VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -------- NGUYỄN VIỆT ANH AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF THE SELF-SELECTED READING ACTIVITIES ON HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH NON-MAJORS’ READING PROFICIENCY Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm về hiệu quả của các hoạt động đọc tự chọn đối với khả năng đọc của sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường Đại học Dân Lập Hải Phòng M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.11 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 -------- NGUYỄN VIỆT ANH AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF THE SELF-SELECTED READING ACTIVITIES ON HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY’S ENGLISH NON-MAJORS’ READING PROFICIENCY Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm về hiệu quả của các hoạt động đọc tự chọn đối với khả năng đọc của sinh viên không chuyên Anh trường Đại học Dân Lập Hải Phòng M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.11 ̃ Thị Ngoc̣ Quyn Supervisor: Dr. Nguyên ̀ h HANOI, 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I declare that this thesis entitled: “An experimental study on the effect of the self-selected reading activities on Haiphong Private University’s English non- majors’ reading proficiency” is my original research work, and that all the resources that I have use or quoted have been acknowledged by means of complete reference.
Hanoi,2014 Signature: Nguyễn Việt Anh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On the completion of the study, I wish, first of all, to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyễn Thi ̣Ngo ̣c Quỳnh. Without her enthusiastic guidance and precious encouragement, the study could not be fulfilled. My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues in Haiphong Private University for their useful suggestions which have helped much in completing the study.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to my students, who helped me a lot during the process of the study Last but not least, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to every member in my family as well as our friends. Without their spiritual support, this study could not have come up in the present form. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT How to teach reading effectively is becoming a big matter in universities. In order to promote students‟ activeness as well as to enhance their reading proficiency, “an experimental study on the effect of the self-selected reading activities on Haiphong Private University‟s English non-majors‟ reading proficiency” was carried out.
Quasi-experimental design was the main research method employed in this study to find out the answer about students‟ progress after the implementation of the research. In addition, so as to get students‟ feedback on the effect of self-selected reading activities, a survey questionnaire is designed to search needed information. The study showed positive results with the progress of students in experimental group. Besides, students expressed their interest as well as satisfaction to self-selected reading activities through student questionnaire.
It can be said that the results collected in this study had great significance in applying self- selected reading activities to students at different levels. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION………………………………………………………………. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………….… iv LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………….… vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………… viii PART A. Aims of the study…………………………………………………………….
Scope of the study…………………………………………………………. Design of the study……………………………………………………. Definition of reading……………………………………………… 4 1. Intensive and extensive reading……………………………….
Phases in teaching reading…………………………………. Pre-reading activities…………………………………. While-reading activities………………………………. Post-reading activities…………………………………… 9 1.
Self-selected reading……………………………………………………… 10 1. What is self-selected reading? …………………………………… 10 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Benefits of self-selected reading…………………………………. What is group work? ………………………………………….
Why use groups? ………………………………………………. Criteria for assessing group work………………………………. Experimental research design……………………………………………. Why was quasi-experimental research adopted in the study? …………………………………………………………………… 18 2.
Group work for self-selected reading……………………………. Requirements for group work…………………………… 21 2. Self-selected reading assessment………………………. Pretest and posttest……………………………………………….
Statistical concepts in experimental research…………… 26 2. Variance and Standard Deviation (SD)…. 29 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Student questionnaire…………………………………………… 31 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………….
Comparison of the pretest scores between the experimental group and control group………………………………………. Comparison of the pretest and posttest scores in the experimental research…………………………………………… 33 3. Comparison of the posttest scores between the experimental group and control group…………………………. Students’ attitudes towards self-selected reading activities……….
Students‟ points of views on the items appeared in their classmates‟ presentation……………………………. Students‟ viewpoints on reading materials supplied by their classmates……………………………… 36 3. Students‟ ideas on reading tasks following reading materials……………………………………………. Students‟ opinions on their chance to contribute in self-selected reading activities…………………………… 38 3.
Students’ opinions on their self-selected reading activities……… 39 3. Suggestions for further studies…………………………………. I vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Topics for self-selected reading…………. 21 Table 2: Mode of the pretest and post test scores of the two groups………….
27 Table 3: The pretest scores between the experimental group and control 32 group…………. Table 4: The pretest and post test scores within the experimental group……. 33 Table 5: The posttest scores between the experimental group and 34 control group………….…… Table 6: Students’ opinions on items appeared in their classmates’ self- 35 selected reading………….…… Table 7: Students’ viewpoints on self-selected reading materials 36 supplied by their classmates…………. Table 8: Students’ ideas on tasks following the self-selected reading texts… 37 Table 9: Frequency of contributing to students’ classmates’ self- selected reading presentation………….
