VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE READING STRATEGIES USED BY NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIEN DONG COLLEGE A minor thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By DAO THI THU VAN Supervised by Tran Dang Khanh Linh, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, JANUALRY 2023 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby state that the minor thesis entitled: “An investigation into the reading strategies used by non-English major students at Vien Dong College” and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the result of my own my research. This minor thesis has not been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions. Candidate’s signature Date: December 26th, 2022 ĐÀO THỊ THU VÂN II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr.
Tran Dang Khanh Linh for her academic supervision and personal support. She has monitored my progress and offered advice and encouragement throughout. Without her critical comments and valuable suggestions, this study could not have been completed. I also would like to thank Dr.
Tran Thi Thanh Dieu who guided and supported me during the first stage. I would like to thank all lecturers of Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature at University of Social Sciences & Humanity, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City for their meaningful and interesting lessons. My sincere thanks go to third-year non-English major students at Vien Dong College who have enthusiastically participated in my study. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks are due to my family, my husband and my daughter who have always encouraged and supported me.
Ho Chi Minh City, December 2022 III TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. iii TABLE OF CONTENT. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES.
vii LIST OF FIGURES. ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .1 Background to the study .2 Research aims and questions .3 Significance of the study .4 Organization of the thesis. 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .2 Types of reading .1 Reading strategies in relation to language learning strategies .2 Conceptualisations of reading strategies .3 Classification of reading strategies .3 Previous studies on reading strategies .1 Reading strategy use in general .2 Reading strategy use and proficiency .3 The context of the study .3 Reading comprehension tests .6 Data analysis and statistical procedures. 26 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS .1 Analysis of questionnaire .1 Students’ use of reading strategies .1 Overall reading strategies .2 Individual reading strategies.2 Differences between higher-performing and lower-performing students in reading strategy use.2 Analysis of interview.1 Students’ awareness of the importance of reading strategies .2 The strategies often employed by the students .3 Teacher’s strategy instructions .1 What strategies do non-English major students frequently use when reading English texts? .2 Do higher-performing students differ from lower-performing students in terms of the reading strategies they use?.
46 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .3 Limitations of the study .4 Recommendations for further study. XXXI V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT: English language teaching ESL: English as a second language EFL: English as a foreign language PET: Preliminary English Test SORS: The Survey of Reading Strategies CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference VI LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Summary of participants’ characteristics Table 2 Items modified to the adapted SORS Table 3 Frequency of strategy use and corresponding scores Table 4 Frequency distribution of three reading strategy groups Table 5 Descriptive statistics of twenty-nine sub-strategies of reading strategies Table 6 Difference between higher- and lower-performing groups of students in terms of frequency distribution of three reading strategy groups Table 7 Difference between two groups in terms of twenty-nine sub-strategies of reading strategies Table 8 Difference between two groups of students in terms of high strategy usage Table 9 Difference between two groups of students in terms of medium strategy usage Table 10 Difference between two groups of students in terms of low strategy usage VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The definition of reading by Anderson (2003) Figure 2. The conceptual framework of the study Figure 3.
Participants’ use of overall reading strategies Figure 4. Higher-performing versus lower-performing participants’ use of overall reading strategies VIII ABSTRACT This study is an investigation into reading strategies used by non-English major students at Vien Dong College when they read English texts in class. It aimed to find out what reading strategies non-English major students frequently applied into their reading process, and identify the differences between higher-performing and lower-performing students in their use of reading strategies. A combined qualitative and quantitative methodological approach was used as a research design of the study.
To collect data, a survey questionnaire were delivered to 51 non-English major students at Vien Dong College. After the three reading comprehension tests, 12 students from two groups, higher- and lower-performing students were invited to take part in the interview for further information about their use of reading strategies. The findings from the study showed that overall reading strategies were used at a medium frequency by the participants. Problem- solving reading strategies were the most frequently used strategies and global reading strategies were the least frequently used strategies by students.
In addition, the findings revealed that higher-performing students used reading strategies more frequently than lower-performing students. As a result of these investigations, some implications were made with the hope that they might be a useful reference for English teachers and syllabus designers at Vien Dong College in helping their students improve reading skill. Also, some suggestions were identified for future research. IX CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter first describes a background in which the study was conducted.
It also presents the purpose of the study and the research questions. Finally, the significance and organization of the study are discussed.1 Background to the study English plays a significant role in the working environment nowadays, especially as it increases chances of getting a good job for graduates. Therefore, in all colleges and universities in Viet Nam, English is considered as a prerequisite compulsory condition for non-English major students to be able to graduate from their colleges and universities. In most Vietnamese colleges, an integrative approach to English language teaching (ELT) is adopted.
