A STUDY ON USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS

1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY ĐẶNG THỊ THANH THÙY A STUDY ON USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh Nghệ An, 2017 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincere gratitude and appreciation First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh for her invaluable guidance, helpful suggestions, encouragement in writing this paper I would like to thank all the teachers in the English group of Ben Thuy secondary School, for their help in answering surveys, direct interviews, their suggestions to this research, and their willingness to share their relevant problems with me I also wish to give my thanks to students at Ben Thuy secondary school who have actively participated in doing the surveys and responding to my interviews I would like to send my thanks to my lecturers, my friends and my classmates for their sincere comments and criticism In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, who have constantly inspired and encouraged me to overcome difficulties to complete this study Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interest and comments on this study ii ABSTRACT When teaching reading skill to the 7th non-major English students at Ben Thuy secondary school, the author of this research found out that using graphic organizers is very crucial in teaching reading and it also has significant effects on the students’ reading performance The aim of carrying out this study were twofold: (1) to investigate the current situation of using graphic organizers in developing the reading comprehension skill for the grade 7th non-major students at Ben Thuy secondary school, (2) to find out how graphic organizers affect students’ reading comprehension The data were collected by means of questionnaires and the six practice reading lessons The results show that the majority of the teachers themselves rarely used the graphic organizers in teaching English reading lessons The study suggests that in class time, the teachers should use various graphic organizers to motivate students and encourage students to read In addition, these strategies were extremely beneficial to classroom instruction The thesis also provides implications for English language teaching iii Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i ABSTRACT ii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the Study .4 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Reading and reading comprehension .6 2.1.1 Reading 2.1.1.1 Definition of reading 2.1.1.2 The role of reading in learning 2.1.1.3 The reading process 2.1.2 Definition of reading comprehension 11 2.1.2.1 Reading Comprehension Process .13 2.1.2.1.1 The schema theory 13 2.1.2.1.2 Bottom - up and Top - down processing .14 2.1.2.1.3 Interactive processing 16 2.1.2.2 Factors affecting the learning of reading comprehension 16 2.1.2.3 Approaches to Teach Reading 19 2.1.2.3.1 Grammar - Translation approach 17 2.1.2.3.2 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 18 2.1.2.3.3 Content-Based .20 2.1.2.3.4 Task-based approach .24 2.1.2.4 Techniques to teach reading .24 2.1.2.4.1 In Pre-reading 22 2.1.2.4.2 In While-reading 23 2.1.2.4.3 In Post-reading 24 iv 2.2 Graphic organizers 27 2.2.1 Definitions of graphic organizers 27 2.4.2 Roles of graphic organizers 28 2.2.3 Types of graphic organizers employed in the research .29 2.2.3.1 Mind maps 27 2.2.3.2 The KWL 30 2.2.3.3 Venn diagram 29 2.2.3.4 The "5 W's" 29 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 An overview of Ben Thuy secondary school 32 3.2 Learners and learning requirements .32 3.3 Teachers and teaching methods 32 3.4 Materials 33 3.5 Procedures 34 3.6 Tools for Data collection 34 3.6.1 The questionnaires .34 3.6.2 Tests .35 3.7 Data analysis 36 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37 4.1 Findings 37 4.1.1 Students’ attitude towards the importance of learning reading comprehension at school .37 4.1.2 Student’s reading habits 38 4.1.3 Student’s difficulties when learning reading skill .38 4.1.4 Students’ opinions about teaching and learning reading .39 4.1.5 The frequency of using strategies designed by teachers .40 4.1.6 Pre-test and post- test score 40 4.2 Summary and discussion of the main findings 42 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 46 5.1 Conclusion 46 Implications for more effective reading lessons 48 v 5.3 Limitations .48 5.4 Suggestions for further research .49 REFERENCES 50 APPENDIX A .53 APPENDIX B .55 APPENDIX C .57 APPENDIX D .57 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, English has become an international communicative language It is widely used in many parts of the world Therefore, learning English has been considered a very important duty of many students One of the most important skills in learning English as well as other language is reading skill Reading skill not only helps students get more information and widen their mind but also enables them develop language skills such as speaking, listening, writing Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills for understanding the content that is actually being read Reading is something that you can on your own and that greatly broadens your vocabulary, thus helping you in speaking (and in listening and writing) Reading is therefore a highly valuable skill and activity, and it is recommended that English learners try to read as much as possible in English Having good reading comprehension skill is also necessary for passing academic achievement tests and for being able to read effectively for one's career On the other hand, having poor reading comprehension skills can make it difficult for readers to understand the texts they read, identify themes in stories, associate what they read with prior knowledge and grasp the main idea of a text Many teachers find that their teaching style does not match the learning style of some of their students The good step is that using graphic organizers to prepare and present lessons can have a powerful effect on the students While the lesson presentation follows the natural teaching style, students can create a graphic organizers that matches their learning style Instead of trying to fit a mould, they can take notes that feel natural, are easily remembered and suited to their individual style This makes the best teacher in the world Many teachers and lecturers are already