Một số thủ pháp trong việc giảng dạy bộ môn đọc hiểu cho sinh viên năm thứ hai trường đại học quản lý và kinh doanh hà nội

However, through the time of using the “English-File 3” to teach readingcomprehension for the second year students of HUBM, I realize that both the teachers andthe students still have di

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

I.1 Reasons for the choice of the study

There is no doubt that the role of English in the life of any society in the worldtoday has been becoming more and more important The widespread need for English as aninternational language puts a considerable pressure on the education resources of anycountries In case of our country, since our government carried out the open door policy toattract foreign investment and co-operate with other countries, teaching and learningEnglish has become necessary Moreover, it is the English that is used as an effectivemedium of international communication It is the language of trade, science, technology,tourism, sport, music and many other fields of life That is the reason why at present,learning English is not only the interest but also the great and practical demand for manypeople, especially for student who always want to assess the modern world Therefore,English is now taught as a compulsory subject to all students at university in our country

Understanding the importance of English, all students at HUBM have tried theirbest to gain the first objective to become the economists with good knowledge of English.Therefore, English has become one of the main subjects at this university To masterEnglish, the students need to grasp all four skills that are closely related to one another:Listening, speaking, reading and writing Among these skills, reading is an important onebecause it does not only help student develop other language skills, but also provides them

knowledge on the target language According to Byrne, “reading is an important way of expanding the students’ receptive knowledge of the language and in terms of classroom activities, it is an effective way of simulating students to talk and write” As we read, we go

back to the time, pass across the oceans and barriers of language, religions and cultures.Through reading, we can escape into the mind of a philosopher, observe with a scientist,stay with scholar, analyze with a critic and live through a novel or a play

However, through the time of using the “English-File 3” to teach readingcomprehension for the second year students of HUBM, I realize that both the teachers andthe students still have difficulties in finding the effective way of teaching and learning the

reading texts in this book That is the reason why I choose the title “Some techniques in

teaching reading comprehension to the second year students at HUBM” for my thesis

I.2 Aims of the study

For the above mentioned reasons the main objectives of my thesis are:

- To understand more fully the nature of reading and reaffirm the importanceteaching and learning reading comprehension for the second year students at HUBM

- To investigate the real situation of the practical teaching and learning readingcomprehension texts of the teachers and the students at this university and find out thepositive factors and problems that affect the quality of teaching and learning readingcomprehension texts for the second year students of the university

- To provide some suggested techniques to help the teachers and students of theuniversity teach and learn reading comprehension in the “English file 3 Intermediate”course book more effectively

I.3 Methods of the study

To bring in full presentation of the thesis, firstly, I spend time reading books andmaterials available on teaching reading to get knowledge of the subject

The main method used in this thesis is the quantitative one which consists of thefollowing tasks:

- Collecting data and information from the students and the teachers at HUBM toexchange the experience

- Assessing the real situation of learning and teaching reading comprehension of thesecond year students and teachers at HUBM

- Evaluating the techniques that best fit the teachers and the second year students atHUBM

Besides, this thesis is also carried out through a variety of methods such as classobservation, informal interview and discussion with the teachers and students at HUBM

I.4 Scope of the study

Teaching and learning reading comprehension is an immense study Because oflimitation of time, the study mainly focuses on some useful techniques that are used inteaching reading comprehension to the second year students at HUBM Research onteaching at other levels would be beyond the scope of this thesis

I.5 Design of the study

The thesis is divided into three parts:

Part 1: Introduces the reason for the choice of the study, aims of the study as well as the

scope and methodology of the study

Part 2: Comprises four chapters

Chapter I presents an overview of the theoretical background of the research It isconcerned with various linguistic concepts most relevant to the research topic such as thenature of reading, classification of reading, the importance of reading, etc

Chapter II is a close look at present teaching and learning reading comprehension atHUBM

Chapter III shows the context, description of instruments, data collection and analyzes theresults to draw the findings and recommendations

Chapter IV offers some suggested techniques to improve reading comprehension to thesecond year students at HUBM

Part 3: Summaries what is addressed in the study, presents recommendation for

improvements and some suggestions for further research

part 2: development Chapter I Literature reviewI.1 An overview on the Nature of reading.

I.1.1.Definition of reading

People, besides the activities of eating to live and to exist, also have a demand forreading to widen their minds Only by reading a lot, can people grasp what is happening allover the world and get in touch with the civilization of mankind, because book is the

quintessence of the historical development of mankind Nowadays, with the explosion ofinformation, reading has become more important.

