STUDENTS’ PERCEIVED DIFFICULTIES IN READING COMPREHENSION WITH REFERENCE TO NEW TIENG ANH 10 TEXTBOOK AT NGHI LOC IV HIGH SCHOOL a SURVEY INTERVIEW STUDY

The important role of reading comprehension is apparent for any student who hassuccess in his command of foreign language in general, English in particular.. The results of this study ha

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Mr Le Van Canh,

MA for his invaluable support, patient guidance, and encouragement he gave methroughout my research I am truly grateful to him for his advice and suggestions rightfrom the beginning when this study was only in its formative stage

I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the lecturers of Post Graduate Department,Foreign Language College of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interestinglessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized

I am indebted to my family members whose support and encouragements greatlycontributed to the completion of my study

Last but not least, I wish to thank my readers for their interest and comments on thisthesis

I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted

to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, June, 2008

Student:

Lª Minh Sao

The important role of reading comprehension is apparent for any student who hassuccess in his command of foreign language in general, English in particular For non-English major students in Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School, reading has been paidmore attentions to as the students have to take the examinations which are grammar- andreading- based However, they have encountered a lot of difficulties in reading skills evenafter the new textbook has been put to use

This study aims to investigate the reading difficulties perceived by the 10th gradestudents of Nghi Loc IV Upper Secondary School The results of this study has shown thatthe 10th form students often have difficulties with vocabulary, grammar, reading skills andbackground knowledge when learning reading comprehension This study has also givensome suggestions to reduce their reading difficulties and helps students to obtain desirableresults in learning reading

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES

Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills

Table 2: Students’ reading habits

Table 3: Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts

Table 4: Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts

Table 5: Studens’ activities in Pre-reading

Table 6: Studens’ activities in While-reading

Table 7: Studens’ activities in Post-reading

Table 8: Students’ areas of difficulties

Table 9: Students’ difficulties in the area of vocabulary

Table 10: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar

Table 11: Students’ difficulties in the area of reading skill

FIGURES

Figure 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills

Figure 2: Students’ opinions of the easy reading texts in the textbook Figure 3: Students’ areas of difficulties

Figure 4: Students’ difficulties in the area of grammar

THE TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Introduction 1

2 Rationale 1 3 Aims of the Study 2 4 Research Questions 2 5 Method of the Study 3 6 Scope of the Study 3 7 Organization of the Thesis 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2.1 Introduction 5 2.2 Definition of Terminology 5 2.2.1 What is reading? 5 2.2.2 Reading Comprehension 6 2.3 The difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process 7 2.3.1 Reading skill problem 7 2.3 2 Language problems 8 2.3.3 Cultural background knowledge 9 2.4 Learner-centeredness in foreign language education 10

2.5 Summary 11

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 12

3.1 Introduction 12

3.2 The rationale of using survey interviews 12

3.3 The context of the study 13

3.3.1.The students, their background and their learning conditions 13

3.3.2 Teachers and methods of teaching 14

3.4 Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10 14

3.5 The participants 15

3.6 Instrumentation 15

3.7 The Interviews and Data Analysis 16

3.7.1 Students’ attitudes toward learning English 16

3.7.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill 16

3.7.3 How much do the students read? 18

3.7.4 Students’ perspectives about reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10 19

3.7.4.1 Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts 19

3.7.4.2 Students’ perspectives about difficult reading texts 21

3.7.5 Students’ activities in the reading lessons 22

3.7.5.1 Pre-reading activities 22

3.7.5.2 While-reading activities 24

3.7.5.3 Post-reading activities 25

3.7.6 Students’ reading difficulties 26

3.7.6.1 In the area of vocabulary 27

3.7.6.2 In the area of grammar 28

3.7.6.3 In the area of background knowledge 30

3.7.6.4 In the area of reading skills 31

3.7.6.5 In the area of reading tasks 32

3.7.7 Students’ remarks about teaching reading and their recommendation for improving reading skill 33

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

4.1 What are students’ attitudes toward reading skill? 35

4.2 What do they really think of the reading texts in the text book: New Tieng Anh 10 ? 35 4.3 What do students do when they read a reading text? 35

