effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam

That is to say having a good reading skill isvery necessary.At Hoang Le Kha high school, for most of the students, they findreading comprehension especially important yet most challengin

1.1.The reason of choosing the topic

English today is considered a global language and almost anyone in theworld needs to master this language as a way to communicate and integrate.It iscompulsory for students who will be the future masters of the country Alongwith the development of technology, medicine, engineering and education,English plays a very important role Therefore, learning English becomes evenmore necessary than ever

When learning English, besides acquiring the ability to communicate,reading skill also plays an integral part in learning process Reading not onlyhelps students expand vocabulary but also learn grammatical structures in anatural way

In high school graduation examination, it is reading skill that is one of theskills tested and it accounts for 30 percent of the entire marks. This skill oftenmakes my students lose patience That is to say having a good reading skill isvery necessary.At Hoang Le Kha high school, for most of the students, they findreading comprehension especially important yet most challenging one Whendoing this kind of task, students often start reading the passages immediately,even translate them into their mother language whereas the passages are oftenlong and difficult with a lot of new words Because of lack of a suitable method

to answer each kind of questions, students do not have enough time to completetheir task or choose the answer at random On the other hand, students do nothave many chances to do this kind of tasks because most of the passages in thetextbook 10, 11, and 12 – basic – only ask students to read the passages and thenanswer the questions Consequently, most of them do not recognize each type ofquestions and even do not know what the requirement of the question is Due tothese reasons, students often get poor result when doing this kind of exercises

On teaching reading skill, especially multiple choice reading comprehension tothe students at Hoang Le Kha high school I have found that classifying eachkind of questions to find out the answer quickly, accurately and adapting thetextbook to give students more chances to practice doing this kind of tasks arevery important in teaching reading skill

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct my initiative with the title

“effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam”

1.2 Aims of the research

This paper aims:

- Provide students with the most effective strategies for English reading

comprehension skills

- Study a range of different reading skills that help students improve their

reading skills

1.3 Object of the Research

This subject focuses on students at Hoang Le Kha High School to help them to conquer high result in reading comprehension in high school

graduation exam

1.4 Methods of study

- Finding out difficulties that students have in English classes

- Reading reference books

- Discussing with my colleagues

- Attending classes of co-workers

- Applying ideas in teaching

- Observing and drawing out experiences

- Checking and assessing students’ understanding

2 CONTENTS

2.1.Rationale of the study.

According to Williams (Williams, E (1984) Reading in a LanguageClassroom London: Macmillan ) The role of reading in learning a foreignlanguage learners can practice the language they met through listening andspeaking Language that students get through reading can be reused for writingskills, or students can interpret the meaning of the reading to obtain thenecessary information for them That is to say, to have good readingcomprehension skills is very important Having a good reading skills is one ofthe core elements to help them achieve high marks in the examinations

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills in learningEnglish Therefore, mastering this skill is the key to master English However, it

is not easy to do so It is necessary to lay down some strategies to improvereading comprehension skill

The writing below is aimed at pointing out a number of strategies onimproving reading comprehension skill among high school student

2.2 Practical basis.

Having taught English at Hoang Le Kha High School for many years, Ihave noticed English is probably one of the most challenging subjects that oftencreate high levels of anxiety and stress among learners here.The fact is that thosewho are usually bored or not interested in the English class do not engage

enough in class work, which leads to slow acquisition, unequal power in school.They seem to feel discouraged and often neglect it.

It is these problems that urge me to find out the solutions to help studentsget over the challenges and hold interest in the foreign language in a flexible andeasy manner To know exactly about this problem, I investigated 142 students

in 4 classes 11A1,11A3,11A5,11A7 before applying “effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam” by doing a lot of tests about reading comprehension to find out the ways

they did the test and why a lot of them got bad result, and I got the result:

students

Good (9-10)

Above average (7-8)

Average (5-6)

Weaknes s (3-4)

As can be seen from the tables that most of the students seem not to like

reading comprehension and they express their preferences with suggested learning strategies From these reasons,the study entitled “effective strategies

on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam”has been conducted as a motivation and a means of providing the students

with the most effective strategies for English reading comprehension skills

2.3 Effective strategies on improving reading comprehension in the current high school graduation exam

2.3.1 Reading comprehension skills

2.3.1.1.Skimming (Skimming for main ideas)

One of the factors that contribute to the success of the English test is theproper time division In the limited time, especially when there are 400-500words comprehension texts, if we do not have an effective method of writing,there will definitely be a lack of time To solve this problem, we need to havethe basic skills when doing the reading comprehension exercises Skimming isone of the three most commonly mentioned skills in reading comprehension

What is Skimming? Skimming is a skill that uses your eyes to scan through the

entire lesson to get the main idea and inner content of the passage

When do I need to use Skimming skill?

