VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------------------- TRẦN THỊ THANH LOAN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ USE OF READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES: A CASE OF 10TH FORM STUDENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH HỌC SINH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỌC HIỂU: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------------------- TRẦN THỊ THANH LOAN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ USE OF READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES: A CASE OF 10TH FORM STUDENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH HỌC SINH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐỌC HIỂU: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyen Phuong Nga Hanoi, 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “A study on students’ use of reading comprehension strategies: A case of 10th form students” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions. I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research. Hanoi, 2014 Trần Thị Thanh Loan i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great many thanks to so many people who have supported me all the way throughout my study to this final achievement. First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude towards Ms.
Nguyen Phuong Nga, Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy for her enlightening guidance, invaluable advice and inspiration. Without her careful instructions and critical feedbacks, my study would not have been fulfilled. My sincere thanks also go to all the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for giving me assistance and the lecturers who conducted the Master course for me with valuable knowledge and experience so that I was able to conduct this study. I would like to extend my deep appreciation to my colleagues and students at Pham Hong Thai high school for their cooperation and support so that I could complete my necessary data collection for the study.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends, who have always been by my side to encourage and support me during the process of this research. Without their help and encouragement, I could not have completed this study. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis ABSTRACT This is the study on students’ use of reading comprehension strategies. The target population is the 10th form students at Pham Hong Thai high school.
The main aims of this study are to discover the current situation of applying reading strategies of the 10th form students, and to figure out how to enhance their reading comprehension. To achieve these objectives, the researcher uses (1) survey questionnaire for the students, and (2) unstructured interview for English teachers. The results of the questionnaires show that the students are aware of the importance of reading comprehension in general and reading strategies in particular. Additionally, the reading strategies applied by the students are restricted and not frequently.
Besides, the interview’s result indicates that teachers also apply only some of the reading strategies in their reading lessons including scanning, skimming and guessing new words in context. The researcher also finds it possible to enhance student’s reading comprehension with the use of reading strategies according to the teaching methods of teachers in the interview. Acknowledging the obstacles and the students’ positive attitudes towards the use of reading strategies, it is recommended that more reading strategies be used and adapted in the class time to meet the individuals’ needs and abilities. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES ABBREVIATIONS: EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as a Second Language L1 First language L2 Second language PHT Pham Hong Thai N Number % Percentage FIGURES AND TABLES: Figure 1: The importance of reading comprehension Figure 2: Students’ purposes of learning reading in English Figure 3: The difficulties in reading a text Figure 4: The importance of having good reading strategies Table 1: Background Information of the Subjects Table 2: Results of predicting strategy Table 3: Results of skimming strategy Table 4: Results of scanning strategy Table 5: Results of inferring strategy Table 6: Results of guessing meaning strategy Table 7: Results of self – monitoring strategy iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, FIGURES AND TABLES. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study. Aims and objectives of the studies.
Significance of the study. Research methodology of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the Study.
4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Teaching and learning reading strategies. Researches on reading strategies. 11 CHAPTER 2: THE METHODOLOGY.
An overview of the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” (the set of standard textbooks). Objectives and method of the study. The participants of the study. Instruments of data collection.
Data collection procedures. Data analysis procedures. 23 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH’S RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS. The survey questionnaire results.
The interview results. 32 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis PART 3: CONCLUSION. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further study.
40 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Teaching a foreign language in general and English in particular requires great knowledge, experiences and efforts. According to Carrell (1984:1), “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language”. Reading is an essential part of language instruction at every level because it supports learning in many ways.
Firstly, reading material is a language input. Students given a variety of materials to read have many opportunities to absorb vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and discourse structure. Secondly, reading for content information in the language classroom provides students with both authentic reading material and an authentic purpose for reading. Thirdly, reading helps students broaden their knowledge of the lifestyles and worldviews of the people whose language they are studying.