4.4 What difficulties do students encounter in learning reading skill? 36

4.5 What do the students want their teachers to do to help them read more effectively ? 37 4.6 Suggestions to improve reading skill to students at Nghi Loc IV High school 37

4.6.1 Techniques for reading interest and motivation 38

4.6 1 1 Making English reading fun 38

4.6 1.2 Making English reading useful 38

4.6.2.Training students to become efficient readers 39

4.6.3 Making students fully aware of their purpose of reading 39

4.6.4 Encouraging students to have extensive reading habit 39

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 40

5.1 Conclusions 40

5.2 Limitations of the study and Suggestions for Further study 40

REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX

This Chapter introduces the rationale, the aim, the research question, the research method,and the scope of the study The Chapter concludes with a presentation of the organization

of the study

2 Rationale

The ongoing process of regional and global intergration in Vietnam has resulted in anincreasing demand for English language teaching across the country Now, learningEnglish is not only an interest but also a practical thing for many people Learning Englishmeans learning four related skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing In teaching andlearning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, reading has always received a greatdeal of attention This is understandable, English is learnt and taught in non-Englishenvironment, so reading is not only one of the four language skills that students of Englishneed to acquire but also a means of further study According to Carrell (1981) “For manystudents, reading is by far the most important of the four skills in a second language,particularly in English as a second or foreign language”(p.1) What is more, when poorreading results are reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or formaking insufficient effort Nevertheless, the students are not always at fault There areother important factors in the process of teaching and learning reading that are worthconsidering It could be unsuitable teaching materials It could be the inappropriate attitude

of the teachers and learners towards the subject It could be the teachers’ inappropriateteaching methods and classroom techniques

In the context of the upper secondary school, reading even more important than otherthree skills of speaking, listening, and writing because students have to take theexaminations which are grammar- and reading- based However, the students’ readingproficiency is not satisfactory even after the new textbook has been put to use.

The study is based on the assumption that unless teachers understand students’difficulties, their teaching of reading comprehension will never be efficient and effective

In other words, teachers need to adopt a more learner-centred perspective in making theirpedagogical decisions

Although it is important to understand students’ difficulties so as to provide themwith needed support, not a single study on the upper secondary school students’perceptions of the difficulties they have faced with in comprehending the reading texts inthe textbook Being a teacher of English, I myself think that it is essential to do a research

on students’ reading difficulties so I decided on choosing the topic “ Students’ perceived difficulties in reading comprehension with reference to New Tieng Anh 10 textbook at Nghi Loc IV High school: A survey interview study”.

3 Aims of the Study

This study aims to investigate students’ difficulties in reading texts in the newtextbook for grade 10 according to their perceptions Findings will be used to suggestappropriate instructional support to help students to improve their reading comprehensionskills To be more specific, the objectives of this study are:

- to investigate the students’ attitudes towards English reading

- to find out the students’ areas of reading difficulty

- to suggest ways to reduce the difficulties and help students to improve their readingskills

It is hoped that the findings from this study will be some benefits to teachers andstudents in Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school

4 Research Questions

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the study concerntrated answering theresearch questions:

- What are the students’ attitudes towards reading English ?

- What do they perceive of the difficulties in the reading texts in New Tieng Anh 10textbook ?

- To what extent do the teacher’s teaching methods help them improve reading skillsaccording to their perception ?

