NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL ---------- TEACHING EXPERIENCE USING EXTENSIVE READING TO ENHANCE GRADE 10 ENGLISH GIFTED STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AND READING MOTIVATION AT NGUYEN XUAN ON HIGH SCHOOL Subject: Foreign Language Teaching Field: Education Author: Nguyen Thi Thuy Nga Year: 2021 Nguyen Xuan On High School Dien Chau, March 2021 skkn ABBREVIATION ER Extensive Reading L2 Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language ESL English as Second Language L1 First Language MRQ Motivation for Reading Questionnaire ERF Extensive Reading Foundation SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Min Minimum Max Maximum M Mean SD Standard Deviation i skkn LIST OF TABLES Table 3. Oxford Bookworm Library’s levels. Penguin Readers’ levels. Macmillan Readers’ levels.
Cambridge English Readers’ levels. The ER program’s schedule. Pre-questionnaire’s Descriptive Statistics. Post-questionnaire’s Descriptive Statistics.
Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 3, 5 & 7. Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 1, 6 & 9. Paired Samples Test – Pairs of Items 2, 4, 8, & 10. Reading comprehension tests’ statistics.
Pre-test’s frequency. Post-test’s frequency. Results of Pair Sample Test – Pre-test & Post-test. Results of pre-test and post-test – participant 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8.44 ii skkn LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Simple Action Research Model.
Participants’ reading motivation from reading reports….29 iii skkn TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATION.i LIST OF TABLES.ii LIST OF FIGURES.iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Reason for choosing the topic.2 History of the problem.3 Aims of the study and research questions.4 Scope of the study.5 Significance of the study.6 Method of study ………………………………………………… ………….7 The organization of the study.4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Theoretical background of reading.1 Definitions of reading. Definition of reading comprehension:. Types of reading.
The definition of extensive reading. Restatement of research questions:. Action research process:. The extensive reading program.
The extensive reading procedure. Data collection instruments.24 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Effects of the ER program on participants’ intrinsic reading motivation. The importance of reading in English.
Reading for scores – an extrinsic reading motivation factor. Effects of the ER program on participant’s reading comprehension skill.40 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION. Limitations and recommendations.79 v skkn vi skkn CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Reason for choosing the topic: Nowadays, with the rapid pace of integration and globalization, English becomes a golden key to open the door of many fields such as commerce, communication, science and technology throughout the world.
Therefore, to meet the demand of the society, it is very necessary to teach English in schools of all levels. In recent years teaching and learning English in secondary schools have been major changes in the contents and teaching methods to fit the goals and requirements set for this subject in the reform program. The most basic point of the new method is to promote students’ positive, proactive and create optimal conditions for students to train, develop and enhance abilities, how to use language in communication purposes rather than providing purely linguistic knowledge. With this view, the techniques and activities in the classroom has been changed and diversified development.
Therefore, teachers need to grasp the main principles of the new method and learn the techniques and teaching activities from the viewpoint of communication that can be applied in a flexible, consistent and effective way. The problem becomes more complicated when placed in Vietnam. Students are often lazy to read, especially there are some new topics in the textbooks and the vocabulary is quite difficult. A difficulty is that students have low language competence Therefore, it requires the efforts of both teachers and students from the first days at school.
Teachers should always explore and innovate teaching methods that meet students’ needs. Also, students need to try their best to study and practice. Nevertheless, grade 10 students have not shown that learning spirit. They often show no interest in subjects and no focus on practicing basic skills, especially reading skill – the crucial skill.
It can help improve other skills: enhancing vocabulary in listening and speaking and improving writing skill. Consequently, their reading comprehension is not sufficient to help them understand reading texts and motivate them to use reading skills to enhance language input. 1 skkn For the above reasons, I decide to conduct a study titled : “Using extensive reading to enhance grade 10 English gifted students’ reading comprehension and reading motivation at Nguyen Xuan On High school” 1. History of the problem: Many people are trying to find out the answer for the question of how to learn English effectively.
168 as cited in Renandya, 2007) wrote: “The best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers.” It means that language learners need to move to and live in the environment where the language is used every time and everywhere. However, almost all learners in Vietnam cannot afford to learn English in this way. Nuttall also mentioned another way: “The next best way is to read extensively in it.” The second way, extensive reading (ER), appears to be more suitable and economical. There have been several studies on ER with positive results for recent years.
It has both, cognitive and affective positive effects on the readers (improving readers’ communicating skills, helping readers acquire and retain vocabulary, motivating readers in reading in particular and in their language study in general (Nation, 1997)). ER can help learners with larger quantities of second language input (Hafiz & Tudor, 1989, as cited in Hedge, 2001), improve reading comprehension and reading speed (Bell, 2001), develop learner autonomy (Wu & Wu, 2009), increase reading motivation (Ro, 2013), help enhance reading rate (Huffman, 2014), encourage a positive attitude towards reading fluency (Wardani, 2015), improve EFL learners’ writing (Mermelstein, 2015), enrich lexical chunks acquisition (Pereyra, 2015) and so on. As can be seen in those above studies, ER is currently being considered as one effective learning and teaching method. However, the ER program has not been applied at schools where the researcher is working.
