A study on the techniques for improving reading skills to non major students of english at haiphong foreign language center, haiphong university

we need to show them the way; if they do not realize the importance of reading or simplythey do not like it, it is our duty to light them up, set fire to them, and add fuel.With this in

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in teaching and learning in Vietnam over the lastfew decades Demand for learning English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters itsinternational relations English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turnsout to be a key to open the door into the bustling world In any walk of life in Vietnam,you can find people use English; from the big cities to mountainous areas; from theinternational conferences to daily conversations, or just few pidgin words with theforeign tourists People learn and use English with different purposes, but there is a factthat they are trying to learn English with the hope that they can use it effectively

In Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University (HFLC), English is theforeign language dominating the teaching and learning programs for nearly 30 years.Despite a prejudice that learning English at a center is less effective than that at someuniversities, colleges, or international schools, learners at HFLC, regardless of their ages,always strive for a good command of English as they are well aware of their learningpurposes

Learners of English, naturally and obviously, want to become the masters of all the fourskills, and those at HFLC are not exceptions Though there are some who propose whatthey need is speaking a fluent English, therein they consider listening a tool for therealization of their goal, there also are some who say writing is necessary becausedocumenting reports, letters, memos, etc is what they daily deal with in their office,learning to read effectively remains the top in the targets of most learners here However,most of them say they find it difficult to focus on reading, and especially to haveeffective reading Some even say it is boring to start reading because there are piles ofnew words, and lengthy reading texts

From this fact, we teachers of this center have to do something new to promote readingskill among learners Thereby, if the learners do not know how to gain the reading fruits,

we need to show them the way; if they do not realize the importance of reading or simplythey do not like it, it is our duty to light them up, set fire to them, and add fuel.

With this in mind, the researcher wishes to give a hand in promoting reading skills amongthese learners, and as a result, the thesis title goes as:

“A study on the techniques for improving reading skills to non-major students of English at Haiphong Foreign Language Center, Haiphong University.”

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine the areas of difficulties in reading encountered bynon-major students at HFLC so that techniques can be given to help them improve thisskill

The specific aims are:

- to investigate the learners’ attitude in HFLC

- to find out the difficulties encountered by non-major learners at HFLC

- to suggest techniques to help learners better their reading skill

3 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims mentioned above, quantitative method is used, and the followingtasks are involved:

- Collecting data for the analysis from 240 learners of C level classes in 2005

- Assessing what difficulties are dominant

- Evaluating what techniques are best fit

4 Scope of the study

Though the study focuses on techniques to improve reading skills of the major students at HFLC, due to the limit of time, the researcher can just conduct survey

non-on learners of C level to investigate reading problems experienced by these learners, thensuggest certain techniques to help them better their reading skill Also, such follow-upactivities after reading are left untouched

5 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts

The first part, ‘introduction,’ outlines the impetus from which the author decided

to conduct this study as well as the boundary within which the study is realized This partmoreover presents feasible methods for the fulfillment of research objective

The second part, ‘Development,’ consists of three chapters:

- Chapter one presents various linguistic concepts most relevant to the researchtopic such as definition of reading, classification or reading, readingcomprehension, effective reading, etc

- Chapter two deals with analyses on general learning situation at HFLC, learningrequirements, teachers and their teaching methods, materials as well as materialassessment, this chapter also focuses on data collections – findings anddiscussion

- Chapter three emphasizes the implication of the study in which certain techniques for improving reading skills to non-major students at HFLC are suggested The last part of the study, ‘Conclusion,’ summarizes what is addressed in the study,points out the limitations, and provides some suggestions for further study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

1.1 Introduction

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the examination of concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic They are nature ofreading and reading comprehension, reading process, classification of reading.Moreover, what is effective reading comprehension and the techniques for readingcomprehension will also be discussed

re-1.2 An Overview on the Nature of Reading

According to Goodman (1971:135), reading is “a psycholinguistic process by whichthe reader, a language users, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which hasbeen encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction isviewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.” William (1986:3) shares the same view on reading when he argues that “written texts,then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makesuse of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning.”

Harmer (1989:153) views reading from a different perspective He considers reading

as a mechanical process that “eyes receive the message and the brain has to work outthe significance of the message.”

