MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- PHAM THI BICH VAN THE EFFECTS OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS USE ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION SKILL AT GO DEN HIGH SCHOOL MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- PHAM THI BICH VAN THE EFFECTS OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS USE ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION SKILL AT GO DEN HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: NGUYEN THANH BINH, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, 2023 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC GIẤY XÁC NHẬN Tôi tên là: PHẠM THỊ BÍCH VÂN Ngày sinh: 08/11/1986 Nơi sinh: Long An Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh, Mã học viên: 1881401110043 Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Ký tên Phạm Thị Bích Vân CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc Ý KIẾN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ LUẬN VĂN THẠC sĩ CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN Giảng viên hướng dẫn: Tiến sĩ NGUYỄN THANH BÌNH Học viên thực hiện: PHẠM THỊ BÍCH VÂN Lớp: MTESOLO18A Ngày sinh: 08/11/1986 Nơi sinh: Long An Tên đề tài: THE EFFECTS OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS USE ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION SKILL AT GO DEN HIGH SCHOOL Ý kiến của giáo viên hướng dẫn về việc cho phép học viên, phýựCVĨĨyỊ.v< được bảo vệ luận văn trước Hội đồng: í Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày. năm Người nhận xét i DECLARATION I declare that “The effects of authentic materials use on grade 10 students‟ reading comprehension skill at Go Den High School” is my own work and that all the resources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. Ho Chi Minh City, 2023 Pham Thi Bich Van ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to show my sincere thankfulness to those who contribute to the completion of my thesis. Firstly, I would love to show my deep appreciation, Nguyen Thanh Binh Ph.D, my supervisor, for his guidance, patience, and constant encouragement in the whole research process, who is willing to support me all the time. Without his professional advice and encouragement, this thesis could not have been completed.
Secondly, I also want to give my earnest thanks to the lecturers at Open University in general, Postgraduate Institute and Faculty of English Language in particular for providing such an encouraging and stimulating academic environment. I am happy to show my gratefulness to my colleagues in English staff for their enthusiasm and support during the thesis was conducted. I also owe a great deal to all the beloved students who participated in my study. Without them, this study could not have been done.
It is unforgettable to say thanks to my family, friends and classmates, who always give me spiritual support and materials. iii ABSTRACT The study investigates the effects of an authentic materials intervention on the development of reading skills of English as Foreign Language (EFL) students, and on their attitudes towards authentic materials use in reading classes at a high school in Vietnam. A mix-method research design was adopted. The treatment sample of this study consisted of 95 students (48 for the experimental and 47 for the control groups).
The study was conducted within 12 weeks. During the project, the students in experimental group were taught with authentic reading materials while the students in controlled one were taught in the traditional way. Comparisons in terms of students‟ reading performance were made between the two groups. The SPSS software version 22 was used to analyse the quantitative data.
As the interview data was qualitative, the interview was grouped into teams and then the researcher analysed, whereas, the questionnaire data was analysed by using statistical software. Data collected from the student interviews, student questionnaires, and pre- test and post-test scores showed that the students in the experimental students performed better in terms of reading skills and had positive attitudes toward authentic materials use in reading classes. Some recommendations and suggestions are made to help the teachers successfully use authentic materials in their reading lessons. Key words: Authentic materials, attitude, reading comprehension.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURE .1 Rationale to the study .2 Statement of the problem .3 Aims of the study and research questions .4 Definitions of terms .5 Significance of the study.
4 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Definition of reading .2 Definition of reading comprehension .3 Reading comprehension strategies .4 Models of reading comprehension .1 Definition of authentic materials .2 Kinds of authentic materials .3 Benefits of using authentic materials .4 Challenges of using authentic materials in language classes .5 Adaption of authentic materials .1 Reasons for adaption .2 Criteria for authentic materials selections .3 Effective adaption of authentic materials in reading classes.6 Procedures of teaching reading comprehension with authentic materials .4 Definition of attitude .5 Review of previous studies on the use of authentic materials .7 Summary of chapter 2. 26 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .3 Description of reading syllabus for English 10 .4 Reading at Go Den High School context .1 Teaching materials applied in the experimental group .2 Teaching materials applied in the control group .4 Data collection instruments .1 Pre-test and post-test .3 Semi-structured interview .5 Data collection procedures .6 Methods of data analysis .1 Validity and reliability of the instruments.2 Methods of data analysis .1 Pre-test and post-test analysis .2 Questionnaire data analysis .3 Interview data analysis .7 Pilot of the study .8 Summary of chapter 3. 47 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.1 Before the treatment .2 After the treatment .1 Students‟ perceived reading performance .2 Students‟ attitudes towards authentic materials-based reading classes .3 Discussion of results.1 Students‟ vocabulary, erading skills, and cultural knowledge improvement .2 Students‟ attitudes towards authentic materials use in reading comprehension .3 Students‟ opinions and suggestions about the authentic materials use in reading class .4 Summary of chapter 4. 71 Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS .1 Summary of major findings.2 Recommendations for using authentic materials in English reading classes .1 The ministry of education and training .3 The textbook designers .4 The teachers of English.3 Limitations of the study.4 Recommendations for further research.
