Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an investigation into the reality of teaching reading comprehension to 11th form students at yen the high school, bacgiang province

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the problems…

Being aware of the importance of teaching and learning English in high schools, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recently introduced a new series of English textbooks for grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12 These new textbooks have been used in most high schools nationwide This marks a milestone in improving the quality of English teaching and learning The new curriculum defines “English as a compulsory subject” to provide students with an “instrument to access world science and technology as well as world culture” (MOET, 2006) However, a lot of complaints have been made by the teachers from most of high schools in Bac Giang province They said that these new English textbooks were too difficult for their students To deal with this problem, Bac Giang Education and Training Department decided to organize training courses at the beginning of the academic years of 2006, 2007 and 2008 to help and give teachers guidance on methods of teaching the new English textbooks based on the communicative approach Yet, the results were often not satisfactory because it is very difficult for teachers to employ properly the general knowledge of teaching English in communicative approach provided in these training courses in real contexts of teaching at some high schools

Founded in 1966, Yen The High School is one of three high schools in Yen The district, Bac Giang province that have been selected to apply the new textbooks in teaching and learning English It has about 33 classes every year, among which, there are about 10 grade

11 classes As the school is located in the center of a mountainous district, foreign language learning conditions are very limited Most YTHS students come from comparatively poor families and they do not have much time for self- study After school, they have to work on farms and rice paddies to help their parents Few students are able to attend extra- English classes because their parents cannot afford to pay even a small amount required for their children‟s schooling like the fee, a dictionary, a cassette player or English books To make matter worse, nearly half of YTHS students are from ethnic groups such as Tay, Nung Dao, Cao lan and San diu, so their ability to learn English is further limited Considering the teaching conditions, the researcher finds that there is a serious shortage of teaching appliances There is no cassette player for teachers to use

Teachers must read aloud typescript in almost every listening lesson The results of speaking and writing teaching are far worse Rarely can students say or write a complete and grammatically correct sentence in English Instead of developing students‟ communicative ability, teachers sometimes have to change speaking and writing lessons into grammar and vocabulary ones Besides, reading lessons seem to be a burden for teachers and boring to students Within 45 minutes, teachers often cannot help students compete the post-reading sections as most of the time is spent on pre- and while- reading Students complain that there are too many new words and grammatical structures in a long text, which prevents them from understanding the reading passage thoroughly

In such conditions, teaching and learning English in general and teaching reading in particular according to the new curriculum has actually become a great obstacle for both teachers and students at YTHS However, reading has still been the focus of teaching because it is not only an important means to gain knowledge but also the means by which students can obtain more new words and structures used in certain contexts

After looking critically into the reality of teaching and learning reading at YTHS, discussing the topic with colleagues and reflecting on her own teaching experience, the researcher realizes that teaching methods greatly influence the effectiveness of teaching reading skill Limited success of reading lessons may be due to teachers‟ inflexibility, their lack of teaching experience, intensive employment of the grammar- translation method and the lack of training in the communicative approach Also, teachers‟ domination in the language classroom should be blamed for YTHS students are often passive during English lessons and do not have effective skills in learning reading As a result, they fail to get the main ideas as well as the details of each reading passage So as to have a better understanding of the situation and find solutions to the problems her colleagues and herself face with, the researcher decided to investigate the reality of teaching reading to grade

Aims of the study and research questions

1 To find out teachers‟ and students‟ comments on the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook

2 To investigate the reality of teaching reading to grade 11 students and their attitudes towards the teaching of reading utilized by teachers

3 To identify the difficulties that teachers and students have to cope with when dealing with a reading lesson

It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of some benefits to teachers and students at YTHS and some other schools as the reality of teaching reading at YTHS is similar to that of some high schools in mountainous districts in Bac Giang province like Son Dong, Luc Ngan, Luc Nam, and Tan Yen

In order to achieve the research study‟s aims, the study attempts to answer the following research questions:

1 How do teachers and students respond to the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook?

2 What methods are used by teachers in teaching reading and what are the students‟ attitudes towards these methods?

3 What difficulties do teachers and students meet when dealing with a reading lesson?

Scope of the study

This is a survey of the problems in teaching the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook at YTHS The study includes an investigation into teaching methods used by teachers and their students‟ attitudes towards these methods Finding out the teachers‟ and students‟ assessment of the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook and identifying their difficulties in reading lessons are another purpose.

Outline of the thesis…

The thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter One is written to introduce the background to the study and statement of the problems It also presents the aims, the research questions, the scope and the design of the thesis

Chapter Two presents a review of related literature which provides the theoretical background for the study It presents the definitions of reading, reading comprehension, factors and stages in teaching a reading lesson Some common methods utilized by teachers in three stages of teaching a reading lesson and the impacts of attitudes in teaching and learning are also mentioned The final and important part of this chapter is some previous studies

Chapter Three states the methodology used in the study Therefore, the information about subjects, data collection instruments and procedures are presented

Chapter Four discusses the outcome of the data analysis

Chapter Five is the conclusion to the thesis.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Reading and reading comprehension

Reading is a popular activity of human beings It takes place in every aspect of daily life as well as in scientific areas Therefore, there exist many different points of view on the definition of reading

Goodman (1971:135) defines 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”, and the act of reconstruction is viewed as “a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming ” Another view on reading is shared by

Nuttal (1982:4) “Reading is getting a message from a text” She states “the meaning is not lying in the text waiting to be passively absorbed; on the contrary, the reading is actively involved and often has to work out to get the meaning out” It is clear that she rejects the views in which reading is regarded as a rather passive and receptive skill

Grellet (1981:3) also says reading is understood as extracting required information from a written text as efficiently as possible Besides, according to Harmer J (1989:190) reading is “an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive message and the brain then has to work out the significance of the message” Sharing the same view, Smith

(1985:102) points out “reading is understanding the author’s thought” According to the ideas presented above, reading can be considered as a communicative process in which we- the readers - read the author‟s mind, not the author‟s words Reading, viewed from a different perspective, is “an active information- seeking process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know” (Rubin, J and Thompson, I 1994:91)

With this point of view, the readers‟ knowledge of the language and the knowledge of the world are of great importance to their reading success

In teaching and learning reading, reading comprehension plays an important role because it is described as a means of communication between the writer and the reader

“Comprehension, by definition, is the process of relating new or incoming information to information on the printed page and their existing knowledge They must allow the new information to enter and become a part of their knowledge store.”