Though definitions of reading are numerous, none can certainly capture all the ideasand features of what reading is However, what they all share is that they try to find

out the nature of reading, and reading act, in which the readers, reading process, andreading message are emphasized.

1.2.2 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension plays a key role in teaching and learning reading a foreignlanguage It can be understood as the ability to obtain the information as required inthe reading lessons as efficiently as possible Thus, three elements - reading text,background knowledge of the reader, and the contextual aspects relevant for theinterpretation of the text - are involved in the reading process

Swam (1975:1) proposes “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he canread accurately and efficiently so as to get the maximum information of a text withthe minimum of understanding.”

Grellet (1981:3) considers “reading comprehension or understanding a written textmeans extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible.”

Richard and Thomas (1987:9) points out “reading comprehension is best described as

an understanding between the author and the reader.”

Though these opinions are not exactly the same, what comes up as a common point isthat reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, canrecognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behindthese forms

1.2.3 Reading Process

Bottom-up Models have been long known, and as for Cambourne (1979), it became

the basis of a large number of reading schemes

In Bottom-up models, the reader begins with the written text (the bottom), and

constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases, and sentences found within, and thenprocesses the text in a linear fashion In the process of meaning interpretation, thelanguage is translated from one form of symbolic representation to another (Nunan,1991) Clearly, these are text-driven models so the reader plays a relatively passiverole as s/he builds comprehension by moving eyes from letters to letters, words to

words, phrases to phrases, and sentences to sentences to identify their exact meaning.Samuels and Kamil (188:301), in which the shortcomings of these models are stated,says the lack of feedback makes it “difficult to account for sentence-context effectsand the role of prior knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in wordrecognition and comprehension.”

Next come Top-down models in which the reading process moves from the top, the higher level of mental stages down to the text itself This approach emphasizes the

reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form, the interaction betweenthe reader and the text rather than the graphic forms of the printed pages The readersproves his active role in the reading process by bringing to the interaction his/heravailable knowledge of the subject, knowledge of and expectations about howlanguage works, motivation, interest and attitudes towards the content of the text Apparently, the strong points of top-down models outnumber those of the bottom-up

as the reader – the central of the reading process as we personally assume – proves hisactive role However, to some researchers, these models still reveal certainshortcomings because it sometimes fails to distinguish adequately between beginningreaders and fluent readers Moreover, a purely top-down concept of the readingprocess makes little sense for a reader who can be stymied by a text containing a largeamount of unfamiliar vocabulary What is more, in top-down models, the generation

of hypotheses would actually be more time-consuming than decoding (Stanovich,1980)

The third type – interactive models of the reading process – is proposed in the

thought of the perceived deficiencies of both bottom-up and top-down models.Interactive theorists appreciate the role of prior knowledge and prediction, and at thesame time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actualwords of the text

Hayes (1991:7) proposes “in interactive models, different processes are thought to beresponsible for providing information that is shared with other processes Theinformation obtained from each type of processing is combined to determine the mostappropriate interpretation of the printed pages.”

To sum up, the appearance and popularity of interactive models show that interactivemodels can maximize the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of the separate use

of either bottom-up or top-down models

1.3 Classification of Reading

1.3.1 Classification according to Manner

Reading, according to manner, is divided into reading aloud and silent reading in

which “reading aloud involves looking at the text, understanding it and also saying it.”(Doff, 1988:70) Though reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessaryinformation to the others, it is an unpopular activity outside classroom

In fact, reading aloud proves itself to be advantageous for the learners because ithelps them make the connection between sounds and spelling of letters and words,and assists the teachers to check learner’s pronunciation However, there arecontradictory opinions about it While Nuttal (1996) says reading aloud is an aid forbeginners to improve their pronunciation, Greenwood (1985) criticizes theoveremphasis of the purpose of “teaching pronunciation” through reading aloud Unlike reading aloud, silent reading is more often used in both real life andclassroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language, and onthe whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis, 1985:110) Because reading is avery personal skill so silent reading is a more effective skill for readingcomprehension because firstly learners do not need to read all the words in the text,secondly they can read at their own speed and if they do not understand the sentence,they can go back, thirdly students can not only attain the main ideas in a short timebut also understand its details thoroughly to answer the questions, and finally theteacher can check his/her learners’ understanding easily and add reading materialsand exercises suitable to their ability

1.3.2 Classification according to Purpose

According to purpose, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading.

