the reader is actively involved in attempting to construct meaning Readers filter the text through their own background knowledge and other tendency that affect how they interpret text

2.1.2 Levels of reading comprehension

To know to what extent students have understood the content of the text, some experts have proposed some levels of reading comprehension Four levels of comprehension as identified by Burns et al (1999) are discussed They are literal

comprehension, interpretive / inferential comprehension, critical reading, and creative comprehension Each of which can be described in the following section

2.1.2.1 Literal Comprehension

Burns et al (1999, p 255) explain that literal reading comprehension involves acquiring information that is directly stated in the text It is a prerequisite for higher level understanding To be better in this comprehension one should have

a thorough understanding of vocabulary, sentence meaning, and paragraph meaning They also say that the basis of the literal comprehension is recognizing stated main idea and details Details in reading mean the specific explicitly-stated parts of a paragraph or passage that contains the basic information Main idea is the central thought around which a whole paragraph is organized It is often expressed in a topic sentence Moreover, it is stated that recognizing and understanding the cause and effect relationship as well as sequence in a written passage is also important to

be the basis of literal reading comprehension Finding out the cause and effect relationship in the reading text is considered as literal skill when the relationship is explicitly stated Sequence, the order in which events in a paragraph or passage occur, can be identified by time-order words, for example now, before, when, while, yet, after, and so on Furthermore, they say that the next basis for literal reading comprehension is direction The ability to read and follow directions is prerequisite for successful school work It involves understanding details and sequence; therefore, the exercises under the headings are appropriate to use in teaching students to follow written direction

2.1.2.2 Interpretive/inferential Reading Comprehension

Based on Burn et al.‟s opinion (1999, p 263), interpretive reading involves making inference or reading between the lines Moreover, they explain that it is the process of deriving ideas that are implicitly stated Skills included in this comprehension are 1) inferring the implicit main idea of the passages, 2) inferring cause and effect relationship which are not directly stated, 3) inferring referents of pronouns, 4) inferring referents of adverbs, 5) inferring omitted words, 6) detecting

mood, 7) detecting the author‟s purpose in writing, and 8) drawing conclusions

2.1.2.3 Critical Reading Comprehension

Critical reading is evaluating written material-comparing the ideas discovered in the material with known standards and drawing conclusions about their accuracy, appropriateness, and timeliness The critical reader must be an active reader, questioning, searching for facts, and suspending judgment until he or she has considered all the material Critical reading depends on both literal and interpretive comprehension, and grasping implied ideas is especially important

2.1.2.4 Creative Reading Comprehension

Creative reading involves going beyond the material presented by the author Like critical reading, creative reading requires readers to think as they read, and it also requires them to use their imagination Such reading results in the production

of new ideas To go beyond the material in the text, readers must make use of their background schemata, combining this prior knowledge with ideas from the text to produce a new response based on, but not completely dictated by, the text Therefore creative readers must be skilled in the following areas: a) predicting outcomes, b) visualization, c) solving problems, d) improving story presentation, and e) producing new creations (Burn et al., 1999, pp 293-296)

2.1.3 The current reading models used in English language teaching

In the following section, five models of reading were discussed in turn: Rumelhurt‟s Interactive Model (1977), Stanovich‟s (1980) Interactive-Compensatory Model, Construction-Integration Model, Verbal Efficiency Theory of Reading, and Compensatory-Encoding Model Discussion of these models was followed by a critical overview with the focus on the cognitive aspects of reading

2.1.3.1 Rumelhart’s Interactive Model of Reading

Since the information in top-down and bottom-up models is passed along in one direction only and the information contained in higher stages does not influence the information in lower stages, these models could not account for a number of well-known occurrences, such as making inferences, which take place while reading Thus, to remove this deficiency, Rumelhart (1977) proposed an interactive model of reading This model, which is a combination of both top-down

and bottom-up strategies, is now widely considered a comprehensive explanation

of how we derive the meaning of a written text Rumelhart (1977) developed this model based on the fact that meaning does not reside in the text alone, but is a co-construction of the writer‟s text and the reader‟s interpretation

