VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------------ NINH THỊ LAN ANH AN INVESTIGATION ON READING STRATEGY USE AMONG NON ENGLISH SPECIALIZED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chiến lược đọc hiểu của học sinh không chuyên Anh ở trường THPT Chuyên. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOI- 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------------ NINH THỊ LAN ANH AN INVESTIGATION ON READING STRATEGY USE AMONG NON ENGLISH SPECIALIZED STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chiến lược đọc hiểu của học sinh không chuyên Anh ở trường THPT Chuyên. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M.A HANOI- 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATION HSGS High School for Gifted Students SORS Survey of Reading Strategy LIST OF TABLES Figure 1 A Heuristic for Thinking About Reading Comprehension Figure 2 Sources of reading comprehension Figure 3 Levels of the Barrett Taxonomy Figure 4 Major Aspects of Levels of Comprehension Figure 5 Distribution of students‘ proficiency levels Table 1 Use of Each Strategy Category Table 2 Use of Global Strategies Table 3 Use of Support Strategies Table 4 Use of Problem Solving strategies Table 5 Five Most Frequently Used Strategies Table 6 Five Least Frequently Used Strategies Table 7 Reading strategy use between more and less proficient students Table 8 Five most frequently used strategies by more and less proficient students Table 9 Five Least Frequently Used Strategies by high and low proficient students iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration ……………………………………………………………………….iii Lists of tables ………………………………………………………………………iv Table of contents ……………………………………………………………………v PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study………………………………………………………….
Aims of the study…………………………………………………………………2 3. The research questions…………………………………………………………. Significance of the study…………………………………………………………3 5. Scope of the study……………………………………………………………….
Method of the study………………………………………………………………3 7. Design of the study……………………………………………………………….3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of reading……………………………………………………………5 1. Purposes of reading…………………………………………………………….
Bottom-up model…………………………………………………. Top-down model……………………………………………………. Factors involved in reading comprehension…………………………12 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Levels of comprehension…………………………………………….
Definition and characteristics……………………………………. Categories of reading strategies…………………………………. Instruments data collection……………………………………………………24 2. Data collection procedures……………………………………………………25 2.………26 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.
Profile of reading strategies by non English major students at High School for Gifted Students…………………………………………………………………. A comparison about the reading strategies employed by high proficiency and low proficiency students………………………………………………………….35 PART III: CONCLUSION 1. Limitations and recommendations for further study……………………………43 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………44 APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………………I vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study In the context of global integration, English plays an important role in most fields in both personal and professional life.
The need for English as an international language has put considerable pressure on the education system of many countries. This is the same situation in Vietnam where learning English is not only the interest but also the practical demand for many people, especially for those who always have an intention of studying and working abroad. Therefore, English is now taught as a compulsory subject to students at high schools in our country. To have a good command of English, students are required to master four closely related language skills, namely listening, speaking, writing, and reading.
Among four skills, reading is considered to be the most important because it does not only provide students with knowledge but also help develop other language skills. Reading is an important way of expanding the students‘ receptive knowledge of the language and in terms of classroom activities, it is also an effective way of stimulating students to talk and write. Anderson (2003) states that reading is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success in learning and strengthened reading skills facilitates greater progress in other areas of language learning. That is to say, teaching and learning reading effectively is a central issue in a language classroom.
My teaching experiences at High School for Gifted Students have pointed out some problems students encounter in reading lessons. Firstly, while students are quite proficient in other skills, their reading comprehension and reading achievement have not met the demand of the course. Students have had numerous difficulties in understanding school – related academic materials. Secondly, when encountering a long and complicated reading passage, students are confused about the way to achieve understanding and gain information from the text.
In other words, they may 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com have some problems with reading strategies. Finally, despite having taken English as a compulsory subject in the entrance examination into the school, grade 10 students in different classes in our school are at different proficiency levels in general and at reading comprehension levels in particular. Padron and Waxman (1988) indicates that the gap in reading comprehension levels between more proficient and less proficient students is in close relationship with the differences in reading strategies used. As a teacher of English, I myself think that it is essential to conduct a research on reading strategies used among students to find out the reading strategies used by students as well as see whether high and low proficiency group differ in their strategy use.
