VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƢƠNG LIÊN A STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOPIC FAMILIARITY AND EFL READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION STUDENTS OF COLLEGE OF TELEVISION (Một nghiên cứu về mối quan hệ giữa mức độ quen thuộc với chủ đề bài đọc và khả năng đọc hiểu của sinh viên khoa tiếng Anh Biên Dịch trường Cao Đẳng Truyền Hình) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi - 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ PHƢƠNG LIÊN A STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOPIC FAMILIARITY AND EFL READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION STUDENTS OF COLLEGE OF TELEVISION (Một nghiên cứu về mối quan hệ giữa mức độ quen thuộc với chủ đề bài đọc và khả năng đọc hiểu của sinh viên khoa tiếng Anh Biên Dịch trường Cao Đẳng Truyền Hình) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Xuân Thơm s Hanoi - 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lien, certify that this work is my own study.
The data, results and finding in this thesis are completely true. The thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution. Hanoi,2016 Nguyễn Thị Phƣơng Liên i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT “A study on the relationship between topic familiarity and EFL reading comprehension performance of English Translation students of College of Television” A group of 65 students from Faculty of English Translation, College of Television were required to do two reading tests, one using a text whose topic is familiar with students, and another using a text with an unfamiliar topic. These two topics were determined by a questionnaire delivered to them before the tests.
The comparison between results of the tests was conducted to find out how topic familiarity affects students on comprehending a text. Then, a treatment related to providing topic familiarity was carried out, and its effectiveness was evaluated. The way this type of schema normally activated in their reading lessons was also investigated through a survey and an interview. The research result proved the facilitative role of topic familiarity on EFL reading comprehension and raised many implications on teaching reading skill and for further researches in this area.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Nguyen Xuan Thom for thoroughly instructing and helping me to clarify the issues, for the insightful comments, and for always giving encouraging words to me. Without his invaluable advice and support, the study could not have come to success. I would also give special thanks to Assoc.
Le Van Canh who cultivated the idea about the thesis‟ topic to me, and also suggested me the very first approach to conduct the study. I wish to thank my colleagues who are English Teachers of English Translation Department, College of Television for their participating in and for supporting me during the thesis conducting process. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com THE TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration. iii PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale for the study. Objectives of the study. Method of the study. Significance of the study.
The scope of the research. Design of the thesis. Error! Bookmark not defined. CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
EFL Reading comprehension. Topic familiarity in EFL reading comprehension. The influences of topic familiarity and schemata on EFL reading comprehension. Research on effects of topic familiarity on reading comprehension.
Data collection instruments. Data analysis techniques. 19 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND FINDINGS. Familiar topic vs.
Relationship between topic familiarity and students‟ reading comprehension 222 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Pre-tests on 2 different topics. Students‟ improvement after treatments. Activating topic familiarity and its effect in learning and teaching reading in the research context.
288 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION FOR TEACHING READING SKILL. The research‟s limitation. Suggestions for further researches. Reading comprehension tests.
XIII v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language CTV: College of Television L1: The first language L2: The second language LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Page Table 1: Text difficulty by passage 16 Table 2: The result of preliminary test 18 Table 3: Topic familiar questionnaire‟s result 22 Table 4: Descriptive statistics for reading tests 24 Table 5: Paired sample pretests 24 Table 6: Performance in 2 tests by different proficiency level groups 25 Table 7: Pretest- posttest descriptive statistics 28 Table 8: Paired sample pre-posttest results 28 Chart 1: Research procedure 20 Chart 2: Higher level group‟s performance in 2 pretests 26 Chart 3: Lower level group‟s performance in 2 pretests 27 Chart 4: Forms usually used to activate students' background knowledge 28 Chart 5: Students‟ performance of pre- reading activities understandability 29 Chart 6: Students‟ evaluation on pre-reading activities effectiveness 30 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Reading is generally considered as one of the most important skills in learning a foreign language. (2006) has stated that “In any academic or higher learning context, reading is perceived as the most prominent academic skill for university students”. It is also perceived as a hard and multivariate skill because it requires readers both rich background knowledge of the given topic and the efficient knowledge of the language in order to read effectively (Grabe, 1997).
It is agreed by many experts that EFL reading comprehension is affected by different variables (such as students‟ level, their motivation or anxiety, etc. Among them, passage content or topic familiarity can be considered as the most influential factor. Researches have proved that prior knowledge of the reading text‟s content may affect both first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading comprehension. (1997) point out if the topic is outside of readers‟ experience or base of knowledge; they are adrift on an unknown sea.