In this model, the process starts with the information picked up by the eyes in the form of visual features, registered in a visual information store, and then sent to the central component of the model, the pattern synthesizer, at the first stage Then a wide variety of sources of information about letter shapes and orthography (including what is semantically and syntactically acceptable in the language, the contextual situation, and information in the mental lexicon) is drawn up from long-term memory into working memory Finally, the pattern synthesizer uses this information to work out the more probable interpretation of the text During this process, the already- made hypothesis is confirmed, strengthening connections and built- up layers of interpretation by pausing over individual words and syntactic patterns and their relationship with other words and phrases (Macaro, 2003) There fore, the reader is involved in deriving the meaning of the text and making inferences through a constant interaction between the surface structure of the text and his own knowledge of the topic

2.1.3.2 Stanovich’s Interactive-Compensatory Model

Stanovich‟s (1980) interactive-compensatory model was a refinement of Rumelhart‟s (1977) interactive model in explaining skilled and unskilled reading It

is based on the principle that a process at any level can compensate for deficiencies

at any other level In his words, “… a deficit in any knowledge results in a heavier reliance on other knowledge sources regardless of their level in the processing hierarchy” (p 63) So, top-down processing, for a reader weak at word recognition, but good at the knowledge of the text topic, may compensate for this deficit On the other hand, a reader good at word recognition, but lacking knowledge of the topic may rely on bottom- up processes for this compensation (Samuels & Kamil, 1988) From a theoretical perspective, Stanovich (1988) made a unique contribution to reading models by providingan explanation of compensation strategies, which account for why poor readers show greater sensitivity to contextual constraints

under some circumstancesthan good readers (e.g., Alderson, 2000; Grabe & Stoller, 2002; Samuels & Kamil, 1988)

Unlike the models described above, the following two models Integration and Verbal-Efficiency models) are experimental/behaviour models of reading where the researchers draw on a range of experimental evidence to develop and support their assumptions (Grabe, 2009)

(Construction-2.1.3.3 Construction-Integration Model of Reading

Construction -Integration Model was proposed by Kintsch and his colleague (Kintsch, 1988a, 1998b; Kintsch& van Dijk, 1978; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983) Based on this model, automatic lower-level reading processes are combined with higher level reading processes to create a coherent discourse representation of a text, and these processes are supported by a limited capacity pool of attentional resources There are two phases in this model; a construction phase and an integration phase In the construction phase, a reader develops propositions from the incoming text information in order to generate a mental model of the text This model is provisional and incoherent since it includes both relevant and irrelevant information which have been activated; when an individual reads a word, all the meanings of the word as well as the semantic associates of that word are automatically activated in his or her long-term memory (Graesser, Millis & Zwaan, 1997) In the integration phase, the reader evaluates the propositions he or she has developed within a global context with the goal of making a stable activation pattern or a coherent mental network In doing so, the propositions which are compatible within the context are connected to form the network, and those which are incompatible are disregarded At this phase, the integration of text information with the reader‟s background knowledge yields a coherent mental model which captures the global and local relations and consequently results in comprehension All these processes in construction and integration phases are manipulated by working memory This suggests that working memory plays a strong role in reading comprehension

2.1.3.4 Verbal Efficiency Theory of Reading

This model was proposed by Perfetti (1985, 1999, 2007) It is an example of

an interactive model which is very constrained by the bottom-up view of reading (Hudson, 2007) Efficient word-recognition skills play a very important role in good reading performance in this model It is argued that problems with higher-level comprehension skills originate from inefficient word-recognition skills which,

in turn, stem from low-quality lexical representations (Perfetti, 2007) Perfetti and his colleague (Perfetti, 2007; Perfetti& Hart, 2001, 2002) argue that there are three constituent information sources for word recognition including phonological, orthographic and semantic information These constituents work together and share information until a word is recognized