adapting graphic organizers to create powerful classroom presentations, innovative handouts, and an unforgettable experience for their students Others are using advanced graphic organizers to tackle larger classroom projects like innovative long range educational planning or weekly lesson management that really meets the needs of individual students It is undeniable that the English language has gained more and more significance in every aspect of society in general and in education in particular Realizing the importance of English in education, many policies and renovations have been promulgated in teaching and learning English during the recent years In an attempt to innovate Vietnamese education to meet the demand of the society in the process of integration and development, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has reformed English textbooks concentrating on the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing for secondary school students since the school year 2006-2007, With this reform, both teachers and students have certain advantages and disadvantages in mastering the four skills in the process of teaching and learning English Of the four skills, reading, in general, is considered the most difficult not only students but teachers to master In reading section in the textbook “English 7”, students are asked to perform tasks of various kinds such as make out the main ideas, understand the main topic, sentence, paragraph, etc However, it seems that some of the reading tasks in the new textbooks have not supported students’ language acquisition appropriately Besides, teachers also face certain difficulties in teaching reading skills For many years, teaching reading comprehension was based on a concept of reading as the application of a set of isolated skills such as identifying words, finding main ideas, identifying cause and effect relationships, comparing and contrasting, and sequencing Teaching reading comprehension was viewed as a mastery of these skills My students think that it is very difficult to learn reading skill I think one of the most powerful tools can be used to improve our reading comprehension is graphic organizers Using graphic organizers that show the relationships between concepts visually and using group reading and tutoring can also help students develop their reading comprehension skills When I have graduated university, I applied for a job at Ben Thuy secondary school I teach English subject as a second language There are four skills each lesson but my favorite skill is teaching reading because from the text, students can be easy to use words, structures, sentence to communicate with many people There is some difficulty in the reading text, They not understand how to answer the questions So this is a problem that I should worry and find out the way to help them I think that whenever reading, they also understand all the information Some of them may not have had enough time to read, they read very quickly but little result I think it depends on the level of reading They have not used right skill It made them get little information Being a teacher of English at secondary school for eleven years, there searcher has understood the reality of teaching reading in English The researcher realizes that the secondary school students in general and 7th form students in particular not acquire reading skill efficiently They seem to follow these requirements of reading tasks in each lesson in order without achieving the objectives of the lesson through completing the main tasks with appropriate skills Because of the practicality in teaching English reading, this study was carried out, entitling “A study on using graphic organizers to improve reading comprehension skills for secondary school students” The purpose of the study is to find out if graphic organizers can help students read more effectively The study is intended to investigate types of activities teachers use in their reading classes and the efficiency of these activities as well In addition, it also seeks to find out to what certain extent these activities have influence on students’ study achievements Finally, through the study, some suggestions are offered so that teachers can use graphic organizers for doing tasks in the textbook appropriately to improve students” reading skill Hopefully that the results of this study would be shared with any colleagues who had the same problem or anyone who is interested in this study 1.2 Aims of the Study The study aimed to help students develop reading comprehension We find out the value of the students” comprehension reading level in the Text There were some benefits of teaching comprehension by using graphic organizers Graphic organizers provide an effective study technique when applied to written materials the value of level reading comprehension of students with the text (If there is any) Improving the motivation how the reading sections in the textbook “English 7” have been taught at secondary schools with particular reference to use graphic organizers 1.3 Research questions The study aimed to seek the answers to the following questions: - Will the graphic organizers help to increase student’s reading comprehension? - Will the graphic organizers help improve students’ motivation to learn reading skill? 1.4 Scope of the study This study was carried out at Ben Thuy secondary school in Vinh City The research focuses on how graphic organizers affect these students’ reading comprehension in reading lessons From the findings of the research suggested 43 Only when students are guided suitable and effective strategies, they are willing to challenge themselves to read more difficult texts and stories They will feel more confident and comfortable when they can complete the reading texts However, some students not get used to using these strategies They need much time to adapt to change their habit of reading These students generally continue to be poor readers until their attitude about reading changes It is hope that they would continue to use these strategies and skills throughout their academic career so that they can succeed what they in and outside the classroom 44 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 5.1 Conclusion The action research was carried out with the aim of finding the effects of graphic organizers on students’ reading comprehension at Ben Thuy secondary school and investigate the