Skim-read and scan-read are necessary reading techniques for general sense or the

gist of a reading text

Nuttal (1982:36) says “by skimming, we mean glancing rapidly through the text todetermine whether a research paper is relevant to our own work or in order to keepourselves superficially informed about matters that are not of great importance to us.”Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the reading materialquickly in order to get its main points or the intention of the writer, but not to find theanswer to specific questions … When scanning, we only try to locate specificinformation and often we do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so.”Though these two reading techniques are important for quick and efficient reading,they should not be selected separately because a text can be best tackled by acombination of strategies So after skimming and scanning, students need to have the

products of critical reading, which would be “chewed and digested” as stated in

Francis Bacon (1992:386) that “some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Unlike skim-read and scan-read which to some extent still have something incommon, extensive and intensive reading are viewed differently While extensivereading is associated with reading outside the classroom and fluency and pleasure inreading are expected as reading fruits while intensive reading, also called studyreading, involves the close guidance of the teacher and require great attention to thetext Students need to “arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text notonly of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced” (Nuttal, 1989:23)

1.4 Effective Reading Comprehension and Reading

Comprehension techniques

1.4.1 What is Effective Reading Comprehension?

Ur (1996:148) considers effective reading comprehension a process with the elementsthat follow:

- A clear purpose in mind

- An enhanced motivation

- Appropriate reading comprehension strategies based on the purposes and motivation

- Good prediction

- Sufficient background information and vocabulary

- Close attention to the significant bits

- Fairly high speed

Cook (1989:14), nevertheless, suggests effective reading comprehension would bebest viewed from the cognitive behaviors of good versus poor readers in differentreading stages: before-, during- and after-reading

1.4.2 Techniques for Reading Comprehension

What constitutes effective reading comprehension has been unveiled Mature readersnot only convey their clear purpose, close attention, prior knowledge and sufficientvocabulary but also appropriate techniques for effective reading

Grellet (1990) provides three groups of techniques:

1 Sensitizing

- Inference

- Understanding relations within the sentences

- Linking sentences and ideas

2 Improving reading speed

3 From skimming to scanning

subgroups: significance and cohesion with understanding sentence syntax,

recognizing and interpreting cohesive devices, interpreting discourse markers, and

discourse with recognizing functional value, tracing and interpreting rhetorical

organization, recognizing the presuppositions underlying the text, recognizing implications and making inferences, prediction, and integration and application.

The techniques are actually various, and in each case and for different purposes ofreading, one proves to be more advantageous than the other However, hereby aresome suggested approaches which the researcher personally expects to help readersget better reading fruits

- Establishing a purpose for reading

- Activating and building background knowledge

- Previewing the text to build expectations

- Rereading activities for lower levels of language proficiency

- Building and monitoring comprehension of the text

- Adjusting reading strategies when necessary

- Reviewing reading information in the text

1.5 Summary

In short, this chapter focuses on the concepts useful for the accomplishment of thestudy First comes an overview on the nature of reading in which the definition ofreading and reading comprehension is focused Then, dominant groups of models ofreading process are stated Actually, each has its own strong points and drawbacks, sowhat should be done is combining these models to make full use of the advantagesoffered and minimize the shortcomings revealed so that reading process with its

models is always perceived as a “developmental process”(Vallette, 1977) What’s more in the first chapter is the classification of reading into reading aloud and silent reading in terms of reading manner and skimming, scanning, extensive reading, and intensive reading in terms of reading purposes Last comes in the first chapter is an

insight into what is effective reading comprehension and the techniques for effectivereading comprehension

2.2. An Overview on Haiphong Foreign Language Center

Haiphong Foreign Language Center (HFLC) was established in 1976 and has become areliable address for those who are eager to learn foreign languages In this center, thescale of study is widely expanded for learners, from children aged 8 to adults aged over

50, from school pupils to city authorities In this center, English has been taught withdifferent levels: elementary (A level), pre-intermediate (B level), intermediate (C level),and upper-intermediate (tertiary level)

