Focus on scanning and skimming strategies toimprove high school students’ reading fluency

The researcher carried out two survey questions for 80 students and 7 teachers, and then analyzed the obtained to discuss about teachers and students’ attitude towards the importance of

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DECLARATION

I certify this thesis entitled

Focusing on skimming and scanning strategies to improve high school

students’ reading fluency

is my own work

Vinh, July 2017

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family

This thesis would not have been without the support of many people

First of all, I would like to express my special gratitude to Assoc Prof., Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, my supervisor, for his invaluable guidance, comments, criticisms, corrections , priceless advice, and his kindly constant encouragement during the course of writing this thesis

Secondly, I would like to express my thanks to all lecturers at Foreign Languages Department of Vinh University for their valuable teaching and assistance that have enlightened my study path

Thirdly, I truly wish to thank the colleagues and students of Quang Xuong 1 High school for their assistance and co-operation in giving me valuable information Last but not least, my sincere thanks go to my family, my classmates at the Master Course Class, my friends for their essential help and encouragement

I highly appreciate all their support and contribution

ABSTRACT

Reading is one of the most important skill in study and daily life This research aims to find out how skimming and scanning strategies effect on improving students’ English reading fluency To achieve the aim of the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were chosen The researcher carried out two survey questions for 80 students and 7 teachers, and then analyzed the obtained to discuss about teachers and students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension, towards skimming and scanning strategies, the effectiveness and difficulties of these strategies in teaching and learning reading comprehension Pre- test and post - test results showed significant differences between the experimental class and controlled class as a result of using skimming and scanning strategies

Experimental students, who use skimming and scanning strategies in learning reading comprehension, make a higher gaining in reading comprehension than controlled students who did not use skimming and scanning strategies in learning reading comprehension With respect to reading comprehension rates , the experiment found that the difference between the experimental class and controlled class were statistically significant And the result was also compared to show correctly in the number of the table and charts The findings of the research indicate that the students appreciate the role of scanning and skimming strategies in learning reading comprehension

This study suggested that skimming and scanning strategies can be useful to improve students’ reading fluency However, the scope is still limited and there exist certain difficulties that hinder the teachers and students in learning reading comprehension with skimming and scanning strategies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……… ii

ABSTRACT………iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… iv

LIST OF TABLE ……… ……….ix

LIST OF FIGURES……… x

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Rationale ……….……… 1

1.2 Aims of study ……… 2

1.3 Scope of the study ……… …2

1.4 Research questions……… 2

1.5.Method of the study ……… … 2

1.6 Structure of the study ……….3

CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.Definition of reading skill ……… 4

2.1.1 Definition of reading ……… …4

2.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension ……… … 5

2.2.Models of reading……… 6

2.2.1.The bottom - up model ……….…… 7

2.2.2 The top – down model……….…… 8

2.2.3 The interactive model……….… 8

2.3 Techniques of reading ……… 9

2.3.1 Reading aloud……… 9

2.3.2 Silent reading……….10

2.4.Types of reading ………11

2.4.1 Intensive reading ……… 11

2.4.2 Extensive reading ……… 12

2.5.Language learning strategies……… 14

2.5.1 Definition of language learning strategies ……… 14

2.5.2 Definition of reading strategy ……… 15

2.5.3.The Nature of Reading Strategy ……….………… 15

2.5.4 The importance of reading strategy ……… 16

2.6 Some strategies of reading ……… 17

2.6.1.Predicting ……… 17

2.6.2.Inferring ……… … 18

2.6.3.Guessing ……….……… … 19

2.6.4.Self- monitoring ……….19

2.6.5.Summarizing ……….…… 20

2.6.6 Skimming……… 21

2.6.7 Scanning……… … 22

2.7 Reading strategies instruction……… … 23

2.8.The importance of strategies scanning and skimming in reading comprehension ……… … 23

2.9.How to use skimming and scanning effectively……… 24

2.10.Skimming and scanning training procedure ……… ……26

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY OF STUDY 3.1 Research methodology ……… …… 29

3.2 Participants ……… …… 29

3.3 Instruments for data collection ……….…… 30

3.3.1.Questionnaire ……… … 30

3.3.2 Classroom observation ……… … 31

3.3.3 Interview ……… …….31

3.3.4.Tests ……… 32

3.4 Data collection procedure ……… 32

3.5 Data analysis ……… 33

3.6 Summary ……… 33

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ……… 35 4.1 Results from the questionnaire

4.11.Questionnaire for teachers ……… 35

4.1.1.1Teachers’ experience in teaching English ……… 35 4.1.1.2.Teachers’ attitude toward the importance of reading

comprehension ……… 35 4.1.1.3.Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading comprehension ………… 36 4.1.1.4 Teachers’ attitudes towards using skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension ……….……… 38 4.1.1.5 Students’ assessment on effectiveness of scanning and skimming

strategies in teaching reading comprehension ……… 38 4.1.1.6 Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching

reading comprehension ……… 39 4.1.1.7 Some difficulties of using skimming and scanning strategies in

teaching reading comprehension ……… 42

4.1.2.Questionnaire for students ……… 43

4.1.2.1.Students’ experience in study English……… ….43 4.1.2.2 Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension …43 4.1.2.3.Students’ difficulties in learning reading comprehension……….44 4.1.2.4 Students’ attitude towards using scanning and skimming in

learning reading comprehension………45 4.1.2.5.Students’ assessment on the role of scanning and skimming

strategies in reading comprehension ……….46 4.1.2.6 Students’ assessment on effectiveness of scanning and skimming

strategies in learning reading comprehension……….47 4.1.2.7 Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in learning

reading comprehension………48

4.1.2.8 Some difficulties of students in using scanning and skimming

strategies in learning reading comprehension ……… ….50

4.2 Results from the test ……… 51

4.2.3.1 Pre- test ……… 52

4.2.3.1.1 Pre –test scores………52

4.2.3.1.2 Descriptive statistics ………53

4.2.3.1.3.Frequency of distribution ………54

4.2.3.2 Post- test ……….55

4.2.3.1.Frequency of distribution ……… 57

4.2.3.2 Descriptive statistics ……… 58

4.3 Findings ………59

4.4.Summary ……… 61

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ……… …62

5.1 Recapitulation………62

5.2 Limitation and suggestions for further study………63

REFERENCES ……… …64

APPENDIX A ……… 67

APPENDIX B ……….69

APPENDIX C ……….71

APPENDIX D ……… 77

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1.Description of teachers’ experience in teaching English

