A study on english reading strategies employed by second year bridge and road students university of transport and communications

1   1.1. Rationale Internationally, teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) has changed tremendously over the last few decades. Most significantly, the traditional teacher-centred approach has been replaced with the learner-centred one, which reflects a desire to explore ways of making teaching responsive to learner needs and interests and allowing learners to play a fuller, more active and participatory role in the day-to-day teaching and learning processes. Inherent in this approach is a shift in the responsibilities of both teachers and students in the foreign language classroom. No longer does the teacher act as the centre of all instruction, controlling every aspect of the learning process. Learners themselves now, more than ever, are sharing the responsibility for successful language acquisition and, in doing so, are becoming less dependent on the language teacher for meeting their own individual language learning needs. By giving students more responsibility for their own language development, language programs are inviting learners to become more autonomous, to diagnose some of their own learning strengths and weaknesses and to self-direct the process of language development. In the field of second language acquisition research, focus has been shifted away from finding perfect teaching methodologies to investigating why some learners are very successful in their language learning while others are not although they have made as much effort learning the language. Several studies that have been carried out by Oxford (1990), O’Malley and Chamot (1990) Nunan (1991), Rubin and Thompson (1994) and Cohen (1998) have shown that one of the most important factors that distinguish successful learners from unsuccessful ones is their learning strategies. In other words, successful learners do use some effective learning strategies to deal with problems that emerge during their learning process while unsuccessful ones employ inappropriate or ineffective strategies resulting in their failure in their language learning. This finding has provoked interests among researchers and teachers in identifying learning strategies employed by good language learners with a view to training bad learners to use such effective learning strategies. 2 In Vietnam, learning strategies have also become a topic of interest in recent years when the concepts of “self-learning” and “life-long learning” have been familiar to the ears of both Vietnamese teachers and students. Some studies into this field have been conducted with different types of learners to find out particular strategies employed by effective and ineffective learners such as Huyen Tran’s study (2004) on vocabulary learning strategies used by students of English at Qui Nhon university or Mai Duong’s (2005) on writing strategies employed by first-year students at Hanoi National University. However, studies as such are still scarce, thus, more research should be done in order to clarify particular strategies used in different settings and by learners of different levels. At the University of Transport and Communications, reading is regarded as the most important skill to the students because these students need to read a lot of English technical books and documents to support their professional studies. However, apart from some students who are quite good at English reading, most students find reading difficult. They often complain that they have little understanding of the texts they have read and hardly gain any knowledge from their reading. Having taught the Bridge and Road Engineering students for several years, I am aware of their problems and very much want to help them to improve their reading ability. Therefore, I intend to examine their reading strategies and find out the differences in the strategies used by students of higher reading abilities and those of lower reading abilities. Based on the findings, I am going to make some recommendations to improve the students’ reading proficiency. 1.2. Scope, aims and significance of the study 1.2.1. Scope of the study The study investigates the reading strategies used by effective and ineffective readers among second-year students of English Bridge and Road class (hereafter EBR) at the University of Transport and Communications (hereafter UTC). The study of learning strategies in other English skills would be beyond the scope. 1.2.2. Aims of the study The major purposes of this study are: (1) to identify the range of reading strategies utilized by the good readers and poor readers among the second-year EBR students at the UTC; 3 (2) to examine the differences in reading strategy use between these two groups of readers; (3) to inform teachers so that they can find ways to improve their students’ reading proficiency. In order to achieve the above aims of the study, the following major research questions will be addressed: - What is the range of reading strategies used by the good and poor readers among the EBR students? - How do the good readers and poor readers differ in terms of reading strategies employed? 1.2.3. Significance of the study The study is the first one to be carried out in the field of reading strategy research at the UTC. It helps give a detailed description of reading strategies used by the good and poor readers among second-year EBR students at the university. More importantly, it works out a classification scheme for these reading strategies. It also provides a thorough analysis of the differences in the reading strategies employed by these two groups of readers. The findings of their reading strategies can help teachers to understand more about their students and they can serve as the foundation for some recommendations on how to improve the students’ reading proficiency. They are also an important basis for reading strategy based instruction to be implemented in the future. 