VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM ĐỨC LONG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF TOEIC READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS AT EQUEST ACADEMY (NGHIÊN CỨU THĂM DÒ VỀ VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC PHẦN ĐỌC HIỂU TOEIC TẠI EQUEST ACADEMY) M. MINOR THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HA NOI-2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM ĐỨC LONG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF TOEIC READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS AT EQUEST ACADEMY (NGHIÊN CỨU THĂM DÒ VỀ VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC PHẦN ĐỌC HIỂU TOEIC TẠI EQUEST ACADEMY) M. MINOR THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Quỳnh, Ph.D HA NOI-2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “an exploratory study on the teaching and learning of TOEIC Reading Comprehension skills at EQuest Academy” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions.
I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study. Hanoi, 2013 Pham Duc Long i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the time of finishing this study, I owe deep indebtedness to many people for their generous supports and invaluable contributions. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh, Ph. for her enthusiastic support, helpful guidance and constant encouragement which are the guiding stars in leading me through great hindrances and inspiring me to conduct the study successfully.
I am indebted to Assoc. Le Hung Tien & Dr. Pham Thi Thanh Thuy for their valuable and interesting course in Research Methodology and Le Van Canh, Ph. for his precious lecture in Reading skills in TESOL Methodology course which has helped me build up data of literature review.
My deep thanks are also extended to all staff, lecturers and members at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their work and services. Words of thanks are sent to my friends of group 20, especially my K20B classmates for their advice and useful documents. My study would probably not have been completed without the active participation of my colleagues and their students at EQuest Academy in data collection process using survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Finally, my special appreciations go to my parents and my younger brother, Pham Duc Tuan, who have always given me their head over heels in love, intensive care and positive encouragement.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study was conducted to find out (1) what problems EQuest Academy (EQ) teachers and EQ students had in the teaching and learning to prepare for TOEIC reading comprehension skills (part 7). Furthermore, (2) the teachers and students‟ perspectives s on the strategies which they had employed were expected to be discovered. In order to obtain the intended goal, 90 students of TOEIC class and 15 teachers in charge of TOEIC course undertook the data collection method of questionnaires and interviews. The findings figured out that length of the reading texts and their unfamiliar topics caused the teachers more trouble compared with the students whereas unknown words and complex structures hindered the students more than the teachers.
The results from the students were remarkably consistent with Dao (2007) at Le Hong Phong high school. More strikingly, vocabulary was perceived as the biggest hindrance by both EQ teachers and students in reading comprehension as found in Yorio (1971) and Vu (2010)‟s paper. The other top problems consisted of the lack of skills relating to guessing new words in the contexts and the students‟ infrequent participation in the in-class reading lessons. Regarding their strategies, surprisingly, the large number of TOEIC learners did not sound well-prepared before lessons in the class in term of doing homework or asking the teachers for the outside classroom supplementary materials.
Besides, the TOEIC trainers put much more emphasis on interactive approach than the TOEIC learners. Based on the findings, several pedagogical suggestions for further exploitation were offered for both the teachers and the students in EQuest Academy to improve the current situation of the teaching and learning of TOEIC reading comprehension. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. III TABLE OF CONTENTS .IV LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS.
VIII PART I: INTRODUCTION. The statement of the problem and the rationale for the study. Research aims and research questions. Scope of study.
Method of study. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of reading.
The teaching and the learning of reading. TOEIC definition, origin, benefit and topic. TOEIC reading background. Some factors affecting the teaching and learning of TOEIC reading comprehension skills.
TOEIC reading comprehension strategies. 13 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. 17 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Perceptions about difficult reading text.
Areas of difficulties. The students‟ performance in class. Difficulties with the teachers‟ lecture. Types of reading texts often exploited.
Strategies before TOEIC reading comprehension lessons. Priority of reading passages. Teacher‟s advice to deal with reading text. Learners‟ strategies to deal with reading text.
38 PART III: CONCLUSION. Major findings of the research. Pedagogical suggestions for a more effective exploitation of reading comprehension in Equest Academy. Limitations of the research.
Suggestions for further studies. 53 Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for students v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. 53 Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for teachers (Vietnamese and English version). 57 Appendix 3: Plan for semi-structured interview questions.
61 Appendix 4: The flyer “Khóa luyện thi TOEIC”. 62 Appendix 5: Sample of TOEIC reading session parts. 63 Appendix 6: Reading strategies from Longman preparation series for the TOEIC test: Intermediate course. 66 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: TOEIC topics.
8 Table 2: TOEIC reading comprehension structure. 10 Table 3: Teachers‟ difficulties with the students‟ performance in class. 25 Table 4: Students‟ difficulties with the lecturers‟ lecture. 27 Table 5: Teachers and students‟ types of reading texts often exploited.
