INTRODUCTION
Rationale for the study
Nowadays, English has become increasingly important as a means of global communication and a bridge to mankind‟s knowledge In the process of global integration, the teaching and learning English has become a great concern in Viet Nam Among the language skills, reading is at the core of language learning instruction It is reading that provides the foundation for success in language learning and academic learning
According to Carrell (1981, p.1), “reading is by far the most important of the four macro-skills, particularly in English as a second foreign language” Reading involves the integration of various bottom-up and top-down skills in order to reach the goal of comprehension However, teaching and learning reading skill at high schools is still far from satisfactory for various reasons One reason why students in general and students at a high school in Bac Ninh province, in particular, cannot improve their reading skill is that there is not sufficient material which is suitable to their demand and their language ability and their lack of reading strategies
Therefore, it is essential that the researcher develop reading materials and provide reading strategies to help 10 th – form students at a high school in Bac Ninh province enhance their reading comprehension.
Aims of the study
This study aims at improving the quality of learning English reading comprehension for 10 th – form students at a high school in Bac Ninh province based on learners‟ needs To achieve this aim, the study has to find answers to the following questions:
1 What is the students’opinion of the reading texts in the current used text book for grade 10 th students
2 Why did the students have difficulties in reading comprhension?
3 How can teachers use supplementary reading materials to help the students to improve their reading comprehension?
Scope of the study
To improve reading comprehension skills for 10 th – form students at a high school in Bac Ninh province, the teachers can make use of various techniques and a number of things should be done However, in this study, the author only intends to a brief overview of current situation of learning reading comprehension skills in the
10 th – form students of a high school in Bac Ninh province to develop reading material that can be applied in learning reading comprehension skill so as to help the students to become effective readers.
Significance of the study
This study was carried out to design extra reading materials in order to develop students‟ reading comprehension skills Its findings hopefully would help the 10 th -form students find out the suitable materials for improving their reading comprehension skills Regarding teachers, the study would raise their awareness concerning the topic and provide them with useful materials to better develop their learners‟ reading comprehension skills Finally, with regard to researchers, those who happen to share the same interest in the topic could certainly rely on this research to find reliable and useful information for their related studies in the future.
Methods of the study
To achieve the aims mentioned above, the author used action research to find out the students‟ opinion of the currently used textbook and the problems that students face when learning English with a view to finding the solutions to their problems based on the results of survey questionnaire for the students, teacher‟s observation sheets These will be discussed in detail in chapter 2, methodology.
Design of the Thesis
The study consists of five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction – includes the rationale, aims, scope, significance and methodology of the study
Chapter 2: Literature review – presents literature related to the study The focus of this chapter is definitions of reading, reading comprehension, the place of reading skill in teaching a foreign language, strategies for reading comprehension and problems in reading comprehension of English foreign language learners This part also mentions some criterion for developing comprehension materials
Chapter 3: Methodology - describes the participants, data collection procedures and data collection instrument
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion - offers some major findings, some suggestions for improving students‟ reading comprehension skills and a sample work for a reading lesson of the 10th-form students
Chapter 5: Conclusion - summarizes the main research points, points out the limitation of the study and makes suggestions for further studies
The focus of this chapter has been on introduction of the research It has clearly provided an overview of the study in terms of the statement of the problem and the rationale, the aims, the scope, the significance, the methodology of the study, and the design of the thesis.
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses different issues in the theories of reading in a foreign language Three major features will be presented here: the definitions reading, reading comprehension, reading in second language, and material development in language teaching
2.1 Definitions of reading, reading comprehension
Reading is often referred to as the most important of the four language skills for EFL learners, as it enables students to gain exposure to the target language and receive valuable linguistic input to build up language proficiency (Erten & Razı,
2003) Reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading It is seen as an active cognitive process in which the reader‟s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney & Pearson, 1994)
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 So far reading has been defined differently by lots of scholars, however no single definition is acceptable to everyone
Goodman (1971, p.135) stated that reading is “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” In his opinion, readers not only learn how to read the text, to master grammatical structures…but also understand the content expressed in the text
Having the same point with Goodman, William (1990, p.2) says that
“reading is a process whereby one looks at and understands what has been written”
Accordingly, in the reading process, there are also two parallel activities: looking and understanding Therefore, readers have to “encode” meanings of a word depend on the context in which it appears
One more definition offered by Harmer (1991, p.153) shows us his opinion and two above authors have a lot of things in common “reading is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain The eyes receive messages and the brain then has to work out the significance of these messages”
According to Richard and Thomas (1987, p.15), reading is best described as
“an understanding between the author and the reader Reading is much more than just pronouncing words correctly or simply knowing what the author intends; it is the process whereby the printed page stimulate ideas, experiences and responses that are unique to an individual
In short, each person can have a different definition of reading and we cannot tell which is better because each of them focuses on one important matter of reading However, we find that there is a close relationship between reading and understanding Therefore, being a language teacher, we must understand the nature of reading thoroughly to help our students read effectively
Reading comprehension skill plays a very important role in teaching and learning reading a foreign language It has the nature of communication, in which a reading activity acts as a means of communication between the writer and the reader
