Some suggestions for doing some diferent types of English readingcomprehension exercises effectively in the English textbooks of grade 10 & 11 for students atLam KinhHigh school 1 PART A INTRODUCTION[.]
PART A: INTRODUCTION I Rationale for the study In the trend of global integration, English is considered as an international language It is the major language of intercommunication, international commerce, business, science, culture and so on In Vietnam, the economic open-door policy pursued by the Government has increased the demand for using English Therefore, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across the country English is also introduced to the educational curriculum from primary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory) [3] In recent years, Lam Kinh high school as well as the other high schools in rural and mountainous areas, teaching and learning English has been taken into consideration In the process of teaching and learning English, reading comprehension skill is by far the most important of the four macro-skills It can be said that reading comprehension skill becomes very important and essential for language learners that all important exams such as the national Examination for GCSE, the entrance exam to university… are focusing on testing reading comprehension skill of learners However, teaching and learning reading comprehension at Lam Kinh High School is not very effective and is still far from satisfactory for various reasons Students are habituated to solve simple and direct passages in their school days, but when it comes to competitive exams as national examination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university) the task becomes difficult Being unable to understand the vocabulary (meaning of words) and concept of the passage, getting used to the habit of word-by-word reading; focusing excessively on details rather than main ideas; poor vocabulary and limited background knowledge are the obstacles that make students embarrassed and worried about the reading comprehension skill As a result they may fail to solve it or ignore it all In order to help the students build up passion for reading, have strategies for comprehending the reading text well, develop effectively reading habit outside classroom so that student can improve their reading skill and can get high marks in examinations , I choose the topic of study: “Some suggestions for doing some diferent types of English readingcomprehension exercises effectively in the English textbooks of grade 10 & 11 for students atLam KinhHigh school” II Aims of the study The aims of the study are to investigate some effective techniques and strategies in solving some types of the reading comprehension exerxcises in reading lesons, then in examinations for GCSE and the entrance exam to university Some main purposes covering the study are summarized as follow: + To understand the theoretical background of reading comprehension in order to improve students’ English reading skills + To investigate some techniques and strategies for reading comprehension Note: At this page, the paragraph “In the trend of……tertiary education (compulsory)’’ is consulted from Reference number [3] SangKienKinhNghiem.net + To help English teachers, especially teachers of English at upper secondary schools to find out effective techniques to deal with reading comprehension with the hope of helping them in teaching English III Objects of the study This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective ways and strategies for doing some types of reading comprehension exercises in order to help students to gain success in reading lessons, then in the GCSE examination IV Methods of the study To achieve the aims mentioned above, a detailed study is used The theoretical background of the study presented in my study comes from documents on the internet and many published books written by different authors on language teaching The statistics and data collected for the study come from the students and the English teachers at Lam Kinh upper secondary school by making observation through reading comprehension lessons in the classroom and through tests and exams Through theoretical and practical experience in leaning environment at Lam Kinh high school, I myself build up the topic V New points of the study Although the study has some similarities with the previous one, I pay my attention to some suggestions for doing some different types of reading comprehension exercises in the English 10, 11 for students at Lam Kinh high school with the hope of investigating into ways to the reading comprehension exercises more effectively, which make lessons more stimulating and interesting in stead of the boring ones PART B: DEVELOPMENT I.Theoretical background Definitions of reading comprehension [6] Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading.Reading comprehension skill plays a very important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It has the nature of communication, in which reading activity acts as a means ofcommunication between the writer and the reader Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible That means reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way To sum up, reading becomes meaningless without comprehension since only reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers understand the text Therefore, how to help students have effective reading comprehension methods is considered to be the most important part in reading teaching Types of reading Note: At this page, the section “Definitions of reading comprehension” is consulted from Reference number [6] SangKienKinhNghiem.net According to purposes, reading is categorized into four types: skimming, scanning, extensive and intensive reading 2.1 Skimming If the task of the reader is merely to get an overall idea of the passage, he is most likely to use the strategy called skimming This strategy enables the readers to say what kind of text it is and what kind of information it contains Thus, the learner can expect what the passage is about and, consequently, he can activate appropriate schemata Skimming is also helpful in deciding whether a text is relevant for particular reader’s purposes, as the reader can quickly estimate the relevance of the text by skimming it Since this technique provides the readers with