VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES wlles VŨ THI KIM CUC ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 10 I- LEARN SMART WORLD TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS: AN ACTION STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI - 2024 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES wlles VŨ THI KIM CUC ADAPTING READING TASKS IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 10 I- LEARN SMART WORLD TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS: AN ACTION STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL MA.MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.D Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa HA NOI - 2024 DECLARATION BY THE AUTHOR I declare that Adapting reading tasks in the English 10 I-Learn Smart World textbook to enhance students’ reading skills: An action study at a high school is my own work. To the best of my knowledge, this thesis has not been published before for any degree and examination in any other universities, and all the sources that I have consulted and quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. I confirm that all information written in the study does not infringe any copyright or proprietary rights.
Hanoi, 2024 Student’s signature Vu Thi Kim Cuc Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Supervisor: Ph.D Hoang Thi Xuân Hoa |DY.) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been deeply indebted to many people and organizations for helping me in conducting this study. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, PhD. Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, for his constructive guidance, continuous encouragement and remarkable patience which helps me to accomplish this research with less difficulty. Without his helpful assistance and feasible suggestions, I could have never done this work.
My sincere thanks also go to all lectures and staff of Postgraduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps. Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous obstacles when doing this research. I immensely appreciate the support and collaboration of the administrators, colleagues and students in the class 10A1 at a local high school in Ha Nam Province, who have motivated and guided me in the complement of the study. Finally, special thanks are also due to my parents and my friends for their sympathy and support in bringing my Master course to a success.
ii ABSTRACT In the learning process, learners face several difficulties, especially in reading skills. Hence, in order to help learners to complete all objectives in reading lessons and improve their reading skills, material adaptation. is believed to be an essential step. This action research endeavored to investigate the effectiveness of the adaptations in while-reading tasks in the English 10 I-Learn Smart World textbook and students’ perceptions of the adapted reading lessons.
The participants were forty students in grade 10 in a local high school in Ha Nam province. The research was conducted in two months with four practicing lessons. Data were collected by using pre-test, post- test and questionnaires. While the results from pre- test and post-test were manually counted and sorted into four groups to investigate the improvement of students’ reading skills, questionnaires with closed- ended questions, as well as students’ diaries revealed students’ opinions about the modifications.
The research findings show that after the adapted lessons students’ reading scores increased, and the changes made most of the students more involved and motivated in the reading lessons. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION BY THE AUTHOR. - G1 ng ng 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ecccccesesscesseesseeeseccesseceaeeaecseesaeesaeseaesseesaeenes ii ABSTRACT.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIA TIONS. HH ng HH HH key vii IDkXk190)v09)02. Vili LIST OF FIGURES 1n. Objectives of the S{Uy.-- óc HH HT HH Hệ 12 1.
Subjects of the SfUỈY. Ăn HH TH TH HH rưy 12 1. Research QU€S{IOTNS.-- G1 HH HH gvrưy 12 1. Significance of the S{UỈy.- --- c1 v11 1H HH HH kg rưy 12 1.
Scope Of the in. Structure of the tH€S1S. óc HH HH ng HH Hệ 14 CHAPTER 2. LH HH ng nến 15 2.
Reading and teaching reading SkIÏÌ. The definition of T€ad1nE. - - -- c1 1199311991119 111 ng kg ky 15 2. Types Of T€aCÏITE.Á-G011 TH HH HH Hy 15 2.
The review of the task-based approach. HH TH HH HH re 19 2. The definition of reading {aSKS.- ---- 5 11 111211 vn vn vn rry 19 2.2 Characteristics of reading faSÌKS. -- s6 vn HH giết 19 2.
Task adaptation 0n nc. The definition of adapfafIOI. HH HH nệt 20 2. Reasons for adapfafION.
The review of adapting techniques .- 5c 111v vs rrreeree 22 iv 2.- CC C11111 ng vê 24 “ho an.- óc TH HH HH HH Hiện 27 3.- --- 5 +5 kg HT TH HH HH Hư ch 29 3. Data collection fO ÏS. 5 c5 1 1n HH TT HH Hết 32 EX n0) (0ì 7-4. Pre-test and DOSf-f€SẮ.
- LH TH TH TH HH ng krry 33 K60. Data collection procedure 0n. Data analysis procedure. Pre-test and DOSf-f€SẨ.G c HH TH TH HH HH tre 39 3.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Pretest and posttest ÍIndITØS.- - ---- - + x1 v1 TH vn ng net 41 4. Overall opinion of the adapted reading lessOMs. The students’ evaluation of the adapting techniques in the reading lessons.
Materials and ReSOULCES .- 4G + TH nh nh ng tr47 4. Qui TT gu48 Đo on. Limitations Of the Study. Suggestions for further r€S€arCHh.-- + s3 3 9191 vn ng ng nh gưkp 56 5.