Reading comprehension results in the fact that when readers know which skills and strategies are appropriate for types of texts and understand how to apply them to accomplish reading purpose Swan (1975, p.1) states that “a student is good at comprehension we mean that he can read accurately and efficiently, so as to get the maximum information of a text with the minimum of understanding” It is obvious that the student can show his understanding only by doing some tasks such as summarizing the text, answering questions, making true or false etc
According to Grellet (1981, p.3) “Reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” The author means that reading comprehension is an activity which aims at decoding the meaning of word combination in the text in the most efficient way
To sum up, reading becomes meaningless without comprehension since only reading comprehension can appreciate how much readers understand the text
Therefore, how to help students have effective reading comprehension methods is considered to be the most important part in reading teaching
Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important information Grellet,
F (1982, p.19) says “When skimming, we go through the reading materials 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 mention of the writer”
Hedge, T (2000, p.195) points out that “skim reading is used to get a global impression of the content of a 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 the paragraph”
To sum up, although expressing their ideas in different ways, both authors share the view that skimming is a process of reading in which readers go through the reading materials quickly so that they can get the main ideas of the reading materials
METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the setting, action research, participants, data collection procedures, data collection instruments will be presented
The study was conducted at a high school in Bac Ninh province Students at this school follow the same curriculum of learning English at this school There are
42 classes at this school, with 14 classes for each grade In each class, students are oriented to study three main subjects to help them pass the GCSE exam and get permission to University Most of the students at this school take priority to study Maths, Physics and Chemistry as their main subjects to take part in the GCSE test (15 classes) There are 9 classes in which students choose English, Maths and Literatue or English, Maths and Physics as their major subjects to get permission to a university
And the rest of the students (18 classes) only try to pass the GCSE test to get high school deploma and they have no intension of attending university after graduating
Although English is a compulsory subject in the GCSE test, most of the students do not pay much attention to learning English The average score in English test in the yearly GCSE test is quite low (about 3,9 per student)
In the 2018-2019 academic year, the researcher has taken charge of two classes of grade 10 th students Most of the researchers‟ students choose English, Maths and Literature as their main subjects In this school year, it is the second time, the new set of textbook for grade 10 th students has been used at this school
The subjects of the study were 40 students coming from class 10A8 at a high school in Bac Ninh province, all of them were born in 2003, and they are both male, and female Most of them have already learned English for 6 years at primary school and lower secondary school and they choose English, Maths and Literature as their main subjects to get permission to a university, but many of them are at the low level of English proficiency Another fact is that most of the students are from rural areas in Bac Ninh province Consequently, they have little chance to practice their English outside class time, which makes their knowledge of English still poor and limited
The course book is the new text book by author Hoang Van Van, published by Vietnam education publisher It consists of ten units and four reviews Each unit includes eight parts: Getting started, Vocabulary and grammar, reading, speaking, listening, writing, communication and culture, looking back Each part is taught in 45 minute in class At the end of the academic year, students are supposed to take the achievement test to evaluate how their language proficiency improves There are two big tests (Final 1 st term test and final 2 nd term test) designed for this book and followed by many progress tests (summative tests, vocabulary tests, and grammar tests)
After observing in the first semester, the researcher realizes that 10 th – form students of class 10A8 at this school are getting some troubles with reading skill
Most of the students are afraid of doing reading tasks and their reading comprehension is at low level
With the above setting, the researcher expects to intervene with a new way of providing reading materials to see whether students of class 10A8‟ reading skill can be improved as expected
Action research design was selected in this study According to Burns (2009, p.2) “Action research is part of a broad movement that has been going on in education generally for some time It is related to the ideas of “reflective practice” and “the teacher as researcher” Action research involves taking a self-reflective, critical, and systematic approach to exploring your own teaching contexts”
Moreover, according to Mettetal (2001), Classroom Action Research is a research designed to assist teachers in figuring out what is happening in his or her classroom, and then make use of that information to make changes for the future The selection of action research may have a significant contribution to improving students‟ performance and even suggest open-ended outcomes Moreover, action research can promote “teachers‟ growth as an empowered professional”, “teachers‟ confidence in their teaching ability”, and their “problem-solving skills as well” (Briscoe and Wells, 2002, p 429) In particular, when being engaged in action research, teachers can be more aware of the gaps between their beliefs and practices and of what their pupils are thinking, feeling, and learning
An action research was applied to this current study with the teacher as the researcher Action research is a suitable chosen research method for the study for some reasons First, learning and teaching reading skill and improving students‟ reading comprehension have noticeably concerned both educational people and students Second, action research is often carried out both outside the classroom and inside the classroom Hence, that is very suitable for the current setting of the study
Third, action research is aimed at changing things as well as suggest a reference source for other research From the findings of the effects of using supplementary materials to develop students‟ reading comprehension skill, some constructive suggestions will be given so that teachers can facilitate students‟ reading skill
The below diagram illustrates the phrases of action research
Figure 1: Action research spiral (adapted from Kemmis, 1983)
Adapted from Kemmis (1983), the figure outlines the four steps in action, the movement from one critical phrase to another, and the way in which progress may be made through the system It can be seen clearly that in an action research, the researcher does not stop after getting the result from his actions He must evaluate the effectiveness of his actions as well as the limitations of the methods After that, he should revise the plan, make some changes and implement it again to get better result These stages are not separate but are embedded within action and reflection
The below diagram demonstrates the action research model
Figure 2: Detailed Action Research Model (adapted from Susman, 1983)