1.3. Methods of the study This study is to be conducted as a descriptive study that utilizes both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative analysis is employed through the process of data collected from a written questionnaire and think-aloud reports to examine the differences between the good and bad readers in their reading strategies. In addition, the qualitative approach is used to deal with the data collected from interviews with these two groups of readers. The combination of these data collection methods will help the author achieve the aims of the study. 4 1.4. Organization of the thesis The study consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is the Introduction, which states the rationale, scope, aims, significance, methods and organization of the study. Chapter 2 reviews the literature relevant to the topic of research and summarizes some selected studies on reading strategies, which serves as a theoretical and methodological foundation of the study. Chapter 3 presents the research methodology of the study. It provides information about the participants, the instrumentation, the data collection procedures and data analysis. Chapter 4 is the main part of the study that reports and discusses the main findings according to the research questions. Chapter 5 is the Conclusion that summarizes the findings, presents the implications and limitations of the study and finally gives some suggestions for further research 5 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews theories related to learning strategies in general and reading strategies in particular. It also summarizes some studies on reading strategies that have been conducted so far. All of these serve as a basis for an investigation into reading strategies which is carried out and presented in the next chapter. 2.1. Learning strategies 2.1.1. Definition Over the last two decades, the study of learning strategies has seen an “explosion of activity” (R. Ellis, 1994) with the contributions of such well-known researchers as Tarone (1981), Weinstein and Mayer (1986), Rubin (1987), O’Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990) and Cohen (1998). These studies have helped figure out a comprehensive overview of learning strategies. Concerning the definition of learning strategies, there have been some considerable differences in the existing literature. Rubin (1987) gave quite a broad definition of learning strategies: “Learning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly” (1987: 23). Tarone (1981) defined learning strategies as attempts to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language. These definitions are too general in comparison to the complex nature of learning strategies. Oxford (1990) claimed that “Learning strategies are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations” (1990:5). This definition is judged to be quite comprehensive as it not only covers the cognitive but also the affective aspects of learning strategies (i.e. to increase enjoyment in learning). However, Oxford’s definition is not sufficient in the sense that it regards learning strategies as “specific actions”, i.e. learning strategies are behavioral, and therefore, they are mostly observable. However, a lot of studies in this field have shown that learning strategies are difficult to observe as they are not only behavioral. 6 In an attempt to define learning strategies in a more sensible manner, Weinstein and Mayer (in Ellis, 1994:531) claimed that learning strategies “ are the behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learner’s encoding process”. Thus, these two authors see learning strategies both behavioral and mental. Their view has been shared by most researchers in strategy studies. The definition that has been widely accepted to date was proposed by O’Malley and Chamot (1990). According to them, learning strategies are “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information” (1990: 1). In spite of being quite short, their definition covers the most important aspects of learning strategies, that is learning strategies are both mental and behavioral (therefore both observable and unobservable), and learning strategies are individually characterized (i.e. every learner’s strategies are different). Because of its comprehensive features, the present study utilized this definition as the key direction in its investigation. 2.1.2. Classification of learning strategies Much of the earlier research (Rubin 1975 and 1981; Stern 1975; Naiman et al 1978) focused on compiling inventories of the learning strategies that learners were observed to use or reported to use. Rubin (1981) proposed a classification scheme that subsumes learning strategies under two primary groupings and a number of subgroups. Rubin’s first primary category, consisting of strategies that directly affect learning, includes clarification/verification, monitoring, memorization, guessing/inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning and practice. The second category, consisting of strategies that contribute indirectly to learning, includes creating practice opportunities and using production tricks such as communication strategies. An alternative classification scheme proposed by Naiman et al. (1978) contains five broad categories of learning strategies and a number of secondary categories. The primary classification includes an active task approach, realization of language as a means of communication and interaction, management of affective demands and monitoring of second language performance. Subsequent descriptive studies have endeavored to identify broad classes of learning strategies, under which a large number of more specific strategies can be grouped. The works of Wenden (1983), Oxford (1990), O’Malley et al (1985a and 1985b), 7 O’Malley and Chamot 1990) have made an important contribution to our knowledge of learning strategies. Wenden’s (1983) research examined the strategies that adult foreign language learners use in order to direct their own learning. She identifies three general categories