Rationale of the study
On the road of integrating and developing in Vietnam, English is quite important to learners The teaching and learning of English is paying much more attention by both teachers and learners
Nowadays, a lot of universities require their students to learn English as one of their general subjects In order to master English, students have to try their best to develop the English skills such as listening, speaking, writing and reading There have been debates on the topic: which skill in English teaching and learning is the most important? There are some who state what they need is only speaking English fluently
Some disagree with that idea They consider writing is vital because documenting reports, letters, etc are what they daily deal with in their work and life In contrast, there are still some who propose listening is more important for the realization of their goal
However, among these skills, according to the writer, reading is the most important one because it helps not only develop other skills but also provides learners knowledge of the target language Reading is also benefit for the students in a lot of aspects in acquaintance of a new language This topic interests a lot of researchers to put their passion on One of the famous scholars whose reputation is not able to forget Grellet
(1981) with his famous book on reading such as “Developing reading skills” In addition, many Vietnamese authors and researchers pay much attention to this issue
For example “A study on how to improve the teaching of reading English in Economics to the 2 nd year students at Hanoi national Economics University” by Trang (2005) refers to reading skill in Economics only, and “ A study on how to improve ESP reading skills for the students of Information Technology” mainly focuses on reading skills for Information Technology students by Huong (2003) Hop (2008) also concerns this topic in her MA thesis “Improving reading skills of Post Graduate Students at
College of Natural Sciences, VNU by developing the reading materials” Although this subject gains a lot of interest from researchers and linguistics, there have not been any researchers who does research on the teacher’s reading techniques This is one of the main reasons which raises the interest for the author to do this research
As an English teacher of a college in Hanoi which testing is mainly based on grammar structures and reading texts, the researcher realizes that both teachers and students have difficulty in finding the effective way to teach and learn reading skills Moreover, in order to improve learning environment and teaching quality, there is a need of investigation to expose the new road for all subjects in general and reading skills in particular at the college With the effort of my own, a study is carried out to find which reading techniques are more effective for improving the quality of teaching and learning reading skills at HCIE
That is the reason why my graduate paper is “A study on the teachers’ teaching techniques for improving the reading skills of freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economics”.
Aims of the study
- Investigating the real situation of teaching and learning reading skills for freshmen at HCIE
- Providing some suggested reading teaching techniques for the teachers to help teachers and students teach and learn reading skills more effectively.
Research questions
To reach the above aims, the thesis works to answer two following research questions:
- How reading skills are being taught and learnt at HCIE?
- What reading techniques should be applied to improve the reading skills of freshmen at HCIE?
Scope of the study
This study focuses on improving the reading skills of freshmen at HCIE Efforts to study the improvement of other skills, for students of other years at other institutions are above the scope of the study.
Methodology
With the purpose of investigating the teachers’ teaching techniques for improving the reading skills of freshmen at HCIE, this study employs a survey research To the needed data from the students and the teachers Besides, other instruments are also made used of such as the researcher’s observation in reading lessons, and the semi-interview for English teachers.
Significance of the study
In the light of CLT, to find suitable techniques for teaching and learning reading requests a lot of enforce from both teachers and students
In relation to this, an investigation on the teachers’ teaching techniques for improving the reading skills of freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economics is implemented To this end, the result of this study is believed to have potential contribution to the following two aspects:
Firstly, in theory, this thesis once more time approves the reading background It adds into reading skills a strong point to consolidate the teaching reading methodology
Secondly, in practice, the paper is beneficial for teacher trainers and educators who have a role in teaching and training to improve reading practice In addition, it is able to contribute to English teachers who can use the results to reflect on their practice to improve their reading lessons Moreover, researchers who are interested in classroom practice may use the findings as a stepping-stone for further investigation that could lead to the improvement of teaching reading for second year students in or out of HCIE.
Structure of the study
The study includes three main parts:
The first part is the Introduction The writer states the rationale for choosing the topic of the study, the aims of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, methodology, the significance of the study and the structure of the study
The second part is the Development which is divided into three chapters Chapter one presents the back ground knowledge of reading skills The next chapter works on the teachers’ teaching techniques on reading skills for freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economic The last chapter is about some techniques to improve reading skills to freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economics
The last part is the Conclusion In this part, the writer gives out the summary, the limitation of the study and the suggestions for the further study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Definition of reading
Reading skill is one of four macro-skills in teaching and learning a language in general and a foreign language or second language – English in particular This term has been attracting a lot of scholars, linguistics, educators and teachers to give the attention to
So many definitions of Reading are given out It is the fact that each person has his own way to define it Obviously, giving an exact definition for the word “reading” is not an easy work As Aebersold and Field (1997:5) notes that “the act of reading is not completely understood nor easily described.” In this paper, some of typical definitions are listed to give an overview of the term “reading”
Firstly, Goodman (1981: 135) proposes that reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” Clearly, reading is an act that involves the reader works to find out the meaning encoded by written letters
This definition points out three elements in reading process: the writer, the reader and the text Another definition of reading is suggested in the interactive view of reading In fact, contemporary interactive approaches to reading extend and elaborate psycholinguistic theory by focusing precisely on the important role of cognition in an interaction between the reader and the text Thus, McKenna and Robinson (1993:21) defines that “reading is an interactive process in which a reader’s prior knowledge of the subject and purpose for reading operate to influence what is learned from text.” This opinion is as the same as Silberstein’s
(1994:7) when she emphasizes that meaning does not fully lie in the text to be decoded Rather meaning is created through the negotiation between a reader and a text This means a reader is an active participant in the reading process in which the reader makes predictions and form expectations from the prior knowledge, which the reader confirms or rejects while reading
In short, each scholar has a different definition of reading and it is a hard job to decide which is better because each of them focuses on one important matter of reading However, there still has a common thing is that reading is a complex process that requires a great deal of active participation of readers in order to find the message hidden in the printed words.
Reading comprehension
Comprehension is one of key important components of essential reading instruction
It is a vital tool for reading in the modern age Thus, it can be said that it plays an important part in teaching and learning a foreign language It is the ability to understand information in a text and interpret the text appropriately
Reading comprehension is defined as obtaining the information from the text
According to Abbott (1981: 82),“There are two broad aspects or levels Firstly, there is basically visual task that of deciphering the marks on the page, the brain receiving signals from the eyes Secondly, there is cognitive task that of interpreting the visual information, so one is not simply barking at point.” With the same idea,
Grellet (1981:3) states “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible.”
Another point of view comes from Rirchard and Thomas (1987: 143) In his opinion reading comprehension is a mental process that only the reader finally understands the text based on the past experience That knowledge is, then, used in trying to get meaning out of printed text So, the process of comprehending involves decoding the writer’s words and using the background knowledge to construct an approximate understanding of the writer’s passage Agreeing with this theory, Lenz (2000: 3) also says that “reading comprehension is the process of constructing meaning from the text.”
A conclusion can be drawn here is that reading comprehension is the process that helps the readers obtain information in a text and understand it appropriately.
The importance of reading in foreign language teaching and learning…
It is generally accepted nowadays that reading is a key skill for most students learning a foreign language and that it should therefore, take place alongside the development of oral ability in the school program Having the same idea Carrell (1997:1) agrees: “for many students, reading is by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language”
First of all, reading is a means by which further learning takes place It is an effective way of stimulating students to talk, write and listen By reading, learners are able to enrich their knowledge of grammar structures and vocabulary items
These factors contribute an important part to help students easier to listen to the lessons In addition, knowledge of structures and new words ungraded by reading also provides learners a chance to speak more confidently and naturally Next, writing skill is improved based on the model reading texts
Secondly, reading weighs as a heavy tool belt of a working, technological society It helps us to solve both personal and social problems in daily life Print is everywhere: memos and menus, candy wrappers and constitutions, bills and serial numbers, signs and rest room doors Without reading anything, it is impossible for human beings to behave appropriately
Finally, reading in a new language is also to be beneficial to learn about the target culture It helps learners understand the ways of life, behavior, thought, belief, etc that pays an important role in widening the knowledge of cross-culture
To sum up, reading is a vital skill in learning and teaching a second language.
Teaching reading skills
1.2 1 The objectives and goals of teaching reading 1.2.1.1 The objectives of teaching reading skills
Clearly, everything is done including at least an objective It is the same with reading or teaching reading skills
According to Christina and Mary (1976: 169): “The objectives of teaching reading are self-evident; we read for information and for pleasure.” Totally agreeing with this idea,
Grellet (1981:4) claims that reading consists of two main reasons They are reading for pleasure and reading for information Having the same opinion, Heidi (1998) says that:
“Reading is an activity with a purpose A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer's ideas or writing style A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of texts.”
According to a study carried out by Greany and Neuman (1990), to find out the children’s reasons for reading through questionnaires administered in 15 countries to thousands of 10- and 13-year-old students The results got divided into three main factors that they termed “utility”, “enjoyment” and “escape” Whereas, utility was reading to learn to become successful in school or life, enjoyment meant reading for pleasure and interest, and escape indicated reading to kill time or avoid boredom
However, each level of reading has different particular objectives For example, Christina and Mary(1976: 169) also points that the purpose of reading on the very elementary level includes two main ones Firstly, reading is to introduce basic grammar patterns and vocabulary items in context Reading, secondly, is to reinforce this basic knowledge
In short, clarifying the particular objectives of teaching reading is an important job that helps to guide both teachers and students to go for the right way
1.2.1.2 The goals of teaching reading skills
According to Sadoski, M ( 2004: 44) every subject is taught and learnt is classified in one of three domains They include the psychomotor domain, the affective domain and the cognitive domain These stretch in teaching and learning reading as well
The psychomotor domain is the domain of the mind and the body working together to produce physical performances Some examples of psychomotor activities include learning to walk, tie shoelaces, swim, type, drive a car, and perform creative dance routines The second domain is the affective domain which is the domain of attitudes, interests, values, appreciation, and life adjustment The common examples of affective activities are responding positively to success and constructively to failure, adopting healthy habits over unhealthy ones, developing a democratic tolerance for opposing points of view, or invoking ethical principles for behavior in morally ambiguous situations The third domain is the cognitive one which consists of intellectual skill including the recall or recognition of information, the comprehension of information, and the development of logical and rational thought skills such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation The popular examples of cognitive activities are remembering facts, summarizing thoughts, applying principles to solve problems, deducing a coherent explanation from disparate pieces of evidence, or objectively critiquing arguments in terms of their logical consistency
In applying these domains in teaching reading skills, they were divided into small goals which were equal between the affective domain and the cognitive domain, and the psychomotor domain was eliminated Each domain contains two goals Two goals in the affective domain are developing positive attitudes toward reading and developing personal interest and tastes in reading Two goals in the cognitive domain are developing the use of reading as a tool to solve problems and developing the fundamental competencies of reading at succeedingly higher levels of independence The first goal deals with developing positive attitudes toward reading It means that readers try to improve or make progress in their confidence in their own ability In other words, students should experience success regularly and approach reading confidently without being fear of failure The readers may experience difficulty in reading and sometimes they may get the negative attitude
However, bearing in their mind of the positive thinking that helps them overcome the difficulty easier and develop their positive attitude The next goal is developing personal interest and tastes in reading Having an interest in reading means having the motivation to read and to respond affectively, to seek to enlarge self- understanding and sense of self-worth through reading At the higher level of the development of interest is the development of discriminating value judgment, or taste It means that readers can have tendency to make value choices and judgments about what they chose to read and to develop their own critical standards The third goal is developing the use of reading as a tool to solve problems Clearly, everything bears printing words on it, for examples, candy wrappers, constitutions, bills and rest room doors, etc Reading them helps readers know what is what and what for Reading is a way to deal with everyday problems from reading to learn at school to reading to do at work So, using reading as a tool in our daily lives is pervasive The last goal is developing the fundamental competencies of reading at succeedingly higher levels of independence This is the most basic goal and provides the means to the other ends According to Chall (1996: 18), reading is classified into six stages with particular goals:
Stage 0, Pre-reading (0–grade 1):developing concepts about print; recognizing print in the environment; learning some letters and words
Stage 1, Initial Reading or Decoding (grades 1–2): learning letters and letter combinations and their correspondence with parts of spoken words; learning to crack the code
Stage 2, Confirmation, Fluency, Ungluing from Print (grades 2–3): learning more about decoding; using context to increase fluency and rate; reading simple stories and beginners’ books
Stage 3, Reading for Learning the New: A First Step (grades 4–8): learning to read begins to shift to reading to learn; developing vocabulary and knowledge; beginning to use subject area textbooks
Stage 4, Multiple Viewpoints (high school): dealing with more mature texts that introduce varying viewpoints and more challenging concepts; more independent reading
Stage 5, Construction and Reconstruction- A World view (college and adult): more advanced and discriminating reading; constructing knowledge on a high level of abstraction and generality; varying purposes and rate; critical reading
In short, setting clear goals that makes readers at any ages become wiser and more effective ones In teaching reading, taken together these goals helps us to imagine an ideal state of affairs in a reading class and provide a conceptual basis for the why of teaching reading
1.2.2 The reading teaching/ learning approaches
Sadoski, M ( 2004: 81-88) states the three fundamental teaching/learning approaches on the second continuum (instruction and education) which were program-controlled teaching/ learning, teacher-controlled teaching/learning, and reader-controlled teaching/learning These are the ways in which we teach readers to do it
In program-controlled teaching/learning: the program is dominant and the teacher and the reader are subordinate
In teacher-controlled teaching/learning: the teacher is dominant and the program and the readers are subordinate In this approach, the teachers determine the learning conditions according to their professional training, experience, and judgment Programs and text materials are used according to those determinations, and readers are subject to those determinations
In reader-controlled teaching/learning: the reader is dominant and the teacher and the program are subordinate
However, Elba(2006:8) gives out another teaching reading approaches applied a lot currently According to him, there are three popular models such as: bottom-up approach, top-down approach and interactive approach
Bottom-up approach focuses on developing the basic skill of matching sounds with the letters, syllables, and words written on a page It is associated with a teaching methodology called phonics which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence
Top-down approach focuses on the background knowledge a reader uses to comprehend a written text It is associated with schema theory which describes in detail how the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text As a result, the reader and linguistic knowledge plays a key role in the construction based on the text’s meaning
The interactive approach refers to the interaction between bottom-up and top- down processing skills It involves the simultaneous occurrence of two processes belonging to the above approaches Understanding depends on both processes of graphics information and reading memory of the reader Understanding may be hampered by lack of critical judgments or ways of interpretation
Lively debate still occurs about which approach is more valid, but for many years now the top-down approach has had a greater influence on ESL/EFL pedagogy As Carrell (1988: 259) states “field today is strongly influenced by top-down processing perspectives” The following three stages of activities are typically used to activate and build students’ schemata suggested by Elba (2006:11):
Factors affecting teaching and learning reading
As stated above, teaching reading involves three parties which are the printed text, the reader/ student and the teacher These parties significantly affect teaching and learning reading process
Texts play an important role in teaching and learning reading It is said that new lexical, phonetic and grammatical items are presented They also help students to enrich their background knowledge
Therefore, Billow (1982:55) claims that: “the role of the textbook is to stand for the distant and hardly accessible delights that lie behind the forbidding barriers of strangeness of language, the imaginative life of the child as well as its craving for knowledge”
One of the most important aspects of teaching reading is the selection of the reading text There are some fairly obvious considerations The reading selections should not contain marked dialect or slang features or old-fashioned language use The selections should have high interest value to the students and the simplest way of establishing this is by asking the students their opinions of the readings and then eliminating low interest selections from future curricula The content should not contrast with the students' own cultural values It seems that it is easier to read what is interesting and ideologically compatible, at least at the earlier stages
But by far the most important consideration in selecting texts is the level of reading difficulty, which must be matched to the overall proficiency of the students In the past, there was great emphasis on using texts which had been simplified in vocabulary and syntax, and at the very beginning levels this practice still remains a necessity Today there is a strong trend away from simplified or edited material toward texts which exhibit the complexity typical of difficult written English Even so, there is a great range in reading difficulty levels, and these must be ascertained A number of reading formulas exist, none of which has proved to be very accurate The most successful procedure for determining the level of reading difficulty is the cloze test
Reading texts in addition to help teachers make direction to teach their students because there are a lot of thing that students have to learn However, textbooks will help teachers know what they should focus on teaching Without texts not only teachers but also students do not know what and how to teach and learn
The students are one of the three main factors of teaching and learning process
They are not only the subject but also the object of teaching and learning process
Nutall (2000: 33) gives several main roles for the students in a reading lesson such as:
Taking an active part in learning: Students have to be active and take charge of what they do
Monitoring comprehension: Students need to understand how texts work and what they do when they read
Learning text talk: Students have to learn how to carries on a dialogue with the text
Taking risk: Student have to take the risk of making mistakes because a mistake is an opportunity to learn
Learning not to cheat oneself: Students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat but they are cheating themselves In fact they are wasting their opportunities
In a reading lesson, the students play the role of the readers It is the fact that students are the heart of the reading lesson and the element which determines the success of a reading lesson That is to say they must be very active in the lesson from the beginning to get the right meaning of the texts Besides, students have to do other exercises that help them accumulate a large amount of knowledge from the text and then understand it thoroughly In some cases, students sometimes have to cope with some problems which are beyond their abilities such as idioms, proverbs or background understanding so on As a result, making mistakes is obviously unavoidable However, thank to these mistakes students have a great opportunities to learn better through their own mistakes
In addition, making mistakes help learners who are not interested in reading learn more confidently and motivate them to read more to eraser their errors
Many linguistics agree that the teacher is the most important factor in a reading lesson The teacher, as a matter of fact, is not only an instructional expert, an organizer, a manager, a counselor but also a model reader Nuttall (1982:192) states:
“there are two main things that a teacher should always remember in helping students The first is to provide the students with suitable materials and the second is to provide them with suitable teaching activities.”
Selecting a proper text is a hard job for each teacher and it is the first key point that the teacher could help students A text which is either long or difficult will make students get bored and demotivated to read In another side of the coin, an interesting text matching students’ need both encourages them to read and stimulate them to get information more efficiently
Along with a good text, providing suitable activities is another vital thing that the teacher always keeps in the mind In fact, there are three main activities in a reading comprehension text including pre-reading phrase, while-reading phrase and post- reading phrase However, the role of the teacher in each phrase is very different At the pre-reading phrase, the teacher has to make students be aware of what they are going to read and do during the lesson, so the main role of the teacher is an instructional expert At the while-reading phrase, as an organizer, a manager and a counselor, the teacher is willing to help students if necessary In the last phrase post-reading, the teacher as a model reader encourages students to express their own ideas through their understanding of the text
To sum up, the role of the teacher in a reading lesson is undeniable Without help from the teacher, it is difficult for the students to be efficient readers
In this chapter, the writer focuses on different useful aspects related to reading skills such as the concepts of reading, reading comprehension, factors affected teaching reading skills, the objectives and goals of teaching reading, etc And the most useful point, techniques that teachers use in teaching reading are also presented with the hope to improve students’ reading skills.
THE STUDY
An overview of Hanoi College of Industrial Economics
Hanoi College of Industrial Economics, which previously is a small vocaltional training school, has become a college since 2006 The college is located in two places
The first one is in Cau Giay district and the second one is in Thanh Tri district
Currently, the college consists of six faculties: Economics, Information Technology, Law, Physical Education, Accounting and Foundation Every year, there are about
3000 new students Up to now, HCIE has had nearly 6.000 students with 85 classes and about 250 teachers and staffs English is one of main subjects of Foundation faculty It is compulsory for all students of all faculties at the college
However, because of newly founded college, both teachers and students have to cope with a lot of difficulties Firstly, each class normally has over 70 students which are too crowded for learning and teaching English Moreover, the faculties at the college are still very poor For example, the library cannot provide enough English books as a reference There is not lab-room for students to practice listening and speaking Finally, the students do not have a chance to practice English with native speakers to improve their English skills.
Teachers and teaching methods
Obviously, the role of teachers and the way of their teaching have great influences on students and play a key role in a successful implementation of curriculum objectives
At HCIE, there are nineteen teachers of English aged from mid-twenties to late- forties Two third of the teachers either have MA degree or are studying post graduate course Most of them are energetic and willing to devote their time and enforce to the teaching job However, many of the teachers, especially the young ones do not have much experience in teaching and may encounter some problems in choosing and applying suitable teaching methods
The English teaching method that is preferable at HCIE is Grammar- translation
This method focuses on accuracy, the detailed analysis of grammar rules The teachers speak most of the time They often ask students to read and scan the text then find out new words and structures, next they write down new words and structures on the board and explain new words after that they translate the text into Vietnamese or sometimes ask students to translate They rarely require students to predict or guess meaning from the context Students often listen, take note passively then complete some exercises provided in the text book Therefore, this method leads to the lack of motivation and omits chances for students to be center of the lessons This situation requires to apply a more appropriate method that not only matches students’ needs and interest but also improves students’ reading skills.
Students and their background English knowledge
The learners of English at HCIE are ranked from 18 to 22 in their age with the priority of female students Most of them have studied English for three years at their high schools but their English competence is at different levels
Most students come from rural areas in Vietnam where English is not considered as necessary as in the city As a result, a lot of problems appear during the course because of their individual difference in ability, learning styles, attitude, motivation, etc
Moreover, the attitude toward learning English at HCIE is also another point to be taken in consideration English is thought to be a general subject which is not as important as other subjects, so students do not devote themselves to master it They are also a bit lazy and hardly ever try their best to learning It is the fact that they seldom prepare lessons at home or review the lessons regularly In short, learners and their attitude toward learning English need to be changed to implement the objectives of the curriculum To apply the learner- centered method in teaching English at HCIE, an urgent action should be done to improve the learning quality.
Teaching materials
It is agreed that materials include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of a language Commonly, “they can be in the form of a textbook, a workbook, a cassette, a CD –Rom, a video, a photocopied handout, a newspaper, a paragraph written on a white board, etc”(Tomlinson 1998: 15) Consequently, it is undeniable that materials play an important part in teaching and learning a language
The students at HCIE generally learn English for two years For the first year, they will be provided with general English by using the text book “New Headway – Pre intermediate” by John and Liz Soars (2000) In their second year, they study ESP with a course book edited by English teachers of the college
In the first year, English is taught in the two semesters with totally 150 periods
During the course, the students have to complete twelve units in the course book NHWP which provides the students with general knowledge of English with the integration of four skills equivalent to above elementary level In the second year, the students have six lessons with 30 periods in ESP course which mainly focuses on reading skills
As mentioned above, the freshmen’s English proficiency is various No entrance English test is carried out to classify their English levels This, to some extent, causes some problems in teaching and learning English at HCIE After learning reading for a year, the freshmen are required to gain basic skills to support them in the next year with ESP course That is the reason why reading weighs a strong scale for them to master
Concerning to the reading texts in the course book, there are some particular points need to be considered Each of the reading text has average 400 words in length that is supposed to be suitable to the pre-intermediate level Besides, the use of language and grammar structures are simple and clear that matches the grammatical syllabus for lower level students before moving to intermediate or upper- intermediate level
The next point is that the book provides reading texts of various topics based on the theme of each unit These topics are quite familiar to the students, for example, Unit
1- communication, Unit 4- going shopping, Unit 7- famous couples, etc However, the contents of the text are out of date, because this course book is the second edition which was published 14 years ago Moreover, some of the texts contain a lot of new words that cause difficulty for the students to understand the text fully.
The study
The survey is conducted with 10 English teachers and 100 freshmen of the college
All the students are randomly chosen in four different classes
Among 10 teachers of English in Foundation faculty participating in the survey, three of them hold M.A degrees; three are pursuing the master course in ULIS, VNUH and OU Their ages are from 26 to 45, and all of them have experienced teaching English for at least 3 years
100 freshmen of the college took part in the study Most of them have been learning English for at least 3 years at high schools They were from 4 classes: CKX12.3, CKX12.8, CKT12.6, and CKT12.10 They were required to answer the questions basing on their own experience
In order to find out the research results, three kinds of instruments were applied including: survey questionnaire, observation and semi-interview
The survey questionnaire for both students and teachers were conducted The questionnaire for students was divided into three main parts The first part asked for the students’ attitude toward the course book The second part looked at the students’ attitude toward reading activities and the techniques of the teacher in the reading lessons The third part explored their opinions about teachers’ teaching methods and preferring techniques Similarly, the questions raised for teachers were designed to obtain the following information: teachers’ attitude toward the materials and the frequencies of using the reading teaching techniques
The observation was used during the class performance While the reading lesson was carrying out, the teacher observed and noted down important information related to the study The observation mainly focused on the techniques applying in the three reading phases, and the changing in the students’ attitude during the reading lessons The techniques were then classified into the scale of four: very effective, effective, not very effective and not effective at all
The third preferred instrument was semi-interview The aim of this method was to have better insights into the research questions Five teachers were asked questions about the effectiveness of using teaching techniques, their difficulties in using them and their solutions to their difficulties
All these instruments of collecting data are presented in the appendices
The researcher carried out the data collection through three phases
The first phase, after preparing carefully the questionnaires for the teachers and the students, the survey questionnaires’ copies were delivered for 10 teachers and 100 freshmen The students were requested to complete the questionnaire during the class time so that they were more willing to do it and could clarify the ambiguous questions and last but not least, could return all the questionnaires immediately
Similarly, the English teachers were invited to complete and returned the questionnaires within two days to make sure that they were well-prepared to provide the detailed and accurate information
The second phase dealt with observation, the data were mainly gathered by taking notes All the difference and changes were noted down Then the researcher recorded all in the checklists
The last phase was about the information collected from semi-interview All the answers of five teachers were taken note to investigate their experience of teaching readings with their difficulties and solutions
The data collected from the survey questionnaire, the observation and the semi-interview were studied and analyzed to find out the real situation of teaching and learning reading skills, and the effective teaching reading techniques From the findings, the researcher gave some recommendations to improve teaching reading skills.
Data analysis
In this part, the author presents the data analysis collected from questionnaires for
100 students and 10 teachers, from the observation of a class and from the interview with five teachers Data from the questionnaires are classified into categories including students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the course book; students’ attitude toward reading activities and the teaching techniques; students’ opinions about teachers’ teaching methods and preferring techniques; and teachers’ frequencies of using the reading teaching techniques The data are manually analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentage) The information is then displayed in forms of tables Besides, the discussion of the result collected by means of the observation and semi-interview with teachers and is presented
2.3.1 The survey questionnaires 2.3.1.1 Students’ and teachers’ attitude toward the course book
Table 1: Students’ and teachers’ attitude toward the course book
Topics of the texts Ts 0 60 30 10 0 x
Contents of the texts Ts 0 10 70 20 0 x
Length of the texts Ts 0 20 60 20 0 x
The first question focuses on the students’ and teachers’ opinion about the topic of reading texts In response to this question, 60% of the teachers thought that texts in the textbook are interesting, but 24% students agree 30% teachers and 38% students supposed that the topics are neutral 31% of the students found that reading texts are boring and very boring in comparison to 10% of the teachers No teacher thought that the topics are very interesting whereas 7% of the students disagreed
The second question is about the contents of the texts No teacher considered the contents are very difficult while 2% of students thought they are 10% of teachers believed that the contents are difficult in contrast to 43% of the students Most of the teachers (70%) found the contents are neutral but only 32% students agreed The rest of students (23%) and teachers (20%) said the contents are short and very short
As for the length of the reading texts, a large number of students (54%) supposed that the texts are long in comparison to 20% of the teachers 60% teachers felt that the texts are neutral in length but only 11% of students shared this view Whereas, 20% teachers and 32% of the students considered the reading texts are short and very short
The statistics indicated that students who read in English to do exercises are the largest, accounting for 65% and teachers thought the same with 70% 27% of the students considered widening vocabulary and grammatical structures as their reading purpose and 20% of teachers agreed; 15% of them read for developing language skills but no teachers thought the same; 9% students and 10% teachers thought students read for information and reading for pleasure is the least percentage of the students (only 3%) but teachers said that no students read for pleasure
2.3.1.2 Students’ attitude toward reading activities and the teaching techniques
Table 2: Students’ attitude toward the reading activities
The way to read the text 14 86 x x x x
Activities in reading the text 10 14 3 2 71 0
As can be seen from table 2, it is pity that no students prepare the lesson very carefully, 26% prepare carefully while a large numbers of students (56%) do not prepare carefully and even 18% of them go to class without preparation
Table 2 indicates that most students (60%) are familiar with pre-learn new words
15% of the students do brain storming Glancing at the title, heading, subheading, the first and the last sentence is accounted for 12% Predicting the content is chosen by 8% of the students Only 5% students often set up a clear goal for reading
The data from table 2 shows that 14% of students read the text aloud while 86% of them use silent reading
Findings from table 2 also presents that the most popular activity applied in the while-reading phase is answering the comprehension questions (71%) The next preferred activity is scanning to get the detail information with 14% Coming after that is skimming to get main ideas with 13% There is only a small percentage of students who choose predicting and inferring (5%)
In dealing with unfamiliar words or structures, most students (50%) rely on dictionaries for understanding the meanings or explanations 10% ignore them 3% agree that they do not know what to do so they often stop reading if many unfamiliar words appear Surprisingly, no one say they try to figure out the meanings of the words from the context or guess the meaning by synonyms, antonym or affixations, etc., but with the help from the teachers accounting to 37%