Figure 2 presents detailed action research model, according to Susman
(1983), the five steps in this model can be described as follows:
In light of the model, the study started when the researcher realizes that there is a need to improve reading skill for 10 th – form students of class 10A8 at a high school in Bac Ninh province In other words, step 1 was implemented to figure out the problem The demand for supplementary materials in order to help students improve their reading skill was identified and then investigated
In this step, the researcher did a literature search before beginning the action research The literature review allowed the researcher to strengthen the validity of the research by giving the theoretical framework for future findings
After having a quite clear literature review, the researcher refined the question for the research Participants of the study were 10 th – form students of class 10A8 at a high school in Bac Ninh province and the material is the current use text book for
10 th – form students published by Vietnam education publisher
Firstly, in order to measure students‟ comprehension level prior to the treatment, 10 th – form students of class 10A8 at Thuan Thanh 2 High School took the pre-test within 15 minutes (APPENDIX 4), the teacher marked the pre-test, classified the scores into different levels of students and kept the result for later usage
After that, the researcher delivered the survey (APPENDIX 1) in order to find out students‟ opinions of the currently used text book and their difficulties in improving their reading comprehension
The intervening program lasted 8 weeks (2 months) The researcher based on the students‟ opinions of the currently-used textbook and their difficulties in learning reading skill to design supplementary materials (APPENDIX 3) for practicing reading skill in targeted units (Unit 7,8,9 ) The researcher followed the the basic content of each reading lesson in the textbook However, in this program, in order to improve students reading comprehension, students are required to do supplementary materials with the same topic at home every day The detailed plan and activities are mentioned below
- Firstly, the researcher asked her students to read about that topic in their mother tongue so that they could get necessary background knowledge for their reading topic
- Secondly, the researcher taught the first two parts of this unit with a view to providing students with necessary vocabulary and grammar structure to understand the reading passage (APPENDIX 2)
- Thirdly, the researcher taught reading lesson in the text book so that she could suppy necessary strategies for her students to improve reading skill
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter will present the findings from the study Data were presented according to the action research cycle, followed by a discussion and further research is raised in the following parts of the study
Data analysis 4.1 Phrase 1: Diagnosing the Research topic
After the first term of the academic year, the researcher is really worried because of the fact that most of her students get bad marks in the end of the first term test She concerns the way to help improve her students performance in English test In order to know more about her students reading ability, she asked them to do the diagnostic test The test was applied the second week of the second term Each student was asked to read a short reading passage (APPENDIX 4) to answer the comprehension questions
4.1.1 The result of the dianogstic test
After asking her students to do the dianogstic test with 10 different questions, the author marked and classified the results into four different scales Good students are students who get more than eight correct answers, pretty good students are students who get seven or eight correct answers, average students are those who get from 5 to 6 correct answers and below average students are those who get lower than 5 corrects answers
The following table shows how the students responded to the diagnostic test applied into the researcher English class
Table 1: The result of the diagnostic test
Levels Number of students Percentage
From the table above, we can see that 2 students (5%) are in the scale of good one,
10 of them (25%) are in pretty good, 25 (62,5%) are average and 3 (7,5%) are below average, which means that most of the students are in a very low level of comprehension
4.1.2 The result of the survey questionaire
After, analysing the result of the diagnostic test, the researcher decided to do a servey (APPENDIX 1) to have deeper understanding of students‟ opinion of the reading text in the currently-used text book, the reasons why students have poor reading comprehension performance, and their expectation of the supplementary reading materials
4.1.2.1 The students’ opinions of the current text book for grade 10 th students
Question 1 is to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on level of language difficulty, content and length of reading texts in the currently-used text book for year tenth students
Table 2: The students’ opinions on level of difficulty, content and length of the reading texts in the textbook
Opinions on Students’ percentage a.Level of difficulty
+) too difficult +) too easy +) relevant
27,5% c Length of the reading texts
+) too long +) too short +) relevant
As illustrated in the above table, the majority of the students say that the current text book is not easy 77, 5% of the students think that the reading text in the text book is too difficult Only 10 % of the students claim that the textbook is too easy And the percentage students think that the text book is relevant to the students proficiency is 12,5% The reason for various evaluations of students on the level of difficulty is that the students‟ language competence is different
Also, when being asked to give evaluation on the content of the reading text, 72,5 % of the students claim that the textbook is interesting and familiar 27,5 % of the students asked say that the content of the textbook is unfamiliar It is noticeable that none of the students says that the content of the texts is boring
In terms of length of the reading texts, 62,5% of the students‟ state that the length of the reading texts is relevant The percentage of the students who propose that the reading texts are quite long is 25 %
From above analysis, the researcher can come to conclusion that most students find the reading texts difficult but interesting and of appropriate length
Table 4: Students’ opinions on reading exercises in the textbook
Reading exercises Students „percentage (%) a of various types 42,5% b of few types 22,5% c very difficult 65% d very easy 7,5% e quite few exercises 10% f many exercises 57,5%
As described in the table 4, the highest portion of students (65 %) is for the idea that reading exercises in the textbook are too difficult Besides, 7,5% of the teachers answer that reading exercise are too easy Similarly, only 7,5 % of the students find reading exercises too easy When being asked to give comment on the types of exercises, 42,5% of the students think that reading exercises are of various types Furthermore, 22,5% of the students support the idea that reading exercises are of a few types
The table also shows that the percentage of students who answer that there are too many exercises for each reading text 57,5 % in contrast with 10% of the students say that they there are too few reading exercises for each reading text
4.1.2.2 The reasons for students’ low level of reading comprehension 4.1.2.2.1 Students’ lack of regular reading practice outside the classtime
Question 1 is designed to figure out whether students often do reading practice or not?
