NÂNG CAO kỹ NĂNG đọc CHO SINH VIÊN KHOA máy tàu BIỂN, TRƯỜNG đại học HÀNG hải VIỆT NAM

This study was carried out with an attempt to investigate how the Marine engine students are interested in reading, discover what problems they have in reading and suggest techniques to

First and foremost, I would like to express my great thanks and deep gratitude to my teacher, my supervisor, Bui Duc Thuoc for his enthusiastic direction, comments, and adjustment

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Le Hung Tien, Dean of the Post-graduate Department for his instructions, his encouragement and his sympathy for us and his staffs for their assistance especially during our stay in Hanoi

My special thanks are for our beloved lecturers of Post Graduate Department, Foreign Language College of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting and useful lessons and also for their kindness

I am grateful to my wife and children whose support and encouragements have made a great contribution to the achievement of my study

And my thanks also go to my colleagues, my classmates, friends and students without whose help and data I couldn't have been able to finish my study

Haiphong, October 2007

Pham The Tu

This study was carried out with an attempt to investigate how the Marine engine students are interested in reading, discover what problems they have in reading and suggest techniques to help them improve their reading skill

The study started with the nature of reading, classification of reading and effective reading comprehension With an investigation into teaching ESP and learning reading ESP

at the Engine Department at Vietnam Maritime University, the study gives an overview on the University and the Department, exposes the reasons why the Marine engine department students need to develop their reading skill and how they are taught to read ESP, finds out what they are interested in when learning reading and so on

Finally, the study suggests some techniques to help improve reading skill to the

motivation and interest, techniques for training students to read efficiently and techniques for developing ESP reading materials

Chapter two: An Investigation into Teaching ESP and Learning Reading

ESP at the Engine Department at Vietnam Maritime University

22

2.1 An overview on Vietnam Maritime University, the Engine Department and

the engine room personnel

22

2.5 Linguistic features from findings, from materials provided typically different

from other English language materials:

Chapter three: Techniques Suggested for Improving Reading Skill to The

students of The Marine Engine Department at Vimaru

39

3.3.2 Help the Students with Three stages of a Reading Lesson 45

2345 Vietnam Maritime University

1 Rationale

It goes without saying that English is by far the most popular language of all Since Vietnam began its open-door policy, the English teaching and learning movement has strongly developed More and more people learn English in order to have a better work oppotunity Therefore, more and more foreign language centers have been set up to meet the increasing needs from English language learners People learn English with different purposes Some want to become interpreters, some want to become teachers of English in order to earn a living, some want to read English documents, or instruction books We can see a fact that whatever jobs people do, they hope they can learn to use English effectively

In Maritime field, English has been considered 'the language of the sea' This means English is the only language used by seafarers of all nationalities at sea and this shows how important English is for seafarers After graduating from VIMARU, the students of Navigation Department and students of Engine Department work not only on Vietnamese ships but also on foreign ships sailing around the world More and more Vietnamese seafarers work on foreign ships mainly for Asian shipping fleets Vietnam is now a

European ships for higher payment if their English is good enough Because of this, the VIMARU leaders always consider English to be a very important subject and encourage the students to study English well

It is natural that learners of English want to master all the four skills and so do the VIMARU students A ship crew is divided into two departments: Deck department and engine department Deck crews use more spoken English than engine crews because they communicate with other ships, agents, pilots, coastguards, port authorities, … Their English plays an extremely important role in safe and economical navigation of the ship Engine crews do not communicate as much as deck crews because they work in the engine room but they need a good English to understand construction books so that they can operate all machinery on board well, this also helps navigate safely and economically It is necessary to teach the students of the Engine Department to master the reading skill

However, most of them say they find it difficult and boring to focus on reading, and especially to acquire effective reading

From this fact, the teachers of English at VIMARU must do something new to promote reading skill especially among the students of the Engine Department It is time we gave them more chances and more encouragements to read

Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the researcher wishes to make a small contribution

to promoting reading skills among the engine department students, and as a result, the thesis has been titled as:

This study is aimed at:

Investigating how the E.D students are interested in reading

Discovering what problems the E.D students have in reading

Making some suggestions for ESP teachers at VIMARU with the hope of helping them improve their reading teaching

Suggesting techniques to help the E.D students improve their reading skill

To achieve the aims mentioned above, it is advisable to use quantitative method The data collected for the study came from two sources: E.D students of the second and third year and the teachers who have been teaching ESP to the students of the Marine Engine Department Survey questionnaires are used to collect information and evidence for the study