the main ideas of the text, it affords a logical framework for details to be fitted into it during more intensive reading What is significant to add, during skimming the reader does not pay attention to details and can skip new words providing the text can still be understood [1] To sum up, skimming is a very useful reading comprehension skill for students, and it is advisable to apply at the first stage of teaching reading with the hope that it can help them to have an overview of what they are reading Moreover, it will be easier for them to deal with theother tasks that followed 2.2 Scanning Scanning is also one of two most valuable reading strategies However, scanning is far more limited than skimming since it only means retrieving what information is relevant to our purpose Scanning occurs when a reader goes through a text very quickly in order to find a particular point of information When scanning, we only try to locate specific information and often we not even follow the linearity of the passage to so We simply let our eyes wander over the text until we find what we are looking for, whether it is a name, a date, or a less specific piece of information”.[1] In short, the key to scanning is to decide exactly what kind of information we can look for and where to find it The purpose of scanning is to extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text 2.3 Intensive reading Intensive reading is a slow reading of a text aimed to explain every unknown word, grammar structure and style It also very often involves translation of the reading passage As the main emphasis is on features of the text, rather than on its semantic context, the reader’s interest in the story may be reduced The objective of intensive reading is to achieve a full understanding of the text not only of what it means but also of how the meaning is produced thus it is made use of when the reader encounters a more difficult foreign language text Intensive reading is reading for accuracy which is essential to the students’ comprehension Overview, purpose, questions, reading, summarize, test, and understanding are the seven procedures that cover the method, for very effective reading for detailed comprehension and long retention reader’s knowledge Note: At this page, the section 2.1 “Skimming… be understood.”,& section 2.2 ”Scanning… specific piece of information” are consulted from Reference number [1] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 2.4 Extensive reading Extensive reading is a fluency activity, mainly involving general understanding It provides valuable reinforcement of the language already presented and practiced in the class as well as giving students useful practice in inferring meaning from the context of the text Extensive reading is used to obtain a general understanding of a subject and includes reading longer texts for pleasure, as well as business books Use extensive reading skills to improve our general knowledge of business procedures Getting students to read extensively is the easiest and most effective way of improving their reading skills Reading is necessary to every learner and undeniably an important skill in comparison with others In addition, it is notable that intensive and extensive reading should not be seen as in being opposition but need to be paid equal attention for the sake of the students For second or foreign language learners, both intensive and extensive reading are of great importance as they act as a means to gain knowledge The importance of reading in foreign language learning In the process of teaching and learning a second or foreign language, the teaching andlearning of reading are always received much attention, since it is regarded as one of the mostimportant major skills First of all, reading helps students learn to think in English, enlarge their English vocabulary, improve their writing Richard (1993:4) claimed that “reading may help to increase knowledge of the target language through exposure to new vocabulary and grammatical structures” There is a close relationship between reading and vocabulary knowledge, because while reading, the readers know most of the words in the text already, and they can also determine the meaning of many of the unfamiliar words from the contexts Therefore, the best way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read It is understandable that anyone who has a large vocabulary is usually a good reader.Besides, Richard (1993: 4) also stated that “reading in the new language is also animportant way to learn about the target culture”, which means that reading provides the students with a wide range of interesting information, helps them understand the ways of life, behaviors, thoughts and other aspects of the native people and it is also a good way to find out about new ideas, facts and experiences Therefore, they can master vocabulary, grammar and the background knowledge or cross-cultural problems that they encounter In other words, reading is very important to the foreign language learners because it widens their knowledge of language and life It seems to be the most important skill to the students of English since their main purpose is to understand the written texts II Practical background Background of the study 1.1 Description of the English syllabus at upper secondary schools At upper secondary schools, there are three levels of English: English 10, 11 and English 12 In the past the textbooks used here are the three-year-course SangKienKinhNghiem.net ones, the seven- year-course books have been used lately English is now a compulsory subject in schools Students have English lessons during the first term and second term of the school year The textbooks chosen are English 10, 11, 12 by Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc Each consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school year with mid-term and term tests in between Each lesson is divided into periods with the aim of giving the students basic knowledge of English and practice four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing skill By using this textbook, we can develop our students’ communicative competence and our students can learn real things from daily life The textbooks also develop students’ reading and writing skill At the end of each term, students have an exam for four skills 1.2 Description of the students at upper secondary schools Most of students of LamKinh high school have already learned English for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low level of English proficiency Another fact is that most of the students are from rural areas in ThoXuan district Consequently, individual differences in learning styles, identities, attitudes, motivation, etc are unavoidable and may cause the teachers some problems during their teaching In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation makes them not interested in learning English Although most of them have already learnt English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of English is still poor and limited Some students can even hardly say a complete sentence in the target language 1.3 Description of the teachers at upper secondary schools At Lam Kinh High School, there are totally teachers of English, including me, aged from 30 to 44 Half of us graduated from Hong Duc University in Thanh Hoa province and none of us have been to any English speaking countries The number of female teachers formed the majority (5 female teachers and only one male teacher) All of us are enthusiastic with their career and had at least eight years experienced in teaching English However, in terms of methodology, the teachers in our school usually employ the traditional methods of teaching especially Grammar-translation method They often apply this method in teaching English In other words, they focus on analyzing the grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills They spend most of the classroom time explaining new words, analyzing grammar structures and translating texts into Vietnamese Students often listen and take notes passively This leads to low motivation in students and creates very few chances for them to improve their communicative competence 1.4 Description of physical setting In most upper secondary schools, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment: a blackboard, tables and a desk The only type of teaching aid that the English group has is some cassette recorders and pictures In term of class size, the number of students in an English class is SangKienKinhNghiem.net quite large, from 40 to 50 This large number causes a great deal of difficulties for the teaching and learning activities The materials for reference and selfstudy are not available for teachers and students at schools In the school library, there are only some English books that are not really helpful for teachers and students Difficulties 2.1 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching reading When asking the teachers about the problems they were facing with in teaching reading, the majority admitted that the most difficult issue was the students’ limitation of vocabularyand grammatical structures Moreover, despite the fact that the teachers at LK school are well aware of the techniques and strategies for reading comprehension skill, some of them find it difficult to use them in their teaching because of many reasons The biggest one is that they are deeply affected by old teaching methods They said that after quite a long time applying these methods, they become absorbed to them and it is very difficult for them to change In the reading lessons, before doing the task, teacher often provide students with all of the new words and then translate the text in to Vietnamses.This makes students become passive in learning 2.2 Students’Difficulties 2.2.1 Passive learning style The students are still deeply affected by the old and passive learning methods such as Translation or Audio-lingual Method and the learning environment at lower secondary school where reading was not fully taken into consideration They only learn what the teacher supply in the classroom They are accustomed to the habit of word-by-word readingand doing simple and short reading comprehension exercises 2.2.2 Lack of knowledge for comprehension The information from the data collected clearly shows that students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, their lack of appropriate reading strategies and their background knowledge are students’ main difficulties, which influence their motivation for reading as well as their understanding Not only the students but also the teachers faced many problems when dealing with reading lessons Students had very limited vocabulary, and were too dependent on teachers, peers dictionaries New words have affected the students’ process of reading Background knowledge is found to be a less challenge than vocabulary Students found that they did not know anything in some aspects Therefore, they had many difficulties when reading a strange topic With many demonstrations that those who possess rich prior knowledge about the topic of a reading often understand the reading better than the others with low prior knowledge Students’ lack of appropriate reading strategies is another problem, the teachers had to face III Some suggestions for doing some different types of reading comprehension exercisesin the English text books of grade 10 and 11 effectively Identifying the types of exerxcises or questions SangKienKinhNghiem.net Understand and become familiar with the types of questions allows you to save time when analyzing and understanding the meaning of the types of questions, so that you have more time to read the answers to each question and find the correct answer of all In this analysis, I‘ll guide students how to recognize all types of questions in reading comprehension tasks by explaining and giving examples 1.1 Main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions: [1] - These ask sts to identify an answer choice that correctly summarizes the author’s main idea, the subject of the main passage, or the author’s reason for writing the passage - The questions are often like these:‘’ What is the main idea of the passage?’’/‘’ What is the passage primarily about?’’ 1.2: Vocabulary – in- context questions/ Exercises: These ask students to identify the meaning of word or phrase as used in the passage Example: “ The word ‘’……….’’in line 10 is CLOSEST in meaning to………? ” 1.3 Factual questions (Stated detail questions)[1] Factual questions ask about explicit facts and details given in the passage They often contain one of the WH- question words: who, what, when, where, why, how much and so on or they often start with: “ According to the passage where did…?”/“According to the author why did…?”/“ Which of the following is true , according to the passage? ‘’ - Students have to locate and identify answers to questions about specific information and detailed in the passage 1.4 T-F statement exercises - These questions ask students to determine which of the statements are true (T) and which ones are false (F) according to the passage - T-F statement exercises are often reaised with the following: “Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).” 1.5 Gap- Fill exercises - In the classroom, Gap-fills are often used to practise specific language points, for example items of grammar and vocabulary, and features of written texts such as conjunctions They are common in testing - Gap- Fill exercises can be realised with the followingrequirement: “Fill in the gap with the suitable given words (from the reading passage).” 2.Strategies for answering each type of exercises/questions successfully(How to answer each type of questions successfully) These are the best tactics for answering each type of questions: 2.1.For overview questions: Main idea/ main topic questions; After almost every passage,the first question is about the main idea, main topic or main purpose of a passage Main idea questions ask you to identify the most important thought in the passage Note: At this page, the section 1.1.” Main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions”and the section 1.3.” Stated detail questions (Factual questions)” are consulted from Reference number [1] SangKienKinhNghiem.net Sample questions: + What is the main idea of the passage? + The primary idea of the passage is……… ? + Which of the following best summarizes the author’s idea? It is relatively easy to find the main ideas by studying the topic sentences, which are most probably found at the beginning of each paragraph Don’t answer the initial overview questions about a passage until you have answered the other questions The process of answering the detailed questions may give you a clearer idea of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage The correct answers for main idea/ main topic/ main purpose questions correctly summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passage Distracters for this type of question have one of these characteristics: + They are too specific + They are too general + They are incorrect according to the passage + They are irrelevant (unrelated )to the main idea of the passage -If you are not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage You can usually infer the main idea, main topic or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraph that make up the passage and the relationship between them Example1: UNIT 13 FILMS AND CINEMA-PART A – READING English 10 (Basic curriculum) ( page 132-134) Read the passage and then the tasks that follow Task 3: Decide which of the options below is the best title for the passage.[2] A The Story of a Film Maker (Lịch sử nhà làm phim) B A Brief History of Cinema (Tóm tắt điện ảnh) C The History of the Film Industry (Lịch sử ngành công nghiệp phim) Step 1: Read the options A, B, & C to find the difference between them + Option (A): suggests that the passage is about a film maker + Option (B): suggests that the passage is about the brief history of cinma + Option (B): suggests that the passage is about the history of the Film Industry Step 2: Go back to the passage, and read the first and last sentence to decide the main idea.‘’ The history of what we call cinema today began in the early 19Ih century.” =>The answer is choice (B) The passage briefly presents the development of the cinema from the old silent film to musical one Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net Example 2: UNIT ILLITERACY- PART A – READING English 11 (Basic curriculum) (page 56-58) Read the passage and then the tasks that follow Task Which of the choices A, B, C or D most adequately sums up the whole passage? [2] A The programme of “ Universalisation of Primary Education" in Vietnam B Illiteracy rates in Vietnam C Ethnic minority students’ education programme D The fight against illiteracy Step 1: Read the options A, B, & C to get the meaning + Option (A): means “Chương trình "Phổ cập Giáo dục Tiểu học" Việt Nam” + Option (B): means “Tỉ lệ mù chữ Việt Nam.’’ + Option (C): means “Chương trình giáo dục cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số.” + Option (D): means “Cuộc chiến chống mù chữ” Step 2: Go back to the passage, and read the first sentences of each paragraph to decide the main idea Paragraph 1: In the summer of 2000 the Vietnam Society of Learning Promotion started a campaign for illiteracy eradication Paragraph 2: Those students who took part in the fight against illiteracy considered it an honorable job to help people in their home villages Paragraph 3: The fight against illiteracy continued in the summer of 2002 =>These sentences all refer to “the fight against illiteracy” =>The answer is choice (D): The fight against illiteracy Moreover, choice (A), (B),and (C)are eliminated because they are too specific The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about main idea questions: MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS What is the topic of the passage?What is the main idea of How to identify the passage?What is the author's main point in the the question passage?Which of the following would be the best title? Where to find The answer to this type of question can generally be the answer to determined by looking at the first sentence of each question paragraph 1.Read the first line of each paragraph 2.Look for a common theme or idea in the first lines 3.Pass your eyes quickly over the rest of the How to answer passage to check that you have really found the question the topic sentence(s) Eliminate any definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices 2.2 Vocabulary – in- context exrcises: In Vocabulary– in- context questions, you must determine which of four words or phrases can best substitute for a word or words in the passage Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net When answering vocabulary– in- context questions, you must most often depend on the general context of the sentence to help you choose the correct answer You should follow the following steps to answer vocabulary– in- context items: + Look at the words being asked about and the four answer choices If you are familiar with the word, guess which answer is correct Do not mark your answer sheet yet + Read the sentence in which the word appears If you were familiar with the word and guessed at the answer, make sure that the word that you chose fits with the word as it is used in the sentence If you were unfamiliar with the word, see if context clues in the sentence or in the sentences before or after help you guess the meaning + If you are not sure which answer is correct, read the sentence with each of the four answer choices in place Does one seem more logical, given the context of the sentence, than the other three? If not, any seem illogical? (Those you can eliminate) + If you are still not sure, make the best guess you can and go on Example: UNIT A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…PART A – READING English 10 (Basic curriculum) (page 12, 13) Read the passage and then the tasks that follow Task 1: Choose the option A, B or C that best suits the meaning of the italicized word(s) [2] The alarm goes off at 4:30 A goes wrong B goes away C rings (đổ chuông) Step 1: Determine the paragraph containing the phrase: +Paragraph + The sentenes:The alarm goes off at 4:30 I get up and go down to the kitchen to boil some water for my morning tea Step 2: Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning =>The phrase ‘’ go off’ indicates the reminder that help MrVy get up and go down to the kitchen to boil some water for my morning tea Step 3: Look at the three choices and their meaning + Choose the answer that the context indicates =>Choice (C) is suitable and closest in meaning The choice (A), (B) are not suitable in the context It takes me 45 minuties to get ready A to go B to wake up C to prepare (chuẩnbị) Step 1: Determine the paragraph containing the phrase: + Paragraph + The sentenes:The alarm goes off at 4:30 I get up and go down to the kitchen to boil some water for my morning tea I drink several cups of tea, have a quick breakfast and the lead the buffalo to the field It takes me 45 minutes to get ready I leave the house at a quarter past five Step 2: Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 10 + The alarm goes off at 4:30 I get up… It takes me 45 minutes to get ready I leave the house at a quarter past five Step 3: Look at the three choices and their meaning + Choose the answer that the context indicates Choice (A), (B) are eliminated because it’s at 4.30 that MrVy gets up and it’s at a quarter past five that he leaves =>Choice (C) is suitable and closest in meaning We chat about our work A talk in a friendly way B learn C discuss Step 1: Determine the paragraph containing the information: + Paragraph + The sentenes:Sometimes we go and see our neighbours for a cup of tea We chat about our work, our children and our plans for the next crop Step 2: Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning => The word ‘’ chat’’ indicate an activity in leisure time Step 3: Look at the three choices and their meaning + Choose the answer that the context indicates =>Choice (C) is suitable and closest in meaning, but choice (A), (B) are not suitable in the context because they are not leisure activities We are contented with what we A satisfied with B disappointed with C interested in Step 1: Determine the paragraph containing the information: + Paragraph + The sentenes:Although it’s a long day for us, we are contented with what we We love working and we love our children Step 2: Look for context clues to help you understand the meaning + The phrase : “contented with” indicates that the correct answer must describe the feelings with positive meaning based on the conjunction “ athough’ Step 3: Look at the three choices and their meaning + Choose the answer that the context indicates => Choices (B) indicates the negative meaning, so choice (B) is eliminated Choice (C) isn’t suitable in the context The answer is choice (A): satisfied with The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about vocabulary questions: VOCABULARY- IN- CONTEXT QUESTIONS How to identify What is the meaning of “X” in line Y?/The word “X” in line Y could best be replaced by the question Information to help you understand the meaning of a Where to find vocabulary word can often be found in the context the question surrounding the word Find the word in the passage.2 Read the sentence that How to answer contains the word carefully.3 Look for context clues to the question help you understand the meaning Choose the answer that the context indicates SangKienKinhNghiem.net 11 2.3 Stated detail questions (Factual questions) To answer the factual questions, you have to locate and identify the information that the question asks about If you are not sure from your 1st reading where to look for specific answers, use the following scanning techniques: + Focus on one or two key words as you read the stem of each question Lock these words in your mind + Scan the passage looking for the key words or their synonyms Look only for these words Do NOT try to read every word of the passage + It may help to use the eraser end of your pencil as a pointer to focus your attention Don’t read the passage completely – just look for these words + When you find the key words in the passage, carefully read the sentence in which they occur You may have to read the sentence preceding or following that sentence as well + Compare the information you read with the four answer choices if it’s multiple choice questions The order of detail questions about a passage almost always follows the order in which ideas are presented in the passage In other words, the information you need to answer the first detail question will usually come near the beginning of the passage; the information for the 2nd will follow that, and so on Knowing this should help you n locate the information you need Correct answers for detail questions are seldom the same , word for word , as information in the passage; they often contain synonyms and use different grammatical structures Example 1:For Constructed- response Exercises UNIT 8:THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE-PART A – READING English 10 (Basic curriculum) ( page 83, 84) Read the passage and then the tasks that follow Task 3: Answer the following questions.[2] What was life like in the author's village many years ago? Why did the villagers want to send their children to school and college in spite of their shortages? How did the children help improve the lifestyle in the village when they finished college or technical high school? What did an old farmer say about the effect of the knowledge the young people brought home? What exactly did he tell his grandchildren? Step 1: Find out the key words in each questions and underline or highlight them Question1 What was life like in the author's village many years ago? Question2 Why did the villagers want to send their children to school and college in spite of their shortages? Question3 How did the children help improve the lifestyle in the village when they finished college or technical high school? Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 12 Question4 What did an old farmer say about the effect of the knowledge the young people brought home? Question5 What exactly did he tell his grandchildren? Step 2: Determine the paragraph, then the sentences containing the key words Question 1: Location: Paragraph - Sentences: Many years ago, my village was very poor The villagers had to work hard in the fields all day and could hardly make ends meet Their lives were simpleand they were in need of many things Question 2: Location: Paragraph - Sentences: However, in spite of the shortages, the villagers managed to send their children to school and college They hoped that with an education of science and technology, their children could find a way of bettering their lives Question 3: Location: Paragraph - Sentences: When they came back from college or technical high school, they introduced new fanning methods, which resulted in bumper crops They also helped the villagers grow cash crops for export Soon, the lifestyle of my village changed Question 4: Location: Paragraph - Sentences:Our lives have changed a lot thanks to the knowledge our children brought home," said an old farmer, Question 5:Location: Paragraph - Sentences: “and I always tell my grandchildren to study harder so that they can even more for the village than their parents did." Step 3:Give the answers to the questions Suggested answers: It was poor and simple Because they hoped that with an education of science and technology, their children could find a way of bettering their lives They introduced new farming methods which resulted in bumper crops They also helped to grow cash crops for export He said their lives had changed a lot thanks to the knowledge their children brought home from technical high schools or colleges He told his grandchildren, “Study harder so that you can even more for the village than your parents did” Example 2: For Multiple choice questions UNIT 4: VOLUNTEER WORK PART A – READING English 11 (Basic curriculum) ( page 46-48) Read the passage and the the tasks the follow Task Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D for each of the following sentences.[2] 1.2.Volunteers usually help those who are sick or old in their homes by ………………… Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 13 A mowing the lawns, doing shopping and cleaning up their houses B cooking, sewing or washing their clothes C telling them stories, and singing and dancing for them D taking them to baseball games Big Brothers is ……………… A the name of a club B a home for children C the name of a film D an organization for boys who no longer haver fathers Most of the boys’ and girls’ club use many high school and college students as volunteers because they ………………… A have a lot of free time B can understand the problems of younger boysanh girls C know how to the work D are good at playing game Volunteers believe that they ………………… A in order to make others happy, they have to be unhappy B the happiest people are those who make themselves happy C the happiest people are those who are young and healthy D bringing happiness to others makes them the happiest people =>Step 1: Read the stem of the questions carefully and underline the key words Volunteers usually help those who are sick or old in their homes by………………… Big Brothers is…………………… Most of the boys’ and girls’ club use many high school and college students as volunteers because they………………… Volunteersbelieve that………………… Step 2: Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key words or idea Question 1: - Location: Paragraph - Sentences: Other young volunteers work in the homes of sick or old people They clean up their houses, their shopping or mow their lawns Question 2: - Location: Paragraph - Sentences:For boys who no longer have fathers, there is a voluntary organizationcalled Big Brothers Question 3: - Location: Paragraph - Sentences: Most of these clubs use a lot of high school and college students as volunteers because they are young enough to understand the problems of younger boys and girls Question 4: - Location: Paragraph - Sentences:Volunteers believe that some of the happiest people in the world are those who help to bring happiness to others SangKienKinhNghiem.net 14 Step 3: Read the sentences that contains the key words or idea carefully determine the answers or for MCQ, eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices Suggested answers: A D B D The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember about stated detail questions: FACTUAL QUESTIONS(STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS) -According to the passage…/It is stated in the How to identify passage /The passage indicates that… /Which of the the question following is true ? -who/ what/ when/ where/why,………………… ? The answers to the questions are found in order in the Where to find passage the question Choose key words in the question Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key words or idea How to answer Read the sentences that contains the key words or idea the question carefully Determine the answers or for MCQ, eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices 2.4.T-F statement exercises To this kind of exercise, you have to locate and identify the information that the question asks about (Highlight or underline the information) + Focus on one or two key words as you read the stem of each question Lock these words in your mind + Scan the passage looking for the key words or their synonyms Look only for these words Do NOT try to read every word of the passage + When you find the key words in the passage, carefully read the sentence in which they occur + Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false(F) If (F), give the correct one Example : UNIT PEOPLE’S BACKGROUND- PART A: READING English 10 (Basic curriculum) (page 32, 33) Read the passage and then the tasks that follow Task 2: Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).[2] Marie went to school in Warsaw Her dream was to become a private tutor At the Sorbonne, she studied very well She married Pierre Curie in 1894 She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne => Step 1: Choose key words in the question Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 15 Marie went to school in Warsaw Her dream was to become a private tutor At the Sorbonne, she studied very well She married Pierre Curie in 1894 She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne Step 2: Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key words or idea Paragraph 2.Paragraph 3.Paragraph At the end of Paragraph 5.Paragraph Step 3: Read the sentence that contains the key words or idea carefully Then decide whetherthe statements are T(true) or F(false) and correct them 1.Marie Curie was born in Warsaw She received general education in local schools=> She went to school in Warsaw =>The statement is true (T) 2.Marie harboured the dream of a scientific career,… To save money for a study tour abroad, she had to work as a private tutor => Her dream was to become a scientist, not a private tutor =>The statement is true (F) 3.Marie, with very little money to live on, went to Paris to realise her dream at the Sorbone She earned a degree in Physics with flying colours =>She studied very wellat the Sorbone =>The statement is true (T) 4.She met Pierre in the School of Physics in 1894 and a year later they got married => They got married in 1895, not 1894 =>The statement is true (F) 5.After the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took up the position which her husband was obtained at the Sorbone Thus, she was the first woman in France to be a university professor =>She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne =>The statement is true (T) The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember : T-F STATEMENT EXERCISES How to identify “Decide whether the statements are T(true) or F(false)” the question The answers to the questions are found in order in the Where to find passage the question Choose key words in the question Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key words or idea How to answer Read the sentence that contains the key words or idea the question carefully Decide whetherthe statements are T(true) or F(false) and correct them SangKienKinhNghiem.net 16 2.5 Gap- Fill exercises Gap-fills are often used to practise specific language points, for example items of grammar and vocabulary, and features of written texts such as conjunctions They are common in testing To this kind of exercise, students should follow the following tips: Step 1: First, read the instructions carefully and guess the meaning of the given words in context of the passage and determine their parts of speech Step 2: Then, Read through the gapfil sentences quickly for a general understanding of the sentences Step 3: Now turn to the gaps in the each sentence, and try to work out the meaning of the gaps Next, work out the part of speech for the gaps, e.g.noun, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional, etc…,paying attention to the words before and after the gap to help you choose the right word Step 4: Find the words in the list that have the same part of speech Look for all the possible answers that you think could fit in the gap Make no final choices just yet until you have finished all the gaps Example: UNIT PART A – READING English 10 (Basic curriculum) (page) Task 1.Fill in the blank with one of the words in the box below There are more words than needed.[2] language worry subjects crowded bike ride traffic enjoy narrow learn 1.Young children _ helping with household tasks We were stuck in heavy for more than an hour I think you not have to about your weight It was two weeks before Christmas and the mall was with shoppers If two people speak the same , they usually have similar attitudes and opinion Step 1: Determine the meaning and the part of speech of the given words -Language(n): ngôn ngữ - worry(v)( worry about): lo lắng - subjects(n): chủ đề, môn học - crowded (adj)( to be crowdedwith): đông đúc - bike(n):xe đạp - Ride(v,n): - traffic(n): giao thơng - enjoy(v)(enjoy+V-ing): thích/hưởng thụ - narrow(adj): hẹp - learn(v):học Step 2:Read through all sentences, guess the meaning of the gaps in context and determine the part of speech of the gaps - The part of speech of the gaps: It’s a verb followed by V-ing It’s a noun because there is an adjective sanding before the gap It’s a verb (Inf) followed by one preposition “about” because there is “have to” standing before the gap It’s an adjective followed by a preposition “ with” It’s a noun as the expression“ the same” stands before the gap Note: At this page, the example is extracted from Reference number [2] SangKienKinhNghiem.net 17 Step 3: - Find the words in the list that have the same part of speech - Look for all the possible answers that could be fitted in the gap - Decide which one is the most suitable for each gap Answers: 1.enjoy Traffic Worry Crowded language The following chart outlines the key information that you should remember : GAP- FILL EXERCISES How to identify Based on the requirement: “ Fill in each gap with one of the the question suitable words given from the box Determine the meaning and part of speech of the given words Read through the gapfil sentences quickly for a general understanding of the sentences and try to work out the How to meaning and the part of speech for the gaps,paying attention answer the to the words before and after the gaps to help you choose the question right word 3.Find the words in the list that have the same part of speech and the suitable meaning for the gaps IV Result after applying the study in teaching After applying these personal experiences in teaching English I myself get excellent results This achievement is gained because of the following reasons First of all, these experiences are suitable with the syllabus of English at upper secondary schools and the reading comprehension test in national exam.Secondly, Students t not have to be worried, nervous and embarrassed when solving the reading comprehension in class as well as in examinations but willing to deal with it The number of students who can comprehend the text successfully at my school increases, especially some bad students can understand and use a few techniques and strategies quite effectively By giving students some tips, techniques and strategies and clear instruction to solve the reading comprehension exercises, students become moreconfident in reading lesons as well as in English examinations Once I give a task about this, they can understand and it successfully That is the main reason of the following result carried out during the recent school years at my school as below: Table 1: Before applying Class 10A6 11C7 Total (43students) (42students) The number of students scoring proficient Percentage 0% 2,3 % The number of students scoring pretty Percentage 11,7 % 14,3 % The number of students scoring average Percentage The number of students scoring below average Percentage SangKienKinhNghiem.net 15 34,9 % 23 14 37,2 % 22 53,5% 52,4 % 18 Table 2: After applying Class Total The number of students scoring proficient 10A6 ( 43students) Percentage The number of students scoring pretty Percentage The number of students scoring average Percentage The number of students scoring below average Percentage 11C7 (42students) 11,7% 14 37,3 % 12 27,9 % 10 16,7 % 16 47,6 % 16,7 % 23.3% 19,0 % As can be seen from the Table 1, the percentage of students getting bad marks in doingthe reading comprehension test accounts for more than 50% and the rate of students scoring good or excellent makes up for below 15% From the second table, after the adoption of some techniques and strategies in doing reading comprehension exercises the percentage of students scoring at or above average has increased significantly (from nearly 50% in Table to about 80% in Table 2) PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the study Along with the other language skills, reading comprehension is a very important skill and is unevitable part of English reading comprehensions test in national examination for GCSE as well as the entrance exam to university, so it is important for the students to have good techniques in reading to become good readers and gain success in the exams In the case of this study, the teachers of reading at Lam Kinh High School are supposed to be aware of many factors that affect students’ reading comprehension Among these, there are four main factors that should be taken into consideration for High school students: Students’ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge, students’ low motivation, students’ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures and their lack of appropriate reading strategies Success in reading comprehension is not an inborn capacity and it can be learned Once teacher can motivate the students to take part in reading lessons actively,give some clear techniques and strategies which are more suitable and effective in reading comprehension skill, the ability of reading comprehension will be improved Students no longer feel worried about their exam In contrast they are more confident and eager to itand even get high marks Therefore,the aim of the study is to provide teachers and students some useful techniques and strategies when dealing with reading comprehension section successfully in classes as well as in the GCSE examination and in the entrance exam to university SangKienKinhNghiem.net 19 Over the past few years, the application of these techniques and strategies for reading comprehension has been widely adopted Students have mastered these techniques and strategies and now they feel more confident and take part in reading lessons more actively Their vocabulary, their background knowledge of reading comprehension have been improved.As a result they can comprehend the texts successfully and even get the highest marks for the reading comprehension tests 2.Suggestions for further study I have tried to share some of my experience in reading comprehension skill to help students to well in the reading lessons, so that they can get high marks in their exammination for GCSE and the entrance exam to university.This study is my great effort However,there is an obvious limitation of time, shortcomings are unavoidable.Not all the suggested techniques for teaching and learning reading are experimented properly, so the researcher can’t draw a conclusion of the effectiveness Therefore, the suggestions to improve reading comprehension skills for students at LamKinh High School may be subjective and uncompleted.This thesis was carried out within the area of LamKinh High School so the mentioned teaching methods may not be suitable to apply to other high schools because of learners’ differences in language proficiency and other social constraints Despite such limitations, I strongly believe that my research is successful to some extent and I hope that teachers of English and students can get something useful from this document I would like to receive your sincere criticism and constructive comment to make it a better one for another time Any further researches that employ supplementary instruments such as experimental research or observations and carry out in a longer period of time on a large scale can help to prove the above results more strongly and persuasively and can also help to avoid the subjective assessments from the researcher of this study Xác nhận BGH trường Thanks for reading my study! Experiental initiative’s Writer Thanh Hóa, ngày 25-05-2019 Tơi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác HàThị Giang SangKienKinhNghiem.net 20 ... points of the study Although the study has some similarities with the previous one, I pay my attention to some suggestions for doing some different types of reading comprehension exercises in the English. .. to face III Some suggestions for doing some different types of reading comprehension exercisesin the English text books of grade 10 and 11 effectively Identifying the types of exerxcises or questions... English III Objects of the study This study has been carried out to search for a better and more effective ways and strategies for doing some types of reading comprehension exercises in order