5 Method of the Study

With the aim of finding out students’ perceived difficulties in comprehending readingtexts in the new textbook, a survey interview approach is adopted for this study Semi-structured interviews will be conducted on a group of 20 Grade 10 students These studentswill be selected randomly among volunteers

All the interviews will be audio-taped and fully transcribed Data will be analyzedqualitatively to identify common difficulties the students encounter in their readingcomprenhension

6 Scope of the Study

This study limits itself to the investigation of a small sample of Grade 10 students at

NL IV High school - a school located in the rural area of Nghe An province- to find outtheir difficulties in comprehending the reading texts in the textbook through semi-structured interviewing

7 Organization of Thesis

This minor thesis consists of four chapters

The first chapter includes a rationale for the study, the aims, method, scope of thestudy as well as the organization of the thesis

The second chapter “Literature Review” discusses the theoretical background relevant

to the research topic including the definition of reading , reading difficulties, centeredness in foreign language learning

Chapter three presents the research method, context of the study, the material and theparticipants In addition, it deals with the findings and data analysis

The fourth chapter is about the discussion of findings giving some suggestions toreduce difficulties in learning English reading comprehension.

The last part of the study “Conclusion” summarizes the findings, point out thelimitations and suggests further researches

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, the rationale, the scope, the aim, the research questions and researchmethods were presented This Chapter reviews the relevant literature on readingcomprehension in foreign language as well as the commonly found difficulties readers offoreign language are faced with

The Chapter begins with a definition of reading comprehension, which is followed by adescription of difficulties inherent in the reading comprehension process The last section

of the Chapter discusses the principles of learner-centered approaches to language teaching

to highlight the importance of understanding students’ difficulties in the process of readingforeign language from their own perspectives

2.2 Definition of Terminology

2.2.1 What is reading?

In our daily life, we spend time reading books, newspapers, novels or stories because

we find them interesting and useful When reading, we understand the texts, we analyzeand find its meaning, give out meaningful conclusion But noone can define exactly whatreading is This question attracts much attention and researchers have defined reading invarious ideas According to Goodman (1971), reading is “a psycholinguistics process bywhich the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has

been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” (p.135) Goodman thought that this act of

reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing andconfirming.”

William (1984) had the same view on reading, especially on the act of reconstruction asGoodman He argues that “ written texts, then, often contain more than we need tounderstand them The efficient reader makes use of this to take what he needs, and nomore, to obtain meaning”(p.3) His opinion is shared by Nuttall and Grellet The formerasserts that “reading is getting a message from a text.”

Harmer (1989: 153) considers reading as a mechanical process that “ eyes receive the

message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” (p 153) He

not only focuses on two actions that dominated by the eyes and the brain but also the speed

of the process “ a reading text moves at a speed of the reader”, which means that the readerwho decides how fast he wants to read the text.

Sharing the same view, Smith (1985) defined “ reading is understanding the author’sthought” (p 102) It means that the readers “read the author’s mind not the author’swords”

In fact, the meanings of a word depend much on the context in which it occurs so when

we read we have to put the words into the context and not understand the words inisolation We can see that the nature of reading is the interaction between readers and theauthors If readers do not understand the authors’ mind, their reading becomes usefuless One more definition of reading is offered by Allen and Vallete (1977) They thought that

“ reading is developmental process” (p 249) We learn reading not only to know how toread, to master the symbols, the language, grammar, ect used in the text but also tounderstand the ideas, the information expressed in that text or to develop the abilityreconstructing its contents in our own words

In short, from these opinions above, it is clear that noone can give all the ideas andfeatures of what reading is Each definition reflects what reading means as seen from thescholar’s own view However, all definitions reveal their common feature, that is thenature of reading Morever, the definition “reading is understanding the author’s thought”seem to be preferable We- the readers read the author’s mind not the author’s words

2.2.2 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension plays an important part in learning a foreign language Readingcomprehension can be understood as the ability to get the required information from thetext as efficiently as possible In the reading process, there are three elements appearing:the text being read, the background knowledge of the reader and the contextual aspectsrelevant for interpreting the text

Swam(1975) stated that when we say “ a student is good at comprehension we meanthat he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information a textwith the minimum of understanding” (p.1) In the same view, Richard and Thomas (1987)

claim that “ Reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the

author and the reader” (p.9) Sharing these ideas, Grellet (1981) takes the point that

“Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the requiredinformation from it as effectively as possible” (p.3).