All comments, remarks, recommendations, assumption and conclusion provided in the study based on the data analysis

To improve reading skill for the E.D students at VIMARU, the teacher can make use of various techniques and a number of things will be done However, the researcher just intends to overview a brief of the current situation of teaching and learning reading at ESP

classes at VIMARU and to find out their reading problems, then suggest some techniques

to help them enhance their reading skill

This minor thesis is composed of three parts:

Part one, introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

Part two, Development, consists of the following chapters:

Chapter one, “literature review” presents such various linguistic concepts most relevant to the study as the nature of reading, classification or reading, effective reading comprehension

Chapter two, “An Investigation into Teaching ESP and Learning Reading ESP at The Engine department at Vietnam Maritime University” provides an analysis on the current situation of teaching and learning reading ESP at Vietnam Maritime University - learning requirements, teachers and their teaching methods, materials as well as material assessment, this chapter also deals with data collections, findings and discussion

Chapter three, “Techniques Suggested for Improving Reading Skill to The students

of The Marine Engine Department at Vietnam Maritime University” focuses on the suggestion of the study in which there are certain techniques for improving reading skills

to the students of the Marine engine Department

Part three, Conclusion, gives a summary of what have been mentioned in the study, the limitations of the study is also pointed out in this part More importantly, some suggestions for further study are provided

Chapter one: Theoretical background

1.1 The Nature of Reading

1.1.1 Reading

1.1.1.1 Definitions of reading

Reading is an important process and may be defined in different ways Here is how some leading authorities have defined the complex process of reading

demands of the situation Trying to define reading in terms of one single function is like trying to define a hammer merely as something used for striking nails Hammers also used

to pry out nails, to shape metal, to force things that don’t quite fit, and even crack nuts Imagination and situation work to define the function of a tool Simply put: reading is comprehending, interpreting, and applying textual material This definition implies that reading involves more than, and extends further than, the printed page The reader brings a great deal of information and experience to the page and extends comprehension beyond the information and perspective presented on the page” (Manzo and Manzo)

“Reading is a problem-solving process As readers, we try to discover what the author means while, at the same time, we build meaning for ourselves We use our own language, our own thoughts, our own view of the world to interpret what the author has written These interpretations are limited by what we know When authors create, they project their language, their thoughts, and their meanings into producing text Their creations are limited by what they know Because of the obvious differences between the language, thoughts, and meanings of an author, and those of the reader, reading can never

be an exact process Because the reader’s own language and thought becomes involved through the interaction with the language and thought of the author, readers can never be certain that they have discovered the meaning the author intended However, since readers are compelled to understand what they are reading, they interpret actively while reading in order to gain meaning, which is their ultimate goal The reader is as active in searching for meaning as is the writer in creating written language.” (Gooodman and Burke)

“Reading is a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language users, reconstructs,

as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming.” (Goodman, 1971:135)

“Written texts, then, often contain more than we need to understand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and no more, to obtain meaning.” William (1986:3) 1.1.1.2 Reading processes

Reading can be summarized by explaining a number of processes: Perceptual processing, Syntactic processing, Semantic processing and Mentalinguistic processing

Perceptual processes

These include the ability to transform sound and light waves and sound waves into meaningful chunks of information These abilities will be affected by the development of the visual and auditory systems Being unable to see or hear will drastically affect the development of reading skills as any shortage in either of these areas will respectively reduce their development

Perceptual processing begins at the rods and cones situated in the fovea of the eye This is where light is transformed into electrical signals that can be processed by the brain It is situated in the center of the retina Immediately surrounding the fovea is the parafovea and beyond that is the periphery Both fovea and parafovea are crucial to reading with the parafovea picking up surface information such as letter shape, word shape, and spacing/word length, while the fovea is where the words are identified through their letters The parafovea primes the brain with surface information just before the meaning is processed Often parafoveal information is enough to recognize a word When the context suggests that a certain word will follow and the parafovea has identified a word that is the same length and shape as the word predicted, the eyes will likely skip over the word, or words, and fixate on another word two or three to the right

Syntactic processing

Syntactic processing involves the ability to identify clauses, noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP), prepositional phrases, adjective (Adj), articles (Art), nouns (N), and verbs (V), and assemble them in syntactically acceptable sentences (S)

Syntactic development is measured by the mean length of utterance (MLU), which is based

on the average length of a child's sentences scored on transcripts of spontaneous speech

