VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------ MAI THỊ HIỀN A STUDY ON TEACHING READING SKILLS TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY FOR NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT USING THE TEXTBOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE –ELEMENTARY” (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TÀI NGUYÊN VÀ MÔI TRƯỜNG HÀ NỘI SỬ DỤNG GIÁO TRÌNH NEW CUTTING EDGE - ELEMENTARY) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------ MAI THỊ HIỀN A STUDY ON TEACHING READING SKILLS TO THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY FOR NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT USING THE TEXTBOOK “NEW CUTTING EDGE –ELEMENTARY” (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT KHÔNG CHUYÊN ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC TÀI NGUYÊN VÀ MÔI TRƯỜNG HÀ NỘI SỬ DỤNG GIÁO TRÌNH NEW CUTTING EDGE - ELEMENTARY) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr.Tran Thi Thu Hien Hanoi, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATIONS I, Mai Thi Hien, hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled “A study on teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students at Hanoi University for Natural Resources and Environment using the textbook “New Cutting Edge –Elementary” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post Graduate Studies - University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Mai Thi Hien i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to show my deep gratitude to all the lecturers at University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi for the invaluable lectures, which laid the foundation for my thesis.
I would like to register my deep gratitude to Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hien for her ever-enthusiasm, responsibility and devotion. Thanks to her critical feedbacks, invaluable suggestions and constant encouragement the study has been timely completed. My special thanks also go to my colleagues who are also teachers of Hanoi University for Natural Resources and Environment.
I wish to express my thankfulness to all the first year students at the University for their cooperation and support for my data collection, providing me with insights into reading skills learning, reading texts and their teachers‟ performance. Last but not least, I would like to delicate to my family and friends for their constant assistance and encouragement during the time I carry out the research. Without them I believe the study could not be completed. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate factors affecting teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students at Hanoi University for Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) using the textbook “New Cutting Edge – Elementary”.
The main purposes of the study are (i) to understand more fully the nature of reading and reaffirm the importance teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students at HUNRE then (ii) to investigate the real situation of the practical teaching reading skills at the University and find out the positive factors and problems that affect the quality of teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students of the University, and (iii) to provide some suggested techniques to help the teachers and students of the university teach reading skills in the “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” course book more effectively The study shows that teaching English reading skills at HUNRE appears to possess a combination of both positive and negative statistics. Positive discovery is the fact that most of the teachers and students at HUNRE are aware of the importance of reading skills: they expressed their positive attitudes to learning and teaching reading skills as well as developing reading skills. All of the students also have clear purpose in reading. Many of them read for different purposes such as pleasure, gaining information and background knowledge, improving language skills supplementing grammar, enriching vocabulary and improving pronunciation.
In contrast, the negative findings are related to the number of students in a classroom; the demotivating reading texts in the course “New Cutting Edge – Elementary”, technical aids, the lack of background knowledge; and the inappropriate, ineffective and out of date methods being used in teaching reading skills of the teachers at HUNRE. On the basis of the data collection and analysis, the author has provided some suggestions on training students to become efficient readers, improving teachers‟ teaching skills and developing reading materials. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
VII LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES. VIII PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Methods of the study.
Scope of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of reading skills.
Different kinds of reading texts:. Informational text features:. Principles for teaching reading skills to elementary learners. Selecting appropriate reading materials.
Focusing on vocabulary development skill. Providing both intensive and extensive reading instruction. Explicit teaching reading sub-skills. Reading sub-skills.
Scanning and skimming skills. Intensive and extensive reading skills. Intensive reading skills. 17 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Extensive reading skills. Critical reading skills. 23 CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS. Overview on teaching reading skills at HUNRE.
Overview of HUNRE. Reading skills in New cutting Edge-Elementary. Reading proficiency scales of students at A2 level. The data collection and analysis.
Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Survey questionnaire for students. Survey questionnaire for teachers.
39 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS. Suggestions for teachers. Making students aware of the nature of reading process. Promoting students to be fully aware of their reading purpose.
Encouraging students to have extensive and reading habit. Recommendation for the course book adaptation. Suggestions for the university. Improving teachers‟ professional knowledge.