Involving students in the adaptation DFOC€SS. Increasing students’ taking active part in learn1ng. Raising teachers’ awareness of adapting taskS. LXIV VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as a Foreign Language CEFR : The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages T : Teacher Ss : Students vil LISTS OF TABLES Table 1.
Students’ improvement in their reading SCOF€S. Summary of students’ overall viewpoints about the adapted reading lessons Table 3. Summary of students' opinions of the organization (N = 40). The students’ evaluation of the adapting techniques in the reading lessons Table 5.
The students’ evaluation of the Materials and Resources in the adapted reading lessons (N=40). HH HH HT HH HH HH, 47 Vili LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Cyclical Action research model based on Kemmis and McTaggart (1988). The data collection procedure CHaF.- -- s23 + *++*+*sk+veeeeeeseeeers 37 1X CHAPTER 1.
Rationale for the study In English Language Teaching, textbooks are widely acknowledged as one of the fundamental factors in the learning and teaching process as they orient and support the learners to enhance their linguistic and communicative competence (Ur, 1996; Saemee & Nomnian, 2021). Textbooks are nationally published materials that not only provide the language input to the learners but also offer the teacher the guidelines for the content of the lessons. Therefore, many teachers use textbooks as core teaching materials in EFL classrooms. However, when teaching a lesson printed on the textbook, the teacher needs to consider these questions: "Is the language at the right level? Is the topic/content suitable for the students? Is the sequencing of the lessons logical?" (Harmer, 1998, p.
More specifically, the teacher needs to use the textbooks as a means to fulfill the language objectives, learners’ levels, and their cultural backgrounds (Mede, 2019). Globally, there have been some studies related to the implementation of task- based language teaching for teaching reading. Kesli (2017) for example, argues that the implementation of task-based language teaching is beneficial for reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery of Turkish students conducted in one of private universities in Istanbul. In different place, Amer and Demirel (2017) found that task-based language teaching is more effective, authentic, meaningful and purposeful for reading activities intended for students.
In many cases, the teacher employs unsuitable teaching methods and uses these books without careful consideration of students’ level and adaptation. As a result, the results are quite limited despite instructors’ and learners’ efforts. In my teaching context, the same problem also happens. Therefore, material adaptation is necessary for teaching and learning to achieve the optimal outcome.
Many researches in applied linguistics and reading research consistently show a strong correlation between reading proficiency and academic success at all 10 ages, from the primary school right through to university level: students who read a lot and who understand what they read usually attain good grades. In other words, a student who is a good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams more than a weak reader-student. In fact, the relationship between reading and learning begins even earlier in the pre-primary school years. Children who are exposed to the storybook reading before they go to school tend to have larger vocabularies, greater general knowledge and better conceptual development than their peers.
Moreover, several teachers and researchers argue that reading is probably the most important skill for second language student in academic or learning context. In a second language classroom, reading plays a significant role in building both linguistic and background knowledge for other language skills. Hoang et al. (2006:191) even consider reading as the most effective means of improving students’ language competence.
Particularly, when there is a lack of language environment, reading is even more significant since it helps enlarge students’ background knowledge and vocabulary as well as supports other skills (Pham, 2005 cited in Hoang et al. In short, teaching and learning readings are very significant in the context of second language teaching and learning in Vietnam. In EFL learning, reading is the first step in acquiring a second language. According to Harmer (1998:68), it is very important to teach reading to students because “some of the language sticks in their mind as part of the process of language acquisition, and if the reading is especially interesting and engaging, acquisition is likely to be even more successful”.
However, reading is often taught with less focus and attention. In many reading lessons because of the time constraint, students' low language proficiency, and the difficulty of the tasks, teachers often provide the meaning of new words, ask students to complete the given exercises, and correct, which renders students demotivated and less interested in learning reading. Therefore, in order to get students involved in reading lessons, it is necessary to have appropriate tasks to their levels. 11 Through the researcher’s experience and observation, I discovered that the reading tasks in the textbook “I-Learn Smart World 10” are simple, not diverse and not challenging.
As a result, they do not boost students’ motivation. With the desire to help students improve reading skills and nurture their interest in English, the researcher conducts this study “Adapting reading tasks in the English Textbook 10 I- Learn Smart World to enhance students’ reading skills: An action study at a high school”. In this research, the researcher will adapt some reading tasks in the English 10 textbook and examine the changes of the subjects. Objectives of the study The study was designed to encourage 10th graders to enhance their reading skills through the modifications of reading tasks in the new English 10 textbook.
To be precise, this study focused on finding out the effectiveness of the adapted while- reading tasks in the new English 10 textbook and investigated students’ opinions about the adaptations. Based on the research, recommendations on how to teach reading skills effectively and motivate students to read can be drawn out. Subjects of the study The subjects of the study are forty students from 10A1 class in a local school in Ha Nam. There are 20 female students and 20 male students.
In terms of students’ language level, most of may be supposed to A2, but in reality, the students’ reading skills may be not expected to A2 level. It means that students have a lot of difficulty in performing reading tasks. Research questions The study endeavors to answer two questions: 1.