These above opinions are not exactly the same, but they all show that reading is muchmore than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends It

is a process in which the readers (as they read) can recognize the graphic form andunderstand the relation between the writing and the meaning In the other words, afterreading, students can find the way to bettering their grammar, words, pronunciation andcan understand the content of the text and use it in their real life as effectively as possible.Therefore, it is important for us to understand what reading comprehension is For theteachers who teach reading, a profound understanding about the nature of readingcomprehension may help them find out the students’ difficulties of learning reading

2.3 The difficulties of the second language reading comprehension process

Reading in a foreign language is very important to academic studies, personal success

and personal development However, reading in a language which is not the learner’s firstlanguage is also a source of difficulty The problems with foreign language reading may beeither in learner’s reading skill language problems or background knowledge

2.3.1 Reading skill problem

If the reading ability of a reader in his mother tongue is poor, he can not read well in aforeign language According to Anderson (1984), the reason the students can not readadequately in English is that they cannot read adequately in the native language

The interaction between first language and second language reading ability is furtherclarified by several researchers For example, Bernhardt and Kamil (1975) assume that

“reading performance in a second language is largely shared with reading ability in a firstlanguage” (p 17)

While investigating the transferability of students’ L1 reading strategies to L2 reading,

Sarig (1987) also asserts that “ the same reading strategies types account for success andfailure in both languages to almost the same extent It can be concluded, then, that readingprocess from the first language appear to transfer to the foreign language” (p 118)

Reading is an active skill, involving guessing and predicting Students’ limited readingskills create many problems Very frequently, students do not know how to use different

reading skills, how to use appropriate ways to move their eyes from word group to wordgroup.

It is common that there are new words, new structures in a reading text for everylanguage learner If the learner has no good reading ability, he will read the text with lessunderstanding and he will get discouraged and will not want to keep on reading gradually.There fore, how to help learner of a foreign language to read better is closely related totheir reading

2.3 2 Language problems

Yorio (1971) gives out a contrary view to reading problems He argues that readingproblems of foreign language learners are largely due to the knowledge of the targetlanguage to mother tongue interference in the reading process In his opinion, readinginvolves four factors: knowledge of the language, ability to guess so as to make the correctchoice, ability to remember the previous cues, and ability to make necessary associationbetween the different cues that have been selected Therefore, learners with limitedknowledge of the target language may face with considerable difficulties when reading inthe target language

Besides, readers have to face various difficulties The first and the foremost problem is

that they may have to work with unfamiliar and difficult topics These are called “ text

problems” The content of the text might be rather strange to the students and the

grammatical structures might be new Therefore, they can not understand it The readerswill find the text very challenging and might not have any motivation left to keep onreading L2 readers may have difficulty adjusting their reading strategies to match theauthor’s intent or purpose They may not be familiar with a particular story “grammar” orthe organizational patterns of informational text They may not be familiar with specificgenre and the literary devises used in text

The second but not less important kind of problem is the “vocabulary problems” As

everyone knows, grammatical knowledge accounts for a great deal of competence inreading However, knowledge of vocabulary is a great deal more important as a factor ofreading comprehension than awareness of grammatical structures (O’Donnel, 1961: 313-316)

L2 readers may lack knowledge of English grammar and syntax and therefore, may readword by word They may encounter too much unfamiliar vocabulary to grasp the overallconcept conveyed in the sentence They are also challenged when reading idiomaticexpressions and unfamiliar grammatical constructions.