However, most people usually read naturally so that they can not give exactdefinition of reading Each definition only can reflect some aspect of reading Some peoplethink that reading consists of two elements: the reader and the text Nor they are all In anymature act of reading there is also an interaction between the reader and, the writer Truereading, thus, involves a triangular interaction between the reader, the writer and the text

According to Carell Devine and Eskey (1988:13), “reading is a process in that it starts with linguistic surface representation encoded by a writer and ends with meaning, which reader constructs There is, thus, an essential interaction between language and thought in reading The writer encodes thought in language and the reader decodes language to thought” In this definition, we can see clearly the interrelationship between

the writer, the reader and the text Moreover, Harmer (1983:153) also thought that

“reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive massages and the brain then has to work out the significance of those massages” Sharing this opinion, William (1984:2) pointed out that “reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written” It means that “merely reading aloud without understanding doesn’t count as reading” However, Hafner and July (1982:4) did not think

that understanding is known what the writer implied although they also mentioned the

understanding between the author and the readers According to their opinion, “reading involves the identification and recognition of printed and written symbols which serve as stimuli for the recall of meanings built up through past experiences and further construction of new meanings through the readers’ manipulation of relevant concepts already in his possession”.

In brief, each person can have a different definition of reading and we can not tellwhich is better because each of them focuses on one important matter of reading However,

we find that there is a close relationship between reading and understanding Therefore,being a language teacher, we must understand the nature of reading thoroughly to help ourstudents read effectively

I.1.2 Reading comprehension

If reading is simple mechanical movements of the eyes, reading comprehensionincludes mechanical and mental activities In teaching reading, it is necessary for both

teachers and students to have a deep understanding about the definition of readingcomprehension The students who study reading should evaluate continually what they arelearning about the reading process in the light of their current definition of readingcomprehension Many people have done some research to define reading comprehension.

Richard and Thomas (1987:143) state that “reading comprehension is a mental process that in the final analysis, only the reader fully understands Comprehension is what simulates readers to remember their past experience That knowledge is, then, used

in trying to get meaning out of print Meaning does not reside in the printed page but rather in the mind of the reader.” On the other hand, reading comprehension is best

described as an understanding between the author and the reader The emphasis is on thereader’s the printed page based on the individual’s unique background experience Reading

is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the authorintends It is the process whereby the printed pages stimulate ideas, experiences andresponse that are unique to an individual

Moreover, Abbott (1981:82) gives out a research on the nature of reading

comprehension According to him “there are two broad aspects or levels Firstly, there is basically visual task that of deciphering the marks on the page, the brain receiving signals from the eyes Secondly, there is cognitive task that of interpreting the visual information,

so one is not simply barking at point”.

From these above ideas, we can understand that reading comprehension consists oftwo processes: perceiving and understanding Perceiving process is one by which we canmaster all grammatical matters, pronunciation, and vocabulary in the text Understanding atext means working in the text actively and extracting the required information efficiently

In conclusion, in reading comprehension, the reader not only reads written graphicforms in the text but also recognizes the intention of the writer They are opinions andpoint of views which the writer had in mind when they wrote Therefore, readers canmaster the structures, vocabulary presented in the real situations

I.2 Classification of Reading

I.2.1 According to manner

1.2.1.1 Reading aloud

Doff (1988:67) states that “reading aloud involves looking a text, understanding it and also saying it Its’ purpose is not just to understand the text to convey the information

to some one else” In fact, it must be recognized that reading aloud is primarily an oral

matter so that for those who teach and learn foreign languages, it is closer to

“pronunciation” than it is to “comprehension” While it is perfectly proper to try todevelop the skill of reading aloud, it clearly can not be done using an unfamiliar text thecontent and language of which stretches the linguistic capabilities of the learners to theutmost Therefore, it must be admitted that the usefulness of reading aloud is limited First

of all, “reading aloud is not an activity we engage in very often outside the classroom”.