Relating to post- reading phase that helps the students consolidate what they have learnt Statistically, most students (85%) translate the text into Vietnamese after reading There is a minority of the students either discussing the text(7%), writing a short paragraph relating to the text (4%), summarize the text 3% or do other activities such as role play or debate (1%)
2.3.1.3 Students’ opinions about teachers’ teaching methods and preferring techniques
Table 3: Students’ attitude toward the teacher’s techniques and preferring techniques
The table shows that 21% of students think that the method applied in reading lesson is effective while a larger number of them (64%) state that the method is not very effective More critically, 15% of the students affirm that the teaching method is not effective at all
When being asked which techniques they want their teachers to use in teaching a reading lesson, all of the students choose all suggested techniques
2.3.1.4 Teachers’ frequencies of using the reading teaching techniques
Table 4: Teachers’ techniques in a reading lesson
Table 4 expresses the teachers’ opinion of general techniques in teaching a reading lesson
Regarding with the technique of combination with other skills, the table shows that the majority (70%) often combine reading skills with speaking, listening or writing skills 30% of teachers sometimes use this technique in their reading lesson No one choose ether always or never use it
From the table, it is also able to know of the effectiveness of using combining skills in teaching reading skills As the result, four teachers (40%) think that this technique is effective, five of them think it is not very effective 10% of teachers say it is not effective at all and no teachers think that it is always effective in their lessons
Table 5: Teachers’ responses concerning Pre-reading activities
Variable Scale Pre-reading activities a (%) b (%) c (%) d (%)
1 using games to introduce the text 0 30 60 10
4 clarifying the instructions of the text 80 20 0 0
5 asking students to predict the content by using their background knowledge
6 setting up a clear goal for students 50 40 10 0
7 using visual aids to introduce the text 0 40 60 0
8 giving a brief introduction to the text 20 60 20 0
One of the purposes of the survey questionnaire is to investigate English teachers’ pre-reading activities practice in relation to the introduction of the reading text Table 5 deals with this aspect of the study There are eight activities in the table In addition, the table displays the teachers’ responses to all the questions
The table indicates that in a reading lesson, pre-teaching using guiding questions (90%) is the most frequently used technique Then 80% of teachers always use pre-teaching new vocabulary and explaining the instructions of the text The explanation for this can be that it is the most traditional technique for pre-reading phase or students’ vocabulary is poor and their abilities of guessing the meaning of the new words from the context is low The teachers want to provide their students some key words to help them overcome their difficulties when dealing with reading texts
Summary
In this chapter, the author carries out the research through three kinds of instruments including survey questionnaires among 100 freshmen and 10 English teachers, class observation and informal interview
The results of the survey show that both teachers and students have the same opinion of reading purpose Most of them agree that reading is to do comprehension exercises However, there is a difference between students and teachers’ attitude toward the course book Whereas teachers think the book is quiet good with interesting topics, suitable content and neutral length, students say that the book contains neutral topics, difficult content and long in the length In term of activities in reading lessons, there still have disagreements between students’ and teachers’ responses Most students say that they rarely predict the contents and they wish their teachers give instruction and lesson’s aim clearer while teachers state that they always ask students to make sure about the aim by using pre-reading question or clarifying the instruction or making students predict the contents Similarly, in while –reading activities, students do not usually asked to skim, scan, and guess the meaning, etc while teachers claim that they usually ask students to do Regarding to the post- reading, most of students are used to translating technique In contrast, teachers approve that they ask students to summarize the main ideas of the text
Concerning to the supplementary texts, both teachers and students have the same opinion that they are not used effectively that is why they are used less in reading lessons
The class observation reveals that because of the crowded class, poor students’ reading skills and level only some following techniques gain effectiveness such as using visual aids, skimming to get the main ideas, scanning to get the specific information or combining with other skills as speaking and writing Techniques, for example, guessing the meaning from the context or inferring, in contrast cause students a lot of difficulties in understanding the text
The results of semi-interview present the reasons for choosing currently applied techniques It is the fact that all teachers have to cope with problems as passive students, poor teaching condition, crowded classes, unsuitable reading texts and ineffective techniques, it is reasonable when traditional method with pre-teach vocabulary and translation technique is preferred This method not only saves time to prepare but also is easy to apply successfully in the context of HCIE Last but not least, most teachers wish to update new reading texts, make use of familiar techniques, improve teaching condition and change teaching method in order to improve techniques’ effectiveness in teaching reading skills.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the students
From the findings of the research, some of suggestions that the students should take in consideration
First of all, preparing carefully the lesson before going to class is very useful It is advisable for students to have a general idea of what is going to be learnt in class For example, students have to know which topic is going to be discussed, whether or not any new words or difficult grammar structure, etc Making sure of what is being learned will help students not only active but also easy to understand the lesson
Secondly, trying to apply some useful techniques frequently is beneficial for the students while they read the text As mentioned above, skim and scan are very effective to explore the content, so the students should always bear in their mind how to use them in specific text Guessing technique is also another useful one Students should try to guess the meaning of new words or structures from the context or using synonyms, antonyms or using affixes and suffixes Apply these techniques will make students more confident and active in learning Besides, minimizing using dictionary or asking teacher for meaning of the words is able to help students learn more effectively
Looking up new words in the dictionary wastes a lot of time and it is also hard for students to remember, too Asking teachers for the meaning of words and structures is not a good way of learning It makes students both become more passive and disturb other students Guessing technique, consequently, is useful to replace them Students should try to guess the meaning of new words or structures from the context or using synonyms, antonyms or using affixes and suffixes Applying this technique will make the students learn better
Finally, doing homework is vital for students to understand the lesson more After each lesson, it is necessary for students to review the text What have been learnt, what is new and important of the reading text that are worthy remembering, etc are the key points for students to revise In addition, consolidating the new words and information by writing a short essay about the related topic is also advisable By using this technique, students are able to make use of the new words and structures that they have been learnt, and it is effective for them to remember Last but not least, after reading lesson, students should use dictionary to check their guessing meanings and exact usages of the structures
Following the above techniques, it is sure that students are able to train themselves to be good readers Applying them regularly, students will make remarkable progress in reading skills.
To the teachers
From the findings of the research, the writer would like to emphasize two key points that are techniques which the teachers should not use in their reading lessons and which the teachers should apply more
At one extreme are the techniques that teachers should not use in the reading lessons, these are the main ones Basing on the data in table 2, a large number of students prefer silent reading so the teachers should not apply loud reading It is the fact that in a crowded class, reading aloud makes a lot of noise and causes both teachers and students’ difficulty in following the texts The second technique which prevents the students from improvement is inference It is easy to understand because this kind of technique is difficult not only for the pre-intermediate students but also students of higher levels as well It requires students to have good skills to apply it effectively so it is above the students’ current ability As a result, the teachers should not apply it in their reading lessons for freshmen The last technique is suggested not using is the supplementary texts Through the table 8, both the students and teachers agree that the supplementary texts are not effective that is why it is unnecessary for the teachers to introduce them to the students any more
At the opposite extreme are the techniques which are beneficial for the teachers to apply in their teaching in order to improve reading skills for their freshmen Besides using traditional way of teaching such as using pre-reading questions, silent reading then answering comprehension questions, translating, etc it is advisable for the teachers to use alternative techniques First of all, using visual aids is an useful technique which attracts the students’ interest This technique is not time- consuming to prepare but effective to raise the students’ motivation in reading the text It also gets the same effectiveness with using games in teaching As the finding from the class observation, most of students show their interest when they answer comprehension questions combining with game “The faster is the winner” Playing games to learn not only changes the class atmosphere but also motivates the students to learn better The following technique the researcher would like to recommend is guessing It is not only guessing new words but also new structures
The teachers are able to use various kinds of guessing as guessing the meaning from the context, guessing using synonyms/ antonyms or guessing using affixes/ suffixes
As mentioned above, this technique is beneficial because it does not disturb the students in the reading process but it makes the students more confident in learning
In addition, it is an advisable way to enrich students’ vocabulary because the students will find it is easier to learn new words and remember the new words longer Finally, combining reading with speaking and writing is useful for students to improve their reading skills as well That is why teachers should use it more frequent in their lesson.
To the authorities
In charge of the researcher, the write would like to give some for the authorities who play an essential part in improving the English teaching quality in general, and the reading teaching quality in particular at HCIE
As said in the context of the study, freshmen at HCIE are classified randomly in English class after their desires They do not take part in an entrance English test in order to adjust their English abilities This causes some difficulties for both the teachers and the students in teaching and learning process It leads to the first recommendation for the authorities there should be a placement test to classify the students into classes of the same levels The second suggestion is about the class size It is better if each class has approximately 30 students when they learn English instead of over 70 students as at the present The next consideration is to change the course book Instead of using the current obsolete one, it is advisable to use a more updated version of the book which may be New Headway pre-inter, the fourth edition that adds more interesting parts not only in reading but also in other skills
In addition, they should update English books, magazines or newspapers in the library so that both teachers and students can have more reference to diversify their teaching and learning activities in English Sending teachers to short course specializing in teaching reading skills is also suggested By doing this, teachers will have more chance to improve their teaching methods and update their teaching knowledge Last but not least, the authorities at HCIE should improve the class condition to meet the teaching and learning’s needs For example, they should install projectors in all classes so that teachers can use visual aids in their teaching to motivate students in learning or they should build lab-rooms which equipped with computers, projectors, etc for students to access the lesson more quickly.
