Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University

Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University Difficulties in reading English skills of secondyear Englishmajoring students at Thuongmai University

THUONG MAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH - - GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC: “A STUDY ON THE CAUSES OF DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH READING SKILLS EXPERIENCED BY SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY” Student Name: NGUYEN THI BICH NGOC Advisor: HA THI VU HA, M.A Class: K53N5 Student ID: 17D170267 HANOI – 2021 ABSTRACT Currently, English is gradually becoming a common language for all ages As Vietnam develops and becomes more popular, English will become more and more important in everyday life Therefore, English reading comprehension skills are an essential skill in every student's life Many universities have also incorporated Reading Skills into their curriculum And English reading skills are more important than ever for students of the English Department However, gaining proficiency in reading English is not easy for learners in this situation This study aims to summarize the difficulties faced by second-year students of the English Department of Thuong Mai University For the purposes of the study, I applied one tool: a questionnaire with 50 students According to the questionnaire, the results are as follows: Students of the English Department face internal and external challenges and make recommendations to help students communicate more effectively in English ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the graduation exam, I received a lot of help, help, guidance and encouragement from teachers, family and friends Firstly, with deep gratitude, I would like to thank Mrs Ha Thi Vu Ha for her enthusiastic guidance, guidance, help and encouragement tirelessly throughout the study process Without her enthusiastic help and support, I would not have been able to complete this study on schedule Through sharing and feedback from Mrs.Ha, I was inspired and motivated to overcome all difficulties along the way Secondly, I would also like to express my sincere and deep thanks to the teachers of Thuong Mai University, especially the teachers in the English Department in recent years I would like to thank the teachers who always create conditions for us to have the opportunity to study in the best and most effective environment Thirdly, I would like to send my most sincere thanks to my family, friends, who have always encouraged and inspired me to complete this graduation article Finally, I would like to thank the students who participated in answering the survey questions for my thesis Thanks to your enthusiasm, I was able to complete this gaduation article I sincerely thank you all! Hanoi, 16th April 2021 Student Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations TMU ESP English meaning Thuongmai University English for Specific Purposes LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Charts and tables No Chart The period of time the students have been studying English Chart The time of learning English students spend each day Chart Confidence in communication with foreigners Chart Habit of learning new words after each reading lesson in class Chart The frequency of learning English through books, newspapers and the Internet Chart The effect of the lack of vocabulary Chart The necessary level of the deepening of the words and phrases in the text rather than just learn writing surface Chart The teaching method of the teachers at TMU Table The difficulties of reading skill of the students 10 Table Difficulties of students in reading 11 Chart General solutions for students 12 Chart 10 The solutions adopted by students Page CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Currently, when technology 4.0 is developing, the need to improve foreign language skills of businesses is increasingly higher That leads to universities in the country as well as around the world needing English as their educational tool Out of the four most important skills when learning a foreign language, reading comprehension is the most important It helps readers have more knowledge through books, newspapers, magazines Not only that, but reading skills bring us many benefits such as expanding our vocabulary, improving memory, training concentration and thinking ability That is also the reason that students in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, especially students of Thuongmai University (TMU), invest time in practicing reading skills In addition, reading skills help readers discover new words and phrases that learn to encounter in everyday life For text that is a literary work, reading comprehension helps us to feel the unique value of the images, artistic elements; the meaning of words used in text structure Moreover, through reading the text, we will see the author's thoughts, intentions and purposes embedded in the work Especially with English documents, reading is not only considered a means to acquire vocabulary and grammar, but also a means to further study As Block (1992: 319-343) indicates, “reading is such a hidden process that it is often unnoticed in the language classroom Teachers often believe that reading classes should be teacher-centered.” People often assume that reading is passive, but in fact, it must be active You will always have to actively seek basic knowledge so that you can improve your reading skills without ever being passive Once you are passive, you will make yourself lazy and never brainstorm Therefore, we must focus on reading skills as well as language problems The fact is that reading in a foreign language is closely related to thinking in that language Once you want better reading skills, you have to think in English when you read If you want to read in English but think in another language and translate it into English, you will have difficulty in understanding This usually takes a long time and does not produce the expected results Readers need to combine ideas and information in the text so that it is reasonable