Table 2 : The frequency of doing reading practice outside the classtime
As illustrated in the above table, 23 out of 40 students (57,5%) said that they rarely do reading practice outside the classtime, which is a great number
Meanwhile, only seven students said that they practice reading very often or often Some other 10 students (25%) said that they sometimes do reading exercise outside the class
From the above statistics, the researcher can come to a conclusion that one of the reasons leading to her students‟ poor reading comprehension is the lack of practice
4.1.2.2.2 Students’ lack of suitable reading materials
This question is designed with a view to finding out the reasons why students do not practice reading outside the classtime
Table 3: Students’ lack of suitable reading materials
The reasons for students’ lack of reading practice
The number of the students
Students don‟t like reading in a foreign language
Students don‟t like the topic 5 7,5%
Students don‟t have time to practice reading
Students don‟t have suitable reading materials to practice reading everyday
From the above table, it is apparent that most students like the reading topic and they have time to practice reading at home However, the ablove table illustrates that most of the students ( 75%) do not like reading in foreign language And the most remarkable point is that most students (95% of the students ) said that they could not find suitable reading materials to practice reading outside the classtime
4.1.2.3 Students’ expectation of the supplementary reading materials 4.1.2.3.1 Kinds of reading exercise in the text books that students prefer
This question is designed in order to find out the types of exercises in reading tasks that students prfer doing so that the researcher can apply suitable types of exercises in the supplementary materials to improve their students‟ reading skill
Chart 1: The kinds of exercises that students prefer
Various types of exercises are mentioned in this question The result in chart
3 show that most of the studetns choose multiple choice questions (40 out of 40 students and the second highest number belongs to true/false/no information because of the fact that these two types of exercises are familiar to them and especially, it is these exercises that can help them do better in their GCSE examination It can be seen easily from the chart that four next types of exercises selected by the teachers are matching, gap-filling and completion exercises (27,25, and 20 students respectively) It is believed that with these exercises students can comprehend the reading texts thoroughly and enhance their reading ability remarkably From the students‟ viewpoint, only there is a small number of students
(15 students) like doing jumbled sentences/ jumbled paragraphs in their reading materials because of the fact that this kind of question is quite difficult for them to practice due to their low level of proficiency
4.1.2.2.2 Kinds of the reading passage
Table 7: The students’ expectation of the supplementary reading materials
Reading passage of different topic 12,5%
Reading passage of related topic 90%
Reading passage of higher level of difficulty 2,5%
Reading passage with the same form of the
As depicted in table 5, the highest percentage students, which account for 90% say that the supplementary materials should include a reading passage of related topic Moreover, when asked about the types of exercises in supplementary materials, the students all say that there should be a reading passage with various type of exercises in the supplementary materials In addition, 82 % students suggest that supplementary materials should be in the same form of the reading test in the GCSE test Grammar exercises are suggested by 10% of the students What can be seen clearly from the table is that 37,5 % of the students say vocabulary exercises should be used in the supplementary materials One thing should be noted here is the vocabulary games and critical thinking questions are selected by 0% of the students It is very easily understood that vocabulary games are not suggested by
Furthermore, critical thinking questions are too difficult for the students because of their low level of proficiency
4.2 Phrase 2: The effects of using supplementary reading materials on improving students’ reading comprehension
CONCLUSION
This chapter summarizes the main findings of the study, based on which, recommendations were suggested In this chapter, the limitations of the research and recommendations for further study were also presented
In my study, through using diagnostic test - and final tests, questionnaires, and observation, I collected data from 40 students at Thuan Thanh 2 High School at that time I carried out the survey And I found out the students‟ opinions of the reading activities in the currently-used text book, the reasons why students‟ reading performance is poor and the ways to help students improve reading comprehension using the supplementary materials Specifically, firstly, most students at Thuan Thanh 2 High School said that they satisfy with content, length, and the reading exercises in the currently-used text book However, because of their lack of reading materials and the lack of practice, they find it difficult to do the reading comprehension tasks , so they all wish that there will be provided suitable supplementary reading materials to help them improve their reading skill so that they can do the reading task in the GCSE test well Secondly, it is advisable that when designing supplementary reading materials, teachers should take into account three factors relating the topics, the reading exercise, and right level of difficulties
Understanding about common challenges facing students at Thuan Thanh 2 High School, I suggested some possible recommendations for students, teachers for improvement in English learning, teaching
In my study, I reviewed related literature to lay theoretical background, especially I focused on the theories of reading comprehension and material development The theories of reading comprehension and materials development were really helpful for teachers of English, it helped them to align knowledge to reading comprehension and material development which helped them to create suitable supplementary materials to improve their students‟ reading skill
From the results of the study, some suggestions for choosing supplementary reading materials as well as designing tasks and activities for reading passage have been presented briefly
The thesis is hoped to beneficial to both teachers and students who want to carry out research in the area and those who are concerned with this matter
2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study
Limitations are unavoidable in most research projects The study presented in this thesis is no exception
