(SKKN 2022) Some experience in helping grade 12 students at Le Loi upper-secondary school to improve their grades in English reading comprehension parts in the national high school graduation exam

CONTENTS Page A INTRODUCTION I Reasons for choosing the research II Aims of the research III Scope, objective and method of the research B CONTENT I Theoretical background Definitions of reading comprehension Main types of reading comprehension questions in an English’s test II Practical background The structure of the English test suggested by the Ministry of Education and Training The teacher’s and students’ attitudes towards the solving the reading comprehension questions in the English test The investigation of the students' skills at answering the reading comprehension questions III The solutions Guiding students to recognize and deal with each type of reading comprehension questions with useful strategies Applying the appropriate procedure of guiding students to practice reading effectively Providing students with useful tips to help them practice reading more actively and effectively 15 17 IV The discussion 19 Results after applying the research in teaching 19 The colleagues' comment 20 C- CONCLUSION 21 I Conclusion 21 II Suggestions 22 D REFERENCE BOOKS 23 E ADDENDUM 24 A INTRODUCTION I THE REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE THEME English, one of the international languages used by most of people in the world, has become the second foreign language which is obligatorily taught from primary school up to university in Vietnam English is also one of the compulsory subjects to pass the National Examination In learning English, there are four skills to be mastered, they are listening, speaking, reading and writing Listening and reading are receptive skills On the other hand, speaking and writing are productive skills It is true that reading is a very important skill in teaching and learning English especially reading comprehension Evidently, since 2017 GCSE English's test, students have to answer from 12 to 15 reading comprehension questions This is not a small challenge for most students in general and for the students at Le Loi high school in particular In fact, they have difficulty in recognizing types of questions; they also lack reading strategies and they are afraid of meeting with a wide range of new words As a result, poor students and students of medium level hardly gain any grades whereas good students have difficulty getting the maximum one Understanding these problems, I decided to choose " Some experience in helping grade 12 students at Le Loi upper-secondary school to improve their grades in English reading comprehension parts in the national high school graduation exam " as the topic of my experience initiatives with the hope that I can help my students to be more confident in reading skills and practically, they will succeed in their final exam II THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PAPER The study is aimed to serve some main objectives as listed following - To give teachers an experience in teaching how to recognize and deal with each type of reading comprehension questions - To help students in grade 12th of all levels use some effective strategies to boost their grades in this part of the test - To equip students with the system of reading exercises so that they will have chance to practice reading skills As a result, they will have high motivation to read and they will also know how to improve their grades in reading comprehension part in the GCSE English's test effectively III THE SCOPE OF THE PAPER Based on the background and identification of the theme, the paper is limited on teaching reading skill to the students in grade 12th by using some effective techniques The research was conducted at my workplace- at Le Loi high school, Tho Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province The subject consists of 70 students who come from class 12A10, 12A4, school year 2021-2022 All of them are at the age of eighteenth to nineteenth years old They have to take every skill in each period; learning time is periods per week IV THE METHODS OF THE PAPER The writer did some steps to this research, they are as follows; - surveying the literature relating to the problem; - defining the problem; - constructing an experimental plan by writing the research design; - design the research instrument; - doing the instrument try-out; - giving the test to the students; - practicing teaching - collecting the data through the posttest; - analyzing the data; - drawing conclusions; - proposing suggestions; - writing the report as subject - Exchanging experience with colleagues B CONTENT I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Definitions of reading comprehension What exactly is reading comprehension? Simply put, reading comprehension is the act of understanding what you are reading While the definition can be simply stated the act is not simple to teach, learn or practice Reading comprehension is an intentional, active, interactive process that occurs before, during and after a person reads a particular piece of writing Reading comprehension is one of the pillars of the act of reading When a person reads a text he engages in a complex array of cognitive processes He is simultaneously using his awareness and understanding of phonemes (individual sound “pieces” in language), phonics (connection between letters and sounds and the relationship between sounds, letters and words) and ability to comprehend or construct meaning from the text This last component of the act of reading is reading comprehension It