VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT DUONG THI LAN HUONG A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THỦ THUẬT NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRÌNH ĐỘ B TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VÀ PTNT MINOR MA THESIS Field: English methodology Code: 601410 HÀ NỘI-2013 1 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY , HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT DUONG THI LAN HUONG A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING READING SKILL FOR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH AT PRE-INTERMEDIATE LEVEL AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER AT THE MINNISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC THỦ THUẬT NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC CHO CÁC HỌC VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRÌNH ĐỘ B TẠI TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ BỘ NÔNG NGHIỆP VÀ PTNT MINOR MA THESIS Field: English methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Nguyen Quynh Trang-PhD candidate HÀ NỘI-2013 2 z STATEMENT I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and it hasn’t been submitted to any other institutions or universities. Hanoi, September, 2013 Student Duong Thi Lan Huong 3 z ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Quynh Trang - PhD candidate, for her valuable guidance, encouragement and constant support to the fulfillment of my thesis. I also would like to thank my colleagues in the English Faculty of the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development and non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for their cooperation during the rearch. Last but not least, I am indebted to my parents, whose constant love and care greatly contributes to the completion of my study.
4 z ABSTRACT English is becoming more and more popular in Vietnam and it has an important role in the developing of economy, politics, culture, science, technology. In the teaching and learning English, reading has always received great attention. Civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development take reading into consideration because of their job requirement. However, they still face a lot of difficulties in reading.
It is urgent to carry out “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”. Reading problems the teachers and learners experienced are presented and some suggestions are given. However, the findings of the study is somehow limited due to time limitation and further studies can apply some other methods to cross check. 5 z TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Statement of the problem and rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Methods of the study.
Scope of the study. Design of the study. 2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Definitions of reading .Definition of reading comprehension.
Classification of reading. Classification according to manner. Classification according to purpose. Effective reading comprehension.
Reading comprehension techniques. Reading purpose of second language learners. Factors in teaching and learning reading. The reading texts.
Stages of a reading lesson. Pre-reading stage. While-reading stage. Post-reading stage.
Data collection instrument. Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaires. Students’ aims of learning English. Students’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power.
Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD. Students’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension. Students’ attitude to the benefit of reading. Students’ attitude to the activities in 3 stages of reading.
Students’ attitude to pre-reading activities. The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers responded by the students. Students’ enjoyment of pre-reading activities. Students’ attitude to while - reading activities.
Students’ activities to look for specific information. Students’ activities to look for the main idea of the text. Students’ activities when meeting new words. Students’ attitude to post - reading activities.
Students’ difficulties when learning reading. Students’ expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques to overcome difficulties when learning reading. Students’ effort for improving their reading comprehension. Data analysis of the teachers’ survey questionnaires.
Teachers’ aims of teaching reading .Teachers’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power .Teachers’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD. Teachers’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension. Teachers’ attitude to the benefit of reading. Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading.
Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties. 29 CHAPTER 4: SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONs 4. Techniques for reading motivation and interest. The students are free to choose books of their own interest.
The reading should be easy for them. Gradually escalating the level of difficulty of the texts. Diversifying pre-reading techniques. Using visual aids.
Techniques for dealing with vocabulary. Techniques to deal with unknown words. Techniques to enrich vocabulary. Using word games.
Using word lists. Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit. Students need to read a lot. The reading material is at an appropriate level.
There is a variety of reading materials on a wide range of topics. Students are allowed to choose books that interest them. Reading is individual and silient. Teachers advise students to find a regular time and place in the day for reading so that it can become part of their daily routine.
Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. Limitations and recommendations for further study. 35 REFERENCES APPENDIX 9 z LIST OF TABLES FOR STUDENTS Table 1: Students’ aims of learning English Table 2: Students’ attitude to the reading texts in the book More Reading Power Table 3: Students’ attention to the language aspects taught at MARD Table 4: Students’ attitude to the importance of reading comprehension Table 5: Students’ attitude to the benefit of reading Table 6: The frequency of using Pre-reading activities by the teachers responded by the students Table 7: Students’ enjoyment of pre-reading activities Table 8: Students’ activities to look for specific information Table 9: Students’ activities to look for the main idea of the text Table 10: Students’ activities when meeting new words Table 11: Students’ post – reading activities Table 12: Difficulties students face in reading Table 13: Students’ expectation towards teachers’ teaching of reading techniques to overcome difficulties when learning reading Table 14: Students’ activities to improve their reading comprehension FOR TEACHERS Table 1: Teachers’ aims of teaching English Table 2: Teachers’ attitude to the reading text in the book More Reading Power Table 3: Teachers’attention to the language aspects taught at MARD Table 4 : Teachers’attitude to the importance of reading comprehension Table 5: Teachers’ attitude to the benefit of reading Table 6: Difficulties teachers encounter when teaching reading Table 7: Teachers’ activities to help students to overcome difficulties 10 z LIST OF ABBREVIATION MARD: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development N: number of students/ teachers 11 z CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study English is the most widely spoken language in the world and it has become more and more important in the development of science, technology, politics, culture and international relations in Vietnam.
The demand of teaching and learning English is increasing throughout the country for different purposes. In a second language classroom, reading plays a significant role in building both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills. Hoang et al (2006:191) considers reading the most effective means of improving students’ language competence. Carrell (1989) argues that “For many students, reading is by far the most important of four skills in a second language”.
Anderson (1999) has the same opinion: “Reading is an essential skill for English as a second/ foreign language student; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master”. This is true for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). They are civil servants working at different departments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and their job more or less concerns English. They learn English with the enthusiastic help of the teachers coming from the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development.
However, most of them find effective reading difficult. 5 major obstacles they confront in reading, as Hoang et al (2005) specifies, are: the habits of word by word reading; overemphasis on forms rather than meaning; excessive focus on details rather than main ideas; poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge. Despite its importance, it is urgent to conduct “A study on the techniques for improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at the Foreign Language Center at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development”. Aims of the study 12 z The purpose of the thesis is to identify reading problems experienced by teachers and learners at the Foreign Language Center at MARD so that some suggestions for improving their reading skill are presented.
Therefore, the study aims at answering the following research questions: 1. What are the teachers and students’s attitudes towards the teaching and learning of reading skill ? 2. What difficulties do the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning reading? 3. What are suggested techniques to improve the students’ reading skill? 1.
Significance of the study The study is carried out for a more effective way to improve reading skills for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD. Further more, the findings of the study are hoped to be useful for teachers of English at the College of Management for Agriculture and Rural Development to better develop their learners’s reading skill. Hopefully, the researcher wish to provide any other researchers who are interested in the study with reliable and useful implications to improve learners’ reading skill. Methods of the study The study is carried out on the basis of qualitative approach: 2 survey questionnaires involving 115 learners and 11 teachers are used to collect data for the study.
Scope of the study The study pays attention to improving reading skill for non-major students of English at pre-intermediate level at MARD, but due to time limitation, only a survey is conducted to identify what difficulties the teachers and students encounter, what matters most to them in reading lessons, then some techniques are suggested to help them better in teaching and learning reading skill. Design of the study The study is composed of the following parts: 13 z Chapter 1 (Introduction) provides rationale, aims, significance, scope, methods, and design of the study. Chapter 2 (Literature review) conceptualizes the study’s theoretical background, presents the concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis: definition of reading and reading comprehension, classification of reading, reading comprehension techniques, reading purpose of second language learners, factors in teaching and learning reading, stages in a reading lesson. Chapter 3 (Methodology) includes the participants, teaching material, instrument of data collection, data collection and data analysis.
Chapter 4: (Suggestions and conclusions) consists of some suggested techniques, a review of the study, the limitations of the study and recommendation for further research. 14 z CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides a theoretical background to the study with relevant concepts to the thesis as follows: 2. Definitions of reading Reading is a natural part of human beings’ life, for example we read books, magazines, newspapers, stories, notices, medicine leaflets. Reading has been the subjects of research for over a century (Cheng, 1985).
However, points of view on the definition of reading are different. In Ur’s definition, “Reading means reading and understanding” (Ur, P.