Summary
There are many considerations in teaching reading to improve reading skills for freshmen at HCIE What have been presented in the preceding sections is a set of what the writer believes the most important principles However, each of these principles must be adapted for a specific context, for a specific language, and for students of differing abilities
Teaching reading is surely difficult To get profit for the teaching techniques the author of this paper would like to propose recommendations to the students, the teachers and the authorities at HCIE With these recommendations, the researcher hopes to contribute an idea for teachers to improve reading skills for freshmen at HCIE
With the aims at investigating the real situation of teaching and learning reading skills at HCIE for freshmen and providing some suggested reading teaching techniques for the teachers to help teachers and students teach and learn reading skills more effectively, this paper states two research questions: (1) How reading skills are teaching and learning at HCIE? and (2) What reading techniques should be applied to improve the reading skills of freshmen at HCIE? By doing the research, the answers to these questions are pointed out
With the first question, the findings from the research reveals that teaching and learning reading skills at HCIE is still passive when preferable method is translation and inactive doing comprehension questions Teachers rarely apply CLT techniques such as prediction, guessing the meaning, combining reading with other skills, etc
Whereas, students do not usually prepare for the reading lessons and they depend much on teachers’ help in their learning As can be seen from the survey, the teachers try their best to apply effective techniques to help their students; however, it does not work as they have expected
The paper also gives some recommendations for the students, the teachers and the authorities at HCIE to improve teaching and learning reading skills of freshmen at the college The students should try their best by preparing the lessons carefully before going to the class; trying to use techniques which encourage them to be more active and confident in learning process such as predicting the content or guessing the meaning of the words/ structures; reviewing the lesson by composing an essay relating to the topics using new words/ structures after each reading lesson, etc The teachers are advised to avoid using loud reading, inference, and supplementary texts In contrast, they are encouraged to use CLT techniques such as applying visual aids, using games, guessing the meaning, etc The last recommendation is to the authorities at HCIE They should arrange the students into classes with students of the same level of English, dividing classes into smaller ones, changing the course book, providing the teachers more chance for professional development to master their teaching reading method and improve the teaching condition
It is hopeful that what have been discussed in this study may be beneficial for both teachers and students With my own effort to do this research, it is sure that there still have a lot of debatable points that the writer would really like to receive attributions to make the thesis better
2 The limitations of the study and suggestions for further study
In any research papers, limitations are unavoidable The study presented in this minor thesis is of no exception
Firstly, the number of 100 freshmen is not sufficient enough for the researcher to have precise judgments
Secondly, not all the suggested techniques for teaching and learning reading are experimented properly, so the researcher cannot draw a conclusion of the effectiveness
Finally, this survey purpose is mainly to find out the teachers’ techniques that help improve reading skill more effectively This point causes the lack of view to compare and contrast which techniques is better, which is worse, when and how to use these techniques to get the highest efficiency That is the biggest problems in this study
Despite such limitations, the writer strongly believes that this research is successful to some extents Though this is just a small-scale study on the issue, it really provides some helpful suggestions for the teaching reading to the freshmen
However, any further researches that employ supplementary instruments such as field-notes, log, journals, diaries or carry out in a longer period of time or be on a larger scale can help to prove the above results more strongly and persuasively; consequently, the limitations of this study can also be avoidable
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This survey questionnaire is designed to support my thesis “A study on the teachers’ teaching techniques for improving the reading skills of freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economics” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only
Please circle the appropriate options to respond to each statement or question and answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can
Thank you for your cooperation
1 What do you think about the reading topics in the course book “New headway- Pre intermediate”? a very interesting b interesting c neutral d boring e very boring
2 What do you think about the contents of the texts? a very difficult b difficult c neutral d easy e very easy
3 What do you think about the length of the text in each lesson? a very long b long c neutral d short e very short
4 What do you think your students read the English texts for? a pleasure b doing exercises c gaining the language knowledge d enriching grammar and vocabulary e improving other skills f other:
5 Do you often combine teaching reading skills with other skills? a always b often c sometimes d never
6 How effective do you think of combining reading with other skills? a very effective b effective c not very effective d not effective at all
7 Which of the following Pre-reading activities do you use in reading lesson?
Pre-reading activities always sometimes rarely never
1 using games to introduce the text
4 explaining the instructions of the text
5 asking students to predict the content by using background knowledge
6 setting up a clear goal for students to read
7 using visual aids to introduce the text
8 giving a brief introduction to the text
8 Which of the following While-reading activities do you use in reading lesson?
While-reading activities always sometimes rarely never
9 skimming to get main ideas
10 scanning to get specific information
11 guessing new words in the contexts
13 reading orally and answering comprehension questions
14 assigning students to pre-read at home and work on comprehension questions in the class
15 engaging students in reading silently then asking them questions
16 integrating the prior knowledge by recalling the pre-reading
9 Which of the following Post-reading activities do you use in reading lesson?
Post-reading activities always sometimes rarely never
18 writing on topics relevant to the reading text
19 discussing on the topics for supplementary reading
22 giving similar reading task(s) to students
10 How often do you use supplementary texts? a always b usually c sometimes d rarely e never
11 How effective do you think of using supplementary texts ? a very effective b effective c not very effective d not effective at all Thank you!
This survey questionnaire is designed to support my thesis “A study on the teachers’ teaching techniques for improving the reading skills of freshmen at Hanoi College of Industrial Economics” Your cooperation would be essential in my paper The answers will be used for research purposes only
Please circle the appropriate options to respond to each statement or question and answer the questions as accurately and frankly as you can
1 What do you think about the reading topics in the course book “New headway- Pre intermediate”? a very interesting b interesting c neutral d boring e very boring
2 What do you think about the contents of the texts? a very difficult b difficult c neutral d easy e very easy
3 What do you think about the length of the text in each lesson? a very long b long c neutral d short e very short
4 What do you read the English texts for? a pleasure b doing exercises c gaining the language knowledge d enriching grammar and vocabulary e improving other skills f other:
5 How do you prepare your lesson before going to class? a very careful b careful c not very careful d no preparation
6 Which techniques do you often use in Pre-reading phase? a predict the content of the reading text b glance at the title, heading, subheading, the first and the last sentence c set up a clear goal for students to read d do brain storming e pre-learn new words f other:
7 How do you often read the texts? a reading aloud b reading silently
8 Which techniques are you often asked to read the texts? a skimming b scanning c predicting d inferring e answering the questions f other:
9 When you have some new words or structures, what do you do? a look them up in the dictionary b guess the meaning from the context or by synonyms, antonym or affixations, etc c ignore them d ask your teacher e stop reading f other:
10 What do you do after you read? a summarizing the text orally b translating into Vietnamese c discussing the topic d writing a short paragraph related to the text e other:
11 What is your opinion about your teacher’s methods of teaching reading skills? a very effective b effective c not very effective d not effective at all