of self-directing strategies: (1) knowing about language (relating to what language and language learning involves, (2) planning (relating to the what and how of language learning) and (3) self-evaluation (relating to progress in learning and the learner’s response to the learning experience). Wenden’s framework was devised as a basis for learner training. R. Oxford (1990) built on the earlier classifications with the aim of subsuming within her taxonomy virtually every strategy previously mentioned in the literature. Oxford (1990) draws a general distinction between direct and indirect strategies. The former consists of memory, cognitive and compensation strategies while the latter includes metacognitive, affective and social strategies. However, Oxford’s classification of learning strategies is somewhat complicated and confusing as she treats compensation strategies as a direct type of learning strategies and memory strategies as separate ones from cognitive strategies. Perhaps, the framework that has been most useful and generally accepted is O’Malley and Chamot (1990)’s. In O’Malley and Chamot's framework, three major types of strategies are distinguished in accordance with the information processing model, on which their research is based. Metacognitive strategies are “higher order executive skills that may entail planning for, monitoring or evaluating the success of a learning activity” (O’Malley and Chamot: 44). Cognitive strategies “operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning” (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990: 44). The last type of learning strategies is Social/Affective which “involves either interaction with another person or ideational control over affect”. (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990: 45). The subtypes of these strategies presented in Table 2.1 were identified by O’Malley and Chamot on the basis of their several descriptive studies on learning strategies used by second language learners. 8 Table 2.1. Learning strategy definition and classification (O' Maley and Chamot, 1990: 119) Learning strategy Definition A. Metacognitive strategies Planning Advance organizers Previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be learned, often by skimming the text for the organizing principle. Directed attention Deciding in advance to attend in general to a learning task and to ignore irrelevant distracters. Functional planning Planning for and rehearsing linguistic components necessary to carry out an upcoming task. Selective attention Deciding in advance to attend to specific aspects of input, often by scanning for key words, concepts and/or linguistic markers. Self-management Understanding the conditions that help one learn and arranging for the presence of those conditions. Monitoring Self-monitoring Checking one’s comprehension during listening or reading or checking the accuracy and/or appropriateness of one’s oral or written production while it is taking place. Evaluation Self-evaluation Checking the outcomes of one’s own language against a standard after it has been completed. B. Cognitive Strategies Resourcing Using target language reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or textbooks. Repetition Imitating a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal. Grouping Classifying words, terminology or concepts according to their attributes or meaning. Deduction Applying rules to understand or produce the second language or making up rules based on language analysis. Imagery Using visual images (either mental or actual) to understand or 9 remember new information. Auditory representation Planning back in one’s mind the sound of a word, phrase or longer language sequence. Key word method Remembering a new word in the second language by: (1) identifying a familiar word in the first language that sounds like or otherwise resembles the new word, and (2) generating easily recalled images of some relationship with the first language homonym and the new word in the second language. Elaboration Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of new information to each other, or making meaningful personal associations with the new information. Transfer Using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist comprehension or production. Inferencing Using available information to guess meanings of new items, predict outcomes or fill in missing information. Note taking Writing down key words or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numerical form while listening or reading. Summarizing Making a mental, oral or written summary of new information gained through listening or reading. Recombination Constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language sequence by combining known elements in a new way. Translation Using the first language as a base for understanding and/or producing the second language C.Social/Affective strategies Question for clarification Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanations, rephrasing, examples or verification. Cooperation Working together with one or more peers to solve a problem, pool information, check a learning task, model a language activity, or get feedback on oral or written performance. Self-talk Reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make one feel competent to do the learning task. 10 This classification of learning strategies is comprehensive and sufficient and it is applicable to learning strategy studies on four English disciplines. Therefore, the current study will adopt O’Malley and Chamot's classification of learning strategies as the theoretical framework for investigation. 