Each unit of meaning is recorded which include root words such as "want" and inflections such as "ed" (with the exception of compound words which are classified as one morpheme) Sometimes during the second year after a child has about 50 words in his/her vocabulary multiple word utterances begin to appear These utterances are telegraphic, usually without articles, prepositions, inflection, or any other grammatical modifications Children also begin to distinguish between actors, objects, and verbs at this time The MLU is closely related to both cognitive and social development, depending on working memory capacity which increases during childhood, and the language used by those around them Adults, and particularly mothers, tend to talk to the child's level of ability, also speaking in short telegraphic phrase to younger children and increasing the length of their utterances as a child becomes more able to process larger chunks of information, more complex sentence and meaning structure

By the time children are ready to read they are quite adapt to syntactic rules in spoken language and seem to have learned them without effort They can easily string together words into a grammatically correct sentence

Semantic processing

Semantic processing develops even before an infant begins to use words Words initially begin with a single meaning then become richer as the child is exposed to a wide range of words and experiences, some of which may be the same but used in different contexts, and some that are related to each other Meaning is assembled in semantic networks in which words are inserted in classes A dog, for example, may first represent a class of animals with four legs; a child may initially refer to a cat as "dog" Later these animals will be distinguished from each other and two classes will be formed

These semantic networks, or schemata as some have called them, include more than just linguistic information, they also include images, personal experience, and declarative knowledge (e.g knowing that a dog has a keen sense of smell because of being told so) They may also contain tactual and kinesthetic information, cognitive processing strategies, and metacognitive strategies These make up skills, or networks of procedural knowledge Semantic networks form relatively late as compared to the other aspects of language and continue to develop throughout life as new things are learned The development of these networks can be identified through word association tasks, as associated words tend to differ with age

Meanings within a semantic network are activated by each other, referred to by some as,

"spreading activation" Spreading activation occurs when a particular word is encountered that is related to another For example, when the word "fall" is encountered, semantically related words such as slip, trip, and autumn are activated to a certain extent, perhaps not to the extent that it enters working memory, but to the extent that if a child was asked "What can you do on an ice rink?", they may say "slip" before the more common response

"skate" Similarly, if a child, or adult for that matter, is told to say the first word that comes

to mind when they hear the word "doctor", the most closely related word in their semantic network of meanings will be activated rather than some obscurely related or unrelated term These words may differ depending on the age of the child and thus demonstrate the extent of the child's knowledge of the word; a young child might say "sucker", while an older child or adult might say "nurse", or perhaps "hospital"

Spreading activation helps readers predict the words that will follow based on what has already been read As described in the section on word recognition within the parafovea, if the predicted word based on spreading activation of a semantic network matches that of the word shape and length information coming in from the parafovea, the word is often skipped over

Mentalinguistic-processing

Metalinguistic awareness makes it possible for children to think about language, understand what words are, and define them, or knowing of language as an object It begins to develop gradually at a young age, through the middle school years, and continues to develop well into adulthood It involves the ability to use humour, metaphor, and irony, for example It also makes possible the use of story grammars, genre, audience, and styles, as reflected in an individual's writing, to help with comprehension while reading These are skills, procedures, and strategies at a thinker's disposal The ability to choose those that are appropriate, based

on a given situation, is called mentacognition The effective use of skills, procedures, and strategies associated with language involves mentalinguistic processing

1.1.2 Reading comprehension

1.1.2.1 Definitions

Reading comprehension - techniques for improving students' success in extracting useful knowledge from a text (Mayer : 34)

Reading comprehension plays a very important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It can be seen as the ability to obtain the information as required in the reading lessons as efficiently as possible Thus, three elements - reading text, background knowledge of the reader, and the contextual aspects relevant for the interpretation of the text - are involved in the reading process

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

“Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible.” (Grellet, 1981:3)

“Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader.” (Richard and Thomas, 1987:9)

First, a teacher must realize that there is a difference between strategies, skills, and activities For instance, a skill is something you can do; A strategy is something that helps you do that skill Also, an activity is an action of the strategy/idea where someone uses physical/mental materials to act out the strategy

There are several strategies for teaching comprehension Here, three strategies are focused upon:

(1) Making Connections

Readers make connections between books they read to their own lives Children can make these connections with what they read to their lives Teachers can help their students connect on a larger scale They can connect things from books to real world happenings By doing this, it enhances the students' understanding