(Lee and Vanpatten, 1995:191) Anderson and Pearson (1984:255) also shared the same point of view They argue that when students make a critical evaluation of the ideas conveyed in the text, they are making connection between new information on the printed page and their existing knowledge

These two ideas show that reading comprehension is a process in which the reader can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied behind these forms Moreover, this process is greatly affected by the reader‟s background knowledge and his language competence

From the above points of view on reading and reading comprehension, we can draw a conclusion that reading is a complex process which involves not only the reader and the writer but also the text itself Reading comprehension, according to Nuttal (2000:4), is “the process of encoding and decoding between the encoder who has messages in his mind encodes them into words and the decoder who needs to receive these messages decodes those words into his mind”

In short, reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is Therefore, to become a good reader, it is necessary for him to possess rich knowledge of the world and knowledge of language, especially the topic mentioned in the reading text

We read different texts in different ways, depending on our manner and our purpose

Reading, according to manner, is classified into reading aloud and silent reading

Doff (1988:70) assumes “reading aloud involves looking at the text, understanding it and also saying it” Reading aloud can be used inside classroom as a technique to check students‟ pronunciation As it helps them to associate the spelling of the words and the pronunciation and improve their fluency However, as for Doff (1988:58), reading aloud is not a very useful technique for some reasons First, only one student is active at a time, the others either not listening at all or listening to a bad model Second, students‟ attention is focused on pronunciation, not understanding the text Next, it is an unnatural activity; most people do not read aloud in real life Finally, students usually read slowly, it takes up a lot of class time

Silent reading is the activity we often use in real life, for example reading books, newspapers, texts, road signs etc Silent reading, as mentioned by Doff (1988:67) “involves looking at sentences and understanding the message it conveys” It has become more and more preferable because it is comprehension and its focus is on the meaning of the text

Learners do not need to read all the words in the text and they can read at their own speed

If they do not understand a sentence, they can go back and read it again Reading aloud tends to reduce the speed of reading and formation of correct reading habits Silent reading helps one to develop speed and comprehension Good silent reading skills prepare students for library reading on their own It is also an effective skill for teaching and learning reading comprehension

According to purposes, reading is categorized into skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading

Skimming is frequently used in teaching reading comprehension “When skimming, we go through the reading material quickly in order to get the gist of it, to know how it is organized or to get an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer, but not to find the answer to a specific question” (Grellet, F.(1981:19)) Hedge, T (2000:195) explains “skim reading is used to get a global impression of the content of the text An example would be previewing a long magazine article by reading rapidly, skipping large chunks of information and focusing on headings and first lines of paragraphs”

Scanning is a useful reading skill we apply when we want to find the answer to a specific question Hedge, T (2000:195) argues that “scanning involves searching rapidly through a text to find a specific point of information, for example, the relevant times on a timetable, items in a directory or key points in an academic text” Scanning occurs when a reader looks quickly through the text searching for a specific piece of information or to see if the text is suitable for a specific reading purpose

According to Grellet (1981:4), intensive reading means “reading shorter text to extract specific information” This is more an accuracy activity involving reading for details

The teaching of reading

The teacher is a person who applies methods in teaching reading Therefore, no one can deny the vital role of the teacher in a reading lesson Mahon (1986:98_99) says that the teacher is the most important element in a reading class, for her attitude influences students and their performance Nuttal (2000:32_33) specifies some roles of the teacher as choosing reading texts, designing tasks, facilitating reading process and monitoring process What is more, the teacher is responsible for exploiting students‟ knowledge; building a strong vocabulary base; teaching for comprehension; teaching strategies; encouraging students to transform strategies into skills and finally setting criteria to select reading texts (Anderson

2003 and Hedge 2003 cited in To et al., 2006:153-154) To sum up, the teacher, by using appropriate techniques, can make students get involved in learning It becomes the responsibility of the teacher to train students to determine their own goals and strategies for a particular reading

2.2.1.2 Students’ roles in a reading lesson

Nuttal (2000:33) points out several main roles for the students in a reading lesson First, students must take an active part in learning: this is the first and foremost responsibility of the learner They have to be active and take charge of what they do Second, students monitor comprehension: they need to understand how texts work and what they do when they read And they must be able to monitor their own comprehension by recognizing that they do not understand a text and finding out why and adopting a strategy that will improve the problem Next, students learn text talk: good readers have to know how to carry on a dialogue with the text They can promote this skill by learning to talk about the texts in class; they have to make the most of the opportunity by joining in the activities the teachers plan for this purpose Then, students have to take the risk of making mistakes because a mistake is an opportunity to learn Finally, they learn not to cheat themselves: learning to read is learning to give students enormous advantages in life It may lead to a better job, personal development, interest and enjoyment Students who do not want to learn to read can easily cheat but they are only cheating themselves Nobody else will suffer but they are wasting their opportunities

2.2.1.3 The roles of reading texts

Teaching and learning reading will not be carried out without reading texts They are a means to introduce new lexical and grammatical items as well as phonetic of the target language Through reading texts, students can enrich their background knowledge

Reading texts are often accompanied with reading tasks which act as guide for teachers and students to deal with the reading process TALO, TAVI, TASP, in literature language teaching are three acronyms that have been used to describe texts A TALO (text as a

(text as a vehicle for information) has a different focus Information within the text is seen more important than the language Students should understand the overall meaning of a text instead of the finer points of detail And a TASP (text as a springboard for production) means using a text as a springboard for another task- usually a reading or writing task

Different text types require different teaching methods For example, grammar- translation and Audiolingualism methods are often used with TALO and communicative approach fits well with TAVI and TASP Besides, when teaching reading and designing reading tasks, the teacher should take the points that Grellet (1981:20) suggests into consideration: language of the text; the content of the text and its vocabulary and grammatical structures

2.2.2 Stages of teaching a reading lesson

In the light of the recent and widely accepted communicative approach, it is common practice that a reading lesson consists of three stages: pre- reading, while- reading and post- reading Each stage, of course, has its own characteristics and time allocation that will be discussed in details as follows:

Various things should be done before reading a text, which makes it easier for students to understand the text and help them focus attention on it as they read Williams (1984:37) suggests three purposes of the pre- reading stage Firstly, it aims at introducing and arousing interest in the topic Secondly, it supports to promote the learners by giving a reason for reading The last aim is to provide some language preparation for the text

Normally, pre- reading phase lasts from two to ten minutes depending on each lesson Pre- reading activities may include presenting some of new words in the text, giving a brief introduction to the text and giving guiding questions Such techniques as using pictures, predicting from the titles, guessing and brainstorming can also be applied to see what students have already know

According to Williams (1984:38), while- reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson The first aim of this stage is to help understanding the writer‟s purpose The second is to help understanding the text structure and the last aim is to clarify the text content Teachers, at the while- reading stage, need to help their students comprehend the text thoroughly while students have to apply to the best their reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc to understand the text as well as the writer‟s purposes conveyed through the reading text And time allocation for this stage is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson

This is the final phase in a reading lesson and it is the time for students‟ production “The post- reading stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners’ own knowledge, interests or views” (Williams 1984:39)

Teachers can apply such activities as discussion of questions, reproducing the text, role- playing, gap- filling and giving personal ideas on the theme of the text in this stage It normally takes ten or fifteen minutes to complete all activities at this stage

In conclusion, the three stages mentioned above are essential for teaching a reading lesson

However, it is not necessary to follow all these steps mechanically on every occasion In some cases, teachers are able to adapt these stages and time allocation in order to suit their students‟ level, interest, the situation and the reading text

2.2.3 Some common teaching methods utilized at three stages of a reading lesson 2.2.3.1 Pre-reading

Various teaching methods can be employed at pre-reading stage in order to introduce and arouse students‟ interest in the topic as well as provide them with some language preparation for the text Followings are the ones frequently used by high school teachers:

Giving a brief introduction to the text

Attitudes and their impacts in teaching and learning

Numerous definitions of attitudes have been made by researchers Allport (1954) defines that an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‟s response to all objects and situations with which it is related Gardner (1985:10) considers attitudes as components of motivation which refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning and language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language According to him, the motivation to learn a foreign language is determined by basic predisposition and personality characteristics such as the learners‟ attitudes towards foreign people in general, and the target group and language in particular, motives for learning and generalized attitudes

 The impacts of attitudes in learning and teaching

Gardner and Lamber (1972) point out “success in mastering a foreign language would depend not only on intellectual capacity and language aptitude, but on one‟s attitudes towards representatives of that language as well” Attitudes influence learning: positive attitudes are likely to result in students‟ motivation, which leads to better learning; and the students‟ learning will suffer from negative attitudes (Edwards, 1982 cited in Gibb, 1998)

Slopsky (1989:211) claims that attitudes “influence the development of motivation and have more specific effects, so attitudes appear to carry into particular motivation”

Obviously, the more motivation a learner has, the more time s/he will spend learning an aspect of the language

Similarly, the approach that teachers use in the classroom depends on their attitudes towards it Doukas (1996) assumes that teachers‟ educational attitudes and theories, although unconsciously held, have an effect on their classroom behavior, influence what students actually learn and are a potent determinant of teachers‟ teaching style He also emphasizes that teacher‟ attitudes are seen to play crucial role in determining the implementation of an approach If teachers hold positive attitudes to a theory of teaching, they are considered being good for both language learning and teaching They will be better and help students‟ learning very much.

Previous Studies

There have been many studies on teaching English in general and teaching reading in particular Follows are some of the studies focusing on reading activities and the teaching of reading that the researcher has found and used as the models for her study

Dao Thu Huong (2007) carried out a study on “How to improve reading comprehension of the 10 th –form students at Le Hong Phong High School” The findings from her questionnaires for the teachers and students show that most of the teachers and students are aware of the important role of reading Their results of teaching and learning reading, however, still far from the goal of learning English set by the MOET for some reasons which are the lack of students‟ motivation, the students‟ poor background knowledge, their inadequate reading strategies and teachers‟ old- fashioned method From these findings, the author suggested some techniques to improve the teaching and learning of reading at

Le Hong Phong High School

Tran Thi Ha (2003) conducted an investigation into the methods for developing reading skills to final year army officer trainees of English at the Military Academy of Science

She found out some problems in teaching and learning texts in Effective Reading at the Military Academy of Science, and then she suggested methods, which are thought to be appropriate for reading teaching skills to final year students at the Military Academy of Science.In order to investigate the reality of teaching and learning reading at National Economics University, Nguyen Thi Huyen (2006) carried out a survey research among 10 teachers and 120 second- year students at this university The results from the questionnaires and the classroom observation revealed that the teaching and learning reading English at National Economic University are not effective The students are not equipped with necessary skills to become successful readers Inefficient teaching methods utilized by teachers are considered to be the main cause This thesis also comes up with several suggestions to train students to become efficient readers.

Sub-conclusion

It is clearly acknowledged that reading teaching methods have great influence on students‟ learning Suitable methods can help readers to achieve success in learning reading In this chapter, different aspects related to reading and teaching reading were presented, including the definitions of reading, kinds of reading, factors in teaching and learning reading and stages of a reading lesson What is more important is that some common teaching methods utilized at three stages of a reading lesson, attitudes as well as their impacts in teaching and learning were mentioned Finally, some previous studies used as the models for this study were presented This literature review will serve as theoretical basic for the study which will be presented in the next chapters.

METHODOLOGY

Subjects of the study

YTHS has totally 8 English teachers (2 males and 6 females) including the researcher, aged from 25 to 52 Only two of them graduated from VNU,CFL, two others were trained in Thai Nguyen College of Education The eldest one used to be a teacher of Russian and the rest attended in- service ELT training courses None of them has master degree All of them have ever taught TIENG ANH 11 textbook and four are teaching grade 11 (2009-2010)

The second group of subject is 124 grade 11 students chosen randomly from classes: 11A1, 11A2, 11A4 and 11A8 (2009-2010) at YTHS They are all at the age of 16 or 17 They have learned English for four years at different secondary schools in Yen The and Tan Yen districts

Only a few of these students intend to take entrance exam to university with English.

Reading sections in TIENG ANH 11 textbook

Like TIENG ANH 10, every unit in TIENG ANH 11 begins with a reading section, which is aimed at developing students‟ reading skills, getting them accustomed to the topic and providing language input so that they can speak, listen and write better in the following lessons The length of each reading passage is 240 - 270 words The reading parts are presented with various colored pictures to raise students‟ interests in the reading topic A reading lesson is taught in three stages: Before you read, while you read and after you read

“Before you read” helps students get involved in the topic and content of the reading passage, presents some new vocabulary required for their comprehension “While you read” consists of two or three tasks that require students to read for main ideas or details, finally grasp the content of the text “After you read” focuses on consolidating students‟ comprehension by such activities as summarizing, retelling the reading passage.

Data collection instrument

In order to collect reliable and valid data, three different instruments: teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire, classroom observation and teacher post- observation interviews were used in this study The questionnaires were designed with references to Wajryb

(1992), Dao Thu Huong (2007), Nguyen Thi Huyen (2006) and Tran Thi Ha (2003)

Questionnaire for teachers (see appendix 1) composed of 5 closed questions was delivered to 8 teachers of English at YTHS Question 1 was used to find out teachers‟ assessment of the reading section relating reading topics, length of the texts, difficulty level of language knowledge and reading tasks, and visual aids Question 2 was designed to investigate what reading teaching methods utilized by teachers in reading lessons It was divided into 3 stages of teaching reading including 10 items teaching methods in pre- reading, 5 items in while- reading and 4 items in post- reading Question 3 was to get information on teachers‟ opinions towards the importance of reading components Question 4 aimed to find teachers‟ difficulties in teaching reading

In order to investigate the students‟ assessment of the reading section, their attitudes towards the teaching methods utilized by teachers and their difficulties in reading lessons, the questionnaire for students was designed (see appendix 2) It has three questions

Question 1 is to investigate the students‟ assessment of the reading section Question 2 asks students to rate their preference towards teaching methods used by teachers using a scale of 1 to 3 (1 being most favorite, 2 being next favorite and 3 being least favorite) And question 3 aims to identify the students‟ difficulties in reading lessons This questionnaire was administered to 124 grade 11 students at YTHS

According to Wajryb (1992), classroom observation is a means of collecting data about what is going on in the classroom, a complex arena with many processes co-occurring and overlapping The researcher has chosen classroom observation to collect on what reading teaching methods used by teachers and how often these teaching methods were used The information from teacher questionnaire was used as the framework for classroom observation (See appendix 4) Classroom observation would provide the researcher information on the students‟ attitudes towards teaching methods and if there was congruence between what teachers‟ self- reported information and what they actually did in the classroom Observations of reading lessons delivered by 4 different teachers were done in classes 11A1, 11A2, 11A4 and 11 A8, two 45-minute periods for each class in 5 weeks from February 22 to March 27, 2009, which makes a total of 8 reading periods Due to the lack of audio recording and camera, the researcher had to take notes during the observations The classroom observation sheet (see appendix 4) helps the researcher to follow the procedures of the reading lessons

The post-observation interviews were conducted to further investigate the rationale behind the teachers‟ delivery of reading tasks in the classroom Four interviews with the 4 teachers, whose lessons had been observed, were conducted informally at different time in the staff meeting room Each interview lasted about 25 to 30 minutes and was conducted in Vietnamese so that the teachers could express their ideas more freely.