In addition, L2 readers may have difficulty with more complex and compound sentences.They may lose the meaning of references within the text, such as with frequent use ofpronouns Pronoun usage may be different or less frequent in the native language.Connectives may be overlooked or misunderstood so they lose the relationships betweenconcepts and ideas

Reader encounter a lot of difficulties in dealing with proverbs and idioms, synonyms andantonyms, polysemantic and subtechnical vocabulary Metaphor, metonymy and othertypes of transference of meaning also cause great difficulty for readers

2.3.3 Cultural background knowledge

Several studies on reading skills indicate that apart from language problems and readingskill problems, cultural knowledge can also affect students’ reading ability

According to Fries (1963) meaning at the social level is the meaning that transcends thelanguage code and is related to the background knowledge of the native speakers of thatcode Comprehension of the total meaning of a sentence occurs only when the linguistic

meaning of the sentence is fitted into “a social framework of organized information.” This

idea is echoed by other researcher who have stated that readers will have different levels ofcomprehension of the same text because they start off from different positions Theyinterpret texts differently because of the differences in the high-level cultural schemata thatwere activated

Carrell (1981) demonstrated the effect of cultural knowledge on the product ofcomprehension, appealing to the processes of distortion and elaboration to account for thedifferences between a recall of text and the original text Readers facing with unfamiliarcultural content may mistranslate or misinterpret the text according to their own culturalexperiences

Reading comprehension is a function of cultural background knowledge If readersprocess the schemata assumed by the writer, they understand what is stated and effortlessly

make the inferences intended As Hudson (1982) puts it: “the reading problems of thesecond language reader are not due to an absence of attempts at fitting and providingspecific schemata Rather, problem lies in projecting appropriate schemata” (p 9)

From what we have discussed it seems that there are three main factors that affectreading comprehension: reading ability or reading skills; linguistic knowlegde; and culturaland background knowledge The difficulties may be related to a number of otherdifficulties such as readers’ reading habits, attitude, motivation, the way reading is taught,the leaning environment, ect Whatever kind the problems are, they are various in thereading process in a foreign language and great efforts must be made to overcome them

2.4 Learner-centeredness in foreign language education

Recently, in the field of second/foreign language education there has been a shift infocus from the teacher to the learner Very briefly, there are two reasons of this shift:learners are now the centre of the language teaching and learning process and learnerslearn better if the teacher’s teaching style match their learning styles

Nunan (1990) points out that learners learn better if teachers know how to carter for allindividual differences and needs What is more, learners learn better if the teacher knows

of their learning difficulties and helps them to cope with those difficulties

He defines learner-centered classrooms as the places where “key decisions about whatwill be taught, how it will be taught, when it will be taught, and how it will be accessedwill be made with reference to the learner” (Nunan, 2000, p 11)

In a learner-centered curriculum, information about learners from learners is used toanswer when and how to teach what Nunan (2000) elaborates several stages of negotiating

a learner-centered curriculum; making instructional goals clear to learners; allowinglearners to create their own goals, encouraging learners to use the second language (L2)outside the classroom; raising awareness of learning processes; helping learners identifytheir own preferred styles and strategies; encouraging learners to become teachers;encouraging learners to become researchers The learner-centered curriculum alsodescribes well how to promote learner autonomy as an educational goal at an institutionallevel

One important implication of learner-centeredness for instruction is that teachers, ratherthan delivering already organized and interpreted subject material to students, need toguide students to create their own understandings They accomplish this by utilizingstudents’ backgrounds of understanding, cooperative learning, authentic learning problems,and active student engagement in the learning process.

With the learner-centered approach, teachers bring command of content knowledge butdesign flexibility for learners to construct their learning Learner needs and characteristicstake precedence over knowledge of facts and skills; the emphasis is on engaging learners

in learning for understanding and thinking, to help them build their own interpretations.Teacher narratives and the emphasis on learner characteristics make the learner-centeredapproach a viable alternative for matching teaching practices with learner needs

Learner-centered education, in this perspective, embodies the learner, learning in theprograms, and policies and teaching that support effective learning for all students.Administrators are responsible for developing, maintaining, and enhancing a schoolenvironment that promotes effective learning They are also responsible for ensuring thatteachers are knowledgeable about their students and how learning best occurs Teachersare responsible for having classrooms that promote effective learning for all and for beingfamiliar with the instructional techniques that promote effective learning for all