motivation how the reading sections in the textbook “English 7” have been taught at secondary schools It has been revealed from the data analysis that graphic organizers are effective strategies, which can help students, understand and memorize ideas These tools are helpful study guides for most students As far as the theoretical background is concerned, the Literature Review presented main points related to reading and teaching reading comprehension, such as how reading and its roles, approaches to teaching reading, or micro skills for reading Also, theories on reading activities were discussed because of their integral part in teaching reading skill Important findings for the study have been drawn from this analysis The results reveal that the application of graphic organizers in reading lessons can bring about desirable benefits to both teachers and students The most important finding is that the graphic organizers of given tasks makes students motivated and feel easier to carry out reading tasks in reading classes Since teachers are actually aware of these strengths of reading comprehension activities, they often use graphic organizers in their teaching process Also, in teachers’ opinion who like teaching graphic organizers in teaching makes their lessons more successful Thank to using graphic organizers that many teachers prefer teaching reading period However, using graphic organizers in reality is still limited due to such many subjective and objective reasons as limited time, class size, mix-leveled 45 students, lack of facilities, unsuitable provided activities, students’ learning style, etc Thus, to some extent, the research has discovered the reality of teaching and learning the reading sections in the new textbook “English 7” through the findings drawn from the treatment Moreover, the graphic organizers are also best method for teachers following it to teach reading skill It makes students comfortable make into group and individual group to learn well from the sentence The students can look at the graphic organizers on the board to imagine and confirm ideas in the texts Graphic organizers are not only useful with students but it only helpful method for all teachers teaching English Now days, graphic organizers used popular in the world and especially it was also used in many subjects such as math, literature, history, etc Besides learning from graphic organizers, the students can learn how to draw graphic organizers on the board or paper easily Therefore, whatever pedagogical approach is applied in teaching reading it is desirable that reading skills should be integrated into the work of the learners, which needs to be made suitable for their objectives and levels of ability A potential strategy to address to the problems of low reading and low interest in learning and teaching would be the implementation of task comprehension In conclusion, my attempt to inspire my students in developing reading skill, to a certain extent, is productive Both in class and outside class, the data showed that the students became more focused and they put more endeavor into practicing reading, this is shown through the improvement in their scores on reading comprehension measures Despite these positive findings the author finds there are still a few areas that should be improved in the future 46 Implications for more effective reading lessons Using graphic organizers help students read better and how to get the main ideas of the text Students can concentrate on the specific information and answer the questions more detailed Graphic organizers has become one of the most important strategies to assist and enhance students’ reading comprehension This is evident by the significant improvement in most students’ reading levels Students feel more accomplished and confident with the difficult texts They will feel more comfortable when take part in the important exams which require more advanced reading Students can use these strategies to approach the text Instead of just looking at each question and trying to answer it, they must delve deeper into what is being asked, using inference and questioning skills, to come to a viable conclusion 5.3 Limitations In most research projects, limitations are inevitable The study presented in this thesis is of no exception Due to the shortage of time and knowledge, the study has some limitations First of all, the study is conducted in a small – scale, which focuses on only two sources of data: questionnaires and tests This might be subjective on the side of the informants, so the researcher cannot guarantee the reliability of the information collected What is more, the area of the study is only restricted to classroom, thus any application outside the classroom context requires careful thoughts and consideration Finally, there were still some problems that this study could not solve absolutely during the try – out stage: the students’ poor vocabularies and the insufficiency of background knowledge This needs time to realize the improvement Hopefully, the above problems could be solved in other studies after this research in the near future 47 5.4 Suggestions for further research With the scope of the study, the recommendations are made for further research The subjects of the study were at Ben Thuy secondary school, a similar study on the students at other school would be conducted In addition, this study was done with the reading skill Other Studies in other language skills, such as listening, speaking and writing, would bring interesting findings 48 REFERENCES Bromley, K Et.al (1995) Graphic Organizers.Scholastic Brown, C L (2007) Supporting English language learners in contentreading Reading Improvement, 44(1), 32-39 Brown, H.Douglas (2001) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, 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S Cornwell (Eds).New Ways in Teacher Education Alexandria VA: TESOL 22.Tyler, B J., & Chard, D (2000).Using readers’ theater to foster fluency in strugglingreaders.Reading and Writing Quarterly, 16(2).163-168 23.Wallace, C (2007) Vocabulary: The key to teaching English language learners to read Reading Improvement, 44(4), 189+ 24.Wallace, M.J 1998 Action Research for Language Teacher.CUP 25.William, E (1990) Reading in the Language Classroom Oxford: Macmilian Publishers Limited 26.Williams, E (1984) Reading in The Language Classroom London: Macmillan Publisher Ltd 27.Wolf, M., & Katzir-Cohen, T (2001) Reading fluency and its intervention Scientific studies of reading, 5(3), 211-239 28.Wood, F.B., Flowers, L., and Grigorenko, E (2001) On the functional neuroanatomy of fluency or why walking is just as important to reading as talking is In M Wolf (Ed.), Dyslexia, fluency, and the brain Timonium: York Press 50 51 APPENDIX A PRE-TEST Task 1: Read the total passage once and record your reading time Task 2: Select the answer which is most accurate according to the information given in the passage TIME READING COMPREHENSION Read the article about Dimitris Are sentences 1-7 'Right' (A) or 'Wrong'(B)? If there is not enough information to answer 'Right' (A) or 'Wrong'(B), choose 'Doesn't say' (C) Dimitris is 17 years old and lives in an apartment in the centre of Athens He lives with his parents, his younger brother and two sisters He’s a student at highschool and has been studying English for three years He also speaks a little German and French He’s not sure whether he will need English in the future but he’s planning to take an English exam as it will help him get into University Dimitris describes himself as being a bit lazy and likes to spend most of his time talking and watching TV rather than working However, he also thinks he’s a good friend and is always happy to listen if people need someone to talk to He usually spends his time going out with friends and likes to go to the cinema He really likes playing and watching football and his ambition is to play for Panathanaikos though he doesn’t think this is ever going to happen Questions Dimitris lives in a flat A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say He is younger than his brother A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 52 Dimitris studies German and French at school A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say Dimitris says he doesn't like to work hard A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say He likes to help his friends A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say He enjoys watching films A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say He thinks it's possible he will play for Panathanaikos A Right B Wrong C Doesn’t say 53 APPENDIX B POST-TEST Task 1: Read the total passage once and record your reading time Task 2: Select the answer which is most accurate according to the information given in the passage TIME READING COMPREHENSION Read the passage and choose the best answer A, B, C or D People usually sing because they like music or because they feel happy They express their happiness by singing When a bird sings, however, its song usually means much more than that the bird is happy Birds have many reasons for singing They sing to give information Their songs are their language The most beautiful songs are sung by male birds They sing when they want to attract a female bird It is their way of saying that they are looking for a wife Birds also sing to tell other birds to keep away To a bird, his tree or even a branch of a tree is his home He does not want strangers to come near him, so he sings to warn them If a bird cannot sing well, he usually has some other means of giving important information Some birds dance, spread out their tails or make other signs People sing because …………… A She feels happy B they love music C they want to tell a story D they know many songs What is one of the main reasons why birds sing? A They are in a bad temper B They want to give information C They are sad D They can sing many songs Which birds sing the most beautiful songs? A Male birds B Young birds which attract male birds C Female birds which attract male birds D Female birds According to the passage, a bird sings …………… 54 A to stop sadness B to tell strangers to keep away C to warn about the approach of people D to tell other birds to come quickly What is birds' language? A Their information B Their songs C Their singing D Their male birds Most birds usually …………… if they cannot sing well A give information in another way B warn other birds to go away C find a wife D fly in the sky What is the main of the passage about? A People like music B People or birds sing for many purposes C Birds like music D Birds only sing for fun APPENDIX C Pre-test and post-test results Pre-test results Post-test results 55 No Score 10 Total Number 13 12 60 % 8,3 % 15 % 21,7 % 25 % 20 % 10 % 0% 100 % Number 16 19 60 % 0% 10 % 6,7 % 26,7 % 33,3 % 23,3 % 0% 100 % APPENDIX D THE QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS The questionnaires aim at grasping the feeling and attitude of students toward reading comprehension and these strategies which are used in reading comprehension Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, 56 and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Part I: Give some information of yourself Age: ……………………………………………… Gender: male Female Part II: Please circle your choice(s) in answering each of the following questions Question 1: How important is reading comprehension? A very important B important C not very important D not important at all Question 2: How often you read? A always B often C sometimes D never Question 3: What are difficulties when learning reading skill? A Students’ lack of motivation B Student’s lack of background knowledge C Time limitation D Students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structure E Students’ lack of appropriate reading strategies Question 4: What you think about teaching and learning the reading comprehension skill in your school? A Topics are unfamiliar and difficult to understand B Students’ vocabulary is poor 57 C The teaching methods of teachers are suitable D The types of reading exercise are various E the length of passage is proper Question 5: How often students use strategies designed by teachers? A Always C Sometimes B Usually D Never ... linked to and arranged around a central concept or subject using a non-linear graphical layout that allows the user to build an intuitive framework around a central concept A mind map can turn a long... acquisition appropriately Besides, teachers also face certain difficulties in teaching reading skills For many years, teaching reading comprehension was based on a concept of reading as the application... points related to reading and teaching reading comprehension, such as how reading and its roles, approaches to teaching reading, or micro skills for reading Also, theories on reading activities