VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ KIM QUẾ IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREDICTING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT CAO BA QUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY CHIẾN LƯỢC DỰ ĐOÁN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CAO BÁ QUÁT) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 HANOI, 2011 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 KIM QUẾ IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH PREDICTING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT CAO BA QUAT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY CHIẾN LƯỢC DỰ ĐOÁN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CAO BÁ QUÁT) M. Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor : Phạm Minh Tâm, M.Ed HANOI, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Language Learning Strategies, O‘ Maley and Chamot, 1990……….2 Reading Strategies in O‘Malley and Chamot‘s Scheme………………………….3 Reading Strategies Recommended by Teachers at Chinese University of Hongkong ………………………………………………………………………….4 Predicting Strategies and Activities to Develop Predicting Strategies………….5 Grammar-Translation Method and Communicative Language Teaching……….6 Task-based Learning Framework Reproduced by J.II II Table 1.7 Model of Reading Comprehension Instruction……………………………….8 Models of Reading Strategy Instruction…………………………………….1 Background Information on the Participants…………………………………….2 Procedures for Questionnaire Development……………………………………….3 Procedures for Test Development………………………………………………….4 Syllabus of Predicting Strategy Instruction Course……………………………….5 Procedures for Predicting Strategy Instruction Development…………………….3 Percentage of the Students‘ Correct Answers in the Pre-test and Post-tests……….4 Percentage of the Students‘ Correct Answers to Each Question in the Pre-test and Post-tests………………………………………………………………………….33 33 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Components of Reading……………………………………………………………5 5 Figure 2.1 Action Research Model………………………………………………………….1 Students‘ Awareness and Use of Predicting Strategies………………………….2 Students‘ Awareness and Use of Other Reading Strategies………………………29 29 Figure 3.3 Students‘ Awareness of Predicting Strategies…………………………………….31 31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iii iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………………. iv iv PART A : INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………….
Rationale for the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Aims and Research Questions of the Study ……………………………………………………………………. Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 33 4. Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 5.
Organization of the Thesis …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 PART B : DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 CHAPTER 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………….1 The Nature of Reading Comprehension ……………………………………………………………………………… 44 1.1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension………………………………………………………………….1 Bottom-up Reading Models ………………………………………………………………….2 Top-down Reading Model …………………………………………………………………….3 Interactive Reading Model …………………………………………………………………….2 Reading Comprehension Strategies …………………………………………………………………………………….1 Foreign Language Learning Strategies………………………………………………………………….1 Definitions of Foreign Language Learning Strategies ………………………….2 Classification of Language Learning Strategies …………………………………….3 The Importance of Language Learning Strategies for Students…………….2 Reading Comprehension Strategies…………………………………………………………………….1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension Strategies ………………………………11 11 1.2 Classification of Reading Comprehension Strategies ………………………….3 Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction ……………………………………………………………………12 12 1.1 Approaches to Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction …………………………….2 Model of Reading Comprehension Instruction ……………………………………………………14 14 1.3 Models of Reading Strategy Instruction …………………………………………………………….18 18 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi CHAPTER 2 : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………………….5 Data Collection Instruments ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 22 22 2.2 Pre-test and post-tests ………………………………………………………………………………………. Teacher’s diary and students’ reflective journal……………………………………………….7 Data Collection Procedures ……………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Data Analysis Procedures ………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 Pre-test and post-test ………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Diary and Journals……………………………………………………………………………………………… 27 27 2.9 Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 27 27 CHAPTER 3 : RESULTS AND DISCUSSION …………………………………………………………………… 28 3.1 Students’ Awareness and Use of Predicting Strategies……………………………………….2 Students’ Awareness and Use of Other Reading Strategies ……………………………….1 To what extent does the use of predicting strategy instruction improve the students’ reading comprehension? ……………………………………………………………….2 What are effective techniques to teach predicting strategies as perceived by the students and the teachers? ………………………………………………………………………… 36 3. Summary of the Main Findings ……………………………………………………………………………………………42 42 2.
Pedagogical Implications of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………42 42 3. Limitations of the Research ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 44 44 4. Suggestions for Further Research ………………………………………………………………………………………. II LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the Study Reading is an essential skill for English as a foreign language (EFL) students; and for many, reading is the most important skill to master. With strengthened reading skills, EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development not only in English but also in all academic areas. Therefore, ―reading is the most heavily researched single area of the whole curriculum, and yet, paradoxically, it remains a field in which a good deal of fundamental work has yet to be approached, and one in which a great many teachers would claim to be almost wholly ignorant‖ and secondary teachers ―who have generally had no training at all related to reading but nevertheless feel conscious that the ability to read fluently is the basis for most school learning, and one of the surest predictors of academic attainment‖ (Harrison and Gardner, 1977). Traditionally, attempts to improve the comprehension of texts for EFL students have focused on familiarizing the students with vocabulary needed to comprehend the passage.
