VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE USING ICT IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE YOUNG LEARNERS AT VUS CENTER A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL by NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ DUYÊN Supervised by NGUYỄN DUY MỘNG HÀ, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2022 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE USING ICT IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE YOUNG LEARNERS AT VUS CENTER A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL by NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ DUYÊN Supervised by NGUYỄN DUY MỘNG HÀ, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2022 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of the people below as without their support, this thesis would not have been completed. My first and biggest appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyễn Duy Mộng Hà, for her marvelous supervision, advice and encouragement. She has been an inspiration for me to hurdle through the path of this Master's degree. She is a true definition of a leader and an ultimate role model. Her guidance from the initial step in the research enabled me to develop my understanding of doing research.
I am thankful for the extraordinary experiences she shared with me and for the opportunities she provided me to help me grow professionally. It was a special honor to work and learn from Dr. Next, I am sincerely grateful to my colleagues and the students for their significant contributions to my thesis since they were happy and willing to spend time with me for the data collection. Furthermore, the deepest thanks are sent to my classmates, who always inspired and supported me in conquering this study phase.
Last but not least, I would like to give my warmest thanks to my parents whose constant and unconditional love keeps me motivated and confident in my own decisions. My achievements can be obtained thanks to no matter what happens they have always believed in me. I STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: USING ICT IN TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION TO PRE-INTERMEDIATE YOUNG LEARNERS AT VUS CENTER In terms of the statement of the Requirements for the Theses in Master’s program issued by the Higher Degree Committee. The thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institutions.
Ho Chi Minh City, October 2022 NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ DUYÊN II RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Duyên, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the originality of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses. Ho Chi Minh City, October 2022 NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ DUYÊN III TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .1 Background to the study .2 Aims of the study .4 Significance of the study .5 Scope of the study .6 Organization of thesis chapters. 3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definitions and characteristics of “young learners” .1 Who are “young learners”?.2 Characteristics of young learners .2 L2 Reading comprehension theories .1 What is reading? .2 Processes in reading comprehension .1 Bottom-up views of reading and reading development .2 Top-down views of reading and reading development .3 Interactive and integrated views of reading and reading development.3 Three stages of teaching reading comprehension .1 Pre-reading goals and activities .2 While-reading goals and activities .3 Post-reading goals and activities .4 Teaching aids in EFL teaching and learning .3 ICT in teaching reading comprehension to young learners.1 Definition of ICT .2 ICT in EFL teaching and learning .3 Classification of ICT tools used in language teaching .4 Functions of ICT in teaching reading comprehension.1 Using ICT to design and create .2 Using ICT to present and perform .3 Using ICT to inspire and engage learners .4 Using ICT to help learners explore and analyze the language.5 Using ICT to enhance learners’ communication .6 Using ICT to evaluate .5 Advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension .1 Advantages of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension .2 Disadvantages of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension .6 Levels of using ICT in EFL teaching and learning .7 Previous studies on the use of ICT in teaching reading comprehension .4 Conceptual framework of the study .2 In-depth Interviews .7 Data collection procedure.8 Data analysis procedure .9 Validity and reliability of the study.
38 CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Findings of the study .1 Findings from the observations .1 The teachers’ use of ICT in three stages .2 Teachers’ levels of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension .3 Functions of ICT applied in teaching reading comprehension .2 Findings from the teachers’ interviews .1 Findings about using ICT in teaching reading comprehension to young learners at pre-intermediate level .3 Findings from students’ interviews .1 The integration of ICT in teaching reading comprehension to young learners at pre- intermediate level .1 Using ICT in teaching pre-reading to young learners at pre-intermediate level.2 Using ICT in teaching while-reading to young learners at pre-intermediate level 53 4.3 Using ICT in teaching post-reading to young learners at pre-intermediate level .2 Levels of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension to young learners at pre- intermediate level .1 Summary of the findings .1 For language teachers .2 For curriculum and syllabus designers .3 Limitations of the study.4 Recommendations for further study. i APPENDIX 1: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM. i APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS. iii APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS.
iii APPENDIX 4: TRANSCRIPTION FOR TEACHERS’ INTERVIEWS. iv VI LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS ICT Information and Communication Technology EFL English as a Foreign Language VII LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Teachers’ background information .2: Data collection procedure .1: The use of ICT in pre-reading stage .2: The use of ICT in while-reading .3: The use of ICT in post-reading stage .4: Teachers’ levels of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension .5: Functions of ICT applied in teaching reading comprehension .6: Teachers’ favorite ICT tools. 49 VIII LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Suggested Activities for Teachers (Grabe and Stoller, 2011) .2: Classifications of ICT in teaching and learning (Conole, 2004) .3: Classifications of ICT in teaching and learning (Bostock, 2007) .4: Conceptual Framework of the study .1: Thematic network of the study. 57 IX ABSTRACT ICT has become an integral aspect of the learning process, and almost every language class employs some forms of ICT.
It has been used to aid and enhance students' language development by providing teachers with tools and resources so that they can customize or create classroom activities which enhance their students' linguistic abilities as well as improve their engagement in the classroom. The purpose of this research is to examine the use of ICT in teaching reading comprehension to pre-intermediate young learners at VUS center and suggest some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension. To achieve these aims, 6 classroom observations in 6 different classes were conducted at VUS and a total of 6 English teachers and 4 students from the observed classes were interviewed. The findings from the qualitative data reveal that these teachers designed and conducted a wide range of activities in teaching reading comprehension with the assistance of ICT so that their students could benefit from their teaching the most.
The majority of them were at level 3 and 4 according to Lin et al.’s pedagogy * technology model (2012) for ICT integration in teaching and learning. Key words: Reading comprehension, ICT, young learners. X 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter displays the introduction to the study, which includes (1) background to the study, (2) aim of the study, (3) research questions, (4) significance of the study (5) scope of the study and (6) thesis organization.1 Background to the study English is one of the most popular languages used worldwide. It is estimated that there are 1.35 billion English speakers all over the world, consisting of 360 million who speak English as their first language and the rest are who speak English a second language and as a foreign language (Lyons, 2021).
That is the reason why English is considered as a key factor for everyone to participate actively in the global economy and have access to the universal information and knowledge of many fields such as science, trade, politics, history and ICT. In addition, English is a tool to connect people from different countries and shorten the distance of language barrier. Due to the fast speed of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) development, it is considered as a common tool to teach languages. Actually, human beings have used media as a teaching tool for a long time.
It was first appeared in the middle of 1950s when some local language schools started to make use of movies, tape recorders to teach English. It became more and more popular in 1970s and 1980s and then, thanks to the first launch of the Internet in 1990s, plenty of material resources as well as language teaching programs became available online. In 21st century, the teaching aids such as videos, movies, interactive games or applications have changed the world into a global online community. In Vietnam, as people realize that English can bring huge advantages to their lives, the number of people learning English has dramatically increased in the recent years.
Although this reality creates numerous job opportunities for ESL teachers, it is a challenging duty for teachers not only to teach the form, the meaning and the use of English but also to assist learners to communicate effectively in the real life. Teachers need to 1 update new strategies, approaches and tools in the teaching practices in order to enhance the effectiveness of their teaching. Due to this reality, ICT has been applied in the classrooms in the past few years and its contribution has made a remarkable innovation in language teaching and learning process. Nevertheless, these changes still depend much on the facilities, policies of different school and language centers.
It is challenging to change what is maintaining for decades. Traditionally, there are some typical reading activities such as: the teacher explains new vocabulary or new grammatical structures, students read texts and answer different kinds of questions. It is obvious that there is little interaction and engagement in the classroom, which makes students feel bored and demotivated in reading sessions. Recognizing the benefits of using ICT in teaching and learning English and the reality of teaching reading comprehension in Vietnam, most of the teachers at VUS center have applied it in their classrooms.
However, its effectiveness still remains ambiguous, especially in reading comprehension, which is stereotypically considered as a monotonous and uninteresting skill. Therefore, this research was carried out with two aims which are going to be listed in the following section.2 Aims of the study This research aims to (1) investigate the use of ICT in teaching reading comprehension to pre- intermediate young learners and (2) suggest some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension.3 Research questions In order to accomplish the purposes of the study, the following research questions are used: 1. How is ICT used in teaching reading comprehension to pre-intermediate young learners? 2. What should be done to improve the effectiveness of using ICT in teaching reading comprehension to pre-intermediate young learners? 2 1.