Thuongmai University's English language students often focus less on reading skills, only focus on communication and presentation skills, especially sophomores Therefore, reading skills will not be improved This resulted in poor grades in the reading portion of their test As observed by the researcher, the students complained about their grades and they did not know how to deal with texts in English However, in my opinion, the problem is about their approach towards a writing If students can understand the presentation of that information in the text, they will be able to understand better Even though they have studied English for at least a few years, they still often have difficulty understanding English text or a passage, because they lack vocabulary, grammar, reading skills, and background knowledge In addition, teaching methods and teaching techniques in general have not yet met international education standards The faculty in the school always try to help students with reading difficulties, but those students still want to find the shortcomings and fix them on their own That is also the reason that I this research as a reference to help the second year students of Thuongmai University to realize and overcome difficulties in reading skills 1.2 Previous studies Reading skills in English are of great interest to many domestic and foreign researchers Before learning about the difficulties that Thuongmai University students face in reading skills, I will introduce some research related to the topic " Difficulties in reading English skills of second-year English-majoring students at Thuongmai University” 1.2.1 Studies abroad The thesis with the theme "Reading comprehension skills and performance in science among high school students in the Philippines" is conducted to better study students' reading comprehension skills Research has outlined the characteristics and importance of reading skills in student learning The second study abroad related to reading difficulty that I refer to is "Reading Comprehension of Multigrade Pupils in San Jose District" The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the reading performance of selected composite students for the 2013-2014 school year in San Jos County; Issues affecting reading performance of students in composite classes 1.2.2 Studies in Vietnam The study "Reading Comprehension and Translation Performance of English Linguistics Students of Hung Vuong University: A Correlational Study" was conducted by Pham Thi Kim Cuc - a foreign language student, Hung Vuong University The study aims to correlate reading and translation performance of English language students, then informs some pedagogical implications for the teaching of readingcomprehension in translation classes in order to enhance the translation quality Another study was "A study of reading comprehension problems in English encountered by first year students of faculty of Vietnamese studies at HUE" was conducted by Ho Van Chung, M.A - ESP Division This study aims to provide answers to two main research questions One is what are the main reading comprehension problems encountered first ?; The other are what are the strategies that students use to process a text and solve comprehension problems? In general, we can easily find studies related to reading but very few studies mention difficulty in reading skills of students Therefore, I decided to carry out this study to clarify difficulties in reading skills and propose some solutions to solve those difficulties 1.3 Aims of the study The main purpose of this study is to identify difficulties in reading English skills of second-year English-majoring students at Thuongmai University Then, this study proposes and recommends suitable solutions to solve these problems and create the best results in learning English for second-year students of the English Department To achieve these purposes, this study must focus on addressing the following questions:  "What is the cause of the reading difficulties of the second-year English majoring at Thuongmai University?"  "What are possible solutions to student reading problems?" 1.4 Research Subjects Based on the rationale and the aims of the problems, the main subject of this research is “Difficulties in reading English skills of second-year English-majoring students at Thuongmai University.” It's easy to see that there is one main subject here: Reading English skill Therefore, there is one main subject of “Difficulties in reading English skills of second-year English-majoring students at Thuongmai University”: • To investigate the English reading skill problems made by students of English Faculty, TMU • To suggest some solutions in order to improve English reading skill 1.5 Scope of the study In terms of reading skills, there are many aspects surrounding it But in this research paper only focuses on the difficulty in English reading skills of the second-year students majoring in English at Thuongmai University to offer solutions to improve those difficulties I hope this study will be a reference for Thuongmai university students in particular and all Vietnamese students in general to improve reading skills 1.6 Research methodology The study is conducted on the basis of quantitative research methods, in which the questionnaire is selected as the main tool The questionnaire was designed as a means of making the researcher's assessment more objective Second-year students at Thuongmai University are given a questionnaire to find the cause of their reading difficulty and some of their solutions to problems The analysis of statistics from the reading survey questionnaire was carried out in collaboration with second year English majors at Thuongmai University All hypothetical comments, recommendations, and conclusions provided in the study were based on data analysis 1.7 Organization of the study This study consists of four main parts as follows: Chapter is the introduction which consists of rationale, the aims, research subjects, scope, research methodology, and organization of the study Chapter is literature review which provides an overview of reading, difficulties in learning reading skill