Researchers believe that teaching productive reading strategies motivate students to read and facilitate reading comprehension (Anderson, 2003; Eskey, 2002; Grabe, 2004). It also appears that good students apply a variety of reading strategies to their learning. Therefore, the importance of teaching reading strategies is to not also facilitate students’ reading process but help student enrich their vocabulary and grammar as well. What is more, in the context of the upper secondary school, reading is even more important than other three skills of speaking, listening, and writing.
The reason is that students have to take the examinations, which are grammar- and reading- based. However, the students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory. Thus, this study is conducted to investigate the use of reading strategies of the 10th grade students at Pham Hong Thai high school. Although almost all 10th form students have learnt English since grade 6, many of them do not know or use appropriate reading strategies yet.
As a result, they can become easily frustrated when they do not understand what they are reading, and they become demotivated. 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis For the above-mentioned factors, the researcher attempted to conduct a study named “A study on students’ use of reading comprehension strategies: A case of 10th form students”. Aims and objectives of the studies Firstly, the research is carried out to investigate the current use of reading comprehension strategies applied by the 10th form students in Pham Hong Thai high school. Secondly, the study is to figure out how to enhance 10th form students’ reading comprehension.
Therefore, the research is to seek answers to the following research questions: 1. What are reading strategies currently applied by 10th form students in Pham Hong Thai high school? 2. How to improve 10th form students’ reading comprehension? 3. Significance of the study Once successfully completed, the study’s findings and discussions are expected to be beneficial to English teachers, the 10th forms students, the researcher herself as well as other researchers.
Firstly, teachers of English can recognize the significant benefits, if any, of strategies in teaching reading comprehension. Based on the findings, teachers could adapt their current situation of teaching reading so that they could improve their students’ reading comprehension. Also, there are some suggested solutions for teachers to prepare an efficient technique to motivate students’ participation in their studying and to teach them how to read effectively. Secondly, reading comprehension strategies can provide students with self-study to improve their reading skills and to face reading comprehension difficulties.
Additionally, this study is expected to bring the researcher an invaluable experience as it provides her with knowledge and techniques to teach reading comprehension strategies. Finally, the findings of this study are hoped to offer reliable and updated information for interested and further studies. Research methodology of the study This study is conducted as a descriptive study that applied qualitative approach. The qualitative analysis is employed mainly through the process of data collected from a 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis written survey questionnaire delivered to 10th form students to examine the use of reading strategies, and through an unstructured group interview which is carried out to teachers to find out how to improve 10th form students’ reading comprehension.
Scope of the study According to the Ministry of Education and Training’s requirements, high school students have to be taught all four skills including reading, speaking, listening, and writing. However, it is because of the large size of the class and test – oriented that English lesson focuses more on reading. Thus, this research only put the emphasis on the use of reading strategies of the 10th form students, who are at the beginning of high school but have just learnt English for more than 5 years. Design of the Study The thesis consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion.
The Introduction aims at the rationale, the aims, the scope, and also the design of the study. The Development consists of three chapters. Chapter 1is Literature Review. This chapter reviews some theories of basic concept based on the publications in the field.
The results from the recent studies for the issues related to the aspects of the subject in the same field are also presented. Chapter 2 is the Methodology. In this chapter, the author presents the research methodology and the instruments used to collect data from the questionnaire for the students and the unstructured group interview with teachers. The procedure of collecting data and the analysis of the survey data is also described carefully.
Chapter 3 is the Research Findings and Discussion which presents the research’s findings (i. analysis of data, results) and discussion. In the Conclusion, the author presents the conclusions and limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for the further related studies. This chapter is followed by the References and Appendices.
3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.thesis PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW In this first chapter, the theoretical background, literature on the concept of reading comprehension, and reading strategies are going to be thoroughly presented. This chapter also analyzes some studies on reading strategies that have been conducted so far so that the researcher could discuss on the results later. Reading Reading plays an important part in the success of second language learning. It is essential to understand the nature of reading.
According to Hamer (1989:190), reading is “an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain.