VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** TRẦN THANH THÚY THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION – AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI (Ảnh hưởng của việc đọc mở rộng với khả năng đọc hiểu của học sinh khối 10 – Nghiên cứu hành động tại một trường trung học tại Hà Nội) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi, 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** TRẦN THANH THÚY THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION – AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI (Ảnh hưởng của việc đọc mở rộng với khả năng đọc hiểu của học sinh khối 10 – Nghiên cứu hành động tại một trường trung học tại Hà Nội) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã Hanoi, 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I certify my authority of the Study Project Report entitled “The effects of extensive reading on grade 10 students’ reading comprehension at a high school in Hanoi” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi.
I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree. Trần Thanh Thúy Hanoi, 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On completing this graduation paper, I would like to thank many people for their invaluable help during the conduct of the research. First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã, for her critical and timely feedback, her constant understanding and her unfailing encouragement, without all of which I would not have been able to complete this paper.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my special thanks to Dr. Lê Văn Canh, from the Faculty of Post Graduate studies, University of languages and international studies for his interesting and informative lectures that suggested the idea for this study. I would also like to say the sincerest thanks to 48 students at class 10 C1, Vietnam – Poland high school who have participated in the study. Their participation has been crucial to the completion of the research.
Last but never least, my sincere thanks to my family and friends whose support has been a great significance to the success of my thesis. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The role of reading in second and foreign language acquisition has been widely acknowledged. Among different approaches to teaching and learning reading, extensive reading has received worldwide acceptance from researchers and educators for its many benefits to the learners. Despite a wealth of research data in this area, there is a significant gap in insight into how extensive reading is practiced in the context of Vietnam, particularly at Vietnam – Poland high school.
In an attempt to improve the reading comprehension for grade 10 students, the researcher decided to carry out an action research with 48 students at class 10C1, Vietnam – Poland high school in 17 weeks. A Questionnaire and two tests were used to explore student‟s attitudes towards reading extensively and its effectiveness. The results of the study revealed that the program had positive effects on students‟ reading comprehension. Besides, through the program, most students indicated that they improved their writing, speaking skills, and mastery of vocabulary and grammar structures.
Most of them also agreed that they gradually created reading habits in their free time. It is hoped that the findings from the study will benefit not only researchers and teachers interested in reading but also students by raising their awareness of their own practice. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Table of Contents DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. AIMS OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
SIGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY. OUTLINE OF THE THESIS .3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. READING AND READING COMPREHENSION. OVERVIEW OF READING AND READING COMPREHENSION.
THE ROLE OF READING IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING. DEFINITION OF EXTENSIVE READING. EXTENSIVE READING AND READING COMPREHENSION. EXTENSIVE READING AND INTENSIVE READING.
PRINCIPLES OF EXTENSIVE READING. BENEFITS OF EXTENSIVE READING IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING .20 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. RESTATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS. DEFINITION OF ACTION RESEARCH.
RATIONALE FOR USING ACTION RESEARCH. BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF AR. Benefits of action research .25 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Students‟ and teachers‟ role.
Action research procedures. Action research procedures of the current study. DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS. Negative item and reverse scoring.
Size of standard deviation (SD).34 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. TO WHAT EXTEN DOES THE EXTENSIVE READING HELP STUDENTS IMPROVE THEIR READING COMPREHENSION?. PRE-TEST RESULT. POST – TEST RESULT.
RESEARCH QUESTION 2: WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EXTENSIVE READING?. DATA COLLECTED FROM THE WEEKLY REPORTS. The students‟overall attitude towards reading materials. The students‟opinions on the level of difficulty of reading materials.
DATA COLLECTED FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRES. DATA COLLECTED FROM TWO OPEN – ENDED QUESTIONS. EVALUATION OF EXTENSIVE READING PROJECT. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEARNERS. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES .58 REFERENCE APPENDICES TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AR: Action research EFL: English as a Foreign Language ER: Extensive reading ERP: Extensive reading project ESL: English as a Second Language ESP: English for Specific Purposes GE: General English RC: Reading comprehension TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1. Tri – component of reading attitudes Figure 2. Action research process Table 4.
