Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS using prediction strategy to enhance reading comprehension skill for the 10th form students at a high school in ninh binh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THỊ TÚ ANH USING PREDICTION STRATEGY TO ENHANCE READING COMPREHENSION SKILL FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NINH BINH PROVINCE SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC PHÁN ĐOÁN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THƠNG THUỘC TỈNH NINH BÌNH M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THỊ TÚ ANH USING PREDICTION STRATEGY TO ENHANCE READING COMPREHENSION SKILL FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN NINH BINH PROVINCE SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC PHÁN ĐOÁN ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG THUỘC TỈNH NINH BÌNH M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Mai Thị Loan Hanoi - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Bùi Thị Tú Anh, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Using prediction strategy to enhance reading comprehension skill for the 10th form students at a high school in Ninh Binh province.” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi I also declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and efforts and it has not been submitted for any other purposes Hanoi, 2018 Bùi Thị Tú Anh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my heart - felt thank and my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Mai Thi Loan for her enlightening guidance, precious suggestions and invaluable encouragement during my fulfillment of this minor thesis My sincere thanks go to all of the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation I truly wish to thank all the students of class 10A and 10B at Nho Quan C High School who have actively participated in the research I am deeply grateful to my family for their great support and to many of my friends for their notable assistance ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This research is an investigation into the predominant problems in learning reading at a high school in Ninh Binh province and the implementation a of new reading strategy, which is prediction strategy in this case to deal with the situation The primary purpose of the study is an attempt to examine the impact of using prediction strategy on the improvement of reading comprehension skill of the 10th form students and find out effective ways to implement prediction strategy in reading comprehension lessons Data were collected through pretest, posttest, questionnaire and teaching diaries and then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively The results of the data analysis indicate that most of the students achieved considerable progress in their reading comprehension skill after being taught prediction strategy The students also participated in the lesson more and more actively and excitedly In addition, the findings of the research suggested some effective ways to teach students to use prediction strategy in reading comprehension lessons such as conducting the lesson with three stages (pre-, while and post reading), choosing well-suited reading materials, enlarging students‟ schema for further reading, instructing the strategy clearly, combining prediction strategy with other reading strategies, designing useful and exciting tasks, and letting students work in pairs or groups iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES ix PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale .1 Aims and objectives of the study Research question .3 Scope of the study .3 Significance of the study Design of the study .3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The nature of reading comprehension 1.1.1 Definitions of reading 1.1.2 Definitions of reading comprehension 1.1.3 Reading models 1.1.4 Schema theory 1.2 Reading strategies .10 1.2.1 Definitions of reading strategies 10 1.2.2 Classifications of reading strategies 11 1.2.3 Reading strategy instruction 13 1.3 Prediction strategy .14 1.3.1 Definitions of prediction strategy 14 1.3.2 The importance of prediction strategy 14 1.3.3 Application of prediction strategy in reading comprehension lesson 15 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1.4 Previous studies on the use of prediction strategy 18 1.5 Summary .20 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 21 2.1 Context of the study 21 2.1.1 Setting of the study 21 2.1.2 Participants 22 2.1.3 Materials 22 2.2 Research design 22 2.2.1 Research approach .22 2.2.2 Research procedures 23 2.3 Data collection instruments 28 2.3.1 Pretest and posttest .29 2.3.2 Questionnaire .29 2.3.3 Teaching diaries 30 2.4 Data analysis methods 31 2.5 Summary .31 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 32 3.1 Data analysis .32 3.1.1 Analysis of test results 32 3.1.1.1 Results of the pretest 32 3.1.1.2 Results of the posttest 34 3.1.2 Analysis of questionnaires 36 3.1.2.1 Students‟ belief about the impact of prediction strategy on their reading comprehension competence .36 3.1.2.2 Students‟ self-evaluation of the improvements of their reading comprehension skill after attending the reading course implementing prediction strategy…………………….