2.5 Summary

Through the brief literature review, it is obvious that there are so many factors involved

in the L2 reading comprehension process Insights into this process highlights readingdifficulties, which includes reading skill problems, language problems and culturalbackground problems Also, the literature review also emphasizes the need to understandhow students talk about their difficulties and problems if learned-centred teaching isdesired.The next Chapter, Chapter III, will present in detail the present study

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY 3.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with the method that has been employed for the achievement of theaims and objectives of the study It also provides some information about the currentsituation of teaching and learning reading skill at NL IV upper secondary school Theresearcher analyses the data collected and then come up with certain findings on thedifficulties experienced by the 10th form students at NL IV upper secondary school

3.2 The rationale of using survey interviews

Interviews are one of the most important sources of studying information and this minorthesis was not a different curcumstance Powney and Watts (1984, cited in Verma &mallick, 1999, P.122) defines it as “an interaction between three elements: the interviewer,the interviewee, and the context of the interview including the issue questions raised in theinterview.” The researcher applied the method since it could explore in greater detail and

in depth some particularly important aspects and address other closely related topics.Besides, interviews are among the most challenging and rewarding forms of measurement.They require a personal sensitivity and adaptability as well as the ability to stay within thebounds of the design of the interview

What is more, interviews are a popular research method because they are flexible and participatory Interviews are flexible because the interviewer has the freedom to change

some questions or the asking order of the questions according to the reactions of the users.Besides, interviews are participatory since they require both the interviewer and theparticipant to join in an interactive conversation This is a big advantage when comparedwith the isolated effect of the questionnaires because the user shares the experience and hemay have more tendencies to use the interface after the interview Due to these reasons,interviews are more personal ways of gathering information from users than thequestionnaires

On the other hand, interviews are relatively short, and the researcher can collectquantitative data as well as qualitative data Also, depending on the type of the interview,the researcher may not be able to establish the natural environments of the participants

In this study, twenty students were interviewed in a natural setting so that they couldfeel at ease when answer the researcher’s questions The time budget was allocatedflexibly so that each subject felt free to express to the best their opinions, support theirpoints and add extra information when needed As the subjects are all non-major Englishstudents, the interviews could be carried out in Vietnamese so as to get correctinformation.

3.3 The context of the study

3.3.1.The students, their background and their learning conditions

Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school has been established for ten years It is located inthe rural area of Nghe An province All students in the school come from farming families.The number of 10th grade students at the school is about five hundreds Most of them are atthe age of 15 and live far from school They have been learning English since they were ingrade 6 During these years, the objective of education programme was not tested and themain method that their teachers often used to teach them is the Grammar-Translation one.The students were rarely given chances to work in pairs, in groups or take part in someactivities such as discussion or games Morever, they were not provided with modernlearning facilities that are very helpful for their learning such as casettes, tapes Therefore,students found English unnecessary and their English ability in general was very limitedduring that long time

At present, the students’ conditions of learning are not good enough A few studentshave dictionaries to learn English, so this can also affect their study When they were atprimary and secondary schools, they only focused on the subjects such Maths, Literature,Physics and they often lack of the proper English teaching In the first year at Nghi Loc

IV high school, they have more time to improve their general knowledge of most subjects.English is considered as one of the most important subjects that 10th grade students needhave more practice in the afternoon classes The school has only one liberary, however it isnot good enough, teachers and students sometimes get troubles when using it

Another problem of the students is that most of them do not have the habit of learningindependently and tend to depend on the textbooks and the teachers for knowledge This

fact calls for a teacher’s provision of the methods of learning at the tertiary level forstudents.