Firstly, the author‟s practical experience in teaching English especially in teaching reading and knowledge of this aspect is limited, the recommendations in chapter 4 are likely to be subjective and insufficient Therefore, future work should overcome this weakness
Secondly, because the students taking part in the study were in one class the researcher taught, not all the 10 th -form students at Thuan Thanh 2 High School, their opinion on the current text book might not be representatives of all students at Thuan Thanh 2 High School
Finally, in this study, the researcher did not have enough time to carry out ongoing cycles of an action research Therefore, the results would be better if she revised her plan and acted again
From limitations I listed above, there are some following suggestions for the next researchers:
Firstly, the research instruments should be varied for further studies such as interviews or analysis of authentic materials…etc For example, interviews support researchers to get a deep answer and they can directly test the reliability of respondents‟ answers by still asking respondents those questions but in other ways
Secondly, the population should be bigger than 40 participants involving 10 th -form students from different classes
Thirdly, it is advisable to take an investigation into providing supplementary materials in different ways with more various types of reading tasks
Last but not least, it would be much better if there is further evaluation of the reading materials to find out their strength and weakness so design more suitable reading materials to improve students‟ reading comprehension skill
The thesis is fulfilled with the author‟ endless efforts The author does hope that it could make a small contribution to the more effective learning, teaching reading skill using the current text book However, shortcomings are unavoidable
She strongly recommends further study on the issues raised to bring a prefect picture of the context
1 Alderson, J C (2000) Assessing reading Ernst Klett Sprachen
2 Anderson, N J (2012) Reading instruction The Cambridge guide to pedagogy and practice in second language teaching, 218-225
3 Bassey, M (1998) Action research for improving educational practice Teacher research and school improvement: Opening doors from the inside, 93-108
4 Brown, H D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching
5 Brown, J D (1995) The Element of Language Curriculum Newbury House
6 Burns, A (2009) Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners Routledge
7 Carrel Et.al (1981) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading
8 Carrell, P L., Devine, J., & Eskey, D E (Eds.) (1988) Interactive approaches to second language reading Cambridge University Press
9 Carrell, P.L (1983) Background knowledge in second language comprehension
In Language Learning and Communication
10 Carrell, P.L and Eisterhold.(1983) Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy
11 Clarke, M A., & Silberstein, S (1983) Toward a Realization of Psycholinguistic
Principles in the ESL Reading Class Foreign Language Teaching Abroad, 2
12 Crawford, J (2002) The role of materials in the language classroom: Finding the balance Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice, 80-91
13 Dochy, F J., & Alexander, P A (1995) Mapping prior knowledge: A framework for discussion among researchers European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10(3), 225-242
14 Erten, I H., & Razı, S (2003, June) An experimental investigation into the impact of cultural schemata on reading comprehension In 2nd International
Balkan ELT Conference on Theory and Practice of TESOL
15 Gillham, B (2000) Developing a Questionnaire, London and New York,
16 Goodman, K (1988) The Reading Process in Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
17 Grabe, W (2009) Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice Ernst Klett Sprachen
18 Grellet, Francoise Developing Reading Skills: A Practical Guide to Reading Comprehension Exercises Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
19 Gunning, T G (2002) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing
Difficulties Order Processing, Allyn and Bacon, PO Box 11071, Des Moines, IA
20 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching New York
21 Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching (3 rd Edition)
22 Herbert Altrichter, Allan Feldman, Peter Posch and Bridget Somekh, Teachers Investigate their Work– An introduction to action research across the professions,
23 Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A (1987) English for specific purposes Cambridge university press
24 Krashen, S D., & Terrell, T D (1983) The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom
25 Lewis, M and Hill, J (1985) Practical technique for language teaching
26 McDonough, J., & Shaw, C (2012) Materials and Methods in ELT John Wiley
27 Nunan, D (2003) Practical English Language Teaching, New York: McGraw-Hill
28 Nuttall, Christine (1982) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language
29 O'Donnel, MP, & Wood M, 2004 Becoming a reader: A developmental approach to readinginstruction (3 rd ed.) Boston, MA: Perason
30 Richards, J C., & Renandya, W A (Eds.) (2002) Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice Cambridge university press
31 Richards, J.C (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching New
32 Sheldon, L.E (1988) Evaluating ELT Textbooks and Materials ELT Journal,
33 Smith, F., & Goodman, K S (1971) On the psycholinguistic method of teaching reading The Elementary School Journal, 71(4), 177-181
34 Stevens, K.C (1980) The effect of background knowledge on the reading comprehension of ninth graders Journal of Reading Behavior, 12(2), 151-154
35 Susser, B., & Robb, T N (1990) EFL extensive reading instruction: Research and procedure Jalt Journal, 12(2), 161-1
36 Swans, M (1975) Practical English Usages Oxford: Oxford University Press
37 Tierney, R J., Pearson, P D., Singer, H., & Ruddell, R B (1994) Theoretical models and processes of reading
38 Tomlinson, B.(1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching
39 Williams, E (1984) Reading in the language classroom London: Macmillan
40 Williams, E., & Moran, C (1989) Reading in a foreign language at intermediate and advanced levels with particular reference to English Language
This questionnaire is designed for my M.A thesis on “Developing supplementary reading materials to improve reading comprehension for grade 10 th students at a high school in Bac Ninh province”
Your effort in fulfilling this questionnaire would be highly appreciated and of great use to my study You should make sure that the information you provide will be treated in the strict confidence
