VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Hs BÙI THỊ KHANH HUYEN IMPROVING NINTH-GRADERS’ READING SKILLS THROUGH GUIDED READING APPROACH AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HAI PHONG (Cai thiện ki năng đọc của học sinh lớp 9 thông qua phương pháp đọc có hướng MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi — 2023 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES Hs BÙI THỊ KHANH HUYEN IMPROVING NINTH-GRADERSˆREADING SKILLS THROUGH GUIDED READING APPROACH AT A LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HAI PHONG (Cai thiện ki năng đọc của học sinh lớp 9 thông qua phương pháp đọc có hướng MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Tran Thi Ngoc Lién Hanoi — 2024 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Improving ninth-graders' reading skills through guided reading approach at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong.” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any universities or other institutions.
I am fully aware that should this declaration be found to be dishonest, disciplinary action and penalties in accordance with university policies and rules can be imposed. Hanoi, 202 Student’s signature Bui Thi Khanh Huyén Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lién Date:. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from several people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Lién, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher. A special word of thanks goes to all the beloved students who took part in the research. Without their cooperation, it would be impossible for me to accomplish this study.
Lastly, I immensely appreciate family and close friends, for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work. ii ABSTRACT Reading is a receptive skill in English learning and many students consider it a boring subject at school. However, it is generally admitted that this skill benefits learners in the process of acquiring not only linguistic and social knowledge. Being good readers likely supports the students to become good listeners, effective writers, and fluent speakers.
However, an unwelcome fact remains regarding the strategies to inspire students in their reading lessons and thereby improve their reading skills. The researcher, in an attempt to better her students’ reading skill, conducted this research to examine to what extent guided reading approach affects their reading comprehension and evaluate how her students thought of the application of this. To collect data for analysis, questionnaires, tests and semi-structure interview were used. SPSS software was used to analyze the quantitative data while the qualitative data were analysed by content based analysis.
The findings generally indicate that guided reading approach benefited the students and helped them enhance their reading skills. Also, the students had positive attitudes toward this implementation. However, there remained some concerns about using it and making it fully effective. Key words: guided reading approach, reading comprehension, secondary school students.
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HH HH HC 0000. GHI HH 0000 00000005080 69 APPENDÌIX 4. Go cọ TH.0000 000000 70 vil CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study English is widely used as a vital worldwide communication language.
Understanding and using the English language is becoming more and more important as it has become an essential part of promoting international trade and transboundary traveling. This language is also used for contact via modern media and technology, such as cell phones, email, and the Internet. There's no denying that English is a language that people all around the world need to use as their primary language of exchange. Given the importance of English as a worldwide language, it is necessary for Vietnamese people to be proficient in it.
English is a compulsory subject at all school levels in Vietnam. Students are required to take tests in reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the end of each term or school year. The tests are really challenging for the high school entry. To achieve good scores, a majority of Vietnamese students have invested a lot more time to improve their English competence and score high.
Among the four skills of English, reading is often considered the most monotonous one and students are often not quite interested in it. However, this skill is the most important one for them to acquire this language because it benefits learners in the process of acquiring not only linguistic and social knowledge. Being good readers likely supports the students to become good listeners, effective writers, and fluent speakers. However, an unwelcome fact remains regarding the strategies to inspire students in their reading lessons and thereby improve their reading skills.
At secondary school level in Vietnam, English reading is a really important subject and student reading competence is evaluated at almost all exams. Challenges arise for secondary school students learning English as a second language when it comes to honing their reading skills. These barriers include limited vocabulary, complex grammar, cultural differences, motivation and engagement issues, the need for effective reading techniques, limited practice opportunities, potential classroom limitations, multitasking with other subjects, and struggles with pronunciation and fluency. These are also the obstacles that the students of my current school face.
They face the most significant challenges in developing English vocabulary and grammar skills. A limited vocabulary can hinder their understanding of the text, making foreign words and phrases difficult, while the complexity of English grammar can make it difficult to understand sentence structures and the overall meaning of the text. Because I understand how important it is to improve secondary school students’ reading abilities when practising their reading abilities, I would like to help the students at a lower secondary school, where I have worked for four years, improve reading skills for the ninth-grade students. I consequently decided to conduct research on “Improving ninth-graders’ reading skills through guided reading approach at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong.
Aims of the study and research questions The study aims is to examine the effectiveness of employing a guided reading approach to enhance the reading abilities of ninth-grade students in a lower secondary school. The particular objectives of the study are as follows: - To evaluate to what extent guided reading approach can improve students’ reading skills. - To examine students’ perception of the application of guided reading approach to improve their reading skills. - To make some recommendations for the effective use of guided reading approach to improve their reading skills.
To make it easier to understand, students' perceptions of their reading abilities are examined as part of the study: - To what extent does the guided reading approach improve ninth- graders’reading comprehension? - What are the students’ attitudes towards using the guided reading approach in reading lessons? 1. Scope of the study This study focuses on ninth-grade students at a lower secondary school in Hai Phong, aiming to enhance their reading skills through the guided reading approach. It will be conducted within a lower secondary school over a defined period of three months to evaluate the effectiveness of this method. An action research was designed and two main aspects were examined: (1) the effectiveness of guided reading approach on students’ reading ability and their attitudes towards the application of this technique.
Methodology A mixed research method was utilized to investigate the enhancement of ninth- graders' reading skills through the guided reading approach. The study encompassed both quantitative and qualitative components. Quantitatively, pre- and post- assessments measured the level of students' reading proficiency. Besides that, a survey questionnaire investigated to determine the extent to which pupils' reading comprehension could be improved by the debate format.
Qualitatively, the researcher used the semi-structured interview's open-ended questions to find out how students feel about using debate to teach English reading. Data from both qualitative and quantitative approaches were analyzed and triangulated to provide a comprehensive understanding of the approach and its effectiveness. Significances of the study This study is expected to make some contributions theoretically and practically. As for the former, the study's results is expected to contribute to some extent to the existing literature of teaching English in general and teaching reading skills for EFL learners in particular.
The application of guided reading approach has been widely used; however, there are not sufficient research regarding the implementation of this technique at lower secondary school level in a non-English speaking country.