The reading comprehension pre – test result Table 4. The reading comprehension post – test result Table: 4.1: Students general feelings about the books Table 4. The students‟opinions on the level of difficulty of reading materials Table 4.2 (c): Students‟attitudes towards the extensive reading project (intention) TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The current study was conducted to explore the effects of extensive reading on reading comprehension of grade 10 students at a high school as well as their attitudes towards reading in English. This chapter including five sections presents the background to the study and the statement of the problems, the aims, the scope and the significance of the study.
The outline of the thesis is also stated in this chapter. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Nowadays, English has become one of the most important languages in the world. Especially in the globalization trend, it is spoken as a second language and an official language in many countries, and as a foreign language in the global world as well. Almost all the people from many different countries around the world use it to communicate.
At high schools in the whole country, English is now a compulsory subject for all students. In view of this, the curriculum plan and syllabi of the high school education in Vietnam have focused on English learning. In language learning, reading is a very important part among such other language skills as speaking, listening, and writing. Especially, in EFL/ESL environment, reading is the basis of instruction in all aspects such as writing, listening, developing vocabulary and acquiring grammar.
With strengthened reading skills, ESL/ EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic areas (Anderson, 2003). Additionally, reading is a crucial skill in universal learning and communication. In this sense, reading ability has always been viewed as critical to academic success (Carrell, 1991; Grabe & Stoller 1997, 2002). Furthermore, Nation (1997) states that success in reading and its associated skills makes learners come to enjoy language learning and value their study of English.
It is obvious that reading helps students become better readers. Research in both L1 and L2 shows that we learn to read by reading. The more our students read, the better reader they would become. And the more vocabulary they know, the better they can read.
In addition, Krashen (1988) posited that the best way to 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com improve reading is by reading. Research has shown reading helps facilitate reading comprehension, reading speed, and reading ability, develop reading fluency, and improve vocabulary learning (Day & Bamford, 1998). Having read about the benefits of ER, the author wants to find out how ER can affect the grade 10 students in their English learning, especially reading comprehension. Like many other high schools in Vietnam, the researcher‟s high school has been applying the English curriculum promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), and prescribed to all high schools nationwide since 2006.
Tiếng Anh 10, one in the series of the prescribed textbooks, consists of 16 theme- based units. Each unit comprises five sections including four language skills as reading, listening, speaking, writing and language focus. Teaching and learning time for each section is 45 minutes; therefore, a total of 135 minutes per week is scheduled for all language skills including language focus and vocabulary instruction. Students have to read a texts ranging from 250 to 300 words in length and then do the reading comprehension tasks.
With only one reading text to read each week, the amount of reading is somewhat too limited to help students become good readers. And the students rarely have time for extra reading materials in class because of the tight schedule. Additionally, poor vocabulary knowledge also causes difficulties to students and they often get stuck when they read and do the reading exercises very slowly. Besides, the test result is low and a concern of not only students but also teachers to find a way to help students solve this problem.
This situation leads to the assumption that the learners‟ reading comprehension is weak due to limit reading materials and practice. Therefore, in this study, I would like to apply an extensive program to help my students improve their reading comprehension ability. Aims of the study and research questions This action research aims to study the possible changes in grade 10 students‟ reading comprehension ability through extensive reading at a high school and 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com provide practitioners with suggestions and recommendations for future extensive reading programs. In particular, it aims at the following questions: 1.
To what extent does extensive reading (ER) help students improve their reading ability? 2. What are students‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading program? 1. Significance and scope of the study The action research originates from the learners‟ poor reading comprehension, one of the most important reading skills. Meanwhile, reading itself plays an important role among the four skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing) to ESL learners.
As mentioned above, reading comprehension (RC) is very important to the students at a high school. Therefore, helping students to improve their reading comprehension is a necessity. What is more, as elaborately presented above, this study aims to develop students‟reading habits outside class through ER. By this way, ER helps students enrich their vocabulary and reading rate.
ER has been proved to bring many effects on students‟ RC in many countries (Japan, The USA, India, Singapore, etc.) by different researchers whereas no similar program has been conducted at Vietnam – Poland high school. This encourages the author to conduct this research study. It is hoped that the findings of the study will provide convincing information about the ways to run extensive reading program (ERP), the value of ER on EFL learning, ESL students as well as better understanding about action research. Outline of the thesis This thesis comprises five chapters.