(Doff, 1988:67) Actually, in the daily life, few people are required to read aloud as amatter of daily routine, radio newscaters, clergymen, perhaps actors To the huge majority,

its importance is minimal Secondly, “the readers is often merely mouthing meaningless language because of lack of rehearsal and time to comprehend what he has to read aloud”

( Abott and Wingard, 1981: 82) It means that when reading aloud, the readers’ attention isfocused on the pronunciation, not on the understanding of the text Moreover, in theclassroom, only the reading student is active at a time, others are either not listening at all

or listening to a bad model In addition, some students’ speed of reading is very slow so ittakes a lot of time in class

In short, reading aloud can be applied for those who begin learning a foreignlanguage to establish the connection between sound and spelling But for the second yearstudents, their purpose of learning reading is more than connecting the pronunciation Theyfocus on understanding the text and doing comprehension exercises which can not becompleted by reading aloud because asking a student to read aloud means that he may lackconcentration on the meaning He may read correctly but after that he will not be able totell us what he has read It is very difficult to read aloud and understand the text at thesame time of reading So reading aloud might be a good way to practise pronunciation

I.2.1.2 Silent reading

It is obvious that by far the greatest amount of reading that is done in the world issilent A reading room is silent room Silent reading is the interpretation which is mostlikely for the term “reading” It is perhaps the nearest approach to the essence of reading.Silent reading can be applied effectively to teaching and learning a reading comprehension

text because reading a text silently helps students concentrate on understanding itsmeaning.

In Doff’s opinion (1988:67), silent reading or reading for meaning “is the activity

we normally engage in where we read books, newspapers, road signs, etc It involves looking at sentences and understanding the message they convey, in other words, ‘making sense’ of a written text ”

According to Doff, we know that silent reading is of great help in developingreading skills Students do not have to pay attention to the exact pronunciation of words,they will try their best to focus on the ideas of the texts Therefore, they can cover thegreatest possible amount of the text in a shortest possible time Furthermore, through silentreading, students can all read at their own speed If they do not understand the sentence or

an idea, they can go back and read it again So silent reading is a very effective in thereading comprehension process

Lewis and Hill (1985:110) find out that: “the simplest method of reading, frequently forgotten by language teachers is silent reading It is the method we normally uses with our native language, and on the whole the quickest and most efficient”.

However, the nature of silent reading skill is far from uniform It varies according

to the use to which it is being put

In sequence, the depth and detail of understanding, of comprehension increase as

we go though the ways of doing silent reading In all, silent reading is a useful technique in

a reading comprehension process applied to students to exploit reading lessons and it isalso a good way to help teachers control the class

I.2.2 According to purpose

Efficient reading consists of clearly identifying the purposes in reading something

By doing so you know what you are looking for and can weed out potential distractinginformation Certainly, different purposes require different kinds of reading skills.Therefore, according to the purposes, there are four main kinds of reading skills:skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading

I.2.2.1 Skimming

Skimming differs from general rapid reading in that the readers go through the textextremely quickly, merely dipping into it or sampling it at various points Skimming is the

technique that is used widely in reading comprehension Skimming may sometimes be theprerequisite of reading for full understanding There are many definitions of skimming.

Grellet (1981:19) states that “when skimming, we go through the reading material quickly

in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized, or to get an idea of the tone or intention of the writer” It means that the purpose of skimming is simply to see what a text

is about The reader skims in order to satisfy a very general curiosity about the text

According to Wood (1984:92), “skimming occurs when the reader looks quickly at the content page of a book, or at the chapter headings, subheading, etc This is sometimes called previewing” Therefore, the key that actually encourages learners to skim is to give

them a series of texts and ask them to select appropriate titles from groups of ones.Moreover, in order to teach skimming effectively, the teacher should have the studentsread the beginning or end of a text or a paragraph because it may provide students with astatement relating to the topic Skimming gives students the advantage of being able topredict the purpose of the passage, the main topic or message, or possibly some of thedeveloping or supporting ideas This gives them a “head start” as they embark on morefocused reading Skimming also helps student organize their thoughts and specify whatinformation they can get from a book so that the subsequent reading will become moreefficient

In conclusion, skimming is understood as a necessary technique for readingcomprehension which enables readers to get the main points of the text without beingconcerned with the details Therefore, skimming should be applied at the first stage ofteaching reading to help student have an overview of what they are going to read And it issure that they will understand the whole text later However, Skimming sometimes provestoo difficult for younger learners, or beginners because they generally lack confidence andthe knowledge of the language they are learning

I.2.2.2 Scanning

Like skimming, scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies.However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means retrieving whatinformation is relevant to our purpose Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a textvery quickly in order to find a particular point of information It is a useful skill worthcultivating for its own sake, if it has been cultivated systematically from the earliest point

in the course at which it can be attempted, co- operative work on the study of texts can be

greatly expected and made easy Francois (1981:19) understands that “when scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we do not even follow the linearity of the passage to do so We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information” With the same opinion, Mabel states that “scanning is the speed technique that helps you locate a bit of specific information very rapidly It could involve finding a name, date, place or statistic Or it might involve identifying a general setting in a short story Scanning is the technique you use when you read maps, charts, tables, or graphs It is the main skill researchers use when they examine various sources to locate information about a specific topic”.