- Skimming to see the meaning of the text to determine what is important

information

- Skimming to identify the main keyword

- After skimming a passage, you will determine whether to carefully read this pasage later

What are the steps in Skimming?

- First, read the topic This is the shortest summary of the article's content

- Read the introduction, or overview

- Read the entire first paragraph of the text

- Read subtitles if find correlations between them

- Read the first sentence of the remaining paragraphs

+ The main idea of each paragraph is usually in the first sentence

+ If the author starts with a question, a quote, then maybe the main idea will be

in the last sentence

- Read more deeply into the text Please note:

+ Clue words to answer the questions: who, what, when, why, how + Adjective + Different words, especially capital words

+ List

+ Calculated from quantity (best, most, worst, )

+ Typing signs: italic, bold, underlined,

2.3.1.2 Scanning

What is Scanning? Scanning is a skill to read quickly to get specific data and

detailed information in the key post

When to use the Scanning skill? Scanning is often used when searching for

data such as names, dates, parameters, or words in a text without reading andunderstanding other parts of the text For the questions, candidates havecompleted skimming, apply scanning skill to find the correct answers

What are the steps in Scanning?

-Have some form of your mind about what information you are looking for Ifyou can clearly identify the information you need to search for in the article, itwill be easier to find the words in the article

- Predict what the information in the course will be: number, first name, date, and possibly in the paragraph

- Analyze how to organize the courses before scanning starts

+ Maybe in title, chart, or in bold?

+ Information can be sorted by rhyme, by data just like in phone book, notesolution?

- Quickly look at multiple lines at the same time

- When you find a sentence that contains the information you are looking for,stop and read the entire sentence

- You can read from top to bottom, or read diagonally

2.3.1.3 Paraphrasing

"Paraphrasing" is a re-expression of a written or spoken paragraph in avocabulary or other structure without changing the meaning of the passage.For example: The hardest woodwind instrument to learn is the oboe

The oboe is the most difficult woodwind instrument to master

This technique includes the following ways:

a Use synonyms

- a car exhibition → an auto show

- Identify problems in the system → to expose defects in the system

- Vehicular access will be temporarily restricted → Some roads will be closed for

a certain period of time

b) Use antonyms

- The construction will improve the traffic flow → The construction will easetraffic congestion

- The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday → The museum

is closed to the public on Monday

- Encourage better attendance → to have fewer absences

c) Switch from a specific noun (eg color printer) to a generic noun (eg, office equipment).

- She is eating an apple → She is eating a fruit

- He bought a microwave oven → He purchased a kitchen appliance

- rare and endangered species → certain species

d).Switch from a generic noun to a specific noun

- transportation service → bus, subway, train, and airline service

- fossil fuels → coal, oil, and gas

- footware → shoes, sandals, boots

e) Change word form

- to take occasional walks → to walk occasionally

- to dress comfortably → to wear comfortable clothing

- We guarantee your information is confidential → We guarantee theconfidentiality of your information

f) Using other constructs

- Street parking is available, but limited → Visitors may have difficulty fiding aplace to park

- Competitive salary based on the level of prior experience → Pay depends onhow much experience the applicant has

2.3.2.Forms for the basic questions in the reading exercises

There are 8 types of questions that often appear in

comprehension texts and are divided into 3 main groups:questions about main idea, question specific information andinference, vocabulary questions

Question 1$ 2

MAIN IDEAS QUESTIONS

Questions

-What is the topic of thepassage?

-What is the subject of the passage?

-What is the main idea of the passage?

-What is the author's main point in the passage?

-With what is the author primary concerned?

-Which of the following would be the best title?

-What is the author's main purpose in the passage?

Answer

Usually at the beginning or end of each paragraph If the main idea is not specific at the beginning or end of the paragraph, we will leave it to the last after taking the time to answer the

detailed questions

How to do

-Read the first lines of each paragraph

-Find the most common ideas in the first line and find the relationship between them

-During the reading process, pay attention to keywords that are repeated

- Usually do this last question after answering the detailed questions first to save time

- Quickly scan the whole article to check if you have found the correct main content or not

- The type of options is definitely wrong Usually the main ideas are not too general, not too detailed and cannot be mentioned in the article (too general), (too specific) or (not mentioned)

-Choose the best option among the remaining options

Example The passage: Read the following passage and choose the correct answer to the question below.

Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach theirchildren at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in

1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educationalexperts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks ofhomeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about elevenpercent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting forhomeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attendschool because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, moreparents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at homedue to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents are

unhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom Teachershortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher isresponsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived ofthe attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated someparents to remove their children from school.

Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it, homeschooling

in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it is growing biggerand bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups, and conventionsthat help parents protect their rights and enable them to learn more abouteducating their children Though once it was the only choice for troubledchildren, homeschooling todayis an accepted alternative to an educationalsystem that many believe is failing

QUESTION

Which is the best tittle for the passage?

A.Reasons for Homeschooling in the USA

B.The Trend of homeschooling in the USA

C.Homeschooling - one of the ways of education in the USA

D.Education system in the USA

DETAILED DISCOVERY

-The first sentence of the paragraph mentioned the main idea of the paragraph

"Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach their children athome."

-we continue to read through the rest of the line, we see that the entire textrevolves around this topic"being homeschooled" "behavioral or learningdifficulties" "dissatisfaction with the educational system" "remove their childrenfrom school"

-Finally, there are sentences at the end of the paragraph"homeschooling today is

an accepted alternative to an educational system that many believe is failing." -So, with the question which title is most suitable for the passage We canchoose the answer B: The trend of home education in the US

In order to be sure of our answer, we cannot help but go through the answeroptions

A.Reasons for homeschooling in the USA

B.The trend of homeschooling in the USA

C.Homeschooling - one of the ways of education in the USA

D.Education system in the USA

Question 3: General organization or attitude).

This type of question often requires defining the composition of theparagraph or the attitude of the author in the paragraph For the compositionquestion type, we should pay attention to the linking words between theparagraphs With regard to the author's attitude question, we should payattention to the expressive adjectives, or make a judgment based on the maincontent after skimming the whole article In particular, you need to use theelimination method for completely wrong options

Time order/

Chronological order Firstly, secondly, finally, next, then

Cause and effect Because, since, as, lead to, due to, as a

result, consequently

Definition - example

Define, mean, indicate, show

Comparison and contrast On the one hand, on the other hand

More, less, least, most

Problem - solution

Cause, result in, deal with, solution

Example The passenger: Read the following passage and choose the correct answer for the question below.

Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach theirchildren at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in

1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educationalexperts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks ofhomeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about elevenpercent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting forhomeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attendschool because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, more

parents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at homedue to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents areunhappy about class size, as well as problems insidetheclassroom Teachershortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher isresponsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived ofthe attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated someparents to remove their children from school.

Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it,homeschooling in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it isgrowing bigger and bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups,and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learnmoreabout educating their children Though once it was the only choice fortroubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to aneducational system that many believe is failing

QUESTION

The attitude of the author towards homeschooling can be best described as

A acceptable B favorable C remarkable D unfavorable

Answer B: With this question type, we should do after skimming the whole

article to understand how the main content of the article is, so we will find out the author's attitude expressed in the article In this passage, the author argues about the increasing trend of home education in the US, the reasons why this trend takes place and develops, so the author's attitude here is positive Usually, with this type, they often find it difficult because they encounter many new words Moreover, the words showing attitude are usually adjectives, so after each comprehension reading, we should pick up some common words to pay attention and add new words

Question 4: Identify the information mentioned in the passage(stated

detail)

The informational question raised in the text often asks about a small piece ofinformation in the text The answer to this question is the information outlined inthe article Usually, the correct answer is just a "restatement" that repeats theinformation in the article in a different wording

STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS

Question According to the passage, It is stated in the passage The passage indicates that Which of the following is true

Answer The answer lies in the reading

How to do

- Underline the main and important words in the question

- Use scanning skill to find suitable sections to read carefully

Example The passage:

Increasing numbers of parents in the U.S are choosing to teach theirchildren at home In fact, the U.S Department of Education has estimated that in

1999, about 850,000 children were being homeschooled Some educationalexperts say that the real number is double this estimate, and the ranks ofhomeschooled children seem to be growing at the average rate of about elevenpercent every year At one time, there was a theory accounting forhomeschooling: it was traditionally used for students who could not attendschool because of behavioral or learning difficulties Today, however, moreparents are taking on the responsibility of educating their own children at homedue to their dissatisfaction with the educational system Many parents areunhappy about class size, as well as problems inside the classroom Teachershortages and lack of funding mean that, in many schools, one teacher isresponsible for thirty or forty students The children are, therefore, deprived ofthe attention they need Escalating classroom violence has also motivated someparents to remove their children from school

Although there have been a lot of arguments for and against it,homeschooling in the U.S has become a multi-million dollar industry, and it isgrowing bigger and bigger There are now plenty of websites, support groups,and conventions that help parents protect their rights and enable them to learnmore about educating their children Though once it was the only choice fortroubled children, homeschooling today is an accepted alternative to aneducational system that many believe is failing

Parents can teach children at home with the support of ………

A.the internet, conventions along with support groups

B.support groups, teachers and websites