Table 4.2 Teachers’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension

Table 4.3 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading comprehension

Table 4.4 Teachers’ attitude towards using skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension

Table 4.5 Teachers’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension

Table 4.6 Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching reading

comprehension

Table 4.7 Difficulties of using skimming and scanning strategies in teaching

reading comprehension

Table 4.8.Students’ experience in study English

Table 4.9 Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension

Table 4.10 Students difficult in learning reading comprehension

Table 4.11 Benefits of using skimming and scanning strategies in learning reading

comprehension

Table 4.12 Students’ difficulties in using scanning and skimming strategies in

learning reading comprehension

Table 4.13 Pre –test scores

Table 4.14 : comparison of mean scores in pre- test of the two classes

Table 4.15 Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes

Table 4.13 students’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension

Table 4.14 : comparison of mean scores in pre- test of the two classes

Table 4.15 Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes

Table 4.16 Post – test scores

Table 4.17 Frequency of distribution of the two classes

Table 4.18 : comparison of mean scores in post- test of the two classes

Table 4.19 Means of pre-test and post - test

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Students’ attitude towards the importance of reading comprehension

Figure 2: Students’ attitude toward using scanning and skimming in learning reading comprehension

Figure 4.3: Students’ assessment on the role of skimming and scanning

strategies in teaching reading comprehension

Figure 4.4 Students’ assessment on effectiveness of skimming and scanning strategies in teaching reading comprehension

Figure4.5: Pre- test score frequencies of the two classes

Figure 4.6 Frequency of distribution of the two classes

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the rationale for the study, the aims, research

questions, scope of the study and design of the study

1.1.Rationale of the study

As an international language, English nowadays plays an important role in academic studies, professional success and personal development in the world of economic integration and globalization Therefore learning English has been considered a very important duty of all students and English is also a core subject which is compulsory in the national examinations

Reading is considered as one of the most important skills which language learners should master Reading not only helps students widen their knowledge but also enables them to develop other language skills such as listening, writing and speaking skill According to Anderson “ Reading is an essential skill for English as a second or foreign language and for many, reading is the most important skill to master.”( 5, p.14) Carrell also stated that “ For many students, reading by far the most important of the four skills in a second language or foreign language” ( 11, p.1-3)

In the context of upper secondary school , reading is more important than other skills of speaking, listening and writing because students have to take the examinations which are grammar and reading based and reading is considered

the most difficult The reason is that students are not familiar with reading strategies

especially skimming and scanning strategies They usually translate every sentence

in text into Vietnamese in the hope that knowing the meaning of every word will mean they arrive at a meaningful total And they tend to focus attention on forms and details rather than meanings and main ideas So it is difficult for them to understand meaning of text and answer the questions based on content of the text and makes them waste of time The above weakness and problems can be seen in a

reading class for most students especially for the twelve grade students at high school

For these reasons, I decide to choose the subject “Focusing on scanning and skimming strategies to improve high school students’ reading fluency” in the hope that it can help students improve their reading’s fluency

1.2 Aims of study

The aims of the study are as follows :

- Investigating the importance of reading comprehension and some difficulties that the students face when learning this skill

-Identifying teachers’ and students’ attitude and assessment on using

scanning and skimming in reading comprehension

-Evaluating the reality and the effectiveness of using scanning and

skimming in improving students’ reading fluency

1.3 Scope of the study

The researcher carries out the investigation at Quang Xuong 1 high school to study the effectiveness of scanning and skimming in reading comprehension to improve the students’ reading fluency

1.4 Research questions

1 What are teachers and students’ attitude and expectation of using scanning and skimming strategies in learning reading comprehension ?

2 What challenges do teachers have when focusing students on these techniques?

1.5 Method of the study

To fulfill this study, a mixed use of both quantitative and qualitative are applied Quantitative method is used to investigate students’ attitude and expectation in using scanning and skimming strategies in learning reading comprehension by mainly using questionnaire Qualitative method is used to find out

effectiveness, difficulties, and suggestions of using scanning and skimming

strategies in learning reading comprehension by using the instrument of survey and discussions to collect and analyze the data The data are collected by

means of questionnaire and tests

1.6 Structure of the study

The study consists of five chapters as follow:

Chapter I : Introduction

This chapter deals with the researcher’s reasons for choosing the topic of the study, the aims, scope of the study, research questions, method of the study and structure of the study

Chapter II: Literature review

This chapter provides the theory about reading, reading comprehension, reading strategies as well as skimming and scanning strategies in reading

Chapter III: Method

This chapter aims at stating the methods that the researcher applies to do the study This study is conducted as a survey research that employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect data The quantitative analysis are used through the process of data collected from questionnaire and tests In addition, the qualitative approach is employed to deal with the data gathered from interviews with the randomly chosen students in order to obtain more in depth understanding The combination of these data collection methods will help the author achieve the aims of the study

Chapter IV: Finding and discussion

The finding and discuss are based on the achieved result from the questionnaires, observation and interviews for both teachers and students and tests for students Chapter V: Conclusion is a review of the study, the limitations of the study and recommendations for further research

The study ends with the “ reference” which lists all the material and sources of the information used in the study and the “ appendix” in which the questionnaire designed for students and teachers and tests for students are mentioned

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides the background knowledge on the topic that relate to the research: definition of reading, reading comprehension , classification of reading techniques, model of reading, definition of reading strategies, some strategies, the importance of skimming and scanning in learning reading comprehension, the relationship between scanning and skimming, how to use these strategies in reading comprehension effectively, skimming and scanning training procedure will be discussed