Hence, its effects at this schools is still unknown and the researcher would like to find out whether it helps improve students’ reading comprehension and motivate students to read in English. So, I tried to explore this research by applying theory to practical teaching, with a desire to contribute my experience in arousing students’ interest in learning English. This helps students love and have a passion for English in order to 2 skkn contribute improving the quality of teaching and learning English. Aims of the study and research questions As mentioned above, the purpose of the study is to find out whether implementing an extensive reading program with graded readers as the materials can help improve students’ reading comprehension and intrinsic reading motivation.
In order to achieve the purpose, the study is guided by the two main following questions: 1. To what extent does reading graded readers affect students’ intrinsic reading motivation? 2. To what extent does reading graded readers affect students’ reading comprehension? 1. Scope of the study The study focuses on using ER in teaching reading comprehension to grade 10 students at Nguyen Xuan On High school.
Hence, the study limits itself to teaching and learning reading only, and the participants of the study are 14 gifted students at grade 10 1. Significance of the study The findings of the study are expected to be useful for all the people concerned including the researcher, teachers, and students. Hopefully, the study supplies English language teachers with the understanding of ER in terms of effects when applying it in teaching reading skill. In addition, this is the first time an ER program applied for grade 10 students at Nguyen Xuan On High school; consequently, the final results of the study is a strong recommendation for ER programs to be integrated in the existing curriculum for the development of reading comprehension and reading motivation at schools.
Method of study - Methods of theoretical studies: literature review of teaching activities. - Method of practical research: It includes many methods such as: Observation; investigation; exchanges; statistics; aggregate; compare; summarize experience. 3 skkn - Method of experts: Learn through and swap experience of some dedicated and experienced teachers on the use of the techniques in teaching English. The organization of the study This paper is divided into 5 chapters as follows: Chapter 1 – Introduction – Reason for choosing the topic, history of the problem, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance of the study and method of study.
Chapter 2 – Literature review – provides an overview of theoretical issues related to reading skill, extensive reading and reading motivation and examines the needs for conducting the current study. Chapter 3 – Methodology – Methodology considers the different research methods to choose a suitable research method in seek of the answer to the research questions raised in chapter 1. Detailed information about the participants of the study and research procedures is also provided. Chapter 4 – Results and discussion – presents and discusses the main findings of the study.
Chapter 5 – Recommendations and Conclusion – summarizes the main findings and gives implications from the study. It also states the limitations of the study and makes suggestions for future research. 4 skkn CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter involves different aspects of theoretical background of reading, reading comprehension, ER, reading motivation, and studies on ER in recent years.1 Theoretical background of reading 2.1 Definitions of reading Reading is an individual activity which takes place in different ways from reading books, newspapers, magazines, written tests, telephone directory, labels on medicine bottles, or notices. While Ur defines reading simply means “reading and understanding” , many other authors have more detailed definitions of term “reading”.
According to Bond and Miles reading is an active process, which involves the recognition of printer or written symbols which triggers meaning through readers’ past experiences. Rubin and Thompson (1994, p. 91) also defines “reading is active information–seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know”. Similarly, in Anderson’s study (2003), reading is also claimed to be an active fluent process for readers to understand the written information in the relationship with their background knowledge and experiences.
Reading involves not only the reader and the reading materials but also the writer in Tickoo’s definition (2006): reading involves “a triangular interaction” – the reader, the writer and the texts. Briefly, reading is a complex but active process that is affected by three subjects (the reader, the writer and materials) and involves understanding what is written in the reading materials. Definition of reading comprehension: Reading comprehension is an important part in teaching and learning a foreign language. It has been defined in different ways by different researchers.
According to Kirby (2007), reading comprehension is the process by which we understand the texts we read. It is the purpose of reading, why we teach it, and why we care about it. It is also the prerequisite for meaningful learning from text. 5 skkn In addition, Pakhare (2007, p.
1) defines reading comprehension as “the level of understanding of passage or text. According to him, reading comprehension offers a tool at judging the level of passage or text understanding while reading. Reading comprehension improves through the use of various methods which include training the ability to self-assess comprehension, using some questions to put comprehension to the test, and improving metacognition. Reading comprehension can be defined in different ways; however, it is clear that reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of teaching and learning reading in general and teaching and learning reading in foreign language in particular.
Pakhare’s definition is made as a choice for the basic definition of this study. Types of reading There are a great deal of ways to classify reading such as the classification according to manners of reading and the classification according to the purposes of reading. In this study the two kinds of reading mentioned are intensive reading and extensive reading.