THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI THANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO READING STRATEGIES USED BY EFL STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu chiến lược đọc của học sinh THPT) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI THANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO READING STRATEGIES USED BY EFL STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu chiến lược đọc của học sinh THPT) M. THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Dieu Ha Ph. THÁI NGUYÊN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis entitled “An investigation into reading strategies used by EFL students at high schools” has been submitted for the Master of English language. I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis.
I have fully acknowledged and referenced the ideas and work of others, whether published or unpublished, in my thesis. My thesis does not contain work extracted from a thesis, dissertation or research paper previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any other universities. Nguyen Thi Thanh Date ./2019 \ Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my great appreciation to my advisor, Nguyen Thi Dieu Ha, Ph. for her donation of time, encouragement, and helpful suggestions.
My thanks also go to my all teachers and friends for helping me with statistical analysis and discussions. As well, I would like to express my gratitude to the Van Don high school, Cam Pha high school, Uong Bi high school students who volunteered to participate in this study. This thesis is also dedicated to my beloved parents, my husband and my children for their moral support. Without their guidance and support, my research would not have gone smoothly.
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c ABSTRACT Reading is one of the most difficult skills for most students at high schools, even university students find it challenged because readers must have some basic skills. Those skills include understanding the writing conventional and knowledge of the genres. This study firstly, attempts to investigate some difficulties that readers at high schools may have, the second focus of the study is finding the effective reading strategies that might help students to better comprehend a reading task. The study carried out among 75 students at some high schools in Quang Ninh.
Most of the selected students reported that they have problems with vocabulary and understanding the subject matters. Reading under time pressure is also problematic. The results of the study suggest that appropriate reading strategies and sufficient reading practice might be solutions for the presented problems. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language ESL: English as a second language L2: Second language SL/FL: Second language/ Foreign language SORS: Strategies of Reading Strategies SSR: Sustained silent reading Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Reading: Strategies for teachers and parents (Bell, 1998).
30 Table 2: Reliability statistics. 33 Table 3: Results of the difficulty experienced by EFL students. 34 Table 4: Results of test 1 (T1). 35 Table 5: Descriptive statistics of the mean scores of the use of reading strategies.
37 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF TABLES. v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definitions of reading. The comprehension process. Factors affecting reading comprehension. Reading comprehension models.
Bottom-up reading model. Top -down reading model. Interactive reading model. Socio-cultural reading model.
Types of reading. Causes of students' reading difficulties. 17 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc. Teachers' willingness to lecture over reading material.
Failure to adjust reading strategies for different purposes. Difficulty in perceiving the structure of an argument as they read. Difficulty in reconstructing the text's original rhetorical context. Difficulty seeing themselves in conversation with the author.
Difficulties with vocabulary and syntax. Categories of reading strategies. Strategies to enhance reading comprehension. Strategies for teachers.
28 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Data collection instruments. 32 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Results for research question 1.
Results for research question 2. 38 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 41 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale It is a fact that many high school students find reading comprehension one of the most challenges when they sit for graduation examination.
The difficulties experienced by these language learners might be explained as lack of reading strategies and poor background knowledge of the given topics or of the world in general. It is easy to see that reading is an everyday ordinary task to which little thought is given, yet it is one of the most important skills that learners acquire at school as it forms the foundation for all further learning. Unlike the ability to speak, the one to read is not inborn, and a learner does not acquire it simply by watching and listening to others reading. Many of our day-to-day tasks require reading, and a person who can read well can function more effectively in everyday activities, yet for an illiterate person, many of life’s seemingly mundane and ordinary tasks which many literate people take for granted can become insurmountable hurdles (Darrel, 2005:4).
Aebersold and Field (1997) explained the importance of reading skill by saying that reading skill has long been regarded as a prerequisite for foreign language acquisition since it functions as an essential source of input for other skills to develop. Reading in a second or foreign language (SL/FL) has been a significant component of language learning over the past forty years (Zoghi, Mustapha, Rizan & Maasum, 2010). This significance has made reading education an important issue in educational policy and practice for English language learners (Slavin & Cheung, 2005). However, reading is a complex, interactive cognitive process of extracting meaning from text.
