(SKKN HAY NHẤT) hiệu quả của việc sử dụng các truyện ngắn nhằm giúp phát triển kỹ năng đọc hiểu của học sinh THPT

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐỀ TÀI: " HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC TRUYỆN NGẮN NHẰM GIÚP PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THPT" LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Part 1: Introduction Reason for choosing the topic It is assumed that the more students read, the better readers they become Therefore, establishing students’ habits of reading is very necessary, especially in second language learning Being aware of the importance of learning reading skill, authors of new English 10 have chosen interesting topics for reading lessons with the aim to promote students in reading and improve their reading comprehension However some of them are not familiar with students' genre and reading in the text book only is not enough to enhance students' interest in reading and reading comprehension Thonis, (1970) suggested: Comprehension skills depend upon two major factors: the background of experiences, from which concepts have been acquired, and the speed, accuracy, and richness of meanings which students bring to word recognition The advancement of skill in understanding what is read receives major emphasis during the intermediate and high school years As students become more efficient readers, the written language which they meet in books becomes a source for larger vocabularies, for increased knowledge, and for deeper comprehension of themselves and the world around them Thus beside the reading texts in the text book students need to read more outside class room to enrich their vocabulary as well as their background knowledge That means students must read extensively So many studies and researches have been conducted to find out ways to improve reading effectiveness Recently, there have been a lot of researches about the effect of extensive reading in improving students’ reading comprehension Colin Davis (1995:335) suggested that any classroom will be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading program and will be “unable to promote its students’ language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a program were present” He also claimed that such a program will make students more positive about reading, improve their overall comprehension skills, and give them a wider passive and active vocabulary Myuskens (1983) affirmed that "with students at the beginning and intermediate levels, instructors can use literacy text for language practice, reading comprehension and possible aesthetic appreciation” Strong (1996) also stated that “extensive reading of literature can encourage students to develop positive attitudes toward reading” LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com However, At My Hao high school, the teaching and learning reading are mostly based on text book Therefore, the students seem not to be interested in reading lessons Most of them feel reading is difficult and boring even they are afraid of reading Thus, after reading a text they often don’t understand much about its content or they misunderstand author’s ideas When studying in a reading lesson, students often experience the lack of background knowledge as well as vocabulary about the topics they are reading Other important reasons are their lack of motivation and time In the word of foreign language, the most popular expression might be “practice makes perfect” That is the reason why the teachers have to find ways to enhance students read more and to improve their reading comprehension From the point of view: students only read what they are interested in, the researcher come to the study of using short story in teaching reading Because among literature materials, short story seems to be the most suitable with high school students of all Students at this age are curious and they like reading short stories Collie and Slater (1991: 196) list the advantages of using short stories for language teachers: short stories are practical as their length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions; they are not complicated for students to work with on their own; they have a variety of choice for different interests and tastes; and they can be used with all levels (beginner to advanced), all ages (young learners to adults) and all classes (summer courses to evening classes) Moreover short stories don’t take much time Students can read them at the break, before going to bed, on the bus or when they are waiting for someone With the above reasons I decided to an action reaseach on using short stories as a sort of extra reading materials with the aim to motivate students in reading and improving their reading ability 1.2 Aims of the study The study is to find down if the using short stories in teaching reading helps motivate students at My Hao high school in reading and improving their reading ability The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of the using short story reading activities (as extra reading activities) at My Hao high school Thus survey questionnaires and class observations are used to investigate the teachers and the students' attitude towards the using short stories in teaching and learning reading as well as to examine the students' preferences for students' reading activities applied by the researcher LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com The results of the study show that both teachers and students are fully aware of the sheer importance of short story reading activities to the students' comprehension Among them, summarizing the story in spoken or written form appears to be the most interesting activities After this activity, the students not only comprehend deeply the short story but they also practice speaking and writing skills Secondly, the students find it easier to comprehend the story by filling in relating problems or themes in the story to