Based on Verbal Efficiency Theory of reading, skilled readers have automatic lower-level processes (e.g., efficient word recognition skills), and this allows them to draw on their limited attentional resources in working memory for higher level comprehension skills More specifically, there are two sets of processes

in this model, local text processes and text-modelling processes, which have interactions in reading process The central principle of this model is that the comprehension of a text is partially constrained by the efficient operation of the local processes The local processes involve the processes that the reader uses to encode contextually appropriate meanings and propositions When a text is read, first, the possible meanings associated with each word in the text are activated in working memory Second, the most appropriate semantic meaning for the proposition in the context is selected Third, initial propositions are created from the propositional encoding of each word and maintained in working memory Finally, new propositions are integrated with previous propositions held in working memory

to give a representation of the text This representation remains active in working memory to be further processed by text-modelling processes (higher-level processes) (Perfetti, 1985) Text-modelling processes are used to combine the representation of the text with a reader‟s background knowledge to fill the gaps in the propositional base and make him or her create inferences It is at this stage that comprehension (text-modelling) takes place and causes the propositions to make

sense as a whole A continual updating process occurs during the reading by reconciling incoming text processing with background knowledge

2.1.3.5 The Compensatory-Encoding Model

This model of reading was proposed based on verbal efficiency model and adopted its basic assumptions including automatized lower-level processing, well-developed lexical representations, and efficient working memory processes (Walczyk, 1995, 2000; Walczyk, Marsiglia, Bryan, & Naquin, 2001) This model assumes an additional process that is a compensatory process The compensatory process in this model differs from that of Stanovich‟s interactive compensatory model in that it is used continually to counter inefficiencies and weaknesses in reading skills In Stanovich‟s model, higher-level skills and strategies are used only when needed Based on the compensatory encoding model, the compensatory processes play an influential and a predictive role in reading performance when there is no time constraint on a reading task This could work well particularly for readers with lower working memory capacity as they may employ these strategies

to compensate for their inefficient working memory processes These compensatory processes, similar to those in Stanovich‟s model, include higher- level skills and metacognitive strategies (e.g., goal checking, comprehension monitoring) When the process of reading proceeds under time pressure, the compensatory processes do not play a role and instead lower-level processes become influential and play a predictive role in reading performance (Grabe, 2009)

Overall, each model can contribute to our understanding of the reading process They all conceive of the reading process as involving both lower-level (e.g., word-recognition skills, syntactic parsing) and higher-level (e.g., making inferences) processes The proponents of these models suggest that word-recognition skills play a very important role in reading comprehension However, these models differ in explaining the nature and role of these processes There are still some limitations among all the models of reading described above None of these models explain how executive control processes in working memory work in fluent reading and how reading strategies are used when reading more difficult texts

or learning from texts Moreover, these models do not explain how working

memory handles the cognitive processes in comprehending longer and more complex texts Reciprocal Teaching (RT) is one of the most well researched reading activities that “enable students to self-monitor and construct meaning as they are reading” In using RT activities, students are taught cognitive strategies through appropriate support and feedback Students learn these strategies through discussion, support, and feedback to enhance RC, develop self -regulatory and monitoring skills, and achieve an overall improvement in motivation (Choo et al., 2011:142)

2.2 Reciprocal Teaching

2.2.1 Definition of terms

Reciprocal Teaching (RT) is defined by Manohar (2008: Int.) as an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text which is structural by the use of four strategies: predicting, question generating, clarifying and summarizing

Operationally, RT is defined as an activity that takes a form of a dialogue between the teacher and his students with four specific reading strategies that are actively and consciously used to support comprehension: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing

Predicting

In order to be a good reader, learners should set a goal for their reading;

therefore good readers have a purpose for reading One strategy for improving comprehension is predicting, which helps the reader set a purpose for their reading Research has shown that good readers use their experiences and knowledge to make predictions and formulate ideas as they read (Block & Israel, 2005) This strategy also allows for more student interaction, which increases student interest and improves their understanding of the text (Oczkus, 2003) It is important to compare the outcome in the actual text with the prediction process as it will lead the learner

to improve his understanding Some of the approaches for teaching predicting are teacher modeling, predicting throughout the text; with partners, with a graphic organizer, or using post-it notes throughout the text Using the title, table of contents, pictures, and key words is one prediction strategy Another key prediction

strategy is to have students predict at specific points through the text, evaluate the

prediction, and revise predictions if necessary (Teele, 2004)

Questioning

Readers can use the questioning before, during, and after reading The questioning process requires readers to ask questions of themselves to construct meaning, enhance understanding, find answers, solve problems, find information, and discover new information (Harvey &Goudvis, 2000) In this strategy, the students return to the text throughout the reading process to find the answers to the questions asked by the teacher before, during and after the reading.By this strategy, students practice to distinguish between questions that are factual inferred or based

on the reader‟s prior knowledge By using the student generated questioning strategy; text segments are integrated and thereby improve reading comprehension

Clarifying

The clarification strategy focuses on training students in specific steps to help with decoding (letter-sound correspondence, "chunking," spelling, etc.), as well as fix-up strategies to deal with difficult vocabulary and lapses in concentration

Clarifying involves the identification and clarification of unclear, difficult, or unfamiliar aspects of a text These aspects may include awkward sentence or passage structure, unfamiliar vocabulary, unclear references, or obscure concepts Clarifying provides the motivation to remediate confusion through re-reading, the use of context in which the text was written and/or read, and the use of external resources (e.g., dictionary or thesaurus) (Doolittle et al., 2006) The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed

Summarizing

The process of summarization requires the reader to determine what is important when reading and to condense the information in the readers own words (Adler, 2001) During the summarizing process, the students will be able to distinguish the main ideas from the supporting ideas Distinguishing the relatedknowledge from the unrelated ones is another point in the summarizing process which will help the students‟ capacity to improve text comprehension

Summarizing is a strategy which helps the students to organize the ideas even in the long reading passages which are usually perceived as threat for the students

Foster and Rotoloni (2005:2) also define reciprocal teaching as a teaching method that gives students model and prompts students thinking process on how to share their learning experience In addition, Brown in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2001: 131) says that reciprocal teaching is based on the Vygotsky‟s theory of ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) which focuses on improving students‟ skills and knowledge with guidance which is provided through interactions in the class Based on those definitions, reciprocal teaching is a model

or technique in teaching reading comprehension which allows students to share their experience and idea relate to their thinking about the text they had read

2.2.2 Model of Reciprocal Teaching in teaching and learning reading comprehension

Reciprocal teaching model (Palincsar & Brown, 1980) is considered as one

of the most effective teaching models that serve to help readers comprehend and understand what a particular given text is about Ever since its initiation, the reciprocal teaching model received a great deal of attention from different researchers and teachers for its utility as a major tool in improving learners‟ comprehension skills and driving them towards becoming independent readers It is hence, as a model of teaching, recognized as a valuable teaching method

The purpose of this model is to instruct learners and provide them with strategies that can be applied in a new passage Palincsar and Brown (1984) states that RT can be characterised by three prominent features:

 Teachers use explicit instruction and scaffolding which is the basis of a comprehension-fostering model

 Teachers use prediction, questioning, clarifying, and summarising, which are the main reading strategies

 Finally, the model promotes social interactions among learners, and between learners and teachers, which in turn leads to improving the learners‟ cognitive abilities, sharing their ideas, feeling more confident, and learning from the more skilled peers

It is important to teach the strategies by naming the strategy and how it should be used The follow is the steps of Reciprocal Teaching Model teaching:

Stage 1: Activating students’ prior knowledge

- Introducing the theme

- Showing topic-related pictures to students

- Connecting the pictures to students‟ background knowledge by asking some questions to the students about the pictures

- Introducing Reciprocal Teaching strategies and its objective

Stage 2: Predicting

- Distributing the text to the students

- Distributing Reciprocal Teaching worksheet to be completed in each step of Reciprocal Teaching model