In the reading process, the reader is an active participant, constructing meaning from clues in the reading text. Reading is also an individual process, which explains the different interpretations of different readers (Maarof & Yaacob, 2011). Cogmen and Saracaloglu (2009) reported that simple methods such as underlining, taking notes, or highlighting the text can help readers understand and remember the content. Their findings indicated that in reading text, good readers often use effective reading strategies to enhance their comprehension.
According to the above reasons, learning to read is an absolutely necessary skill for understanding SL/FL texts. Readers may use useful strategies to help them read SL/FL texts as they 1 c construct meaning. Using such strategies will not only help learners to understand general information in the reading text at very fast rates but also to remember new lexical items from the text. Yukselir (2014) considers that reading is one of the most beneficial, fundamental, and central skills for students to master in order to learn new information, to gain access to alternative explanations and interpretations and to start the synthesis of critical evaluation skills.
Hung and Ngan (2015) share the same ideas that reading is a basic skill that can improve students’ vocabulary, fluency, speaking and writing, and finally can help them to master their target language. Therefore, it is a no-brainer to state that having good reading skills is essential for successful students. Most learners have reading problems because they lack the specific strategies necessary for efficient reading. When foreign language reading is a laborious, unpleasant, and unsuccessful process, readers will often be unwilling to read in the target language.
This explains why most EFL learners do not enjoy reading in English. They simply do not understand what they are reading (Arnold, 2009; Nuttall, 1982). In addition, most EFL learners encounter difficulties in reading text. In 1998, Vogel indicated that about 52% of adults with reading problems had difficulties in learning a foreign language.
Schiff and Calif (2004) further explained that EFL students had reading problems because of a lack of knowledge and awareness of how to apply reading strategies. Consequently, EFL students need to master sufficient reading strategies to construct the meaning of the text. Despite the perceived importance of reading and considerable efforts of teachers and other stakeholders, research findings indicate that many learners who experience reading difficulties hold negative learning attitudes towards language learning. The failure to develop the prerequisite skill and knowledge prevents them from becoming good language learners (Johnson, Pool & Carter 2013:1).
As a full-time teacher of English in Cam Pha high school, the researcher has observed that most learners in the area experience reading difficulties and as a result drop out of school. In some schools, the learners have to attend extra classes on Saturdays to compensate for their deficit in their reading skills. Locally, the problem 2 c is often raised in principals’ meetings, teacher forums, union meetings, in-service trainings/workshops and in the media. There have been many research carried out to investigate the causes of reading difficulties experienced by language learners all over the world.
However, looking at the issues from cultural and psychological perspectives is none of previous studies. This motivated the researcher to conduct this study “An investigation into reading strategies used by EFL students at high school in Quang Ninh”. Aims of the study The general aim of this study is to investigate the reading strategies used by senior secondary schools students who are learning English as a foreign language to enhance reading comprehension. More specifically, the research aims to find out reading difficulties perceived by English language learners from cultural and psychological perspectives and how to overcome these difficulties.
In other words, we look for the appropriate strategies to deal with these obstacles. The variables will be examined both quantitatively and qualitatively, so that the research data can be triangulated when drawing conclusions. The findings from the study can be used as a guideline for teachers to select appropriate reading strategies to improve reading ability for their students.3 Research question With the aims stated above, the study focuses on answering these research questions: (1) What reading difficulties are experienced by students at high school? (2) What types of reading strategies are most/least preferable? 1. Scope of the study The present study is carried out with students of grades 12 who will take the final exam by the end of the school year.
The results of the exam will be of great importance for their university education. The aims of the study focus on these learners because the English language exam has long been a phobia for many students in Vietnam. CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 3 c This chapter is devoted to reviewing theoretical perspectives regarding the skill of reading. The review attempts to give a general presentation of the nature of reading skill as an interactive process as well as a comprehensive survey of different reading models.
Here prominence is given to interactive models of reading and to schematic knowledge based literature on reading comprehension. This will be followed by a brief description of the main problems that foreign language readers might experience in the process of reading comprehension as well as characteristics of good readers.