Improving teaching methodology. Developing reading materials. 56 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Limitations and recommendations for further studies:.
58 APPENDIX I: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. I APPENDIX II: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS .IV vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. CEFR : Common European Framework of Reference 2. ESL : English as a Second Language 3.
HUNRE : Hanoi University for Natural Resources and Environment 4. NFL 2020: National Foreign Language 2020 5. SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Definition of reading (Anderson). 5 Figure 2: The rhetorical triangle (Devine & Eskey).
7 Figure 3: Reading activities performed by skilled readers (Royer &Wise). 8 Figure 4: Informational Text Features (Calvert, R). 12 Figure 5: Reading text description in “New Cutting Edge – Elementary”. 30 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students‟ evaluation on the reading texts in the course book.
32 Table 2: Students‟ attitude toward reading English, purposes of their reading and their difficulties in reading. 34 Table 3: Students‟ responses to the teacher‟s teaching reading skills. The teachers‟ evaluation towards reading texts in New Cutting Edge- Elementary. 39 Table 5: Evaluation of students‟ ability and the importance, purposes of teaching reading skills.
40 Table 6: Teaching how to recognize reading texts to students. 41 Table 7: Teaching reading skills to students. 42 Table 8: The teachers‟ using supplementary materials. 43 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Understanding the importance of English, Vietnam Government has approved the Vietnam‟s National Foreign Language 2020 Project (NFL2020) (Vietnamese government‟s Decision 1400) to build national foreign language capacity. The overall objectives of Project is to comprehensively renew foreign language teaching and learning in the national education system, to implement new foreign language teaching and learning programs at different education levels and training levels in order to remarkably improve human resources' foreign language proficiency, especially in a number of prioritized domains, by 2015; by 2020, most young Vietnamese graduates of professional secondary schools, colleges and universities will have a good command of foreign language which enables them to independently and confidently communicate, study and work in a multilingual and multicultural environment of integration; to turn foreign languages into a strength of Vietnamese to serve national industrialization and modernization. English is now taught as a compulsory subject to all students at university in our country. All students at Hanoi University for Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) have tried their best to gain good knowledge of English.
To master English, they need to grasp all four skills that are closely related to one another: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among these skills, reading is important because it not only helps student develop other language skills, but also provides them knowledge on the target language. As we read, we go back to the time, pass across the oceans and barriers of language, religions and cultures. Through reading, we can escape into the mind of a philosopher, observe with a scientist, stay with a scholar, analyze with a critic and live through a novel or a play.
As graduates, reading skills can help them get information to the fullest, and that providing them with useful techniques will motivate them in reading more and more about the other subjects they have to deal with in the next studying years at universities. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com After two years of using the “New Cutting Edge - Elementary” to teach reading skills to the first year non-English major students at HUNRE, the author realizes that both the teachers and the students still have difficulties in finding effective ways of teaching and learning reading skills. That is the reason why the author chooses the title “A study on teaching reading skills to the first year non- English major students at HUNRE using the textbook New Cutting Edge – Elementary” for her thesis. Aims of the study For the above mentioned reasons the thesis aims at: -understanding the nature of reading and reaffirming the importance of teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students at HUNRE.
-investigating the real situation of the practical teaching reading skills at the University and finding out the positive factors and problems that affect the quality of teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students of the University. -suggesting possible techniques to help the teachers and students of the university teach and learn reading skills in the “New Cutting Edge – Elementary” course book more effectively. Research questions To reach the aims mentioned above, the two research questions below will be addressed: 1. How are reading skills in New Cutting Edge – Elementary taught to first year students at HUNRE? 2.
What should be done to improve the teaching and learning reading skills using New Cutting Edge – Elementary at HUNRE? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of the study In order to get the most exact information for the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed with the following instruments: -Survey questionnaires for first year and non-English-major students and for English teachers at HUNRE. -Informal interviews with teachers of English. Scope of the study The study focuses on teaching reading skills to the first year non-English major students at HUNRE using the textbook “New Cutting Edge - Elementary”.