- Asking the students predict what the text is about or what will happen in the text by observing the picture or the title

- Asking the students to write their prediction on the Reciprocal Teaching worksheet

Stage 3: Questioning

- Asking the students to make a list of questions they expect to be answered in the reading

- Giving time to the students to make their questions

- Asking them to write their questions on the Reciprocal Teaching worksheet

- Asking the students to deliver their summarize result in front of class

- Asking the students to collect their works Closing the meeting

This study adopted this model because of the following reasons Firstly, the reciprocal teaching approach is one of the reading instruction methods which cover the necessary reading strategies: predicting, generating questions, clarifying, and summarizing It helps students improve their reading comprehension, and thus become better readers The aim of reciprocal teaching is to use discussion to improve students‟ reading comprehension, develop self-regulatory and monitoring skills, and achieve overall improvement in motivation (Allen, 2003) Secondly, reciprocal teaching attempts to train students in specific and discrete strategies to prevent cognitive failure during reading Thirdly, it encourages students to think about their own thought process during reading Moreover, it helps students learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read Finally, it teaches students to ask questions during reading and helps make the text more comprehensible

2.2.3 The Implementation of Reciprocal Teaching

According to Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2001: 135) the description of the implementation of reciprocal teaching (RT) consists of five phases They are the teacher demonstration, the direct instruction and guided practice, the teachers - students groups, the students-led groups, and students‟ independent use of the strategies The descriptions of them are as follows

 Phase 1: Teacher Demonstration

The teacher models how to use the strategies (predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing) Students see all four strategies on the first day, so they can get the portrait of it Therefore, they will not get difficulties in applying those strategies

in the next step

 Phase 2: Direct Instruction and Guided Practice

The teacher teaches each of the strategies in more depth one per lesson The teacher explains how to implement the strategy while students are reading The teacher also supports the students with prompts and reminders as they try out the strategy Then the teacher provides feedback

 Phase 3: Teacher-Student Groups

The teacher leads discussion about the text in small groups, prompts students to use the strategies and provides support and feedback as needed The teacher gradually let students work by themselves as students become more proficient

 Phase 4: Student-led Groups

Students lead the discussion about the text and prompt their friends in group to use the four strategies Students give feedback to their friend on strategy implementation Meanwhile, the teacher provides assistance as needed

 Phase 5: Students‟ Independent Use of the Strategies

Students use the four strategies while they are reading the text and selfregulate their implementation strategies They monitor their own comprehension They also monitor and give feedback on their friends‟ comprehension through the discussion

Based on those phases, the teacher would guide the students from guided, semi-guided and then independent in applying reciprocal teaching‟ strategies Those phases should be followed by the teacher Therefore, the implementation of reciprocal teaching could be run well, and the goal of improving students‟ reading comprehension could be achieved

2.3 Attitude in language learning

2.3.1 Definition of attitude

Eagly and Chaiken (1993, p 1) define an attitude as „a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor‟ Inherent in this definition is the idea that reporting an attitude involves the expression of an evaluative judgement about a stimulus object In other words, reporting an attitude involves making a decision concerning liking vs disliking, approving vs disapproving or favouring vs disfavouring a particular issue, object or person

Maio and Haddock (2009) state “an attitude as an overall evaluation of an object that is based on cognitive, affective, and behavioral information” (p.4) The cognitive component involves the beliefs, thoughts or viewpoints about the object

of the attitude The affective one refers to the individual's feelings and emotions towards an object, whether he/she likes or dislikes The behavioral one involves the tendency to adopt particular learning behaviors

In this study, the researcher adopted the definition of Maio and Haddock (2009) because the researcher found that this definition offers the most comprehensive and useful definition of attitude It provides three components model of attitude that are cognitive, affective and behavioral components Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can view a person‟s attitude from his or her resulting behavior

Therefore, attitude is known as an evaluation of an attitude object, ranging from extremely negative to extremely positive Positive attitude reveals the advantages of the subject to take up its value Negative attitude reveals the disadvantages of the subject to dismiss it and to weaken its strong attitude The researcher hoped that applying the new technique effectively in their learning process motivated the students‟ positive attitude to gain better and higher results

2.3.2 Importance of attitude in language learning

It is stated that attitude towards language learning plays a crucial role in language learning as it influences learners' success or failure (Zainol, et al., 2012) This notion stands to reason in the sense that if students have positive attitude towards the process of learning a language, they will enjoy more the lesson and, as a result, they can catch up more knowledge and skill of the language On the other hand, when the students‟ attitude towards language learning is negative, they will be reluctant and pay less attention during the teaching-learning activity

In a study conducted by Novianti (2006) on the correlation between students‟ attitudes in language learning and their achievement implies that attitude towards learning a language has relationship with students‟ reading comprehension Although the study only focused on attitudes during the learning, assumingly it can

be regarded as a representation that the students‟ attitude towards language learning

consisting of the cognitive, affective, and behavioural aspects has an effect on their reading comprehension

Moreover, according to Ellis (1994), there are both negative and positive attitudes towards the second language being learnt As a result, the teacher needs to focus on the students' attitudes The attitudes can be positive or negative They can also be changed They can either facilitate or hinder the learning process effectively

Nunan (1991) pointed out that “if students can be encouraged to adopt the right attitudes, interests and motivation in the target language and culture, as well as

in the learning environment in which they find themselves, then successful learning will occur, and that if these affective factors are not right, then no set of techniques

is likely to succeed, regardless of how carefully they have been devised or how solidly they based on the latest theory and research”(p 234) Students‟ positive attitude in language learning may encourage them to have better results However, if they have negative one, the attitude may become an obstacle Students‟ negative attitude can also be changed positively to facilitate their learning results Having positive attitude in language learning is believed to be

a good start in their learning process

In conclusion, students‟ attitude plays a vital role in maximizing learning and teaching output and it is one of the key factors influencing the success of second language learning It would be meaningful when the researcher could help her students develop and maintain their positive attitudes in the language classroom

2.4 Previous studies about using Reciprocal teaching model in reading comprehension

The reciprocal teaching model has been in use for the past 20 years (Williams, 2011) and has been adopted by a number of school districts and reading intervention programs across the United States and Canada The reciprocal teaching method is one of the effective approaches that teach learners to become responsible for their reading and employ metacognitive reading strategies over cognitive reading strategies (Cohen, 1998) It has been recognized as a valuable teaching method by many researchers, reading teachers, and educators because it is a form of systematic training in strategies that help less efficient readers improve their reading

comprehension and become independent readers (Palincsar & Brown, 1984; Duffy, 2002; Soonthornmanee, 2002; Adunyarittigun & Grant, 2005)

Marston et al (1995) in Klinger, Vaughn, and Boardman (2001: 132) did research by comparing six research-based including reciprocal teaching The result finding showed that students‟ achievement was highest, when they were taught using the three approaches, they are computer-assisted instruction, reciprocal teaching, and one of two direct instruction conditions It shows that the reciprocal teaching succeeded in improving students‟ achievement

In 1996 Klingner and Vaughn in Klingner, Vaughn, and Boardman (2001: 133) conducted a study using a modified version of reciprocal teaching that included an emphasis on accessing background knowledge The participants were

26 seventh- and eighth-grade English language students with learning disability (LD) The result was students who were adequate decoders but poor comprehension, benefited from reciprocal teaching

On the university level, Hart and Speece (1998) studied the impact of using RTM on this level Their study was conducted in a community college in Maryland, USA and involved fifty students who were enrolled in 2 sections: the control and the experimental In regards to the results, the overall results of the study reveal that the experimental group achieved much better than the control group that used the traditional method, in the strategy acquisition and the reading comprehension Although both groups had the same level of study skills perception, the results interestingly indicate that weaker readers who were taught by using the reciprocal model benefited a great deal and more so than the weaker readers in the control group in the strategy acquisition and the reading comprehension