Procedures

As mentioned in 3.3., three different data collection instruments used in this study were questionnaires for teachers and students, classroom observation and teacher post- observation interviews First, two survey questionnaires were administered to 8 teachers of English and 124 grade 11 students on the first week of the second term (details of these questionnaires were given in 3.3.1 and 3.3.2) All the subject students were asked to get together in the school‟s meeting room to complete the questionnaires The researcher asked the teachers who taught each class to collect the questionnaires the following day The questionnaire for students was translated into Vietnamese to ensure the students‟ thorough understanding of the questions and to save time After the data from teacher questionnaire had been collected and analyzed, the researcher started conducting classroom observations on the second week of the second term I first informed the 4 teachers of my research purpose and obtained their permission to observe their lessons Then I worked out an observational schedule with each teacher; then finally- arrangements were confirmed

After the 8 reading periods had been observed, the 4 teachers were invited to interviews.

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Data analysis

 Teachers’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook

Data from the teachers‟ questionnaire shows that teachers highly appreciate the reading topics and visual aids provided in the new textbook in term of diversity and closeness to real situation (see table 1) options N of teachers

Reading topics are closed to real situation 3

The length of reading texts is too long 8

The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas 8

The reading tasks designed are too difficult for grade 11 students and take too much time 8

Various visual aids (pictures, charts…) are provided in reading sections to raise students‟ interests in the topic 8

Table 1: Teachers’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook (N=8)

However, all the English teachers at YTHS have negative attitudes towards reading tasks and the difficulty level of language knowledge in the reading texts They agreed that the reading tasks are too difficult for their students and takes too much time to complete

Reading passages, in their opinion, are too long with a lot of new words and grammatical structures This is understandable because half of them used to teach the old English textbook with very short and simple reading passages

 Methods utilized by teachers in three stages of the reading lesson

No Teaching methods used at pre-reading stage No of teachers

2 Presenting and explaining new words in the reading text 8

3 Making students predict the con tent of the text 4

4 Presenting and explaining new grammatical structures in the reading text 7

5 Asking students to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topic 3

6 Asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text 6

7 Using group discussion about topic of the text 2

8 Using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text 3

9 Making students brainstorm words, structures or ideas related to the topic of the text 2

10 Making students ask questions about the text 2

Table 2: Methods used at pre- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 2 summarizes the information about methods used by teachers in the pre- reading stage These methods are divided into two groups namely the traditional method and the

„new‟ one Traditional methods are giving a brief introduction, presenting and explaining new words and new grammatical structures in the reading texts The other category- „new‟ method is composed of predicting about the texts such as making students predict the content of the text, asking them to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topics, asking lead-in questions, making students brainstorm related words, structures and ideas and using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text As can be seen in the table, seven out of eight teachers answered that they most frequently used the traditional methods at the first stage, only four out of eight teachers used the „new‟ ones Using visual aids were employed by three teachers because of the fact that this method takes time to prepare

Obviously, the teachers at YTHS seem to focus more on providing their students with as many new words and structures as possible so that their students can understand the reading text better while spend less time preparing students to activate their background knowledge about the topic during the first stage of a reading lesson

No Teaching methods used at while- reading stage No of teachers

2 Asking students to read aloud the reading text 4

3 Asking students to translate the reading text into Vietnamese 4

4 Asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions 7

5 Asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer

Table 3: Methods used at while- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 3 presents the information about methods reported by teachers at while- reading stage These methods are divided into two groups like at pre- reading stage namely the grammar-translation methods and „new‟ one Teacher reading aloud, asking students to read aloud the reading text, asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions belong to the grammar- translation method Asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer is the „new‟ one As shown in table 3, the teachers seem to prefer the grammar- translation methods in their teaching For example, seven out of eight teachers had the habit of asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions Half of them still asked their students to read aloud the reading text and translate it into Vietnamese This indicates that the teachers made their students concentrate on pronunciation and meaning of individual words, but not encourage them much to speed up their reading comprehension by scanning Only three out of eight teachers asked students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer

N Teaching methods used at post- reading strategies N of teachers

1 Asking students to summarize the text 6

2 Asking students to have discussion 3

3 Asking students to find out more about the topic on their own 2

4 Asking students to translate it into Vietnamese 4

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time 6

Table 4: Methods used at post- reading stage (N= 8)

Table 4 presents the information about methods that teachers used in the post- reading stage The traditional methods are asking students to summarize the text and asking students to translate it into Vietnamese The „new‟ methods are asking students to have discussion and asking students to find out more about the topic on their own As can be seen in table 4, six out of eight teachers reported that they did nothing at the post- reading stage because of time constraints Obviously, 45 minutes were spent on pre- and while- reading activities As shown in table 1, the reading tasks are too difficult for students and take too much time to complete The result from table 4 shows that if the teachers had enough time to deal with the post-reading activities, six out of eight teachers asked students to

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0 pt summarize the text As for them, it was a good way to help the student‟s gain better understanding and memorizing the text And 4 out of them asked students to translate it into Vietnamese It is not a good way to teach reading Only two out of eight teachers controlled the class by asking students to find out more about the topic on their own and three out of them asked students to discuss It cannot be denied that the teachers used traditional methods much more often than the „new‟ ones

 Teachers’ perceptions towards the importance of reading components

Detailed content of the text 4 2 2

(1- not important at all, 2- not really, 3- so so, 4- important, 5- very important)

Table 5: Teachers’ opinions on the importance of reading text components (N= 8)

As can be seen in table 5, the majority of the teachers (6 out of 8 teachers) realized that main ideas and topics of the reading passage are very important in reading lessons, but they paid less attention to the detailed content of the text while teaching reading (Only 2 out of eight teachers admitted that detailed content of the text was very important) Five out of eight teachers reported that new structures and vocabulary are important to students‟ understanding of the text Clearly, teachers‟ perception of the importance of reading text components partly affects their teaching methods They focused much on presenting and explaining new words and grammatical structures at pre-reading stage

 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching reading

2 Students‟ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge 7

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4 Students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures 8

5 Students‟ lack of appropriate reading strategies 8

Table 6: Problems teachers face with when teaching reading (N= 8)

Table 6 indicates the problems the teachers have to face with when teaching a reading lesson All the teachers at YTHS agreed that the students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures and lack of appropriate reading strategies caused difficulty Apart from vocabulary and grammatical structures, appropriate reading strategies play a very important role in reading since they help students finish their reading tasks in time without reading all the words written in the text Seven out of eight teachers responded that their students‟ background knowledge and world knowledge were poor It cannot be denied that students‟ background knowledge and world knowledge greatly affect their reading comprehension Readers who possesses rich prior knowledge about the topic of a reading often understand the reading better than their classmates with low prior knowledge Ethnic group students in remote and mountainous areas like those in Yen The district have little chance to have access to mass media, therefore their background knowledge of many fields is quite limited Only three out of eight teachers agreed that students‟ lack of motivation cause difficulties for their reading teaching

Half of the subject teachers stated that they could not teach reading effectively because time is limited They often had no time for post- reading activities Clearly, the biggest problems in teaching reading lessons mainly come from the students‟ poor English proficiency These students might not pay enough attention to learning English at secondary schools

4.1.2 Findings from Questionnaire for students

 Students’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook

1 Reading topics are … a.Various b.Close to real situation c.Boring d.Unfamiliar with students

1 Reading topics are … a Various b Close to real situation c Boring d Unfamiliar with students

2 The length of reading texts is… a Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b Too long c Too short

3 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… a Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b Too difficult for majority of students in mountainous areas c Easy

4 The reading tasks designed are … a Too difficult for grade 11 th students b Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students c Take too much time

5 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree? a Yes b No

Table 7: Students’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook (N4)

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Formatted: Indent: First line: 0 cm,

2 The length of reading texts is… a.Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b.Too long c.Too short

3 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… a.Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b.Too difficult for majority of students in mountainous areas c.Easy

4 The reading tasks designed are … a.Too difficult for grade 11 th students b.Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students c.Take too much time

5 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree? a.Yes b.No

Table 7: Students’ assessment of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook (N4)

When asked to give comments on the reading section in the new textbook, 85% of the respondents answered that various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) provided in reading sections raised their‟ interests in the reading topic They also had positive attitudes towards the reading topics (34% of respondents considered reading topics various and 27% said they were close to real situations) However, the reading texts were seen too long by 70% of the respondents; 74% reported that the language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts was too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas It is clear that due to the lack of vocabulary and new structures, the students find it

0 pt, Line spacing: Multiple 1,35 li very difficult to deal with a long reading text full of new words Also, because of the lack of appropriate reading strategies, 65% of the students stated that the while-reading tasks took too much time This is the reason why many teachers cannot complete the post- reading activities as being planned The above results indicate that the teachers of English at YTHS need to be very flexible when employing the new textbook They can remove some too difficult tasks and focus on the suitable ones

 Students’ attitudes towards the teaching methods utilized by teachers

The data collected from the student questionnaire shows students‟ attitudes towards teaching used by teachers in the three teaching stages of the reading lesson

 Students’ attitudes towards pre- reading methods utilized by teachers

Pre-reading Most favorite Next favorite Least favorite

2 Presenting and explaining new words in the reading text

3 Making students predict the con tent of the text

4 Presenting and explaining new grammatical structures in the reading text

5 Asking students to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topic

6 Asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text

7 Using group discussion about topic of the text

8 Using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text

9 Making students brainstorm words, structures or ideas related to the topic of the text

10 Making students ask questions about the text

Formatted: Space Before: 0 pt, Line spacing: Multiple 1,2 li

Table 8: Students’ preference of methods used by teachers at pre-reading stage (N4)

As shown in table 8, students have positive attitudes towards „new‟ methods e.g 68% of them chose „using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text‟ as the most favorite; 54 % like method „asking students to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topic‟ and 51 % agreed that asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text is their favorite These methods help them raise interest in the reading topic and activate their background knowledge about it during the pre-reading stage Besides that, about 40 % of the students thought the traditional methods such as presenting and explaining new words and new grammatical structures in the reading text was the most favorite This was clearly because of their limited vocabulary and structures A large majority (73 %) did not like the teachers to make them ask questions about the text This may be too difficult for them

 Students’ attitudes towards while - reading methods utilized by teachers N o

While -reading Most favorite Next favorite Least favorite

2 Asking students to read aloud the reading text 9%

3 Asking students to translate the reading text into Vietnamese 13 %

4 Asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions

Table 9: Students’ preference of teaching methods used by the teachers at while -reading stage

Table 9 shows that 40% of the students agreed that item 1 (teachers reading aloud) at while reading stage is the most favorite, for students this method helps them benefit from hearing good reading modeled by teachers Only 12 students (9%) liked their teachers to ask them to read aloud the reading text as most of them are not often confident enough to do this

They are afraid of wrong pronunciation A few students (13%) chose item 3 (asking students to translate the reading text into Vietnamese) as the most favorite Surprisingly,

Major findings

Results from data analysis presented in the above sections help provide answers to the three research questions raised earlier in this paper as follows:

 Research question 1: How do teachers and students respond to the reading section in TIENG ANH 11 textbook?

Result analysis given in 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 indicates that both teachers of English and students at YTHS have the same opinions about the reading section in the new textbook Most of them find that the reading passages in the book are too long and the difficulty level of the language knowledge in the text is not suitable for the majority of students in mountainous areas As a result, they have to spend too much time on completing the reading tasks whereas there are only 45 minutes in a period It is clear that reading lessons seem to be overloading for both teachers and students However, all of them have very positive attitudes towards the reading topics and visual aids available in the reading section in terms of their variety and closeness to real situations These two outstanding features of the new textbook help raise students‟ interest in learning reading and aid teachers to employ the

„new‟ methods in teaching reading lessons

 Research question 2: What reading teaching methods are often used by teachers and students’ attitudes towards these methods?

To investigate what methods utilized by teachers and students‟ attitudes towards these methods is the most important aim of this study Generally, every reading lesson is carried out in three stages: pre- reading, while- reading and post- reading And the teaching

To start with, at pre-reading stage (see in 4.1.1), traditional methods including giving a brief introduction, presenting and explaining all new words and new grammatical structures in the reading text were mostly employed by every teacher and about 40 % of the students agreed that these methods were their most favorite Besides, it seems that students have a positive attitude towards methods that make them activate their background knowledge about the topic during the pre- reading stage: 68% of the students chose the „new‟ methods- using visual aids to introduce the topic of the text the most favorite; 54 % of the students like the method „asking students to survey the reading text‟s title and heading for the topic‟ although these methods were rarely used by teachers Doff (1998:172) states that the purposes of the pre-reading stage are to introduce and arouse interest in the topic, to motivate learners by giving a reason for reading, and to provide some language preparation for the text Therefore, the traditional methods used by teachers at this stage cannot arouse students‟ interest in the topic and make them want to read the text Obviously, most of the teachers at YTHS get used to applying traditional ways in their teaching while their students prefer „new‟ methods and would like to be made active in a reading lesson It can be concluded that methods utilized by teachers at the pre-reading stage do not match students‟ preference

William (1984:88) assumes that while-reading stage is the main part of a reading lesson

The teacher, at this stage, needs to help students comprehend the text thoroughly while students have to apply the best reading skills like skimming, scanning, guessing, etc to understand the text as well as the writer‟s messages conveyed in the reading text In fact, the results obtained from teacher questionnaire and classroom observation show that most of the teachers in the study employed grammar- translation method in teaching while- reading stage For instance, four out of eight teachers asked students to read aloud the reading text and asked them to translate the text into Vietnamese; asking students to read the reading text intensively and answer the questions was used by seven out of eight teachers This traditional method makes extensive use of the students‟ knowledge of the mother tongue It is also the easiest and quickest way to explain words, phrases and sentences in English (Mowla 2004:45) However, students can only learn the theory of language but they cannot use it as a tool of communication to satisfy their every day need

In spite of this disadvantage, grammar- translation method is still very preferred by many teachers and students As revealed by the results collected from student questionnaire, students seem accustomed to the traditional way of teaching that teachers use, therefore only 20 % students prefer „new‟ method- asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer This method helps students speed up their reading process but only three teachers applied it in their teaching The information gathered in this study is of great help to teachers in changing the ways they teach at while-reading stage to come up to their students‟ expectations

The post-reading stage is the time for students‟ production This stage is aimed at consolidating or reflecting upon what has been read and relating the text to the learners‟ own knowledge, interests or views (William, 1984) Regretfully, the study results show that teachers of English at YTHS do not often have enough time for this stage (six out of eight teachers reported that they often did not have time for the post-reading stage) At this stage, the traditional methods are employed by the majority of the teachers e.g asking students to summarize the text and asking students to translate the text into Vietnamese This does not meet students‟ expectations as 58% of the students found it the least favorite method One of the new methods- asking students to have discussion and asking students to find out more about the topic on their own was utilized by only two teachers whereas this is considered the most favorite by 62% and 35 % of the students respectively The students said that they can develop their communicative abilities by discussing in pairs or small groups and that they can have thorough comprehension of the text by finding out more about the topic on their own

 Research question 3: What difficulties do teachers and students meet when dealing with a reading lesson?