their real life Aim of the study The study is to find down if the using short stories in teaching reading helps motivate students at My Hao high school in reading and improving their reading abilities Research questions This action research aims at answering the following research questions: What are the students' problems and causes of the problems in reading lessons? What are students' attitude and preferences for the using short stories in teaching reading? a How they find the short story reading activities that teacher applied? b What benefits they think the short story reading activities bring them? c What short story reading activities they like most to comprehend the story more effectively? Does the using short stories in teaching reading help students improve their reading comprehension? Scope of the study The research aims at applying the using short stories in teaching reading to grade 10 students at My Hao high school The subjects of the study are 50 students of class 10A3 (school year: 2011-2012) at My Hao high school including 22 males and 28 females The age of those 50 students ranges from 16 to 17 Hopefully, the findings of the study may be applied in teaching reading to students at My Hao high school and other high schools in Vietnam Methods of the study  Methodology: I designed this action research since it is the problem in my own class and I would like to improve my students' reading skill It is a practical action because its purpose is to LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com research a specific school situation with a view toward improving practice reading, to focus on a small-scale research project, to focus narrowly on a specific problem and to be undertaken by an individual teacher within a high school  Data collection instruments: To answer the research questions of the study, the data are collected through questionnaires, interviews, observations, and tests Significance of the study As mentioned above, learning reading is very important to students Therefore, to raise students’ interest in reading and help them comprehend the text better, the applying extra reading activities in teaching reading are very necessary The aim of this study is to find out whether the using short stories in teaching reading motivates students in reading and improves their reading comprehension PART 2: development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.The importance of learning reading comprehension skills Reading comprehension is what allows the readers to interact with the text in a meaningful way It’s the bridge from passive reading to active reading, from letters and words to characters and contexts Reading comprehension is the crucial link to effective reading - a strong factor in our educational and professional lives For many reasons, reading comprehension also unlocks the door to a lifetime of reading recreation and enjoyment Reading comprehension skills increase the pleasure and effectiveness of reading In short, building reading comprehension skills require a long term strategy in which all the reading skill areas (phonics, fluency, and vocabulary) will contribute to success Thus, teachers should find out what skill areas that their students are bad at and help them improve those ones Motivation If students are going to develop good reading skills, they’ll want to read People are more motivated to read if they are interested in the topic Research confirms that students' motivation is a key factor in successful reading Harmer, J (2003;44) defined "motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a course of action." Students' interest in reading is vital to the motivation and reading assignment (Collins, Decker, 1996.53) If a student is intrinsically motivated, the students desire to LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com read the materials because they are interested in it Another strategy that is used to promote intrinsic motivation is to find topics that students are interested in learning more about and have the students research it (Guthrie, Solomon, 1997;43) The students want to read the material because they are so determined to learn more about the subject; they will also want to work hard at it because they picked it out (Hunt, Lyman, 1997;21) Beside intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is not less important In this study, extrinsic motivation is considered as teacher's role in enhancing students to read as well as sustaining students' interest in reading Harmer (2003) said that "clearly a major factor in the continuance of a student's motivation is the teacher." The teachers are the people who know best about their students, they will know how to enhance their students' interest in reading and when to provide help to them The teachers are also students' friends who share their difficulties in learning and from those difficulties they will find the most suitable method of teaching to increase and direct their students' motivation Thus, to make our students want to read, besides giving them interesting lessons with pleasant learning environment and various activities we need to provide them materials that they are interested in or let them choose their own materials to read Motivation in leaning reading short stories 3.1 Short stories and their benefits to high school students When students are let to read materials that they are interested in they will want to read more Wells C (1980;78) stated that “If reading has been pleasurable because the students have been able to identify successfully (emotionally and intellectually) with the text, and to organize the material, then the students will want to read more This desire will set off a chain reaction which will lead to more reading, and the more the student reads, the better he will read.” To high school students, short stories seem to be the most suitable materials for extra reading activities Erkaya (2005;75) said "short stories usually