cannot occur independently of the other two elements of the process At the same time, it is the most difficult and most important of the three There are two elements that make up the process of reading comprehension: vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension In order to understand a text the reader must be able to comprehend the vocabulary used in the piece of writing If the individual words don’t make the sense then the overall story will not either Children can draw on their prior knowledge of vocabulary, but they also need to continually be taught new words The best vocabulary instruction occurs at the point of need Parents and teachers should pre-teach new words that a child will encounter in a text or aid her in understanding unfamiliar words as she comes upon them in the writing In addition to being able to understand each distinct word in a text, the child also has to be able to put them together to develop an overall conception of what it is trying to say This is text comprehension Text comprehension is much more complex and varied that vocabulary knowledge Readers use many different text comprehension strategies to develop reading comprehension These include monitoring for understanding, answering and generating questions, summarizing and being aware of and using a text’s structure to aid comprehension How does reading comprehension develop? As you can see, reading comprehension is incredibly complex and multifaceted Because of this, readers not develop the ability to comprehend texts quickly, easily or independently Reading comprehension strategies must be taught over an extended period of time by parents and teachers who have knowledge and experience using them It might seem that once a child learns to read in the elementary grades he is able to tackle any future text that comes his way This is not true Reading comprehension strategies must be refined, practiced and reinforced continually throughout life Even in the middle grades and high school, parents and teachers need to continue to help their children develop reading comprehension strategies As their reading materials become more diverse and challenging, children need to learn new tools for comprehending these texts Content area materials such as textbooks and newspaper, magazine and journal articles pose different reading comprehension challenges for young people and thus require different comprehension strategies The development of reading comprehension is a lifelong process that changes based on the depth and breadth of texts the person is reading Why is reading comprehension so important? Without comprehension, reading is nothing more than tracking symbols on a page with your eyes and sounding them out Imagine being handed a story written in Egyptian hieroglyphics with no understanding of their meaning You may appreciate the words aesthetically and even be able to draw some small bits of meaning from the page, but you are not truly reading the story The words on the page have no meaning They are simply symbols People read for many reasons but understanding is always a part of their purpose Reading comprehension is important because without it reading doesn’t provide the reader with any information Beyond this, reading comprehension is essential to life Much has been written about the importance of functional literacy In order to survive and thrive in today’s world individuals must be able to comprehend basic texts such as bills, housing agreements (leases, purchase contracts), directions on packaging and transportation documents (bus and train schedules, maps, travel directions) Reading comprehension is a critical component of functional literacy Think of the potentially dire effects of not being able to comprehend dosage directions on a bottle of medicine or warnings on a container of dangerous chemicals With the ability to comprehend what they read, people are able not only to live safely and productively, but also to continue to develop socially, emotionally and intellectually The Reading Comprehension section contains reading passages and questions about the passages The questions are about information that is stated or implied in the passage and about some of the specific words in the passages Because many English words have more than one meaning, it is important to remember that these questions concern the meaning of a word or phrase within the context of the passage Main types of comprehension questions There are a handful of reading comprehension question types that constitute the bulk of questions you will face in this section The ability to recognize these question types quickly and understand the aim of the question and the common traits of correct and incorrect answers is extremely important Depending upon how specific one is in classifying questions, there are about nine question types: - Main idea - Factual Questions - Negative factual Questions - Vocabulary Questions - Reference Questions - Inference Questions - Questions on author’s purpose - Questions on author’s attitude - The origin of the passage In addition, those types of questions often focus on these following popular topics in reading texts - Education and languages - Social issues - Health - Food - people and places - Science, technology and inventions - Tourism, festivals and entertainment - Nature and environment II PRACTICAL BACKGROUND The new structure English test designed by the Ministry of Education and Training As we all know the national high school English test consists of 50 multiple choice questions and 60 minutes to complete 50 sentences The 2022 high school English exam consists