and factors affecting reading difficulties Chapter is research findings which include the result from the study, evaluation and analysis from the survey questionnaire Chapter is Recommendations and suggestions for improving English reading skills of the second-year students majoring in English at Thuongmai University Chart 10 The solutions adopted by students In fact, most of the students have also done the most important thing is to contact and chat with native speakers to improve their vocabulary and grammar But the main choice is listening to music, reading English books and newspapers Maybe you have combined learning and entertainment together It is also a good solution for the second year students because they not have too much pressure in studying or working orientation in the future Joining English clubs in schools is also quite a selection This also proves that the second year students are also gradually seeing the importance of reading skills to the field they are studying 3.3 Conclusion In summary, the causes of difficulty in reading skills of second year students majoring in English at Thuongmai University include many different factors Basically, students not spend a lot of time learning to read and less learn new words as well as reading documents, online news and comics in English Therefore, the limited vocabulary makes them unable to understand the content in English In addition, they not know how to apply reading strategies to solve readings This leads to boredom in the reading comprehension process, causing a passive mentality, aggression and difficulty absorbing information in the text Through this, we can see that the lack of vocabulary, the poor understanding and the difficulty in decoding the keywords in the passage have greatly affected the reading skills of second year students of Thuongmai University CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS After finding out the reasons that lead to difficulties in reading English skills of second-year students of TMU's English department, chapter IV will provide some solutions for students to improve their English reading skills and some recommendations for teachers and universities to promote student learning 4.1 Recommendations for students Through the survey, it is clear that sophomore students need to consciously learn English at an early stage, which will help them have a solid foundation in English before entering the third year They must be well oriented towards the importance of learning to read 4.1.1 Cultivating vocabulary and grammar It has been shown that readers have a richer vocabulary, so it is easy for them to find the best expression for everything they want to say to others In general, the more you read, the richer your vocabulary will be Furthermore, books are definitely a treasure trove of knowledge! With daily learning of new words, students' vocabulary expands and they will feel more confident doing reading-related exercises There are many resources to help students learn vocabulary like the internet, books, TV shows, teachers even from their friends It is imperative that learners learn vocabulary regularly if they want to improve their listening, speaking and communication skills, especially English reading skills However, instead of students learning vocabulary word by word, they could study phrases The ability to understand and use the information in these texts is the key to a student’s success in learning So it is believed that successful students have a repertoire of strategies to draw upon, and know how to use them in different contexts Participating in regular English activities is an effective way for students looking for a professional environment to improve their vocabulary through student interaction Learners should seize any opportunity to come into contact with the English language There are many activities using English such as conferences, English clubs, part-time jobs that require English or interacting with foreigners at tourist destinations Regular exposure to the English environment will improve the ability to use English The creation of an English learning and communication environment is being invested to provide English learners with the most convenient and professional environment to improve their reading skills 4.1.2 Practicing reading more In addition to cultivating more vocabulary and grammar, the practice of reading lessons should also be focused on by students Students can practice through online English learning websites, ask for exercises from teachers or friends for more materials to Moreover, they can exchange with other friends to gain more knowledge Students should start with short and composed words of simple words and then come into contact with longer and more complex texts The practice of reading more will bring more effective they expected 4.2 Recommendations for teachers and university 4.2.1 Identifying students' needs and motivate them Teachers play an important role in teaching English to students Building teacherstudent relationships becomes an important part of the curriculum Teachers should understand students' interests and needs to improve their English reading skills They can offer games that alternate into the lessons so that students can feel more comfortable in the class From there, it will help them absorb the knowledge more easily 4.2.2 Changing teaching methods In addition, the teacher's reading method is an important factor to improve students' reading skills First, teachers must help students understand correctly the importance of learning English in general and learning reading skills in particular Classroom lessons must be suitable for all types of students In other words, they should be appropriate, exciting learning strategies for students The more engaging a teacher's teaching method is, the more students feel they learn to read When students lack knowledge, teachers must organize tutoring for them During the summer break, schools should organize tutoring and classify weak, medium and fair students into separate classes It is suggested that the classroom literacy assessment should consist of three phases; reading