Scanning requires two skills of the reader One of them is that they recognize thespecific type of word that identifies the item The other is the use of a different eyemovement pattern, vertical vision Nearly all the background reading required for thepresenting of a topic to the class by a group calls for proficiency in this type of reading.There is a great range of text suitable for scanning – indexes, dictionaries, maps,advertisements, labels, reference material, etc

In short, the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of information we canlook for and where to find it The purpose of scanning is to extract certain specificinformation without reading through the whole text

I.2.2.3 Extensive reading

Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving general understanding Itprovides valuable reinforcement of the language already presented and practiced in theclass as well as giving students useful practice in inferring meaning from the context of thetext

Lewis and Hill (1985:109) state that “extensive reading means students have a general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word” It is

obvious that when reading extensively, readers do not need to have intense concentration

on the content of a long text and total comprehension because the objective of extensivereading is to cover the greatest possible amount of text in the shortest possible time Inother words, extensive reading can be compared to the activity of ploughing through thetext in a uniform fashion Extensive reading is therefore regarded as means ofentertainment and pleasure And the reason why this kind of reading is essentially needed

is that it can promote reading out of class Students can read directly and fluently in theforeign language for their own enjoyment without the aid of teacher Furthermore, it is bypursuing the activity of extensive reading that the volume of practice necessary to achieverapid and efficient reading can be achieved It is also one of the means by which aforeigner may be exposed to a substantial sample of the language he may wish to learnwithout actually going to live in the country to which that language is native.

Basing on the importance of extensive reading, Nuttal (1982:168) shows that “the best way to improve one’s knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers: The next best way is to read extensively in it.”

The practice of extensive reading needs little justification It is clearly the earliestway of bringing the foreign learner into sustained contact with a substantial body ofEnglish

Broughton (1980:111) suggests that “there appear to be basically three ways the extensive reading may be encouraged, first by having class sets of title, second by operating a class library system, and the third by using the school library”.

In short, this kind of reading is necessary for students at University because itactively promotes reading out the class and gives them opportunity to use their ownknowledge of the language for their own purposes Moreover, this kind of reading isregarded as pleasure and interest That is why intensive reading is highly motivated

I.2.2.4 Intensive reading

The remaining two kinds of reading activity, content study reading and linguisticstudy reading are also often grouped together and called intensive reading

Different from extensive reading – reading for fluency, readers can read without theaid of the teachers and without understanding the text in detail – intensive reading is

regarded as reading for accuracy It “involves approaching the text under the close guidance of the teacher or under the guidance of a task which forces the students to pay great attention to the text in order to arrive at a profound to detailed understanding of the text not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning is produced The “how” is as important as the “what”, for the intensive reading lesson is intended primarily to train students in reading strategies” (Nutall, 1982:23)

Sharing this opinion, Lewis (1985:109) states that “intensive reading means students understand everything they read and be able to answer detailed vocabulary and

comprehension questions” The concern of such reading is for detailed comprehension of very short texts “ The objective of intensive reading is to achieve full understanding of the logical argument, the rhetorical arrangement or pattern of the text, of its symbolic, emotional and social overtones, of the attitudes and purposes of the author, and of linguistic means that he employs to achieve his ends” (Broughton, 1980:93) In other

words, the aim of intensive reading is to obtain the fullest possible response in thestudent’s head to the black mark in his book Response can not be achieve by instructionabout what he ought to see and feel, or by repetition of what others see and feel, althoughknowledge of what can be seen by others sometimes helps us to see for ourselves

In general, in real life, our reading purpose constantly vary therefore we can usedifferent ways of reading to obtain information Teachers should be active and flexible ineach situation to choose the type of reading to help students become independent andefficient readers

I.3 The importance of reading in foreign language learning

Learning a foreign language is a process which requires learners to integrate manylanguage skills It is generally accepted nowadays that reading is a key skill for moststudents learning a foreign language and that it should, therefore, take place alongside thedevelopment of oral ability in the school program From time to time, reading itself hasproved its importance in daily life as well as in teaching and learning a foreign language.And from our experience in real life, we find reading quite important Its importance isalso confirmed by many linguistics