have a beginning, middle and an end, they encourage students at all levels of language proficiency to continue reading them until the end to find out how the conflicts is resolved” He also stated that " short stories, for example, help students to learn the four skills listening, speaking, reading, writing more effectively because of the motivational benefit embedded in the stories and with short stories, instructors can teach literacy, culture, and higher-order thinking benefit." Accordingly, what Hirvela and Boyle (1988;66) report is not surprising: they examine students' attitudes towards four genres of literary texts (short stories, novels, poetries and dramas) and state that their Hong Kong Chinese students indicated short stories as the genre that is less feared and the second most enjoyed (43%; LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the novel is the most enjoyed with 44%), since short stories are easy to finish and definite to understand In addition, short stories are the best path to improve your overall reading comprehension Short stories are easy, not time consuming, and the plots are relatively simple, with limited locations and characters In about an hour or so, you should be able to read a short story, and then sit down and analyze the story from beginning to end You should be able to identify the characters, what the story’s plot is about, and analyze the plot from different angles This will teach you to see a system from different angles “Thus short stories - they are simply, easy and fun But they can really improve your reading comprehension”(Keith Johnson, 2008;77) In conclusion, the answer to the question of why short stories are the most suitable literary form to use in English classes lines in Edgar Allan Poe's definition of short stories He defined it "as a narrative that can be read at one sitting of from one-half hour to two hours, and that is limited to 'a certain unique or single effect', to which every detail is subordinate" (Abrams, 1970;88) Since it is short, and aims at giving a single effect, there is usually one plot, a few characters; there is no detailed description of setting So, it is easy for the students to follow the story line of the work 3.2 Choosing the suitable short stories for high school students As it is mentioned above, of literacy genres, short stories seem to be the most suitable one to use in crowded class due to its shortness However, there is no strict rule to determine the length of short stories; as well as very short stories, there are longer ones Therefore, it is the duty of the teacher to choose a story short enough to handle with course hours "The shortness of the text is important for the students because they will see that they can read, understand and finish something in English, and it will give the students a feeling of achievement and self - confidence" (Zerrin Eren, 2004.98) To high school students with the pre-intermediate language level the teacher can choose short stories which have from two hundreds words to three hundred words in length Beside the length of the work, there are some other important criteria that must be considered while choosing the text Hill (1994;45) points out the basic criteria to be kept in mind while choosing a literary text as follows: - The need and abilities of the students - The linguistic and stylistic level of the text - The amount of background information required for a true - Appreciation of the materials LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In addition, the vocabulary and sentence structure of the short stories to be studied must be suitable to the level of the students The short stories with archaic, slang, foreign words, and allusions, having sentences imitating the speech of a particular locality or ignorant people or foreigners must be avoided Similarly, very long sentences are difficult for students to understand As students will not understand these sentences and words, they will get bored and not read the work Therefore, before giving the short story, the teacher should decide the readability of the text Moreover, High school students are at teenage age, thus, the short stories for teenagers are important sources for teacher Sandra Lee McKay (2001: 322) and Wilga Rivers (1968: 230) point out that students read and enjoy a text if the subject matter of the text is relevant to their life experience and interests There are short stories written for teenagers, although they are written for native speakers, "one way or another, they are directly relevant to the life experience, thoughts, emotions, and dreams of young people" (Rongqvist and Sell 1995: 44) 3.3 How to use short stories in teaching reading Short stories studied must be assigned to the students previously Each student's reading and understanding speed is not the same, and the course hours are limited in high schools If the students read the chosen text beforehand, they will understand the surface meaning or at least, have an ideal about the subject matter of the story For the best use of the allocated time, the students must read the text before the class meeting Before reading the text in class, the teacher should give very brief information about the writer in order that the students can see the writer in the context of his/her time  Using a graphic organizer or story map Following the reading of the text, the teacher may use a graphic organizer so that the students can comprehend the story better A graphic organizer is "a visual aid that displays the chunks of information to be studied" (Crandall, Jaramollo, Olsen and Peyton, (2002: 2) Crandall et al (2002: 2) explain the advantages of using graphic organizers as follows: Graphic organizers can help teachers clarify their instructional goals Teachers can ask themselves what they want their students to learn and how they can display this information graphically to help their students connect their ideas A story map in particular will help students understand the components of the story Crandall et al (2002;5) describe a story map as follows: "A story map is one example of a graphic organizer A story map breaks down the components of a story- characters, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com setting, and dialogue in a series of events or conflicts leading to resolution-into chunks of text that can help students organize and comprehend the events of the story" Using a story map, we can encourage our students to infer meaning from the text, and is able to develop students' reading and speaking skills Below is a model of a story map: Title Charact ers Setting Event Event Event Resolution Theme of the story Adapted from the story map by Crandall et al (2002, p 2-3) Beside the using story map, we can provide the students other activities to comprehend the story The following activities are suggested by Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater (1993;9) Asking and answering questions relating problems or themes in the story to real life of the students This activity can be applied for pair work, group work or teacher and whole class Doing multiple choice or true/false exercises that focus on new vocabulary and reading comprehension about the story LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Reordering the events of the story Summarizing the story in spoken or written form Compare, note point of similarity and differences of content of the two stories with the same topic Provide title for the story Chapter 2: Research methodology What is action research? Action research is now becoming increasingly popular in language education It is a process in which some decisions about the teachers' future practice result from problem identification and analysis on daily practice Action research is advantageous in many ways Glanz (1991.7) points out that, in the first place, it is feasible because the research is done by the practitioner (the researcher) in his/her own practical context and situation Although it is done in reasonable time, action research brings immediate benefits to teaching practice In addition, he states that action research directly affects a teacher' practice and enable him /her to renew the classrooms and promote instructional improvement Finally, all the stages of action research are implemented in a strict order which allows educators to systematically address to topics and issues that affect teaching and learning in the classroom With the above important reasons, an action research was selected to fulfill the study The setting and the participants 2.1 The setting of the study The study was carried out at My Hao high school where the researcher has been teaching English for eight years 2.2 The subjects of the study The subjects of the study are 50 students of class 10A3 at My Hao high school (school year: 2011-2012) including 22 males and 28 females The age of those 50 students ranges from 15 to 16 They all have learnt English for at least four years at secondary school therefore, on average, they have a pre-intermediate level of English language proficiency They have already studied reading skill for one term at My Hao high school, and have finished eight units of the text book English 10 (Hoang Van Van et al, 2007.9) In the second term they continue with the reading texts in this text book 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2.3 Reading materials Material is considered to be one of the kernel elements in the model of language teaching and learning O'Malley and Chammot (1990:210) state that: The objectives of language materials are to develop academic English language skills through content-base instruction, to develop understanding and skills in content areas, and to teach students learning strategies that will help them become autonomous learners of both language and content Because of this, appropriate reading materials must effectively assist students in developing their reading skills Teachers are advisable to design or at least know how to select suitable reading materials accompanied with a relevant range of exercises for students In other words, the topic of reading materials must be of students' interest Baker de Gonzalez and Blau, (2000.10) suggested that The high-interest topic and thematically linked reading affectively build students' background knowledge and vocabulary for later reading With their increased knowledge of a topic, students will have more to talk, write and think about as they acquire English In conclusion, The influence that materials have on the teaching and learning process can not be denied, so reading teachers must be aware of the role of materials have in their classroom and the way they are used From this the teachers can choose the most suitable reading materials for their students Action research procedure 3.1 Identifying a problem What was the students' problem? After teaching class 10A3 for a semester, the researcher realized that the students were not motivated in the reading lessons As a result, most of them could not answer the comprehension questions after reading so they did not comprehend the reading well after reading lessons 3.2 Collecting data What were the causes for the students' problem? In this step, the main causes for the students' low comprehension in reading lessons were identified with questionnaire for the students as presented in 3.3.1, the class observations and interviews with other reading teachers as in 3.3.2 was conducted to check the real ability of the information from the Questionnaires 11 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3.3 Pre-test and post-test The pre-test, which was taken from My Hao high school’s test library, is to check students’ reading comprehension It was done at the beginning of the second term The test consists of two reading texts with the topics that the students have learnt in the first term and there were four exercises to check students' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension ability after learning eight units in the first term The test was taken before the time of action plan implementation The post-test, which was taken from My Hao high school’s test library, is to check students’ reading comprehension It was done at the end of the second term The test consists of two reading texts with the topics that the students have learnt in the second term and there were four exercises to check students' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension ability after learning eight units in the second term The test was taken after the time of action plan implementation The format of the two tests and the kinds of exercises were designed the same Only the information asked and checked are different according to the different reading topics in each term So the researcher should be sure that the tests are relatively equal in the level of difficulty Through the two tests, the researcher can find the differences in the students' reading comprehension; compare the results before and after the time of doing action plan 12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS Implementing the action plan How was the action steps implemented? The action plan was implemented for 16 weeks from week one to week sixteen of the second term at the fifth period on Friday (Normally, students learn periods on Friday, the researcher had asked for the permission of the school’s leaders about this) The subjects were the students of class 10A3 at My Hao high school The teacher was the researcher of the study Besides, one more teacher was invited to observe the class in the first period of each unit during the time of action plan implementation During the sixteen weeks of the action plan implementation the students were provided with different short stories and comprehension tasks that correspond with the topic of the reading in the text book, students’ knowledge, interests and levels of proficiency (Appendix 6) Collecting data from survey What was the students’ reading comprehension like after action plan implementation? After sixteen weeks of action plan implementation, some data about the students’ attitude and opinion about the using short stories in teaching reading were gathered through questionnaire and the class observation checklists in which the students’ comprehension was objectively assessed by another observer She had the observation sheet for her observation including the way the teacher taught the students, the reading short story activities the teacher applied and the students’ attitudes towards the teacher’s activities their involvement in the activities, their reading comprehension performance and their interaction with each other while completing the reading tasks Analyzing data from teachers’ survey What were the results and recommendations for further study? The action research was evaluated based on the results collected from the post data From the findings of the action research evaluation, some recommendations were made  The research method and its different data collection instruments were presented  The reasons for the method selection were also discussed 13 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com  The pre-data collection procedure, the implementation of the action plan, and the post-data collection procedure were conducted in a strict order  After the pre-data were analyzed, the causes of the students’ low reading comprehension were sought  Then one action plan of using short story in teaching reading was developed and implemented during the sixteen weeks of the study  Based on the analyzed results from the action plan implementation and the post data collected after sixteen weeks of action plan implementation, the action research was evaluated  In conclusion, action research was chosen to be the research method of this study because action research can help to identify problems, solve the problems, and evaluate the solutions, which are exactly what the researcher wanted to Analyzing data from students’ survey 4.1 Pre -test data The pre test was done by students in class 10A3 ( 2011-2012) at My Hao high school The researcher had chosen some reading texts and built up a reading comprehension test which suits with students' language level and covers the topics that the students had learnt in the first term The test was taken at the end of the first term before the time of action plan complementation And the results of the pre- test were presented as follow: Discussion: 14 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com As can be seen from the information above, most of the students got low marks (38%) The number students getting excellent marks is very low ( only 8%) In the previous term, the students did not comprehend much in reading lessons and the cause of the students' low comprehension in reading lessons was that they lack of vocabulary, background knowledge and motivation for reading 4.2 Post test data The post test was done by students in class 10A3 (2011-2012) at My Hao high school The researcher had chosen some reading texts from My Hao high school test library and built up a reading comprehension test which suits with students' language level and covers the topics that the students had learnt after implementing the action plan for 16 weeks The test was taken at the end of the second term after the time of action plan complementation And the results of the post test were presented as follow: Discussion As can be seen from the information above, most of the students got higher marks than those of the pretest During 16 weeks of the second term, students were given a lot of stories by teachers Therefore, their reading skill has improved much As a result of this, the number of students getting bad marks decreased remarkably (only 4%) and the number of students getting excellent marks increased sharply (66%) 15 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4.3 Pre-test and post-test comparison Discussion: The results from the pre-test and post-test showed that the students gained significantly high reading comprehension level of the reading text thanks to the short story reading activities that the teacher applied in the action plan implementation In the pre-test there were no marks or 10 but in the post test, 14% of the students got marks or 10 The number of students who had marks or increased strikingly from 8% to 52% None of the students got marks or 2, only students got mark 4(4%) In conclusion, the scores from the two tests showed a big difference in the students’ progress in comprehending the reading texts as well as in developing their reading skill Chapter 4: Major findings and suggestions Students' factors affecting reading comprehension 1.1 Limited background knowledge It is easier to read and understand the text if we know something about the topic For example, in our own language, it is very difficult to read a science textbook if we have never learnt any science Except various background knowledge of difference nations, human share a large amount of the same knowledge known as common knowledge that is beyond the limitation posed by culture region or religion For this reason, students are encouraged to read as widely as possible The key to incorporating the information into the readers' knowledge is partly base on the amount of background knowledge of the reader Having background knowledge permits the information to be incorporated into pre existing knowledge structures Research on enriching background knowledge has 16 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com demonstrated that activating such knowledge increases comprehension Graves and his associates (1980; 1983) developed previews for short stories that had, as one component, the building of prior knowledge important to understanding the selection Hayes and Tierney (1982) found that presenting background information related to the topic to be learned helped readers learn from texts regardless of how that background information was presented or how specific or general it was Alvarez (1990) used case-based instruction to develop students' abilities to assemble and incorporate different knowledge sources in memory He taught them how to employ thematic organizers and hierarchical concept mapping in their reading Additionally, research clearly emphasizes that for learning to occur, new information must be integrated with what the learner already knows (Rumelhart, 1980) It appears that providing students with strategies to activate their prior knowledge base or to build a base if one does not exist is supported by the current research and this is one way teachers can have a positive influence on comprehension in their classrooms 1.2 Lack of vocabulary Most people feel that there is a common sense relationship between vocabulary and comprehension messages are composed of ideas, and ideas are expressed in words The crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension has been well recognized in first language (L1) situations and this has appeared to be true of second language (L2) settings as well because a strong vocabulary is the foundation for reading comprehension In fact, vocabulary is the foundation of all areas of literacy listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Trisha Callella 2004 Teaching vocabulary to improve reading comprehension Creative teaching pressed) By high school, students with a diversity of backgrounds and skills are immersed in content area instruction Yet all students, and particularly those who are struggling, are confronted with vocabulary and concepts that are unfamiliar or misunderstood Those misunderstandings interfere with comprehension of content area curriculum That is the reason why the vocabulary enrichment for students becomes necessary Many researches have been carried out to study the possibility of learning vocabulary through reading especially through extensive reading in a second language Day, R., & Bamford, J (1998) also found that Research convincingly shows that extensive reading increases vocabulary knowledge It is not surprising that extensive reading helps students become better readers Research in both L1 and L2 shows that we learn to read by reading The more our students read the 17 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com better readers they become An integral part of this is learning new vocabulary One of the primary way in which vocabulary is learned is through reading Learners encounter the same words over and over again in context, which results in vocabulary learning This fact leads to the using short stories (as an extensive reading activity) in enriching students' vocabulary knowledge as well as improving their reading comprehension 1.3 Lack of reading comprehension skill Students were asked about what should be done to improve their reading comprehension More than a half (56%) of the students agrees with idea of providing more activities to raise students' interest in reading 60% of them approve for idea that students should read more outside classroom to enrich their own vocabulary and background knowledge However, the highest percentage (64%) approve for idea of teachers' role in helping students to find suitable extra reading materials Seven other students (14%) say that students should check all new vocabulary before learning reading lessons The above numbers show that the using reading text in English 10 only is not enough to improve students reading comprehension Besides reading text in English 10, extra reading materials and extensive reading activities are also very important to students' reading comprehension Teacher’s factors affecting teaching reading The role of background knowledge in language comprehension has been formalized as schema theory which has one of its fundamental tenets that text, any text, either spoken or written, does not by itself carry meaning