2.1.Definition of reading and reading comprehension

2.1.1 Definition of reading

Reading has a multi - faced impact on our life People have demand for reading

to expand their knowledge Through reading textbooks, magazines, newspapers,… People can discover what happens around the world Today, when people have to update new mass information all over the world, reading becomes more and more important However, there are different point of views on the definition of reading According to Rechards (1992, p.306) reading means “ perceiving a written text in order to understand its content and saying a written text aloud.” Here, there

is clearly an overlap between reading and writing , in which a “text” has to be written down before we can read it In many societies, literature is still seen as a prime example of writing and therefore one of the first things a student is asked to do is to read Reading is a receptive skill with many sub schillings just as those involved in listening Harmer( 1989,p.153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “eyes receive messages and brain then has to identify the meaning of those messages” It seems that the text presents letters, words, sentences, paragraphs that encode meaning The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is According to Siberstein ( 1993): “ Reading is complex information processing skill in which reader interacts with the text to create the meaningful discourse”

Goodman ( 17,p.135) states: Reading is psycholinguistic process by which the

reader, a language user reconstructs as best as he can, message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”

William ( 30,p.3) had the same view on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction as Goodman He argues that written text, then, often contains more than we need to understand them The efficient reader make use of this to take what

he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning”

In general term, reading is defined as “ reading is an active, fluent process which involves the reader and reading materials in building meaning Meaning does not reside on the printed pages, nor is it only in the reader” Anderson, (5,P.1) This definition of reading has been generally shared by other researchers deriving from those opinions, reading is considered as a process in which a reader looks at and understands what has been written out

From all the opinions above, it is clear that no researcher could give an absolutely exact definition that can capture all the ideas and features of reading and

we cannot tell whose point of view is better because each of them focus on one important matter of reading However, they all try to find out the nature of reading, that is “understanding”, in which they emphasize on reading process, reading material and readers Therefore, being a language teacher, we must understand the nature of reading thoroughly to help students read effectively

2 1.2 Definition of reading comprehension

Understanding the message that the authors want to covey is very important Therefore, reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning language reading skill Methodologists have provided different definitions of reading comprehension According to Smith ( 204, p.379) comprehension as a process by which someone links what he knows about the world to what he already has as information ( intensive) and ( expectations) in his head thus, comprehending

is the state of being out of confusion and puzzling to set things clear with no misunderstanding” Comprehension as defined by Bernhardt (1987) is a process of relating new, or incoming information to information already stored in the memory

(background knowledge) Obviously, during the process of reading, readers must not

only look at words on the pages ( bottom –up process) but also activate background

knowledge( top – down process), and then build all the elements into comprehension

Furthermore, according to Enhart’s organization reading comprehension can be

Defined as : a topic dependent It involves making appropriate decisions from

the beginning of a text It involves met cognitive awareness of the comprehension

process The first two items above are so – called “schemata” ( background

knowledge), The third item involves scanning, which is reading general idea as far

as the third and the fourth parts are concerned, slow speeds in reading seem to

imply limited use of them, and also limited comprehension Swam ( 28, p.1) states

that “ when we say a student is good at comprehension We mean that he can read

accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information a text with the

minimum of understanding Also concerning the reading comprehension, Grellet

( 18, p.3) argues that reading comprehension or understanding a written text

means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” The

researcher means reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the

meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way

From these opinion, it can be concluded that reading comprehension is a

process of understanding what is conveyed in the text It does not mean that the

reader needs to understand every single word in the text but actively work in the

text and extract the required information efficiently

2.2 Models of reading

Reading models explain what happened in the process of reading they describe how reader processes printed texts to construct meaning, that means, these models

are concerned with how readers could be able to translate given printed words into

meanings from the level of perception of the text by the eyes into analysis by the

brain This led us to shed a light on three main theoretical model of reading process

that has been researched by many cognitive and behavioral scientists: Bottom-up,

top-down and interactive models

2.2.1 The Bottom-up Model

The bottom up approach is known as phonics, which requires the learner

to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence i.e reading in linear process

by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers 1956, cited in Kucer (1987,p 27-51) This model

of reading is concerned primarily with the recognition of individual letters, phonemes and words that means the meaning of the whole text begins from the word level, then the sentential level, and finally the text level ( as cited by Lisson and Wixson, 1991, in Rumptz, 2003) Besides this, it emphasizes a single direction, part- to- the whole processing of text In other words, it involves a series of steps that the reader has to go through i.e moving from the smallest linguistic units such as: sentences, phrase, and so on, until reaching the meaning of the text (James E & Gentry, 2008)

The bottom up model allows students to start with the perceptual processing of text and move upward through word recognition to comprehension, in other words,

it is the process in which the reader begins with the smallest units of text (letters) and then move to the higher units of text (clusters) and finally get to words So, readers derive meaning in linear manner, i.e building letters into words, words into sentences, phrases and then proceeds to the overall meaning

The bottom – up model reveals several shortcomings in describing the actual reading process It does not give a full account of a reader’s prior knowledge Moreover it emphasizes a single – direction in which implies that no higher level information ever modifies or changes lower level analysis In some cases, readers are able to identify a word correctly only by employing higher level semantic and syntactic processing

2.2.2 The Top- down Model

Top – down processing emphasizes the important of the reader’s background knowledge, or the schemata

Richards (1990, P 50-51 ) defined the top-down model referred to “the use

of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of a given text that means readers make connection between their previous knowledge about a topic, situational or contextual knowledge, or knowledge stored in long term memory in the form of “schemata” and “scripts” This theory argues that when reading a text, a reader has his own knowledge, expectations, and questions, which he match with the text Grabe (1988, P 56) states also that reading in this model is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the background knowledge of the reader that is used in the act of reading Reading, in this sense, is “a dialogue between the reader and the text”

According Nuttall (2005: 16), top – down process helps readers see the overall purpose of the text as well as enables them to predict the writer’s purpose In this view, the reader reconstructs meaning from written language by using the syntactic and semantic system of the language Brown ( 2001: 18) points out that with top down process “ we draw on our own intelligence and experience to understand the text” The top –down model of reading emphasizes the higher order skills inherent

in reading which are primarily the use of predictions and inferences in the process

of constructing meaning from past experiences, and the reconstruction of these predictions based on new information incongruent with past knowledge

