Pre-reading Strategies
Item1 Asking students to read the titles, look at the illustration/ pictures to predict what the text is about
Item 2 Having the students quickly look over the text before reading
Item 3 Asking students warm-up questions related to the text before reading
Item 4 Teaching vocabulary before students read the text
Item 5 Asking students to relate the text/ topic to their experience
The questionnaire results reveal that, teachers tended to use pre-reading strategies such as “making use of pictures, titles and warm-up questions” Chart 1 presents the results for the items that are considered as pre-reading strategies The general impression is that the
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways teachers do most of pre-reading activities before they have students read the text It is clearly seen that 80% of the teachers usually or always “asked students to read the titles, look at the illustrations/ pictures to predict what the text is about” and “ask students warming up questions” related to the text As for “teaching vocabulary before students read the text”, 60% of the teachers chose “always” and “usually” options In terms of “having students quickly look over the text before reading”, the percentage for “always” and “usually” responses was 50% “Relating topic to experience” is less popular (frequently utilized by only 40%) It can be assumed that pre-reading strategies was trained by the teachers but varied in terms of frequency.
While-reading Strategies
Item 6 Asking students to note down key words while reading
Item 7 Setting time limit for reading in class
Item 8 Telling students to read carefully and slowly
Item 9 Allowing students to use dictionary
Item 10 Asking students to guess /predict the meaning of unknown words
Item 11 Telling students to skip the unknown words
Item 12 Stressing the importance of reading every word
Item 13 Asking students to underline key words and/ or phrases
Item 14 Telling students to make guesses about up-coming information in the text
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
Item 15 Teaching students to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully
Considering these results, while-reading strategies are applied in the reading instructions with some strategies being more popular than others The results show that the most popular reading strategies are “asking students to underline key words and/ or phrases”
(employed usually or always by 100% of respondents), “asking students to guess/ predict the meaning of unknown words” (usually or always used by 80% of respondents) As for “setting time limit for reading in class” 70% of the teachers “always” and “usually” taught students It shows that the teachers placed emphasis on forcing the students to adjust their reading speed when they taught reading to students The reading strategy which was frequently utilized by only about 50% of respondents is “telling students to skip the unknown words” These strategies have been found to be effective and teachers should utilize to teach the students to use them in their reading, in reading instructions
Less popular strategies are “taking notes”, “making guesses about up-coming information” which are frequently utilized by only 40% of respondents Item 9, related to
“dictionary use” was being frequently used by only 20% of the teachers “Stressing the importance of reading every word” is the least popular strategy (10% of the population chose
“usually” and sometimes) Hence, it can be said that teachers neglect teaching some of the important while-reading strategies that can actually help the students become better learners or readers.
Post-reading Strategies
Item 16 Asking comprehension questions about the text
Item 17 Asking students to discuss the text after reading
Item 18 Asking students to summarize the text (written or oral)
Item 19 Assigning students tasks to do using the information in the text
Item 20 Asking students to interpret the text
This part of the questionnaire was designed to understand what reading strategies the teachers were using during the post-reading phase From the result it can be seen that the most popular post-reading strategy is “asking students to summarize the text” (90% of respondents chose this option) “Asking students to answer comprehension questions” and “asking students to discuss after reading” employed usually or always by 80% of the teachers However, less popular strategy is “assigning students tasks to do using the information in the text” (30% of participants chose “always” and “usually” options) The last strategy is considered the least popular one only 10% of the teachers “asking students to interpret the text” This shows that most teachers did not take the effort to make students aware of other reading strategies that can be utilized to help students improve their reading skills
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
The first part of the questionnaire for students was designed to gather the information about their age, gender and students’ self-evaluated English proficiency The data show that all the students aged 16; 50 students are female (62.5%), 30 students are male (37.5%) The percentage of the students rated themselves good and fairly good at English was 60% and 32 students (accounting for 40%) considered themselves at average level of English None of them rated under average level The second part related to what students were trained to do while dealing with a reading text through three stages: pre-reading, while-reading and post- reading.
Pre-reading Strategies
Item1 I am asked to read the titles, look at the illustration/ pictures to predict what the text is about/ to get the main ideas of the text
Item2 I am asked to look over the text before reading quickly
Item3 I am asked warm-up questions related to the text before reading
Item4 I am taught vocabulary before reading the text
Item5 I am asked to relate the text/ topic to my experience
The first strategy is “using the title” to anticipate the text content, “relating pictures illustrations to the text content” allows the students to have an idea about what the text is about Despite the fact that students stated that they perceived the importance of this strategy,
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways only 65% of the respondents chose options “always” and “usually” Another strategy which helps students to understand what the text is about is “quickly looking over the text before reading”, 60% of the participants perceived that they were trained In term of “answering warming-up questions related to the text before reading” the percentage for “always” and
“usually” responses is 23.75% for the students whereas 80% of the teachers did “ask students warming-up questions” “Relating the topic to students’ experience” was claimed to be used by the participants but, in low percentage (37.5%) However, “being taught vocabulary” was perceived by the highest percentage 68.75% of the students choosing “always” and “usually”
The reason for the participants’ using some of these strategies not very effectively might be that they do not want to spend their time on them but they directly start to read the text instead
It is essential that the students relate the topic to their experience and form some expectations about the topic in order for full comprehension to take place (Anderson, 1991, p 462)
Item 6 I am asked to note down key words while reading
Item 7 I am set time limit for reading in class Item 8 I am told to read carefully and slowly
Item 9 I am allowed to use dictionary
Item 10 I am asked to guess /predict the meaning of unknown words
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
Item 11 I am told to skip the unknown words
Item12 I am asked to stress the importance of reading every word
Item 13 I am asked to underline key words and/ or phrases
Item 14 I am told to make guesses about up-coming information in the text
Item15 I am taught to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully
Chart 5 shows the data on the use of reading strategies during while-reading phase
The responses to question 6 related to taking note while reading indicate that only 30% of the subjects chose “always” and “usually” 70% of the students “always” and “usually” were set time limit for reading That is the reason for reading slowly and carefully 35% of the students chose “always” and “usually” However, for “allowing students to use dictionary while reading”, 20% of the teachers chose “usually” option, 52% of students admitted of using dictionary while reading It indicates that the teachers in this study perceived they had a little time to use dictionary during 45 minute reading lesson As the percentage of the students
“using dictionary” is 52%, only half of them “tried to guess or predict the meaning of unknown words” In responses given to “skipping the unknown words” 37.5% of the participants “always” and “usually” skipped unknown words while reading As for the 13 question, 100% of the teachers “asked students to underline key words and, or phrases”, whereas the responses in chart 5 shows that only 28.75% of the students used this strategy at
“always” and “usually” level That the teachers neglected teaching some of the important while- reading strategies can be seen clearly in the responses given to the last two strategies in questionnaires for teachers, as a result, for question 13 the students stated that they “always”
(3.75%) and “usually” (12.5%) “made guesses about up-coming information in the text”, 21.25% of the subjects “always” and “usually” “read the first and last paragraphs more carefully”
Item16 I am asked comprehension questions about the text
Item 17 I am asked to discuss the text after reading
Item 18 I am asked to summarize the text (written or oral)
Item 19 I was assigned tasks to do using the information in the text
