VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -------- HOÀNG THỊ TÂM THÀNH AN EVALUATION OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW TEXTBOOK TIENGANH 11 IN MOTIVATING AND IMPROVING STUDENT’S READING PERFORMANCE (ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC HOA ̣T ĐỘNG TIỀN ĐỌC CỦA SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 11 MỚI NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LƢ̣C VÀ NÂNG CAO KẾT QUẢ ĐỌC CỦA HỌC SINH) M.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -------- HOÀNG THỊ TÂM THÀNH AN EVALUATION OF PRE-READING ACTIVITIES IN THE NEW TEXTBOOK TIENGANH 11 IN MOTIVATING AND IMPROVING STUDENT’S READING PERFORMANCE (ĐÁNH GIÁ CÁC HOA ̣T ĐỘNG TIỀN ĐỌC CỦA SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 11 MỚI NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LƢ̣C VÀ NÂNG CAO KẾT QUẢ ĐỌC CỦA HỌC SINH) M.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy, PhD. Hanoi, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education. I confirm that this is my own research and that it has not been published or submitted for any other degrees. Student‟s signature Hoàng Thị Tâm Thành i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The graduation thesis could not have been fulfilled without help, encouragement, support of a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation.
First and foremost, it is with affection and appreciation that acknowledge my indebtedness and deepest thanks to Mrs. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, PhD., my supervisor, who gave me a clear sighted guidance as well as invaluable suggestions, my thesis could not have come into being. I would be also grateful to two teachers of English, especially Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang and Ms.
Phan Thi Tuong Van as well as 11th form students in class of 11A3 and 11A5 at Dao Duy Tu high school in Thanh Hoa for answering my survey question, interviews and participating in the experiment teaching of applying adaptation of pre-reading activities in reading classes. Their enthusiastic participation has helped me a lot of finding out the effects of adapting activities for pre-reading stage in reading class on student‟s motivation and reading performance in order to suggest some ideas to use them effectively. I would also like to thank Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, my colleague, for her precious advice from the beginning of this paper.
Last but not least, I should acknowledge my great gratitude to all my friends in Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, and my family for their understanding, encouragement, assistance as well as financial supports during the process of preparing this graduation paper. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This research investigated whether adaptation of pre-reading activities increased the classroom motivation, involvement as well as reading performance of learners at an upper-secondary school. The main methods were employed in this study namely document analysis, students survey questionnaire, teachers interview, classroom observation and pre-test post-test experimental design. Eighty four students selected from two classes (11A3 was employed as the control group and 11A5 as the experimental group) at Dao Duy Tu high school were used for the study.
The students selected were made up of both male and female. The findings revealed that pre-reading activities in the textbook were too monotonous to get students involved in the reading lesson. Students and teachers were not in favor of these activities available in the current textbook. Also, adaptation of textbook activities would be helpful in increasing the students‟ motivation in pre-reading stage and better comprehension can be gained through exposure to pre-reading activities.
The study recommended that teachers could use pre-reading activities as a useful tool to facilitate students‟ motivation and reading comprehension performance. It also could be suggested that teachers should change some inappropriate pre-reading activities of students‟ interests in the reading class to get them join in those activities with great eagerness. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS TTT: Teacher talking time STT: Students talking time T: Teacher Ss: Students EFL: English foreign language Df: Degree of freedom T: Test M: Mean Std Dev.: Standard Deviation Sig.: Number P: Probability value iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 3.1: Students‟ beliefs towards the reading texts in the new English 11 Figure 3.2: Students‟ attitudes to their teacher‟ pre-reading activities Figure 3.3: Frequency of undertaking extra pre-reading activities in reading class Figure 3.4: Students‟ involvement in pre-reading activities in reading lessons Figure 3.5: Students‟ preference for participation in pre-reading activities Figure 3.6: Teachers‟ evaluation of reading texts in the textbook Figure 3.7: Teachers‟ evaluation on pre-reading activities in English 11 Figure 3.8: Frequency of adaptation for pre-reading activities Figure 3.9: Teachers‟ methods for adaptation Table 3.1: Description of topics in English 11 Table 3.2: Activities of reading stage in 6 units are analyzed Table 3.3: Pre-reading activities of 6 units are analyzed Table 3.4: Difficulties students encounter in reading lessons Table 3.5: The most frequently used activities to start a reading lesson Table 3.6: Students‟ beliefs about good effects of pre-reading activities Table 3.7: Students‟ beliefs about bad effects of pre-reading activities Table 3.8: Frequency of using pre-reading activities by the teachers Table 3.9: Students‟ preferences for pre-reading activities Table 3.10: Students‟ evaluations on pre-reading activities in the textbook Table 3.11: Students‟ recommendation on pre-reading activities to make a reading lesson more interesting Table 3.12: Teachers‟ beliefs about the purposes of carrying out pre-reading activities Table 3.13: Teachers‟ beliefs about students‟ participation in pre-reading activities Table 3.14: Teachers‟ recommendation to increase students‟ participation Table 3.15: Teachers‟ difficulties when undertaking pre-reading activities Table 3.16: Number of students involve in teacher‟s activities of pre-reading stage in the control and experimental group Table 3.17: Teacher talking time (TTT) and students talking time (STT) of the control group and the experimental group at pre-reading stage Table 3.18: The summary of independent-and paired-samples t-tests Table 3.19: The t-test for the experimental and control groups v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS.
iv LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES.v TABLE OF CONTENTS. Rationale to the study. Aims and objectives of the research. Aims of the research.