However, top – down models have some limitations Alderson, (2001: 18) discusses that “ the main drawback of top – down approach is that the readers do not know how prior knowledge is called upon from memory and how it is then used in understanding” Samuel and kamil (1988) show the weakness of this model that for many texts, the reader has little knowledge of the topic and cannot generate predictions

2.2.3 The Interactive Model

Since neither the bottom- up nor top – down model of the reading process totally accounts for what occurs during the reading process, the interactive model

is the attempts to make connection between both models of reading; the bottom up and top down ones In other words, it recognizes the interaction of both models

simultaneously throughout the reading process Similarly, Eskey (1988,p.93-100) sees that “the interactive model takes into account the continuous interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing in the construction of the meaning of

a text” From this view, good readers are those who have both ability of good decoding and interpreting of texts, their decoding skills become more automatic Eskey also believe that to achieve fluency and accuracy in reading, readers must work at perfecting both their bottom- up recognition skills and their top – down interpretation strategies In other word, good reading – fluent and accurate reading- can result only from a constant interaction between these two processes

Rumelhart (1981, p 37) also views that it is “one in which data driven, bottom- up processing combines with top- down, conceptually driven processing

to cooperatively determine the most likely the interpretation of input” Additionally, Carell (1998, p.240-254) put s in his words: “The interactive model suggests that the reader processes reading by starting with a linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning which the reader construct”

The interactive model emphasizes both the identification skills, which are represented in the bottom – down model, and the global interpretation skills which come from knowledge of the top- down model of making predictions and inferences It seems that the interactive model is the best one that can truly reflect the reading process

2.3 Techniques of reading

2.3.1 Reading aloud

Reading aloud involves “ looking at the text; understanding it and also

saying it”( Doff:70), and he considers reading aloud as a way to convey necessary information to someone else Very few people are required to read aloud as a matter of daily routine The readers are asked to read the text so loudly that other people can hear it Reading aloud does not happen outside the class as Doff ( 1988, p.67) said “ reading aloud is not an activity we engage in very often outside the classroom” Reading aloud has both advantages and disadvantages

Natal (1966) sees reading aloud as an important aid for beginners to improve pronunciation It helps students to make the connection between sounds and spelling of letters and words and also assists the teacher to check students’ pronunciation Moreover, it is an effective technique to keep class under control However, Greenwood ( 1985) critizes this ideas He claims that students may unable to focus adequately on the text’s meaning when they highly concentrate on pronouncing the words

When reading aloud, students mainly focus on pronunciation not on meaning

of the text, so it is difficult for them to understand meaning of context Moreover, reading aloud wastes students’ time because students read in turns, so they have to wait one after one, and they will not have enough time to deduce the meaning of the text or complete comprehension exercises, and in the classroom, only the reading student is active at a time, others are either not listening at all or listening to a bad model Some students’ speed of reading is very slow so it takes a lot of time in class

In conclusion, reading aloud can be applied for those who begin learning a foreign language to establish the connection between sound and spelling But for high level, students’ purpose of learning reading is more than connecting the pronunciation When asking students to read aloud, he may lack connection on the meaning so They cannot complete understanding the text and doing comprehension exercises They can read correctly but after that they will not able to tell us what they have read It is difficult to read aloud and understand the text at the same time of reading

It might be a good way to practice pronunciation Therefore the teachers as Educators should identify the level of their students and decide whether to apply reading aloud or not in teaching reading to their students

2 3.2 Silent reading

It is obvious that by far the greatest amount of reading which is done is silent Silent reading is most likely for the term “reading” Silent reading can be applied effectively to teaching and learning a reading comprehension text because reading

a text silently helps students concentrate on understanding its meaning

“Silent is the method we normally use with our native language on the quickest and most efficient” Lewis ( 1985, p 110) Sharing the same idea, Doff ( 1988, p 67) defined silent reading as followed : “silent reading involves looking at sentences and understanding the message it conveys, in other words, making sense of a written text It does not normally involve saying the words we read nor even silently in our heads” With silent reading, we can best understand the reading text

in the shortest time as possible because we do not need to read all the words in the text, we can read at our own speed and in case they do not understand its meaning, they can read again When reading silently, students both obtain its main ideas in the shortest length of time and deeply understand its meaning Besides, silent reading also helps teachers control the class

In all, silent reading is a useful technique in reading comprehension process applied to students to exploit reading lesson effectively However, it is more beneficial when the teacher sometimes combines silent reading with reading aloud

to improve students’ pronunciation and intonation because reading aloud also has its own advantages

2.4 Type of reading: According to purpose, reading is categorized into two types: intensive reading and extensive reading

2.4.1 Intensive reading :

Intensive reading is widely used in reading class It is an effective way to explore the text, to go deeply into the meaning and organization of the text As Grellet’s definition “ intensive reading means reading short text to extract specific information This is an accuracy activity involving reading for details, Grellet (1981,p 4) The main concern of intensive reading is for detail comprehension In intensive reading, students normally work with short text with close guidance from the teacher The aims of intensive reading are to help students obtain detailed meaning from the context, to develop reading skills such as identifying main ideas and recognizing text connectors and to enhance vocabulary grammar knowledge Nuttal ( 1982,p 36) states : “ intensive reading involves approaching the text under

the guidance of a teacher or a task which forces the students to focus on the text”

It can be offered that intensive reading often refers to the careful reading of shorter, more difficult foreign language texts with the goals of complete and detailed understanding Intensive reading is also associated with the teaching of reading in terms of its component skills Texts are studied intensively in order to introduce and practice reading skills such as distinguishing main idea of a text from the detail, finding pronoun referents, or guessing the meaning of unknown words

In doing intensive reading, the actual amount of time spent on reading is very little as a l ot of procedure such as listening to the teacher’s instructions, reading comprehension questions, discussing the content of the text, doing post – reading activities have to be followed

Reading speed is usually slower as learners have to stop at some moments during their reading in the classroom to look up new words in dictionary, and ask the teacher for a definition or analyze the text by reading it word- by – word or sentence – by sentence Reading in intensive reading approach is not individual as learners are assumed to interact more with the teacher than with the text