Item 20 I am asked to interpret the text into Vietnamese
From the result it can be seen that the two most popular strategies are “answering the teacher’s comprehension questions about the text” and “summarizing the text after reading”, probably since the text-book provides comprehension questions for students to work on, 53.75% of respondents chose these options Less popular strategies are “interpreting the text” and “discussing the text”, (frequently used by 37.5% and 11.25% of the students respectively)
The least popular strategy is “doing assigned tasks using the information in the text” The results of the questionnaires reveal that the teachers made less use of the post-reading strategies; this may be because they are less familiar or place less value on post-reading strategies Almost all of the teachers reported asking comprehension questions and summarizing the text in the post-reading stage The results also show that most teachers do not
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlw ays take the effort to make the students aware of other reading strategies that can be utilized to help the students improve their reading skills
3.1.2 Classroom observation Table 1: Teachers’ actual classroom practices: (Unit 14, 15, 16) Pre- reading Strategies
No Items Frequency of reading strategies used
1 Having the students quickly look over the text before reading 3 3 3 3
2 Having the students quickly look over the text before reading
3 Asking students warm-up questions related to the text before reading
4 Teaching vocabulary before students read the text
5 Asking students to relate the text/ topic to their experience
Table 2: Teachers’ actual classroom practices: (Unit 14, 15, 16) While- reading Strategies
No Items Frequency of reading strategies used
7 Setting time limit for reading in class 3 3 3 3
10 Asking students to guess /predict the meaning of unknown words
11 Telling students to skip the unknown words 3 3 3 3
13 Asking students to underline key words and/ or phrases
Table 3: Teachers’ actual classroom practices: (Unit 14, 15, 16) Post- reading Strategies
No Items Frequency of reading strategies used
16 Asking comprehension questions about the text
18 Asking students to summarize the text (written or oral)
20 Asking students to interpret the text 2 2
Tables 1 shows the use of pre-reading strategies by four teachers in three periods of their classes As the tables show, pre-reading strategies were taught quite frequently All the four teachers observed taught all listed pre-reading strategies, such as “predicting what the text was about by making use of the pictures or titles” provided in the textbook, “relating the text to the background knowledge” of the students or teaching vocabulary The less popular strategy was “having students quickly look over the text before reading” (only in unit 15)
As for while-reading strategies, (table 2) it can be concluded that while-reading strategies are in the actual reading classes with some strategies being more popular than the others They used most popular while-reading strategies, such as “setting time limit for reading”, “asking students to guess/ predict the meaning of unknown words”, “telling students to skip the unknown words” and “asking students to underline key words phrases” in stead of
“telling students to guesses about up-coming information in the text”, “asking students to note down key words”, “telling students to read slowly and carefully, teaching students to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully” and “allowing students to use dictionary” None of the subjects “allowed their students to use dictionary while reading” The reason also might be that they tried their students to employ other strategies such as guessing the meaning of words from the context or skipping unknown words
Hence, it can be said that teachers neglected teaching some of the important while reading strategies, “telling students to guesses about up-coming information in the text”,
“teaching students to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully”, which can actually help students become better learners or readers
In their actual classes the two specific strategies in post-reading strategies are
“answering the questions and summarizing” Only two teachers (teachers 8, 9) used
It seems that outcome of the interviews is consistent with the results gathered from the questionnaires Most of the teachers were aware that reading strategies help students understand texts better, students are aware of the language they are learning
All the four teachers reported that students faced difficulties while reading because of limited knowledge of vocabulary, lack of knowledge of grammar However, the four teachers gave solutions to the problems were quite diverse: one simplified the text by making explanatory sentences (teacher 8), another simplified the text by giving examples (teacher 9), the two others used both Vietnamese and English to explain (teachers 4,5)
Post-reading Strategies
Rationale…
English is one of the most important core subjects in many schools in Vietnam
English classes have been systematically introduced to elementary schools from grade 3
Vietnamese students study English for at least 10 years: three years in elementary school, four years in lower secondary school, and three years in upper/ high school In spite of the enthusiasm for studying English, the profile of Vietnamese students’ strategies for learning English in general and reading strategies in particular is not well researched Likewise,
“learning strategy” and “reading strategies” are still quite a vague concept to both Vietnamese EFL teachers and learners, although such strategies could definitely help them learn English more efficiently if they knew and employed such strategies consciously
Traditionally, researchers have agreed that reading was a passive or receptive process in which the reader attempted to decode the intended meaning of the author through recognizing the letters and words as meaningful units, the reader was merely a recipient of information from the printed pages and brought nothing to the text ( Barnett, 1988) However, modern research on reading has found the reading process active rather than passive as well as individualized and complicated (Grabe, 1991; Wallace, 1992)
Many studies such as “Teaching How To Learn- Learning Strategies in ESL” (Willing,
1989), “Teaching Second Language Reading” (Hudson, 2007), “New Ways in Teaching Reading” (Day, 1993) and Reading Through Context: How Real and Perceived Strategy Use Affects L2 Comprehension (Barnett, 1988) have indicated that the use of appropriate strategies may improve reading comprehension Studies have also suggested that readers could be trained to learn and use reading strategies, which raised the need to incorporate reading strategy instruction into school curriculum Reading strategy instruction is making its way into regular classrooms The integration of reading strategy instruction with cooperative learning has changed the traditional pattern of reading as an individual activity Group efforts, peer cooperation, and teacher-student interaction become an important part of the new reading strategy instruction approach As English is taught and learned in a non – native environment, reading is an important means to gain knowledge Reading is an essential skill for English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) With strengthened reading skills, ESL/ EFL readers will make greater progress and attain greater development in all academic areas This is also true to the students at Le Quy Don High School since reading skills provide them with a variety of language expressions, structures and a wide range of information, knowledge It is not incidentally when the reading lesson in the new text book is introduced in the initial period of each unit Furthermore reading is tested in the two most important English examinations in Vietnam which are the school final examination and the university entrance examination for students enrolling in D diviation Both are administered at the end of grade 12, and neither has a Listening and Speaking component
When dealing with reading lessons, students, especially grade 10 students often experience the lack of reading strategies which are essential for them to overcome the challenges in the classroom Many researchers indicate that EFL students find it difficult to comprehend the texts and achieve their goal of reading success (Rumelhart, 1977; Stanovic,
1980) Recent researchers have also found that becoming more aware of what readers do when they read, becoming conscious of their own reading processes, it is a power tool for improving reading efficiency (Carrell 1989) To become better readers, students need to become aware of how they are reading and what they could do to improve comprehension
They need to develop their level of metacognitive awareness (Aebersold & Field 1997)
Therefore, teacher should consider teaching students effective reading strategies Teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategies will, with no doubt, influence their constructions of the teaching and learning environment, even though learners are the focus of the teaching activities Learner-centered does not mean that learners are "loners" They are in the social community of learners and teachers who help and foster each other in the co-constructions of the learning and teaching environment
This research into training reading strategies in English reading lessons for grade 10 students provides a particular view of how students are trained reading strategies to do reading comprehension tasks and the teachers and students’ perception of reading strategy training It is also hoped that this study will reveal issues concerning training reading strategies and provide the teachers and students with an in – depth understanding about reading strategies.
Aims of the study
The major purposes of this study are:
* To investigate what reading strategies students are trained in the reading lessons
* To examine teachers’ and students’ perception of reading strategy training
In order to achieve the above aims of the study, the following major research questions addressed:
- What reading strategies are the students trained in the reading lessons ?
- What are the teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategies training?
Scope of the study
The study investigates the teaching and learning reading strategies of teachers and grade
10 students at Le Quy Don High School The study of learning strategies in other English skills would be beyond the scope.
Significance of the study
The study is the first one to be carried out in the field of reading strategies at Le Quy Don High School, Hanoi It highlights the important factor of training reading strategies to students, especially grade 10 students More importantly, it provides not only the classification scheme for these reading strategies, but also a thorough analysis of the frequency in the reading strategies utilized by teachers and students and their perceptions of reading strategies training
5 Research methods used in the study
This study is conducted as a descriptive study To achieve the aims mentioned above it utilizes both qualitative and quantitative approaches employing questionnaire, class observation and interview to collect information on reading strategies training in English reading skill lessons for grade 10 students
Three parts will be presented in the thesis:
Part A Introduction: includes a rationale of the study, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study as well as organization of the thesis
Part B Development: consists of three chapters: literature review, methodology and finding and discussion
Part C Conclusion: summarizes the finding, points out the limitations and suggests further study.
Organization of the thesis
Three parts will be presented in the thesis:
Part A Introduction: includes a rationale of the study, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study as well as organization of the thesis
Part B Development: consists of three chapters: literature review, methodology and finding and discussion
Part C Conclusion: summarizes the finding, points out the limitations and suggests further study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The theory of reading
Reading is an essential skill for English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) students to master Anderson (1999) confirms that “the more exposure student has to language through reading, the greater the possibilities that overall language proficiency will increase”
In a general term Anderson (1999:1) defines reading as “an active, fluent process which involves the reader and the reading material in building meaning” Aebersold & Field (1997:15) share the same view on reading as reading is what happens a text is looked at and meaning is assigned to the written symbols in that text The text and the reader are the two physical entities necessary for reading process to begin It is, however, the interaction between the text and the reader that constitutes the actual meaning Rumelhart (1977) also considers reading involving the reader, the text and the interaction between the reader and the text
However, there are still different points of views on what reading is So far, these views are often grouped under three models which have been proposed to describe this process
Understanding the process of reading has been the focus of much research and attempts to describe the interaction between reader and text have been numerous Models of reading process can be divided into three categories: the bottom-up models, the top-down models, and the interactive models
Bottom-up models depend primarily on the information presented by the text Anderson, (1999:2) refers bottom-up model as “lower level” reading processes These lower level processes indicated in Silberstein (1993:7) occur when linguistic input from the text is mapped against the reader’s previous knowledge According to Nunan (1991), bottom-up models as
“the process of meaning interpretation” in which “the language is translated from one form of symbolic representation to another” Bottom-up reading requires language processing at all levels: word, sentences, and discourse However, due to the basic of bottom-up processing – the linguistic knowledge of the reader, it is likely that the reader play a relatively passive role
Bottom-up processing can be considered as a corrective to ‘tunnel vision’ seeing things only from our own limited point of view (Nuttall, 2000:17).The weak point of bottom-up models is that the readers are not aware of how the process operates because of its constructing the text from those small units becomes so automatic (Eskey ,1988 and Stanovich 1990, cited in Aebersold & Field 1997:18) A bottom-up theory suggests the idea that readers build meaning as they draw on the individual letters and works as they read According to Eskey (1986), a reader proceeds by moving his/her eyes from left to right across the page, firstly to take in letters, secondly to combine these to form words and then to combine to form the phrase, clauses, and sentences of the text.( cited in Anderson, 1999: 39)
The limitation of these models is also pointed out by Samuel and Kamil (1988:31) as follows: “Because of the lack of feedback loops in the early bottom-up models, it was difficult to account for sentence-context effects and the role of prior knowledge of the text topic as facilitating variables in word recognition and comprehension”
In contrast to bottom-up models, information processing in top-down models occurs when prior knowledge is used to make predictions about the data the readers will find in a text (Silberstein, 1993:7) This kind of processing is used when assumptions are interpreted and interferences are drawn by the reader (Nuttall, 2000:16) Top-down models are diametrically opposed to these lower-level processes and “all have in common a viewing of the fluent reader as being actively engaged in hypothesis testing as he proceeds though text” (Stanovich, 1980:
34) In top-down models “higher processes … direct the flow of information through lower- level processes” (Anderson, 1999:3)
Top-down models have a lot of strong points in comparison to bottom-up models, however, these models still have certain weak points as a reader would simply spend too much time processing all visual cues (Anderson,1999:2) Readers have to fit the text into knowledge they have already processed, then check back when new or unexpected information appears
“tend to emphasize such higher-level skills as the prediction of meaning by means of context clues or certain kinds of background knowledge at the expense of such lower skills as the rapid and accurate identification of lexical and grammatical form That is, in making the perfectly valid point that fluent reading is primarily a cognitive process, they tend to deemphasize the perceptual and decoding dimension of that process”
(Eskey, 1988: 93) Due to the limitations of both bottom-up and top-down models, the models that are currently accepted as the most comprehensive description of the reading process are interactive models
Grabe (1991: 378, cited in Aebersold & Field 1997:18) focuses on two conceptions of interactive approaches The former relates to the interaction that occurs between the reader and the text The latter relates to the interaction between bottom-up and top-down processes They are occurring, either alternatively or at the same time, which depend on the type of text, the reader’s background knowledge, language proficiency level
Interactive models combine elements of both bottom-up and top-down models
Murtagh (1989: 102, cited in Anderson, 1999:3) stresses that the best second language readers are those who can “efficiently integrate” both bottom-up and top-down processes
In practice, in order to check whether that is really what the writer says, a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach(Nuttan, 1996: 17) Successful reading requires skill not only in top-down but also in bottom-up processing (Silberstein,
1993: 8) With the same opinion, when Anderson (1993: 3) observed his students in the reading class and reflected on these three models “I can see that an interactive model is the best description of what happens when we read”
Reading strategies
Learning strategies are defined as “intentional behavior and thoughts that learners make use of during learning in order to better help them understand, learn or remember new information” (Richards & Platt, 1992: 209) With the same opinion Oxford (1990: 8) considers learning strategies as specific actions which the learners take to make learning easier, factor, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, more transferable to new situations As Weinstein and Mayer (1986) state “leaning strategies have learning facilitation as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner” (cited in O’ Malley and Chamot’s 1990: 43)
Learning strategies are learning processes which the learner selects consciously The element of choice is important here because this is what gives a strategy its special character These are also moves which the learner is at least partially aware of, even if full attention is not being given to them (Cohen, 1998: 4) Language learning strategies are the conscious thoughts and behaviors that learners use with the explicit goal of improving their knowledge and understanding of a target language (Cohen, 1998: 68) It can be seen that these definitions are emphasized the learners’ intention and awareness of using language strategies
