VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội. Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội. Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH HANOI, 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội. Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 HANOI, 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG A STUDY ON DEMOTIVATING FACTORS IN ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS OF THE 10TH – FORM STUDENTS AT MY DUC A HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI (Nghiên Cứu Những Yếu Tố Gây Mất Hứng Thú Trong Các Giờ Học Đọc Hiểu Tiếng Anh Của Học Sinh Lớp 10 Trường THPT Mỹ Đức A, Hà Nội.
Minor Programme Thesis Major: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC QUỲNH HANOI, 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES Declaration i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of contents iv List of tables and charts vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study 2 3. Significance of the study 2 5. Scope of the study 2 6.
Method of the study 2 7. Organization of the paper 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4 Chapter 1: Literature Review 4 1. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 4 1. Concept of motivation 6 1.
The importance of motivation in reading second 7 language 1. Concept of demotivation 8 1. Previous studies on de-motivation 9 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 2: Methodology 15 2. The English textbook 10 16 2.
Data analysis procedures 18 CHAPTER 3: Data Analysis 19 3.1 Data analysis of students‟ responses 19 3.2 Data analysis of teachers‟ responses 29 3.3 Summary of the findings 36 3. Implications 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX 1 I v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Students‟ attitudes towards the learning of reading English Figure 3.2: Students‟ interest in English reading lessons Figure 3.3: Students‟ participation in English reading comprehension lessons Figure 3.4: Teachers‟ attitude toward the importance of teaching reading comprehension skills at school Figure 3.5 Teacher‟s perception of students‟ participation in activities in the reading lessons. LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Students‟ purposes of learning English reading Table 3.2: Students‟ opinions on factors demotivating them in learning reading English Table 3.3: Students‟ opinions on their teachers‟ teaching methods Table 3.4: Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ employment of activities Table 3.5: Students‟ expectations towards teachers of reading skills Table 3.6: Teachers‟ perceptions of students‟ demotivation in reading skills Table 3.7: Teachers‟ frequency of using activities in reading lessons Table 3.8: Techniques and activities by the teacher, and the preference of the students for those activities vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Since English was chosen as an international language, learning English has long been important to students of almost all levels in Vietnam.
The remarkable shift from traditional method to communicative language teaching approach emphasizes the need for developing the communicative competence of the learners in four language skills namely speaking, reading, reading and writing. Though a great deal of effort has been made to achieve the goal, there are still a lot of shortcomings in teaching and learning English in general and reading comprehension in particular. To much extent, the reason is due to the fact that the students have to pass their exams which mainly focus on extensive vocabulary and grammatical rules. In most of Vietnam high schools, English teaching and learning is taken place in a non-native environment, so reading English is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also a means by which further study takes place.
For many students, reading is so far the most important of the four language skills. It is commonly acknowledged that reading is one of the most complex skills. When one reads, they are not able to control the message or the language used like they can in speaking and writing. Reading is also a skill that must be carried out under the real time pressure if it is done fluently.
In addition, there is no chance for readers to ask for additional information or clarification like they can in speaking or listening. Moreover, “the range of vocabulary encountered in reading is much greater than is typically used in speaking and listening settings” (Stanovich, 2000: 252-258). It is fairly clear that developing L2 reading abilities represents a serious challenge for both the learners and the teachers. Being aware of the importance of reading skill, all the teachers of My Duc A high school have been trying their best to make their students motivated in learning English reading lessons, but their efforts seem not to be effective yet.
The students 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com seem to be still demotivated in learning English in general, and in learning English reading comprehension in particular. For all of those reasons, it would be necessary to have a study on factors causing demotivation in reading lessons for students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi. Aims of the study The main purposes of the study are: - To investigate the demotivating factors in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi. - To give some suggestions to minize the demotivating factors in reading lessons in order to improve the students‟ reading skills.
Research questions To achieve the aims mentioned above, the following research questions were proposed: (1) What are demotivating factors in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi? (2) What should be done to minimize the demotivating factors of the students in their reading lessons? 4. Significance of the study This study points out factors causing demotivation in reading lessons of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi. Besides, it can be used as an evidence for demotivating factors when learning English reading that Vietnamese Secondary- School students encountered. The findings and recommendations of this study will be useful to improve the teaching and learning of reading of Upper Secondary School students in general and of the 10th form students at My Duc A High School, Hanoi in particular.
Scope of the study 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com This study mainly focuses on the demotivating factors that the 10th form students at My Duc A High School have in their reading lessons. It does not cover the scope of demotivating factors in other skills. It involves the participants of 10 teachers of English and 105 students in the 10th form at My Duc A High School. Methods of the study The study uses two main methods to achieve its aims.
Firstly, two types of survey questionnaires were conducted with 10 teachers of English and 105 students from three classes at My Duc A High School. In addition to the questionnaires, informal interviews with the 10 randomly selected students, who have done the survey questionnaires, were also employed. Organization of the thesis paper The thesis paper is organized as follows: Part A, Introduction, provides rationale for the study, states what the study is aimed at and what specific tasks it resolves, specifies the scope of the study, and sketches the general structure of the study. Part B, Development, consists of the following chapters: Chapter 1, Literature Review, presents the theoretical background related to reading and reading comprehension, motivation and the important of motivation in second language learning.
Besides, it reviews the concept of demotivation and previous studies on demotivation. Chapter 2, Methodology, provides information about the study. This includes the setting of the study, the participants and the research instruments used for the study. Chapter 3, Data Analysis, gives a detailed analysis of data.
Besides, the chapter also presents some discussion and interpretations of the findings of the study, and then gives suggestions for the teachers and the students at. Part C, Conclusion, summarizes the major findings and points out implications for the improvement, its limitations and suggestions for future research. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1. Definitions of reading and reading comprehension 1.
Reading “Reading” has been defined by a lot of linguists, psychologists, educators and second language researchers so far. Each definition proposes a different the notion of the term in different points of view.135) considered reading as “a psycholinguistics process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”. In his opinion, when reading, the readers not only learn how to read the text, to master grammatical structure but also understand the content expressed in the text. Sharing the same point with Goodman (1990, p.2) stated that “reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written”.
According William, in reading process, there are also two parallel activities: looking and understanding. Therefore, readers have to “encode” meanings of a word depending on the context in which it appears Reading is considered to be a process of mechanic by Harmer (1989:153): “eyes receive the message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message”. The mechanical process of reading consists of two actions which are monitored by the eyes and brain. Thus, it is the reader that decides how fast the text runs.
Smith (1985:102) shared a similar opinion with Harmer: “reading is understanding the author’s thought”. In other words, the readers “read the author’s mind not the 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com author’s words”. Harper and July (1982:4) considered reading as a process which involves the identification and recognition of printed and written symbols through one‟s past experiences or relevant concepts. To sum up, it is obvious that attempts to define reading have been various.
However, the definitions all focus on the interaction between readers and authors. This can be considered the nature of reading. Reading Comprehension Reading comprehension is ability to get information from the text as efficiently as possible. It has long been considered to play an important role in teaching and learning reading.
There are three elements involving in the reading process: the text being read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspects relevant for interpreting the text. Grellet (1981:3) stated “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible”.