Currently, HFLC has over 170 classes with nearly 7,000 students Students come heredesiring to have a good faculty of English with four fluent skills Generally, in the Center,students at A level classes occupy the largest proportion, next come students at B level,and the smallest is students at C level In the last few decades there has been anincreasing number of learners attending tertiary education In 1990, the number wasabout 6 classes annually, but it doubled in 2000 with 12 classes, and tripled in 2004 withnearly 20 classes These figures show that it is potential for teachers at this center toaccess to students of various levels, different competence, and variable requirements,thereby can develop their teaching methods as much as they can

Alongside with hundreds of evening classes, HFLC has full-time classes and classes forupgrading teachers Apart from this, the center also has training cooperation with othercolleges, universities, or institutes both within Vietnam and from other countries such asHanoi Foreign Language College, Hanoi Open University, English Language Institute ofUSA, Finish Lahti Polytechnic College, Irkutsk National University, etc.

Together with teaching foreign language and upgrading teachers, HFLC has taken part inother activities: translation and translating, giving assistance for teachers of English in thecity’s schools or other centers

With its new position as a member of Haiphong University (Decision No.84/2000 signed

by the Government on April 20th, 2000), the Center goes on with upgrading teaching andlearning facilities, training teachers, expanding the teaching areas

2.3. Learners and Learning Requirements

The learners of English at HFLC are quite different in age, sex, and learning purposes.According to statistics of the center, learners’ age ranges from 8 to over 50 This meansthat some classes of students are still very young, and they learn English sometimesunder the pressure of their parents In such cases, the motivation is not strong and clearenough There are also many school children attending English classes to get a goodability of English grammar to do well in their examination So apart from grammar, otherskills are not paid much attention to To adult learners, all of the four skills are essentialboth in communication and working management However, it is hard for them to acquire

a foreign language as their development often “fossilizes” into permanent error patternsthat no teaching or correction can undo, though they are well aware of their learningpurposes Of course, there are great individual differences, which depend on effort,attitudes, amount of exposure, quality of teaching, and plain talent, but there seems to be

a gap for the best adults in the best circumstances

Despite some clear distinctions in learners’ age as shown above, most of learners here arefrom 15 to 35 They are either students of some high schools or universities, who needEnglish for their study or future jobs, or employees at offices which require English forthe accomplishment of their jobs, or workers at foreign invested companies, in which

English is the key factor for successful communication The learners are, therefore,strongly activated

Also, there are a considerable number of teachers from different primary or secondaryschools in Haiphong whose English knowledge needs upgrading regularly These learnershave certainly experienced certain methods of teaching and learning English beforejoining the lessons the Center

With learners of various ages, language competence, learning purposes, etc., it is hard forteachers in the Center to find the best way to give their lectures, especially when fourskills of English are interwoven and required simultaneously but only one teacher takesthe class

2.4. Teachers and Teaching Methods

In HFLC, there are totally 65 teachers of English aged 22 to 58 Thirty of them hadformal ELT training in different tertiary institutions inside Vietnam The others hadinformal or in-service ELT training courses The oldest teachers have more than 30 years

of teaching experience, and the youngest just more than a year Three of them have everhad times attending intensive English courses abroad, mainly in Russia, Findland,Australia etc

The teachers in HFLC are assigned to teach at different levels, and different classes.Class time is often 1 hour and a half (equivalent to 2 periods), and teachers have to go toclass at least once a day In classes of A, B, or C level, each teacher is responsible for oneclass separately This means he/she has to perform his/her task with four skillssimultaneously Hence it is not easy at all for a teacher to do well all the time with fourdifferent skills If he goes further for speaking, there will be less time for the other But ifreading is placed an important post in the teaching syllabus, the other skills may receiveless attention