It can be referred that reading about an unfamiliar topic is really a difficult work. For those reasons, many researches have been conducted to shed the light on the influential relationship between topic familiarity in particular (and schema theory in general) and reading comprehension (Carrell, 1987; Chen & Donin, 1997; Krekeler, 2006; Lesser, 2003; Shapiro, 2004; Tsui, 2002; Wu, 2005). These studies actually have great effect on understanding reading comprehension in both first and second language, and made it clear that understanding the role of topic familiarity in reading process gives insights into reasons why students may fail to comprehend text materials. By this, English language educators can develop teaching methods, reading materials, testing and evaluation on teaching reading comprehension skill, to be more compatible with their learners, and then improve the teaching and learning results.
1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com To teachers at English Translation Department, the very new department of College of Television, developing a suitable and effective reading course for students is very essential. To achieve this, finding out influences of topic familiarity on students‟ reading comprehension competence is very necessary. That is the reason why the investigator as one of English teacher of the department conducted this study - A study on the relationhip between topic familiarity and EFL reading comprehension performance of English Translation students of College of Television. The aim of the study is to find out how topic familiarity of reading materials affects students‟ comprehension, and how it is activated in the current teaching situation; thereby the research result and its implication can be applied to develop current reading materials as well as teaching and learning reading skill in the College.
Objectives of the study The present study is conducted in order to examine and evaluate the effects of passage topic familiarity on L2 readers' comprehension among English Translation students of College of Television who learn English as a foreign language. Besides, the factual situation in activating this type of schemata in CTV reading classes will be explored and evaluated to improve the current teaching reading methods and syllabus. To achieve mentioned objectives, the following research question guide the study: What is the relationship between topic familiarity and EFL students‟ reading comprehension performance? 3. Method of the study To achieve the objectives as stated above, the study is conducted mainly with the approach of a quasi- experimental research as a type of empirical study.
By this, a causal hypothesis about the influence of topic familiarity on ESL students‟ reading comprehension is tested by setting a comparison between their results on two reading comprehension tests, one is with a familiar topic and the other is with unfamiliar topic. After that, the conductor manipulates some treatment, and then some comparisons between pretest and posttest will be made to make the point even clear. The 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com experimental assignment to conditions is by means of administrator selection that is suitable to the conductor. The rational for using this method is that it may an effective way to integrate research and practice and give deeper understanding about the real educational situation that is put in the case in this study.
For most, the validity of research results can be ensured. For these reasons, the study‟s experiment is carried out under natural school conditions in the English Translation Department in College of Television with the aim to reinforce the practicality of the study. Questionnaire and interview are used also as additional tools to collect data. Significance of the study In term of theory, this study will contribute some more interesting findings to schema theories – especially topic familiarity - in general and their role in EFL reading comprehension.
In term of practice, this study will play a role in increasing CTV English teachers‟ understanding about the effect of topic familiarity on students reading comprehension performance and the factual situation on the way they activate it in their teaching reading skill. From that, they can have insights into why students may fail to comprehend text material and apply those understanding in designing reading syllabus, tests and evaluation as well. The scope of the research Over few past decades, many researches have conducted to investigate effects of schema in general and topic familiarity in particular on readers‟ comprehension and usability of documents. Some researchers acknowledged the impacts by assessing the pre-existing knowledge of experimental subjects with respect to the experimental materials used in the studies.
In contrast, some others rarely controlled for the influences of topic familiarity in comparison with other factors affecting reading comprehension when they evaluated the comprehensibility. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In this study, the investigator considers topic familiarity as one of many influential factors affecting the EFL students‟ performance of reading comprehension, besides readers‟ level, their anxiety, their motivation, or test types etc. On the other hands, it contends that this factor needs to be either assessed or controlled for in teaching reading skill. Results of the research are used to examined whether topic familiarity facilitates reading comprehension or not, and to what extent, and how it is currently activated in reading lessons of the college.
The research is conducted on students of English Translation Department, College of Television under a certain experimental environment; thus the result may be not true with other subjects in other condition. Design of the thesis The study includes 3 main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion apart from acknowledgment, abstract, table of contents and appendices. The 1st part Introduction includes 6 chapters: Rationale, Objectives, Method, Significance, Scope & Design of the study.