Teachers can develop their instruction around certain components that help readers find the connections and help them comprehend The genre can range from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc When the reader experiences these and become more familiar with each type of genre, they learn the special characteristics and conventions of the genre The reader also can learn about how authors write about certain themes, topics, or issues Readers can usually find a topic they can enjoy from an author In addition, the style the author writes in can influence an appreciation from the reader

At first, making connections can be difficult The student learns from modeling by the teacher and peers The student learns that making connections helps with understanding They learn that prior knowledge helps them make the important connections

(2) Questioning

Questions are the key to understanding They take us into understanding Students need to feel that their questions are important Teachers need to model by asking and answering questions When students ask questions they have a desire to learn for understanding This leads to comprehension

There are several different ways a teacher can use questioning in their lessons One

is the teacher can share their own questions they may have when they are reading By doing this, it shows that students have questions about what they read Another strategy that may work for questioning is the use of a book of questions When the students are reading and they have a question about something, the students can make a list of questions When the class is discussing the reading, the class can help answer the students' questions Teachers seem to focus on questions that quiz the students to see what they know about a topic Teachers are starting to focus on a different type of question This question is the question that they may not know the answer to This question may require research by the teacher and the class Another question is one that they wonder about These are the types of questions that are likely to bring about understanding and meaning for the students

(3) Visualizing and Inferring

Visualizing is creating pictures in our minds When students visualize, they create their 'own movie' in their minds Teachers can use picture books that do not have words to help the students make their mental movies

When we read we create an image in our mind We create an amalgam - the conclusion we draw, the interpretation we create (Keene : 126) We read and create this image with what we know or have experienced Things come alive when we use sensory images Teachers can help give these images through lessons that evoke the thought processes

Inferring is being able to read body languages and expressions while reading the text To help the students find inferences in picture books is to focus on the illustrations The pictures give clues to help gain meaning

Inferring is the process of taking that which is stated in text and extrapolating it to one's life to create a wholly original interpretation that, in turn, becomes part of one's beliefs or knowledge (Keene : 153) It is also using one's imagination or the use of prediction Teachers need to have their students try to make conclusions about the reading and make reasonable predictions

1.1.2.3 Strategic Reading

The term strategic reading refers to thinking about reading in ways that enhance learning and understanding (Harvey : 16) Students do no only need to understand a strategy, they need to know when, how, and why to use them as well In order to do this the reader needs to use metacognitive knowledge Teachers need to teach several different strategies to help students use and apply them Perkins and Swartz (Perkins, 1992) have defined four levels of metacognitive knowledge that are helpful for gaining understanding These levels show the progress of the reader's thinking

Tacit readers - readers who lack awareness of how they think when they read Aware readers - readers who realize when meaning has broken down or confusion has set in but who may not have sufficient strategies for fixing the problem

Strategic learners - readers who use the thinking and comprehension strategies to enhance understanding and acquire knowledge

Reflective readers - readers who are strategic about their thinking and are able to apply strategies flexibly depending on their goals or purposes for reading (Harvey : 17) Teachers need to monitor the students' progress in reading When they do this, the students should succeed with the proper guidance from the teacher

1.1.2.4 Reading Comprehension Models

Bottom-up Models

In Bottom-up models, the reader begins with the written text, and constructs meaning from letters, words, phrases, and sentences found and then processes the text in a linear way In the process of meaning interpretation, the language is translated from one form of symbolic representation to another (Nunan, 1991) Without a doubt, these are text-

driven models so the reader plays a relatively passive role 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 in which the shortcomings of these models are stated Samuels and Kamil (188:301) say “the lack of feedback makes it difficult to account for sentence-context effects and the role of prior knowledge of text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension.”

Top-down models

In Top-down models, the reading process moves from the top, the higher level mental stages down to the text itself This approach emphasizes the reconstruction of meaning rather than the decoding of form, the interaction between the reader and the text rather than the graphic forms of the printed pages The readers proves his active role in the reading process by bringing to the interaction his/her available knowledge of the subject, and expectations about how language 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 his active role However, to some researchers, these models still reveal certain shortcomings because it sometimes fails to distinguish adequately between beginning readers and fluent readers Moreover, a purely top-down concept of the reading process makes little sense for

a reader who can be stymied by a text containing a large amount of unfamiliar vocabulary What is more, in top-down models, the generation of hypotheses would actually be more time-consuming than decoding (Stanovich, 1980)

Interactive models

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 the same time emphasize the importance of rapid and accurate processing of the actual words of the text Hayes (1991:7) proposes that “in interactive models, different processes are thought to be responsible for providing information that is shared with other processes The information obtained from each type of processing is combined to determine the most appropriate interpretation of the printed pages.”

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 a combination 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 in common, extensive and intensive reading are viewed differently While extensive reading

is associated with reading outside the classroom and fluency and pleasure in reading are expected as reading fruits while intensive reading, also called study reading, involves the close guidance of the teacher and require great attention to the text Students need to

“arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced” (Nuttal, 1989:23)

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) Although reading aloud is considered a way to convey necessary information to the others, it is an unpopular activity outside classroom

In fact, reading aloud proves itself to be advantageous for the learners because it helps them make the connection between sounds and spelling of letters and words, and assists the teachers to check learner’s pronunciation However, there are contradictory opinions about it While Nuttal (1996) says reading aloud is an aid for beginners to improve their pronunciation, Greenwood (1985) criticizes the overemphasis of the purpose

of “teaching pronunciation” through reading aloud

Unlike reading aloud, silent reading is more often used in both real life and classroom, and “it is the method we normally use with our native language, and on the whole the quickest and most efficient” (Lewis, 1985:110) Because reading is a very personal skill so silent reading is a more effective skill for reading comprehension 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 time but also understand its details thoroughly

to answer the questions, and finally the teacher can check his/her learners’ understanding easily and add reading materials and exercises suitable to their ability

1.3 Effective Reading Comprehension

1.3.1 What is Effective Reading Comprehension?

According to Ur (1996:148): Effective reading comprehension is a process with the following elements:

Cook (1989:14), however, suggests effective reading comprehension would be best viewed from the cognitive behaviors of good versus poor readers in different reading stages: Before-reading, While-reading and After-reading

1.3.2 Effective reading strategies

Good reading strategies help you to read in a very efficient way Using them, you aim to get the maximum benefit from your reading with the minimum effort These 6 different strategies will help to read effectively

Strategy 1: Knowing what you want to know

The first thing to ask yourself is: Why you are reading the text? Are you reading with a purpose or just for pleasure? What do you want to know after reading it?

Once you know this, you can examine the text to see whether it is going to move you towards this goal An easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and the chapter headings The introduction should let you know whom the book is targeted at, and what it seeks to achieve Chapter headings will give you an overall view of the structure of the subject Ask yourself whether the book meets your needs Ask yourself if it assumes too much or too little knowledge If the book isn't ideal, would it be better to find a better one?

Strategy 2: Knowing how deeply to study the material

Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of the subject, you can skim material Here you read only chapter headings, introductions and summaries If you need a moderate level

of information on a subject, then you can scan the text Here you read the chapter introductions and summaries in detail You may then speed read the contents of the chapters, picking out and understanding key words and concepts At this level of looking at the document it is worth paying attention to diagrams and graphs Only when you need detailed knowledge of a subject is it worth studying the text Here it is best to skim the material first

to get an overview of the subject This gives you an understanding of its structure, into which you can fit the detail gained from a full, receptive reading of the material

Strategy 3: Active Reading

When you are reading a document in detail, it often helps if you highlight, underline and annotate it as you go on This emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you to review important points later Doing this also helps to keep your mind focused

on the material and stops it wandering

This is obviously only something to do if you own the document! If you own the book and find that active reading helps, then it may be worth photocopying information in more expensive texts You can then read and mark the photocopies

If you are worried about destroying the material, ask yourself how much your investment

of time is worth If the benefit you get by active reading reasonably exceeds the value of the book, then the book is disposable

Strategy 4: How to study different sorts of material

Different sorts of documents hold information in different places and in different ways They have different depths and breadths of coverage By understanding the layout of the material you are reading, you can extract useful information much more efficiently Reading Magazines and Newspapers

These tend to give a very fragmented coverage of an area They will typically only concentrate on the most interesting and glamorous parts of a topic - this helps them to sell copies! They will often ignore less interesting information that may be essential to a full understanding of a subject Typically areas of useful information are padded out with large amounts of irrelevant waffle or with advertising

The most effective way of getting information from magazines is to scan the contents tables or indexes and turn directly to interesting articles If you find an article useful, then cut it out and file it in a folder specifically covering that sort of information In this way you will build up sets of related articles that may begin to explain the subject Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections If you read a paper often, you can learn quickly which sections are useful and which ones you can skip altogether

Reading Individual Articles:

Articles within newspapers and magazines tend to be in three main types:

News Articles: The most important information is presented first, with information being less and less useful as the article progresses News articles are designed to explain the key points first, and then flesh them out with detail

Opinion Articles: Opinion articles present a point of view Here the most important information is contained in the introduction and the summary, with the middle of the article containing supporting arguments

Feature Articles: These are written to provide entertainment or background on a subject Typically, the most important information is in the body of the text If you know

what you want from an article, and recognize its type, you can extract information from it quickly and efficiently

Strategy 5: Reading 'whole subject' documents

When you are reading an important document, it is easy to accept the writer's structure of thought This can mean that you may not notice that important information has been omitted or that irrelevant detail has been included A good way of recognizing this is to compile your own table of contents before you open the document You can then use this table of contents to read the document in the order that you want You will be able to spot omissions quickly

Strategy 6: Using glossaries with technical documents

If you are reading large amounts of difficult technical material, it may be useful to photocopy

or compile a glossary Keep this beside you as you read It will probably also be useful to note down the key concepts in your own words, and refer to them when necessary

1.3.3 Effective reader

Effective readers choose to read a wide variety of materials — biographies, novels for enjoyment, novels to challenge and inspire us, directions to find out how to put something together, or newspapers and magazines to find out about current affairs or investments Today's workplace demands many different kinds

of literacy Effective readers do not simply "practice" reading; they have a range

of purposes and objectives

Effective readers learn from their reading, and, as they do so, learn more about reading Think about reading a new author, for example, or reading about an unfamiliar topic as you read, you gradually learn more about how to read that piece of writing You become accustomed to the author’s style and catch subtle meanings Or, you bring more general and specific knowledge to your reading of the topic so that you can understand the text As an adult, you have a system for reading that constantly expands and improves; in fact, we call this system a self-extending system, one that enables you keep learning

To sum up, an effective reader must have the following characteristics:

• Concentrates on reading and is involved with the author's logic, word usage and ideas

• Reads with goals in mind

• Visualizes what is being read

• Associates new ideas with old ones through comprehension and retention

• Knows most of the vocabulary

• Can guess many word meanings from the sentences around the unfamiliar words

• Uses a dictionary to determine meanings of key and for technical words

• Uses critical, logical reasoning to assess and apply new ideas

• Summarizes new knowledge in own words

• Uses review methods with texts

• Integrates new ideas, facts and theories into knowledge already acquired about the subject

• Reads in phrases and thought units, not word-by-word

• Always previews material before reading

• Reads often for pleasure and to satisfy own curiosity, not just to complete course assignments

• Learns and can apply main ideas and find details as they relate to main ideas

• Makes use of both inductive and deductive reasoning

• Locates thesis statements, topic sentences, and generalizations

And an effective reader can:

• Call up relevant background knowledge

• Predict what will be learned and what will happen

• Make mental pictures or “see it in their minds”

• Self-monitor or self correct

• Use fix-up strategies such as rereading, creating pictures in the mind, and asking for help when sense can’t be made out of what is read

• Determine the most important ideas and events and see how they are related

• Draw conclusions and inferences based on what has been read

• Decide “What do I think—” Did I like it?; Did I agree?; Was if funny?; Could it really happen?

• Compare and contrast what is read to what has already been known

• Figure out unknown words

• Summarize what has been read

1.3.4 Obstacles to effective reading comprehension

• Density and abstraction

Characteristics of the reader

• Vocabulary level

• Previous literacy training (e.g in reading techniques)

1.3.5 Effective Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading comprehension offers a tool at judging the level of passage or text understanding while reading Effective teaching strategies offer various modules to enhance this skill combining vocabulary, fluency, phonics and interpretation skills

Reading comprehension is defined as the level of understanding of a passage or text Reading at the rate of 200 to 220 words per minute is considered as a normal speed of reading For normal reading rates 75% is an acceptable level of comprehension Various methods are used to improve Reading comprehension that include Training the ability to self assess comprehension, actively test comprehension using a set of questions, and by improving metacognition Theoretical Teaching (teaching conceptual) and a better knowledge of language can also prove of immense health Practice plays more pivotal part

in development and honing the skills of reading comprehension Self assessment with help

of elaborative interrogation and summarizing helps

Effective reading comprehension is the culmination of mastering vocabulary, phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension skills Person having good comprehension skills is considered as active reader, with an ability to interact with the words by understanding its complete meaning and the concept behind it Thus skill of reading comprehension

distinguishes an active reader from a passive reader who just read the text without getting its meaning

Reading comprehension aims at:

1 To let the better grasping of the context, sequence and the characters narrated in text

2 Certain parts of the text can confuse readers Reading comprehension skills works on this aspect to get the clear idea of the meaning of the text

3 Helps to create the questionnaire based on the text about its theme or idea It often helps

in better understanding of the said paragraph

4 It helps to link the event of narration with our previous experiences and predict the next probable event in the course based on the information given in the narration

Testing Comprehension reading has always proved a great tool in the assessment

of the student’ ability as it provides a feedback on the progress of student It also enhances the self ability to judge ourselves, provided such tests are carefully designed The carefully designed comprehension test is a cleverly constructed set of questions targeted at the summery, overall meaning of text including most important meanings of words The questionnaire can be of different types like open ended question, closed formats or multiple choice questions

(2) Know the structure of paragraphs: Good writers construct paragraphs that have

a beginning, middle and end Often, the first sentence will give an overview that helps provide a framework for adding details Also, look for transitional words, phrases or paragraphs that change the topic

(3) Identify the type of reasoning: Does the author use cause and effect reasoning, hypothesis, model building, induction or deduction, systems thinking?

(4) Anticipate and predict: Really smart readers try to anticipate the author and predict future ideas and questions If you're right, this reinforces your understanding If you are wrong, you make adjustments quicker

(5) Look for the method of organization: Is the material organized chronologically, serially, logically, functionally, spatially, or hierarchical?

(6) Create motivation and interest: Preview material, ask questions, discuss ideas with classmates, the stronger your interest, the greater your comprehension

(7) Pay attention to supporting cues: Study pictures, graphs and headings Read the first and last paragraph in a chapter, or the first sentence in each section

(8) Highlight, summarize and review: Just reading a book once is not enough To develop a deeper understanding, you have to highlight, summarize and review important ideas

(9) Build a good vocabulary: For most educated people, this is a lifetime project The best way to improve your vocabulary is to use a dictionary regularly You might carry around a pocket dictionary and use it to look up new words Or, you can keep a list of words to look up at the end of the day Concentrate on roots, prefixes and endings

(10) Monitor effectiveness: Good readers monitor their attention, concentration and effectiveness They quickly recognize if they've missed an idea and backup to reread it

1.3.7 Techniques for Reading Comprehension

What constitutes effective reading comprehension has been unveiled Mature readers not only convey their clear purpose, close attention, prior knowledge and sufficient vocabulary but also appropriate techniques for effective reading

Grellet (1990) provides three groups of techniques:

1 Sensitizing

Gerald Mosback (Practical Faster Reading – Cambridge University Press 1993) wrote:

“It is a good idea to skim through the passage very quickly first to get the general idea of each paragraph Titles, paragraph headings and emphasized words (underlined or italics) can be a great help in getting this skeleton outline of the passage It is surprisingly how many people do not read titles, introductions of paragraph headings Can you, without looking back, remember the title of this passage and the heading of this paragraph?”

One of the most common ways of increasing reading speed is to give students passages to read and to ask them to time themselves A conversion table, taking the length

of the text and the reading time into account, will tell them what their reading speed is and this will make it easier for them to try and read a little faster every time

The techniques are actually various, and in each case and for different purposes of reading, one proves to be more advantageous than the other However, hereby are some suggested approaches which the researcher personally expects to help readers get 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

Chapter two: An Investigation into Teaching ESP and Learning Reading ESP at the

Engine Department at Vietnam Maritime University

2.1 An overview on Vietnam Maritime University, the Engine Department and the engine room personnel

Founded in 1956, The Vietnam Maritime University (VIMARU) has been a leading university of Vietnam in the maritime section With total number of nearly 16,000 students who study 19 (nineteen) fields of education and constant-annual enrolment of 2,400 to 3,000 students, VIMARU nowadays has been being assigned for educating higher education level graduates of nautical science, marine engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, shipbuilding, sea-transport economics, waterway engineering and all the other fields relating to the national maritime sector Besides, the University also educates post-graduates of Master of Science (Msc.) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) in the fields of Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, Energetic Engineering, Naval Architecture, Waterway Engineering, Sea-transport Economics, etc

Furthermore, VIMARU is in charge of training for upgrading and refreshing courses to meet the STCW78/95 requirements of all levels of competent certifications (Master, Chief Engineer, Deck and Engine Officers, Chief Radio Operator, Chief Electrician, etc ) for the whole country

The Vietnam Maritime University is one of the most well equipped university in Vietnam with RADAR/ARPA Simulator, GMDSS Simulator, Engine Room Simulator, Main Switchboard Simulator, Steam Turbine Experimental Devices, Automation Control Simulator, Transparent Oil Hydraulic Experimental Devices, AC Motor Starting Experimental Devices, GPS etc

We are now conducting the international cooperation in the following fields: Implementing the EU - Asia link project on "Definition of the curriculum and training all the instructors for the start up of new and full circle of maritime navigation training and education in Cambodia", together with Antwerp Maritime Academy (Belgium), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain), Cork Institute of Technology (Ireland) Implementing the Project on enhancement of education, training and scientific research for Faculty of Shipbuilding which financed by World Bank and Ministry of Education and Training (Vietnam) Cooperating with the Russian Federal Academy of Science on remote

education at levels of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) and Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in the fields of Marine Automation Control, Shipbuilding Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Macro and micro Economics, etc

The Marine engine department and Navigation Department can be said to be by far the most important departments of VIMARU These two departments train students to work on ships, not only on Vietnamese ships but also on foreign ships Because of this, English has become the key subject for the students of the two departments

The Engine room personnel is made up of a number of officers, petty officers and ratings The Chief Engineer is in charge of the department and he is assisted by a Second Engineer, a Third Engineer and usually a Fourth Engineer, and sometimes an Electrical Officer There are two petty officers: a Storekeeper and a Donkeyman On tankers, there is also a Pumpman There is also a number of engine-room ratings including Firemen and Greasers Sometimes there are Engineer Cadets too

The Chief Engineer is responsible to the Master of the Engine Department He also looks after the day-to-day running of the department The Second Engineer is responsible for the maintenance of the engine room, deck and other machinery Engineroom watchkeeping duties are the responsibility of the Second, Third and Fourth Engineers The Second Engineer keeps the Morning and Evening watches; the Third Engineer keeps the Middle and Afternoon watches; the Fourth Engineer keeps the Forenoon and First watches The repair and maintenance of all electrical equipment is the responsibility of the Electrical Officer The Storekeeper and the Donkeyman are responsible to the Chief Engineer The Storekeeper is responsible for the storeroom The Donkeyman is responsible for lubrication On tankers, the Pumpman is responsible to the Chief Officer for loading and unloading oil and water ballast

Of the engine-room ratings, Greasers are responsible for general oiling and cleaning duties, and Firemen are responsible for looking after the boilers

2.2 Marine engine department students and ESP Learning Requirements

Most students of the Engine Department come from rural areas Before entering Maritime University (VIMARU), some students learned English for 6 years, some learned English for 3 years, some learned Russian or French and some have never learned a foreign language The problem is that quite few students have a good knowledge of basic English because most of them paid almost no attention to learning English at school for they spent

all their time preparing for their university entrance exams of Math, physics and chemistry About 30% of the students learned other foreign languages or have never learned It can be said that marine engine classes consist of students of mixed English levels and abilities Moreover, classes are becoming bigger and bigger This is a challenge for the teachers teaching English to the students of the Marine Engine Department

According to STCW Convention, engineer officers are required to demonstrate ability adequate to interpret engineering publications written in English and to speak clearly and comprehensively when making communications needed to perform engineering duties To sum up, when working on board, engineer officers use English:

to communicate with seamen of different nationalities on board about everyday life

to understand orders from senior foreign officers and make themselves understood

to give orders

to order oils, spare parts and stores

to answer the coast guards when they come on board for inspection

Especially to understand instruction books and other document relating to engines The fact has shown that engineer officers use English mainly to read instruction books on board that’s why reading is considered to be the most important skill for the students of the Marine Engine Department

2.3 Teachers and Methods of teaching reading ESP to marine engine students

In the Vietnam Maritime University, there are seven departments and each English teacher is in charge of at least 5 classes of three different departments About 6 teachers are assigned mainly to teach marine engine classes Of the 6 teachers teaching English to marine engine students, one used to be a Russian teacher aged 53 Three teachers aged around 50, the rest are young Each teacher is responsible for one class separately This means he/she has to perform his/her task with four skills simultaneously Hence it is not easy at all for a teacher to do well all the time with four different skills If he goes further for speaking, there will be less time for the others But if reading is placed an important post in the teaching syllabus, the other skills may receive less attention

In addition, some older teachers though experienced enough still reveal their limitations 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