VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ THÚY A STUDY ON GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS LEARNING TO READ ENGLISH AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC HỌC ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH Ở MỘT TRƯỜNG THPT Ở MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English 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 FALCUTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ THÚY A STUDY ON GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS LEARNING TO READ ENGLISH AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC HỌC ĐỌC HIỂU TIẾNG ANH Ở MỘT TRƯỜNG THPTỞ MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Hạnh, PhD HANOI – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that all the material in this study which is not my own work has been identified and acknowledged, and that no material is included for which a degree has already been conferred upon me. Hanoi, September, 2014 Đỗ Thị Thúy i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Hoàng Thị Hạnh, for giving effective instructions and invaluable advice during the preparation and completion of this graduation paper.
I also wish to acknowledge my debt to all the teachers of Faculty of Postgraduate Studies at Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies, whose lectures and ideas have inspired my thesis. My appreciation also goes to the teachers and students at Hai Hau A high school for their valuable assistance in completing my survey questionnaire and interview, and providing me with a lot of useful information. Finally, I would like to send my great thanks to my family, my friends who have directly or indirectly helped me with their encouragement and advice. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Pleasure reading has greatly affected reading achievements.
There have been some studies investigating students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English such as Camiciottoli (2001); Ro and Chen (2014). However, few are found investigating high school students in the context of Vietnam. Therefore, this study will focus on high school students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English. A set of survey questionnaire and interview are used to explore the 10th students‟ pleasure reading frequency and their attitudes towards reading in English for pleasure at a high school in the North of Vietnam.
Besides, factors that may have influenced pleasure reading and students‟ attitudes are also examined. The findings show that most students do not have good reading habits, and “lack of time” is the reason limiting their reading. The study also finds out that reading frequency and students‟ attitude have strongly positive relationship. In addition, “past access of English books” and “L1 reading habits” are correlated with pleasure reading frequency and students‟ attitude towards reading in English.
The recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further studies are mentioned carefully in this study. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF TABLES.
vii LIST OF GRAPHS. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Scope of the study. Aims of the study.
Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Structure of the report. 3 PART B: THE BODY.
5 Chapter 1: Literature review .1 Extensive reading and pleasure reading .2 Pleasure reading habits. 10 Chapter 2: The study. 16 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 3: Data analysis and findings .1 Coding and Analysis. 19 Part C: Discussion/Conclusion.
Summary of major findings. Limitations and recommendations for further studies. IX v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L1: First Language L2: Second Language ER: Extensive Reading ESL: English as Second Language EFL: English as Foreign Language CEP: Community English Program JFL: Japanese as Foreign Language vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OFTABLES Table 3.1: Pleasure Reading Frequency in English Table 3.2: Types of Reading Materials Table 3.3: Number of Books Read in the last 12 Months Table 3.4:Reasons Limiting Pleasure Reading Frequency in English Table 3.5: Ranking of Reasons Limiting Pleasure Reading Frequency in English Table 3.6:Reasons for Reading in English for Pleasure Table 3.7: Ranking Reasons for Reading in English for Pleasure Table 3.8: Reasons Why Reading in English for Pleasure Important Table 3.9: Gender and Frequency of English Pleasure Reading Table 3.10: Gender and Attitude towards Pleasure Reading in English Table 3.11: Factors that may have influenced on Pleasure Reading Habit and their Attitudes (Pearson correlations (r)) vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF GRAPHS Figure 3.1: Pleasure reading habit and preference scores Figure 3.2: Reading attitudes scores Figure 3.3: Reading habits and attitudes relationship viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Reading is one of the essential skills in learning and teaching English as a second language (ESL) or a foreign language (EFL).
1) has found out that for ESL and EFL students, reading may be the most important of the four skills to master: “for many students, reading is by far the most importance of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language”. However, it seems that many learners are not aware of this importance. Consequently, their reading achievement is not high. In fact, there are many factors affecting reading results, two of them are pleasure reading habits and attitudes towards reading.