Clark (2003) conducted a study in which fifteen students of mixed abilities took part, and was aimed at investigating the impact of using Reciprocal Teaching model and exploring the development of the reading comprehension skills The results of this study shows that 90% of the participants claimed to have benefited from the use of this model and voiced their preference of using such a model as opposed to the traditional method In addition, 40% of the students stated that using the Reciprocal Teaching model, has immensely helped them improve their

comprehension in the reading text Clark concluded that RT model is a mechanism that can be used by students in group discussions to help them organize ideas that they produce and reflect on their understanding

Cooper and Greive (2009) carried out a study using reciprocal teaching with

a regular year four class within the subject of Human Society and its Environment (HSIE) RT strategies were compared with an effective approach but more traditional approach to reading text appropriate to the subject This study indicated that the experimental group benefited from the use of RT strategies

Abdul-Majeed (2013) examined the effect of reciprocal teaching on improving college students' achievement in reading comprehension 120 first-year female students/morning class at the Department of English/ College of Education for Women during the academic year (2010-2011) participated in this study The design of this experiment includes the selection of the two groups randomly Both groups were submitted to a pre-posttest The experimental group was taught RC through using reciprocal teaching technique, whereas the control group was taught this area through the conventional way (PPP approach) By using the t-test, it is found that the calculated t-value is 4 251 which is more than the tabulated value 2,00 at level of significance 0.05, which means a statistically significant difference

in favour of the experimental group This indicates that teaching by reciprocal technique is more effective than the presentation practice production teaching or the lecture method teaching

Gomaa (2015) from Cairo University, Specific Education College, Egypt studied the effect of using reciprocal teaching intervention strategy on improving reading comprehension of reading disabled students in primary five A total of 66 students identified with RD participated in the study during 10 weeks Students were randomly classified into two groups: experimental and control The two groups were matched on age, IQ, and reading comprehension The researcher employed both qualitative and quantitative methods through using sample tests and questionnaires to evaluate students‟ performance after learning reciprocal teaching strategy The results of his study revealed that implementing reciprocal teaching intervention strategy was effective in improving reading comprehension of students

in experimental group, compared to the control group whose individuals were left to

be taught in a traditional way By using reciprocal teaching, the students become more active in joining and paying attention to the lesson The students are given opportunities to understand the lesson material more by asking other group member without being ashamed and afraid, since the students are usually afraid to ask the difficulties to the teacher

Pilten‟s study (2016) was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching strategies on comprehension of expository texts The study took place in 11-week with the participation of 54 students of a primary school in the Konya province in 2014-2015 The findings revealed that at the end of 11-week teaching process, expository text comprehension skills of experiment group students, on who reciprocal teaching strategy was implemented, developed more than control group students, on who teaching process projected in the curriculum was implemented, at a statistically significant level

In sum, all of the studies drew the similar conclusion that Reciprocal Teaching was an interactive method that was used to improve reading comprehension Using this teaching strategy, teachers and students took turns leading discussions regarding sections of text using the four strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing In term of methodology, most studies took common research steps The pretest and posttest were used to find out whether students could understand the reading material after the intervention or not The questionnaires and observation sheets were to determine their attitudes and satisfaction to the use of Reciprocal teaching strategies The results of the above studies clearly demonstrated the effectiveness and the positive impact of the reciprocal teaching model on the achievement level in comprehension among L1 (first language speakers) and L2 (second language speakers) groups and at various ages These studies also highlighted the scale of the problem that reading comprehension presented to primary students, disabled students and university students, and how these problems were overcome by using the reciprocal teaching model in a way that the readers‟ achievement in the reading comprehension was vastly improved Most of the studies were conducted with the subjects who were

students at university and none of them for high school students, which was the difference between these studies and the present study All mentioned studies above helped the researcher figure out the suitable methodology for the context research in her study