The studies of learning strategies by such well-known researchers as Cohen (1990), Cohen (1998), O’ Malley and Chamot’s (1990), McDonough (1995) and Karlin& Karlin
(1987), Oxford (1990) and (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992) have figured out a comprehensive overview of learning strategies
All these definitions above show that the weight in foreign language teaching and learning is changing from teacher centered to learner centered instruction
In fact, there is hardly any definition that can work in all contexts Because of the comprehensive features of the definitions by Oxford (1990) and O’Malley & Chamot (1990), the present research utilized these as the key directions in its investigation
Language learning strategies have been classified by many scholars such as Rubin
(1981), Wenden (1985), Oxford (1990) and O’Malley and Chamot (1990)
Rubin (1981 cited in O’Malley and Chamot 1990: 5) ) identified two groups of learning strategies The first one consisting of strategies that directly affect learning: clarification/verification, monitoring, memorization, guessing/inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning and practice The second one including strategies that contribute indirectly to learning: creating opportunities for practice and production tricks Wenden’s (1985) research examined the strategies that adult foreign language learners use in order to direct their own learning According to her there are three general categories of self-directing strategies: (1) knowing about language (relating to what language and language learning involves, (2) planning (relating to what and how of language learning) and (3) self-evaluation (relating to progress in learning and the learner’s response to the learning experience) Wenden’s framework devised as a basis for learner training The works of Wenden (1985), Oxford
(1990), O’Malley & Chamot (1990) have made an important contribution to our knowledge of learning strategies The more comprehensive and widely accepted framework is the classification systems of Oxford (1990) and O’Malley & Chamot (1990)
Oxford (1990: 9) divided language learning strategies into direct and indirect The strategies used directly in dealing with a new language are called direct strategies Direct strategies consist of memory, cognitive, and compensation Metacognitive, affective, and social strategies belong to indirect strategies which are used for general management of learning
However, learning strategies may be grouped in other ways According to O’Malley &
Chamot (1990: 119) learning strategies are typically divided into three categories, which are cognitive, metacognitive and social effective (See appendix 1)
1.2.1.3 The importance of strategies in the learning process
Language learning strategies are believed to play a vital role in learning a second language, according to Bialystok (1979), learners may be assisted by the language learning strategies in mastering the forms and functions required for reception and production in the second language and thus affect achievement (cited in Yang, 2007: 35) Weinstein and Mayer (1986: 315) say that the goal of strategy use is “affect the learner’s motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge” (cited in O’Malley, Chamot 1990: 43)
Oxford, who has authored or edited a number of books on learning strategies, motivation, and language education, also gives her own evaluation on learning strategies based on two reasons Firstly, for language learning strategies are especially important because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence Secondly, having developed appropriate learning strategies learners have greater self- confidence and learn more effectively (Oxford, 1990: 1) In her opinion, language learning strategies:
- contribute to the main goal, communicative competence
- allow learners to become more self-directed
- expand the role of teachers
- are specific actions taken by the learners
- involve many actions taken by the learner, not just the cognitive
- support learning both directly and indirectly
- are influence by a variety of factors (Oxford ,1990: 9)
1.2.2 Reading strategies/ Strategies in teaching second language reading 1.2.2.1 Definition
Reading strategies are the comprehension processes used by readers to make sense of what they read In other words, readers utilize reading strategies to accomplish the reading skills such as understanding main ideas, making inferences, predicting outcomes and guessing vocabulary from the context (Anderson, 1999:1) Anderson introduces six strategies when teaching an ESL/EFL reading class: 1 Activate prior knowledge 2 Cultivate vocabulary 3
Teach for comprehension 4 Increase reading rate 5 Verify reading strategies 6 Evaluate progress (Anderson, 1999:4)
Many researchers such as Anderson (1999), Brantmeier (2002) and Brown (2001) define the similarities in categories reading strategies They emphasize the role of prior knowledge in reading and introduced skimming, scanning and guessing as effective strategies in reading
According to Barnett (1988), reading strategies are the comprehension processes,
“This process may involve skimming, scanning, predicting, activating general knowledge, making inferences, following references, and separating main ideas from supporting ideas” (cited in Brantmeier 2002:1)
Furthermore, for most second language learners who are already literate in a previous language, reading strategies can consist of : 1 identifying the purpose in reading; 2 using graphemic rules and patterns to aid in bottom-up decoding; 3 using efficient silent reading techniques for relatively rapid comprehension; 4 skimming the text for the main ideas; 5 scanning the text for specific information; 6 using semantic mapping or clustering; 7 guessing when you aren’t certain; 8 analyzing vocabulary; 9 distinguishing between literal and implied meaning; 10 capitalizing on discourse makers to process relationships (Brown
2001: 306-310) In Brown’s opinion, each of the above ten strategies can be practically applied to classroom techniques
Finally, these strategies are considered to be effective as they help learners enhance the reading ability
1.2.2.2 Teaching reading strategies in the classroom
Strategies can be taught and because of their specificity, there are at least four different approaches that can be taken to teaching strategies in the language classroom: strategies can be taught through interactive techniques, using compensatory techniques, administering a strategy inventory and making use of impromptu teacher-initiated advice.(Brown 2001: 217-
219) Winograd and Hare (1988, cited in Anderson 1999: 70) define strategies as deliberate action that is selected and controlled by learners to achieve desired goal or objectives
Researchers have suggested that teaching students how to use strategies is a prime consideration in the reading classroom While teaching L2 readers how to use a given strategy, teachers must also teach their students how to determine if they are successful in their use of that strategy Students need guided practice if strategy training is to be successful Such training can emphasize the “when” and “why” of strategy use at least as much as the “what”
According to Day and Bamford (1998: 124-141, cited in Nguyen, T T N., 2007: 8-9) there are at least four distinctive approaches to the teaching of foreign or second language reading: grammar-translation, comprehension questions, skills and strategies and extensive reading
Grammar-translation: Under this approach, students may be taught to read texts written in the foreign language by translating them into the native language As a result, meaning is taken at the sentence level with less attention paid to the meaning of the text as a whole and meaning is constructed via the native language, not directly from the foreign language
Comprehension questions and language work: This approach focuses on teaching a textbook containing short passages that demonstrate the use of foreign language words or
Teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training
Skills and strategies: to follow sills and strategies approach, the teacher has to prepare for students to read a one or two- page passage from a textbook by providing or activating any background knowledge needed for comprehension This preparation may include pre-teaching vocabulary that appears in the reading passage Students then read the passage silently while keeping in mind two or three while reading questions
Extensive reading: The goal of this is for students to become willing and able readers in a second or foreign language Students individually read books and other materials at their own speed mainly for home work
1.3 Teachers and students’ perception of reading strategies
Perception refers to the recognition and understanding of events, objects, and stimuli through the use of senses (sight, hearing, touch, etc.) (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992: 268)
Likewise, in the Dictionary of Psychology, perception is defined as “the process of knowing objects and objective events by means of the senses” (Chaplin, 1981:376) Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli In this study, perception refers to teachers and students’ perception towards reading strategies As Grabe (1991: 377, cited in Alyousel 2005:
143) describes Goodman’s perception of reading which is seen as an active process of comprehending [where] students need to be taught strategies to read more efficiently (e g., guess from context, define expectations, make inferences about the text, skim ahead to fill in the context, etc.)