…………………… ………………38 3.1.2.3 Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher‟s strategy instruction ….………………………… …………………… …………….39 3.1.2.4 Students‟ rating of the familiarity of each reading text before the treatment…………… 40 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3.1.2.5 Students‟ preferred practices in the pre-reading stage 41 3.1.2.6 Students‟ preferred practices in the while reading stage 42 3.1.2.7 Students‟ opinion about the reading tasks 43 3.1.2.8 Some disadvantages of implementing prediction strategy in reading lessons .43 3.1.3 Analysis of teaching diaries 44 3.2 Findings and discussion 49 3.2.1 To what extent does the use of prediction strategy affect Nho Quan C high school‟s grade 10 students‟ reading comprehension? 49 3.2.2 How should prediction strategy be implemented to improve the students‟ reading comprehension skill? .50 3.3 Summary .53 PART C: CONCLUSION 55 Recapitulation 55 Concluding remarks 56 Limitation of the current research .56 Recommendation and suggestions for future research .57 REFERENCES 58 APPENDIX 1: READING COMPREHENSION TEST I APPENDIX 2: READING COMPREHENSION IV APPENDIX 3A: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE VII (ENGLISH VERSION) VII APPENDIX 3B: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE X (VIETNAMESE VERSION) X APPENDIX 4A: SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP…………………………………… ………………………………….XIV APPENDIX 4B: SAMPLE LESSON PLAN FOR THE CONTROL GROUP XX APPENDIX 5: PREDICTION CHART .XXIV APPENDIX 6A: CRITERIA FOR TEACHING DIARIES XXV APPENDIX 6B: A SAMPLE OF TEACHING DIARY XXVI vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 7: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND MEDIAN .XXIX vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET: the Ministry of Education and Training % : Percentage N : Number viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com (10ms) picture in their book and answer the questions: a What are the people in the picture doing? -Give their answers b Do you think they are happy? -Listen Why/Why not? -Call on some groups to give their answers - Give feedback and comments -Listen to the Activity 2: Pre-teach vocabulary teacher and take  Vocabulary notes Teach these words through elicitation or explanation - sociable (adj): enjoying spending time with other people  unsociable (adj) - contribute (v): contribute (sth) to sth: to give sth, especially money or goods, to help sb/sth  contribution (n) -Listen carefully - vulnerable (adj): weak and easily hurt -Do as required physically or emotionally  vulnerable to sb/sth - critical (adj): expressing disapproval of sb/sth and saying what you think is bad about them  critical of sb/sth - Draw Ss‟ attention to the pronunciation of these words  Checking vocabulary: ROR Rub out the words, one at a time and ask Ss to read out all the words again Continue till all the words are rubbed out and Ss can read out from memory While reading ACTIVITY 1: -Individual work - Ask Ss to read the text and decide which of the -Give the answer following is the best title for it XXI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com (5ms) a Doing housework is good for children b Husbands who share housework make their wives happy c Sharing housework makes the family happier (10ms) - Have Ss give their answers -Individual work - Give feedback -Listen ACTIVITY 2: teacher‟s  A (Task 3, p.9) instruction - Have Ss read the text again and underline the -Give the answer to the words sociable, vulnerable, critical, enormous and -Pair work tent when they see them in the text Then, ask Ss -Do as required to work in pairs to choose the appropriate meaning - Give the answer for each word from the text -Correct - Explain to Ss how to use context to guess the answer meaning of the unknown words if necessary notebook Key: 1.a (5ms) b b b a their in the -Do as required  B (Task 4, p.9) - Pair work - T asks Ss to continue to work in pairs, and find -Give out what it refers to in each of the sentences Let answers Ss read and understand the sentences before and -Listen and correct after the one has the word in it to decide what it their answers on means Ss can use the elimination technique to get the notebook their the right answer Key: a c b b ACTIVITY 3: - Ask Ss to read the questions first to make sure they understand what information they need to answer the questions -Tell Ss to work with a partner, asking and answering the questions - Call on some pairs to ask and answer the questions - Check with the whole class XXII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com * Suggested answers : They better at school, become more sociable, and have better relationships with their teachers and friends Because it shows that they care about their wives and that makes their wives happy They may fall ill easily or may think about divorce There is a positive atmosphere for the family Post -Group work Discussion reading - Arrange Ss to work in groups of four (8ms) - Tell Ss to discuss and share ideas on the following questions Do you have any problem sharing housework? What benefits you get when sharing housework? -Give - Tell Ss they can use prompts: answers Problems with their - time - skill - attitude … - Call on Ss to report the opinions of their groups to the rest of the class - Invite the class to argue and give comments - Give feedback and comments VII Consolidation (1m) VIII Homework (1m) XXIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 5: PREDICTION CHART Student Name/s…………………………………………… Date: ……………… Lesson: …………………………………………………… The first predictions based on the title and illustrations: Prediction based on: Read Reflections on these predictions: ……………… ……………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Prediction based on: Read Reflections on these predictions: ……………… ……………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Prediction based on: Read Reflections on these predictions: ……………… ……………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ……………………………………… (Source: NSW center for effective reading) XXIV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 6A: CRITERIA FOR TEACHING DIARIES Concern Areas Guiding Questions Strategy Instruction  What did the teacher to give strategy instruction?  Did the strategy instruction work? Lesson procedures  Did the teacher follow stages of the reading lesson?  What happened in the pre-reading stage? In while reading stage? And Post-reading stage?  Was the prediction strategy used in combination with other reading strategy? Did it work well? Students‟  How did the students join the lesson? participation  Did students pay attention to the teacher‟s instruction?  Did the students fulfill what the teacher asked them to do?  Did the students volunteer to express their ideas?  How did the students work individually? In pairs? In groups? Reading materials  Was the reading topic familiar to the students? Did the students have knowledge about the topic?  Did the materials keep the students interested? Tasks  Were all the students on tasks? If not, when was it and why did it happen?  Which task did the students seem to enjoy most?  Which task did the students seem to enjoy least? Suggested changes  What changes (if any) will you make in your teaching? Why (not)? XXV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 6B: A SAMPLE OF TEACHING DIARY 1st teaching diary Unit 1: Reading topic - Sharing housework 22nd September, 2017 Strategy instruction To instruct the students how to apply the prediction strategy, I firstly gave an explicit description of the strategy including when and how to use it Then I modeled how to apply this strategy in the lesson I intended to call on some students to make predictions as I did, however, due to the pressure of time, I skipped this step and asked the students to apply the strategy independently As a result, some students seemed to get confused and did not use the strategy properly Lesson procedures In this lesson, I followed stages of the reading lesson including: pre-, while and post reading In the pre – reading stage, I asked the students to preview the text and making prediction about the topic of the text first to motivate them to get involved in the lesson and introduce them to prediction strategy The students seemed to be very interested in this task More students stopped talking to pay attention to the lesson Next, I asked the students to brainstorm about the benefits of doing housework to activate their prior knowledge related to the topic After that, I taught students some new words and structures from the text Students were not very interested in this practice In while reading stage, I asked the students to find the main ideas of the text by making prediction basing on the topic and concluding sentence and then answering the questions about some specific information in the text by making prediction basing their prior knowledge Students seemed to prefer making predictions basing on their prior knowledge to making prediction basing on the topic or concluding sentence After each task, I asked the students to read the text to confirm or reject their predictions and gave the correct answers for the tasks XXVI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com In the post reading stages, I intended to ask the students to discuss in groups of -4 students to relate themselves with the text However, the pre and while reading stages lasted longer than the plan, I could not let students practice the task in the class I had to ask them to it at home as the homework Students’ participation At the beginning of the lesson, many students seemed not ready for any activities Only about half of them listened to the teacher‟s strategy instruction and the rest still chatted, smiled or teased other classmates I felt very annoyed and disappointed I tried my best to make them concentrate on the lesson The number of students paid attention to the lesson increased when I asked them to describe the picture in the textbook and make predictions about the text basing on their descriptions of the picture and the title of the text However, most of them just showed their concentration and did the task silently When I asked the students to task individually to find the main idea of the text and write their predictions on their own prediction chart, many students asked their friends how to it or discussed with their friends about the task Reading materials “Sharing housework” seemed to be a familiar topic to the students because they had a lot of experiences and background knowledge related to the topic Some students were excited to talk about their stories to give evidence for their predictions They can also generate predictions basing on their experiences and background knowledge to give the answers for the questions Tasks The students seemed to enjoy the task of answering the questions about some specific information in the text by making prediction basing their prior knowledge the most They were also keen on the previewing task However, they did not enjoy identifying the topic and concluding sentence to make prediction about the main ideas of the text most XXVII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Suggested changes In the next lesson, I should instruct the students to use the strategy more clearly I should call on some students to make predictions after I gave model to make sure the students know how to apply the strategy In addition, I should pay attention to the time for each task so that I can cover all the tasks as planned XXVIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com APPENDIX 7: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND MEDIAN Mean  Definition: Mean is average from division between sums of student‟s scoring a total number of respondents  The formula: X = (∑X)/ N Y = (∑Y)/ N  Explanation X: mean of pre-test Y: mean of post-test N: number of subject ∑X = the sum of pre-test score ∑Y = the sum of post-test score  To calculate mean for the pretest of class 10A, the researcher made use of Microsoft Excel The researcher wrote down the ordinal number in column A, the score of every student in column B, and meaning column C with the following formula  Excel formula: AVERAGE (number1,number2, ) Note: Number1, number2, are to 255 numeric arguments for which you want the average For example: calculating the mean for the pretest of class 10A Click on cell C3 - the location where mean will be entered Click on the Formula stab Choose More Functions ->Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on MEAN in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B37 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box XXIX LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Click OK Then, the answer 4,235294118 should appear in cell C3 When you click on cell C3 the complete function = MEAN (B3:B36) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XXX LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com The Standard Deviation  Definition: is a measure of how widely values are dispersed from the average value (the mean) -Formula:  Standard deviation uses the following formula:  ( x  x) (n  1) Where: x is the sample mean AVERAGE(number1, number2 ) n is the sample size  Excel formula: STDEV(number1,number2 ) Note: Number1, number2 are to 255 number arguments corresponding to a sample of a population  For example: calculating standard deviation of class A in pre-test XXXI LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Click on cell E3-the location where the standard deviation will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions ->Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on STDEV in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B37 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK The answer 1.39 should appear in cell E3 When you click on cell E3 the complete function = STDEV(B3:B36) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XXXII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Median  Definition: is the middle number of a group of numbers; that is, half the numbers have values that are greater than the median, and half the numbers have values that are less than the median  Formula: Median uses the following formula: N     fo  Mdn = +  i fw     Where: Mdn is the median L is the lower limit of the interval containing the median N is the total number of scores  f is the sum of the frequencies or number of scores up to the interval containing the median XXXIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com fw is the frequency or number of scores within the interval containing the median i is the size or range of the interval  Excel formula: MEDIAN (number1,number2 ) Note: Number1, number2 are to 255 numbers for which you want the median -For example: calculating the median of class A in pre-test Click on cell C3 - the location where median will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions>Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on MEDIAN in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B36 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK XXXIV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XXXV LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This research is an investigation into the predominant problems in learning reading at a high school in Ninh Binh province and the. .. strategy on the improvement of reading comprehension skill of the 10th form students at a high school in Ninh Binh province LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com (2) To find... (tests, a questionnaire for students and teaching diaries) and data analysis methods 31 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 3.1 Data analysis