of: - Phonetics (tress + pronunciation): questions - Error correction: questions - Sentence Completion: 15 questions - Functional question: questions - Closest >< opposite meaning: questions - Same meaning: questions - Cloze test: questions - Reading 1: (reading comprehension questions) 5questions - Reading 2: (reading comprehension questions) questions It can be seen clearly that reading comprehension part is always the hardest part of the test because it requires students to use all the skills [Remember (meaning / usage of the word, data in the article), Understanding (meaning of words / sentences / paragraphs Use (word/phrase/sentence structure) and knowledge (vocabulary / grammar) to improve and get maximum score This section fully and accurately assesses the ability of the candidate should always have high weight in a test In addition to mastering all of the above topics, students also have to practice quick, effective exercises for a limited time The teacher’s and students’ attitudes towards the solving the reading comprehension questions in the English test It is a matter of fact that getting high or full grades in reading comprehension parts in the GCSE English's test is not easy We all are habituated to solve simple and direct passages in our school days, but when it comes to competitive exams, the task becomes difficult Unable to understand the vocabulary (meaning of words) and concept of the passage, many students become dull and uninterested in this section Gradually, many students are afraid of reading Consequently, most of the teachers and the students think the students’ reading comprehension competence is not good 2.1 Students’ difficulties in solving the reading comprehension questions in the English test It is clear that the students in my school have to face many difficulties These difficulties are from two causes: (1) from the students themselves, and (2) from the teachers’ lectures In terms of the first cause, the majority of the students have trouble with reading because of their low level of English proficiency Their vocabulary and sentence structures are poor Grammar mistakes and spelling are also a common fear for many of them Besides, their low background knowledge also makes them feel stressed when reading In contrast to good readers, most poor readers not read strategically Nor they have sufficient cognitive awareness to develop, select, and apply strategies that can enhance their comprehension of text Typical poor readers rarely prepare before reading They often begin to read without setting goals They seldom consider how best to read a particular type of text During reading, poor readers may have difficulty decoding, and so have difficulty reading the words of their texts accurately In addition, some poor readers read too slowly, or lack fluency As a result of their slow, labored reading, they often not comprehend much of what they read, and the attention they have to give to figuring out the words keeps them from understanding the text's message All too often poor readers lack sufficient background knowledge about the topic of a text They may have trouble connecting the ideas of a text They often are not familiar with the vocabulary they encounter, and have trouble determining word meanings Further, even when poor readers possess relevant background knowledge, they frequently are not able to activate it to help them understand what they read Some poor readers also are unaware of text organization They not know enough about the organizational structure of narratives or the various organizational structures of expository texts to help them read and understand After reading, poor readers typically not think about or reflect upon what they have read They almost never seek out additional information about a topic The cumulative effect of these difficulties is that poor readers often lose confidence in their ability to read Because reading is difficult for them, poor readers cannot and not read widely As a result, they are exposed to much less text than are good readers and so receive much less practice reading Further, the practice they receive is often frustrating, because many of the texts they are asked to read are too difficult for them In terms of the second cause, the students not highly asses their teachers’ assistance They find their teachers’ feedbacks are not comprehensive and their teachers’ instructions are not adequate 2.2 Teachers’ difficulties in improve students’ grades in reading comprehension part in the GCSE English's test for grade 12 students Not only the students but also the teachers cope with numerous problems when encouraging students to practice reading The first difficulty I and my colleague are coping with is the low English level of the students Our students often lack vocabulary and have difficulties in recognizing the types of questions with useful tips The students’ low motivation and low background knowledge are also other problems encountered by the teachers The second difficulty is the problem of large and multilevel classes In multilevel classes, we face difficulties in shortening a big gap between our students In the same class, some students who are good at English are active while many others are de- motivated In addition, English classes at Le Loi high school are very large There are at least 34 students in a class Hence, it is difficult for the teachers to give each of the students individual attention and make sure who is on task and who is off task For the next difficulty, with the help of the Internet, students not actually practice reading, they find the keys or translate the reading passages