MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- THESIS HUỲNH THỊ CẨM HẰNG HOW TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS FOR THE 11 GRADE-STUDENTS AT U MINH THUONG HIGH SCHOOL BY USING SOME WHILE–READING ACTIVITIES Ba Ria-Vung Tau - Year 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY --------------- THESIS HOW TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS FOR THE 11TH-STUDENTS AT U MINH THUONG HIGH SCHOOL BY USING WHILE-READING ACTIVITIES Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 17110051 By Huynh Thi Cam Hang Supervised by DR. Bui Thi Kim Loan Ba Ria-Vung Tau -Year 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. - 1 - RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS. - 4 - LIST OF TABLES.
- 5 - LIST OF CHARTS .1 The study's rationale. Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
- 9 - CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension. Types of reading. Factors in teaching and learning reading.
The aims of the study:. The reading program for grade 11 grade- students at U Minh Thuong high school. The current situation of teaching the textbook at U Minh Thuong high school. - 39 - CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .2 The action research procedures .2 Implications for more effective reading instruction.
Limitations and suggestions for further studies .- 94 - -1- CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: HOW TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS FOR THE 11TH STUDENTS AT U MINH THUONG HIGH SCHOOL BY USING WHILE–READING ACTIVITIES In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria-Vung Tau University. Ba Ria-Vung Tau, July 2021 Huynh Thi Cam Hang -2- RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby declare that I, Huynh Thi Cam Hang, a candidate for the degree of TESOL, accept the University's requirements for the retention and use of Master's Thesis deposited in the Library. In accordance with these terms, I agree that the original of my Master's Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for study and research purposes, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for thesis care, loan, and reproduction. Ba Ria-Vung Tau, July 2021 Huỳnh Thị Cẩm Hằng -3- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To begin, I would like to express my appreciation to my supervisor, Dr.
Bùi Thị Kim Loan, for his insightful discussion, constructive criticism, and invaluable assistance in preparing and completing my thesis. Without her continual guidance and encouragement, my thesis would never have emerged in its current shape. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to the instructors of the post-graduate department for the lessons they taught me and the resources they provided for the completion of this thesis. I'd also like to thank my colleagues for their helpful ideas and encouragement, as well as the instructors and grade11 students at U Minh Thuong High School for their active participation in my experimental testing.
Finally, I'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to members of my family for their unwavering support, inspiration, and encouragement throughout the completion of this thesis. -4- ABSTRACT An action research project was carried out to answer the following questions in order to help improve the reading comprehension of students at U Minh Thuong high school: 1) What difficulties do teachers and students face when teaching and learning a reading lesson? 2) How can the use of while-reading activities in reading lessons improve the reading comprehension skills of U Minh Thuong eleven-grade students ? After that, a five-week action research project was carried out. The subjects were 80 U Minh Thuong high school students from two classes (11A1 and 11A2). Data were gathered through the use of questionnaires (one for teachers and one for students) and class observations.
The preliminary data revealed that students' poor reading comprehension could be attributed to the inappropriate methods and techniques used by English teachers at U Minh Thuong high school. Based on preliminary findings, it was hypothesized that “How to improve Reading Comprehension skills for the 11 grade Students at U Minh Thuong high school by using while–reading activities”. The researcher implemented an action plan in which the students were explicitly trained in some while-reading activities. The project evaluation revealed that all of the students have positive attitudes toward using while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons and that their reading comprehension skill could be improved using these tools; a large majority of the participants reported progress in their reading comprehension skill in the post- improvement questionnaire survey.
While-reading activities were beneficial in assisting students in completing their reading tasks more effectively. Furthermore, they felt more confident in their reading abilities. -5- LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Evaluating students' English reading competence Table 4.2: Students' expectations of teachers' reading techniques Table 4.3: The students are asked to participate in while-reading activities Table 4.4: The reasons the students aren't interested in participating in while- reading activities today Table 4.5: The teachers-related-problems cause the students to feel unmotivated in today's while-reading activity Table 4.6: The difficulties the teachers face when teaching reading Table 4.7: The reasons why the teachers don't usually use while-reading activities in teaching -6- LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: depicts the difficulties that students face when learning to read.2: The students triumph over adversity.3: depicts the students' reactions to the while-reading activities.4: The use of while-reading activities in reading lessons has made English easier to learn. -7- CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter establishes the study's rationale, outlines the objectives, research questions, and methodologies, as well as the scope and relevance of the study, as well as prior studies and design.1 The study's rationale Reading is regarded as one of the most important skills for language learners to develop because it contributes to the development of a wide range of linguistic expressions and structures, broadens general knowledge, and promotes lifelong learning and the improvement of first and second language skills.
"Reading is a necessary skill for students of English as a second/foreign language (SL/EFL); and for many, reading is the most critical ability to acquire," writes Anderson (1999, p. According to Carrell (1989, p.3), "for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four abilities in a second language, particularly English as a second or foreign language." "There are other important factors to consider when teaching and learning to read." It's possible that it's because the instructional materials aren't appropriate. It's possible that this is due to an unsuitable attitude on the part of instructors and students toward the subject. It's possible that this is due to the ineffectiveness of the instructors' instructional methods and classroom tactics.
Reading is more important in upper secondary school than the other three abilities of speaking, listening, and writing because students must take grammar and reading-based exams. Nonetheless, even after implementing the new textbook, students' reading ability remains deficient.U Minh Thuong high school, established in 2003, is one of the institutions chosen. They face five significant reading barriers, including word-by-word reading habits, an overemphasis on forms rather than meaning, an overemphasis on details rather than key concepts, a limited vocabulary, and a lack of prior knowledge. In this scenario, teachers must examine the teaching and learning of English in -8- general, and reading skills in particular, in order to provide more effective methods for teaching and learning reading comprehension in high schools.
I hopes to contribute to the promotion of reading abilities among 11-year-old students as an English teacher at U Minh Thuong high school. This fact gave her the opportunity to conduct research on "How to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for 11 Grade Students at U Minh Thuong High School Using Specific While-Reading Exercises." I chose to conduct action research in order to determine the problems that instructors and students encounter while delivering a reading lesson, as well as the importance of while-reading activities to English teachers at U Minh Thuong high school. Certain modifications and enhancements should be made based on the findings of this action study. At U Minh Thuong High School, the majority of students have studied English for 7 years but they cannot speak English fluently, their English high school graduation exam scores are very low, about 17% of the year for many years 2017- 2018.
and close, but the students failed to do the reading comprehension part. They just randomly selected to complete the test. The second reason I chose to conduct research in grade 11 is because in this class students learn a lot of new knowledge, new topics, vocabulary and grammar. The third reason is, forming for students learning and practicing reading skills for students, students will know how to read and do exercises, which is very helpful for students.
students form good habits and practice good reading comprehension skills to participate in their graduation exams. Aims of the study The goal of this study is twofold: first, to identify the issues that upper secondary teachers and students face when delivering reading courses. - Investigating whether incorporating while-reading exercises into reading courses can help upper secondary students improve their English reading skills. - Helping teachers and students have a more effective teaching and learning reading comprehension skills process.
Research questions To achieve these two objectives, the research questions were set for the study: -9- 1) What difficulties do teachers and students face when teaching and learning a reading lesson ? 2) How can the use of while-reading activities in reading lessons improve the reading comprehension skills of U Minh Thuong eleven-grade students ? For data collection and analysis, the study employed action research and mixed methods. Two questionnaires (one for teachers and one for students) and class observation are used to collect data. Significance of the study Reading has always been an important part of language education. Nonetheless, effectively teaching and learning to read presents significant challenges for both teachers and students.
Reading is a difficult skill to teach in high school, according to English teachers. The majority of traditional, test-oriented language teachers frequently focus on teaching English vocabulary and grammar, as well as exam-oriented grammatical exercises. Nothing, on the other hand, is difficult unless we, as educators, make it so. Hopefully, the variety of options presented in this study for effectively integrating while-reading activities into reading classes will encourage instructors to implement them.
Scope of the study Due to time and knowledge constraints, this thesis investigated the use of while-reading activities in teaching reading lessons to eleventh-grade students at U Minh Thuong high school during the second term of the 2019-2020 school year. Thesis organization The dissertation is organized into five chapters, which are as follows: Chapter I: Introduction, establishes the purpose of the study, outlines the objectives, scopes, methods, and significance of the investigation, as well as the research questions, and study design. Chapter II: Theoretical foundations - discusses the current state of knowledge about reading comprehension and teaching reading comprehension. - 10 - Chapter III: Methodology -The action research and reading curriculum for students in the 11th grade at U Minh Thuong high school are discussed and methodology apply in teaching to improve students’ reading comprehension skill.
Chapter IV: Action Procedures The rationale for conducting action research and the procedures for conducting action research are described in research. Chapter V: Conclusion and recommendations - this is the final section, and it includes a summary and recommendations for more successful reading activities, as well as some limitations and recommendations for future research - 11 - CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter defines reading in general and reading comprehension in particular, as well as the various types of reading and teaching strategies for reading comprehension, previous study. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 2.