38 Table 10: Students’ opinions on their self-selected reading activities…….… 39 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS KET : Key English Test PET ; Preliminary English Test CV : Coefficient of variation M : Mean SD : Standard Deviation N : Number of sampled students X : Individual sampled students DF : Degree of freedom T : Obtained value P : Probability viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Rationale It can be said that among four basic English skills reading seems to be the skill that makes students feel the most sleepy and boring in reading periods. In fact, in teacher-centered or textbook-centered classrooms, teachers often dictate to students what to read during instructional time. This itself makes students passive and reduce their interest in reading.
It is sometimes uncomfortable for students to read what they do not really like. However, if they are allowed to self select what they want to read, everything can be remarkably improved. Self-selected reading will not only build an intrinsic motivation for reading but also increase likelihood of deeper reading. Because of the fact that when students are eager for topics and kinds of information they want to get and find it necessary to read, they have a tendency to spend more time on reading and of course the more they read, the better they are.
It cannot be denied that students can benefit a lot through self-selected reading. Reading, as we have known, both helps students enhance their vocabulary and their knowledge of phonetics, semantics, pragmatics……, etc. and is a very effective means of providing them with real life information. Clearly, when students self select materials and read them intentionally and regularly, besides reading skill, they can improve their knowledge of the life as well as their profession, which is very useful for their future jobs.
Equally important, students know how to find reading sources to open their mind and how to self work in difficult situations. Unfortunately, some of the evidence shows that non-English major students at Haiphong Private University appear to be not very active in their learning reading. Reading an English magazines or journals, or seeking an article for home reading is apparently strange and irregular to them. Moreover, a number of students are really passive when they only focus on understanding texts in given books.
1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com From the above mentioned reasons, the researcher comes to the decision to carry out “an experimental study on the effect of the self-selected reading activities on Haiphong Private University‟s English non-majors‟ reading proficiency” with the aim of arousing students‟ active attitude towards reading as well as bettering their ability when dealing with the skill. Aims of the study This study is aimed at encouraging students to take part in self select reading activities to improve their reading skill. Besides, the researcher would like to work out the effectiveness of self selected reading activities on students‟ reading enhancement with an aim to widely applying these activities to all non English majors at Haiphong Private University. Research questions Question 1: Are self-selected reading activities effective in helping students in improving their reading skill? In order to answer this question, three following sub-questions need to be dealt with: Is there any significant difference between pretest scores of the two groups,that is control group in which the experiment of self-selected reading activities wasn’t applied and the experimental group in which self-selected reading activities was implemented Is there any significant difference between posttest scores of control group and experimental group.
Is there any significant difference between pretest scores and post test scores within experimental group. Question 2: What is students‟ feedback on self-selected reading activities? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study For the feasibility of the study, topics for self selected reading are taken from the material Solutions-Elementary from Unit 6: Out and about to Unit 10: Just the job. In addition, target learners aimed in this study are English non majors at Haiphong Private University, who are in level 2.
Students at other levels as well as at other universities are not included in this study. Research methods Quasi-experimental design is the main research method employed in this study to find out the answer to proposal research questions within the scope of the study. In addition, so as to get students‟ feedback on the effect of self-selected reading activities, a survey questionnaire is designed to search needed information. Design of the study This study comprises five chapters.
The introduction to the study is made by Chapter 1, consisting of rationale, research hypothesis and questions for the experiment, aims, scope, research methods and designs of the study. Chapter 2 contains review of literature in three main areas: reading, self-selected reading, and group work. Chapter 3 deals with describe the methodological aspects of the study including experimental research design, setting, participants, data collection. Chapter 4 presents and interprets the data.
Finally, limitation of the study and ideas for further research are presented in Chapter 5 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of reading. In Rethinking Writing, Roy Harris states: “What do we read? The message is not something given in advance--or given at all-- but something created by interaction between writers and readers as participants in a particular communicative situation” (Roy Harris, 2000) In addition, reading is defined as ”the abstraction of meaning from a visual configuration, and was shown to involve desirably not a painstaking grapheme- by- grapheme decoding but the postulation of alternatives of meaning which one reduced by the parsimonious interaction of the component process with the visual configuration”(Elias and Ingram, 1977:55).
Besides, in Reading Without Nonsense, Frank Smith defines that “Reading is asking questions of printed text. And reading with comprehension becomes a matter of getting your questions answered”( Frank Smith, 1997), Moreover, Kenneth Goodman points out reading as “a psycholinguistic guessing game. It involves an interaction between thought and language. Efficient reading does not result from precise perception and identification of all elements, but from skill in selecting the fewest, most productive cues necessary to produce guesses which are right the first time.
The ability to anticipate that which has not been seen, of course, is vital in reading, just as the ability to anticipate what has not yet been heard is vital in listening.