VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ THỊ XUÂN HỒNG A SURVEY ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH READING SKILLS TO THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN MIXED ABILITY CLASSES AT VIETNAM FORESTRY UNIVERSITY (KHẢO SÁT VỀ THỰC TRẠNG DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRONG CÁC LỚP HỌC CÓ TRÌNH ĐỘ KHÔNG ĐỒNG ĐỀU TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LÂM NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor programme thesis Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ THỊ XUÂN HỒNG A SURVEY ON THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH READING SKILLS TO THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN MIXED ABILITY CLASSES AT VIETNAM FORESTRY UNIVERSITY (KHẢO SÁT VỀ THỰC TRẠNG DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRONG CÁC LỚP HỌC CÓ TRÌNH ĐỘ KHÔNG ĐỒNG ĐỀU TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LÂM NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM) M.A Minor programme thesis Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Lâm Thị Phúc Hân, MA HANOI, 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Retention and use of the thesis. iii Table of contents. iv List of abbreviations. vii List of tables and charts .viii PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. 2 3 Scope of the study. Method of the study. Significance of the study.
Organization of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theory of reading in second language teaching and learning. Definition of reading comprehension.
Models of reading process. Bottom-up model. Top-down model. Features of an effective reading lesson.
Reading problems and solutions. Stages of a reading lesson. Pre-reading stage. While-reading stage.
Post-reading stage. Theory of mixed-ability classes. 10 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Definition of mixed ability classes.
Benefits of mixed ability classes. Challenges of mixed ability classes. Strategies for teaching mixed ability classes. 12 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The teaching context. The teaching and learning conditions. A survey on the teaching of English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU .2 Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure.
17 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Results and discussion. Students’ and teachers’ attitudes toward learning and teaching English reading skills. Difficulties in teaching reading texts.
Techniques in teaching reading texts. Ways of classroom management. Summary of main findings. Advantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU.
Disadvantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU. Improving students’ participation in classroom activities. Having a good understanding of individual students. Clarifying learning goals to the students.
31 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Making use of pair/ group work. Changing the roles while teaching. Making use of modern technology in teaching.
Improving teaching techniques. Adjusting teaching time and efforts. Varying strategies in three stages of reading lessons. Summary of the study.
Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further study. i Appendix 1: Survey questionnaires .A: Survey questionnaires for students .B: Survey questionnaires for teachers. ix Appendix 2: Sample reading texts.
xvii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VFU: Vietnam Forestry University ESP: English for specific purposes MAC: Mixed ability classes ESL: English as second language LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com viii Table 1: The frequency of difficulties in teaching reading texts Table 2: The frequency of pre-reading activities Table 3: The frequency of while-reading exercises Table 4: The frequency of post-reading activities Table 5: The frequency of grouping students with same or mixed ability Chart 1: The importance of reading in comparison with other language skills Chart 2: The importance of developing reading skills to the first year students in VFU Chart 3: The main purpose of teaching reading skills to the first year students at VFU Chart 4: Opinion about reading texts in the textbook Chart 5: The frequency of other difficulties faced by the teachers when teaching reading in MAC Chart 6: Ways of reading to find the main idea of the text Chart 7: Ways of reading to find specific information of the text Chart 8: Frequency of pair/group working Chart 9: Students' opinion about benefits of working in pairs/groups Chart 10: Teachers' reasons for making the students work in pairs/groups TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Like in any other countries, in the process of integrating into regional and international economic and diplomatic development, English is now a compulsory subject in every school in Vietnam. Both teachers and learners seem to pay greater attention to the teaching and learning of this language. The ultimate aim is the ability to use it for communicative purposes. To obtain this aim, however, is not an easy task because students should be able to acquire four skills of listening, speaking, writing and reading in addition to English grammar, pronunciation, etc.