just to finish off the tasks The investigation of the students’ paragraph writing skills In the process of teaching, I have been given the duty to teach the grade 12 With the awareness of researching and studying the situation of students’ learning the subject and learning from experience, right since the beginning of the school year, I outlined a specific plan and method to actively investigate the situation of students’ learning in my classes by giving them the questionnaire first then the reading tasks in 25 minutes (both The questionnaire and The reading tasks are found in the addendum) And the tables below show the result of the investigation Table Class Total Question Question number A B C D A B C D of students 12A4 36 10 15 10 10 15 11 12A10 34 17 10 17 12 Total 70 14 32 20 14 32 23 (20%) (45.7%) (28.6%) (5.7%) (20%) (45.7%) (32.9%) (1.4%) Table Class Total Good Fair Average weak Poor number of No % No % No % No % No % students 12A4 36 2.8 10 15.9 10 15.9 10 15.9 13.9 12A10 34 11.8 12 35.3 11 32.3 14.7 5.9 Total 70 7.1 22 31.4 21 30.0 15 21.4 10.0 From the above tables, it is clear that the number of students not having good attitude towards doing reading tasks is alarming (65.7%) They are uninterested in reading, even afraid of it Most of them have difficult in classify the questions, using different tips for different types of questions Some of them even don’t know what to with the reading tasks As a result, their results of doing the given tests were not good (62.4%) Sadly, there were students (10%) not knowing how to complete the tasks and let the paper blank Very few of them are fond of reading and consequently, the number of students getting good grades is limited (7.1%) These findings would serve as the foundations for further suggestions that I would like to make in the next part 10 Evaluate and discuss the ideas encountered in the text Apply and extend these ideas to other texts and real life situations Summarize what was read by retelling the main ideas Discuss ideas for further reading Providing students with useful tips to help them practice reading more actively and effectively 3.1 Eliminate the words or phrases A complaint which I hear often is that, the students are unable to understand the given reading comprehension If you belong to this category, you need to understand that you don’t need to understand each and every word of the comprehension At the same time, you should find the gist (summary) of it Both these points above may appear contradictory But the crucial thing is, you need to eliminate the words, phrases, sentences from the Reading Comprehension that are not useful and need to focus on keywords 3.2 Find your strengths first To improve reading comprehension, first you need to find your strengths first The conservative approach to solving a passage is, to read the passage first, and then go to the questions and solve them But some students not feel comfortable with this method Probably they not know which keywords to remember while going through the comprehension Or, they may have to read the comprehension again, after reading the questions This lead to the problem of time management Solution: You can choose the “bottom up” approach That means, read the questions first, so that you have an idea what to look for, in the comprehension But ultimately you are the better judge of which approach is the best So, practice several reading comprehensions in two different approaches and find out which method suits you 3.3 Improve Your Vocabulary: Why you need to improve your vocabulary? Vocabulary means knowledge of words (meaning of words) If you not have a good vocabulary, you have to stop at every new word in the reading comprehension, and be puzzled what does it mean? So, when you don’t know the meaning of a word, it becomes very difficult to understand the gist of the Comprehension Having a good vocabulary, makes you understand the reading comprehension much easier How to improve your vocabulary? Start reading in English, anything…… Newspapers, stories, comics, text books….anything, that keeps you immersed in English New words gradually sink into your subconscious mind and become familiar Keep a notebook, Note down the new words you learned today and revise them periodically 18 Keep a target and a schedule to learn a certain number of new words every day You are the better person to decide the number,… I am not Do not deviate from the schedule at any cost Use a pen while reading: Do not read the Reading Comprehension like a movie novel While going through the passage, your three body organs should act in collaboration including Eyes, Hand and Brain Make a habit of finding valuable keywords quickly and underline those keywords with a pen (If the rules permit) So, if at all you have to read the Comprehension again you can go only through keywords, and not through all the junk 3.5 Do a mental math quickly: Often students feel they are not efficient in solving Reading Comprehension, because of these three factors: Vocabulary in the comprehension, difficulty in understanding the meaning of the questions, time factor So, if there are 12 questions in the English part, not try to attempt all the questions (If there is negative marking) Just try to think how many marks you need in English, by calculating how many you are getting in other sections of the exam (Arithmetic, Reasoning Etc.) Based on that you can choose how many questions you have to solve in English This doesn’t take much time if you make a quick mental math 3.6 Most Reading Comprehensions are complex: Usually, Reading Comprehensions are taken from scientific essays or well