Objectives of the research. Scope of the research. Methods of the research. Significance of the research.
Limitations of the research. Outline of the research .6 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theoretical background about pre-reading activities .6 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Definition and the importance of pre-reading activities in teaching reading.
Types of pre-reading activities. Theoretical background about motivation. Definitions and types of motivation. The importance of motivation in learning reading.
Common factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning the reading skill. The reading materials factors. The teacher‟s factors. Theoretical background about textbook evaluation.
Criteria for textbook evaluation. Theoretical background about textbook adaptation. The necessity of textbook adaptation when teaching foreign languages 12 I. Techniques for textbook adaptation .13 PART II: METHODOLOGY.
Setting of the research. Subjects of the research.15 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection instruments. Survey questionnaire for students.
Interview for teachers. Pre-test post-test experimental design. Data collection procedure .18 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Data collected from survey questionnaire for students.
Students‟ experience of English learning. Students‟ beliefs towards the reading texts in the new English 11. Difficulties students encounter in reading lessons. The most frequently used activities to start a reading lesson.
Students‟ attitudes to their teacher‟ pre-reading activities. Students‟ beliefs about good effects of pre-reading activities. Students‟ beliefs about bad effects of pre-reading activities. Frequency of undertaking extra pre-reading activities in reading class .28 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Students‟ participation in pre-reading activities in reading lessons. Students‟ preference for participation in pre-reading activities. Frequency of using pre-reading activities by the teachers. Students‟ preferences for pre-reading activities.
Students‟ evaluations on pre-reading activities in the textbook. Students‟ recommendation on pre-reading activities to make a reading lesson more interesting. Data collected from teacher interview. Teachers‟ evaluation of reading texts in the textbook.
Teachers‟ evaluation on pre-reading activities in English 11. Teachers‟ beliefs about the purposes of carrying out pre-reading activities. Teachers‟ belief about students‟ participation and their suggestions to increase students‟ participation in pre-reading activities. Frequency of adapting pre-reading activities and methods of adaptation.
Teachers‟ difficulties when undertaking pre-reading activities. Data collected from classroom observation. Data collected from pre-test post-test experimental design. Summary of the study .50 ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Recommendations for using and adapting pre-reading activities in reading class at grade 11 effectively. When and how to use pre-reading activities. When using pre-reading activities. How to use pre-reading activities.
When and how to adapt pre-reading activities in reading class. When conducting pre-reading activity adaptation in reading class. The way of conducting pre-reading activity adaptation. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further study. XXV x LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale to the study Recently, the renovation in education especially in the textbook of 11th form has brought many achievements but requires innovating in teaching methods of four language skills, among which reading comprehension is regarded as a very important skill, the starting point of each unit. Therefore, it is necessary to apply different techniques to help students learn reading comprehension more effectively, in which pre-reading activities hold an important role in motivating students to read and understand the lesson more easily.
It is a matter of fact that English 11 apart from suitable points still has some unsuitable points. Clearly, the textbook is just a tool that helps teachers succeed in language teaching. While teaching language, teachers are expected to organize the tasks and activities in order to respond the objectives of the teaching and learning process. Nonetheless, the students‟ levels of English are different in various areas in Vietnam.
Not all students have the same English proficiency in a class while the current English textbooks are compulsory for teaching at all high schools. Furthermore, it is a common knowledge that motivation is related to success in second language learning in general and learning reading in particular. It is assumed that if the students are motivated, especially from the pre-reading stage, their reading tasks will be completed more successfully and obstacles while reading will not affect to their understanding any longer. Therefore, the research entitled “An evaluation of pre-reading activities in the new textbook Tieng Anh 11 in motivating and improving students‟ reading performance” is conducted to explore not only the current situation of adapting pre- reading stage at Dao Duy Tu high school in Thanh Hoa province but also the positive results and its effects on student‟s motivation as well as reading performance.
Hopefully, the paper is also to offer some practical suggestions for not only teachers but also textbook writers or designers to adapt pre-reading activities in reading classes more effectively. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims and objectives of the research 2. Aims of the research The study is carried out with the aim to analyze pre-reading activities in the new textbook English 11.
Moreover, it explores the situation of teaching pre- reading activities in reading comprehension lessons at Dao Duy Tu high school. Eventually, it provides some effective adaptations enabling students of learning English to be motivated and improved in reading performance.