MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HUYNH THI BE AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING THE ENGLISH READING SKILL TO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR POSTGRADUATES AT HUE COLLEGE OF PEDAGOGY TO REACH LEVEL B1 IN CEFR MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HUYNH THI BE AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING THE ENGLISH READING SKILL TO NON-ENGLISH MAJOR POSTGRADUATES AT HUE COLLEGE OF PEDAGOGY TO REACH LEVEL B1 IN CEFR MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI QUYNH HOA, Dr. HUE, 2013 BỘ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ HUỲNH THỊ BỀ NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DẠY KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC VIÊN CAO HỌC KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HUẾ NHẰM ĐẠT TRÌNH ĐỘ B1 THEO KHUNG THAM CHIẾU CHÂU ÂU LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH HOA HUẾ, 2013 Statement of Authorship I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Huynh Thi Be ABSTRACT i The research paper is an investigation into teaching the English reading skill to non-English major postgraduates at Hue College of Pedagogy to reach level B1 in CEFR. It is designed with the aim of exploring students and teachers‟ attitudes towards the English reading skill of level B1 in CEFR, how this skill is taught, what difficulties encountered by both students and teachers as their learning and teaching, and what should be done to better English reading skill for students to gain this skill at level B1 in CEFR. The data were collected through interviews and questionnaires with non- English major postgraduates at Hue College of Pedagogy and teachers at Hue College of Foreign Languages. The data for this research were collected and analyzed based on qualitative and quantitative approaches through questionnaires, interviews.
The research found that teachers at HUCFL have highly positive attitudes towards the necessity of applying CEFR in English teaching and learning. However, the findings also indicated that it is necessary to have a common standard to assess learners‟ ability. Especially, it was necessary for administrators of the Ministry of Education, colleges and centers to make conditions for applying CEFR in English teaching and learning effectively. ii Acknowledgement Above all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa for the invaluable knowledge and experience, the enthusiastic and helpful guidance, the responsible care as well as the sympathetic encouragements she has given to me at every stage of the development of this research paper. Sincerely speaking, without her, the research paper cannot be completed. I would like to show my deep gratitude to Assoc. Tran Van Phuoc who gave me early suggestions and enthusiastic support for the research.
I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh Trang, the teacher of Hue University of Foreign Languages, whose detailed comments on the first draft have helped me with the preparation of the second as well as supported me very much throughout my work on this dissertation. Also, my special thanks go to the teachers at Hue College of Foreign Languages and the students at Hue College of Pedagogy who generously and enthusiastically spent their time on my interviews and questionnaire to be conducted conveniently. Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I am deeply grateful to my beloved family, and my close friends who provided me with vital love, support and encouragement to help me overcome all the difficulties while I conducted this study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents iii Pages SUB COVER PAGE STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii ABSTRACT ACKOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS CONTENTS OF THESIS` REFERENCES APPENDICES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims and objectives of the study .3 Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Organization of the study.
5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. A review of previous studies related to the research. Definition of reading. Objectives in reading .3 The role of reading in foreign language acquisition.
Teaching reading skill. Approaches to teaching the reading skill. Principles for teaching the English reading skill. Level B1 in CEFR.
Definition of CEFR. Definition of CEFR B1 level. Standards of CEFR level B1 in reading skill. Common Reference Levels : global scale.
Common Reference Levels : self-assessment grid 2. Visual reception of reading. General characteristics of reading in level B1. Characteristics of the text.
Features of information tasks. Features of instructional tasks. Knowledge, strategies need to be taught to achieve reading benchmark at intermediate level (level B1). Benefits of CEFR B1 level.
23 CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND PROCEDURES. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures. Data analysis methods.
28 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Results from the questionnaires and interviews .Overview of students‟ attitudes towards learning reading skill at CEFR-B1 level. Teachers‟ attitudes towards applying CEFR on English teaching. The requirements of CEFR-B1 level in reading skill.
The integration of the reading skill and other language skills. The reality of teaching English reading skill. The current textbooks towards level B1. Teachers‟ evaluation of the reading parts in current textbooks.
Approaches to English reading teaching. Supporting tools used in reading. Difficulties teachers encountered when teaching reading skill. Suggestions for improving learning and teaching reading skill of CEFR-B1 level.
56 CHAPTER5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH. Summary of the key findings. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further research.