known fiction Often the sentences are complex to understand If you are not aware of this fact, you might be puzzled by those questions Solution: Improve your Vocabulary Read and solve comprehensions, as many as possible Solve passages from different fields of knowledge, like Science, Arts, Literature, Politics, Economics, etc 3.7 Focus: It is not unusual for any person to wander somewhere while reading something uninteresting So, when you find the Comprehension dull, difficult and uninteresting, your eyes run through the sentences, but your mind wanders somewhere else The result….you complete reading, but you grasp nothing Solution: Focus on the content Don’t let your mind go away from there If it starts daydreaming….bring it back into reality Tell yourself that you have plenty of time to dream after the exam 19 3.8 Improve reading Speed: Do not move your lips while reading, it slows you down You can refer the videos provided in your e-classes login id I highly recommend those techniques for improving your reading speed very quickly 3.9 While solving Reading Comprehension at home, don’t try to find the meaning of each and every word you find there, with the dictionary Of course, Looking for meanings in a dictionary and taking notes is a good habit, but for each and every word……No Sometimes you need to make a wild guess about a new word, taking into account of the context (situation) By this, you will be able to understand the meaning of new words If you feel necessary, you may check the meaning after reading the Comprehension 3.10 Solve previous papers By solving the previous papers you can understand and identify what kind of questions are appearing in the examination, so that you will be mentally prepared for those kinds of questions Some questions are Simple Some Draw Inferences Some of the RC questions will ask you about a specific word from a paragraph Some are Parallel Reasoning Question 3.11 Don’t draw on outside knowledge Don’t make conclusions which are not in the comprehension Though you are well aware of the topic mentioned in the Passage, You should not bring your own knowledge into the answers Just stick to the Information given in the comprehension 3.12 Overcome panic While focusing on the passage, if you stare at the letters for a long time, your eyes feel uncomfortable So, often close your eyes for a while, take a deep breath and start again Don’t get panicked by the difficulty of the questions Be prepared for them 3.13 Never lose confidence By looking at the Comprehension, don’t let any thought of discouragement enter into your mind Don’t feel depressed Always follow some tactics to motivate yourself 3.14 Learn what works best for you Whatever strategies mentioned here are not hard and fast rules They are flexible If you feel they don’t work for you, then you can alter them to suit your needs You are the judge 3.15 All the best: Following the above mentioned Reading Comprehension tips certainly brings you good marks in your academic tests 20 IV THE DISCUSSION I Results after applying the research in teaching In the school year 2021 -2022, I boldly applied these initiatives in teaching the students of class 12A4 and 12A10 at my school and achieved very positive results as follows: - Most of the student now can classify the questions, use different tips for different types of questions, set the time for each part, underline the key words in the questions, prioritize the easy questions, underline the information relating to the questions in the text with a pencil, solve the difficult questions later and find and highline the clues for difficult questions, check out for the answers to the questions one more time and Make plans to study new words as well - Reading tasks are no longer "scaring" but more enjoyable, active and creative They, now, have no or little difficulty in solving the reading parts in the test Some can also achieve the maximum marks - Happily, many students are more interested in reading lessons, which motivates me much in my teaching career This also the reasons leading to the relatively positive results of the school year 2021-2022 in the classes that I am teaching Hopefully, my own small experience will help colleagues enrich their experience in helping their students improve their grades in reading comprehension part in the GCSE English's test In the end of I asked students to the reading parts in and their specific results are: Table Class Total Question Question number A B C D A B C D of students 12A4 36 27 31 12A10 34 27 0 30 Total 70 54 61 (1.4%) (10.0%) Table Class Total number of students 12A4 36 12A10 34 Total 70 (77.1%) (11.4%) (0%) (2.8%) (87.1%) (10.0%) Good Fair Average weak Poor No % No % No % No % No % 12 8.3 22 61.1 26.5 21 61.8 17.1 43 61.4 10 14 27.8 11.7 20.0 1 2.8 1.4 0 0 0 21 - In comparison with the result from the beginning of the school year, the figure has changed as follows: Fair Average weak Poor Good Increase Increase Decrease Decrease No 10,0 % 27.3% 10.0% 20.0 % student It is obvious from the chart that after applying my initiative, the number of students having good attitude towards doing reading tasks is really encouraging (87.1%) They are interested in reading, even keen on it Most of them have no difficulty in classify the questions, using different tips for different types of questions Some of them even get full marks with the reading tasks As a result, their results of doing the given tests were rather good (78.5%) Happily, there was no student gets poor marks or let the paper blank None of them are afraid of reading As a result, the students’ scores are getting higher in comparison with that before applying these techniques Therefore, I wish to recommend the teacher be creative in selecting and using an effective and appropriate technique in the reading classroom so that students can be motivated and interested in practicing reading tasks II The colleagues’ comment: - On approval of most of what I had done, my colleagues suggested that I should create more exercises to encourage students to build up their source of vocabulary for each topic This is very precious suggestions that I will, in the near future, try my best to complete the study 22 C CONCLUSION I Conclusion Reading, one of the four skills, through with students can develop the ability to comprehend what they read has a profound effect on their entire lives and express their own ideas and make them become good thinkers Besides, reading helps students learn other skills Therefore, the importance of reading is undeniable Considered a major event in Việt Nam, the annual national high school examination is attended by some 1,000,000 candidates – both twelfth graders and non-students – in seek of slots at domestic higher education institutes With the power invested in it, the exam is believed to decide whether one will make it in life However, Vietnamese students have not yet performed well in English in national high school exam The average English score, in the last few years, has been the lowest among nine subjects during every year’s national high school graduation examination In order to boost the English score, solving reading comprehension questions in the test plays an important role in the process of guiding students to practice The results from the research reveal the present teaching and learning reading comprehension at Le Loi high school are far from satisfaction The students face five main problems at writing class: the low level of English proficiency, low background knowledge, low motivation, teachers’ assistance and time limitation The research also shows the teachers face many problems such as the low level of English proficiency, poor vocabulary, low motivation, low background knowledge of the students, time limitation, their inexperience of teaching the new textbook, large and multilevel classes as well as lack of necessary facilities So as to improve the situation, every effort has been made to present some useful reading comprehension experience which hopefully can be employed to help the students at Le Loi high school improve their reading skill as well as their score in the national high school graduation examination II Suggestion Considering the results obtained in this study and discussions in the previous parts, there are several suggestions that the writer would like to present For the teacher: - English teachers are suggested to apply some effective techniques mentioned above in reading activities as one of techniques used in teaching reading 23 - Teachers are suggested to be more creative and innovative in using various kinds of interesting teaching techniques which accompany the materials, so that the students will be more active and encouraged to learn in the class For the Students - Students are suggested to apply some effective techniques mentioned above in the process of reading in general and in solving reading comprehension questions in particular - Students are suggested to practice as many as possible types of reading comprehension questions in a variety of topics - Only by reading more, enriching the source of vocabulary and knowledge can they improve their reading skill In conclusion, at the high school level, teaching and learning reading play an important role to help students fully develop their language knowledge and skills However, teaching and learning reading skill, especially writing paragraphs should be effective, varied, more flexible and enjoyable Therefore, with this innovative experience, I hope to make small contribution to help teachers and students in my school in particular, and at numerous schools in general overcome the difficulties in teaching and learning reading skill and help grade 12 students to improve their grades in English reading comprehension part in the national high school graduation exam In my opinion, there are no methods or techniques that show absolute usefulness for the teaching unless the teacher can stimulate his/ her students and raise student’s interest in learning And what I hope to in this research is teaching better and finding the success in educating Due to the short time as well as limited knowledge of the author on this matter, the subject cannot avoid limitations which need adding and commenting I would like to listen to the comments of all colleagues so as to make my subject more complete! * I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The date and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere I sincerely thank you! COMMENTS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL Tho Xuan, June 1st, 2022 The writer: 24 Le Thi Minh Hao D REFERENCES Practical handbook of language teaching (David Cross) A course in language teaching - Practical and Theory (Penny Ur) Cambrige university press Teacher book, new text book 12 published by The Ministry of Education and Training Phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh Trung học phổ thông (Nguyễn Hạnh Dung) English language teaching Methodology of The Ministry of Education and Training Lingua forum TOEFL-iBT- reading published by Ho Chi Minh publication 25 E ADDENDUM The questionnaire What you think about the comprehension reading questions ? A Very difficult B difficult C not easy D easy Before doing the reading texts, how you feel? A afraid B uninterested C interested D excited What you often before, during, after doing the reading tasks? Tick in the right column You often … Before doing During doing After doing the reading the reading the reading task task task Read the passage/text Read the questions Classify the questions Prioritize the easy questions Set the time for each part Underline the key words in the questions Underline the information relating to the questions in the text with a pencil Solve the difficult questions later Find and highline the clues for difficult questions Use different tips for different types of questions Try to understand every new word and the text Check out for the answers to the questions one more time Don’t know what to Make plans to study new words The reading tasks for students to test before applying my experience 26 Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from to Many children have music classes when they attend school And it is thought that music can help them learn other subjects better Research has shown that it can improve children's performances in certain subjects Some studies have shown that music training can help you understand your own language better It could also help you with learning a second one Moreover, young people who have studied music also seem to get higher scores in other subjects like maths So it could be that these school subjects are connected in some way Music also helps you think of new ideas and believe more in yourself If you are learning the guitar, for example, it can be really exciting when you are able to start composing your own pieces of music One of the biggest benefits, of course, is that listening to music can reduce your stress And composing music can make you feel the same way Maybe your musical knowledge will even open up a great career path for you in the future! (Adapted from Complete First for Schools by Brook-Hart, Hutchison, Passmore and Uddin) Question 1: What is the main idea of the passage? A Ways to teach music B New ideas in music C Benefits of learning music D Ways to write a piece Question 2: The word it in paragraph refers to…… A research B school C child D music Question 3: According to paragraph 2, students who learn music seem to… A dislike learning a second language B get higher marks in maths C know only one language D dislike learning other subjects Question 4: The word composing in paragraph is closest in meaning to… A writing B copying C learning D sharing Question 5: According to the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned as a benefit of music? A It helps you think of new ideas B It helps you believe more in yourself C It helps you make more friends D It helps you reduce stress Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from to 12 When it comes to ambition, no two people are alike Every class has its outstanding students, every company has its wonderful employees, and every 27 family has its successful members Then there is someone who is happy with whatever life brings So what makes us different? A person's desire to succeed depends on so many factors He or she may have goals, but without the ambition to get started, they never take the first steps to achieve them Similarly, those with an ambition but no clear goals tend to begin many projects, but not ever follow them till the end Although there are not any strict rules about how to teach "ambition” or what decides it, many successful people share some things Most scientists agree that it helps to have parents who encourage the children to try new experiences, praise their successes, and accept their failures In those families, kids often have much higher confidence levels They know how to set goals and keep trying until they achieve them Money also plays an important role Those who are not very rich often want to earn money It forces them to work hard all the time and improve their life However, the desire for success can create its own stress Working too hard to achieve success can lead to illnesses These days, even teens and young adults are feeling the stress Trying to get into good colleges and find good jobs have forced high school students to study harder than ever For many, it is difficult to find the balance One solution may be to get together with family and friends, and the things we enjoy Most would agree that those values are far more important than any wealth or success Question 6: Which of the following is the best title for the passage? A An Interesting Life Story B A Life without Stress C The Desire For Success D Ways to Teach Ambition Question 7: The word outstanding in paragraph is closest in meaning to… A terrible B pleasant C honest D excellent Question 8: According to paragraph 1, ambition…… A is achieved by all people B is shared by different people C differs from person to person D is the same for all people Question 9: The word them in paragraph refers to…… A kids B levels C levels D goals Question 10: The word illnesses in paragraph is closest in meaning to… A wonderful results B good feelings C money problems D health problems Question 11: Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? A A person's desire for success depends on so many factors B The desire to succeed can badly affect people's health 28 C Money does not play a role in people's success D Some people are pleased with whatever life brings Question 12: Which of the following can be referred from the passage? A People in modem society not care about the values of family B Teenagers in the past had to work harder to enter colleges C Poor people not work hard enough to improve their life D The