According to Bright and Gregor (1970:52), “books provide most pupils with the situation in which learning takes place Where there is little reading, there will be little language learning” It is obvious that reading is a means by which further learning takes

place Reading is, in addition, an important way of expanding the students’ receptiveknowledge of a language, and in terms of classroom activities, it is an effective way ofstimulating students to talk, write and listen Being well informed by reading, learners canhave stable background knowledge, wide vocabulary and much information so that theywill feel self- confident to share opinions and communicate with others Moreover,listening will be easier if learners listen to the topic they have read because when listening,learners have to face up with many new words of a certain topic Only by reading can they

enrich their vocabulary so that they will not be stuck with new words, and they canunderstand the listening easily What is more, through reading, learners can practiselanguage in order to reproduce it in their own writing because many reading passages can

be regarded as models to practise writing Learners can learn how to make sense of the text

in order to extract the information they need from them to make their writing more variousand interesting Furthermore, learners are also able to learn the way of expressing ideas andusing new words, especially they can be familiar with the writing style of great writer aswell as native speakers In short, reading plays a vital role in teaching and learning aforeign language

I.4 Factors in teaching and learning reading

I.4.1 The role of reading text

One of the chief purposes of learning a foreign language is to bring near what isdistant, to get information which is inaccessible in the home language; we seldom read abook to find out about what we already know Therefore, Billows (1982:55) thinks what “

the role of the textbook is to stand for the distant and hardly accessible delights that lie behind the forbidding barriers of strangeness of language, the imaginative life of the child

as well as its craving for knowledge “ It is not to present, and give a foretaste of all those

books which the learner aspires to read and master

It is obvious that reading text plays an important role in teaching reading process It

is both the means to introduce phonetics, lexical, and grammatical items of the targetlanguage and the means to develop other three language skills (especially the twoproductive ones: writing and speaking) The importance of reading texts is shown clearly

by Grettet (1981:20) According to him, “it is obvious that being aware of the function of a passage is vital to its comprehension Therefore, one of the very first things students should be led to do is to find out whether the text aims at convincing the reader, giving him information, asking him for something, etc.”

Through reading, students can enrich their knowledge of the world They can beaware of the precise cultural value of verbal expression of the country whose language islearnt In addition, reading text also brings into classroom what is otherwise beyond it Itcan contain further uses, in an unfamiliar setting of words and sentence patterns whichhave been learnt and practised in the familiar setting, it can bring into classroom what

otherwise would remain out –side Furthermore, by reading a text, student are also aware

of the author’s attitude and purpose whether he is writing ironically, or which his tongue inhis cheek, or whether he is writing light- headedly or with humorous intent Especially,through the texts, students can broaden their horizon in different fields such as science,society, economy, technology, etc which are very useful for them to improve their otherlanguage skills That is to say, the students can effectively apply what they have learntfrom a reading text to different purposes of language study and communication Therefore,the text is of great educational value

On other hand, for teachers, reading text also helps them make directions to teachtheir students, because there are a lot of things that students have to learn However,textbooks will help teachers know what they should concentrate on teaching Withouttextbooks, not only students but also teachers do not know what and how to learn andteach

I.4.2 The role of teacher

Together with students, the teacher is one of the two main necessary elementswhich create the teaching process In general, the role of the teacher is to provide studentswith knowledge and the best methods for learning effectively The teacher is a means to anend, that is, an instrument to see that learning takes place Besides this general function,teacher also has specific roles in teaching reading comprehension process Although thesuccess in a reading class is how far the students learn without the teacher’s help, it doesnot mean that there is nothing for teacher to do in a reading class In fact, there is a greatdeal Without help from the teacher, it is difficult for the students to be efficient readers

Firochiaro (1989:23) points out that “in a reading class, a teacher should help the students comprehend printed materials and provide them with the knowledge and the ability to enable them to read other materials out of class” Obviously, in a reading class, the teacher

acts as a helper, and the students work actively Therefore, according to Smith (1985), therole of the teacher is to help students achieve three following purposes:

- Understanding the functions of print

- Gaining familiarity with written language

- Getting the chance to learn

In addition, Nuttal (1982) suggests that “there are two main things that a teacher should always remember in helping students The first is to provide the students with suitable materials, and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities”.

The teacher sometimes finds it difficult to select suitable reading material, becausethe first thing they have to do is to select a text which is at the right level of difficulty forthe students A text which is too difficult will make them bored Secondly, selecting textsthat interest the students is another important point to remember If the text provided isinteresting, and the students enjoy reading it, they will be motivated to read more, and viceversa Thirdly, there should be variety in the range and the type of exercises A text withmany kinds of accompanying exercises probably covers many different skills

Besides, suitable activities the teacher provides can focus the students’ attention ofspecific skills necessary for efficient reading Normally, there are three main activities in areading comprehension text which are called pre-reading stage, while – reading stage, andpost- reading stage Thus, the role of the teacher is closely related to these stages At pre-reading stage, the teacher has to make students be aware of what they are going to read and

do during the lesson At while- reading stage, the teacher’s main function is to offer help tostudents if necessary And at post- reading stage, the teacher is considered as a guide or anadviser to help the students express their own ideas through their understanding of the text

To sum up, the two main duties of the teacher in helping the students to be efficientreaders are to provide suitable reading materials and suitable reading activities To fulfillhis role, the teacher should know the reading skill that students need for reading

I.4.3 The role of students

Like the teacher, the student is also one of two main factors of teaching andlearning process This process can only be carried out when there are both of them Thestudents are not only the subject but also the object of teaching and learning process Inparticular, in a reading lesson, the students play the role of the readers The role demandsthat the students should make sense of the text for themselves It is the fact that the student

is the heart of the reading lesson and the element which determines the success of a readinglesson That is to say, the students must be very active in the lesson from the beginning inreading texts to get the right meaning of the texts Moreover, they also have to do otherexercises and maybe they have to encounter and solve the difficulties by themselves.Thanks to this, the students can accumulate a large amount of knowledge from the reading

texts and understand them thoroughly On the other hand, the understanding from thereading text is the chance for the students to improve other language skills, because onlywhen they really master the knowledge by themselves, can they apply it flexibly.

In fact, very frequently, the students deal with some problems which are beyondtheir ability, for example proverbs, idioms, polysemantics, or background understandingand so on In this case, to get the target reading, the students have work under the direction

of the teacher and take part in guided activities actively and attentively However, theteacher should only act as the guide and give the students some suggestions to help themthink and understand the reading texts on their own Therefore, the teacher can stimulatethe students’ creativity as well as their imagination If not, the students will be passive andthe reading lesson will not be successful

In addition, the students can be the important element that helps teacher fullil hisduties The teacher can not teach without the students On the other hand, the students arethe providers of feedback to the teacher through their expression and understanding of thereading texts Without the students’ feedback, the teacher does not know how to make thereading lesson become most effective Moreover, because the student is the heart of areading lesson, all the teacher’s activities are to provide the students with as muchknowledge as possible If the teacher does not know how much knowledge his students canreceive from his reaching, he can not have appropriate method for his students to studyeffectively Therefore, the student may negotiate with the teacher to find out the suitablemethod of study as well as select appropriate reading materials and activities Furthermore,through the students’ reflections, the teacher may find out his mistakes and draw up hisown experience to teach better and perfect himself

To sum up, in teaching and learning process in general, and in a reading lesson inparticular, the teacher and the students have the interdependent relationship The studentsneed to be active to take part in the activities that the teacher provides to understand thereading texts and do the exercises On the other hand, the teachers need to be aware ofproblems facing students to help them overcome their difficulties and assess the students’ability correctly to have appropriate teaching method Lacking one of the two elements –the teacher and the students, the teaching and learning process can not be carried out.Therefore, the relationship between the teacher and the students also makes them becomeco-participants

I.5 Organization of reading comprehension text

I.5.1 Pre-reading stage

This stage plays a decisive role in the whole process of teaching readingcomprehension, so most experienced readers employ pre- reading and other strategies tomake reading easier Pre- reading aims at introducing the text to the students and helpsthem make careful preparation before reading the text It is advisable for the teacher tocreate a reading motivation and a positive attitude towards reading for students so that theycan achieve a high level of success and become confident that they can read effectively

As for Doff (1988), there are many activities a teacher can carry out to helpstudents before they start reading as following:

- Introducing the text briefly

- Presenting new vocabulary

- Revising grammatical structures

- Giving guiding questions,

Moreover, in my opinion, the teacher should activate the students’ backgroundknowledge and provide some information about the text This is aimed to help the students

to predict the content of the text they are going to read Prediction is an important abilitythat the students should develop in order to comprehend various kinds of texts, especiallythe texts that the students are not familiar with Gebhard (1987:21) explains that

“providing background information on a reading lesson is another way teachers can facilitate successful reading comprehension Providing information about a reading selection before students read provides them with the opportunity to gain new language, as well as recall their already existing knowledge, which they can take with them into their reading experience, and this knowledge facilitates successful comprehension”.

Of course, not all these techniques will be relevant for all the texts The teacher canchoose the suitable ones to motivate his learners

I.5.2 While – reading stage

While- reading stage is carried out when all students actually set their eyes on thetext and this stage is the main part of a reading comprehension lesson The aims of thisstage focus on making the students anticipate in the process of understanding the wholetext, and interpreting exactly what the author wrote In addition, it helps the students break

up the organization of the text; understand the text structures; classify the text content and

recognize the writer’s purpose and attitude This stage also trains the students to thinkabout other ideas rising from the text and to form judgement and opinions on the basis ofthe fact presented Moreover, it helps the students improve their reading speed andtechniques Besides, this stage offers an opportunity to apply effectively what they havelearnt from the text to their purpose of study and communication Last but not least, thisstage helps the students develop their decision – making and problem solving skills.

Because this stage plays a very important role in a reading lesson, it must bedesigned carefully

I.5.3 Post – reading stage

Post- reading is the implementation of various activities carried out after thestudents have read the text Some post- reading activities are extension of the work done atthe pre- reading and while- reading stages Some relate only loosely to the reading textitself

According to Durkin (1981:486), “one reason for post- reading discussion in class

is to offer pupils the chance to see in what way their reading did or did not succeed, and why” In fact, there are more than one purpose for post- reading stage which are of wide

relevance and applied to all students, and which teachers who teach groups with mixedlevel should consider

One of the purposes of post-reading work is to check whether the students haveunderstood the text or not The teacher can ask the students some questions about the textswhich are not given in the book or require them to discuss in group and in pair and so on.Another purpose is to consolidate or reflect upon what the students have read To achievethis, the teacher should help the students focus on the important points as writer’s opinion,the main ideas of the text, the specific paragraph or phrase in the reading text The thirdpurpose of post- reading work is to expand on the topic or language of the reading text, andperhaps transfer things learned to another context Therefore, the students can relate thetext to their background knowledge and interest and be able to express their personalopinion toward the text Moreover, post- reading activities also offer the students a realpractice of using language

Setting up and organizing post- reading work depend very much on all theobjectives of the program as a whole Post- reading work should, thus, contribute in a

coherent manner, to the writing, speaking and listening skills that the program aims todevelop.

In conclusion, the three stages offer the teacher a frame work to conduct a readinglesson in general but they do not need to follow rigidly Obviously, this three phraseapproach is not to be carried out mechanically on every occasion Sometimes the teachermay wish to cut out the pre-reading stage and get learners to work on the text directly.Sometimes port- reading work may not be suitable However, the advantage of the threephase approach is twofold Firstly, it respects and makes use of the students’ ownknowledge of language and of the world and uses this as a basis for involvement,motivation, and progress Secondly, the three phase approach leads to integration of theskills in a coherent manner, so that the reading session is not simply isolated Separatingeach from the others is like somebody warming up for a race and then running the raceitself some days later

Chapter II An investigation into the current situation

of teaching and learning reading comprehension at Hanoi University of Business and Management

II.1 An Overview of Hanoi University of Business and Management

Hanoi University of Business and Management (HUBM) is an independentUniversity which was founded in 1994 As its name suggests, the subjects like finance,accounting, corporate administration, foreign trade, microeconomics, macroeconomics, etcare the main and compulsory ones in the training program at the University In otherwords, the aim of the University is to train successful businessmen who are equipped with

specialized knowledge English has been considered as an extremely important subject inthe program because it serves an integral means for international communication that is tocommunicate with foreign partners Focus on English and informatics is strength of theUniversity in comparison with other private ones.

As professor Tran Phuong, the Rector of HUBM said, teaching and learningEnglish at HUBM is of great importance, the University has always created the bestpossible conditions for English teaching and learning Each group has 30 students, which issuitable for learning a foreign language providing the students with opportunities topractise English To help students to improve listening and speaking ability effectively, tenmodern multimedia labs, overhead projectors (OHP) and video are available, which enablethe students to learn English in a new way

However, there have been many problems that should be solved The facilities atthe University are still poor, for example, the library cannot provide enough booksespecially English books as a reference Furthermore, the students do not have a lot ofopportunities to practise English with native speakers to improve their language skills