The teachers of English at YTHS have encountered a number of difficulties in teaching reading

Data analysis shows that these problems mainly rooted in the students‟ low English proficiency

Besides, students' familiarity with passive learning style, the large size of the classes and the poorly equipped classrooms also cause difficulties to teachers Most of the students confront five major obstacles in learning reading lessons of which their lack of vocabulary and grammatical structures is the biggest; next is their lack of background knowledge and world knowledge; then lack of appropriate reading strategies; their lack of motivation and time limitation are two other problems that affect their reading ability Moreover, students still apply word-by-word reading It is the difficulties encountered by students that cause problems for teachers They can hardly complete their lessons as planned and do not have enough time to follow the procedures and do all the tasks designed in the reading section.

LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Suggestions

There is no best textbook for all learners, so it is very important for a successful teacher to be flexible and creative when employing the textbook in certain contexts of language teaching and learning Within the scope of this study, the researcher would like to raise some suggestions for teachers at YTHS and may be teachers in other districts in Bac Giang province, including some techniques to adapt the reading section and to train students in different reading skills

The technique of simplification is a type of modification, namely a “rewriting” activity

The elements of the reading section which can be simplified are: the instructions, the reading passages and the reading tasks so that it becomes easier for students to deal with reading activities Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences- bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of learners Simplification may be in the following forms:

- Sentence structure: sentences are reduced in overall length or complex sentence is rewritten as a number of simple ones, for example by replacement of relative pronouns by nouns and pronouns followed by a main verb

- Lexical content, so that the number of new vocabulary items is controlled by reference to what students have already learned

- Grammatical structures: for instance, passive are converted to actives; simple past tense to simple present; reported into direct speech

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content needs modification, the second is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

- Rewriting may relate redesigning reading tasks to more closely to students‟ level and interest For instance, students often spend much time on the tasks like “Answer the questions” such as task 3 in the reading sections of unit 1, unit 2, unit 4, unit 8 and unit

10 so in some cases, it is advisable for teachers to change these tasks into multiple choice or true/ false questions

- Restructuring: in the case teachers are strictly required to follow a course book, changes in the structuring of the class are sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the reading sections like those in unit 1, unit 4 and unit 10 may contain different reading tasks: “task 1-fill in the blanks with suitable words taken from the text”, “task 2- choose the best title/answer” and “task 3- answer the questions”, the logistic of managing a large class is complex from many points of view, therefore, it will probably be necessary to assign one role (task) to a number of pupils at the same time and then ask students exchange their ideas about their tasks

To make the reading section more suitable to grade 11 students‟ level in schools like Yen The, it is necessary to delete some difficult tasks that take a lot of time to complete For example, reading task 1 of unit 5 (find the Vietnamese equivalent to the following expressions) should be removed from the while-reading stage To save time for students‟ reading, the teacher should pre- teach all those expressions before getting students to read the text Texts containing unfamiliar notions and terminology should be replaced like the reading text in Unit 11 (sources of energy) or the first paragraph in the reading text of unit

7 (world population) Some reading passages which contain a lot of new words and complicated grammatical structures should be omitted or replaced by simpler ones on the same topic like the reading text of unit 6 on „competitions‟

5.1.2 Training students in different reading skills

It is necessary to train students with variety of reading skills Wallace (1993:146) points out those reading skills are ways of reading which are employed flexibly and selectively and which vary depending on the text-type, and the context and purpose of reading

According to Nuttal (1996), scanning means glancing rapidly through a text either to search for a specific piece of information or to get an initial impression of whether the text is suitable for a given purpose In other words, the reader may look at a piece of written language not in order to understand it all, but for the purpose of finding out specific information In order to extract certain specific information without reading through the whole text, it is advisable for students to: Look at scanning questions if available to get more concentrated and be aware of the details they are looking for; Let their eyes wander at specific names, places, dates, statements, definitions, figures, charts until they find the required specific information; Ignore or skip other significant information; Pay attention to the particular part of the text containing the details that they are searching for; Keep in mind or write down the specific terms of required information

Skimming means the reader glides over the surface of a text, reading selected important parts rapidly in order to get an overview of content and organization Therefore, skimming is concerned with rapidly assessing the main points of a text and not paying attention to irrelevant details; it involves knowledge of the text structure Students should be able to learn something of the topic from the title and any subheadings They should know that the first and the last paragraph often contain valuable background information, summary, or concluding information as key sentences, where to find them are very important To teach skimming, we can ask students to find the misplaced sentences in a paragraph, fit topic sentences with particular paragraphs, create a title or subtitle for a text or paragraph, select a title, etc We should encourage them to read the source, author, title, pictures and skim the questions if available before asking them to read the text

The aim of intensive reading is to arrive at a deep and detailed understanding of the text: not only of what it means, but also of how the meaning is produced (Nuttal, 1996)

Intensive reading is better utilized if preceded by skim reading In intensive reading, the emphasis is on details that support the main points picked out at the skimming level As far as intensive reading exercises are concerned, they involve a close reading of a passage or text We can ask students to make summaries, reorder sentences, reorder paragraphs, compare versions, complete tables and graphs, etc

Prediction is major factor in reading Harmer (1998:70) states that prediction assists students to activate their background knowledge relevant to the topic and to give them reason for reading Consequently, the students‟ motivation is created Students can learn to make prediction from title of the text, the linguistic context, the non-linguistic context such as pictures, tables, graphs, flowcharts, maps and their knowledge of the topic These are some tips for predicting information in a reading text that teachers can use to help their students to better their reading competence: Read the title of the text, if you find no clue, read on; Look at the illustrating pictures, if available, to find the clues; Move your eyes quickly through the first and the last sentences of the paragraph in the text; Make predictions based on the contextual clues already found; Read the text again to confirm what you have predicted

The purpose of reading should be for improving reading proficiency rather than improving linguistic competence Different purposes demand appropriate levels of comprehension, so the use of different reading strategies Therefore, in reading classes, we must improve students‟ use of strategies which help them to achieve their reading purposes To do this, the teacher first has to teach students what scanning, skimming, intensive reading and prediction are and their effectiveness, and then let students practice these strategies with some short and simple reading passages Moreover, to each reading text, the teacher should be based on the real context of teaching to guide students what reading strategies they should use S/he needs to make full use of the strong points of every reading section such as the pictures, tables and title available in the textbook.

Conclusion

In order to investigate teachers‟ and students‟ assessments of the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook, the reality of teaching reading at YTHS and their difficulties in teaching and learning reading lessons, the survey questionnaires, classroom observation and post-observation interview were carried out with the participation of 8 teachers and

124 grade 11 students at YTHS The study results show that teaching and learning reading at YTHS are not effective: most of the teachers prefer employing the traditional methods to teach reading lessons while students appear to prefer the “new” teaching methods

Moreover, the students are not equipped with necessary skills to become successful readers and their limited background knowledge and poor vocabulary and grammar knowledge also pose problems to teachers As the result, the reality of teaching reading at YTHS does not meet the requirements of the new curriculum Based on the findings, several suggestions including ways to adapt the reading sections and ways to train students in different reading skills are raised In fact, there are no perfect methods to approach the teaching of reading One method, which may be very successfully employed by this teacher with her students, may not work at all when being used by another teacher in different context The effectiveness of one method depends largely on the degree of flexibility and adaptability of the individual teacher in teaching

It is hoped that the findings, discussions and suggestions of this study will be of some benefits to improve the current situation of teaching reading comprehension to grade 11 students at YTHS as well as other mountainous high schools sharing the same conditions of teaching and learning in Bac Giang province.