combination of ambition and clear goals is essential to success The reading tasks for students to test after applying my experience Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 39 to 43 Today we hear more and more about the importance of getting enough sleep Sleep can give energy to both our bodies and our brains It can also affect our feelings, behaviour, and memory Studies have shown that people in some countries spend less time sleeping and more time working But our bodies cannot work well without enough sleep Losing just one or two hours of sleep a night, over a long period of time, can badly affect our health We cannot work for many hours; we can get angry easily; and we can even lose our IQ points That explains why, without enough sleep, an intelligent person may have difficulty doing daily tasks Studies have also shown that the time of year seems to affect how much sleep we need People usually sleep longer in the winter, sometimes as much as 14 hours a night However, in the summer, they sometimes sleep as little as six hours, without having any problems (Adapted from Strategic Reading by Richards and Eckstut-Didier) Question 1: What is the passage mainly about? A Benefits of getting up early B Ways to sleep better C Causes of losing sleep D The importance of sleep Question 2: Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph as something that can be affected by sleep? A memory B feelings C behavior D diet Question 3: According to paragraph 2, which of the following can be a consequence of losing sleep? A Our health becomes worse B People have less time to work C People can finish their daily tasks D Our bodies can work better Question 4: The word intelligent in paragraph is closest in meaning to _ A clever B ugly C careful D angry Question 5: The word they in paragraph refers to _ A hours B people C problems D studies 29 Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 44 to 50 As the Internet has become more and more popular, we may be reading a great deal more than we used to However, the way we are reading materials on the Internet, or online reading, is very different from the way we traditionally read printed materials In the traditional way of reading, we would start at the beginning of a book and read through to the end In online reading, in contrast, we start reading a page, but may never finish it because a link on that page leads us to a passage on a different page, and so on As we go from one page to another, we have to remember lots of different ideas at the same time This new way of reading is quite different from the traditional one There are both advantages and disadvantages of online reading In online reading, the brain gets better than ever at doing many tasks at the same time, or multitasking; and thanks to this, we can work quickly and think creatively Multitasking is useful in certain working environments, but it also makes it more difficult for us to read at a deep level We are, therefore, much less likely to analyse what we read in a critical way, or gain any real insight into the contents we are reading This might lead to a future when a whole new generation lacks the ability to think critically and deeply about what they are reading The world is changing and our brains are probably changing to meet new demands in the modern world, just as they have always done throughout history However, it is important for us to consider how to maintain our critical, deeper reading skills, while still dealing with online reading materials (Adapted from Insight by Roberts and Sayer) Question 6: Which of the following is the best title for the passage? A More Reading, Less Analysis? B Is Technology Changing Writing? C Less Reading, More Problems? D Is Reading Changing Technology? Question 7: According to paragraph 2, as we read a page online, we _ A may not finish reading the whole page B always read from the beginning till the end C never read the first part of the page D tend to read the last part before anything else Question 8: The word tasks in paragraph is closest in meaning to _ A interviews B exams C jobs D talks Question 9: The word it in paragraph refers to _ A what we read B online reading C multitasking D the brain Question 10: The word insight in paragraph is closest in meaning to _ A status B understanding C respect D attitude 30 Question 11: Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? A We read online materials in the same way as we read printed materials B Possibly our brains are changing to meet new demands in the modern world C Multitasking enables us to work quickly and think creatively D In the traditional way of reading, we would read from the beginning through to the end Question 12: Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? A The brain does not play an important role in the traditional way of reading B The traditional way of reading allows people to read at a deep level C We used to read much more in the past than we now D Online reading maintains critical and deeper reading skills 31 32 ... problems, I decided to choose " Some experience in helping grade 12 students at Le Loi upper-secondary school to improve their grades in English reading comprehension parts in the national high school. .. small experience will help colleagues enrich their experience in helping their students improve their grades in reading comprehension part in the GCSE English' s test In the end of I asked students. .. present some useful reading comprehension experience which hopefully can be employed to help the students at Le Loi high school improve their reading skill as well as their score in the national high