What is meant by all the characteristics of intensive reading approach mentioned above is not that intensive reading is bad, only that it is limited in what

it tries to do

In short, intensive reading is a basic classroom activity It is really effective if the teacher and his students know how to fully exploit this activity in class with the help of reading exercise

2.4.2 Extensive reading

Extensive reading means to read widely and in quantity The aims of extensive reading are to build reader confidence and enjoyment Extensive reading is always done for comprehension of main ideas, not for specific details Brown ( 1989) explains that “extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding

of a text.” Carrell and Carson ( 1997,p 49, 50) also stated that: “extensive generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer reading for general

understanding, with the focus generally on the meaning of what is being read than

on the language”

Extensive reading is also considered to be useful for students’ self- learning Their reading habit and passion for reading are formed through extensive reading Students can choose the topic they like and read for their own purpose for pleasure and entertainment However, it is more effective if students’ extensive reading is followed an instructional program with the help of the reading teacher In fact most

of extensive reading is done silently and out of the classroom and it gives the students opportunities to use their target language for their own purpose Besides,

it provides the valuable reinforcement of language items and structure already presented in the classroom, gives the students chance to update and enrich their language knowledge by reading the topics they like and read for enjoyment without consideration for pressure time, intense concentration, and total comprehension Extensive reading therefore, is regarded as an effective way for the students to improve their language reading It helps students enhance language learning in such areas as spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and text structure It also gives students more positive attitude toward reading offers them greater enjoyment of reading, helps them to read with pleasure And it is considered as an advisable sort of work for the students to increase and improve their general knowledge of the world as well

Basing on the purposes of reading, people may be skimming and scanning as they are reading extensively

To sum up, extensive reading is one of good ways to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language because its aim is to cover the content of text in the shortest possible period of time In the language classroom, the teacher must introduce some suitable reading materials to students, as it is useful for them to form a good habit of reading

2.5 Language learning strategies

Both of learners and good readers may use various reading strategies that

could help them to achieve a meaning of texts successfully That is why, the use of reading strategies is more important for learners to reach comprehension when reading

5.1.Definition of language learning strategies

Since the effective use of language strategies by learners play an important

role in language learning, several attempts have been made to define the concept of language learning strategies

Rubin and stern suggested that “ the good language learner” might be doing something special that we could all learn from From these very first initiatives, more and more researchers have come to recognize the significance of special learner techniques or strategies in second language acquisition

Tarone ( 1980) defines a language learning strategy by distinguishing between Production strategies and learning strategies He considers the first two of these “ strategies” as ‘ an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language

In O’Malley and Chamot’s study, learning strategies are “ the special

thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information.” (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990:1) In this definition, language learning strategies can be either observable or unobservable ( mental and

behavioral), and language learning strategies are individually characterized

Oxford’s definition ( 1990) of this term is often considered as the most comprehensive and widely accepted for its fill conveyance of affective aspects of language learning strategies The research indicated language learning strategies are

“operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information” This definition clearly reflects the nature of language

learning strategies

It is impossible to cover all definitions of learning strategies offered by researchers; even it is a challenge to decide which definition is helpful to all research purposes Therefore, the comprehensiveness of this definition and the characteristics of learning strategies also lend themselves well in the context of the

study

2.5.1 Definition of Reading Strategies

There are many different views about the definition of reading strategies depending on different scholars that is why there is no clear cut definition

Garner (1987, p.95) defines reading strategies “as generally deliberate, playful activities undertaken by active learners, many times to remedy

perceived cognitive failure” Additionally, Barnett (2002, p1-14) has used the term reading strategy to refer to “the cognitive operations that take place when readers approach a text with the purpose to make sense of what they read In this sense, reading strategies are as the comprehension processes that readers use in order to make sense of what they read” So, Reading strategies are effective techniques that are used by learners to succeed in reading comprehension On the other hand, we cannot exclude the role of teachers who should be both aware of the use of reading strategies and should teach learners on how to use these different strategies

successfully

In short, reading strategies can be considered as the way readers use in their interaction with the written text to help them get effectiveness in their reading

2.5.2.The Nature of Reading Strategy

Discussion on reading strategy is necessary in developing an understanding that is any reading process must involve strategies, in some way or another, which readers use in the attempt of constructing meaning from text According to Cohen (1998), the term “strategies” has, in fact, been used to refer both to General approaches and to specific actions or techniques used to learn a second language For example, a general approach strategy could be that of forming concepts and hypotheses about how the target language works A more specific strategy could be that of improving reading comprehension in the new language In addition, strategic reading is a prime characteristic of expert readers (cited in Paris, 2002) Being an expert reader means using the strategies for effective extraction

of meaning and, therefore, text comprehension This strategic reading can be seen as

a basic aspect in the development of effective reading Furthermore, strategy is

a specific technique used by students and teachers to solve the problems in order to achieve the objectives to control and manipulate certain information (Brown, 1994) Tankersley (2003) defines strategies as what teachers provide to the learner

to help him organize and make meaning as he is reading Strategic reading

demonstrated by effective reader might be specifically individual But such an important way of navigating through a text in coming to a comprehension is worthwhile to be learned, and since some of them can be taught, learning from the strategic readers undoubtedly has some educational implications

In conclusion, reading comprehension strategy is the readers‟ effort or way to elicit the information of selection text in reading It can help students read and understand the text more quickly and effectively

2.5.3 The Importance of Reading Strategies

In educational system, most of learners face many problems especially in comprehension of written materials when reading According to them,

understanding the meaning of texts can be a great challenge i.e they are able to understand each word and even each sentence; but unfortunately, they fail to achieve the meaning of text as a whole For that reason, many psychologies and researchers assume that those who always struggle and find reading comprehension

as a problematic issue Readingstrategies refers to a planned or established way of

them overcome their reading problems

There is much evidence that have been shown on the importance of reading strategies and their effective role in enhancing and developing reading

comprehension Mc Namara et al (2009, p.218) views that “reading strategies are more useful and beneficial for learners who show lack of knowledge in the domain

of reading, as well as those with lower reading skill, these kinds of learners are

strongly needed to these strategies to achieve reading comprehension” Therefore, the continuous use of reading strategies will lead the readers to become skilled and later they will be able to utilize the reading skills acquired without conscious efforts

to meet their needs When we implement any type of strategy, the concentration level increases and learning becomes effective leading to student success