In addition, most of the teachers especially who used to be teachers of Russian and hadinformal or in-service ELT training courses though experienced enough still reveal theirlimitations in language knowledge and are not used to applying communicative approach

in their teaching They often attach themselves to the traditional teaching method, i.e

grammar translation, in which grammar and vocabulary always become the focus of theirattention every lesson and three teaching stages: presentation, controlled practice andfree-practice are dominantly used In teaching reading, the skill that learners demand formost as it is always in the testing list of any examination, or in the reading list of anycompany in which English is used, teachers resist in using teacher-centered approach and

it seems that they have never made reading an interactive skill New words or structuresare always written down on the blackboard and the meaning of every word is providedright away without any requirement for students’ prediction or guessing from context.Students are then ordered to read new words aloud one by one, frequently after theteachers After that, they are asked to read the text for the first time, sometimes withsome guided questions, mainly to find other words or structures still unfamiliar to them.Then, teachers again order the students to read This time is to answer the questions given

at the end of the reading text Finally, students are required to translate the text fromEnglish into Vietnamese, or complete the exercises provided in each lesson Actually, inall three stages of the lesson, teachers remain the center of the class and they seem to bepracticing a golden rule of traditional Vietnamese education: teacher is father andwhatever he says is true

From what mentioned above, it is apparent that learner-centered approach has not beenwidely used in teaching reading at HFLC The teachers still take the key role inclassroom activities and corner the students to be active listeners Therefore, there should

be more appropriate teaching techniques to change reading from a “hard nut to crack”into “a sweet cake to taste”

2.5. Materials and Assessments

English, as mentioned above, is taught at different level (A, B, C level, and tertiary

education) At C level, the book “Streamline English – Destination” by Bernard Hartley

& Peter Viney is used It consists of 80 units, which are covered in 160 periods (eachperiod lasts 45 minutes)

Because this book is designed as a textbook, four skills are at the same time emphasized

In each unit, the first section is a text, in which it depends on the teacher if vocabulary orgrammar is analyzed Also from the text, speaking skill is taught through discussion on

relevant topics set by the teachers Reading activities are also based on the text Whetherwriting skill is considered or not also depends on the teachers If they ask their students to

do follow-up activities by writing a paragraph or a composition, teaching writing iscovered Otherwise, it is left untouched After the text come exercises Usually this is thepart for learners to practise certain words, or structures, or phrases mentioned in the text.And at last, further practice exercises are given in the workbook Various forms ofexercises are presented but they are mainly concerned with grammar consolidation ratherthan communication or reading stimulation

Being a textbook, “Streamline English – Destination” provides reading passages of various topics but not theme-based They are about “job” (as in unit 5 and 6), about

“travelling” (unit 12 & 13), “food” (unit 41), “a day in a week” (unit 38 & 39), etc.

Mainly they are designed for the aims of teaching grammar more than reading skill Forexample, unit two emphasizes the way to present greetings, introductions, enquiries,responses, thankings, apologies Unit four introduces the use of future perfect Unit 5, 6,

7 is about “verb + ing form” and “verb + infinitive”

Moreover, of total 80 units presented in the book, 33 are reading texts A large number(40) are presented in form of dialogues or daily conversations Five of them are justpictures to serve the purpose of teaching description or listening and one is for grammarconsolidation

Furthermore, reading texts are not designed specially for teaching reading so readingactivities are not set: no pre-reading activities, no while-reading activities and no post-reading activities What are given at the end of the reading texts are exercises forgrammar revision In addition, all the reading texts are presented in form of a narrative.Thus, learners will not have chance to get access to varied forms of text presentation.From the combination of the four skills in one text, and probably poor organization of thebook, teachers at HFLC find it hard to develop intensively each skill separately,especially reading What they often do in reading lessons are writing the words andstructures possibly new on the blackboard, explaining their meanings mainly dictionarybut not contextual ones, then ordering the students to read for the first time usuallywithout purposes but to find the words or phrases that still remain unfamiliar After that

the teachers explain any words that come in lists then ask the students to read the text forthe second time and do the exercises given.

Seemingly, various topics given in the reading texts are beneficial for readingcomprehension development However, these are not designed for reading skillimprovement, so it is hard for the teachers to foster their students’ reading ability if they

do not set tasks for reading and employ suitable reading techniques Teachers at HFLChave already tried some ways such as providing further practice reading exercises butthese materials are not well systemized and reading topics are not closely related to oneanother These are certainly temporary solutions, so goals should be set for a long-termmeasure in which appropriate techniques must be worked out to improve reading skill forlearners