However, within the last 15 years, much of the research conducted in the field of reading comprehension has concentrated on the knowledge and control of reading strategies, and more and more emphasis has been put on the importance of training EFL learners to be strategic readers. Studies have revealed that the use of appropriate reading strategies may improve reading comprehension (Olsen and Gee, 1991), and using reading strategies can be of great help to non-native readers because they may serve as effective ways of overcoming language deficiency and obtaining better reading achievement on language proficiency tests (Wong, 2005; Zhang, 1992). However, empirical research indicates that in most reading classrooms, students have received inadequate instruction on reading skills and strategies (Miller and Perkins, 1989). EFL teachers seldom teach a strategy explicitly in class.
In other words, teachers normally stress on the production of reading comprehension rather than the reading process. Reading lessons are more of reading tests, in which teachers ask the students to read the text and complete several reading tasks. This problem can be found in many EFL reading classes in the world, and Vietnam is not an exception. Vietnamese learners of English, in general, and students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School in particular, after several years of learning English, turn out to be word-by-word readers; they tend to read very slowly to understand the meaning of every single word.
When they encounter unfamiliar words or unfamiliar concepts, they feel discouraged and resort to wild guessing to construct the text meaning. Some students do not LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 understand the main idea of a text even when they have translated every word into their mother tongue. Very few students deliberately look at the title of a text to think about its topic before reading. Fewer students use their background knowledge to facilitate their comprehension.
They are completely dependent on the decoded messages from the text, so once their decoding mechanisms fail due to their deficient language proficiency, comprehension breaks down. With a view to gaining some insight into reading strategies and reading strategy instruction, I chose to study how to improve students‘ reading comprehension through predicting strategy instruction. The rationale for my focus on predicting strategies is that they are of key importance in the comprehension process. It has been found out that efficient reading often includes the use of predicting strategies (Goodman, 1976; Palincsar & Brown, 1984).
Interacting with text, readers use their prior knowledge in concert with cues in the text to generate predictions. Although the importance of prediction in comprehending texts has been demonstrated by recent research, much remains to be learned about predicting strategies. Aims and Research Questions of the Study The study aims at exploring the impact of predicting strategy instruction on the reading comprehension of 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School with a view to giving recommendations on how to teach the students to use predicting strategies effectively to improve their reading comprehension. The specific aims of the research are as follows: To examine the impact of the predicting strategy instruction on the reading comprehension of 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School To determine effective techniques to teach predicting strategies in reading comprehension in their reading classes, from the teacher‘ and students‘ perspectives.
In order to achieve the above aims, the following research questions will be addressed (1) To what extent does the use of predicting strategy instruction improve Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School’s grade 10 students’ reading comprehension? (2) What techniques are effective to teach these students’ predicting strategy, as perceived by the teacher and the students? 3. Scope of the Study This study only focuses on the teaching of predicting strategies to 10th grade students at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School, so the teaching of other reading strategies or to other subjects would be beyond the scope. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the Study The study examines the impact of the predicting strategy instruction on the participants‘ reading comprehension and suggests effective techniques to teach predicting strategies, so it would be of great value to the teaching of reading skill.
In the light of the research, teachers can adjust their reading instruction so as to help to train strategic readers. Research Methodology In order to achieve these aims, an Action Research was employed to measure the influence of the intervention-predicting strategy instruction-on the students' reading comprehension. The data was collected via a number of instruments including a questionnaire, a pre-test, two post-tests, teacher’s diaries and students’ journals. After a preliminary investigation had been carried out, a predicting strategy instruction course was designed, and then implemented in the second semester of the school year 2010 - 2011 with the participation of 50 students from Group 10A10 at Cao Ba Quat Upper Secondary School.
The data was then analysed by means of descriptive statistic devices and content analysis method. The results indicated that with the combination of these instruments the study yielded reliable findings. Organization of the Study The thesis consists of three main parts: INTRODUCTION which provides an overview of the study, DEVELOPMENT which is the main part and consists of 3 chapters, and CONCLUSION which includes the summary, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. Three chapters in the main part are as follows: Chapter 1: Literature Review is review of the literature related to the research topic, which serves as a theoretical foundation of the study.
Chapter 2: Research Methodology provides information about the research context, participants, research approach, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures. Chapter 3: Results and Discussion is the main part of the study, which reports and discusses the main findings according to the research questions. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is primarily concerned with the nature of reading comprehension, including some definitions of reading comprehension, models of reading and the schema theory. This will be followed by a review of language learning strategies, classifications of language learning strategies, the importance of language learning strategies, reading strategies and predicting strategies.
The next part presents a review of approaches to reading comprehension strategy instruction, the model of reading comprehension instruction, and models of reading strategy instruction. Finally, it is a summary of related studies 1.1 The Nature of Reading Comprehension 1.1 Definitions of Reading Comprehension For many students, reading is a very important skill, particularly in English as a second or foreign language. Concerning the role of reading, Anderson (1999) confirms that ―the more exposure the student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase‖. There are numerous definitions of reading and reading comprehension which range from simple to complex ones, from the decoding view to the comprehending view, from readers‘ passive role to their active one.