VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- TRẦN THỊ KHÁNH A STUDY ON READING STRATEGY TRAINING FOR GRADE 11 ENGLISH MAJORS AT BINH XUYEN HIGH SCHOOL, VĨNH PHÚC PROVINCE Luyện một số thủ thuật đọc hiệu quả cho học sinh chuyên Tiếng Anh lớp 11, trường THPT Bình Xuyên, tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HA NOI, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- TRẦN THỊ KHÁNH A STUDY ON READING STRATEGY TRAINING FOR GRADE 11 ENGLISH MAJORS AT BINH XUYEN HIGH SCHOOL, VĨNH PHÚC PROVINCE Luyện một số thủ thuật đọc hiệu quả cho học sinh chuyên Tiếng Anh lớp 11, trường THPT Bình Xuyên, tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr, Võ Đại Quang HA NOI, 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com STATEMENT OF THESIS ORIGINALITY I, Trần Thị Khánh, certify that the thesis “Training strategies to 11th grade English non-majors at Binh Xuyen high school, Vinh phuc province”, partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own and has not been submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions. i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Vo Dai Quang, for his assistance, guidance and critical comments so that I can complete my study. I also wish to send my thanks to lecturers during the M.A course, who have helped me to fulfill the thesis. I owe my sincere thanks to teachers and students at Binh Xuyen high school, Vinh Phuc province, who have been enthusiastic to participate in my research. Finally, I would like to show my big gratitude to my mother, my colleagues and my friends who have encouraged me to overcome difficulties when I carried out the research. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABTRACT Reading is one necessary and important skill in learning English. Reading is also the means to gain success in learning other subjects. However, teaching strategies are still not paid attention at Binh Xuyen high school so as for students to overcome difficulties in this skill school. As a teacher of English, I recognized that their results in graduation and university entrance exam are not high at Binh Xuyen high school and frequently complained by other teachers. The students felt bored and afraid to cope with reading lessons. With the desire to improve students‟ reading skill, the author carried out the research on the training reading strategies at Binh Xuyen high school, Vinh Phuc province. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of the training the strategies, give findings and useful implications in learning and teaching reading. This study consists of three main parts: Part A, Introduction states the background of the study and the problem. Part B is the main part of the study, Development continuing with three chapters in which the first presents the literature review and the second describes the study in details and analysizes the statistics. Chapter three focuses on data analysis, findings and discussions. Part C draws conclusions and shows the limitations and suggestions in the future studies. The rest of the thesis is Part D: REFERENCES and Part E: APPENDICES iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Background information about the subjects of the study Table 2:Numbers of students in score levels according to pretest and posttest results of the Control group Table 3:Mean and Standard Deviation of Pretest and Posttest according to categories of test items and overall results of the Control group Table 4:Numbers of students in score levels according to Pretest and Posttest results of the Experimental group Table 5:Mean and Standard Deviation of Pretest and Posttest according to categories of test items and overall results of the Experimental group. Table 6:Numbers of students in score levels according to Pretest results of the Control and Experimental group Table 7:Mean and Standard Deviation of Pretest according to categories of test items and overall results of the Control and Experimental group Table 8:Numbers of students in score levels according to Posttest Results of the Control and Experimental group Table 9:Mean and Standard Deviation of Posttest according to categories of test items and overall results of the Control and Experimental group Table 10: Mean and Standard Deviations of Overall Pretest and Posttest of Control and Experimental group. iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL/ESL : English as a Foreign Language/ English as a second language ELT : English Language Teaching FL : Foreign Language L2 : Second language N : The number of students VNU : Vietnam National University v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENS Statement of thesis originality . iii List of tables . iv List of abbreviations . Rationale for the study . Aims and objectives of the study .Research questions for the study .Scope of the study . Significance of the study . Design of the study . 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW . Classification of language learning strategies . Definition of reading . Definition of reading strategies . Classification of Reading strategies . The role of Reading Strategies . Reading Strategy Instruction and Principles for Strategies Instruction . Research on learning and teaching reading strategies . Setting of the study. Restatement of research questions . 27 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Type of method . Data collection instruments . Data analysis techniques . 31 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .1 Comparison of the Pretest and Posttest Results within each group . Comparison of the Pretest and Posttest Results of Experimental group . Comparison of the Pretest Results between Control and Experimental group36 3. Comparison of the Posttest Results between the Control group and Experimental group . Comparison of the Overall Pretest and Posttest of the Control Group and Experimental group . Finding 1 and comments on this finding .2 Finding 2 and comments on this finding . Finding 3 and comments on this finding . Concluding remarks on each of the thesis objectives . Concluding remarks on objective 1 . Concluding remarks on objective 2 . Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. Limitations of the study . Suggestions for future study. I vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study It is easy to see that reading is one of essential skills at high school. First, reading lessons have been systematically introduced together with other skills such as listening, speaking and writing in the English textbook in Vietnam. Reading always begins each unit in the textbook then, listening or speaking and writing. The structures or new words in the reading lesson will continue to appear and be practised in the following sections. Second, all regular tests in English class involve reading comprehension questions. Especially, the points for reading questions always make up a large number in graduate or university entrance exams. Reading is also the database that provides knowledge for students to enhance their language learning and improve skills in life. When students are provided with a variety of language expressions, structures and a wide range of information, it is easier for them to practise the rest skills such as writing or speaking. Moreover, reading skill is also useful in other fields of science; for example, when students have to study information technology subject or find out materials involved tourists, history, even maths or chemistry in English. Students may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, do research and so on. In addition, reading also develops some skills in real situations in life such as scanning the timetable when they fly by plane to go abroad or look for information in TV or magazines in English. In other cases, students can read to understand other cultures, the relationship between people or social communication. The more they read, the more knowledgeable they become. Therefore, it is crucial for them to read English effectively. However, English reading is often said to be difficult in spite of students‟ effort. The requirement for teachers is to teach their students how to overcome the difficulties, but this is not an easy task. At Binh Xuyen high school, English is a compulsory subject. Moreover, for the majors of English, after graduation they will have to take a university entrance 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. However, through observing English reading classes, the author has realized most of the students read texts at low speed. They lack strategies to take advantage of their vocabulary, linguistic or prior knowledge to do tasks. Besides, the method of teaching is sometimes not suitable; for example, some teachers translate the texts into Vietnamese or explain too many new words, which is waste of time without dealing with the tasks. For aforementioned reasons, it‟s necessary for the author to investigate what strategies should be trained to bring effects and whether the teaching of strategies benefits students‟learning of reading or not. Aims and objectives of the study This thesis is aimed at gaining an insightful look into reading strategies with a view to improving the teaching of reading skills at Binh Xuyen high school. Objectives are set for investigation: - Identifying the effects brought about by the 4 reading strategies to the teaching and learning of reading skills at Binh Xuyen high school: Scanning, Skimming, and guessing vocabulary in context and Inference - Identifying the techniques possibly applicable to the teaching of reading 3. Research questions for the study The aims are specified in two research questions: 1. To what extent does the training of four reading strategies (skimming, scanning, guessing vocabulary in context, and inference) affect grade 11 English majors‟ reading learning at Binh Xuyen high school? 2. How can students‟ abilities in reading be improved via four reading strategies? 4. Scope of the study A learners‟ success or failure in acquiring a foreign language can be affected by many interrelated factors from both students and teachers. At high school, students learn all English skills: listening, speaking, writing and grammar. However, this study only focuses on the teaching some of reading strategies at Binh Xuyen high school, and the effects are brought about by those strategies. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study The research is carried out at Binh Xuyen high school with a view to applying reading strategies and exploring its effects. Although it only focuses on 4 reading strategies for reading, its significance is remarkable. First, it touches on reading strategies that is often overlooked in teaching reading at Binh Xuyen high school. It highlights the importance of teaching strategies in classes. With clear evidence from the study, the researcher hopes to encourage students to take advantage of self-study competence and teachers to use creative methods of teaching. Second, the study helps the author-teacher understand more about the students‟ learning and using reading strategies at Binh Xuyen high school. Third, through a thorough analysis of the results, the author desires to share ideas and experiences with other teachers in the school to come up with solutions to drawbacks existing in teaching. Such findings will help improve both the learning and teaching in reading in the future. Finally, useful implications from this study will be beneficial for further studies. Design of the study The study comprises 3 main parts: Part A is the introduction, which presents the rationale of the study, the aims and objectives, research questions, the scope and the significance and design of the study.