28 Table 6: Teachers‟ advice to deal with reading text. 36 Table 7: Learners‟ strategies to deal with reading text. 38 Figure 1: Teachers and students‟ perception about difficult reading. 19 Figure 2: Teachers and students‟ areas of difficulties.
20 Figure 3: Teachers and students‟ difficulties with reading skills. 23 Figure 4: Teachers and students‟ strategies before TOEIC reading comprehension lessons. 30 Figure 5: Teachers and students‟ exploitation of reading approach. 32 Figure 6: Teachers‟ and students‟ reponses related to priorty of reading passages.
34 Figure 7: Teachers‟ and students‟ reasons for reading single passages first. 34 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS & and EQ EQuest Academy p page T Teacher TOEIC Test of English for International Communication viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. The statement of the problem and the rationale for the study Recently, in Vietnam, learning foreign languages especially English has been taken more notice as a result of intense and extensive world economic integration which occurs in a “flat, hot and crowed” world as the present (Friedman, 2008). Noticeably, in such a competitive global economy, those who achieve an excellent level of using English are highly well-qualified for good jobs.
The TOEIC test, regarded as the worldwide standard for measuring English proficiency in the workplace, is a leading factor into “(1) screen[ing] employees for overseas business trips or postings; (2) urg[ing] workers to make greater efforts to learn English; and (3) asses[ing] the effectiveness of company-sponsored English training programs” (The Daily Yomiuri, 1997, p. 9 cited in Karn & Forster, 1998, p. Therefore, the success in the TOEIC test seems to be a mandatory requirement for the majority of successful job candidates. In the report “[l]earn about TOEIC test-taker worldwide” by Educational Testing System (2011, p.2), 30% TOEIC test-takers chose reading as the most frequently- used English language skill.
It can be inferred that TOEIC reading is popular in daily lives or working environment among TOEIC examinees. As the teacher of TOEIC course training in EQuest Academy (EQ), the researcher realizes that TOEIC reading comprehension (part 7) has been a heated topic discussed not only among the teachers in EQuest Academic Department but also TOEIC learners in EQuest Academy for a long period of time but there has not been any paper which collects and synthesizes the difficulties and strategies from the EQuest trainers and learners in order to make the learning and teaching of TOEIC reading comprehension better. Furthermore, except for the study by Nguyễn Thị Yến (2010) on “difficulties in teaching TOEIC speaking skills” and the research by Nhữ Hà Phương (2012) on “the common errors in the TOEIC listening test”, it appears that no thesis paper about the issues relating to TOEIC 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com reading comprehension in the post-graduate faculty‟s library may has been carried out. For the two main reasons stated above, it is very necessary and urgent to conduct a study with the title “[a]n exploratory study on the teaching and learning of TOEIC Reading Comprehension skills at EQuest Academy”.
Research aims and research questions Firstly, the study is conducted to find out what difficulties EQ students have had when practicing TOEIC Reading Comprehension to prepare for the TOEIC test and EQ teachers‟ problems in teaching TOEIC Reading Comprehension. Secondly, their (teachers and student‟s) viewpoints on the strategies which they have employed are expected to be detected. In specific, a detailed investigation is carried out to specify the strategies EQ students have used during the process of reading comprehension and the strategies EQ teachers have employed in the process of teaching. In brief, this study aims to address two following research questions: 1.
What are the difficulties encountered by teachers and students at EQuest Academy in the teaching and learning to prepare for the TOEIC reading comprehension test? 2. What are the strategies proposed by teachers and students at EQuest Academy towards the teaching and learning to prepare for the TOEIC reading comprehension test? 3. Scope of study Despite the fact that the topic is about “[a]n exploratory study on the teaching and learning of TOEIC Reading Comprehension skills at EQuest Academy”, the researcher only concentrates on a few aspects of the teaching and learning of TOEIC Reading Comprehension skills namely the difficulties in learning, the difficulties in teaching, the strategies in learning and the strategies in teaching. The samples of the study were, due to the time limitation and the small scale of research, restricted to 90 EQ students in 373 Hoang Quoc Viet, in 55 Nguyen 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Khang and on 2nd floor of HESCO Building, Km 10 Nguyen Trai.
At the same time, 15 EQ teachers were involved in the research. Method of study To address the two research questions presented above, a combined data collection process using survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview had been used. Survey questionnaire consisting of two sets of questionnaire (a set for students and the other is for teachers) was employed to collect information from 90 EQ students and 15 EQ teachers. They were offered to tick or circle the answer that best reflects their viewpoints.