62 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX 2 BẢNG CÂU HỎI ĐIỀU TRA APPENDIX 3 QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX 4 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS APPENDIX 5 BẢNG CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi CEFR Common European Framework of Reference ELT English Language Teaching GE General English HCP Hue College of Pedagogy HUCFL Hue College of Foreign Languages MOET Ministry of Education and Training vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The division of six broad levels relevant to European language learners .2: Visual reception of reading .1: Students‟ attitudes towards learning CEFR-B1 level of reading .2: Requirements of CEFR- B1 level in reading skill .3: Students‟ responses to teachers‟ reference to CEFR requirements.4: Approaches to English reading teaching .5: Difficulties teachers encountered as teaching reading skill .6: The methods teachers help students gain reading skill Table 4.7: Students‟ suggestions for improving teaching and learning reading skill of CEFR-B1 level.8: Teachers‟ suggestions for improving teaching CEFR-B1 level of reading skill. 54 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Teachers‟ attitudes towards applying CEFR to English teaching .2: The reference to the requirements of CEFR .3: The integration of the reading skill and other language skills .4: Current textbooks towards level B1 .5: Teachers‟ evaluation of the reading parts in current textbooks .6: Supporting tools used in reading .7: Difficulties teachers encountered when teaching reading skill.50 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale In the globalization stage, English has become an effective tool in communication regardless of any fields, any jobs or any majors. English is used in politics, business dealings, and everyday life. It is undeniable that English plays a vital role in the country‟s drive to modernize because it is used widely in the world.
It is clear that the English language has become more dominant around the world. In addition, English nowadays is considered as the golden key that helps us promote our positions and relationships with many other countries, it obviously becomes a global language. However, in reality, English teaching and learning has been a concern of all language educators and teachers up to now. “Despite the vision of English as an important language for communication, many wonder if English is really used for communication outside the classroom, or if it is just taught like any other academic subject” (Ton, Pham, 2010).
In Vietnam, although English is a compulsory subject at any schools and colleges, the quality of English language learning is not really satisfactory. “English language learning in Vietnam has often been criticized for its „not yet satisfactory‟ quality, which is ascribed to a range of „traditional‟ factors, such as large class size and inefficient and inadequate teacher training” (Le, Le, 2013, pp. For this reason, the government has made efforts to meet the demand of teaching and learning of English and especially has built a long term plan for English learning in recent years. That is approving the National Plan for teaching and learning foreign languages in the National Formal Education System in the period 2008-2020 issued by the Prime Minister on September 30th 2008 (Ministry of Education and Training [MOET]).
Hence, applying the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) in enhancing the effects on training English is one of projects carried out by MOET in Vietnam. In the current time, CEFR is becoming more prominent in how institutions consider language ability requirements. Students, therefore, with Bachelor‟s Degrees who want to continue to get Master or PhD 1 Degrees in Vietnam or abroad have to have a great command of English with a view to reading specialized materials written in English or communicating fluently with native speakers in a working environment with foreign investment. Undoubtedly, in line with appearance of CEFR, the need for learning English is always given priority in any schools or any colleges.
According to the Circular No. 10/2011/TT- MOET and 05/2010/TT-MOET, postgraduate students have to reach CEFR-B1 level for their output standard. Due to CEFR, we can test and assess students‟ learning ability. In the process of acquiring English, students must learn not only language items but also four language skills among which reading skill plays a vital role because it helps students get more information.
Evidently, through reading, students can improve their vocabulary in different fields such as daily life, entertainment, science, education, etc.147) stated “reading is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one's knowledge of the language”. In fact, reading is the most important academic language skill for English language learners in today‟s world (Komiyama, 2009); it also "supports the development of overall proficiency and provides access to crucial information at work and in school" (Komiyama, 2009, p.32) The reading skill has been chosen by many researchers so far in Hue College of Foreign Languages (HUCFL). Most of them focus on how to improve students' reading skill, difficulties in reading skill faced by students, or teaching reading skill for students. However, few of them study how to teach the English reading skill to non-English major postgraduates to prepare as well as help them to gain the reading skill at level B1 in CEFR.
Indeed, teaching English reading skill in general and reading skill at level B1 in CEFR in particular for non- English major postgraduates has showed that there still remain a lot of considerable issues. It is unquestionable that EFL teachers really has many difficulties in teaching the reading skill at level B1 in CEFR to these students because this is a new experience. Undoubtedly, there is a wide range of questions addressed about the qualifications as well as capabilities which EFL teachers are expected to perform. Consequently, this 2 research attempts to show us the fact about teaching and learning B1 level English reading skill so that we can draw some possible solutions and implications as a reference source for teaching English reading skill at level B1in CEFR.