The study by Robb and Kano (2013) show that 84% of students with pleasure reading get higher score on reading tests than those without. Another study by Beglar, Hunt and Kite (2012) find that the large amount of pleasure reading could lead to significant reading rate gains. Thus, it is evident that pleasure reading greatly affects reading achievement. In addition, many studies have also presented that attitudes towards reading have a great influence on reading achievements (Kamhi-Stein, 2003; Yamashita, 2004, 2007, 2013).
According to Yamashita (2013) reading attitude may foster intrinsic motivation (p. 258), and attitude is one of the factors that influence the decision to read (p. Thus, it is difficult to deny the important role of pleasure reading and attitudes towards reading in general, and reading in English in particular. There have been some studies investigating students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English such as Camiciottoli (2001); Ro and Chen (2014).
However, their subjects are university students, and few are found investigating high school students especially in the context of Vietnam. Therefore, this study focuses on high school students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English. The findings are compared with current 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. It is hoped that this study reveals issues concerning students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English in order that the researcher can give more help for her students to encourage them to read more or develop their reading habits.
Besides, some recommendations are given to other teachers to help students to facilitate their reading. Scope of the study Reading is a broad issue, so it is difficult to entirely discuss the matter in a minor thesis. Therefore, this study only focuses on students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English, and factors affecting their reading frequency and attitudes. The subject under this research is 100 grade 10 students from a high school in the North of Vietnam.
Aims of the study In general, this study is designed to find out high school students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English. To be specific, the research aims at: - Investigating students‟ pleasure reading habits. - Exploring students‟ attitudes towards reading in English - Finding out factors affecting students‟ pleasure reading frequency and attitudes. Research questions The study aims to answer the following questions: 1.
How frequently do grade 10thstudents read in English for pleasure? 2. What are the students‟ attitudes toward reading in English? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Which factors may have influenced the students‟ pleasure reading frequency and attitude? 5. Methods of the study In order to find out the answers to three above questions, a survey research is conducted.
A questionnaire and a semi-structured interview are used to collect data. The questionnaire, which is adapted from Ro and Chen‟s one (2014), consists of 17 questions. The semi-structured interview is used in order to deeper understand information from questionnaire. Significance of the study This study focuses on finding out students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English.
Additionally, factors affecting students‟ reading frequency and attitudes towards reading in English will also be revealed. Moreover, the findings of this research are thought to be useful for teachers to help students during reading process. Specifically, the results on students‟ pleasure reading habits and their attitudes towards reading in English in this study will be used to help the researcher improve her teaching in the future. Besides, she is able to encourage her students to read more and enjoy reading.
Structure of the report The paper is divided into three parts as follows: Part A: Introduction - provides readers with rationale, aims, research questions, significance, scope, methods and structure of the study. Part B: Body- consists of three chapters. Chapter 1: Literature review - presents the theoretical background for the research and gives definitions of some key words in the study. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 2: The study - describe the methodology of the study.
This includes the setting, the participants, the research instruments and procedures used in this study. Chapter 3: Data analysis and findings - describes and analyse the finding from the students‟ questionnaire and interview. Part C: Discussion/ Conclusion – gives a summary of the whole study, its pedagogical implication for teachers, limitations of the study and some recommendations for further research. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: THE BODY Chapter 1: Literature review This chapter provides readers with theoretical background of the study and critical review of previous related studies.1 Extensive reading and pleasure reading 1.1 Reading Reading is an important instrument providing human beings with a lot of information which helps to build their understanding of life or worldview.
Clark and Rumbold (2006, p. 5) state that in addition to personal and mental developments, reading is critical for ensuring one‟s access to social, economic and civic life. Obviously, each person reads for his or her own purposes. A study by the Nestle Family Monitor (2003) shows that 55% of young people read to understand different people/cultures, 40% to learn more about new subjects, and 33% to try new hobbies.
When asked how they would describe reading, half of the respondents describe it as relaxing while a third finds it funny. Two in five also consider reading as educational, while a quarter believed it to be informative for learning (Nestle Family Monitor, 2003 as cited in Clark & Rumbold, 2009, p.2 Extensive reading Based on purposes of reading, Nuttall (2005, p. 38) classifies reading into two main types: intensive and extensive reading (ER). There have been many studies reporting positive effects of ER on a range of EFL and ESL contexts.