Among these areas, reading skills play an indispensable and inseparable part in the process of teaching and learning English as it helps students enrich their general knowledge, and support their learning of other language skills and elements. Therefore, how to teach and learn reading is very important. In Vietnam Forestry University (VFU), a non-language major university, the teaching and learning of English in general and English reading skills, in particular have received a greater deal of attention and achieved certain success because English and English reading skills are very important for the students to read their major’s documents in English and very useful for their job later. However, the effectiveness of teaching and learning reading skills is still limited, especially to the first year students.
This problem may be resulted from some factors. Firstly some teachers have been accustomed to traditional teaching methods. They often waste much of their time explaining new words and grammatical structures for final exams instead of providing different reading strategies for different reading tasks to develop the students’ reading skills. The text, therefore, plays as a source of materials for language lessons instead of skill lessons.
Secondly, achieving effectiveness in teaching reading skills become more challenging when all English classes in this university consist of a large number of students with different language learning ability. The other reasons may come from the reading materials, syllabus and teaching and learning conditions. As a teacher of English in VFU for nearly four years, this situation encourages the author to investigate the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this issue and give some suggestions for better learning and teaching English reading skills to the first year students. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Aims of the study The major purposes of this study are: (1) to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU. What are the advantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU? (2) What are the disadvantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU? (3) What should be done to make use of the advantages and overcome the disadvantages of teaching English reading skills to the first year students in mixed ability classes at VFU? 3 Scope of the study The study investigates the current situation of the teaching of English reading skills to the 1st year students in MAC at Vietnam Forestry University. Method of the study To achieve the aims mentioned above, the quantitative approach which involves survey questionnaires is employed to collect data for the study. The survey questionnaires are administered to both teachers and students.
The results obtained from the teachers will be compared with those from the students for more reliable data. Significance of the study This study can, hopefully, be useful for the teachers and students in VFU as well the researchers who have interest in this field. Once successfully completed, the study will manage to provide a picture of teaching English reading skills to the first year VFU students. Through the findings of the study, some suggestions will be given with a hope to take the advantages of the strengths and overcome the weaknesses to help the first year students in VFU improve their reading skills.
Furthermore, this study can offer various and TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 useful references for further studies. It can also be an idea that attracts other researchers to go further. Organization of the study The study consists of three main parts: Part A is the introduction which states the rationale, aims, scope, method, significance and organization of the study Part B is the development which consists of 4 chapters: Chapter 1, which serves as a theoretical and methodological foundation of the study reviews the literature relevant to the topic. Chapter 2 presents the research methodology.
Chapter 3 refers to the results and discussion of the survey in addition to the summary of the main findings. Chapter 5 is the implications which include some suggestions for better teaching and learning reading to the first year students in MAC in VFU. Part C is the conclusion that summarizes what has been done through the study, presents the limitations and gives some suggestions for further researches. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews theories and previous researches related to reading comprehension skill as well as mixed ability classes (MAC).
It serves as a basis for an investigation into teaching reading in MAC which is presented in the next chapter. Theory of reading in second language teaching and learning 1. Definition of reading comprehension Reading comprehension plays an important role in teaching and learning a foreign language. Having a deep understanding about nature of reading is very essential because what teachers understand about it will have a great influence on what they teach in the class.
In fact, methodologists and researchers have been provided with different definitions of reading comprehension. According to Grellet (1981, p.3): “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible.” The author means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way. Having a slightly different idea from Grellet, Eddie William (1984, p.2) defined reading as a process whereby one looks at and understand what has been written. Carrell and Esday (1988, p.12) also asserted that “reading is receptive language process in that it starts with linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning that the reader constructs”.
The two authors shared the same point. In their opinion, reading does not mean that a foriegner need to understand everything in a text, he is not simply a passive object, fed with letters, words or sentences, but is actively working on the text and get the conveyed messages without looking at every letter and words. Richard and Thomas (1987, p.9) added more detail in his definition: Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader. The emphasis is on the reader’s understanding of the printed page based on his individual unique background of experience.
Reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply what the author intends. It is the process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual. This opinion indicates that reading comprehension refers to the students’ understanding of the text using their own ideas, experiences and responses.