Rather, according to schema theory, a text only provides directions for listeners or readers about how they should retrieve or construct meaning from their own, previously acquired knowledge This previously acquired knowledge is called the reader’s background knowledge, and the obviously acquired knowledge structures are called schemata Schema theory suggests that we need to utilize information not explicitly contained in the text to comprehend more texts The knowledge we carry around in our head is organized into interrelated patterns These are constructed from our previous experience of the experimental world and guide us as we make sense of new experiences They also enable us to make predictions about what we might expect to experience in given context and there is no doubt that extra reading activities are of great help in widening learners’ 18 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com background knowledge However, deciding the right reading materials for the right students and at the suitable time is not easy to all teachers Therefore, teaching methodology plays a very important role in language teaching in general and in teaching reading in particular Reading material factors Material is considered to be one of the kernel elements in the model of language teaching and learning O'Malley and Chammot (1990:210) state that: The objectives of language materials are to develop academic English language skills through content-base instruction, to develop understanding and skills in content areas, and to teach students learning strategies that will help them become autonomous learners of both language and content Because of this, appropriate reading materials must effectively assist students in developing their reading skills Teachers are advisable to design or at least know how to select suitable reading materials accompanied with a relevant range of exercises for students In other words, the topic of reading materials must be of students' interest Baker de Gonzalez and Blau, (2000) suggested that The high-interest topic and thematically linked reading affectively build students' background knowledge and vocabulary for later reading With their increased knowledge of a topic, students will have more to talk, write and think about as they acquire English In conclusion, The influence that materials have on the teaching and learning process can not be denied, so reading teachers must be aware of the role of materials have in their classroom and the way they are used From this the teachers can choose the most suitable reading materials for their students Suggestions for motivating students to read As mentioned before, motivating students to get actively involved in reading lessons depends on several factors However, the author of the study intends to investigate into the impact of teachers’ teaching method through the using short story reading activities as extra reading activities Base on the data gathered from the survey questionnaires, interview and observations, major findings have been pointed out to help the researcher have an overview of the current situation of the using short story in teaching reading at My Hao high school The findings enable the researcher to give some recommendations to better the situation for the sake of the students The findings from the research indicate that it will be beneficial for the students when the using short story reading activities are applied in teaching reading and build a 19 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com good habit of reading for them Through frequently short story reading activities students will have more chance to contact with the target language in many different fields therefore, the students’ background knowledge and vocabulary surely will be increased and their reading comprehension also will be improved By reading outside class room, students will establish themselves a habit of reading This habit is very necessary for them in practicing their reading skills because “the more they read the better readers they become.” Thus, the situation investigated in the research calls for the applications of using short story reading activities in teaching reading PART Conclusion It is apparent that students at My Hao high school often encounter several difficulties when dealing with the reading skill One of these is the lacking of background knowledge, motivation, and vocabulary therefore students often find it hard to comprehend the reading text so the reading comprehension of them is still rather low There are several factors affecting the students’ reading comprehension in learning reading in general and in reading a specific text in particular From the data analysis, it is important to spot that teacher’ teaching method, especially in establishing the students the habit of outside class reading, have great impact on the students’ comprehension of the reading text Although the teachers as well as the students are fully aware of the important role of extra reading activities, the chosen reading material and reading comprehension activities are very necessary To improve the situation, the teachers should take into consideration such things as teaching and learning condition, the reading material, reading activities, learning strategies and students’ preference… In more details, using short story reading activities as extra reading activities appropriately and flexibly, encouraging students’ internal factors … are feasible and effective solutions to apply in teaching reading Finally, it is hope that the study will make an especially significant contribution to the improvement and renovation of the current situation of teaching and learning English at My Hao high school 20 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... had, as one component, the building of prior knowledge important to understanding the selection Hayes and Tierney (1982) found that presenting background information related to the topic to be