1.3.2 Teachers’ and students’ perception in language learning strategies
Teachers' perceptions of what is meant by L2 learning, and what affects learning will influence everything they do both within and beyond classroom situations In order to make informed decisions in their day-to-day teaching, teachers must be consciously aware of what their beliefs about learning and teaching are They must heighten their "perspective- consciousness" to make them more aware of the other individuals' or groups' perspectives, which might be justifiably different from their own They must make their own personal sense of their implicit and explicit ideas/theories and practices Finally, they must increase their tolerance and understanding of diverse opinions and viewpoints in order to make the language classroom a more welcoming environment encompassing dignity and respect for both students and teachers alike (Williams & Burden, 1997, cited in Yu G (2004)
In a sociocultural view of language learning, learners are seen as "active constructors" of their own learning environment (Mitchell & Myles, 1998, p.162, cited in Yu, 2004 ) In this sense, learners are trustworthy, and responsible for their own learning environment Actually, teachers are to some extent also "learners." They are also active constructors of their own teaching environment Teachers' perceptions of language learning will, with no doubt, influence their constructions of the teaching environment, even though learners are the focus of the teaching activities The inter-relationships among teachers' perception, practice, and progress are illustrated in figure 1
Teachers' perceptions "construct" their practices which in turn lead to whatever progress both the learners and the teachers achieve Practice and progress in language learning and teaching will re-construct teachers' perceptions of L2 development The progress to be achieved is, to certain extent, determined by teachers' perceptions and practices, which however does not mean learners do not have right to construct their own learning environment In fact, this is one of the reasons why there are very often silent or sometimes overt "style wars" between teachers and some learners while constructing their own teaching and learning environments respectively The "style wars" reflect the urgent needs of teachers'
"appropriate" perceptions of L2 development illustrated in figure 1
According to Brog (2003), teachers have cognitions about all aspects of their work
Teachers’ experiences as learners can inform cognitions about teaching and learning
Extensive experience of classrooms has an important influence on schooling, which defines early cognitions and shapes teachers perception of initial training Figure 2 represents a schematic conceptualization of teaching within which teacher cognition plays a pivotal role, teacher cognition and practices are mutually informing, with contextual factors playing an important role in determining the extent to which teachers are able to implement instruction congruent/ appropriate with their cognition
Figure 2: Teacher cognition, schooling, professional education, and classroom practice
1.4 Review of reading strategies research
A considerable number of studies examine the comprehension strategies that second language readers utilize to process a text It is evident that in these studies, the participants are quite diverse, some from elementary, secondary, and university levels, some from remedial reading classes, some enrolled in courses taught at non-university language centres, and others teacher-colleagues Obviously, the participants are of many different ages and backgrounds
Furthermore, the investigators use a variety of research methods and tasks to examine strategies type and frequency of strategy use including think-aloud reports, interviews, questionnaires, observations and written recalls (Brantmeier 2002:1)
In an early qualitative second language reading study, Hosenfield (1977) examines successful and unsuccessful readers to find out what types of cognitive operations they used to process written texts Participants were ninth grade students who were learning French Before conducting the study, she classified readers based on a test of L2 reading She selected twenty native English speaking students who scored high on the MLA Cooperative Test of Reading Proficiency, a standard test of native language reading, and twenty unsuccessful students with low scores on the same test In an oral interview participants were asked to read a text and think-aloud reports, that is, she directed the students to say in their first language whatever came to their mind while processing each sentence in the text Hosenfield (1977) concluded that the successful readers kept the meaning of the passage in mind while reading; skipped words unimportant to the meaning of the sentence; read in “broad phrases”; use context to determine word meaning; and had a positive self-concept as a reader By contrast unsuccessful readers: forgot the meaning of sentences as soon as they decoded them; read in short phrases; seldom skipped words as unimportant, viewing words as ‘equal’ in terms of their contribution to total meaning; and had a negative self concept as a reader While these results clearly described the strategies students used to process the text, they did not link the strategy use to comprehension of specific paragraphs or to the text as a whole The data only focused on sentence level comprehension so the results of the study did not reveal overall comprehension of the entire text ((Hosenfield 1997: 233-234 cited in Brantmeier 2002: 2- 5)
Barnett (1988) investigated the relationships among reading strategies and perceived strategy use on reading comprehension in a two-part study, the first looking at strategy use, and the second looking at the effect of a teaching intervention designed to help students develop more effective reading strategies before, during, and after reading The subjects were
272 college-level students in fourth-semester French classes Fifteen of the course sections were taught with a standard four skills approach, and four of the classes were taught with a strategy-training orientation that focused on skimming, scanning, guessing, and predicting
She used a “text-level” and “word-level” coding scheme By text level she referred to the processes used to read the passage as a whole, such as utilizing background knowledge, predicting, reading the title, skimming and scanning When students used word-level strategies they used context to guess word meanings, identified grammatical categories of words used reference word, and identified word families Barnett (1988) utilized two different groups of students: one group was taught reading strategies and the other was not The students answered questions on background knowledge before reading the passages She asked both groups to read unfamiliar passage in French, and all students wrote a recall in English They completed a multiple choice comprehension questionnaire where they chose the best continuing sentence According to Barnett (1988), the strategy-use questionnaire consisted of many effective and less effective text-level and word-level strategies
- reader pays most attention to what the reading passage means
- reader pays most attention to what the form or grammatical function of the words are
- reader reads the whole passage once and rereads it
- reader finds the topic interesting
- reader thinks about what s/he knows about the topic of the passage
- reader often hypothesizes about what might come next
- reader reads the title first and imagines the passage might about
- reader guesses what some words mean
- reader pays most attention to what individual words mean
- reader pays most attention to what the structure of the passage is
- reader recalls only the difficult sections
- reader reads only because it has been assigned
- reader never hypothesizes about what might come next
- reader reads each paragraph by itself
- reader reads the title but does not think much about it
- reader thinks that it is a mistake to skip any words
Results revealed higher scores as both effective strategy use and perceived effective strategy use increased Barnett concluded that students who were taught strategy use did show a greater ability to read through context than did their more traditionally taught peers, and that
METHODOLOGY
Research methodology
This study seeks to answer the following research questions:
1 What reading strategies are the students trained in the reading lessons ?
2 What are the teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training?
2.1.2 Informants 2.1.2.1 The teachers and grade 10 students at Le Quy Don High School
The study was carried out to investigate ten teachers of English at Le Quy Don High school One of them has been teaching English for over 20 years Eight of them have been teaching English for more than 10 years Only one of them has been teaching English for 4 years Three of them graduated from Russian Department and they got English as the 2 nd Degree Others graduated from English Department Two of them have just got an MA degree
Only one of them never attended any workshops or postgraduate studies on teaching methodology Nine others attended two workshops on teaching reading and writing by British Council and the Department of Education and Training, Hanoi The teachers are numbered from 1 to 10 based on their age Four out of ten teachers are now teaching grade 10 students (teachers 4, 5, 8, 9).( See appendix 8 for background information about the teachers)
The study is also carried out with the participation of eighty 10 grade students, aged
16, both male and female They were randomly selected by choosing every ten students in each class, I hope to receive a participation of 5 students Thus from 16 classes my total students will be 80 All students were taught English 9, and all are using English 10 to learn English
2.1.2.2 The syllabus and textbook design
From 2006, in Vietnam the syllabus is designed on the topic and the communicative approach The syllabus focuses on learner-centre approach, in the learning process learners are actively participated in the process of forming and developing communicative skills The syllabus considers the textbooks as fundamental means of teaching and learning process
The textbook English 10 designed following up English 9 consists of 16 units Each unit is a topic (See appendix 2 for tasks designed following up the reading texts) The summary of the textbook content is as follows:
Unit1: A day in the Life of Unit 9: Undersea World
Unit 2: School Talks Unit 10: Conversation
Unit 3: People’s background Unit 11: National Parks
Unit 4: Special Education Unit 12: Music
Unit 5: Technology and You Unit 13: Films and Cinema
Unit 6: An Excursion Unit 14: The world Cup
Unit 7: The Mass Media Unit 15: Cities
Unit 8: Community Unit 16: Historical Places
Reading in three units (Unit 14, 15, 16) in English 10 will be used in this study
2.1.2.3 Text types in reading lessons in English 10 and methods used
READING is chosen to begin a unit in English 10 to provide linguistic input , the linguistic content, through reading students can be familiar with the topic, the reading skills such as skimming, scanning, reading for specific, main ideas etc These will help students in their later periods: speaking, listening and writing In the textbook, a reading is a passage consisting of more than 200 (200- 230) words
In English 10, two popular approaches: the learner- centre and the communicative are followed, because these approaches view the learners as the centre of the teaching and learning process and aim to enhance the learners’ creativity and activeness
The reading lesson which is put in the initial period of each unit is considered the departure of each unit of which the topic is expressed by the reading content In English 10 the reading lessons are designed on three stages: the pre stage (BEFORE YOU READ), the while stage (WHILE YOU READ) and the post stage (AFTER YOU READ)
Instruments
The present study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods including questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation First, the questionnaires were administered to identify the strategies the teachers are training in the classroom and teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training Then, classroom observations were followed by the interviews which were individually conducted to determine the particular reading strategies that teachers used to train in reading lessons and their perceptions Most of the interviews lasted 20 – 25 minutes The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and then were translated into English for analysis
The questionnaire allowed gathering information not only about teachers’ perception and understanding of reading strategies, the purpose for teaching them but also students’ perception of reading strategy training The questionnaire was adopted by Salli (2002, cited in Cabaroglu & Yurdaisik, 2008: 151-152) The questionnaire for teachers consists of two parts
The first part of the questionnaire is constructed with the purpose of investigating whether the teachers are aware of reading strategies and reasons why they feel teaching reading strategies is necessary The next section which consists of 20 questions aims to investigate whether the teachers teach reading strategies to the students and to identify their preferred reading strategies For the research purposes, ten English teachers of Le Quy Don were selected as the research subjects The teachers vary in terms of age and teaching experience The questionnaire for students is divided into two parts The first part requires the subjects to give information about their ages, genders and their self-evaluated English proficiency levels The second part contained 20 questions mainly about the subjects’ perception of reading strategies training
As only four teachers (teachers number 4, 5, 8, and 9) of the ten subjects above are now teaching grade 10 students, three observations of reading lessons (Unit 14, 15, and 16) were conducted for each of the four teachers Data were collected via classroom observation to get an actual fact on what reading strategies students are trained in the reading lessons (see Appendix 6 for the observation scheme) During the observations, the researcher was an observer and did not take part in classroom activities To collect the data, field notes were used The researcher shared the observation notes and interpretations with the teacher to check if the researcher’s interpretations were accurate after each observation
The semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to obtain detailed information about the teachers’ teaching reading in the classroom, how they dealt with them, the properties of an ideal reading instruction and how teachers decided which strategies to teach The interview questions (Appendix 5) were prepared by taking into consideration a typical reading lesson In other words, questions were designed in order to gather data on what reading strategies teachers taught, how they dealt with the problems, and whether they employed particular reading strategies to facilitate students’ comprehension of texts before, during, or after reading Additionally, such follow-up questions as how teachers did what they did and why they did such activities were also asked.
Procedure
Data collection procedures commenced in early April and ended in mid June Data were collected and analyzed in the following steps: Questionnaires were developed and given to two teachers and ten students for trial purposes (the two teachers were from other high school and ten students were their students) Then the questionnaires were administered to Le Quy Don teachers and students to find out their reading strategies training All of this work was completed in late April Data on getting actual facts via classroom observations were collected from early April to mid May The analysis of observation data based on the observation scheme Ten English teachers were interviewed at Le Quy Don high school The interview questions require qualitative analysis Four teachers teaching grade 10 were mainly interviewed of the observed data This work was finished at early June Finally, it was the comparison between the results of teachers’ and students’ questionnaire, the results of the questionnaire, real class observation and interview with the teachers’ and students’ perception of reading strategies training.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Reading strategies trained in the reading lessons
The questionnaire that was administered to 10 teachers included 20 questions Reading strategies were employed in the three stages of a reading lesson: pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading
Item1 Asking students to read the titles, look at the illustration/ pictures to predict what the text is about
Item 2 Having the students quickly look over the text before reading
Item 3 Asking students warm-up questions related to the text before reading
Item 4 Teaching vocabulary before students read the text
Item 5 Asking students to relate the text/ topic to their experience
The questionnaire results reveal that, teachers tended to use pre-reading strategies such as “making use of pictures, titles and warm-up questions” Chart 1 presents the results for the items that are considered as pre-reading strategies The general impression is that the
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways teachers do most of pre-reading activities before they have students read the text It is clearly seen that 80% of the teachers usually or always “asked students to read the titles, look at the illustrations/ pictures to predict what the text is about” and “ask students warming up questions” related to the text As for “teaching vocabulary before students read the text”, 60% of the teachers chose “always” and “usually” options In terms of “having students quickly look over the text before reading”, the percentage for “always” and “usually” responses was 50% “Relating topic to experience” is less popular (frequently utilized by only 40%) It can be assumed that pre-reading strategies was trained by the teachers but varied in terms of frequency
Item 6 Asking students to note down key words while reading
Item 7 Setting time limit for reading in class
Item 8 Telling students to read carefully and slowly
Item 9 Allowing students to use dictionary
Item 10 Asking students to guess /predict the meaning of unknown words
Item 11 Telling students to skip the unknown words
Item 12 Stressing the importance of reading every word
Item 13 Asking students to underline key words and/ or phrases
Item 14 Telling students to make guesses about up-coming information in the text
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
Item 15 Teaching students to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully
Considering these results, while-reading strategies are applied in the reading instructions with some strategies being more popular than others The results show that the most popular reading strategies are “asking students to underline key words and/ or phrases”
(employed usually or always by 100% of respondents), “asking students to guess/ predict the meaning of unknown words” (usually or always used by 80% of respondents) As for “setting time limit for reading in class” 70% of the teachers “always” and “usually” taught students It shows that the teachers placed emphasis on forcing the students to adjust their reading speed when they taught reading to students The reading strategy which was frequently utilized by only about 50% of respondents is “telling students to skip the unknown words” These strategies have been found to be effective and teachers should utilize to teach the students to use them in their reading, in reading instructions
Less popular strategies are “taking notes”, “making guesses about up-coming information” which are frequently utilized by only 40% of respondents Item 9, related to
“dictionary use” was being frequently used by only 20% of the teachers “Stressing the importance of reading every word” is the least popular strategy (10% of the population chose
“usually” and sometimes) Hence, it can be said that teachers neglect teaching some of the important while-reading strategies that can actually help the students become better learners or readers
Item 16 Asking comprehension questions about the text
Item 17 Asking students to discuss the text after reading
Item 18 Asking students to summarize the text (written or oral)
Item 19 Assigning students tasks to do using the information in the text
Item 20 Asking students to interpret the text
This part of the questionnaire was designed to understand what reading strategies the teachers were using during the post-reading phase From the result it can be seen that the most popular post-reading strategy is “asking students to summarize the text” (90% of respondents chose this option) “Asking students to answer comprehension questions” and “asking students to discuss after reading” employed usually or always by 80% of the teachers However, less popular strategy is “assigning students tasks to do using the information in the text” (30% of participants chose “always” and “usually” options) The last strategy is considered the least popular one only 10% of the teachers “asking students to interpret the text” This shows that most teachers did not take the effort to make students aware of other reading strategies that can be utilized to help students improve their reading skills
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
The first part of the questionnaire for students was designed to gather the information about their age, gender and students’ self-evaluated English proficiency The data show that all the students aged 16; 50 students are female (62.5%), 30 students are male (37.5%) The percentage of the students rated themselves good and fairly good at English was 60% and 32 students (accounting for 40%) considered themselves at average level of English None of them rated under average level The second part related to what students were trained to do while dealing with a reading text through three stages: pre-reading, while-reading and post- reading
Item1 I am asked to read the titles, look at the illustration/ pictures to predict what the text is about/ to get the main ideas of the text
Item2 I am asked to look over the text before reading quickly
Item3 I am asked warm-up questions related to the text before reading
Item4 I am taught vocabulary before reading the text
Item5 I am asked to relate the text/ topic to my experience
The first strategy is “using the title” to anticipate the text content, “relating pictures illustrations to the text content” allows the students to have an idea about what the text is about Despite the fact that students stated that they perceived the importance of this strategy,
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways only 65% of the respondents chose options “always” and “usually” Another strategy which helps students to understand what the text is about is “quickly looking over the text before reading”, 60% of the participants perceived that they were trained In term of “answering warming-up questions related to the text before reading” the percentage for “always” and
“usually” responses is 23.75% for the students whereas 80% of the teachers did “ask students warming-up questions” “Relating the topic to students’ experience” was claimed to be used by the participants but, in low percentage (37.5%) However, “being taught vocabulary” was perceived by the highest percentage 68.75% of the students choosing “always” and “usually”
The reason for the participants’ using some of these strategies not very effectively might be that they do not want to spend their time on them but they directly start to read the text instead
It is essential that the students relate the topic to their experience and form some expectations about the topic in order for full comprehension to take place (Anderson, 1991, p 462)
Item 6 I am asked to note down key words while reading
Item 7 I am set time limit for reading in class Item 8 I am told to read carefully and slowly
Item 9 I am allowed to use dictionary
Item 10 I am asked to guess /predict the meaning of unknown words
NeverRarelySometimesUsuallyAlways
Item 11 I am told to skip the unknown words
Item12 I am asked to stress the importance of reading every word
Item 13 I am asked to underline key words and/ or phrases
Item 14 I am told to make guesses about up-coming information in the text
Item15 I am taught to read the first and last paragraphs more carefully
Chart 5 shows the data on the use of reading strategies during while-reading phase
The responses to question 6 related to taking note while reading indicate that only 30% of the subjects chose “always” and “usually” 70% of the students “always” and “usually” were set time limit for reading That is the reason for reading slowly and carefully 35% of the students chose “always” and “usually” However, for “allowing students to use dictionary while reading”, 20% of the teachers chose “usually” option, 52% of students admitted of using dictionary while reading It indicates that the teachers in this study perceived they had a little time to use dictionary during 45 minute reading lesson As the percentage of the students
“using dictionary” is 52%, only half of them “tried to guess or predict the meaning of unknown words” In responses given to “skipping the unknown words” 37.5% of the participants “always” and “usually” skipped unknown words while reading As for the 13 question, 100% of the teachers “asked students to underline key words and, or phrases”, whereas the responses in chart 5 shows that only 28.75% of the students used this strategy at
“always” and “usually” level That the teachers neglected teaching some of the important while- reading strategies can be seen clearly in the responses given to the last two strategies in questionnaires for teachers, as a result, for question 13 the students stated that they “always”
(3.75%) and “usually” (12.5%) “made guesses about up-coming information in the text”, 21.25% of the subjects “always” and “usually” “read the first and last paragraphs more carefully”
Item16 I am asked comprehension questions about the text
Item 17 I am asked to discuss the text after reading
Item 18 I am asked to summarize the text (written or oral)
Item 19 I was assigned tasks to do using the information in the text
Item 20 I am asked to interpret the text into Vietnamese