II.2 Teachers and teaching methods

Teachers play a key role in a successful implementation of curriculum changes.Exceptional teachers can often compensate for the poor quality resources and materialsthey have to work from But inadequately trained teachers may not be able to makeeffective use of teaching materials no matter how well they are designed

There are seventy teachers of English at HUBM Most of them are young who havejust graduated from University for several years They are energetic and are willing todevote their time and energy to teaching Half of them have acquired M.A degree or arefollowing a post graduate course at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, College offoreign languages or Hanoi University of Foreign Studies

However, these teachers do not have much experience They usually employ thetraditional methods of teaching that is Grammar- Translation method, especially in readinglessons This method focuses on accuracy, the detailed analysis of grammar rules, not onthe acquisition of language skill It is characterized by the use of the mother tongue as amedium of instruction and communication in the classroom The teachers speak most ofthe time, explain new words and translate the text into Vietnamese Students often listenand take note passively They raise questions only when they encounter new words or

structure in the text Therefore, this method leads to the lack of motivation and a fewchances for students to practise speaking English, in other words, improve theircommunicative competence.

II.3 Students at Hanoi University of Business and Management and their background

Learners are the key participants in curriculum development projects and it isessential to collect as much information as possible about them before the project begins.The relevant learner factors include the learners’ backgrounds, expectations, beliefs and

preferable learning styles Nunan (1989: 176) comments: “The effectiveness of a language will be dictated as much by the attitudes and expectations of the learners as by the specifications of the official curriculum…Learners have their own agendas in the language lessons they attend These agendas, as many as the teacher’s objectives, determine what learners take from any given teaching/ learning encounter”.

The 2nd year students at HUBM are aged from 19~20 who have learnt English forone year at the university In the first two semesters, they only focus on somegrammatically rules and short and easy reading texts Therefore, it is difficult for them toapproach the difficult and long texts in course book “English File 3” Another fact is thatstudents come from different areas in Vietnam, some have learnt English for many years,others have learnt English for a short time Consequently, problems arising during thecourse are due to individual difference in ability, learning styles, attitudes, motivation, etc

In addition, the attitude towards learning of the students at HUBM is also a matter

to be considered They are a bit lazy and hardly ever try their best They are not students ofEnglish, so they do not devote themselves to learning English and they do not know thebest way to learn a foreign language Moreover, majority of the students do not haveappropriate learning strategies or have the habits to learn independently or creatively, thefact is that they never prepare the lesson at home or overview the lesson regularly

II.4 Material and assessments

Materials are anything used to teach languages to learners Material can be in theform of a text book, a work book, a cassette, a photocopied hand out, a newspaper, aparagraph written on a board, etc

It is known that there are two kinds of resources of materials in teaching andlearning English at HUBM They are G.E and ESP materials At the third term, the book

“English File 3 – intermediate” by Clive Oxenden and Christina Latham- Keonig is used Itconsists of 8 units, which are covered in 180 periods (each period lasts 45 minutest).

This book is designed as a textbook so four skills are at the same time emphasized.However, each skill is set in each particular part Therefore, it is easy for both teachers andstudents to teach and learn For example, each unit consists of the following parts: Buildyour vocabulary, read better, listen better, better pronunciation, grammar analysis, makeconversation and write better For the reading texts, they are challenging but accessiblereading tasks which build students skills and confidence

Being a textbook, “English File 3 – Intermediate” provides reading texts of varioustopics based on the theme of each unit For example, the theme of unit 2 is “the time ofyour life”, and the magazine article in reading part is “a time for life”, etc Seemingly,various topics given in the reading texts are beneficial for reading comprehensiondevelopment However, these are not designed for reading skill improvement, so it hard forthe teachers to foster their students’ reading ability if they do not set task for reading andemploy suitable reading techniques

Furthermore, reading texts in this course book are not designed specially forteaching reading so reading activities are not set: no pre-reading activities, no while-reading activities and post-reading activities What are given at the end of the reading textsare some exercises In addition, all the reading texts are presented in form of a narrative.Thus, the students will not have chance to get access to varied forms of text presentation

Chapter III The studyIII.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at HUBM Here, English is taught in formal setting withtoo stages During the first stage, which consists of the first three terms, the students studygeneral English with four language skills mainly: speaking, listening, reading and writing.The materials chosen are English File 1, English File 2 and English File Intermediate Inthe second stage students study ESP (such as English in Economics or English inInformatics) However, in reality, the four language skills are not regarded as differentsubjects They are only parts of each unit The students are supposed to have acquiredthese skills at the first stage