2.5 Summary

This chapter has addressed some major issues relating to the Reciprocal teaching model The first issue is on an overview of reading comprehension including three sections: definition of reading comprehension; levels of reading comprehension; and the current reading models used in English language teaching The second issue is on the Reciprocal teaching model The first section is to present the definitions of Reciprocal teaching model The third section discussed in this literature review relates to the models of Reciprocal teaching in teaching and learning reading comprehension The researcher decided to choose Palincsar and Brown‟s model because the model was suitable for her subjects and context In the two last section, the implementation of Reciprocal teaching for the study and previous studies about using Reciprocal teaching model in reading comprehension were also presented The third issue is on attitude in language learning including two sections: definition of attitude and the importance of attitude in language learning

Based on the existing literature, the researcher had a firm background to carry out her research that is described in the next chapter In the next chapter, research questions, description of variables, data collection instruments, subjects, materials, and data collection procedure will be presented

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides a comprehensive description of the research methodology employed in the current study Section 1 presents research design Section 2 describes the participants of the study Section 3 describes details of Data collection instruments including a reading comprehension test and questionnaire Section 4 describes the teaching materials Lastly, Section 5 shows the data collection procedure

3.1.2 Model of action research

Different researchers have proposed different models for the action research process because action research process is dynamic and flexible, steps in action research may vary depending on different points of view held by researchers

(Creswell, 2012)

Sagor (2000) has presented a seven-step action research process: Selecting a focus; Clarifying theories; Identifying research questions; Collecting data; Analyzing data; Reporting results; and Taking informed action

According to Nunan (1991), action research procedure concludes 7 steps: Initiation, Preliminary investigation, Hypotheses, Intervention, Evaluation, Dissemination and Follow-up (Henry, 2001) divides the action research cycle into five steps: problem identification, plan of action, data collection, analysis of data and plan for future action Susman (1983) suggests 5 steps: Identifying a problem, Action Plan, Taking Action, Evaluating and Specifying Learning

The different models given above have one common purpose which is to develop an action plan to solve a problem existing in classrooms or schools The action plan is developed through a systematic process of data collection and analysis The research phase precedes the action phase in such models

In this study, the researcher adopted Kemmis, McTaggart, & Retallic (2004)action research model which has four steps that are planning, acting, observing, and reflecting for the two reasons Firstly, the problems of students and teachers in reading classes had been detected for very long time, so the initial step of identifying the problems could be skipped and a basic model of action research was

effective with the study Secondly, it matched the limitation of the research time

Figure 1: Action Research Model (from Kemmis, McTaggart, & Retallic, 2004)

Action research is further described as a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of those practices and the situations in which the practices are carried out (Kemmis & Mc Taggart 1988, p 5) The planning stage is about refining the focus and working out how researchers could enhance or extend what is currently happening in the classroom, or address the questions they have The action is about putting the plans in place and seeing what happens Observation means collecting information (data) on what happens when researchers introduce new ways of working The last stage, reflection, involves making sense of the processes researchers have used and gaining greater understanding of what kinds of classroom practices and interactions could lead to promoting better learning or teaching

3.2 Participants

Fifty 10th grade students from class 10A16 at Vung Cao Viet Bac high

school in the academic year of 2019 – 2020 participated in the study

They were at the same age of sixteen There were 28 males and 22 females Every student studied English as a compulsory school subject The students were between the elementary and pre-intermediate levels By the time of the study, all of them had at least three years of learning English at secondary school They were at the beginning of the second term

Most of them were ethnic minor students coming from mountainous areas

of the country Some students belonged to a special few-people ethnic minority group They had difficulty in learning English, especially reading comprehension skill because they lacked resources to support learning English as well as opportunities to practice English as they lived in urban or remote areas Many of them were unable to decode the written words, they understood very little of what they read Their vocabulary was inadequate so they could not organize and interpret the message efficiently Moreover, the students were unable to connect the ideas in a passage and had trouble summarizing what was read and connecting

what was read to prior knowledge