From the result it can be seen that the two most popular strategies are “answering the teacher’s comprehension questions about the text” and “summarizing the text after reading”, probably since the text-book provides comprehension questions for students to work on, 53.75% of respondents chose these options Less popular strategies are “interpreting the text” and “discussing the text”, (frequently used by 37.5% and 11.25% of the students respectively)
The teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training
3.2.1 A comparison between the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training through questionnaire
The results from teachers’ and students’ questionnaire do not match in certain items, especially in items 3, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, and 18 In item 3, 80% of the teachers “asked warm-up questions”, whereas 23.75% of the students responded There should be consideration on this matter whether the teachers do not reflect honestly their technique in the questionnaire or the students cannot be aware of the “warm-up questions” delivered by the teachers Further investigation into this situation is needed carrying out in the future to clarify the reason under the phenomenon 20% of the teachers “allowed students to use dictionary”, however, 52% of the students used dictionary while reading, that is the reason of similar percentage (52.5%) of student “stressing the importance of reading every word” It is also easy to understand while the teachers did not focus on “interpreting the text” (10% of the teachers), nearly half of the students (48, 75%) practiced doing this 80% of the teachers asked students to “guess/ predict the unknown words”, only 52.25% of the students followed this strategy Another surprising result is that 100% of the teachers asked students to “underline the key words, phrases”, in contrast, only 28.75 students did this In post-reading stage, 90% of the teachers asked students to “summarize the text”, more than half of them completed this “Discussing the text” mentioned by 80% of the teachers, 31.25% of the students participated in the discussion From the results of the questionnaire, the teachers instructed tips to fulfill tasks, the students did the tasks, focused on their all need ignore teachers’ instruction, mostly because students were not actually aware of the effectiveness of the reading strategies It is the fact as Le states during the lesson the students have their own business to attend to, when a particular student is responding to the teacher, some/ others do not listen (Le, V.C., 2000: 76)
3.2.2 The teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training through questionnaire, classroom observation and interview
The results from questionnaire, teachers’ actual classes (tables 1, 2, 3) and interview revealed that the four teachers made less use of the post-reading strategies: this may be because they are less familiar or place less value on post-reading strategies One teacher (teacher 8) gave the reason of not having enough time All the four teachers observed taught all listed pre-reading strategies except for having students quickly look over the text before reading- less popular strategy (only in unit 15) When asked about this, the teachers pointed out that it depended on the requirement of the individual reading text Possible reasons for high usage of pre-reading strategies in both results from questionnaire and actual classes might be that pre-reading strategies are emphasized in the text book
In their actual classes the two specific strategies are answering the questions and summarizing Only two teachers (teachers 8, 9) used translation strategy, they used this strategy to get their students to understand the text in full Two other teachers (teachers 4, 5) pointed out that it could slow down students’ reading speed and form their students’ bad habit of reading if they wanted to understand every word of the reading text That is also the reason all the four teachers did not stress the important of reading every word in while reading strategies
The responsibilities of teachers are to train students to determine their own goals and strategies, to use all these strategies according to their levels, interests, and needs If the students know what they are doing and their benefits, they are going to enhance their efficiency of reading comprehension to become independent which is the aim of the foreign language teachers The teachers perceived the importance of teaching certain strategies elicited through the questionnaire were as follows:
To help students understand the texts better (90% of respondents)
To improve students’ enjoyment of the text (80% of respondents)
To help students be aware of the language they are learning, (80% of respondents)
To prepare students for the tests (60% of respondents)
To save time while reading (50% of respondents)
To enhance autonomy (50% of respondents)
It is also emphasized in the reading research that creating independent readers, focusing on the text and making use of appropriate strategies should be long-term goal of strategy training
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ training reading strategies in the reading lessons and teachers’ and students’ perceptions of reading strategies training The data was collected from questionnaire, interviews and classroom observations
The study addressed two research questions:
1 What reading strategies are the students trained in the reading lessons?
2 What are the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training?
The major findings are summarized as follows:
The analysis of data from questionnaires, interview and classroom observation can lead to the conclusion that the teachers did teach reading strategies to the students to some extent but the degree of frequency of teaching reading strategies was quite limited The teachers tended to focus on small number reading strategies in class such as predicting the content of the text, warming-up, teaching vocabulary, relating students’ prior knowledge, underlining new words, phrases, guessing /predicting the meaning of unknown words, skipping unknown words, answering comprehension questions and summarizing Other effective reading strategies such as having a quick look over the text before reading, making guesses about up- coming information in the text, reading the first and last paragraphs more carefully, assigning students tasks to do using the information in the text, and interpreting the text are less frequently used Emphasis was given on understanding the lexical meaning of the text but not so much on understanding contextual meaning of the text Teachers also failed to encourage students’ interaction with the text when they failed to utilized the above-mentioned skills
Unfamiliar texts, lack of vocabulary, inappropriate level of the students or students’ low motivation and the big size of the class were common problems that the teachers reported regarding the difficulties students faced in a reading class
Teachers tended to use more pre-reading strategies than post-reading strategies Lack of time, students’ boredom, or limited number of activities included in the text books were given as reasons for little use of post-reading strategies by teachers Additionally, it was also found out that teachers relied on the strategies suggested by the text books
The finding revealed that the teachers did have the knowledge of reading strategies
Most teachers considered themselves as being ‘very’ familiar with the concept of reading strategies However, teachers and students’ perceptions of reading strategy training mismatched sometimes In term of answering warming-up questions related to the text before reading the percentage for “always” and “usually” responses is low for the students whereas almost all of the teachers do ask students warming-up questions, for allowing students to use dictionary while reading, one fifth of the teachers chose “usually” option, more than half of students admitted of using dictionary while reading The reasons for high usage of pre- reading strategies in both results from questionnaire and actual classes might be that pre- reading strategies are emphasized in the text book All the teachers asked students to underline key words and, or phrases, whereas the responses shows with a low percentage of the students use this strategy at “always” and “usually” level
The finding also reveals that teachers’ perceptions of reading strategy training are mostly subjective Teachers chose strategies and students had to follow In their actual classes the two specific strategies are answering the questions and summarizing Only two teachers used translation strategy, they used this strategy to get their students to understand the text in full Two other teachers pointed out that using this strategy could slow down students’ reading speed and form their students’ bad habit of reading if they wanted to understand every word of the reading text That is also the reason all the four teachers did not stress the important of reading every word in their reading lessons
2 Some pedagogical implications of the study
Based on the teachers’ views, it can be suggested that lack of time, big size of classes, students’ low motivation were issue raised by teachers during the interviews, classroom observations Most of the teachers stated that they taught the reading skill in a general course and because of that they did not have enough time If the reading instruction is taught as a separate course, it may be possible to focus on strategies and enough time can be allocated
It is the teachers’ responsibilities to train students to determine their goals and strategies and how to use all theses strategies according to their levels, interests, and needs
Teachers had better provide explicit instruction about both skills and strategies Teaching these kinds of reading strategies explicitly assists students to understand what they are doing and why it is important
Especially for the teachers who are not very familiar with the concept of reading strategies, more explanations, explicating instructions or reasons of using certain strategies should be given with the text books or in teachers’ books Teaching reading strategies should be given emphasis not only by the teachers but also by curriculum planners and text-book writers since it is very useful in helping the students become independent learners It is important to equip them with necessary strategies and skills so that they can be effective learners, they should be made aware of the effective reading strategies, encouraged to used reading strategies in reading class Furthermore, workshops and courses should be conducted
Through workshops, teachers might be explicitly informed difference strategies and how to train students on those strategies
While the study provides some implications for teachers and students at Le Quy Don High school, it is not free from limitations First of all, limitations were found in the size of the sample population which was relatively small, only 80 grade 10 students so the result may not be highly representative to students from Le Quy Don High Schools Secondly, the study was done in a limited time duration, so it cannot reflect sufficiently the teachers and students’ perception of reading strategies training which may only be revealed after an extensive period of observation