1 What is your evaluation of the reading texts in the current text books for year-tenth students?
For questions 1, please tick or circle the number that best reflects your viewpoint
Options Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree a The reading texts in the current textbook is too difficult
5 4 3 2 1 b The reading texts in the current textbook is too easy 5 4 3 2 1 c The reading texts in the current textbook is relevant 5 4 3 2 1 d The content of the reading texts in the current textbook is interesting
5 4 3 2 1 e The content of the reading texts in the current textbook is boring
5 4 3 2 1 f The content of the reading 5 4 3 2 1 texts in the current textbook is familiar g The content of the reading texts in the current textbook is unfamiliar
5 4 3 2 1 h The reading texts are too long 5 4 3 2 1 i The reading texts are too short 5 4 3 2 1 j The reading texts are relevant 5 4 3 2 1
2 What do you think about the reading exercises in the current English text book for year tenth students?
Please tick all the options as your opinions of the reading exercises in the current English textbooks for year tenth students
□ Exercises are of various types
□ There are only a few types of exercises
□ There are too few exercises for each reading text
□ There are too many exercises for each reading text
3 How often do you practice reading outside the classtime?
For questions 3 , I would like you to tick the option, indicating your answer
4 Why don‟t you practice reading outside the classtime?
For questions 4, please tick or circle the number that best reflects your viewpoint
Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
2 You don‟t like the topic 5 4 3 2 1
3 You don‟t have time to practice reading 5 4 3 2 1
4 You don‟t have suitable reading materials to practice reading everyday
5 What kinds of reading exercises do you prefer doing in the supplementary materials to improve your students reading?
Please tick all the options as your preference of reading exercises in the current English textbooks for year tenth students
□ summary writing □ Other ( please specify)
6 What should the supplementary reading materials include?
Please tick all the options as your opinions of the things that the supplementary reading materials should include?
□ reading passage of different topic
□ reading passage of related topic
□ reading passage of various level of difficulty
□ reading passage with various types of exercises
APPENDIX 2 LESSON PLAN UNIT 7: CULTURAL DIVERSITY Lesson 1 : Getting started
- To teach Ss to listen and read a conversation about Vietnamese weddings and do tasks: Questions and answers
- To teach some lexical items related to traditions, cultural characteristics and superstitions
- By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
+ Use some lexical items related to the topic Cultural diversity
+ Make simple dialogues using the given expressions
+ Get to know the topic: Cultural diversity
+ Master some vocabularies about wedding traditions and customs in Vietnam
+ Get to know two grammar points
- Teacher: Handouts, textbook, pieces of papers and cassette
C Methods: - The whole lesson: Integrated, mainly communicative
Time/Stages Teacher‟s activities Students‟ activities
- Ask Ss to compare the two photos of a traditional wedding and a modern one
- Elicit more ideas from Ss‟ background knowledge
- Students look at the photos and make comparison
- Elicit any topic-related words that Ss may know: ritual, costumes, and decorations…
- Encourage and accept different comments and opinions
- Introduce the topic of the lesson:Wedding in Vietnam Listen and read
- Tell Ss that they are going to listen to a conversation in the school library between two friends: Kevin and Maria
- Have Ss predict what Kevin and Maria are talking about
- Encourage all kinds of predictions
- Tell Ss not to worry about new words or grammar points because these will be dealt with later
- Play the recording Answer the question
What is the conversation about?
- Have Ss discuss their answers in pairs Then check their answers
Read the conservation again, and give answers to the following questions
- Tell Ss to focus on the instructions
- Students discuss and answer what is the main topic a The Vietnamese wedding
- Checks Ss' understanding of the questions
- Set time for this activity, base on Ss‟ level proficiency
- Get Ss to work in pairs or groups to discuss the answers
- Call on different Ss to answer these questions
- Ask Ss to work in small groups
- Ask Ss what they know about Vietnamese weddings, based on the conversation and their background knowledge as well
- Encourage Ss to take notes and plan a short report
- Ask one or two groups at random to present their report to the whole class
- Give feedback on Ss‟ presentations
- Students read and answer the questions
1 Because he is preparing for his presentation about the similarities and differences between a traditional Vietnamese wedding and a modern one
2 They follow the same core procedure which consists of the proposal ceremony, the engagement ceremony and the wedding ceremony
3 The modern weddings are less complicated
4 Yes, they get some help from their parents and the attending guests
- Students work in groups and make presentation
2 minutes - Ask Ss to summarize the main contents
- Ask students to write a passage about a wedding in Vietnam (50 words)
- Prepare for the next lesson
- Take notes and do at home
- To teach Ss to pronounce correctly two –syllable words of different parts of speech but with the same spelling in isolation and in context
- To teach Ss to use comparative, superlative adjectives and articles
- By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
+ Understand and use the passive voice with modals
+ Pronounce correctly two –syllable words of different parts of speech but with the same spelling in isolation and in context
+ Use some lexical items related to the topic Cultural diversity in context
- Teacher: Handouts, textbook, pieces of papers and cassette
C Methods: - The whole lesson: Integrated, mainly communicative
Time/Stages Teacher’s activities Students’ activities
- T informs the class of the lesson objectives: Getting to know comparative and superlative adjectives and articles, pronouns
- Ask Ss to read the conversation - Students read and listen
Activity 2 again to find and underline the seven words
- Have Ss identify the part of speech of these words (they are all nouns)
- Ask Ss to study the words and phrases around these seven words and predict their meanings
- Tell Ss to match these words with their given definitions
- Let Ss work on their own first, then compare their answers with a partner
- Check the answer as a class
- Teacher may teach some related words or phrases depending on Ss‟ level of proficiency
- Introduce and explain the requirement of this activity is to choose the correct word for the context in each sentence
- Set a time limit for completing the activity
- Encourage Ss to exchange their answers with a partner to see if they understand the contexts and meaning of each sentence
- Elicit answers from the whole and then do the task Vocabulary:
+ to be/ get engaged to sb +to propose to sb: to ask sb to marry you +to arrange / plan a wedding
+to make a toast to the bride and groom
- Students read and answer the questions
Activity 2 class and give more explanation to help Ss understand correctly, if necessary
- Tell Ss to listen and repeat sets of words with the same spelling
- Ask Ss to pay attention to the stress patterns
- Encourage Ss to say how the stress patterns are different in these words
- Give them the meaning of these words, if necessary
- Ask Ss to work in pairs and take turns reading these words in columns and in rows
- Invite individuals Ss at random to read the words Correct them, if necessary
- Ask Ss to listen to the sentences and practice saying them correctly
- Pay attention to the stress of the underlined words consisting of two syllables
- Have Ss listen and put a mark (‟) before the stressed syllable
- Students listen and mark the stress
- Check if Ss have marked the stress correctly and let them practice in pairs saying these sentences
- Invite some Ss to read these sentences in front of the class and correct mistakes, if there are any
- Firstly ask Ss to look at the examples and revise the comparative and superlative form of the adjectives
- Ask Ss to tell the T the comparative and superlative form of the adjectives
- Listen to the S and give remarks
- Ask Ss to read through the six statements
- Students listen and look at the examples
E.g: My house is smaller than your house
My house is the smallest in this street
Exercise 1 is more difficult than exercise 2
=> the best bad => worse => the worst far => further/farther
- Help them to understand the meaning of these statements
Explain any new words that they don‟t know
- Ask Ss to work in groups to discuss whether or not they agree with these statements Ss are encouraged to speak their minds
Tell Ss that there are no right or wrong answers here
- Call on some groups at random to report their opinions
- Ask Ss to study words or phrases in italics and work out the rules for comparative and superlative adjectives
- Go through the examples in Do you know…? box and provide any explanations
- Explain the activity: write five sentences comparing the two weddings
- Ask Ss to work in groups Give each group a large size piece of paper to write down their sentences
- Set a time limit for this activity
When time is up, ask all the
- Students work in groups and discuss
- Students work in groups, write sentences comparing about wedding and use comparative
1 Mr Smith’s wedding was more crowded than Mr Long’s (wedding)
Activity 4 groups to stick their paper on the board or around the classroom
- Give Ss time to look at other groups‟ sentences to see if they have interpreted and presented the information from the table in the same way
- Check all groups‟ sentences and encourage Ss to come up with sentences using other comparatives in addition to the suggested answers
- Give Ss time to write the correct sentences into their notebook
- Teacher provides information on articles
- Tell Ss that in this activity they are expected to choose the correct articles from the ones given in brackets
- Let Ss work individually first
Set a time limit for this activity and assist Ss if they have any problems understanding the information from the text
- Ask Ss to check with a partner to see if they have the same answers
2 Mr Smith’s wedding reception was more expensive than Mr Long’s
3 Mr Smith was older than
Mr Long when he got married
4 Mr Long’s engagement period was longer than Mr Smith’s
5 The service at Mr Smith’s wedding was better than at
- Students attentively listen and take notes
+We use a/an with c countable noun when we first mention it and the after that
If they have different answers, ask them to explain their choices
- Check the answers with the whole class and ask Ss to refer to
Do you know… ? box for further explanation wedding reception
He has invited 100 people to the wedding reception + We use the when it is clear in the situation which thing or person we mean Eg: The bride looks very happy
- Ask Ss to summarize the main contents
- T asks Ss to do exercises again at home
- Prepare for the next lesson
- Take notes and do at home
LESSON PLAN UNIT 7: CULTURAL DIVERSITY
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
+ Read for general ideas and for specific information about superstitions in Viet Nam and answer the questions
- Teacher: Handouts, textbook, pieces of papers
- The whole lesson: Integrated, mainly communicative
Time/Stages Teacher’s activities Students’ activities
* Ask Ss to look at the picture and describe it
- Ask some guiding questions to facilitate them
(?) How do you know that?