activities, activities during reading and activities after reading (Williams 1996) Classroom activities are critical for better achievement in teaching reading  Pre-Reading Activities: • The teacher should choose new and difficult words from the story and write them up on the board and pre-teach or review with students After explaining the vocabulary, the teacher has to ask questions about the selected words, the students will be asked to use the words in their sentences • The teacher will select random sentences from the story and will write sentences on the board in no time order Participants will be asked to discuss in groups how they think the sentences will be in the correct order  While Reading Activities: • While reading, the teacher wants to ask questions based on the text and will ask them to predict what will happen next • While reading the text, the teacher should ask students to identify the vocabulary that has been discussed previously  Post- Reading Activities: • After reading the text, the teacher will ask questions based on the text and will ask them to predict what will happen next • After students read the text, they will be asked to think about the different endings in the group and each group will be asked to share their ending in class 4.2.3 Giving more advices and instructions The teacher's advice is valuable information to help improve English communication skills Teachers spend a lot of time giving advice and guidance to students This connects with student goals It tells them how much progress they have made to achieve their goal and what else they need to to achieve it Students should accept and follow the teacher's advice However, during the review process, focus on the comments that will make them improve their English skills The teacher's advice is to help students, not criticize Their instruction is a part of the conversation through which their teachers are trying to support them and their development of English In addition, teaching materials also have great significance in practicing reading comprehension skills Therefore, teachers should choose materials that are easy to understand for learners about the content Only then will students feel more interested in learning the reading subject 4.2.4 Recommendation for university Thuongmai University should strengthen propaganda activities on the mass media (website, university forums, etc.); organize seminars, consultations, extracurricular activities, exchange ideas about the role and importance of practicing English reading skills to increase students' awareness and the need to practice reading skills The school should organize extracurricular activities that students can participate in to improve their English reading skills, as well as create opportunities for students to meet and interact with foreigners At the same time, this will help students improve their existing vocabulary Schools should also organize English competitions to encourage students to learn English and practice English reading skills This activity encourages students to demonstrate the English language skills, interests and interests of the faculties They will be exposed to more English and more motivated to win Ultimately, TMU should improve its facilities as well as high-tech equipment The use of high-tech devices benefits both students and teachers Devices such as projectors, loudspeakers, help improve the ability to present and illustrate lectures, improve cooperation, group activities, help students understand the lessons faster and more effectively Teachers also save a considerable amount of time by not having to write the lesson content on the board 4.3 Conclusion In this chapter, some solutions for both students, teachers as well as Thuongmai University are given to improve and improve the reading skills of second year students Due to time constraints, this study still has many shortcomings and may not provide the best solution to improve reading difficulties of second year students of Thuongmai University However, it can still help the majority of sophomores improve their own reading skills as well as help teachers tailor their teaching methods to fit student patterns CONCLUSION According to the research results, many second year students in the English department of Thuongmai University are facing many problems and difficulties in English reading skills Some difficulties that students often encounter include lack of vocabulary, failure to decode keywords, poor understanding In addition, research also offers some solutions to overcome this situation such as improving students' reading skills such as improving their vocabulary, practicing more Chapter I covers the rationale, previous studies, purpose and significance of the study, scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the study Literature review is chapter II providing basic theories and concepts such as the definition and overview of English reading skills, the important roles, common difficulties and factors influencing reading skills student's English language It will help the reader form a framework for further research in the next chapters Chapter III is data collection and analysis The writer has analyzed 12 questions of the survey with the help of 50 second year English majors at TMU On that basis, the writer discovered the common difficulties that students often encounter and gave some suggestions to improve English reading skills presented in chapter IV Although this research has been carefully prepared, I am still aware of its limitations and shortcomings This research was completed in a short time with a sample size of 50 students As a result, the research results are not clearly presented Furthermore, research focuses only on the current reading skills of sophomore students majoring in Business English at TMU The facts about the reading skills of other course students have yet to be mentioned As a result, the results provided are not really accurate and comprehensive about the current English communication status of Business English majored students In short, the writer hopes that this study will help not only the second year students of the English department but also help all other students become aware of the difficulties in English reading skills so that they can improve improve your own skills The research paper helps both students and teachers of Thuongmai University find some solutions to overcome these difficulties REFERENCES Pham Thi Kim Cuc (2017), Reading Comprehension and Translation Performance of English Linguistics Students of HungVuong University EDELIZA CASTRO (2014), Reading Comprehension of Multigrade Pupils in San Jose District Ho Van Chung, M.A.