2.6. Data Collection, Findings and Discussion

2.6.1 Data Collection

2.6.1.1 The Subject

The survey was conducted with the participation of 240 learners (aged 14-45) at 6 C levelclasses in 2005 These classes did not start at the same time This means the students arenot learning the same lesson when the survey is carried out However, they have ever

finished unit 40 in the book Streamline English – Destination, so they all know what their

teacher in each practice skill often presents Of the learners, 46 of them are from 14 to 18years old; 20 are from 31 to 45, and the rest from 18 to 30 The youngest group (from 14

to 18) is attending secondary and upper secondary school education, and the oldest (from30-45) are holding certain positions in many offices and they have ever graduated fromuniversity or colleges All of them have one thing in common, that is they all officially orunofficially experienced at least three years learning English These figures show that thedata collected from the survey will surely be reliable because the learners are well aware

of their mission, and have enough knowledge of English to answer the questions given

2.6.1.2 Instrument for Data Collection

To arrive at the reliable data, survey was conducted and questionnaires were administered

to 240 learners of 6 C level classes The questionnaire used as instrument for datacollection was designed to get information concerning:

1 Students’ attitude towards the reading text in Streamline English – Destination

4 Students’ activities before reading the text (Question 10-11)

5 Students’ activities while reading the text (Question 12-15)

6 Students’ activities after finishing text reading (Question 16-18)

All the questions in the survey were designed with a hope that the researcher can get thestudents’ opinions about the reading material they are using, the teachers they arecontacting with, and the methods of teaching reading they are adapting to Thesequestions were close to the techniques that the researcher expects to be appropriate forthe improvement of students’ reading ability

2.6.2 Findings and Discussion

2.6.2.1. Students’ attitude towards the reading text in Streamline English –

Destination (Question 1&2)

very small number (2.5%) agree that the reading texts are very interesting It is actually acontradict when 25% think it interesting to read the texts and a nearly equal number(22.5%) state it is boring

As for the length of the reading texts, a large number (53.3%) suppose it is moderate Butnot a small number (30%) consider the readings texts short 4.1% of the students involved

in the survey choose the option that the reading texts are very long and 12.5% decide theyare long

The figures indicate that it is acceptable to use this book because three times as much asthe number of students who consider the reading texts are boring (75%) agree that thesetexts are interesting and rather interesting and most of them say the length of the readingtexts are suitable with their ability However, more attention should be paid to figure outthe reasons why not a small number of students do not feel like the reading section.Therefore, it should be first the teacher’s task to sort out and apply appropriate teachingtechniques in order to stimulate their students’ interest for the book The teacher with histechniques is like a good cook, in food-art with his own recipe, who can make nice dishes

to suit the taste however simple the ingredients may be

2.6.2.2 Students’ attitude towards the way their teachers create reading interest

and motivate them (Question 3-6)

As shown in Table 2, most of the teachers often create the interest for their reading lessons

by presenting some new words and structures on the blackboard (50% students agree that).Just a few students (4.1% equivalent to 10 students) say their teachers often give guidingquestions to help them think about the text before they go ahead and not a large number(14.1%) suppose their teachers give brief introduction to the text before start Perhaps theteachers think new words and structures usually remain the obstacles to their students’

concentration However, if this is the major problem of the students’ readingcomprehension, why there are only 4.1% students say they are much interested and 33.3%rather interested in the way their teachers create reading interest in compared with 50% sayjust little and 12.5% not at all.

The figures show that there must be certain changes in the way the teachers create readinginterest for their students It can be inferred that most of teachers at HFLC apply thetraditional way of teaching reading English By writing words and structures down on theblackboard in presentation section, they will not be able to activate their students to guessthe word meanings or to predict the content of the reading texts The students, as a result,become very passive

Also in Table 2 we can see how much the students are interested in the way their teachersmotivate them as well as what their teachers often do to motivate A majority of theteachers (69.9%) often try to motivate their students every reading lesson However just afew teachers (3.3%) attempt to help their students understand the purpose of the text Most

of them (50%) activate their students by provide them any words or structures that they askfor It is surprising that only 16.6% of the teachers set some tasks for their students beforereading but up to 25% ignore the effectiveness of motivation as asking the students readstraightaway This figure indicates that the teachers realize the importance of motivation fortheir students in every reading lesson And this attitude is well-worth However, the ways inuse are not appropriate as it is shown that a very low number of students (4.1%) say muchinterested but 8.3% say not at all and up to 50% agree just little