129 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1 Matrix of reading test .2 The procedure of data collection.3 Item total statistics of the questionnaire.1 Result of the pre-test .2 Summary of pre-test and post-test results .3 Summary of post-test results .4 Students‟ perveived reading performance .5 Student‟s attitudes towards authentic materials-based reading classes. 52 ix LIST OF FIGURE Page Figure 2. 26 x ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language M: Mean Scores MOET: Ministry of Education and Training SD: Standard Deviation SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences TESOL: Teaching English of Speakers of Other Languages 1 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces rationale to the study, statement of the problem, aims of the study and research questions, definitions of terms, and significance of the study.1 Rationale to the study Like other high schools in Vietnam, Go Den High School considers English as a very important subject and has become more and more important. It has been observed by the researcher and her colleagues that many students have limited reading skill even though they had learnt English for at least four years at secondary schools prior to high school education.
It seems that the students‟ poor reading skill was due to the two following reasons: firstly, most of the students at school usually depend on the short passages in textbooks or from their teachers during classroom lessons, which is not enough for them to read well in English. Secondly, the students‟ reading method is not efficient. They only think of learning reading skill as translating all the texts from English into Vietnamese, and they are not aware of any sub skills in reading. Consequently, the poor reading skills would demotivate them from practising reading more in the target language.
In the process of trying different strategies for teaching reading, the researcher found that using authentic materials in the reading classes would serve the following purposes: (i) to enrich the students‟ background knowledge; (ii) to improve their reading subskills; (iii) to expand their vocabulary in the target language; (iv) to motivate them to read more in the target language. The next section is devoted to the statement of the problem.2 Statement of the problem Reading is one of the four important language skills with the main goal of comprehension. As reading comprehension plays a vital role in the learning process, students should spend time practising it regularly. It is essential for everyday life activities, but it is also crucial for school success in all subjects that require skilled 2 reading.
Reading is the gateway to learning opportunities, personal development, and access to academic matters. Proficiency in reading skill would equip students with knowledge of new cultures as well as new vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, reading is considered as “an essential skill, perhaps the most important skill, taught in schools” (Collins & Collins, 2002, p. In addition, language students need to be exposed to the real-life language which is produced by users of that language (Qamariah, 2016).
Therefore, improvement of the teaching materials is essential besides the quality of language teaching, teaching methods, language resources and teachers (Kamariah, Husain, Atmowardoyo & Salija, 2018). Among all English reading materials, much research has been conducted on authentic materials as teaching resources. Since formal modules and textbooks are made to teach new grammatical structures rather than to address the individual requirements of students, it is determined that their use is insufficient for presenting the language (Marzban & Davaji, 2015); also, they may contain non-authentic language (Nguyen, 2007; Richards, 2001). Therefore, students have low motivation in learning reading even when they are bored being taught with textbooks which do not fulfill their needs for communication skills (Gilmore, 2006; Guo, 2012).
As stated by Cunningsworth (1984), “no coursebook will be totally suited to a particular teaching situation. The teacher will have to find his own way of using it and adapting it if necessary” (p.He stated, therefore, rather than searching for the ideal textbook that satisfies all of our requirements, we should seek the best possible fit between what the textbook provides and what we as teachers and students need. There has been some literature showing positive effects of authentic materials in improving students‟ reading skills and their positive attitudes. However, there has been no research on authentic materials use in the EFL teaching contexts of Go Den High School.
Based on my observation as a teacher of English at Go Den High School, I have found that many students have difficulties in reading skills despite the fact that they have learned for three years at intermediate school. At high school, the reading 3 materials provided in textbooks are insufficient to help students in developing their reading skills. In reading lessons, students are asked to answer open-ended questions, true/false statements, table completions, and/or matching vocabulary exercises although they are not interested in the texts‟ content which are unfamiliar in real life.