3.3.2 Teachers and methods of teaching

Our school has got 10 English teachers, aged from 27 to 37 The oldest teacher hasmore than 15 years of teaching experience and the youngest teacher has got 5 years All of

us have never participated in refreshment courses abroad However, we have been to somedomestic workshops in language teaching

Each of our teachers teaches 18 compulsory periods a week, and we have to face manydifficulties of the students Most of the time the teachers play a key role in the lesson,being the main speakers working with the text In teaching reading, teachers resist in usingteacher-centered approach and it seems that they have never made reading an interactiveskill New words or structures are always written down on the blackboard and the meaning

of every word is provided right way without any requirement for students’ prediction orguessing from the context Students are then ordered to read new words aloud one by one,frequently after the teachers After that they ask to read the text for the first time , mainly

to find other words or structures still unfamiliar to them Finally, students are required totranslate the text into Vietnamese and complete the reading tasks provided in each lesson.Therefore, students are always passive and only ask the teachers questions when theyencounter difficult structures or words that they can not find in the dictionary And thesuccess rests on how flexible and adaptable the individual teacher is to respond to therequirement of the new teaching situation

From what mentioned above, it is apparent that learner-centered approach has not beenwidely used in teaching reading at NL IV High school, so there should be more appropriateteaching techniques to make students read more effectively

3.4 Reading Comprehension in the New TIENG ANH 10

The new TIENG ANH 10 is a text book that is being used at all upper secondary

schools in Viet nam It consists of 16 units, the first section of each unit is reading Being atextbook, the new Tieng Anh 10 provides reading passages of various topics They areabout “ daily work” (as in unit 1 and 2), about “technology” ( unit 5), “consevation” ( unit

9 &10 & 11), “entertainment” (unit 12, 13 & 14), ect Mainly they are designed for theaims of developing language skills and students’ background knowledge.

In reading part, there is always a passage whose topic relates to other three skills It isdesigned with three steps, they are pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading Pre-reading often gives questions with clear and beautiful pictures to lead in the topic of thetext While-reading asks students to scan for specific information and skim for generalideas Post-reading also provides useful activities for students and it helps students wrapthings they have learnt form the passage In general, these are more interesting than the oldtextbook and they are completely suitable for the changing of teaching and learningmethods

Seemingly, various topics in the reading texts are beneficial for reading comprehensiondevelopment However, the reading texts are sometimes challenges for students becausesome passages has got new structures and some topics are unfamiliar with students in therural area, such as Unit 5 is about Computers In fact, many students in the rural area donot know what a computer is, how many parts there are in a computer, ect Therefore, it isnot easy for English teachers to explain Morever, some units do not have new words orphrases, meanwhile others consist of new words and new structures

3.5 The participants

The research was carried out at Nghi Loc Iv upper secondary school with the

participation of twenty 10th form students, aged 15, both male and female They wereselected at random and from different classes To students, English is a compulsory subject

in the schedule, they always complained that “it has so many rules, it is so complicated”and that they “have no head for English” However, as English was taught and examinedthrough four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, it became more indestible tothem

3.6 Instrumentation

The main instrument used to gather information for the study is tape-recordedinterviews for the students A one-to-one interview with twenty students was conducted Itwas carried out in Vietnamese, in the form of informal conversation between theresearcher and the students The questions in the interviews were extended to more open-

ended questions to get more information or thorough understanding of the reason behindeach students’ answer Each converstion lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes The datawere then transcribed and translated into English.

3.7 The Interviews and Data Analysis

3.7.1 Students’ attitudes toward learning English

The interview data showed that the students were divided into two broad groups Thefirst group was composed of those who were negative towards learning English , and thesecond group were those who were quite positive

In the interview the students were quite frank about the reasons why they did not likeEnglish As can be seen from the data that teachers’ teaching methodology was quiteinfluential to the students’ attitudes towards learning They explain that:

“ I do not like English because my teacher didn’t care us and he did not have good methods of teaching when I was at secondary school”.

“The reason I do not like English is that I find it boring, the atmosphere of the English lessons always makes me and my friends depressed, time is too long.”

“ I do not have ability to remember new words, grammar so I don’t like English”

By contrast, students who have positive attitudes toward English are goal-oriented orself-directed They have a clear purpose of learning English in their mind, that is learningEnglish for their future employment For example, one of the students said in theinterview:

“ I like learning English and I try my best to learn it in order to pass all the exams, become a tourist guider or go to work abroad as a worker”.