(?) Can you see the peach blossoms?
(?) What is it laid on the altar?
Are the following statements true for you?
- Ask Ss to read the statements and help them to understand the meaning
- Ask Ss to work in groups and exchange their answers
- Encourage Ss to give explanations or reason for their behaviour
- Elicit answers from the whole class Encourage different viewpoints and explanations
- Tell Ss that they will read a text on a topic related to the things they have just discussed
+ superstition (n) sự mê tín, dị đoan + superstitious (a) mê tín + mystery (n) bí ẩn + legend (n) truyền thuyết
+ ritual (n) lễ nghi + prestigious (a) có uy tín + fortune (n) vận may + ancestor (n) tổ tiên
- Ask Ss to read the questions
-Discuss some questions to find out the content
- Work individually , check answers with peers
- check answers with the whole class
- Read the questions and answer the questions
- Look at the options and predict the answers based on the answer options given and Ss‟ background knowledge
- Read the text again to see if they still find it difficult to understand
Help them to understand the questions if necessary
- Get Ss to look at the options and predict the answers based on the answer options given and Ss‟ background knowledge
- Set a time limit for Ss to read the text and answer the questions
- Ask Ss to exchange their answers in pairs or groups and encourage them to discuss the reasons for their options if necessary
- Ask Ss to read the text again to see if they still find it difficult to understand any part of the reading text and assist them if necessary
- For stronger class, ask Ss to summarize the main content of the reading and present their summaries to the whole class
* The aim of this activity is for Ss to reflect on their experience and express any part of the reading text and assist them if necessary
- Read the questions and practice asking and answering them -Give reason to support their opinions
- Tell Ss to work in pairs
- Have Ss read the questions and practice asking and answering them
- Encourage Ss to give reason to support their opinions
- Ask several Ss to report what they learn about their partners from their discussion in pairs
- Ask Ss to summarize the main contents
- T asks Ss to do exercises again at home
- Prepare for the next lesson
- Take notes and do at home
APPENDIX 3 UNIT 7: CULTURAL DIVERSITYWhat’s in a Name?
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions
When naming a child, some parents seem to choose a name based simply on their personal preference In other families, grandparents or professional name- makers come up with a child‟s name And in some cases, the time of a childs‟ birth influences how the child‟s name is determined
In many European cultures, names are typically chosen by parents Parents‟ choice for their child‟s name may be based on names of relatives or ancestors within their particular family For example, in Italy, children are traditionally named after their grandparents The parents generally use the father‟s parents‟ names first
If they have more children, then they will use the mother‟s parents‟ names
Similarly, some people in Eastern Europe name their children after relatives who have died This tradition is seen as a means to protect the child from the Angel of Death
Traditionally in some Asian countries, a child‟s grandfather or a fortune-teller chooses the child‟s name In contrast to the tradition of naming children after relatives, the child‟s name is chosen to influence the child‟s character For example, names may be based on a connection to certain elements such as fire, water, earth, wood, or metal Or the name might include a written character meaning beauty, strength, or kindness In certain African cultures, when a child is born plays a large part in determining the child‟s name In Ghana‟s Akan culture, the day a child is born determines the child‟s name But each day has different names for boys and girls For instance, a boy born on Friday is named Kofi, whereas a girl born on the same day is named Afua Both Kofi and Afua are names meaning “wanderer” or
“explorer.” Children with these names are seen as travelers
No matter where the name comes from, a child‟s name is the first gift in life
Whether it is chosen according to preference or dictated by tradition, the name reflects something about a child‟s culture For that reason, all names should be treasured and respected
(Source: Reading Challenge 2 - Casey Malarcher • Andrea Janzen) Question 1 What is the main idea of the passage?
A The choice of name for a child in Asia
B The history of child naming around the world
C The practice of child naming in Europe
D The tradition of child naming in different cultures Question 2 According to the passage, in many European cultures, names are typically selected by
Question 3 The word "means" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to
Question 4 What is a common belief in some Asian countries concerning the tradition of naming a child?
A A child's name must include a written character meaning beauty, strength, or kindness
B The choice of a child's name is believed to have an impact on his or her personality
C A child's name shouldn't be connected with certain elements of nature
D The choice of a child's name should be based on names of his or her relatives
Question 5 Which of the following about the tradition of child naming in African countries is NOT true according to the passage?
A The arrival time of a child is an important factor in deciding his or her name
B Children born on Friday are normally given names meaning traveling
C Children receive the same name if they are born on the same day
D No matter how a child's name is chosen, it is related to his or her culture
Question 6 The word "it" in paragraph 5 refers to
Question 7 The word "treasured" in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to
Question 8: What can be inferred about the tradition of naming a child in the world?
A.Different cultures have different tradition of naming a child
B No countries in the world pay attention to naming a child
C All the countries in the world share the same view of naming a child
D Only some cultures in Asia have the same ideas of naming a child
Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions