VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES. wea NGUYEN THI HONG THUY THE EFFECTS OF USING INTERNET-BASED MATERIALS IN DEVELOPING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL FOR STUDENTS AT MY HAO HIGH SCHOOL, HUNG YEN Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng tư liệu trên Internet để phát huy tính tự chủ trong việc học kĩ năng đọc hiểu tiếng Anh của học sinh trường trung học phổ thông Mỹ Hào, tỉnh Hưng Yên MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: DO BA QUY, MEd. HANOI-2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS: PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Aims of the study 3.
Research questions 4, Methods of the study 5. Scope of the study 6, Organization of the Thesis PART It DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of reading 1.2 Rxtensive reading se mn 1.2 Why develop leamer autonomy ? 1.3 Characteristics of autonomous learners 1.4 The role of teachers in leaner autonomy? 11 1.3 Internet-based reading materials 12 1.1 Internet-based reading materials improve reading comprehension 12 1.2 Types of intemet-based reading 14 1.3 Criteria for choosing Intemet-hased reading materials, 1.4 Considerations in using Internet-based materials 1.4 Summary CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS.3 Data collection instrumentation 2.2 Questionnaire 2 CHIAPTER 3: DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Students’ motivations, learning experiences and attitudes towards learning reading boftrg the experiment, 3.2 Students’ attitudes and ability after the experiment: Questionnaire 2 CHAPTER LV: MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.2 Suggestions fix the using of inlemet-based reading materials PART II: CONCLUSION 1. Limitations and suggestions for farther study REFERENCES APPENDIX 14 2. Aims of the study ‘This study aims at improving the quality of teaching/teaming to read English as a seoond language for grade 11 students at My Hao high school by uảng ldemeL-based materials.
To achieve this aim, the study sets out to obtain the three following specific objectives: 1. To investigate the situation of leamer autonomy in leaming reading among high school students in My Hao high school. To apply Intemet-based materials in teaching reading and find out how efitetive they arc in helping develop leer autonomy in learning reading skill 3. To offer recommendations for the applivation of Tntemet-based materials to improve leamer autonomy in reading comprehension skill of grade 11 students in My Hao high school.
Research questions In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the study is intended to find answers to the following questions: 1, What is the current situation of students’autonomy in learning reading? 2, What are the cffccts of Intemet-baszd reading materials on the level of students’ autonomy? 3. What are the recommendations for improving learner aufonomy in learning reading at My Iao high school? 4. Methods of the study With the aim of finding out the role of Intemet-based reading materials in helping improve learner autonomy in learning reading comprehs ngiơn skill for students in high school, a survey approa s adopted for this study. Participants will be 48 students of class 11A12 of My Hao high school.
First, interviews will be conducted on a group of 24 students These students will be randomly selected among the students of class L1AL2. All the 13 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ‘his chapter reviews the relevant literature relating to reading comprehension, leamer aulonomy and ths tole of Internet-based matcrials in improving reading comprohension skill ‘The chapler begins with definitions of reading and some information about oxtensive reading. The second section of the chapter presents background knowledge about learner autonomy. ‘the last section discusses the role of intemet-based materials in helping to develop students’aulonomy in learniug reading 1.1 Definitions of reading Reading is a huge topic.
Itis a receptive skill. Reading can be defined as a process, which invelves a reader, a text and a resultant interaction between the two (Goodman, 1996; Rumelharl, 1977 as cited in Singhal, 1998). Brindley (1994) in her introduetionto the reading section af teaching Raglish offers a helpfal starting point “Reading is a complex area, We can use the tem to mean the process itself, or a respond to literary text, It can mean the retrieval of information in a nomliterary text, or take on the wider meanings like ‘reading the situation’. Roading is not confined fo print in a boak.
TL is central lo the debate about meaning and the construction of the reader. It is linked to the issues of standards in education, and to one of the fimctions of education itself — the production of the literate society’ ‘This is a relatively focused view of reading. Anderson at al (1985) provides a broader view of the same tenitory: “The majority of scholars in the field now agree on the nature of reading: Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill Togriring coordinatiơn ofa number of inlerrctated somecs oFinformation.” Reailing is a holistic acl.
Success of reading cames from practice over long periods of time. And also, there may be more than one interpretation of a text, The interpretation depends on the background of the zeader. the purpose for reading, and the context in which the rending occurs. Reaiting is very necessary for daily Wife.
Harmer (2003) emphasized the reading and academic success”. In other words, a stndant who is a. good reader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weak reader. Being aware of the importance of learning reading, authors of new English 11 have chosen interesting topics for reading lessons with the aim to promote students in reading and improve their reading, comprchension.
However, some of them arc not familiar with students, gonres und contonls of the readings in the lexthooks only are nol enough to enhance students’interest in reading and reading comprehension, From the reszarcher’s teaching oxporicnce, saocossfid roading depends on many factors such as reading stralergics for processing the text, background knowle and linguistic com we. Thas, besides the reading texts in the textbooks students need to read more oulside the classroom to enrich their vocabulary as well as their background knowledge. Thal micoms students must road extensively. Through daily conversations with the teachers and students, the reseacher has found that the main reasons why students are not interested in reading lessons are their lack of background knowledge as well as vocabulary about the topics they are reading, Some topics are unfamiliar, some others are boring so the students tind it difficult to understand them, Some students say that thare are texts that they have read several times without understanding anything, Morcover, time for reading lesson at high school is limited.
There arc 3 English lessons every week. In five or six lessons, there is only one for reading, it means that there is not much time for reading. In extra classes at school the teachers tend to pay mare attention to grammar oxcreisss. The stud: nts have apportamilics to practise vocabulary but.
in soparaicd sonfcnss, nol in reading texts, Bsvause loaching reading is time consuming, the teachers often neglect iL. Large class sive adds to the difficulties the students encounter in the Teailing 1 mã. Another imperrtantTc: on is their lack of motivation. “Practice makes por fect’, that is the reason why teachers have to find ways to enhance students to read more so that they can improve [heit rending ability.
13 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ‘his chapter reviews the relevant literature relating to reading comprehension, leamer aulonomy and ths tole of Internet-based matcrials in improving reading comprohension skill ‘The chapler begins with definitions of reading and some information about oxtensive reading. The second section of the chapter presents background knowledge about learner autonomy. ‘the last section discusses the role of intemet-based materials in helping to develop students’aulonomy in learniug reading 1.1 Definitions of reading Reading is a huge topic. Itis a receptive skill.
Reading can be defined as a process, which invelves a reader, a text and a resultant interaction between the two (Goodman, 1996; Rumelharl, 1977 as cited in Singhal, 1998). Brindley (1994) in her introduetionto the reading section af teaching Raglish offers a helpfal starting point “Reading is a complex area, We can use the tem to mean the process itself, or a respond to literary text, It can mean the retrieval of information in a nomliterary text, or take on the wider meanings like ‘reading the situation’. Roading is not confined fo print in a boak. TL is central lo the debate about meaning and the construction of the reader.
It is linked to the issues of standards in education, and to one of the fimctions of education itself — the production of the literate society’ ‘This is a relatively focused view of reading. Anderson at al (1985) provides a broader view of the same tenitory: “The majority of scholars in the field now agree on the nature of reading: Reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts. It is a complex skill Togriring coordinatiơn ofa number of inlerrctated somecs oFinformation.” Reailing is a holistic acl. Success of reading cames from practice over long periods of time.
And also, there may be more than one interpretation of a text, The interpretation depends on the background of the zeader. the purpose for reading, and the context in which the rending occurs. Reaiting is very necessary for daily Wife. Harmer (2003) emphasized the 12 interviews will be fully written down and analysed.
At the same time, a questionnaire will be given to discover the students’ attitudes towards reading skill and their leaming experiences. Data will be analyzed to identity the situation of learning reading, the fhetors affecting their reading comprehension. ‘Then all 48 students will be guided to use Internet-based reading malerials for 2 months. Qhestiormaires will be conduoted afler thal to find ont if Imiermet- based materials help improve the students’autonomy in leaming reading comprehension skill.
Scope of the study Internet-based reading materials play a more and more important port in raising the effectiveness of teaching and learning foreign languages in general, English in particular. This study focuses on the role of Internet-based reading materials in helping improve reading comprehension skills for students in My Hao High school and offers some suggestions for the intergration of Intemst-based materials in high school teaching and learning curicular in Vietnam. Organization of ihe thesis This rior thesis consists of three parts. The first parl “Introduction” includes the rationale for the study, the aims, research questions, methods, scope of the study as well as the arganizationof the thesis Part B “Development” consists of four chapters.
The first chapter “Literature Review” discusses the knowledge relevant to the research topic including the theoretical background of reading comprehension, Ieaer aulonomy and the roles of Inlernsl-based materials. The second chapter “Research methodology” presents the context of the study, the participants, research methods, ‘I'he third chapter deals with data and data analysis. ‘The fourth chapter mentions the major finlings and recommendations to usc Tilernct-based matcrials in improving learner autonomy in learning reading The last pat of the study “Conclusion” summarizes the findings, giving out some limttations and recommendations for further study. Aims of the study ‘This study aims at improving the quality of teaching/teaming to read English as a seoond language for grade 11 students at My Hao high school by uảng ldemeL-based materials.
To achieve this aim, the study sets out to obtain the three following specific objectives: 1. To investigate the situation of leamer autonomy in leaming reading among high school students in My Hao high school. To apply Intemet-based materials in teaching reading and find out how efitetive they arc in helping develop leer autonomy in learning reading skill 3. To offer recommendations for the applivation of Tntemet-based materials to improve leamer autonomy in reading comprehension skill of grade 11 students in My Hao high school.