Limitations and suggestions for further study

Limitations are inevitable in any research project This minor thesis has got a number of drawbacks

Firstly, the suggestions in this chapter are likely to be subjective for they are mainly based on the author‟s limited practical experience and professional knowledge in teaching reading Secondly, because of the limitation of time and knowledge, the study cannot focus on other aspects related to teaching reading comprehension in the new textbook They can be the techniques to motivate students and improve their vocabulary, how to make full use of the strengths of the textbook, supplementary reading materials for students, etc These need further study

Finally, the study merely concentrates on problems in teaching reading at YTHS In order to have a full picture of teaching English according to the new curriculum, further research

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6 Eskey, D (1998) Holding in the Bottom: An Interactive approach to the Language problems of second language readers In P Carnell, J Devine, & D Eskey (edt),

Interative Approaches to Second Language Reading (pp.223-38) New York: CUP

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Attitudes and Motivation London: Edward Arnold

8 Gibb, B (1998) A Comparative Study of Attitudes towards Varieties of English held by Professionals and Tertiary Level Students in Korea http:www.survey.ac.uk/ ELT/ gibbn.pdf

9 Goodman, K S (1971) Reading a Psycholinguistic Guessing Games In Harry Singer and Robert B Ruddell (Edt)

10 Grade, W (1991) Current Developments in second language reading research

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Delhi: Education Publishers Mikulecky, B.S 1990 A Short Course in Teaching Reading Skills The United States of America: Addison- Wesley Publishing Company

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27 Wallace, M J (1993) Reading Oxford University Press

Williams, E (1984) Reading in the Language Classroom New York: Macmillan

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

AT YEN THE HIGH SCHOOL

This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on “An investigation into the reality of teaching reading comprehension to the grade 11 th students at Yen The High School, Bac Giang province” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated

You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data

 English teaching experience (for example: 6 years):

1 What are your comments on the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook?

 Reading topics are … e Various f Closed to real situation g Boring h Unfamiliar with students

 The length of reading texts is… d Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level e Too long f Too short

 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… a Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b Too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas c Easy

 The reading tasks designed are … d Too difficult for grade 11 th students e Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students f Take too much time to do

 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree?

Formatted: Bullets and Numbering c Yes d No

2 Please rate the frequency of methods you use in teaching reading

No Teaching methods are used in three stages Frequency

Pre-reading usually sometimes rarely never

Presenting and explaining all new words in the reading text

Presenting and explaining new grammatical structures in the reading text

Asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text

Making students brainstorm words, structures or ideas related to the topic of the text

2 Asking students to read aloud the reading text

3 Asking students to translate the reading text into Vietnamese

Asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer

1 Asking students to summarize the text

2 Asking students to have discussion

3 Asking students to find out more about the topic on their own

4 Asking students to translate it into Vietnamese

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time

3 What do you often pay attention to when teaching reading in English? (Please rank in order of importance) 1- not important at all, 2- not really, 3- so so, 4- important, very important

New structures Detailed content of the text Vocabulary

Main ideas and topics Other (please specify)………

4 What problems do you have to face with in teaching reading?

 Students‟ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge

 Students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures

 Students‟ lack of appropriate reading strategies

Thank you very much for your cooperation!

APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

This survey questionnaire is designed to find out grade 11 th students‟ attitudes toward the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 It also helps to investigate your attitudes toward reading teaching methods used by teachers and the difficulties you have in learning reading comprehension Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated.The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for other purposes

 Reading topics are … i Various j Closed to real situation k Boring l Unfamiliar with students

 The length of reading texts is… g Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level h Too long i Too short

 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… d Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level e Too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas f Easy

 The reading tasks designed are … g Too difficult for grade 11 th students h Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students i Take too much time to do

 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree? e Yes f No

3 Please rate the preference towards the teaching methods that teacher used in reading lessons (Put a tick in an appropriate box)

2 Presenting and explaining all new words in the reading text

4 Asking students to translate it into Vietnamese Others (specify):

3 What problems do you have to face with in learning reading? you can tick more than one option)

 Your lack of background knowledge

 Your limited vocabulary and grammatical structures

 Your lack of appropriate reading strategies

APPENDIX 3: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH

Phiếu khảo sát này nhằm tỉm hiểu đánh giá của học sinh về phần đọc hiểu trong SGK Tiếng Anh lớp 11 Ngoài ra nó còn giúp tìm hiểu thái độ của các em đối với các phương pháp dạy đọc được giáo viên áp dụng và khó khăn các em gặp phải khi học đọc hiểu

Những thông tin này sẽ được dùng cho nghiên cứu chứ không nhằm mục đích gì khác

1 Các em nhận xét như thế nào về phần đọc hiểu trong SGK Tiếng Anh lớp 11? Hãy đánh dấu tích(  ) vào phương án các em lựa chọn

 Chủ đề của các bài đọc thi…

 Gần gũi với đời sống hàng ngày

 Không quen thuộc với học sinh

 Độ dài của các bài đọc là…

 Phù hợp với trình độ của học sinh lớp 11

 Kiến thức ngôn ngữ trong mỗi bài đọc ( bao gồm từ vựng và cấu trúc ngữ pháp) la…

 Quá khó đối với phần lớn học sinh ở miền núi

 Các nhiệm vụ (tasks) được thiết kế trong các bài đọc la………

 Quá khó với học sinh lớp 11

 Đa dạng và phù hợp với học sinh lớp 11

 Mất quá nhiều thời gian để hoàn thành

 Những hình ảnh trực quan như tranh anh, bảng biểu được cung cấp trong mỗi phần đọc đã nâng cao hứng thú cho học sinh đối với chủ đề bài đọc Các em có đồng ý không?

2 Hãy thể hiện sự yêu thích của các em đối với các phương pháp dạy đọc được giáo viên áp dụng bằng cách đánh dấu tích (  ) vào ô phù hợp

Các phương pháp được giáo viên áp dụng Thích nhất Thích Không thích

1 Gv giới thiệu qua về bài đọc

2 Gv dạy các từ mới có trong bài đọc

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đoán nội dung của bài đọc

4 Gv dạy các cấu trúc ngữ pháp mới có trong bài đọc

5 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tìm hiểu về chủ đề bài đọc thông qua các tiêu đề

6 Gv đặt các câu hỏi mào đầu để gợi ý học sinh thảo luận về chủ đề bài đọc

7 Gv yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận theo nhóm về chủ đề bài đọc

8 Gv sử dụng những hình ảnh trực quan để giới thiệu chủ đề

9 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tìm hiều những từ, cấu trúc hoăc các ý có liên quan đến chủ đề

10 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đặt câu hỏi về bài đọc Các phương pháp khác:

1 Gv đọc to bài khóa

2 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc to bài khóa

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh dịch bài khóa sang tiếng Việt

4 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc kĩ bài khóa trước rồi trả lời câu hỏi

5 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc câu hỏi trước sau đó đọc quét bài khóa để tìm câu trả lời

1 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tóm tắt bài đọc

2 Gv yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tự tìm hiểu thêm về chủ đề của bài đọc

4 Gv yêu cầu học sinh dịch bài đọc sang tiếng Việt Các phương pháp khác:………

 Các em gặp phải những khó khăn gì khi học đọc? (các em có thể chọn nhiều lựa chọn)

 Các em thiếu động lực học

 Các em thiếu kiến thức nền

 Các em không có đủ thời gian để đọc

 Vốn từ vựng và cấu trúc của các em rất hạn chế

 Các em thiếu các kĩ thuật đọc phù hợp

Rất cảm ơn sự cộng tác của các em!

I Teaching methods utilized by teachers in three stages of a reading lesson

10 Making students ask questions about the text Others :

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time Others:

II How does the teacher teach generally? Using what methods?

III What are students‟ attitudes towards each method employed by their teacher in the reading lesson?

1 Can you tell me something about your educational background (University you graduated from) and your teaching experience?

2 As you know one of the textbook goals is to develop students‟ communicative ability Is it clear and easy to follow? If not, why not?

3 What is the most challenging for you in implementing reading tasks in the new TIENG ANH 11 textbook?

4 How often do you use the teaching methods listed in the questionnaire (show the teacher the questionnaire)? Why and why not?

5 In reading lessons, did you take much time teaching new vocabulary and grammatical structures? Why? And why not?

APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on “An investigation into the reality of teaching reading comprehension to the grade 11 th students at Yen The High School, Bac Giang province” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated

You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data

 English teaching experience (for example: 6 years):

 Reading topics are … e.m Various f.n Closed to real situation h.p Unfamiliar with students

 The length of reading texts is… d.j Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level e.k Too long f.l Too short

 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… a.g Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level b.h Too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas c.i Easy

 The reading tasks designed are … d.j Too difficult for grade 11 th students e.k Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students f.l Take too much time to do

 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree? c.g Yes d.h No

2 Please rate the frequency of methods you use in teaching reading

No Teaching methods are used in three stages Frequency

Pre-reading usually sometimes rarely never

Presenting and explaining all new words in the reading text

Asking lead-in questions to elicit discussion about the reading topic of the text

Making students brainstorm words, structures or ideas related to the topic of the text

Asking students to read the questions first and scan the reading text to find the answer

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time

3 What do you often pay attention to when teaching reading in English? (Please rank in order of importance) 1- not important at all, 2- not really, 3- so so, 4- important, very important

New structures Detailed content of the text Vocabulary

Main ideas and topics Other (please specify)………

4 What problems do you have to face with in teaching reading?

 Students‟ lack of background knowledge and world knowledge

 Students‟ limited vocabulary and grammatical structures

 Students‟ lack of appropriate reading strategies

APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

This survey questionnaire is designed to find out grade 11 th students‟ attitudes toward the reading section in the new TIENG ANH 11 It also helps to investigate your attitudes toward reading teaching methods used by teachers and the difficulties you have in learning reading comprehension Your assistance in completing the questionnaire is highly appreciated.The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for other purposes

 Reading topics are … i.q Various j.r Closed to real situation k.s Boring l.t Unfamiliar with students

 The length of reading texts is… g.m Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level h.n Too long i.o Too short

 The language knowledge (vocabulary and structures) in the reading texts is… d.j Suitable to grade 11 th students‟ level e.k Too difficult for the majority of students in mountainous areas f.l Easy

 The reading tasks designed are … g.m Too difficult for grade 11 th students h.n Various and suitable to most of the grade 11 th students i.o Take too much time to do

 Various visual aids (pictures, charts, and tables) are provided in reading sections to raise students’ interests in the topic Do you agree? e.i Yes f.j No

3 Please rate the preference towards the teaching methods that teacher used in reading lessons (Put a tick in an appropriate box)

4 Asking students to translate it into Vietnamese Others (specify):

3 What problems do you have to face with in learning reading? you can tick more than one option)

 Your lack of background knowledge

 Your limited vocabulary and grammatical structures

 Your lack of appropriate reading strategies

APPENDIX 3: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH

Phiếu khảo sát này nhằm tỉm hiểu đánh giá của học sinh về phần đọc hiểu trong SGK Tiếng Anh lớp 11 Ngoài ra nó còn giúp tìm hiểu thái độ của các em đối với các phương pháp dạy đọc được giáo viên áp dụng và khó khăn các em gặp phải khi học đọc hiểu

Những thông tin này sẽ được dùng cho nghiên cứu chứ không nhằm mục đích gì khác

1 Các em nhận xét như thế nào về phần đọc hiểu trong SGK Tiếng Anh lớp 11? Hãy đánh dấu tích(  ) vào phương án các em lựa chọn

 Chủ đề của các bài đọc thi…

 Gần gũi với đời sống hàng ngày

 Không quen thuộc với học sinh

 Độ dài của các bài đọc là…

 Kiến thức ngôn ngữ trong mỗi bài đọc ( bao gồm từ vựng và cấu trúc ngữ pháp) la…

 Quá khó đối với phần lớn học sinh ở miền núi

 Các nhiệm vụ (tasks) được thiết kế trong các bài đọc la………

 Quá khó với học sinh lớp 11

 Đa dạng và phù hợp với học sinh lớp 11

 Mất quá nhiều thời gian để hoàn thành

 Những hình ảnh trực quan như tranh anh, bảng biểu được cung cấp trong mỗi phần đọc đã nâng cao hứng thú cho học sinh đối với chủ đề bài đọc Các em có đồng ý không?

2 Hãy thể hiện sự yêu thích của các em đối với các phương pháp dạy đọc được giáo viên áp dụng bằng cách đánh dấu tích (  ) vào ô phù hợp

Các phương pháp được giáo viên áp dụng Thích nhất Thích Không thích

1 Gv giới thiệu qua về bài đọc

2 Gv dạy các từ mới có trong bài đọc

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đoán nội dung của bài đọc

4 Gv dạy các cấu trúc ngữ pháp mới có trong bài đọc

5 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tìm hiểu về chủ đề bài đọc thông qua các tiêu đề

6 Gv đặt các câu hỏi mào đầu để gợi ý học sinh thảo luận về chủ đề bài đọc

7 Gv yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận theo nhóm về chủ đề bài đọc

8 Gv sử dụng những hình ảnh trực quan để giới thiệu chủ đề

9 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tìm hiều những từ, cấu trúc hoăc các ý có liên quan đến chủ đề

10 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đặt câu hỏi về bài đọc Các phương pháp khác:

1 Gv đọc to bài khóa

2 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc to bài khóa

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh dịch bài khóa sang tiếng Việt

4 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc kĩ bài khóa trước rồi trả lời câu hỏi

5 Gv yêu cầu học sinh đọc câu hỏi trước sau đó đọc quét bài khóa để tìm câu trả lời

1 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tóm tắt bài đọc

2 Gv yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận

3 Gv yêu cầu học sinh tự tìm hiểu thêm về chủ đề của bài đọc

4 Gv yêu cầu học sinh dịch bài đọc sang tiếng Việt Các phương pháp khác:………

 Các em gặp phải những khó khăn gì khi học đọc? (các em có thể chọn nhiều lựa chọn)

 Các em thiếu động lực học

 Các em thiếu kiến thức nền

 Các em không có đủ thời gian để đọc

 Vốn từ vựng và cấu trúc của các em rất hạn chế

 Các em thiếu các kĩ thuật đọc phù hợp

Rất cảm ơn sự cộng tác của các em!

I Teaching methods utilized by teachers in three stages of a reading lesson

10 Making students ask questions about the text Others :

5 Doing nothing because of the limited time Others:

II How does the teacher teach generally? Using what methods?

III What are students‟ attitudes towards each method employed by their teacher in the reading lesson?

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