2.6 Some strategies of reading 2.6.1 Predicting

Magiliano (1993) states that “prediction strategy involves thinking about

what might be coming next in the text It is applied by effective reader that mean, they used pictures, headings and text as well as personal experience to make predictions before they begin to read” So, predicting involves thinking ahead while reading and anticipating information and events in the text Jessica also viewed that

“it is used in reading task, it helps learners to think what will happen based upon the text, the author, and background knowledge in other words it makes students elicit their interest, activate their prior knowledge, or pre-teach vocabulary or concepts that may be difficult” In this sense, predicting requires learners to use the text to decide what will happen next Readers confirm or deny predictions with support from the text

To sum up, predicting is an important reading strategy It allows readers to use information from the text and diagrams to anticipate what will happen in the text When making predictions, readers envision what will come next in the text, based on their prior knowledge Predicting encourages them to actively think ahead and ask questions It also allows them to understand the text better, make

connections to what they are reading, and interact with the text.Furthermore, making predictions encourages readers to use critical thinking and problem solving skills Readers are given the opportunity to reflect and evaluate the text, thus extracting deeper meaning and comprehension skills Students will also be more interested in the reading text when they connect their prior knowledge with the new

information that is being learned. As students learn predictions skills, they will more fully comprehend what they have read and will retain the information for longer periods of time

2.6.2 Inferring

Prezler(2006) said that “inferences are evidence -based guesses i.e in

case of reading; students use their prior knowledge to make inferences about the text” According to Zimmermann (2009) saw that inferences are often referred to as what you “read between the lines” that means the author wants the reader to make the jump to the same conclusion the author has made He states also that “Drawing inferences from text is a technique which requires readers to use their prior knowledge (schema) and textual information to draw conclusions, make critical judgments, and form unique interpretations from text” (p23) So, the inferences are the conclusions that a reader draws about the unsaid passage based on what is actually said by the author

Inferring can be difficult for students, it is often necessary to understand the full meaning of a text As with other reading comprehension strategies, students need explicit instruction in how to make inferences and when to apply the strategy Teachers can support students as they develop proficiency with this skill through think- aloud, discussion of wordless picture books, and activities like charades The skill of inferring is closely related in the fields of science and literacy As a reading strategy, inferring requires readers to use prior knowledge and the information stated in a text to draw conclusions When readers infer, they think about and search the text, and sometimes use personal knowledge to construct meaning beyond what is literally stated

2.6.3 Guessing

Guessing the meaning of new words as one of the most difficult problems

that make an obstacle for students in the comprehension of reading is unfamiliar/new words According to Clarck (1980) the best way to solve this problem is “to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from the context in order to

save time and continue reading without interruption or referring to a dictionary” The ability to guess meaning from context is a useful skill to practice and try to improve There are many things that could help students such as:

 Guess the meaning of the text which surrounds it

 The way the word is formed

 Background knowledge of the students about the subject

2.6.4 Self - Monitoring

Self–monitor is a process by which the student is actively engaged in

reflecting, assessing and working toward academic, behavioral and social goals Hanson (1996) views that the ability of a student to self-monitor his or her performance is a natural step toward becoming independent, which can only happen when students take responsibility for their own behavior and essentially become

“agents of change” Furthermore, self-monitoring can be used both to assess where students are functioning academically and behaviorally and to improve academic or behavioral performance

Self-monitoring is something students engage in frequently Students are able to self-monitor during reading stop throughout reading a piece of text to ask questions, identify areas of confusion, self-correct any decoding errors, and employ strategies to get back on track A student that is unable to self-monitor continues to move through a text without stopping, even when they make a decoding error or are unable to comprehend the text Students that struggle with self-monitoring may need multiple prompts and practice opportunities to improve these skills

2.6.5 Summarizing

It is the last strategy that can be used by readers, It requires the readers

to organize or restate the information or the main ideas of a given text by his/her own style after their comprehension or in other words, taking a lot of information and creating a condensed version that covers only the main points Oxford (2006) defines “summarizing as a short description of the main ideas or points of something without any details”

In short, summarizing teaches students how to take a large selection of

text and reduce it to the main points for more concise understanding Upon reading

a passage, summarizing helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that support them It is a technique that enables students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth noting and remembering

Summarizing builds comprehension by helping to reduce confusion Teachers

train students to process the information they read with the goal of breaking down content into succinct pieces

2.6.6 Skimming

Skimming is commonly used in reading comprehension It is one of specific reading strategies necessary for quick and efficient reading Grellet ( 1982) states: “ Skimming appears when we go through the reading material quickly in order to get main points or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to specific questions” And according to Nuttal ( 1982: 34) “ By skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through a text to determine whether a research paper is relevant

to our own work or in order to keep ourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us” In addition to the definitions of skimming, Wood ( 1990: 92) said that “ when the reader looks at the content pages of the book, or the chapter headings, sub- headlines, etc This is sometimes called previewing Another example is when reader glances quickly through a newspaper

to see the main items of the day are This will often mean just glancing at the headlines” That means when we quickly to get general impression to see the text

is useful to us, it is not necessarily searching for a specific details and key words Skimming provides an overview of the text so it is beneficial to look at chapter or section headings, summaries and opening paragraphs, therefore, the purpose of skimming are to check the relevance of the text and to set the scene for more concentrated effort that is to follow if the text is useful

In order to teach skimming effectively, the teacher should have the students

read the beginning or end of the text or a paragraph because it may provide students with a statement relating to the topic Skimming gives students the advantage of being able to predict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message, or possibly some of the developing or supporting ideas This give them

a “head start” as they embark on more focused reading Skimming also helps students to organize their thoughts and specify what information they can get from

a book so that the subsequent reading will become more efficient

To sum up, skimming is considered as a necessary technique for reading comprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text without being concerned with the details Therefore, skimming should be applied at the first stage of teaching reading to help students have an overview of what they are going to read And it is sure that they will understand the whole text later However, skimming sometimes proves too difficult for younger learners, or beginners because they generally lack of confidence and the knowledge of the language they are learning

2.6.7 Scanning

Scanning is an useful strategy for reading comprehension Based on the theory

of scanning made by Williams ( 1986: 100) “ Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of information” It can be understood that scanning is very high speech reading When you scan, you often have a question in your mind You do not read every word, only the word answer your question You look for a specific fact or piece of information without reading everything Practicing scanning can help you to skip over unimportant words that you can read faster In scanning, the readers usually focus on

searching the information we need, moving our eyes quickly along the lines That is why scanning is widely used in everyday life Scanning requires two skills of the reader The first skill is they recognize the specific type of words that identifies the item, and the other is the use of a different eye movement pattern, vertical

vision Scanning when you look for your favorite show listed in the cable guide,

for your friend’s phone number in a telephone book, and for the sport scores in the newspaper For scanning to be successful, you need to understand how your

material is structured as well as comprehend what you read so you can locate the specific information you need Scanning also allows you to find details and other information in a hurry

In short, scanning is regarded as a useful and important technique that helps students understand the gist of the text well The key for scanning is to decide what kind of information we can look for and where to find it The purpose of scanning is to extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text

2.7 Reading Strategies Instruction

On reading instruction, reading strategies play an important role in the promotion of reading comprehension, especially for poor readers who are always struggling in reading According to U.S Department of Education (2014), Comprehension strategies are routines and procedures that readers use to help them make sense of texts Struggling readers need direct, explicit instruction in comprehension strategies to improve their reading comprehension So we can say that teacher/instructor has also a role on teaching students how to use these strategies effectively and appropriately in different content-area texts through applying some explicit instructions such as: introducing word, giving feedback, providing friendly-explanation, and promoting student’s ability on using reading strategies in different situations etc Practicing these strategies will help students not only to use them flexibly but also solve problem of reading comprehension

2.8 The importance of scanning and skimming strategies in reading

translate every sentence into Vietnamese to hope that knowing the meaning

of every will mean they arrive at a meaning total Therefore, they rely on using dictionary for word meaning and students also tend to focus attention on forms and details rather than meaning and main ideas

Scanning and skimming has demonstrated as useful strategies for improving students’ fluency in reading comprehension Nuttall has stated that skimming means glancing rapidly through a text to search for a specific piece of information Using skimming and scanning in reading comprehension help students go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of the text and help students know how the text is organized Skimming also helps students to get an idea of the tone or the intonation of the writer Scanning helps students locate specific information from the reading text This mean that by using skimming and scanning, the students can make reading material easier and use the time efficiently

2.9.How to use skimming and scanning effectively

 Skimming is a strategy of rapidly moving the eyes over the text with the purpose of getting only the main ideas and general overview of the

content of the text So skimming is useful in three different situations

 Pre - reading : Skimming is more thorough than simple previewing and Can give a more accurate picture of text to be read later Skimming is a

prediction strategy used to give a reader a sense of the topic and purpose of the text, the organization of the text, the perspective or point of view of the writer, its easy or difficult, and its usefulness to the readers

 Reviewing : Skimming is useful for reviewing text already read

When reviewing text already read , readers do not need to read again the whole text and every single word to get the main idea of it Most of main idea are in the first sentence of a paragraph Moreover, using skimming, reader can locate the facts, say briefly what the text is about or give the answer for the specific question easily by glancing quickly the over the surface of the text Therefore , readers review the text effectively with less time

 Reading : Skimming is most often used for quickly reading material that, for any number of reasons, does not need more detail attention

Skimming spend less time for reader to get the general understanding of the text they are reading This would be effective to be used in reading a long passage while readers are supposed to answer the comprehension questions Students only read parts of the text that will help them answer the questions Furthermore, reading text with skimming strategy, reader use their mind to decode the location of main ideas and concentrate on such way that their mind can focus on the topic of the text

or what the text is about without reading and translating every word And when reading a text, readers should read only the key words These key words could be the topic, the descriptive adjectives, the abstractions and the punctuation words

In order to read the text that uses skimming strategy effectively, readers should follow steps:

+Reading the title It is the shortest possible summary of the content

+Reading the introduction or lead – in paragraph

+Reading the first paragraph completely

If there are subheadings, read each one, look for the relationships among them +Reading the first sentences of each remaining paragraph because the main idea

of most paragraphs appears in the first sentence if author’s pattern is to begin with

a question, you may find the last sentence more valuable

+Dipping into the text to look for: clue words that answer who, what, when, why, how; proper nouns; unusual words especially if capitalized; enumerations; qualifying adjectives ( best, worst, most, etc ); typographical cued- italics, boldface, underlining, asterisks; etc …

-Reading the final paragraph completely

*)Scanning : is a strategy that rapidly covers a great deal of material in order

to locate a specific fact and piece of information Scanning is very useful for finding

a specific name, date, statistic, or fact without reading the entire text In order to using scanning strategy effectively, students should :

- Keep in mind at all the times what it is you are searching for If you hold the image of the word or idea clearly in mind, it is likely to appear more clearly than the surrounding word Anticipate in what form the information likely to appear – numbers, proper nouns, etc

- Analyze the organization of the content before starting to scan If material is familiar or fairly brief, students may be able to scan the entire text in a single search It is very necessary to determine which part of text to scan That is why students should remember about the generic structure of text that will ease them to scan Students should let your eyes run rapidly over several lines of the text at a time

- When students find the sentence that has the information they seek, read the entire sentence It is useful to read the entire sentence carefully so students will get right information Then students can easily answer the questions based on the based

in a certain amount of time

2.11.Skimming and scanning training procedure

The teacher trained the students how to skim for the main ideas and how to scan for details by teaching them the effective methods to approach the text The strategy training procedure used in this study was adapted from the teaching approaches as follows:

+Skim for the main ideas: After examining the title or headings, the students can be asked to read the first and last paragraph of the text to determine the main ideas of the text Alternatively, they can read the first paragraph in its entirety and the first sentence of each subsequent paragraph before determining the main ideas

To provide the students with practice in skimming, the students must be given only

a few minutes to accomplish this task, otherwise, they will read the article rather than skim it The teacher asks the students to highlight or underline the main points

of the text and the answers to a set of questions posed to them just before reading The students can be asked to read the text section by section, stopping at the end of each section to discuss the main ideas up to that point In tests of skimming, the

teacher instructs the students to glance through the text and to note the broad gist of the contents They are then given a small number of questions concerning only the major points and general outline of the text Sometimes at the end of skimming the students are allowed a few minutes to jot down any notes they wish to make but they are not usually allowed to refer back to the text The teacher should have the students work under time pressure while they are practicing skimming The questions must not ask for subtle comprehension, otherwise, they cannot answer them by skimming The teacher can simply ask the students what a text is about, or she can give specific questions The students can be asked to skim the text for the answers to simple global questions

+ Scan for details: After examining the title and headings, the students can be asked to scan for important information The teacher can generate a list of questions that will help the students discover the easily identifiable information quickly such

as names of countries, times or dates, names of people The students can scan the entire text for an answer or be directed to specific paragraphs for the information

To ensure that the students scan rather than read, scanning exercises should be completed quickly under timed conditions To read for specific purposes, the teacher can encourage the students to read selectively by posing a number of questions to the students that they should consider while reading or by creating grids or tables that the students complete while reading In scanning tests, the questions are given to the students before they begin to read the text, thus directing them to read the text for specific information Tasks for scanning should be delivered orally, so that the teacher can force the pace It is not scanning unless it is done fast The teacher can ask students to scan for a single word or a fact in a text When the class finished reading and did the reading tasks assigned by the teacher, the teacher discussed the answers with the students and asked them to explain the reasons for the answers or how they approached the text The teacher should emphasize the strategies involved in determining the correct answer to each question and also analyze the incorrect answers To draw the students’ attention to

what they are reading, the teacher should advise them to highlight or underline the information or the clues in the text which help them to choose the correct answers All lessons were focused on skimming and scanning strategies, however, the teacher sometimes modeled other strategies, which are also important in comprehending a text, when they are relevant to the passage: understanding rhetorical structures, guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words from context, predicting… The teacher also encouraged students to use the strategies outside the classroom so that training could be transferred to other reading tasks

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

This chapter will explore the methodology to be applied in the study by discussing the detail: the participants, the instruments and the procedure of data collection and analysis

3.1 Research method

This study is conducted as a survey research that employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data through the questionnaire , interviews and tests The quantitative analyses are used through the process of data collected from questions in the questionnaire and tests In addition, the qualitative approach is employed to deal with the data gathered from interviews with 5 randomly chosen students of 80 ones as a whole to obtain more in – depth understanding The combination of these data collection methods will help the author achieve the aim

of the study

3.2 Participants

The study was carried out to investigate students and teacher’ attitude and expectation toward learning reading comprehension with skimming and scanning and effectiveness of these strategies in improving students’ reading fluency Therefore, the participants of the study involved both teachers and students at Quang Xuong 1 High school In this study, no administrators, teachers or students were identified by their names

3.2.1 Teachers

In terms of teachers, the numbers of teachers who participate the study are seven Some of them have been doing an MA course in applied linguistics and English teaching methodology

Seven teachers were selected to answer the questionnaire to help the research

to find out how to use scanning and skimming strategies to improve students’ reading fluency They are from 35 to 45 years of age with at least 10 years of English teaching experience

3.2.2 Students

Eighty students from two classes 12C6 and 12C1 at Quang Xuong 1 high School are selected to fulfill the questionnaire which help the researcher have useful information Most of students have learned English since they were at lower secondary school The participants include male and female All of the students are going to take part in the national examination in which English

is compulsory subject

3.3 Instruments for data collection

This research employed main data collection methods: questionnaire and tests Specially, questionnaires were distributed to both students and teachers

3.3.1 Questionnaire:

Using questionnaires is one of the most commonly used by the researchers According to Hammer ( 1986) “questionnaire is a relatively popular means of collecting data It enables the researcher to collect data in field’s settings, and the data themselves are more amendable to quantification than discursive data”

The questionnaire is a list of questions, the researcher delivers it to the objects and ask them to fulfill the requirement of the questionnaire The biggest advantage

of this method is that it can assess the rate of different factors affecting students’ reading skill in a vast number of the participants Thus it gets the information accurately

There are two type of questionnaires: choosing and giving ideas In the first type, The participants can choose one ( or more) answers from the list suggested by the searchers Defending one each question, answer may choose one or more options The other type of questionnaire is that the participants are asked to give their own ideas about certain circumstance The researchers have to prepare the questions However, some of them are not allowed participants top choose options Thus, they have to write down their ideas, suggestions in their own words This is

an useful way to collect students’ ideas

Two sets of questionnaires, one for teacher and one for students of Quang Xuong I high school.( see appendix A and B) to identify their attitude, perception, difficulties of using two strategies “ skimming and scanning” in reading comprehension Questionnaire for teachers ( appendix A) consists of seven questions and for students ( appendix B) consists of eight questions with some ready designed choices

3.3.3 Interview

The interviews aim to reaffirm the collected results from the questionnaire

and observation Moreover, the interview can help researcher get information quickly and directly Therefore, to collect data, besides questionnaire and classroom observation, researcher can interview both teachers and students

Teachers’ interviews: The researcher designed an interview checklist with questions for three randomly chosen teachers of English Interviews for teachers were carried out after the reading lesson with their reading classes observed The teachers were willing to share their point of views, ideas, and teaching experience Students’ interviews: An interview checklist of questions was used to asked five randomly chosen students in the experimental classes The interviews were carried out informally to create the relaxing interaction between the interviewer and interviewee and to obtain the most reliable information from the students The students’ interview were carried out after observing reading classes or in the break time

3.3.4.Tests

This is a final achievement test The test was done by the researcher in two classes: experimental class and controlled class to find out the effectiveness of using scanning and skimming strategies in improving students’ reading fluency in comparison to other methods or approaches The experimental class used scanning and skimming strategies in teaching reading comprehension and controlled class did not apply scanning and skimming strategies in teaching reading comprehension Students in two classes were asked to do the same tests ( pre- test