That is students are given the chance to practice all four English macro skills (i. Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing). The curriculum for English varies from college to college, but reading skill is definitely an integral (and usually highlighted) part in the syllabus of every tertiary institution. This is because reading is widely believed to be beneficial for building a wide range of vocabulary, language expressions and structures which are definitely necessary in learning a new language (Alvermann & Earle, 2003; Zoghi, Mustapha, Rizan & Maasum, 2010).
Reading skill has also been found to widen learners’ knowledge of the work-related world and leads to a lifelong learning (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain, 2000). Nevertheless, a large body of literature has also reported the multiple challenges faced students when reading in English such as lack of vocabulary, language structure or knowledge of the topic. A study conducted by Ho (2012) on reading comprehension problems encountered by first-year students reported that Vietnamese students do encounter several degrees of difficulties in reading comprehension. For them, reading comprehension is not interesting, requiring too much effort and concentration over a long span of time, especially when they 1 encounter texts on unfamiliar topics or genres.
This can lead to students losing their motivation in improving this skill, which later becomes an obstacle for teachers in teaching English reading in their classes. In such situation, teaching reading strategies is believed to be useful in motivating students to read and facilitating reading comprehension. At Vien Dong College, in terms of assessment and graduation requirements, students are required to possess an international English certificate that is equivalent to the B1 level of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) such as an IELTS certificate of overall band 4 to 5; otherwise, they have to pass an institutional exam equivalent to the Preliminary English Test (PET). Most students choose to take the later test, which comprises 5 parts of reading, and requires the takers to finish them in a limited amount of time.
However, after teaching students at Vien Dong College for a few years, the researcher has realized that reading is always regarded as the most challenging skill for students. They can easily get bored and get lost of a reading passage when encountering difficulties in reading. Hence, mastering reading strategies is of great importance for students to succeed in the reading test of the program outcome standard. What is more, learners with different levels of proficiency tend to apply various strategies in order to tackle difficulties when reading (Green & Oxford, 1995).
Therefore, the researcher intended to explore the use of reading strategies adopted by non-English major students in a new context, Vien Dong College. Furthermore, the researcher desired to find out whether there was discrepancy in the reading strategy usage among higher- and lower- performing students. Based on the findings collected, the researcher made some suggestions for teachers as well as students to help students improve their reading ability. For all the reasons mentioned above, the researcher decided to choose the thesis entitled “An investigation into the reading strategies used by non-English major students at Vien Dong College” to work on.2 Research aims and questions The primary aim of the present study is to investigate frequency level of reading strategies when college students read materials in class.
Also, it is to determine if there were any differences between the two groups of high-and low-performing students in employing reading strategies. Based on the aims of the study, the following questions were addressed: 1) What strategies do non-English major students frequently use when reading English texts? 2) Do higher-performing and lower-performing students differ regarding the reading strategies they use? 1.3 Significance of the study Even though the present study was sought to investigate the reading strategies by non-English major students at one college, namely Vien Dong College, once successfully completed, the following goals are expected to be achieved: Theoretically, it is hoped that this research will enhance understanding of students’ approaches to reading strategies of not only the students involved in the study but also of those in similar learning contexts, for example, of non-English majors in similar Vietnamese universities. Also, this study is hoped to contribute to this growing area of research by providing valuable and reliable findings related to EFL students in Viet Nam. Additionally, the results of this study can be served as reference for further studies in related area.
Practically, the study’s results and solutions will be of great value for English teachers as well as curriculum designers in general and students at Vien Dong College in particular. To be more specific, it provides all stakeholders with helpful and specific information related to students’ reading strategy use. Based on the findings of the current study, teachers can adapt their current situation of teaching English reading so that they can help improve their students’ reading performance. Finally, the study suggests some practical ideas regarding what teachers can do to 3 improve their reading strategies instructions in class, and what action curriculum designers should take to increase students and teachers’ awareness of the importance of reading strategies.4 Organization of the thesis The thesis consists of five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussions, Conclusions and Implications.
The first chapter provides an overview of the teaching of reading skills in ELT and the background of the study, followed by the research aims, questions, design, and the significance of the study. The second chapter reviews some basic concepts related to the aspect of the study subject in the same area. It also provides conceptual framework for choosing the research design and tools.