2.6.2.3 Teachers’ activities towards their students in the reading lesson

The summary of the ratings of what teachers often ask their students to do every readinglesson given in Table 3 signals that the teachers are aware of their duty in class Theyhave attempted to help their students understand what should be done to get a goodcomprehension of the reading text However, what they do indicates that teacher-centeredapproach is still widely used in HFLC Most of the students (66.6%) say their teachersrarely help them to be aware of the purpose of their reading They added that theirreading purpose is always to get information (but exactly what is seldom suggested) andanswer the questions at the end of the section 17.5% say sometimes and only 3.3%usually The number of the students who suppose that their teachers never help them tounderstand their reading purpose is only 4.1%.

Also from Table 3, it is a big surprise to know that teachers scarcely help their studentsunderstand the text before hand by asking them to predict the content of the text Only2.5% of the students answer they often follow this activity Also astonishingly, whenexactly the same number (2.5%) propose their teachers ask them to scan it and 6.3% saythey often skim the text However, it is ironical when these students themselves revealthat they do not know exactly what skim or scan is What they have in mind for theseskills is reading as quickly as possible for the first time It is foreseeable when 78.6%agree that their teachers often ask them to move their eyes line by line for unknownwords or structures

The numbers in Table 3 also indicate that teachers at HFLC are not well aware of theimportance of extensive reading or more exactly they do not recognize the importance ofencouraging their students have extensive reading habit Of 240 students questioned,71.8% answer they sometimes have extensive reading, 10.8% say they rarely, and 8.2%say never Only 8.3% agree they have such reading habit

Clearly, students are not encouraged in extensive reading And actually this is ashortcoming because the teachers must be those who stimulate their students passion inreading by extensive materials, and it is also the teachers who help their students feel sointerested in reading that they want to “digest” any pieces of written papers in hand Theyneed to realize that a tiny tip of games can have mighty power to get learners involved;beautiful songs reveal meaningful messages laying underneath their charming melodies,

and reading materials even small ads in newspapers or authentic novels are also the fuelthat adds fire to learners’ passion for the English reading.

2.6.2.4 Students’ activities before reading the text (Question 10-11)

The result is not better when students are asked what they often do to have an overview

of the text Only 5.8% of the students involved in the study agree that they often glance atthe title, the heading or subheading, however, this is not what their teachers ask them to

do Actually, this activity is resulted in as their habit but not a built-up skill thanks totheir teachers Reading the first and the last sentence of the text is also far beyond thestudent’s knowledge Only 2.5% say they often follow this activity It is unbelievable that25.8% of the students reveal they depend on their teachers’ suggestion for an overview ofthe text and up to 65.8% answer reading line by line is their best (more exactly theunique) choice

From this figure, it is easy to realize that teachers of reading at HFLC- HPU have nothelped their students realize what they should do before starting to read In other words,the teachers themselves have not mastered the use of communicative method withdifferent stages in teaching reading as well as the activities set for each stage To getstudents ready for the lesson, teacher’s presentation such as writing down the new words,

explaining grammatical structures, introducing the main ideas of the text dominates theclass-time

2.6.2.5. Students’ activities while reading the text (Question 12-15)

of each paragraph in the reading text and the rest do other activities

Being asked what they often do to find the main idea of the text, almost all the students(80.7%) say they read the text attentively from the beginning to the end 2.5% and exactlythe same number (2.5%) respectively propose they skim and scan the text while admittingthat what actually is the nature of these skills is still unclear to them

When unfamiliar words or structures appear, most students (50%) rely on dictionaries forthe meanings or explanations 20% ignore them so as not to let them steal theirconcentration They added the whole content of the reading text does not depend on just afew sentences that do not make sense to them 6.6% agree that they do not know what to

do so they often stop reading if many unfamiliar words appear Surprisingly, no one saythey try to figure out the meanings of the words from the context but with the help fromthe teachers, and up to 23.2% admit, as a matter of fact, that asking the word meaningfrom the teachers is the easiest and most effective way

Also shown in Table 5, when students are questioned what they often do if they fail tounderstand the text, most of them (60%) answer they do not let that part distract theirreading process so they ignore it and read on 27.4% confess that they often ask theteachers for explanation and 8.3% say they give up reading 4.1% agree they do not know