As a result, I decide to choose the thesis title: “An investigation on reading strategy use among non English specialized students at High School for Gifted Students”. Aims of the study The aim of the study is to investigate reading strategies used by non English major students at High School for Gifted students. In particular, the study uncovers the overall use of reading strategies among students when reading academic materials explores the frequency of reading strategies that students use while dealing with academic reading text. finds out the differences (if possible) in reading strategies used by high proficiency and low proficiency students 3.
The research questions 1. What reading strategies are used by non English specialized students at Grade 10 at High School for Gifted Students? 2. Are there any differences between the reading strategies employed by high proficiency and low proficiency students at grade 10 at High School for Gifted Students? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Significance of the study This study is significant for some reasons.
Firstly, for teachers who are teaching reading to high school students, it revealed students‘ general awareness and perceived use of reading strategies while reading academic materials. Secondly, the study uncovered reading strategies used most commonly and least commonly by the students. Finally, it may point out the differences in reading strategies between high and low proficiency students. Thus, teachers can identify effective reading strategies for their students and have proper ways to promote more reading strategy instruction in class.
Scope of the study Reading strategies are interrelated with many other factors including reading comprehension, students‘ proficiency level, text types, etc. In the scope of this study, reading strategies are only investigated in relationship with student‘s proficiency levels. In addition, the sample of the study was drawn from non English major students at Grade 10 at High School for Gifted Students. Method of the study To achieve the aims mentioned above, data were collected through the survey questionnaire and students‘ profile of proficiency levels.
The quantitative research method is used with the aim of obtaining information on reading strategies used among students in general and between more proficient students and less proficient students in particular. Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part I: Introduction: presents the rationale for the study, the aims, the method, significance, the scope of the study as well as the design of the thesis. Part II: Development: consists of three chapters Chapter 1 discusses the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including the reading, reading process, reading comprehension, reading strategies and reviews research conducted in the fields of reading strategies Chapter 2 presents the research methodology of the study, which focuses on the participants, the instrument, data collection procedure, and data analysis.
Chapter 3 presents the results of the study, analyzes the data and solves the requirements in the research questions. Part III: Conclusion: offers major findings, pedagogical implications and provides limitations for the study, also some suggestions for future study. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter briefly discusses the theoretical background related to the study. Review of aspects of reading in foreign language relevant to the study will be included in: reading comprehension, reading process, reading comprehension level, and reading strategies.
In addition, a brief overview on related studies will be presented. Definition of reading Reading is a very personal activity which can be omnipresent in various forms. By reading a lot, people can grasp what is happening all over the world and keep pace with the humankind civilization. At the times of explosion of information, reading plays a greater role in our lives.
However, the ability to read is such a natural part of human being that people find it impossible to give an exact definition of reading. Different scholars define it in different ways. According to Smith (1985: 102), ―reading is understanding the author’s thought‖. It means that the readers ―read the author’s mind not the author’s words.” If the readers only understand the words in isolation in the text without understanding the author‘s mind, their reading is useless.
Rumelhart (1997) indicates that reading involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between reader and text. It can be seen that the reader and the text are two essential components of reading process; it is, however, the interaction between them that composes actual reading. Sharing the same idea with Rumelhart, Silberstein (1994: 12) states that ―reading is a complex cognitive process in which reader and text interact to (re)create meaningful discourse‖. From these definitions, it is apparent that reading is a process in which the reader interacts with the text to 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com gain some kind of meaning.
This meaning mainly depends on the reader who is the cognitive subject of the text. Goodman (1971: 135) claims that reading is ―psycholinguistics process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display‖. Goodman thought that this act of reconstruction is viewed as ―a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.‖ William (1986: 3) shares the same view on reading as Goodman, especially on the act of reconstruction. He argues that ―written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them.
The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning.‖ From a different perspective, Harmer (1989: 153) views reading as a mechanical process that ―eyes receive the message and the brain has to work out the significance of the message‖. It means that he focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the brain. In short, each author defines reading from different perspectives. However, most of the definitions reveal some common features, that is, the close relationship between reading and understanding; and reading process which involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the reader and the text.
Purposes of reading Reading purposes refer to readers‘ aims and objectives in reading texts. That is to say, different readers have different purposes of reading. Therefore, reading purposes are one of the important factors which can lead us to be successful readers. Ruiqi (2007) claims that reader‘s reading purpose is an integral part of successful reading.