(2012), A study of reading comprehension problems in English encountered by first year students of faculty of Vietnamese studies at HUE Ombra A Imam (2014), Reading comprehension skills and performance in science among high school students in the Philippines Alderson, J C (2000) Assessing reading Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Alison (2016) What causes Decoding Difficulties in Beginning Reader, and What can teachers about it? Retrieved February 22, 2019, from https://learningattheprimarypond.com/blog/decoding-difficulties-in-beginning-readers Davies, F (1995) Introducing Reading Carter, R Nunan, D (eds) London: Penguin Group Bedir, H (1998) The effect of using cognitive learning strategies on reading comprehension ability of Turkish students Doctoral Dissertation The Institute of Social Sciences, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey Birch, B M (2008) English L2 reading: Getting to the bottom (2nd ed) New York: Routledge 10 Block, E (1992) See how they read: Comprehension monitoring of L1 and L2 readers Tesol Quarterly, 26(2), 319-343 11 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching (3rd Edition) Pearson Education Limited 12 Klinger, L (2011) Preventing Reading Difficulties A Report of the National Research Council Washington, DC: Academy Press 13 Rivas, R M M (1999) Reading in recent ELT course-books ELT Journal, 53(1), 12-21 14 Wang, H Y., & Guthrie, J T (2004) Modeling the effects of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amount of reading, and past reading achievement on text comprehension between U.S and Chinese students Reading Research Quarterly, 39(2), 162-186 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association Stable Retrieved February 24, 2019 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4151670 APPENDIX Questionnaire for students This questionnaire aims to investigate the causes of the reading difficulties of firstyear English majoring students at Thuongmai University Your answers will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for research purposes only Your contribution will be highly appreciated I, General information What is your name: ……………………………………………… Class: ……………………………………………… II, English usage and reading skills Question 1: How long have you been studying English? A 1-3 years B 4-6 years C 7-9 years D Over years Question 2: How much time you spend each day learning to read? A 30 minutes a day B 1-2 hours a day C 3-4 hours a day D Other:…………… Question 3: Do you feel confident communicating with foreigners with your current vocabulary? A Yes B No Question 4: Are you in the habit of learning new words to complete your reading homework after each reading lesson in class? A Always B Usually C Sometimes D Rarely E Never Question 5: Do you often read English materials such as news on newspapers, the Internet or comics in English to improve your reading skills? A Always B Usually C Sometimes D Rarely E Never III, English reading skills problems Question 6: How you think the lack of vocabulary has an effect on reading skills? A Not affected B Less affected C Quite influential D Very Influential Question 7: Do you think it is necessary to dig deep into words and phrases in the text instead of just understanding the text surface? A Very necessary B Quite necessary C Less necessary D Not necessary Question 8: Do you feel that the teaching method of the teachers at TMU improves the students' reading skills? A Not helpful B Less helpful C Sometimes not D Helpful E Very helpful Question 9: In your opinion, which problem causes difficulty in reading skills of second year students at ThuongMai University? A Limitation of vocabulary and grammar knowledge B Difficulty decoding long words C Read without expression D Difficulty connecting what you read with previous knowledge E Confusion about the meaning of words and sentences F Difficulty separating important information from focused insights when reading Question 10: What problems you often encounter when reading English text? A Difficulty decoding long words B Confusion about the meaning of words and sentences C Limitation of vocabulary D Difficulty with mixing sounds E Poor concentration when trying to read F Poor comprehension G Difficulty separating important information from focused insights when reading IV, Proposals for solving reading difficulties Question 11: In your opinion, which of the following solutions is the preferred solution to improve students' reading skills? A Cultivate more vocabulary and grammar B Refer to many English books, newspapers and stories C Focus and decode keywords of the text to find the meaning of the passage D Practice the readings more Question 12: What have you done to improve your reading skills? A Practice the readings more B Join the school's English club C Listening to music, reading books and newspapers in English D Contact and talk with native speakers to improve vocabulary and grammar E Focus and decode keywords of the text to find the meaning of the passage ... main subject of ? ?Difficulties in reading English skills of second-year English- majoring students at Thuongmai University? ??: • To investigate the English reading skill problems made by students of. .. importance of reading skills to the field they are studying 3.3 Conclusion In summary, the causes of difficulty in reading skills of second year students majoring in English at Thuongmai University include... Before learning about the difficulties that Thuongmai University students face in reading skills, I will introduce some research related to the topic " Difficulties in reading English skills of second-year