After investigating their attitudes toward learning English, the author continued usingother questions to explore students’ learning reading skills

3.7.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning reading skill

Table 1: Students’ attitudes toward reading skills

Ideas for reading skill Number of mentions Percentage

Reading is the most important skill 10 50

Reading is not so important as other

“I like reading most and reading is very important because it helps me speak, listen, write

more easily and better”

“ If we want to develop speaking, listening or writing skills, we should be good at reading

so that we have information to write , speak and have a background to listen.”

“ In fact, we can’t speak well if we do not have good reading skill Reading is a sound

basis for speaking.”

“ I like reading and consider it the most important skill because I often use vocabulary,

structures or writing style in the reading text for my own writing tasts.”

“It is is difficult to imagine that if we didn’t learn reading skill first, we couldn’t solve the tasks of other skills Reading is very important to us”.

“ I feel very eager to translate and understand the content of a new reading text It is a chance to improve my pronunciation when I read the texts aloud Reading skills provide us knowledge of language and it is very neccessary We can understand the orders of the tasks, especially, we can pass the final exam, do the tests easily if we read well.”

In contrast, there were students who outweighed other language skills and theythought they learned to read simply to do the test These students said that

“Our aim is passing the final exam so we think reading is a key that only help us understand the the contents of tests and do them more easily.”

“In future, I will go to work abroad , I will use speaking mostly , thus, reading is not as important as speaking and listening.”

“ My parents work as shopkeepers at CuaLo beach and I need to speak and listen better I

think reading is not neccessary for me.”

These students thought about the important of reading skill with the facts in their dailylife and activities

3.7.3 How much do the students read?

In order to be good readers students are expected to read as often as they can.Table 2 shows how often the students read English at home

Table 2 - Students’ reading habits How often do they read? Number of

mentions

Percentage

Never 3 15

As clearly shown in Table 2, most of students often read English because they want togain or get their desire and aims Besides, 25% students sometimes read and they had theirown reasons 15% students never read English It seemed that the students who read agreat deal in English had a strong motivation for learning English This is supported bytheir answers to the interview questions

“ I often read English, I read all materials I have such as text books, extra reading

materials in order to enrich my vocabulary and structures”.

“ I myself realize that I am good at English, I am interested in reading and I often read English books or things I see such as advertisements on TV, compositions or essays in my materials.”

“ My teacher often gives me reading tasks or exercises It is a good chance for me to practise my pronunciation at home In addition, I intend to take part in the exams for talent students so I need to read more often.”

The students who often read English as they have said are mostly good at English.Morever, they have better learning conditions than the others Specifically, they havedictionaries, materials Whereas students who do not read often do not have goodlearning conditions or their parents never motivate them and do not pay attention to theirlearning, they seem have difficulties in learning day by day They said:

“I often have difficulties when reading English so I read English if it is a simple text.”

“ I sometimes find the reading texts in my text book long and very difficult The time I read English is when I have to do tests and do English homework.”

“ I do not know English grammar and reading is difficult for me, that’s why I rarely read English.”

“ Except for I am in English classes or my teacher orders me to read, I never read English The reason is that I do not have a dictionary and I do not understand new words.”

“ I never read English to improve my knowledge because I do not have any materials but

my text book.”

“ I don’t know how to use dictionaries, how to pronounce a word, these make me depressed so I never read English at home.”

3.7.4 Students’ perspectives about reading texts in the text book: New Tieng Anh 10 3.7.4.1 Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts

The question is given out so that all students who were interviewed showed their ownopinions about the texts they have learnt in the text book

Table 3 - Students’ perspectives about easy reading texts

Opinions about easy reading

texts

Number of mentions Percentage

Diagraphically, the students’ opinions of the reading texts in the textbook can be presented

Through what the students expressed in the interviews, these evaluations are the sameand common for all students in my school The students who are not good at English(20%) found the reading texts easy if they have a few new words Only 15% cannot