2.2. The theory of reading 2.2.1. Definition For many students, reading is a very important skill, particularly in English as a second or foreign language. Concerning the role of reading, Carrell (1988:1) stated that “Without solid reading proficiency, second language learners cannot perform at levels they must in order to succeed”. Anderson (1999) also confirms that “the more exposure a student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase” (1999:3). Reading plays such a significant part in the success of second language learning and it is essential to understand what reading really is. However, the act of reading is not completely understood nor easily described. In a general term, reading is defined as “an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning” (Anderson,1999: 1). This definition of reading has been generally shared by other researchers. According to Rumelhart (1977), reading involves the reader, the text and the interaction between the reader and text. Aebersold and Field (1997: 15) share the same view on reading: “Reading is what happens when people look at a text and assign meaning to the written symbols in that text. The text and the reader are the two physical entities necessary for the reading process to start. It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes actual meaning”. These interactions, in their opinion, are the interactions between purpose and manner of reading and through reading strategies and schema. Purpose determines how people read a text. People may read the text to understand it (reading for full comprehension), or simply to get the general idea (skimming), to find the part that contains the information they need (scanning). Readers also use some mental activities that are often referred to as reading strategies to construct meaning from a text. In addition, readers base on their previous knowledge that they bring to the text to assist their reading comprehension. This prior knowledge is known as the [...]... collection instruments and analysis procedures of the study It also presents the advantages and disadvantages of each data collection instrument 3.1 Participants and settings of the study 3.1.1 Participants: The participants in this study were 22 second- year non -English majors specializing in Bridge and Road Engineering at the University of Transport and Communication Of them, there were three girls and. .. “local” strategies Anderson (1991) examined individual differences in strategy use on two types of reading tasks: standardized reading comprehension tests and academic texts The subjects were 28 Spanish-speaking adult students (18 females and 10 males) enrolled in university level English as a second language courses On the first day of the study, Anderson assessed participants’ reading comprehension... either of these two processes As this study focuses on reading strategies, the next part is going to summarize some outstanding studies on reading strategies that have been carried out 2.2.3 Reading strategies 2.2.3.1 Definition Much attention has been paid to the study of reading in general and reading strategies in particular Reading strategies are of interest for what they reveal about the way the readers... with a typical standardized test On a different day, participants read two passages from the Textbook Reading Profile, which consisted of academic reading passages taken from fresh-men level texts The subjects verbalized reading strategies used for both forms of reading comprehension The results of Anderson’s qualitative and quantitative inquiries demonstrated that for both the standardized reading. .. learning strategies as behaviors while others view them as thoughts and behaviors However, it is generally agreed that O’Malley and Chamot’s definition is the most convincing as it covers the significant features of learning strategies: both mental and behavioral (both observable and unobservable) and individually characterized The classification of learning strategies is also a complex work done by a considerable... subjects was native Spanish speakers of intermediate and high-intermediate levels studying English as a second language at a university level institute Her second group consisted of native English speakers learning Spanish as a foreign language in first, second and third -year courses Carrel first asked subjects to read two texts, one in L1 and one in L2 She controlled for content schemata as both texts... uses of reading strategies This combination of data collection instruments would provide a comprehensive overview of reading strategies used by my students This is also the approach that was successfully employed by in other learning strategy studies such as O’Maley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990) and Naiman et al (1978) The following part discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each data collection... information about the participants such as the genders, ages, number of years learning English and their self-assessed English proficiency Table 3.1 Background information about the participants Total number Gender of participants Age Number of years 22 learning English (years) Male Female 20 21 19 3 19 3 English proficiency 4 years 8 years 13 years 6 14 2 Pre-intermediate 22 These students belong to a. .. information Sarig (1987) investigated the contribution of L1 reading strategies and L2 language proficiency to L2 reading, as well as the relationship between L1 and L2 reading strategies Sarig’s subjects were 10 female native Hebrew readers who were studying English as a foreign language Sarig classified the data from think-aloud reports into four general types of behaviors or responses: (1) technical aids,... used in combination with interviews to obtain more information about the reading strategies employed by EBR students Six good readers and seven bad readers were given a reading comprehension task to do without time limit This reading task (titled “The English Language) that was adapted from Concepts and Comments by Patricia Ackert included 10 reading comprehension questions A dictionary was also provided . secondary categories. The primary classification includes an active task approach, realization of language as a means of communication and interaction, management. strategies. An alternative classification scheme proposed by Naiman et al. (1978) contains five broad categories of learning strategies and a number of secondary